Tech:NYC Digest: October 20

Tech:NYC Digest: October 20

October 20, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Friday, October 20, 2023 

As New York Tech Week begins to wind down, we wanted to say 👋 and thank you to all of the new friends we’ve met this week!

🗒️ If you’re one of the hundreds of new subscribers (or a longtime reader!), we hope you’ll forward this newsletter to others who may find it useful. Look out for our full #NYTechWeek recap first thing next week.

  • Until then, here’s another Friday edition of the Tech:NYC Digest, featuring our top five highlights in New York tech this week.

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NYC now has more jobs than ever (New York Post)

  • Remember those “New York is dead” headlines from early 2020? They were always unfounded in our view, but we can officially put that idea to rest: Today, Mayor Eric Adams announced NYC has hit an all-time high in total jobs and nearly recovered the 1 million jobs lost during the pandemic. In the past decade, the tech sector has added more than 110,000 to the city’s economy – many of those during the pandemic – and continues to power the fastest-growing segments of NYC’s workforce. We’re confident there’s even more growth to come.

New York VC firms form alliance to back diversity (TechCrunch)

  • A #NYTechWeek highlight for us was the launch of the Venture Access Alliance, a new coalition of 70+ NYC-based VC firms working to ensure the city’s startup ecosystem reflects the diversity of the city’s population overall. We don’t have to tell readers of this Digest that the venture dollars going to women and BIPOC founders remains abysmally low, and we’re excited to partner with the New York Economic Development Corporation and all the coalition members to stay aligned on how to move those numbers up and to the right. Learn more about the Venture Access Alliance’s plans here.

Electric “air taxis” are set to arrive in NYC and LA (Axios)

  • Another #NYTechWeek highlight: Our president Julie Samuels co-hosted a fireside chat with Joby Aviation CEO JoeBen Bevirt and Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian to discuss the industry-leading air taxis (and “vertiports”) Joby is building. As Bastian said at the event, “Some people spend more time on the journey from their home to their seat than they do on the flight itself. We want to give people their time back." And we’ll add: Let’s do so with as little environmental impact as possible.

AI-Related Jobs Demand Rising in NYC (Bloomberg)

  • Even as the New York tech ecosystem has right-sized the hiring targets they pursued during the pandemic, the chief economist of Indeed’s Hiring Lab Svenja Gudell said, perhaps unsurprisingly, jobs that seek generative AI skills continue booming – and they’re paying very well.

At NY Dog and Cat Film Festivals, Love, Licks and Looniness (New York Times)

  • And now, the transition from Tech Week to Pet Week begins. Only in New York!

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