computer chip designed to increase processing speed and reduce energy use in data centers.
—Following the publication of a report on Monday that takes aim at Exact Sciences and Cologuard, the company’s stool-based DNA test for colorectal cancer, CEO Kevin Conroy fired back at the report author, famed short-seller Andrew Left. Calling into a cable news program, Conroy said that parts of what Left, the founder of Los Angeles-based Citron Research, wrote in his report were “dead wrong,” and called Citron’s analysis “superficial.” Shares in Exact (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EXAS]]) finished down nearly 4 percent Monday, amid a broad market decline.
—iDAvatars raised nearly $310,000 from investors, according to a document filed with federal securities regulators. The Mequon-based company develops software allowing users to interact with virtual assistants through natural language processing, facial recognition, and other technologies. Last summer, the company acquired Colorado Springs, CO-based CodeBaby, which developed similar technology. See additional coverage in BizTimes Media.
—We profiled Stem Pharm, a Madison-based startup launched in 2015 that’s developing biomaterials capable of supporting stem cells as they grow. The company joins the list of stem cell-focused businesses that have popped up in the city since researchers at UW-Madison made a breakthrough discovery in 1998, when they derived the first human embryonic stem cell line.
—Anu Hoey was named vice president of corporate development at Invenra, a Madison-based business that makes therapeutic antibodies for pharmaceuticals companies and could one day become a drug developer itself. She will lead business strategy for two drugs developed by Invenra that are entering preclinical trials, the company said. Hoey was previously an executive at South San Francisco, CA-based Sutro Biopharma.
