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Unlocking mRNA’s cancer-fighting potential
3.27.24 | MIT News | Strand Therapeutics
”MIT spinout Strand Therapeutics has developed a new class of mRNA molecules that can sense where they are in the body, for more targeted and powerful treatments.”

Forging Her Own Path
3.19.24 | MIT News | Contour
”By blending mechanical engineering, creative writing, and history studies, senior Amber Velez is discovering new ways of addressing climate change. Turning a problem upside down comes naturally to senior Amber Velez. She’d trained in trapeze and aerial circus arts for several years, but buying her own circular aerial hoop, called a lyra, was prohibitively expensive.”

Cambridge startup launching clinical trial for bra tracking heart health
3.19.24 | Axios Boston | Bloomer Tech
”A Cambridge-based startup is about to launch a clinical trial for bras that could help detect heart irregularities and other conditions that can lead to heart disease.”

Overjet Raises $53 Million: The Largest Investment in the History of Dental AI
3.5.24 | PRNewswire | Overjet
”Overjet, the world-leader in dental AI, today announced a $53.2 million Series C round: the largest investment ever in artificial intelligence for dentistry. The historic round was led by March Capital, with participation from General Catalyst, Insight Partners, E14 Fund, Crosslink Capital, Spring Rock Capital, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Harmonic Growth Partners, as well as the American Dental Association. It brings Overjet’s total funding to approximately $133 million, and increases the company’s valuation to $550 million.“

Startup accelerates progress toward light-speed computing
3.1.24 | MIT News | Lightmatter
”Lightmatter, a company founded by three MIT alumni, is continuing the remarkable progress of computing by rethinking the lifeblood of the chip. Instead of relying solely on electricity, the company also uses light for data processing and transport. The company’s first two products, a chip specializing in artificial intelligence operations and an interconnect that facilitates data transfer between chips, use both photons and electrons to drive more efficient operations.”

Stitch3D is Powering A New Wave of 3D Data Collaboration
2.16.24 | MIT News | Stitch3D
“Workers are increasingly using 3D files to do things like assess construction projects, understand damage from natural disasters, map out crime scenes, and more. But as the importance of 3D files has grown, the problems associated with sharing, analyzing, and even viewing them have become more apparent.”

Photonic Computing Startup Lightmatter Hits $1.2 Billion Valuation
12.19.23 | Bloomberg | Lightmatter
“Lightmatter Inc., a startup building computing products that use light in place of electricity, has raised additional financing, pushing its valuation to $1.2 billion. Lightmatter said Tuesday that it raised $155 million in a deal led by GV, the firm formerly known as Google Ventures, and Viking Global Investors. The funding is an extension of a Series C financing in May that brought in $154 million. The startup, which has 150 employees, has raised more than $420 million thus far.”

Atacama Biomaterials: A Blueprint for Sustainable Innovation
12.15.23 | MIT MAD News | Atacama Biomaterials
”Atacama Biomaterials is a startup combining architecture, machine learning, and chemical engineering to create eco-friendly materials with multiple applications. Passionate about sustainable innovation, its co-founder Paloma Gonzalez-Rojas highlights how MIT has supported the project through several of its entrepreneurship initiatives, and reflects on the role of design in building a holistic vision for an expanding business.”

Forbes 30 Under 30 Consumer Technologies; Amira
11.28.23 | Forbes | Amira
”This startup aims to prevent the sleep deprivation caused by hot flashes during menopause. Cofounders and MIT researchers Loewen Cavill, Emilio Sison, and Felipe Radovitzky built the company's patent-pending sensor bracelet that uses biometric data and AI to predict and mitigate hot flashes in real time by connecting to a cooling pad that adjusts a sleeper's body temperature as they are experiencing a hot flash. Backed by DeltaV, Matter Health, the MIT Venture Mentoring Fund and others, the startup has raised $3 million in funding.”

Polimorphic Secures $5.6 Million to Bridge Gap Between Constituents and Local Government
11.06.23 | Cision | Polimorphic
”Polimorphic, a leading provider of AI-enabled "GovGPT" software for local government operations, today announced it closed on $5.6 million in seed funding. The funding was led by M13 with participation from existing investors Shine Capital and Pear VC. Polimorphic's Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) software replaces physical file-based workflows with digital ones. The platform also offers AI-enabled "GovGPT" software, which replaces physical file-based workflows for local governments to automate processes, log records, and communicate with constituents all in one place.”

Eden raises $12M seed round for its tech meant to replace fracking
10.24.23 | BostInno | Eden
”This company rocks. Or rather, breaks rocks. The Somerville startup Eden is developing new technology to replace traditional hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, which uses high-pressure water injection to break apart underground rock to extract natural gas and oil.”

Iterative Health Presents Award-Winning Research on the Benefits of Gastroenterological Technology
10.23.23 | Business Wire | Iterative Health
”Iterative Health, a pioneer in precision-medicine technologies for gastroenterology, announced today the results of new research unveiled at the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Annual Scientific Meeting. The five publications shared at the event capture Iterative Health’s research findings, which explore the use of Computer-Aided Detection (CADe) devices and artificial intelligence (AI) in improving clinical trial recruitment for inflammatory bowel disease. This research represents strides toward enhancing the detection of precursor adenomas and streamlining clinical trial recruitment processes in gastroenterology, ultimately bringing us closer to a future of advancing patient care in the field.”

The Future of Travel is Personal, Immersive, and Intelligent: Announcing Tailbox’s $1.5M Seed Round
9.12.23 | Medium | Tailbox
”From strolling through the streets of Boston to discovering the hidden gems of a city yet unexplored, the world is bursting with stories that often go unnoticed. Founded in the heart of MIT by Bayazid Malikov and Eduardo Schuch, Tailbox is the embodiment of our mission to revolutionize how you interact with the world. Following a transformative summer at MIT’s renowned delta v Accelerator, where we honed our technology and solidified our business model, we have successfully secured $1.5 million in seed funding. This investment round is led by Link Ventures, a firm well-aligned with our vision and committed to fostering groundbreaking innovations.”

Amplified Industries Emerges From Stealth With $10 Million in Funding
8.29.23 | Business Wire | Amplified Industries
”Amplified Industries (formerly Acoustic Wells), a pioneering industrial Internet of Things (IoT) solution, today announced its official launch from stealth with an in-market solution and $10 million in funding. Amplified Industries’ IoT solution empowers onshore asset operators with real-time operations data and control to cut cost, slash emissions and increase production.”

Ikigai lands $25M investment to bring generative AI to tabular data
8.24.23 | Tech Crunch | Ikigai Labs
”To realize the mission of “empowering every enterprise with AI,” as Shah puts it, Shah started Ikigai Labs, which offers a no-code platform built on top of proprietary graphical models for prediction, sparse data reconciliation and optimization. Ikigai today announced that it raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Premji Invest with participation from Foundation Capital and E& Capital VC, bringing its total raised to $38.2 million.”

Alumnus’ thermal battery helps industry eliminate fossil fuels 8.18.23 | MIT News | Antora Energy “Now Antora Energy, co-founded by David Bierman SM ’14, PhD ’17, is addressing the intermittent nature of wind and solar with a low-cost, highly efficient thermal battery that stores electricity as heat to allow manufacturers and other energy-hungry businesses to eliminate their use of fossil fuels.”

Revolutionizing architecture: Acelab raises $5.3M to fuel supply search innovation 8.3.23 | VentureBeat | Acelab “Boom, the leading rent reporting platform, announced the acquisition of Alpaca, the largest platform of renters on social media globally. This acquisition will allow Boom to expand its distribution to over 6 million US renters, increasing access to its rent reporting product that helps consumers build their credit scores and in turn supports their homeownership goals.”

Boom Announces Acquisition of Alpaca to Expand Distribution to 6M+ US Renters 7.27.23 | AccessWire | Alpaca “Boom, the leading rent reporting platform, announced the acquisition of Alpaca, the largest platform of renters on social media globally. This acquisition will allow Boom to expand its distribution to over 6 million US renters, increasing access to its rent reporting product that helps consumers build their credit scores and in turn supports their homeownership goals.”

AI could revolutionize dentistry. Here’s how. 7.21.23 | CBS News | VideaHealth “Hundreds of dental offices across the U.S. are now using AI-powered X-ray imaging technology from Boston-based VideaHealth. The software helps dentists deal with routine procedures, such as identifying cavities, as well as spot more serious conditions, including periodontal disease, or bone loss within the mouth often linked with diseases like diabetes or Alzheimer's. The overarching goal is to use AI not only to improve patients' oral health, but also to identify potential risks for non-oral diseases, VideaHealth CEO Florian Hillen told CBS MoneyWatch.”

Perch Continues Unprecedented Growth in First Half of 2023 7.11.23 | AP News | Perch “Perch is continuing its extraordinary growth and emergence as an innovator in the sports tech space. The MIT-developed, AI-backed technology – which uses a combination of 3D cameras and machine learning to monitor movements during weight training – has been popping up in more weight rooms across professional and collegiate sports.”

Gamifying medical data labeling to advance AI 6.28.23 | MIT News | DiagnosUs “When Erik Duhaime PhD ’19 was working on his thesis in MIT’s Center for Collective Intelligence, he noticed his wife, then a medical student, spending hours studying on apps that offered flash cards and quizzes. His research had shown that, as a group, medical students could classify skin lesions more accurately than professional dermatologists; the trick was to continually measure each student’s performance on cases with known answers, throw out the opinions of people who were bad at the task, and intelligently pool the opinions of people that were good.”

A clean alternative to one of the world’s most common ingredients 6.22.23 | MIT News | C16 Biosciences “Never underestimate the power of a time crunch. In 2016, MIT classmates David Heller ’18, Shara Ticku, and Harry McNamara PhD ’19 were less than two weeks away from the deadline to present a final business plan as part of their class MAS.883 (Revolutionary Ventures: How to Invent and Deploy Transformative Technologies). The students had connected over a shared passion for using biology to solve climate challenges, but their first few ideas didn’t pan out, so they went back to the drawing board.”

The Future of Sports: Jacob Rothman of Perch On The New Emerging Technologies That Are Disrupting The World of Sports 6.7.23 | Medium | Perch “Hardware is hard: If you told me how hard it was to build a hardware company, I probably still would’ve started Perch, but boy, I would’ve buckled up. Building a hardware makes everything in our business more complicated, finance, operations, software, and of course hardware all grow in complexity when you are building and shipping a product.”

How they built it: Florian Hillen wants to look at your teeth with his AI 6.7.23 | Industry Dive | VideaHealth “Florian Hillen is a medical school dropout, artificial intelligence enthusiast, former MIT graduate student and Harvard doctoral candidate, as well as an entrepreneur. Now, he wants to look at your teeth — specifically your dental X-rays. He believes that with the application of artificial intelligence, not only will dentists catch early signs of tooth decay and gum disease, but they also will be able to detect other diseases, from arterial plaque to hypertension and diabetes. His AI firm, VideaHealth, has enrolled more than 1,000 dental practices in his AI X-ray reading program, and Hillen vows to make manual X-ray reading a thing of the past in three years. Hillen spoke to MedTech Dive about his campaign to see inside America’s mouths.”

AI boom triples valuation of Lightmatter, US startup using light for computing 6.7.23 | Reuters | Lightmatter “Lightmatter, a Boston-based startup using light for AI computing, said on Wednesday it raised $154 million and tripled its valuation as customers in need of faster, more energy efficient computing for AI work are buying its systems. ‘We use light to link computer chips together and we also use light to do calculations for deep learning,’ Lightmatter co-founder and CEO Nick Harris said. ‘The reason that we're getting these customers and data center scale deployments with our interconnect is that the generative AI boom is driving high-end chips like crazy.’”

