Tech:NYC Digest: November 9

Tech:NYC Digest: November 9

November 09, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

In today’s digest, takeaways from New York’s midterm, the new balance of statewide power, and what the latest open enrollment season revealed about employer-provided health insurance benefits.

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We made it through Election Day. We’re still waiting for final vote tallies in some districts (as well as remaining absentee votes), and some races are still too close to declare a winner, but here are some takeaways so far. Among them:

  • Gov. Kathy Hochul has become New York’s first female elected governor, beating out Rep. Lee Zeldin by about 6 percentage points. Zeldin conceded earlier this afternoon.

  • Republicans picked up House seats in Long Island and the Hudson Valley, contributing to the likelihood they will gain control of the House. A change in committee leadership will result, removing the chairs of many committees that, notably, are currently led by New York representatives, including Small Business, Foreign Affairs, Judiciary, and Oversight & Reform.

  • Democrats will remain in control of the New York State Senate and Assembly, but without the supermajority it currently holds, with at least three seats expected to flip to Republican control.

  • All voter ballot initiatives were approved, authorizing new funding for statewide environmental projects and NYC proposals aimed at boosting racial equity in the five boroughs. (THE CITY)

Related: See how every NYC neighborhood voted in the Governor’s race (Gothamist)

In other news:

  • NYC continues to lose students in its public school system even as pandemic restrictions are lifted. Enrollment is down 1.8% in 2022 from a year ago, representing a loss of 16,000 K-12 students. (Bloomberg) 

  • A last-minute hurdle could delay the MTA’s long-stalled $11.6 billion East Side Access project to bring Long Island Rail Road trains into a new station beneath Grand Central Terminal. (Gothamist)

  • Gov. Kathy Hochul announced $3.7 million to bring climate tech manufacturing and products to New York through a new M-Corps program. Learn more.

In other reading:

Nearly 159 million Americans receive health insurance through their jobs, and the cost and benefits of this coverage are now crucial considerations in a competitive job market. (Axios)

  • The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that after progressively rising all summer due to inflation, the cost of healthcare in the New York-New Jersey region jumped by over 8% between September 2021 and last month.

  • According to Mercer, the cost of providing benefits is anticipated to rise by about 6% in the following year, following a relatively modest 4% increase this year that was mostly caused by higher premiums and prescription drug costs. 

This is forcing employers to make tough choices in a competitive labor market, and in some instances, absorb rising costs of coverage instead of passing them on to workers.

  • A survey of 1,200 small firms in October revealed that around half of them have raised the prices of their products or services to cover growing healthcare costs. In the survey, 4 out of 10 companies discontinued providing health insurance altogether.

But as open enrollment season for health insurance at companies throughout the US comes, employers are providing more options with low or no deductibles to try to make plans more affordable for employees. (Bloomberg Law)

Our takeaway: Companies are recognizing that they need to offer more than the bare minimum to keep current workers and attract new talent. If employees feel like they’re losing benefits, companies are going to lose them.

In other reading:

  • How to WFH when everyone else is RTO (Protocol)

  • More Workers Get Side Hustles to Keep Up With Rising Costs (Wall Street Journal)

  • You're probably reading this at home (Axios)

  • Cherry, a Brooklyn-based payments and invoice tracking automation startup, raised $4m in seed funding. NFX led the round. (Axios)

  • Roots Automation, a NYC-based digital “coworkers-as-a-service” provider, raised $10 million in Series A funding. MissionOG led the round and was joined by Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, Vestigo Ventures, and CRV. (Newswire)

  • Vivrelle, a New York-based rental service for designer handbags, jewelry and diamonds, raised $35 million in Series B funding. 3L Capital led the round and was joined by Origin Ventures, Chapford Capital Group, Plus Capital, and others. (Newswire)

  • Yes Hearing, a New York-based in-home hearing services startup, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Blue Heron Capital led the round and was joined by Primetime Partners, Ensemble Innovation Ventures, Maccabee Ventures, and Gaingels. (Axios)

  • November 10: In-person and virtual: Responsible Innovation Founder Summit, with Gusto CEO Josh Reeves, Cityblock CEO Dr. Toyin Ajayi, Base 10 partner Laura Weidman Powers, and others. Hosted by Betaworks. Register here.

  • November 16: Virtual: Fintech Summit: Shaping the Future of Finance, with New York State Dept. of Financial Services superintendent Adrienne Harris, Plaid general counsel Meredith Fuchs, and others. Hosted by FTA. Register here.

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

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