Tech:NYC Digest: September 8

Tech:NYC Digest: September 8

September 08, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 12 minutes

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

In today’s digest, what the NY HERO Act means for your workplace, why the “mu” variant may be of less concern in New York, and how young startups are unlocking the remote work puzzle.

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By the numbers:

  • New positive cases statewide: 3,851 (+529)

    • New positive cases, NYC: 1,396 (+336)

  • Statewide Fatalities: 31 (-4)

  • NYC Positivity Rate: 2.3 percent (no change)

  • Statewide Vaccine Progress:

    • Percentage of adults (18+) with at least one dose: 80.9 percent 

    • Percentage of total population with at least one dose: 68.4 percent 

Today’s latest:

  • By declaring COVID-19 a “highly communicable” disease, Gov. Kathy Hochul made effective the NY HERO Act, a law that requires private workplaces to implement minimum safety standards, with enforceable fines. Here’s an overview of what to know about the new law.

    • Templates that meet the safety standards plan and other guidance are available here.

  • The Hochul administration today announced a “vax to school” campaign to get more students aged 12-17 vaccinated — currently, only 50 percent have gotten their shot. The governor added that all state employees must be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing by Oct. 7, and healthcare workers must be vaccinated by Sept. 27 with no testing alternative. (Times Union)

  • Gov. Hochul today signed a law requiring all in-state passenger vehicle sales to be zero emission vehicles by 2035. The governor also pledged steps to promote emission-free commercial vehicles and trucks, with a sale restriction timeline of 2045. (The Hill)

  • Cases of the more vaccine-resistant “mu” variant of the coronavirus are declining in New York, and city Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said it may be less of a concern than previously thought. (New York Daily News)

  • Mayor de Blasio said today that he expects the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to return in full this year after last year’s parade was scaled down due to the pandemic. (New York Post)

In other reading:

  • Are at-home COVID tests accurate? What the results can and can’t tell you. (Washington Post)

  • The Future of the Gym is Hybrid (Just Like the Office) (Wall Street Journal)

  • Why cloth masks are on some airlines’ no-fly lists (Washington Post)

  • Fall Travel Trends: Have You Heard of ‘Trip Stacking?’ (You Will.) (New York Times)

In yesterday’s digest, we brought you up to speed on the most recent round of delays in the return-to-office plans from some of the city’s largest tech employers.

  • TL;DR: January 2022 — at the earliest — is the new September 2021.

For startups, it’s a different ball game. Smaller companies with smaller operational needs transitioned to remote work relatively easily — and it’s been just as easy to remain that way. (TechCrunch) That’s especially true of the startups that were founded during the pandemic and have been remote since inception.

  • TechCrunch’s Alex Wilhelm: “In time it will be just as weird a concept for startups to raise equity capital to spend on rent as it would be for a startup today to raise equity capital to buy a rack of servers and pay co-location fees.”

The appeal of remote work is also a strategy for attracting talent. Hiring in tech roles has continued to see healthy growth through the pandemic, and every young startup needs a founding team.

  • “So what’s a young company to do? Offer what the big guns appear loath to offer, namely remote-friendly work. This will also help startups poach talent from the bigger tech companies.”

The trends, predicts Wilhelm, will trickle upto the largest employers, leading to more workplace flexibility everywhere.

  • “Many startups that are remote today will scale while sticking to the model, becoming the big companies of tomorrow with fully remote teams.”

Our takeaway: To be clear, the pandemic hasn’t erased the inherent value of in-person collaboration, and any debate over fully in-office vs. fully remote presents a false choice. A hybrid work model has gathered a lot of consensus, but even that approach isn’t one-size-fits-all. Nor should it be. (Forbes)

Related: Quartz released its 2021 rankings of the best companies for remote workers. View the list here.

If your company has updated its plans recently, we’d love to hear about it. Large companies, new startups, everything in between is all valuable! Reach out here.

