Deals in the Northwest have slowed down a bit in the past week. But there were some new partnerships formed, as well as a trickle of funding deals, in software, entertainment, cleantech, and biotech (the biggest deal came this morning).
—Seattle-based NanoString Technologies raised $30 million in a third-round venture financing led by new investor Clarus Ventures, as Luke reported this morning. Existing investors OVP Venture Partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson also participated. NanoString, founded in 2004, makes advanced genetic analysis tools.
—Eric reported that Seattle-based MOD Systems, a digital media delivery startup, signed deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI Music, along with other independent labels, to sell music and movies to customers in retail stores, free of digital rights management. Financial terms of the partnerships were not disclosed.
—Luke reported that Bothell, WA-based Alder Biopharmaceuticals broadened its four-year-old partnership with Schering-Plough, the Kenilworth, NJ-based drug giant. The deal is for Alder to develop new targeted therapies against an undisclosed target on cells associated with a common (but unnamed) neurological disease. Financial details weren’t given, but the deal provides upfront cash, milestone payments, and royalties on sales if Alder’s technology leads to an approved product for Schering-Plough.
—Bellevue, WA-based Coinstar (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CSTR]]), the coin counting and prepaid services company, formed a partnership with gaming companies WildTangent, Spare Change, Rixty, and Aeria Games, to sell prepaid online gaming cards at 500 Cumberland Farms retail locations this summer. Terms of the partnerships were not given. Coinstar’s digital entertainment products will also include prepaid cards for Facebook and MySpace applications.
—Portland, OR-based SplashCast, a startup focused on social TV, is looking to get acquired. I got the story from CEO Michael Berkley, who said SplashCast has had difficulty raising a
