All Posts Tagged ‘Zipcar’
After launching a long stream of impressive partnerships with national brands, SCVNGR is starting to put the “local” back in location based. Today, it announced Boston would be the first city to reap the benefit of its new reward functionality (announced last month). 50 local businesses are included in the launch including Middle East, Kings Lanes, and Aquitaine in both Boston and Chestnut Hill.
The announcement comes just days after it announced Zipcar would utilize the feature in Boston and that AT&T shook hands with them to offer rewards to its customers in the Midwest. The rewards feature, the coolest of the those announced last month by the company, enables players to unlock rewards by accumulating points through various games at locations. All you need to do is show the reward in the SCVNGR app on your phone and voila! Get free goodies galore!
How will you know the local businesses that have rewards on SCVNGR? Well, you can see a full list here, or just roam around the city with your eyes open. Each business involved will apparently have ‘sweet SCVNGR shwag’ – from stickers, to outdoor signage, even coasters for your drinks.
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Tags: aquitane, AT&T, kings, middle east, scvngr, toscanini, Zipcar
Posted in Gaming, Mobile | View Comments
Massachusetts just recently banned texting while driving, but that didn’t stop car sharing company Zipcar from partnering with fast growing mobile game developer SCVNGR. According to a press release this morning, Zipcar will be building challenges and rewards on SCVNGR all throughout the Boston and Cambridge area.
A partnership between a car sharing company and a mobile gaming company? Sounds a little odd at first, but not according to Chief Ninja of SCVNGR Seth Priebatsch: “Zipcar is an awesome company that gives you the freedom to get wheels when you need them and go wherever you want,” said Priebatsch. “SCVNGR’s a wicked fun game all about going to cool places and doing fun challenges. So get in your Zipcar, go places, do challenges, earn points and get free stuff. What a great fit!”.
Of course the challenges do not take place while actually driving the car, they are centered around activities near the ZipCar pick up locations and reserved parking spots. Here are the examples of the challenges taken right from SCVNGR’s blog:
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Tags: scvngr, Zipcar
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There is no shortage of Boston companies on this year’s list of Inc. Magazine’s Top 500 and 5000 companies. This year’s 2010 list measures a three-year revenue growth (from 2006 to 2009) and not surprisingly you don’t have to read far down to find a Massachusetts company.
Boston’s very own Carbonite ranks in at #9 overall and #1 in both Boston and IT Services. Their 11,207% three-year growth is staggering and “can only happen when you have a very large market, a business model that works, and a really good product” says Carbonite CEO and Founder David Friend. The online backup service was founded in 2005 and backs up 200 million new files every day. They manage to beat their competition by being “an innovator and in front of the pack all the way: we were the first company to introduce unlimited backup for fixed price, and we were the first to offer apps for the iPhone, Blackberry, and Android phones” says Friend.
Gazelle, another Boston-based company, blew away the competition in spot #24. The reCommerce site allows consumers to sell or recycle their electronic gadgets. Kristina Kennedy, a Gazelle spokesperson, tells BostInnovation that they are “very excited about [making the list]. The company was founded in 2006 and it encapsulates the company almost from the beginning”.
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Tags: Carbonite, food should taste good, Gazelle, inc 500, inc 5000, rapid7, Zipcar
Posted in Around the Hub, Digital | View Comments
Editor’s Note: RelayRides currently has no affiliation or partnership with the MBTA to provide this added functionality. Company reps tell us it still works perfectly, however.
Get into a BMW Z4 from RelayRides with your CharlieCard!
No, it’s not a new device for thieves. On the contrary, the team at Cambridge-based startup RelayRides are working hard to build trust and community across the Charles River.
The company is taking car sharing we were introduced to by another Boston startup, Zipcar, and making it even more eco-friendly and sensible. With RelayRides, Cambridge residents can rent a myriad of privately owned vehicles on an hourly basis thanks to a quick hardware addition the RelayRides team installs. It allows customers to unlock the vehicles they reserve in advance. People volunteering their cars for the program choose when to make their vehicles available, and get paid each time someone rents them.
