United States
Boston #4
"Boston has an incredible density of talent from veteran entrepreneurs, universities, investment capital, pillar companies, and a supportive ecosystem. It's a magical combination of the key ingredients to fuel startups."
Highlights
With its incredible strength in Life Sciences and Robotics and world-leading universities, Boston is a startup powerhouse. The ecosystem is consistently in the top five global leaders in the GSER rankings, a result of its strong talent, funding, and experience, among other factors.
In 2021, the top 10 funding events in the ecosystem alone added up to more than $7 billion, more than double 2020’s total. Amazon aggregator Thrasio led the way, raising $1.85 billion overall in 2021, and Devoted Health raised $1.15 billion in October. VC deal sizes are also ballooning in the ecosystem — 2021 saw $28 billion raised from 133 VC deals in Massachusetts.
The Boston ecosystem is particularly welcoming to women, with several local ecosystem standouts headed by female leaders, including Care.com. Around 10% of startups here are founded by women, which compares favorably to a national average of 3% of VC dollars going to female founders. Boston is also home to several women-founded venture capital firms including Boston Seed Capital, Victress Capital, and Glasswing Ventures.
Standout events in Boston’s business event calendar include Startup Week, an annual celebration of entrepreneurship and innovation, and the ecosystem is home to a large number of support organizations, including nonprofit accelerator MassChallenge and seed-to-Series A incubator TiE ScaleUp.
Ecosystem by the Numbers
Amount ($)
Count (#)
Exits
(2017-2021)Sub-Sector Strengths
Life Sciences
Advanced Manufacturing & Robotics
Reasons to Move Your Startup to Boston
Funding Research & Development
Support and Mentorship
Tech Talent
The Boston region is home to around 60 colleges and universities, including world-leading institutions Harvard and MIT. The particular focus on engineering at many of these universities produces a steady flow of highly qualified engineers. It’s no surprise then that Boston made the top 10 markets in the U.S. and Canada for technology talent, according to CBRE’s 2021 Scoring Tech Talent report.
Selected Startup Organizations
Startup Genome
Partners
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