Last week saw several very large financing deals. Perhaps those depressing Q1 numbers gave investors a little kick in the rear?
—Concert Pharmaceuticals of Lexington, MA, raised a hefty $37 million to support its work on drugs incorporating deuterium, a heavier form of hydrogen. The Series C round was led by a “leading public equity investor,” and joined by Adage Capital Management, SR One, Mediphase Venture Partners, Westfield Capital Management, Three Arch Partners, TVM Capital, Skyline Ventures, Brookside Capital Partners Fund, Flagship Ventures, Greylock Partners, New Leaf Venture Partners, QVT Fund, and others.
—The unfortunately named Moldflow (NASDAQ:[[ticker:MFLO]])—a software maker in Framingham, MA, focusing on tools for the design and manufacturing of plastic components—was acquired by California’s Autodesk for roughly $297 million.
—Online role playing game publisher Turbine of Westwood, MA, reportedly inked a $40 million Series C financing deal with Granite Global Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, Tudor Ventures, and Columbia Capital—brining to $90 million the total amount to VC funding pledged to the company. Evidently, Turbine has so far called down only $25 million of the new round.
—Constellation Pharmaceuticals, a drug-discovery startup in Cambridge, MA, raised $32 million in Series A financing. The deal was co-led by The Column Group, Venrock, and Third Rock Ventures—the Boston-based VC firm launched last year by former Millennium CEO Mark Levin and others to invest in very new life science firms. Levin will serve as Constellation’s interim CEO.
—Quincy, MA’s Cortera, which scores companies’ creditworthiness, raised $8 million from CIBC Capital Partners, Battery Ventures, and majority stockholder Fidelity Ventures.
—Black Duck Software of Waltham, MA, acquired Santa Monica, CA-based Koders—which runs an open-source code search engine—for an undisclosed sum. Koders’ employees (all three of them) will continue to work from their Santa Monica digs on a consulting basis.
—Boston-based Mascoma, which is working cellulosic-ethanol production methods, entered a strategic relationship with GM. The carmaker gets a stake in Mascoma as part of the deal, though exact terms were not revealed
—Critical Therapeutics of Lexington, MA, announced it will be acquired by Cary, NC-based Cornerstone BioPharma in a stock-based transaction that will leave its shareholders with only 30 percent of the resulting company.
