Author: Erin Kutz

Erin Kutz has a background in covering business, politics and general news. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University. Erin previously worked in the Boston bureau of Reuters, where she wrote articles on the investment management and mutual fund industries. While in college, she researched for USA Today reporter Jayne O’Donnell’s book, Gen Buy: How Tweens, Teens and Twenty-Somethings Are Revolutionizing Retail. She also spent a semester in Washington, DC, reporting Capitol Hill stories as a correspondent for two Connecticut newspapers and interning in the Money section of USA Today, where she assisted with coverage on the retail and small business beats. Erin got her first taste of reporting at Boston University’s independent student newspaper, as a city section reporter and fact checker and editor of the paper’s weekly business section.

1366 Nabs $150M DOE Loan

The U.S. Department of Energy has offered 1366 Technologies a conditional commitment for a $150 million loan guarantee, the Lexington, MA-based developer of silicon wafers for solar cells announced today.The money will go to expanding 1366’s manufacturing capabilities and building another U.S. facility for producing silicon wafers more cheaply. The company’s first facility is expected to … Continue reading “1366 Nabs $150M DOE Loan”

Aylus Grabs $16M To Better Enable Mobile Video Calling

Aylus Networks has brought in $16 million in equity financing for its technology that seeks to make video communication on the mobile as seamless and innate as voice communication. The deal, being announced today, was led by London-based m8 Capital, and included previous backers Matrix Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners. “We believe that video … Continue reading “Aylus Grabs $16M To Better Enable Mobile Video Calling”

Vertex Pays $60M for Alios Drugs, PKE Acquires Dexela, AisleBuyer Grabs $7.5M, & More Boston-Area Deals News

New England software and drug developers inked partnerships, financings, and acquisitions deals this week. —Admantx, a Hartford, CT-based provider of semantic-based online advertising technology, pulled in $2.8 million from Atlante Ventures Mezzogiorno, the venture capital fund of the Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo. Admantx, which was spun off last year from the semantic software firm Expert … Continue reading “Vertex Pays $60M for Alios Drugs, PKE Acquires Dexela, AisleBuyer Grabs $7.5M, & More Boston-Area Deals News”

PKE Acquires Dexela

PerkinElmer (NYSE: [[ticker:PKI]]), a Waltham, MA-based maker of tools for the life sciences industry, announced today that it has bought London-based Dexela, a developer of X-ray detection technology. Financial terms of the deal weren’t revealed. The acquisition adds to Perkin’s portfolio of medical imaging technology for surgery, dental CT, cardiology, and mammography applications, the company … Continue reading “PKE Acquires Dexela”

Startup Attendees and Speakers Flock To XSITE for Full-Day Summit on The Entrepreneurship Era

[Updated 6/15/11, 5:55 pm]. See below Earlier this year, it seems that Washington, DC (and much of the rest of the country) started to identify something that we here at Xconomy have known since our inception: that entrepreneurship will be a major force in driving technology breakthroughs and economic growth. So what better time to … Continue reading “Startup Attendees and Speakers Flock To XSITE for Full-Day Summit on The Entrepreneurship Era”

Synageva to Merge With Trimeris

Lexington, MA-based Synageva BioPharma, a developer of drugs for rare diseases, announced today that it will be merging with Durham, NC-based viral disease drug developer Trimeris (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TRMS]]) in an all-stock deal.  The combined company will be called Synageva BioPharma and will be led by the Synageva management team. The new publicly traded company will … Continue reading “Synageva to Merge With Trimeris”

Send the Trend, Looking To Transform the Way Women Shop, Comes From Reluctant Entrepreneur

Divya Gugnani grew up in a family of entrepreneurs and told herself she’d never do that. Now, she’s CEO of two startups. One of which, she says, is out to transform the way women shop. That would be Send The Trend, a website that sells personalized accessories like jewelry and scarves. It’s one of the … Continue reading “Send the Trend, Looking To Transform the Way Women Shop, Comes From Reluctant Entrepreneur”

