Category: San Francisco

Geo-Loco Conference

Market research firm Bancroft Group presents a day-long conference on geolocation technologies, “the next big thing in advertising, social media and discovery.” From the event website: “Learn: what the new breed of Geo-Location-enabled services and applications is doing for brands, for businesses and for consumers. Geo-Loco: Is it a Business or a Feature?! Experts Corner: … Continue reading “Geo-Loco Conference”

Xconomy San Francisco Open House

Join us at our new Bay Area headquarters in the Dogpatch/Potrero Hill neighborhood to celebrate the opening of Xconomy San Francisco. It’ll be a casual evening of wine, cheese, and more, hosted by Xconomy chief correspondent and San Francisco editor Wade Roush and national biotech editor and Seattle editor Luke Timmerman.

Facebook and the News: Making Journalism Social

Hacks and Hackers, a group for journalists using technology and hackers interested in journalism, presents a discussion of Facebook’s role in helping Web writers gain attention for their work. From the event page: “Every day, hundreds of millions of people keep track of what their friends are doing through Facebook’s News Feed. In addition to … Continue reading “Facebook and the News: Making Journalism Social”

Tomorrow’s Web

Young entrepreneurs from around the world come together to discuss and explore the Web and its future. Keynoters will talk about building companies, future development tools, strategy, and more. Information here, registration here.

SF Startup Weekend Mobile

From the event website: “Startup Weekend recruits a highly motivated group of developers, business managers, startup enthusiasts, marketing gurus, graphic artists and more to a 54 hour event that builds communities, companies and projects. Founded in 2007 by Andrew Hyde, the weekend is a concept of a conference focusing on learning by creating. It is … Continue reading “SF Startup Weekend Mobile”

The Burrill Personalized Medicine Meeting

The 6th Annual Burrill Personalized Medicine Meeting is a two-day event on Sept. 27-28. The meeting is designed to cover “the whole spectrum of personalized medicine—from personalized medicine prediction to prevention to personalized care.” For more information, click here.

The Top 10 Northern California Venture Deals of the Second Quarter—Two Ways

Followers of venture capital industry statistics know that at least three separate organizations tally the data and publish summaries a couple of weeks after the end of each quarter. They also know that the three organizations—Dow Jones VentureSource, MoneyTree, and CB Insights—rarely agree on all of the numbers. Today we wanted to bring you a … Continue reading “The Top 10 Northern California Venture Deals of the Second Quarter—Two Ways”

Google Buys Metaweb

Metaweb, the San Francisco startup that runs the Freebase open database of 12 million interconnected entries on people, places, and things, has become part of Google, the Mountain View, CA, search giant announced on its company blog today. Google (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GOOG]]) said it hopes the acquisition well help it upgrade its search engine so that … Continue reading “Google Buys Metaweb”

Lessons Learned About the Outlook for New Obesity Drug Approval

Yesterday’s FDA advisory committee meeting on Vivus’ weight loss pill proved to us, once again, how incredibly difficult it is to successfully develop and register new drugs for obesity. Mountain View, CA-based Vivus had a solid program supporting their drug—demonstrating that their combination product of phentermine and topirimate (Qnexa) is very effective and has a … Continue reading “Lessons Learned About the Outlook for New Obesity Drug Approval”

ESRI Reshapes its Proprietary Mapping System Into an Open Crowdsourcing Platform, Raising a Challenge for Google

In the plenary session that kicked off the ESRI International User Conference this week in downtown San Diego, ESRI founder and president Jack Dangermond demonstrated the features of ArcGIS.com, a free website the company recently launched that allows ordinary folks to create their own maps. Dangermond also highlighted a free mobile app that the private, … Continue reading “ESRI Reshapes its Proprietary Mapping System Into an Open Crowdsourcing Platform, Raising a Challenge for Google”

$15M More for Calisolar

According to a July 14 regulatory filing, Sunnyvale, CA-based solar cell manufacturer Calisolar has raised an additional $15 million in a sale of equity, rights, and securities. The “vertically integrated” manufacturer, which purifies silicon, crystallizes it, cuts it into wafers, and assembles it into solar cells and modules, had raised at least $131 million prior … Continue reading “$15M More for Calisolar”

