A123Systems Pulls Off Big IPO, PrimeraDx Grabs $20M, Conduit Labs Collects $3M, and More Boston-Area Deals News

The big news this week was obviously the A123Systems IPO, but quite a few other New England tech and life sciences firms had deals to report as well.

—Mansfield, MA-based PrimeraDx—a developer of automated lab equipment spun off by Providence, RI-based Sention four years ago—raised $20 million in a Series C financing round. New investor CHL Medical Partners of Stamford, CT, led the round; existing investors Abingworth, Burrill & Company, InterWest Partners, the Invus Group, Malaysian Technology Development Corporation, and MPM Capital participated as well.

Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) of Cambridge, MA, launched a $14.50-per-share tender offer for Facet Biotech (NASDAQ: [[ticker:FACT]]). The board of the Redwood City, CA-based company rejected Biogen’s $355 million offer earlier this month; the tender offer will expire October 19.

—Cambridge-based online game maker Conduit Labs raised $3 million in new equity financing. The new funds were reportedly from the same investors who put $5.5 million into Conduit in August 2007: Charles River Ventures of Waltham, MA, and Prism VentureWorks of Westwood, MA.

—Waltham, MA-based Inverness Medical Innovations (NYSE: [[ticker:IMA]]), a diagnostics maker and avid acquirer of other firms, picked up Seattle-based Free & Clear for $100 million in cash, plus up to $30 million more, depending on the Seattle firm’s 2010 revenues.

—Battery maker Boston-Power of Westborough, MA, inked a deal with Dr. Battery, of Vancouver that will put Boston-Power’s long-lasting laptop batteries on the market as

Author: Rebecca Zacks

Rebecca is Xconomy's co-founder. She was previously the managing editor of Physician's First Watch, a daily e-newsletter from the publishers of New England Journal of Medicine. Before helping launch First Watch, she spent a decade covering innovation for Technology Review, Scientific American, and Discover Magazine's TV show. In 2005-2006 she was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. Rebecca holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Brown University and a master's in science journalism from Boston University.