Massachusetts saw $6.3B of investment into VC-backed companies in 2015. Top deals included Draftkings, Mevion Medical Systems, and SimpliVity.
Home to some of the the world’s best universities and top biotech firms — not to mention a breeding ground for robotics companies — Massachusetts is a hotbed for venture investment. In fact, for the past few years Massachusetts has been neck-and-neck with New York for the number two spot after California, in terms total venture capital funding.
And, according to our most recent Venture Pulse: Global VC report covering 2015, Massachusetts saw $6.3B of investment into VC-backed companies in 2015.
Using CB Insights data we rounded up the biggest Massachusetts deals of 2015 with venture capital involvement (which included a venture firm, corporate venture capital firm, or “super angel” in the round).
- The top Massachusetts deal was DraftKings‘ $300M Series D round, which valued the fantasy sports company at $1.35B (though the company’s recent regulatory troubles have thrown some doubt on its future). Accomplice and GGV Capital have been serial investors in the company. Also investing in the Series D were professional sports leagues including Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, and the National Hockey League.
- The second largest deal was radiation therapy specialist Mevion Medical Systems‘ $200M Series H, financed by Caxton Health Life Sciences, CHL Medical Partners, Hopu Investment Management, ProQuest Investments, Venrock, and YuanMing Capital.
- In third was SimpliVity‘s $175M Series D round. Accel Partners, CRV, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers were backers for the enterprise cloud services provider competing with Amazon’s AWS.
See the full list below:
| Rank | Company | Quarter | Amount ($M) | Select Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DraftKings | Q3’15 | 300 | Accomplice, GGV Capital, The Raine Group |
| 2 | Mevion Medical Systems | Q3’15 | 200 | CHL Medical Partners, Venrock, Caxton Health Life Sciences |
| 3 | SimpliVity | Q1’15 | 175 | Accel Partners, CRV, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers |
| 4 | Editas Medicine | Q3’15 | 120 | Google Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Fidelity Investments |
| 5 | Virgin Pulse | Q2’15 | 92 | Insight Venture Partners, Virgin Group |
| 6 | Codiak Biosciences | Q4’15 | 80 | Alaska Permanent Fund, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, ARCH Venture Partners, Fidelity Investments, Flagship Ventures |
| 6 | Onshape | Q3’15 | 80 | New Enterprise Associates, North Bridge Venture Partners, Commonwealth Capital Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz |
| 6 | Syndax Pharmaceuticals | Q3’15 | 80 | Domain Associates, MPM Capital, Forward Ventures |
| 9 | Deciphera Pharmaceuticals | Q3’15 | 75 | New Leaf Venture Partners |
| 10 | Intellia Therapeutics | Q3’15 | 70 | Atlas Venture, Novartis Venture Funds, Fidelity Investments |
| 10 | Altiostar Networks | Q1’15 | 70 | Cisco Investments |
| 12 | WAVE Life Sciences | Q3’15 | 66 | RA Capital Management, Kagoshima Shinsangyo Sosei Investment, Fidelity Investments, New Leaf Venture Partners |
| 12 | Digital Guardian | Q4’15 | 66 | GE Pension Fund, Fairhaven Capital |
| 14 | Dimension Therapeutics | Q2’15 | 65 | F-Prime Capital, OrbiMed Advisors |
| 14 | Unum Therapeutics | Q2’15 | 65 | Atlas Venture, F-Prime Capital, Sanofi-Genzyme BioVentures |
| 16 | Voyager Therapeutics | Q2’15 | 60 | Brookside Capital, Casdin Capital, Partner Fund Management, Wellington Management |
| 17 | Cybereason | Q4’15 | 59 | CRV, Softbank Corp., Spark Capital |
| 18 | Ra Pharmaceuticals | Q3’15 | 58.5 | New Enterprise Associates, Morgenthaler Ventures, Novartis Venture Funds |
| 19 | VionX Energy Corp | Q2’15 | 58.2 | Starwood Energy Group, VantagePoint Capital Partners |
| 20 | Jounce Therapeutics | Q2’15 | 56 | Foresite Capital Management, Nextech Invest, Redmile Group, Wellington Management |
| 21 | Neon Therapeutics | Q4’15 | 55 | Access Industries, Clal Biotechnology Industries, Third Rock Ventures |
| 21 | RaNA Therapeutics | Q3’15 | 55 | Atlas Venture, Monsanto Growth Ventures, Partners Innovation Fund, SR One, Pfizer Venture Investments |
| 21 | Acquia | Q3’15 | 55 | Centerview Capital, New Enterprise Associates, Split Rock Partners |
| 24 | Bit9 + Carbon Black | Q4’15 | 54.5 | 406 Ventures, Accomplice, Highland Capital Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers |
| 25 | Allena Pharmaceuticals | Q4’15 | 53 | Frazier Healthcare, HBM BioVentures, Pharmstandard International |
Note: Only equity financings involving a VC were included.
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