Axcient Pulls in $9M

Mountain View, CA-based Axcient, which provides backup and disaster recovery services to managed service providers serving small and medium sized businesses, has collected $9 million out of a potential $10 million in equity-based Series B funding, according to a July 14 regulatory filing. The funders were undisclosed. Axcient last raised $6 million in a May … Continue reading “Axcient Pulls in $9M”

Kristina Burow, Arch’s Rising Star in SF, Spots Big Ideas in Biotech, Cleantech

Kristina Burow came to UC Berkeley as a teenager from Minnesota with a vague idea about what she wanted in life, other than to become a champion collegiate swimmer. She ended up finding her purpose in both chemistry and business. Operating at the nexus of those two fields, at just 36, Burow has assembled a … Continue reading “Kristina Burow, Arch’s Rising Star in SF, Spots Big Ideas in Biotech, Cleantech”

Evernote Opens a Trunk of Goodies for Online-Notes Fans

If I only had a second brain—one that could hold my Web clips, store my business cards, transcribe my voice memos, keep my to-do lists, preserve my receipts and recipes and passwords, and archive items from my Twitter, Facebook, and RSS feeds, just to list a few of the myriad types of information I attempt … Continue reading “Evernote Opens a Trunk of Goodies for Online-Notes Fans”

Google Acquires Metaweb Technologies for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0f88f1a1-dcb4-41ec-b160-ca4f9205c345&Preview=1 Date 7/16/2010 Company Name Metaweb Technologies Mailing Address 631 Howard St. San Francisco, CA 94105 Company Description Metaweb Technologies, Inc. was spun out of Applied Minds, Inc. in July, 2005 to build a better infrastructure for the Web. It is led by battle-hardened alumni of Netscape, The Internet Archive, Alexa, Tellme, … Continue reading “Google Acquires Metaweb Technologies for Undisclosed Sum”

Vivus Obesity Drug Shot Down by FDA Panel, in Close Vote

[Updated: 12:45 pm Pacific, 7/16/10] Mountain View, CA-based Vivus (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VVUS]]) suffered a setback today at an important meeting for the future of obesity drug development, with implications for San Diego’s Arena Pharmaceuticals and Orexigen Therapeutics. A panel of experts who advise the FDA said today in a 10-6 vote that Vivus’ experimental weight loss … Continue reading “Vivus Obesity Drug Shot Down by FDA Panel, in Close Vote”

Trilliant Gets $106M from GE, ABB, Others

Trilliant, the Redwood City, CA-based maker of wireless equipment and software for managing smart utility grid networks, has collected $106 million in Series B equity-based financing and venture credit from a group that includes General Electric and ABB, according to a report in VentureWire today. Investor AB, VantagePoint Venture Partners, MissionPoint Capital Partners, and Zouk Ventures … Continue reading “Trilliant Gets $106M from GE, ABB, Others”

Where Will the New Disease Treatments Come From a Decade From Now?

In the last two years, biotechnology companies, especially the smaller ones, have gone through a dramatic restructuring of priorities and focus. Like so many industries which have prioritized their businesses to the immediate, the cash efficient, the safe, the low risk, and the cash conserving, biotech has done the same. Some biotech companies have done … Continue reading “Where Will the New Disease Treatments Come From a Decade From Now?”

Itero, Seeking a “Biosimilar” That’s Better, Strikes Deal With Watson for Female Infertility

San Mateo, CA-based Itero Biopharmaceuticals, a small company seeking to make “biosimilar” treatments that provide an advantage over original biotech drugs, has found its first partner to help it develop a new product. The company has formed a collaboration with Morristown, NJ-based Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: [[ticker:WPI]]) to develop a new treatment for female infertility. Itero … Continue reading “Itero, Seeking a “Biosimilar” That’s Better, Strikes Deal With Watson for Female Infertility”

In Facebook Experiment, Microsoft Works to Deliver Shared Documents and Connect with Consumers Online

Quick, what’s the world’s most popular photo-sharing application? It’s not Photobucket or Flickr or Picasa. It’s Facebook, where users share billions of new photos every month. “The Facebook Photos application may or may not be the best, but it is the most popular, by an absurd factor,” notes Pat Kinsel. “More photos are uploaded to … Continue reading “In Facebook Experiment, Microsoft Works to Deliver Shared Documents and Connect with Consumers Online”

