Tuesday, March 31, 2026
In today’s digest, shorter airport lines, NYC government is back on TikTok, and what the Runway AI Summit told us about the creative economy. 🤖
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TSA lines at NYC airports are finally calming down. Wait times at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark dropped this week after agents finally received pay and returned to work following shutdown-related disruptions. ✈️ (FOX New York)
Still, staffing shortages and funding uncertainty mean the lull may not last — officials are urging travelers to keep arriving early.
Pro tip: Use this tool to track airport wait times.
NYC is rolling back its ban on TikTok for government use. 🤳 Mayor Zohran Mamdani will allow some government agencies and employees to resume using the platform after former Mayor Eric Adams banned the app from being used on city government devices in 2023. (POLITICO)
According to the new guidelines, agencies must designate specific staff members to use the app and assign specific government-issued devices just for TikTok.
Snow in March? Try again next year. NYC is about to break a 157-year-old record with its third straight March without measurable snowfall in Central Park. ❄️ (Newsweek)
It’s the first time since record-keeping began in 1869 that the city has had three consecutive snow-free Marches, according to the National Weather Service.
This comes after a winter that was actually snowier than usual overall, with 43.5 inches recorded — just none of it piling up in March.
👑 Referral royalty: Big thanks to Jack Arenas (Founder Collective), Juan Manuel Barrero (Lazo), and Prerna Kumari (Microsoft) for referring subscribers to the Tech:NYC Digest this week! Join them and win swag by participating in our referral program — details at the end of this email.
In other reading:
Piece of American Revolution still stands in New York's oldest fence (ABC New York)
How to donate clothes and textiles in NYC — and where it all goes (The CITY)
April brings these eight adventurous concerts to New York City (Gothamist)
Lights, Camera, AI: What the Runway AI Summit Told Us About the Creative Economy
If New York is the applied AI capital, the Runway AI Summit today made a strong case that it may also be the place where creative AI gets real. 🤖
Held in Chelsea, the Summit brought together leaders from Runway, Adobe, NVIDIA, Paramount, Lucasfilm, Spotify, Block, Electronic Arts, and more to talk about a big shift: AI moving to real workflows.
🎬 From sci-fi to software stack: Cristóbal Valenzuela, co-founder and co-CEO of Runway (a Tech:NYC member!) set the tone, telling the crowd: “AI is really changing how we work, how we create, how we build, and even how we think about ourselves, and how we as humans think about our creative minds, and how we should collaborate and create with machines as well.”
He admitted the industry is still figuring out how to adapt as things move quickly.
🧠 Human taste still runs the show: Adobe’s Hannah Elsakr put it plainly: The leaders winning with AI “are not the ones [with] the most GPUs,” but those who elevate “human judgment, taste, and creative.”
Dave Clark of Promise AI reiterated that point: “The artist is the center of every project. AI doesn’t decide what gets made… Artists do.”
Kathleen Kennedy of Lucasfilm made the filmmaker’s version of the same case, calling storytelling “technology in the hands of talent.”
⚙️ The hard part is not the wow: Runway’s Eddy Lee said, “every single one” of the AI demos works, “but that’s the problem.” The real challenge for AI operators and developers comes after the applause.
His advice: Go narrow and allow teams to accept failure as part of the process.
🗽 The New York angle: This all feels especially resonant here in Gotham. NYC already has 2,000+ AI startups, 40,000 AI-ready workers, and a tech ecosystem built around media, advertising, design, finance, and culture.
In other words: the exact industries represented on stage.
👉 The takeaway: New York is building the AI workflows, talent base, and business models that could define creative AI.
In other reading:
We’re going back to the moon! Here’s how to watch (Fast Company)
One AI isn’t enough anymore (Axios)
To lure top AI talent, startups are turning to cold hard cash (Wall Street Journal)
Welcome to our weekly jobs section, where we spotlight a selection of the NYC tech jobs from Tech:NYC’s Jobs Board — all recently posted. 🔥
Today, we’re highlighting a few product-focused roles:
Senior Director, Data Product Management — MongoDB ($168k-$330k / year + equity): You’ll own and communicate a compelling, multi-year product vision and strategy for MongoDB’s internal data products. Apply here.
