Tech:NYC Digest: June 26

Tech:NYC Digest: June 26

June 26, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Monday, June 26, 2023

In today’s digest, the early impact of the city’s salary transparency law, a Primary Day primer, and the numbers on exactly who is working remotely.  

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  • Tomorrow is Primary Day, with each of the City Council’s 51 districts on the ballot, as well as District Attorney races in The Bronx and Queens. (NBC New York) 

    • Polls are open tomorrow from 6am – 9pm. Confirm your poll location and see your sample ballot here.

    • Just 44,611 New Yorkers cast their ballots during the nine-day early voting period for primaries. (amNewYork)

  • Gov. Kathy Hochul kicked off NYC Pride by signing a bill Friday that would legally protect doctors who prescribe and send abortion pills to patients living in other states where the procedure is outlawed. (CNBC)

    • The bill specifically aims to protect New York doctors who use telehealth systems, which allow them to serve patients residing in other states. More than a dozen states have implemented near-total abortion bans since the Supreme Court decided to overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling a year ago.

  • It is budget week for the city, with the new fiscal year starting Saturday, July 1. Here is what to know about how the budget is hammered out, how the money is distributed, and what can happen if it’s late. (The City)

  • New York is set to receive about $650 million in federal funding for projects that expand broadband access. President Joe Biden announced state-by-state allocations Monday for a $42 billion plan to bring high-speed internet access to every US household by 2030. (CNN) 

In other reading:

  • Two of New York’s Most Famous Hotels Plan Their Post-pandemic Comebacks (The Wall Street Journal)

  • NY designates state a ‘safe haven’ for trans youth, families and health providers (Gothamist) 

  • You Will Finally Be Able to Try New York’s Most Impossible-to-Order Pizza (New York Magazine)

Roughly seven months since the city law requiring pay ranges in job ads took effect, there is evidence of some early progress toward its goal of shrinking the gender pay gap. 

A new report from tech-focused job site Hired found both expectations for pay and actual pay increased slightly for women after the city's law went into effect on Nov. 1. (Crain's New York Business) 

  • 61% of women surveyed (and 58% of men) told Hired that having published pay ranges made negotiation easier.

Something to watch: How to standardize published salary bands. 

  • About a quarter of job-seekers polled by Hired said they found the ranges too wide to be helpful.

  • A recent Indeed study found that some of the highest-paying professions — including software development — had ranges that were widening the fastest in the past 12 months. 

  • Indeed also found that seven of the 10 cities where salary ranges widened fastest over the past 12 months were in California or Washington — states that had pay transparency laws take effect at the start of 2023. (New York was not among the top 10.)

The widening of published ranges could indicate just how complicated it is to post pay details, especially for companies with a workforce across varying geographies and job functions — but studies have shown there is value in disclosure.

  • An SHRM poll published this spring found that 70% of companies found ranges drove more applicants, while 82% of job-seekers said ranges made them more likely to apply for a position. 

In other reading:

  • How Amazon is partnering with bodegas and small businesses to launch a local business delivery network (Axios)

  • The new approach to office attendance data (HR Brew)

  • Who’s working remotely, by occupation (New York Times)

  • AvoMD, a NYC-based startup focused on reducing clinician burnout, raised $5 million in seed funding. AlleyCorp led the round and was joined by Las Olas, Epsilon Health, and MedMountain Ventures.

  • Captions, a NYC-based AI creative studio, raised $25 million in Series B funding. Kleiner Perkins led the round and was joined by Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and SV Angel.

  • Cohere.io, a NYC-based AI customer support startup, was acquired by Ramp, a NYC-based finance automation platform. 

  • Metal, a NYC-based large language model developer platform, raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Swift Ventures led the round and was joined by Y Combinator and Chapter One.

  • June 28: In-person: AI Meets Virtual Worlds: The Future of Sentience, with Google Labs visiting scholar Steven Johnson, cognitive scientist David Chalmers, and Betaworks CEO John Borthwick. Hosted by Betaworks and Next Big Idea Club. Register here.

  • June 28: Virtual: State of Crypto Philanthropy Summit, with Givepact CEO Alicia Maule, Blockchain Association senior counsel Marisa Coppel, Coinbase advocacy manager Darin Carter, and more. Hosted by Endaoment and The Giving Block. Register here.

  • June 29: In-person and virtual: How I Raised My Seed, with Ned CEO David Silverstein. Hosted by Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. Register here.

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