The 41 Most Important VCs in Boston, According to Other Investors

• Before there was Silicon Valley, early venture capitalists chased startup founders to Boston.
• Established firms like General Catalyst, Bessemer, and Accomplice call the city home.
• This list showcases Boston’s best and brightest investors, from principals to general partners.

Boston’s Route 128 was the original Sand Hill Road.

In the 1960s and ’70s, the four-lane highway cut a path around the city’s myriad universities and research centers to the suburbs, where high-tech startups rented offices in cheaper ZIP codes. Early venture-capital firms like General Catalyst and Bessemer chased founders and overnight riches there. And in the 1970s, the rapid growth of local tech giants like Digital Equipment Corporation and Raytheon cemented Boston’s status as a world technology center.

Soon enough, rival tech hubs overtook the East Coast city. Still, Boston remains a hotbed of venture investment, especially for health-tech companies. In 2021, a banner year for tech, venture capitalists nationwide plowed $34.9 billion into Boston startups, making the area the fourth-largest market by investment, after the Bay Area, New York, and Los Angeles, according to PitchBook data.

The Boston area claims a number of savvy, if under-the-radar, investors as residents. We asked venture capitalists from across the country about the Boston investors to know. We also referred to our past reporting on the top seed investors to find more picks.

Let us know who we missed by contacting venture-capital startups and correspondent Melia Russell at mrussell@insider.com.