Robot farmers? Machines are crawling through America’s fields. And some have lasers. 6.5.23 | USA Today | FarmWise “Looking like the ungainly combination of a Transformer and Edward Scissorhands, the robot slowly trundles across the field of tiny plants. It uses three high-resolution cameras to peer down at the ground below. Lit by synchronized strobe lights, an onboard computer creates a digital image of each seedling as it glides by, comparing them with all the greenery it might reasonably find in a field of rich Salinas Valley farmland two hours south of San Francisco.”

Thirteen from MIT win 2023 Fulbright fellowships 5.15.23 | MIT News | Birth By Us “Thirteen MIT undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni have been awarded Fulbright fellowships and will embark on projects overseas in the 2023-24 grant year. Four other MIT affiliates were offered awards but declined them to pursue other opportunities. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers American citizen students and recent alumni year-long grants for independent research, graduate study, and English teaching in over 140 countries.”

Making property assessments as simple as snapping a picture 5.11.23 | MIT Architecture | Hosta AI “The technology of MIT alumni-founded Hosta a.i. creates detailed property assessments from photos. Property assessments sit at the center of home appraisals, insurance claims, renovation projects, and a number of other important processes. Inaccurate or delayed assessments can set projects back and stick consumers with higher costs.”

MIT student Malhaar Agrawal named 2023 Truman Scholar 4.13.23 | MIT News | ProstateNinja “MIT junior Malhaar Agrawal has been selected as a 2023 Truman Scholar. Established by the U.S. Congress in 1975 as a living memorial to President Harry S. Truman and a national monument to public service, the Truman Scholarship supports and inspires the next generation of public service leaders. Truman Scholars are selected for their outstanding leadership potential, commitment to a career in public service, and academic excellence.”

Project Us — an AI-powered platform promoting inclusivity in the digital workplace. 4.24.23 | Medium | Project Us “While digital communication has undeniably become a core part of our work and life, it doesn’t necessarily make us better communicators. But it could. A team of researchers from the MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces group has developed a platform that can help people become more effective and inclusive communicators — as they run their day-to-day videoconferences. Project Us uses AI and biosignal processing to provide real-time feedback about communication styles. This individualized feedback can help users develop their communications skills, and organizations make tangible progress towards building inclusive work environments.”

Birth By Us is coding for health equity 3.24.23 | MIT News | Birth By Us “Birth By Us is a pregnancy and postpartum app built by and for Black women. The goal is to be a centralized source of information throughout the entire birth experience, from prenatal appointments to postpartum recovery. Every day, users fill out a questionnaire to screen for symptoms that are often overlooked, and will be provided with resources tailored to their personal experience.”

Titanic robots make farming more sustainable
3.9.23 | MIT News | FarmWise
”MIT alumnus-founded FarmWise uses autonomous machines to snip weeds while preserving crops, eliminating the need for herbicides. There’s a lot riding on farmers’ ability to fight weeds, which can strangle crops and destroy yields. To protect crops, farmers have two options: They can spray herbicides that pollute the environment and harm human health, or they can hire more workers.”

MIT System Design and Management Alum Makes Productivity Portable
1.13.23 | Spectrum | Mobile Pixels
”When Covid-19 lockdowns forced legions of employees to work from home in 2020, Jack Yao SM ’18 saw a huge leap in demand at his startup, Mobile Pixels, Inc. The company, which sells monitor extension kits and other tools to help people work productively from anywhere, ballooned from three employees and $4.2 million in sales at the end of 2019 to $20 million by the end of 2021. This year, Yao says he expects to reach $30 million in sales. While nobody could have predicted this path to success, Yao credits MIT with giving him the skills to launch his company and thrive through the pandemic.”

Antora Energy Acquires Medley Thermal 12.21.22 | Antora Energy | Medley Thermal “Medley’s expertise is linking low-value renewable electricity to thermal loads. Electrifying process heating requires not only hardware innovation but innovation in business models, controls, and utility rate structures. Medley’s strength is our innovation in these areas,” said Medley founder and CEO Jordan Kearns, who has joined Antora Energy’s executive team as vice president of project development.

Valeria Robayo is putting her own twist on the pre-med experience
12.16.22 | MIT News | Resource Hub
”From a young age, Valeria Robayo has taken the lead in her own education. At age 3, her family moved from Bogotá, Colombia, to Houston, Texas, to seek better opportunities for Robayo, and later, her sister. She spent summer days at the local library while her parents worked to support the family. Her parents, who were teachers, encouraged her to make her own lesson plans and study what was interesting to her.”

30 Under 30, Education: Jin Yun Chow
11.20.22 | Forbes | Polygence
”Jin Yun Chow, a Stanford Ph.D. candidate in comparative literature, credits finding her passion and academic success to good teachers and advisors. To help others find great mentors and mentees in high school projects ranging from fashion history to computational genomics, she cofounded Polygence in 2019. The pairing marketplace has raised north of $7 million.?

Sewage Surveillance Biobot Analytics Wastewater Monitoring Platform
11.10.22 | Time Magazine | Biobot Analytics
”The COVID-19 pandemic has mainstreamed wastewater-based epidemiology, which analyzes sewage to detect disease outbreaks. Biobot Analytics can identify current community levels of disease and opioid use from just 150 ml of an aggregate sewage sample from a 24-hour period.”

Meet NBA Launchpad, the league’s tech incubator that hopes to change the game
11.7.22 | The Athletic | Nextiles
”Sun, the founder and CEO of Brooklyn-based materials science start-up Nextiles, and John Peters, the company’s chief business officer, leapt at the chance to use the league’s third-party technology accelerator program to advance their ideas for motion- and pressure-capture fabrics and sensors that can create data-based performance-enhancing clothing such as shooting/pitching sleeves, and ankle and knee sleeves.”

New Endowment Fund will Power Student Innovation at MIT Sandbox
9.8.22 | MIT News | MIT Sandbox
”Through a $1 million gift from Daniel Gilbert ’91 and his wife, Judy, the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund Program gained a permanent source of funding with the establishment of the MIT Sandbox Endowment Fund. The new fund allows MIT Sandbox to expand its entrepreneurship education offerings to MIT undergraduate and graduate students, bringing to life the Gilberts’ dream to transform MIT Sandbox into a permanent program at the Institute, bringing technologies, ideas, and business concepts to life in ways beyond the imagination.”

A 25-year-old in Boston pays just $700 in rent in exchange for helping her 64-year-old roommate around the house as multigenerational living is on the rise: she 'has become like my family'
7.17.22 | Business Insider | Nesterly
”She had trouble finding an apartment in the Boston area after finishing school, where rents have surged over the past few years. Through the website Nesterly, a home-sharing agency that matches young adults with older homeowners with room to spare, Abdullah eventually connected with Judith Allonby, 64, an attorney from whom she now rents.”

SiTration Raises $2.35 Million in Pre-Seed Funding to Revolutionize Battery Recycling for Electric Vehicles
7.12.22 | Business Wire | SiTration
”SiTration,the MIT spinoff pioneering new separation processes for materials extraction, today announced it has raised $2.35 million in pre-seed funding led by Azolla Ventures with participation from the MIT-affiliated E14 Fund. The funding will enable SiTration to accelerate hiring and ramp up development of its breakthrough technology for the recovery of critical materials in the lithium-ion battery recycling process.”

Department of Energy Announces $137 Million for Small Business Research and Development Grants
7.11.22 | Energy.gov | Takachar
”The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced awards totaling $137 million for small businesses in 30 states. The 120 projects include projects addressing multiple mission areas across the Department including clean energy, cybersecurity, high energy physics, and nuclear nonproliferation.”

FarmWise Raises $45M Series B To Expand AI-Powered Farm Equipment in U.S. Farms
6.01.22 | PR Newswire | FarmWise
”Farm automation startup FarmWise Labs, Inc. today announced that it has completed an oversubscribed $45m Series B funding round, led by leading AgTech venture firms Fall Line Capital and Middleland Capital, with participation from GV and Taylor Farms, a leading grower and processor of leafy greens and fresh vegetables.”

Soil, Sutures, and Climate Modeling Among Investigations Riding Space X CSR-25 Dragon to International Space
5.24.22 | NASA | Biobits
”The 25th SpaceX cargo resupply services mission (SpaceX CRS-25) carrying scientific research and technology demonstrations to the International Space Station is planned to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Experiments aboard the Dragon capsule include studies of the immune system, wound healing, soil communities, and cell-free biomarkers, along with mapping the composition of Earth’s dust and testing an alternative to concrete.”

Dental AI Startup Wins Second FDA Clearance To Detect Top Oral Diseases
5.16.22 | Forbes | Overjet
”The FDA has awarded dental AI startup Overjet with landmark clearance to use its software to detect and outline cavities in patients’ X-rays. It’s the second FDA clearance for the company, co-founded in 2018 by CEO Wardah Inam almost a decade after she moved to the United States from Pakistan.”

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Selects Biobot Analytics to Expand National Wastewater Monitoring
5.9.22 | PR Newswire | Biobot Analytics
”The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has selected Biobot Analytics to expand the agency's National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS), an integral part of President Biden's plan to fight Covid-19 and prepare the country for future pandemics. NWSS works with public health departments across the country to track SARS-CoV-2 levels in wastewater so communities can act quickly to prevent the spread of Covid-19.”

Fireflies Catalyzes A New Era Of Conversational Intelligence
5.9.22 | Forbes | Fireflies
”While there are many automated notetaking solutions, few allow for robust quantification of effective communication between individuals and businesses. Fireflies.ai, an AI assistant notetaker, aims to help teams “unlock knowledge buried inside your meetings with insights & analytics” with its Conversational Intelligence product suite.”

Business Case Study: As Covid Pandemic Arrived, Biobot Analytics Found Luck Favors the Prepared
5.6.22 | Cambridge Day | Biobot Analytics
”Timing was critical for Cambridge startup Biobot Analytics. ‘When the pandemic hit, we were prepared,’ said Nour Sharara, a public health scientist at Biobot who spoke via Zoom on April 21. 'We didn’t know there would be a pandemic, but the vision was already there that there’s a data trove living in our sewers that can tell us so much about human health and human behavior.’”

V.R. ‘Reminiscence Therapy’ Lets Seniors Relive the Past
5.6.22 | New York Times | Rendever
”Roughly a half-dozen companies today focus on providing V.R. reminiscence therapy for seniors in care communities. One of the largest of these, Rendever, works with more than 450 facilities in the United States, Canada and Australia, while another, MyndVR, has partnered with several hundred.”

Arable and Bayer Partner to Accelerate Agriculture’s Digital Transformation & Tailor Plant Genetics to In-Field Conditions
4.28.22 | Arable | Arable
”Arable and Bayer announced today a partnership to accelerate digital transformation in agriculture through the expanded use of Arable’s field-level sensing and monitoring platform, which collects real-time intelligence on weather, plant and soil conditions in a single solution.”

Eleos Health and Zero Suicide Institute Join Forces to Incorporate Best Practices for Suicide Prevention Into Eleos' Platform
4.19.22 | PR Newswire | Eleos Health
”Eleos Health, the leader in CareOps Automation for behavioral health, today announced that it has joined forces with Zero Suicide Institute at Education Development Center (EDC), to incorporate best practices for suicide prevention into Eleos' platform. Zero Suicide Institute prepares healthcare systems to effectively adopt and sustain the Zero Suicide framework, a holistic, systems-change approach to preventing suicide and saving lives.”

Bridging Communities to Reimagine Cultural Preservation
4.8.22 | MIT News | Roots Studio
”For the last six years, Roots Studio has worked with rural communities to preserve their culture and make a living by licensing their art. The company helps indigenous artists and communities of color license their work to designers, textile manufacturers, and fashion companies around the world.”

Relativity6 Announces $5.25M Round Led by Fin Capital
4.5.22 | PR Newswire | Relativity6
”Relativity6, the leading AI platform for industry classification, announced that it has raised a $5.25m seed round led by Fin Capital with participation from State Auto Labs Fund, Vectr Ventures, Cortado Ventures, Angel Ventures, and several strategic individuals in the insurance, financial services, and data space.”

