January 2024 Startup Newsletter

Happy 2024! We’re excited for all the growth across our network in the year ahead – including for our own team!

ICYMI: This week we announced the addition of three new hires at Tech:NYC. Join us welcoming former NYC Council Member Marjorie Velázquez, Lisi McCall, and Bryan Lozano to the team. Sarah Brown, our founding chief of staff, has moved into the role of Chief Strategy Officer. Read more about our new colleagues here (and be sure to introduce yourself at our next event!)

The next opportunity for that is coming up: Our first startup founder happy hour of the year returns to Pubkey on Feb. 7. Space is limited, so we hope you’ll RSVP soon to join us.

Find a roundup of other upcoming opportunities below – we’ll continue sending these exclusively to our startup members each month, and if your company has any news or wins you’d like us to include, keep us in the loop! If there’s anything else we can do to help, you know where to find us.

– Team Tech:NYC 🗽 

🪧 Special Opportunity from the Tech:NYC Foundation

2024 NYC Computer Science Opportunity Education Fair, March 26 
The CS Fair is an opportunity to inspire students to pursue interests and careers in tech by giving them unparalleled access to leading tech companies, universities, and extra-curricular programs. It is the city's largest gathering of high school students studying CS. (Check out last year’s fair here.) Your company’s participation through hosting a booth (or two!) will help high school students understand how their current CS studies can lead to real-life opportunities. There is no cost to participate! If you’d like to get involved, send a note to Bryan.

FutureReady Microinternships, April 8 - May 24
As part of our commitment to expand access to tech jobs for New Yorkers, we’re recruiting companies of all sizes to host a cohort of 25 high school students on a CS-related workplace challenge this spring. Structured as micro-internship projects, this is designed to be a relatively lightweight lift for employers (~2 hours per week over 6 weeks), while simultaneously providing exposure to tech careers and pathways to young New Yorkers from underserved communities. If you’d like to get involved, send a note to Bryan Lozano for next steps.

✈️ SXSW
Octavius here! I’ll be at SXSW this year, and if you’re also attending, I’d love to connect and plug you into programming from our member companies! Send me a note if you’ll be there!

🧑‍💻 APPLY

Forum Ventures is seeking applications for its "NYC Pitch Competition: Pitch to Win $100K", where pre-seed B2B SaaS founders who are solving complex problems with tech and are raising pre-seed funding for their product can compete for a $100K investment. Learn more and apply by Feb. 14 here.

Transit Tech Lab is accepting applications for its sixth cohort. The program, founded by the Partnership Fund for New York City and the MTA to improve public transit in the New York metro area, invites early- and growth-stage companies with solutions in customer experience, resiliency, and curb management. Learn more and apply by Feb. 28 here.

Queens Tech + Innovation Challenge is accepting applications for their next cohort of the challenge. Presented by the Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and Queens Economic Development Corporation, the multi-week program offers high-level entrepreneurial classes, one-on-one office hours with QEDC mentors & advisors, networking events with startup founders, and cash prizes (five up-to $20K awards). Learn more and apply by March 1 here.

The New York City Economic Development Corporation is seeking proposals from non-profits or joint ventures for support projects in the life sciences, green economy, and advanced technology industries through its Greenlight Innovation Fund. Learn more and apply by April 12 here.

🗽 ATTEND

• February 6: Brunch & Learn: Startup to Standout, with Native AI co-founder and CEO Frank Pica. Hosted by Innovatemap. Register here.

• February 7: Tech:NYC Founder Happy Hour, our popular monthly happy hour at Pubkey with startup founders and investors to connect in a casual setting. Request to join us here.

• February 13: DC’s Path to Crypto Innovation, with US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Tech:NYC CEO Julie Samulels, and other web3 tech leaders. Send a note to Tyler to request an invite.

• February 28: Save the date: Cornell Tech @ Bloomberg speaker series, with Able Partners co-founders Amanda Eilian and Lisa Blau. Hosted by Tech:NYC, Bloomberg, and Cornell Tech. Invitation forthcoming.