Tech:NYC Digest: June 2

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Thursday, June 2, 2022 

In today’s digest, the state legislature sprints to the finish line, how to participate in National Gun Violence Awareness Day, and Tech:NYC's latest polling finds New Yorkers think tech holds the best jobs of the future.

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By the numbers:  

• New positive cases statewide: 5,812

  • New positive cases, NYC: 2,484

• NYC Positivity Rate: 5.6 percent (-0.2 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: 

• Coronavirus vaccines for children younger than five could be available as soon as June 21, pending FDA approval. States will be able to order these doses beginning on Friday. (New York Times)

• Today marks the final day of the state legislative session, and throughout the night and tomorrow, state officials are expected to make decisions that would approve expansions of abortion rights and gun control measures, among others. (New York Times)

  • Both the state Assembly and Senate have also passed the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York.

• The NYC Council introduced a package of new bills aimed to pave the way for universal childcare in the city within a five-year span. (Gothamist) The bills create a plan to use $4 billion allocated from the state budget to expand childcare subsidies and make it easier for new childcare centers to open in underserved neighborhoods.

• And two reminders for your schedule tomorrow:

  • Friday is the 7th Annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day, and you can participate in Everytown for Gun Safety’s #WearOrange campaign to help draw attention to the crisis of gun violence. Find more details here.

  • It’s also the last day to register (or update your registration and/or party designation) to vote in the June 28 primary election. Learn more here.

In other reading:

• Midtown Manhattan Has a Pulse Again (New York Times)

• With a rise in Covid cases, should you change summer travel plans? (CNN)

• New York Restaurants Can’t Ignore TikTok Anymore (Eater NY)

Shortly after the pandemic began, Tech:NYC began conducting regular polling to gather insights about how two groups — NYC tech workers and New York voters of any job category — were reacting to the shifts they were seeing in the city’s economy as a result.

The findings of our latest polling were released today, finding that New York voters believe now — and even more so in the future — the tech sector is a critical part of the city’s economy.

• More people believe the tech industry will be important in the future (55 percent) compared to those who believe it is important today (45 percent). 

• It’s the only industry respondents expect to increase in importance, placing technology on the same level as other critical local industries such as finance, transportation, education, and entertainment.

(Click the image to expand to full view)In line with those findings, New Yorkers believe the city should continue growing the sector: 

• Six out of ten New Yorkers feel the city should seek to attract more tech companies (61 percent), and that tech companies — along with the jobs they create — are needed now more than ever amidst the pandemic (60 percent).

• Government support for the sector is also popular, with respondents saying the government should provide training programs to help people get jobs in tech (71 percent) and strengthen computer science and STEM education for K-12 students (68 percent).

Tech:NYC also polled New Yorkers on their work lives and the ways it was impacted by the pandemic. Other recent data shows that tech workers overwhelmingly prefer hybrid workplace models, and our data indicates workers of all types of industries similarly prioritize remote flexibility in their roles.

Get the full summary of findings here. 

In other reading: 

• 4 Quick Tips for Managing Email Overload on the Go (New York Times)

• Forget LinkedIn —Your Next Job Offer Could Come via Slack (Wall Street Journal)

• An Unexpected Perk Of Remote Work: It’s Easier To Job Hunt (Forbes)

• Cloudwall Capital, a NYC-based digital asset risk management startup, raised $6.3 million in seed funding. LocalGlobe and Illuminate Financial co-led the round and were joined by IA Capital Partners, Eberg Capital, NEMO Ventures, and a group of angels. (Insider)

• Constrafor, a NYC-based construction procurement SaaS with embedded financing, raised $106 million in equity and debt funding. Fintech Collective led the equity round and was joined by Village Global, Clocktower Technology Ventures, and Commerce Ventures. (TechCrunch)

• Coterie, a New York-based babycare brand, raised $23.8 million in Series A funding. Align Ventures led the round and was joined by Beliade, Willow Growth, RiverPark Ventures, and others. (Forbes)

• Hannah Grey VC, NYC and Denver-based venture capital firm, raised $51.6 million for an inaugural fund focused on pre-seed and seed stage companies. (TechCrunch)

• Innerwell, a NYC-based psychedelic teletherapy platform, raised $3 million in pre-seed funding. Greycroft led the round and was joined by Looking Glass, Max Ventures, and other angels. (WebWire)

• June 8: Virtual: Bloomberg Technology Summit, with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Waymo co-CEO Tekedra N. Mawakana, Accenture CTO Paul Daugherty, and others. Hosted by Bloomberg. Register here.

• June 9: Virtual: Assessing the gaps in your company’s family benefits, with Maven SVP of People Karsten Vagner and Director of Global Health Equity Dawn Godbolt. Hosted by Maven. Register here.

• June 16: In-person: Cornell Tech Fest, with Tech:NYC director of Tech Year NYC Bethany Crystal, Lunchbox CEO Nabeel Alamgir, Primary VC principal Sam Toole, and others. Hosted by Cornell Tech. Enter code “technycmem” in the “Admin Use Only” field for 50 percent off tickets. Register here.

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