Tech:NYC Digest: January 19

Tech:NYC Digest: January 19

January 19, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

In today’s digest, Biden administration to provide millions of free N95 masks, Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill effective against Omicron, and why more tech companies are going permanently remote. 

  • Plus, some big news to share: we’re excited to announce the appointment of Jason Myles Clark as Tech:NYC’s next executive director! Meet him here and join us in welcoming him to the team!

Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

By the numbers: 

  • New positive cases statewide: 23,375

    • New positive cases, NYC: 11,301

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 12.7 percent (-0.8 percent)

  • NYC Hospitalizations: 5,994 (+57)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress: 

    • Percentage of all New Yorkers with least one dose: 86.4 percent

    • Percentage of all New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated: 73.1 percent

Today’s latest: 

  • The Biden administration will start shipping 400 million free N95 masks to distribution sites nationwide this week. Masks can be picked up at pharmacies, community centers, and other locations across the country beginning next week. (Washington Post)

  • Service on five subway lines were restored today, four weeks after the MTA was forced to cut back service across the city as the Omicron variant spread among transit workers. (New York Daily News) The B and Z lines, as well as express 6 and 7 service, are back in full force!

  • Mayor Eric Adams said yesterday that the numbers of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the city have started to drop, but experts say New Yorkers should remain careful. The number of known cases — over 11,000 reported yesterday — is still much higher than last winter’s, when there was an average of roughly 6,500 cases a day. (New York Times)

  • Pfizer’s new COVID-19 pill, Paxlovid, was effective against the Omicron variant in laboratory tests, an encouraging early sign the drug will be an important tool while the strain spreads. (Wall Street Journal)

In other reading:

  • Here’s Where Subway Riders Have Returned. And Where They Haven’t. (New York Times)

  • Could a universal Covid-19 vaccine defeat every variant? (Vox)

  • Are there any off-season travel deals left, or has the pandemic undermined them all? (New York Times)

Now that we’re entering the third year of workplaces operating somewhere on the hybrid work spectrum, companies have to finally admit: it’s been working just fine. In fact, many reported record profitability. (Washington Post)

  • The Partnership for New York City’s latest round of RTO survey results, collected last week, indicate that isn’t changing soon: 75 percent of NYC employers delayed RTO plans due to the Omicron variant, pointing to lingering uncertainty on whether office attendance will get back above 50 percent this year.

Tech is among the most flexible sectors when it comes to office policies, but the tension between the demand for flexibility and the costs of committing to it entirely is likely to grow.

  • Research from Morning Consult released this month shows a significant majority of remote workers — 55 percent — would consider quitting if their companies tried to force fuller RTO policies.

So instead of kicking the can down the road and risking employees becoming impatient enough to leave, more tech companies are successfully shifting to becoming permanently remote. (Protocol)

  • Quora, Upwork, Spotify, Shopify, and Dropbox are just some of the companies that have seen an increase in applications since becoming remote-first.

  • Remote-first companies are moving away from the HQ model and prioritizing building their presence in “talent hubs” around the world. 

In other reading: 

  • Swipe Right When You See a Conference Room You Like (New York Times)

  • The Next In-Demand Job Title: Head Of The Future Of Work (Forbes)

  • Everyone Is Quitting. Here’s the Right Way to Do It. (New York Times)

We announced today that Jason Myles Clark will take over as Tech:NYC’s executive director beginning next week. Julie Samuels founded and built Tech:NYC up over six years, and for her, it was about finding someone whose New York roots ran deep:

  • “I’ve always said Tech:NYC is a community of people who are first and foremost New Yorkers. Jason is definitely that, and it’s why I know he’ll continue to build meaningful partnerships between tech and the city with the interests of everyday New Yorkers top of mind.”

You can learn more about Jason here. In an interview with Crain’s New York Business, he shared why he’s focused on finding more opportunities for tech to help New York: 

  • “What we’re trying to do is make sure we’re using technology to improve the lives of others. The way you do that is by making sure that we are listening to our members and what their desires and needs are, but equally working together and synthesizing the information that we receive from the community as a whole.”

Jason’s leadership comes at a time when the city is in transition, and tech can play a pivotal role in shaping its future. As Tech:NYC’s co-chair Fred Wilson put it in his blog today:

  • “[W]ith great success comes great responsibility and the tech sector needs to employ a broader and more diverse group of NYers, it needs to be more civic-minded, it needs to be more philanthropic, and it needs to think beyond Manhattan out to the five boroughs and on to New York State and the NY Metropolitan region. And Jason is the perfect leader to take Tech:NYC in those directions.”

We’re thrilled to welcome Jason to the team — and to keep Julie involved as she transitions to the board of directors. We look forward to sharing more about Jason’s plans soon!

  • Nowsta, a New York City-based work management platform, raised $41 million in Series B funding. GreatPoint Ventures led the round and was joined by VMG Catalyst, Rally Ventures, Tribe Capital, as well as insiders Green Visor Capital, Compound Ventures, and Clocktower Technology Ventures. (TechCrunch)

  • Stan, a New York City-based creator monetization tool, raised $5 million in seed funding. Forerunner Ventures led the round and was joined by Norwest Venture Partners and Pear VC.

  • Topography, a New York City and Los Angeles-based full-stack platform for community physicians, raised $21.5 million in Series A funding. Bain Capital Ventures led the round and was joined by Andreessen Horowitz. (Axios)

  • Turing Labs, a New York City-based SaaS platform for consumer goods production, raised $16.5m in Series A funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by insiders YC and Moment Ventures. (TechCrunch)

FirstGeneration, a community accelerator to support first generation and immigrant (“FGI”) founders, is accepting applications for its 2022 FG Prime cohort. The six-week program is designed for FGI founders in NYC seeking help to raise their first $1 million in funding. Learn more and apply here.NextView is accepting applications for its Everyday Economy Accelerator program. The program is seeking consumer and SaaS B2B startups at the pre-seed and seed stage, offering $400K access to NextView’s investor, operators, and extended advisor network. Learn more and apply by Feb. 14 here.Interact is accepting applications for its 2022 fellowship program. The Interact Fellowship is open to young technologists interested in participating in two fully-sponsored summer retreats with other founders, engineers, community builders, and more, as well access to grants programs and VC partners. Learn more and apply by Feb. 15 here.The Founder Institute is accepting applications for its New York Virtual 2022 Cohort. The program focuses on helping tech or tech-enabled businesses at the idea and pre-seed stages interested in the institute's FI Core accelerator. Learn more and apply by the early admissions deadline on Feb. 20 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.