Calisolar Garners $15,000,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7bdb3e37-ff52-4d87-8a16-033bf28af45e&Preview=1 Date 7/15/2010 Company Name Calisolar Mailing Address 985 Almanor Ave Sunnyvale, CA 94085 Company Description CaliSolar is a photovoltaic (PV) company that designs, patents, manufactures and markets solar cells in high volumes for the largest segments of the PV industry. Website http://www.calisolar.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $15,000,000 Transaction Round … Continue reading “Calisolar Garners $15,000,000 New Funding”

Solar City Receives $21,500,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=08cfdb76-5299-49c1-bb7c-077a0e00706a&Preview=1 Date 7/15/2010 Company Name Solar City Mailing Address 393 Vintage Park Drive Foster City, CA 94404 Company Description SolarCity matches advanced solar power technology with a suite of installation services. The company’s comprehensive offering removes the technical, regulatory, and financing barriers to solar power, helping customers make smart renewable energy choices … Continue reading “Solar City Receives $21,500,000 New Round”

Axcient Receives $9,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7c9f7cae-6ed3-46e0-a0f7-7632c0a19544&Preview=1 Date 7/15/2010 Company Name Axcient Mailing Address 2761 Marine Way Mountain View, CA 94043 Company Description Axcient offers the first plug-and-play data protection service to make business continuity and online backup simple for small and medium sized businesses (SMB). Axcient incorporates an onsite data backup and replication management appliance with offsite … Continue reading “Axcient Receives $9,000,000 New Financing”

Trilliant Garners $106,000,000 Series B Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=4f538c9b-b75c-49c7-969f-82a497798683&Preview=1 Date 7/15/2010 Company Name Trilliant Mailing Address 1100 Island Drive Redwood City, CA 94065 Company Description Trilliant offers a combination of hardware, software and services that serve as the nervous system of the Smart Grid. Website http://www.trilliantinc.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $106,000,000 Transaction Round Series B Proceeds Purposes The … Continue reading “Trilliant Garners $106,000,000 Series B Financing Round”

Okta Secures $10,000,000 Series A Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d2366b46-aa8d-4269-afa5-ac80265e782a&Preview=1 Date 7/15/2010 Company Name Okta Mailing Address 400 2nd St. San Francisco, CA 94107 Company Description Your cloud applications are no longer tactical point solutions, they are the backbone of your business. Now there’s a way to quickly and easily transform these applications from independent silos into a secure, flexible and … Continue reading “Okta Secures $10,000,000 Series A Financing Round”

Shopkick Lands $15,000,000 Series B Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b0211857-d18a-4e27-9063-c7f978159d75&Preview=1 Date 7/15/2010 Company Name Shopkick Mailing Address Undisclosed Palo Alto, CA 94301 Company Description shopkick is a new Palo Alto-based startup funded by Kleiner Perkins’s iFund, Greylock Partners and Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, and investor in Facebook and Zynga. shopkick, Inc. brings the power of the mobile internet to the … Continue reading “Shopkick Lands $15,000,000 Series B Round”

BillFloat Obtains $4,500,000 Series A Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7752b066-810d-43b3-8cb4-da7c7f3e2403&Preview=1 Date 7/15/2010 Company Name BillFloat Mailing Address Undisclosed San Francisco, CA 94107 Company Description Our patent pending service helps ease short-term cash flow bumps more conveniently than ever before. We do this by partnering with service providers who have a strong commitment to customer service and satisfaction. Together, we can extend … Continue reading “BillFloat Obtains $4,500,000 Series A Financing Round”

Crocodoc Raises Cash, Upgrades Web-based Document Review Service

Today, many documents are not only born digital, they’re also born social. Companies like Adobe, Microsoft, and Google provide online tools where documents of many different types can be collaboratively generated and edited. The problem is that online editing is still a fragmented affair: If you want to mark up an Adobe PDF document with … Continue reading “Crocodoc Raises Cash, Upgrades Web-based Document Review Service”

