NEVY AWARDS 2014
#Nevys14 @IDAEmergeBiz / @NewEnglandVC
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Just a little under a month ago (May 14th) something exciting was going on in Fenway and it wasn’t a Red Sox game nor the thrill of the Tesla cars pulled up outside the House of Blues in Boston……it was the tech talent inside that had gathered for the 2nd Annual NEVY Awards hosted by the New England Venture Capital Association (NEVCA). With New England continuing to hold 2nd place in terms of being a global hotbed for VC investment, having raised $3,733m over 377 rounds in 2013*, this was the place to be to see how well spent this money has been. (*Ernst & Young) And despite the lure of the Bruins hockey game a strong crowd of +600 people turned up ready to rock n roll - and many in mighty colourful outfits!! As one of the main sponsors of these Awards IDA’s Emerging Businesses team were on hand to support. |
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For an event that was geared towards celebrating the up and coming "rock stars" of the tech and healthcare sectors in New England it also lent itself really well to a night of making new connections. And as Richard Branfield launched Boston’s newest website “you should meet”, it couldn’t have been more apt. Mingling with fast growing companies & VC’s such as nominees DraftKings, Polaris, Clypd, Hubspot, Kayak, Syros to name a few I really felt we got a great insight to the tech scene here. Encouraging the startup world in the Life Sciences, J&J Innovation, as co-sponsor of the event, presented 3 rising companies with funding of $25k each. |
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Our very own Barry O’Dowd and Stephen Mullan presented “Tech Exit of the Year” which was in fact a tie between Care.com and Kayak. These two companies alone between them have raised over $345m and continue to grow at pace. Further details on winners can be seen below.
As Ireland too builds its strong technology (the top 10 “born on the internet” companies are all in Ireland) and healthcare sectors (the Irish Government recently launched a €172m venture capital fund for investing in innovative Irish companies in the life-sciences sector), IDA Ireland were delighted to have the opportunity to partner with NEVCA and J&J for this event
Who knows but maybe we will see some of the winning companies build an international presence in Ireland one day and join some fellow New England companies who have chosen a second home in Ireland:
Highlights of Winners on the night:
· Hottest Technology Startup: Fashion Project
· Hottest Healthcare Startup: Editas Medicine
· Rising Star Technology Entrepreneur: Ellen Rubin, ClearSky Data; Joshua Summers, Clypd
· Rising Star Healthcare Entrepreneur: Nagesh Mahanthappa, Scholar Rock
· Technology Entrepreneur of the Year: Sheila Marcelo, Care.com
· Healthcare Entrepreneur of the Year: John Knopf, Acceleron Pharma
· Technology Fund of the Year: General Catalyst
· Healthcare Fund of the Year: Flagship Ventures
· Technology Exit of the Year: Care.com, Kayak
· Healthcare Exit of the Year: Acceleron Pharma
· Technology Deal of the Year: DraftKings
· Healthcare Rising Star VC: Kevin Bitterman, Polaris Partners
Click here for more images of the nights highlights: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.291515861014442.1073741836.135232179976145&type=1tI
A massive Well Done to CA, Kitt and the team for orchestrating and delivering such a wonderful night.
Aimee Williams
Follow IDA’s Emerging Business Division on Twitter today @IDAemergebiz for regular updates
