🗞️ The Week That Was

Bilt Plants Flag in Meatpacking

NYC-based rewards startup Bilt is relocating its HQ to the Meatpacking District in Manhattan, inching closer to the city’s tech core. The company inked a 15-year lease on a 60,000-sq ft space, doubling down on R&D and growth. It currently has ~200 employees and plans to scale that up significantly.

👉 Takeaway: Bilt already commands ~5 million users and has raised ~$850M in VC funding. This move signals NYC’s continued pull for mature startups to anchor operations here.

NYC VCs & Internship Lift

The NYC EDC and startup ecosystem partners wrapped the 2025 NYC Startup & VC Internship Program, placing 110+ NYC-based students across 80+ local startups and VC firms. Some interns converted to full-time roles.

👉 Takeaway: Talent pipelines are foundational in NYC’s competitiveness. This kind of program helps retain local talent and deepen relationships between founders and future operators.

NYC deal spotlight: DualEntry launches with $90M

In recent VC rounds, DualEntry, an AI-native ERP startup, emerged with a $90M Series A.

Bonus local plug: Secondsense, a resale-price-index platform for luxury handbags, also closed a $2M round in NYC.

👉 Takeaway: NYC is continuing to see capital flow into enterprise and marketplace plays — not just consumer or FinTech.

Great startups run on more than great tech

Meet WISS. Wiss supports TechDay events and startup founders through smarter tax, accounting, and advisory services. 

🏆Do You Qualify?

Since announcing TechDay’s new Sector Summits, everyone’s been asking how to attend. Here’s the story: attendance is by invitation only and capped at 200.

These business summits are where founders, VCs, and commercial partners meet for real deal-making driven by AI powered matchmaking.

👉 Takeaway: You need to qualify for an invitation.

🗽 Why This Matters

TechDay has helped NYC startups make their mark for more than a decade. Now, these new summits take that DNA — scale, connections, dealflow — and strip away the noise.

Just the right 200 people in the room.

👉 Takeaway: Think founders with traction, VCs writing checks, and corporate partners ready to buy.

🎯Apply here to attend:

• Build/Right — The AI Native Founders Summit

  Where Founders Turn Good Ideas into Great Businesses

  December 2, 2025 | New York City

• AI CO/Work — The AI Summit for SMB Leaders

  Where SMBs find trusted tools, guided strategies and real ROI

  March, 2026 | New York City

• Up/Link — The SpaceTech Business Summit

  Where founders find capitalization and commercialization

  October 20 - 21 | New York City

Learn more at TechDayHQ.com

🚀 Space Tech Takes Off

Firefly Aerospace Buys

Firefly Aerospace is acquiring missile-defense technology firm SciTec for ~$855M (in a combination of cash and stock). The deal strengthens Firefly’s footprint in defense and space software/data domains.

👉 Takeaway: Firefly’s recent IPO valued it near $9.8B, and this move shows it’s pushing beyond just rocket hardware.

Spacecoin sends blockchain data via satellite

Spacecoin, an emerging satellite startup, successfully transmitted secure data over 7,000 km using a nanosatellite in orbit — part of its mission to be a decentralized alternative to Starlink.

They currently operate one microsatellite (with plans to launch three more by year-end).👉 Takeaway: It’s a cross of space + blockchain + communications — a high-risk, high-reward wedge play in the satellite internet wars.

Arc wants to enable 1-hour global cargo

Not NYC-based, but a wild one: startup Arc is developing a system to deploy cargo into low Earth orbit and then return it to any point on Earth in under an hour.

I👉 Takeaway: It’s an audacious play, but indicative of how fast some “space startup” ideas are creeping into logistics, not just exploration.

🔍 Big Macro & Market Notes

• Space Force awards >$1B in contracts: SpaceX won ~$714M across 5 launches; ULA got ~$428M for two missions.

• Bezos: millions will live in space “in a couple decades” — speaking at Italian Tech Week, Bezos reiterated his long-term vision for humans migrating off Earth.

• Europe’s warning: A top Balderton Capital investor called out Europe’s overreliance on SpaceX, urging more sovereign space infrastructure.

📊 Quick Hits & VC Pulse

• NYC metro startups have pulled in ~$3B in seed + VC so far in 2025 — trending toward the weakest quarter in recent years.

• The Bay Area continues to outperform in total VC dollars invested.

• NY State / NYC continue deploying capital programs (e.g. via New York Ventures) to back equity investments in local founders.

🔮 What to Watch Next Week

• Can Firefly integrate SciTec’s systems fast enough to win new gov contracts?

• Will Spacecoin secure funding or partners to scale its constellation?

• Will any NYC-based deep tech or hardware startup break out in Q4 — especially those with space, robotics, climate, or AI themes?

👉 Interested in sponsoring or partnering? Click here.