Aria Shows Drug Data at ASCO, Pfizer Supports Selecta, WPI Adds Big Pharma Partners, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

Massachusetts drug developers and research institutions have nabbed funding, inked partnerships, and revealed clinical data this week. —Constellation Pharmaceuticals, a Cambridge, MA-based developer of epigenetic drugs, grabbed another $15 million in extensions to its Series B financing, bringing the funding round’s total to $37 million. The money comes from returning investors Third Rock Ventures, The … Continue reading “Aria Shows Drug Data at ASCO, Pfizer Supports Selecta, WPI Adds Big Pharma Partners, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”

CommonAngels Leads $1.5M Seed Round for ParElastic

ParElastic, a developer of middleware for running big data applications more efficiently on the cloud, said it has closed a $1.5 million seed funding round, led by CommonAngels, with participation from Launch Capital and other investors. John Landry will be joining the company’s board of directors. The company is setting up a development center in Toronto … Continue reading “CommonAngels Leads $1.5M Seed Round for ParElastic”

BMS & Others Partner with WPI

Today Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) announced that Abbott Laboratories, New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Shire Human Genetic Therapies of Cambridge, MA, will be inaugural partners of the school’s Biomanufacturing Education and Training Center, which is under construction. The facility, which is partially funded by a Massachusetts Life Sciences Center grant, is expected to be ready in … Continue reading “BMS & Others Partner with WPI”

Wikets Whips Up $1.5M

Wikets, a new Lexington, MA-based social Web startup, has raised $1.5 million in equity-based funding from nine investors, an SEC filing shows. The company’s website says its technology enables users to exchange ideas with people they trust. Andrew Park and Vijay Manwani, both veterans of data center software provider BladeLogic (acquired by BMC Software in … Continue reading “Wikets Whips Up $1.5M”

Tell Us Why You’re Mad—or What Will Make You Glad: We Are Looking for Rants and Recommendations on Entrepreneurship

We know you’re out there. You have gripes about the way innovation is done, in Boston or beyond—or ideas for how to make entrepreneurship and innovation even better. Maybe one of those pet peeves is that Silicon Valley is poaching all the hot young tech talent from the East Coast. We get it. We’ve all … Continue reading “Tell Us Why You’re Mad—or What Will Make You Glad: We Are Looking for Rants and Recommendations on Entrepreneurship”

Admantx Adds $2.8M

Hartford, CT-based Admantx, a maker of semantic-based online advertising technology, announced today that it has taken in $2.8 million in first-round funding from Atlante Ventures Mezzogiorno, the venture capital fund of the Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo.The funding will go towards sales and marketing for Admantx, which was spun off last year from the semantic software … Continue reading “Admantx Adds $2.8M”

General Compression Pulls In $20.4M, Constellation Nabs $15M, PolyRemedy Wraps Up $20M, & More Boston-Area Deals News

Financing news kept flowing this week from New England startups developing software, medical device, drug, and cleantech products. —Ziptr, a Burlington, MA-based maker of software focused on business privacy and compliance, pinned down $6.8 million in equity financing from 26 investors. —Lumicell Diagnostics, a portfolio company of Waltham, MA-based Kodiak Venture Partners that’s developing a … Continue reading “General Compression Pulls In $20.4M, Constellation Nabs $15M, PolyRemedy Wraps Up $20M, & More Boston-Area Deals News”

PolyRemedy, Pivoted from Med Device to IT-based Healthcare Service Company, Raises $20M Series C Round

PolyRemedy, a Concord, MA- and Mountain View, CA-based healthcare startup, has secured $20 million in a new Series C funding to fuel what president and CEO Mark Carbeau calls its “Netflix of wound care” business. The deal was led by new investor Delphi Ventures of Menlo Park, CA. Previous PolyRemedy backers—MedVenture Associates, Advanced Technology Ventures … Continue reading “PolyRemedy, Pivoted from Med Device to IT-based Healthcare Service Company, Raises $20M Series C Round”

