Inspired by Iron Man, Zazu Makes Mobile App for More Intelligent Wake-Up Calls

Punit Shah used to think that there was no good reason that JARVIS, the artificial intelligence personal assistant to the Iron Man comic series protagonist Tony Stark, shouldn’t exist in real life. It’s an idea that he brought with him to Boston’s Startup Weekend in December, an event where aspiring entrepreneurs team up for 54 … Continue reading “Inspired by Iron Man, Zazu Makes Mobile App for More Intelligent Wake-Up Calls”

Biomedical Structures Secures New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=2b871797-1752-42a4-a92d-72b733995267&Preview=1 Date 5/18/2010 Company Name Biomedical Structures Mailing Address 71 Cypress St. Warwick, RI 02888 Company Description BMS brings your ideas to life using resorbable and non-resorbable fibers to manufacture braids, knits, woven, or non-woven structures to meet your application needs. Website http://www.bmsri.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round … Continue reading “Biomedical Structures Secures New Funding”

Genstruct Garners $500,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8ca4dbc5-305e-4940-af72-fbd4be40acd5&Preview=1 Date 5/18/2010 Company Name Genstruct Mailing Address One Alewife Center Cambridge, MA 02140 Company Description Genstruct is a therapeutic mechanism discovery company that has developed a platform for compound MOA and biomarker discovery called Molecular Epistemics. Website http://www.genstruct.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $500,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds … Continue reading “Genstruct Garners $500,000 New Round”

Google’s “Passive Sniffing” Technique May Have Paved the Way for Wi-Fi Privacy Flap, Skyhook CEO Says

Every Wi-Fi network in every home and business broadcasts both public data—such as its network name and unique machine identifier—and “payload data,” or actual content such as e-mails and Web pages. For the last several years, Google said on Friday, the Street View teams who crisscross the world taking pictures and collecting Wi-Fi network location … Continue reading “Google’s “Passive Sniffing” Technique May Have Paved the Way for Wi-Fi Privacy Flap, Skyhook CEO Says”

MITEF Startup Clinic

Call this the analytics startup clinic, brought to you by the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge. At this gathering, they’ll be spotlighting Cadio, a startup that uses mobile phones’ GPS data to analyze consumer habits and interests, and SOCIALtality, a company that helps brands sift through social media data and use it to their benefit. … Continue reading “MITEF Startup Clinic”

Helping Businesses Join the YouTube Era: How Pixability Found Its Groove

If you’re a disciple of the “lean startup” philosophy now in vogue among tech entrepreneurs, you know you’re supposed to “fail fast, fail cheap,” then “pivot to a new vision” before you’re “out of runway.” In ordinary English, the idea is to quickly scrap your product if it’s not flying with customers, and find one … Continue reading “Helping Businesses Join the YouTube Era: How Pixability Found Its Groove”

Illume’s iZUP Mobile App Padlocks Cell Phones to Eliminate the Temptation to Talk or Text While Driving

If you’ve been paying attention to news headlines, consumer safety reports, and state laws, you know that you shouldn’t be talking or texting on your cell phone while driving. But sometimes the temptation to stay off your phone is just too strong, especially when it rings or beeps with incoming calls or texts. And now, … Continue reading “Illume’s iZUP Mobile App Padlocks Cell Phones to Eliminate the Temptation to Talk or Text While Driving”

Vertex, Worth $7.5B, Eagerly Awaits Final Proof that Hepatitis C Drug Works

Vertex Pharmaceuticals has been in business for more than 20 years, and burned through more than $2.8 billion on a quest to develop drugs that shake up the medical standards of care. Now in the coming weeks and months, it will get the first definitive evidence that will say whether its lead drug candidate for … Continue reading “Vertex, Worth $7.5B, Eagerly Awaits Final Proof that Hepatitis C Drug Works”

Cambridge Endoscopic Devices Obtains $3,000,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=fd9b2600-978e-44fb-9715-37d8cd15065e&Preview=1 Date 5/17/2010 Company Name Cambridge Endoscopic Devices Mailing Address 119 Herbert Street Framingham, MA 01702 Company Description Cambridge Endo was founded in 2004 by experienced medical device entrepreneurs Woojin Lee and Jack Jacobson with the goal of revolutionizing least invasive surgery through a proprietary platform technology in endoscopic and laparoscopic instrumentation. … Continue reading “Cambridge Endoscopic Devices Obtains $3,000,000 New Round”

Web Innovators Group 26

Here’s an informal gathering for people interested in the Internet and mobile innovation spaces. Chargify, DoInk, and Milabra will be presenting, while other companies will do more informal demonstrations to attendees as they network. Registration is free, so sign up here.

