Congratulations to Mike, Bruce, Sandro and Bill of DataXu for raising a Series B investment from Menlo Ventures, a well known Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Atlas Venture and Flybridge, the Series A investors, invested in this round as well. I got to know the DataXu team when I was with Atlas and worked on the Series A investment. Mike has a great team and some solid technology.
I think it is great that important West Coast VCs are making follow on investments in the Boston area – another prominent investment like this is Scale Ventures investment in Hubspots most recent round. When Boston companies are doing well enough to attract capital from outside the region then you know something good is happening.
Also important – while Boston may the the number 2 venture capital pool in the world, it is nothing compared to the capital available in Silicon Valley. When venture firms from San Francisco supplement local New England funds this means that there is more early stage capital available in the region to support innovation – a really good thing! Let’s hope for some more great companies like DataXu and Hubspot. Actually – let’s try to make them ourselves!!!
March 9th, 2010 at 6:40 am
Another company to add to your list of Boston-area startups that have pulled in capital from the west coast: Visible Measures. Brian Shin has done an amazing job with that company.
March 9th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Oh yes, Brian is a great local entrepreneur who has raised capital from Mohr Davidow, DAG and Boston based General Catalyst.
I got into a serious debate with a West Coast VC on this post – he believes that if Boston companies are raising $ fro the West it is a sign that the Boston venture scene is weak. I saw it as a good thing, with money flowing into the region from the outside + proving that the local technology startup environment can create world class companies.
November 30th, -0001 at 12:00 am
The West Coast VC is right though. It's a common theme… Boston startups go elsewhere to find VCs because local VCs are too focused on the "sure thing" and minimizing risks. They are not progressive enough. The West Coast leads and then when things are really picking up in a sector then the Boston VCs follow. It's sad, but true