The SMS Renaissance in Boston
Plus 18 Boston Tech Companies That Raised Capital
Welcome Back!
In the last two weeks, 18 Boston tech companies raised over $1.3B in debt and equity. Four megarounds occurred and it was overall a massive week for cybersecurity, which represented $475M of capital deployed.
Boston Startups Building SMS-Based Products
Last week, SMS-based insurance communications platform Hi Marley raised a $25M Series B and SMS-based education startup Arist raised an additional $2M in seed funding. Over the last year, I’ve mentioned a handful of companies building products that are centered around text messaging customers or end users.
SMS has been around for over 30 years, and I believe the last SMS-focused tech company to exit in Boston was HeyWire getting bought by Salesforce in 2016. It’s interesting to see a new wave of companies building on top of the tech when there are so many new ways to reach users. Most startups that are consumer, or have consumers as end users, commit to hiring iOS and Android engineers to connect with mobile users. Or they build on top of services like Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, etc. Or maybe they just build a web app for users to access via browser. Depending on the product or business model, there’s a possibility that you can get away with all of that and opt for a simple text messaging interface.
Texting went from the only thing you could really do on your phone (the only way to engage with the internet on it) to something we mostly just use today to message close friends and verify 2FA messages. Now the pendulum is swinging again as founders realize it can be quite the engagement hack. It has higher open rates than email (and probably almost every push notification) and higher response rates too. If you can convince a user to let you live inside their iMessages, you can build a powerful and lucrative level of trust. Here are some Boston companies building SMS-based products:
Vertical-Specific:
Qatch is style inspiration via text message that drives clothing purchases.
Wishroute helps people stick to their goals with text-based accountability.
PaybyCar uses SMS to let users make contactless payments at gas stations.
Qeepsake lets you text your favorite baby memories to them for safe keeping.
Verb makes DTC energy bars that you order via text message.
Hi Marley makes insurance more personable with a white-label SMS solution.
Arist delivers bite-sized training courses via text.
LifePod texts you when a loved one doesn’t respond to a smart speaker check in.
Platforms:
Cidewalk is an SMS-based local mobile geofenced advertising platform.
Fontative connects businesses with customers through voice and text.
Pluto helps brands engage customers to drive loyalty and re-purchases.
Tone helps companies seamlessly use conversational SMS to drive sales.
Did I miss any? Let me know.
Stuff I’m Reading:
How Salesforce Became SV’s Best Late-Stage Tech Investor — CNBC
30K+ US Organizations Hacked in Microsoft Exchange Vulnerability — Krebs
Massive Security Camera Hack of Sequoia-backed Verkada — Bloomberg
Profile of Boston-Based Next Gen Chip Maker, Lightmatter — Wired
Boston Tech Financing Rounds:
Nexamp ☀️
MUFG, one of the largest banks in Japan, just closed a $440M credit facility with community solar company Nexamp. They run nearly 100 community solar projects across five states.
Snyk 🔒
Boston and London-based open source cybersecurity platform Snyk just raised $300M at a $4.7B valuation led by Accel and Tiger Global. Other investors included Atlassian, Franklin Templeton, Addition, BlackRock, Boldstart Ventures, Canaan Partners, Coatue, and GV.
Aqua Security 🔒
Aqua Security just became Boston (and Israel’s) latest unicorn following a $135M Series E led by Crossover Partners, with additional participation from M12, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Insight Partners, TLV Partners, Greenspring Associates, and Acrew Capital. They’re the largest pure-play cloud native security company and compete closely with Snyk.
Valo Health 🧬
Flagship Pioneering company Valo Health just raised an additional $110M in Series B funding (following a $190M tranche in January) led by Koch Disruptive Technologies. They use machine intelligence to generate new drugs at a cheaper cost than the current average development price of $2B on their Opal Computing Platform.
Corvus 🛡️
Corvus, which uses AI to help underwrite insurance for IT businesses, just raised a $100M Series C led by Insight Partners. I last wrote about the company in Jan’20 when they raised $33M from Telstra Ventures and Obvious Ventures.
Vendr 🤝
I wrote in mid-February that Tiger Global was in talks to invest in vendor management software company Vendr, according to a scoop from Eric Newcomer’s newsletter. He turned out to be right, and the company announced a $60M Series A led by Tiger, with participation from YCombinator, Sound Ventures, Craft Ventures, F-Prime Capital, and Garage Capital.
Cynet 🔒
Cybersecurity company Cynet just raised a $40M Series C led by Greenfield Partners and joined by Norwest Venture Partners, Vintage Investment Partners, and other existing investors. They’re building an autonomous XDR (Extended Detection & Response) platform — similar to Boston-based Hunters, which recently raised from Snowflake Ventures, Okta Ventures, and M12.
Pear Therapeutics 🍐
I wrote about Pear back in December when the digital therapeutics company raised $80M in Series D funding (which turned into $112M). Per a new filing, the company has raised an additional $20M in equity. They’re working on a suite of FDA approved software products for treating illnesses like insomnia and substance abuse. I’d love to see a roundup of every FDA approved software-based therapy out there right now.
Tausight ⚕️
Tausight, founded by the ex-CTO of Imprivata, just raised a $20M Series A led by Polaris Partners and Flare Capital, with participation from .406 Ventures. They help healthcare organizations uncover vulnerabilities in workflows and secure patient protected health information (PHI).
VEIR 🧊⚡
VEIR, a company using a new kind of cryogenically-cooled superconductor to transmit electricity more efficiently over long distances, just raised a $10M Series A led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, with participation from The Engine and Congruent Ventures.
Veruna 🛡️
Six-year-old insurtech company Veruna just raised $6M led by Keystone Insurer’s Group and EMC Insurance. They offer a software built on top of Salesforce for insurance agencies to better manage customers and pipelines.
Edgecase.ai 🏷️
A Form D for “Medcase Health” surfaced last week, which I believe is Edgecase.ai, a startup providing data labeling as a service to help train AI systems similar to Scale. The three-year-old Tel Aviv and Boston-based company just raised $3.1M in a $5.2M round.
Crio ⚕️
Crio just raised $2M for its eRegulatory software system for clinical research investigators. It’s run by Raymond Nomizu, who previously built and sold a real estate analytics company called BenchCore.
Reclaim🧮
Reclaim, a six-year-old financial wellness startup helping users manage health bills, raised $1M in a $1.5M round. It helps patients shave costs of off bills, find appropriate health plans, and centralize all health bills into one location.
Legit Fish 🐟
A new Form D shows Legit Fish just raised $625K out of a $700K round. They’re building a set of seafood traceability products that improve supply chain visibility and make it easier to comply with various certifications for seafood sales.
LIT 🗯️
LIT Learning produces engaging digital stories aimed at helping with language acquisition. The company, run by Mati Amin, just raised $115K out of a $400K round.
Thanks for reading!
That’s all from me until next week — If you’d like to connect with me, you can find me on Linkedin and Twitter or check out my website at nickstu.art.
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