Tech:NYC Digest: July 7

July 07, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Friday, July 7, 2023

We’re back with another summer Friday edition of the Tech:NYC Digest, featuring our favorite Friday Five highlights in New York tech this week.

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AI Boom Stems Tech’s Downturn (The Wall Street Journal)

We wrote in the Digest last week about venture capital funding flowing into New York artificial intelligence startups. Tech:NYC is compiling fresh data on this activity, but spoiler: The pace is in no way slowing down. AI has brought a new wave of cross-sector excitement to the tech industry as a whole, says Spencer Kimball, CEO of NYC-based database startup Cockroach Labs.

Insight Partners raises $118 million to back underrepresented VCs (Reuters)

New York-based VC firm Insight Partners raised $118 million for a second 20/20 Vision Capital fund, focused on backing early-stage venture capital funds led by diverse managers. The first fund — $15 million in Insight employees' personal capital in 2020 — deployed capital to 14 VC funds led by women, Black, Latino, or LGBTQ managers.

Via leans into public transit with Uber partnership (Crain's New York Business)

Don’t call it a rival story: Tech:NYC members Uber and Via are teaming up to boost transportation access in transit deserts. Via, which has grown into a leading national provider for government agencies and other transit providers to manage their operations, will now also enable its customers to dispatch trips through Uber's network.

Beyond Borders: Immigrant Leaders Reimagining New York’s Startup Scene (Primary VC)

As a testament to the diversity of the city's entrepreneurial ecosystem, New York-focused VC firm Primary highlighted a list of 19 immigrant leaders in the city's startup scene. That includes Nabeel Alamgir (one of Tech:NYC’s own Companies To Watch alums)! Alamgir was raised in Bangladesh and Kuwait before moving to Queens as a teenager, where experience working at a restaurant led him to found Lunchbox, a startup providing an online ordering and marketing solution for restaurants.

Can A.I. Be Funny? This Troupe Thinks So (The New York Times)

You can catch ComedyBytes, a self-described "AI comedy collective," at Crystal Lake in Williamsburg on July 19. Co-founder Eric Doyle gave a preview of what to expect: "In Round 1, we have humans roasting machines and machines roasting humans in general."

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