Leap Wireless Out to Raise over $1.3B to Expand, Retire Debt

Plans by former Qualcomm spinout Leap Wireless (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LEAP]]) to raise more than $1.3 billion in debt and loans set off market speculation about potential mergers, although the company says it just plans to retire a credit line and maybe expand its wireless network. Leap disclosed its capital-raising plans late yesterday in a pair of … Continue reading “Leap Wireless Out to Raise over $1.3B to Expand, Retire Debt”

Amylin’s Dissident Shareholders Gain Influence on Board

Two dissident shareholder groups have succeeded in electing two new directors to the board of San Diego’s Amylin Pharmaceuticals, (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMLN]]), according to the company and one of the shareholder groups. In a statement issued today, Eastbourne Capital Management of San Rafael, CA, says, “based on voting estimates from its proxy solicitor,” it appears that … Continue reading “Amylin’s Dissident Shareholders Gain Influence on Board”

Amylin Shareholders Vote Today in Battle to Influence Board

[[Editor’s note: Updated today at 10:55 am PT]] A shareholder vote that could influence the course of San Diego’s Amylin Pharmaceuticals has been completed, but results of the board election were not released during the meeting today. “We do not have an indication [of the outcome] at this time,” Amylin chairman Joseph Cook told shareholders … Continue reading “Amylin Shareholders Vote Today in Battle to Influence Board”

Vical Raises $20M in Private Stock Placements

Vical (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VICL]]), the San Diego biotech developing a vaccine for the H1N1 swine flu, says it has raised about $20 million in private stock sales arranged with several institutional investors. The overall deal includes a $4.6 million commitment announced today from Special Situations Funds, a New York institutional investor. The company says it is raising approximately $15.4 million … Continue reading “Vical Raises $20M in Private Stock Placements”

Homegrown VCs a Vanishing Breed, Cardiologist Eric Topol Sees a Revolution in Wireless Health, Local Companies Raise Capital, & More San Diego BizTech News

It seems as though a number of San Diego tech companies saw the week before the Memorial Day weekend as a time to clear the decks, launch a few online products, and to raise some more capital. We also highlight the emergence of wireless healthcare and add some perspective to San Diego’s homegrown venture capital firms.  —I … Continue reading “Homegrown VCs a Vanishing Breed, Cardiologist Eric Topol Sees a Revolution in Wireless Health, Local Companies Raise Capital, & More San Diego BizTech News”

Breach Security Raises $2.2M

Carlsbad, CA-based Breach Security, a five-year-old startup developing network security technology, has raised $2 million of a $2.2 million convertible debt offering, according to documents filed earlier this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission. When Breach was launched in 2004, the company said it had raised $7.5 million in a Series A venture round … Continue reading “Breach Security Raises $2.2M”

X Prize Founder Peter Diamandis Targets Breakthroughs With More Incentive Prizes

It has been almost five years since a team of aerospace entrepreneurs funded by a software billionaire claimed the Ansari X Prize, the $10 million prize competition to develop the first reusable private spacecraft. Since then, the frustrated space enthusiast who established the X Prize as a way to re-ignite astronautical innovation, Peter Diamandis, has … Continue reading “X Prize Founder Peter Diamandis Targets Breakthroughs With More Incentive Prizes”

Fallbrook Spinout Viryd Technologies Raises $2.2 Million for Wind Turbine Technologies

San Diego’s Fallbrook Technologies spent a decade developing its innovative transmission technology before it finally raised $25.4 million in its first round of venture funding four months ago. Before that, the company had raised $25 million from more than 80 private investors. Now it’s happening again at Viryd Technologies, a Fallbrook spinout that is adapting … Continue reading “Fallbrook Spinout Viryd Technologies Raises $2.2 Million for Wind Turbine Technologies”

Amylin Nears Endgame With Icahn, Sciele Pharma Declares Victory in Buyout, Nanogen Files Bankruptcy, & More San Diego Life Sciences News

With the proxy battle for control of San Diego’s Amylin Pharmaceuticals coming to a crucial shareholder vote next Wednesday (and with a similar fight at Biogen Idec coming to a head on June 3), we decided it was an opportune time to launch a life sciences news roundup at Xconomy San Diego. We’ve also wrapped … Continue reading “Amylin Nears Endgame With Icahn, Sciele Pharma Declares Victory in Buyout, Nanogen Files Bankruptcy, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”

