Tech:NYC Digest: July 6

Tech:NYC Digest: July 6

July 06, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Wednesday, July 6, 2022 

In today’s digest, a sixth (or thereabouts?) COVID wave hits NYC, the Gateway project gets another green light, and how inflation is pressuring your payroll department.

  • Plus, Week 1 of our #TechYearNYC summer pilot is officially underway, and we dropped the first of hundreds of forthcoming custom NFTs being created to give each student participating in the program!

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By the numbers:  

  • New positive cases statewide: 3,996

    • New positive cases, NYC: 2,100

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 9.1 percent (+0.1 percent)

In today’s latest: 

  • NYC has seen a dramatic spike in new COVID-19 cases since just before the Fourth of July holiday weekend. The latest data indicates several neighborhoods are back up to seven-day positivity rates above 20 percent. (NBC New York)

    • They include Long Island City, Central Harlem, Gramercy Park, and the Upper East Side. See the current breakdown by ZIP code here. 

    • Meanwhile, a new poll published yesterday suggests most Americans think their lives are now back to pre-pandemic normalcy. (New York Times)

  • The long-stalled Gateway project, an effort to build new tunnels from New Jersey to Penn Station, moved one step closer to construction after Gov. Kathy Hochul and Gov. Phil Murphy agreed to split the costs down the middle, making it one of the largest active infrastructure projects in the country. (Gothamist)

  • In a ceremony hosted at Tech:NYC member Newlab yesterday, Gov. Hochul signed three climate measures into law yesterday, including updates to the state’s building code that will strengthen greenhouse gas emissions rules and require energy efficiency standards on all new household appliances. (CBS News)

  • One summer day trip tip: The New York Aquarium off the boardwalk in Coney Island, which has been rebuilding since it was hit by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, fully reopened for the first time since the storm. And it’s air conditioned! (New York Times)

In other reading:

  • Updated COVID Shots Are Coming. Will They Be Too Late? (New York Times)

  • Remote Work Is Turning Williamsburg Into an NYC Shopping Mecca (Wall Street Journal)

  • How Secret Are the City’s Newest Speakeasies, Really? (Grub Street)

Amid record inflation and a labor market with two open positions for every worker, the average annual salary increase reached 4.8 percent this year, the highest pay bump in decades. (CNBC)

What employees are saying: It’s still not enough. Companies are responding by accelerating annual performance review cycles to offer more pay raises at the mid-year mark, according to a new survey from compensation consulting firm Pearl Meyer.

  • Of the surveyed companies, 23 percent say they’re planning for a mid-year salary adjustment process and 5 percent are considering it. But only 16 percent of firms said these mid-year increases would be given to all employees.

Tech companies are at the forefront of the trend, hoping the change adds yet another incentive for employees who might otherwise shop around for their next role. (Wall Street Journal)

  • Microsoft told its employees it plans to nearly double its global budget for merit-based raises. 

  • Apple is raising its starting pay for hourly US workers to $22 an hour or higher based on the market, as well as budgeting more frequent raises for corporate staff.

The move perhaps comes at a counterintuitive time, when tech executives are expressing concerns over a looming economic downturn, but Pearl Meyer’s vice president Rebecca Toman says “a labor shortage plus inflation makes up that perfect storm” in which companies have to do more to retain workers.  

Workers are, of course, happy with pay bumps, but inflation will continue to weigh heavy. 74 percent of workers say their current wages will still not be enough to keep up with rising costs, according to the CNBC All-America Workforce Survey.

  • This has led Americans to start dipping into the huge pile of savings they accumulated over the first two years of the pandemic. Households at almost all income levels drew down accumulations in the first quarter to cover costs.

In other reading:

  • How Microsoft’s first chief environmental officer Lucas Joppa decided to shape its climate agenda (Protocol)

  • Cut yourself some Slack: Tips to make the app help you, not haunt you (Washington Post)

  • Want to avoid culture wars at work? You need a healthy 'debate culture.' (Protocol)

  • Adapty, a NYC-based monetization tool for mobile apps, raised $2 million in seed funding. Surface.vc led the round and was joined by irrvrntVC.

  • Finalis, a NYC and San Francisco-based broker-dealer platform for dealmakers, raised $10.7 million in seed funding. Participating investors include ANIMO Ventures, Chaac Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Tribe Capital, and The Fund. (Newswire)

  • Reciprocal Ventures, a NYC-based VC first focused on early-stage web3 startups, raised $68.5 million for its Fund II. (Pitchbook)

URBAN-X, together with VC fund JVP, is accepting applications for its next cohort. Seed to Series B climatetech and urbantech startups building solutions to tackle climate change and create more livable cities are eligible to apply on a rolling basis now. Learn more and apply here.The NYU Tandon Veterans Future Lab, supported by Barclays, is accepting applications to Apex, its nine-month, no-cost, equity-free incubator program. Early-stage ventures led by military veterans, service members, and/or military spouses are eligible to apply. The program includes exclusive desk space and up to $200,000 in in-kind legal and industry resources. Learn more and apply by July 12 here.Company Ventures is accepting applications for its next Grand Central Tech Residency. Beginning in September, the program offers selected startups free office space for one year, zero equity commitment, and other no strings attached resources. Learn more and apply by July 19 here.Antler, a global early-stage VC, is accepting applications for its summer 2022 New York cohort. Following the six-week, in-person residency, founders will have the opportunity to pitch Antler’s investment committee for $150,000 in pre-seed funding. Learn more and apply here.

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