Tech:NYC Digest: September 7

View this email in your browser

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Welcome back! We hope you had a restful long weekend. We’re back from our short end-of-summer hiatus, but sadly, not back in the office together (more on that below). In today’s digest, we round up today’s latest, plus the stories you may have missed while we were away.Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

By the numbers:

• New positive cases statewide: 3,322 

  • New positive cases, NYC: 1,060 

• Statewide Fatalities: 35

• NYC Positivity Rate: 2.3 percent

• Statewide Vaccine Progress:

  • Percentage of adults (18+) with at least one dose: 80.5 percent

  • Percentage of total population with at least one dose: 68.0 percent

Today’s latest:

• The US has surpassed 40 million known coronavirus cases. (New York Times) Over the past week, new cases nationwide averaged more than 161,000 a day, largely occuring in the 47 percent of the country that remains unvaccinated.

  • At the end of last week, New York reached an 80 percent vaccination rate of first doses among its adult population.

  • No US state has more than 70 percent of its population fully vaccinated, according to federal data. New York’s number stands at almost 61 percent.

• Pres. Joe Biden made a stop in Queens today alongside Gov. Hochul, Mayor de Blasio, Sen. Schumer, and others to tour damage caused by Hurricane Ida. (New York Daily News)

  • The federal government approved a major disaster declaration for the state, clearing the way for expedited FEMA support to New Yorkers impacted by flooding damage.

  • Mayor de Blasio also announced a series of direct financial assistance programs for impacted residents, as well as a new order waiving city permitting fees for construction and repair costs. (NY1)

• While the Delta variant still makes up about 99 percent of all new COVID-19 cases in the US, the WHO is now also tracking a new variant called Mu. First detected in Colombia, Mu is being reported in 49 states. (New York Times)

  • Here’s a good FAQ about what we know about the Mu variant.

• The first day of instruction for NYC public schools is on Monday, and Gov. Hochul has released updated guidance before students and staff return to classrooms. (NY1)

  • All students, staff, and visitors to school buildings statewide will be required to wear masks. The order applies not only to public schools, but also private, charter, and religious schools. (Gothamist) 

  • Find the full Dept. of Health guidance for K-12 public schools here.

• Following a special session of the state legislature, Gov. Hochul signed new laws extending the eviction moratorium until January 15, 2022. (NY1)

In other reading:

• America is in a COVID funk (Axios)

• The pandemic endgame: Are there years to go? (Washington Post)

• Is Brooklyn Leading NYC Out of the Pandemic? (New York Times)

• What Does It Look Like When a City Returns to Its Senses? (New York Times)

This week was supposed to be the “great return” of sorts. But Labor Day came and went, dashing the expectations of many tech workers that they’d be returning to the office around this time. The Delta variant — and unease about future ones — is largely to blame.

• Google is one of the latest major tech companies pushing back plans for a September return to Jan. 10, 2022. Shortly after, Uber announced the same timeline for its US employees.

• Airbnb, Amazon, and Lyft have also made updates announcing 2022 reopening dates.

• Intel and Twitter postponed their plans as well, but have not announced new dates.

For almost a year, each postponement has been a delay of the previous delay. Enough companies have now coalesced around early 2022 that the ever-shifting timeline has been dubbed the “Great Wait.”

• Aon chief medical officer Dr. Neal Mills has warned that building all the necessary reopening programs pegged to a moving target can cost companies a lot of money: “Can we afford the luxury of bringing our employees back into the workplace? Each day the answers change, and dynamic information is creating analysis paralysis for employers.”

• Intel’s director of global public affairs Todd Brady said there’s still too much uncertainty to stand by a return-to-office date: “How much certainty are you really giving people by throwing an arbitrary date out there? If we say Oct. 1, who knows?”

Many companies will use the time in between to get a better handle on their vaccination policies. (Wall Street Journal) While the NYC offices of several tech companies have mandates in place for those voluntarily returning to the office, more universal requirements haven’t necessarily been announced yet.

• Apple isn’t yet requiring the vaccine, but is asking workers to voluntarily submit their vaccination status by mid-September, even if they’re working remotely. (Bloomberg)

Here’s a good list of where more companies stand on return-to-office plans. If your company has updated its plans recently, we’d love to hear about it. Reach out here.

In other reading:

• Experience, Education, Vaccination: The New Qualifications for Job Seekers (New York Times)

• How Parents Can Ask for Flexibility When Offices Reopen (New York Times)

• The Secret to Happiness At Work (The Atlantic)

• Botify, a New York City-based search traffic improvement company, raised $55 million in Series C funding. InfraVia Growth led the round and was joined by investors including Bpifrance, Eurazeo, and Ventech. (TechCrunch)

• Harri, a New York City-based employee management platform for service industries, raised $30 million in growth financing. Golub Capital led the round. (FSR)

• Hum Capital, a New York City-based AI platform to help the fundraising process, raised $9 million in Series A funding. Future Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Webb Investment Network, Wavemaker Partners, and Partech. (TechCrunch)

• Jeeves, a New York City-based expense management platform for startups, raised $57 million in Series B funding. CRV led the round and was joined by Tencent, SVB, Alkeon Capital Management, Soros Fund Management, and Andreessen Horowitz. (TechCrunch)

• Marpipe, a New York City-based company with software for brands and marketing agencies, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Stage 2 Capital led the round and was joined by investors including ValueStream Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Ripple Ventures, and Samsung. (Business Insider)

• Offchain Labs, a New York City-based company tackling scaling for Ethereum, raised $120 million in Series B funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Polychain Capital, Ribbit Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Pantera Capital, Alameda Research, and Mark Cuban. (TechCrunch)

• Quip, a New York City-based oral healthcare company, raised $100 million in Series B funding. Cowen Sustainable Investments led the round. (Crain’s New York)

• 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 15: Virtual: Bridging the Communication Gap Between Tech and Non-Tech Teams, with SoundCloud VP of Engineering Tiffany Conroy. Hosted by PowerToFly. Register 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.