Wednesday, May 21, 2025

May 21, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Wednesday, May 21, 2025 

In today’s digest, NYU Langone expands women’s services, building bridges, and the state of tech talent hiring. 🧑‍💻

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  • 25% of flights will be cut at Newark Liberty International Airport after weeks of delays caused by air traffic controller staffing shortages and runway construction. (CNN)

    • Newark will be decreasing the number of arrivals and departures allowed per day, with changes in place until October. ✈️

  • NYU Langone received a $60 million gift to ramp up women’s health services. Billionaire philanthropists donated to expand primary care, pregnancy services, and midlife and sexual health at the women’s health clinic at NYU Langone. 🧑‍⚕️ (Crain’s New York Business)

  • New analysis shows that 118 sections of NYC bridges were found by inspectors to be in poor condition last year. Experts say tens of billion dollars in repairs are needed, which congestion pricing policies can help address. 🌉 (The CITY)

    • Check out this guide to determine the condition of the bridges on your daily commute. 

In other reading:

  • Lincoln Center plans a $335 million makeover of its western edge (New York Times)

  • Pedestrian paradise: $400 million 5th Avenue redesign to begin in 2028 (amNY)

  • Nor’easter to bring NYC area heavy rain, strong winds ahead of Memorial Day weekend (Fox New York)

Tech still draws top-tier talent, but the hiring playbook is changing fast. SignalFire’s latest report maps the shifting tech talent landscape. Let’s take a look.

📉 Entry-level hiring plummets: Tighter budgets and shorter runways are causing tech companies to slow Gen Z hiring, which has dropped 50% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

  • Big tech: New grads now constitute just 7% of hires of the top 15 tech companies, a 25% drop from 2023 and over 50% decline since 2019. 

  • Startups: New grad hires are under 6%, down 11% from 2023 and over 30% from pre-pandemic levels.

💡 Why it matters: It's a shift in expectations. Today’s tech employers aren’t looking for potential, they’re looking for proof. That’s left new grads stuck in a familiar Catch-22: you need experience to get the job, but you need the job to get experience. 

🗽 NYC holds strong:

  • NYC and SF still anchor the AI ecosystem, with over 65% of AI engineers based in these two metros. 

  • Yes, but: Issues like rising housing costs, shrinking salary advantages, and remote work flexibility persist in retaining tech talent.

🔮 2025 talent trend predictions (according to SignalFire):

  • Generalists rise: No PhD? No problem. Fast, flexible builders will thrive.

  • Equity advisors: Founders will increasingly tap seasoned experts as equity advisors.

  • New roles emerge: New grads should pay attention to emerging roles like AI governance lead, AI ethics and privacy specialists, agentic AI engineers, and non-human security ops specialists.

🔍 The takeaways:

  • For grads: Bootcamps, open-source, and creative projects are your path in. Learn to fix AI flaws.

  • For employers: Skipping junior hires may save now, but risks starving the future pipeline.

Looking for a new role? Check out Tech:NYC’s jobs board featuring thousands of tech roles just waiting for your application.

In other reading:

  • Barndoor AI, an NYC-based agentic AI control plane, raised $13.6 million in seed funding. Crosslink Capital led the round and was joined by Preface Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Gaingels, and others.

  • Clair, an NYC-based embedded earned wage access startup, raised $23.2 million in Series B funding, per Fortune. Upfront Ventures led, joined by insider Thrive Capital.

  • Filed, an NYC-based AI-powered tax preparation platform, raised $17.2 million in funding. J Ventures led the $2.2 million pre-seed round and was joined by Neo, Raine, Greens Ventures, and angel investors. Northzone led the $15 million seed round and was joined by Day One Ventures and existing investors J Ventures, Neo, Raine, and Greens Ventures.

  • Seeds, an NYC-based personalized investment startup, raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Portage.

  • Sweep, an NYC-based agentic workspace for business systems, raised $22.5 million in Series B funding led by Insight Partners with participation from fellow insider Bessemer Venture Partners.

  • America on Tech is accepting applications for TECH360, a program for students to explore artificial intelligence and develop an AI-powered tool to pitch to mock clients. Apply by May 25 here.

  • Techstars Economic Mobility, for entrepreneurs designing innovative solutions that generate greater economic mobility for low- and moderate-income Americans. Apply by June 11 here.

  • The Factor Fellowship, an 18-week, part-time program for working professionals from diverse backgrounds looking to break into in-demand roles at NYC’s fastest-growing startups. Apply by June 15 here.

  • AcceleratorCON introduces Draft Combine, an opportunity for startups to be scouted by top accelerators and investors. Apply here.

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

  • Company Ventures’ Grand Central Tech Residency, for pre-seed/seed stage teams building venture-scale companies, or individuals launching a venture within six months. 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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