VideaHealth Raises $20 Million to Expand AI in the Dentist’s Chair for Millions of Patients
3.31.22 | Business Wire | VideaHealth
”VideaHealth, the leading dental diagnostic AI solution, today announced $20 million in Series A financing led by Spark Capital. Existing investors Zetta Venture Partners and Pillar VC also contributed to the round. The company has raised $26.4 million to date and will use the financing to massively expand VideaHealth’s groundbreaking AI-based diagnostics capabilities to dentists, with the goal of being the leading AI solution for more than 6,750 practices by the end of 2023.”

Electives Raises $8M Series A to Expand Live, Learning Platform Employees Actually Love
3.31.22 | Business Wire | Electives
”Electives, provider of training employees will love from people they’ll never forget, today announced the closing of an $8 million Series A led by Accomplice and G2O Ventures, with Boston Seed Capital participating in the round.”

Biobot Analytics Named to TIME100 Most Influential Companies List
3.30.22 | Biobot Analytics | Biobot Analytics
”Biobot Analytics was named to the second annual TIME100 Most Influential Companies list, which recognizes 100 companies making an extraordinary impact around the world. Biobot was selected for its pioneering wastewater epidemiology work that has helped countless public health officials better track and stay on top of COVID-19 outbreaks.”

Palo Alto University Teams with Eleos Health to Implement Voice-Based Artificial Intelligence in Clinical Training
3.24.22 | Newswise | Eleos Health
”As part of this endeavor, eClinic students will use Eleos Health’s proprietary AI model to deliver their sessions, implement measurement-based care practices, and receive immediate feedback on the therapist-in-training and the client’s progress.”

Can Wastewater Surveillance Protect Public Health?
3.21.22 | Illumina | Biobot Analytics
”The excretions we flush down the drain without a second thought offer a treasure trove of data and community health insight to Biobot Analytics. Biobot is the first company in the world to commercialize data from sewage. What we eat, the pathogens we harbor, and the drugs we use all end up in wastewater, and ultimately, that sewage contains a wealth of information about a community’s health.”

Meet the 15 Startups Selected for Google for Startups Accelerator Africa 2022
3.15.22 | Africa Business Insider | MDaas Global
”Fifteen startups from across the continent have been selected to participate in the seventh class of the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa, which helps startups leverage Google’s technologies and people to scale. The selected startups are developing solutions in healthcare, education, fleet management, logistics automation and recruiting.”

Relay selects Relativity6 for its NAICS prediction technology
3.15.22 | PR Newswire | Relativity6
”Relay, an innovative provider of solutions which enable the digital transformation of commercial insurance and reinsurance submissions, and Relativity6, Inc., a real-time search and classification API that provides accurate 6-digit NAICS predictions and company existence checks and flags, announced today that Relay has selected Relativity6's API to provide predictions related to industry classifications.”

Mesodyne Awarded a Phase II Contract from AFWERX Agility Prime
3.11.22 | Mesodyne | Mesodyne
”Mesodyne has been awarded an AFWERX Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II $749,819 contract, to further develop and field the LightCell™ power generator for sUAS applications.”

OPT Industries Raises $15 Million in Series A to Address Demand for Novel Materials Design and Production
3.1.22 | PR Newswire | OPT Industries
”OPT Industries, the manufacturing technology startup behind the InstaSwab™ high-efficacy medical applicator, today announced it has raised $15 million in Series A financing led by global science- and technology-driven venture capital firm Northpond Ventures with participation from existing investors Crosslink Capital and the MIT-affiliated E14 Fund.”

Automating Cell Therapy
2.23.22 | MIT Technology Review | Multiply Labs
”The machines, made by the robotics startup Multiply Labs, are automating the production of customized drug capsules for use in human clinical trials. And soon, if everything goes according to plan, these same robotic systems will be used to make advanced cell therapies.”

Lightmatter, Harvard and Boston University Collaborate to Create Electro-Photonic Systems for Autonomous Vehicles Under New $4.8M IARPA Project
2.8.22 | Business Wire | Lightmatter
”Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), known for investing in research that tackles some of the most difficult challenges in tech today, is funding a $4.8 million project spearheaded by Boston University College of Engineering, the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Lightmatter, the leader in photonic computing.”

Wellahealth Partners MDaaS Global to Provide Affordable Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostic Services in Nigeria
2.1.22 | Vanguard | MDaas Global
”Healthtech startup Wellahealth Technologies Limited and diagnostics startup MDaaS Global, both backed by Techstars, have partnered to provide affordable diagnostic services and treatments to healthcare consumers and insurers across Nigeria.”

OZÉ Raises $3M to Expand Digital Recordkeeping and Financial Services for African Businesses
1.26.22 | Oze | Oze
”OZÉ, the fintech startup which provides digital recordkeeping tools with embedded finance products to MSMEs across West Africa, announces it has raised $3M via a pre-Series A round led by major venture capital fund, Speedinvest.”

A Masterclass for Company Trainings
1.25.22 | BostInno | Electives
”This Boston-based startup wants to replace unengaging, pre-recorded company trainings with live classes led by the likes of FBI agents, improv comedians and Olympic coaches. Electives is a B2B professional development service offering live, interactive classes, founded in 2020 by Krikor Dzeronian and Jason Lavender.”

Klarity Lands $18M to Read Scores of Documents So You Don’t Have to
1.24.22 | Tech Crunch | Klarity
”Reviewing repetitive documents is, well, repetitive, but Klarity believes people don’t have to do all of that and is building an artificial intelligence tool, targeting finance and accounting departments, that turns documents into structured data.”

Iterative Scopes Announces $150 Million Series B to Advance AI-Driven Precision Medicine for Gastroenterology
1.19.22 | Business Wire | Iterative Scopes
”Iterative Scopes, a pioneer in the development of precision-based gastrointestinal (GI) disease technologies and software, announced today that it has raised $150 million in Series B financing to accelerate development of its core algorithmic innovations that are designed to transform gastroenterology care for patients.”

Karenna Groff ’22 Named NCAA Woman of the Year 1.17.23 | MIT News | openPPE “MIT graduate student Karenna Groff ’22 of Weston, Massachusetts, a member of the MIT women's soccer team, was named the NCAA 2022 Woman of the Year at the NCAA Convention in San Antonio, Texas.”

How Wastewater Became a COVID Crystal Ball
1.15.22 | NY Mag | Biobot Analytics
”Not everyone gets tested for COVID-19, but everyone poops. That’s the premise behind wastewater epidemiology, one of the areas of research that has been pivotal in understanding the pandemic. With the virus detectable in the stool of asymptomatic and presymptomatic people, using sewage as a population-level testing sample can help predict where and when cases will surge or plummet three to seven days before nose-based testing methods reveal a curve starting to rise or taper off.”

Computing with Light
1.14.22 | Forbes | Lightmatter
”Lightmatter’s Envise chip is a general-purpose machine learning accelerator that combines photonics (PIC) and CMOS transistor-based devices (ASIC) into a single compact module. The device uses silicon photonics for high performance AI inference tasks and consumes much less energy than CMOS only solutions and thus helping to reduce the projected power load from data centers.”

Massachusetts Startup Sees Path to More Efficient Windows with New Material
1.13.22 | Energy News Network | AeroShield
”A new material developed in Massachusetts could someday help make super-efficient windows more affordable for home and business owners. A Cambridge startup called AeroShield has developed a clear, lightweight material that, when sandwiched between two panes of glass, produces windows that are more insulating than even bulkier, more expensive options.”

Sigma Ratings and FiveBy Form Partnership to Provide Next Generation Technology and Expert Resources to Clients
1.11.22 | PR Newswire | Sigma Ratings
”This partnership enables clients of Sigma to augment their existing due diligence work, which includes screening, on-boarding, monitoring, and investigations, in Sigma Terminal with seamless access to FiveBy third party resources who can generate additional in-depth assessments on an entity, individual, or vessel based on linguistic and regional expertise.”

Nextiles and KineticPro Performance Partner to Launch Novel Workload Management Sleeve at the American Baseball Coaches Association Convention
1.5.22 | Global Newswire | Nextiles
”Nextiles, the leader in smart fabric technology, today announces its first strategic baseball partnership with KineticPro Performance, a pitching focused company founded by former professional pitcher Casey Mulholland.”

New Virtual Reality Fitness Platform RendeverFit™ Now Available for Seniors Worldwide, Combining Socialization with Exercise
1.3.22 | Yahoo Finance | Rendever
”Rendever, the leading virtual reality company created to assist seniors in overcoming social isolation through shared experiences, announces today that the interdisciplinary VR fitness platform, RendeverFit™, is now shipping globally. RendeverFit™, which first became available for preorders in September 2021, is the first VR application to blend physical and cognitive fitness for seniors while also boosting socialization.”

TracFlo, HBCU Start-Up Business, Receives $1 Million From Serena Williams And Michael B Jordan
12.20.21 | Blavity News | TracFlo
”TracFlo, an NYC-based tech company, recently won a startup pitch competition as part of the inaugural Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic HBCU men's basketball event sponsored by Amazon's Black Business Accelerator and Audible.”

MassMEDIC Announces the 2021 IGNITE Accelerator Winners
12.20.21 | Global Newswire | Encora Therapeutics
”MassMEDIC, the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council, announced today the successful conclusion of the 2021 program of its medtech accelerator focused on identifying and nurturing medical device leaders of the future, MedTech IGNITE. This year’s IGNITE cohort included 12 startups developing wearables, diagnostics, and surgical devices in the fields of neurology, women’s health, oncology, infectious disease, diabetes, and cardiology.”

MassChallenge Announces 2022 HealthTech Cohort
12.17.21 | MassChallenge | CBOH
”’We are excited to welcome 24 startups to our 2022 HealthTech program. This year’s cohort represents some of the most forward-thinking startups addressing access to care, remote monitoring, mental health, health equity, and other areas of healthcare challenges with a growing need for innovation,’ said Cait Brumme, Senior Vice President of MassChallenge.”

Overjet and Women in DSO Launch Inaugural 2022 Women in DSO Leadership Award
12.17.21 | Dentistry Today | Overjet
”Overjet, the global leader in dental AI, is pleased to announce its founding membership and industry partnership with Women in DSO, the official nonprofit organization supporting the empowerment and growth of women leaders in DSOs, with the launch of the inaugural 2022 Women in DSO Leadership Award and two $10,000 award prizes.”

America's Greatest Disruptors: Biobot Analytics as an Enterprising Idealist
12.15.21 | Newsweek | Biobot Analytics
”Our poop, it turns out, contains a trove of useful health data, such as what viruses, bacteria and drugs are soon to become public health concerns. But getting at that data requires detecting extremely low quantities of drugs and viruses. Matus and Ghaeli have developed highly-sensitive technology that can not only detect small levels but also tease out subtle insights from the data.”

Base Operations Raises $3 Million Seed 2 Funding Round Led by Mindset Ventures
12.14.21 | Business Wire | Base Operations
”Base Operations, a global threat-intelligence platform for enterprise security departments of multinationals, today announced a $3 million Seed 2 funding round led by Mindset Ventures, an investment firm focused on early-stage tech investments in the US and Israel.”

Startup of the Month: Concerto Biosciences – Discovering the Microbial Orchestra Around Us
12.13.21 | Mathworks | Concerto Biosciences
”’There’s a saying entrepreneurs live by—Do more than anyone thought possible with less than anyone thought necessary.’ These are the words of Dr. Cheri Ackerman, Co-founder and CEO of Boston-based Concerto Biosciences, as she describes her company’s thinking. She and her two cofounders, Dr. Jared Kehe and Dr. Bernardo Cervantes, are doing just that. With the help of an ingenious new technology platform, they are reimagining how humanity interacts with microbes.”

Ikigai Gets $13M to Building Automated Workflows with Humans in the Loop
12.9.21 | Tech Crunch | Ikigai
”Ikigai, a startup based on research out of MIT, wants to make it simple to build workflows with humans involved. Whereas traditional robotic process automation (RPA) is about building bots for repetitive tasks, this company wants to make it easier to build workflows where humans have to make a decision as part of the process.”

