Eagle Eye December Update
A bird's-eye summary of BC startups and tech
Happy December! It’s been a minute since the last edition – newsletter updates will resume being published on a regular monthly basis.
Every month this newsletter highlights:
🌟 Two startups: one founded by a current student and one founded by an alum
🎓 Two people: a current student and an alum
🔥 Updates: on-campus events and other BC tech updates
💼 Featured jobs: at BC alumni-led startups
Here’s the update!
🚀 Featured startups
🚌 Student startup: GrailPay
GrailPay reimagines payments by providing a low-cost, high-conversion pay by bank alternative to the card networks for e-commerce merchants. By eliminating 75% of merchants’ payment processing expenses, GrailPay provides a rewarding, fast, and secure way for shoppers to pay. The startup is partnered with Shopify and venture-backed (by Noemis Ventures) with a launch slated for end of year 2021. https://grailpay.com/
Founder: 🦅 CEO William Messina CSOM ‘21
🎓 Alumni startup: Socure
Socure is a digital identity authentication technology company. Its real-time predictive analytics platform combines machine learning with all aspects of a consumer’s identity to deliver accurate and robust KYC, identity verification, and fraud risk prediction solutions. The company has raised over $640M in funding from Accel, Tiger Global, Bain Capital Ventures, and more. https://www.socure.com/
Founder: 🦅 CEO Johnny Ayers CSOM ‘08
⭐️ Featured people
🚌 Student: Christina Garcia Busa
Christina is studying Marketing and Finance at BC and will be joining EY-Parthenon after graduating this spring. She’s worked as a Summer Analyst for JPMorgan Chase & Co and as a Business Development Intern at Influence Central. At BC, Christina currently serves at the Co-President of both the Latin American Business Club and the Mexican Association of Students.
🦅 Christina Garcia Busa CSOM ‘22
🎓 Alum: Meagan Loyst
Meagan is an Associate at Lerer Hippeau, an early-stage NYC-based VC, and is the founder of Gen Z VCs, a collective of Gen Z investors, founders, and startup enthusiasts. Previously, she worked in a growth equity role at General Atlantic. Meagan holds a BS in Management (Finance and Information Systems) with a Minor in International Studies for Management from BC.
🦅 Meagan Loyst CSOM ‘19
❗️Updates
⏭ What’s happening this month?
BC’s last day of classes before study days and final exams is in eight days on 12/9, so we’re light on startup and tech events for BC clubs this month!
🐝 What else is going on in BC’s tech community?
BC alum Jimmy McDermott, co-founder and CTO of Transeo, was featured in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list this year! Transeo has raised $5M in funding to date.
The brand new building on campus that will be home to the The Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society is almost done! Here’s a pic.
BC alum Pat Grady invested in Embark Trucks as a Partner at Sequoia, and Embark went public earlier this month! Check out Pat’s tweet here.
Moolah Kicks, a sneaker company founded by BC alum Natalie White, is going national, available in 140 Dick’s Sporting Goods stores (also online)! More here.
Matt Giovanniello, BC ‘18 and CEO / co-founder of Frenalytics, was featured in The Heights this month. Matt is an example of “men and women for others.”
Trevor Rozier-Byrd, BC ‘05 and accomplished Wall Street executive, created a robo-investing app for black investors to help build wealth. Read more here.
This newsletter’s author Jack McClelland, BC ‘22, started a new position as Head of Platform at Rough Draft Ventures. Follow on Twitter for updates!
Any other BC tech news or asks? Please reach out: jack@jackmcclelland.com
💼 Featured jobs
Highlighted jobs at startups founded or led by Boston College alumni
💡 Internships
DraftKings: Software Engineer Intern (Summer 2022) (Boston, MA)
WePay: Software Engineer Internship (Summer 2022) (Redwood City, CA)
WePay: Product Manager Intern - Summer 2022 (Redwood City, CA)
💸 Full-time
Aceable: Product Manager, E-commerce (Austin, TX)
ClearCompany: Software Engineer I (Entry Level) (Nationwide)
Drizly: Senior Program Manager (Remote)
Iterable: Staff Software Engineer - Backend (Remote)
Socure: Director of Product Management, Device & Implicit Features (Remote)
📚 Campus organizations
BC on-campus tech and startup organizations:
Start@Shea – https://www.startatshea.com/
Women Innovators Network (WIN) – https://www.bcwin.org/
Boston College Computer Science Society (BCCSS) – https://bccss.io/
Women in Computer Science (WiCS) – https://www.instagram.com/wics_bc/
Girls Who Code (GWC) – https://www.instagram.com/girlswhocodebc/
Soaring Startup Circle (SSC) – https://www.sscventurepartners.com/
Thanks for reading!
If you have any feedback, suggestions, or tips (startups, people, updates, or jobs to profile), please reach me (Jack McClelland – CS + Finance @ BC MCAS ‘22) at jack@jackmcclelland.com or (650) 863-8151. Find me on Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
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