UTest Brings Crowdsourced QA Testing to Early Stage Web Startups (We Have Discount Codes Too)

Southborough, MA-based uTest hit the market with its crowdsourced quality assurance testing service in a slightly unconventional order. UTest first introduced its “full strength” software-as-a-service for more mature, enterprise-level Web companies in 2008, and has nabbed big customers like Google, Microsoft, Intuit, Myspace, and Thomson Reuters. Clients indicate the type of testing they want, uTest … Continue reading “UTest Brings Crowdsourced QA Testing to Early Stage Web Startups (We Have Discount Codes Too)”

General Compression Grabs $20.4M

General Compression,  a Newton, MA-based energy storage technology company, has pinned down $20.4 million in equity financing from four investors, an SEC filing shows. Last year the company raised a $20.9 million Series A round, from Duke Energy, U.S. Renewables Group, and Northwater Intellectual Property Fund.

Ariad and Infinity to Reveal Data at ASCO, Excelimmune Gets $10.5M, Hologic Buys TCT, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

You wouldn’t know we had a holiday this week, with the rate Boston life sciences companies are pumping out news. They’ve inked partnerships, announced fundings, made acquisitions, and are gearing up for a big medical convention this weekend. —Cambridge, MA-based Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARIA]]) will reveal data from a clinical trial of its drug ridaforolimus to … Continue reading “Ariad and Infinity to Reveal Data at ASCO, Excelimmune Gets $10.5M, Hologic Buys TCT, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”

Hologic Buys TCT International

Hologic (NASDAQ: [[ticker:HOLX]]), a Bedford, MA-based developer of diagnostic and medical imaging devices, announced today that it has bought Beijing-based TCT International for $135 million in cash, with $35 million of that deferred for one year, plus a two-year contingent earn out. TCT is a distributor of medical products and instruments in China, including Hologic’s … Continue reading “Hologic Buys TCT International”

Lumicell Takes in $2.7M

Lumicell Diagnostics, a Waltham, MA-based developer of a device enabling doctors to check tumor sites for remaining cancer cells after surgeries, has brought in $2.7 million in equity-based funding, an SEC filing shows. Waltham-based Kodiak Venture Partners lists Lumicell as one of its portfolio companies on its website. The new funding comes from four investors, … Continue reading “Lumicell Takes in $2.7M”

Sun Catalytix Hires New CEO, Formerly of LumenZ

Sun Catalytix, a Cambridge, MA-based energy storage and renewable fuels startup, said today it has added Mike Decelle as its new president and chief executive. Decelle is a photonics industry veteran who was mostly recently CEO of LumenZ, a Boston-based LED technology company that was reported by the Boston Globe to be shut down earlier … Continue reading “Sun Catalytix Hires New CEO, Formerly of LumenZ”

Ziptr Snaps Up $6.8M

Burlington, MA-based software startup Ziptr has brought in $6.8 million in equity financing from 26 investors, an SEC filing shows. Ziptr’s website says that its software, which is in its beta version, is focused on privacy and compliance for businesses. Last October the company raised $1.5 million in a debt financing from 25 investors.

Dossia Partners With Health Language To Offer Electronic Medical Records in Plain English

The non-profit consortium Dossia has branded itself as a provider of digital health records focused on ease of use for the consumer. The organization got started in 2006 to offer the Web-based records to employees at its member companies—like BP America, Intel, Pitney Bowes, and Wal-Mart—and has racked up plenty of data on patients’ doctors … Continue reading “Dossia Partners With Health Language To Offer Electronic Medical Records in Plain English”

Excelimmune Grabs $10.5M, Aveo Gets $15M In J&J Deal, Myriant Aims for $125M IPO, & More Boston-Area Deals News

