Join us on Monday, April 14, at Civic Hall Union Square for a special gaming-focused NY Tech Meetup! This month, we’re bringing together an incredible lineup of companies to showcase the latest in gaming innovation.

We’re teaming up with NYCEDC, Coexist Gaming, Game Devs of Color, Gumbo Collective, IGDA, and Playcrafting—each introducing a standout company to demo their cutting-edge work. 

Don’t miss your chance to connect with fellow tech and gaming enthusiasts, discover groundbreaking games, and meet the minds shaping the future of the industry.

📅 Date: Monday, April 14

📍 Location: Civic Hall, Union Square

Program Agenda

• 6:00 PM – Doors Open
• 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM – Welcome and Tech Demos
• 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM – After Party & Networking

🎟 Register now to secure your spot! (Scroll to bottom of screen)

DEMOS BY

FORM360 is a game and media studio creating artistic, next-generation therapeutic experiences centered around women’s health.

Theresa Loong, Founder & CEO

Theresa Loong creates films, games, and interactive experiences. She directed NOVA’s Building Stuff: Change It! and produced games for AMC’s The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad. Theresa is directing Game On, a documentary and outreach project featuring game designer Brenda Romero, and Bought/Broken, an interactive healing art platform. She received awards from Meta, the IGDA Foundation, and the NEA. Theresa shaped digital experiences and games for the New York Hall of Science, M+ Museum, the Tech Museum of Innovation, and more. A Harvard grad with an MFA from Hunter, Theresa teaches part-time at Parsons’ Integrated Design Program.

PHȲND is a subscription free Smart TV gaming experience

Ney Castro, Vice President | Player Engagement & Web3

Ney Castro was the founder of a Web3 gaming company, acquired by PHȲND. He is a 15-year veteran of finance and banking working at premier shops like JPMorgan Chase and AllianceBernstein. In 2019 co-founded the Blockchain Almanac, an educational platform for blockchain technology built for wealth managers. In 2020-2021 Ney consulted on the Helios Bitcoin mining project later acquired by Argo Blockchain. In 2022 Ney co-created Hoopers United and partnered with the WNBA and Rock the Vote to drop the Hoopers United NFTcollection. Ney is a native New Yorker, attended Collegiate prep school, avid gamer, and passionate technologist. Ney also received his BA in Mathematics from Wesleyan University.

Turbo is a next-gen game platform built for making games fast.

Julian Moncada, Co-Founder & CEO

Julian is the Co-Founder and CEO of Turbo, a company that has developed a gaming platform to help game developers create and launch games quickly. The platform consists of a game engine and a live services gaming backend, both designed with modern tools and a premium developer experience in mind. Turbo's team is composed of professionals from various gaming companies, including Unity and Cool Math Games.

Before founding Turbo, Julian was a venture capitalist at Lerer Hippeau, where he invested in software startups, emerging technologies, and next-generation media companies. Some of Lerer Hippeau's notable media investments include Buzzfeed, Axios, Group Nine Media, and Food52, among others.

Following his venture capital career, Julian joined the biotech startup Opentrons Labworks as Director of Corporate Development and Strategy. He then transitioned to a web3 gaming startup, TreasureDAO, where he served as Product Lead. Julian has a diverse background in finance, software development, and sales.

Wirescribe develops entertainment software, primarily computer games.

Valentina Stanislavskaia, Founder

Valentina Stanislavskaia is a NYC-based game developer with a professional background in data engineering. She has been working on games since 2016, focusing on games that explore weird worlds and tell compelling stories.

Josh Hirshfield, Developer, Game Designer

EVENT PARTNERS

New York City Economic Development Corporation is a public-benefit corporation that serves as the official economic development organization for New York City. We are New Yorkers, working for New Yorkers. We live here, work here, and care about our communities. That’s why our projects and initiatives put people first.

Coexist Gaming builds the worlds where media, entertainment & tech coexist.

The Gumbo Collective is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to fostering a community of independent game developers in New York City. Our mission is to provide space for these creators to work and collaborate as well as connecting them with the resources to help them succeed in a highly competitive market.

Game Devs of Color (GDoC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to amplifying and empowering developers of color in the gaming industry. Since our founding, we've focused on elevating talented creators and their innovative work, providing platforms and opportunities that help developers of color bring their unique games to life and connect with the broader gaming community.

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is the world’s largest nonprofit membership organization serving all individuals who create games.

We bring together developers at key industry conferences and in over 150 chapters and special interest groups (SIGs) to improve their lives and their craft. Whether you’re a student with a goal to become a game developer or a seasoned veteran; whether you’re based in the United States or any other country or region in the world; whether you’re an indie developer or in a AAA studio; whether your primary platform is a PC, console, mobile device, VR/AR, or a tabletop—we welcome you home to the IGDA!

At Playcrafting, we create games, produce exclusive events, and make waves for brands to leverage the power of play through our massive network of game creators and fans. Since 2009 we have created hundreds of games and hours of gaming content for technology companies and brands, including Bose, Verizon, the NFL, ASUS, and Schick.

About NY Tech Meetup

NYTM is our signature event that has been a staple for the NYC tech ecosystem since 2004. It's the world’s largest meetup group of its kind with members who have a common interest in learning from and helping one another. At each event, entrepreneurs, founders, CEOs, and their teams demo cutting edge and transformative tech, answer questions from attendees and network with all in a welcoming, fun-filled space. Since its creation, over 1,000 companies have participated and have been a driving force of innovation and job creation in NYC and the greater NY area.

This event is a perfect place to start if you are new to tech, to New York City, or to the New York tech ecosystem. It’s all about meeting people and having a "front row seat" to learn of the latest innovations that address market opportunities.

About the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals

The NY Tech Alliance is proud to announce that we will be using the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as our guiding framework for the year. These goals offer a powerful blueprint for addressing the most pressing global challenges, and we believe they provide the perfect foundation for the work we do in the tech community.

Throughout 2025, our meetups, forums, and other events will align with these SDGs, creating opportunities for meaningful discussions, collaboration, and innovation. Whether it's tackling climate change, promoting quality education, fostering gender equality, or advancing sustainable cities, we are committed to using our platform to drive positive change that not only benefits the tech ecosystem but also contributes to a more equitable and sustainable future.

We look forward to exploring how each SDG intersects with the work being done in the tech sector and how we, as a community, can make an impact. Together, we can bring these global goals to life—one event at a time.