Wednesday, December 17, 2025

It’s flu season, New York. 🤒 More than 64,000 New Yorkers have caught the flu this season, with confirmed cases up 29% between the last week of November and the first week of December. Here’s a guide for how to avoid catching the flu this year (in addition to getting the flu shot), and what to do if someone in your household gets sick. (Gothamist)

Turnstile hoppers, your days are numbered: Nearly every subway turnstile in New York City will soon be fitted with the metal shark-like fins and plastic paddles designed to make it harder to skip the fare. 🚂 (Gothamist)

Zohran Mamdani may have won the mayor’s race, but can you guess which New York Knick got write-in votes for New York City mayor? What about which late-night talk show host? Check out this quiz on which of these pairs garnered more write-in votes for mayor. 🗳️ (City & State)

Your subway station may finally get an elevator (Curbed)

With prices soaring, can New York survive as a mecca for the arts? (New York Times)

Nasdaq seeks to extend trading hours, as Wall Street gears up for 24/7 move (Reuters)

In 2025, e-commerce will account for 20.5% of worldwide retail sales, and that share is projected to keep growing. 

E-commerce is one of the fastest-growing retail subsectors in NYC, with the city now home to 300+ ecom startups.

From curated experiences to video-first commerce and corporate gifting tools, NYC founders are rethinking how to connect people through experiences, products, and platforms. 🧠

With millions of residents and visitors, New York offers a real-world testing ground for modern gifting at scale. 🗽

“We live in a city of 8 million people with millions visiting daily. It’s integral to get out there, meet people, and build your formal and informal networks to create the ‘prepared luck’ that’s needed to succeed.”

“New York rewards momentum. Don’t wait for perfect timing — move, iterate, and talk to people, and the city will open doors you didn’t know existed.”

“The city is the original marketplace of cultures. If democratizing social commerce works here it works anywhere.”

“Opt for in-person meetings when you can. In NYC, your next customer is probably a subway ride away.”

The jobs where people are using AI the most (Axios) 

In AI boom, venture capital firms are raising loads more money (New York Times)

As smaller VC firms build AI tools to compete, founders should (mostly) benefit (Upstarts Media)

DataLane, an NYC-based identity platform for local businesses, raised $22.5 million in Series A funding. Amplify Partners led the round and was joined by others.

Nanit, an NYC-based baby monitor developer, raised $50 million. Springcoast Partners led the round, joined by Upfront Ventures and JVP.

New York City Economic Development Corporation is re-launching the Greenlight Innovation Fund, a Request for Proposals to provide City capital funding for the development of facilities in New York City that support the Green Economy, Life Sciences, Advanced Technology and Creative Industries. Submit your proposals by December 19 here.

Decoded Futures’ AI Learning Cohort, a no-cost, eight-week program designed to help NYC-based nonprofits learn how to use AI to scale their impact. Apply by December 21 here. Apply to volunteer as a technologist here.

New York City Economic Development Corporation’s Founder Fellowship, an accelerator program designed to improve access to capital and networks for underrepresented founders across all tech-enabled sectors. Apply by December 31 here.

The PantryLink Challenge is calling on innovators and technologists to reimagine emergency food assistance in NYC. The NYC Department of Social Services and the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy is seeking tech-enabled solutions to strengthen the city’s emergency food network and reach thousands of households. Learn more here and submit your proposal by January 26. Interested applicants can also join a webinar on January 13 for more details.

New York City Economic Development Corporation has launched a Request for Applications for the NYC Catalyst Fund II, an investment fund aiming to create social and environmental impact, fuel economic growth and development in New York City, and generate income for NYCEDC. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis across several submission deadlines, beginning on January 30, 2026 here.

The New York Fashion Tech Lab has announced its 2026 Collective, for women-led, B2B, retail tech startups. Apply 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.

Company Ventures’ Grand Central Tech Residency’s spring 2026 cohort, a 12-month residency program for founders and teams looking to build in-person in NYC. Apply here.

Company Ventures is hosting AI Review events, a year-long conversation series on the current and future state of AI. Submit your AI-related event for consideration here.

Union Square Ventures’ “usvwork” — a casual coworking day once a month for founders and builders in NYC. Apply here.

Zero Irving — the Union Square tech hub home to Civic Hall — is relaunching its Workforce Development Project Fund, which awards $200,000 annually for programs that expand tech access and economic mobility for underrepresented New Yorkers, especially those in Manhattan Community District 3 (Lower East Side, East Village, Chinatown). Submit your proposal here.