2021 was a banner year for Boston tech, with startups here raising massive amounts of money and hitting even bigger valuations. Keep reading to find out how these newly minted unicorns plan to use their fresh capital as we move into the new year. Hint: most of them are hiring!
$1.2B Valuation as of January
The data analytics startup kicked off 2021 with a $100 million Series C, bringing its total valuation to more than $1 billion. At the center of Starburst is Presto, an SQL query engine developed by Facebook that companies like Netflix and Twitter use to process their data from anywhere. Coming in just six months after a $42 million Series B, this round was led by VC superstar Andreessen Horowitz, and included a who’s who of participating investors including Salesforce Ventures, Coatue and Index Ventures. Now, Starburst is in the midst of a hiring push, and is using the money to fuel its global expansion.
$1.1B Valuation as of February
In a nutshell, Nexthink helps companies manage their employees’ digital experience, ensuring they are happy at work and doing things more efficiently. The startup hit a $1.1 billion valuation in February after raising $180 million — a milestone co-founder and CEO Pedro Bados says is a “testament to the market momentum, and how seriously companies are taking employees’ digital experiences,” especially in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic when employees are working remotely. To keep up, Nexthink is growing its team globally.
$1B Valuation as of February
Just months after closing on a $40 million Series D, Locus Robotics announced in February it raised another $150 million from Tiger Global Management and BOND, valuing the seven-year-old startup at $1 billion. Then, just seven months later, it turned around and raised another $50 million (also led by Tiger Global Management). The money is being used to accelerate the global expansion of Locus’ fleet of “LocusBots” — autonomous robots that can be leased out to companies looking to automate their operations.
$1B+ Valuation as of May
Founded in Paris in 2014, insurance fraud detector Shift made Boston its U.S. headquarters back in 2018, citing a major “fraud challenge” in America. Then in May it became the city’s latest tech unicorn after raising a $220 million Series D. In the future, the startup says it hopes to usher in the digital transformation of the global insurance industry, which means increasing R&D efforts and expanding its presence in the United States, Europe and Asia. Shift is also expanding its services into the property, casualty insurance markets, as well as the health insurance sector — an area the company says poses a “large opportunity.”
$1.2B Valuation as of May
Inari develops genetically modified seeds with the goal of creating plans that are healthier and more resilient in the face of climate change. And, so far, the startup says it has made “significant progress” on this front, particularly with tomatoes, soybeans and corn seeds. It will likely make even more headway in light of the $208 million investment it received back in May, which brought its valuation to $1.2 billion.
$2.2B Valuation as of May
The cybersecurity startup made history in May when it raised a whopping $543 million in fresh funding — reportedly the largest Series A ever for the industry. The fresh capital also brought its pre-money valuation to $2.2 billion, indicating that Transmit’s dream to “rid the world of passwords” may soon become a reality. As of June, the company handled more than 9,000 authentication requests per second, and is used by major brands like Lowe’s, UBS and Santander. The money is being used to fuel Transmit’s international expansion, as well as grow its team.
$1B+ Valuation as of September
The B2B commerce startup joined the ranks of the city’s growing army of unicorns in September after it received a strategic growth investment of an undisclosed amount from Vista Equity Partners. Co-founder and CTO Elias Torres said this milestone was especially important because it made Drift one of the only Latino-founded companies to ever achieve an over $1 billion valuation. The company was founded in 2015 in order to offer conversational marketing services to other businesses, integrating chat, email, video and chatbots in order to create personalized communication that can lead to new customers and revenue. Today, Drift is used by 50,000 businesses, and the new investment is being used to build out its customer success team, expand its product and scale globally.
$2.4B Valuation as of September
The cybersecurity company landed a $250 million investment from Moody’s earlier this year which brought its valuation to a lofty $2.4 billion. The new investment comes at a time when the company’s tools — including ratings, analytics and performance management — are in high demand as hacks and ransomware attacks are on the rise amid the pandemic. The company, founded in 2011, helps its 2,300 global customers understand their cyber risk and also recently acquired VisibleRisk, an Israeli startup.
$1B+ Valuation as of October
After achieving more than 500 percent quarter-over-quarter growth, Solo.io closed on a $135 million Series C in October, bringing the application networking startup’s total valuation to north of $1 billion. Solo.io’s products have been in especially high demand lately, according to CEO and founder Idit Levine, who attributes this recent growth to both market trends and existing customers expanding their use of its products. With Levine at the helm, Solo.io is one of the few local women-led tech startups to hit unicorn valuation this year, joined only by Inari Agriculture, which is headed by Ponsi Trivisvavet, and ezCater, which is headed by Stefania Mallett (more on them later).
$2.5B Valuation as of October
Just three months after closing on a $150 million Series E, the Aura raised another $200 million Series F and more than doubled its valuation to $2.5 billion. Over the years, the startup has carved out a niche for itself in the city’s otherwise crowded cybersecurity space, protecting consumers directly without going through other companies. To keep up with surging demand, the company said it had plans to hire 200 people by the end of the year focusing mainly on its product, engineering and go-to-market teams.
$1.5B Valuation as of November
Less than a year after its $40 million Series A, the sales tech startup pulled in another $205 million round that brought its valuation to $1.5 billion. Founded in Tel Aviv in 2016, Lusha aims to help B2B salespeople identify, engage with and close deals. The company opened its office here in Boston last March, and says it plans to use this new capital to expand its global presence and grow its team — especially locally.
