Tuesday, September 30, 2025

September 30, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Tuesday, September 30, 2025 

In today’s digest, the era of agentic AI, NYC joggers boost the economy, and a new tool for school. 🪛

Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

  • Which NYC schools have or lack resources? There’s now a tool for that. In her first “State of Our Schools” address, Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos unveiled a dashboard tool tracking everything from chronic absenteeism to expanded mental health trainings and teacher hiring. 📚 (Chalkbeat New York)

    • Parents can now see district-level progress across 37 topics — a move Chancellor Aviles-Ramos says will make the system operate more openly.

    • Check out the dashboard here.

  • 34th Street is going car-light. By year’s end, Manhattan’s 34th Street will transform into a busway, limiting car traffic between Third and Ninth Avenues from 6am-10 pm. 🚌 (NY Daily News)

    • The plan mirrors the success of 14th Street’s busway, which boosted bus speeds back in 2019.

  • Backyard and basement apartments are (legally) here. Homeowners can now apply to add accessory dwelling units (ADUs) — think backyard cottages, basement flats, or attic apartments — under the City of Yes zoning overhaul. 🏠 (Crain’s New York Business).

    • Each unit is capped at 800 sq. ft. and must be on the same lot as the owner’s home.

    • Officials say ADUs could unlock thousands of new homes while giving middle-class homeowners extra rental income.


In other reading:

The Next Era of AI in NY

The age of agentic AI has arrived and NYC is ready to lead. 🗽

What’s 🆕: HumanX just released its State of AI report. Researchers took transcripts from hundreds of HumanX 2025 sessions and extracted the most pressing challenges, opportunities, and contradictions facing AI and business leaders today.

One takeaway: It’s the era of agents — with autonomous, agentic AI moving from theory to real-world use cases. 

  • There were over 1,000 mentions of “agents” and “agentic” across sessions, showing this is where the industry’s focus is heading.

  • Speakers also predicted that by 2028, one-third of enterprise applications will be agentic AI-powered, with 15% of decisions made autonomously.

  • Trust was a recurring theme: Leaders warned that without responsible design, adoption could stall despite rapid innovation.

  • Open source AI (mentioned 285 times) is now a mainstream strategic priority.

📍 The NYC angle: New York is positioned well for this next AI era tour.

Fortune just released its inaugural AIQ 50, which benchmarks how prepared companies are to adopt and scale AI. Spoiler alert: New York scored big.

📊 By the numbers: 

  • The city is home to five of the ranked companies, more than any other U.S. city.

  • The state ranked second nationally with seven companies.

  • Nine of the top 50 companies are led by female CEOs.

Consider us unsurprised: Tech:NYC’s recent report with Accenture showed that almost all (99%) of the 500 executives we surveyed plan to increase their recruitment for AI-related roles (up 20% from last year). 📈

Dig deeper: 

In other reading:

  • A billion people need vision care. What a new Bloomberg effort will do (Forbes)

  • Sock it to the shoes: why more offices are going footwear-free (The Guardian)

  • Productivity tips from the boss (Bloomberg)

  • Confido Health, an NYC-based agentic AI platform for health care operations, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Blume Ventures led the round and was joined by Schema Ventures, Vicus Ventures, and others.

  • Flying Tulip, an NYC-based on-chain exchange, raised $200 million from Brevan Howard Digital, CoinFund, DWF, FalconX, Hypersphere, Lemniscap, Nascent, Republic Digital, Selini, Sigil Fund, Susquehanna Crypto, Tioga Capital, and Virtuals Protocol.

  • Neura Health, an NYC-based virtual neurology clinic, raised $11.4 million in Series A funding. The American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Venture Fund led the round and was joined by Norwest Venture Partners, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Esplanade Ventures, and others.

  • October 1: October Tech Rooftop Mixer, an evening of sunset views, conversations, and connections for tech founders, operators, and investors. Register here.

  • October 2: From Founder to CEO: Leading Through Growth, an evening for early-stage founders who are building fast-paced, ambitious companies — and want to lead them well. Register here.

  • October 6: Make It in Brooklyn Climate Tech Pitch Contest, where five founders will pitch to a panel of expert judges, who will evaluate each presentation based on criteria such as innovation, feasibility, market potential, and impact. Register here.

  • October 7-9: The 12th Annual TechFutures Summit, featuring hands-on workshops, keynote speakers, live podcast recordings, and networking events. Register here.

  • October 7: The Executive AI Cocktail Hour, for ​CEOs, directors, VPs, and other senior leaders running a SaaS company, agency, publishing house, or any organization that's seriously exploring what AI can do for your business. 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 7: Fall Fintech Hour, a happy hour for leaders across fintech, banking, embedded finance, and financial services. Register 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.

  • October 8: AAPI Women Incubator: Pitch Day, where 12 founders will share what they’re building and the impact they’re aiming to make across hospitality, CPG, tech, and creative services. Register here.

  • October 9: NYC Tech Poker Tournament, where up to $500 in tech prizes and the chance to meet some of NYC’s best engineers are at stake. Register here.

  • October 13: How AI is Changing the Playbook for Consumer Subscription with Phil Carter, who will share his playbook for growing consumer subscriptions and how AI is reshaping the game. Register here.

  • October 16: 5BORO Institute’s NYC Child Care Summit, a convening of leaders from across sectors in New York City to discuss the critical role that accessible, affordable child care plays in driving a healthy and thriving city, and the opportunity that business leaders and large employers have to drive policy change. RSVP by emailing [email protected]. 

  • October 23: NYC AI Demos, a series collab between Tech:NYC, Pensar AI, and the Refinery at Domino, this month featuring live demos from Tabs, Whop, Slingshot AI, Rogo, and more to be announced. Register here.

  • October 23: Tech:NYC and Crain’s Tech Summit, a day of conversations that explore how AI is transforming key industries — from reshaping real estate tools and bedside care to revolutionizing financial strategies and raising urgent legal considerations. Register with promo code FRIENDSOFTECHNYC for a 15% discount here.

Daily Digest Rewards 🎁 

Treat yourself: Send subscribers our way, and we’ll send swag your way.

1 Referral: Shoutout in the Digest
5 Referrals: Obviously NYC Hat
10 Referrals: Obviously NYC Tote Bag
25 Referrals: Obviously NYC Sweatshirt

You currently have 0 referrals, only 1 away from receiving a Shoutout in the Tech:NYC Digest.

Or share your personal link with others: https://technycdigest.beehiiv.com/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER

Any feedback or suggestions of things to add? Get in touch here.
Was this digest forwarded to you? Sign up to receive it directly here.