Tech:NYC Digest: November 21

Tech:NYC Digest: November 21

November 21, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Monday, November 21, 2022

In today’s digest, cannabis businesses get up and running, NYC’s plan to evict rats, and how Rhino is making apartment-hunting in NYC more affordable.

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  • New York cannabis officials are announcing the recipients of the first recreational marijuana retail licenses throughout the week — but more than half of the 150 dispensary licenses may be put on hold in certain parts of the state, including Brooklyn, due to ongoing legal challenges. (Gothamist)

    • The state Cannabis Control Board today awarded 28 entrepreneurs and eight nonprofits the first round of licenses. (New York Times) 

  • Mayor Eric Adams signed four pieces of legislation Friday to fight rats, including a requirement for the city Health Dept. to create and map out “rat mitigation zones” by April 1. (New York Daily News)

  • The combination of a swarm of respiratory illnesses (RSV, coronavirus, flu), staffing shortages, and nursing home closures have overwhelmed hospitals, and experts believe the problem will deteriorate further in coming months. (Washington Post)

  • Three weeks since NYC’s pay transparency law kicked in, most companies are already in compliance, according to an analysis from Glassdoor. A review from the online job portal found that 60% of open job postings list salary minimums and maximums.

In other reading:

NYC rents fell between September and October — but just slightly, and only after a staggering climb from those pandemic-era deals. Earlier this year, some analyses recorded an average Manhattan rent above $5,000 for the first time ever. (CNBC)

For many renters, security deposits, application and credit check fees, and other “add-ons” are all part of the equation when it comes to apartment-hunting, and Rhino is making a long-term bet it can free that cash up for renters and drive down operational costs for landlords.

What’s new: Rhino, a NYC-based startup that pioneered security deposit insurance as an alternative to cash deposits, announced its acquisition of Deposify to create the first end-to-end deposit management and compliance platform across the rental industry.

  • The company is also launching Credit+, which will provide renters with a means to build credit through on-time rent reporting, free of charge.

“While the cost of rent continues rising after steep drops during the pandemic, we’ve saved renters across the country over a billion dollars in upfront moving costs and more than $200 million for New York renters alone,” said Rhino co-founder and CEO Paraag Sarva. 

  • Sarva says the process for cash security deposit collection and management is outdated and inefficient. He said Rhino has had “hundreds of conversations with renters frustrated by waiting for deposit refunds and landlords and property managers struggling with time-consuming operations.”

Rhino works with a network of property managers representing six million rental homes and over 14% of the US rental market, and while “New York[ers] are enthusiastic about new way to secure a home with Rhino’s deposit insurance product, the reality is cash deposits will continue to be used for some portion of transactions,” Sarva told us.

  • "We're going to give renters a world-class, technology-first experience regardless of how they choose to move-in: with deposit insurance or with a cash deposit.”

In other reading:

  • Beam, a Brooklyn-based public benefit administration platform, raised $6.4 million in Series A funding. Potencia Ventures led the round and was joined by Spring Point Partners, American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, Imaginable Futures, Lumina Impact Ventures, Michelson Runway, and Schmidt Futures. (TechCrunch)

  • Daylight, a NYC-based banking app for the LGBTQ+ community, raised $15 million in funding. Anthemis Group led the round and was joined by CMFG Ventures, Kapor Capital, Citi Ventures, Gaingels, and others. (Newswire)

  • Index Ventures, a NYC, London,and San Francisco-based venture capital firm, raised $300 million for an Origin II fund focused on seed investments. (TechCrunch)

  • Revel, a Brooklyn-based electric mobility and infrastructure company, raised $50 million in debt financing. BlackRock Alternatives led the round through its Climate Infrastructure fund. (BK Reader)

  • November 22: Virtual: #notapitch: Unofficial Feedback on your Idea/Prototype from a VC, with Brooklyn Bridge Ventures partner Charlie O’Donnell. Register here.

  • November 29: In-person: AI Week: Generative AI’s Impact on the Future of Work, with Bloomberg Beta investors Amber Yang and Lori Berenberg. Hosted by Betaworks. Register here.

  • December 2: In-person: A Night of Climate Innovation, Collaboration, and Action, with Dollaride founder and CEO Su Sanni and We Don’t Have Time president Dr. Sweta Chakraborty. Hosted by Urban-x and Newlab. Register here.

  • December 5: In-person: NY Product Meetup, featuring a fireside chat with the first product manager at Figma, Badrul Farooqi. Hosted by Bond Collective and Productboard. Register here.

  • December 8: In-person: Government Modernization Summit 2022, with NYC chief efficiency officer Melanie La Rocca, Port Authority of NY & NJ executive director Rick Cotton, CityBridge CEO Nick Colvin, and more. Hosted by City & State. Register here.

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