Boston tech and life sciences companies kept busy even through the holiday weekend with partnership, IPO, and financing news. —Proteostasis Therapeutics of Cambridge, MA, received an initial payment of $20 million from Elan to develop traditional small molecule drugs and diagnostics against neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and multiple sclerosis. The partnership could also include … Continue reading “Excelimmune Grabs $10.5M, Aveo Gets $15M In J&J Deal, Myriant Aims for $125M IPO, & More Boston-Area Deals News”

Myriant Technologies Files for $125M IPO

Myriant Technologies, a Quincy, MA-based developer of biochemicals, revealed its intention to raise $125 million in an initial public offering, according to documents filed with the SEC. The company plans to put the proceeds toward completing a plant in Louisiana, as well as working capital, research and development, and general corporate purposes. It reported a … Continue reading “Myriant Technologies Files for $125M IPO”

Excelimmune Nabs $10.5M Series B Deal

Excelimmune, a Woburn, MA-based developer of a human recombinant polyclonal antibody-based drugs, announced today that it had wrapped up a $10.5 million Series B financing, from new and previous high net worth individual backers. The money will go to enhancing Excelimmune’s discovery platform and manufacturing processes, and toward development of Staphguard, the company’s treatment for Staph … Continue reading “Excelimmune Nabs $10.5M Series B Deal”

Grubwithus Hits Boston On Its Quest To Bring Group Meals for Strangers to 30 Cities This Year

Seventh in a series of profiles of Y Combinator Winter 2011 startups. Grubwithus, a group-buying-meets-online-dating startup out of Y Combinator, is hitting Boston this week. The startup is introducing its group meals for strangers service in the city on June 1st. Similar to Groupon, Chicago-based Grubwithus works with restaurants to offer its users discounted meals. Unlike … Continue reading “Grubwithus Hits Boston On Its Quest To Bring Group Meals for Strangers to 30 Cities This Year”

Vertex Gets FDA OK, Alnylam Plans For ASCO, Biogen Drug Advances in Europe, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

This week was full with news of progress from New England drug developers. —Waltham, MA-based antibody drug maker ImmunoGen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:IMGN]]) sold 7 million shares of stock at $12 apiece. The company had $115.8 million in cash on hand at the end of March, a quarterly report showed. —Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) of Weston, MA, … Continue reading “Vertex Gets FDA OK, Alnylam Plans For ASCO, Biogen Drug Advances in Europe, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”

Spreadshirt Promotes CMO Rooke To CEO

Spreadshirt, a customized clothing e-commerce company with U.S. headquarters in Boston, announced it has promoted its chief marketing officer Philip Rooke to the role of CEO. Rooke has held previous ecommerce positions at iVillage UK, Tesco.com, and Skinstore, and will help lead Spreadshirt in growth through its product customization and print on demand businesses. Previous … Continue reading “Spreadshirt Promotes CMO Rooke To CEO”

AutoVirt Adds $5M

AutoVirt, a Nashua, NH-based file virtualization software maker, has brought in $5 million in new equity funding from five investors, according to a filing with the SEC. In October, the company raised $3.8 million from four investors, and last June it took in $1.5 million in a debt and rights offering.

ImmunoGen Raises $84M, Cablevision Founder Backs Crimson Hexagon, BzzAgent Bought, & More Boston-Area Deals News

New England IT and life sciences startups warmed up this week with financing and acquisition news. —Andover, MA-based SiGe Semiconductor scrapped its plans to go public and was instead acquired by Skyworks Solutions (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SWKS]]) of Woburn, MA, for $210 million upfront and potentially $65 million more tied to certain milestones. —Nashua, NH-based VGo Communications, … Continue reading “ImmunoGen Raises $84M, Cablevision Founder Backs Crimson Hexagon, BzzAgent Bought, & More Boston-Area Deals News”

Debit Cards Aren’t For Stupid People: Q&A with PerkStreet CEO on Flying Into the Startup Abyss

