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Drizly, Zapata, and Motif: Meet Boston’s biggest tech losers in 2024 – The Boston Globe

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Drizly, Zapata, and Motif: Meet Boston’s biggest tech losers in 2024 – The Boston Globe


As the Boston tech scene closes the book on 2024, let’s take a moment to mourn the local startups, apps, and products that we lost last year.

The year started with rounds of layoffs at local tech employers including Wayfair, iRobot, and Toast. But the biggest blow hit when Uber decided it didn’t need to maintain Drizly, the Boston-based alcohol delivery startup it acquired in 2021 for $1.1 billion.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the boom in online orders put Drizly on course perhaps to join Wayfair and DraftKings as Boston’s next Internet consumer brand success story. But Uber had other plans and shifted customers to its Uber Eats app.

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Drizly wasn’t the only tech company that bit the dust. Ginkgo Bioworks spinoff Motif FoodWorks, developing plant-based meat substitutes, closed in September. Quantum software firm Zapata AI shut down in October, only six months after merging with a blank check company to go public. And government data startup Civin, founded by Boston’s former chief data officer, Andrew Therriault, four years ago, shut down in December.

Thrasio, which raised billions of dollars to buy hundreds of small Amazon sellers, filed for bankruptcy in February but stayed out of the 2024 dustbin by completing a restructuring and emerging with new leadership and less debt in June.

There were some startup highlights last year, including Liquid AI debuting its groundbreaking software in October, the creation of an “AI hub” backed by $100 million of state money in December, and the continued growth of local battery developers Ascend Elements and Form Energy. And local venture capital investors said they are looking forward to a better year in 2025.

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Bostonians also lost a few apps last year. Foursquare pivoted away from running city-oriented apps cataloging local restaurants, leading to the demise of its Boston specific app. And grocery delivery service Getir, which opened some of its mini-warehouse locations around Boston over the past few years, pulled out of the market in April.

A more serious loss hit low income families in Massachusetts and around the country in June. The Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program ended after Republicans in Congress refused to support new funding. That left about 368,000 in Massachusetts without the free Internet service subsidy.

At DraftKings, a venture into cryptocurrency related collectibles ran out of steam. Back in 2021, at the height of the crypto bubble, the online betting company opened a store called Reignmakers to sell digital game pieces related to fantasy sports bets. But the effort to sell the pieces, known as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, was hit with a class action lawsuit alleging the store violated securities laws and DraftKings shuttered it in July.

But hope springs eternal for new lines of business at DraftKings’ Back Bay headquarters. In November, chief executive Jason Robins said the company was looking at adding betting on election results.

Hopefully, the effort will avoid 2025′s tech dust bin.

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Aaron Pressman can be reached at aaron.pressman@globe.com. Follow him @ampressman.





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Jaylen Brown says Celtics showed ‘lack of respect’ after trade to 76ers – The Boston Globe

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Jaylen Brown says Celtics showed ‘lack of respect’ after trade to 76ers – The Boston Globe


Amid several reports that said Brown didn’t request a trade and that Boston actually thought Derrick White was the best player on the 2025-26 roster, an already motivated Brown now has an even larger chip on his shoulder after the Celtics dealt him away. ​

“The message was received,” Brown said. “I wasn’t thrilled with the amount of respect that was shown throughout this process. I think there was a bit of a lack of respect. I think it was fine at one point, then out of nowhere, things just went left. I think Brad [Stevens] is getting a lot of the criticism. I wasn’t thrilled with the way he facilitated some of the conversations.”

After the Celtics fell short in their pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo — Brown was the centerpiece of Boston’s trade package — Stevens was noncommittal when asked about Brown’s future in Boston.

“Jaylen Brown is a big part of us,” Stevens said. “I’m never going to predict the future, but every indication, everything that I think about over the past few years has been building around those guys, right? So obviously, you never know. But at the same time, the one thing I want to make very clear is how valued he’s always been.​​”

“He’s been amazing. He’s been an amazing teammate, a great person to be around. And whether that run ends 10 years from now when he retires, or before, there’s a lot to celebrate. We have a great relationship, an open relationship where we talk about everything. But I don’t want to predict the future. I look at it as, this is our team.”

Stevens traded Brown to the 76ers on Wednesday in exchange for Paul George, two first-round picks, and two second-round picks. The deal was widely criticized.

For Brown, the most puzzling aspect was the lack of an explanation.

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“I definitely think there’s more to it,” Brown said. “I just wish that more to it could’ve been explained to me. Because I think if more to it was explained, I would’ve understood. I thought I earned the respect to get that explanation. But hey, obviously, I was wrong. That’s life. You move on.”

Brown will now join a 76ers team that, with Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and V. J. Edgecombe already in place, could be poised to leapfrog Boston in the Eastern Conference.

