Category: Boston

Trevi Therapeutics Obtains $10,000,000 Series A Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=35ca1146-7200-4395-8f05-1cbc50c92fa7&Preview=1 Date 12/19/2012 Company Name Trevi Therapeutics Mailing Address 52 Charter Ridge Road New Haven, CT 06511 Company Description Trevi Therapeutics, Inc. is a drug development company founded in 2011 focused on developing T111 for the severe chronic itching condition known as pruritus. Pruritus is manifested in various dermatological, metabolic, hematologic and … Continue reading “Trevi Therapeutics Obtains $10,000,000 Series A Funding Round”

Thetis Pharmaceuticals Lands $5,665,730 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=df6582b3-baf6-4592-8212-97a05156ae41&Preview=1 Date 12/19/2012 Company Name Thetis Pharmaceuticals Mailing Address 167 Old Post Rd Southport, CT 06890 Company Description The company is developing treatments for for diabetes-related diseases. Website http://www.thetispharma.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $5,665,730 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. SEC regulatory filing. Not a solicitation. … Continue reading “Thetis Pharmaceuticals Lands $5,665,730 New Funding”

Directr and NEVCA Team Up on Boston Startup Holiday Videos

Coffee, computers, and young people working long hours. Maybe a little ping-pong or foosball for stress relief. You’ve seen one startup, you’ve seen them all. And maybe that’s the point. You’d be hard-pressed to tell this group of Boston-area startups, captured on video, apart from their peers in Silicon Valley—or any other entrepreneurial hub—except for … Continue reading “Directr and NEVCA Team Up on Boston Startup Holiday Videos”

Water Mission to Israel (Day 2): Water Management Solutions at Scale

Monday in Israel started out quickly with the Massachusetts Water Delegation taking part in a global water market networking event with the CleanIsrael Meetup Group. CleanIsrael is a pan-Israel cleantech business network with over 1,000 members and is akin to the Clean Economy Network (now part of the Advanced Energy Economy). After charging up with … Continue reading “Water Mission to Israel (Day 2): Water Management Solutions at Scale”

Avaxia Gets $6.4 Million More for Anti-TNF Oral Drug Trial

Avaxia Biologics, a Lexington, MA-based startup that is developing an oral version of popular anti-tumor necrosis (TNF) factor drugs, said today that it has raised $6.4 million in Series B financing. Avaxia will use the funds to finance the first clinical trial of AVX-470, an anti-TNF antibody designed to suppress inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract, … Continue reading “Avaxia Gets $6.4 Million More for Anti-TNF Oral Drug Trial”

Blend Therapeutics Raises $16 Million to Fund Cancer Drug Development

Just a month shy of its first birthday, Blend Therapeutics of Watertown, MA, says it has secured $16 million in Series B financing. It plans to use the money in part to finance its development of cancer treatments based on a new generation of platinum-based drugs. NanoDimension led the round with participation from existing investors Flagship … Continue reading “Blend Therapeutics Raises $16 Million to Fund Cancer Drug Development”

Hope in Detroit: An Outsider on Motown’s Entrepreneurial Renaissance

Long written off by many, Detroit is becoming an interesting city to watch from an urban revitalization perspective. At the core of these developments is the emergence of a startup ecosystem where (for the most part) one did not previously exist. While still early, the progress made in this area over the last several years … Continue reading “Hope in Detroit: An Outsider on Motown’s Entrepreneurial Renaissance”

CEO Angus Davis Ramps Up Swipely, Takes On Payment & Marketing Industries

Hello, Rhode Island. For the smallest state in the Union, you have a disproportionate share of interesting companies and entrepreneurs. One of them is Swipely, led by founder and CEO Angus Davis. The Providence, RI-based startup is releasing new software today that helps local restaurants and stores understand and manage customer relationships, as well as … Continue reading “CEO Angus Davis Ramps Up Swipely, Takes On Payment & Marketing Industries”

Marinus Pharmaceuticals Lands $11,435,690 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=567e7d9f-cc3f-4555-85f7-05a7b9064627&Preview=1 Date 12/18/2012 Company Name Marinus Pharmaceuticals Mailing Address 21 Business Park Drive Branford, CT 06405 Company Description Marinus is a specialty pharmaceutical company dedicated to the reformulation, development, and commercialization of novel drugs to treat serious neurological, psychiatric, and pain disorders. Marinus is located in Branford, Connecticut and its investors include … Continue reading “Marinus Pharmaceuticals Lands $11,435,690 New Financing Round”

Avaxia Biologics Receives $6,400,000 Series B Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b0f29c8c-a5cd-4681-8125-7c77fb781c6e&Preview=1 Date 12/18/2012 Company Name Avaxia Biologics Mailing Address 128 Spring Street Lexington, MA 02421 Company Description Avaxia is developing oral antibody products for diseases and disease targets that can be reached through the mouth and the gastrointestinal tract. Website http://www.avaxiabiologics.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $6,400,000 Transaction Round Series B … Continue reading “Avaxia Biologics Receives $6,400,000 Series B Funding”

Blend Therapeutics Lands $16,000,000 Series B Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e6a8bae2-af36-4504-9a47-f1ddd742d4a4&Preview=1 Date 12/18/2012 Company Name Blend Therapeutics Mailing Address 134 Coolidge Avenue Watertown, MA 02472 Company Description Blend is pioneering controlled combination medicines that overcome the limitations of conventional combination therapy through their unprecedented ability to hit distinct disease pathways with multiple drugs in concert—at the desired sites, at the most effective … Continue reading “Blend Therapeutics Lands $16,000,000 Series B Funding Round”

Getting Plugged In to the Boston Tech Community—A Hitchhiker’s Guide

Information and registration Boston is a great place to start and build a company. There is a wealth of resources that are unique to this town and a vibrant community of hackers, business people, and investors at various stages in their career. However, Boston is also transient town, especially given the large student population that … Continue reading “Getting Plugged In to the Boston Tech Community—A Hitchhiker’s Guide”

MIT Enterprise Forum: Winter Start Smart Class

This 8-week class, held on Mondays from 6-9 pm, will guide startup and early stage technology entrepreneurs through the process of building their business. Speakers include Anne Marie Biernacki, CTO of AdhereTX; Ralph Folz, CEO of WordStream; and Donna M. Marr, Managing Director at Grant Thornton LLP; among others. More information Register

Akamai Co-Founder Leighton Takes Over as CEO

More of the same. That’s apparently the recipe for Akamai Technologies, the Cambridge, MA-based Internet traffic and services company that has been searching for a new CEO. Akamai (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AKAM]]) announced today that co-founder Tom Leighton, formerly the company’s chief scientist, will take the reins as chief executive in January. Previous CEO Paul Sagan announced in … Continue reading “Akamai Co-Founder Leighton Takes Over as CEO”

Water Mission to Israel (Day 1): The Past and Present of the Israeli Water Story

I did say it was going to be a packed schedule, so here I am sitting down at 1am in Tel Aviv sharing the highlights of Day 1 of the Massachusetts-Israel Water Mission. The first 24 hours have been filled with a whirlwind of history, sights, and sounds, spending time with fellow delegates and lots … Continue reading “Water Mission to Israel (Day 1): The Past and Present of the Israeli Water Story”

MC10 Banks $10M, Wends Its Way Into Digital Health, Consumer Tech

You know all those incremental, also-ran tech startups going after the same opportunities in social media, mobile apps, or what have you? This is not one of them. MC10, based in Cambridge, MA, is trying to commercialize some very big ideas around so-called “conformal electronics” that can bend and stretch around surfaces such as the … Continue reading “MC10 Banks $10M, Wends Its Way Into Digital Health, Consumer Tech”

