Tech:NYC Digest: October 26

Tech:NYC Digest: October 26

October 26, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Hope you enjoyed your (bizarrely warm) Thursday. 😎 In today’s digest, the workplace benefits becoming more common, a spiraling skyscraper changing the city’s skyline, and data-driven strategies to hack a deal on your next flight.

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  • Construction is complete on the newest addition to NYC’s skyline. The Spiral, a 2.8-million-square-foot office building, towers more than 1,000 feet over Hudson Yards. (Architectural Digest) 

    • On the northern end of the High Line, the building designed by architect Bjarke Ingels features a cascading staircase of terraces, the skyscraper’s defining feature. 

  • A new report sheds more light on who stayed put and who left during the pandemic. (Gothamist)

    • The share of the city’s population 65 and older increased by 12.7% and during the same period, the share of population under 18 decreased by 6.2%. One contributing factor, according to the report: the cost of childcare.

  • Trick-or-Streets, NYC’s Halloween edition of the Open Streets program, is back for a second year – and expanding into all five boroughs. Get details on the locations here.

In other reading:

  • 6 Data-Driven Travel Hacks to Get A Deal on Your Next Flight (Bloomberg)

  • New York Has a Bold Plan to Fix its Housing Crisis. Will it Work? (New York Times)

  • Coney Island is celebrating its 200th birthday by displaying its oldest artifact (6sqft)

The latest wave of benefits being offered by tech companies: menopause benefits. 

  • A growing number of companies like Microsoft and Palantir — as well as everything from the NBA to Abercrombie & Fitch — are introducing new programs with women most likely to be affected now representing 20% of the female workforce, writes Bloomberg.

  • A new report from benefits consultant NFP found that just 4% of employers that offer sick leave are providing additional support for menopause-related care services, but that a third of businesses are open to adding them in the next five years.

Maven (a Tech:NYC member!), the NYC-based startup that in 2021 became the first US unicorn dedicated to women’s and family health, last year added a menopause benefit to its virtual care services.

  • Since it launched its program, nearly 300 clients, including Microsoft and several other Fortune 15 companies, have adopted it. CEO Kate Ryder has cited it as the company’s fastest-growing offering ever.

The health tech sector in NYC is booming with startups with solution addressing more specific needs:

Employers are also stepping up bereavement leave policies, such as additional times off to grieve after miscarriages or IVF attempts, the NFP report said.

Our takeaway: As women become a larger part of the workforce, these expansions will be key for recruitment and talent retention efforts to support more diverse workplaces.

In other reading:

  • How AI Can Help Leaders Make Better Decisions Under Pressure (Harvard Business Review)

  • 77 incredibly useful tips for Google apps: Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and beyond (Fast Company)

  • Science Has An Answer for Why People Wave on Zoom (Bloomberg)

  • Arteria AI, a NYC-based developer of documentation infrastructure for institutional finance, raised $30 million in Series B funding. GGV Capital led the round and was joined by insiders Illuminate Financial, Information Venture Partners, BDC Capital, and Citi.

  • Threedium, A NYC and London-based provider of 3D/AR high-fidelity assets for e-commerce, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Interpublic Group and Olma Partners co-led the round and were joined by Mesh Consensys, Reflexive Capital, Nirvana Family Office, Lyra Ventures, Edenbase, and Kinisis Venture Fund.

  • Siro, a NYC-based “AI coach for offline sales,” raised $14 million in Series A funding. CRV led the round, the round joined by insiders Fika Ventures and Index Ventures.

This week’s featured New York tech jobs come from Courier Health, a patient engagement and support startup to help people with chronic or rare conditions. Among their open roles:

  • Product Manager

  • Software Engineer, Fronted

  • Software Engineer, Full Stack

  • Client Engagement Associate

  • November 1: Virtual: Measuring the ROI of Talent, with LLR Partners director of human capital Melanie Blaine. Hoisted by Getro. Register here.

  • November 6: In-person: Entrepreneurs Roundtable #183, with Work-Bench co-founder and general partner Jonathan Lehr. Hosted by ERA. Register here.  

  • November 7: In-person: AWS Startups Women’s Demo Day, with Calibrate CEO Isabelle Kenyon, AWS North America Startups Business Development Leaders Kathryn Van Nuys, Gilly CEO Laraib Khan, and others. Register here.

  • November 14 – 15: 2023 Urban Tech Summit, with NYC chief climate officer Rit Aggarwala, Kelvin CEO Marshall Cox, Brooklyn Navy Yard CEO Lindsay Greene, Near Space Labs CEO Rema Matevosyan, and others. Hosted by Cornell Tech. Register here.

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