Tech:NYC Digest: September 10

Tech:NYC Digest: September 10

September 10, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 12 minutes

Friday, September 10, 2021

In today’s digest, all city workers return to the office full-time starting Monday, what the federal vax mandate means for your workplace, and ways to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

By the numbers:

  • New positive cases statewide: 6,151 (+749)

    • New positive cases, NYC: 2,087 (+115)

  • Statewide Fatalities: 43 (+24)

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 2.3 percent (no change)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress:

    • Percentage of adults (18+) with at least one dose: 81.1 percent

    • Percentage of total population with at least one dose: 68.6 percent

Today’s latest: 

  • Starting Monday, the city’s municipal workforce of over 300,000 employees will be expected to return to the office five days a week, with no general hybrid or remote option. (New York Times)

    • Office workers will have to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing, and masks will be required in most indoor communal settings.

    • The directive is being met with resistance, including from Comptroller Scott Stringer, who today said that his office would not comply with the rule. As of Tuesday, only 65 percent of city workers have received at least one dose of the vaccine. (Gothamist)

  • Also Monday, classes are set to resume for NYC public schools, with no plans for a vaccine mandate. There is a renewed push for those eligible to get vaccinated. (ABC New York)

    • However, public school students 12 years or older who want to participate in high-risk extracurricular activities such as musical theater, dance, cheerleading, and other performing arts activities will need to have at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. (Patch NYC)

  • New York City’s Board of Elections, which bungled the release of results in the city’s June primary, is a national outlier marked by insufficient training, opaque hiring and an unwieldy leadership structure, according to an NYU report published Thursday. (New York Daily News)

    • The agency faced sustained criticism after it released and then deleted inaccurate ranked-choice primary election data on June 29. 

  • The makers of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine will soon ask regulators to approve its use in children five years and over, and are preparing to make smaller doses of the vaccine for younger children. (New York Times)

In other reading:

In case you missed the big announcement: All employers with 100 or more employees will be required to have workers vaccinated or get tested weekly under a new federal rule directed by Pres. Biden on Thursday. (Wall Street Journal)

  • Biden sharply criticized the tens of millions of unvaccinated Americans: “We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us,” he said. (Associated Press)

Even before Biden’s announcement, a growing number of companies mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for employees. 

  • A recent Willis Towers Watson survey found that 52 percent of respondents planned to institute vaccine mandates by the end of the year, while 21 percent already had such requirements. (New York Times) 

And now, even though a federal mandate will be enacted, companies still have to make some hard decisions, like who will pick up the tab for weekly testing and how to handle religious exemptions — details many are already finding challenging. (New York Times)

  • A recent poll by Aon of 583 global companies found that, of the employers that have vaccine mandates, 48 percent said they were allowing religious exemptions, while only seven percent said they would fire a worker for refusing to get vaccinated.

Under Biden’s new approach, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is expected to issue an emergency temporary standard to carry out the requirement, which will affect more than 80 million workers. (New York Times)

It isn’t a done deal, though: The regulation is expected to be challenged in court by employers and even some states. (Although, most of those states don’t have their own local OSHA jurisdictions, so the chances of successfully blocking the federal mandate are slim at best.)Member event: at 12:30pm on Thursday, Sept. 22, Tech:NYC is hosting a virtual meeting with Proskauer for General Counsels and legal affairs teams to review the latest OSHA guidance on the federal mandate, the NY HERO Act, and what they both mean for your workplace’s reopening plans. The meeting is open to Tech:NYC member companies. If you’d like to join us, reach out here and we’ll get back to you with Zoom details.In other reading:

  • Rediscover Joy at Work (Harvard Business Review)

  • The Phenomenon Of Work And The New Working Paradigm (Forbes)

  • The war for engagement — not pay or perks — is driving the Great Resignation (Axios)

  • Anima, a New York-based design-to-code platform, raised $10 million in Series A funding. The round was led by MizMaa Ventures and joined by INcapital and Hetz Ventures. (TechCrunch)

  • Headout, a New York-based same-day travel and tourism marketplace, raised $12 million in Series B funding. Glade Brook Capital led the round and was joined by Espresso Capital, Practical VC and insiders Version One Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, FJ Labs, 500 Startups, Haystack, and Ludlow Ventures. (TechCrunch)

  • Lean, a New York-based provider of financial products for gig workers, raised $4.5 million in seed funding. Inspired Capital led the round and was joined by Atelier Ventures, Oceans Ventures, and Acequia Capital. (TechCrunch)

  • Lexeo, a New York-based gene therapy startup focused on genetic cardio conditions, raised $100 million in Series B funding. D1 Capital Partners and Eventide Asset Management co-led the round and were joined by CAM Capital, Verition Fund Management, Laurion Capital Management, Gray’s Creek Capital Partners, Longitude Capital, Omega Funds, Lundbeckfonden Ventures, PBM Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Woodline Partners LP, Invus Capital, and Alexandria Venture Investments. (GlobeNewswire)

  • Orchard, a New York-based home buying and selling platform, raised $100 million in Series D funding at over a $1 billion valuation. Accomplice led the round and was joined by insiders FirstMark Capital, Revolution, First American, and Juxtapose. (FinSMEs)

  • Scout Ventures, a New York City-based frontier tech company with a focus on backing veterans, raised $55 million for its Fund III. (TechCrunch)

  • September 14: In-Person: Operating and Raising as a Female Founder, with Smartrr CEO Gabriella Yitzhaek, Chill Pill CEO Hayley Caddes, Seven Starling CEO Tina Bellinson, and others. Hosted by Expa. Register here.

  • September 14: Virtual: Rebuilding New York Summit, with NYCEDC president Rachel Loeb, MTA chief diversity and inclusion officer Michael Garner, Revel co-founder Paul Suhey, and others. Hosted by City & State. Register here. 

  • September 15: Virtual: Creating the Right Culture for Hybrid Work, with Twitter chief human resources officer Jennifer Christie, Menlo Ventures partner Naomi Ionita, Trello co-founder Michael Pryor, and others. Hosted by Protocol. Register here.

  • September 17: Virtual: Gen Z VC Summit, with Lerer Hippeau partner Andrea Hippeau, Cowboy Ventures Principal Jillian Williams, Acrew Capital investor John Smothers, and others. Hosted by Lerer Hippeau. Register here.

  • September 20 – 23: Diversity Reboot Series: Early Career Connections and Mid-Career Pivots, with Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani, Path Forward executive director Tami Forman, and others. Hosted by PowerToFly. Register here.

The families of 9/11 victims will gather in NYC tomorrow to read aloud the names of those killed in the 2001 attacks. The tragedies twenty years ago caused a complete remaking of lower Manhattan and forever reframed political and cultural life. New Yorkers who experienced the day firsthand are still grappling with what continues to stick with them.

Now those people find themselves asking: what does it mean to “never forget”?

If you’re looking for a way to mark the 20th anniversary, here are two initiatives Tech:NYC is supporting this year:

  • More than 100 organizations nationwide have formed the National 9/11 Day of Service Coalition, an initiative seeking to generate 20 million good deeds for the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Learn how to get involved here.

  • Remember the Sky, a campaign by the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, invites anyone with an Instagram or other social media account to collectively reflect on the anniversary. Learn more here.

Any feedback or suggestions of things to add? Get in touch here. Was this digest forwarded to you? Sign up to receive it directly here.