Tech:NYC Digest: October 31

Tech:NYC Digest: October 31

October 31, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Monday, October 31, 2022

Happy Trick-or-Treat Day (and congrats to this year’s Best in Show at the Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Festival, Lantern Fly)! In today’s digest, the race to the midterms makes its final sprint, why you should be more worried about the flu, and we close out Cybersecurity Awareness Month with founders safeguarding businesses and governments alike.

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  • We’re one week away from Election Day, and all eyes are on the governor’s race between Gov. Kathy Hochul and Rep. Lee Zeldin, which experts say has become much tighter than expected. (TIME)

    • In addition, other key statewide races, plus races for seats in the US House, State Senate and Assembly, and four ballot proposals are on the ballot. Here’s a rundown of what to know.

    • And don’t forget: early voting is underway! Almost 100,000 NYC residents voted in the first weekend of early voting, and poll sites are open every day (with varying hours) until Sunday, Nov. 6. Check your poll site and view your sample ballot here.

  • Today, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases about college admission policies that businesses are watching closely — because they could reshape the employment landscape. (New York Times) The question is whether schools can consider race as a factor in admissions to foster a diverse learning environment.

    • Nearly 70 major companies (including Tech:NYC members Accenture, Adobe, Airbnb, Etsy, Google, Lyft, Meta, Salsforce, and Uber) joined a brief to the court, saying they have a “significant interest” in the cases because “promoting student-body diversity on university campuses remains compelling from a business perspective.”

  • Influenza is hitting the US unusually early and hard this year, resulting in the most hospitalizations at this point in the season in more than a decade and underscoring the potential for a perilous winter of respiratory viruses. (Washington Post)

In other reading:

  • What we know about NYC’s ballot questions on racial justice (Gothamist)

  • What happens to all those temporary dining sheds now? (Curbed)

  • 16 things New Yorkers would ‘ghost’ about this city (Time Out New York)

Information security technologies evolve quickly by design — they’re built to respond to attacks and defend against future ones. But that job has become even more complex as the infrastructure itself changes, and as more businesses rely on digital-first tools in the era of hybrid work. 

  • AI, machine learning, and cloud adoption have all skyrocketed. Automation is king, and as a result of the pandemic, digital transformation is accelerating at previously unheard-of rates.

For Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Tech:NYC convened a roundtable of cybersecurity leaders to exchange ideas with US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on how to improve efforts to secure national infrastructure. One major takeaway: invest in the future of the cyber workforce.

  • Globally, there are 3.4 million cyber jobs vacant around the world, and in NYC, businesses of all types — not just in tech — are rushing to hire more cyber talent. 

  • Earlier this year, research Tech:NYC conducted with Accenture found that 64% of C-suite executives surveyed planned to expand cybersecurity hiring this year, making it the most sought-after area of expertise in new hires.

To close out the month, we spoke to NYC founders building tools that not only protect businesses, but offer the case studies for how to safeguard everything from households, governments, and more. This month’s Companies to Watch are:

  • Compyl: a B2B SaaS automation platform for IT compliance and security teams;

  • Elpha Secure: a cyber insurance management platform for small and mid-size businesses;

  • Onyxia: a cyber performance SaaS solution for centralized security monitoring;

  • Sonrai Security: a platform helping enterprises secure public cloud infrastructure.

In other reading:

  • Why USB-C Is the Meryl Streep of Cables (New York Times)

  • How much should founders really pay themselves? (Protocol)

  • Is the Great Resignation finally cooling off? (Axios)

  • Anonos, a NYC and Brussels-based data privacy software provider, raised $50 million in funding. The round was backed by its intellectual property (IP) portfolio, facilitated by Aon and GT Investment Partners. (Newswire)

  • Collide Capital, a NYC-based VC firm focused on “undernetworked talent,” raised $66 million for its debut fund. (Forbes)

  • Cresilon, a Brooklyn-based developer of hemostatic medical device technologies, raised $25 million in Series A-4 funding. Paulson Investment Company led the round. (Newswire)

  • Martian, a NYC-based web3 wallet, raised $3 million in pre-seed funding. Race Capital led the round and was joined by FTX Ventures, Superscrypt, Jump Capital, and Aptos. (FinSMEs)

  • Merge, a NYC and San Francisco-based API for B2B integrations, raised $55 million in Series B funding. Accel led the round and was joined by NEA and Addition. (TechCrunch)

  • Navina, a NYC-based AI assistant provider for physicians, raised $22 million in Series B funding. ALIVE Israel HealthTech Fund led the round and was joined by Grove Ventures, Vertex Ventures Israel, and Schusterman Family Investments. (Newswire)

  • Pasito, a NYC-based employee benefits software provider, raised $3.25 million in seed funding. Participating investors include Y Combinator, Google, Core Innovation Capital, and FiDi Ventures. (Insider)

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

  • November 3: In-person: Pay Transparency in NYC: What’s Next for Tech Companies, with Carta general counsel April Lindauer. Hosted by Tech:NYC, Carta, and Union Square Ventures. Request an invite 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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