Agent Product Manager — Rain ($147,700-$200k / year + equity): You’ll serve as the connective tissue between Rain’s business challenges and the technology solutions that solve them. Apply here.
Senior Product Designer— Traba ($130k-$165k / year + equity): You’ll rapidly prototype designs to facilitate team evaluation and develop and refine user experiences within their mobile and web applications. Apply here.
Create Wellness, an NYC-based maker of creatine gummies, raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Alliance Consumer Growth and Impact Capital, with participation from Unilever Ventures.
Crosby, an NYC-based maker of legal agents, raised $60 million in Series B funding. Lux Capital and Index Ventures led the round, joined by Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil, Bain Capital Ventures, and 01 Advisors.
Jimini Health, an NYC-based developer of AI infrastructure designed for large behavioral health providers, raised $17 million in seed funding from M13, Town Hall Ventures, LionBird, Zetta Venture Partners, and OneMind.
Kestra, an NYC-based workflow orchestration startup, raised $25 million in Series A funding. RTP Global led the round, joined by Alven, ISAI, and Axeleo.
Qodo, an NYC-based AI code review and governance platform, raised $70 million in Series B funding. Qumra Capital led the round and was joined by Maor Ventures, Phoenix Capital Partners, S Ventures, Square Peg, Susa Ventures, TLV Partners, and others.
Featured events:
⭐ April 8: Brand Discovery and Engagement in the age of AI and AEO with Perpetual and Webflow, a conversation on AI, Answer Engine Optimization, and the future of brand discovery, featuring a keynote from Webflow’s Guy Yalif, a fireside chat, and networking with NYC digital leaders. Register here.
⭐ April 6-9: HumanX’s conference for AI leaders in San Francisco, uniting 6,500+ leaders, builders, and investors driving real transformation. Discover cutting-edge innovations and accelerate your impact through networking opportunities. Register here with promo code HX26P_TECHNYC to get $$$ off your pass.
Other great events:
March 30-April 1: Visualizing Data with the MTA, an open house to learn about NYC open data and explore public-interest digital storytelling. Register here.
April 2: How To Raise VC Like A Pro, a hands-on workshop on how to find VCs and how to improve your slide deck, pitch, and outreach. Register here.
April 2: Hockey Game for Finance Leaders, featuring the Rangers vs. Canadiens. Register here.
April 2: Building the American Century, part of Deep Tech Week, featuring fireside chats with David Ulevitch, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and co-leader of the American Dynamism practice, alongside key members of the team. Moderated by Hyperstition Incorporated’s Andrew Cote. Register here.
April 3: Tech Pickleball NYC, a growing community of over 2000 members who gather on Friday mornings for coffee, bagels, pickleball and good vibes. Register here.
April 6: Tech Pizza Party, for technologists to network and enjoy some pizza. Register here.
April 14: Govtech Happy Hour, for govtech founders and operators, civil servants past and present, and policy enthusiasts. Register here.
April 14: April Nexus Cocktail Mixer, an executive mixer designed for leaders driving operations, technology, and growth at top brands and retailers. Register here.
April 15: Founder Breakfast, a curated breakfast for VC-backed founders, ideally those who have raised a Seed round. Register here.
April 16: Construction Robotics Summit: From Dirt to Data, bringing together the builders, technologists, and decision-makers advancing robotics across the built environment. Register here.
April 17: Founder Breakfast, a curated breakfast for VC-backed founders, ideally at Seed and Series A building in AI. Register here.
April 20: Communicating Your Value with Confidence, an interactive workshop where you’ll learn a practical, repeatable approach to communicating your value with clarity and confidence. Register here.
April 28: Rillet Recon, a full-day program on the future of AI-native finance. Register here.
April 30: The Executive Night, a gathering of ~30 Series A+ founders and investors. Register here.
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