“I don’t want [any] special treatment, I don’t need no handouts … I plan on earning my respect one day at a time by putting in the work,” Brown said of playing for Philadelphia. “I’m looking forward to getting in the gym, the whole process.”

“The hard part is, the last 10 years, I’ve been programmed to hate Philadelphia. The history of the rivalry, the playoff battles … I’ve been programmed to think like, ‘[Expletive] The Process’. It’s funny, now I’ve got to reverse-engineer it. But I’ll be ready to go by the time the season starts.”


Conor Ryan can be reached at conor.ryan@globe.com.

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Stairlift brings relief to residents stuck in building with broken elevator

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Stairlift brings relief to residents stuck in building with broken elevator


A broken elevator has left some residents of a Boston apartment building unable to leave, but a new stairlift has brought temporary relief.

When 80-year-old Silke Evans, who lives at the Villa Michelangelo Apartments in the North End, spoke with NBC10 Boston last Wednesday, she had been stuck inside for weeks.

“I feel imprisoned. That’s it,” she said at the time. “I feel like I’m in prison.”

Silke Evans, an 80-year-old woman living at the Villa Michelangelo Apartments in the North End, has been unable to use the elevator at her building for three weeks.

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“She was stuck up on the third floor for a total of three-and-a-half weeks,” her daughter, Katharine Clark, said Thursday.

Thursday, Metro Management, which runs the building, installed the stairlift as a temporary solution while waiting for elevator repairs.

It allowed Evans to leave for the first time in nearly a month.

“They had food, and got to eat out, and just feel like a normal person,” Clark said. “She’s been looking kind of sad for weeks, so it’s the first time I saw some pictures where she was genuinely smiling.”

The fix brought major joy to Evans, with hopes of a long-term solution in the future.

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“We’re not out of the woods. We still have a broken elevator. Hopefully, it’s not too many months with just a chairlift,” Clark said.

Jeff Buono, director of property management, told NBC10 Boston last week that the process to repair the elevator has been difficult.

“They’re estimating four to five weeks to get the parts and then four to five weeks for the install,” Buono said in a phone interview. “It’s tough to get parts in general. It takes longer to get them than it ever has before. So the systems now just need to be modernized. I mean, it does take a toll on our elderly population — it really does. And we do feel for them. They’re likely family to us.”

NBC10 Boston reached out to the management company for further comment Thursday, but staff had already left for the holiday weekend.

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Review & setlist: It was 100 degrees in Boston, and Goose was on fire

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Review & setlist: It was 100 degrees in Boston, and Goose was on fire


Concert Reviews

The Connecticut jam band delivered an incendiary show at Leader Bank Pavilion Wednesday night.

Goose lit up Leader Bank Pavilion Wednesday night. Lauren Daley / Boston.com

Goose at Leader Bank Pavilion, Boston, July 1, 2026.

I discovered the fan spritzing water at 7:07 p.m., as the “feels like” temp hit 102.  It stood near a semicircle of coed porta-potties at the back of Boston’s Leader Bank Pavilion, and we gathered round it like wallowing water buffalo at a flooded rice paddy.

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Still, despite the temperature, the weather was not the hottest thing in Boston last night. Goose was on fire.

Night 2 of their “Big Modern!” Boston run saw mostly old favorites. All fat funky jams and spectacle, it veered into the frantic — primal guitar and crowd whoops. You could’ve charged for the light-show alone. They made a case for frontman/Berklee alum Rick Mitarotonda as one of the great lead jam guitarists working today.

Now, sometimes the most selfless gift a band can give fans on a new album tour is to not play much off the new album. I’m thinking of how heartbroken my dad was when Neil Young indulgently played 2003’s “Greendale” in full. With costumed actors. Before most fans had the album (if they bought it).

As for Goose, I’m not a big fan of their slick, heavily produced (overproduced?) “Big Modern!,” released last month.  The record gives big “I said we’re not a jam band, Mom!” vibes. Whether it’s a new direction, a lark, something to get out of their system,  or a Bob Dylan-esque random venture into new territory, a la “Saved,” only time will tell.

But unlike Neil Young, Goose selflessly delivered the hits. They played just one song off the new album — the title track. For the record, they played only one “Big Modern!” song on night 1 in Boston: “Torero.”

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Live, the artists’ DNA remains. Those funky, meaty jams, Mitarotonda’s smooth vocals and raw guitar that feels at all times begging to be let off the leash to run wild, howling — until it inevitably does.

Sorry, Goose. You’re a jam band. You cannot fight animal-nature.

When the powers of lead guitarist/vocalist Mitarotonda, multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach — both natives of  Wilton, Conn. — combine with bassist Trevor Weekz and Bedford, Mass. native drummer Cotter Ellis, jams get electric. 

When that electricity combines with the Jedi-level mastery of their  brilliant lighting production team, including lighting designer Andrew Goedde — it feels otherworldly.  By the end of the night, my camera roll looked like a kaleidoscope.

