Startups

After paying all their back taxes and bills and calculating the cost and time spent running a restaurant and events space in the 144-year-old Bull Mansion for nearly three years, the partners simply broke even.

Worcester Business Journal on Saturday night received eight awards from the New England Newspaper & Press Association's Better Newspaper Competition, running the gamut from coverage of the cannabis industry to honors for investigations, feature writing, an editorial cartoon and Columnist Renee Diaz.

A three-person startup already boasting contracts with NASA and awards from the U.S. Army and National Science Foundation is looking to open a headquarters in Worcester. 

Silicon Valley investors and their ilk seek the next big thing to grab market share, and produce fame and Jeff Bezos-sized wealth. They call it disruption.

Pepperell-based Masy BioServices, a biorepository company, is continuing its expansion on the eastern seaboard by opening an office in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park.

Worcester State University has begun offering a non-credit certificate for those looking to enter the state's newest industry.

When compared to other legal marijuana states, Massachusetts is far behind.

Half of Massachusetts cities and towns have enacted or are considering a ban on recreational marijuana businesses, towns like Uxbridge and Athol have gone in the other direction.

If Central Massachusetts can churn out more startups who turn out to be good investments, more of those venture capital dollars will start to swing in our direction.

Just 1% of venture capital in Massachusetts in the past five years has come to Worcester County. But colleges, incubators and others are working to make up the difference.