Tech:NYC Digest: February 16

Tech:NYC Digest: February 16

February 16, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Thursday, February 16, 2023

Happy Thursday, where we just wrapped our first Board meeting of 2023! More news to come soon. In today’s digest, NYC’s first public realm czar, how a group of climate scientists are using tech to track neighborhood flooding, and the startup bringing safer streets sensors to NYC.  

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  • NYC has created the city’s first-ever Chief Public Realm Officer, a role created by the mayor to improve how the city uses and manages its public spaces, including parks, plazas and streets. (New York Times) 

    • And we’re thrilled to see Ya-Ting Liu, a longtime Tech:NYC friend and partner, appointed into the role! 

  • A new state proposal would broaden and make permanent the eligibility for tax credits for low- and moderate-income families after the pandemic-era federal Child Tax Credit expired in 2021. (Gothamist)

  • FloodNet, a collaboration between several NYC universities, is being expanded to deploy more than 500 open-source sensors across the city to provide real-time tracking of neighborhoods prone to flood risks. (Gothamist)

In other reading:

  • Mayor Adams Has a Message for Albany: We Need More Money (New York Times)

  • Banksy’s 2013 NYC residency gets revisited in the Lower East Side (Gothamist)

  • The Astor Place Barber Who Moonlights as a Salumi Master (Grub Street)

Around 39,000 people were killed in motor vehicle incidents in the US in 2020 — and about 6,200 of those deaths were pedestrians. Now, a startup well-known in Australia and the UK wants to tackle the problem in the US, starting with New York.

What’s new: Viva, an intelligent camera startup, raised $8.5 million to expand its transport data collection into the US market.

  • The company is working with the NYC Dept. of Transportation to bring its AI sensors to NYC streets for a new safety data analysis project. (TechCrunch)

The sensors gather anonymized data that can monitor the volume of people and vehicles at any given point, identify where congestion is occurring, and even detect “near misses” between vehicles and pedestrians. 

  • “Reactive decision-making is not fit for purpose and it is costing lives,” said Viva CEO Mark Nicholson. “To change, we need to have data to better understand how people are using the roads. This helps authorities to redirect their billions of annual infrastructure investment into the right places.”

For Nicholson, more advanced mobility technology doesn't just advance street safety, but also mitigates climate change:

  • “It’s the sad truth that globally, transport is the most stubborn when it comes to emissions — even with electric vehicles coming in. In a nutshell, poor transport infrastructure is a people-killer in more ways than one. Making our streets safer means more people can go places on foot or by two-wheeled pedal-power. Good for people, good for the planet.” 

In other reading:

MEMBER EVENT: Tech:NYC is hosting a special, members-only virtual briefing and conversation with Zach Iscol, Commissioner of the NYC Emergency Management Department, on Feb. 21. Commissioner Iscol has been leading the city’s response to the ongoing migrant crisis, and the tech community is getting involved to rally resources that welcome asylum seekers as permanent New Yorkers.Employees of all levels welcome: If you work at a Tech:NYC member company and would like to join, send us a note here and we’ll pass along the Zoom details.

  • Natural Cycles, a NYC and Stockholm-based women’s health company, raised $7 million in funding. Samsung Ventures led the round and was joined by Heartcore Capital, Headline, Bonnier Ventures, and EQT Ventures. (Forbes)

  • Stuf, a NYC-based self-storage startup, raised $11m in Series A funding. Altos Ventures and Allegion Ventures co-led the round and were joined by insiders Harlem Capital and Wilshire Lane Capital. (Crain’s New York Business)

  • February 21: Virtual: #notapitch: Unofficial Feedback on your Idea/Prototype from Brooklyn Bridge Ventures founding partner Charlie O’Donnell. Register here.

  • February 21: Virtual: Future Enterprise Software Founders AMA, with Work-Bench co-founder and general partner Jonathan Lehr. Register here.

  • February 23: In-person: Cornell Tech @ Bloomberg speaker series, with Esusu co-founder and co-CEO Wemimo Abbey. Hosted by Tech:NYC, Bloomberg, and Cornell Tech. Register here.

  • February 28: In-person and virtual: #newtovc: Goal-Setting for Next Rounds, with General Catalyst managing director Niko Bonatsos, Left Lane Capital vice president Laura Sillman, and 3L partner Jodi Kessler. Hosted by Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. Register here.

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