Tech:NYC Digest: June 1

Tech:NYC Digest: June 1

June 01, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Wednesday, June 1, 2022 

Happy Pride! 🏳️‍🌈 In today’s digest, vaccines race to keep up with changing variants, the LIRR extension coming to midtown Manhattan, and why commute times are keeping New Yorkers from the office. 

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By the numbers:  

  • New positive cases statewide: 5,681  

    • New positive cases, NYC: 2,802

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 5.8 percent (+0.1 percent)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress:

    • New Yorkers with at least one dose: 90.6 percent

    • New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated: 77.4 percent

In today’s latest: 

  • Experts are warning COVID vaccine updates aren’t keeping up with the changes in the virus itself. A reprint of earlier studies found new variants appear to be even more immune-resistant than the original Omicron strain, leading to the potential for more breakthrough infections. (Axios) Pfizer and Moderna have trials underway to determine if they will tweak their vaccines this summer.

    • Despite strong levels of vaccination among older people, COVID killed them at vastly higher rates during this winter’s Omicron wave than it did last year. (New York Times)

  • Mayor Eric Adams announced he would name a “gun violence czar” ahead of what is a traditional summer season increase in gun-related offenses. (New York Times)

  • Gov. Hochul announced that extended LIRR service to the east side of Manhattan is on schedule to begin this year. A new terminal dubbed “Grand Central Madison” below Grand Central Terminal and Madison Ave. is the largest passenger rail terminal to be built in the US since the 1950s. (NBC New York)

    • In additional transit news: Gov. Hochul today announced the opening of a new Delta Terminal C at LaGuardia airport. Here’s some photos of the new space.

  • Scientists at Rutgers University announced they’ve developed a new color-coded test that tells you what COVID variant you’re infected with in real-time along with regular PCR results. (Gothamist)

  • A newly-updated I LOVE NY LGBTQ microsite was launched to help visitors identify things to see and do statewide during Pride Month and throughout the year.

In other reading:

  • How to Think About Personal Risk When COVID Case Data Can’t Be Trusted (The Atlantic)

  • New York’s Weed Rush Is Here. They Came to Cash In. (New York Times)

  • The awesome new beach club opening on Governors Island (Time Out NY)

The return to office in New York continues — albeit very slowly. 

  • Last week, NYC office buildings logged a 38.2 percent occupancy rate, just below an average 43 percent rate among the top 10 US cities.

But new insights are suggesting it’s not because workers don’t like the office — they don’t like traveling to it. (Wall Street Journal)

  • New US Census Bureau data shows cities with longer average commute times have taken the biggest economic hit, and those with shorter commute times have higher RTO rates.

  • Before the pandemic, NYC workers had the longest average one-way commute in the country, at 38 minutes.

One solution that’s catching on: companies are moving their offices close to their employees.

  • Opening office space closer to where the majority of employees live has helped some tech companies eliminate commuting concerns and better incentivize office attendance. It’s also made employees more likely to actually want to use it. (New York Times)

Digital design startup ustwo moved its headquarters from the Financial District to Dumbo because two-thirds of its employees live in Brooklyn. The move made it possible for many of them to turn a 30 minute subway ride to the office into a ten minute bicycle ride.

  • Even before the pandemic, outer-borough locations were attracting new industry sectors, such as the explosive growth of biotech and life sciences companies anchoring themselves in Long Island City.

What we’re watching: Office relocations that make travel by foot and bicycle more feasible could have an impact on long-term subway ridership. But economic development experts cite the multiplier benefits of having a network of office nodes across more neighborhoods — it supports workers’ preferences, but also the small businesses that will receive their support in return.

In other reading:

  • Sleeping In When You Work From Home Does More Harm Than Good. Here’s Why. (Wall Street Journal)

  • Tell your boss: Working from home is making you more productive (Vox)

  • Why Calling In Sick Is More Fraught Than Ever (Wall Street Journal)

  • Altan Insights, a New York-based alternative asset intelligence platform, raised $4 million in seed funding. Slow Ventures led the round and was joined by Alexis Ohanian and Good Friends, as well as insiders Courtside VC and Operator Partners. (Businesswire)

  • Rally, a New York-based mass mobility marketplace, agreed to go public at an implied $208 million enterprise value via Americas Technology Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: ATA), a SPAC led by Align Capital and Fifth Partners. (MarketWatch)

Tech:NYC, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Youth Employment, is recruiting tech companies to participate in Tech Year NYC, a pilot initiative to broaden access to career pathways in tech to underrepresented youth. If your company would like to participate this summer, learn more here and register your interest here. Newlab, in collaboration with NYCEDC and ConEdison, is seeking applicants for the next cohort of its Resilient Energy Studio. Early-stage hardware and software companies with energy storage concepts will get the opportunity to test their technologies in real-world urban environments. Learn more and apply by June 1 here.Grow-NY, an initiative of New York State Empire State Development (ESD), is accepting applications for its 2022 competition. Startups and/or investors in the food, beverage, and agriculture sectors across 22 Upstate counties are eligible for a cash prize of up to $1 million, as well as marketing support and other resources. Learn more and apply by July 1 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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