Category: Boston

Google Touts Its Role, State by State, in U.S. Economic Growth

Google unveiled the results of its first state-by-state analysis of the company’s impact on regional economies at press events in 10 cities on Tuesday, including Cambridge, MA, Detroit, and Seattle. For the most part, Google measured the value it generates when local advertisers and Web publishers use its AdWords and AdSense platforms for Web advertising. … Continue reading “Google Touts Its Role, State by State, in U.S. Economic Growth”

Microsoft Expands its “NERDy” Kendall Square R&D Presence to One Cambridge Center

Microsoft announced today that it will be taking over another chunk of Cambridge’s Kendall Square neighborhood this summer. The company said it will expand its New England Research & Development Center—affectionately known as NERD—by leasing another 113,000 square feet at One Cambridge Center, down the road from NERD’s One Memorial Drive location. The initial phase … Continue reading “Microsoft Expands its “NERDy” Kendall Square R&D Presence to One Cambridge Center”

Avila Therapeutics Strikes $209M Lung Cancer Deal with Clovis Oncology

Avila Therapeutics has a new target for its unique class of drugs—lung cancer. The Waltham, MA-based biotech startup has clinched a $209 million deal with Clovis Oncology for drugs against mutated tumors in the lungs, according to the companies. The companies are keeping a tight lid on the details of the deal, including how much … Continue reading “Avila Therapeutics Strikes $209M Lung Cancer Deal with Clovis Oncology”

UTest Tests Its Testers in Payday Snafu

Creating Web-based marketplaces for “crowdsourcing”—farming out digital piece-work to freelancers around the world—has been a hot business idea for the last half-decade. IStockphoto does it for stock images, TopCoder does it for enterprise software, Innocentive does it as a supplement to corporate R&D, and uTest does it for software quality assurance testing. But when push … Continue reading “UTest Tests Its Testers in Payday Snafu”

T2 Biosystems Nails Down $15M For Portable Diagnostic with the Punch of a Desktop

T2 Biosystems has been quiet for a while, but it’s making some noise today. The Cambridge, MA-based developer of a portable diagnostic machine has raised $15 million to carry on its quest for a diagnostic tool that that can beat workhorse laboratory machines on versatility, speed, and price. Physic Ventures led the round, which included … Continue reading “T2 Biosystems Nails Down $15M For Portable Diagnostic with the Punch of a Desktop”

PatientKeeper’s iPad App Lets Docs Juggle Tasks, Furthers Firm’s Mobile Ambitions

PatientKeeper has worked fast to make its physician software available on whichever smartphones or mobile devices doctors like to use. So it makes sense for the Newton, MA-based firm to expand its menu of mobile applications this month to the iPad, Apple’s hot new tablet computing device. The company develops software that automates a physician’s … Continue reading “PatientKeeper’s iPad App Lets Docs Juggle Tasks, Furthers Firm’s Mobile Ambitions”

New England’s Lucky Seven: Under the Radar Startup Financings in April

What do an online music marketing service, a maker of a platform that helps employers target job ads to potential candidates based on what they read, and a developer of treatments for Alzheimer’s disease all have in common? They’re all New England companies that pulled in financings worth less than $1 million in April, or … Continue reading “New England’s Lucky Seven: Under the Radar Startup Financings in April”

T2 Biosystems Garners $15,000,000 Series C Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7f799d77-df7c-4c99-aaed-0cbe707d8c98&Preview=1 Date 5/25/2010 Company Name T2 Biosystems Mailing Address 286 Cardinal Medeiros Avenue Cambridge, MA 02141 Company Description T2 Biosystems is a newly formed diagnostics company ushering in a new wave of innovative products to improve medical decision-making and treatment. Our proprietary biosensor technology was invented by a team of world-renowned scientists … Continue reading “T2 Biosystems Garners $15,000,000 Series C Funding”

Expressor Software Corporation Secures $4,500,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ddac08e9-8127-4c71-be97-342780a57e93&Preview=1 Date 5/25/2010 Company Name Expressor Software Corporation Mailing Address 1 New England Executive Park Burlington, MA 01803 Company Description The company provides multi-platform, parallel, processing, data management software. Website http://www.expressor-software.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $4,500,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes The company will use the funding proceeds to fuel … Continue reading “Expressor Software Corporation Secures $4,500,000 New Financing Round”

Open Angel Forum

Boston will get a taste of the Open Angel Forum, a series of events that connects investors and entrepreneurs (and one that doesn’t require startup participants to pay). Startups and angel investors can apply online to participate. The forum is also seeking service providers to sponsor.

