Let’s get past the SVB drama

Hi all!

Given all the SVB hype over the past few days, let's focus on what we can control and celebrate the Boston Startup Ecosystem for what it is. It's incredible, it's resilient, and they want to make the world a better place!

Boston offers a world of advantages for startup founders. TechCrunch recently highlighted Boston's long history of innovation and its rich tech legacy.

Over the last 15 to 20 years, Boston has built an ecosystem to rival Silicon Valley and NYC, making it a place where startups can launch, grow, and thrive with a deep pool of talent in their own backyard.

The State of Manufacturing

The latest Manufacturing PMI Index certainly reflects the economic challenges. There is a continued downward trend, with only the Inventories Index slightly edging up.

Significant Price increases continue through most commodities, and several commodities remain in short supply.

Rising EV battery demand will require some 50 new lithium projects globally by 2030, according to estimates from the International Energy Agency—a historic undertaking for the slow-moving mining industry, which often spends at least 15 years to develop a single project.

Falling truck rates give supply chains a chance to cut costs, as major carriers are telling investors they expect market conditions will improve by midyear.

Boston-area startups raised around $406.7 million in February. Biotech companies led the way by raising over $320 million, while Hardware startups secured almost $40 million.

Harvard's 'RoboBee' technology was first commercialized last month via a seed round from venture capital firm 1955 Capital.

The technology is being used in a new surgical tech startup.

The Grid, Harvard’s new accelerator, announced the first researchers to receive funding through their program. Meet the five teams funded by The Grid at Harvard.

MassVentures & Massachusetts Clean Energy Center's DICES Program is now accepting applications for grants up to $75,000 to researchers and early-stage companies looking to demonstrate initial prototypes of their clean energy technologies. Learn more and apply here.

Workbar, the NPA hangout for the past many years, announced plans to open a new location in Framingham in June 2023.

Shout-out to the Community Manager, Katie Brownlie: the entire NPA team loves you! You truly embody your job and make sure everyone enjoys coming to the office!

For 2023, we decided to switch up our process and provide Startup Spotlights each month on the best Startups with Hardware content in Boston.

If you know an exciting Startup that should get a Spotlight, please send a brief message to Hello@newpageassociates.com, and we will consider them.

Phoenix Tailings is doing what no one else has done. They are revolutionizing the mining industry by developing new, environmentally safe mining processes.

Their cutting-edge technology allows Phoenix Tailings to extract the maximum possible amount of metal from mining tailings (large ponds created from separating minerals from rock).

Modern industrial mining techniques are not only destructive to the environment but also waste a substantial amount of material, over 200 billion tons per year, in the form of tailings which they are unable to extract metal from. Phoenix Tailings has developed a constant recycling loop that enables them to harvest metals, specifically rare earth metals, from these tailings in various forms so that no waste is left behind.

Their innovations don’t stop there; they are also working to create a cleaner supply chain, by utilizing clean energy sources in their processes, and their modular zero-waste system avoids the need for hazardous chemicals. 

Just last month, they launched the first rare earth metal refinery in the United States, right here in Somerville, MA, producing crucial metals such as neodymium and dysprosium. 

We recently got a tour of their facility, and it's rather impressive to see such innovative technology firsthand.

For more info, you can contact Phoenix Tailings here.

In our February survey, we asked about the ways your company is planning on boosting cybersecurity. The winner's answers were: Improve user education and awareness with new training and system monitoring that aims to detect actual or attempted attacks.

As the first quarter of 2023 is ending, most companies are rolling out their plans to solve issues, look for better opportunities, and ways to overcome their toughest challenges.

To make the plans for long-term human habitation on the moon, we need to figure out a new moon time zone. But it won’t be easy: a “day” on the moon can last as long as 29.5 Earth days.

(Source: NBC News)

A pair of Boeing engineers recently earned a spot in the Guinness World Records for clever folding that resulted in the farthest flight ever by a paper aircraft: 88 meters (290 feet). They spent up to 500 hours using the principles of origami and aerodynamics.

GreatWayToImpressYourKids (Source: The Guardian)

A Jurassic-era bug was discovered flying around an Arkansas Walmart. The species had been thought to be extinct in eastern North America.

YouCanFindAnythingAtWalmart (Source: USA Today)

Cheers,

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