AdvanDx Secures $2,166,769 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8409c821-8ba3-4ac7-b7eb-4bcdf7a4af1e&Preview=1 Date 10/29/2012 Company Name AdvanDx Mailing Address 400 TradeCenter Woburn, MA 01801 Company Description AdvanDx develops and markets molecular-based, in vitro diagnostic tests that aid in the diagnosis and prevention of infectious diseases. The rapid test results are available in hours instead of days and allow healthcare providers to make more … Continue reading “AdvanDx Secures $2,166,769 New Financing Round”

Pulmatrix Receives $17,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=c894b451-7792-4940-8c47-b689b9decd51&Preview=1 Date 10/29/2012 Company Name Pulmatrix Mailing Address 99 Hayden Avenue Lexington, MA 02421 Company Description Pulmatrix Inc. is a pharmaceutical company developing inhalable aerosols and enabling technologies that help control respiratory infectious disease and human-source airborne contamination. Website http://www.pulmatrix.com Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $17,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds … Continue reading “Pulmatrix Receives $17,000,000 New Financing Round”

Mitralign Obtains $1,900,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d70d4577-3015-48b0-9dcd-c178f4ae2554&Preview=1 Date 10/29/2012 Company Name Mitralign Mailing Address 3 Highwood Drive Tewksbury, MA 01876 Company Description We are currently developing an innovative, catheter-based mitral valve repair system that not only provides an alternative to open heart surgery but emulates the traditional surgical repair technique. The condition treated, mitral valve regurgitation (MR), is … Continue reading “Mitralign Obtains $1,900,000 New Financing”

iJento Garners $8,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b11002ea-9761-4e7d-a7aa-baad00031ef7&Preview=1 Date 10/29/2012 Company Name iJento Mailing Address 40 Richards Ave 3rd Floor Norwalk, CT 06854 Company Description iJento Datamart delivers a true open architecture platform, that allows you to integrate different data sources to facilitate a single customer view. You can then use your own business intelligence tools or iJento Intelligence … Continue reading “iJento Garners $8,000,000 New Financing”

Boston’s Rapid7 Appoints New CEO, Former Boss Tuchen Now an Advisor

Enterprise IT security provider Rapid7 has a new CEO, announcing today that former president and chief operating officer Corey Thomas has taken over for Mike Tuchen. Word of the CEO change came in a Friday news release, which buried the big news under some statistics about revenue growth and examples of its customers. No explanation … Continue reading “Boston’s Rapid7 Appoints New CEO, Former Boss Tuchen Now an Advisor”

Buzzword Bashing & Database Narcs: The Future of Big Data in Boston

First of all, let’s get our terminology straight. Depending on whom you ask, “big data” is either: A. Bullshit (Brad Feld) B. No substitute for judgment (David Friend) C. The marriage of corporate data with external data (Chris Lynch) D. Data that’s growing faster than Moore’s law (Richard Dale) After this week, my answer would … Continue reading “Buzzword Bashing & Database Narcs: The Future of Big Data in Boston”

How the Larklife Wristband Could Turn Us All Into Quantified-Selfers

If you’re willing to to walk around all day wearing sensors that record your activity and compile the data into fancy reports and graphs, you must be either a pretty big geek, or a fanatical athlete training for an ultramarathon-style event, or both. At least, that’s been the conventional wisdom. And there’s some truth in … Continue reading “How the Larklife Wristband Could Turn Us All Into Quantified-Selfers”

Exclusive: Skyline Ventures Cuts Partners, Postpones Fundraising

Skyline Ventures, one of the high-profile venture firms in the U.S. biotech and medical device business over the past 15 years, has let go three of its six partners and postponed plans to raise a new venture fund, Xconomy has learned. Skyline, which has offices in Palo Alto, CA, Waltham, MA, and Stamford, CT, raised … Continue reading “Exclusive: Skyline Ventures Cuts Partners, Postpones Fundraising”

East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Pfizer, Rhythm, NPS, More

It was a busy week for East Coast life sciences companies, with acquisitions, IPOs, and regulatory news topping the headlines. —It was a big payday on Monday for NextWave Pharmaceuticals of Cupertino, CA, when New York-based Pfizer (NYSE: [[ticker:PFE]]) agreed to shell out up to $700 million for the company, all so it could get the rights … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Pfizer, Rhythm, NPS, More”

