MassChallenge Co-founder and CEO John Harthorne rang the opening bell of the NASDAQ stock exchange Wednesday morning, armed with a commitment: that the locally-founded nonprofit would launch startup accelerators in 10 cities by 2019, beginning with a London location later this year.
"I'm honored to stand here today," said Harthorne during the ceremony. "I'm incredibly optimistic about the future because of the innovation I see from these [MassChallenge] startups."
Since launching in 2009, 489 MassChallenge alumni startups have raised more than $550 million in outside funding and created approximately 4,000 jobs.
MassChallenge welcomed 128 early-stage startups into its new space at the Boston Innovation and Design Building earlier this summer. Each are currently heads-down innovating, aware there's more than $1 million in cash prizes on the line, which are scheduled to be awarded on October 29.
"I encourage all of you to join us in helping entrepreneurs," Harthorne added.
Given this response to Streetwise Media's own SVP Greg Gomer, who fairly asked, "Why is MassChallenge ringing the bell again?" it's clear NASDAQ is in support of entrepreneurs.
@sliggity We were invited by @NASDAQ to celebrate startups, job creation, and global expansion! It's truly an honor.
— MassChallenge (@MassChallenge) August 27, 2014
Here's the video of Harthorne ringing the bell:
