It’s no surprise that Boston ranks among the top 5 startup ecosystems in the world.
After all, it’s home to world-class universities who lead the way in both research and innovation while producing exceptional talent. The city also has a close-knit startup community with a strong entrepreneurial spirit.
In 2018, Boston-area startups raised nearly $8.8 billion in venture capital. Along with the Bay Area and New York, Boston accounted for more than 70% of the total venture capital invested in the first quarter of 2019.
If you are looking for funding, these numbers are very encouraging. The great news is that there are numerous funding resources in the Boston area. We’ve created this list of venture capital firms and angel investors to help you find the right investment for your startup.
If you want to prepare for startup funding in Boston, the Founder Institute is currently enrolling. Apply today to build a startup with Boston's top entrepreneurs and investors!
Boston Angel Investors
1. Andy Palmer
- Bio: “A specialist in founding & accelerating the growth of early stage companies. Named 2013 Angel Investor of the year by the New England Venture Capital Association. Over the past 20 years I've satisfied my career attention deficit disorder by helping start, fund or found more than 30 innovative companies that span enterprise software, internet, ecommerce and biotech.”
- Looking for: “Great mission driven entrepreneurs, technologists and scientists who are not only fiercely competitive, but also care about how they succeed.”
- Sectors: Databases, Big Data, Pharmaceuticals, Life Sciences, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology, Consumer Internet, Mobile, Digital Media, Social Media, Healthcare Analytics, Online Travel, Enterprise Software.
- Number of investments: 42
- Investment Range: $10K-$100K
- Notable portfolio companies: PillPack, Roomhunt, Upstart
2. Brian Shin
- Bio: “Product ideas, market ideas.”
- Looking for: N/A on website.
- Sectors: Information Technology, Social Media.
- Number of investments: 28
- Investment Range: $5K-$250K
- Notable portfolio companies: atrium, Blispay, Drift, Misfit, PageCloud
3. David Chang
- Bio: “Product, marketing and general operating expertise for direct-to-consumer and enterprise startups.”
- Looking for: N/A on website.
- Sectors: Mobile, Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, iPhone, Online Travel, Developer Tools, Mobile Analytics, Big Data Analytics, Analytics, Big Data, Recruiting, Marketplaces, Health Care Information Technology, Hospitals, Healthcare Services, Sales and Marketing, Visualization, Healthcare, Health and Wellness, Employer Benefits Programs, Digital Media, Kids, Edutainment.
- Number of investments: 36
- Investment Range: $1K-$50K
- Notable portfolio companies: Careport Health, Crashlytics, Cuseum, Jolt Sensor, Mogul, Tablelist, Wellist
- Bio: “I'm the co-founder/CTO of HubSpot and I spend just about all of my energy there. Which, for an entrepreneur, is, as it should be. I also write OnStartups.com. I make quick decisions and stay out of the way. Oh, and I have a bit of an online social media following.”
- Looking for: N/A on website.
- Sectors: SaaS, Internet, All Markets, Consumer Internet, Mobile, Social Media, Enterprise Software, E-Commerce, Sales and Marketing, Analytics, Marketplaces, Communities, Social CRM, Collaborative Consumption, Small and Medium Businesses.
- Number of investments: 82
- Investment Range: $10K-$50K
- Notable portfolio companies: 42Floors, Backupify, Buffer, Coinbase, Creative Market, Mattermark
5. Jean Hammond
- Bio: “One of New England’s most active angel investors, dedicated to growing the startup community in Boston. Focused on early stage tech/edtech start-ups. Hands-on board member, advisor and mentor to entrepreneurs and angels. Former serial entrepreneur with multiple exits. Co-founder, LearnLaunch.”
- Looking for: N/A on website.
- Sectors: Edtech, Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, Mobile, Clean Technology, Health Care, Information Technology, Analytics.
- Number of investments: 68
- Investment Range: $5K-$100K
- Notable portfolio companies: Localytics, TenMarks Education, Zipcar
6. Joe Caruso
- Bio: “Serve as a mentor/coach for the entrepreneur. Less about domain expertise than about strategy, judgment, values, and decision making processes.”
- Looking for: Bright, passionate, high integrity team. Everything else is (almost always) secondary.
- Sectors: Advanced Materials, SaaS, Internet, Mobile, Software, Analytics, Hardware, Clean Energy, B2B, Information Technology, Personal Health, Collaboration.
