Tech:NYC Digest: May 5

Tech:NYC Digest: May 5

May 05, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Thursday, May 5, 2022 

Happy Cinco de Mayo (we hope you’re taking advantage of the absolutely perfect weather in NYC)! In today’s digest, Adams announces college funds for kindergarteners, NYC considers reinstating mask mandates, and how Airbnb is pioneering the future of work.

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By the numbers:  

  • New positive cases statewide: 10,251   

    • New positive cases, NYC: 3,476 

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 4.6 percent (+0.2 percent)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress: 

    • New Yorkers with at least one dose: 90.2 percent 

    • New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated: 77.0 percent

In today’s latest:

  • Mayor Adams announced a $6.5 million investment in the city’s public school students yesterday, giving 97 percent of kindergarteners $100 each in a New York City Scholarship Account. (NBC New York)

    • The accounts are available to students participating in the NYC Kids RISE Save for College Program, regardless of family income or immigration status. 

  • According to new estimates from the World Health Organization, about 14.9 million people around the world died as a direct or indirect result of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021 – nearly three times more deaths than were officially reported. (CNN)

    • The US yesterday officially surpassed one million COVID-19 deaths. (NBC News)

  • NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said the city might reinstate mandatory masking and vaccine checks if the COVID-19 alert level is raised to “high”. Health officials are currently asking residents to exercise increased caution by voluntarily masking indoors and getting tested before and after gatherings. (CNBC)

  • Lastly, happy Cinco de Mayo! Here's your guide to celebrating the holiday honoring Mexican culture in NYC.

    • If you’re in the area, Uber Eats and Cointreau’s “Margarita Mobiles” are giving out free margaritas in Domino Park until 7pm today. (Patch NYC)

In other reading:

  • How Manhattan Is Springing Back to Life (New York Times)

  • All the free outdoor concerts happening in NYC this summer (6sqft)

  • The Vanishing Variants: Lessons from Gamma, Iota and Mu (New York Times)

When the pandemic hit and tech workers were suddenly free to work from anywhere, many of them turned to Airbnb.

  • The company recently reported that new Airbnb hosts earned more than $1 billion during the pandemic, and during the second half of 2021, 20 percent of nights booked were for stays longer than one month. Half were for stays longer than a week.

What’s new: Airbnb is making the same flexibility its guests want available to its own employees. In an email to employees last week, co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky says all 6,000 employees will be able to permanently live and work from anywhere.

  • Since the announcement, the company’s careers page has been visited more than 800,000 times, Chesky said on the latest earnings call.

  • Airbnb is also partnering with several governments as part of their Live and Work Anywhere initiative, promoting their communities as remote work destinations and easing immigration requirements.

One notable point: Unlike other companies, the company won’t adjust employees’ compensation based on where they choose to live or local cost-of-living levels. We asked the company what was behind that decision:

  • "We wanted employees to have the flexibility to do what’s best for their life — whether that meant staying put, moving closer to family, or living in a place they’ve always dreamed of living."

While the company can’t accommodate permanent international moves due to ongoing pandemic rules in many countries, beginning in September, employees will be able to live and work in over 170 countries for up to 90 days in each location.

What it means: It further drives home the reality that, especially in tech, flexibility will define the workplace. But that puts an extra responsibility on the company to find creative ways to sustain company culture.

  • Chesky said the company will prioritize meaningful in-person gatherings over spending a set number of days in the office together.

  • Senior roles will be expected to gather more often, but all employees can expect to gather in-person for about a week each quarter.

Chesky’s takeaway: “Companies will be at a significant disadvantage if they limit their talent pool to a commuting radius around their offices. [...] The best people live everywhere.”

In other reading:

  • Google simplifies performance reviews. Is your company next? (Protocol)

  • CEOs Give Dueling Visions of the Future of Work (Wall Street Journal)

  • Office snacks might be dying off. Good. (Vox)

  • Lev, a NYC-based digital commercial real estate transaction platform, raised $70 in Series B funding. Parker89 and Cross River Digital Ventures co-led the round and were joined by Animo Ventures, Canaan Partners, Capital One, Citi Ventures, JLL Spark, NFX, and StepStone Group. Lev also secured $100 million in debt financing from Cross River’s Strategic Direct Lending Group. (The Real Deal)

  • SipMargs, a NYC-based ready-to-drink margarita maker, raised $3 million in new venture funding. Lab Capital Advisors and GlossLab co-led the round. (Newswire)

  • Stakes, a NYC-based web3 social wagering platform, raised $5.3 million in seed funding. Participating investors include Digital Currency Group, FBG Capital, CMS Holdings, LD Capital, Cadenza Ventures, Matrixport Ventures, and Sterling Select Group. (Newswire)

  • Tactic, a NYC-based crypto accounting platform, raised $2.6 million in seed funding. Ramp and Founders Fund co-led the round and were joined by a group of individual investors. (TechCrunch)

  • YvesBlue, a NYC-based ESG-as-a-service platform, raised $5 million in seed funding. Illuminate Financial led the round and was joined by Aflac Ventures, Tribeca Early Stage Partners, SixThirty, Day One Ventures, and Walter Ventures. (Axios)

  • May 10: Virtual: #newtovc: Deal Sourcing, BBG managing partner Nisha Dua, FirstMark Capital managing partner Matt Turck, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures partner Charlie O’Donnell. Hosted by Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. Register here. 

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

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