Over 1,500 members of the Boston startup community gathered to celebrate entrepreneurship at the sixth-annual MassChallenge Boston Awards Ceremony. The event featured a showcase of the 128 MassChallenge Boston startups, pitches from the top 26, and speeches from DraftKings CEO and Co-Founder Jason Robins, Governor Charlie Baker and Mayor Marty Walsh.
Tonight is what its all about – great startups and a room of full of people who helped them get there, said MassChallenge Boston Managing Director Scott Bailey. Im extremely proud of all 128 startups that came through the accelerator this summer and look forward to continuing the journey with them.
The Awards Ceremony capped off an active year for MassChallenge. Over 2,250 startups applied to join MassChallenge accelerators in Boston and London. Of the 128 selected in Boston, a record 44% had at least one female founder. MADE@ MassChallenge opened its doors to hardware entrepreneurs in March, providing manufacturing expertise, rapid prototyping equipment and design space in Boston.
MassChallenge also announced the expansion of its global accelerator network. The nonprofit detailed plans to launch a MassChallenge accelerator in Jerusalem in 2016, and announced that it has advanced to the next step toward launching a program in Mexico.
The 128 startups from MassChallenge Boston now join an esteemed group of alumni, which includes 835 companies from around the world. Since 2010, startups accelerated by MassChallenge have raised $1.1 billion in funding, generated $520 million in revenue and created 6,500 jobs.
MassChallenge Boston Accelerator Awards
($1 Million Total)
$100K Diamond Winners
USA: CT | Healthcare / Life Sciences
Biorasis is developing a biosensor that will vastly improve the quality of life of diabetics and restore their active lifestyle.
Estrenon (@estrenon)
Mexico | Social Impact
Estrenon pioneers the “reuse clothing movement” in Latin America through dignifying stores that empower the people to improve their lives.
Hyliion (@hyliion)
USA: MA | Energy / Clean Tech
Hyliion is creating an add-on hybrid module for tractor trailers that will reduce fuel consumption by 30% with a payback of under a year.
Sanitation and Health Rights in India (SHRI) (@Sanrights)
USA: MA | Social Impact
SHRI fights alongside communities to end outdoor defecation in an ongoing struggle for health equity and social and economic justice.
$50K Gold Winners
AquaFresco (@AquaFrescoLab)
USA: MA | Energy / Clean Tech
AquaFresco is developing the next generation close-loop laundry technology that regenerates 95% of wastewater.
Hydroswarm (@hydroswarm)
USA: MA | High Tech
Teams of small, autonomous, underwater robots + cheap sensors + modern mesh networks = a revolution in maritime commerce and security.
LaunchPad Medical (@launchpadmed)
USA: MA | Healthcare / Life Sciences
LaunchPad Medical brings to you Tetranite, the world’s first synthetic bone adhesive to stabilize metal hardware and repair fractured bone.
Lumii (@LumiiDisplay)
USA: MA | High Tech
Glasses-free 3D that works. Lumii light field displays: intuitive depth in the native format of your brain.
USA: MA | High Tech
Restaurants and Suppliers rely on fax-phones-email to manage 1B orders a year; Nix86’s B2B cloud solution modernizes it all with ease.
Obz Design (@obz_design)
USA: MA | Social Impact
Obz Design is changing global healthcare: better anemia diagnostics today, 600 million healthier children tomorrow!
Recon Therapeutics (@recontherapy)
USA: MA | Healthcare / Life Sciences
Recon Therapeutics has developed a new drug delivery technology that simplifies reconstitution of a lyophilized drug with solvent at the POC.
Six Foods (@SixFoods)
USA: MA | General
Six Foods is normalizing insects as a sustainable food. Try Chirps, a cricket chip that has more protein per serving than an egg.
Spoiler Alert (@MySpoilerAlert)
USA: MA | Social Impact
Spoiler Alert is a B2B marketplace and reporting tool to help businesses manage wasted food, improve margins, and fight food insecurity.
TVision Insights (@TVisionInsights)
USA: MA | General
At TVision Insights, we leverage state of art computer vision technology to redefine TV rating for new generation TV
Virtudent (@Virtudent)
USA: MA | Healthcare / Life Sciences
Virtudent is a telehealth solution for dentistry, expanding access to oral-health experts and improving the quality of dental care.
