Tech:NYC Digest: November 22

Tech:NYC Digest: November 22

November 22, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

In today’s digest, NYC’s New Year’s resolution for more bike lanes, a citywide initiative to train computer science teachers, and our latest Companies to Watch profile of New York founders expanding access to mental health services.

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  • The city’s Dept. of Transportation has announced plans to expand bike lanes and public spaces in 2023. (CBS News)

    • The agency identified bike and pedestrian access improvements at the Washington Bridge between Manhattan and the Bronx over the Harlem River, a protected bike lane on Tenth Avenue in Manhattan, and upgraded Open Streets with a two-way bike boulevard on Berry Street in Brooklyn. 

  • After several pandemic-related delays, the citywide school bus tracking platform built in partnership with NYC-based public mobility startup Via is finally on its way. Last week, the city began rolling out the platform to District 26 in northeast Queens. (Crain’s New York Business)

  • An initiative announced this week with the city’s Dept. of Education and partners like Google, Robin Hood, and Gotham Gives will dedicate $14 million to training more than 1,000 NYC teachers to integrate computer science curriculums across subjects they already teach. The program is believed to be the largest effort of its kind in the country. (Chalkbeat) 

  • The city’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services launched an online auction late Sunday to sell off dozens of treasures and trinkets given as official gifts to mayors over the years. (Gothamist) Anyone in the market for a Louis Vuitton soccer ball or some Air Force Ones signed by Ice-T? 

In other reading:

  • Your 2022 guide to NYC travel this Thanksgiving (Gothamist)

  • A Tea Lover’s Guide to New York (Vogue)

  • How to stay safe this Thanksgiving as ‘tripledemic’ cases of COVID, RSV, flu on rise (The Hill)

The explosion in demand for virtual care options is an obvious mirror to our sudden reliance on them during the pandemic. Just like with other primary care services, mental health providers had to quickly adapt to virtual solutions at the exact time the need for their services was skyrocketing.

  • With mental health moving to the forefront of the conversation, mental health startups have sparked a new surge of investor interest — for established companies like Talkspace, which went public last year, and new entrants alike.

  • Since 2020, another class of mental health startups, many of them founded since the pandemic began, has closed more than $1 billion in VC investment for the first time.

NYC has launched several programs to address New Yorkers’ mental health needs in recent years, but according to a report by the Office of the Public Advocate, services are struggling to scale enough to reach those who need help. 

  • Tech is aiming to narrow the gap, and experts almost unanimously agree that telehealth will keep its position as a more regular feature of healthcare offerings from providers, insurance companies, employers, and more.

For the latest edition of our Companies to Watch series, we talked with a group of New York founders building digital health tools to expand access to personalized mental health resources:

  • Mantra Health: a digital mental health clinic working with higher education institutions to provide care to young adults.

  • Hopscotch: a pediatric behavioral healthcare platform connecting families with insurance-covered mental health providers.

  • Bloom: a self-guided therapy platform expanding interactive access to techniques used by professional therapists.

  • Efficient Capital Labs, a NYC-based capital provider to B2B SaaS companies, raised $3.5 million in seed funding. 645 Ventures led the round and was joined by Singh Cap, The Fund, Operator Partners, and others. (Insider)

  • HC9 Ventures, a NYC-based venture capital firm, raised $83 million for a fund focused on healthcare software and services startups at seed and Series A stages. (Newswire)

  • Wesper, a NYC-based developer of home sleep lab and virtual sleep disorder treatments, raised $9.6 million in Series A funding. Participating investors include Valor Equity Partners, Breyer Capital, Spark Capital, and a group of angels. (Newswire)

Company Ventures, with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, is accepting applications for the second cohort of the City Fellowship. The six-month program is open to tech-forward entrepreneurs with solutions working towards economic equity and climate justice for New Yorkers. Learn more and apply by Nov. 30 here.The Black Venture Institute is accepting applications for its next cohort. BVI’s flagship program trains Black executives, operators, founders, athletes, and industry leaders to become check writers, angel investors, scouts, and venture investors. Learn more and apply by Nov. 30 here.The NYC chapter of Startup Leadership Program is accepting applications for its 2023 program. The six-month takes zero equity and is run by founders providing an interactive curriculum on starting a company, access to mentors and investors, and other resources. Learn more and apply by Dec. 1 here.The New York FinTech Innovation Lab, run by Accenture and the Partnership Fund for New York City, is accepting applications for its 2023 cohort. The Lab is a highly competitive 12-week program for early and growth stage tech companies developing products serving the enterprise financial services ecosystem. The Lab engages with over 40 of the world’s leading financial institutions to support participants in refining and testing their value proposition and developing invaluable relationships with decision makers. Learn more at its virtual info session on 11/28 and apply by Dec. 1 here.

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