Recently, the company made it possible for people identify themselves to RelayRides vehicles using the CharlieCards they already use to pay for T and bus rides around Boston and Cambridge.
“RelayRides membership cards and CharlieCards use similar smartcards, so our technology can read the unique signature of a CharlieCard,” says RelayRides CEO and Founder Shelby Clark, a recent Harvard Business School grad. “This doesn’t allow us to access any personal information for the user, but it does provide a unique identification card that we can associate with the member’s RelayRides account. (more…)
Tags: CharlieCard, Company News, Company Profiles, RelayRides, Zipcar
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Yesterday’s First-Annual Momentum Summit, hosted by The Boston Globe’s Scott Kirsner, proved one thing without a doubt:
Content specialists — in Scott’s case, journalists — can often organize the best events.
Momentum Summit 2010, held at MIT in Cambridge, featured a slew of speakers and special guests rarely seen on the local tech scene, there to speak to a solid group of startup executives and founders. Gail Goodman, the CEO of Constant Contact kicked things off with the focus of her thoughts centered on exactly what the event promised — how small startups build momentum around a bright idea.
David Cancel, CEO of the local A/B testing website Performable found her quote, “There’s no silver bullet. It’s in the incremental changes,” salient enough to tweet it. This thought resonated through the rest of the day; the event’s message seemed to be that a series of careful victories can help a startup rise to the top of a wave and surf it to a successful exit.
The lessons imparted about how to actually accomplish such a dreamy goal were much more grounded. (more…)
Tags: Akamai, Antonio Rodriguez, Constant Contact, David Cancel, Eric Paley, Laura Fitton, Matrix Partners, MIT, Momentum Summit, oneforty, Performable, Scott Griffith, Scott Kirsner, Stephen Kaufer, Tom Leighton, TripAdvisor, Trynka Shineman, VistaPrint, Zipcar
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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. (more…)
Tags: Baydin, Brainshark, City of Boston, Daily Grommet, Fashion Playtes, Fitness Keeper, Gemvara, Localytics, MITX, MITX Tech Awards, WHERE, Wistia, Zipcar
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The MITX Tech Awards are held annually by the local tech trade association (pronounced my-tex) and this year’s Tech Awards are happening next Tuesday, June 2 at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. If you want tickets, you’ll have to hurry though. The deadline to register is Monday at noon and this is a holiday weekend. The MITX Tech Awards honor local companies in a myriad of categories for doing creative, discruptive, innovative things in business.
“Our finalists are the movers and shakers, the people powering the innovation and technology environment in the greater Boston area,” said MITX President Kiki Mills in an interview today. “They are critical drivers of our economy, providing thousands of jobs. Many of the finalists have a solution that helps consumers – for instance, Modiv Media are the creators of the grocery store device found in Stop and Shop stores that allows you to scan your items as you shop with their handheld device – a huge timesaver for shoppers.”
Modiv Media is nominated this year in the Marketing & Customer Relationship Technologies category. Other nominees, including a whole heck of a lot of companies we’ve written about at BostInnovation, are: Fitness Keeper, Localytics, Daily Grommet, Gemvara, Zipcar, Where, Wistia and one we’ll be profiling later this week called Fashion Playtes. Here’s the full list of finalists in case you’re curious about the others. (more…)
Tags: Company News, Daily Grommet, Edu, Fashion Playtes, Fitness Keeper, Gemvara, Localytics, MITX, MITX Tech Awards, WHERE, Wistia, Zipcar
Posted in Around the Hub, Digital, Edu | View Comments
A few local brands hanging onto social media by a thread
With the explosion of social media as a marketing vehicle, a massive disparity seems to be emerging.
Some companies “get it” and use it, while others simply don’t have the time, resources, or know-how to make it happen. The truth of the matter is that social media is a very real way to generate leads, connect with customers and provide valuable information about products (not to mention learning about the competition). For those in the crowd, connecting with brands on social media is a great way to feel a personal link to your favorite products.
Unfortunately, social media strategies can be difficult to cultivate, and occasionally, the audience a company is looking for — say truck drivers or carpenters — simply doesn’t spend a lot of time interacting online.
