In The Know
The Inno stories you need to read today.
Elsewhere in Inno
Stories from around the Inno network we think you'll dig.
Making Moves
Inside the people, companies and organizations making moves in Boston.
Rowan: ICYMI: Yesterday, we revealed the winners of this year's 50 on Fire. Read about them here.
Rowan: Lexington-based T2 Biosystems' T2Resistance Panel just became the first diagnostic to graduate from CARB-X's portfolio. CARB-X awarded T2 Biosystems $2M in 2017 to support the development of the panel, designed to detect 13 resistance genes from both gram-positive and gram-negative pathogens directly from a whole-blood specimen—without the need for blood cultures. The panel was granted Breakthrough Device designation by the Food and Drug Administration earlier this year and is expected to be available for research use only in the US and receive CE-Mark for commercial availability in Europe this year.
Rowan: Last week, more than 60 tenured female faculty at MIT signed a letter to President Rafael Reif expressing their "profound concern" about what is happening at the Institute in the wake of revelations about MIT's connections to late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Yesterday, the group opened that letter to the wider university community.
Sri: Enel X, the Enel Group’s advanced energy services business line, signed an agreement with the University of Massachusetts Boston to install a 1 MW solar photovoltaic facility integrated with a 0.5 MW/2.0 MWh lithium-ion energy storage system, as well as 11 Enel X JuiceBox electric vehicle smart charging stations at the campus. The project is expected to be operational by the first half of 2020.
Rowan: Waltham-based Vecna Robotics, a developer of autonomous material handling solutions, is teaming up with UniCarriers Americas, a manufacturer of material handling equipment. The two companies are collaborating on a line of autonomous material handling vehicles for warehouses, distribution centers and manufacturing environments.
Sri: The Worcester Red Sox announced an agreement with tech startup Standard Cognition to open the world’s first autonomous checkout store in a pro sports and entertainment venue.
Rowan: Boston-based Zerto, an IT resilience company, launched Zerto 7.5 to deliver deeper integrations with partners, new security and cloud capabilities and advanced analytics.
New Money
Your daily funding roundup.
Rowan: Flipside Crypto, a business intelligence firm for cryptocurrency and blockchain organizations, raised $7.1M in seed financing. The round was led by Galaxy Digital Ventures with participation from Collaborative Fund, CMT Digital and Avon Ventures. Previous investors True Ventures, Founder Collective, Digital Currency Group, Castle Island and Boston Seed all participated as well. The capital will be used to expand the team and augment Flipside Crypto's data science and analytics capabilities designed to help cryptocurrency organizations grow.
Rowan: Billionaire Robert F. Smith’s Vista Equity Partners has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Boston-based Acquia in a transaction valuing the enterprise software company at close to $1B, including debt, initially reported by Bloomberg. The technology-focused private equity firm confirmed the deal in a statement Tuesday without disclosing financial terms.
Sri: Sudbury-based CytoSite BioPharma raised $2.5M in equity and seeks to raise an additional $2.6M, according to an SEC filing.
Rowan: Boston-based iVexSol, a newly formed viral vector manufacturing company, raised $2M in new convertible debt funding led by Casdin Capital and BioLife Solutions.
Player Personnel
Who’s moving where.
Rowan: Boston-based Medisafe, a medication management platform, last week announced the appointments of Sean Markey as chief business officer and Jennifer Butler as chief marketing officer.
Sri: Cambridge-based Kebotix, a technology platform company for new chemicals and materials, appointed Ashish Kulkarni, executive vice president and chief technology and innovation officer of Avantor, to its board of directors.
Sri: Dutch digital asset management company Bynder, whose U.S. headquarters are in Boston, hired Andrew Hally, formerly of Allego, as SVP of global marketing. Hally will work out of the Boston office.
Rowan: Boston-based Fuze, a cloud-based communications platform provider, hired Rob Scudiere as the company’s CTO.
On the Quad
The news about and for Boston students.
Diti: A record number of startups are participating in the 2019 Harvard Innovation Lab’s Fall Venture Incubation Program.
This year, the 12-week acceleration program will gather 176 startups from all 13 Harvard schools. Participating students will dedicate time to their projects using the experiential education resources provided by the i-lab. A swath of industries are represented in this year’s picks: 20% of the ventures are zoning in on social impact, cultural entrepreneurship or education; another 20% on the science of health; 30% on consumer products or services; and a final 30% on B2B and tech.
Read more: Exclusive: Meet the 176 Startups in the Harvard Innovation Lab’s Fall Venture Program
In The Community
The events and happenings to know about tonight and this week.
Emily: PKG Community Conversations: Tech for Social Good: This event is specifically focused on startups that strive to help out community-focused organizations. Folks can sign up for 90-second pitches about their central company goals and needs moving forward. These pitches are optional, and attendees can just come to engage in discussion about how tech can be used for social good. Register here.
6 p.m., 32 Vassar St., Cambridge, free
Opportunities
Do you know when to open the door?
Sri: The Latino Board Fellowship is looking for nominations and applications for new fellows. The program is designed to support and place Latinos working within and outside the education sector onto governing boards of schools and education nonprofit organizations. Learn more here.
Read This Right Now
Insight and analysis from the community and beyond.
Rowan: For the first time in October this year, volunteers from the New England tech community will have the option to give back to the community through skilled-based volunteering instead of physical labor, reports our sister publication the Boston Business Journal.
The idea for tech workers to make their technical skills available to local nonprofits came from Mike Cole, executive director of Technology Underwriting Greater Good, or TUGG. The idea will be implemented in the upcoming TUGG’s days of service known as Tech Gives Back, slated for Oct. 10-11. The Journal spoke to Cole about the new model here. (TUGG is one of BostInno's 2019 50 on Fire.)
 Featured Jobs
Featured startup and tech jobs on BostInno's new Careers Directory.
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