To recognize the venture capital firms that have helped turn Boston into a booming tech hub, we’ve pulled out some of the top names that have helped transform the city into what it is today.
Top Venture Capital Firms in Boston
- Spark Capital
- General Catalyst Partners
- Bain Capital
- Polaris Partners
- NextView Ventures
- Charles River Ventures (CRV)
- MassVentures
Founded in 2005, Spark Capital invests out of a $450 million early-stage venture fund and a $375 million venture growth fund, managing in total five funds with $2 billion under management. They are an early and growth stage VC firm that invests in startups in security, marketplace, fintech, media and entertainment.
Location: Boston, MA
Investments: 231 investments in 131 companies
Exits: 3 IPOs and 34 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: Cybereason, Runkeeper, Wayfair
Underscore VC is a firm that invests in early-stage companies and startups, working with entrepreneurs from seed funding to Series A rounds. The firm strongly believes in the future of non-hardware technology and therefore works largely with data, software and AI-powered companies.
Location: Boston, MA
Investments: $225 million under management
Notable Boston portfolio companies: Forge AI, CloudZero, Soofa
Founded in 1984, Summit Partners is a growth-equity firm that invests in rapidly expanding companies in sectors like fintech, information technology, SaaS, e-commerce, media, and entertainment. They have raised over $16 billion in capital for more than 430 companies.
Location: Boston, MA
Investments: 298 investments in 280 companies
Exits: 69 IPOs and 130 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: Fuze, Vestmark, NetBrain Technologies
General Catalyst makes early-stage and growth equity investments primarily in consumer and enterprise software and mobile. To date, they have managed seven venture capital funds totaling approximately $3 billion in capital commitments.
Location: Cambridge, MA
Investments: 433 investments in 255 companies
Exits: 7 IPOs and 62 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: Circle, HubSpot, Demandware, Bullhorn
Polaris Partners invests in groundbreaking technology and healthcare companies at all stages of their lifecycles. They have over $4 billion in assets under management.
Location: Waltham, MA
Investments: 384 investments in 209 companies
Exits: 21 IPOs and 60 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: Drizly, ClearSky Data, Localytics
Founded in 2001, PJC is an early stage venture capital firm that focuses on investing in software and consumer and enterprise technology companies. The firm usually invests $500,000 to $3 million in a first round of financing, reserving additional capital for subsequent financing rounds.
Location: Boston, MA
Investments: 58 investments in 37 companies
Exits: 8 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: Pixability, Everagage, CoachUp
NextView specializes in investing in seed, startup, and early-stage companies in software, consumer and business focused technology, and internet businesses.
Location: Boston, MA
Investments: 85 investments in 48 companies
Exits: 13 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: BookBub, InsightSquared
Founded in 2001, BCV invests across sectors including infrastructure software, application software, fintech and healthcare. They have approximately $3 billion of assets under management.
Location: Boston, MA
Investments: 223 investments in 136 companies
Exits: 2 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: Rapid7, Skyhook, Boston Heart Diagnostics
Founded in 1983, Battery Ventures is a tech-focused venture capital firm that focuses on promising startups in various technology sectors and growth stages. Their team finds companies with cutting-edge business ideas in IT infrastructure, application software, and consumer Internet and mobile. They typically invest in companies with revenue between $5 million and $200 million and build them into global tech leaders.
Location: Boston, MA
Investments: 468 investments in 269 companies
Exits: 16 IPOs and 88 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: Akamai, Wayfair, Yesware
Flybridge Capital Partners is an early-stage, tech-focused venture capital firm that assists entrepreneurs in the enterprise IT, software, mobile, and consumer IT sectors. They have over $625 million in assets under management.
Location: Boston, MA
Investments: 147 investments in 75 companies
Exits: 1 IPO and 27 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: Jibo, DataXu, AppNeta, Digital Lumens
Highland Capital Partners provides seed, early, and growth stage venture capital for promising entrepreneurs, building up-and-coming businesses in the communications, digital media, healthcare, consumers, and information technology markets.
Location: Cambridge, MA
Investments: 351 investments in 191 companies
Exits: 22 IPOs and 65 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: Paint Nite, ClearSky Data, Turbonomic
Founded in 1970, Charles River Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that has approximately $1.5 billion in assets under management. They target entrepreneurs launching companies in high-growth media and tech sectors.
Location: Cambridge, MA
Investments: 357 investments in 222 companies
Exits: 13 IPOs and 86 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: Jibo, Rethink Robotics
Founded in 1978, MassVentures is a venture capital firm that targets early-stage, high-growth Massachusetts-based startups in security, SaaS, media and entertainment, and information technology.
Location: Boston, MA
Investments: 37 investments in 25 companies
Exits: 8 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: MachineMetrics, OwnerIQ, Inside Tracker, Applause, Forerun
Matrix Partners invests in early-stage companies in software, communications, data storage, internet and wireless. They have over $2.4 billion in assets under management.
Location: Cambridge, MA
Investments: I374 investments in 213 companies
Exits: 12 IPOs and 73 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: HubSpot, Storiant, CloudSwitch
New Atlantic Ventures invests in early-stage companies in mobile, new media, and online services. They’re total capital is around $230 million.
Location: Cambridge, MA
Investments: 82 investments in 51 companies
Exits: 2 IPOs and 14 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: EveryScape
Founded by MIT grad Scott Maxwell, OpenView is a venture capital firm that builds expansion stage software companies into market leaders. They have invested over $100 million in Boston area technology startups and have $700 million in total capital under management.
Location: Boston, MA
Investments: 66 investments in 39 companies
Exits: 1 IPO and 10 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: SmashFly Technologies, Exinda
Prism VentureWorks focuses on investing across different industry sectors in technology such as digital living, wireless, mobile, and security applications, in addition to life sciences. Prism VentureWorks has five funds with over $1.25 billion in investments.
Location: Needham, MA
Investments: 114 investments in 66 companies.
Exits: 4 IPOs and 28 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: Proteon Therapeutics, Sonian
Volition Capital is a growth equity firm that primarily invests in high potential startups across different technology sectors like software, Internet, and data services.
Location: Boston, MA
Investments: 25 investments in 17 companies
Exits: 1 IPO and 3 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: TraceLink
G20 Ventures is different from most venture capital firms in that it’s a community of 20 technology pioneers who have made their mark on the tech world. G20 provides capital for early-stage ventures primarily in software and SaaS.
Location: Boston, MA
Investments: 6 investments in 5 companies
Exits: N/A
Notable Boston portfolio companies: Evergage
Advanced Technology Ventures focuses on investing in early-stage startups in IT, healthcare, and cleantech. They have over $1.8 billion in capital.
Location: Waltham, MA
Investments: 195 investments in 109 companies
Exits: 13 IPOs and 29 acquisitions
Notable Boston portfolio companies: Actifio, Evergage