Free Copy of Jeff Bussgang’s ‘Mastering the VC Game’ for the Next 25 Purchasers of XSITE 2010 Tickets

Members of the Boston innovation community poured into the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center recently to celebrate the release of Mastering the VC Game, a book by Flybridge Capital Partners general partner Jeff Bussgang that shines a light on the inner workings of venture capital and details what it takes for entrepreneurs to … Continue reading “Free Copy of Jeff Bussgang’s ‘Mastering the VC Game’ for the Next 25 Purchasers of XSITE 2010 Tickets”

Constant Contact Buys NutshellMail

Constant Contact, the Waltham, MA-based provider of online marketing software for small organizations, says today it has bought NutshellMail for an undisclosed sum. Menlo Park, CA-based Nutshellmail’s software enables small businesses to monitor social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn and get the results delivered to their e-mail inboxes, according to Constant Contact (NASDAQ:[[ticker:CTCT]]). Mark … Continue reading “Constant Contact Buys NutshellMail”

Scanning the World for Reliable Suppliers, Panjiva Seeks to Bring Order to a Messy Process

If you’re in an industry where you depend on suppliers from across the globe, searching the Web for a part or a collaborator isn’t exactly as easy as trying to figure out where you should eat dinner. Josh Green discovered this around 2005 when he was a Harvard Business School student interning at E Ink, … Continue reading “Scanning the World for Reliable Suppliers, Panjiva Seeks to Bring Order to a Messy Process”

NormOxys Pockets $17.5M for Drugs Against Heart Failure, Cancer

NormOxys, the Wellesley, MA-based company on a quest to make a new class of drugs that normalize oxygen levels in deprived tissues, has raised $17.5 million in venture capital to run its first set of tests in people with chronic heart failure and cancer. The financing was led by a new investor, Princeton, NJ-based Care … Continue reading “NormOxys Pockets $17.5M for Drugs Against Heart Failure, Cancer”

Mascoma’s Plan for Ethanol Plant in Michigan Likely Delayed, CEO Says

Lebanon, NH-based Mascoma has made strides with its process for producing ethanol from non-food plants such as wood chips and grass. Yet the firm is likely to delay the start of production at its first planned commercial facility, in northern Michigan, company CEO Bill Brady says. Mascoma had been aiming to open a plant in … Continue reading “Mascoma’s Plan for Ethanol Plant in Michigan Likely Delayed, CEO Says”

Swaptree.com Receives $6,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e009cd0d-3b29-47de-bc89-1ba950e8d1a0&Preview=1 Date 5/24/2010 Company Name Swaptree.com Mailing Address 500 Harrison Ave 3rd Floor Boston, MA 02118 Company Description Swaptree.com is a new and innovative way for people to easily trade books, CDs, DVDs and video games for free with other users. Website http://www.swaptree.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $6,000,000 Transaction Round … Continue reading “Swaptree.com Receives $6,000,000 New Financing”

NitroSecurity Secures $500,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e61e566c-2e86-4f9c-9284-893338437259&Preview=1 Date 5/24/2010 Company Name NitroSecurity Mailing Address 230 Commerce Way Portsmouth, NH 03801 Company Description NitroSecurity is a leading provider of high-performance enterprise security solutions that deliver the industry’s first integrated network + security monitoring, analysis, and protection system. Website http://www.nitrosecurity.com Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $500,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds … Continue reading “NitroSecurity Secures $500,000 New Funding Round”

NormOxys Obtains $17,500,000 Series B Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=eb2c98ba-03e0-4233-a110-a3f8c089cd44&Preview=1 Date 5/24/2010 Company Name NormOxys Mailing Address 16 Laurel Ave. Wellesley, MA 02481 Company Description NormOxys is developing a novel class of small molecule drugs, oxyrens, which enhance the body’s ability to deliver oxygen more efficiently to diseased tissues with oxygen deficiency. This new class of drugs can be potentially developed … Continue reading “NormOxys Obtains $17,500,000 Series B Funding Round”