XactSense (@XactSense)
USA: RI | Social Impact
XactSense builds LIDAR scanning UAVs for the $270B geospatial industry our scanning robots make the next generation of 3D maps in minutes.
In-Kind Silver Winners
Ajiri Tea (@AjiriTea)
USA: PA | General
Ajiri aims to create a sustainable cycle of employment and education. And, of course, a delicious cup of Kenyan Coffee and Tea!
BovControl (@BovControl)
Brazil | High Tech
Empowering livestock ranchers with reliable herd information that improves efficiency and boost profitability.
Cogentis Therapeutics (@cogentistx)
USA: MD | Healthcare / Life Sciences
Cogentis Therapeutics is working on a novel and potential disease-modifying peptide therapeutic for Alzheimer’s, FTD, and Parkinson’s.
danger!awesome (@dangerawesome)
USA: MA | General
Design and fabrication makerspace producing short-run manufacturing, customization, prototyping, collateral, and event swag for B2B and B2C.
USA: NH | General
Orange Photonics LightLab: affordable, fast marijuana potency analyzer. An essential tool for the $10 billion legal marijuana industry.
Pavlok (@pavlok)
USA: MA | High Tech
Current fitness bands track the steps you take—but they don’t change your behavior. Pavlok CHANGES behavior-and measurably forms habits.
RubyRide (@RideRuby)
USA: AZ | General
End to end healthcare transportation that combines amazing service, trustworthy reliability, and complete accountability.
SidelineSwap(@SidelineSwap)
USA: NY | High Tech
SidelineSwap is a marketplace where people connect to buy, sell, and trade sporting goods.
Unshrinkit (@Unshrinkit)
USA: MA | General
Finally, the emergency sweater saver is here. Unshrinkit helps unshrink wool clothing that accidentally shrunk in the washer or dryer.
World Tech Makers (@worldtechmaker)
Colombia | Social Impact
World Tech Makers is the first on-site and immersive coding bootcamp in Latin America. We teach anyone how to code from scratch in 12 weeks.
CASIS-Boeing Prize for Technology in Space
($500,000 total allocation to be based on project proposals):
USA: CT | Healthcare / Life Sciences
Biorasis is developing a biosensor that will vastly improve the quality of life of diabetics and restore their active lifestyle.
LaunchPad Medical (@launchpadmed)
USA: MA | Healthcare / Life Sciences
LaunchPad Medical brings to you Tetranite, the world’s first synthetic bone adhesive to stabilize metal hardware and repair fractured bone.
Applications for MassChallenge Boston, MassChallenge Israel and MassChallenge UK open in February 2016. Entrepreneurs can pre-register for 2016 programs and register for updates at masschallenge.org.
About MassChallenge:
MassChallenge runs startup accelerators designed to catalyze a global renaissance by connecting high-impact startups with the resources they need to launch and succeed. Anyone can apply to MassChallenge, with any early-stage startup, in any industry, from anywhere in the world. MassChallenge does not take equity or place any restrictions on the startups it supports.
With programs in Boston, Israel and the UK, MassChallenge provides entrepreneurs with mentorship, office space, education, access to a vast network, and other resources during four months of acceleration. MassChallenge awards over $2 million in non-dilutive grants to the startups demonstrating the highest impact and highest potential. A nonprofit organization, MassChallenge is funded by corporate, public and foundation partners. To date, the 835 MassChallenge alumni have raised over $1.3 billion in funding, generated over $575 million in revenue and created over 8,500 jobs. For more information, visit www.masschallenge.org.
Top MassChallenge Boston partners include: Fidelity Investments, Verizon, Microsoft, Bose, IBM, the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation, CASIS, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, The Deshpande Foundation, Jamestown, The Boston Foundation, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, Bler, American Airlines, Boehringer Ingelheim, EMC, Henkel, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, iNNpulsa Colombia, Zapopan, Pfizer, Smith & Nephew, Turnstone, WGBH Boston, John Hancock, CVS Health, and Honda.
MADE@ MassChallenge Sponsors include: Jabil, Lightspeed MFG, MassDevelopment, Analog Devices, Arrow, and Autodesk.
Boston Media Contact
Robby Bitting
+ 1 888 782 7820 x 713