Wednesday, June 25, 2025

June 25, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 

In today’s digest, early primary results, how to stay cool in NYC, and the rise of robotics in New York. 🤖

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  • We have an answer sooner than we thought. While ranked choice votes have yet to be counted, State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani is the presumptive winner of the city’s Democratic mayoral primary, beating out former Governor Andrew Cuomo, among others. Check out how your neighborhood voted in the primary. (The CITY)

  • NYC’s congestion pricing continues to reduce traffic. Manhattan traffic delays have fallen 25% and gridlock in nearby New Jersey counties has been reduced by as much as 14%, according to a new report. 🚙 (Bloomberg)

    • Time lost due to traffic in Manhattan fell 28% from Jan. 5 (when the toll launched) through April 26, with congestion pricing accounting for a quarter of that drop.

  • The Fourth of July is coming up! 🇺🇲 NYC is the third-most popular city for Fourth of July travel, and knowing when to avoid the roads can avoid a lot of headaches. Check out this guide to the best and worst times to travel for Fourth of July. (PIX 11)

    • FYI, Wednesday, July 2 and Sunday, July 6 are expected to be the worst days on the road, especially in the afternoon.


In other reading:

  • A24's new theater will have très chic concessions from this NYC resto group (TimeOut New York)

  • Your NYC guide to staying safe, cool, and alive during the summer’s first heat wave (Gothamist)

“Dancing the robot” has a different meaning these days. 🕺💃🤖 

As the robotics industry soars, New York City is quickly becoming a hub for innovation, investment, and deployment. Robots in NYC are scrubbing skyscrapers, battling fires, and navigating our streets.  

Let’s take a look at what’s powering this momentum.

💸 Investment surge: Since 2020, VC funding for robotics in NYC hit $1.3 billion across 73 deals, including $100 million across 11 deals in 2025 alone, according to PitchBook data.

🔍 Zoom out: Robotics is booming globally, too. Statista projects $50.8 billion in worldwide revenue from the robotics market in 2025, with the U.S. expected to generate $10.45 billion of that chunk of change.

Robotics innovation in NYC:

  • 🔥 On the Frontlines: The FDNY’s high-tech firefighting squad now includes robotic dogs and drones that can venture into burning buildings, revolutionizing urban emergency response.

  • 🧽 Rise of the robo-cleaners: Startups are bringing robots to jobs like window-washing — a dangerous, labor-intensive role now getting a tech upgrade. 

  • 🛫 Drones, demos & dollars: NYC’s Drones, Robotics, and AI Summit in March showcased the city’s role in federal partnerships and public-private collaborations driving sector growth.

  • 🏙️ Streets of the future: A new Cornell study ranks NYC’s streets by “robotability,” helping planners understand where autonomous machines can safely roll out next.

Plus, robotics was the focus of over half a dozen events during NY Tech Week 2025, up from zero the year before. 📈

  • “AI’s all the buzz, right, but not everyone realizes that robotics is such a huge part of the AI story,” said Randy Howie, cofounder and managing partner of New York Robotics. “Robotics is AI in the physical world.”

In other reading:

  • Meet the 2025 New York winners of EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year (EY)

  • 2025 grads are entering a rough job market. The class of 2020 has some advice (Wall Street Journal)

  • The AI revolution won’t happen overnight (HBR)

  • Blueprint Finance, an NYC-based DeFi infrastructure comapny, raised $9.5 million in funding. Polychain Capital led the round and was joined by Yzi Labs.

  • Brij, an NYC-based AI-powered omnichannel marketing platform, raised $8 million in funding. Bright Pixel Capital and CEAS Investments led the round and were joined by Artemis Fund, Red Bike Capital, Lakehouse Ventures, angel investors, and others.

  • Niural, a global payroll and finance startup, raised $31 million Series A funding. Marathon Management Partners led the round, which included participation from M13, Inspired Capital, Newform Capital, and others.

  • Quinn, an NY-based AI-powered financial planning platform, raised $11 million in seed funding. Viola Fintech led the round and was joined by existing investors.

  • Company Ventures’ Grand Central Tech Residency, for pre-idea founders to seed stage teams looking to accelerate wherever they are on the journey from company concept exploration to company launch. Apply by July 23 here.

  • The third annual Environmental Tech Lab, an accelerated innovation program ensuring that New Yorkers can continue to enjoy safe drinking water and a clean environment as the climate continues to change in unpredictable ways. Apply by August 9 here.

  • See NYC is gathering 150 New Yorkers for a three-day summer camp-style experience to share ideas to build a better New York City. 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.

  • Each month, Union Square Ventures hosts usvwork — a casual coworking day for founders and builders in NYC. Apply here.

  • Forum Ventures is accepting pitches to its Forum for Founders program. The firm is investing in 30+ companies over the next three months, offering $100K and admission to its pre-seed accelerator to provide personalized GTM and sales support. Apply here.


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