Wednesday, April 1, 2026
Happy Passover to all who celebrate!
In today’s digest, outdoor dining is back, the best NYC pranks, and a deep dive into deep tech. 🧑💻
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Your reservation list is about to get longer. NYC’s restaurant scene just racked up a fresh round of James Beard nominations, with a number of spots and chefs advancing past the semifinals. 🍝 (Time Out New York)
Five chefs are now finalists for Best Chef in New York, and spots like Four Horsemen (Outstanding Restaurant) and Lei (Best New Restaurant) are still in the running.
Winners are set to be announced June 15 in Chicago.
In other NYC food news, roadway outdoor dining returns to NYC today under the city’s Dining Out program. 🌞 (CBS News)
Restaurants can once again put tables in the street through November 29, with about 1,800 setups eligible under the program.
The city is also trying to make the system less cumbersome, even as complaints about space, parking, and compliance rules are very much still on the menu.
NYC launched a “Get Online NYC” awareness campaign today, along with a new online tool to help New Yorkers to find digital resources. 🧑💻 (StateScoop)
The tool helps New Yorkers access free Wi-Fi, access to computers, technology classes, and tech help at 450+ locations across the city.
In other reading:
The three big questions delaying New York’s budget (New York Times)
AI firm Agentio moves to Manhattan with 20K office lease (Crain’s New York Business)
New York City's greatest pranks, from fantastical parades to a phony Mets star (Gothamist)
Diving Deep Into Deep Tech
It’s Deep Tech Week here in New York City, so what better time to dive deep into the sector?
Capital-intensive technologies — from agentic AI to quantum computing — are attracting serious capital and attention.
Here’s what to know. 👇
🌱 Growing and growing: The global deep tech market hit an estimated $154.3 billion in 2025, and is projected to grow to $501.2 billion by 2033.
North America had the largest revenue share of the global deep tech market with 35.2% in 2025.
💸 Investors are already leaning in: VC deal value for NYC robotics startups hit $200 million across 22 deals last year, up from $50 million and 12 deals in 2024, according to PitchBook data.
It’s no surprise then that deep tech news, events, and opportunities are popping up across the city:
The Deep Tech New York conference held its inaugural event in January, packing Newlab with hundreds of deep tech founders, scientists, investors, and technologists.
Radical AI, a scientific research and development company focused on discovering novel inorganic materials, recently established New York’s first fully autonomous materials science laboratory at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
There are dozens of deep tech events happening throughout the city this week as part of the de-centralized Deep Tech Week conference.
⚛️ Quantum and agentic AI are scaling: BCG reports that 35% of companies are already using agentic AI and 44% planning to adopt it soon.
Quantum computing now spans 22,900 companies globally and more than 1.8 million workers.
Long-term projections suggest tens of billions in annual revenue as commercialization ramps over the next decade.
⚠️ But wait: Deep tech comes with real constraints.
These sectors require long R&D cycles, high capital investment, and specialized talent, which slows how quickly breakthroughs turn into scalable businesses.
🌍 The big picture: Deep tech is shaping up to be a foundational layer of infrastructure that will support the next era of economic growth.
With its position as a top global hub and strengths in finance, AI, and applied research, New York is well positioned to capture a meaningful share of this next wave.
“It wasn’t viable to start a deep tech hardware company here [in New York] 10 years ago,” said Pratap Ranade, founder and CEO of Arena AI, a New York-based startup that builds AI to accelerate hardware innovation. “That has changed.”
In other reading:
Slack adds 30 AI features to Slackbot (Venture Beat)
You can finally change the goofy Gmail address you chose years ago (Ars Technica)
What is Artemis II? The NASA mission to fly astronauts around the moon (Wall Street Journal)
OpenFX, an NYC-based foreign exchange infrastructure company, raised $94 million in Series A funding from Accel, Atomico, Lightspeed Faction, M13, Northzone, and Pantera.
Governor Hochul has launched EXPRESS NY, a statewide effort to tackle outdated or onerous regulations that stand in the way of delivering for New Yorkers. The state is soliciting ideas from stakeholders across New York on opportunities to cut red tape and improve government delivery. Submit proposals and recommendations here by April 3.
Fierce Foundry Female Founder Investment Readiness Bootcamp, a five-week program designed for founders gearing up to fundraise and go-to-market. Apply here by April 3.
Welcome to Chinatown, (a Tech:NYC Decoded Futures alum!) is hosting its first-ever small business AI hackathon on April 23-24, bringing together problem-solvers to build automation tools that free up time for NYC’s small business owners. Apply here by April 13.
Blue Ridge Labs’ Founder Fellowship helps early-stage founders move from idea to MVP through mentorship, research, and hands-on support. Apply here by May 3.
The Tech Week team has a list of companies open to co-hosting events in their offices/venues for NY and Boston Tech Week, a great way to reach customers, find co-hosts for Tech Week events, and increase your footprint at Tech Week. Apply to be a venue partner here.
CUNY 2x Tech’s NYC Tech Talent Pipeline Residency Program, connecting high-potential Computer Systems Technology students with NYC-based employers for 10-week, full-time internships focused on software engineering and data analytics. Employers, express interest here.
HubSpot’s How You Hustle, where you and your business could be featured and receive free press exposure to their 1.5 million subscribers. Apply here.
Downtown Brooklyn Partnership’s Living Lab is seeking innovative technologies that address operational and quality-of-life challenges in urban parks and public spaces. Participants will use DBP-operated streets and plazas as real-world testing grounds for their technologies. Apply here.
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