Biotech’s $1 Billion Tax Credits Are Up for Grabs! OK, Now Everybody Relax

The rules regarding the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project Credit have now been released by the Treasury Department. You can read the fact sheet, and detailed description of the legislation yourself, but here are 10 key points I came away with after reading them. 1. The first thing that everyone can do is relax. In contrast … Continue reading “Biotech’s $1 Billion Tax Credits Are Up for Grabs! OK, Now Everybody Relax”

Logical Therapeutics Snags $10M to Make Pain Relievers Safer on the Gut

Logical Therapeutics has secured $10 million to pursue its idea for a safer way to relieve chronic arthritis pain. The Waltham, MA-based company has nailed down the $10 million out of a financing round that could be worth as much as $16.9 million over time, according to a regulatory filing today with the Securities and … Continue reading “Logical Therapeutics Snags $10M to Make Pain Relievers Safer on the Gut”

Putting My iPad’s Geocaching App to the Test, on a Vlog in the Woods

Today’s column is in video form, which is a first for me. I was out hiking with my dog Rhody in the Blue Hills Reservation south of Boston last weekend when a few realizations hit me at once. 1) I had my 3G iPad with me 2) I had my camera with me 3) I … Continue reading “Putting My iPad’s Geocaching App to the Test, on a Vlog in the Woods”

Vertex Awaits Results of Hepatitis C Drug Trial, Helicos and Pfizer Cut Jobs, St. Jude Acquires LightLab, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

Looks like life sciences companies reclaimed their territory in our headlines this week. We saw news of funding deals, acquisitions, and layoffs, and profiles on drugmakers and device developers. —Rockland, MA-based BioSphere Medical (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BSMD]]), which makes bio-engineered microspheres to be injected to cut off the blood supply to tumors, vascular malformations, and uterine fibroids, … Continue reading “Vertex Awaits Results of Hepatitis C Drug Trial, Helicos and Pfizer Cut Jobs, St. Jude Acquires LightLab, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”

Sonus CEO Nottenburg Leaving

Sonus Networks (NASDAQ:[[ticker:SONS]]), a Westford, MA-based provider of telecommunications network products, says that its director and CEO, Richard Nottenburg, plans to step down from his posts by March 2011. Nottenburg, a former Motorola executive who has helmed Sonus since June 2008, will help the firm’s board find his successor, according to the company. He’s led … Continue reading “Sonus CEO Nottenburg Leaving”

LightLab, Medical Imager with MIT Roots, Bought by St. Jude for $90M

It’s been a big two days for LightLab Imaging. Good Morning America featured the Westford, MA, firm’s coronary imaging technology on national television today. And St. Jude Medical, the cardiac devices powerhouse, revealed late yesterday that it has bought the small firm for about $90 million in cash. St. Paul, MN-based St. Jude (NYSE:[[ticker:STJ]]) is … Continue reading “LightLab, Medical Imager with MIT Roots, Bought by St. Jude for $90M”

Mocospace Moves Beyond Feature Phones, Launching Android and iPhone Apps for Mobile Social Networking

Boston-based Mocospace, proprietor of one of the country’s largest mobile social networking services, has long kept its focus on users of feature phones—meaning cell phones that can connect to the Internet via built-in Web browsers but that don’t run separate apps. Now, in a major change of tactics, the company has launched Mocospace apps for … Continue reading “Mocospace Moves Beyond Feature Phones, Launching Android and iPhone Apps for Mobile Social Networking”

OurStage Lifts Curtain on $2.6M

Chelmsford, MA-based OurStage, which runs an online community where indie bands gain recognition through audience voting in monthly contests, has raised $2.63 million in an offering combining equity, options, and warrants, according to a regulatory filing. In 2009 the company collected $3 million out of an intended $6 million Series B round; its backers then … Continue reading “OurStage Lifts Curtain on $2.6M”

