Find out why so many cybersecurity companies call Boston home

TechCrunch Live took a virtual tour of Boston this week during our special City Spotlight: Boston event. During this special and extended event, influential Boston founders and investors spoke, including Marc Raibert, founder of Boston Robotics, and Cait Brumme, CEO of MassChallenge. The event began with Greg Dracon of .406 Ventures and Matt Caulfield, Founder and CEO of Oort, having a conversation around cybersecurity companies in Boston.

Caulfield started Oort in 2018 and to date has raised $18.05 million to back the company, including from Dracon at .406 Ventures.

But why Boston, I asked in the video embedded here.

“I live in the boonies,” Caulfield said with a laugh while adding, “In the city there’s a prototype fusion reactor from Commonwealth Fusion, which is out of MIT, and you won’t find it anywhere in the world. country. .”

Caulfield and Dracon made Boston their home and established businesses in the area. For them, the region’s rich deep tech history is why high-tech startups, from biotech to cybersecurity firms, are finding success in the region.

And the Boston area continues to grow. As explained in this Boston TechCrunch article, success breeds success. In 2022, the region was the fourth most active venture capital market in the United States, just behind the Bay Area of ​​California, New York and Los Angeles.

Greg pointed to the flywheel effect to explain the scene: “We (Boston) have companies going out for big bucks and spitting entrepreneurs. We were the early investors in Carbon Black, and we’ve backed two companies that came out of Carbon Black… There’s probably five or six companies that just came out of Carbon Black. He explains that it’s important for a region that people feel success together and mentions other big Boston companies like Hubspot, Wayfair and Klaviyo that have seen projects turn into spin-off startups.

The Boston area requires a specific type of contractor, the two say. “You need to be networked with tech communities and a bit of a combination of introvert and extrovert,” Dracon said. “We find good founders who are introverted enough, often have a technical background, but can go out, network, and activate it when they need to sell.”

“If you’re solving a difficult technical problem,” Caulfield said, “I can’t think of a better place than Boston to do it.”