PacBio Nabs $109M to Make Cheaper, Faster Gene Sequencing Tools

The idea of sequencing entire human genomes for $1,000 or less, in a matter of minutes, has never been hotter, if the flow of venture capital to Pacific Biosciences is any indication. The Menlo Park, CA-based developer of super-fast gene sequencing machines has raised another $109 million in a Series F round of financing. The … Continue reading “PacBio Nabs $109M to Make Cheaper, Faster Gene Sequencing Tools”

Livefyre Works to Bring Web Comment Sections Back to Life

[Corrected, see page 2] Publishing on the Web was always supposed to be a many-to-many affair, not a one-to-many lecture like so much of radio, TV, and newspaper content. But much of the burden of keeping the Web bidirectional falls on the familiar comment sections below most news articles and blog posts. And comments, in … Continue reading “Livefyre Works to Bring Web Comment Sections Back to Life”

Vivus Faces Turning Point in Obesity Drug Battle Tomorrow With Arena, Orexigen

[Updated: 3:06 pm Pacific] Vivus will be the biotech company everybody’s watching tomorrow. That’s when the Mountain View, CA-based company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VVUS]]) will go before a panel of expert advisers to the FDA, who will recommend to regulators whether Vivus has created a new obesity drug that’s good enough to be sold on the U.S. … Continue reading “Vivus Faces Turning Point in Obesity Drug Battle Tomorrow With Arena, Orexigen”

Pacific BioSciences Receives $59,000,000 Series F Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8f140eb6-bd63-436b-a02a-20889a29b279&Preview=1 Date 7/14/2010 Company Name Pacific BioSciences Mailing Address 1505 Adams Drive Menlo Park, CA 94025 Company Description The company is focused on developing treatments for various diseases through gene sequencing therapies. Website http://www.pacificbiosciences.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $59,000,000 Transaction Round Series F Proceeds Purposes These funds will be used … Continue reading “Pacific BioSciences Receives $59,000,000 Series F Funding”

Tibion Bionic Technologies Obtains $3,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=fd345288-8577-41bb-8e9e-2ead269d05f4&Preview=1 Date 7/14/2010 Company Name Tibion Bionic Technologies Mailing Address NASA Research ParkMS 19-46NBldg. 19 Moffett Field, CA 94035 Company Description Tibion develops bionic devices for those with loss of muscle function due to disease, injury, aging, or surgery. Website http://www.tibion.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $3,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds … Continue reading “Tibion Bionic Technologies Obtains $3,000,000 New Financing”

BARRX Medical Secures $15,000,000 Series D Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=5129bf69-81ea-4c2c-8140-5679cb078426&Preview=1 Date 7/14/2010 Company Name BARRX Medical Mailing Address 540 Oakmead Parkway Sunnyvale, CA 94085 Company Description BÂRRX Medical, Inc. develops treatment solutions for Barrett’s esophagus, a precancerous condition of the lining of the esophagus (swallowing tube) caused by gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD. Website http://www.barrx.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount … Continue reading “BARRX Medical Secures $15,000,000 Series D Financing”

Power Assure Secures $11,000,000 Series B Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=5bac39f4-c887-4037-bc76-df7917c0197b&Preview=1 Date 7/14/2010 Company Name Power Assure Mailing Address 2394 Walsh Avenue Santa Clara, CA 95051 Company Description Power Assure develops and delivers business automation software that reduces energy use and carbon emissions in commercial, corporate, and government data centers. The company’s software platform intelligently manages data center server capacity in real … Continue reading “Power Assure Secures $11,000,000 Series B Financing”

MSpot Challenges Netflix with New Movie-Streaming App for iPad

Up to now, there have been two main ways to watch full-length movies on your Apple iPad: buy or rent them from Apple itself through the iTunes store, or, if you have a subscription to Netflix’s DVD rental service, choose from the subset of movies available for instant viewing using the Netflix iPad app. Now … Continue reading “MSpot Challenges Netflix with New Movie-Streaming App for iPad”

General Electric, Venture Firms Unveil $200M Investment and Prize Program to Promote Smart Grid Technologies

At a glitz-filled press event in San Francisco’s financial district today, General Electric announced an “innovation challenge” designed to promote smarter, more efficient electric grid technologies. It pledged to invest $200 million in proposals from entrants in three areas—renewable energy, smart grid technologies, and “eco homes/eco buildings”—and said it would collaborate on the program with … Continue reading “General Electric, Venture Firms Unveil $200M Investment and Prize Program to Promote Smart Grid Technologies”

