[Updated 4/4/12 at 10:05 am. See below.] New England saw a wave of Series B financings for innovative software, materials, and life sciences companies early this week.
—FRX Polymers expanded the $15.7 million Series B financing it closed last summer to $26.7 million, with a new tranche led by DB Masdar Fund and BASF Venture Capital. The transaction also included previous FRX backers Capricorn Cleantech Fund and Israel Cleantech Ventures and will help fund a commercial scale facility for producing the startup’s flame retardant plastic.
—AlloCure, a Burlington, MA-based biotech developing treatments for kidney disease, inked $25 million in Series B funding from new investor Lundbeckfond Ventures and previous investors SV Life Sciences and Novo A/S. Last fall the startup reported positive results from a clinical trial of its experimental stem-cell treatment AC607, which is slated for another trial this summer, according to today’s announcement.
—Cambridge, MA-based molecular diagnostics company Good Start Genetics announced its own second round of venture funding, to the tune of $14 million. The deal was led by return backers OrbiMed Advisors, Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE: [[ticker:SFE]]), and SV Life Sciences and will be used to fund R&D and commercial efforts for Good Start’s screening tests for pre-conception.
—Google made a deal with Boston Properties to expand its Kendall Square presence, combining its ITA Software division with its Google Boston team in one office in Cambridge Center, the Boston Business Journal reports.
—And Bedford, MA-based FirstBest Systems, a maker of software for property and casualty insurers, announced this morning that it nabbed a $10 million funding round, led by NewSpring Capital and joined by Verisk Analytics and return FirstBest investor Brookstone Partners. The money will go to expanding into new segments of the insurance industry and adding engineering, sales, and marketing staff.
—Aframe, a provider of technology that puts the video production process on the Internet cloud, pinned down $7 million in Series A funding from Octopus Investments, Eden Ventures, with participation by return investor, Northstar Ventures. The startup, whose customers include BBC and MTV, was founded in London and is setting up its U.S. headquarters in Boston. [Paragraph added to include new financing announcement.]
