KG: Hi folks, today Dylan's out on vacation, so Lucy and I will be hosting this edition of the Beat. If you like it, forward it.
KG: As we do at the end of every month, we publish a recap of the Boston tech startups that were acquired or shut down.
Lucy: May 2017 will be remembered as the month of major cybersecurity deals, with Microsoft reportedly buying Hexadite for $100M and CyberArk confirming it has acquired Conjur for $42M. One of the other big May deals was the private equity acquisition of SmartBear Software, which was reportedly sold for $410M. In the edtech arena, Quickhelp has been acquired by San Francisco startup Yup for an undisclosed amount.
KG: On the flip side, it appears that no startups have shut down this month. But who knows, there are still a couple days left on the calendar. Read more: BostInno Departed: Boston Startups That Were Acquired or Shut Down in May
KG: Quilt, which sells self-service online insurance products, added life insurance to its portfolio. The digital application can cut the approval process for life insurance policies of up to $1M from months to 15 minutes, the company said.
Lucy: The story of this MassChallenge startup made me think about how much my fridge facilitates my life. At Evaptainers, engineers are developing a portable fridge that doesn’t need electricity to work. The target market is Morocco, a developing country where some people have to spend six hours every day to go to the marketplace and buy fresh groceries they can't store. As the company's CEO Spencer Taylor told me, all users need to do to use the new fridge is filling up its sides with water; then, its walls begin to draw out the water’s heat through evaporative cooling, resulting in an internal storage space that can reach 15-20 degrees Celsius. Read more: These MassChallenge Alumni Are Producing a Portable Fridge That Runs on Sun and Water
Lucy: Biotech startup Asimov, which focuses on accelerating the design of new cellular functions using genetic circuits, raised $4.7M in a first-round funding, according to a SEC filing. Founder is Alec Nielsen, a doctoral graduate from MIT's Biological Engineering program.
KG: Security company CounterTack announced it has raised $20M in growth funding. The Series D round is led by Singtel Innov8 (venture capital arm of The Singtel Group), along with SAP National Security Services.
Lucy: Dylan just published a recap of the top Boston tech hires, promotions and departures in May. The biggest moves were at Acquia, Catalant, Endurance International, MassChallenge, Startup Institute, TrueMotion and WordStream. Read more: The Top Boston Tech Hires, Promotions (and Departures) in May 2017
KG: The Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange announced the winners of the 21st Annual MITX Awards. Piaggio Fast Forward, which we featured in our Office Envy Series, won in the category "Disruptive Genius: Company." The full list of awards is available here.
Lucy: Rachel Murray, co-founder of She Geeks Out, wrote a list of the six tech company websites that do the best job in highlighting how the firm is looking to cultivate diversity and inclusion. The list includes Cambridge-based HubSpot, and here's what got Murray's attention: "Like so many of the other companies on this list, their Diversity & Inclusion page includes their diversity data. They also highlight their various affinity groups as well as the work they’re doing to support diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Their job descriptions take care to be inclusive as well, highlighting what the job entails and what you’re responsible for, rather than using the word 'requirements.'"
Lucy: Quick correction from Friday's Beat: We misspelled the name of lighting management solutions provider CIMCON Lighting by accidentally adding "GE" before. Our apologies.
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