Somerville is a lot of things: Host to numerous historic sites, brimming with parks, packed with some killer coffee shops and an all-around increasingly popular place to live. But tech hub? That’s never exactly been Somerville’s reputation — until recently.
Somerville has proved it's quickly growing into a noteworthy breeding ground for innovation. [/pullquote]
It started with a few trailblazing companies like The Echo Nest, acquired by Spotify last year; another worth highlighting is The Grommet, now majority owned by Rakuten. Meanwhile, in September 2013, Greentown Labs — a cleantech-focused incubator that houses more than 50 hardware startups — departed Fort Point in Boston for Somerville's Union Square. Other tech companies are also moving to Somerville, and thriving in their new city: Recorded Future, which just banked a Series D round that was announced today, ditched its digs in Cambridge to settle on Somerville’s Highland Avenue in January. TechHub, a global co-working space for technology startups that boasts Deval Patrick as the founding member, selected Somerville's Davis Square for its Bay State home earlier this year. TEDxSomerville, which takes place for the third time in May, has further solidified the city’s growing tech presence.
And just like that, Somerville has proved it's quickly growing into a noteworthy breeding ground for innovation. Still not convinced? We rounded up some of the most-funded startups in the city.
Recorded Future
Total funding: $32 million
Founded in 2009, this startup crawls and analyzes the data on publicly available Web pages to identify potential cyber threats. And the company just raised a $12 million round led by Reed Elsevier Ventures. MassMutual Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, also participated in this financing round, as well as existing investors Google Ventures, CIA-funded In-Q-Tel, Atlas Venture, IA Ventures and Balderton Capital. Recorded Future reports that four out of the world’s five largest companies are customers, and while it hasn’t disclosed the names, admits their sectors include financial, technology, cybersecurity and government. The startup has been very active in investigating pro-ISIS online activity.
Clypd
Total funding: $30 million
This ad tech startup, which was founded by PayPal Media Network vets Joshua Summers and Doug Hurd in 2012, just raised a major $19.4 million Series B round earlier this month. The funding round was led by media company RTL Group, with participation from Duke University and TiVo as well as local VCs Atlas Venture and Data Point Capital. Transmedia Capital and Western Technology Investment also contributed.
The company — which calls Discovery, Cox and Univision clients — has said that its technology is designed to help TV media content companies to better manage all aspects of their sales.
Formlabs
Total funding: $22 million
This startup got a major early boost with a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign for its desktop 3D printer in 2012—raising $2.95 million, well over its $100,000 funding goal. The Form 1 gets its edge over other desktop 3D printers by leveraging stereolithography technology to achieve a super sharp resolution and high-quality detail. Formlabs was founded in 2011 and by three designers/engineers from the MIT Media Lab. And in the fall of 2013, the startup raised $19 million in Series A financing from DFJ Growth, Pitango Venture Capital, Innovation Endeavors and other returning Angel investors.
Paint Nite
Total funding: $13 million
By hosting nightly group painting workshops (complete with adult beverages), this startup has attracted a following since being founded in 2012. And late February, the company banked $13 million in its first round of equity funding. The round was led by Highland Consumer Fund, a division of Highland Capital Partners, with participation from several other smaller investors. Currently, Paint Nite is available in more than 135 locations across the globe, including cities in the UK and South Africa, and Paint Nite plans on using its recent financing to expand into Europe, Australia, Asia and Latin America. The startup is also aiming to roll out a mobile app for the service.
PillPack
Total funding: $12.8 million
This next-gen online pharmacy startup only made its national debut in February 2014, hot off of pocketing $4 million from Atlas Venture and Founder Collective. But the company, which was part of the Techstars Boston spring 2013 class, has gained a lot of traction for its doorstep delivery service of pre-sorted prescriptions. in October 2014, PillPack added another $8.75 million in a round led by Accel Partners, with participation from Atlas Venture.
Altaeros Energies
Total funding: $7 million
Founded in 2010, this MIT-spun airborne wind power startup produces wind turbines that can fly higher than conventional wind towers. Altaeros claims that its Buoyant Airborne Turbines can deliver equipment and telecom services to remote sites, while greatly reducing electricity costs. The company, which is headquartered out of Greentown Labs, raked in a $7 million round in December from Japanese telecom giant SoftBank Corp. Altaeros Energies has also received funding from RNT Associates International Pte. Limited, a company owned by former Tata Group Chairman, Ratan Tata.
Evergage
Total funding: $6.3 million
By leveraging Evergage’s tools, companies can track, analyze and determine the revenue impact of brand campaigns to then further personalize their users’ experiences. Last May, the Somerville startup raised a $4 million in Series A round, which was led by G20 Ventures, with Point Judith Capital, Advanced Technology Ventures, Jit Saxena, Stephan Schambach, Andy Ory and Jim Baum all contributing as well. Evergage boasts an array of notable clients, including Wayfair, Stonyfield Farm, Palms Casino Resort and GroundLink.
CoolChip
Total funding: $5.6 million
Founded in 2010 by MIT students, CoolChip designs next-gen kinetic coolers for electronics, which enables smaller, quieter and more energy-efficient devices. The startup, which works out of the Greentown Labs incubator, banked $3.3 million in funding in mid-March.
Nutonian
Total funding: $4 million
Nutonian has attracted some big-name clients in a range of industries, from oil and gas to retail since launching in 2011. Its platform, Eureqa, is capable of sorting through mass quantities of data, analyzing underlying relationships and then churning out data that’s more easily understandable — information that can help even non-technical people make better decisions and more accurate predictions. In October 2013, the company pocketed a $4 million Series A round, led by founding investor Atlas Venture.
Drync
Total funding: $3 million
Since launching in 2008, this wine discovery app has been giving oenophiles the ability to learn more about what they’re imbibing. Users can instantly scan wine labels to learn more about them, read reviews and even purchase it for home delivery via Google Wallet. While gaining popularity with consumers, the startup has also attracted the attention of investors: Last April, Drync raised a $2.1 million seed round from a slew of top VCs and Boston angels, including Cross Link Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, KEC Ventures, Foundry Group, HubSpot co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah and ScanScout co-founder Wakit Lau.
Image of Prospect Hill Tower by Eric Kilby -- Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).