XDx Secures $6M Debt

XDx, the Brisbane, CA-based developer of molecular diagnostics, has secured $6 million through a debt and options financing that could ultimately be worth $10 million, according to a regulatory filing. The company, founded in 2000, raised $14 million in August 2009 from a long list of backers, including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Burrill Venture Capital, Intel Capital, … Continue reading “XDx Secures $6M Debt”

Zendesk Has a Twicket to Ride Twitter

Score another one for Twitter. Like Facebook and Google, the San Francisco-based microblogging service has ingrained itself into so many corners of the Internet that other companies are altering their strategies, and their vocabularies, to accommodate it. The latest example: Zendesk, the provider of Web-based customer support software, today introduced a new feature allowing companies … Continue reading “Zendesk Has a Twicket to Ride Twitter”

How Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics Turned Around the Ship it Got From Chiron

Matthew Stober had a dramatic story to tell when he came through San Diego to speak to pharma manufacturing executives at last month’s annual Vaccine Production Summit. As the global head of technical operations for Cambridge, MA-based Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics, Stober was closely involved in the corporate turnaround that enabled Novartis to ship more … Continue reading “How Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics Turned Around the Ship it Got From Chiron”

A Newly Candid FDA on the Future Of Medical Device Regulation

We all know the Food and Drug Administration is one of the most important entities for those who develop drugs and medical devices, but for the public, and even many of the people in industry, it remains a notoriously mysterious organization. So I was very excited about the opportunity to have an in-depth phone conversation … Continue reading “A Newly Candid FDA on the Future Of Medical Device Regulation”

Mirics Secures $13,000,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f9567b89-fd18-42c5-ab2d-155464732eb7&Preview=1 Date 7/13/2010 Company Name Mirics Mailing Address 1250 Oakmead Pkwy Sunnyvale, CA 94085 Company Description Mirics is a system solutions company developing silicon and software platforms. Leveraging the innovation and commercial skills of a world-class team, Mirics has combined reconfigurable silicon techniques with proprietary algorithmic IP to realise the dream of … Continue reading “Mirics Secures $13,000,000 New Round”

InMobi Secures $8,000,000 Series B Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=de51be7c-ee81-4458-bc33-25e883f1177d&Preview=1 Date 7/13/2010 Company Name InMobi Mailing Address Undisclosed San Mateo, CA 94404 Company Description InMobi, one of the fastest growing global mobile advertising network, delivers the best results to its partners through its intelligent mobile advertising solutions. The advanced technology enables advertisers to discover their target audience on mobile internet sites … Continue reading “InMobi Secures $8,000,000 Series B Financing”

Ventus Medical Obtains $40,000,000 Series D Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6a514c83-8826-4b89-9d18-34c906657c21&Preview=1 Date 7/13/2010 Company Name Ventus Medical Mailing Address 1301 Shoreway Rd. Belmont, CA 94002 Company Description The company operates as a medical device company. Website http://www.ventusmedical.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $40,000,000 Transaction Round Series D Proceeds Purposes Proceeds from the financing will be used to expand the commercialization efforts … Continue reading “Ventus Medical Obtains $40,000,000 Series D Funding Round”

WebFilings Secures $5,100,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=af119f34-b6e3-41e8-8f06-49071054b3f3&Preview=1 Date 7/13/2010 Company Name WebFilings Mailing Address 4410 El Camino Real Los Altos, CA 94022 Company Description The company sells software and services that enable businesses to more efficiently file their SEC filings. Website http://www.Webfilings.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $5,100,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not … Continue reading “WebFilings Secures $5,100,000 New Round”

XDx Lands $6,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8c44659a-5872-489b-bb09-5061a3c85680&Preview=1 Date 7/13/2010 Company Name XDx Mailing Address 3260 Bayshore Blvd Brisbane, CA 94005 Company Description XDx is a molecular diagnostics company, XDx is one of the first companies to develop and commercialize practical applications built on insights from the Human Genome Project. Website http://www.xdx.com Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $6,000,000 Transaction … Continue reading “XDx Lands $6,000,000 New Financing”