Acquisition news was big this week for New England-area tech and life sciences companies, but we also saw a few startup financings.
—Cambridge-based Genzyme (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GENZ]]) sold its diagnostics products unit to Japanese firm Sekisui Chemical for $265 million in cash. The deal comes as part of Genzyme’s plan to sell off three of its businesses in order to boost shareholder value, announced in May. It sold its genetic testing unit in September to Burlington, NC-based Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE:[[ticker:LH]]) for $925 million.
—Natick, MA-based medical devices firm Boston Scientific (NYSE: [[ticker:BSX]]) paid $193 million to acquire the remainder of Los Gatos, CA-based Sadra Medical, a maker of technology for percutaneous aortic valve repair. Boston Scientific already owned 14 percent of the company, and could also pay an additional $193 million if Sadra hits regulatory and sales targets through 2016.
—Novell, a Waltham, MA-based maker of networking and workload management software, announced it had agreed to be acquired by Seattle-based Attachmate for $2.2 billion in cash, or $6.10 per share. Novell (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NOVL]]) also said it was selling select IP assets to Microsoft-organized tech consortium CPTN Holdings for $450 million.
—Cambridge biotech Archemix sold its intellectual property assets in the hemophilia drugs space to Baxter (NYSE: [[ticker:BAX]]) for $30 million upfront and potentially another $285 million in milestone payments. The deal, expected to close this year, gives Baxter an exclusive license to Archemix’s ARC19499, a hemophilia treatment in a Phase 1 clinical trial in the U.K., among other assets.
—SunBorne Energy Technologies, a Cambridge-based startup developing a method for generating low cost solar electricity for use in India, brought in $3.1 million in equity- and rights-based funding. The startup is backed by Highland Capital Partners and previously raised a $5.1 million equity round in December 2009.
—Boston-based mobile app developer AisleBuyer raised $4 million in an equity and debt offering. The startup is putting the money toward new hires and expanding the stores that use its app, which enables consumers to scan and pay for an item in a store straight from their phones, without having to wait in line. The funding round included a line of credit from Silicon Valley Bank and an equity investment from Richard Heise, Jr, the founding investor of InnerWorkings, Echo Global Logistics, Mediabank, Forseva, and Groupon.
—Gotuit, a Woburn, MA-based provider of technology for ascribing metadata to online video content, was bought by Digitalsmiths of Research Triangle Park, NC, for an undisclosed sum. Gotuit’s backers include Atlas Venture, Highland Capital Partners, and the Kraft Group.