New Digital Assets and Cryptocurrency Startups Join Mastercard Start Path Program
12.9.21 | Mastercard | Envel
”As interest in cryptocurrency and digital assets continues to rise, a new cohort will join the Mastercard Start Path Crypto startup engagement program dedicated to exploring and solving real world problems for people and businesses around the world using blockchain technology. Mastercard announced today the five new startups joining the program are Ava Labs, Envel, Kash, LVL, and NiftyKey.”

Overjet Named Top 5 Software Product of the Year by Dental Products Report
12.8.21 | PR Newswire | Overjet
”Dental Products Report, the leading media source for new product coverage for dental professionals, has named Overjet as a Top 5 Software Product of the Year. As part of the 2021 Dental Products Report Top 100 — the annual list recognizing the dental innovations that seized the dental industry's attention throughout the year — the Top 5 Software Product of the Year category highlights the companies developing breakthroughs in areas such artificial intelligence, treatment planning, imaging and diagnosis.”

Meet The Upstarts Leading The Digital Recovery: 30 Under 30 In Enterprise Technology
12.2.21 | Forbes | Fireflies AI
”Recovery is never as straightforward as we expect it, Fireflies.ai cofounder Krish Ramineni says of the pandemic. “It also showed me that when intense pressure is applied, businesses need to change, and they will change, even the legacy ones.” That includes the mass adoption of remote work. In 2016, Ramineni and Sam Udotong launched a startup that would become an enterprise necessity four years later.”

Iterative Scopes CE Marks SKOUT, its Innovative AI-Based Medical Device for Potential Colorectal Polyps Detection
11.30.21 | Business Wire | Iterative Scopes
”Iterative Scopes, a pioneer in the development of precision-based gastrointestinal disease technologies, announced today that it has CE marked its SKOUT medical device under the MDD after successfully completing the assessment of the conformity of the device with the applicable MDD requirements in April 2021. This milestone marked the product’s first regulatory certification and will enable its distribution and marketing in Europe, a key step in Iterative Scopes’ global expansion plans.”

Rivet Ramps Up After Backing From Techstars Boston
11.24.21 | Medium | Rivet
”Rivet, a creator economy focused start up, recently was accepted into the Winter 2021 Techstars Boston Accelerator Program. Rivet, and the 11 other companies participating in the program, are receiving funding and mentorship from a rich network of entrepreneurs, industry experts, and investors as they scale.”

Biobot Analytics Detects Influenza Virus in Wastewater, Expanding its Platform Capabilities Built for Covid-19 Monitoring
11.24.21 | Biobot Analytics | Biobot Analytics
”Biobot Analytics announced today that they have successfully detected the presence of the influenza virus, which causes the flu, in wastewater. The R&D pilot was launched last month with a select group of Biobot customers and seeks to test the viability of wastewater epidemiology as a public health monitoring tool for influenza A and B virus.”

Sigma Ratings Named Rising Star in Chartis RiskTech100
11.19.21 | PR Newswire | Sigma Ratings
”Sigma is awarded for its unified global data, configurable smart entity scoring and monitoring and superior customer experience, as it is unique to industry and represents a notable shift from legacy approaches to managing risk and compliance at scale..”

Chemical Analysis: French Company InSpek Wants to Cut Prices Thanks to MIT Technology
11.17.21 | LesEchos | InSpek
”Straight from theory to practice, from the lab to fundraising. The French start-up InSpek took its first steps last September, with the aim of propelling a new technology just patented by MIT: a chemical analysis system based on sensors on chips.”

Intricate InstaSwab by OPT Industries was Designed to Enable Better Medical Testing
11.16.21 | Dezeen | OPT Industries
”Advanced manufacturing company OPT Industries has used computational design techniques to create a medical swab that aims to improve clinical testing during the coronavirus pandemic and beyond.”

The Best Inventions of 2021: A Remedy for Loneliness – RendeverLive
11.10.21 | Time | Rendever
”During the pandemic, senior homes have faced a tough battle against social isolation. More than 250 such facilities are finding help via RendeverLive’s virtual reality service. The outfit delivers programming like virtual vacations, laughter yoga, and guided meditations, all via headset.”

Strand Therapeutics Awarded Phase I NIH SBIR Contract to Develop mRNA-based CAR-T Immunotherapy for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
11.9.21 | Business Wire | Strand Therapeutics
”Strand Therapeutics, a privately held biotech company developing next-generation, programmable mRNA therapeutics beyond vaccines, today announced that the company was awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop an off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) immunotherapy based on the company’s mRNA technology for the treatment of B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.”

Setting a New Standard for Hormone Health
11.9.21 | MIT News | Aavia
”Half the population lives with monthly ovarian hormone cycles. Those cycles impact menstrual patterns, fertility, and much more, but stigmas around hormone problems have limited awareness about hormone health. Now, Aavia is working to help people understand their hormone cycle and its impacts.”

A Material Thinner Than Human Hair Could Slash Carbon Emissions
10.28.21 | Bloomberg | Osmoses
”Osmoses, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology spinoff, has created a membrane material thinner than human hair to reduce carbon emissions from industrial processes such as natural gas production.”

Four Ghanaian Digital Companies Receive Funding through the Catalyst Fund Inclusive Digital Commerce Accelerator
10.28.21 | Catalyst Fund | OZE
”The companies selected for the second cohort are tackling challenges across the retail sector for Ghana’s informal MSEs. Their focus is on enabling the digital transformation of MSEs through solutions including digital logistics, delivery services, digitization of merchant records, inventory management, and access to affordable inventory financing.”

MIT Offshoot That Detects Virus in Wastewater Raises $20 Million
10.22.21 | Bloomberg | Biobot Analytics
”Biobot Analytics, a pandemic-era leader on testing to detect levels of the coronavirus in wastewater, has raised $20 million in funding. The company is planning to begin testing for influenza as well as SARS-CoV-2 before year-end, and will bring back its initial focus, detecting levels of opioid use, said co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Mariana Matus.”

Takachar Wins Clean our Air Category in First Ever Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony
10.17.21 | Earthshot Prize | Takachar
”The burning of agricultural waste causes air pollution that in some areas has reduced life expectancy by a decade. This plays out every year in the fields surrounding New Delhi. Smoke from man-made infernos fills the air, with serious consequences for the health of locals. One of their number is Vidyut Mohan. His social enterprise, Takachar, is putting out the fire.”

Electives Raises $2.25M to Revolutionize Learning and Development in the Workplace
10.13.21 | Business Wire | Electives
”Electives, the education and engagement platform for employees, today announced the closing of a $2.25 million seed round led by Boston Seed Capital and Accomplice. Additional investors include Bertelsmann Media and Jerod Mayo, former pro-football player and current coach in New England.”

Kytopen Raises $30M in Series A Funding, Led by Northpond Ventures, to Transform Non-Viral Delivery via the Flowfect Platform
9.28.21 | Business Wire | Kytopen
”The new capital will be used to commercialize Kytopen’s Flowfect® Tx for cGMP-compliant cell therapy manufacturing and move towards treating the first human patient with Flowfect® engineered cells. Kytopen’s mission is to enable simple and efficient non-viral manufacturing of cell therapies in days versus weeks to increase patient access to life-saving therapies.”

Why General Catalyst Invested in RemNote
9.23.21 | GC Amplified | RemNote
”As much as technology has transformed our everyday lives, there are some aspects where it hasn’t made as much of an impact as it should have. Education and knowledge management, though universal in its application, has not fully yet benefited from an increase in productivity and effectiveness based on a digital transformation. RemNote is looking to change that.”

Iterative Scopes and Crohn's & Colitis Foundation Announce Partnership to Advance Next-Generation IBD Treatment
9.22.21 | Business Wire | Iterative Scopes
”The partnership gives Iterative Scopes rights to access IBD Plexus®, the Foundation’s first-of-its-kind research information exchange platform, for the purpose of delivering artificial intelligence-driven endoscopic solutions to life sciences researchers and healthcare providers.”

MIT Crypto Spinout Floating Point Group Raises $10M Series A to Fuel Growth
9.16.21 | PR Newswire | Floating Point Group
”The company has recently closed a $10 million series A investment with participation from Tribe Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Anthony Scaramucci, F A S T by Gettlylab, Borderless Capital, CapitalX, Formulate Ventures, and executives from GoldenTree Asset Management, HC Tech, Pythagorus Investments.”

Nigerian Agritech Startup Releaf Secures $4.2 Million to Scale its Food Processing Technology
9.15.21 | Tech Crunch | Releaf
”Founded by Ikenna Nzewi and Uzoma Ayogu, Releaf focuses on value chains where smaller factories are set up near smallholder farmers. This allows them to get better processing yields and fewer logistics costs; in the end, the farmer has more money to work with.”

25 Under 25: Meet the Young Entrepreneurs Bursting onto the Startup Scene in Greater Boston
9.14.21 | BostInno
”Some are still in high school. None were alive when the United States hosted the World Cup in 1994, and most weren't during the Atlanta Summer Olympics two years later.”

Eleos Health Raises $6M for Behavioral Health Focused AI Voice Tech
9.14.21 | Mobi Health News | Eleos Health
”This morning Eleos Health, a company that uses AI-backed voice technology to gather insights into behavioral health, scored $6 million in seed funding. aMoon Fund led the round with participation from lool ventures, Arkin Holdings, Geingels and individual investors.”

Rendever Unveils RendeverFit™ - A New Virtual Reality Fitness Platform for Seniors
9.7.21 | Intrado GlobeNewswire | Rendever
”Rendever, the leading virtual reality (VR) platform built to help seniors overcome social isolation through shared experiences, today announces the launch of its new interdisciplinary VR fitness platform, RendeverFit™ - the first VR application that merges physical fitness with cognitive fitness and socialization, designed specifically for older adults.”

Roots Studio Wins 2021 IF Innovation Award
9.6.21 | Tech Vang Art | Roots Studio
”The head of the Jury members Oliver Holle – (Chairman), Founder and Managing Partner of Speedinvest said that between the decision makers was a consensus related to the winner, and the choice was motivated by the potential for global scale both in terms of impact for the creative community, but also business-wise in a project that can create a global business.”

Overjet Mints $27M to Bring X-ray AI to More Dental Clinics
8.26.21 | Fierce Biotech | Overjet
”After cutting its teeth automating the dental insurance claims process, Overjet is now ready to expand its artificial intelligence software into actual dental clinics across the U.S. Those plans will be backed by a freshly minted FDA clearance for Overjet’s Dental Assist platform and by a flood of venture capital funding gleaned in a recently closed round.”

Takachar: Meet the team that developed a solution to make economic use of biomass residues while reducing air pollution
8.24.21 | Market Screener | Takachar
”Globally, about $120 billion worth of crops and forest residues are burned in the open each year. Burning these residues is counterproductive to climate change, as it significantly increases air pollution, but it's also a missed opportunity, economically. That's where co-founders Kevin Kung and Vidyut Mohan began their journey with Takachar, which won a $25,000 USD Third Runner-Up Prize.”

Rendever Awarded $2M NIH Grant to Research Impact of Virtual Reality on Aging Population
8.18.21 | HIT Consultant | Rendever
”This grant will fund a registered multi-site clinical trial, in conjunction with the University of California Santa Barbara, to further Rendever’s continued research on the effects of VR on seniors. The focus of the research is to evaluate the impact of VR-based virtual family engagement for seniors and the differences in effect across various levels of cognitive impairment.”

International Youth Day: How winners of the Bank's AgriPitch competition are helping to transform Africa's food system
8.13.21 | Africa News | Releaf
”Releaf’s agribusiness plan won over a panel of judges and investors during the African Development Bank’s AgriPitch Competition, where the continent’s top agripreneurs vie for a share of $120,000 in seed funding prizes and a slot in the competition’s business development boot camp. The finalists also receive mentoring and training.”

