Several of New England’s tech and life sciences firms got juicy deals the past week and a half.
—Boston’s RunMyErrand, an online clearinghouse where busy people can find helpers for odd jobs, raised $1 million in a Series A venture financing round. The cash, from California investors Baseline Ventures and Maples Investments, will help the startup staff up and expand to San Francisco.
—Cambridge, MA-based Cequent Pharmaceuticals raised $3.35 million in the first tranche of its second venture financing round; the round could eventually total $15 million. Cequent, a developer of RNA-interference based drugs, raised $15 million in its 2007 Series A round from Ampersand Ventures, Pappas Ventures, Yasuda, and Novartis Option Fund.
—Pulmatrix raised $30.2 million in a Series B venture round led by Arch Venture Partners and Novartis Bioventures Fund and joined by Polaris Venture Partners and 5AM Ventures. The Lexington, MA-based startup is developing drugs that prevent a variety of microbes, including influenza, from infecting the lungs.
—GTC Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:[[ticker:GTCB]]) of Framingham, MA, raised $10 million in a sale of stock to French biotech drug maker LFB Biotechnologies, already a major shareholder
—Waltham, MA-based On-Q-ity, a developer of cancer diagnostic tools, reportedly raised $21 million in a Series A round of venture capital from Mohr Davidow Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Physic Ventures, and Northgate Capital. The startup was formed through the merger of two Mohr Davidow portfolio companies, CELLective Diagnostics and The DNA Repair Company.
—Boston’s Flybridge Capital Partners helped funnel $3.4 million into New York-based open-source database developer 10gen. Returning investor Union Square Ventures also contributed to the Series B round.
—Special effects software startup GenArts of Cambridge, MA, acquired St. Louis, MO-based Wondertouch, whose software generates so-called “particle-based” special effects. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Wade took a fun look at the companies’ technologies.
—We got the inside scoop last week at our Xconomy event on pharmaceutical innovation when Boston-based Enlight Biosciences revealed that it struck a deal with Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:[[ticker:ABT]]). Abbott agreed to join the consortium of big pharmas that are
