West Coast Biotech Roundup: IPOs, Gilead, Sofinnova, & Denouements

What a week to round up. Against a backdrop of regulatory approvals, strategic deals, and R&D initiatives, a fresh salvo of life sciences IPOs signaled a resurgence in public offerings already running ahead of last year’s pace. We also saw moves to resolve weeks of drama at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego and … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: IPOs, Gilead, Sofinnova, & Denouements”

Cypher Genomics’ Analytics Tech Gains Some Cred in Illumina Deal

It’s probably just a matter of time before a new company combines the rapidly advancing technologies of genome sequencing, genetic diagnostics, and Big Data to become the Google of bioinformatics. Cypher Genomics would like to claim that title, though it’s too early to tell if the three-year-old San Diego startup will be able to pull … Continue reading “Cypher Genomics’ Analytics Tech Gains Some Cred in Illumina Deal”

Fypio Aims at Online Real Estate Industry with Buyer-Centric Focus

When Michael Koh moved to San Diego in 2010, he expected to start a real estate business focused on luxury residential properties, much like the one he had created (and sold) in Argentina over the previous 11 or 12 years. Instead, he came up with an idea for a mobile app and Web-based technology that … Continue reading “Fypio Aims at Online Real Estate Industry with Buyer-Centric Focus”

San Diego’s EdgeWave Raises $6M to Counter Intense Cyber Attacks

In the “Spy vs. Spy” world of cybersecurity, everything changes and nothing stays the same. So it should come as no surprise that EdgeWave, a San Diego-based cybersecurity company, has been through a few transmutations since it was founded in 1995 as St. Bernard Software. As part of its latest transformation, EdgeWave says today it … Continue reading “San Diego’s EdgeWave Raises $6M to Counter Intense Cyber Attacks”

Big Wave of Q2 VC Funding Washes Ashore in San Diego with $222M

So how did San Diego fare as the biggest wave of venture capital funding in 13 years swept across the United States, sloshing capital into startups from Silicon Valley to New York, and from Seattle to Houston? The answer is just OK. Venture capital firms invested a total of $222.4 million in 26 deals in … Continue reading “Big Wave of Q2 VC Funding Washes Ashore in San Diego with $222M”

Mega Deals (Like Uber) Boost Venture Funding to $13B

Venture capital investors pumped almost $13 billion into 1,114 U.S. startups in the second quarter—marking the highest level of VC funding in 13 years, according to the MoneyTree Report being released today. While the number of deals is comparable with recent quarters, the $12.97 billion VCs deployed this spring was a third more than the … Continue reading “Mega Deals (Like Uber) Boost Venture Funding to $13B”

Edico Raises $10M to Accelerate Processing of Gene Sequencing Data

San Diego-based Edico Genome has raised $10 million in Series A financing to commercialize the specialized processor technology it has been developing to slash the time and cost of genome mapping. Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venture arm of San Diego-based Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]), led the round, which was joined by Axon Ventures and Greg Lucier, … Continue reading “Edico Raises $10M to Accelerate Processing of Gene Sequencing Data”

How Seragon CEO Rich Heyman Made Lightning Strike Twice

The Fourth of July was no picnic for the legal team at San Diego’s Seragon Pharmaceuticals. While other San Diegans were relaxing during the long holiday weekend, they were working through mountains of paperwork and filing notifications related to the $1.7 billion buyout offer from Genentech that Seragon had accepted a few days earlier. For … Continue reading “How Seragon CEO Rich Heyman Made Lightning Strike Twice”

First Esri Climate Resilience App Challenge: Who’ll Start the Reign?

The 34th annual Esri users conference begins today at the San Diego Convention Center, drawing geography techies from more than 90 countries to share their ideas and insights in the use of Redlands, CA-based Esri’s mapping software. Last year, more than 13,500 people attended the five-day conference, which offers a wide range of sessions on … Continue reading “First Esri Climate Resilience App Challenge: Who’ll Start the Reign?”

