Tech:NYC Digest: April 11

Tech:NYC Digest: April 11

April 11, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

In today’s digest, why New York is stockpiling abortion pills, how micromobility is taking on package delivery, and what your company seniority means for your WFH options.

  • Just announced: The next edition of our Cornell Tech @ Bloomberg speaker series will feature Ramp co-founder and CEO Eric Glyman on April 25. Register to join us here.

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  • The state Department of Health will immediately begin purchasing Misoprostol in order to stockpile 150,000 doses, a five-year supply, in order to meet anticipated needs and protect access to medication abortion amid the challenge brought by a US District Judge in Texas. (Gothamist) 

  • NYC is launching a network of microdistribution centers to build out on-street and curbside zones with truck loading areas, as well as corrals for bikes and other micromobility vehicles, to encourage more sustainable package deliveries and less congested streets. (Crain’s New York)

  • A new campaign by the city’s sanitation department is (very cleverly) calling out New Yorkers who don’t pick up their dogs’ waste. (NBC New York)

  • Forest Hills Stadium is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. Here’s the big summer lineup they have planned.

In other reading:

  • New York’s New Composting Bins Are Designed to Make You Think (Curbed)

  • This New NYC Restaurants Wants to Showcase What Historically Accurate Burgers Taste Like (Eater NY)

The most recent RTO data isn’t so black and white — even inside a single company.

What’s new: People in manager roles are much more likely to work from home compared to non-managers, writes Axios.

  • 62% of non-managers are now working exclusively onsite, compared to 45% of managers, according to new data from a respected Stanford research team that’s been tracking office arrangements and attitudes throughout the pandemic.

It’s a curious paradox, because earlier this year the same researchers found that managers believe that WFH reduces productivity while rank-and-file employees think it massively increases it. (Harvard Business Review)

  • Part of the discrepancy seems to hinge on what people think counts as productivity: Employees include commuting time in their calculation, for example, whereas managers are just measuring how much work gets done in a day.

  • The measures management cares about make more sense when you consider some underlying factors — namely, they tend to have more seniority to negotiate more flexible schedules and are more likely to have children. 39% of the managers surveyed in the Standard data have children under 7, compared to 20% of non-managers, making WFH options a more important benefit.

Our take: We’re still far from settled on the optimal hybrid work policy — perhaps, as a blanket recommendation, there isn’t one.

In other reading:

  • Kite, a NYC-based commerce scaling company, raised $200 million in equity funding. Blackstone and Juxtapose co-led the round.

  • Oshi Health, a NYC-based digital health company focused on digestive health conditions, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Koch Disruptive Technologies led, and was joined by insiders Bessemer Venture Partners, Flare Capital Partners, Frist Cressey Ventures, CVS Health Ventures, and Takeda Digital Ventures.

  • Renew, a NYC-based resident renewal process automation startup, raised $8 million in seed funding. Participating investors includes Upfront Ventures, Goldcrest Capital, Allen & Co., and Walkabout Ventures.

  • April 13: In-person: PrimeTime VC Live, with H/L Ventures investor Megan Ananian, Alumni Ventures investor Pete Mathias, Red Beard Ventures investor Elana Dickman, and Included VC investor Saka Saddiq Nuru. Hosted by Bolster and Company Ventures. Register here.

  • April 18: In-person: Building a Food Tech Startup, with Helaina CEO Laura Katz, Swoon co-CEO Jennifer Ross, and Rind Snacks CEO Matt Weiss. Hosted by Stacklist and betaworks. Register here.

  • April 20: Virtual: #notapitch: Unofficial Feedback on Your Idea/Prototype from a VC, with Brooklyn Bridge Ventures partner Charlie O’Donnell. Register here.

  • April 24 – 28: Virtual and in-person: New York Fintech Week 2023, with dozens of events featuring Tech:NYC member companies, including Current, Rho, Addition Wealth, Orum, and more. See the full schedule and register here.

  • April 25: In-person: Cornell Tech @ Bloomberg speaker series, featuring Ramp co-founder and CEO Eric Glyman. Hosted by Tech:NYC, Bloomberg, and Cornell Tech. Register here.

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