Dan O’Malley created a Web-based financial services company in 2008. Crazy, to put it in his words, since the financial markets were in meltdown mode. Now his startup, PerkStreet Financial, says it has more customers than half the banks and credit unions in the country each do. Boston-based PerkStreet has gotten plenty of buzz for … Continue reading “Debit Cards Aren’t For Stupid People: Q&A with PerkStreet CEO on Flying Into the Startup Abyss”

PerkinElmer Buys Labtronics, Vertex Rival Merck Partners with Genentech, ThermoFisher Acquires Phadia, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

We saw news on both the drugs and medical devices sides of the life sciences industry in New England this week. —PerkinElmer (NYSE: [[ticker:PKI]]), a Waltham, MA-based provider of life sciences tools, said it acquired Labtronics, an Ontario, Canada-based provider of electronic laboratory notebook products. Deal terms weren’t disclosed. —Two-year-old Foundation Medicine of Boston revealed it … Continue reading “PerkinElmer Buys Labtronics, Vertex Rival Merck Partners with Genentech, ThermoFisher Acquires Phadia, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”

Thermo Pays $3.5B for Phadia

Waltham, MA-based Thermo Fisher Scientific (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TMO]]), a provider of products and services for labs, announced that it has acquired Sweden-based Phadia from the European private equity firm Cinven for about $3.5 billion in cash. The acquisition of Phadia, which provides allergy and autoimmunity diagnostic products, is expected to close fourth quarter 2011 and will … Continue reading “Thermo Pays $3.5B for Phadia”

TechStars Boston Alum Sensobi Joins Forces With GroupMe To Better Organize Mobile Social Network

Mobile app developer Sensobi reaped the benefits of the tight-knit New York tech startup community earlier this month, you could say. CEO and founder Ajay Kulkarni calls it “a fortuitous introduction that turned into something bigger.” That would be Sensobi’s acquisition by GroupMe. Sensobi, which I profiled last January, offers a $10 BlackBerry app that … Continue reading “TechStars Boston Alum Sensobi Joins Forces With GroupMe To Better Organize Mobile Social Network”

VGo Brings in $4.3M

VGo Communications, a Nashua, NH-based robotics startup, has pulled in $4.3 million of a targeted $6 million offering, an SEC filing showed. The money comes from 11 investors. VGo, formerly known as North End Technologies, makes devices for two-way, audio and visual conferencing, to better connect employees of the same company at different locations.  The company … Continue reading “VGo Brings in $4.3M”

SiGe Opts for $275M Acquisition Instead of IPO

Andover, MA-based SiGe Semiconductor, which first revealed its plans to go public last July, is instead set to be acquired by another Bay State semiconductor technology company, Skyworks (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SWKS]]). Woburn, MA-based Skyworks, whose analog and mixed signal semiconductors have applications in the military, medical, broadband, mobile, industrial, automotive, and energy management spaces, will pay as … Continue reading “SiGe Opts for $275M Acquisition Instead of IPO”

Carbonite Files for IPO, Autonomy Pays $380M for Iron Mountain Businesses, PerkinElmer Buys Labtronics, & More Boston-Area Deals News

We saw a mix of funding and acquisition news for New England’s tech and life sciences startups this week. —Carbonite, a Boston-based online data backup firm, revealed it was planning to go public. The company, which has raised more than $67 million in venture capital, didn’t yet say how many shares it will be offering … Continue reading “Carbonite Files for IPO, Autonomy Pays $380M for Iron Mountain Businesses, PerkinElmer Buys Labtronics, & More Boston-Area Deals News”

SciFluor Kicks Off With $5M

SciFluor Life Sciences, a Boston-based developer of technology for adding fluorine to organic molecules such as pharmaceutical drugs and commercial chemicals, launched today with $5 million in funding from Allied Minds. The technology, which helps make molecules more stable, potent, and better able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier, comes from Harvard University’s professor Tobias Ritter … Continue reading “SciFluor Kicks Off With $5M”

PerkinElmer Buys Labtronics

Waltham, MA-based PerkinElmer (NYSE: [[ticker:PKI]]), a maker of tools for the life sciences field, announced today that it has bought Ontario, Canada-based Labtronics for an undisclosed sum. Labtronics provides electronic laboratory notebook products enabling laboratory routine analysis. Earlier this month PerkinElmer acquired Geospiza, a Seattle-based maker of software for DNA analysis.

