There have been so many big headlines coming out of Boston this week—OK, really just one, about Tom Brady—that it’s been easy to miss some of them. With that in mind, here’s a roundup of some technology news of import:
—Databox, a Boston company that helps marketers and managers track data from services such as Hubspot, Google Analytics, and Intercom, raised a $3.3 million seed round from Founder Collective, Accomplice, and other investors. The company was in the 2012 Techstars Boston class. It was founded by entrepreneurs Davorin Gabrovec and Vlada Petrovic. Swami Kumaresan, previously a senior executive and member of the founding team at Carbonite, recently took over as CEO. Databox previously raised $400,000 in funding.
—Ascent Venture Partners, a Boston investment firm focused on early stage tech companies, is raising a new fund that it expects to be about $150 million, with $63.6 million closed so far, according to a regulatory filing. Xconomy spoke to Ascent’s Geoff Oblak and Matt Fates back in 2010, when the firm was targeting data analysis companies because the firm saw rising interest in those detailed analytics. Soon enough, Big Data was a buzzphrase everyone was using. The new fund was first reported by the Boston Business Journal.
—LogMeIn (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LOGM]]) has replaced co-founder and longtime CEO Michael Simon with William Wagner, the chief operating officer who joined the company in 2013. Simon will remain chairman of the board. The Boston-based company offers tech support software, including a video-streaming tool, as Xconomy wrote in March.
—Taken an online class before? Harvard has a new take on it. The university has built a virtual classroom, where the professor stands in front of a wall-to-wall screen with live video feeds of 60 students in remote attendance, according to The Associated Press.
—Wearable electronics company MC10 is looking to raise $40 million, about 18 months after it raised $20 million for its thin, flexible electronics that include sensors that can monitor and track biological data. The company filed a document with the SEC on Aug. 28, which the Boston Business Journal first reported on Monday. Scott Pomerantz took over as CEO of the Lexington, MA-based company a year ago, when Xconomy last profiled the business.
—Boston-based communications company Varden was acquired by SS&C Technologies Holdings, a provider of financial services software and software-enabled services. Varden has 31 employees and offers print, online, and wireless communication tools for clients such as mutual funds and wealth management professionals. SS&C is based in Windsor, CT.
—Allied Minds, a Boston-based company that creates startups based on technologies developed at universities and federal research institutions, hired Joseph Pignato as its chief financial officer. Pignato has previously spent time as CFO of both Charles River Ventures and Prism Ventures.
