The debate over the status of ride-haling drivers and the ever-growing number of companies becoming publicly traded via either IPOs or SPACs were among the top local stories of 2021. But the events shaping the local tech and venture capital beat this year did not stop there.
Here are some of the top Boston-area tech stories of 2021:
The 'Great Resignation' affects the corner office
Tech public companies have gone through a bit of turnover in 2021. Brian Halligan, who was founding CEO of HubSpot Inc. (NYSE: HUBS), left the reins of the Cambridge marketing software company to Yamini Rangan after over 15 years at the helm. Other companies such as Tripadvisor Inc. (Nasdaq: TRIP), Brightcove Inc. (Nasdaq: BCOV) and most recently Everbridge Inc. (Nasdaq: EVBG) are looking for successors to chief executives Stephen Kaufer, Jeff Ray and David Meredith, respectively. As their search is expected to close in the coming weeks or early 2022, Waltham-based Dynatrace Inc. (NYSE: DT) has already found a new leader: Rick McConnell, who replaced John Van Siclen in December.
Blockbuster mergers
For its second-largest deal since buying LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) picked one of the largest software development firms in the Bay State — Nuance Communications Inc., the maker of the software that was originally behind Apple’s Siri speech-recognition technology. The $19.7 billion acquisition is still intended to close by Dec. 31. Another big tech company that went shopping around Boston this year is Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER), which bought Drizly for $1.1 billion in stock and cash to further its alcohol delivery capabilities.
Monster funding rounds
As the number of Bay State companies valued over $1 billion continues to grow, the $1 billion tag for the first time appeared in Massachusetts as the amount of a single venture capital round. Companies like MIT-born Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Thrasio Holdings Inc. and Devoted Health set new records by raising rounds totaling $1.8 billion, more than $1 billion and $1.15 billion, respectively. Next step: a Massachusetts "decacorn," or a private company worth at least $10 billion.
