We saw several San Diego innovators making waves last week. Bridgepoint Education defied the recession by going public, Sapphire Energy upped its production estimates due to a technological breakthrough, and a wave war erupted among San Diego’s wave makers. So this is how things looked during the week:
—San Diego’s Bridgepoint Education (NYSE: [[ticker:BPI]]) priced its initial public offering at $10.50 per share, which netted the online education provider $142 million. Bridgepoint had indicated earlier it hoped to raise as much as $216 million. Bridgepoint’s biggest investor is Warburg Pincus, but the National Venture Capital Association still says Bridgepoint is the first venture-backed IPO of the year.
—San Diego’s Sapphire Energy, which is building a production facility for its algae-to-biofuel technology near Las Cruces, NM, doubled its production estimates for 2011. Sapphire now says it will produce a million gallons of “green crude” in two years, and a billion gallons by 2025. The startup company backed by Bill Gates’ Cascade Investment has participated in successful test flights in recent months that substituted jet fuel made from Sapphire’s “green crude” for conventional jet fuel.
—Philanthropist Gary West told me the West Wireless Health Institute will be fully operational this summer in San Diego’s Torrey Pines Mesa. West, who is the founding chairman, says the institute will be “a catalyst for wireless health” as remote monitoring of vital signs becomes more commonplace in coming years.
—Bruce caught up with EasyTaxFix co-founder Adam Berkson, whose online company helps homeowners lower their property taxes by automating the appeal process. Berkson told Bruce they were successful enough in San Diego in November to expand into other California counties, New Jersey, and the Phoenix, AZ, metro area.
—As the recession has worsened, the four software CEOs who formed San Diego’s DaggerBoard Advisors have seen changes in the type of help that local software startups are seeking. San Diego’s software startups are looking for interim management services, because