Edo Government Partners Firm to Boost Trade, Entrepreneurship Development
8.7.21 | The Nigerian Observer | OZÉ
”The Edo State Government has finalized plans for a partnership with OZE, an international digital business firm, to boost trade and entrepreneurship development in the state.”

Iterative Scopes Closes $30 Million Series A Financing to Advance AI-Driven Precision Medicine for Gastroenterology
8.6.21 | TrialSiteNews | Iterative Scopes
“Our vision is to transform gastroenterology by augmenting the physician’s decision making through integration of computer vision algorithms into the everyday clinical workflow.”

Strand Therapeutics Awarded Two Phase I NIH SBIR Grants to Advance Programmable, Long-Lasting mRNA Therapeutics for Melanoma and Breast Cancer
8.4.21 | BusinessWire | Strand Therapeutics
“This generous support from NIH’s NCI will enable us to create synthetic mRNA-based therapeutics that can be safer and more effective than currently available treatment options for both melanoma and breast cancer patients.”

A new way to detect the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant in wastewater
7.28.21 | MIT News | Biobot Analytics
”The breakthrough by the research team in Singapore is currently used by Biobot Analytics, an MIT startup and global leader in wastewater epidemiology headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, serving states and localities throughout the United States. Using the method, Biobot Analytics is able to accept and analyze wastewater samples for the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant and plans to add additional variants to its analysis as methods are developed”.

From MIT to MDaaS: Meet the Couple Solving Nigeria’s Medical Diagnostics Problem
7.26.21 | Tech Cabal | MDaaS Global
”’My father is a medical doctor who has run a hospital in a small town in Nigeria for over 35 years, and I witnessed the issues he faced accessing medical equipment. So the challenge of accessing quality medical equipment is close to home for me.’Through his personal experience and research across Nigeria, Oluwasoga saw a massive social and business opportunity to serve low- and middle-income patients better.

'It's going to run a lot of the backbone of the internet': Lightmatter CEO Nick Harris on its energy-efficient AI chips
7.23.21 | Morning Brew | Lightmatter
”As an R&D engineer fresh out of college, Harris had worked on the physics of transistors, or the nano-sized “switches” for electrical signals on computer chips. He saw not only how much energy they ate up, but also how much that energy usage was projected to climb over the next two decades. So Harris founded Lightmatter to marry his quantum experience with his semiconductor knowledge and try to make AI chips faster and more energy efficient.”

Adaviv Raises $2.3M in Upsized and Oversubscribed Seed Round Led by Delta Emerald Ventures to Scale their AI-Driven Plant Intelligence Platform for Indoor Farming
7.20.21 | Yahoo Finance | Adaviv
”AdaViv's Lean Cultivation™ Platform and Crop-Care™ Software leverages proprietary software, machine vision and AI analytics to illuminate plant health and growth biometrics, enabling earlier detection, treatment efficacy tracking and lower costs of labor and waste. Adaviv has helped cannabis operators detect 7-10 times more plant health issues in a timely manner, reduce cycle-to-cycle yield variation by 50% and drive 20%+ yield improvements.”

Nextiles Launches Software Development Kit, Enabling All Industries to Access Novel Data Capture and Machine Learning Insights
7.20.21 | Global Newswire | Nextiles
”Through its patent-protected manufacturing process, Nextiles’ smart fabrics allow for complete biomechanic and biometric sensing. Industries such as sleep, sports and performance, and fitness are now able to partner with Nextiles to capture human movement data seamlessly via Bluetooth, and create proprietary machine learning algorithms to augment their own existing platforms.”

Okoa Project and Virtue Foundation Partner Communities to Manufacture Tricycle Ambulances
7.19.21 | Ghana Web | Okoa Project
”The Okoa Project and Virtue Foundation has exhibited the first prototype of a locally manufactured tricycle ambulance which was designed in consultation with local innovators, artisans, and community leaders, and members from over 20 communities in the Sissala East district.”

Welcoming Acelab, the Next Revolution in Building Design
7.15.21 | Medium | acelab
”Acelab is a win-win information marketplace for architects, manufacturers, contractors and clients to find, compare and procure building materials. The platform digitizes and automates the manual and time-consuming process of sourcing building materials and drafting spec sheets.”

Overjet Execs See Bright Future for AI in Dental Industry
7.14.21 | Becker’s Dental | Overjet
“This is a transformative technology, but it's too simple to say it's transformative technology without asking the question, why or how and what makes it transformative. AI is just the technology, but if we create a functionality for the user, it's more than just the technology alone.”

My Bed Frame Came in a Tiny Box, and I'd 100% Recommend It
7.8.21 | Pop Sugar | Elephant in a Box
”The brand initially gained recognition for its popular sofas that come in a box — think the Casper of sofas. Its newest bed frames have the same concept, and that's what sold me. To me, nothing is easier than a compact, quick, and easy setup.”

Wedding Planning Startup Offers Venues a Custom AI Platform
7.6.21 | Boston Business Journal | Weven
”Formerly known as Mayflower Venues, Boston-based Weven helps couples find unique wedding venues through its software and artificial intelligence platform. Venues use the platform to offer a personalized online-planning experiences to clients. … Weven says it aims to provide every couple, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, the wedding of their dreams — a factor that contributed to renaming the company to “WE”ven, emphasizing that inclusivity.”

Start Your Start-Up Dream with These Colleges
7.6.21 | PRNewswire | MIT Sandbox
“In 2020, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology students could access over 200 resources that were ‘dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship and innovation.’ This included the MIT Innovation Initiative, the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund Program, the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, and more.”

June 2021

Sandbox Alumni Nicholas Harris and Jacob Becraft Named MIT Technology’s 2021 Innovators Under 35
6.30.21 | Technology Review | Lightmatter, Strand Therapeutics
”The 35 Innovators Under 35 is our yearly opportunity to take a look at not just where technology is now, but where it’s going and who’s taking it there.”

Nigeria’s MDaaS Launches New Health Tech Product on the Back of $2.3M Seed Extension
6.30.21 | Tech Crunch | MDaaS Global
”Access to diagnostics and preventive care is key to addressing this situation, and Nigerian-based diagnostic startup MDaaS Global is keen on making these services readily accessible. Today, the startup announced the launch of its product SentinelX and has closed a seed extension round of $2.3 million to scale across Nigeria.”

How AI Is Taking Over Our Gadgets
6.25.21 | Wall Street Journal | Farmwise
”Made by FarmWise Labs Inc., the robot trundles along fields of celery as if it were any other tractor. Underneath its metal shroud, it uses computer vision and an edge AI system to decide, in less than a second, whether a plant is a food crop or a weed, and directs its plow-like claws to avoid or eradicate the plant accordingly.”

52 Women-Led Startups Driving The Future Of HealthTech And FemTech
6.25.21 | Forbes | Aavia
”Even with the rise of FemTech startups, which are focusing on women’s healthcare—a sector that’s historically been significantly overlooked and undermined, only 3% of total HealthTech funding went to FemTech startups in 2020.”

Cleantech Startup Earns Top Prize at 21st Aannual Tulane Business Model Competition
6.23.21 | Freeman Business Magazine | Floe
”Floe is developing a sustainable, automated solution that prevents water damage caused by ice dams, dangerous ice formations on roofs. The Floe system autonomously pumps de-icing fluid onto the roof to create channels for water to drain.”

These Are The Startups Applying AI To Tackle Climate Change
6.20.21 | Forbes | Farmwise
”Precision agriculture technologies get market adoption first and foremost because they make farms more productive and efficient, saving costs and boosting output. The fact that they also drive decarbonization in one of the world’s largest carbon-emitting sectors is a fortuitous side benefit.”

Rethinking Biomass
6.18.21 | UN Climate Change | Takachar
”Enter Takachar, an Indian start-up that aims to eliminate crop burning and generate revenue for farmers in the Developed World. The idea is simple: buy biomass (usually straw, coconut shells and rice husks) from farmers and turn it – via Takachar’s own machine – into either charcoal or fertiliser. This not only prevents emissions, but creates an income for farmers.”

Kytopen Awarded NIH Grant of Up to $2M to Unlock the Power of Engineered Natural Killer (NK) Cells via Flowfect® Platform
6.16.21 | Business Wire | Kytopen
”Kytopen., a transformative biotechnology company offering non-viral delivery that links the discovery, development and manufacturing of engineered cell therapies, today announced it was awarded a SBIR Fast Track grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a part of the National Institute of Health (NIH).”

Envel Raises $2M Crowdfunding Bringing Total Seed to $4.75M
6.10.21 | Digital Journal | Envel
”With minimal fees, no minimum balance and no credit checks, Envel seeks to help all age groups and demographics by prioritizing financial inclusion and its zealot like approach to solving customer pain points, over a pure profit motive. Envel’s mission is simple, to help people manage their money better, so that they can live better lives.”

With Roots Studio, Rebecca Hui Is Reimagining the Cultural Marketplace
6.9.21 | Cultured Magazine | Roots Studio
”As climate change and the Internet-driven market economy force Indigenous groups to migrate to big cities, the time-honored crafts by women artisans lack a financially sustainable outlet. Enter Roots Studio, Rebecca Hui’s New York-based start-up that aims to develop the “prosperous village,” where traditional designs are appropriately valued commercially.”

Overjet Acquires American Dental Examiners
6.9.21 | Dentistry Today | Overjet
”Overjet has acquired American Dental Examiners, bringing Overjet’s dental artificial intelligence (AI) technology to the dental claims review firm. With the acquisition, the companies said, Overjet will be the first company in the dental industry to offer a fully integrated solution for dental payers that combines AI and a licensed, nationwide network of dental claims reviewers.”

Something Different! The Roots Studio x prAna Men’s Collection
6.8.21 | The Culture Curators | Roots Studio
”Today they are back in the news feed, this time announcing the Roots Studio x prAna partnership of curated and digitized handmade prints. The new collection arrives as part of prAna’s Spring 2021 men’s collection. The label supports indigenous artists and their communities around the world.”

Experiential Learning Through Entrepreneurship
6.3.21 | MIT News | Boon
”Sandbox encouraged me to get my hands dirty and elevated what would have otherwise been just a technical side project. They caught me when I failed in my original idea and then encouraged me to build yet again.”

Five Local, Innovative Fitness Products to Try This Spring
6.1.21 | Boston Magazine | Bloomer Tech
”If you could wear a piece of clothing that effortlessly measured your heart health and empowered you to keep heart disease at bay, wouldn’t you? Soon you’ll be able to thanks to this comfortable, washable smart bra created by MIT alum and 2021 TED Fellow Alicia Chong Rodriguez.”

May 2021

Cambridge Startup Tracking Boston-area Coronavirus Sewage Samples is Flush with National Business
5.26.21 | Boston Herald | Biobot Analytics
”Biobot Analytics has been tracking wastewater at Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s Deer Island Treatment Plant throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Recently, the local company was selected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to analyze samples from 320 wastewater treatment plants, covering 100 million people across the country.”

Cartier Announces the Winners of the 2021 Cartier Women's Initiative
5.26.21 | Marie Claire | Roots Studio
“Since its inception in 2006, the Cartier Women's Initiative has provided support to over 200 purpose-driven women entrepreneurs from over 60 countries across the world. 2021’s group of fellows include 24 international women-run and women-owned businesses from 876 applications from 142 countries whose missions are driven by promoting impactful social and environmental change.”

Startup Improving Chemical Separations Wins MIT $100K Competition
5.24.21 | MIT News | Osmoses
”Osmoses, a startup trying to dramatically increase the efficiency of chemical separations, got a major boost Thursday when it won the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. The company has developed a molecular filtration solution containing tiny channels that can be precisely sized to separate even the smallest molecules.”

Governor Northam Announces Winners of 2021 RISE Coastal Community Resilience Challenge
5.24.21 | Office of the Governor of Virginia | Zilper Trenchless
”Governor Ralph Northam today announced that six small businesses will receive a total of more than $1 million in funding and services through the 2021 RISE Coastal Community Resilience Challenge. The winners were selected from nearly 100 applications and will each receive a combination of a grant and a loan of up to $250,000 to advance and demonstrate innovative products that help coastal communities adapt to the impacts of sea level rise and flooding.”

