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❄️ Good afternoon. Welcome to the 219th edition of Maine Startups Insider—and the final one of 2020. You are one of 2,155 subscribers receiving this email.

The end of the year is a great time to take a moment to look back on the last 12 months and take stock. Despite the pandemic, we still witnessed several startups hit important milestones, from launching their first product to raising significant amounts of venture capital. Read on to discover MSI’s top 15 most-read startup stories of 2020.

I’m also welcoming MSI’s newest sponsor—and the first national-level sponsor at that. Brex offers corporate cards and cash management accounts to help growing tech companies manage their finances from a single dashboard. Perks include free wire transfers, higher limits, and up to 7x points back through the rewards program. If you’re a Maine startup founder and think Brex could help, click the ad and apply.

Happy holidays. Keep creating, keep innovating, keep curious. I’ll see you in 2021.

-Whit Richardson

/ News

Top 15 Maine Startup Stories of 2020

This year will go down in history as the year the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the world’s economies. While it had adverse impacts on Maine’s economy, too, it didn’t prevent Maine’s startups from delivering us plenty of good news. In what’s become an annual tradition, I dove into Maine Startups Insider’s analytics to find out which were the most-read stories of 2020.

This year, fraught as it was, I published 56 articles on MSI’s website. Here are the 15 that attracted the most attention (measured by total pageviews).

In keeping with the Maine brand, though unusual given most of my stories focus on tech startups, I’ll give you a hint that the most-read MSI story of the year had something to do with… lobsters.

Read more at Maine Startups Insider >>

 

MSI is sponsored by PretiFlaherty

Maine Venture Fund rebrands with a new logo

Maine Venture Fund this month unveiled a new logo and website. The quasi-governmental organization, though it operates like a traditional venture capital fund, has invested more than $20 million in Maine companies since 1997 when it was known as the Small Enterprise Growth Fund. During that time, it has gone through an evolution in terms of name and brand. Below are all four of its logos.

/ Briefly Mentioned

👩🏻‍💻 CEI Women’s Business Center has opened enrollment for the 2021 cohort of Propeller, its free, six-week online course designed for women with ideas for software startups. There are two cohorts available, both beginning in January—a Tuesday-evening cohort and a Wednesday-evening cohort.

🎤 Missed Startup Maine‘s most recent installment of its Entrepreneurs & Ecosystem Builders speaker series? The conversation with Justin Hafner, CEO and co-founder of KinoTek, is now available on YouTube.

🔬 Looma, a life science product development company, recently launched in Saco after its founder, Trevor Ruggiero, relocated his family from the Boston area, according to Mainebiz. The paper spoke with Ruggiero about his background as a product-design engineer, his plans for Looma, and why he chose Maine.

✏️ Apparently this is old news by now, but somehow I missed that SCORE Portland has named Jonathan Trumper as its new Chapter Chair, replacing Nancy Strojny, who will continue with SCORE as a mentor and assistant district director.

🚀 BluShift Aerospace is scheduled to launch its Stardust 1.0 prototype rocket from the Loring Commerce Centre in Aroostook County on Dec. 27. The Stardust will be carrying two 3U Cubesat customer payloads, one academic and one commercial. This low-altitude technology demo launch represents the culmination of six years of R&D, more than 200 engine tests, 50+ launch stakeholder interviews, the successful completion of grants from NASA and the Maine Technology Institute, and the development of the company’s proprietary modular hybrid rocket engine powered by eco-friendly, bio-derived fuel. Register for the livestream.

Sponsor Message from Brex

/ Talent Hub

An area of the newsletter for those seeking full- or part-time positions with a Maine startup.

