Ten Boston Startups raised a combined $2.8B

NPA Insights, January 2025

Hi all! Happy New Year!

Just like every year, CES in Las Vegas never disappoints. While there were some incredible announcements, here are my Top 3 most disappointing product introductions:

The State of Manufacturing

The Manufacturing PMI Index saw solid gains in the last two months of 2024, reaching 49.3%.

New Orders were up by 2.1%, Backlog saw a 4.1% increase, and the Production Index was up by 3.5%.

Overall positive signals for the start of 2025.

Our newsletter contributor, IMS, explains the importance of efficient change management:

Efficient Change Management: An Orchestral Interlude

Imagine rapid prototyping as conducting an orchestra. Every instrument — your design, materials, and manufacturing process — plays a part in creating the perfect symphony. But what happens when the melody changes mid-performance? Without a skilled conductor, chaos ensues.

Efficient change management is that conductor, seamlessly integrating new notes into the arrangement without missing a beat.

A trusted rapid prototype manufacturer ensures that every adjustment to your prototype harmonizes with the overall production, avoiding discord and keeping your project in tune.

Whether it’s a quick tempo shift or a complete change in key, our team ensures your innovation reaches the crescendo of market success, perfectly orchestrated and right on time.

Boston Startups raised $394 million in December. Yep, we are back in business here in Boston, but we are still way off compared to a few years ago when Boston saw $1-2B/month of funding coming in.

Electrified Thermal Solutions, a Medford-based energy storage company, raised $19 million to develop a plan to help the industry replace natural gas with bricks.

Nanoramic, Inc., a pioneer in advanced battery technology, announced a successful $44 million financing. The investment will accelerate Nanoramic's commercialization of its Neocarbonix® technology across diverse industries and applications.

Liquid AI, a neural network based on the brain of the C. elegans, a 1 mm-long worm, raised a $250 million Series A round to scale its product. AMD led the round as a strategic partner.

VentureWell, a Boston-based nonprofit, gets $13.5 million from NOAA for a new bluetech accelerator. They plan to launch around 220 startups over the next three years, focusing on underwater robots, ocean prowlers, and software for modeling.

Formlabs, a Somerville 3D printing startup, used its technology to help Charlotte, a green sea turtle at Mystic Aquarium, to dive and swim again by creating a custom harness.

South Korea's Robotis Co. partnered with MIT to develop physical AI. Physical AI refers to bodily intelligence that can replicate precise physical forces, similar to human physical capabilities.

In our November newsletter, we asked about your company’s top goal for 2025.

The majority of our respondents said that scaling operations, with 17.1%, will be their priority for the year.

Because the various AI tools have different strengths, we'd like to know which AI tool you use most often:

Get stumped: Mysteries of life that science still can’t explain. WhereDidDogsComeFrom?

(Source: VOX)

See 16 fascinating breakthroughs of 2024 that weren’t about AI. 

CheckTheLargest3DMapOfOurUniverse

(Source: Fast Company)

You can now call 1-800-CHATGPT to have a phone call with OpenAI’s chatbot. Initially, callers get a free 15 minutes per month. SpamCallsInTheMaking

(Source: CNBC)