Business Innovation: Interesting and Creative Businesses in the Boston Area

With some of the brightest minds in the world flocking to Harvard, Boston University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts, UMass, or any of the 35 institutions of higher learning in the Boston area, it’s no wonder that some of the world’s most innovative businesses arise there as well.

From the hundreds of biotechnology companies to socially-impactful startups, Boston is home to a number of interesting businesses. In this post, we’re going to go over five of the ones we find the most intriguing and innovative currently calling beantown their home.

1. Business District

With about 70 percent of workers working at least one day a week remotely, 66 percent of companies allowing remote work, and 16 percent of businesses working entirely remotely, a new need for rentable coworking and private office space has arisen. 

Not all companies, businesses, or workers require the expense or space that their own office would give them. Instead, many are opting for coworking and shared office spaces along with optional private luxury office space for an extra charge to accommodate their employees and function in the era of remote workers.

And that’s exactly what Business District, an innovative and smart business located in the Back Bay, offers. Since 2016, the Business District has been offering meeting rooms, virtual offices, private offices, luxury office space, and event space for professionals and businesses who want the feel of a luxury office in their coworking space. 

Business District was featured in Entrepreneur magazine’s list of top coworking business options in the country! This isn’t a surprise, though. While the coworking and remote work field is innovative on its own, Business District took that innovation a step further by carving out that luxury and high-end niche within the market.

2. GiveCard

On any given day, there are over half a million people experiencing homelessness in the United States. It’s obviously a huge problem with Boston’s homeless population increasing 14 percent to amount to over 20,000 people without a roof over their heads.

While many people want to give back, people can be wary about donating their money to a population wracked with stereotypes that they’ll purchase drugs, alcohol, lottery tickets, or other items instead of necessities like clothes and food.

That’s where the innovative startup GiveCard comes in. They’ve created a debit card system that gives their “GiveCard” debit card to homeless people they’ve formed relationships with. Then, people who donate money through the GiveCard system will have the money be loaded directly onto these cards for the homeless to use as they need.

The GiveCard restricts holders from buying certain items (alcohol and lottery tickets, for example, cannot be purchased with the GiveCard). Taking cash out of the equation also prevents drug purchases/use. GiveCard also allows you to donate to specific people and monitor the spending of the money you donate.

The cashless nature of the GiveCard also helps homeless people survive in a world that’s rapidly becoming “plastic only” since many people in the homeless population don’t have bank accounts or the ability to get a debit/credit card.

3. BookBub

The percentage of people reading print books has been slowly declining over the years while digital options like audiobooks and ebooks have been steadily rising. With options like the Amazon Kindle holding thousands of books in one tiny tablet, it’s not hard to see why. 

BookBub, located in the MIT area in Cambridge, took advantage of the new desire for ebooks.

This free online service/app that helps users find ebooks that they’ll enjoy based on their reading history and likes that you input directly on the site. The BookBub service gives users curated recommendations and keeps users updated on their favorite authors so you’ll never miss a release.

BookBub is similar to Business District in that they carved out their own specific niche within the larger industry they’re a part of. They recognized that a large portion of ebook readers are also self-identified bargain hunters, so they combined those two things into one. Their service not only carves out ebook recommendations, but it also finds the cheapest and best deals for their users to take advantage of. 

4. Harvest Power

Sustainability and waste are hot topic issues right now, and for good reason. Every single American produces, on average, a whopping 2,072 pounds of trash every year. That adds up to a total of 254 tons of trash produced by Americans of which only 34 percent is recycled. Specifically looking at food waste (one of the biggest waste-offenders), Americans throw away $180 billion worth of food every year.

Harvest Power, a company based in Waltham, Massachusetts, has found an innovative way to attack the waste-problem head on: by using that waste to create usable energy. Harvest Power takes food waste, leaves, and yard clippings and turns it into renewable energy and natural fertilizers. 

This was innovative and impressive enough to land this company on Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies in the World” list in 2014 putting it right alongside Google, Netflix, and Tesla! 

The List Goes On

These are just 4 of the most amazing innovative companies in Boston today. This doesn’t even include the hundreds of biotech companies, robotics companies, giants like WayFair, Yelp, HubSpot, and more.

If you’re looking for innovation, you’ve come to the right city!