SDG&E Links Smart Meters to Google Gadget

San Diego Gas & Electric says it is one of eight utilities in the United States, India, and Canada that will enable customers to access their daily energy use online by using Google’s PowerMeter gadget. When connected to a utility-installed smart meter, the PowerMeter displays personal electricity consumption data on home computers. SDG&E began installing smart … Continue reading “SDG&E Links Smart Meters to Google Gadget”

Loop’d Network Gets $800K

San Diego’s Loop’d Network, an online media network for action sports, has raised $800,000 in funding from its existing private investors and Southern California’s Tech Coast Angels, a new investor. The startup founded in late 2007 says it plans to use the funding to accelerate development of its innovative business strategy, which combines e-commerce, social … Continue reading “Loop’d Network Gets $800K”

Sciele Pharma Expands Into Pain Market With Victory Pharma Buyout

Sciele Pharma, an Atlanta, GA, pharmaceutical company owned by Japan’s Shionogi & Co., says it is acquiring San Diego-based Victory Pharma for $150 million. Sciele specializes in the sales, marketing and development of branded drugs for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, women’s health, and pediatrics. The acquisition adds Victory’s lead product, a once-daily sustained release formulation of … Continue reading “Sciele Pharma Expands Into Pain Market With Victory Pharma Buyout”

San Diego’s Homegrown VCs Waning, But Out-of-Town VCs Make Up the Difference

Here’s a question that CEOs might be able to relate to: What should you do when the purring financial machinery under your control just doesn’t feel right (and the anecdotal evidence suggests something has gone haywire) but your outside auditor is saying, “Nope. Everything is looking pretty normal to me.” In this particular case, the … Continue reading “San Diego’s Homegrown VCs Waning, But Out-of-Town VCs Make Up the Difference”

Cardiologist Eric Topol Outlines Goals for San Diego’s West Wireless Healthcare Institute

As a scientific advisor to CardioNet (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BEAT]]) (before the San Diego startup went public last year and moved to Pennsylvania), Eric Topol was in a position to see the coming wave of next-generation wireless technologies in healthcare. Among other things, Topol is the chief academic officer at Scripps Health in San Diego and director … Continue reading “Cardiologist Eric Topol Outlines Goals for San Diego’s West Wireless Healthcare Institute”

Startup Targets Business Users With iPhone Graphics App

By some estimates, some 40,000 software applications have been developed for the Apple iPhone. But with a few notable exceptions, such as Apperian, the Boston startup that Wade profiled earlier this year, not many companies are working on business apps for the versatile mobile phone. So today’s introduction of a new iPhone app by MeLLmo, … Continue reading “Startup Targets Business Users With iPhone Graphics App”

Qualcomm Launches Mobile Retail App Store

Taking a cue from the success of Apple’s App Store, San Diego wireless giant Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]) said today it is opening its own suite of mobile software solutions and expanding its online retail site for mobile subscribers. Qualcomm says its Plaza Retail, rather than targeting a single platform, gives online publishers and developers the … Continue reading “Qualcomm Launches Mobile Retail App Store”

Amylin Co-Founder Ted Greene Explains His Switch in Proxy Battle

Big proxy battles, like the one unfolding at San Diego’s Amylin Pharmaceuticals, have become much like national political campaigns. There’s a media strategy. There are carefully choreographed events. There are war rooms on both sides. When dissident shareholder Eastbourne Capital Management submitted its filing “Amylin Pharmaceuticals: The Case for Change” to the SEC on May … Continue reading “Amylin Co-Founder Ted Greene Explains His Switch in Proxy Battle”

Slacker Gets Funding, Daylight Solutions Gets the Military Interested in its Laser Technology, Startup CEOs Get Survival Advice, and More San Diego BizTech News

One of San Diego’s technology startups made an acquisition, and another got a secondary round of venture funding last week. That might not signify the end of the downturn for San Diego’s venture-backed companies, but they were welcome developments nevertheless. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs in San Diego’s technology sector got lots of survival advice. —Our timing made us look prescient this … Continue reading “Slacker Gets Funding, Daylight Solutions Gets the Military Interested in its Laser Technology, Startup CEOs Get Survival Advice, and More San Diego BizTech News”