San Diego’s Quest to Become a New Hub for Robotics Innovation

Albert P. Pisano, who became dean of the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering in September, will provide an overview of the school’s nascent robotics program and efforts to seed a robotics cluster in San Diego. Local experts from Brain Corp. and 3D Robotics will offer insights about their technologies and business strategies. More … Continue reading “San Diego’s Quest to Become a New Hub for Robotics Innovation”

As Biofuels Lose Luster, Sapphire Goes Long with Sinopec Deal

In a ceremony held Thursday in Beijing, San Diego’s Sapphire Energy and Sinopec, China’s state-owned oil and gas conglomerate, agreed to work together to develop and produce algae-based biofuels in China. “The goal is to build a large demonstration facility here with Sinopec,” Sapphire spokesman Tim Zenk said last night from Beijing in a phone … Continue reading “As Biofuels Lose Luster, Sapphire Goes Long with Sinopec Deal”

Big Late-Stage Deals and Unicorns Drive U.S. Venture Activity Higher

Two years ago, VC firms shrugged off sluggish economic conditions to invest $8.1 billion in 812 U.S. deals in the second quarter. It was the highest total in more than a decade—and represented a high water mark for venture dollars invested that stood until the first quarter of this year. Now a surge in venture … Continue reading “Big Late-Stage Deals and Unicorns Drive U.S. Venture Activity Higher”

EvoNexus, San Diego’s Pro Bono Incubator, Expands to Orange County

CommNexus, the longtime industry group for San Diego technology companies, is expanding its “no strings attached” EvoNexus business incubator program into Orange County. CommNexus began the nonprofit incubator in mid-2009, as waves of layoffs decimated the economy and venture capital funding in San Diego was at low ebb. A few years later, commercial office space … Continue reading “EvoNexus, San Diego’s Pro Bono Incubator, Expands to Orange County”

West Coast Biotech Roundup: Seragon, Ambrx, Pregenen, and More

Our nominee for the just-created “Bio Man with the Midas Touch” award goes to Richard Heyman, who co-founded San Diego’s Seragon Pharmaceuticals 11 months ago. Roche’s Genentech unit agreed yesterday to pay over $1.7 billion for Seragon, which has an early-stage drug targeting metastatic breast cancer. Heyman was previously the CEO of San Diego’s Aragon … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Seragon, Ambrx, Pregenen, and More”

Soraya Darabi on Ethical E-Commerce, Storytelling, and Zady.Com

Soraya Darabi already has had an amazing career as a digital media entrepreneur, and she’s only 30 years old. Darabi and friend Maxine Bédat are the co-founders of New York-based Zady.com, a socially conscious e-commerce website for what they call “slow fashion.” They are building Zady.com as a brand that sells high-end apparel, accessories, and … Continue reading “Soraya Darabi on Ethical E-Commerce, Storytelling, and Zady.Com”

San Diego’s Ambrx Withdraws IPO, Citing Market Conditions

Ambrx, a San Diego biotech developing antibody-drug conjugates to treat solid tumors and other diseases, said today it is withdrawing its planned IPO because of current market conditions. The company had planned to raise as much as $86 million in an IPO, according to a confidential filing that was made public in early May. Ambrx … Continue reading “San Diego’s Ambrx Withdraws IPO, Citing Market Conditions”

With $32M, Boston Anti-Fungal Startup Morphs Into San Diego’s Cidara

Details about the new San Diego biotech headed by former Trius Therapeutics CEO Jeff Stein have been released today. I reported last week on the company’s regulatory filings. The company, founded two years ago in Boston as K2 Therapeutics, has been rechristened as Cidara Therapeutics in a restructuring that includes $32 million in Series A … Continue reading “With $32M, Boston Anti-Fungal Startup Morphs Into San Diego’s Cidara”

San Diego Biotech Raises Over $30M to Fight Deadly Fungal Infections

A new San Diego biotech, led by former Trius Therapeutics CEO Jeff Stein, has raised over $30 million to advance new drugs to treat life-threatening invasive fungal infections, according to a recent regulatory filing. Stein declined to discuss the financing by phone this morning, saying a press release is planned next week for the seed-stage … Continue reading “San Diego Biotech Raises Over $30M to Fight Deadly Fungal Infections”

Cubic Adds Big Data and Analytics Subsidiary to Improve Transit Ops

After spending almost $21 million last year to acquire NextBus, a Bay Area business that uses GPS data and wireless networks to predict when the next bus will arrive at any given bus stop, San Diego’s Cubic (NYSE: [[ticker:CUB]]) has been looking for other ways to breathe new life into its transportation systems business. Today … Continue reading “Cubic Adds Big Data and Analytics Subsidiary to Improve Transit Ops”

CyberHive’s Darin Andersen Outlines Expanded Plans as iHive Debuts

After launching the CyberHive San Diego incubator for local cybersecurity startups early last year, founder Darin Andersen has expanded into adjacent offices to establish what he calls iHive, a shared workspace and incubator for startups focused on the Internet of Things. The Internet of Things is a much-anticipated new wave of wireless connectivity, linking together … Continue reading “CyberHive’s Darin Andersen Outlines Expanded Plans as iHive Debuts”

