Tech:NYC Digest: October 27

Tech:NYC Digest: October 27

October 27, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Thursday, October 27, 2022

In today’s digest, NYC takes on the rats, what to know about the RSV surge, and Primary’s latest report shows the New York seed deals just keep coming.

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  • Today the self-named “Rat Pack,” four NYC Council Members, passed a package of legislation aimed at decreasing the rat population in the city, including new rules to require pest management at construction sites and buildings with a high number of infestations to provide rodent-proof containers for residents to place trash in. (New York Daily News)

  • COVID hospitalizations have again started to increase, coinciding with the early arrival of flu season and a nationwide surge in RSV, raising concern that hospitals could again be strained this winter. (New York Times)

    • Relatedly: The RSV surge is mostly affecting children. Here’s how to know if (and when) to take your kids to the hospital if they have RSV.

  • Pres. Biden traveled to Syracuse this afternoon to showcase Micron's plan to invest $100 million over the next twenty years to build a "Megafab" semiconductor factory in upstate New York. (NY1)

  • Acting Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh was officially sworn in as Commissioner, becoming the first woman to lead the FDNY in its 157-year history. (New York Times)

In other reading:

  • Rents Have Fallen A Tiny Bit (New York Magazine)

  • New York Is Not the Country’s Top Rat City (Curbed)

  • Here are 41 fun places in NYC to trick-or-treat (Gothamist)

At the end of each quarter, one of the resources Tech:NYC looks forward to seeing land in our inboxes is the seed reports from Primary Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on seed stage investments in NYC startups. Their Q3 insights were just released.

What the latest report says: For the first time since 2020, there was a slight downward turn in deal sizes and volume.

  • 185 NYC seed stage deals were closed in Q3, representing $860 million raised, compared to 201 deals totaling $866 million raised in Q2.

  • The decrease is very small, especially compared to trends elsewhere indicating global deals are down by $40 billion quarter over quarter. Later-stage fundraising has seen more noticeable declines, but this report shows NYC seed deals remain much stronger than multistage and global averages.

What’s hot: Healthtech and fintech remain at the top of the pack, with care delivery and mental health startups getting notable backing.

  • Caraway, a digital health startup focused on college women, and Salvo Health, a gastroenterology-focused health provider, each raised $10.5 million in seed funding. Arise, which offers holistic eating disorder care, raised $4.4 million, and Hopscotch, a behavioral healthcare provider for children and teens, raised $8 million.

In other reading:

  • Hybrid Work Is Valuable to the Planet’s Future. Here’s Why. (Commercial Observer)

  • Burnt Out At Work? You Need Friends. (Forbes)

  • What CFOs need to be thinking about more (Protocol)

  • Elion, a NYC-based digital health technology marketplace company, raised $3.3 million in seed funding. Participating investors include NEA, Max Ventures, 8VC, AlleyCorp, Charge Ventures, and Floating Point. (Newswire)

  • RapidSOS, a NYC-based emergency response data platform, raised $75 million in Series D funding. NightDragon led the round and was joined by BAM Elevate, Insight Partners, Honeywell, M12, Axon, Citi, Highland Capital Partners, Playground Global, Forte Ventures, C5 Capital, and Avanta Ventures. (TechCrunch)

  • RightMove, a NYC-based virtual physical therapy provider, raised $21 million in Series A funding. Participating investors include Hospital for Special Surgery and Flare Capital. (MobiHealth)

  • November 2: Virtual: Crypto Fundraising Crash Course for Nonprofits, with givepact co-founders Alicia Maule and Steven Aguiar. Register here. 

  • November 8: In-person: NY Enterprise Technology Meetup, with Catalyst chief revenue officer Mark Kosoglow and Shipyard CEO Benjie De Groot. Hosted by Work-Bench. Register here.

  • 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.

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