Seventh Sense, Rox Anderson and Bob Langer Startup, Seeks to Collect Blood With No Pain

Seventh Sense Biosystems wants to remove some of the hassle, expense, and pain of collecting blood for medical tests. The secretive startup has recently begun talks with major healthcare companies about its technology, which includes a device for collecting blood samples that almost anyone ought to be able to use without causing pain, says Doug … Continue reading “Seventh Sense, Rox Anderson and Bob Langer Startup, Seeks to Collect Blood With No Pain”

Just For Women: Pixability’s Bettina Hein Crafts Boston-Area Network for Female CEOs

When Bettina Hein ran a tech company in Europe, about one out of 100 executives she met were women. “It was so exotic for me to be a female entrepreneur in technology,” she says. The CEO of Cambridge, MA-based Pixability, a startup that makes low-cost marketing videos for businesses, said she was encouraged that there … Continue reading “Just For Women: Pixability’s Bettina Hein Crafts Boston-Area Network for Female CEOs”

OurStage Garners $2,630,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=967afef3-a072-4fbf-9514-033f84627b8e&Preview=1 Date 5/20/2010 Company Name OurStage Mailing Address 321 Billerica Rd Chelmsford, MA 01824 Company Description OurStage is where the world’s music fans come to discover, enjoy and reward the best emerging artists – and where the world’s artists come to find their fans, get amazing gigs and launch their careers. Website … Continue reading “OurStage Garners $2,630,000 New Round”

Arsenal Medical, Startup Linked to Langer and Whitesides, Adds $10M

Arsenal Medical, a stealthy biotech startup based in Watertown, MA, has tapped its existing base of investors to pump in another $10 million in the second installment of its Series C round of funding, R. Scott Rader, the company’s CEO, says. The financing, which was initially revealed in an SEC filing that went online yesterday, … Continue reading “Arsenal Medical, Startup Linked to Langer and Whitesides, Adds $10M”

$2.2M for Cytogel

Cytogel Pharma, a Darien, CT-based biopharmaceutical development firm, has raised $2.2 million in equity and rights funding, according to an SEC filing. The company, founded in 2002, says that its strategy is to license promising drugs with the intent of eventually selling them to larger companies, according to its website. Centripetal Capital Partners, based in … Continue reading “$2.2M for Cytogel”

Calling All Innovators: Strut Your Company’s Stuff in Xconomy’s June 17 XSITE Xpo

Attention tech entrepreneurs: We’re looking for a few good startups to tell their stories during the climactic “Xpo” segment of the Xconomy Summit on Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship (XSITE) at Babson College on June 17. What’s the Xpo? Well, if XSITE were an elegant, absorbing, tightly woven sentence about the work high-tech innovators in New … Continue reading “Calling All Innovators: Strut Your Company’s Stuff in Xconomy’s June 17 XSITE Xpo”

Zeo, Maker of Personal Sleep Tracker, Hunting for More Regis Philbin Magic

When celebrity Regis Philbin talked up the benefits of Zeo’s sleep tracking device on his TV show last June, the Newton, MA-based startup sold more than 1,000 units within three days, says Dave Dickinson, the firm’s CEO. Zeo, founded as Axon Labs in 2003 by three Brown University students, is nearly a year into marketing … Continue reading “Zeo, Maker of Personal Sleep Tracker, Hunting for More Regis Philbin Magic”

Biogen Idec Grant Sends San Diego’s Aspiring Biotech Rock Stars Into Local Schools

In a move that borrows a page from Intel’s “Rock Stars of Engineering” advertising campaign, a San Diego non-profit group is organizing a program that will bring the aspiring rock stars of San Diego’s life sciences industry into local classrooms. The pilot program, funded by a $100,000 grant from the Cambridge, MA-based Biogen Idec Foundation, … Continue reading “Biogen Idec Grant Sends San Diego’s Aspiring Biotech Rock Stars Into Local Schools”

C-Crete Wins $100K, BioSphere and Double-Take Get Taken Out, General Compression Adds to Series A, & More Boston-Area Deals News