$77M Merrimack Financing Helps April Startup Deals Soar to $306M

Things continued to warm up this spring for Massachusetts tech and life sciences startups inking investments. Last month, companies raised $306 million across 35 equity-based deals, a roughly 18 percent surge from during March. That’s according to data from our partner CB Insights’ FundingFlash, which provides a daily roundup of companies receiving venture capital, angel … Continue reading “$77M Merrimack Financing Helps April Startup Deals Soar to $306M”

Typesafe Snaps Up $3M

Cambridge, MA-based IT startup Typesafe announced yesterday that it had pinned down $3 million in a Series A financing led by Greylock Partners, with participation from individual investors who have worked for Facebook, VMWare, Oracle, Google, and more.  Typesafe offers a platform for working on the Scala programming language, which is interoperable with Java and … Continue reading “Typesafe Snaps Up $3M”

GSK Backs SpringLeaf, Prexa Nabs $7M from Advent & Shire, Acetylon Gets $5M Partnership, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

New England biotechs made headlines this week with partnerships and financing news. —Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, a Cambridge, MA-based drug developer, bought back the rights to market one of its drugs in Europe and Asia from Taiwan-based PharmaEngine. Merrimack paid $10 million upfront and could pay another $210 million in milestones and royalties to develop and commercialize … Continue reading “GSK Backs SpringLeaf, Prexa Nabs $7M from Advent & Shire, Acetylon Gets $5M Partnership, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”

Sanergy Takes 2011 MIT $100K Prize, Audience Choice Award For Its Toilet Sanitation Technology

Sanergy gets kudos for scoring the daily double at tonight’s MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. The team won both the $100,000 grand prize and the audience choice award, for pitching its toilet and sanitation systems that convert human waste to fertilizer and electricity in developing countries. Sanergy, the finalist in the emerging markets track of the … Continue reading “Sanergy Takes 2011 MIT $100K Prize, Audience Choice Award For Its Toilet Sanitation Technology”

PerkStreet Grabs $9M

PerkStreet Financial, a Boston-based online banking startup offering a debit card with cash-back rewards, has raised $9 million in funding, according to report by Scott Kirsner of the Boston Globe, which the company confirmed later this morning. The money, which brings PerkStreet’s total funding pot to about $15 million, comes from Globespan Capital Partners and … Continue reading “PerkStreet Grabs $9M”

Prexa Pulls In $7M From Advent, Shire

Prexa Pharmaceuticals, a Boston-based biotech developing experimental drugs for treating central nervous disorders, announced it wrapped up a $7 million Series B funding round from Advent Healthcare Ventures and new investor Shire Pharmaceuticals. Prexa, which previously raised $3.1 million in Series A money, was co-founded by Advent in 2006 and is working on molecules to … Continue reading “Prexa Pulls In $7M From Advent, Shire”

Varian Bought by Applied Materials, Nuance Picks Up Equitrac, Alkermes Pays $960M for Elan Unit, & More Boston-Area Deals News

Acquisitions headlines were big this week in New England, and spanned the semiconductor, life sciences, mobile, and software spaces. —PlumChoice, a Billierica, MA-based provider of remote IT services to businesses, nabbed $25.6 million from new backers M/C Venture Partners, Gold Hill Capital, and Eastward Capital, as well as its previous investors. —Gloucester, MA-based Varian Semiconductor … Continue reading “Varian Bought by Applied Materials, Nuance Picks Up Equitrac, Alkermes Pays $960M for Elan Unit, & More Boston-Area Deals News”