Nanogen Files for Bankruptcy, Arranges Asset Sale

Unable to consummate a merger with Elitech of France that was announced last year, San Diego’s Nanogen says it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and plans instead to sell its assets to Elitech for $25.7 million. Nanogen, which specializes in molecular diagnostics kits and reagents for rapid, point-of-care, diagnostic tests, revealed its merger plans with … Continue reading “Nanogen Files for Bankruptcy, Arranges Asset Sale”

A Pathfinder in Wireless Healthcare Says Reimbursement, Not Innovation, is the Critical Factor for Startups Today

Within the span of a few months, it seems as though wireless healthcare has come into focus as an emerging area of innovation and technology convergence. That has been especially true in San Diego, where the Gary and Mary West Foundation committed $45 million at the end of March to create the West Wireless Health … Continue reading “A Pathfinder in Wireless Healthcare Says Reimbursement, Not Innovation, is the Critical Factor for Startups Today”

In Economic Outlook for San Diego, 2009 Branded a “Throw-Away Year”

San Diego County’s regional economy is still contracting, with housing starts at a 41-year low, employers continuing to shed jobs, and consumer spending stuck in the doldrums, according to an economic report set for release today by the UCLA Anderson Forecast. “Consider 2009 a throw-away year except that the existing housing sector should recover,” UCLA’s … Continue reading “In Economic Outlook for San Diego, 2009 Branded a “Throw-Away Year””

Slacker Raises Another $9.7M in Venture Funding

Slacker, the San Diego-based online music streaming service, disclosed in a regulatory filing this week that it has raised almost $9.7 million so far in a secondary venture round intended to raise $10.2 million. As Xconomy’s Juha-Pekka Tikka reported Tuesday, Slacker raised $5 million in venture funding just six months ago from Rho Ventures of … Continue reading “Slacker Raises Another $9.7M in Venture Funding”

Advice for Startups in Gloomy Times: Outwit, Outplay, Outlast

The backstory wasn’t exactly auspicious as Red Herring publisher and tech conference organizer Alex Vieux convened the North America 100 in San Diego yesterday saying, “This is an economic crisis whose end is not near.” In a bid to sound positive, Vieux added that a crisis also represents an opportunity “that is too good to … Continue reading “Advice for Startups in Gloomy Times: Outwit, Outplay, Outlast”

San Diego Startup’s Breakthrough Is Making Lasers “the Color of Heat”

One understandable reaction to Daylight Solutions, a 23-employee startup that has developed a breakthrough in semiconductor-based, mid-infrared laser technology, might be to ask, “Where did this company come from?” The suburban San Diego company says its high-power lasers, about the size of a small box of matches, can be used in medical diagnostics, in environmental … Continue reading “San Diego Startup’s Breakthrough Is Making Lasers “the Color of Heat””

Cypress Shipping Fibromyalgia Drug

San Diego’s Cypress Bioscience (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CYPB]]) says in its Q1 financial results today that it began shipping its new drug milnacipran HCL (Savella) last month. The drug gained FDA approval earlier this year for treating fibromyalgia. Cypress says its first-quarter loss widened to $9.2 million from $2.9 million in the same quarter last year. The biotech has … Continue reading “Cypress Shipping Fibromyalgia Drug”

Vical Developing Vaccine for Swine Flu, Acadia’s Stock Almost Doubles on Biovail Deal, Qualcomm Launches Business Plan Contest, & Other San Diego BizTech News

Although the financial meltdown has hit San Diego’s venture community pretty hard, Lux Capital’s Larry Bock says he made his most-successful investments during the biotech nuclear winter of the early 1990s. So what areas of venture innovation seem promising today? That’s what Xconomy is here for, my friends. Read on. — Serial healthcare entrepreneur James … Continue reading “Vical Developing Vaccine for Swine Flu, Acadia’s Stock Almost Doubles on Biovail Deal, Qualcomm Launches Business Plan Contest, & Other San Diego BizTech News”

Cytori Expands GE Partnership; Raises More Cash

San Diego’s Cytori Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CYTX]]) said today it has expanded its partnership agreement with GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric, in which GE Healthcare will commercialize Cytori’s proprietary stem cell technology in North America. No financial terms were disclosed. Under a previous deal in January, GE agreed to commercialize Cytori’s products in ten … Continue reading “Cytori Expands GE Partnership; Raises More Cash”

