The New England Venture Capital Association on Tuesday announced the nominees for the fifth annual NEVY Awards, which recognizes "the most prominent and promising individuals and organizations from New England's innovation economy."
Onshape, the Cambridge-based cloud CAD software startup whose valuation is reportedly nearing $1 billion, is among the nominees for the NEVYs next pillar tech company — an honor bestowed upon companies that could have a major impact on the local innovation ecosystem. The other nominees are Rethink Robotics, Turbonomic, Actifio, Applause and Carbon Black.
The NEVYs, which divides its nominees between life sciences and tech categories, will also hand out awards for things like rising star venture capitalist, hottest early-stage startup, angel investor of the year and clean tech company of the year. While the life sciences category will hand out an award for exit of the year, there isn't an award for that on the tech side.
The nominees were determined by two panels of business leaders and investors, representing tech and life sciences. The 2017 tech academy included Michael Skok, co-founder and partner at Underscore.VC; Rapid7 CEO Corey Thomas, ClearSky Data CEO and co-founder Ellen Rubin; and Steve Taub, managing director at GE Ventures.
The annual awards event can be a good barometer for which companies, venture firms and individuals to pay attention to in the coming years. Last year, CarGurus CEO and founder Langley Steinert won entrepreneur of the year on the tech side, and now the company is reportedly preparing to go public this year. Katie Rae, who was last year's rising star VC, is now CEO of The Engine, MIT's new venture fund and accelerator. Other notable past winners include Fuze, Toast and PillPack co-founders TJ Parker and Elliot Cohen.
This year's nominees have also been making some big moves. NuTonomy, the autonomous vehicle startup, beat Uber in becoming the first company to start testing a fleet of self-driving taxis and it's now preparing to test its tech more comprehensively in Boston's Seaport. Turbonomic, a few months ago, raised a $50 million round led by former GE Chief Information Officer Gary Reiner as it experiences triple-digit revenue growth. Carbon Black confidentially filed for an initial public offering last year.
The awards take place May 17 at the Boston House of Blues.
Here are the nominees for this year's NEVYs:
Tech Nominees
Rising Star VC
Juan Luis Leung Li, General Catalyst
Sarah Downey, Accomplice
Ash Egan, Converge VP
Payal Divakaran, .406
Hottest Early Stage Startup
Tulip
Sense
nuTonomy
Semantic Machines
Next Pillar Tech Company
Onshape
Rethink Robotics
Turbonomic
Actifio
Applause
Carbon Black
Clean Tech Company of the Year
Sense
Bevi
WeSpire
Cadenza Innovations
Angel of the Year
Joe Caruso
Ty Danco
Jean Hammond
Jeremy Hitchcock
Mike Volpe
Fund of the Year
General Catalyst
Highland Capital
Converge Venture Partners
Bolt
CRV
Entrepreneur of the Year
Ric Fulop, Desktop Metal
Jon Hirshtick, Onshape
Rob Biederman & Pat Pettiti & Peter Maglathlin, Catalant
Jeremy Hitchcock, Dyn
Jason Robins, DraftKings
Rising Star Entrepreneur
Nick Frances, Help Scout
Jonah Lopin, Crayon
Liz Powers, ArtLifting
David Hurley, Mautic
Life Science Nominees
Rising Star VC
Michael Gladstone
Dan Gebremedhin
Paulina Hill
Andrew Hedin
Sasha Said
Hottest Early Stage Startup Therapeutics
Evelo Biosciences
Magenta Therapeutics
Oncorous
Hottest Early Stage Startup Tools & Tech
Readcoor
Lyndra
Aldatu Biosciences
3derm
SQZ Biotech
Deal of the Year
Jounce
Intellia
RaNa
Seres
Moderna
Exit of the Year
Delinia Therapeutics
Intellia Therapeutics
Nimbus Apollo
Padlock Therapeutics
Digital Health Company of the Year
Constant Therapy
Rest Devices
Pear Therapeutics
Herald Health
Fund of the Year
Atlas
Flagship
Third Rock Ventures
Connecticut Innovations
Entrepreneur of the Year
Michael Gilman / Padlock Therapeutics
Rosana Kapeller / Nimbus Apollo
Kurt Graves / Intarcia
Robin Heffernen / Circulation
Katrine Bosley / Editas
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