- Number of investments: 122
- Investment Range: $5K-$50K
- Notable portfolio companies: Apperian, Carbonite, Constant Contact, HubSpot, Skyhook, Smarterer
7. Joi Ito
- Bio: “Director, MIT Media Lab.”
- Looking for: “Seed and early stage tech and science (software, service, bio, hardware) with a focus on Boston and Silicon Valley but invest globally.”
- Sectors: Consumer Internet, Information Technology, Mobile, Social Media, Location Based Services, Consumer Electronics, Hardware + Software, Hardware, Biotechnology, Synthetic Biology.
- Number of investments: 47
- Investment Range: N/A on website.
- Notable portfolio companies: Flickr, HelloSign, Last.fm, Machinima, Twitter, Viki
- Bio: “I have a lot of experience helping entrepreneurs avoid the pitfalls in finance, administration, HR, marketing, contract negotiation, ....”
- Looking for: N/A on website.
- Sectors: Digital Media, SaaS, Mobile Games, Enterprise Software, Developer APIs, Developer Tools, Web Tools, Fashion, Personal Health, Personal Data, Health and Wellness, Hardware, Security, Consumer Electronics, Content Syndication, Retail Technology, Social Media Marketing, Brand Marketing, Video Games, Internet TV, Healthcare, Robotics, Fitness, Software.
- Number of investments: 66
- Investment Range: $10K-$50K
- Notable portfolio companies: Playrific, Reactor Media, ThriveHive, TribeXR
- Bio: “I've worn pretty much every hat in an organization -from fundraising to sales to product to engineering- so am a good all-around sounding board. Primary areas of focused feedback are Product and Marketing, but I actively help with introductions (VCs, angels, customers), recruiting, strategy as desired.”
- Looking for: N/A on website.
- Sectors: Consumers, Information Technology, SaaS, B2B, Mobile, Analytics.
- Number of investments: 44
- Investment Range: $1K-$50K
- Notable portfolio companies: Crashlytics, Flywire, Onswipe, Sapho, VOIQ
10. Semyon Dukach
- Bio: “Managing Partner of One Way Ventures in Boston.”
- Looking for: “Amazing immigrant founders. Making a meaningful, positive impact.”
- Sectors: Consumer Internet, Mobile, Social Media, Transportation, Aerospace, Internet of Things, Hardware, SaaS, Peer-to-Peer, Marketplaces.
- Number of investments: 92
- Investment Range: $5K-250K
- Notable portfolio companies: Airfox, Codeship, Myomo, ThriveHive
11. Wayne Chang
- Bio: “Having been through it a few times, I'm happy to make myself available to advise startups. Sometimes it takes that extra push to get through a hump. I can help push.”
- Looking for: “Extreme focus on the user experience.”
- Sectors: Mobile, Usability, Graphics, Experience Design, Tablets, Consumer Internet, Accounting, Ad Targeting, Advertising Platforms, Social Media, Social Commerce, Analytics, Data Mining, Databases, Quantitative Marketing, Performance Marketing, Sales and Marketing, Location Based Services, Internet, SaaS, Video, Cloud Computing, Nightlife.
- Number of investments: 37
- Investment Range: $5K-$250K
- Notable portfolio companies: AirHelp, Influitive, Lovepop, Onswipe, Tablelist
12. Will Herman
- Bio: “Mentoring the CEO and team on a variety of topics - sales, product development, company structure, etc. I try to make myself the easiest place for the team to get advice on a broad range of topics.”
- Looking for: N/A on website.
- Sectors: Internet, Hardware, Location Based Services, E-Commerce.
- Number of investments: 42
- Investment Range: N/A on website.
- Notable portfolio companies: Cape Networks, Grapevine Logic, Harmonix Music Systems, JumpCloud, Kinvey, Runkeeper
Boston Venture Capital Firms
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Description: "We partner with disruptive founders to accelerate their ideas to market. We focus on founders passionate about transforming major industries, ranging from SaaS, infrastructure software and security to fintech and healthcare to commerce and consumer tech. Our investments range from $1 million of seed capital through $100 million of growth equity. Our unique and differentiated platform empowers founders to grow their companies at all stages. This starts with a partnership that has deep domain expertise and extensive operating experience. Furthermore, we leverage the global platform of Bain Capital to help founders access networks, partners and customers that are pivotal on the path to scale.Let’s create the future and make history together.”
- Sectors / Markets of Focus: SaaS, Infrastructure Software, Application Software, Fintech, Healthcare, Security, Commerce and Consumer Tech.
- Bain Capital Ventures Stage: Seed-stage to growth equity investments.