San Diego Just Beginning to Assess Needs of Emerging Algae Industry

Today is Algae Day plus 10 in San Diego. With all the enthusiasm expressed during the back-to-back events of April 28, I half-expected things would be greener by now. But now the real work begins. The effort is to make San Diego—home of many biologists, entrepreneurs, and lots of sun—nationally recognized as a “big green … Continue reading “San Diego Just Beginning to Assess Needs of Emerging Algae Industry”

The Fastest Growing Anti-Virus Software Developer You’ve Never Heard Of

The economy might be stalling, but sales of anti-virus software developed by San Diego-based Eset, which have been almost doubling every year since 2005, are rising fast at the beginning of a classic S-shaped curve of market penetration. I know this because Eset’s founding CEO Anton Zajac, who began his career as a theoretical physicist … Continue reading “The Fastest Growing Anti-Virus Software Developer You’ve Never Heard Of”

Lux Capital’s Larry Bock and Josh Wolfe Warm to Venture Deals Despite Nuclear Winter

Since it began raising its second venture fund several years ago, New York-based Lux Capital has only invested in one startup in the San Diego region—Carlsbad’s Luxtera, which specializes in developing technologies to eliminate the bottlenecks in fiber optic networks for computers. (Luxtera got $26.7 million in a later-stage venture round at the end of … Continue reading “Lux Capital’s Larry Bock and Josh Wolfe Warm to Venture Deals Despite Nuclear Winter”

Neurocrine Cuts Half of Workforce

San Diego’s Neurocrine Biosciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NBIX]]) said today it’s eliminating approximately 60 employees, or half its workforce, to focus on developing its lead drug candidates and other “high value assets.” The biopharmaceutical’s is developing elagolix to treat endometriosis, which causes pelvic pain in women, and other compounds for potential use treating neurological and endocrine diseases … Continue reading “Neurocrine Cuts Half of Workforce”

An Ex-Cop Talks With Xconomy About Using X-Rays to Scan Cars

When I met Steven W. Smith last week, the founder of Spectrum San Diego made a casual comment that might help explain why he’s focused his company on developing advanced security imaging systems. Smith was explaining the technical advantages of Spectrum’s mainstay product—an ultra-high resolution video surveillance system—when he said: “Before I went to graduate … Continue reading “An Ex-Cop Talks With Xconomy About Using X-Rays to Scan Cars”

Amylin Cuts 200 Sales Reps, Looks for $45M in Savings Next Year

San Diego diabetes drugmaker Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMLN]]), under pressure to cut costs, said today it plans to lay off 200 sales representatives, or 11 percent of its total worldwide workforce. But it’s unclear if that will be enough to appease dissident shareholders Carl Icahn and Eastbourne Capital Management, which together own a 22 percent … Continue reading “Amylin Cuts 200 Sales Reps, Looks for $45M in Savings Next Year”

SDG&E Opens Renewable Resource Center

San Diego Gas & Electric said today it is opening a “renewable energy resource center” in El Centro, CA, the Imperial County seat about 114 miles east of San Diego, to help accelerate the development of clean energy and clean jobs. SDG&E, a subsidiary of San Diego’s Sempra Energy, said the center also will serve … Continue reading “SDG&E Opens Renewable Resource Center”

Qualcomm and Broadcom Sign Patent Peace Treaty, A Green Day for San Diego (as in Algae, Not Rock n’ Roll), Corporate Crisis Hits Sequenom, & Other San Diego BizTech News

What a week for news! Qualcomm and Broadcom agreed to drop their respective patent lawsuits—and sue for peace, while Prize Capital moved closer to creating a $10 million prize competition, and shares of San Diego’s Sequenom fell 70 percent on news of mishandled data. It’s all in our Xconomy roundup. —San Diego’s Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]) … Continue reading “Qualcomm and Broadcom Sign Patent Peace Treaty, A Green Day for San Diego (as in Algae, Not Rock n’ Roll), Corporate Crisis Hits Sequenom, & Other San Diego BizTech News”