Hub Cloud Club #1

Come check out the inaugural meeting of the Hub Cloud Club, a group for those working in Boston’s cloud computing companies. It will be an informal gathering, but possible subjects of discussion could be trends in the industry, opportunities for cloud startups in Boston, and activity in the region. RSVP here.

BioSphere Medical Acquired by Merit Medical

Rockland, MA-based BioSphere Medical, a developer of treatments for tumors, vascular malformations, and uterine fibroids, announced on Thursday that it will be acquired by Utah’s Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MMSI]]) for $96 million in cash. The deal, which is expected to close third quarter of 2010 pending regulatory and stockholder approval, puts BioSphere (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BSMD]]) … Continue reading “BioSphere Medical Acquired by Merit Medical”

Okay, You’ve Declared E-Mail Bankruptcy. Now What?

There’s lots going on in Xconomy-land, so this week’s column will be shorter than usual. Which is probably fine with you, since everyone seems pressed for time these days. Microsoft is notorious for its lame ad campaigns, but lately the software giant has been putting its finger on the overcommitment problem, through an amusing series … Continue reading “Okay, You’ve Declared E-Mail Bankruptcy. Now What?”

Oxford’s Fambrough Leaves for Dicerna, Clinical Data Aims to Take on Big Pharma with Antidepressants, Genzyme’s Termeer Courts Shareholders, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

It was a lighter-than-usual week for breaking news stories from New England’s life sciences companies, so we used the time to take a closer look at trends and companies we’ve come across before. —Doug Fambrough, a general partner at Boston’s Oxford Bioscience Partners, left his full-time position at the venture firm to become CEO of … Continue reading “Oxford’s Fambrough Leaves for Dicerna, Clinical Data Aims to Take on Big Pharma with Antidepressants, Genzyme’s Termeer Courts Shareholders, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”

Merit Medical Systems Acquires BioSphere Medical for $96,000,000

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e0877565-eb28-4817-8463-fd70945c54c5&Preview=1 Date 5/14/2010 Company Name BioSphere Medical Mailing Address 1050 Hingham Street Rockland, MA 02370 Company Description We are focused on applying our proprietary microsphere technology to medical applications using embolotherapy techniques. Our core technologies, consisting of patented bio-engineered polymers and manufacturing methods, are used to produce miniature spherical beads with uniquely … Continue reading “Merit Medical Systems Acquires BioSphere Medical for $96,000,000”

Cooley Q1 Report Shows Venture Investment Terms Continue to Improve

Venture financing is not out of the woods yet, but there are fewer trees, according to a report issued today that analyzes 83 VC transactions with a total value of $935 million. The Cooley law firm’s Venture Financing Report shows “continuing improvement” in VC deals nationwide during the first three months of 2010. Cooley, which … Continue reading “Cooley Q1 Report Shows Venture Investment Terms Continue to Improve”

Xconomy Sets Up Entrepreneurs’ Rate for Events—Starting with XSITE on June 17

We here at Xconomy love startups (we’re one ourselves). We pride ourselves on writing great stories about great entrepreneurs and startup companies—and on showcasing interesting startups at our events. We also occasionally hold impromptu pizza parties here in our headquarters for entrepreneurs in the ‘hood. (And we’ll be doing one again soon.) Now, thanks in … Continue reading “Xconomy Sets Up Entrepreneurs’ Rate for Events—Starting with XSITE on June 17”

Genzyme in “Tough Spot” with Icahn Proxy Challenge—CEO Termeer Courting Key Shareholders

With his leadership under attack and FDA regulators cracking down on his company’s manufacturing, Genzyme chairman and CEO Henri Termeer is traveling to meet with the firm’s top 30 shareholders over the next month. The road trip, discussed yesterday in an interview with Genzyme spokesman Bo Piela, comes just over a month before the company’s … Continue reading “Genzyme in “Tough Spot” with Icahn Proxy Challenge—CEO Termeer Courting Key Shareholders”

New England Startups Collect $203M in April; Life Sciences and Internet Sectors Top the List

The Boston-area pollen count surged in April, but venture financings experienced a more modest increase. New England’s tech and life sciences startups raised a total of $202.9 million in 21 equity-based deals, compared to March’s $194.5 million raised in 17 deals, according to data provided by our partner, private company intelligence platform, CB Insights. (Note, … Continue reading “New England Startups Collect $203M in April; Life Sciences and Internet Sectors Top the List”

