Tech:NYC Digest: November 30

Tech:NYC Digest: November 30

November 30, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

In today’s digest, the MTA kickstarts accessibility upgrades, Brooklyn rises to House leadership, and revisiting the best takeaways from our recent conversation with Index Ventures.

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  • The MTA is moving forward with more than $1 billion worth of accessibility upgrades, including the installation of 21 new elevators at eight stations across the city, as well as 14 elevator replacements at five other stations. The MTA plans to make 95% of the system’s 472 stations accessible by 2055. (Gothamist)

  • Brooklyn-based Rep. Hakeem Jeffries was unanimously elected as the incoming House Democratic leader. He is the first new Democratic leader in two decades and the first Black leader of a party in Congress. (Axios)

  • Tonight the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center returns to commence the 90-year tradition in midtown Manhattan. Here’s how to watch it.

  • Lastly, the NYC Dept. of Sanitation now has merch.

In other reading:

  • Are We One Step Closer to a Universal Flu Vaccine? (New York Times)

  • The 10,000-Square-Foot Food Hall Coming to Union Square (Eater NY)

  • Where to See Dazzling Christmas Light Displays in NYC This Year (Thrillist)

The pandemic forced tech companies, by necessity, to discover the conveniences of remote work. Fast forward nearly three years later, and the market for Manhattan office space has yet to fully rebound, but that hasn’t stopped many from making a bet on physical proximity to NYC. That includes Index Ventures, which opened its newest office in NYC this fall.

ICYMI: Index Ventures partners Martin Mignot and Shardul Shah joined Bloomberg TV’s Caroline Hyde last month to relaunch our speaker series produced in partnership with Cornell Tech and Bloomberg. Get our new recap of the discussion here.

On NYC’s status as a global tech hub:

  • “The [New York] scene has grown by leaps and bounds, and it’s reached a maturity stage which makes it unavoidable. We’ve been making investments here for more than a decade, and some of our bigger winners were already in New York. There’s so much going on here, being on the ground is very obvious.”

On the New York VC scene as a place for cooperation, not competition:

  • “We think that seed funds, angels, ourselves, or other institutions – we all bring something different to the table. We think it takes a village. We encourage entrepreneurs to think about three slots for seed investments: institutional capital, capital from a seed fund, and fund from angels. As a consequence, we tend to cooperate with the local embedded ecosystem rather than compete.”

On what downturns teach us about the sector’s future:

  • “The history of downturns has taught us that the best companies separate themselves from the rest of the pack in these moments. I happen to be involved with a couple of companies that are category leaders in their businesses, and the conversation right now is ‘attack.’ Be extremely aggressive when the competition pulls back, because when the product is differentiated, and the go-to-market is effective, the pain is necessary, structurally, to address in a market. There’s actually a phenomenal opportunity to extend leadership.”

In other reading:

  • When Layoffs Happen at Tech Companies, This Position Is the First to Go (Wall Street Journal)

  • Be Careful Of Employers Posting Ghost Jobs (Forbes)

  • Homes Became Offices, and Offices Became Homes (New York Times)

  • New Fare Partners, a NYC-based VC firm focused on early-stage food and beverage businesses, raised $20 million for its inaugural fund. (TechCrunch)

  • Teampay, a NYC-based spending management platform, raised $47 million in Series B funding. Fin Venture Capital led the round and was joined by Mastercard, Proof Ventures, Trestle and Espresso Capital. (TechCrunch)

Techstars NYC is accepting applications for its Spring 2023 program. The program provides up to $120,000 in funding support, as well as office space, and lifetime access to the accelerator’s network of mentors, investors, alumni, and staff. 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 and apply by Dec. 1 here.The New York City Economic Development Corporation is accepting applications for its 2023 Founder Fellowship. A signature program of the Venture Access NYC initiative, the program works with five NYC operators — Chloe Capital, Company Ventures, Newlab, the Tech Incubator at Queens College, and Visible Hands — to support 100 diverse-led startup teams. Learn more and apply by Dec. 16. here.

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