The Engine was spun out of MIT in 2016, with the purpose of supporting startups poised to create a material positive impact on society and the environment.
The Engine was spun out of MIT in 2016 with the purpose of bridging the gap between discovery and commercialization for the most promising breakthrough inventions — so they don’t get stuck inside a lab. Our mission is to provide founders with the access to the infrastructure, capital, resources, and community they need to scale their companies.
The Tough Tech Ecosystem, which The Engine fosters through events and convenings, is designed to help founders gain momentum as they build and grow their companies. The ecosystem succeeds when everyone in it can both contribute their expertise and benefit from the network: through talent, partnerships, investments, and resources.
Over the last six and a half years, under the leadership of Katie Rae, we’ve experienced significant growth and success, and rapidly scaled two separate functions under one organization. One is a venture capital fund that invests into Tough Tech companies, and the other is a public benefit corporation that operates space, programs, services, and community for Tough Tech companies. We have two distinct businesses that have grown up together, which have now reached scale and are fundamentally operated differently.
Moving forward, we have two organizations with two management companies — The Engine Accelerator, a public benefit corporation, and Engine Ventures, a venture capital fund — that share a mission to grow the Tough Tech Ecosystem together.