With a pool of top talent, a market with plenty of opportunities, and affordable living and working spaces, it’s easy to see why Boston is a great place to start a tech company. According to TechCrunch, Boston has regained its place as the second-largest U.S. startup funding hub over New York, and is reaching a critical mass of available funding.
If you’re looking for investment for your startup in Boston, then check out this massive list of some of the most important funding sources, regardless of how far along your startup is.
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Early Stage Funding in Boston
Notable Seed Accelerators in Boston
A "seed accelerator" is a cohort-based program that typically accepts teams (not solo-founders) with a product (functional prototype or live product) and some form of traction (for example, user, revenue, or team growth). If accepted to a seed-accelerator, a company typically receives a small investment ($15,000-$150,000) in exchange for equity (6-10%). The goal of a seed-accelerator is to help companies accelerate their product or user growth during the program (typically 3-6 months) in order to raise a proper Angel or Seed Round of funding at the "Demo Day" that concludes the program.
- Bolt.io
- Cleantech Open Accelerator
- Cogo Labs
- FinTech Sandbox
- Healthbox
- IDEA Lab
- Innoloft Accelerator
- LearnLaunch
- MassChallenge Accelerator
- Smarter in the City Accelerator
- Start at Shea
- StepLadder
- Techstars Boston
Notable Angel Investors in Boston
Angel investors are people that typically invest their personal capital in early-stage startups or entrepreneurs, and generally provide only a small one-time investment to help the business grow. They generally provide more favorable terms compared to other types of investors, since they usually invest in the earliest stages of a business, and are more focused on helping startups build a product instead of generating a profit. Angel investors sometimes go by other names, including “informal investors”, “angel funders”, “private investors”, “seed investors”, and “business angels”. Many angel investors are also professional investors and run more advanced venture funds.
- Andy Palmer
- Barry Libert
- Bijan Sabet
- Bill Warner
- Bob Mason
- Brian Shin
- Chip Hazard
- Christopher Mirabile
- David Cancel
- David Chang
- David Skok
- Dharmesh Shah
- Elon Boms
- Eric Paley
- Gene Zimon
- Izhar Armony
- Jay Meattle
- Jean Hammond
- Jeff Bussgang
- Jeff Fagnan
- Jennifer Lum
- Jere Doyle
- Jeremy Levine
- Joe Caruso
- Joi Ito
- Jordan Fliegel
- Katie Rae
- Laura Fitton
- Lee Hower
- Michael Dornbrook
- Mike Grandinetti
- Nick Ducoff
- Paul English
- Peter Boyce II
- Reed Sturtevant
- Ric Fulop
- Rich Miner
- Rob Go
- Roy Rodenstein
- Saleh Daher
- Semyon Dukach
- Simeon Simeonov
- Steve Garfield
- Steve Wolf
- Tim Rowe
- Wayne Chang
- Will Herman
Notable Angel Investor Groups and Events in Boston
Angel investor groups are networks, or syndicates, of angel investors who pool their resources together to invest more money than would typically be issued with a private angel investment. Most angel networks focus their efforts on sectors or verticals in which members have experience or knowledge, although they are usually open to investments in other areas. In general, investors in groups contribute funds to the group, and a professional syndicate management team chooses the investments. The resources below are both formal angel investor groups, and also events and networks that informally gather many angel investors.
- 2018 MassCue Conference - LearnLaunch Innovation Space
- Beacon Angels
- Boston Collaborative Entrepreneurship Network
- Boston Community Venture Fund
- Boston Harbor Angels
- Boston Investor's Group
- Entrepreneurs + VCs
- Golden Seeds Angel Network
- Investors' Circle
- Jews for Entrepreneurship Network Boston
- Private Equity and Venture Capital Investment Outlook 2016
- The Indus Entrepreneurs Boston
- TiE Boston Angels
Growth Stage Funding
Notable Venture Capital Firms in Boston
Venture Capital ("VC") firms provide startup or growth equity capital and/or loan capital to promising ventures for returns that are higher than market interest rates, and typically focus on later stage companies. VC firms only invest in companies that have long-term growth potential of at least 10X their investment, and that already have considerable traction (very fast revenue or user growth), a strong team, and a viable product or service. Because of these high standards, generally less than .1% of businesses are funded by venture capital.
There are also many different types of VC firms. The first (and lowest) funding level for VCs is typically called a "Seed Round", which is appropriate for smaller companies that have just recently generated traction and need capital to fuel the fire of growth. After that, rounds of subsequent funding are categorized by letter ("Series-A", "Series-B", "Series-C", and so on), with the investment amount (and maturity of the business receiving funding) getting larger as the letters progress down the alphabet. Some firms invest across many (or all) of these types of rounds, but most specifically focus on one or two of these stages.
- .406 Ventures
- ABS Ventures
- Ascent Venture Partners
- Atlas Venture
- Avalon Ventures
- Bain Capital Ventures
- Battery Ventures
- Bessemer Venture Partners
- Bolt
- Boston Millennia Partners
- Braemar Energy Ventures
- Charles River Ventures
- Fletcher Spaght Ventures
- Flybridge Capital Partners
- General Catalyst Partners
- Google Ventures
- Greylock Partners
- Highland Capital Partners
- HLM Venture Partners
- Kepha Partners
- Launchpad Venture Group
- MassVentures
- Matrix Partners
- NextView Ventures
- North Bridge Venture Partners
- PJC
- Polaris Partners
- RockPort Capital Partners
- Saturn Partners
- SigmaPrime Ventures
- Spark Capital
- SV Life Sciences Advisers LLP
- Third Rock Ventures
Want to contribute to this list? Comment on this Google doc.
Are you a solo-founder, or is your company or idea too early for these funding options?
The Founder Institute is an idea-stage accelerator that works with solo-entrepreneurs, and teams, during the earliest stages of building a business. Through an intensive 3.5 month program, FI participants build their business through a proven structured process, and receive feedback and assistance from over 30+ successful entrepreneurs and investors in Boston. Upon completing the program, Graduates join a global network of entrepreneurs and receive ongoing help to get funding and build their business. FI Graduates have raised over $1.85BN in funding, and are building some of the world's fastest growing companies.
Learn more about the Founder Institute at FI.co, join a free startup event in Boston, or apply to build a startup in Boston today.
