Lucy: We’ll be kicking off our three-day WorkXPlay series on June 20th with a Mixer at Warehouse Boston. Join us for a few brews and the LIVE announcement of our Coolest Companies Finalists! Think your company has what it takes to be named the coolest in Boston? Send us a nomination.
Dylan: As my favorite fictional professor likes to say: Good news, everyone! Scott Kirsner just published a report for Innovation Leader showing that Boston ranks No. 2 for corporate innovation. The only metropolitan area that beat us is San Francisco-San Jose. (Boo.)
Kirsner used the following factors to determine his list: Global 1000 companies with R&D labs or innovation centers, as well as their R&D investment levels; large trend-setting companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Salesforce; startup density; research universities; and conferences, trade shows and other kinds of events that foster the innovation ecosystem.
Some of the big Boston names Kirsner drops include GE, Gillette, Toyota Research Institute, Fidelity Investments, Amazon Robotics, MassChallenge and The Engine, MIT's new startup accelerator and venture fund. And that's obviously just the tip of the iceberg.
Dylan: Big things have been happening for RateGravity, the Boston fintech startup that just finished Techstars and raised $2M from investors, after matching over 150 people with $40M in approved mortgages since last July.
The startup, which provides an automated service for matching homebuyers with low-interest mortgages, just announced it has appointed David Cotney, Massachusetts' former top bank regulator, as its regulatory advisor. I've been told it's a part-time capacity, and Cotney will also serve on the startup's advisory board.
Cotney was most recently the Commissioner of Banks for the Massachusetts Division of Banks, where he oversaw the regulation of nearly 200 banks and credit unions, as well as more than 500 mortgage companies. He also served as chairman of the State Liason Committee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.
Lucy: And Cybric, a Boston-based cybersecurity startup, said it has hired Carol Clark as the company's first VP of marketing. Clark previously worked in various leadership and management roles at RSA, EMC's security division, for nearly 17 years.
Dylan: Zerto will nearly double its Boston HQ by the end of the year as it aims to employ 800 people worldwide, the BBJ reported. Founded in 2010, the data recovery firm has a large office in Israel and others in the UK, India, Japan, and Shanghai.
Lucy: Matthew Merighi, an assistant director of the maritime studies program at The Fletcher School of Tufts University, just founded a nonprofit startup that will collect ocean data thanks to underwater sensors. As Merighi explained to me, Blue Water Metrics has a goal that exceeds the mere academic interest. Basic ocean health data such as temperature, salinity, and pH can provide insights on some of the 21st century's greatest ecological challenges, from climate change to water acidification. The company plans on gathering these measurements and then make them available to the whole oceanographic community thanks to an online platform. Read more: Blue Water Metrics Will Use Underwater Sensors to Fight Climate Change
Dylan: Gov. Charlie Baker's administration today announced that it is providing $11.3M to UMass Lowell for the creation of a "Fabric Discovery Center," which aims to "rapidly transform textile product concepts into functional prototypes."
Dylan: Looking back at May, 27 Boston startups ended up raising more than $211M that month. The big raisers included Fuze, 128 Technology and CounterTack, but there were plenty of other interesting companies that raised smaller rounds as well. Read more: These 27 Boston Startups Raised More Than $211M in May.
Lucy: Co-located in Salt Lake City and Boston, cyber security startup RiskRecon raised a $12M Series A round. The investment was led by Dell Technologies Capital, with contributions from F-Prime Capital Partners and General Catalyst Partners, which led RiskRecon’s $3M seed round. The new money will go toward product development and sales and marketing, RiskRecon founder and CEO Kelly White told Xconomy.
Lucy: Brace yourselves. There are a lot of big tech and startup events coming your way in June. On Monday, Formlabs and Desktop Metal host The Digital Factory, a day-long conference dedicated to digital manufacturing, and it includes leaders from PTC, Founder Collective, Stratasys, Onshape and more. Breather is hosting a "micro-conference for tech managers" on Wednesday that includes folks from Launch Academy and Toast.
If you want a deep dive into all the big events you should know about in June, I have you covered. Read more: BostInno Approved: June's Top Tech & Startup Events in Boston
Dylan: Brian Halligan, HubSpot's resident Grateful Dead fan, is apparently a REALLY BIG Grateful Dead fan. Last night at a charity auction, the CEO paid $1.6M for Jerry Garcia's "Wolf" guitar, and all the proceeds went Southern Poverty Law Center. You can watch a video of the action here. And in case you thought this would be ripe for a thought piece on "going big," Mylestone CEO Dave Balter has you covered.
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