Wednesday, February 4, 2026

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul has tapped former City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to run as her No. 2 in the 2026 governor’s race. 🗽 (New York Times)

As the nurses strike in NYC enters week four, here’s where things stand, including how long the negotiating parties can hold out, what it will take to get the 15,000 striking nurses back to work, and what this all could mean for your next hospital visit. 🏥 (Gothamist)

A Doberman named Penny strutted her way to Best in Show at the 150th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show last night at MSG. And yes, we’re linking you to dog show coverage by Vogue. 🏆 (Vogue)

Five top tables: The best restaurants in New York City right now (Bloomberg)

The dueling ‘free grocery’ stunts from Polymarket and Kalshi in NYC (Business Insider)

Brace for ‘dangerously low’ wind chills, New Yorkers — and no relief until next week (Gothamist)

Global digital health funding climbed 19% year-over-year to $22.3 billion, marking the second straight year of growth. 

Deal count fell 9%, but the data suggests this is a concentration, not a pullback.

The average deal size jumped 29% to $20.3 million. 

Nearly half of all funding (44%) went to mega-rounds of $100 million+. 

The U.S. captured 71% of global digital health funding ($15.8 billion), with median deal sizes jumping 33%. 

126 NYC-based healthcare companies raised $4.8 billion in 2025, a 20% increase over 2024. 

Late-stage rounds made up 71% of NYC funding, signaling investor preference for scaled, revenue-generating platforms. 

Every one of the 14 new digital health unicorns minted in 2025 uses AI at its core — spanning drug discovery, clinical documentation, diagnostics, and provider tools. 

Investors are clearly rewarding proprietary data, defensible models, and real clinical adoption. 

Nearly a quarter targeted AI-first companies as incumbents buy, rather than build, advanced models and datasets.

Here’s what your fellow venture capitalists are getting paid (Newcomer)

Analyze your pickleball video with Gemini 3 Pro (Google/YouTube)

AI finds hundreds of never-before-seen ‘cosmic anomalies’ in old Hubble Telescope images (Space)

CloudForge, an NYC-based metals supply chain startup, raised $3.95 million from Zero Infinity Partners, Resolute Ventures, and Bienville Capital.

ElevenLabs, the leader in AI voice generation, raised $500 million with Sequoia Capital leading the round with participation from existing backers Andreessen Horowitz and Iconiq, as well as new investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Evantic Capital, and Bond. This comes on the heels of announcing their commitment to building and growing in New York City.

ORION Security, an NYC- and Tel Aviv, Israel-based AI-native data security company, raised $32 million in Series A funding. Norwest led the round and was joined by IBM and existing investors.

Applications are now open for the eighth annual Transit Tech Lab, an accelerated innovation program founded by the Partnership Fund for New York City and the MTA to improve public transit in the NY metro area. This year’s Lab is seeking tech companies with solutions that can help transit agencies advance infrastructure systems or modernize data and operational workflows. Apply here by February 27 and attend an info session on February 5.

The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce’s Tech to Table, a new six-week accelerator designed specifically for local entrepreneurs in the food business. Apply here by February 13.

Tech:NYC is proud to partner with Company Ventures, Blackstone LaunchPad, NYCEDC, and the Zahn Innovation Center at CCNY to deliver the NYC Startup Internship Program for Summer 2026. This 10-week program connects high-potential NYC students with early-stage tech companies for paid, meaningful work experience while building equitable pathways into our industry. Apply to host an intern here by February 20.

The Startup Station’s six-week virtual Fundraising Bootcamp teaches MBA-level finance for founders with no prior experience, helps you craft your financial story like a CFO, create investor-grade financials, and approach fundraising through an investor’s lens with guidance from a veteran investor. Apply here by February 23 and use promo code OPENVC400! to save $400. 

Downtown Brooklyn Partnership’s Make It in Brooklyn Ag Tech Pitch Contest, seeking innovative startups that develop cutting-edge technologies to address critical challenges in modern agriculture — from precision farming and crop monitoring to sustainable irrigation, soil health management, and farm automation. Apply here by February 28.

Element 46 Tech Accelerator, a Westchester County program for tech startups, is accepting applications for its spring 2026 cohort. Applications are viewed on a rolling basis until March 6. Apply here.

Justice Through Code is recruiting tech mentors to support justice-impacted Fellows breaking into the AI economy. Commitment is ~1-2 hours/month virtually from February-June 2026. 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.

Downtown Brooklyn Partnership’s Living Lab is seeking innovative technologies that address operational and quality-of-life challenges in urban parks and public spaces. Selected participants will use DBP-operated streets and plazas as real-world testing grounds for their technologies. 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.