San Diego’s Top 10 Deals: Q3 VC Funding Still Strongly Favors Life Sciences

genetic disorders, infectious diseases, cancer, and pharmacogenetics. $17.6 million. Investors: Undisclosed.

4. Zeebo, San Diego. The startup has developed a wireless game console and education system for Latin American and Asian markets. The MoneyTree Report shows that Zeebo raised $15 million, but it is more likely that Zeebo extended a previously disclosed round by $1.5 million. Existing investors include Qualcomm and Tectoy S.A. a Brazilian video-game developer.

5. Accumetrics, San Diego. Accumeterics makes an automated diagnostic device used to help doctors calibrate the dosages of commonly used anti-clotting drugs, such as aspirin and clopidogrel (Plavix). While the MoneyTree report shows the company raised $14.2 million, Accumetrics told me its most recent funding of $7 million was part of a Series E round that totaled $24 million. Investors: The BBT Fund/Apothecary Capital; Kaiser Permanente Ventures; RiverVest Venture Partners; Arnerich Massena & Associates; Essex Woodland Health Ventures.

6. Auspex Pharmaceuticals, Vista, CA. The company is developing deuterium-based analogs of clinically validated drugs in multiple therapeutic areas. MoneyTree reports that Auspex raised $13.8 million, although it is likely an extension of a $12 million round we reported in July. Existing investors include Thomas McNerney & Partners, CMEA Ventures, and Costa Verde Capital.

7. Cylene Pharmaceuticals, San Diego. The biotech is developing an oral drug for multiple myeloma. Funding for the $12 million round came from Sanderling Ventures, HBM BioVentures (Cayman), Novartis BioVenture Fund, BioVentures Investors, Lilly Ventures, Mitsui & Co., and Morningside Venture Investments.

8. Cebix, San Diego. The biotech is developing a human proinsulin C-peptide as a supplemental treatment for complications from type 1 diabetes. MoneyTree reports $11.7 million in venture funding. Existing investors include Sofinnova Ventures, InterWest Partners, Thomas McNerney & Partners.

9. Verve Wireless, Encinitas, CA. The startup has developed Web-based technology that enables newspapers and other media customers to distribute news and advertisements to mobile devices. $7 million. Investors include BlueRun Ventures and The Associated Press.

10. Fallbrook Technologies, San Diego. Fallbrook has been developing a continuously variable transmission that promises improved energy efficiency in electric vehicles and other modes of transportation. $6 million. Existing investors include Robeco of The Netherlands, NGEN Partners, and angel investors.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.