Tech:NYC Digest: June 22

Tech:NYC Digest: June 22

June 22, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Wednesday, June 22, 2022 

Today’s digest is coming to you live from the kickoff ceremony for our Tech Year NYC summer pilot! (There’s still time for your company to get involved, by the way). In today’s digest, young kids line up for the vax, record rent increases get approved, and why engineering managers are still hungry for new talent. 

Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe here. 

By the numbers:  

  • New positive cases statewide: 4,211

    • New positive cases, NYC: 2,213

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 4.4 percent (-0.3 percent)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress:

    • New Yorkers with at least one dose: 90.9 percent

    • New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated: 77.6 percent  

In today’s latest: 

  • COVID-19 vaccinations have officially begun today for children under five years of age in New York. (New York Times)

    • There were some delays in updating the city’s appointment scheduler last night, but appointments for the pediatric doses of both the Pfizer ad Moderna shots can be sourced here.

  • NYC health officials downgraded the five boroughs' COVID risk level to “medium” yesterday, about a month after it escalated the status to “high” as a springtime surge swept many parts of the country. (NBC New York) The “medium” risk level still advises New Yorkers to wear a mask in indoor settings where the vaccine status isn’t known.

  • Rents will rise by at least 3.25 percent for two million New Yorkers after a city panel that regulates the rents for roughly one million rent-stabilized apartments approved the highest increases in almost a decade. (New York Times)

  • Uber is allowing passengers to share rides with strangers again in NYC and eight other major cities, after putting the option on pause for two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. The rebranded feature is called UberX Share. (The Verge) Learn more here.

In other reading:

  • NYC Will Get the First Visitor Center Celebrating LGBTQ History In A National Park System (New York Times)

  • How New York Got a Glorious Throwback Roller-Skating Extravaganza (New York Times)

  • NYC Is Officially The #1 Best U.S. City For Pizza Addicts (Secret NYC)

Amid market uncertainty and warnings to startups to tighten the reins on cash flow, some have slowed their hiring plans this year — except for engineering roles.

What’s new: More than 75 percent of companies expressed a current need for five or more engineers this year, according to a new OpenComp survey of 500 engineering leaders and hiring managers.

  • Respondents said software and senior software engineers are the hardest positions to hire, followed by hardware and security engineers. Mobile and machine learning engineers are the easiest to hire, per the survey.

  • Respondents also agreed that compensation benchmarking is as important as ever, with most engineering candidates citing salary levels as the primary reason they accept or reject a new offer.

These trends ring true for New York, as well: Tech:NYC’s own research with Accenture released last month found that, locally, 71 percent plan to increase tech hiring in 2022.

More broadly, the job market for tech companies, even outside of engineering, is booming and is expected to continue doing so for the foreseeable future. (New York Times)

In other reading:

  • LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky says creative skills on decline (Axios)

  • What your future office could look like — if you even need to be there (Washington Post)

  • What if we never knew how good WFH was? (Protocol)

  • Ledger Investing, a NYC-based online marketplace for insurance risk, raised $75 million in Series B funding. WestCap led the round and was joined by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Intact Insurance and insiders SignalFire, MassMutual Ventures, Allegis Capital, and Accel. (Newswire)

  • Roxe, a NYC-based blockchain-based payments company, agreed to go public via a merger with Goldenstone Acquisition Limited, a SPAC, a deal values at $3.65 billion. (Reuters)

  • Vergo, a NYC-based financial platform for the home building and renovation industry, raised $4.1 million in seed funding. CRV led the round and was joined by Nine Four Ventures, Forum Ventures, and other angels. (Architectural Digest)

  • Wahed, a NYC-based Islamic investment and fintech platform, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Wa’ed Ventures led the round and was joined by the Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Center. (Newswire)

  • June 22 – 23: In-person: NFT.NYC 2022, with Snark.art cofounder Andy Alekhin, Slow Ventures partner Clay Robbins, Offchain Labs co-founder Ed Felten, and others. Hosted by NFT.NYC. Register here.

  • June 22: In-person: Spotlight: An NFT Exhibition, presented by 1stdibs and powered by Infinite Objects. Register here. 

  • June 29: In-person: AMA with Primetime Partners co-founder and chairperson Alan Patricof, with Betaworks CEO John Borthwick. Hosted by Beatworks Studios. Register here.

Any feedback or suggestions of things to add? Get in touch here. Was this digest forwarded to you? Sign up to receive it directly here.