- Notable Bain Capital Ventures Portfolio Companies: 6sense, DocuSign, Lime, LinkedIn, SendGrid, SmartRent, Taleo, Turbonomic, Vonage, Wrike
- Description: "Battery Ventures is a global, technology-focused investment firm pursuing the most prominent companies and ideas. Founded in 1983, our firm makes venture-capital and private equity investments from six offices around the world. We work hard, but humbly, and are guided by data-driven processes. We seek out extraordinary business leaders who operate the same way.”
- Sectors / Markets of Focus: IT Infrastructure, Application Software, Industrial Technology, Tech-Enabled Services, Consumer Internet and Mobile.
- Battery Ventures Stage: Seed-stage to growth equity investments.
- Notable Battery Ventures Portfolio Companies: Amplitude, Angie's List, AuditBoard, Champions Oncology, Coinbase, Kustomer, Nutanix, Qognify, Vidyard, Wayfair
- Description: "We invest in people before ideas. We know the types of people we are looking for. We invest in experts — authentic founders who are the best at what they do. Having a big idea matters, but being the person who can make it a reality matters even more.”
- Sectors / Markets of Focus: Bioengineering, Consumer, Enterprise, Media, Technology and SMB.
- Charles River Ventures Stage: Mostly Series A. On occasions, Seed or Series B investments.
- Notable Charles River Ventures Portfolio Companies: Airtable, ClassPass, Drift, Twitter, Udacity, Wish, Yammer, Zendesk
- Description: "Flybridge is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm with offices in Boston and New York City. With approximately $700 million under management across five funds and three pre-seed funds, we have invested in more than 120 companies such as MongoDB (NASDAQ: MDB), Crashlytics (acq TWTR), Firebase (acq GOOG), BetterCloud, BitSight, Bowery Farming, Chief, Codecademy, NS1, and Splice. The firm is led by a team with decades of experience building billion dollar companies as investors and entrepreneurs.”
- Sectors / Markets of Focus: Software, Hardware, Mobile, Enterprise and Consumer IT Sectors.
- Flybridge Capital Partners Stage: Seed and early-stage startups.
- Notable Flybridge Capital Partners Portfolio Companies: BetterCloud, BitSight, Bowery Farming, Codecademy, Crashlytics, Firebase, MongoDB, Open English, Plastiq, skillist, Wethos
- Description: "GC is a venture capital firm that makes early-stage and transformational investments. We’re incredibly proud to invest in fearless entrepreneurs who are building foundational enterprise technologies and ubiquitous consumer brands. We pull out all the stops to help them realize their vision so that we may return value to our own investors — the foundations and endowments that make the world a better place through education, research, vital health care, and social work.”
- Sectors / Markets of Focus: Consumer, Enterprise Software and Mobile.
- General Catalyst Stage: Early-stage and growth equity investments.
- Notable General Catalyst Portfolio Companies: Airbnb, ClassPass, Deliveroo, HubSpot, Snapchat, Stripe, Warby Parker
- Description: "Greylock Partners backs entrepreneurs who are building disruptive, market-transforming consumer and enterprise software companies. We invest in companies that define new markets, including Airbnb, AppDynamics, Cloudera (NYSE: CLDR), Docker, Dropbox (Nasdaq:DBX), Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), Instagram, LinkedIn, Nextdoor, Rubrik, Okta (Nasdaq: OKTA), Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW) and Workday (NYSE: WDAY).”
- Sectors / Markets of Focus: Advertising, Applications, Cloud/SaaS, Commerce, Data Center, Gaming, Management, Marketplaces, Media, Mobile, Networking, Security, Services, Storage and social.
- Greylock Partners Stage: All stages.
- Notable Greylock Partners Portfolio Companies: AI Fund, Airbnb, Coinbase, Docker, GoFundMe, Instagram, LinkedIn, Nextdoor, Redfin, Tumblr
- Description: "Highland Capital Partners was founded in 1987 to invest in early stage consumer and enterprise technology companies. We’ve helped founders scale more than 280 companies, resulting in 46 IPOs, 127 Acquisitions, and 18 companies with values of more than $1B. Currently, we manage $3.5B in assets, as we continue to invest early in entrepreneurs we believe are founding category-defining consumer and enterprise technology companies.”
- Sectors / Markets of Focus: Cybersecurity, Commerce, Future of Work, Education, Autonomy, Media, Consumer and Enterprise Technology.
- Highland Capital Partners Stage: Early-stage startups and Series A.
