Nick Stamos spent two decades stopping data from leaking. His answer to the messiest problem in enterprise IT - sharing files with outsiders - is to make sure the file never actually goes anywhere.
AVAVA, Inc. is a Waltham, Massachusetts medical aesthetics company that builds energy-based laser platforms for skin renewal that work across all skin tones. Spun out of Boston-based Blossom Innovations and rooted in research from Massachusetts General Hospital's Wellman Center for Photomedicine, AVAVA's flagship MIRIA Skin Treatment System pairs patented Focal Point Technology with AI-driven skin visualization to deliver precise, high-energy intradermal treatment for conditions like melasma, hyperpigmentation, and acne scars with minimal downtime.
BostonGene is a Waltham, Massachusetts biotechnology company that applies AI-driven multiomics to cancer. Its Tumor Portrait platform integrates DNA and RNA sequencing with immune and tumor-microenvironment analysis into a single test, producing molecular profiles that help oncologists select therapies and help pharmaceutical partners design trials, identify biomarkers, and accelerate drug development. Founded in 2015 and led by CEO Andrew Feinberg, the company reached unicorn status in 2022.
Humatics is a Waltham, Massachusetts technology company building microlocation systems - hardware and software that pinpoint the position of people, vehicles, and machines to millimeter and centimeter precision. Combining industrial-grade ultra-wideband radio with inertial sensors, GNSS, and analytics software, its platform serves two markets: industrial automation and robotics through the Milo Microlocation System, and rail and transit through the Humatics Rail Navigation System. Founded in 2015 by MIT professor David Mindell and industry veteran Gary Cohen, the company works with partners including Siemens Mobility and Hitachi Rail on projects such as the New York MTA subway signaling upgrade.
Irina Erenburg is the founder, president and CEO of AVAVA, a Waltham, Massachusetts medical aesthetics company behind MIRIA, a new class of dermatology laser built on the company's proprietary Focal Point Technology. A biomedical scientist turned serial entrepreneur, she earned a PhD from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and got her start negotiating high-value deals inside Boston's largest hospital network, where she helped shepherd startups including Zeltiq Aesthetics. She has co-founded R2 Dermatology and Soltego and, in 2024, raised $35 million to commercialize AVAVA's technology for treating skin of every tone.
James Kinsey is the CEO of Humatics, a Waltham, Massachusetts company building microlocation technology that pinpoints the position of vehicles and machines to sub-millimeter precision. An engineer and scientist by training, he holds a PhD from Johns Hopkins and spent years on the scientific staff at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution developing GPS-denied navigation for deep-sea robots and manned submersibles. He joined Humatics as a founding officer in 2016, led its Milo software and systems work, delivered train-signalling projects for New York City's MTA, and founded the company's Mobility division before taking the top job.
Joel Schneider is the founder, president and CEO of Carbon Biosciences, a Waltham, Massachusetts biotech building gene therapies from parvovirus-derived vectors rather than the more common adeno-associated viruses. He launched the company out of stealth in 2022 with a $38 million Series A led by Agent Capital, pairing his operating background with the science of gene therapy pioneer Robert Kotin. Trained as a stem cell biologist with a Rutgers Ph.D. and a Harvard postdoc, Schneider was the first employee at Solid Biosciences before founding Carbon to push vectors that carry larger genetic payloads, target specific tissues such as the lung, and sidestep the pre-existing immunity that limits current gene therapies. Carbon's lead program targets cystic fibrosis.
Avilar Therapeutics is a Waltham, Massachusetts biopharmaceutical company pioneering the degradation of extracellular and membrane-bound proteins. Its ATAC (ASGPR Targeting Chimera) platform uses bifunctional small molecules that grab a disease-causing protein floating in circulation and shuttle it into the liver's endolysosome to be destroyed, extending the reach of targeted protein degradation beyond the inside of the cell. Launched in 2021 with backing from RA Capital, Avilar is applying the platform to autoimmune disease, preeclampsia, and other conditions driven by proteins that conventional drugs struggle to address.
Joseph Burke is the co-founder and CEO of Ottometric, a Waltham, Massachusetts software company that automates the validation of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous-vehicle software. An engineer by training who entered the ADAS field in 2010 building radar and blind-spot detection for an airbag maker, Burke started Ottometric in 2019 to attack a brutal industry problem: validating a single vehicle model can cost automakers over $100 million and take more than a year. Ottometric's platform uses proprietary data-distillation technology to turn oceans of raw sensor data into structured safety insights, cutting validation cost and time by more than half. The company has raised roughly $14.9 million, including a $10 million Series A in April 2025.

Tom Large is the CEO and co-founder of Blue Oak Pharmaceuticals, a Waltham, Massachusetts startup hunting for the next generation of medicines for brain disorders. A neurobiologist by training, he spent two decades inside big pharma - leading neuroscience research at Eli Lilly and running preclinical research and translational medicine at Sunovion - before launching Blue Oak in 2016 to chase drugs with genuinely new mechanisms for bipolar depression, schizophrenia and treatment-resistant depression. His teams pioneered a target-agnostic approach to CNS drug discovery, and he later partnered with AI specialist Exscientia to design 'bispecific' small molecules that hit two targets at once.
yet2 is an open innovation and technology scouting firm that helps large corporations find external technologies, partners, and ideas to accelerate their R&D pipelines. Since 1999 it has run an online technology marketplace and a hands-on consulting practice that scouts, vets, negotiates, and closes technology deals across industries from chemicals and consumer health to aerospace and electronics. With offices in North America, Europe, and Asia, yet2 connects its corporate clients to a global network of innovators and a database of millions of technologies and unmet needs.
Adden Energy is a Harvard spinout building dynamically-stable, self-healing solid-state lithium-metal batteries designed to make electric vehicles charge in minutes, last a million miles, and never catch fire. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, the company is scaling its lab breakthrough into commercial pouch cells on a roll-to-roll pilot line and shipping samples to automakers for validation.