Verax Biomedical Garners $509,808 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=acf993e6-1b16-4492-9b38-339a2b056c3b&Preview=1 Date 10/26/2012 Company Name Verax Biomedical Mailing Address 4 Biotech 377 Plantation Street Worcester, MA 01605 Company Description Verax Biomedical is a leader in the development of rapid tests designed to detect a broad range of bacterial contaminants based upon its proprietary Pan Genera Detection (PGD) technology. Website http://www.veraxbiomedical.com Transaction Type … Continue reading “Verax Biomedical Garners $509,808 New Funding”

MSM Protein Technologies Receives $250,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0d24e55f-3c07-4368-b215-9177ac787aaf&Preview=1 Date 10/26/2012 Company Name MSM Protein Technologies Mailing Address 10 Roessler Road Woburn, MA 01801 Company Description MSM Protein Technologies is an emerging biotechnology company with a proprietary suite of tools for drug discovery of functional antibodies and proteins against multi-spanning membrane proteins. MSM maximizes the prospect for discovery of drug … Continue reading “MSM Protein Technologies Receives $250,000 New Round”

Flashnotes Receives $1,800,000 Seed Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0b640229-cc9b-4a38-9727-c8ef87d26efe&Preview=1 Date 10/26/2012 Company Name Flashnotes Mailing Address 100 State St 7th Floor Boston, MA 01209 Company Description Flashnotes powers the student-to-student exchange of high quality academic materials to help supplement and complement the learning experience by harnessing commerce and the latest technologies. Website http://www.flashnotes.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $1,800,000 … Continue reading “Flashnotes Receives $1,800,000 Seed Funding Round”

Xconomy Forum: Healthcare in Transition

New England is arguably the world’s most concentrated center of expertise in software, medicine, and healthcare. Now the region is leading the charge into a new era in which healthcare IT—and healthtech more broadly—become deeply integrated into everything from hospitals and doctors’ offices to the daily lives of consumers, whether at home or on the … Continue reading “Xconomy Forum: Healthcare in Transition”

Brad Feld: Is Big Data Bullshit? Not Quite, But Don’t Be Distracted

If you already find it hard to contemplate the flood of data flowing into businesses of all kinds, just wait. “Twenty years from now, the thing we call ‘big data’ will be tiny data,” said Brad Feld, managing director of Foundry Group. “It’ll be microscopic data. The volume that we’re talking about today, in 20 … Continue reading “Brad Feld: Is Big Data Bullshit? Not Quite, But Don’t Be Distracted”

Tech Tidbits from Aaron Levie to Zmags: Crashlytics, Flashnotes, iRobot, & More

[Updated, 3:20 pm] Catching up on a bunch of news in the Boston tech scene during a frantic week of events (e.g., our Big Data conference yesterday; stay tuned for more on that). Here are some noteworthy items from around town, mostly about startups: —Cambridge, MA-based Crashlytics says Aaron Levie, the co-founder and CEO of … Continue reading “Tech Tidbits from Aaron Levie to Zmags: Crashlytics, Flashnotes, iRobot, & More”

Xconomist of the Week: NPS’s Francois Nader Shares Lessons Learned

NPS Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NPSP]]) is gearing up for its first FDA approval, a mere 26 years after the company was founded. It is also six years since CEO Francois Nader joined the Bedminster, NJ, firm to engineer a dramatic structural overhaul, turning a fully integrated pharmaceutical company, which had spent decades developing drugs for osteoporosis, … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: NPS’s Francois Nader Shares Lessons Learned”

Decisyon Secures $15,000,000 Series A Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d6b57092-0886-4f0c-92e9-9f1244615dcc&Preview=1 Date 10/25/2012 Company Name Decisyon Mailing Address 1266 East Main Street Stamford, CT 06902 Company Description Decisyon’s unique software allows its customers to drive significant financial and operational benefits by quickly discovering the key factors affecting business issues and processes, collaborating and deciding on the best course of action, and executing … Continue reading “Decisyon Secures $15,000,000 Series A Round”

Zmags Garners $6,000,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f2fb80d9-52b0-4ac1-b961-bdc703ef5462&Preview=1 Date 10/25/2012 Company Name Zmags Mailing Address 321 Summer Street Boston, MA 02210 Company Description Zmags has developed a number of unique solutions for online publishing. Today Zmags stands at the forefront of the market and has delivered more than 700 solutions to a variety of businesses in Europe and North … Continue reading “Zmags Garners $6,000,000 New Funding”

Radius Fourth Boston-area Biotech This Year Going for IPO

[Corrected 10/24, 9:00 am. See below.] Radius Health, which raised a stunning $91 million in venture funding last December, has set the price range for its planned IPO, aiming to cash in on both the strong IPO market for Boston-area biotechs and the world’s aging population. The Cambridge, MA-based company , in the midst of a … Continue reading “Radius Fourth Boston-area Biotech This Year Going for IPO”

ConnectEDU Receives $5,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8653efc4-1cf2-47d1-9822-e672e3e268a1&Preview=1 Date 10/24/2012 Company Name ConnectEDU Mailing Address 600 Atlantic Ave. 20th Floor Boston, MA 02210 Company Description ConnectEDU is the nation’s leading technology firm dedicated to providing students, educators and employers with comprehensive solutions to successfully navigate education and employment transitions. Website http://www.connectedu.net Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $5,000,000 Transaction Round … Continue reading “ConnectEDU Receives $5,000,000 New Financing”

MassChallenge Winners: GRIT, LiquiGlide, RallyPoint, Strong Arm

The latest batch of MassChallenge startups have concluded their four-month blitz through the massive accelerator program, which attracted more than 1,200 applications from around the globe. And that means it’s time to hand out some checks. The final 26 startups gave their quick pitches at last night’s award ceremony, showcasing an impressive breadth of entrepreneurial … Continue reading “MassChallenge Winners: GRIT, LiquiGlide, RallyPoint, Strong Arm”

As Zynga Boston Closes, Gaming Community Speaks Volumes

Social-gaming giant Zynga has laid off over 100 employees and has closed its Boston-area office, according to a report in TechCrunch and numerous tweets around town. The company is also laying off staff in Austin, TX, and possibly Chicago, according to an update. Zynga Boston was formed in the summer of 2010 when San Francisco-based … Continue reading “As Zynga Boston Closes, Gaming Community Speaks Volumes”

NuoDB, ParElastic Racing to Build Database Systems of the Future

It ain’t exactly Microsoft vs. Oracle circa 2000, but the Boston area has its own little database war going on. I’m talking about NuoDB vs. ParElastic. What, you haven’t heard of either one? Well, that’s because they’re working on the world’s next big database system. And you probably haven’t heard of that either, because it … Continue reading “NuoDB, ParElastic Racing to Build Database Systems of the Future”

Rapid7 Receives $2,077,464 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=4b57d2aa-28c7-4ad1-b329-0d94e1a42b70&Preview=1 Date 10/23/2012 Company Name Rapid7 Mailing Address 800 Boylston Street Prudential Tower 29th Floor Boston, MA 02199 Company Description Rapid7 is the leading provider of NeXpose Unified Vulnerability Management (UVM) Solutions. Website http://www.rapid7.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $2,077,464 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. SEC … Continue reading “Rapid7 Receives $2,077,464 New Round”

Futures in Life Sciences Program—Finance, Legal, Operations Career Paths

Join Tony Martignetti, Corporate Controller at Sarepta Therapeutics; Drew Lowery, Biotechnology Group Leader at Global Prior Art; Joanne Kamens, Executive Director at Addgene; and moderator John Hession, Partner at Cooley for an informative discussion on how you can build a career in the life sciences industry. This event is for current graduate students, post doctoral … Continue reading “Futures in Life Sciences Program—Finance, Legal, Operations Career Paths”

Swarm Hackathon

Think you think you have what it takes to create the next big mobile app? Like the idea of taking home $5,000? Then stock up on energy drinks, and make plans to participate in this 48-hour hackathon. Website Registration

The Flexibility to Explore: Zuckerberg on Facebook’s Early History

The mob scene outside Stanford’s Memorial Auditorium this Saturday resembled the prelude to a big rock concert, and in some ways, it was. For today’s generation of young tech entrepreneurs, Mark Zuckerberg—the headline speaker, for the third year running, at Y Combinator’s Startup School—is like Mick Jagger, Madonna, and Justin Bieber rolled into one. In his … Continue reading “The Flexibility to Explore: Zuckerberg on Facebook’s Early History”

5 Startups to Watch: RunKeeper, Paydiant, PeerTransfer, & More

If you’re looking to get your head into the Boston tech scene, this is a pretty good week to start. Today we’re watching a number of startups making noise and helping put Boston-area entrepreneurs, expertise, and issues on the map—these are local stories with global impact. The news cuts across mobile apps, advertising, payments, and … Continue reading “5 Startups to Watch: RunKeeper, Paydiant, PeerTransfer, & More”

Alnylam Gets $22.5M From Genzyme for Asia Rights to Amyloidosis Drug

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has said it is modeling itself after Genzyme, and now it has formed a new partnership with the pioneering developer of drugs for rare diseases. Cambridge, MA-based Alnylam (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALNY]]), the developer of RNA interference drugs, said today it has agreed to give Genzyme an exclusive license to develop and market ALN-TTR02 as … Continue reading “Alnylam Gets $22.5M From Genzyme for Asia Rights to Amyloidosis Drug”

Quant5 Rolls Out Marketing Analytics Software for Big Data Wannabes

The problem for Doug Levin is the noise. The noise is around “big data,” the increasingly nebulous field of technology that involves businesses managing huge amounts of information and trying to glean insights from things like customer transactions, browsing habits, and behavioral trends. For all of the companies calling themselves big data, Levin asks, are … Continue reading “Quant5 Rolls Out Marketing Analytics Software for Big Data Wannabes”

Who Will Survive the Biotech VC Downturn? The Young and the Proven

[Updated: 10:10 am PT, 12/10/12] Most people, if they’re being honest, don’t have a clear plan for what they’ll be doing in their careers five years from now. But career planning is serious, high-stakes business for biotech venture capitalists. When a firm raises a new fund to invest in biotechnology, the partners have to personally … Continue reading “Who Will Survive the Biotech VC Downturn? The Young and the Proven”

Job Growth Malarkey: Avoid the Mermaid Strategy

Last week’s presidential debate once again focused on the need to create new jobs in the United States. And yet with barely two weeks to go until the election, neither candidate presented a convincing or nuanced understanding of the dynamics of job creation. Together the two candidates referred to “small business” 21 times during the … Continue reading “Job Growth Malarkey: Avoid the Mermaid Strategy”

Neurovance Raises $7 Million for ADHD Drug Development

Neurovance, a spin-out of Euthymics Bioscience, both based in Cambridge, MA, closed a $7 million series A1 funding round on Thursday to advance development of its EB-1020 drug for adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which it says will be less addictive than other treatments on the market. The funding round was led by existing investor … Continue reading “Neurovance Raises $7 Million for ADHD Drug Development”

Moleskine Goes Digital: The Story Behind Evernote’s Smart Notebook

Certain pairings make the world a better place. Peanut butter and jelly. Fred and Ginger. Pinot Noir and chocolate. Evernote and Moleskine. That last one might not be familiar to you, yet. But a few weeks ago, the Milan, Italy-based publisher Moleskine introduced a new line of “Smart Notebooks” designed to be used in conjunction … Continue reading “Moleskine Goes Digital: The Story Behind Evernote’s Smart Notebook”

East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Orphan Drugs, Financings, More

Here’s our roundup of this week’s news from the Boston and New York life sciences communities. — It was a big week for biotech companies focused on developing treatments for very rare diseases, sometimes called “ultra-orphan” diseases.  Two Food & Drug Administration advisory panels of outside experts met this week to consider two such ultra-orphan … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Orphan Drugs, Financings, More”

Dear Members of Congress: Don’t Gut the NIH Budget

In 1973, research spearheaded by Herbert Boyer at the University of California San Francisco and Stanley Cohen at Stanford University led to the discovery of recombinant DNA technology and, in turn, genetic engineering. That basic scientific investigation, supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), ultimately spawned an entire industry. What we now … Continue reading “Dear Members of Congress: Don’t Gut the NIH Budget”

Some Q3 Megadeals Amid Decline in U.S. VC Activity: Behold the Top 10

Venture firms invested $6.48 billion in 890 deals throughout the United States during the three months that ended September 30, according to the MoneyTree Report being released today by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Venture activity remained strong during the third quarter in the software sector, but funding for life sciences and … Continue reading “Some Q3 Megadeals Amid Decline in U.S. VC Activity: Behold the Top 10”

Zagster Garners $1,000,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=48450817-039a-4ef7-b04a-a6b1161f91b6&Preview=1 Date 10/19/2012 Company Name Zagster Mailing Address One Broadway 14th Floor Cambridge, MA 02142 Company Description 71% of Americans say they’d like to bicycle more yet list access to a bike as the number one barrier to doing so. Zagster provides bikes where people live, work and visit; giving them access … Continue reading “Zagster Garners $1,000,000 New Funding”

Onswipe’s Jason Baptiste on Ramping Up & Reinventing Tech for Touchscreens

[Corrected, Oct. 19. See below] Talking to Jason Baptiste always reminds me of why tech entrepreneurs are in the game. And, perhaps more importantly, how they go about playing that game. Baptiste is the co-founder and CEO of Onswipe, the New York startup that’s trying to reinvent digital content on touchscreen devices for media publishers … Continue reading “Onswipe’s Jason Baptiste on Ramping Up & Reinventing Tech for Touchscreens”

Xconomist of the Week: Angel John Landry Says No to Consumer Apps, Couples

[Updated, October 18, 2012–see below] A few weeks ago, Xconomy posted a slide-show extravaganza called Top Angel Investors of New England that featured short profiles of 34 of the region’s leading individual investors. To help choose the candidates, we culled through editors’ knowledge banks, and surveyed entrepreneurs and investors alike. One name on nearly everyone’s … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: Angel John Landry Says No to Consumer Apps, Couples”

Carbonite Buys Backup Firm Zmanda as Big Data Spending Skyrockets

Boston-based Carbonite (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CARB]]), the online data backup company, says it is acquiring Zmanda, a Sunnyvale, CA-based open source and cloud backup company. The price tag is about $14.75 million, with some adjustments. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year. “Zmanda is a great strategic fit for Carbonite,” says … Continue reading “Carbonite Buys Backup Firm Zmanda as Big Data Spending Skyrockets”

ScaleBase Garners $10,500,000 Series B Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=fb01cbde-54ac-4fdf-b2ce-e3278c76b797&Preview=1 Date 10/18/2012 Company Name ScaleBase Mailing Address 246 Walnut Street Newton, MA 02460 Company Description ScaleBase enables next generation applications – and the massive transactional processing requirements of big data, without requiring changes to the existing infrastructure. The ScaleBase Data Traffic Manager dynamically manages and scales databases to meet changing business … Continue reading “ScaleBase Garners $10,500,000 Series B Funding”

IBM Acquires Red Bend Software for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0d4a32a0-4296-42f5-873c-74a6dad4afec&Preview=1 Date 10/18/2012 Company Name Red Bend Software Mailing Address 400-1 Totten Pond Road Waltham, MA 02451 Company Description Red Bend Software drives the development, deployment and updating of the world’s most efficient software delivery solutions. Website http://www.redbend.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Proceeds Purposes M&A Terms Financial terms … Continue reading “IBM Acquires Red Bend Software for Undisclosed Sum”

ScaleBase Adds $10.5M and New CEO in Database Wars

Another day, another database company on my radar. This one’s a little different, though. ScaleBase, a Newton, MA, startup that is trying to enhance the capabilities of existing databases, has raised a $10.5 million Series B funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures and Ascent Venture Partners. Previous investor Cedar Fund also participated in the … Continue reading “ScaleBase Adds $10.5M and New CEO in Database Wars”

The Enterprise Sales Game Has Changed. Have You?

As a venture firm that focuses exclusively on enterprise IT and has backed more than 100 companies, we have witnessed a wide variety of different sales models. Scaling a business rapidly requires the marketing, sales, and product design to all “fit” the target customer in just the right way, and “How are you going to … Continue reading “The Enterprise Sales Game Has Changed. Have You?”

Deal Count Rises, But Third Quarter VC Funding Lags Behind ’11 Pace

Venture capital activity continued apace during the third quarter, with $7.5 billion invested in 835 deals nationwide—the highest deals tally since the dot-com era. But the overall funding total for 2012 is expected to decline from the $30.7 billion invested in 2011, according to a report today from New York financial data firm CB Insights. … Continue reading “Deal Count Rises, But Third Quarter VC Funding Lags Behind ’11 Pace”

Perfecto Mobile Garners $15,000,000 Series C Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=fba3c130-b5dc-4d56-879e-03dcf45e57c3&Preview=1 Date 10/17/2012 Company Name Perfecto Mobile Mailing Address 400 West Cummings Park Woburn, MA 01801 Company Description Perfecto Mobile is a global leading provider of cloud-based testing, automation and monitoring solutions for mobile applications and websites, utilizing a wide selection of REAL mobile devices accessible via the web. Website http://www.perfectomobile.com Transaction … Continue reading “Perfecto Mobile Garners $15,000,000 Series C Financing”

ByteLight Obtains $1,250,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b8bcc104-5405-4a3b-a9a4-47da3c05ffd3&Preview=1 Date 10/17/2012 Company Name ByteLight Mailing Address 1 Cambridge Center 6th Floor Cambridge, MA 02142 Company Description Based in Cambridge, MA, Bytelight is a provider of market-leading indoor positioning solutions using an innovative LED lighting based technology. ByteLight’s solution leverages the existing lighting infrastructure to deliver unprecedented accuracy and responsiveness. This … Continue reading “ByteLight Obtains $1,250,000 New Funding”