Still, there are a number of local companies lacking in social media presence while their audiences wait in the wings.
Here are five social media tragedies we’ve noticed recently here in Boston’s tech and innovation sector: (more…)
Tags: Communispace, Google, Lists, Zipcar
Posted in Social Media | View Comments
Cambridge-based Zipcar is the biggest car share company in the world
In 1999, Antje Danielson was telling her friend Robin Chase about her experience with car sharing on a trip to Berlin. Right there, in Cambridge, Mass., Danielson and Chase realized the potential of car sharing in America and Zipcar was born. Yesterday, the European influence on Zipcar seemed almost ironic– Zipcar acquired the U.K.’s fastest growing car sharing company, Streetcar for a reported $50M.
Zipcar is undeniably the leading car sharing company in the world.
Europeans. Car sharing. Zipcars—what are we talking about?
Zipcar’s car sharing works in four steps: 1) Become a Zipcar member by paying a yearly fee of $50. 2) Reserve a Zipcar (online, via iPhone app, or by phone call). 3) Unlock your Zipcar by tapping your member card on the windshield. 4) Drive and then return the car where you picked it up.
Zipcar is not a car rental– members normally pay by the hour. Props to Europe for coming up with the car sharing concept, but Zipcar, please don’t ever leave your Cambridge home base.
How did Zipcar do it? How did they surpass veteran car share companies, like Switzerland’s Mobility CarSharing or Norway’s Bilkollektivet? (more…)
Tags: Company News, iPhone apps, Scott Griffiith, Streetcar, Zipcar
Posted in Digital, Mobile | View Comments
The Davenport will be HubSpot's new home
What’s the modern tech office of the future look like?
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of touring HubSpot‘s new office at The Davenport, located at 25 First Street in Cambridge. The space won’t be ready until this summer, but HubSpot — perhaps the most exciting startup in Boston right now thanks to its wildly popular “Inbound Marketing” software — is currently working with architects at Boston-based Architecture3s to create what will surely be an impressive space to set the tone for future offices in Boston’s tech sector.
Hubspot: Movin' on up!
“For us, it was really important to get open contiguous space,” said HubSpot VP of engineering Yoav Shapira, who spearheaded the new office search effort for the company. “There’s a lot of open space available, but it’s mostly chunked out in smaller parcels. You feel like you’re walking through a little bit of a maze. You can tear down walls and stuff, but then you’re spending all your construction budget on tearing down walls, which is lame.”
Complete with a “library” section, showers, rough hewn timber supports, Birch tree accents, and a 9-foot fish tank, HubSpot’s new office will be anything but lame once it’s complete. (more…)
Tags: Company News, Hubspot, Zipcar
Posted in Around the Hub | View Comments
Look for RunMyErrand in the Boston Marathon!
You may have read recently that these guys are leaving the area, but before you get your panties in a twist Boston, RunMyErrand isn’t leaving us, they’re just expanding into San Francisco and we couldn’t be happier for them. They may be going bi-coastal, but they’re participating in one of the East Coast’s biggest events soon: The Boston Marathon
With all this talk about running and expanding, what is RunMyErrand?
RunMyErrand matches busy individuals who don’t have time to do errands with “runners” who have been trained, background checked, and rated by the RunMyErrand community. When a RunMyErrand user posts an errand, a runner is notified, and the errand is completed.
It’s that simple.
It only made sense for RunMyErrand to run in the Boston Marathon (Hello! it’s a running race!) They’re calling the project “Run My Marathon” and they’re motto is “outsourcing an experience,” as Community Director, Amanda Smyth Connor explained. (more…)
Tags: Company News, Company Profiles, RunMyErrand, Zipcar
Posted in Social Media | View Comments
After launching a long stream of impressive partnerships with national brands, SCVNGR is starting to put the “local” back in location based. Today, it announced Boston would be the first city to reap the benefit of its new reward functionality (announced last month). 50 local businesses are included in the launch including Middle East, Kings Lanes, and Aquitaine in both Boston and Chestnut Hill.
