Tech:NYC Digest: May 26

Tech:NYC Digest: May 26

May 26, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Wednesday, May 26, 2021In today’s digest, the campaign to get New York teens vaccinated this summer, vaccinating workers returning to the office, and the latest funding roundup for New York tech.Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

New York’s daily COVID-19 metrics have continued to improve. Yesterday, the overall statewide positivity rate was just 0.70 percent, the lowest since late August 2020. (NYS)

  • Manhattan is doing even better, reporting a daily positivity rate of just 0.41 percent. All five NYC boroughs are now under one percent.

The priority this summer: The youthful and the doubtful. In New York, individuals ages 12 to 17 represent the cohort with the lowest vaccination rate so far. That’s to be expected, because they became eligible much later than adult cohorts, but they’re now also the age group we should be targeting most. Adolescents currently account for just 5 percent of recent COVID-19 tests conducted statewide but 10 percent of positive cases, the highest differential of all age groups. (NBC New York)

The strategy: More incentives, more prizes. New York State is in the middle of a pilot program offering lottery scratch-offs to the newly-vaccinated, and NYC is teasing weekly prize announcements through July. And since we need to vaccinate more teens, the latest incentives target students:

  • Beginning today and for the next six weeks, New York is raffling off 50 full-ride scholarships to any New York State public college or university to residents ages 12 to 17 years who get their first shot. The raffle will happen by random drawing every Wednesday, and it includes the works — tuition, room and board, books, and supplies.

And for everyone else: Park passes, free fries, Memorial Day weekend takeovers of beach spots, and Knicks’ tickets are all on the table. So is a full year of Delta flights to any destination worldwide and in any class. 

Related reading:

  • Incentives are being used to encourage vaccinations, but do they work? (Newsday)

  • The unseen COVID-19 risk for unvaccinated people (Washington Post)

  • Is It OK to Ask Health Providers if They’re Vaccinated? (New York Times)

As companies return to the office, employers are grappling with whether or not to require their workforce to be vaccinated. Most employers are opting not to mandate COVID-19 vaccines, worried about the potential legal issues regarding the FDA’s emergency use authorization. (Washington Post)

The carrot: To circumvent these challenges, more companies are offering their employees cash, paid time off, and other financial incentives to get the shot. A survey from Arizona State University found about two-thirds of employers plan to offer vaccine incentives for workers. (Axios)

  • Instacart, Target, Walmart, and numerous other businesses have offered various-sized cash stipends to workers who get vaccinated. Anthem is offering credits to vaccinated employees that can be used to lower their health insurance premiums.

The catch: There is no official rule for how large those rewards can be without violating federal disability, anti-discrimination, and privacy laws, as the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has yet to issue firm guidance. Most businesses are being more cautious about offering incentives, waiting to see if anything changes when new EEOC guidance is released. (Fortune) 

Looking ahead: There’s some level of a wait-and-see strategy. Vaccine requirements from employers have so far been rare, but more companies may consider them if voluntary bonuses don't help reach national vaccination goals.

  • Sectors in which mandatory vaccines are more prevalent include health care and academia. A handful of hospital and health care systems have implemented vaccination mandates, as have a number of higher education institutions. (NBC News)

The takeaway

: Employers have to weigh the safety of their employees with the right to privacy and personal medical choice. Vaccination efforts are still ongoing, and most companies are not returning to the office for at least a few more months. Continuing to encourage vaccinations without mandating them, with a plan to check in on that progress later this summer, is probably the best way to go.

As mentioned above, company efforts to vaccinate their workforce are mixed, and some are playing a much more active role than others. What is your company’s current vaccine strategy?

  • *|SURVEY: My company is requiring the vaccine to return to the office|*

  • *|SURVEY: My company is not requiring the vaccine and is encouraging the vaccine with incentives|*

  • *|SURVEY: My company is not requiring the vaccine and is encouraging the vaccine, but without incentives |*

  • *|SURVEY: My company has not yet provided a vaccination policy|*

  • AnyClip, a New York City and Tel Aviv-based video analytics company, raised $47 million. JVP led the round. (TechCrunch)

  • ARTA, a New York City-based logistics software and fulfillment services company for high-value goods and collectibles, raised $4.5 million in seed funding. Investors include Corazon Capital, Gaingels Ventures and Flight.VC.

  • BrightHire, a New York City-based interview intelligence platform, raised $12.5 million in Series A funding. Index Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Next Play Ventures, Flybridge Capital, and Ground Up Ventures.

  • Contentsquare, a New York City-based digital experience analytics company, raised $500 million in Series E funding. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the round and was joined by investors including Eurazeo, Bpifrance, KKR, Canaan, Highland Europe, and BlackRock. (Crunchbase News)

  • Flume Health, a New York City-based health plan administration platform, raised $6 million. Crosslink Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Route 66 Ventures and Convene CEO Ryan Simonetti, Accomplice, Founder Collective and Primary Venture Partners.

  • Hyro, a New York-based conversational AI for the healthcare sector, raised $10.5 million in Series A funding. Spero Ventures led, and was joined by Twilio, Mindset Ventures and insiders Hanaco Ventures, Spider Capital and Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator. (TechCrunch)

  • Kinema, a New York City-based social cinema platform, raised $2 million in seed funding. Investors included Kindred Ventures, Lupa System, Galaxy Interactive and I2BF Global Ventures. (Hollywood Reporter)

  • Solidus Labs, a New York City-based crypto risk monitoring company, raised $20 million as part of its Series A round. Evolution Equity Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Hanaco Ventures, 645 ventures, FTX and Avon Ventures. (Coindesk)

  • Venn, a New York City and Tel Aviv-based neighborhood engagement company, raised $60 million in Series B funding. Group 11 led the round and was joined by investors including MIGDAL, Pitango, Helmsley Charitable Trust, and Bridges Israel.

  • May 27: Virtual: Education and the Future of Work, with Handshake CEO Garrett Ford, Ford Foundation Future of Work(ers) director Sarita Gupta, and more. Hosted by Axios. (Details)

  • June 1 – 3: Virtual: URBAN-X Summit, with Cohort 09 companies, including OONEE CEO Shabazz Stuart, Dorothy CEO Arianna Armelli, Singularity CEO Wenbo Shi, and others. Hosted by URBAN-X and Canary Media. Register here.

  • June 3: Virtual: VC Voices: A Conversation with Tribeca Venture Partners co-founder and managing partner Brian Hirsch. Hosted by Betaworks Studios. Register here.

  • June 9: Virtual: Machines + Media 2021: Facing the Future, with Tech:NYC founder and executive director Julie Samuels, Primary Venture Partners co-founder Ben Sun, NYCEDC Senior Vice President of Tech Karen Bhatia, and more. Hosted by NYC Media Lab and Bloomberg. Register here.

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