Fireflies.ai Puts $14M into its AI Videoconferencing Assistant
5.24.21 | Venture Beat | Fireflies AI
“Aiming to address a few of the pain points of videoconferencing, Fireflies provides note-taking tools and deep learning technologies like AI-powered transcriptions. Once invited to a meeting, the company’s virtual agent begins transcribing in real time, with a search feature that lets users filter for action items and other key moments.”

Iyke Idukpaye: Much of Information on the Internet, Not for African Small Businesses
5.22.21 | This Day | Ozé
“OZE is an all-in-one platform where you can learn how to improve your business performance and then access the capital you need to grow your business. OZÉ is the first and only platform to directly provide banks and financial institutions with the ability to assess and provide capital to MSMEs efficiently, affordably, and with exceptionally low risk of default.”

In a Dental Industry First, Overjet's Dental Assist Receives FDA Clearance to Bring AI to the Dental Practice
5.20.21 | PRNewswire | Overjet
”Overjet's Dental Assist clearance by the FDA is a landmark moment for dental AI … All clinicians can now have at their fingertips highly accurate software to detect and measure serious dental disease and clear AI visualizations to communicate with patients.”

MIT.nano Launches START.nano Accelerator
5.19.21 | MIT News | SiTration, Mesodyne
”MIT.nano has announced a new pilot program, START.nano, to support hard-tech ventures in their early stages. Seven companies with nanoscale technologies at the core of their business have been accepted to the program.”

13 Innovators Picked to Lead Harvest Automation Initiative
5.18.21 | Farm Progress | Farmwise
“After weeks of consideration, Western Growers and its allies have placed their bets on 13 companies they hope will lead a march to automating at least half the West Coast's specialty crop harvests by 2030.”

The 2021 Women of the Year Awards: Innovator
5.13.21 | BCBusiness | Gluxkind Technologies
”Every hour in the U.S., two stroller-related accidents send kids to the emergency department. Doing some market research, [Anne] Hunger and three male co-founders launched GlüxKind Technologies. Their stroller, now at the prototype stage, combines artificial intelligence and robotics with traditional design. Its features include an alert if the seatbelt isn’t on properly.”

Building Robots to Expand Access to Cell Therapies
5.12.21 | MIT News | Multiply Labs
In a recently announced project, Multiply Labs is developing a new robotic manufacturing platform to ease bottlenecks in the creation of cell therapies. … Multiply Labs is attempting to automate many processes that can currently only be done by highly trained scientists, reducing the potential for human error.”

Lightmatter’s photonic AI ambitions light up an $80M B round
5.6.21 | Tech Crunch | Lightmatter
”AI is fundamental to many products and services today, but its hunger for data and computing cycles is bottomless. Lightmatter plans to leapfrog Moore’s law with its ultra-fast photonic chips specialized for AI work, and with a new $80 million round, the company is poised to take its light-powered computing to market.”

Accelerating the pace of engineered cell therapies, from lab to bedside
5.6.21 | MIT News | Kytopen
”What if a cancer patient could receive life-saving cellular therapy within days of diagnosis rather than weeks? What if pharmaceutical researchers could bring new treatments to market in months rather than years? Kytopen is significantly speeding up both discovery and delivery of engineered cell therapies with its transformative Flowfect platforms.”

World Changing Ideas Awards 2021: AI and Data Finalists and Honorable Mentions
5.4.21 | Fast Company | Farmwise, Lightmatter
”Projects that harness the power of data, machine learning, or artificial intelligence to understand the world and empower change.”

Lifeworks Advisors Acquires Aimvest Technologies - Innovative Risk Profiling Technology Developer
5.4.21 | WFMZ | Aimvest
”Founded by esteemed MIT graduate technologists, Aimvest Technologies is a financial technology startup providing algorithmic allocation strategies to family offices and independent RIAs.”

Texas veterans win big at Rice University's veteran-owned business competition
5.3.21 | Houston Business Journals | Candelytics
”Boston-based Candelytics took home second place and a $10,000 prize. Candelytics develops an artificial intelligence-powered software platform to collect, analyze and manage 3D Lidar data.”

April 2021

MIT Students' Project Prana is Bringing Low-Cost Ventilators to India Amid the COVID Crisis
4.30.21 | Your Story | Project Prana
”MIT students Shriya Srinivasan and Rajib Monda of Project Prana have built a low-cost multiplex ventilator called iSave. The Individualised System for Augmenting Ventilator Efficacy (iSave) can connect one ventilator to two patients, and one can also control the parameters they need so that it is safe and customised to each patients' need.”

Hot Market: Six Alum-Founded Companies with a Climate and Sustainability Focus
4.28.21 | MIT Alumni | Zilper Trenchless
”To address the growing need for water pipelines across the globe and the problem of chronically underfunded infrastructure, Zilper Trenchless, born at MIT and based in Bogotá, Colombia, created a technology to install underground utilities without the need for a trench.”

An Interview with the Candelytics Team, a Finalist from 100K Accelerate
4.28.21 | MIT 100K Medium | Candelytics
”Initially, we were interested in more of an academic entrepreneurial experience, and just wanted to take a peek into and explore the defense innovation ecosystem. … Although we didn’t initially plan to continue after the summer program, we were excited to pursue the start-up and we decided to incorporate last Fall.”

MIT Spinoff Brings Artificial Intelligence to the Weight Room
4.27.21 | Perch
”The brainchild of Jacob Rothman, who earned a mechanical engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2016, Perch records and measures athletes as they perform different weightlifting movements, creating very precise benchmarks that coaches can use to gauge improvements in strength, speed, form, and technique.”

For FarmWise’s Cofounders, Opportunity Was In The Weeds
4.27.21 | Forbes | Farmwise
”Rather than using chemicals or changing to crops, like tree nuts, that are easier to grow, farms can hire FarmWise; when the robots are dispatched, they tend to eradicate 95% of weeds, Boyer says, allowing farms to grow the crops they want to grow, and to do so sustainably. No chemicals, no problem.”

Trust Center Honors Jinane Abounadi With Monosson Award for Entrepreneurial Mentorship
4.26.21 | Martin Trust Center
”The Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship is pleased to honor Jinane Abounadi with the 2021 Adolf F. Monosson Prize for Entrepreneurship Mentoring. This award recognizes her leadership in supporting entrepreneurship at MIT, and specifically mentoring students on their entrepreneurial journeys.”

Sewage Has Stories to Tell. Why Won’t The U.S. Listen?
4.26.21 | Smithsonian Magazine | Biobot Analytics
”Hundreds of towns and cities in 43 states and provinces participated in a free wastewater testing program offered by Boston-area startup Biobot Analytics, which bills itself as the first company in the world to commercialize data from sewage. The firm, which ran pilot programs before Covid-19 hit to work with communities to measure opioid residues in wastewater, pivoted quickly to look for SARS-CoV-2 in the spring.”

Founder of the Sandbox Program Enriches MIT’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
4.26.21 | The Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship
”The Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship is pleased to honor Jinane Abounadi with the 2021 Adolf F. Monosson Prize for Entrepreneurship Mentoring. This award recognizes her leadership in supporting entrepreneurship at MIT, and specifically mentoring students on their entrepreneurial journeys.”

2021 North America Finalist - Rebecca Hui
4.23.21 | Cartier Women’s Initiative | Roots Studio
”Roots Studio … bridges cultures and reverses cultural loss and appropriation. Roots Studio holds regular community workshops with heritage artists, often led by organizers of tribal descent. The Roots Studio design team digitizes the artists’ works, then transforms them into new mediums for licensing in a digital library.”

This Versatile and Comfy Sofa Comes in a Box, and It's Perfect For Small Spaces
4.19.21 | Popsugar | Elephant in a Box
”The redesigned sofa, might look like your traditional silhouette, but it's so much more than that. It actually has an accordion-style base that you just expand after unboxing it. You simply unfold it, add the cushions, and voila, you have a sofa.”

I, Growbot: How Robot Weeders Are Transforming Agriculture
4.19.21 | Dell Technologies | Farmwise
”FarmWise’s AI-powered equipment recognizes the 3D geometry of each plant to understand where its stem and leaves are located, explains Canteneur. After recognizing the crops, it uses blades to uncover the roots of everything else around it in the vegetable row, exposing them to sunlight so that they die out.”

NAMI Launches New Partnership
4.17.21 | Venice Gondolier | Lean on Me
”The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Sarasota and Manatee Counties is teaming up with the Lean on Me project to work on mental illness and education. The partnership will allow educators, students and parents access to more ‘community resources and education related to mental health along with academic support,’ it said in a news release.”

California Dreaming: Artificial Intelligence and Robots Are Helping Farmers Prepare for Climate Change Crisis
4.14.21 | ABC 7 News | FarmWise
”For the past year, FarmWise has been using robotic tractors to pick weeds around crops like cauliflower and romaine lettuce. Cameras underneath the tractors are able to identify the vegetables and cut out weeds that take up water from the spoil.”

Multiply Labs Announces $20 Million Series A to Pioneer Robotic Manufacturing of Individualized Drugs
4.14.21 | Business Wire | Multiply Labs
”Multiply Labs operates at the intersection of robotics and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The company was founded to leverage automation to address the fundamental limitations of the heavily manual processes that are traditionally used to manufacture small-batch pharmaceutical products.”

Battery Analysis Startup Fova Energy Secures New War Chest
4.9.21 | Nekkei Africa | Fova Energy
”Founded in 2020, Fova Energy operates a platform that uses artificial intelligence to analyze life cycle data of batteries used in electric vehicles and power storage and manage safety risks.”

Overjet Named One of the World’s Top AI Companies
4.8.21 | Dentistry Today | Overjet
“Overjet’s AI software encodes dentist-level understanding of disease identification and progression into precise, bias-free, and repeatable tools for better decision making.”

A Better Nasal Swab for Covid-19 Testing
4.8.21 | MIT News | OPT Industries
”Since March of last year, Ou’s company, OPT Industries, has been working with hospitals to deliver a new type of nasal swab for Covid-19 testing. The swabs make use of thin, hairlike structures Ou developed while at MIT. Tiny woven lattices within OPT’s swabs allow them to absorb and release more fluid than conventional swabs.”

This MIT Graduate Helps Startups from Tier 2 Cities and Beyond Get Access to Investors, Mentors, and More
4.8.21 | Your Story | Manush Labs
Founded by Piyush Verma, a Tata Fellow and graduate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, Manush Labs is on a mission to bridge the gap between the international entrepreneurship and investor community and entrepreneurs of India.

These are the Top Civil Engineering Startups in America (2021)
4.3.21 | Startup Pill | Airworks
”AirWorks was founded in 2017, and spun out of MIT in the summer of 2018. The company has developed a patented algorithm and web application that converts aerial datasets into engineering base plans in CAD.”

Sandhya Murali is Putting Clean Energy in the Hands of Ordinary Americans
4.1.21 | MIT Sloan | Solstice
”Sandhya and her co-founder, Steph Speirs MBA ’17, explicitly created a social enterprise to dismantle this system of inequality in the clean energy industry. It’s called Solstice, and it’s putting clean energy in the hands of ordinary Americans, regardless of their income, their home ownership status, and other markers of privilege. And it all started at MIT Sloan.”

March 2021

A Buzzworthy Solution
3.31.2021 | Harvard SAES | Planet Bee
”Planet Bee … is working to make the sustainable practice of traditional beekeeping a more economically attractive endeavor for people living in the rainforest.”

Pison Technology Raises $7 Million in Series A for Human Machine Interface
3.31.2021 | Startup Savant | Pison Technology
”Startup biopotential company Pison Technology seeks to utilize these electrical impulses with a suite of modern technology to further enhance use of the human body’s natural processes.”

