A123, Acquia, Healthbox, & More Boston Deals Newsmakers

Last week was a great one for tech diversity in New England, as the week’s deals spanned the cleantech, health tech, and software industries.

—The same day that Boston-Power announced it had inked a deal to sell its lithium-ion battery systems to Beijing Electric Vehicle Company, Waltham, MA-based battery maker A123 Systems announced its own bit of China-related news. A123 (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AONE]]) said it received a $75 million debt investment from the Wanxiang Group, an automotive and energy firm. The funding could total $450 million and is seen as a move to improve A123’s ailing finances.

—Healthbox, the Chicago-founded accelerator for health-focused startups, talked to the Boston Globe about the 10 companies it’s funding as part of its inaugural Boston program. You can read my Q&A from earlier this summer with Healthbox director Jenna Rose to learn more about how the program differentiates itself in a crowded incubator field.

—Visible Measures, the Boston-based video analytics and advertising startup, said that it brought in $21.5 million in funding from DAG Ventures, Advance Publications, General Catalyst Partners, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Northgate Capital, and new investor Common Fund.

—Burlington, MA-based Acquia announced its acquisition of the spam-blocking software maker Mollom, a move that furthers Acquia’s mission of helping organizations build better Web experiences using the open-source social publishing system Drupal. Mollom was founded by Acquia co-founder and CTO and Drupal author Dries Buytaert, so much of the deal is about streamlining operations at the companies.

—A few other Boston-area funding filings and announcements: Internet marketing startup ClickFuel raised $4 million of a $5 million offering; stem cell tech developer Stemgent nabbed $11.3 million; and speech communications software giant Nuance Communications (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NUAN]]) announced a $700 million offering of notes, which will accrue at 5.375 percent per year.

Author: Erin Kutz

Erin Kutz has a background in covering business, politics and general news. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University. Erin previously worked in the Boston bureau of Reuters, where she wrote articles on the investment management and mutual fund industries. While in college, she researched for USA Today reporter Jayne O’Donnell’s book, Gen Buy: How Tweens, Teens and Twenty-Somethings Are Revolutionizing Retail. She also spent a semester in Washington, DC, reporting Capitol Hill stories as a correspondent for two Connecticut newspapers and interning in the Money section of USA Today, where she assisted with coverage on the retail and small business beats. Erin got her first taste of reporting at Boston University’s independent student newspaper, as a city section reporter and fact checker and editor of the paper’s weekly business section.