In other reading:

  • So you want to host a VR meeting. Here’s what you need to know. (Protocol)

  • We’ll Give You a Week Off. Please Don’t Quit. (New York Times)

  • When Chance Encounters at the Water Cooler Are Most Useful (New York Times)

  • Employees are demanding jobs provide more than just a paycheck (Axios)

  • Alma, a New York City-based membership based network for therapists, raised $50 million in Series C funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by Optum Ventures, Tusk Venture Partners, Primary Venture Partners, Sound Ventures, BoxGroup, and Rainfall Ventures. (FinSMEs)

  • Clay, New York City-based business and personal relationship management tool, raised $8 million in seed funding. Forerunner Ventures led the round and was joined by General Catalyst. (TechCrunch)

  • Code Climate, a New York City-based automated code platform, raised $50 million in Series C funding. PSG led the round and was joined by Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, and NextView Ventures. (Businesswire)

  • Octane, a Brooklyn-based billing startup, raised $2 million in seed funding. Basis Set Ventures led the round and was joined by individual investors including Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi, Github CTO Jason Warner, Fortress CTO Assunta Gaglione, and Scale AI CRO Chetan Chaudhary. (TechCrunch)

  • PayEm, a New York City-based corporate spending platform, raised $27 million in funding. A $7 million seed round was led by Pitango First and NFX while a $20 million Series A was led by Glilot+. (TechCrunch)

  • Vic.ai, a New York City-based AI accounting platform, raised $50 million in Series B funding. ICONIQ Growth led the round and was joined by GGV Capital, Cowboy Ventures, and Costanoa Ventures. (TechCrunch)

  • Walnut, a New York City-based sales experience platform, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Eight Roads Ventures led the round. (TechCrunch)

Tech Gives Back, the annual week of community service hosted by Silicon Valley Bank, is returning Oct. 4 – 8 to bring together thousands of tech workers from around the world to give back to their communities. Now in its 11th year, Tech Gives Back 2021’s theme is focused on diversity, equity, and access, and this year’s volunteer and fundraising opportunities are all virtual with a diverse collection of nonprofits. Learn more and sign yourself and your teams up here.9/11 Day is seeking participation in its 9/11 Day of Service, a community service opportunity to mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11. The initiative is seeking NYC-based volunteers to participate in its signature Meal Pack event on Saturday 9/11 and Sunday 9/12, as well as other virtual engagement opportunities. Learn more here.NYU Data Future Lab is accepting applications for Catalyst NYC, a six-month, equity-free accelerator for pre-seed to seed-stage startups. It offers free desk space in downtown Brooklyn, benefits such as free legal hours and AWS credits, access to NYU resources such as data sets and funded interns, and more. Learn more and apply by Sept. 12 here.Morgan Stanley’s Multicultural Innovation Lab, based in the company’s NYC office, is accepting applications for its next cohort of early-stage tech and/or tech-enabled companies led by women and multicultural entrepreneurs. The accelerator is a five-month program culminating in a Demo Day and showcase to the bank’s investor community. Learn more and apply by Sept. 16 here.AI4ALL is hosting its Changemakers in AI Virtual Career Fair, seeking companies, nonprofit organizations, government entities, and research labs with 2021 and 2022 opportunities for emerging AI talent at the undergraduate level who have been trained in AI4ALL’s programs. If your company is interested in connecting 1:1 over video with interested candidates, providing info sessions to larger groups, or quickly accessing candidates' resumes, learn more and register your interest be Sept. 29 here.Newlab and the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are partnering on the fifth round of the American-Made Solar Prize, a competition seeking startups to develop innovative software and hardware solutions for the energy market. A two-track structure — one for hardware and one for software — awards US teams up to $3 million in grant funding and partnerships opportunities with the US Dept. of Energy. Learn more and apply by Oct. 5 here.Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator NYC is accepting applications for its Winter 2022 program. The accelerator provides $100K in seed funding with the potential for follow-on funding, as well as a mentor and alumni network of 240+ companies. Join its applicant AMA on Sept. 21 and apply by Nov. 9 here.

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