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wbjournal.com | April 29, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 11 W 100 A June St. Worcester, MA 01602 508.310.5406 www.bestprollc.com Cleaning for Health From office cleaning and floor waxing to carpet cleaning and all types of professional cleaning services, BestPro Cleaning has the resources and expertise to get your office cleaning done right. Whether you require daily, weekly or monthly cleaning services or just a one-time cleaning, BestPro Cleaning will customize a cleaning service program to suit your individual needs and budget. General Manager, Diana Gallego Commercial Cleaning Office Cleaning Janitorial Services Family Owned Serving Massachusetts Since 1998 General Cleaning Carpet Cleaning Floor Care Eco-Friendly Green Cleaning Services Facility Maintenance (landscaping, snow removal, and light construction repairs) Other funding for research comes into the area through federal grants. UMass Medical School received $161 million in National Institute of Health funding last fiscal year, and regularly ranks at the top in NIH funding in Mass. for entities outside Boston. Geographic divide Worcester can't come close to attract- ing the investment Boston sees. But few cities of Worcester's size can be so close to all that money they can smell it. "I say we need to embrace our proximity to Boston," Murray said. WPI is among those working to close that gap, opening a Seaport meeting- and-work space last year where it holds a startup showcase and pitches the indus- try on what Worcester has to offer. Today though, I-495 seems to form a barrier for startups to attract venture capital. When Central Massachusetts firms have attracted major investment, it's overwhelmingly in places like Marl- borough, Framingham or Natick. Mevion Medical Systems, a Little- ton firm making medical devices and equipment, attracted a $200-million investment three years ago. Applause, a Framingham information technology firm, got $43 million in 2014. Boston's draw remains strong. e soware firm Nasuni moved from Natick to Boston's Seaport neighborhood. RxA- dvantage shows the Boston skyline on its website, but nothing from its home town of Southborough. ose in Worcester see fortunes now changing. ey expect more investors and startups looking to stay in the city or begin looking west and not east. One of them is Ryan Canuel, who launched the video game startup Petricore just aer he graduated from Worcester's Becker College in 2015. Petricore got free classroom and office space from Becker, and was the first winner of StartUp Worcester. Canuel said he's spent a lot of time with industry professionals in Boston who've ribbed him about being in Worcester. at's not the case as oen today, he said. "More and more," Canuel said of Worces- ter, "I think people are paying attention." WORCESTER COUNTY Total investment (in millions) $48.7 $230.0 $49.8 $29.2 $88.2 $445.8 Deal count 13 15 7 12 10 57 BOSTON METRO AREA Total investment (in millions) $4,952.5 $8,015.0 $7,010.9 $9,066.4 $11,755.0 $40,799.8 Deal count 648 726 598 630 644 3,246 MASSACHUSETTS Total investment (in millions) $5,042.6 $8,253.1 $7,098.4 $9,099.8 $11,885.7 $41,379.6 Deal count 662 742 605 647 660 3,316 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 5-year total Note: Boston metro area includes parts of southern New Hampshire. Source: PitchBook Worcester's VC shortage Massachusetts gets more venture capital funding than any state other than California and New York. In recent years, only 1% of that money has flowed to Worcester County. Worcester entrepreneur Bolaji Ojo pitches his startup I Heart Thursdays during The Venture Forum at WPI in April.