San Diego Startup Week Kicks Off with Opening of New IoT Incubator

San Diego Startup Week begins at noon today with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of iHive, a shared workspace and CyberTech “Internet of Things” incubator, and an afternoon pitchfest intended to highlight San Diego’s prowess in startups, art, and music. San Diego’s second annual Startup Week includes scheduled events, a downtown “startup crawl,” … Continue reading “San Diego Startup Week Kicks Off with Opening of New IoT Incubator”

FDA Delays Action on Orexigen’s Anti-Obesity Drug by 3 Months

The share price of San Diego’s Orexigen Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OREX]]), which had been riding a wave of investor anticipation, lost over a dollar, or more than 16 percent, after the FDA extended its review of the company’s weight-loss drug by three months. Investors had bet over the past two months or so that federal regulators … Continue reading “FDA Delays Action on Orexigen’s Anti-Obesity Drug by 3 Months”

Israel’s MediSafe Gets Top Award in Qualcomm’s Global Contest

Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate investment arm of San Diego-based Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]) selected an Israeli digital health startup, MediSafe, as the winner of its fourth global QPrize competition yesterday. It was the third time an Israeli startup claimed the top prize since the inaugural contest in 2009. MediSafe, based in Haifa, is a cloud-based mobile … Continue reading “Israel’s MediSafe Gets Top Award in Qualcomm’s Global Contest”

Volcano Diversifies its Product Line with $115M Buyout of AtheroMed

San Diego-based Volcano (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VOLC]]), a medical device maker focused mostly on diagnosing and treating coronary and peripheral vascular disease, is acquiring privately held AtheroMed of Menlo Park, CA, for at least $115 million. AtheroMed received FDA clearance five months ago for its Phoenix atherectomy system, which treats peripheral artery disease by opening up narrowed … Continue reading “Volcano Diversifies its Product Line with $115M Buyout of AtheroMed”

Startup Introduces Qubit-Generating Device for Quantum Computing

A San Diego startup says it has developed a laser-based device for generating qubits, the basic unit of information needed to carry out complex calculations in quantum computers. The startup, founded in 2012 as GridCOM Technologies, was initially focused on developing quantum encryption systems to provide cybersecurity in the IT systems that electric utilities use … Continue reading “Startup Introduces Qubit-Generating Device for Quantum Computing”

SoftTech’s Hudson Talks Strategy, Key Factors in Out-of-Town Deals

When SoftTech VC partner Charles Hudson came through San Diego last month, he explained why his firm is increasingly taking bigger stakes—and bigger risks—in funding early stage tech companies. He also explained what SoftTech is looking for when it invests in startups outside Silicon Valley. As one of the first “micro VCs” in the Bay … Continue reading “SoftTech’s Hudson Talks Strategy, Key Factors in Out-of-Town Deals”

With New Calendar App, Owaves Takes First Step to Healthy Lifestyle

To Royan Kamyar, the first line of defense against heart disease, obesity, diabetes, anxiety, and a litany of other modern ills is to take better care of yourself. And taking care of yourself, Kamyar says, involves five major ingredients: sleeping right; eating well; exercising regularly; mindful meditation (i.e., actively managing your stress); and making time … Continue reading “With New Calendar App, Owaves Takes First Step to Healthy Lifestyle”

Shire Pays Over $260M Upfront in IPO Detour for San Diego’s Lumena

San Diego’s Lumena Pharmaceuticals, which was on the road to raising $75 million in an IPO, has instead agreed to a $260 million-plus buyout offer from Shire (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SHPG]]), the Irish pharmaceutical giant. Since it was founded three years ago, Lumena has worked to develop new oral drugs for rare liver diseases that stem from … Continue reading “Shire Pays Over $260M Upfront in IPO Detour for San Diego’s Lumena”

West Coast Biotech Roundup: Alder IPO, Exelixis, Corcept, and More

It was a big week for synthetic biology in San Diego, a bit rocky for Bothell, WA-based Alder’s IPO, and South San Francisco’s Exelixis had some encouraging results from an early-stage trial of melanoma patients. Here’s our wrap-up. —A new San Diego startup called Synthorx is working to capitalize on a breakthrough in synthetic biology … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Alder IPO, Exelixis, Corcept, and More”

