Tech:NYC Digest: July 21

Tech:NYC Digest: July 21

July 21, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Thursday, July 21, 2022 

In today’s digest, the future of NYC mask mandates, FirstMark doubles down on New York tech, and why sticking by your OOO message is harder than it seems.

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By the numbers:  

  • New positive cases statewide: 8,096

    • New positive cases, NYC: 4,445

  • NYC Positivity Rate (Daily): 8.3%

    • NYC Positivity Rate (7-Day Average): 9.0%

In today’s latest: 

  • Gov. Kathy Hochul said New York students will not be required to wear masks when school starts this fall, but the policy may change if the COVID-19 situation in the state worsens. (New York Daily News)

    • The state is also prepping for a potential fall surge in COVID cases when schools reopen by stockpiling more than 20 million at-home tests and keeping mask mandates on the table.

  • However, MTA subway and bus riders will likely have to continue masking for the time being, as Hochul is keeping the statewide mask mandate on public transportation for now. (New York Times)

  • As the rapidly spreading BA.5 subvariant causes a surge in infections across the US, more people are catching COVID-19 for the second or third time. But on average, reinfections do not seem to be happening more rapidly. (CNN) 

  • And lastly, maybe skip the beach plans this weekend.

In other reading:

Forget the Great Resignation — the Great Vacation is now upon us, thanks to a pandemic-created mix of YOLO, FOMO, and accrued PTO.

  • In 2020, 63% of people canceled or postponed their vacations, and in 2021, Americans averaged 4.6 days of unclaimed PTO, according to the US Travel Association. 

But not everyone finds it easy to disconnect while on vacation. Even though more companies are providing the benefit of unlimited vacation time, a recent Glassdoor survey found that the majority of professionals struggle to decompress while on PTO.

  • At least 54% percent said they’re unable to fully unplug when they’re off, citing an “always on" work culture and concerns taking time off will impede their professional growth as some of the reasons.

Tech employees, though, tend to be in a slightly better position than workers in other industries, with over half (56%) saying they can fully disconnect from work when they take time off.

  • More lenient workplace flexibility policies are a helpful differentiator. Tech companies are also known for having more robust benefits packages that create sabbaticals and other leave options beyond base PTO allotments.

Our takeaway: Setting limits is a good first step to getting the most of our time off. Employers should be just as responsible for encouraging them as the employees benefitting from them.

In other reading:

  • Meet the CTO who doesn’t shy away from conflict (Protocol)

  • Want to Become a Digital Nomad? Try Before You Buy (Bloomberg)

  • Your work inbox is a mess. These tips could help manage your emails (Washington Post)

  • Contentsquare, a NYC and Paris-based digital experience analytics company, raised $600 million in Series F funding. Sixth Street Growth led the round and was joined by Bpifrance, Canaan, Eurazeo, Highland Europe, KKR, LionTree, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. (TechCrunch)

  • FirstMark Capital, a NYC-based venture capital firm, raised $1.1 billion across two funds. Their Capital VI fund will focus on early-stage consumer and enterprise technology companies and their Opportunity Fund IV will focus on growth-phase breakout companies. (Pitchbook)

  • Proteus Motion, a New York-based fitness tech company, raised $8.5 million in Series A funding. Acies Investment and HBSE Ventures co-led the round and were joined b Harrison & Co., Monozukuri Ventures, and 412 Ventures. (FinSMEs)

  • July 26: Virtual: Mock Term Sheet Negotiation, with Dollaride founder and CEO Su Sanni, Spotify head of innovation and market intelligence Mauhan Zonoozy, Goodwin partner Peter Fusco, and others. Hosted by NYU Data Future Lab. Register here.

  • July 28: In-person: The Applied Urban Science Conference, with Numina co-founder and CEO Tara Pham, The GovLab co-founder Stefaan Verhulst, and others. Hosted by NYU Tandon’s Center for Urban Science + Progress. Register here.

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