GrabCAD Grabs Cash

Estonia- and Cambridge, MA-based startup GrabCAD announced today via TechCrunch that it has raised $1.1 million in seed funding from Boston-area investors Matrix Partners, Atlas Venture, NextView Ventures, and angel investors. GrabCAD, a member of the current class of TechStars Boston startups, has developed an online marketplace for connecting mechanical design engineers with manufacturing and product development companies. Computer-aided design (CAD) might sound like a boring niche market, but look at what billion-dollar firm Parametric Technology (NASDAQ: [[ticker:PMTC]]) has done over the past 25 years.

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.