San Diego’s Synthorx Adds To Genetic Alphabet, Aims for Bio-Products

[Corrected 5/7/14, 2 pm See below.] A group of scientists in San Diego who found a way to insert synthesized nucleotides into DNA—and who succeeded in coaxing the synthetic DNA to replicate in bacteria—have founded a new company to use the technology to make improved drugs and bio-products. Their breakthrough in synthetic biology, described in … Continue reading “San Diego’s Synthorx Adds To Genetic Alphabet, Aims for Bio-Products”

Plug and Play San Diego Selects Five Companies for Startup Camp

It was standing room only as Plug and Play San Diego selected five seed-stage tech companies to participate in its startup accelerator program, following presentations by 17 finalists yesterday at the Co-Merge shared workspace in downtown San Diego. The afternoon session represented Plug and Play’s third draft of companies in a San Diego-based selection process … Continue reading “Plug and Play San Diego Selects Five Companies for Startup Camp”

Deal Aims to Grow “Humanized” Organs in Pigs for Transplantation

A San Diego startup that specializes in re-engineering genes and a multi-billion-dollar biotech giant in Silver Springs, MD, say they are now working together on an audacious goal—developing “humanized” organs in pigs that can be transplanted into humans. Under a multi-year R&D collaboration being announced today, San Diego-based Synthetic Genomics and Lung Biotechnology, a subsidiary … Continue reading “Deal Aims to Grow “Humanized” Organs in Pigs for Transplantation”

San Diego’s Ambrx Files for IPO to Advance Antibody-Drug Conjugates

[Corrected 5/6/14, 11 am. See below.] San Diego-based Ambrx, a biotech company with a new approach to developing protein therapeutics for treating, cancers, diabetes, and other diseases and disorders, plans to raise as much as $86 million in an IPO, according to a regulatory filing that was made public Friday. The company submitted its IPO … Continue reading “San Diego’s Ambrx Files for IPO to Advance Antibody-Drug Conjugates”

San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Otonomy, Verdezyne, and IPOs

It was another busy week for San Diego’s life sciences sector. Here’s my roundup. —The federal Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act that was enacted two years ago has made it easier for life sciences companies to “test the waters” with potential investors in stealth mode before launching their IPOs. A record-setting 23 life sciences … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Otonomy, Verdezyne, and IPOs”

Wireless Health Summit: Barriers to Adoption and Tools for Change

As a co-founder and CEO of the San Diego-based Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance, Rob McCray has spent the past decade or longer shepherding the convergence of innovative wireless technologies and healthcare. To paraphrase the poet, he still has miles to go before he sleeps. McCray has done his tour of duty as the voice in the … Continue reading “Wireless Health Summit: Barriers to Adoption and Tools for Change”

Otonomy Raises $49M to Advance 3 Drugs for Treating Ear Diseases

Otonomy, the San Diego biopharmaceutical startup developing new treatments for diseases and disorders of the ear, has refined its strategy, raised capital, and advanced three drug candidates in the three and a half years since David Weber stepped in as CEO. And today Otonomy says it has secured $49 million in a new Series D … Continue reading “Otonomy Raises $49M to Advance 3 Drugs for Treating Ear Diseases”

CleverPet Feeder is Like a Dance Dance Revolution for Dogs

While Dan Knudsen was getting his doctorate in neurosciences at UC San Diego, he studied auditory perception and learning, using behavioral, electrophysiological, and computational techniques. While Leo Trottier was enrolled in UC San Diego’s graduate program in cognitive science, he published research on visual processing, and was interested in the idea of using a video … Continue reading “CleverPet Feeder is Like a Dance Dance Revolution for Dogs”

As Tag Service Expands, San Diego’s Tealium Secures $20M Financing

San Diego-based Tealium, which provides Web-based technology that enables corporate marketing teams to manage their metadata tags, says it has secured $20 million in debt financing to help fuel the company’s global expansion. Tealium has previously raised over $27 million in venture capital since it was founded six years ago. In a phone interview yesterday, … Continue reading “As Tag Service Expands, San Diego’s Tealium Secures $20M Financing”

Verdezyne Gets $48M to Advance Industrial Biotechnology in Malaysia

President Obama and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak applauded a business deal in Malaysia yesterday, as the Malaysian agricultural conglomerate Sime Darby Berhad agreed to lead a $48 million investment in Verdezyne, the Carlsbad, CA-based industrial biotech. The deal is expected to make Sime Darby the single largest investor in Verdezyne, which has committed itself … Continue reading “Verdezyne Gets $48M to Advance Industrial Biotechnology in Malaysia”