- Notable Highland Capital Partners Portfolio Companies: 2U, Auris Health, Carbon Black, Clearbanc, Freshly, Lovepop, lululemon athletica, Malwarebytes, RapidSOS, Rent the Runway, Scopely, Turbonomic, Vistaprint, WhyHotel
8. MassVentures
- Description: "MassVentures is a venture capital firm focused on fueling the Massachusetts innovation economy by funding early-stage, high-growth Massachusetts startups as they move from concept to commercialization. MassVentures focuses on Series A investments and considers occasional and opportunistic seed rounds. We provide capital for first-time CEOs and/or founders and consider industry segments not adequately served by the venture community. Our track record of success combined with our expertise, contacts and support for entrepreneurs makes MassVentures an attractive venture partner for early-stage companies in Massachusetts.”
- Sectors / Markets of Focus: Healthcare IT, Industrial Automation and Robotics, Internet and Digital Media, Green Tech, Mobile, Security, Systems and Software.
- MassVentures Stage: Early-stage startups and Series A.
- Notable MassVentures Portfolio Companies: Applause, BoardOnTrack ClearGov, Grapevine, InsideTracker, Life Image, ownerIQ, Spark, Veritas Genetics
- Description: "We champion founders redesigning the Everyday Economy.”
- Sectors / Markets of Focus: Consumer, Internet, Software and Business-Focused Technology.
- NextView Ventures Stage: Pre-seed, seed and early-stage startups.
- Notable NextView Ventures Portfolio Companies: Attentive, BookBub, Boundless, Drift, Grove Collaborative, Pattern Brands, Skillz
10. Polaris Partners
- Description: "Great companies are built upon a foundation of real partnership. For two decades we've partnered with incredible entrepreneurs who've improved the way we live and work. We're board members, entrepreneurs, scientists, and operators. Over the course of
- our careers, we've helped shape transformative companies—from both sides of the table.”
- Sectors / Markets of Focus: Healthcare and Technology.
- Polaris Partners Stage: All stages.
- Notable Polaris Partners Portfolio Companies: Adimab, AgBiome, Akamai, Ascend Health, Dealer Spike, LogMeIn, WordPress
11. Spark Capital
- Description: "We believe the world can never get enough magical products and experiences. Founders and their teams balance art and technology to design the future for us all. We believe amazing products can create markets, not just find market fit. The people who make those products are creative, high-energy and are more often than not on a mission. They are technologists with the heart of an artist. We invest in companies at all stages of their life cycle, the earlier we can start our partnership the better. Our most recent funds include a $400 million early-stage venture fund and a $600 million venture growth fund. In total we have $3 billion under management. Spark partners with visionary entrepreneurs who are driven to move people with the products and experiences they create.”
- Sectors / Markets of Focus: Commerce, Consumer, Entertainment, Fintech, Frontier, Marketplaces, Media, and Software/Services
- Spark Capital Stage: All stages. Seed to Series E and beyond.
- Notable Spark Portfolio Companies: Andela, Grammarly, InVision, Niantic, Postmates, Rover, SiFive, Slack, SmileDirectClub
12. Summit Partners
- Description: "Summit Partners was founded in 1984 with a commitment to find and partner with exceptional entrepreneurs to help them accelerate their growth and achieve dramatic results. Since then, Summit has become the investment partner of choice for many of the best growth companies in the world. We’ve grown to a team of more than 100 investment professionals, led by 27 Managing Directors whose tenures average more than 12 years with Summit. We have the capital and team to support your growth initiatives.”
- Sectors / Markets of Focus: Healthcare and Life Sciences, Technology, Growth Products and Services.
- Summit Partners Stage: All stages.
- Notable Summit Partners Portfolio Companies: Avast, Belkin, Darktrace, Fuze, Gainsight, HealthCare Partners, Integrated DNA Technologies, Modernizing Medicine, Reverb, Uber, Ubiquiti, Welltec
Are you looking to build a great startup in Boston?
The Founder Institute is the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator. In the program, early-stage entrepreneurs and teams build their business alongside a critical support network of local startup experts that share equity in their success, and through a structured and challenging business-building process that has helped alumni raise over $1.85BN.
Leaders of the world’s fastest-growing startups have used the Founder Institute to raise funding, get into seed-accelerators, generate traction, recruit a team, build a product, transition from employee to entrepreneur, and more.
Learn more about the Founder Institute at FI.co, join a free startup event in Boston, or apply to build a startup today.
