Tech:NYC Digest: September 12

Tech:NYC Digest: September 12

September 12, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Monday, September 12, 2022

In today’s digest, New York’s COVID-19 state of emergency will expire for good, NYC is creating 3,000 new youth apprenticeships, and why companies finally feel ready to relax workplace mandates.

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  • Gov. Kathy Hochul announced today she will not extend the COVID-19 state of emergency set to expire today, but it’s been replaced by another state of emergency declared on Friday to boost vaccinations against polio. (New York Daily News)

    • Only one case of paralytic polio has been recorded in Rockland County so far, but wastewater samples from across the city and surrounding suburbs suggest the pathogen is circulating across the region. (New York Times)

  • Mayor Eric Adams announced a new Career Readiness and Modern Youth Apprenticeship program as part of the city’s ongoing workforce development efforts. The program will provide paid workplace opportunities to 3,000 youth at NYC tech, finance, and other high-growth companies. Learn more.

  • A new bill signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul will require NYC to limit class sizes in all public schools. (Chalkbeat) Beginning next year, the city will have to cap classes at 20 to 25 students, depending on the grade level, with the transition fully phased in over a five-year period by September 2028. (Gothamist)

  • Starting today, NYC Ferry one-way tickets will increase from $2.75 to $4 for most riders. Discounted fares will remain available for frequent rides, senior citizens, disabled New Yorkers, and low-income travelers. (Gothamist)

In other reading:

  • Where You Still Need to Wear a Mask in New York City (New York Times)

  • One of Long COVID’s Worst Symptoms Is Also Its Most Misunderstood (The Atlantic)

  • Why have NYC restaurant menus gotten so simple? (Grub Street)

Plenty of NYC employers were excited to get past Labor Day, because for them, the fall season also meant RTO season.

  • Apple, Google, and most of the city's financial institutions now expect their employees in the office anywhere from three to five days each week.

  • However, if NYC transportation data is any indication, remote work remains popular — on Sept. 6, the day following Labor Day weekend, the subway logged about 58% of typical pre-pandemic ridership levels. (Quartz)

How companies are responding: By removing as many obstacles as possible to get employees back in the office, including vaccine mandates. (Axios)

  • More and more companies, like Goldman Sachs, are lifting vaccination requirements everywhere — except NYC.

  • In the city, a vaccination mandate is still in effect for both public and private workplaces, and anyone without an approved medical or religious exemption is required to continue working remotely.

New York stands alone: No other US city conditions employment on vaccination, according to Crain’s New York Business columnist Ross Barkan, who says it’s time to say goodbye to the mandate:

  • “The employer mandate was put into place for a very particular purpose: to increase vaccination rates [...] Today, the adult vaccination rate in the five boroughs is an impressive 89 percent. Can the existing mandate realistically push the rate much higher?”

  • Legal challenges to the city’s mandate remain unsuccessful: US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor recently declined to block NYC from enforcing its vaccine mandate for municipal workers. (Reuters)

  • The White House released its own updated recommendations as we enter the fall season, and mandates weren’t part of the list. Instead, officials say employers should focus on helping employees access COVID-19 vaccines and boosters updated to target newer Omicron subvariants.

What we’re watching: It’s clear we’re in a new chapter of the pandemic, where we’re confronting new subvariants but also new, reformulated vaccines. What happens with case counts through the fall could set the new standard.

In other reading:

  • How to promote culture in a remote workplace (Washington Post)

  • What Gen Z is still a big mystery for hiring managers (Protocol)

  • So You Wanted to Get Work Done at the Office? (New York Times)

  • 21.co, a NYC and Zurich-based crypto access provider, raised $25 million in venture funding. Marshall Wace led the round and was joined by Collab+Currency, Quiet Ventures, ETFS Capital, and Valor Equity Partners. (Forbes)

  • Carbyne, a NYC-based emergency communications and services startup, raised $56 million in Series C funding. Cox Enterprises and Hanaco Growth Fund co-led the round and were joined by Valor Equity Partners, General Global Capital, TalC., as well as insiders Founders Fund, FinTLV, Elsted Capital Partners, and David Petraeus. (TechCrunch)

  • Gotham Greens, a Brooklyn-based indoor produce farmer, raised $310 million in Series E funding. BMO Impact Investment Fund and Ares Management co-led the round and were joined by Commonfund, RockCreek, Kimco Realty Corporation, Manna Tree Partners, and The Silverman Group. (TechCrunch)

  • Harmonic Discovery, a NYC-based platform for kinase drug discovery and targeted polypharmacology, raised $8 million in seed funding. Innovation Endeavors led the round and was joined by Fifty Years, YC, Boom Capital, and Caffeinated Capital. (FinSMEs)

  • Hebbia, a NYC-based search engine platform, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Index Ventures led the round and was joined by Yahoo founder and former CEO Jerry Yang and investor Ram Shriram. (TechCrunch)

  • Regal.io, a NYC-based outbound branded phone and SMS sales solution, raised $38.5 million in Series A funding. Emergence Capital led the round and was joined by Founder Collective, Homebrew, Flex Capital, Inspired Capital, Operator Collective, and other angels. (TechCrunch)

  • September 13: In-person: 2022 Conference of New York State’s Incubators and Accelerators, with Tech:NYC executive director Jason Myles Clark, Greycroft co-founder Alan Patricof, FinTech Innovation Lab co-head Yasmin Lalani, and others. Hosted by the Business Incubator Association of New York State. Get 20% off tickets by registering here.

  • September 14: In-person and virtual: How I Raised my Seed, with Guava founder and CEO Kelly Ifill and Peat co-founder and CEO Wilson Wong. Hosted by Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. Register here.

  • September 15: In-person: The Future of Work Summit, with NYC Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives Sheena Wright, NYC Council Member and Technology Committee Chair Amanda Farías, Shiftsmart CEO Aakash Kumar, and others. Hosted by City & State. Register here.

  • September 21 – 24: In-person and virtual: Unfinished Live 2022, with Circle chief strategy officer Dante Disparte, Future\Perfect Ventures managing partner Jalak Jobanputra, Protocol Labs general counsel Marta Belcher, and others. Register here.

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