Tech:NYC Digest: January 19

Tech:NYC Digest: January 19

January 19, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Thursday, January 19, 2023

In today’s digest, the economic boon of outdoor dining, what to know about the MTA’s first light rail line, and what productivity metrics tell us about the evolution of remote work in 2023.

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  • A state Supreme Court judge struck down a statewide mandate requiring health care workers to be vaccinated against COVID-10, and the state’s Dept. of Health said it is “exploring its options” on how (or if) to challenge the decision. (amNewYork)

  • With the ongoing influx of asylum seekers putting more pressure on the city’s budget proposals, Mayor Eric Adams is calling on the federal government to offer more in funding, as well as aid to more quickly process work permit and citizenship requests. (New York Times) Estimates indicate that more than 40,000 newcomers have arrived in NYC since the spring.

  • The number of outdoor dining locations rose to more than 12,000 during the city’s Open Restaurants program, and new research shows it has been an economic boon particularly in outer boroughs and in neighborhoods where people of color make up the majority of the population. (Gothamist)

  • And can you guess which landmarks were named the most loved in the US? Hint: the top two are in NYC. 

In other reading:

  • The Interborough Express will be the MTA’s first light rail line. Here’s what to expect (Crain’s New York Business)

  • Trying to Stop Long COVID Before It Even Starts (The Atlantic)

  • Welcome to Electchester, the NYC affordable city-within-a-city full of electricians (Curbed)

The ongoing experiments by companies to find the optimal RTO plans have moved a few more steps forward.

  • Large employers like Starbucks and Disney are among those announcing new mandates, requiring corporate workers to return to the office for a minimum of three and four days per week, respectively.

  • Starbucks made the change when it found that badging data showed employees weren’t adhering to looser requirements to work from the office 1-2 days per week.

What they’re saying in New York: Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser has been among Wall Street’s biggest WFH advocates, but she's now pairing the company's hybrid models with more robust productivity tracking. (CNN)

  • Fraser said she sees no need to return to old office expectations, but that remote work isn’t effective for every employee. Less productive team members, she said, are now being called back into the office for coaching. 

The consensus on remote work remains strong: Indeed’s 2023 US Labor Market Outlook said it was “set to endure,” and a new Conference Board survey of CEOs found only 4% of respondents plan to reduce remote work this year.

In other reading:

  • Tech workers had their pick of jobs for years. Is that era over for now? (Washington Post)

  • Here’s why managers have productivity paranoia (Fast Company)

  • How are those metaverse work meetings actually going? (Slate)

  • Chord, a NYC-based commerce platform-as-a-service, raised $15 million in Series A extension funding. Bright Pixel Capital and Eclipse co-led the round and were joined by GC1 Ventures, TechNexus Venture Collaborative, Anti Fund VC, Imaginary Ventures, Foundation Capital, and White Star Capital. (TechCrunch)

  • MarketReader, a NYC-based market analytics startup, raised $3.1 m in seed funding. Participating investors include former OppenheimerFunds CEO Art Steinmetz and Oakridge Management Group. (Businesswire)

Next View Ventures is accepting applications for its fourth accelerator program. Pre-seed and seed stage startup teams working building consumer and SaaS B2B companies are eligible for the three-month program. The accelerator runs on a hybrid mode with virtual programming and IRL kickoff and wrap-up events in NYC. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Learn more and apply here.Interested in teaching the next generation of coders? Giant Machines is accepting applications for their Summer Teaching Fellows (formerly Upperline Code Fellows), as it pursues its mission of creating pathways to tech careers through computer science education. The program has partnerships with nonprofits like CSforAll, Break Through Tech, and SEO Scholars, along with Fortune 100 companies like Google and the sponsors of FinTech Focus. Learn more and apply on a rolling basis here.BX-XL, an early-stage startup accelerator program run by the Social Justice Fund and Visible Hands to support BIPOC founders, is accepting applications for its inaugural cohort. Selected founders will receive investments of up to $500,000, mentorship, company-building support, and more. Learn more and apply by Jan. 20 here.The Transit Tech Lab is accepting applications for its 2023 challenges for the chance to pilot technology with some of New York’s leading public transit agencies, including the MTA, Port Authority, NJ TRANSIT, and NYC DOT. Solutions may include predictive models for maintenance or service disruption, tools to automate operations, talent sourcing and human resources innovation, and more. Learn more and apply by March 2 here.

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