Tuesday, September 16, 2025

September 16, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Tuesday, September 16, 2025 

In today’s digest, register to vote, Central Park or Perk?, and athletes 🤝 tech investments.

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  • Today is National Voter Registration Day! 🗳️ The NYC general election is coming up on Nov. 4, and there are in-person registration events happening throughout the city today through this evening. (PIX 11)

    • To vote in the general election, residents must mail their applications to the Board of Elections by Oct. 25. 

    • New Yorkers can also register in person at a BOE office or online through the DMV or NYC’s online voter registration system.

    • Check out the full list of in-person registration events in NYC here.

  • Qualifying NYC senior citizens now have access to one-on-one support and education about computers and more thanks to a city-run program called “Neighborhood Tech Help.” 🤝 (News 12 The Bronx)

    • Almost one-third of senior citizens do not own a computer or tablet, mostly because they would need help with it, according to the New York City Department for the Aging.

  • All your coffee needs are now covered, with the help of a few “Friends.” 😉 The hitcom’s go-to coffee shop, Central Perk, will open its first permanent location in Times Square this fall. (Variety)

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In other reading:

Forget sneaker deals. Today’s athletes are building tech portfolios as strategically as they build game plans. 

Here's what's happening: Athletes are increasingly building their investment portfolios as they consider their “second acts” post their professional sports careers.  

🏈 From running back to Ramp backer: Former Giants star Saquon Barkley has quietly built a sharp portfolio of startups.

  • He’s invested a portion of his earnings so far — a mix of his rookie contract and endorsement income — across more than 10 private startups, including (Tech:NYC member) Ramp. 

  • He’s also a limited partner in funds including Founders Fund, Thrive Capital, Silver Point Capital, and Multicoin Capital.

  • His approach is long-term, trying to build “generational wealth” that can outlive his football career.

And Saquon is not alone. At last week’s Primary NYC Summit, star athletes Serena Williams and Larry Fitzgerald spoke about their venture careers.

🎾 Serving up venture capital: Tennis star Serena Williams has grown Serena Ventures into a $111 million fund with stakes in 16 unicorns.

  • The firm’s investments span cosmetics, media, and professional sports teams.

  • But her name can only get her so far: “Founders are getting more choosy,” she told Business Insider.

🏟️ Catching dollars: Former NFL wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald has also entered the investment group chat.

  • He backs global companies and sports orgs, because, as he said, sports transcends race and politics.

🗽 Why this matters for NYC: There’s a reason these convos are happening right here in Gotham. We’ve got:

  • Proximity to Wall Street and venture capital.

  • Booming sectors like fintech, media, and applied AI.

  • Access to early-stage founders and high-growth opportunities.

In other reading:

  • Conceivable Life Sciences, an NYC-based developer of automated IVF labs, raised $50 million in Series A funding. Advance Venture Partners led the round, joined by Artis Ventures, Stride, and ACME.

  • Tabs, an NYC-based developer of AI agents for finance teams, raised $55 million in Series B funding. Lightspeed led the round, joined by General Catalyst, Primary Venture Partners, and World Innovation Lab. 

  • UiAgent, an NYC-based developer of AI agents for large accounting firms, raised $4.6 million in seed funding led by Marathon Management Partners.

  • September 15-18: The 11th annual Fast Company Innovation Festival, convening thousands of business leaders, makers, and innovators for conversation, networking, activations, and concrete takeaways. Register here.

  • September 17: SportsTech Ice Cream Social, where you can connect with fellow founders, investors, and operators over scoops, sprinkles, and good vibes all around. Register here.

  • September 17: Startup Brand Strategy + Design Workshop, giving you the end-to-end brand strategy to guide decisions, from fundraising to go-to-market, content, and beyond. Register here.

  • September 17: Travel Tech's NYC Start-Up Founder Happy Hour, a chance to meet fellow founders and innovators, and plug into the NYC travel tech community. Register here.

  • September 18: NYC AI Demos, a series collab between Tech:NYC, Pensar AI, and the Refinery at Domino, this month featuring live demos from OpenAI, Priceline, Daydream, Tabs, Lumos, Northflank, and AngelList. Register here. 

  • September 18: Brderless’ September Founder Breakfast, a private breakfast for a curated group of early-stage founders, especially those who are scaling and looking for international hiring. Register here.

  • September 18-20: The Atlantic Festival relocates to NYC with its screenings, book talks, and more with influential thinkers including Scott Galloway, Keri Russell, Mark Cuban, H.R. McMaster, Robert Downey Jr., Richard Ayoade, David Letterman, Dr. Becky Kennedy, Tom Hanks, and others. Register with promo code TECHNYC20 for 20% off one-day passes here.

  • September 23: Deep Tech Forum + Startup Showcase in NYC, bringing together deep tech startups from across the globe alongside corporate innovation leaders, investors, and ecosystem partners. Register with promo code TECHNYC for a 20% discount here.

  • September 24: Demo Night, an AI Review event featuring demos from some of the more compelling AI applications being built in New York today. Register here.

  • September 24: ​The First 10 Breakfast Series, bringing together founders, VCs, and operators for candid, unfiltered conversations about the first 10 hires, customers, decisions, and lessons that make or break a company. Register here.

  • September 25: 11th Annual Bloomberg-Columbia Machine Learning in Finance Conference 2025, with talks by international practitioners and academics on AI applications in finance including asset pricing models, neural SDEs, market sentiment analysis, and fairness in financial ML. Register here.

  • September 25: NYC Climate Week — Scaling Solutions with Fortune 100, exploring how Fortune 500 companies are aligning climate goals with business strategy, leveraging data to drive accountability, and empowering next-gen solutions to scale through meaningful partnerships. Register here.

  • September 29: From Demos to Durable AI: A Fireside Chat with Arize’s Aman Khan, who will share how to turn AI experiments into dependable products. Register here.

  • October 7: Information Security Summit, for public sector leaders, cybersecurity pros, and tech experts committed to safeguarding New York’s state and local government operations. Register with promo code TECHNYC for a 25% discount here.

  • October 8: Speed Pitching: 1:1 Meetings With Investors, for AI-powered startups with market-ready MVP or revenue generating, preferably with one underrepresented founder, pre-seed to Series A. Register with promo code TechNYC20 for a 20% discount here.

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