We saw a mix of headlines on early funding rounds, business plan competitions, and acquisitions from startups in the software, mobile hardware, Internet, energy, and biotech sectors. —Cambridge, MA-based Sand 9, a maker of tiny timer and frequency control technology for wireless devices, said it secured a $12 million Series B financing, led by new … Continue reading “C-Crete Wins $100K, BioSphere and Double-Take Get Taken Out, General Compression Adds to Series A, & More Boston-Area Deals News”

Terrafugia Garners $2,000,000 Series B Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ac9c63ad-3f06-47e8-8b8e-1dc8ef42eb62&Preview=1 Date 5/19/2010 Company Name Terrafugia Mailing Address 5 Cranes Court Woburn, MA 01801 Company Description The company designs and manufactures flying cars. Website http://www.Terrafugia.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $2,000,000 Transaction Round Series B Proceeds Purposes The funding will go to developing the next generation of its flying car. M&A … Continue reading “Terrafugia Garners $2,000,000 Series B Round”

Cytogel Pharma Lands $2,200,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=408d6071-ad01-49ee-aa60-99b6d371a906&Preview=1 Date 5/19/2010 Company Name Cytogel Pharma Mailing Address 1540 Post Rd. Darien, CT 06820 Company Description Cytogel Pharma (Cytogel) is a bio-pharmaceutical development company focused on acquiring promising early-stage programs that offer significant potential both as platform technologies and high value product candidates. The company’s portfolio includes novel analgesic product candidates … Continue reading “Cytogel Pharma Lands $2,200,000 New Round”

Arsenal Medical Secures $10,000,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=21aa981f-1ff2-45ca-b70b-ef96d80097d4&Preview=1 Date 5/19/2010 Company Name Arsenal Medical Mailing Address 480 Arsenal Street Watertown, MA 02472 Company Description The company is developing medical device technology. Website http://www.wmrbiomed.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $10,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. M&A Terms Venture Investor Undisclosed

Legend Has It—An Early Lead in the Post-Avatar Rush to Convert 2D Films to 3D

Barry Sandrew, who was once a staff neuroscientist at the Harvard Medical School, now presides over one of the fastest-growing companies in San Diego—with a business that has nothing to do with medical research. As a matter of fact, the company known today as Legend 3D no longer resembles the digital colorization studio that Sandrew … Continue reading “Legend Has It—An Early Lead in the Post-Avatar Rush to Convert 2D Films to 3D”

$25K for Boston Innovation District Startup

[Updated and corrected, 5:00 pm, 5/18/10] Boston Mayor Thomas Menino announced today that Spencer Trask Collaborative Innovations will sponsor a startup competition starting in July, and award $25,000 for the winning company to work in the “Innovation District” that the city is developing, the Boston Globe reported. [Note: Originally we cited venture capital firm Spencer … Continue reading “$25K for Boston Innovation District Startup”

Helicos Halves Work Force

Helicos BioSciences, a Cambridge, MA-based developer of genetic analysis technology, says it has cut 40 jobs or half its remaining work force this month to trim its operating expenses. The company (NASDAQ:[[ticker:HLCS]]) wants to apply its single-molecule gene sequencing technology in the molecular diagnostics field, after life sciences researchers have been slow to adopt the … Continue reading “Helicos Halves Work Force”

Rocket Racing League, Led by XSITE Keynoter and X Prize Founder Peter Diamandis, Readies iPhone & iPad Game

The Rocket Racing League game coming to the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad early this summer is a rare beast: a futuristic video game that’s based on real life. RRL Games, a wing (or should I say fin?) of the Orlando, FL-based Rocket Racing League, is expected to release its game for the iPhone and … Continue reading “Rocket Racing League, Led by XSITE Keynoter and X Prize Founder Peter Diamandis, Readies iPhone & iPad Game”

Clay Christensen Speaks at Technology Alliance on Disruptive Innovations in Education, Health, VC

A roomful of 850 business leaders and policy makers got some serious food for thought at yesterday’s annual “State of Technology” Luncheon in Seattle, organized by the Technology Alliance. The guest of honor was Clayton Christensen, the Harvard Business School professor who coined the term “disruptive innovation” in a series of bestselling business books starting … Continue reading “Clay Christensen Speaks at Technology Alliance on Disruptive Innovations in Education, Health, VC”