👨🏻‍💻 Brendan McGonigle was the first hire at a web-based travel company in 2010. He contributed to strategy, marketing, operations, and product as the company steadily grew in employee count and web traffic until 2014 when it was acquired by Tripadvisor, for which Brendan worked briefly. Brendan has lived in Portland for nearly seven years, and currently works in international strategy and business development for one of Europe’s largest tech companies. He’s interested in transitioning from big tech back to startups, and enthusiastically encourages anyone looking to add to their team to reach out. His email is brendan.mcgonigle@gmail.com and here’s his LinkedIn profile.

/ ICYMI

Here are some recent articles from Maine Startups Insider you may have missed:

Quick intermission to thank Maine Startups Insider’s newest Sustaining Member: Nick Rimsa, a product designer at Tortoise Labs in Waterville.

If, like Nick, you appreciate what MSI is trying to do and have the financial wherewithal to support my efforts, please consider becoming a Sustaining Member.

/ Jobs

If you apply for a job you see here, let them know you saw the opportunity in Maine Startups Insider. 

+ Forerunner, developer of floodplain management software platform, is hiring for a full-stack engineer. This position is fully remote, but the company founder lives in Maine.

+ Guideline, the fintech company with offices in California, Texas, and Portland, is hiring for several software engineering positions.

+ Friday, a Portland-based company building a communication tool for remote teams, is hiring a Senior Front-end Engineer.

+ OurShelves, a Maine-based diverse children’s book box subscription service with members in all 50 states, is hiring a part-time Operations Lead.

+ Running Tide, a technology startup in the aquaculture space, is hiring software engineers and data scientists. If interested, email jobs@runningtide.com.

+ KinoTek, a Portland-based startup at the intersection of health and augmented reality, is looking for a software developer with experience with C++ unity integration. Those interested, email the company at contact@kinoteksoftware.com.

+ Farming robotics startup Farmhand Automation is hiring a mechanical engineer.

+ AskGMS, a Portland-based company that provides benchmarking and data analysis tools to the insurance industry, is hiring a Data Analyst and a Full-Stack Developer.

+ VETRO Inc., a SaaS company in Portland, is looking for a full-stack developer.

+ Defendify, a cybersecurity startup in Portland, is hiring a full-stack developer and content marketing specialist.

+ Arkatechture, a Portland-based company that provides business intelligence and data analytics services, is hiring a senior software engineer, AWS cloud engineer, among other positions.

+ Introspective Systems, in Portland, is looking for a lead software engineer and a software engineering intern.

+ Theory and Principle, a legal-tech product design and development startup in Portland, is hiring a UI/UX designer.

Seeking a full-stack engineer? A technical co-founder? A sales or biz dev superstar? Send me your job postings to make this a great resource! 

/ Events

Deadline to apply for NEVCA’s Unpitch
Applications due Mon., Jan. 4 at 9 p.m.
The New England Venture Capital Association is hosting Unpitch, which seeks to connect early-stage founders from various industry clusters with investors in Boston and beyond. From the Unpitch website: “It’s NOT about delivering an elevator pitch onstage, a “demo day” presentation, or trying to grab a few seconds with a venture capitalist in a conference hallway. Instead, Unpitch is a chance to have lunch with an angel investor or VC in a casual, no-pressure environment, discuss your business, get meaningful feedback on your ideas, and make connections that will help you get to the next stage.”
Apply here.

Startup Boards: Forming and Serving
Fri., Jan. 15, 9-10:30 a.m. — Online
Association for Consulting Expertise host John Burns and Joe Powers of Maine Venture Fund to give a talk on the topic of small private company governance. Having served board roles at 50+ Maine companies over the past 20 years, the MVF team will share best practices for those seeking board roles and those helping client companies to form boards. Register here.

Watch BluShift Aerospace launch its inaugural rocket 
Sun., Dec. 27, 7-9 a.m. — Online
BluShift Aerospace is launching its Stardust 1.0 prototype sounding rocket from the Loring Commerce Centre in Limestone. The Stardust will be carrying two 3U Cubesat customer payloads, one academic and one commercial. People can register for the livestream to watch the company make history.

Please send me your event or calendar item for possible inclusion.