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Boom! Starry to go public via Blank-Check deal valued at $1.66B. The company announced it had begun the process of becoming a publicly-traded company via a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) deal by agreeing to merge with FirstMark Horizon Acquisition Corp.

Chet Kanojia, co-founder and CEO of Starry: "I cannot think of partners better suited to support our growth than FirstMark and FirstMark Capital, and we're excited to continue our relationship with them." The full announcement can be found here.

The State of Manufacturing

September's PMI Index keeps telling the same story as the past months.

Supplier deliveries have slowed, generally all Inventories are too low and we see increasing demand & pricing.

Cargo ships are piled higher with containers than they’ve ever been, and the ports are struggling to unload them as companies are filling their ships as close to maximum capacity as possible.

The problem is that Ports aren’t built to unload ships carrying so many containers, causing additional shortages and shipping delays.

According to this analysis, the Port of Long Beach used to deal with ships bringing around 4,000 containers in 2019, and now, the average ship brings in 7,000 containers – a 70% increase.

There are 600+ new and exciting Boston Startups in our Startup section alone. Boston is and remains an epicenter for innovation!

If you want to see some of the most innovative cleantech / climate-tech and sustainability startups from around the world, check out the Cleantech Open Global Forum & National Awards, on October 20 - 22, 2021.

The full agenda and ticket reservations can be found here.

Ten Boston companies advance as MassChallenge finalists. The finalists are vying for the $1 million in prize money.

The complete list of companies can be found here.

The 2021 MassChallenge U.S. Showcase and Award show is happening on Oct. 28^th, 2021. This event is always fun!

Here is the registration link for all that want to join.

Harvard Innovation Labs has added 352 new student teams for its venture program.

The Boston Startup Funding environment never disappoints!

Another Massachusetts startup has achieved "Unicorn status". Cloud startup Solo.io achieved the billion-dollar valuation after raising $135 million in Series C funding.

Hydrow raised nearly $200M last month. A list of celebrity investors contributed to the home fitness company's latest capital raise.

Activ Surgical raises $45M to revolutionize the operating room by integrating computer vision, artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented reality, and robotics.

Massachusetts companies have raised $5.8B in IPOs this year. In terms of dollars raised, 2021 has been the biggest since 2000.

Find the latest updates of the hottest Boston Startups here.

Accion Systems announced that former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin has joined its Board of Directors. Read the full announcement here.

Desktop Metal has announced the acquisition of hydraulic and fluid power system developer Aidro. All the details can be found here.

Embr Labs was one of the Health and Fitness winners from the iF Design Award 2021 with their Embr Wave 2 healthcare bracelet. Click here to see the complete winners list.

Evergreens and GelSight were announced as the Massachusetts Innovation Network 2021 Eddies Finalists. Congratulations! The entire list can be found here.

Flare was named the winner of Fast Company's Innovation By Design Awards in the Fashion & Beauty category. Their Bluetooth-enabled bracelet has hidden buttons that can trigger a 911 call. Read the full announcement here.

Flux Marine won the Best New Boating Operation Maintenance or Safety Product with their Electric Outboard Engine from the Newport International Boat Show. Read about all the selected winners here.

Starry to go public via Blank-Check deal valued at $1.66B. The process of becoming a publicly traded company via a SPAC has already begun. The full announcement can be read here.

WiTricity was recognized in Fast Company's 2021 Innovation by Design Awards in the Mobility category. More details here.

A Mexican village has built around 200 homes with a massive 3D printer. TheUSBuildsOneMexicoBuilds200 (Source: The New York Times)

Great news! You can now buy a keyboard that only copies and pastes. MankindGoingToHell (Source: The Verge)

Did you know that most of the world’s bread clips are made by a single company? And they sell gazillions each year. MonopolyAtItsBest (Source: Atlas Obscura)

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