Tech:NYC Digest: October 10

Tech:NYC Digest: October 10

October 10, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Welcome back! In today’s digest, how pedestrianized streets turn a profit, why NYC parking is getting even worse, and a preview of our new hiring trends data.

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  • A new study conducted by city officials in partnership with Mastercard found the Open Streets program encompassing 11 blocks around Rockefeller Center resulted in an estimated $3 million in additional spending in that area. (Gothamist)

    • Mayor Adams announced he plans to expand similar programs between Bryant Park and Central Park this December.

  • A tip for the soon-to-be college students in your life: SUNY, CUNY, and 40 private colleges across New York are waiving application fees through the month of October in a joint “New York State College Application Month” campaign. The list of participating colleges and universities is here. 

In other reading:

  • Parking in NYC Really Is Worse Than Ever (New York Times)

  • How Many New Yorkers Have Gotten the Latest COVID Vaccine? No One Knows. (Gothamist)

  • A Dazzling Art Collection, Hiding in Plain Sight …  at NYC’s Public Hospital System (New York Times)

The Tech:NYC team will be in Hudson Yards tomorrow to host our 2023 Tech Summit, and during the event, we’ll be unveiling brand new data on tech hiring trends across the city. 👀

We’re saving some particularly interesting insights for summit attendees (and those following along online), but our president Julie Samuels spoke to Crain’s New York Business with a sneak peek on some of the findings. Among them:

  • Executives are nearly unanimous on confidence in local talent. Our new research found 99% of surveyed C-suite executives said they’re confident in their ability to secure the needed tech skills from the existing talent pool in the city.

  • The need for that talent is only growing. 59% of respondents said they plan to increase their number of tech hires through 2023 compared to last year.  

  • The most in-demand skills serve core business functions. It’s no surprise respondents are seeking talent with AI skills, but demand for cloud and security expertise continue to top the list at levels we surveyed in 2022.

  • Tech jobs haven’t left the city. Despite headlines that tech workers were decamping to other cities, the latest data counted a consistent 370,000 tech workers in New York – more than on Wall Street.

“We are just doing a much better job of spinning up tech talent locally,” Samuels told Crain’s. "The tech sector here has really doubled down on supporting workforce development efforts, supporting computer science education in schools, and we're really starting to see that investment pay off."

Stay tuned for our full report – including new numbers on upskilling talent, recruitment trends, the impact of company culture on retention, and more tomorrow! 

In other reading:

  • Diana Health, a NYC-based women’s healthcare network focused on maternity care, raised $34 million in Series B funding. Norwest Venture Partners led the round and was joined by insiders .406 Ventures, LRVHealth, and AlleyCorp. 

  • Harri, a NYC-based employee management company for hospitality businesses, raised $43 million in Series B funding. Atalaya Capital Management led the round and was joined by Golub Growth and others.

  • Modal Labs, a NYC-based cloud infrastructure platform, raised $16 million in Series A funding. Redpoint Ventures led the round and was joined by Amplify Partners, Lux Capital, and Definition Capital.

  • SuperOps.ai, a NYC-based IT management SaaS startup, raised $12.4m in Series B funding. Addition and March Capital co-led the round and were joined by Matrix Partners.

  • Vellum Insurance, a NYC-based data and analytics platform for the insurance and reinsurance industries, raised $7m in seed funding. Acrew Capital led the round and was joined by Flourish Ventures, Fin Capital, Vera Equity, Endurance, and 1 Sharpe Ventures.

  • October 12: In-person: Booking Holdings + GlobalWIN: A Fireside Chat on Innovation in Travel Tech, featuring Booking Holdings senior vice president Phyllis Wallitt and Booking.com director of communications Angela Cavis. Register here.

  • October 12: In-person: Innovation and Collaboration in New York’s Government, with MTA CEO Janno Lieber, NYC Chief Efficiency Officer Denise Clay, LinkNYC Chief Administrative Officer Margaux Knee, and others. Hosted by City & State. Use code TECHNYC23 for 50% off tickets by registering here.

  • October 18: In-person: NY Enterprise Tech Meetup, with Grafana Labs COO Doug Hanna, Vercel VP of Product Jared Palmer, and Apollo senior director of develop experience Peggy Rayzis. Hosted by Work-Bench. Register here.

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