Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has named NYC’s first-ever “World Cup Czar.” Maya Handa, Mayor Mamdani’s former campaign manager, will coordinate city agencies and private partners for the FIFA World Cup, which comes to the NY/NJ region this summer. ⚽ (FOX New York) 

Unfortunate news for our Albany fam: Amtrak has pulled the plug on Metro-North’s planned Hudson Valley expansion, at least for now. Instead of the previously announced Metro-North expansion to Albany, Amtrak will restore its Empire Service in early March after East River Tunnel repairs. 🚆 (Streetsblog)

In other transit news, NYC Ferry service has been suspended as floating ice has taken over the rivers (we’ll never let you go, though, Jack). 🚢 (NBC News)

Researchers at NYU and the University of Florida use AI to reverse engineer molecules (Semafor)

NYC’s next hottest reservation is this Indian London import (Eater) 

AI firm ElevenLabs takes 12K SF at KPG Funds’ 40 Crosby Street (Commercial Observer)

“New York, in the Northeast corridor and nearby area, has quickly become a new and very, very important deep tech hub for the U.S. and for the world.” 🗽

“The whole purpose of Newlab was to create a center of gravity for the type of founders that are in this room, that are in our building.”

“New York offers a lot outside of tech,” he said. “For people that are sop inside tech everyday, being able to go to Broadway, or go to a sporting event or even to the beach or Central Park is super impactful.”

Robots that imagine themselves: Columbia’s Hod Lipson showed off a learning robot and closed with a simple provocation: “Yes, machines are learning to imagine themselves.” 💭

Deep tech as the next trillion-dollar bet: AlleyCorp’s Abe Murray reminded investors why they’re here: “We're pretty sure the first trillion-dollar company will all have been deep tech companies, hardware companies, companies that took something interesting on the edge of what's possible and made it work.” 💰

A stonecraft renaissance: NYC-based Monumental Labs made the case that robots can give cities their ornament back, sketching a “stone craft Renaissance using robotics.” 🪨

VC deal value for NYC robotics startups hit $200 million across 22 deals in 2025, up from $50 million and 12 deals in 2024, according to PitchBook data.

Many of those companies are exactly the kinds of teams now clustering at places like Newlab and across the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Scientists launch AI DinoTracker app that identifies dinosaur footprints (The Guardian)

A growing share of seed and Series A funding is going to giant rounds (Crunchbase News)

Got an AI skill? Now you can prove it on LinkedIn (Fast Company)

Adaptive6, an NYC-based provider of cloud cost governance solutions, raised $28 million in Series A funding. USVP led, joined by New Era Capital Partners, Forgepoint Capital, Pitango VC, and Vertex Ventures.

BoldVoice, an NYC-based AI-powered voice coaching platform for non-native English speakers, raised $21 million in Series A funding. Matrix led the round and was joined by Flybridge, Xfund, Corazon Capital, AlumniVentures, Umami Capital, and Y Combinator.

Limy, an NYC-based platform designed to help companies surface in AI search, raised $10 million in seed funding. Flybridge led the round and was joined by a16z speedrun and others.

Rogo, an NYC-based maker of AI agents for dealmakers and investors, raised $75 million in Series C funding at a $750 million valuation. Sequoia Capital led the round, joined by JPMorgan, Thrive Capital, and Khosla Ventures.

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 here.

The South Park Commons Founder Fellowship, helping teams that aim to build frontier technology companies start with targeted support and capital. Apply by February 1 here.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.