As we prepare to kick off our monthly speaker series Tech Cocktail Sessions in Boston next week (register here), we have been getting a lot of questions about the Boston area startup scene. With some of the top educational establishments in the country – Harvard, MIT, Boston U, Boston College, Babson, Tufts, and many others – the area has a lot of hungry young talent.
And if we look at the area historically, Boston was the original home of the Venture Capitalist – yes, before the valley existed the way it does today. So it’s no surprise Boston has a lot of venture capitalist firms and accelerators, including TechStars Boston and the impressive MassChallenge program. It also houses a number of co-working spaces like the Cambridge Innovation Center and its Cambridge Coworking Center, The Venture Cafe and Dogpatch Labs, making it a true playground for early stage companies.
While there may be many missing from this list, this is our take on the top tech startups in the area. Did we miss an important one? Write it in the comment area below and we’ll consider adding it to the poll. The winner of the poll will get an opportunity to tell their story on stage at our May 14th event – Tech Cocktail Sessions Boston. Now, time to vote!
- AppGuppy – lets you create your own unique, customized mobile app.
- Apptopia – a marketplace that helps broker the sale of mobile apps.
- BabbaCo – monthly activity box with materials and know-how content to really engage with your kids.
- Backupify – the leading backup provider for cloud based data, including Google, Facebook, and Twitter.
- Bocoup – an open web technology company by and for programmers.
- Brass Monkey – turns your smartphone into a mobile gaming console for a fun, accessible gaming experience
- BzzAgent – a social marketing division of dunnhumby, a shopper marketing firm, focusing on word-of-mouth.
- CloudLock – a cloud data protection company for small to large businesses that run on Google Apps.
- Daily Grommet – a website dedicated to finding high-quality, stand-out gift items and other products with a good story.
- Embedly – an API to convert standard URLs into embedded videos, images, and rich article previews.
- Gazelle – a reCommerce service that will buy or trade for your old iPod, smartphone, Wii, etc., and re-sell it on eBay.
- Gemvara – customizable gemstone and precious metal jewelry design website.
- Grasshopper – a virtual phone system for entrepreneurs specializing in call forwarding and answering services.
- Guestlyst – an easier way to find activities and events in your area.
- Help Around Town – a platform that lets you earn money, experience, and feedback while getting things done.
- JumpTap – a highly targeted mobile ad network.
- LevelUp – the pay phone app that saves you time and money – now available across the nation.
- Localytics – provides mobile usage data and analytics for Blackberry, Android, and iOS mobile applications.
- NaughtyBits – algae tabs (part of a larger health-platform) that are 60% protein and just one calorie.
- Mosec – Android app that lets you make a voice note at the end of calls, turn it into text, and file it with their Google Contacts.
- Pangea Media – the creator of SnapApp, a platform to help brands, publishers and agencies foster conversations across the web, social and mobile, that build brand affinity, connect, educate, entertain and drive sales.
- Pinyadda – a platform to easily discover and share news and blog posts online.
- PowerInbox – brings apps to your emails, just like the iPhone brought apps to your phone.
- Privy – a product that enables small businesses to customize, deploy and track promotions across all online marketing channels.
- Recorded Future – a software company specializing in web intelligence and predictive analytics.
- Rue La La – a members-only shopping site offering private short-term sales from boutiques.
- RunKeeper – a mobile fitness platform that leverages the location technology in smartphones to help runners and other fitness enthusiasts better track, measure, and improve their fitness.
- SCVNGR – a mobile location based game focused on going places, doing challenges and earning points.
- Second Glass – a platform to discover new wines, remember what you drink and share that info with your friends by bringing wineries and wine drinkers together through technology and events.
- Shareaholic – a browser extension and website plugin that makes content sharing both easy and social.
- SittingAround – join or start a community-based babysitting cooperative.
- SimpleTuition – helping families navigate the student loan process via our student loan comparison tool.
- Smarterer – test your resume, get your score, improve your resume and share with the world.
- SmarterBank – the bank that helps you pay down your student loans.
- Springpad – a free, easy-to-use app that lets you create notebooks for any topic or area of interest.
- StarStreet Sports – a game that puts a new twist on fantasy sports turning individual athletes into stocks.
- Svpply – a curated collection of the world’s best products and stores.
- Swap.com – a website that allows users to trade books, audiobooks, CDs, DVDs and video games with other users.
- Take the Interview – video interviewing SaaS platform that saves employers and candidates time and money by making the interviewing process more efficient.
- TurningArt – art shipped direct to your home or office to try before you buy; the Netflix of artwork.
- WHERE – a free mobile app that helps you search and discover what’s nearby with real-time information and recommendations.
- Vocalyze – reads the news, blogs and tweets to you when you are too busy to read yourself.
- Vitality – a health startup that makes prescription bottle caps that use light and sound to signal when it is time to take a pill.
- Vsnap – makes it easy to send short video messages, up to 60 seconds, with attachments.
- Yesware – email productivity service that helps salespeople close more business.
- Ziptip – an app that lets you pay tips and gratuities using your smart phone.
- Zoora – customized fashion and guidance to curate your individuality.
Be sure to cast you vote for the hottest Boston startup (below).
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