ProQuo’s Founding CEO Takes a Sabbatical to Teach at Cornell

Steven Gal, who founded San Diego-based ProQuo to help consumers control their personal information and reduce their junk mail, bid a fond farewell in an e-mail blast this afternoon. “I can’t say I saw this economic nuclear winter coming last year when I decided to take a sabbatical from tech startups and return to teaching … Continue reading “ProQuo’s Founding CEO Takes a Sabbatical to Teach at Cornell”

PhotoThera Raises $50M for Laser-Based Stroke Treatment

PhotoThera, a Carlsbad, CA, startup developing transcranial laser therapy for treating acute ischemic stroke, said it has closed a $50 million Series D round of financing led by Warburg Pincus, the private equity firm. The funding is intended to support a planned Phase 3 clinical study of the treatment, which is designed to be given … Continue reading “PhotoThera Raises $50M for Laser-Based Stroke Treatment”

Novocell Gets $5.4M State Grant

The governing board for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state stem cell agency, yesterday approved $67.7 million in funding for 15 research grants, including a $5.4 million grant to San Diego’s Novocell. The multi-year grant to Novocell will fund research that’s intended to find ways of identifying and separating stem cells that form … Continue reading “Novocell Gets $5.4M State Grant”

Ethertronics Developing Active Antennas For Cornucopia of Next-Generation Wireless Services

Earlier this month, Xconomy reported that San Diego’s Ethertronics raised an additional $4 million in a secondary round of venture funding. Yesterday, I sat down with Sahil Bansal, Ethertronics’ director of strategic marketing, who explained how the company has emerged as a specialist in embedded antennas for cell phones and how it’s planning to use … Continue reading “Ethertronics Developing Active Antennas For Cornucopia of Next-Generation Wireless Services”

Sequenom Discloses Test Data Mishandled; Shares Plunge

Sequenom’s shares plunged nearly 70 percent in after-hours trading today after the San Diego biotech said it was postponing its launch of a Down syndrome test due to “mishandling” of R&D test data. The price of Sequenom (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SQNM]]) shares fell from $14.91 at the close to $4.69 at 7:36 p.m. ET. Sequenom had planned … Continue reading “Sequenom Discloses Test Data Mishandled; Shares Plunge”

340 Lose Jobs at Sony Electronics

Sony Electronics, which has been reorganizing its San Diego operations, disclosed that 340 employees are losing their jobs through a combination of early retirement and layoffs. Because more workers took early retirement than the Japanese company had expected, Sony executives told the San Diego Union-Tribune the company could have as many as 100 job openings at … Continue reading “340 Lose Jobs at Sony Electronics”

Great (Algae) Expectations, and San Diego’s Plans for Creating a Big Green Cluster

Expectations were high at UC San Diego yesterday as the city’s academic, business, and political leaders gathered to announce the formation of SD-CAB, the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology. Steve Kay, UCSD’s dean of biological sciences and SD-CAB’s founding director, told the audience the single point of the center was to position San Diego … Continue reading “Great (Algae) Expectations, and San Diego’s Plans for Creating a Big Green Cluster”

Prize Capital Moves Closer to Creating $10 Million Algae Fuel Prize

Fourteen years after Peter Diamandis proposed the idea of creating the X Prize to spur development of low-cost spaceflight, San Diego-based Prize Capital said today it has entered the final phase of creating a $10 million prize to encourage advances in algae biofuels technologies. As part of the final planning process, Prize Capital founder and … Continue reading “Prize Capital Moves Closer to Creating $10 Million Algae Fuel Prize”

Lilly CEO Has No Plans to Buy Amylin

Eli Lilly’s CEO told reporters in Los Angeles the Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant has no plans to acquire San Diego’s Amylin Pharmaceuticals—a sentiment that seems contrary to what dissident shareholders want. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn and Eastbourne Capital Management, which together hold more than 20 percent of Amylin shares, have been waging a proxy battle to … Continue reading “Lilly CEO Has No Plans to Buy Amylin”

A Good Day for Pond Scum: San Diego’s Emerging Algae-Based Industries Set Heavy Schedule

Efforts to build a new technology cluster of algae-based industries in the region—and to make San Diego a center of excellence in algal biotechnology—are coming together in an unusual series of events today. “I’m calling it algae day in San Diego,” says Rick Halperin, project manager for the regional algae initiative, a virtual organization formed … Continue reading “A Good Day for Pond Scum: San Diego’s Emerging Algae-Based Industries Set Heavy Schedule”