Meet the 2021 class of TED Fellows
3.30.2021 | TED | Bloomer Tech
Alicia Chong Rodriguez is an “engineer and founder of Bloomer Tech, a company transforming everyday bras into smart medical devices that gather often overlooked data on heart disease in women, a frequently misdiagnosed and under-researched killer.”

Don’t Bet Against Them: AI and Machine Learning Become Part of the Enterprise Fabric
3.29.2021 | Silicon Angle | Lightmatter
”Lightmatter has designed its unusual technology around using wavelengths of light for simultaneous computation, a process known as photonic computing. Only a limited amount of energy is required, because light is cooler than electrical power.”

AI Making Some Headway into Diagnosis and Prognosis in Dentistry
3.25.2021 | AI Trends | Overjet
“Through my clinical experience during dental school and residency, I grew to appreciate the vast amount of information that a dentist needs to process in order to adequately diagnose and treatment plan a dental case… I wondered if there might be a way to use technology to aid dentists in detecting needed treatments and standardize the delivery of dental care.”

Funding Matters: KINETIC Platform Aims to Connect Entrepreneurs of Color With Funders
3.24.2021 | MIT Martin Trust Center | Kinetic
The goal is for KINETIC to help entrepreneurs of color find avenues for funding. “One of the benefits to studying at MIT is learning how to analyze and solve a problem using data,” [founder Kevin D. Johnson] explains.

Fova Energy Completes Seed+ Financing Round, Raising Millions of US Dollars
3.22.2021 | Pandaily | Fova Energy
”Founded in 2020, Fova Energy focuses on medium and long term battery health prediction. The core product of the company is an AI based management platform responsible for analyzing battery life cycle data to help deal with health risks, improve safety, and enhance the working life of batteries.”

Singapore’s SMU Announces Winners of Its Startup Competition
3.19.2021 | KrAsia | Iterative Scopes
”Iterative Scopes from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which develops AI-based detection and diagnostic tools for gastrointestinal physicians, won the Lee Kuan Yew Beta Prize, a category for pre-revenue teams or startups.”

Lighmatter Normalizing Silicon Photonics For AI
3.17.2021 | The Next Platform | Lightmatter
”Lightmatter, with its “Passage” wafer-scale photonic interconnect, might be the key to letting large numbers of accelerators communicate quickly and efficiently.”

From Innovative Finance to Nutrition, Eight Innovation Teams Will Be Challenged to Tackle World Hunger and Advance Gender Equality
3.15.2021 | Medium | Takachar
”Takachar is developing a small-scale, low-cost, portable system that can latch onto the back of tractors and deploy to farms to locally upgrade the crop residues on-site into valuable bioproducts for sale to the market.”

Commure acquires Karuna Health
3.15.2021 | Mobi Health News | Karuna Health
”The company is adding Karuna’s patient communication platform to its portfolio. The platform consolidates all patient and caregiver correspondence into one collaborative inbox location. It keeps track of text messages, emails, phone calls, voice mails, and more, and integrates with electronic health records.”

This Chip for AI Works Using Light, Not Electrons
3.10.2021 | Wired | Lightmatter
”Lightmatter, a startup born at MIT, is betting that AI’s voracious hunger will spawn demand for a fundamentally different kind of computer chip—one that uses light to perform key calculations. ‘Either we invent new kinds of computers to continue,’ says Lightmatter CEO Nick Harris, ‘or AI slows down.’”

Biobot Analytics Knows If You Have COVID-19 Before You Do—From Your Poop
3.9.2021 | Fast Company | Biobot Analytics
“I hope when COVID goes away we don’t forget how useful the technology is, and that next time we don’t get to this point … Our mission is to stop outbreaks before they become epidemics.”

Bergamo in Italy has the (Robotic) Lab Technicians of the Future ​
3.6.2021 | Innovation Origins | Multiply Laps
”The Italian hospital uses advanced robots for handling fluids and three qPCR machines, which are overseen by cloud-based control software. Each patient sample is automatically tracked via its barcode. The system generates and stores digital records in order to comply with regulatory standards. “This is the future of laboratory automation,” says Fred Parietti, president of Multiply Labs.”

#Las30DeForbes Zilper Trenchless
3.5.2021 | Forbes Columbia | Zilper Trenchless
”Conceived at MIT, the Colombian startup has specialized in creating technology teams that significantly reduce the cost of underground water pipeline infrastructure projects. … With their innovation they want to help governments and cities to guarantee greater access to drinking water and sanitation for people.”

Top Ten Computer Vision Startups Shaping The Future of Healthcare
3.4.2021 | Analytics Insight | Iterative Scopes
”The influence of this AI-powered technology has tremendous effects in the future of healthcare. … Iterative Scopes, a Cambridge, U.S.-based computer vision solution provider, provides doctors with real-time computer-aided detection and diagnostic tools powered by computer vision and ML technology.”

February 2021

FarmWise Plans to Add Autonomous Crop Dusting to Its Suite of Robotic Services
2.23.2021 | Tech Crunch | FarmWise
”’It’s about helping farmers keep up with work while the pool of people willing to do these jobs is shrinking,’ he said. Using the robots isn’t just good for farms’ bottom lines, Boyer said. It also helps reduce the amount of fertilizer and chemicals used on the farm, which is good for the environment and creates a more sustainable food chain.”

Harnessing the Power of a Global Network of Medical Experts
2.18.2021 | AI Med | Centaur Labs
“We want to catalyze the AI revolution in healthcare by providing skilled, scalable data annotation services. At the same time, we also want to build on the belief that AI will never replace human doctors. The ideal scenario is AI working together with humans to solve medical problems.”

How Covid-19 Technology May Help Cancer in the Future
2.17.2021 | Healthline | Strand Therapeutics
”Strand [Therapeutics] has developed specialized self-replicating mRNA technology that causes tumors to express these drugs for weeks, rather than days. This allows for better therapeutic efficacy as well as less injections for the patients and better patient quality of life.”

Unleashing the Potential of the Mind
2.15.2021 | MIT News | Pison Technology
”‘I was really passionate about the problem [of physical decline impacting digital life],’ Ang recalls. ‘I’d go to sleep thinking about it and wake up thinking about it. I knew the problem was electrical-based and I needed an electrical solution, and that MIT had the network that I was most likely to have success with.’”

Base Operations Raises $2.2 Million to Modernize Physical Enterprise Security
2.11.2021 | Tech Crunch | Base Operations
”What we do at Base Operations is help companies keep their people in operation secure with ‘Micro Intelligence,’ which is street-level threat assessments that facilitate a variety of routine security tasks in the travel security, real estate and supply chain security buckets … The events of 2020 sort of turned everything on its head, and companies realized that the security department, and what happens in the physical world, is not just about compliance.”

Breaking Barriers and Rocks
2.7.2021 | Startup Info | Eden GeoTech
”In 2016, I began my journey with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as a graduate student in Geosciences. Through its rich training programs – which motivate students to start their own projects and introduce technologies capable of changing the world – the university contributed to strengthening my goals and passion for ‘making a difference.’”

Founder Spotlight #12: Jake Becraft of Strand Therapeutics
2.5.2021 | Medium | Strand Therapeutics
”I came to MIT wanting to fix the fundamental limitations I saw with therapeutic gene transfer therapies, and thought the best was to do that was with synthetic biology. … We realized our tech had real potential to fix many of the problems other biotechs are facing with gene transfer and delivery. We ultimately wanted to see this tech get commercialized to really help patients.”

January 2021

FemBeat: Hormone Health Startup Launches Its App and Smart Pill Case With $2.5 Million in Seed Money
1.26.2021 | Forbes | Aavia
”Aavia, a newcomer on the block, is addressing hormone health as a whole, emphasizing the fact that hormones affect us all month long, not just during our period. The Brooklyn-based startup wants to guide individuals with uteruses through their lifelong hormone journey by offering daily education and personalized insights.”

Point, Don't Click: Pison Technology's System Allows the Control of Robot and Devices By Gestures Alone
1.26.2021 | The Boston Globe | Pison Technology
”Pison, a startup spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says it has developed a practical way to control all sorts of digital devices by intercepting the electronic traffic between our hands and our brains, and translating them into commands the machines can understand.”

This Fishmonger Will Ship Michelin-Quality Seafood to Your Doorstep
1.22.2021 | Food & Wine | E-Fish
”E-Fish was born on February 26 with a simple mission: superior, sustainably caught fish straight from the dock to your door. … The connection forged between supplier and customer delivers a feel-good warmth a la interacting with the folks sourcing your food at a local green market.”

Raising $700K in Seed Funding: One-on-One With OZÉ’s Meghan McCormick
1.20.2021 | AfricArena | OZÉ
”I ran that first prototype in July of 2016 before starting graduate school and worked on the idea while in school launching our product into Ghana in May of 2018. …We calculate that OZE which provides record-keeping, access to credit, and payment processing (coming soon) tackles an $18bn market.”

Solstice Raises $3.1M to Offer Affordable and Inclusive Renewable Energy to Households Across the United States
1.15.21 | PR Web | Solstice
“Solstice has worked for years to put solar within reach of excluded households, and we are excited to partner with our investors to accelerate an equitable transition to clean energy.”

Ready For a New Sofa? Check out these top couch-in-a-box-brands
1.13.2021 | CNN Underscored | Elephant in a Box
"The brainchild of a Harvard Business School grad and two MIT alumni, Elephant in a Box came to market in 2020 as a solution to the traditional process of couch shopping that they found to be costly, stressful and loooong."

Gataca CEO Irene Hernández Named in Forbes Spain 21 'Change Makers' for 2021
1.12.2021 | Forbes | Gataca
Irene Hernández MBA ‘18, CEO of Gataca, recognized as a Change Maker. "What started as an academic research study seeking to reduce the risk of doing business online went on to protect victims of the Equifax data breach."

Turning microbiome research into a force for health
1.5.2021 | MIT News | Concerto Biosciences
"A number of private companies founded by MIT alumni are also trying to harness individual microbes to create new treatments, including...Concerto Biosciences, co-founded by Jared Kehe PhD ’20 and Bernardo Cervantes PhD ’20."

Montreal Entrepreneurs Aim To Simplify Real Estate Pricing with Artificial Intelligence Tool
1.4.2021 | Forbes | Squarefeet AI
”To price residential real estate units, Squarefeet.ai first collects data, including public census data, public listings, and images. The AI then gets to work on quantifying the different location and design attributes that a unit might have.”

Developing Covid-Related Tools and Solutions #StartedinMITSandbox

A Better Nasal Swab for Covid-19 Testing

4.8.21 | MIT News | OPT Industries

”Since March of last year, Ou’s company, OPT Industries, has been working with hospitals to deliver a new type of nasal swab for Covid-19 testing.”

How Telehealth Speetar is Providing Accessible Healthcare for Libya

9.12.2020 | Borgen Magazine | Speetar

"Speetar is a telehealth platform that holds promise for the health and safety of Libyans amid the civil war and global pandemic."

2020

Sandbox Fellow Kahlil Ramadi Named MIT Technology Review - Innovators Under 35 MENA
12.29.2020 | MIT Technology Review
Sandbox alum and Fellow Khalil Ramadi SM '16, PhD '19 was selected by MIT Technology Review as one of 10 Innovators Under 35 from the MENA region "...whose superb technical work promises to change the world."

Two Sandbox Team CEO’s Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 - Energy List for 2021
12.21.2020 | MIT Alumni Association Slice of Life
Paris Smalls, Sandbox alum and CEO of Eden GeoTech, and David Dellal ’17, CEO of Sandbox team Floe, were recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 - Energy for 2021.

Bloomer Tech Recognized in 21 Startups to Watch in Boston in 2021
12.15.2020 | Boston Business Journal | Bloomer Tech
"Founded in 2017 by graduates of MIT's Computational Cardiovascular Research Group and Integrated Design and Management cardiovascular program, Bloomer Tech is behind an electrocardiogram (EKG) device that looks and feels like a bra."

