Tuesday, September 2, 2025

September 02, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes

Tuesday, September 2, 2025 

We’re back! 

  • In today’s digest, back-to-school vaccine news, the U.S. Open serves up some great grub, and the summer AI turned pretty. 💅

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  • The U.S. Open is in its final week as the tennis tournament runs until Sunday, Sept. 7, with quarterfinal matches in the singles competition starting today. 🎾 (New York Times)

  • The FDA recently approved updated Covid vaccines last week for the fall while limiting eligibility, with adults 65 years or older or those with underlying medical conditions the only people able to get the vaccines. 💉 (New York Times)

    • This has led patients to question whether they will be able to get vaccinated at the same time as they flood NYC medical practices with reports of the telltale signs of Covid. 

    • And as students head back to school this week, here’s what to know about vaccines in NY. 

  • It’s apple picking season, folks! 🍎 Here are some of the best apple picking farms located just outside of NYC. (amNY)

👑 Referral royalty: Big thanks to Ivan Freaner, Lane Bodian, and Mary Huang 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:

  • A store with 124 free microwaves and a pair of Louboutins (Curbed)

  • The multi-billion effort to stop New York from going underwater (City & State)

  • Central Park's 'Furever Tree' removed after it began to show signs of stress and wear (Gothamist)

If this summer had a theme in New York’s tech scene, it was undeniably AI, AI, and more AI. 🤖

  • With record-breaking funding rounds, major corporate expansions, and headline-grabbing product launches, NYC added more weight to its case as the epicenter of applied AI. 

Now that we’re past Labor Day, let’s recap the biggest AI moments of Summer ’25:

🚀 Big money, big momentum: 

  • $1.86 billion raised in July alone — NYC startups brought in 21.6% of all U.S. VC funding, according to PitchBook.

  • Runway, a leader in generative media (and Tech:NYC member!), raised $308 million in Series D funding at a $3 billion+ valuation.

  • $100 million+ club: NYC-based tech companies Dataminr, Clay, and Eight Sleep each closed $100 million+ rounds this summer, fueling real-time intelligence, go-to-market AI, and even sleep optimization.

🗽 The NYC AI advantage: According to new research from Tech:NYC and Accenture:

  • In just one year, AI adoption by NYC companies jumped from 55% to 78%, with AI-related job postings up 120%. 📈

  • Nearly every executive surveyed (99%) plans to hire more AI talent in the next 12 months. 💪

  • Over the last 12 months, 84% of execs have already upskilled employees into AI roles, and 91% say doing so improves retention. 🧠

🏢 Institutional power plays: AI is popping up everywhere in NYC. 

Bottom line: This summer was both a hot one and a foundational one. NYC’s AI ecosystem is here, it’s leading, and it’s defining what responsible, applied AI looks like in the real world.

Be part of the convo: Join us at our next NYC AI Demos event on Sept. 18, featuring demos from leading AI companies across the city. Stay tuned for speaker announcements coming this week! Register here.

In other reading:

  • Your boss doesn’t have time to talk to you (Wall Street Journal)

  • This study shows soft skills are better for boosting your career as AI arrives (Inc.)

  • How is artificial intelligence affecting job searches? (CBS News)

  • ALIGNMT AI, an NYC-based AI compliance platform for health care, raised $6.5 million in seed funding. AIX Ventures led the round and was joined by Sancus Ventures, Alumni Ventures, and Dent Capital.

  • Boost My School, an NYC-based fundraising platform for K-12 schools, raised $10 million. High Alpha led, joined by Far Out VC, Ground Game, and Allos Ventures.

  • Flex, an NYC-based HSA and FSA payment service provider, raised $15 million in Series A funding. First Round and Core VC led, joined by Rethink Impact, Cameron Ventures, YC, and Liquid2.

  • InstaLILY, an NYC-based AI assistant for industrials, raised $25 million. Insight Partners led, joined by Perceptive Ventures and Marvin Ventures.

  • Nauta, an NYC-based AI logistics orchestration startup, raised $7 million in seed funding. Construct Capital and Predictive led the round, with participation from Rappi CEO Simón Borrero, RemoteHQ founder Waikit Lau, Windmar Energy CEO Juan Jose Gonzales, and Soriana.

  • Predoc, an NYC-based medical records management automation startup, raised $30 million in seed and Series A funding. Base10 Partners led, joined by Northzone, Eniac, and Era Ventures.

  • Rain, an NYC-based stablecoin infrastructure platform for enterprises, raised $58 million in Series B funding. Sapphire Ventures led the round and was joined by Dragonfly, Galaxy Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, Samsung Next, Lightspeed, and Norwest.

  • Wisdom, an NYC-based dental revenue cycle management platform, raised $21 million in Series A funding. Permanent Capital Ventures led the round and was joined by Aquiline and Juxtapose.

  • September 8: House of Scale, a day ​designed to connect diverse founders with traction (early stage to series B) with active investors, industry experts, and proven entrepreneurs. Register here.

  • September 8: Make It in Brooklyn Meetup: Design + Technology Panel, a discussion on how design-driven innovation is shaping the future of product development, and how products are conceived, prototyped, and launched. Register here.

  • September 9-10: New York Venture Summit, featuring 220+ leading VCs speaking on moderated panels and judging startup pitches, and 180+ innovators across AI, cleantech, fintech, medtech, life sciences, and more. Register with promo code early200 for $200 off a ticket here. 

  • September 10: New York Developer & Lawmaker Roundtable, a discussion on key policy issues impacting app development today,  including data privacy, artificial intelligence, online age verification, and more. Register here.

  • September 10: NYC Summit, Primary’s annual invite-only conference, bringing together 2,000 top founders, VCs, and LPs. This year’s speakers include Julie Samuels (Tech:NYC), Larry Fitzgerald (Arizona Cardinals), David Karp (Tumblr), Toyin Ajayi (Cityblock Health), Lina Khan (FTC), Kareem Amin (Clay), and more. Apply to attend here.

  • September 11: Expanding the Tech Corridor: U.S.–Europe Innovation, a tech networking event connecting U.S. innovators with Europe's top innovation region, Baden-Württemberg. Register here.

  • September 11-12: AI, Impact, Investing, & Family Office Summit, a curated circle of family offices, other direct investors, institutional investors, and AI founders for a two-day deal making summit. 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: 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 19: Vibe Coding for VCs, ​a crash course for venture investors to move from talking about AI to building with it. Register 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 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 for early rates here. 

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