It's been a strange pandemic sequel year for Boston's innovation economy, but out of it were born a number of new and growing startups and nonprofits which look poised to take 2022 by storm.
Each year, BostInno looks back at our coverage from the last 12 months — at launches, funding rounds, new deals and partnerships, awards and more — and tries to identify the startups that are on the verge of something big.
All of the companies we're highlighting here have different goals, makeups and styles, but the common thread is that they are on the verge of really breaking out.
Here's our 22 startups to watch in 2022:
AcousticaBio: AcousticaBio caught the eye of VCs and more in pitch competitions everywhere this year. The company was a finalist for MassChallenge’s early-stage competition, as well as a winner of UMass’ biomedical innovation pitch contest. Its ambition to transform how patients receive intravenous medications grew out of work at Harvard’s Lewis Lab, and the company plans to partner with pharmaceutical companies to reformulate intravenous therapies into subcutaneous therapies.
ApartmentAdvisor: Some of the leaders who helped build CarGurus and TripAdvisor are taking on a new sector — would you bet against them? ApartmentAdvisors launched its new product this year, a competitor to sites like Craigslist, Apartments.com, Zillow and HotPads which claims that its algorithm can do the job better. The site, which runs on a freemium model, has a sorting tool that helps potential renters determine just how good a deal they’re getting.
Arcaea: After percolating for two years in the labs of Ginkgo Bioworks, entrepreneur Jasmina Aganovic launched beauty-focused biotech Arcaea earlier this year with a $78 million Series A round, one of the biggest in the sector in Massachusetts in 2021. The startup has four technical programs in the works, which are being kept mostly secret for now, but one of them is bioengineered keratin.
Casana: Casana’s innovation is an at-home heart monitor that comes in an unusual form: a toilet seat. The company, which has offices both in Boston and Rochester, New York, raised $14 million in a Series A this year, and is working on getting clearance from the FDA. Its pitch is that the seat can help get repeated, consistent readings that don’t require patients to change anything about their lifestyle or habits.
Curie Therapeutics: After 18 months of stealth, Curie Therapeutics is ready for its spotlight. The company launched this month with $75 million in Series A funding and a vision of making radiotherapy less dangerous. The startup is planning to triple its employee headcount from 15 to 45 in the next year.
Dyno Therapeutics: One year after its launch, Cambridge startup Dyno Therapeutics, founded by Harvard geneticist George Church, brought in $100 million in a Series A this year, on top of big name partnerships. The company, which is working on engineering viral proteins, has signed deals with drug giants Novartis and Roche, and is rapidly growing its Cambridge-based team.
Factorial: Months after launching out of stealth mode, electric vehicle battery startup Factorial has already partnered with three of the top 10 automakers in the world: Hyundai, Stellantis and Mercedes-Benz. Factorial says its solid-state batteries, the first to reach the benchmark of 40 amp-hours, can be used for a 20% to 50% longer range per charge than conventional lithium-ion batteries, while also being cost competitive and increasing safety. The company launched with $40 million in capital.
Foundation Devices: This Boston startup is thinking inside the box. Foundation Devices, born during the pandemic, is building a physical Bitcoin wallet, a battery-powered hardware device that has a keypad, a camera on the back and a microSD card slot at the top. The pitch from founder Zach Herbert is that using the device instead of an online wallet run by an exchange helps meet the decentralization goals of cryptocurrency in general.
GenUnity: After a pilot in 2020 and follow-up in 2021, GenUnity is one to watch as it keeps growing. The nonprofit, born out of Harvard’s Innovation Labs, is trying to revolutionize civic education for adults, holding classes with 30 to 40 community members over several months. The classes, on topics like housing insecurity and health equity, are designed to help low-income people and others get actively involved in their communities. The business model involves partnering with big employers in the area, so GenUnity is looking to grow those relationships and potentially move to more cities next year.
Givzey: Sometimes after a merger or acquisition, it’s time to go back to square one. After co-founding the AI company Gravyty in 2015 and leading it as CEO up until a merger earlier this year, Adam Martel was ready to go to stage zero again. So he started Givzey this month, which uses AI algorithms to help donors and nonprofits make and receive their donations more effectively. It’s got $3 million committed in a seed round, most of it from investors who exited Gravyty and wanted to follow Martel to his next venture.
