Tech:NYC Digest: June 22

Tech:NYC Digest: June 22

June 22, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Thursday, June 22, 2023

In today’s digest, the tech to tame curbside chaos, the High Line’s newest pedestrian expansion, and why listings for high-paying jobs have the widest ranges.  

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  • The Rent Guidelines Board— which regulates rents for roughly one million rent-stabilized city apartments—voted to raise rents for the second year in a row. (New York Times)

  • Google is the first tech-anchor employer for the city's FutureReadyNYC career-readiness initiative. Through a new partnership between the company and New York City schools, students will be able to learn tools like SQL, Tableau, the R programming language and more through Google’s Data Analytics Certificate program. (Chalkbeat)

    • Students will also receive opportunities for career programming, paid work-based learning experiences, and mentorship from tech professionals. 

  • There is a new branch of the High Line to explore. A $50 million expansion of the elevated park opened to the public today, with two new sections that link up to the Moynihan Train Hall. (Newsday)

In other reading:

The curbside can be some of the most fought-over real estate in New York—with everyone from taxis, delivery trucks, and buses looking for open space (and cyclists and pedestrians dodging it all). Can tech help tame the chaos? 

A recent report from Open Plans, a NYC-based nonprofit aimed at improving city streets, examines the evolution of the curbside, and offers recommendations for how New York and other cities can better manage these spaces to meet their rapidly growing uses. (Crain's New York Business)

Among the recommendations: Creating a digital curb inventory: The idea is to provide a digestible online catalog of available curb space and the policies for how and when it can be used.

  • “Frankly, nobody even knows how many parking spaces there are in the city,” Open Plans co-executive director Sara Lind told Crain's. “We estimate three million parking spaces, but no one knows for sure. This would allow us to have that data.”

  • Open Plans worked with BetaNYC to create a sample digital curb inventory in East Harlem. 

In an effort to get more real-time data, the city is utilizing smart sensors and artificial intelligence to better understand how streets and curbs are used. 

  • The city’s Dept. of Transportation deployed sensors from the London-based startup Viva in 12 neighborhoods for a pilot program that started this spring. 

  • The sensors use machine learning to clock activity with consistency and precision — including modes of transportation (pedestrian, truck, car, bike) and route. (Curbed)

  • Transportation officials hope the data can lead to more effective street design and also save time compared to the manual traffic studies the city already conducts. 

Smart-city technology has applications beyond streets and the curbside.

  • The Brooklyn startup Numina teamed up this spring with the nonprofit overseeing the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway to place 31 sensors measuring how people use the 26-mile pedestrian and cyclist path. (Brooklyn Paper) One of the goals is to help inform a masterplan for all greenways throughout the city. 

In other reading:

  • A new law protecting pregnant workers is set to take effect (Axios)

  • How the job market will suffer from anti-LGBTQ+ legislation (Fast Company)

  • The Highest-Paying Jobs Are Being Posted With Widest Salary Ranges (Bloomberg)

  • beehiiv, a NYC-based newsletter publishing platform, raised $12.5 million in Series A funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Social Leverage, Creator Ventures, Blue Wire Capital, and Contrarian Thinking Capital.

  • Leap, a NYC and Chicago-based retail platform for brands, raised $15 million in new funding. BAM Elevate and Costanoa Ventures co-led the round and were joined by Equal Ventures, Hyde Park Ventures, and others.

  • Warp, a NYC-based terminal design company for developers, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Sequoia Capital led the round and was joined by Figma co-founder and CEO Dylan Field, GV, Neo, BoxGroup, and a group of individuals.

Inicio Ventures is accepting applications for its 2023 NYC Awards competition. Latinx-led early-stage startups are invited to pitch their companies at the competition for a chance to win a non-dilutive cash prize. Learn more and apply by June 28 here.Make It In Brooklyn is accepting applications for its AI Tech for Good Pitch Contest on August 2. Pre-seed through Series A startups with AI solutions that benefit humankind and/or the environment are eligible to pitch for a $5,000 cash prize. Learn more and apply by July 7 here.Forum Ventures is accepting applications for its next accelerator program. The four-month program offers selected early-stage B2B SaaS startups with a $100K investment, mentorship on establishing product market fit, customer introductions, and other resources. Learn more and apply on a rolling basis here.BLCK VC is accepting applications for its next Breaking into Venture cohort. The nine-week program is designed for early-career Black professionals looking to transition into the venture capital industry. Learn more and apply by July 14 here.The Grand Central Tech Residency Program is accepting applications for its Fall 2023 cohort. Selected startups receive free office rent for a year, as well as other community and programming benefits. Learn more and apply by July 15 here.

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