Techstars alum CareAcademy pulls in $1.7M to train care professionals
CareAcademy, a Boston-based startup that trains senior home care professionals, closed a $1.7 million seed round last week from investors Rethink Education, Lumina Foundation and Techstars Venture Capital. CareAcademy, which offers online video courses to more than 50 home care agencies, graduated from the Techstars Boston startup accelerator early this year. The new funding will be used to expand CareAcademy’s course offerings and get more home care agencies using the platform. [BostInno]
Arizona firm Avnet buys Boston’s Dragon Innovation
Dragon Innovation, a Boston-area hardware and software consulting firm, was acquired by one of its partners, Avnet, for an undisclosed sum this week. Phoenix, AZ-based global distributor Avnet offers a mix of product design and supply chain services, and has been on an acquisition streak over the past year. The Dragon Innovation purchase will let Avnet help customers simplify the manufacturing process, especially for connected devices. Since its founding in 2009, Dragon Innovation has helped hardware companies like MakerBot and Pebble with their products. [Xconomy]
Boston-based GasBuddy pivots business plan to sell big data
GasBuddy, a Boston startup that helps users find the cheapest gas nearby, is pivoting its business plan. Up until now, the company has lived off banner ads that don’t pay too much, so GasBuddy is instead hoping to become the essential supplier of big data to convenience stores and gas stations trying to improve customer targeting. The startup’s new business plan includes selling data to gas stations about their customers and competitors, in addition to providing drivers with real-time information on prices and special offers as they approach stations. This is meant to encourage repeat business by linking payments and loyalty plans to individual GasBuddy accounts. [The Boston Globe]
Storage software company Carbonite acquires Datacastle
Storage software provider Carbonite made its second acquisition this year, purchasing Datacastle for an undisclosed sum. Carbonite’s purchase of Datacastle, which develops backup, recovery, encryption and data shredding solutions for businesses, will help the Boston-based company expand its offerings into the enterprise and take advantage of forecasted growth in the cloud-based storage and recovery market. [BostInno]
StartHub and the City of Boston join forces for new civic platform
StartHub, an online platform for Boston startups and resources, has partnered with the City of Boston to launch “Civic Innovation,” a new community resource page on the StartHub platform. The Civic Innovation page will be a place for up-and-coming startups, civic media, entrepreneurs and citizens to come together online to address urban challenges like governmental transparency and social justice. [StartHub]
