Energy companies are in the news again, for better or worse. While there have been some high-profile failures, one area that’s growing is energy efficiency. Boston-area startups like Crowd Comfort, FirstFuel, and Retroficiency are taking a page from the tech industry playbook and creating “data platforms” to try to attract developers. The idea is to get industry partners to build on top of all the information and analytics coming from utilities and building-management systems. Established companies like EnerNOC, for example, are already pretty far along in getting people to build apps around their data on energy use.
In other innovation news:
— No change, no compromise, no big surprise: Despite heavy lobbying by venture capitalists, Massachusetts legislators have decided not to alter or limit the state’s non-compete agreements for employees leaving jobs.
— Our startup of the week is Emulate, which has raised a $12 million VC round to try to shake up drug testing in Big Pharma. The Harvard spinout has developed “organ on a chip” technology that could help speed up pre-clinical drug development.
— And lastly, drones are in the air, quite literally. CyPhy Works, a Danvers startup led by iRobot co-founder Helen Greiner, is among the drone companies banking on software, not just hardware, to drive profits. So, whether it’s delivering your groceries or spying on the Taliban, that flying vehicle outside your window probably needs an upgrade.
