Tech:NYC Digest: February 11

Tech:NYC Digest: February 11

February 11, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Friday, February 11, 2022

Happy Friday. We’re wishing a fond farewell to our founding executive director Julie Samuels on her official last day today. In addition to our regular updates, see a special note from Julie below.

Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

By the numbers:  

  • New positive cases statewide: 4.754

    • New positive cases, NYC: 1,510

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 2.3 percent (-0.3 percent)

  • NYC Hospitalizations: 1,630 (-121)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress: 

    • Percentage of all New Yorkers with least one dose: 88.1 percent 

    • Percentage of all New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated: 74.8 percent 

Today’s latest: 

  • Today is the deadline for NYC’s municipal workers to be vaccinated, and the city expects to terminate nearly 3,000 workers — less than one percent of the municipal workforce — who have refused to comply. (New York Times)

  • Mayor Adams announced today that starting tomorrow, the city will resume its $100 incentive program for New Yorkers who receive first-time doses or booster shots at any city or SOMOS-run vaccination site. 

  • Pfizer today postponed its request to authorize its two-dose vaccine series for young children under the age of five. The company said it would instead wait for three-dose data, which is expected in early April. (NBC News)

  • More than two dozen public library branches will begin distributing free at-home COVID-19 test kits next week. The list of participating locations and hours will be updated daily here.

  • Elected officials are warning New Yorkers that they’re likely to see sizable spikes in their ConEd electricity bills this month, even if they didn’t use more service. Here’s a good explainer on why.

  • Heads up: Monday is the deadline to change your party affiliation, if you wish, to be able to vote in the June primaries. (Gothamist) The deadline to complete the online form through the DMV’s website is today.

In other reading:

  • NYC Might Have Rat COVID, But It’s Probably Fine (Curbed)

  • The secret Brooklyn Heights MTA subway vent has been turned into a “Myst”-like game (Gothamist)

A personal note from Julie Samuels on her last day as executive director:

The thing I love most about our community is that it’s made up of people who are New Yorkers first, and tech workers second. We’re here for the myriad reasons that people have always lived here: the energy; our families, friends, and networks are here; we like staying out late or going to museums all weekend; we want great food. The list goes on and on. Our collective diversity of cultures, experiences, and ideas is what makes New York stand alone, and it will continue to be the oxygen feeding the city’s growing tech sector.

Here’s what I know for sure:

  • The tech ecosystem promises to be one of — if not the — biggest part of the City’s economy in the next decade. What does that mean politically? Civically? Financially? Philanthropically? How do we ensure that all New Yorkers stand to benefit? Those are no doubt big, important questions, none with a clear answer.

  • Tech will continue to become a part of the fabric of NYC, not the other way around. That is to say: The tech industry stands to change the most from being located here, not the other way around. It’s incumbent on all of us (and why an organization like Tech:NYC is so important!) to embrace this transition thoughtfully, bringing the best of tech culture along, but also ensuring we retain what makes NYC an amazing place to live and work.

  • The way to make progress is together. The best part of the last 5+ years for me has been the people — the founders and entrepreneurs, our Board and Leadership Council, our partners across the City and State, and our elected officials and community leaders. It’s only because so many people have been willing to work together that we have seen incalculable growth for the sector and New York more broadly.

Speaking of the people, allow me a moment to talk about team Tech:NYC, a group of people who have been part of my family for the past five years. I still can’t believe that I was lucky enough to work with these smart, hilarious, kind, dedicated friends everyday. A special thank you to our Chief of Staff, Sarah Brown, who has been with me literally every step of the way since we started this crazy project. I will miss working with you all beyond measure. 

I know that Tech:NYC’s new executive director,

, will lead this organization to great things and I can’t wait to see where it goes. I, and all of NYC, are rooting for you.

  • Devron, a New York City-based data science software company, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Tiger Global led the round and was joined by insiders FinTech Collective, Afore Capital, and Essence Venture Capital. (Newswire)

  • Revere, a New York-based capital markets and deal marketplace for commercial real estate, raised $5 million in new funding. RET Ventures led the round and was joined by ​​Related Companies, Holland Partner Group, The Feil Organization, Driftwood Capital, Davis Development, Essence Development. (Businesswire)

  • February 10: Virtual: How to Raise Funding and Scale a Startup, with New York Angels founder David S. Rose, Caribu CEO Maxeme Tuchman, and more. Hosted by DownToDash and Innovatemap. Register here.

  • February 15: Virtual: Extend Your Runway with R&D Tax Credits, with Claurus R+D CEO Jeff Haskett, Justworks director of payroll tax Matthew Oberting, and others. Hosted by Justworks  Register here.

  • February 17: Virtual: Web3 Video and the Future of Content Ownership, with Glass.xyz founder Dayo Adeosun. Hosted by Betaworks Studios. Register here.

Any feedback or suggestions of things to add? Get in touch here. Was this digest forwarded to you? Sign up to receive it directly here.