Norway’s Think Plans to Build Electric Cars in Indiana and Test Them in Southern California with Additional Funding from Boston

Boston’s Rockport Capital has chipped in $12.5 million as part of a $40 million financing round for Think, the Oslo, Norway-based company building long-range electric vehicles. Think said in an May 11 announcement that it plans to use the new funds to expand operations and sales in North America, including opening a planned assembly facility … Continue reading “Norway’s Think Plans to Build Electric Cars in Indiana and Test Them in Southern California with Additional Funding from Boston”

LocaModa Lands $150,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=866a37a5-080a-4775-92fb-ab6b7ff81e50&Preview=1 Date 5/13/2010 Company Name LocaModa Mailing Address 160 Sidney St. Cambridge, MA 02139 Company Description LocaModa turns screens that people normally ignore into screens they can’t resist. By connecting digital networks with social media and mobile messaging, we enable over 100,000,000 people a month to interact with their environments in thousands … Continue reading “LocaModa Lands $150,000 New Financing”

C-Crete Wins MIT $100K for Making Cleaner Concrete

You can’t win them all, but you can sure win a few. Ask C-Crete Technologies, the winner of the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition this year. Team founder Rouzbeh Shahsavari, a MIT civil engineering PhD candidate, also won the Elevator Pitch Contest segment of the $100K in November for his 60-second pitch of his technology, which … Continue reading “C-Crete Wins MIT $100K for Making Cleaner Concrete”

David Berry of Flagship Ventures on Funding Advice, Investment Themes, Trends in Biofuels

A rising star of the Boston-area venture capital scene is in Seattle today. He’s David Berry, a partner with Flagship Ventures, and he’s speaking on a panel tonight that will tackle a question on every young company’s mind, when it comes to financing: to VC or not to VC? The event is organized by the … Continue reading “David Berry of Flagship Ventures on Funding Advice, Investment Themes, Trends in Biofuels”

Third Annual Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology Leadership Awards

Nonprofit organization Woman Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology (WEST for short) will be honoring four women that have demonstrated leadership as tech entrepreneurs. They’re spotlighting Mara Aspinall of On-Q-ity, Katrine Bosley of Avila Therapeutics, Nancy Briefs of Elemè Medical, and Sue Welch of TradeStone Software. You can register here for what the organization calls its … Continue reading “Third Annual Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology Leadership Awards”

MassTLC Social Media Summit 2010: Candid Conversations about Social Media for the Enterprise: What’s Working & Why

This event aims to help you sift through all the noise surrounding social media and find out what works when it comes to marketing and tapping into customer communities. Marketing personnel from area tech and Internet companies will speak on overcoming resistance to social media, and what innovations are occurring beyond Facebook and Twitter. Register … Continue reading “MassTLC Social Media Summit 2010: Candid Conversations about Social Media for the Enterprise: What’s Working & Why”

Boston’s Litl to Bring Simplicity–and Flash—to Big-Screen Televisions

[Updated 1:30 p.m. 5/13/10 with product images] Litl, the Boston-based startup behind the unconventional Webbook home information appliance, is about to jump into the tumultuous and competitive “connected TV” market. At the Flash and the City conference this weekend in New York, the company will announce plans for a set-top box designed to let people … Continue reading “Boston’s Litl to Bring Simplicity–and Flash—to Big-Screen Televisions”

Wireless-Life Sciences Investor Meeting Puts Innovation on Stage—Boston Sleep Company Zeo Claims a Top Prize

As Qualcomm’s vice president of health and life sciences and as chairman of the San Diego-based Wireless Life Sciences Alliance (WLSA), Don Jones is attuned to subtle disturbances in the field of mobile health. He tells me that one of the auspicious signals for the still-emerging industry is that the 200 people who registered for … Continue reading “Wireless-Life Sciences Investor Meeting Puts Innovation on Stage—Boston Sleep Company Zeo Claims a Top Prize”

General Compression Gets $3M

General Compression,  a Newton, MA-based developer of technology for using compressed air to store energy from wind turbine systems, announced it has wrapped up another $3 million in Series A financing, bringing the round’s total to $20.9 million. The newest tranche comes from the Northwater Intellectual Property Fund, managed by Northwater Capital Management, a private … Continue reading “General Compression Gets $3M”

Can academia bridge the gap between bench and bedside?

A few weeks ago I heard a pharmaceutical executive say at an industry meeting that academia shouldn’t be trying to develop drugs. They don’t know how to do it, his message was. Now, he didn’t specify what he meant: Was it that academics do not know how to discover and optimize promising drug candidates, or … Continue reading “Can academia bridge the gap between bench and bedside?”

