Tech:NYC Digest: June 28

Tech:NYC Digest: June 28

June 28, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Tuesday, June 28, 2022 

In today’s digest, what employees want (hint: it’s a little bit of everything) according to a new McKinsey study; new boosters recommended for fall; giant trash bins coming to NYC; and the Nicoverse. Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe here. 

By the numbers:  

  • New positive cases statewide: 3,829

    • New positive cases, NYC: 2,256

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 4.3 percent (no change)

  • 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: 

  • It’s Primary Day (well, at least the first one). Today elections will decide the Democratic and Republican nominees for governor and other key races for this November’s general election. Polls are open until 9 pm tonight. (Gothamist)

  • An expert panel recommended that the FDA seek a new coronavirus booster targeting all forms of the Omicron variant for the fall. (New York Times)

  • NYC schools are forced to cut hundreds of teachers as school budgets have been slashed and student enrollment declines. The teachers being let go will be placed into a districtwide hiring pool. (New York Times)

    • Reminder, if you want to do something to help serve NYC youth this summer, consider hosting a Tech Year NYC cohort. It only takes 2-3 hours a week, is great for a department or team to collaborate on, and is designed to build diverse pathways into tech. Register here.

  • Air travel is returning to near pre-pandemic levels, and flights are just about as full as they were in 2019. But staffing shortages, schedule changes and higher fares are adding new frustrations to the weather woes that often lead to travel turbulence in the US during the summertime. (Wall Street Journal)

In other reading

:

  • As giant trash bins come to NYC, will the city’s garbage heaps become a thing of the post? (Gothamist)

  • Welcome to the New York Nicoverse (Grub Street)

  • America Is Sliding Into the Long Pandemic Defeat (The Atlantic)

58% of workers have the ability to WFH for at least part of the week, according to data from the third edition of McKinsey’s American Opportunity Survey of 25,000 Americans. And when offered the opportunity to work flexibly, 87% of workers take advantage of it, per the survey.However, the idea that tech workers only want remote work — and that offering the opportunity to work away from the office is the best way to attract them and keep them around — is a myth.

One of the reasons tech workers don’t want full-time remote work is because of their desire to collaborate with colleagues, connect with co-workers and access leaders. 

  • In fact, 44% of tech workers say if they work away from the office too often and/or for too long, they miss the community and camaraderie that comes from working with others. They also say they have difficulty communicating (35%) and miss invaluable mentorship opportunities (26%). 

What they want is hybrid work. What they want is flexibility for work-life balance. What they want is choice. 

  • Nearly half say they want hybrid work in which they can work in the office sometimes, and remote at other times. 

In other reading:

  • Companies Scramble to Work Out Policies Related to Employee Abortions (New York Times)

  • To Relax Outside of Work This Summer, Rethink Your Workday (TIME)

  • Meet the CTO who doesn’t shy away from conflict (Protocol)

  • Gloat, a NYC-based career development platform, raised $90 million in Series B funding. Generation Investment Management led the round and was joined by Accel, Eight Roads Ventures, Intel Capital, and Lumir Ventures. (TechCrunch)

  • Hank, a NYC-based digital platform for connecting older adults, raised $7 million in seed funding. General Catalyst and Resolute Ventures co-led the round and were joined by Canaan Partners, The Fund and Tau Ventures. (TechCrunch)

  • Kangarootime, a New York-based provider of childcare management software, raised $26 million in Series B funding. Education Growth Partners led the round and was joined by insiders Cultivation Capital and Rise of the Rest. (Business Journal)

  • Nomad Health, a NYC-based healthcare staffing marketplace, raised $105 million in equity and debt funding. Adams Street Partners and Icon Ventures co-led the equity round and were joined by HealthQuest Capital, Polaris Partners, .406 Ventures, AlleyCorp, and RRE Ventures. JPMorgan and Trinity Capital led the debt round. (Forbes)

  • Onda, a NYC-based tequila seltzer brand, raised $12.5 million in Series B funding. Aria Growth Partners led the round and was joined by Clayton Christopher and 25madison. (Newswire)

  • Tenet, a NYC-based fintech startup that offers EV-specific auto loans, raised $18 million in seed funding. Human Capital and Giant Ventures led the round and were joined by Breyer Capital, Global Founders Capital, and Firstminute Capital. (Axios)

  • Veritonic, a NYC-based audio analytics and research platform, raised $7.5 million in Series A funding. Lavrock Ventures led the round and was joined by Progress Ventures, Greycroft, Lerer Hippeau, and Newark Venture Partners. (Axios)

  • 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.

  • July 20: In-person: The City’s Path to Becoming the World’s Crypto Capital, with New York State Dept. of Financial Services Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris, eToro US CEO Lule Demmissie, Genesis CEO Michael Moro, and others. Hosted by Crain’s New York Business. Register here.

  • July 19: In-person: Bloomberg Crypto Summit, with FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, Uniswap Labs COO Mary-Catherine Lader, Grayscale chief legal officer Craig Salm, and others. Hosted by Bloomberg. Register here.

  • July 14: In-person: Under, Over, Through, a showcase with artists from NEW INC’s Creative Science Track. Hosted by Newlab. Register here.

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