This was a fine—excuse me—damn fine year for Boston-area startups getting funded. It wasn’t just in Boston, of course. But get this: the first three quarters of the year saw Massachusetts companies raise $4.9 billion in funding, according to CB Insights. I.e., more than companies raised here during all of last year ($4.2 billion). And Q4 has been busy for funding news in Boston, too.
The year isn’t over yet, but the major funding announcements probably are. So here’s our look at the 10 biggest venture capital funding deals in Boston tech during 2015—which ends up being 11, since there’s a tie for the No. 10 slot. Well-represented sectors on the list include cybersecurity (Cybereason, Digital Guardian, Bit9), enterprise IT (SimpliVity, VMTurbo) and consumer (DraftKings, PillPack). All together, the 11 funding rounds total $1.04 billion.
Congrats to all.
1.) DraftKings
- Amount: $300 million, at a $1.2 billion valuation
- Month: July
- Investors: Fox Networks Group, Accomplice, the Raine Group, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, the Kraft Group
- What they do: Online/mobile daily fantasy sports contests
- Read more.
2.) SimpliVity
- Amount: $175 million, at a valuation of more than $1 billion
- Month: March
- Investors: Waypoint Capital, Accel Partners, DFJ Growth, CRV, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Growth, Meritech Capital Partners
- What they do: Data center management technology
- Read more.
3.) Cybereason
- Amount: $84 million
- Month: The funding came across two rounds, a $25 million round in May and a $59 million round in Oct.
- Investors: SoftBank Corp., CRV, Spark Capital
- What they do: Cybersecurity software
- Read more.
4.) Onshape
- Amount: $80 million
- Month: Sept.
- Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, New Enterprise Associates, Commonwealth Capital Ventures and North Bridge Venture Partners
- What they do: Cloud-based software for CAD (computer-aided design)
- Read more.
5.) Altiostar Networks
- Amount: $70 million
- Month: Jan. ($50 million) and Feb. ($20 million add-on)
- Investors: Cisco, Fidelity, Excelestar Ventures
- What they do: Networking technology
- Read more.
6.) Digital Guardian
- Amount: $66 million
- Month: Dec.
- Investors: GE Pension Trust, Fairhaven Capital Partners, Loring Wolcott & Coolidge, Special Situation Funds, Brookline Venture Partners, Mass Mutual Ventures, venture unit of Siemens Financial Services
- What they do: Cybersecurity software
- Read more.
7.) Extreme Reach
- Amount: $56.5 million
- Month: June
- Investors: Not disclosed
- What they do: Software for TV ad delivery
- Read more.
8.) Acquia
- Amount: $55 million
- Month: Sept.
- Investors: Centerview Capital Technology, New Enterprise Associates, Split Rock Partners
- What they do: Cloud technology for Web content management
- Read more.
9.) Bit 9 + Carbon Black
- Amount: $54.5 million
- Month: Oct.
- Investors: Accomplice, .406 Ventures, Blackstone, Highland Capital Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sequoia Capital
- What they do: Cybersecurity software
- Read more.
10 (Tie). VMTurbo
- Amount: $50 million, at a $500 million valuation
- Month: Jan.
- Investors: ICONIQ Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Globespan Capital Partners, Highland Capital Partners
- What they do: Virtualized data center management software
- Read more.
10 (Tie). PillPack
- Amount: $50 million
- Month: May
- Investors: CRV, Accel Partners, Accomplice, Menlo Ventures, Sherpa Ventures
- What they do: Provider of personalized/pre-sorted medications that customers order online
- Read more.
Note: This list just includes companies headquartered in Massachusetts—excludes companies with major offices here that are based elsewhere, such as Infinidat.
