Eleven Boston companies are among this year’s MassChallenge early-stage winners, in the final 36 out of a 229 startup cohort with companies from around the country and the world.
In total, the organization handed out $1.5 million in prizes. Boston’s AcousticaBio, which is working on intravenously delivered biologic products for subcutaneous injection, was one of the big winners, taking home a $100,000 Diamond Award. IQ3Connect, out of Woburn, which provides live interactive 3D remote collaboration for industrial training and distance learning, was among the second tier of platinum award winners, with a $50,000 prize.
The renowned accelerator has been focused on finding entrepreneurs who might not have access to conventional means of investment, said CEO Siobhan Dullea in an interview.
“We know that the innovation ecosystem has a diversity problem,” Dullea said. “We’ve been working on that for years. Because we take no equity, we don't have the limits that other … organizations have. We’re focusing on reimagining venture because … we’ve seen that it takes unconventional partners. The traditional modes of venture, they’re still relevant, but they’re insufficient.”
Out of venture dollars across all industries, just 2.6% goes to minority founders, and just over 2% to women founders, Dullea said. That's despite good returns on investment that come along with diverse teams.
The 229 startups in the 2021 cohort are 48% female-founded and 47% with founders who are Black, indigenous or people of color, representing 26 industries and 20 countries, according to MassChallenge.
Running the program virtually for the second time this year helped the group learn even more after making some mistakes in 2020, Dullea said.
“In 2022 and beyond, we’re going to have all those learnings and hopefully the benefit of getting people together again and having the best of both worlds,” she said.
For Dullea herself, she’s growing into the job as she approaches three years as CEO.
“I spend as much time with startups as possible. I get inspired by them but also get ideas for thinking through problems that I didn't think had a solution,” she said. “It's been 12 years since we started, and we can't focus on the same sort of value drivers that we did in 2009 as in 2021.”
The other Boston area winners are Ostiio, Rentable, Southie Autonomy, MuonVision, Oyster Common, GuardianWealth, Kinder Digital Pediatric Clinic, Neramco, and SchoolSuite.