The Nigerian Agritech Company on a Mission to Industrialize Food Processing Across Africa
12.3.2020 | Built in Africa | Releaf
”Starting with the Nigerian vegetable oil market, Releaf is industrializing food processing in Africa with software and hardware innovation. Their proprietary hardware increases the availability and quality of raw materials, while their sourcing software connects them directly to 1000+ smallholder farmers at scale.”

An antidote to “fast fashion”
11.24.2020 | MIT News | Armoire
"The clothing rental service Armoire helps customers sustainably maintain a fresh wardrobe."

Empowering Farmers Through Root AI, An Interview with Sandbox Mentor Josh Lessing
11.19.2020 | Robohub
An interview with Sandbox Mentor Josh Lessing, co-founder and CEO of Root AI. “At Root AI they are developing a system that tracks data on the farm and autonomously harvests crops using delicate grippers and computer vision.”

Fast-growing Minority Firms Are The 'Hidden Gems' of BBJ's Fast 50
11.18.2020 | Boston Business Journal | Solstice
Solstice, one for the first teams to participate in the MIT Sandbox in 2016, recognized in BBJ’s Fast 50.

The Most Disruptive MBA Startups Of 2020
10.23.2020 | Poets & Quants | Ocular Technologies
Ocular Technologies was named one of The Most Disruptive MBA Startups Of 2020 by Poets and Quants. Ocular Technologies is developing a telemedical solution to improve patient access to quality eye care.

Mesodyne Wins 2020 Startup Showdown
10.8.2020 | AUSVI | Mesodyne
”Mesodyne’s patented generator converts fuel into electricity via light. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, the generator is completely silent and has no moving parts. It can operate on any fuel, and it has 10 times the energy density of lithium ion batteries.”

U.S. Banking Challenger Envel Raises $2.7M Seed to Launch First Autonomous Bank Account
9.17.2020 | Envel | Envel
”Envel allows users to have real control over their finances with the ability to turn their account on "Autopilot" to help build wealth autonomously. …Envel aims to gamify financial management to attract and engage a younger generation of consumers.”

Lightmatter Startup Tries to Speed Up Computing Using Light
9.9.2020 | Bloomberg | Lightmatter
”The idea of using light instead of electricity in computing has been around for decades. Boston-based startup Lightmatter Inc. believes the technology’s time has finally come.”

Acelab - Simplifying Construction Workflows
9.1.2020 | Medium | Acelab
”Acelab has created a revolutionary information marketplace where you can search, select, and spec building products in seconds. At the core of the platform is an algorithm that aggregates all the relevant metrics about building products into a streamlined user experience.”

Backed by Alibaba, Stanford Startup Pairs High Schoolers With Research Mentors
8.18.2020 | EdSurge | Polygence
”Why do people hoard during a pandemic? When is this behavior socially acceptable? Such were the questions that piqued Luke Jain as the COVID-19 outbreak began in March.”

Revive Med, Bristol Myers Squibb to Study Metabolomics for Cancer Immunotherapy
7.15.2020 | Precision Oncology News | ReviveMed
”ReviveMed uses a network-based machine learning algorithm for integrative analysis of untargeted metabolomic data with other large-scale molecular information such as data from genes, proteins, drugs, and diseases.”

Apparel Rental Company Armoire Debuts Digital Dressing Room
7.9.2020 | Retail Dive | Armoire
”Taking its cue from the steep decline in apparel sales, clothing rental company Armoire turned its attention to the uptick in e-commerce.”

ReviveMed CEO Leila Pirhaji Named MIT Technology Review - Innovators Under 35
7.1.2020 | MIT Technology Review | ReviveMed
”As CEO of ReviveMed, Leila Pirhaji PhD ‘16 is focusing on liver, immune, inflammatory, and other diseases. Using her platform, the startup partners with major pharmaceutical companies to match existing medicines to new treatments and find new targets for future drugs”

Fireflies AI Named in Gartner’s Top 25 Enterprise Software Startups To Watch in 2020
6.5.2020 | Forbes | Fireflies AI
”The company's platform acts as an executive assistant that automatically transcribes and takes bullet notes from users’ phones calls and meetings. … What makes Fireflies.ai noteworthy is how accurately the platform records, transcribes and enables collaboration.”

Airworks Makes Drone Data More Useful
5.27.2020 | Tech Crunch | Airworks
Watch David Morczinek explain how Airworks transforms aerial data into accurate maps of surveying data.

CassVita One of Ten From MIT Awarded 2020 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans
5.14.2020 | MIT News | CassVita
”At MIT, Pelkins Mbacham Ajanoh ’18 became interested in the topic of creating economic opportunity in vulnerable communities through entrepreneurship, which led him to found CassVita, an agribusiness that converts cassava into shelf-stable flour.”

MIT IDEAS Celebrates Social Innovation At The Institute - Seven Sandbox Teams Participate
5.1.2020 | MIT News | Let’s Get Set, MyPath Global, SpeakEasy, Greensource, Insightiv, TILT, Out of the box
“Beyond the numbers, the IDEAS teams are a group of kind and generous individuals who have powerful stories that can move some of you to tears … They exemplify what MIT means by ‘Building a Better World’.”

Floating Point, An MIT Crypto Fintech Startup, Modernizes Digital Currency Trading
4.13.2020 | Forbes | Floating Point Group
”Floating Point Group is a cryptocurrency trading platform leveraging smart order routing to provide a ‘single point of access to digital currency markets.’”

This Doctor’s App Is Helping Libya Triage Its Coronavirus Patients
4.2.2020 | Forbes | Speetar
”Libya also has a relatively high proportion of smartphone connectivity, so the Speetar platform can be used as a tool to help decide who needed to go to the clinic and who should continue to self-isolate at home.”

The Future of Work Now: Digital Weeder
3.21.20 | Forbes | FarmWise
”The AI behind FarmWise’s weeding solution is used to distinguish between a weed and a crop. The system uses deep learning models to make predictions about images taken from cameras in the robot.”

Higher Ground Education Acquires CozyKin
3.12.2020 | Finsmes | CozyKin
”Led by Jeremy Au, CEO and co-founder, CozyKin provides a nanny sharing platform that matches local families with Montessori-trained nannies and offers a range of backend support services to provide parents a pedagogically-informed childcare experience.”

Bloomer Tech Raises $3M Seed Round to Build Electrocardiogram Bra
3.12.2020 | Boston Business Journal | Startup/Team: Bloomer Tech
”Bloomer's smart bra works essentially by embedding patented, medical-grade fabric sensors with built-in machine learning algorithms into the garment. The idea is to easily collect data from a wide array of people, since most women already wear a bra every day.”

Nearly 200 Conversations Later, Lean On Me Reaches One Year At BC
1.27.2020 | BC Heights | Lean On Me
”Lean on Me is an alternative mental health resource for college students, particularly aimed at those who may not feel comfortable attending counseling or do not feel that their issues are urgent enough to merit counseling. The program, which was launched at MIT in 2016, has grown into a national organization with branches at several colleges across the United States.” 

Built in Boston’s 50 Startups to Watch in 2020
1.21.2020 | Built in Boston | AirWorks
”For many architects, an arduous part of planning is surveying land. Airworks wants to change that through software that converts satellite or drone photos into computer-aided design (CAD) site plans, speeding up surveying time by weeks.”

Eden GeoTech, an MIT Green Tech Startup, Improves America’s Oil Production
1.7.2020 | Forbes | Eden GeoTech
”Paris Smalls, 26, Ammar Alali, 29, recognized the potential for novel extraction techniques to recover oil and created Eden GeoPower as a solution. Eden GeoPower is a green energy tech startup that has developed a unique, electric, and environmentally technology to allow for less-water intensive hydrocarbon extraction.”

Cofounders of Karuna Health Named in Forbes 30 Under 30 - Healthcare 2020 List
1.1.2020 | Forbes | Karuna Health
Yasyf Mohamedali '17, MEng '18 and Joe Kahn, Cofounders of Karuna Health, were named in the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 - Healthcare list. “Karuna Health helps caseworkers to coordinate care, and enables patients to reach their care team via several different options including text, email and WhatsApp.”

Cofounders of Rune Name in Forbes 30 Under 30 - Sports and Games 2020 List
1.1.2020 | Forbes | Rune
Bjarke Felbo SM '18 and Sanjay Guruprasad SM '18, Cofounders of Rune, were named in the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 List - Sports and Games list. “The two MIT classmates cofounded Rune, a gaming app that uses AI to help players find teammates to game with and allows them to voice chat.”

Four Sandbox Teams Will Participate in the Activate 2020 Fellowship: Meet the New Faces of Innovation
1.1.2020 | Activate | AeroShield, Concerto BioScoences, Kyber Photonics, SiTration
Over two years, Activate fellows receive funding and mentorship while they work in state-of-the art research facilities and university labs with the goal of turning a technology concept into a product.

2019

The 2019 Good Tech Awards
12.30.19 | The New York Times | Biobot Analytics

From Idea to Execution: Trust Center Helps Myriad Startups Take The Leap
Fall 2019 | MIT Spectrum | Leuko Labs, Roots Studio, Lightmatter

Solar Power For All In The U.S.
9.11.19 | CNBC | Solstice

A Harvard and MIT Grad’s Tech Startup Keeps the Global Workforce Safe
9.4.19 | Boston Business Journal | Base Operations

Iterative Scopes, An MIT Healthcare Startup, Raises the Standard Of Cancer Treatment
8.9.19 | Forbes | Iterative Scopes

Throwing Lifelines to Job Seekers After Incarceration
8.3.19 | MIT News | Surge Employment Solutions

Eight High-Flying Drone Startups Ready to Take Flight
7.22.19 | Boston Business Journal | Hydroswarm, Airworks

Meet the Startups in gener8tor’s First OnRamp Insurance Accelerator
6.24.19 | Minneapolis Business Journal | Relativity 6

Zilper Trenchless - A Solution to the U.S. Water Crisis
6.20.19 | Medium | Zilper Trenchless

MIT Gene-Therapy Spinout Raises $6M, Enters Competitive mRNA Field
6.5.19 | Boston Business Journal | Strand Therapeutics

Regaining Independence: Student Startup Is Building a Smart Personalized Companion To Help People With Limited Mobility
6.3.19 | Harvard School of Engineering | Loro

Kevin Kung Named 2019 Echoing Green Climate Fellow
6.1.19 | Echoing Green | Takachar

Why NBA Athletes Are Using This Device To Enhance Their Training
5.22.19 | Fast Company | Humon

Acoustic Wells Taps MIT $100K Launch Top Prize
5.16.19 | MIT Sloan | Acoustic Wells

Meet the Mass. Startups In This Year’s MassChallenge Boston Cohort
5.15.19 | AmericanINNO | Pison Technology, Textiles, Strand Therapeutics, Project Daredevil

Farmwise and Roush Partner to Develop Robots That Weed Farm Fields
4.1.19 | Xconomy | FarmWise

Supporting Women Entrepreneurs Is The Morally Right Thing To Do - And The Smart Thing
3.25.19 | Elle | Solstice

Here Are The 85+ Startups That Launched at YC's W19 Demo Day 1
3.18.19 | Tech Crunch | Centaur Labs, Releaf

Dressed in Data: Seattle Fashion Rental Startup Armoire Uses Curation to Change How Women Buy Clothes
2.26.19 | Geek Wire | Armoire

50 Women Led Startups That Are Crushing Tech
2.20.19 | Forbes | Biobot Analytics

New Startup Seeks Jobs and Growth for Myanmar’s Entry-Level Workers
2.14.19 | MIT Sloan | New Day

Built in Boston’s 50 Startups To Watch in 2019
2.5.19 | Built in Boston | Aavia, Lightmatter, Mayflower Venues, Mobile Pixels

Meet This Year's 20 Inspiring, Creative TED Fellows
1.23.19 | Fast Company | ReviveMed

2018

This Bra Could Save Lives
6.27.18 | MIT Technology Review | Bloomer Tech