Tech:NYC Digest: November 3

Tech:NYC Digest: November 3

November 03, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Wednesday, November 3, 2021

In today’s digest, Eric Adams will be New York’s 110th mayor, Waymo brings five autonomous cars to NYC, and why flexibility remains key to remote workers.

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Today’s latest: 

Complete results of yesterday’s general election are still trickling in, but here’s an overview of what we currently know

  • Soon after polls closed, Eric Adams was declared the next mayor of New York City with 67 percent of the vote. He will be the second Black mayor in the city’s history and is also the first NYC native to be elected mayor since Rudy Giuliani in 1994. (Associated Press) 

  • There were several other history-making wins: Alvin Bragg was elected as Manhattan’s first Black District Attorney; Shahana Nahif became the first Mulism woman elected to City Council; and the number of women serving in City Council will more than double. 

  • Three of the five ballot measures failed to pass, which would have made it easier to vote by authorizing same-day registration and universal vote-by-mail. (THE CITY)

  • And across the Hudson, the governor’s race remains too close to call. Incumbent Phil Murphy leads by more than 15,000 votes, but hundreds of thousands of votes are left to be counted, including many absentee and mail-in ballots. (NPR)

In other news around New York:

  • New York begins a new push to increase COVID-19 vaccinations, with shots now available to millions of elementary-age children. (Associated Press)

    • NYC’s public hospital system hasn’t yet created appointments for children ages five to 11, but both Walgreens and CVS pharmacy locations have appointments available beginning Saturday, Nov. 7.

    • The Dept. of Education will begin making doses available directly at school sites beginning next week. Find that list of schools here.

    • The state has ordered more than 230,000 pediatric doses for NYC alone, and Gov. Kathy Hochul expects the bulk of inoculations will be carried out at pediatric offices. (NBC New York)

  • Beginning today, individuals who get their shot at the Barclays Center will receive two tickets to an arena event, including Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty games. (Patch NYC) 

  • The MTA plans to install a bicycle storage pod at Grand Central Terminal, and City Hall is pedaling toward bringing 10,000 new bike racks to local streets by next year. But advocates say that’s not nearly enough compared to similar programs in other major cities. (THE CITY)

  • Google’s self-driving car unit Waymo launched in New York today, covering much of Midtown and lower Manhattan. Waymo’s cars will begin learning how New York’s streets operate, especially in rough weather. And for now, they will have human drivers. (The Verge)

  • And we regret to inform you: SantaCon is back.

In other reading:

  • Why at-home coronavirus tests are easy to use and hard to find (Washington Post)

  • The Big Question This Thanksgiving: Are You Vaccinated? (New York Times)

  • New York Chefs Are Prepping — and Praying — for a Blockbuster Thanksgiving (Grub Street)

As the job market continues to recover, workers are quitting at record rates to land new jobs with better pay and perks. But after two years of work defined by the pandemic, the most in-demand benefit: flexibility.

  • Tens of millions of Americans quit their jobs this year, with some estimating as many as one in four workers have left voluntarily since January. 

  • One PwC survey found as many as 65 percent of workers were looking for a new job as of August.

It’s a workers market: HR experts say businesses that don’t offer any flexible-work options are losing out on up to 70 percent of job-seekers. (CNBC)

  • More job-seekers are saying they won’t even consider a role if it doesn’t accommodate any kind of remote-work flexibility. 

  • And those top-tier, in-demand workers know they have their pick of working for a flexible employer, whether that means working on a hybrid or fully-remote schedule or relocating without facing a pay cut. 

Employers have to react: As a result of this shift, as many as 75 percent of employers are having to rework their pay and benefits structure to retain and attract people.

  • One EY survey of 1,000 global business leaders indicates organizations understand 90 percent of workers want more flexibility in when and where they work, but they’re not being clear or fast enough in letting workers know their future plans.

  • While 79 percent of companies said they intend to make “moderate to extensive hybrid work changes,” just 40 percent have actually communicated those plans to their workforce.

In other reading:

  • Podcast: So You’re Thinking About Quitting Your Job… (Harvard Business Review)

  • The metaverse will mostly be for work (Quartz)

  • Microsoft Loop is a new Office app for the hybrid work era (The Verge)

  • Abound, a New York City-based wholesale marketplace connecting small business owners and independent brands, raised $36.7 million in Series B funding. The D.E. Shaw Group led the round and was joined by investors including PointState Capital, Left Lane Capital, RiverPark Ventures, and All Iron Ventures.

  • Agora, a New York City-based early-stage real estate tech firm, raised $9 million in seed funding. Aleph led the round and was joined by River Park Ventures and Maccabee Ventures.

  • Marker Learning, a New York City-based startup for the remote administration of learning disability assessments and services, raised $4 million in seed funding. Primary led the round and was joined by investors including Divergent Investments, Night Ventures, and Operator Partners.

  • Spruce, a New York City-based sovereign identity storage startup, raised $7.5 million in new funding. Ethereal Ventures and Electrical Capital co-led the round and were joined by Bitkraft, Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research, A. Capital Ventures, Protocol Labs, and the Gemini Frontier Fund.

  • Valon Technologies, a New York-based digital mortgage serving platform, raised $44 million in new funding. Investors included Starwood Capital, Freedom Mortgage, Human Ventures, and Marcelo Claure.

  • November 4: Virtual: Compensation Beyond a Paycheck: What Employers Should Do to Attract and Retain Top Talent, with The Muse founder and CEO Kathryn Minshew, Cocoon co-founder and COO Lauren Dai, and Carta chief people officer Suzy Walther. Hosted by Carta. Register here.

  • November 8: In-person and virtual: TechDay Founders Summit, with The Fund general partner Jenny Fielding, Eniac Ventures co-founder Nihal Mehta, The Muse founder and CEO Kathryn Minshew, and others. Admission is for founders and C-suite executives by short application. Register here.

  • November 10: In-person: 2021 Open Source Strategy Forum, with FDIC chief innovation officer Sultan Meghji, Goldman Sachs co-head of technology John Madsen, and others. Hosted by FINOS and the Linux Foundation. Register for early bird pricing using the code OSSF21NYEARLY here.

  • November 18: Virtual: The Hunt for Talent Post-COVID, with Schmidt Futures head of talent Tony Woods, Eden Health chief people officer Chloe Drew, and The RealReal chief people officer Zaina Orbai. Hosted by Savills. Register here.

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