“Top of Rockies” Honors Xconomy’s Davidson with 2 First Place Awards

We’re proud to report this morning that one of our own has added his name to the summit log in the “Top of the Rockies” journalism competition awards, a program organized by the Colorado Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Michael Davidson, who joined Xconomy just over a year ago as editor of … Continue reading ““Top of Rockies” Honors Xconomy’s Davidson with 2 First Place Awards”

GroundMetrics Lands $2.7M to Expand Geophysical Survey Technology

San Diego-based GroundMetrics says it has raised over $2.7 million to advance its geophysical sensing technology in an extended Series B financing led by Cowboy Technology Angels, an Oklahoma angel group comprised of alumni and friends of Oklahoma State University. GroundMetrics was founded four years ago with advanced electromagnetic sensing technology developed by Quasar Geophysical … Continue reading “GroundMetrics Lands $2.7M to Expand Geophysical Survey Technology”

Domain Elite Invests $6.5M in GI Device Maker to Expand in China

When Domain Associates unveiled an initiative to commercialize new healthcare technologies in China last year, partner Brian Halak said one of the big challenges would be getting biomedical innovators to license their technologies for the huge, but still-developing market. The venture firm, which is based in San Diego and Princeton, NJ, has been thinking outside … Continue reading “Domain Elite Invests $6.5M in GI Device Maker to Expand in China”

San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Illumina, Vital Therapies, and More

Some big trends in molecular diagnostics, wireless health, and Big Data are converging, and San Diego seems to be one of the places where they are coming together. A few examples are here, along with the rest of the week’s life sciences news. —The Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center, based in Menlo Park, CA, and … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Illumina, Vital Therapies, and More”

As Websense Leaves Town, Iboss Network Security Takes Center Stage

When fraternal twins Paul and Peter Martini founded a startup now known as iboss Network Security in San Diego in 2003, another local company was already becoming one of the dominant providers of Web gateway security technology. For the next decade or so, iboss operated in the background while San Diego’s Websense rose into the … Continue reading “As Websense Leaves Town, Iboss Network Security Takes Center Stage”

Digital Health Event Highlights Innovation, Wireless Clinical Trials

Last summer, a team of researchers at San Diego’s Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI) began a clinical study called “Wired for Health” to assess whether wireless sensors and related technologies could “bend the curve” on health care spending. At the time, institute director Eric Topol said it would be “one of the first robust, cross-industry … Continue reading “Digital Health Event Highlights Innovation, Wireless Clinical Trials”

VCs Invest $243M in San Diego Startups in Q1, Tech Drought Continues

[Corrected 4/18/14, 7:40 am See below.] Venture capital firms invested $243 million in 23 deals in the San Diego area during the first quarter that ended in March, according to data from the MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the National Venture Capital Association, and Thomson Reuters. It was a strong upturn in the amount of capital … Continue reading “VCs Invest $243M in San Diego Startups in Q1, Tech Drought Continues”

First-Quarter Venture Funding at $9.6B in U.S., Highest Since 2001

Right out of the gate, venture capital funding surged nationwide during the first three months of 2014—driven largely by substantial investments in expansion-stage IT and software companies, according to the MoneyTree Report being released today. Eight of the ten biggest deals involved IT, software, or Web companies based in Northern California. (The top 10 deal … Continue reading “First-Quarter Venture Funding at $9.6B in U.S., Highest Since 2001”

With IPO Expectations Reset (Again), Vital Therapies Begins Trading

Shares of San Diego’s Vital Therapies (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VTL]]) traded slightly above its IPO price this morning, in the company’s first day of trading. The biotherapeutic company raised $54 million in its initial public offering, after pricing 4.5 million shares last night at $12 per share, for an initial market cap of approximately $253 million. That … Continue reading “With IPO Expectations Reset (Again), Vital Therapies Begins Trading”

Edico Genome Aims at Data Bottleneck in Genome Sequencing

With the arrival of next-generation gene sequencing machines like the Illumina (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ILMN]]) HiSeq X Ten, medicine has been moving to develop new ways of using genomic data to treat patients. Last month, for example, J. Craig Venter unveiled plans to sequence the entire genome of every patient entering the UC San Diego Moores Cancer … Continue reading “Edico Genome Aims at Data Bottleneck in Genome Sequencing”

HardTech Labs Enrolls 4 in Cross-Border Manufacturing Accelerator

HardTech Labs, a San Diego accelerator program that gives startups access to low-cost manufacturing in Tijuana, has selected four companies to serve as a beta class. The idea is to help the co-founders and mentors identify the skills that are most important to entrepreneurs and to iron out problems. The cross-border program, announced last month, … Continue reading “HardTech Labs Enrolls 4 in Cross-Border Manufacturing Accelerator”