Xconomy has closed the first tranche of its second financing round, we are extremely pleased to announce. Return investor CommonAngels, the premier angel group in New England, led the round. New investor LaunchCapital—a small (and very astute) early-stage venture fund with offices in Cambridge, MA; New Haven, CT; and Palo Alto—also participated. And they were joined by a corps of individual angel investors that included all top investors from our first round in August 2007.
We have had a great start, exceeding all targets for both our online and events businesses. In June of this year, we opened Xconomy Seattle, and in October, we launched Xconomy San Diego—both key steps in fulfilling our mission of providing hyperlocal coverage of the innovation communities in key technology and life sciences clusters. Next month, for the first time, we will be holding events on both coasts. Here in Cambridge we’ll have an Energy Innovation forum at the British Consulate featuring Amory Lovins, founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and other great participants. And in Seattle, the Institute for Systems Biology will host our Vaccines 2.0 forum, featuring four of the biggest figures in a new era of vaccine development.
A lot has changed in the 15-plus months since we closed that first round amidst palpable and pervasive economic optimism. The fact that we were able to close this new financing in today’s economic environment, and at a time when the traditional media business is in turmoil, is a testament to a great team, great investors, and great underwriters, sponsors, and other supporters—including the stellar group of innovators we call the Xconomists, and our ever-growing body of readers.
It’s also a testament, we believe, to the continued importance of the “exponential economy” that inspired our name and on which we focus in all of our stories and events. Indeed, we believe that this realm of business and innovation, which is characterized by exponential technological growth and is responsible for an increasing share of productivity, will be absolutely critical to economic recovery in our home cities and in the nation as a whole. More than ever, we think, the future is dependent on all those innovators, entrepreneurs, and investors who are inventing new technologies and driving to realize their market potential, oftentimes creating new industries in the process.
This new round of funding will help us continue to grow our efforts to shed light on the critically important process of technological innovation and the vibrant communities built around that process.
So, again, thanks to our great team, which you can read all about here. Thanks to our truly innovative charter underwriters, many of whom backed us before we had posted a single word on the site: Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Biogen Idec, EMC, J. Robert Scott Executive Search, the Science & Technology Directorate of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Sun Microsystems, UK Trade & Investment, and WilmerHale.
A tip of the hat as well to our venture members: Advanced Technology Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, Avalon Ventures, Enterprise Partners, Flagship Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners, and Polaris Venture Partners. And thanks, too, to our other sponsors, AT&T Wireless, BIT Group, and MFA, Moody, Famiglietti & Andronico—and our great trade organization partners in Boston, San Diego, and Seattle.
We hope to see you in one of those cities soon.
