The last week’s deals headlines have been shared among New England cleantech, IT, and life sciences companies.
—Russian Federation fund Rusnano pumped money into two Bay State biotechs: Cambridge, MA-based BIND Biosciences and Watertown, MA-based Selecta Biosciences. Each startup got $25 million from Rusnano, a fund focused on nanotechnology investments, as well as $22.25 million from their existing investors.
—Investments in Massachusetts startups climbed to $253.8 million in September, nearly $100 million more than the August deals total, according to CB Insights’ FundingFlash, a daily roundup of companies receiving venture capital, angel investment, and growth equity funding. The September pot was pumped up by a $125 million Series F financing for Westborough, MA-based Boston-Power.
—Repligen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:RGEN]]) of Waltham, MA, announced it would buy Novozymes Biopharma Sweden, a unit of industrial-biotech product maker Novozymes A/S, for 17 million euros ($22.7 million cash). The business unit makes proteins used in the large scale production of biotech drugs and will double Repligen’s manufacturing capacity. Novozymes Biopharma Sweden is also eligible for up to 5 million euros ($5.6 million) in potential milestone payments.
—Boston-based Mendix raised $13 million in Series A financing to put toward international expansion of its software platform for helping businesses create and integrate mobile, Web, and cloud applications. The deal was led by growth equity firm Prime Ventures, with participation by Mendix seed investor HENQ Invest.
—Open source mobile software developer Modo Labs pinned down a $4 million Series A round from Storm Ventures and New Magellan Ventures. The deal includes $2 million in financing raised last year by Modo, whose software platform enables universities and other organizations to put their information online and make it accessible on mobile phones, tablets, and other devices. The Cambridge-based startup is eyeing other opportunities for big banks and hospitals to use its tech.
—Worcester, MA-based World Energy Solutions (NASDAQ: [[ticker:XWES]]) made its third acquisition in the last seven weeks with the purchase of GSE Consulting, an energy procurement and management firm. World Energy, a provider of demand response services, paid $8.6 million plus a potential earn-out for Dallas-based GSE and will bring on more than 20 GSE employees across three Texas offices.
—Cambridge-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals inked a partnership agreement (worth an undisclosed sum) with GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: [[ticker:GSK]]) surrounding Alnylam’s RNAi technology for enhancing vaccine production. The partnership comes with funding and milestone payments to Alnylam (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALNY]]), which could also receive payment on unit product sales if the technology hits the market.