Sanofi-Aventis Backs Mass Life Sciences Center, Redline Raises $7.45M, Swipely Launches with $7.5M, & More Boston-Area Deals News

We saw a few contributions in the life sciences sector, but for the most part, Internet and software companies have been dominating with deals headlines in the last week. —Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARIA]]) got $69 million in cash from Merck, for revising a 2007 agreement with a unit of the drug giant. The revisions give … Continue reading “Sanofi-Aventis Backs Mass Life Sciences Center, Redline Raises $7.45M, Swipely Launches with $7.5M, & More Boston-Area Deals News”

Sand 9 Finds $12M to Improve Wireless Devices

Sand 9 has secured enough venture capital to grow from a pre-revenue startup to—if all goes as planned—a profitable company, Vince Graziani, the firm’s CEO, says. His Cambridge-based startup, a developer of tiny timer and frequency control technology for wireless devices, has raised $12 million in a Series B round of funding led by a … Continue reading “Sand 9 Finds $12M to Improve Wireless Devices”

Is the Venture Model Really Broken?

Proclaiming the venture model broken is in vogue. The lingering aftereffects of the Internet bubble have cast a shadow over the industry for a decade now; and while venture capital has consistently outperformed most equity asset classes for years, recent returns have not lived up to historical norms. Despite the grim headlines, there are signs … Continue reading “Is the Venture Model Really Broken?”

Sand 9 Receives $12,000,000 Series B Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=726e5b20-bb99-4fab-b899-36b25e9afa26&Preview=1 Date 5/12/2010 Company Name Sand 9 Mailing Address 8 St. Mary’s Street Room 628 Boston, MA 02215 Company Description Sand 9, Inc. is a venture funded startup company, dedicated to the design of Radio Frequency components that will dramatically improve the performance and increase the capabilities of wireless devices. Our disruptive … Continue reading “Sand 9 Receives $12,000,000 Series B Funding”

General Compression Obtains $3,000,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f2c49016-26cd-4004-8bcb-96b53d3c4fa5&Preview=1 Date 5/12/2010 Company Name General Compression Mailing Address 275 Washington Street Newton, MA 02458 Company Description We are engineers, scientists, investors, and project developers, all committed to expanding clean power. General Compression’s systems are being developed to provide utility-scale storage and firming services for clean energy sources such as wind and … Continue reading “General Compression Obtains $3,000,000 New Round”

World Health Medical Technology Conference

Members from global healthcare providers, innovative medical technology companies, and global investment funds will present at this event put on by the Boston University School of Management’s Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship & Commercialization. Learn about the impact of new technologies in global settings, from speakers from MGH, BU’s tech transfer office, Diagnostics for All, and … Continue reading “World Health Medical Technology Conference”

Boston VC and Angel Conference

This event, put on by FundingPost, gives you insight on meeting, pitching to, and getting a check from early stage investors. A panel will discuss investing trends, which industries are catching investors’ attention, and how to best connect with them.

$2M for MaxVision

MaxVision Holdings, a Boston-based maker of rugged portable computer workstations and servers, has raised a $2 million round of equity-based funding, an SEC filing shows. The document lists partners from Boston’s Riverside Partners as directors of MaxVision, which raised $6.5 million in an equity offering in 2007.

Localytics Raises $700K

Cambridge, MA-based Localytics, whose software helps mobile software developers track usage of their iPhone, iPad, Android, and BlackBerry apps, has raised $700,000 in a first round of funding, according to a company announcement. Launchpad Ventures and New York Angels led the round. Localytics participated in the 2009 version of the TechStars Boston startup incubator program … Continue reading “Localytics Raises $700K”

Swipely Launches with $7.5M

Providence, RI-based Swipely, which aims to let consumers share information about purchases with people in their social networks, has launched an invitation-only beta version of its service and collected $7.5 million in Series A venture funding, the startup announced today. Index Ventures, Greylock Partners, First Round Capital, and a group of angel investors participated in … Continue reading “Swipely Launches with $7.5M”

$1.65M for Mintera

Mintera, an Acton, MA-based maker of advanced optical switches, has reeled in $1.65 million in equity and debt funding, according to an SEC filing. Terence Unter, the company’s CEO, was not immediately available for comment this morning. The company’s previous investors include Court Square Ventures, JDSU, Polaris Venture Partners, Portview Communications Partners, RRE Ventures, and … Continue reading “$1.65M for Mintera”