Tech:NYC Digest: May 10

Tech:NYC Digest: May 10

May 10, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

In today’s digest, vaccine mandates for schools look unlikely, New York prepares for a double primary, and why some executives are still hopeful for an office rebound.

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By the numbers:  

  • New positive cases statewide: 6,575   

    • New positive cases, NYC: 2,216

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 4.7 percent (-0.2 percent)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress: 

    • New Yorkers with at least one dose: 90.3 percent 

    • New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated: 77.0 percent

In today’s latest:

  • New York’s reported COVID case rate hit its highest level in more than three months yesterday, as Gov. Hochul urged consistent testing and booster shots in response to the steady virus spread. (New York Daily News)

  • While Mayor Adams and Gov. Hochul both support making COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for all NYC public school students, it's unlikely to happen before the start of the new school year. ​​Moreover, officials and some pediatricians worry the backlash against a mandate could keep children out of school. (New York Times)

    • New CDC research indicates as much as 75 percent of all children in the US have likely been infected with COVID-19 to date. (TIME)

  • Gov. Hochul today announced $35 million for a new fund supporting abortion providers in New York ahead of an expected Roe reversal. Most of the funding will go directly to existing providers, and the remainder will go to reproductive health centers to cover security costs for their staff and patients. (Gothamist) 

  • A federal judge upheld a decision that moved New York’s state Senate and congressional primaries to August 23 after district lines previously drawn were ruled unconstitutional. (NY1) The decision means New York is likely to face two separate primary days, with the gubernatorial and state Assembly races still planned for June.

  • And lastly, RIP to the iPod.

In other reading:

  • The Promising Treatment for Long COVID We’re Not Even Trying (The Atlantic)

  • Here’s Tribeca Festival’s free outdoor screening schedule this summer (Time Out NY)

  • Grubhub Is Offering Free Lunch to Everyone in New York City (Thrillist)

While much of NYC seems to be teeming with life again, the same (still) can’t be said for most of the city’s office buildings. 

Just eight percent of Manhattan office workers have returned to the office five days a week, according to a survey released yesterday by the Partnership for New York City.

It remains clear that remote work is here to stay: 78 percent of companies reported a hybrid model will be the most common working style for their employees.

  • About 38 percent of the roughly one million office workers in Manhattan currently work in person on any given day.

  • That finding is consistent with the most recent data from Kastle Systems, a security firm tracking keycard swipes in office buildings, which logged a 38 percent occupancy rate in NYC on May 4.

Many executives are still hopeful for a rebound at the end of the summer. (Curbed) The survey found that, despite sluggish numbers so far, nearly half of workers are expected to return to in-person work by next month. But even then, most expect to go to an office three days each week.

  • That’s still far below forecasts from just before the Omicron wave, when employers estimated as much as 75 percent of workers would have returned to the office by now.

With consistent office usage numbers still uncertain, companies are rethinking some of their other RTO policies:

  • Companies surveyed were split on whether to enforce vaccine requirements, with 38 percent responding they would continue to enforce the mandate, and 44 percent undecided.

In other reading:

  • Are you ready to spend $700,000 on your company retreat? (Protocol)

  • Your employees are dating, but it's gotten ugly. Is this your problem? (Protocol)

  • Business Travel Rebounds as Execs Choose (Real) Face Time Over Zoom (Bloomberg)

  • Common Energy, a NYC-based community solar provider, raised $16.5 million in new venture funding. S2G Ventures led the round.

  • Hugging Face, a NYC-based repository for ready-to-use ML models, raised $100 million in Series C funding. Lux Capital led the round and was joined by Sequoia Capital and Coatue, as well as insiders Addition, Betaworks, AIX Ventures, and Thirty Five Ventures. (TechCrunch)

  • Pyramid Analytics, a NYC, London, and Tel-Aviv-based decision intelligence platform provider, raised $120 million in Series E funding. H.I.G. Growth Partners led the round and was joined by Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings, Kingfisher Capital, General Oriental Investments, JVP, Maor Investments, Sequoia Capital, and Viola Growth. (TechCrunch)

  • May 11: In-person & virtual: Investing to Combat Climate Change, with Union Square Ventures investor Mona Alsubaei, Softbank Energy investor William Layden, Breakthrough Energy Ventures investor Stefan Zlatev, and others. Hosted by Betaworks Studios. Register here.

  • May 12: Virtual: The Future of DEI in Tech: Resources to Recruit, Retain, and Promote Black Talent, with Upfront Ventures general partner Kobie Fuller, Reddit head of diversity, inclusion, and belonging Christina Shareef, SVB director of talent acquisition Monique Hollingsworth, and others. Hosted by Silicon Valley Bank. Register here.

  • May 19: In-person: State of NYC Business Summit, with Tech:NYC executive director Jason Myles Clark, Partnership for New York City president and CEO Kathryn Wylde, NYC Hospitality Alliance executive director Andrew Rigie, and others. Hosted by the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. Register here.

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