Wednesday, March 18, 2026
In today’s digest, congestion pricing FTW, Mozart takes New York, and Cherryrock Capital's Adrianna Samaniego on pathways for underinvested founders. 💡
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Congestion pricing is doing exactly what it was supposed to do — fewer cars, more subway riders. 🚇 (Crain’s New York Business)
Subway ridership hit 1.28 billion rides last year, up 7.7%, with the biggest gains coming from weekend and “discretionary” trips.
Another huge win: 72,600 fewer cars are entering Manhattan’s toll zone each day (an 11% drop), suggesting drivers are actually switching to public transit.
The subway system also brought in $2.97 billion of fare revenue in 2025, up from $2.82 billion the year before.
In other transit news, the MTA has filed another lawsuit against the federal government to claw back funding for local infrastructure projects. This time the dispute involves $60 million for the Second Avenue Subway expansion. ⚖️ (The CITY)
The money is part of a nearly $7 billion project extending the line into East Harlem, with construction contracts about to move forward.
It’s the latest in a string of transit showdowns with the feds, following suits over congestion pricing and the Gateway Tunnel.
Wait times to get through security at New York airports have been increasing as the partial government shutdown drags on for nearly a month. ✈️ (PIX 11)
TSA workers have been calling out sick or quitting altogether due to the funding gaps, causing staff shortages at airports across the country.
Pro tip: Check for delays and wait times on airport websites or the TSA’s mobile app.
In other reading:
The development boom in Gramercy Park (New York Times)
Why everyone loves East Village Cookbook (Grub Street)
Mozart’s childhood violin and original manuscripts come to the Morgan Library (Gothamist)
VC Spotlight: Adrianna Samaniego, Partner, Cherryrock Capital
Technically, Adrianna Samaniego, Partner at Cherryrock Capital, started her career at Google.
But her passion for building, entrepreneurship, and backing underserved visionary founders started long before that. 💡
“I grew up watching my grandparents build a business the hard way, in systems that were not exactly designed to make things easy for them,” she told us.
“That shaped how I see entrepreneurship and probably why I have always rooted for the underdog.”
Adrianna helped launch Cherryrock out of stealth in 2025 with a focus on those underdogs, and “a deep belief that talent is everywhere, even if capital and access are not.”
We caught up with Adrianna to delve deeper into her career beginnings, common pitch mistakes, her tech stack, and much more.
Here’s a preview of what she had to say: 👇
👶 On her career beginnings:
“My formal career started at Google, working on digital marketing and growth strategies for Fortune 500 companies. It was an incredible place to learn two things that still shape how I invest today: how to sell and how to operate at scale.”
📊 On a recent investment:
“One investment I’m especially excited about is Certiverse. It is a vertical AI company modernizing the certification and testing industry, which is a much bigger and more important market than most people realize.”
🗽 On what makes New York’s startup ecosystem uniquely exciting:
“New York or Nowhere. JK, but honestly New York just has a different energy. It is one of the few places where technology, business, culture, media, finance, and healthcare all collide in a meaningful way.”
🤔 On how talent and innovation show up:
“The venture ecosystem still too often assumes that capital allocation reflects where talent is. It doesn’t… We focus on underinvested founders because the data shows this is where some of the market’s highest-potential opportunities exist.”
🤖 On her favorite AI tool:
“Claude for building and experimenting, and Granola for helping me keep up with the pace of meetings and context-switching.”
🍕 And, of course, on the best slice in the city:
“L’Industrie in Williamsburg is hard to beat. The burrata slice is incredible and lives up to the hype.”
In other reading:
Turing Award goes to inventors of quantum cryptography (New York Times)
Private equity is partnering with Big AI (Axios)
The e-nose knows: AI learns to smell (Wall Street Journal)
BusRight, an NYC-based student transportation technology company, raised $30 million in funding. Volition Capital led the round.
Candex, an NYC-based vendor payment and onboarding platform, raised a $7 million Series C extension from HSBC.
Conduit Health, an NYC-based platform that connects Medicare and Medicaid patients with medical supplies and services, raised $17 million in Series A funding. Drive Capital led the round and was joined by existing investors XYZ Ventures, Twelve Below, Eniac Ventures, and others.
Hanover Park, an NYC-based AI-powered fund administrator, raised $27 million in Series A funding. Emergence Capital, Lux, and Susa led the round.
Obin AI, an NYC-based maker of AI agents for financial institutions, raised $7 million in seed funding led by Motive Partners.
Standard Template Labs, an NYC-based AI-powered service management platform, raised $49 million in seed funding. ICONIQ and CRV led the round.
Steward, an NYC-based AML and compliance platform, raised $5 million led by Motive Partners, with Outward VC and Cooley participating.
Decoded Futures, Tech:NYC’s initiative to empower the social sector with AI to scale their impact, is headed west, with a pilot in Colorado. Denver-based technologists can apply to volunteer here by March 25 to collaborate with the nonprofits.
Lifelong Skills and Opportunity Center is hosting a Tech Day on March 27 designed to help older adults feel more confident using every day technology. To volunteer, reach out to [email protected].
Applications are now open for C10 Labs’ inaugural cohort of the NYC AI Nexus — NYC’s applied AI venture studio and accelerator, in partnership with NYCEDC. Early-stage AI-first startups in healthcare, biotech, energy, climate, robotics, and manufacturing can apply here by March 27.
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.
Kevin Maney, friend of Tech:NYC and co-author of The Category Creation Formula, is offering 30-minute office hours to answer category design questions from community members. Book a session here.
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.
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.
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