The 5 Myths of Big Data Analytics

Everyone wants a glimpse into the future; the insights and information found there would be inherently lucrative for the individual (or business) that possessed them. And, while soothsayers haven’t yet proven themselves to be a reliable business asset, today’s predictive analytics software has. “Predictive analytics,” in whole, is data analysis that provides enterprises with predictions … Continue reading “The 5 Myths of Big Data Analytics”

2012: The Year When Genomic Medicine Started Paying Off

Remember a couple of years ago when people commemorated the 10-year anniversary of the first draft human genome sequencing? The storyline then, in 2010, was that we all went off to genome camp and only came home with a lousy T-shirt. Society, we were told, invested huge scientific resources in deciphering the code of life, … Continue reading “2012: The Year When Genomic Medicine Started Paying Off”

Weston Software Receives $1,077,460 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=af7974b2-e7c7-4a1e-85b9-3a55ee3a217e&Preview=1 Date 12/17/2012 Company Name Weston Software Mailing Address 728 Post Rd. East Westport, CT 06880 Company Description The Company is a leading-edge software technology business that designs, manufactures and distributes products for managing UNIX, Linux, and Apple MacIntosh systems that reside in data centers, virtualized environments and computing clouds. Website http://www.westonsoftwareinc.com … Continue reading “Weston Software Receives $1,077,460 New Financing Round”

Water Mission to Israel: Heading Over

It always plays out this way—a kernel of an idea starts the ball rolling, followed by months of increasingly refined planning, a flurry of activity in the endgame, and then it’s GO time. I recall this operating rhythm well from my military days, and it’s been the same over the past dozen-plus years working with … Continue reading “Water Mission to Israel: Heading Over”

Amazon’s Huge Appetite for Workers to Take a Bite Out of Boston

When Amazon.com purchased Kiva Systems this spring, a lot of people wondered whether the deal might signal an even bigger commitment to the tech scene in Massachusetts. As of this week, we can say the answer is yes. But it came in kind of a roundabout way. On Tuesday, Gov. Deval Patrick and Amazon announced … Continue reading “Amazon’s Huge Appetite for Workers to Take a Bite Out of Boston”

FDA Approves Ariad Leukemia Drug Three Months Ahead of Schedule

In a surprising move, the Food & Drug Administration today approved Ariad Pharmaceutical’s (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARIA]]) ponatinib (Iclusig), a drug for two rare forms of leukemia, three months ahead of schedule. The drug is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, meant as a successor to drugs like Bristol-Myers’ dasatinib (Sprycel), which reached the market  six years ago. The FDA approved … Continue reading “FDA Approves Ariad Leukemia Drug Three Months Ahead of Schedule”

Developing a 21st Century Entrepreneurship Curriculum

In 2012, in partnership with Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley and NCIIA, Jerry Engel and I first offered the Lean LaunchPad Educators Class. The class was designed to teach educators (and the entrepreneurs that support them) the Lean LaunchPad approach (Business Model Design, Customer Development and Agile Engineering) for teaching entrepreneurship. In addition the class offers … Continue reading “Developing a 21st Century Entrepreneurship Curriculum”

Sarepta Announces Price of $125 Million Stock Offering

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SRPT]]), based in Cambridge, MA, said it is planning a $125 million public stock offering, and on Thursday priced an aggregate of 4,950,485 shares at $25.25 each. It expects the offering to close by Dec. 18. Sarepta, which is developing a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, said it also granted the underwriters a … Continue reading “Sarepta Announces Price of $125 Million Stock Offering”

Build It In The Back Yard: Why We Need American Manufacturing

[Editor’s Note: This post was co-authored by Brian Patrick Quinn, Patrick Connelly, Patricia Hurter, John Condon, Peter Mueller & Joshua Boger of Vertex Pharmaceuticals.] American companies, in recent years, have developed a massive appetite for foreign labor. The shirt you’re wearing, the cell phone you’re using, and even the medicine you’re taking might have been … Continue reading “Build It In The Back Yard: Why We Need American Manufacturing”

