Tech:NYC Digest: October 7

Tech:NYC Digest: October 7

October 07, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Thursday, October 7, 2021

In today’s digest, Pfizer expects FDA approval for child vax next month, new research shows COVID relief prevented higher poverty in NYC, and the future of business trips in a hybrid work world.

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By the numbers:

  • New positive cases statewide: 5,243 (-429)

    • New positive cases, NYC: 1,565 (+164)

  • Statewide Fatalities: 23 (-9)

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 1.4 percent (+0.1 percent)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress:

    • Percentage of adults (18+) with at least one dose: 84.9 percent

    • Percentage of total population with at least one dose: 72.0 percent

Today’s latest: 

  • Pfizer today officially asked the FDA to authorize emergency use for their coronavirus vaccine for children ages five to 11. (New York Times)

    • The FDA will now need to review how pediatric doses will differ from regular adult doses. Pfizer is expected to recommend giving children one-third of the adult dosage, and pediatric doses would likely require a different formula and labeling.

    • Supporting data is being submitted to regulators up until an FDA meeting at the end of the month, and a ruling is expected sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving.

  • With momentum after Hurricane Ida, a two-year old bill requiring NYC to create a citywide “climate adaptation plan” finally passed today. Under the new law, the city must evaluate environmental risks including storms, sea-level rise, and extreme heat, among other weather events. (THE CITY)

  • New research from the Robin Hood Foundation and Columbia University found that COVID-related cash assistance programs prevented one million New Yorkers from falling into poverty last year. Without aid, the city’s poverty rate would have climbed from 20 percent to 35 percent, according to the researchers. (City Limits)

  • Open House New York, an annual event in which some of the city’s most obscure and architecturally interesting buildings are opened to the public, returns Oct. 16 and 17. (Gothamist) Due to COVID-19, some require time-based entry tickets, which are available beginning today. More details can be found here.

In other reading:

Airlines are ramping up flight schedules in anticipation of strong holiday travel numbers — but they aren’t holding their breath for business passengers. 

  • In fact, three airline industry experts measured the impact of remote work on travel post-pandemic, predicting 36 percent fewer business trips overall.

And now some companies are setting policies showing why. JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the US, said this week it would ban business travel for unvaccinated employees or employees who haven’t disclosed their vaccination status to the company. (Reuters)

  • Those employees will also be restricted from participating in in-person client meetings and events. It’s a strong stance among its Wall Street peers, where there has been an intense race to get employees back in the air for face-to-face time with clients.

For tech companies, the return-to-office has been pushed off until 2022, and that includes business travel. Even when office reopenings do finally happen more fully, travel likely won’t look the same:

  • Companies are trimming their travel budgets for 2022, with this message for employees: Do you really need to go, or can the trip be a Zoom? (Wall Street Journal)

  • For the business travel that is happening, it’s for a much narrower set of objectives — high-value client meetings or closing new deals. By contrast, employees have gotten used to conducting intra-company meetings and training virtually, a shift that will likely remain.

But still, some executives feel strongly that a return to corporate travel can reignite trust in business relationships, and while virtual meetings are convenient, they’re no replacement for in-person ones. (Fast Company)

What to look out for: As more tech companies lean into permanently distributed teams, workers (or their managers) will still have appetite in less frequent, but more significant travel opportunities to bring teams together — off-sites, retreats, and conferences. Travel budgets for individual client meetings may not survive the pandemic, but in the “new normal” of work, but a budget that invests in company culture will be all the more important.

In other reading:

  • The new rules of business travel etiquette in the age of COVID-19 (Fast Company)

  • What I Learned From A Year Without Business Trips (Harvard Business Review)

  • “Tall Zoom Energy” is Cursing Co-Workers Who Are Finally Meeting in Person (Slate)

  • How to write a great out-of-office reply (The Economist)

  • BrightHire, a New York City-based hiring platform, raised $20.5 million in Series B funding. 01A led the round and was joined by investors including Index Ventures and Zoom Apps Fund. (TechCrunch)

  • Kidpik, a New York City-based subscription-based e-commerce service for children, filed for an IPO. The company posted $17 million in net sales in 2020 and reported a net loss of $4 million. (MarketWatch)

  • Medley, a New York-based platform for personal and professional growth, raised $3.7 million in seed funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round and was joined by Aglaé Ventures and Foundation Capital. (TechCrunch)

  • Starry, a New York and Boston-based wireless broadband company, agreed to go public at an implied $1.7 billion valuation via FirstMark Horizon Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: FMAC). It had raised around $290 million from FirstMark Capital, KKR, Soros Fund Management, Third Kind VC, Tiger Global, and IAC. (Reuters)

  • Wardrobe, a New York City-based platform that lets influencers rent out their clothes, raised $4.1 million in seed funding. Slow Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Foundation Capital and Casper co-founder Neil Parikh. (AlleyWatch)

  • October 12: Virtual: Early-stage Fundraising Workshop, with Tribeca Venture Partners co-founder and managing partner Brian Hirsch. Hosted by Tribeca Venture Partners and Silicon Valley Bank. Register here.

  • October 13: Virtual: NY's Newest Green Energy Projects and What’s Next, with NYSERDA president and CEO Doreen Harris, New York Power Authority president Philip Toia, Transmission Developers CEO Don Jessome, and others. Hosted by the Regional Plan Association. Register here.

  • October 20: Virtual: Startup Marketing $0 to $100M+, with Snyk chief marketing and customer experience officer Jeff Yoshimura. Hosted by Work-Bench. Register here.

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