Wednesday, October 15, 2025

October 15, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Wednesday, October 15, 2025 

In today’s digest, New York’s office market bounces back, a potential return to year-round outdoor dining, and NYC’s startup scene gets a little elbow grease. 💪

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  • Manhattan’s office market is roaring back, with leasing activity hitting its highest level in nearly two decades. 🏢 (Wall Street Journal)

    • Businesses signed 23.2 million square feet of new office space in the first nine months of 2025 — the most since 2006 — fueled by financial firms, consulting giants, and tech players like Amazon and Deloitte.

    • Plus, office attendance in New York was 1.3% higher in July 2025 than it was in July 2019.

  • PSA: Apartment heat season officially began yesterday and lasts until May 31! During that span, whenever the outdoor temperature drops below 55 degrees, property owners must turn on the heat and keep indoor temperatures at 68 degrees or higher between 6am and 10pm, and at 62 degrees or higher at night. 🧣 (Gothamist)

    • Here’s what else you need to know about apartment heat season, including what to do if it’s cold in your apartment.

  • A new NYC office established by Mayor Eric Adams looks to promote digital assets, including cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies. The New York City Office of Digital Assets and Blockchain will support industry growth and ensure the alignment of policies and initiatives across city agencies. 🌐 (Government Technology)

    • Learn more about the new office here.


In other reading:

  • These are the 10 most popular pizzerias in New York State, according to DoorDash (Time Out New York)

  • The Brooklyn Mirage is coming down (Curbed)

  • Brooklyn lawmaker pushes to bring back year-round outdoor dining (Brooklyn Paper)

NYC’s Early-Stage AI Network Just Got Some Elbow Grease

New York just added a little elbow grease to its startup scene — literally. 💪

Gutter Capital, the early-stage venture firm investing in “AI for the real world,” has launched Elbow Grease, a new accelerator for founders building applied AI in sectors that still run mostly offline — think construction, real estate, energy, government, and small businesses.

💡 The thesis: It’s easier to solve real world problems when you live in the real world.

  • Cofounder Dan Teran, who started his tech career in NYC 15 years ago, says the next big opportunities in AI are in helping workers in industries that have never had great software before, recognizing AI gives software a flexibility that serves non-technical users. 

  • Elbow Grease is trying to attract real world founders with domain expertise or hard-to-know insights from their personal and professional experience, and will provide them with the resources, mentorship, and a network to boot.

Each startup will get $300K and eight weeks of hands-on mentorship at Gutter HQ in Chinatown, an address with serious NYC startup juju. Once home to BarkBox, Managed by Q, Ro, and Public, it’s now filled with Gutter portfolio companies like Bikky, Forerunner, and Opus. 

😮 Who’s involved: It’s a who’s-who of NYC OGs and operators — Carly Strife (BarkBox), Ryan Denehy (Electric), JT White (Forerunner), Marcela Sapone (Alfred), and Scott Belsky (A24/Adobe) — all mentoring founders elbow-to-elbow.

🧑‍💻 And with AI talent and capital surging, that commitment makes sense:

  • NYC now has 2,000+ AI startups and 35 AI unicorns, which have collectively raised more than $17 billion.

  • The city is home to 40,000+ AI professionals, and AI-related jobs grew 39% year-over-year, outpacing San Francisco.

🗽 Why NYC: “New York is the center of the world for finance, art, media, fashion — so many things other than tech,” Dan says. “It makes the city a great place to build applied technologies, and also a much more enjoyable place to live. Nobody cares about your tech company… I prefer it that way.” 

Again, Dan reminds us: “It is easier to build software for real-world problems when you live in the real world. We all ride the same subway here.”

Because when it comes to turning big ideas into real-world impact, it’s Obviously NYC.

Built in NYC: On Oct. 23, see the AI in NYC scene first-hand at Tech:NYC’s next edition of NYC AI Demos event with Pensar and Two Trees. The evening will feature live technical demos (no slides, no videos) from ElevenLabs, Tabs, Whop, Slingshot AI, Rogo, and Cyborg. Register here.

In other reading: 

  • Marble, an NYC-based mental health platform for young people, raised $15.5 million in Series A funding. Costanoa led the round and was joined by Town Hall Ventures and Khosla Ventures.

  • MD Integrations, an NYC-based telehealth platform, raised $77 million from Updata Partners and Denali Growth Partners.

  • Medmo, an NYC-based AI-powered care coordination platform for medical imaging, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Covera Health led the round and was joined by existing investors Origin Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Digital Health Venture Partners, and Toppan Global Venture Partners.

  • The second annual Buildings Tech Lab, a collaboration with the Department of Buildings to advance the application of new technology to transform the delivery of public services. Apply by October 24 here.

  • nextNYC’s Checkwriters Dinner, bringing together 10-12 New York VCs with decision-making power to hear from companies looking to finish a round. Apply to pitch by October 29 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.

  • 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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