State Officials Sponsor Bill For More Rideshare Regulations
State Senator Linda Dorcena Forry and State Representative Michael Moran are sponsoring a bill that calls for more regulations on ridshares like Uber and Lyft. Though Gov. Charlie Baker is already pursuing rideshare regulations, this legislation calls for criminal background checks for prospective drivers that includes fingerprint identification, liability insurance coverage that includes a minimum of $1 million for bodily injury, and commercial license plates for ride-share vehicles. – Nick DeLuca
An Act Relative to Passenger Safety
Mavrck Launches Private Beta for Instagram
With a new private beta program, Mavrck is expanding on its influencer activation engine to help brands identify, activate and engage their most influential followers on Instagram. The company has developed an algorithm that ranks users based on their posts' engagement rates, and using the Instagram Influencer Activation Engine, brands can initiate influencers to like/comment on their posts, post their own influencer-generated image, tag friends or post an existing piece of branded content. Mavrck then tracks the number of engagements generated by the influencers' Instagram content. In conjunction with this news, the Boston-based analytics and marketing startup announced a pilot program with Tom's of Maine. So far, it has helped Tom's grow its community of Instagram users about 8 percent in two weeks to 1,000, according to AdAge. Any brands or agencies looking to get in on the private beta can apply now on the Mavrck site. – Rebecca Strong
Simplivity Reveals Bookings Have Surged 250 Percent, Hires 2 New Execs
Back in March, Simplivity secured $175 million in series D financing—and now, with a valuation of more than $1 billion, the IT infrastructure company is announcing another milestone: As of June 30, the Company grew sales bookings by nearly 250 percent year-over-year. In addition, Simplivity also hired 150 new team members (35 percent growth year over year) now totaling more than 550 employees, growing at a pace of about 10 people per week. The firm has made several key hires for its leadership team, including Jose Almandoz as senior vice president of operations (previously at Intralinks) and Randi Nichols as vice president of human resources (previously at Masonic Health Systems). – Rebecca Strong
CoachUp Has a New Board Member
Here's a piece of news that you might have missed from the end of last week: Boston-based CoachUp added Diane Hessen to its Board of Directors. The CEO of Startup Institute joins the board of CoachUp at a notable time in the company's history. Having been founded by Jordan Fliegel and Arian Radmand in 2011, the private coaching company has grown to be the largest of its kind in the country. Here's a release about Hessan's new role.
Real Estate Porn: Luxury Living With Fenway Park Views at Van Ness
One tower of Van Ness is dedicated to office space while the other boasts 172 luxury apartments ranging from studio size to two-bedrooms. The building comes with two outdoor spaces for residents to enjoy, one on the fourth floor the other on the roof, as well as such features as an on-site pet concierge service provided by Baroo.
On the ground floor of the building is what's arguably poised to be Van Ness's most promising amentity: CityTarget. >>> Read more on BostInno – Nick DeLuca
The Breakers Are Aiming Long Term in the Wake of the Women's World Cup
And the National Women's Soccer League, the latest iteration of U.S. women's professional soccer, has undoubtedly seen its fortunes raised by the rising tide of American star power on the world stage. For anyone who doesn't believe that, consider the words of the general manager of Boston's own NWSL team, the Breakers. >>> Read more on BostInno – Hayden Bird
Boatbound is Bolstering Its On-Demand Rental Platform Across the Boston Area
For Boatbound founder Aaron Hall, that gap was mind-boggling. Hall, who has launched and sold a number of startups—including wedding marketplace Weddzilla—realized this opportunity when he was trying to rent a boat to take out on Lake Ray Robert with his family in Texas during the summer of 2012. But the marina had an extremely limited inventory of boats, and all of them were booked. Meanwhile, Hall noticed there there were hundreds of unused boats docked nearby. Why, he wondered, was there no peer-to-peer rental platform to tap into the excess supply sitting around at marinas? >>> Read more on BostInno – Rebecca Stront