Lauren’s camera roll.

The Connecticut quartet took stage at 7:39 p.m.  Anspach, typically the one to address the crowd, walked on stage with:  “Alright, Boston let’s do this. Drink your water tonight, man. It’s f—ing hot.”

They launched into a fiery “Iguana Song” with red and green lights which turned to green and blue, then epic white and red strobes as Mitarotonda’s guitar let out primal screams, and Cotter thwacked. The crowd got on their feet and never sat down.

“Iguana” reached two peaks and ended with all of us cattle-lowing “Goooooooooose” in the way that Springsteen’s fans shout “Bruuuuuuuuuuce.” (We’re not booing.)

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The smell of weed poured over me by 7:42. Yes, by God, in the age of ubiquitous vapes and pre-packaged candy edibles, a few old-souls brought skunky old-school pot.  The smell immediately took me back to childhood days at Great Woods. (Single tear in eye.)

Next: fan favorite “Royal” as a blue balloon was tossed in the crowd. Things slowed down a bit with “It Burns Within,” before launching into “Wisteria Lane” with Anspach playing both guitar and keys simultaneously, and lights shooting like UFO beams before breaking into greens and purples. 

The highlight of the night, though, was an incendiary version of “Electric Avenue” — a 1982 Eddy Grant song that’s become a repertoire staple — that had the whole crowd singing, then shouting as Mitarotonda’s lightning-fast fingerpicking became frantic.

Then Ellis took lead vocals on a funky “Draconian Meter Maid,” a Swimmer song Ellis apparently brought to the band when he joined in ’24. It ended in a cacophony of electric sound, warped beats building into a frenzy before slowing to almost a full halt as bands of orange and green light waved like seaweed in water. As it built back up to the frenzy, the crowd lost it, whooping and screaming, dancing in aisles. 


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Next came a bluegrassy hoedown “Flodown” to end set 1 around 9:06 p.m., with the “feels-like” temp a balmy 93 degrees.

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Intermission saw guys sticking heads under outdoor bathroom sink faucets, wiping faces down with paper towels, holding sweating beer cans to foreheads.

Set 2 kicked off at 9:35 p.m. with the only song they’d play off “Big Modern!” all night: the title track. The set started off spacier, adding to a slow trippy feel. It was now fully dark, and the lights popped even more, hazy light beams illuminating mist and smoke in the air. 

“Creatures,” had a sway-in-the-aisle feel, ending with some goosebumps-inducing vocals from Mitarotonda, as lights turned aqua blue.  “Jive II” was pure funk that proved they’re a jam-beast at heart. Set 2 ended with “Jive Lee,” but they quickly returned for an encore with “Doobie Song,” a pure reggae tune played for the first time in a year, which Anspach said was dedicated to their crew.

The mellow song was a beautiful way to bring everyone down off the mind-melting jams. It reminded me of how the Grateful Dead capped nights with a lullaby, “We Bid You Goodnight” as a chamomile tea for the mind. 

They capped with “Give It Time,” under a hushed aqua light, ending around 11 p.m. Mitarotonda sang, “Go ahead, give it hell.”

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They did.

It’s easy being green — or almost any other color — when you’re Goose. – Lauren Daley / Boston.com

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After 13 songs in more than three hours, they delivered something for every type of Goose fan in Boston last night — and every type of Goose fan was there.

There were the “Big Modern!” fans— one dude in a bright yellow and pink jumpsuit, to match the album colors. Young couples in Dead & Co shirts, gray-haired dads with polo shirts, khaki shorts and Keens drinking next to classic wooks. A white-haired grandmother-type in a long floral dress swayed next to a pack of teens with glitter on their faces.

I spotted half a dozen Celtics jerseys with “Walton” on the back, an homage to Boston Biggest Deadhead. Grateful Dead-themed Red Sox jerseys — some with Garcia on the backs — peppered the crowd. A man in Lululemon. A young girl with hand-made patchwork overalls. Bearded hippies with decades-old Neil Young tees.

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All of us here to happily dance in the 100-degree heat for hours of fiery jams.

Like it or not Goose, you’re a jam band. It’s coiled in your DNA. Your cells ring with it. You can put out as many bubblegum-slick albums as you want. Blood always tells. 

Full setlist for Goose at Leader Bank Pavilion, Boston, July 1, 2026:

Set 1:

  • Iguana Song
  • Royal
  • It Burns Within
  • Wysteria Lane
  • Electric Avenue
  • Draconian Meter Maid
  • Flodown

Set 2:

  • Big Modern!
  • Creatures
  • Jive II
  • Jive Lee

Encore:

Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1. Read more stories on Facebook here.

Profile image for Lauren Daley

Lauren Daley is a longtime culture journalist. As a regular contributor to Boston.com, she interviews A-list musicians, actors, authors and other major artists.

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