Jellyfish: This software engineering management platform was nominated for hottest startup of the year by the New England Venture Capital Association for good reason: it raised $31.5 million in a Series B amid a growing demand for cloud-based tools. Jellyfish is now aiming to grow its customer base and employee headcount in 2022.
Odyssey Therapeutics: Odyssey Therapeutics, launched early in 2021 by serial biotech entrepreneur Gary Glick, has brought in a big Series A round and is differentiating itself with what Glick calls “intellectual capital.” The company is working on a broad array of ailments, developing protein therapeutics and small molecules to modulate the immune system, with the goal of tackling inflammatory disorders, autoimmune diseases and oncology. It’s got a star-studded team of senior leaders and scientists, many of them pulled from big pharma.
Osmoses: Osmoses was just founded earlier this year, but has already won a number of awards and prizes, and in November raised $3 million in pre-seed funding to boot. The startup, founded by MIT chemical and materials engineering experts, is developing a novel membrane technology for gas separations, with the aim of eliminating energy waste and reducing production costs and CO2 emissions. Its founders say gas separations are a $10 billion and growing market.
Phase Zero: Phase Zero was one of the startups to graduate out of Northeastern University’s Roux Institute inaugural Techstars Accelerator class. The company, founded by engineer Ngoc Le, helps digital health companies build internal tools, including HIPAA-compliant databases for patient management and care coordination. Following the accelerator, Phase Zero has already signed six customer contracts and is getting ready to line up a first round of institutional capital.
QuEra Computing: This Boston-based quantum computer developer launched into a hot start in November, emerging from stealth mode with $17 million in funding. The team, stacked with Harvard and MIT grads, is trying to make the world’s most powerful quantum computer,
Solchroma: Somerville-based Solchroma builds full color, reflective digital displays for smart cities to address light pollution. Aiming to avoid the “Times Square” look of LED displays, the company’s product does not require an internal light source and consumes just 1% of the energy of existing LED-based digital signage. Solchroma is in talks with some of the largest names in outdoor advertising and largest gas station operators in the country.
Spoiler Alert: Coming off a strategic pivot and an $11 million Series A, Spoiler Alert is poised for a big 2022. The MassChallenge and Techstars alum is building a platform to help food production companies manage their extra product. It’s got deals in place with big brands like Nestlé, Kraft Heinz, Campbell Soup Company and Danone North America and is looking to double or triple its employee headcount next year.
Stackwell: Former State Street executive Trevor Rozier-Byrd wanted to try something different, and the company he launched this year is certainly that. His startup Stackwell Capital Inc. is building an investing app aimed at helping build generational wealth in the Black community, trying to make investment more accessible to those who have historically been shut out. Solving the racial wealth gap is a daunting task, but Rozier-Byrd has a strong board of advisors and a sturdy round of seed capital to get started.
Verdox: This clean energy startup, founded by MIT experts, has caught the eye of local accelerators and innovators. Verdox’s proprietary electro-swing process enables carbon dioxide and other acid gases to be captured with up to 80% less energy and 70% less cost. The Boston company has gotten funding from a number of high-profile institutional investors.
Vizit: One of the Mass Technology Leadership Council’s New Companies of the Year is poised for a big 2022. Vizit, which calls itself the world’s first visual intelligence company, helps firms measure, understand and optimize their visual brands. Vizit was founded in 2019 by Jehan Hamedi, a Boston computational social science and artificial intelligence expert.
Wabbi: Female-founded cybersecurity startup Wabbi raised more than $2 million in seed funding this year, after picking up contracts with Fortune 500 companies and the U.S. Air Force. Founded by Brittany Greenfield, the company is working on technology to aid continuous security management by making sure that code always has the most current security standards attached. The MIT MBA says the company has rapidly growing demand from new and existing customers.
Wishroute: Another company from the Roux Institute Techstars Accelerator first class, Wishroute helps subscription wellness companies convert and retain customers through proactive text message coaching. The company lined up new customers in 2021, including its first public company, and is poised to continue growing its team of six employees in 2022.
