Wednesday, November 12, 2025
In today’s digest, the northern lights in NYC, cell service in the subway, and wearable tech in the marathon. 🎽
But first: 2026 NY Tech Week dates just dropped! June 1-7. More here.
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A strong geomagnetic storm may bring the northern lights, or aurora borealis, back to New York City tonight. ✨ (CBS News)
The sun is currently experiencing the maximum phase of its 11-year activity cycle, making colorful light displays more common and widespread.
The further north you get, the likelier it will be to catch them. The best time to see them would be from 10pm-2am.
For the ’gram: Here’s how to best capture the northern lights with your smartphone.
Speaking of cellphones, the G subway line is getting an upgrade times five: 5G service has been activated along the G line, between the Court Square subway station in Queens and the Bedford–Nostrand Avenue station in Brooklyn. 📱 (PIX 11)
The news follows the recent go-live of cell service on the 4 and 5 train lines.
No surprise here: A new report from WalletHub ranks the Big Apple as one of the best sports cities in America, placing in the top 5 overall in 2025’s nationwide list of top sports hubs. 🏀 (FOX New York)
NYC placed fourth overall and fourth among large sports cities (but we all know we’re first).
WalletHub’s analysis compared 397 U.S. cities across more than 50 key metrics, like team performance, ticket affordability, fan engagement, and stadium accessibility.
ICYMI: Last month we spotlighted four NYC-based sportstech founders innovating to disrupt the sports industry and continue to make New York a sports destination.
👑 Referral royalty: Big thanks to Alexander van Citters, Amadou Amath Ndiaye, Ariela Shai, Joseph Rigger, Madison Gress, and Rochelle Sonnenberg for referring subscribers to the Tech:NYC Digest this week! Join them and win swag by participating in our referral program — details at the end of this email.
In other reading:
City Council approves plan that could bring 14,700 homes to Queens (New York Times)
See the beautiful new pavilion rooftop just erected in Battery Park City (Time Out New York)
Jazz clubs get a fresh look (Grub Street)
Walking (and Running) in a Wearable Wonderland
After 50,000+ runners hit the streets for the NYC Marathon last week, we’re taking a victory lap through the world of wearable tech, from fitness trackers to glucose monitors. ⌚🏃♀️
📊 NY wearables by the numbers: The Big Apple is quietly becoming a wearable-tech capital, including:
170 companies in the sector.
That includes 70 funded companies that have raised a total of $696 million to date — and 139 million raised in 2024 alone.
23 Series A+ firms, signaling growing maturity.
👑 Top NYC-based players in this space by funding include Nanit (smart baby monitors, $75 million raised), 1Drop (healthcare wearables, $108 million), Fi (smart dog collars, $40 million), and CoachCare (virtual health solutions, $60.2 million).
🌐 A growing industry: The global Wearable Technology industry is projected to grow from $88.36 billion in 2025 to $951.8 billion by 2035. That’s a lot of fitness rings!
🗽 The New York advantage: New York’s mix of healthcare innovation, fashion design, and AI entrepreneurship gives it a unique edge.
Fashion + tech DNA: Programs like the New York Fashion Tech Lab bring the fashion and tech community together.
Hospital + startup collaborations: Major health systems like Mount Sinai are piloting wearables that track cardiological conditions.
Capital + talent: With $621 billion+ in ecosystem value and 25,000+ tech startups, NYC remains a center for innovation, including wearable technologies.
Marathon-tested: For you wearable consumers out there, Mashable’s Joe Maldonado ran the New York City Marathon wearing seven fitness trackers to see which held up mile after mile. 🏅
Bottom line: In the city where wellness, style, AI, and design all intersect, New York is wearing its innovation on its sleeve. 😉
In other reading:
How HR took over the world (The Economist)
Companies begin to see a return on AI agents (Wall Street Journal)
A massive new experimental art-and-tech studio is opening in Tribeca in January (Time Out New York)
The David Prize, honoring individuals with visionary projects that strengthen communities and culture with $200K each. Apply by November 17 here.
Robin Hood’s Catalyst 2026 cohort, a four-month accelerator for pre-seed social impact startups who are building technology that expands economic mobility — in areas like housing, education, health, financial access, and jobs. Apply by November 21 here.
The New York State Housing Finance Agency is seeking proposals from vendors to provide a technology solution to support MWBE/SDVOB compliance, goal setting, waiver tracking, reporting, and engagement across New York State. Submit your proposal by November 24 here.
Gutter Capital’s Elbow Grease, an eight-week accelerator for founders building applied AI in sectors that still run mostly offline like construction, real estate, energy, government, and small businesses. Apply by November 26 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.
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.
Union Square Ventures’ “usvwork” — a casual coworking day once a month for founders and builders in NYC. Apply here.
New York City Economic Development Corporation is re-launching the Greenlight Innovation Fund, a Request for Proposals to provide City capital funding for the development of facilities in New York City that support the Green Economy, Life Sciences, Advanced Technology and Creative Industries. Submit your proposals 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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