Tech:NYC Digest: August 10

Tech:NYC Digest: August 10

August 10, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Thursday, August 10, 2023

In today’s digest, a new venture fund focused on planet stabilization, average rents hit new highs, and why corporate America should be journaling more. 

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  • Average rents reached new highs last month — $5,588 in Manhattan and $4,347 in Brooklyn — but market experts say slowing leasing activity could indicate prices are nearing a ceiling. (Commercial Observer) 

  • The MTA is boosting weekend subway service on the 1 and 6 lines starting Saturday, allowing trains to arrive every six minutes, on average, rather than eight. (amNewYork)

  • Facing a shortage of air traffic controllers, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that it will let airlines continue to limit flights in the NYC area into October without penalties that they would normally face for such reductions. (AP)

In other reading:

  • The Queens Botanical Garden’s annual orchid show is back (TimeOut New York)

  • The ‘30 Rock’ veteran and comedian taking on New York’s migrant crisis (Gothamist)

  • The State of Pizza in the Pizza State (New York Times)

Tech investors are increasingly taking on the climate challenge — with more than 330 new sustainability, ESG, and impact-focused funds between 2019 and last year, according to a June report from McKinsey.

What’s new: Bloomberg on Wednesday profiled Transition, a newly-launched climate tech venture firm with a focus on early-stage startups that promise to help stabilize the planet. Among its partners is Mona Alsubaei, who previously spearheaded climate efforts at Union Square Ventures — which raised a climate fund of $200 million last year — alongside USV managing partner Albert Wenger. 

Transition is focused on “planetary boundaries.” 

  • The concept, developed by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, focuses on nine systems pressured by human activities, Bloomberg reported, including ocean acidification, climate change, freshwater consumption and biodiversity loss.

  • Transition is focused on investing in startups that improve on the planetary boundaries without harming others. 

Alsubaei told Tech:NYC in an email today that urban centers are already “experiencing climate-related issues that are amplifying each other”:

  • “New York is experiencing the ‘urban heat island’ effect, where the city is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas,” she said. “This can increase the risk of heat-related illnesses (the air pollution we experienced in June) and strain the power grid due to the heightened demand for cooling (which is also carbon-intensive and further exacerbates climate change).”

Big picture: As we noted in this digest last week, a swell in private investment is backed-up by significant governmental funding, boosting the sector’s resiliency. 

“The need is urgent,” Alsubaei told us. “But the opportunity is also vast, and the building blocks are there. Increased demand for climate solutions, strong regulatory tailwinds, and advances in technology have started a transformation that is affecting every sector of our economy.” 

In other reading:

  • FirstMark Capital head of platform Dan Kozikowski: Why the Best VC Platform Teams Are Focused on Outcomes (Medium)

  • How crypto adoption is ‘rapidly gaining traction’ in New York: Coinbase (Blockworks)

  • Trying to Process Your Q3? Journal About It. (New York Times)

  • Grapevine, a NYC-based collaborative giving platform, raised $1.85 million in seed funding. PJC led the round and was joined by Ulu Ventures, WTI, and Focus Impact Partners.

  • Kivera, a NYC-based cloud security company, raised $3.5 million in seed funding. Participating investors include General Advance, Round 13 Capital, and a group of angels.

  • Puck, a NYC-based media startup, raised more than $10 million in Series B growth funding. J Rothschild Capital Management led the round.

  • August 15: In-person: AI@Work City Tour: AI for customer service and sales leaders, with Dialpad CEO Craig Walker, Dialpad VP of AI Engineering Jim Palmer, and others. Register here.

  • August 17: Virtual: State of Private Markets, Silver Linings of Q2, with Carta head of insights Peter Walker and January Ventures general partner Maren Bannon. Hosted by Carta. Register here.

  • August 21: In-person: Mapping for Equity: A New Way to Map NYC’s Public Amenities, with Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez, North Brooklyn Parks Alliance, and BetaNYC. Register here.

  • August 22: Virtual: #notapitch: Unofficial Feedback on Your Idea/Prototype from a VC, with Brooklyn Bridge Ventures partner Charlie O’Donnell. Register here.

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