Tech:NYC Digest: July 11

Tech:NYC Digest: July 11

July 11, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Monday, July 11, 2022 

In today’s digest, indoor mask advisory returns to NYC, the tech startup Gov. Hochul called to monitor the state’s air quality, and remote work curveballs awaiting your next tax filing.

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By the numbers:  

  • New positive cases statewide: 4,661

    • New positive cases, NYC: 2,787

  • NYC Positivity Rate (Daily): 10.4 percent

    • NYC Positivity Rate (7-Day Average): 9.5 percent

In today’s latest: 

  • NYC health officials are once again recommending all New Yorkers wear high-quality face masks indoors and near crowds due to recent spikes in COVID-19 cases. (NBC New York)

    • All five boroughs of New York City are back in the CDC's high-risk category for COVID community spread as of the agency's Friday update. 

    • More than 1,000 NYC residents are hospitalized with COVID for the first time since February, and pockets of every borough are showing positivity rates above 20 percent. You can see the latest data by ZIP code here.

    • One helpful reminder: As of May, every household can order a third round of free, at-home COVID tests from the federal government. If you haven’t maxed out yet, get your next shipment here.

  • The latest Omicron offshoot, BA.5, has quickly become dominant in the US, and thanks to its elusiveness when encountering the human immune system, is driving a wave of cases across the country. (Washington Post)

  • Aclima, a NYC and San Francisco-based startup tracking pollution and other climate indicators, has partnered with New York State to put mobile air sensors on specialized vehicles to collect hyperlocal data monitoring air quality in the Bronx and Manhattan. (Gothamist)

  • And one fun plug: Summer Slay, a new outdoor dance and music series on The Shed’s Plaza kicks off this week. See this summer’s full lineup and book free tickets here.

In other reading:

Roughly 55 million Americans can currently work remotely on a full-time basis, per a new McKinsey study. And now that companies have had enough time to settle into those changes, as Protocol writes, “nothing is certain but remote work and taxes.”

What happens when tech workers live in one state, work in another, and spend months of the year in a third? This has the potential to create some pretty complicated tax implications for employers and employees alike. 

  • A recent Harris Poll found most workers weren’t prepared, with more than half who began working remotely during the pandemic unaware of all the tax ramifications.

  • That’s not all that surprising: The laws vary from state to state, they change frequently, and it’s also likely a new issue for your company’s HR team.

To make things even trickier: the COVID loopholes are closing. In 2020, various states removed limitations to allow citizens to travel to another state for job or personal safety.

  • But “a lot of the COVID flexibility has ended now — and in most cases, if you relocated during COVID and are still in a new state, you're more than likely required to pay taxes to the new state now,” Kevin Fritz, employment counsel at benefits software company Gusto, told Protocol.

“Business-leisure travelers” — those who live and work abroad for weeks or months without taking up permanent residence — are facing the same challenges. (Bloomberg) Governments abroad are attempting to establish tax and visa policies, leaving firms to worry about compliance and company culture.

  • Since 2019, more than two dozen countries and territories have enacted "digital nomad" policies.

  • “One issue is navigating the tax, social security, and employment and labor provisions of both countries to ensure compliance in both locations,” said Migration Policy Institute analyst Kate Hooper. “Another is the risk of triggering permanent establishment rules that may incur corporate tax obligations," she said.

Go deeper: Here’s a helpful guide from our friends at Deloitte on how to address these issues at your company. 

In other reading:

  • Adaptive, a NYC-based construction back-office software startup, raised $6.5 million in seed funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round and was joined by 3KVC, BoxGroup, Exponent, and Definition. (TechCrunch)

  • Asset Class, a NYC, Dublin, and London-based provider of private capital investment management software, raised $11.6 million in Series A funding. Canapi Ventures led the round and was joined by Live Oak Ventures, Plexus Capital, and Total Technology Ventures. (FinSMEs)

  • Ranger, a NYC-based provider of tools for insurance brokers, raised $5.25 million in seed funding. Lerer Hippeau Ventures led the round and was joined by Alex Rodriguez, Firstminute Capital, Slow Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Raven1 Ventures, and Montauk Ventures. (TechCrunch)

  • July 14: Virtual: How VCs Can Help Founders During a Downturn, with H/L Ventures managing partner Oliver Libby, 8VC executive in residence Lauren DeMeuse, and Build Talent cofounder Jose Guardado. Hosted by Getro. Register here.

  • July 14: In-person: Under, Over, Through, a showcase with artists from NEW INC’s Creative Science Track. Hosted by Newlab. Register here.

  • July 19: In-person: Bloomberg Crypto Summit, with FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, Uniswap Labs COO Mary-Catherine Lader, Grayscale chief legal officer Craig Salm, and others. Hosted by Bloomberg. Register here.

  • July 20: In-person: The City’s Path to Becoming the World’s Crypto Capital, with New York State Dept. of Financial Services Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris, eToro US CEO Lule Demmissie, Genesis CEO Michael Moro, and others. Hosted by Crain’s New York Business. Register here.

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