East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Ariad, Celgene, Amgen, More

—The last of the year’s major medical conferences, the American Society of Hematology annual meeting in Atlanta, was held this week (Dec. 8-11), and several biotechs reported promising clinical data results. Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARIA]]), in Cambridge, MA, said on Monday that 56 percent of 444 chronic myeloid leukemia patients treated with its drug ponatinib, all … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Ariad, Celgene, Amgen, More”

MC10 Lands $10,000,001 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=87ae638e-6a49-49eb-a1e8-3c501219bc87&Preview=1 Date 12/14/2012 Company Name MC10 Mailing Address 36 Cameron Avenue Cambridge, MA 02140 Company Description MC10 startup developing stretchable silicon technology developed at the University of Illinois. Website http://www.mc10inc.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $10,000,001 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. SEC regulatory filing. M&A Terms … Continue reading “MC10 Lands $10,000,001 New Financing Round”

Advanced DX Secures $850,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ac5cc926-e40e-465f-be9a-a4004ef67877&Preview=1 Date 12/14/2012 Company Name Advanced DX Mailing Address 118 Washington St. Holliston, MA 01746 Company Description ADx allows physicians to create a turn-key Advanced Diagnostics Center to better diagnose and treat the major clinical conditions confronting their patients with diabetes. ADx’s innovative platform provides the required testing, equipment and personnel for … Continue reading “Advanced DX Secures $850,000 New Funding”

Veracode CEO Bob Brennan on the Future of Software Security

One of the Boston area’s most intriguing tech companies operates in a danger zone. The software security danger zone, that is. To give a sense of what we’re talking about here, national security expert Richard Clarke is on its board of directors. Yes, the trajectory of Veracode could play a big role in the future … Continue reading “Veracode CEO Bob Brennan on the Future of Software Security”

NanoSteel to Open Metro Detroit Office Focusing on Automotive Business

NanoSteel, the Providence, RI-based nano-materials company, announced yesterday that it will open an office in metro Detroit. It has named Craig Parsons, a former Gestamp executive with more than 20 years experience working in the automobile supply chain and manufacturing, to lead the operation. The metro Detroit office will focus on NanoSteel’s automotive initiatives as … Continue reading “NanoSteel to Open Metro Detroit Office Focusing on Automotive Business”

ProfitBricks, Taking On Amazon, Offers Virtual Data Centers to Startups

It’s easy to say you compete with Amazon Web Services. It’s hard to actually do it. But that’s exactly what ProfitBricks is trying to do. The two-year-old German cloud-computing company, which has a fast-growing presence in Cambridge, MA, has been making some noise in the tech community. As part of its goal to appeal to … Continue reading “ProfitBricks, Taking On Amazon, Offers Virtual Data Centers to Startups”

Linkable Networks Lands $860,002 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=80d78623-bf10-4111-9952-23b47e3c49ff&Preview=1 Date 12/13/2012 Company Name Linkable Networks Mailing Address 268 Summer Street 5th Floor Boston, MA 02110 Company Description Linkable Networks is the bridge between advertisers, consumers, and financial Institutions, delivering to advertisers unprecedented accountability from online, mobile, email, print, TV, and radio advertising through online and in-store purchasing. Consumers receive one-click … Continue reading “Linkable Networks Lands $860,002 New Funding Round”

Innovatient Solutions Secures $250,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1d41b42f-2b00-411b-84ef-461740f042b4&Preview=1 Date 12/13/2012 Company Name Innovatient Solutions Mailing Address 400 Farmington Avenue Farmington, CT 06032 Company Description Innovatient Solution’s nVision Information Therapy Solution provides the quality care management tools to dramatically improve the patient experience. Website http://www.innovatient.com Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $250,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not … Continue reading “Innovatient Solutions Secures $250,000 New Financing Round”

