Hello! I hope your Valentineās Day was filled with love. š
Welcome to theĀ 52nd installment of Urban Tech.Ā
For newer members of the community, on Mondays Urban Tech shares several ā always less than 10 ā compelling stories at the intersection of cities and tech.
Then on Thursdays, which we know as Urban Tech Thursdays, we do a deep dive on a player, company, theme, policy etc. at the intersection of cities and tech.
One quick note/reminder for today.
Are you a college student or recent grad (with up to 2 years work experience)?Ā
A good friend is conducting research to build an early-career community product and wants to hear from you about getting started in your career. Click the button below to send her an email if you are open to chatting!
A big thanks to everyone who already shot her a note and who are helping her out!! I know whatever the product ends up being, it will be AWESOME, so Iām glad our community can maybe help share some insights that can make it just a tad more helpful for early career folks.
Last Mondayās most popular stories:
š„ San Francisco Chronicle: Let's have real talk about race and inequality in the Bay Area
š„TechCrunch: Divvy Homes secures $110M Series C to help renters become homeowners
š„ Axios: Uber buying booze delivery company Drizly for $1.1 billion
Urban Tech Archives:
šĀ Podcast: š°How can venture capital invest in the public sector?
šĀ Newsletter: Why Allbirds ā a Sneaker Company ā is Urban Technology
šĀ Newsletter: Tesla + Austin = š or š or š¤
Essential City + Tech Stories: 2.15.21
š” Bloomberg: Matterport Is in Merger Talks With Gores SPAC
š°TechCrunch: Getaway, a startup building tiny cabins, raises $41.7M
š The New York Times: 2020 Is the Summer of the Road Trip. Unless Youāre Black.
š Axios: Public parks, reimagined for the COVID era
Forbes Manufacturing Reporter Amy Feldman and VC Reporter Alex Konrad broke news last week of a new women-led fund focused on industrial ventures.Ā
For years, Dayna Grayson invested in industrial innovation as a partner at NEA, one of the few prominent investors focused on the massive, and underserved, space. She found a surprise ally in fellow Washington, D.C.-area resident Rachel Holt, an Uber executive who most recently led the ride-hailing giantās mobility unit. The two have now raised $140 million for their new firm, Construct Capital, for investments in manufacturing, supply chain, transportation and other foundational industries.
Based on the firmās focus, I feel UT and our community will be following this team for a while! Iāve been followingĀ HoltāsĀ work for years (she joined UberĀ veryĀ early; around theĀ Series AĀ raise).
š” Bloomberg: Matterport Is in Merger Talks With Gores SPAC
A great real estate tech scoop from the team (Katie Roof, Gillian Tan, and Crystal Tse) at Bloomberg:
Matterport Inc., a maker of software for virtual walk-throughs of properties, is in advanced talks to list via a blank-check company, according to people familiar with the matter.
A deal with Gores Holdings VI Inc. could be announced as soon as next week, said one of the people, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. The transaction is set to value the combined entity at more than $2 billion, the person said.
š°TechCrunch: Getaway, a startup building tiny cabins, raises $41.7M
From TechCrunchās Anthony Ha:
Getaway CEO Jon Staff said that while the startupās offerings werenāt designed with a pandemic in mind, they turned out to be well-suited for a time when people were eager to find safe ways to get off Zoom and out of their homes.
Founded in 2015, Getaway builds āOutpostsā ā collections of tiny cabins in rustic locations within a two-hour drive of major cities like Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles and New York. Those cabins sound perfect for socially distanced retreats, with guests checking themselves in, each cabin built with its own fire pit and spaced 50 to 150 feet from the others, with no common areas.
Staff told me that rather than promoting traditional tourist activities, Getaway emphasizes disconnecting from all the stresses and distractions of modern life. So its cabins donāt include Wi-Fi, and they also have lockboxes where visitors can hide their phones for the duration of their visits.
Tiny homes and variations of this concept have gained popularity over the last few years, but smaller isnāt always better. Also, Itās essential to look at the markets in which the ātiny homeā housing products are aiming to serve. Many of the ones I see are currently focused on households with higher disposable income levels as customers.
UT Takeaway:Ā In our humble opinion, only building smaller homes wonāt make much of a dent in the U.S. housing shortage. Smaller homes can be a piece of the puzzle, but we need many pieces to solve Americaās housing crisis.
š The New York Times: 2020 Is the Summer of the Road Trip. Unless Youāre Black.
While most of the stories included in Monday editions are recent stories, we occasionally include less-timely stories that we only recently discovered ā likely they are found on Twitterā¦.
Last week, someone recirculated this thoughtful piece byĀ New York Times TravelĀ ReporterĀ Tariro Mzezewa,Ā who published it last summer.Ā
Go, read the full piece, but here is a quick excerpt:
With the country reopening, travel industry experts say people are planning short trips to destinations relatively close to home. By driving they can control the number of people they interact with, how many stops they make on the way and whether to take a detour or not ā all things they canāt control on a planeā¦
ā¦For many black travelers, however, the road trip has long conjured fear, not freedom. Victor Hugo Green published the first version of his now-famous āGreen Bookā in 1936; it listed towns, motels, restaurants and homes where black drivers were welcome and would be safe. At the time, state and local laws enforced racial segregation, primarily in the South, a racial caste system known as Jim Crow that was legally undone by the passage of Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s. The āGreen Bookā was updated and published through the 1960s and inspiredĀ the 2018 filmĀ of the same name that won an Oscar but was widely criticized for making a white characterās emotional journey its focus.
š Axios: Public parks, reimagined for the COVID era
Rhetorical question: Is there any better part to a city than its great parks?
Jennifer Kingson published an insightful look at how COVID is providing an opportunity to improve parks globally:
Public parks have grown so important during the pandemic that planners are suggesting bold renovations.
Driving the news:Ā In big cities around the world āĀ like New York, Paris and Barcelona āĀ major improvement plans for public parks are being unveiled one after the next, with inclusion and broader access at their heart.
A lengthy, $100 million renovationĀ planĀ is coming to Union Square Park in Manhattan, a central gathering spot (and home to a cherishedĀ greenmarket) that runs from 14th Street through 17th Street on the East Side.
The goal is to create 33% more public open space.
Paris' Champs-ĆlysĆ©es is getting a big, greenĀ makeover.
BarcelonaĀ plansĀ a 10-year facelift for one of its biggest parks.
Several Interesting Social PostsĀ
Okay, I know that the last one was a tad biased, but we thought our friend Stephen had a great pointā¦.Ā
For real though, if youāre interested in transportation, climate tech, and all the many intersection topics in those spaces,Ā Andrew SalzbergĀ writes one of theĀ best newslettersĀ out there. Got check it out!!Ā
Thatās it for todayās issue. Weāll be back on Thursday with a deep dive on a company that I know many of you are familiar with, but Iām hoping to explore it a bit.
As always, thank you for joining UT. Talk soon.
āļøJT