January in Boston doesn’t ease you into the year - it hits the ground running. From deep tech and AI to founder support, community building, and capital connection, the first month of the year is packed with events worth putting on your radar if you’re building, backing, or supporting startups in Greater Boston.
Startup Boston is anchoring the month with four community-powered experiences:
Mentor Matching for Early-Stage Founders (Jan 12) - An intimate, mentor-driven session where early-stage founders get real-time advice, build lasting relationships, and connect with experienced startup leaders in small group discussions.
She Builds Boston: Brewing Bold Ideas (Jan 14) - A monthly coffee meetup for female founders building tech, life sciences, hardware, and product-based startups. Designed for honest conversations, shared lessons, and meaningful connection without panels or pitches.
Quarterly Ecosystem Leaders Roundtable (Jan 29) - An invite-only working session for the people building and supporting the startup ecosystem, focused on surfacing real gaps, aligning resources, and leaving with clear 90-day action steps.
Dealflow Mixer: Connecting Investors & Founders (Jan 30) - A high-signal, invite-only mixer bringing together pre-seed and seed-stage founders actively raising with investors actively deploying capital through curated 1:1 conversations.
From there, January continues with antiviral innovation launches, AI and robotics deep dives, hackathons, founder-friendly fitness, and community-driven meetups across the city - all designed to help you kick off the year connected, informed, and moving forward with intention.
January’s Top Startup Events
SMART Antiviral Prize Launch Event
Date: Wednesday, January 7 from 1:30pm - 4:30pm; Learn more and register
Organizer: VITAL
BARDA and VITAL are hosting the launch of the SMART Antiviral Prize, a $100M initiative aimed at accelerating the development of broad-spectrum small-molecule antiviral therapies. The event brings together innovators from academia, startups, industry, and partner organizations working to advance the next generation of antivirals. The prize focuses on novel approaches targeting viruses in the Togaviridae and Flaviviridae families, which include dengue, Zika, West Nile, and Chikungunya and currently have no FDA-approved antiviral treatments.
Mentor Matching for Early-Stage Founders
Date: Monday, January 12 from 5:30pm - 7:30pm; Learn more and register
Organizer: Startup Boston + City of Boston
Join Startup Boston and the City of Boston for an exclusive, mentor-driven event connecting early-stage founders with experienced startup leaders through small, intimate group discussions. Founders will gain real-time advice, share challenges, and build meaningful relationships with mentors and peers.
The State of Humanoid Robotics
Date: Tuesday, January 13 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm; Learn more and register
Organizer: Underscore VC
Inference IRL is a new monthly technical series hosted at Underscore VC that brings Boston’s AI community together to share research, exchange ideas, and debate what’s next in AI. This session explores the state of humanoid robotics, examining how advances in agility and real-world deployment are shaping applications in logistics, manufacturing, and beyond.
She Builds Boston: brewing bold ideas
Date: Wednesday, January 14 from 9:30am - 11:00am; Learn more and register
Organizer: Startup Boston
This community-powered meetup brings together women building tech, hardware, life sciences, and product-based startups to trade lessons, share resources, and grow alongside peers who get it.
rootless Boston business leaders brunch
Date: Wednesday, January 14 from 10:00am - 12:00pm; Learn more and register
Organizer: rootless
The Rootless Boston Business Leaders Brunch brings together founders, executives, and decision-makers for a focused morning of connection and conversation.
The January Escape Hatch
Date: Wednesday, January 14 from 5:00pm - 7:30pm; Learn more and register
Organizer: Launch by Lunch
This event blends a tropical escape with a cozy holiday game night, inviting attendees to show up in vacation-ready resort wear or full winter-mode holiday gear.
BWIB: New Year, New Connections Social
Date: Thursday, January 15 from 5:30pm - 8:30pm; Learn more and register
Organizer: Boston Women in Bioinformatics
This event is open to the Boston-area bioinformatics community, with a focus on supporting women and gender-diverse individuals.
Boston Gen AI Meetup: Jan 2026 Edition: "Voice & Audio AI in Business and Life”
Date: Tuesday, January 20 from 6:00pm - 8:30pm; Learn more and register
Organizer: Boston Generative AI Meetup
The event brings together the global AI community for an evening exploring the latest developments in generative, predictive, causal, and agentic AI.
The Open Accelerator AI Hackathon
Date: Saturday, January 24 from 10:00am - 5:00pm; Learn more and register
Organizer: Red Hat + IBM
This in-person, one-day hackathon focuses on rapidly prototyping production-ready AI applications.
Founders Basketball Boston (January 2026)
Date: Tuesday, January 27 from 7:00pm - 9:00pm; Learn more and register
Organizer: New Edition Events
Founders Basketball connects startup founders and investors over both business and buckets.
Quarterly Ecosystem Leaders Roundtable
Date: Thursday, January 29 from 9:00am - 12:00pm; Learn more and register
Organizer: Startup Boston
This is an invite-only, hands-on working session for those building, funding, connecting, and supporting startups across Greater Boston.
Dealflow Mixer: Connecting Investors & Founders
Date: Friday, January 30 from 9:30am - 11:00am; Learn more and register
Organizer: Startup Boston + City of Boston
This invite-only event focuses on curated 1:1 matches and real conversations, ensuring strong alignment between founders and investors.