Many of them were companies we’ve already written about extensively. Others, well, suffice it to say they’re top priorities for BostInnovation. The Seventh Annual MITX Technology Awards took place last night, honoring some of the hottest brands on the Boston tech scene.
MITX President Kiki Mills kicked it all off by recognizing the growing, robust tech sector here in Boston and using your favorite tech, innovation and startup blog as evidence of that growth:
“There are so many great new things happening here in support of all this — things like BostInnovation!” She exclaimed in front of a packed house. An estimated 500+ suits from the local scene attended the event, which was held at the Boston Marriott Copley Place.
Gemvara, a local startup that’s changing the game of online jewelry purchasing with its interface that allows consumers to customize their purchases, was one of three companies to be recognized twice at the event.
“We are absolutely honored on both counts. We’ve got a great development team that’s been working really hard for a while now that’s been working really hard to build some cutting edge technology,” said Gemvara Founder and CEO Matt Lauzon after the event wrapped up. “I think the biggest takeaway from tonight is that there’s so much energy [in the ecosystem]. I think this month, this event and all of these people are coming together to say, ‘We can build great companies here.’ I think more and more people are not only believing that, but enabling that, supporting that and taking the initiative to do it.”
Gemvara took home two awards, one in the E-Commerce and Alternative Retail category and one for Best of Sector Impact. Another to be recognized twice was Panjiva, also in the Best of Sector Impact category as well as the PwC Promise Awards Analytics category. The third company to be recognized twice was Modiv, in the Marketing / Customer Relationship Technologies category as well as the Best of Overall Solution category.
Lauzon’s thoughts were prefaced by the words of Brightcove Founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire, who devoted the majority of his acceptance speech as the night’s Innovation Hall of Fame Honoree touting the Boston tech and innovation ecosystem.
“It’s an incredible time in the world at large, it’s an incredible time in the history of technology innovation and it’s an incredible time to be building a company in Boston,” he said, remembering that when he chose to move an earlier company he founded in Minnesota to a more lively tech hub, he chose Boston over California, “because we realized Silicon Valley was the land of the lemmings.”
Allaire also touched on five keys every entrepreneur needs to build something innovative: Vision, Passion, Tenacity, Patience and Execution.
“I think the first four are in some ways some of the most important attributes, but they’re only 20%. The other 80% of it is execution. I’ve met so many innovative, visionary people with great ideas and great concepts who are really passionate. But 90% of those fail because those individuals or the teams they built or the products they delivered could not execute,” said Allaire.
Out of over 100 nominations, 17 companies were honored at the MITX Tech awards from sub-sectors of all varieties. But one thing echoed in nearly every acceptance speech was a belief that the Greater Boston Area is THE place to start a company, and that there have been few better times than now to do so.
Without further ado, here’s a quick rundown of the finalists in each category, with the winning companies topping off each list:
Major Awards
Analytics & Business Intelligence:
Verica Systems, Inc.
Localytics
Netezza Corporation
Panjiva
Cloud Computing:
Nasuni Corporation
Copanion, Inc.
Dexrex Gear
LineSider Technologies
Vewfinity
Devices:
En-Gauge, Inc.
Kanguru Solutions
Litl LLC
E-Commerce / Alternative Retail:
Gemvara, Inc.
Big Room Studios
CashStar, Inc.
Daily Grommet
FashionPlaytes, Inc.
StylePath, Inc.
Marketing / Cutomer Relationship Technologies:
Modiv Media
Direxxis, Inc.
JitterJam
Unica
VisibleGains
Mobile Applications:
MediaFriends, Inc.
City of Boston
FitnessKeeper, Inc.
Zipcar, Inc.
Mobile Infrastructure:
Sproxil
Tangoe, Inc.
TravelBrains
WHERE, Inc.
Online Advertising:
DataXu
BuySellAds.com Inc.
Nexage
Searchandise Commerce
Rich Media:
Gotuit
Brainshark
Brightcove
Episend
RAMP
Wistia
Social Media:
RatePoint
Awareness, Inc.
Conduit Labs
MediaFriends, Inc.
Mzinga
Technology Enablers:
Tervela, Inc.
Baydin, Inc.
ITA Software, Inc.
Spring Partners
“Best of” Awards:
Innovative Business Strategy – Daily Grommet
Overall Solution – Modiv
Sector Impact – Panjiva and Gemvara
Usability – Visible Gains
PwC Promise Awards (reserved for early-stage startups):
Rich Media – Episend
Mobile – Sproxil
Analytics – Panjiva
Other Awards:
Innovation hall of Fame Honoree – Jeremy Alliare
Lifetime Achievement Award – Bill Bulkeley
According to Mills, “The Technology Awards Judging Committee is an elite panel of over 50 judges, consisting of the region’s most prestigious technology buyers and investors, analysts, and academia. Judges evaluate entries based on the following criteria: Business Solution, Technical Merit, Scalability and Innovation. The Technology Awards recognizes innovative technologies developed in New England. Therefore, of the four criteria sets, innovation is most important. This is all done through two rounds of judging, in which during the second (and final) round, entrants are asked to present to their judging group.”
The MITX Technology Awards are one of two major awards ceremonies hosted by the local tech trade association, the other being the MITX Interactive Awards, which have been running for twice as long as the Technology Awards and happen in mid-November.
What did you think of the MITX Technology Awards? Were you rooting for a company that got snubbed? Are you part of one of the winning teams? Let us know in the comments section.
Are you on one of the finalist teams that BostInnovation hasn’t written about yet? Hit us up with an Email at info@bostinnovation.com and let’s get the ball rolling!
Tags: Baydin, Brainshark, City of Boston, Daily Grommet, Fashion Playtes, Fitness Keeper, Gemvara, Localytics, MITX, MITX Tech Awards, WHERE, Wistia, Zipcar