When VCs Run Out of Energy: The New Era of Cleantech Investing

The hasty promotion of cleantech to the high expectations of high-tech and biotech led to well-documented investment disasters. Capital intensity, time to exit—as we all know by now, energy simply isn’t IT (with all due respect to the plucky, if likely short-lived, promotion of “clean Web”). The apparent decline of the word cleantech may be … Continue reading “When VCs Run Out of Energy: The New Era of Cleantech Investing”

Healthcare in Transition: The Photos

Xconomy held a standing room only Healthcare in Transition event on Monday—our last Boston event of the year. We had an off-the-charts collection of speakers, including a robot that wowed everyone, a great sponsor and host, and, most importantly, a fantastic audience that even laughed at panelist jokes. The program was kicked off by Bryan … Continue reading “Healthcare in Transition: The Photos”

Boston Roundup: A123, Moderna, Wayfair, Skyhook, & More

Some big meltdown and fundraising news on our radar in the past week or so: —Major Chinese autoparts firm Wanxiang won a secretive bankruptcy auction for most of the assets of Waltham-based A123 Systems, the advanced battery maker that sought court protection late last year amid fallng orders and and manufacturing problems. But that’s not … Continue reading “Boston Roundup: A123, Moderna, Wayfair, Skyhook, & More”

MyEdGPS Lands $900,000 Seed Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=98965db1-866b-43ab-b597-b78e7a5d2a7d&Preview=1 Date 12/12/2012 Company Name MyEdGPS Mailing Address Undisclosed Boston, MA 02481 Company Description Navigating the special education process can be a daunting, frustrating and costly experience for parents who often can’t find the information and resources they need at the time they need them. myEdGPS empowers parents by providing access to … Continue reading “MyEdGPS Lands $900,000 Seed Funding Round”

New England Tech Lawsuit Update: Formlabs, Skyhook, VGo, & More

It’s a huge pain for any startup: Big Company X, usually a competitor, sues you over intellectual property. Or conversely, you have to sue Big Company X over patent infringement, business practices, or some such. Either way, you can count on your top execs getting hauled off to court—sometimes over a period of years—to argue … Continue reading “New England Tech Lawsuit Update: Formlabs, Skyhook, VGo, & More”

10 Takeaways from Our Health IT Forum: Big Data, Robots, & More

This much is clear: healthcare is changing, and technology is helping lead the charge. But there are big challenges everywhere you turn. And we heard about a lot of them—as well as a lot of opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors—at our “Healthcare in Transition” forum yesterday at the Microsoft NERD center in Kendall Square, Cambridge, … Continue reading “10 Takeaways from Our Health IT Forum: Big Data, Robots, & More”

What’s Hot in Digital Health? The Venture Capital Perspective

The U.S. healthcare market is ripe for technical disruption. Costs are spiraling out of control while quality of service and customer satisfaction continue to go down. The system is opaque, complex and fragmented. Regulation is required but imposes heavy costs. As in other industries before it, the healthcare sector can benefit from technology-enabled efficiency gains … Continue reading “What’s Hot in Digital Health? The Venture Capital Perspective”

Wayfair.com Receives $36,300,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7c5e4004-0b71-4422-acb4-512d46c9e695&Preview=1 Date 12/11/2012 Company Name Wayfair.com Mailing Address 177 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02115 Company Description Wayfair is in the business of giving our customers easy online access to the world’s home stuff in one place. Wayfair believes that options for your home can come from just about anywhere, so we carry … Continue reading “Wayfair.com Receives $36,300,000 New Financing Round”

SynapDx Garners $6,000,000 Series A Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=94eb7355-9348-40b2-896e-540b7ba96601&Preview=1 Date 12/11/2012 Company Name SynapDx Mailing Address 153 Cordaville Road Southborough, MA 01772 Company Description SynapDx was formed to develop and commercialize blood-based diagnostic tests for the early detection of autism. Website http://www.synapdx.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $6,000,000 Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes The company will use the … Continue reading “SynapDx Garners $6,000,000 Series A Funding Round”