TG it’s F: Happy Friday, everybody. Hope your week has been short and sweet. Or at least short. Give a big Innovate welcome to new readers Cindy, Michelle, Nichob and Colonel Blake. Happy to have you all aboard. Sir.
Today is July 7, on which Oregon businessman Henry Phillips received a patent for his eponymous screw and driver. Now popular as an at-home tool, the “Phillips head” was designed to revolutionize mass production by slicing slivers of seconds off the time required to install fasteners on automotive assembly lines.
Ringo is 77.
Plug in: Luminate NY, the state’s $10 million accelerator for startup firms in the optics, photonics and imaging industries, is now taking applications. (Did we mention it’s in Rochester?)
Start me up: NYC saw its first quarterly uptick in seed deals in a year and a half.
Big Guns: Steve Israel’s new novel, a comic send-up of the arms lobby, is now available for pre-order. (Shipping next April.)
Room for growth: Aenvision, the Huntington Station space oddity, has launched Oscar, the world’s first spatial productivity enhancer and calculator.
STEAM driven: Microsoft has teamed up with a Westbury startup in connecting the dots for the students of Charlotte.
In app-titude: You may now feel free to tip your Uber driver.
First aid: The Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine has rounded up $85,000 to help financially disadvantaged medical scholars.
Congrats: Northwell has been named one of the nation’s top STEM firms.
Also: PSEG-LI was ranked 57th on the annual Utility Trusted Brand & Engagemnt list. Corporate parent PSE&G made the report’s Most Trusted Brands top 15 list, at No. 13. The full list, if you crave more.
And: SBU Medicine’s Andrew Flescher has been appointed to the national ethics committee of the United Network for Organ Sharing.
Room with no view: Kominicki takes a look at Accessory Housing Units at the LI Index blog.
More good news: Atlassian boosted the hiring of women into its technical workforce by 80 percent. In just one year. Here’s how.
The deep read: Bitcoin, ethereum, blockchain, tokens and ICOs. What are they and do we really care?
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A FEW WORDS FROM OUR SPONSOR: Nixon Peabody works with clients who are building the technologies and industries of the future. We’ve got the expertise necessary to drive your business forward and help you negotiate risks and opportunities related to all areas of business and the law, including business formation, capital raising, IP, labor and immigration, and FDA.
NOTABLE FUNDINGS
UVeye, an AI-run camera inspection system for the undercarriages of vehicles, raised $4.5 million in a seed round.
Ofo, the Chinese bike-sharing platform, raised $700 million in an E round led by Alibaba.
Cleveland-based Diasome, focused on diabetes and obesity, raised $30 million.
WHAT WE’RE READING
57 Cool Things: A new spy in town, music you need in your life, movies for the computer and books for the beach, including “Everything All at Once,” in which Bill Nye The Science Guy guides you to liberating your inner nerd, getting creative and solving all your problems. In that order. The complete list is here.
The beauty of federalism: Every 20 years, New Yorkers get to decide if they want a constitutional convention. This could be the year, especially given what’s going on in Washington.
Brews news: Danish Brewer Carlsberg has teamed up with Brooklyn Brewery to acquire London Fields Brewery, which has been on the block since its owner was charged with tax evasion in 2014. This is the fifth partnership deal for the two brewers.
Not really related, but: 30 Arizona breweries have agreed to make their next batch using purified wastewater as part of a campaign to raise public awareness on “reclaimed water.” Officials said they were taking extraordinary care in refining the wastewater for the brewers. “We can’t get this wrong,” one said.
Lastly: Anheuser-Busch InBev, Heineken, Diageo, Pernod Ricard and Carlsberg have pledged $67.7 million for a study that hopes to determine whether moderate drinking is good for you.
Blues brothers: Cirque du Soleil has acquired NYC’s Blue Man Group.
Fizz ed: This week’s Classic Cocktail You Can Make With Gin and Champagne is the French 75. (So named by legendary barman Harry MacElhone, who said the drink had the kick of a 75mm field cannon.)
Say it ain’t so: The Pawtucket Red Sox, farm team of the Boston club New Yorkers love to hate, are considering a move to Worcester.
A friendly reminder: There’s really no such thing as “free” news. Please support great firms like Nixon Peabody.
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Compiled by John Kominicki and Marlene McDonnell. Thanks for reading this far.
