Activist investor Carl Icahn has increased his stake in Cambridge, MA-based biotech firm Genzyme (NASDAQ:[[ticker:GENZ]]) from 1.5 million shares in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 4.6 million shares as of last week, Bloomberg reported last Friday. Icahn did not comment on his enlarged stake in Genzyme, according to Bloomberg, but his previous buying sprees … Continue reading “Icahn Boosts Genzyme Stake”
Category: Boston
Nuance Acquires MacSpeech
Nuance Communcations (NASDAQ: NUAN), a Burlington, MA-based voice and imaging software company, has acquired a maker of speech recognition software for Apple’s Macintosh computers, MacSpeech, the company announced today. The acquisition of Salem, NH’s MacSpeech will extend Nuance’s Dragon NaturallySpeaking product line, which translates voice to text, as a native Mac application. Nuance has also … Continue reading “Nuance Acquires MacSpeech”
PatientsLikeMe Buys ReliefInsite to Help Patients Track Their Pain Online
PatientsLikeMe is pursuing new ways to enable patients to manage their healthcare online. The Cambridge, MA-based firm, which operates a social networking website for patients, reports today that it has acquired the online pain management firm ReliefInsite. Financial details weren’t disclosed. ReliefInsite’s software helps people to track their pain levels online and share the data … Continue reading “PatientsLikeMe Buys ReliefInsite to Help Patients Track Their Pain Online”
SkillSoft Agrees to $1.1B Buyout
SkillSoft (NASDAQ:[[ticker:SKIL]]), a provider of educational and performance-support software with U.S. headquarters in Nashua, NH, has agreed to be acquired by a syndicate of private equity firms for $10.80 per share or a total of about $1.1 billion, according to a press release. The private equity buyers include Advent International, Bain Capital, and Berkshire Partners, … Continue reading “SkillSoft Agrees to $1.1B Buyout”
Ironwood IPO Nets $203M Total
Cambridge, MA-based Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:IRWD]]) said today that the underwriters of its IPO on February 2 have exercised all their options to buy 2.5 million additional shares. That means the company has raised an extra $28 million, and after deducting all expenses from this and the first part of the transaction, the company has … Continue reading “Ironwood IPO Nets $203M Total”
GenArts Bringing Boston to Special Effects Fore with Tinder Purchase from Britain’s The Foundry
Gradually, Cambridge, MA, is emerging as one of the world capitals of a highly specialized industry: digital effects plugins for film and video post-production. These are small software packages that production companies such as Lucasfilm or Sony Pictures buy to extend the capabilities of commercial digital compositing programs like Adobe’s After Effects, Autodesk’s Combustion, Avid’s … Continue reading “GenArts Bringing Boston to Special Effects Fore with Tinder Purchase from Britain’s The Foundry”
Lantheus Medical Imaging Stakes Future on Innovation After Generic Hit to Key Product
When Don Kiepert became chief executive of Lantheus Medical Imaging about two years ago, he says, he took over a business that was looking down the barrel of a generic threat to one of its top-selling products—and whose operations had been largely overlooked by its previous owner, the drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:[[ticker:BMY]]). Kiepert has attacked … Continue reading “Lantheus Medical Imaging Stakes Future on Innovation After Generic Hit to Key Product”
Rib-X Maps Out Pivotal Antibiotic Trial, As Part of Built-to-Last Company Strategy
Ten years have gone by since Susan Froshauer co-founded Rib-X Pharmaceuticals to create effective new antibiotics. If things break right, this will be the year her company makes some critical decisions that could ensure it lasts 10 more. Like a lot of startup drug companies, this one is consuming a lot of time and money. … Continue reading “Rib-X Maps Out Pivotal Antibiotic Trial, As Part of Built-to-Last Company Strategy”
Viewfinity Obtains $9,000,000 Series B Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9d6ca3b2-dd0c-4c95-b9a3-5dfc5fef5fd0&Preview=1 Date 2/16/2010 Company Name Viewfinity Mailing Address 1050 Winter Street Waltham, MA 02451 Company Description Viewfinity offers uncomplicated systems management solutions to manage, support and control desktops, laptops and Windows servers, regardless of worker location, via SaaS-enabled software. In four easy steps, and in less than 10 minutes, IT departments can … Continue reading “Viewfinity Obtains $9,000,000 Series B Financing”
IdeaPaint Secures $3,300,000 Series B Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=57770084-c7ab-4536-ab41-faa157b59583&Preview=1 Date 2/16/2010 Company Name IdeaPaint Mailing Address 25 First St Cambridge, MA 02141 Company Description IdeaPaint is a patent-pending single-coat roller-applied paint that transforms any smooth surface into a high performance dry-erase writing surface. IdeaPaint is perfect for the conference room, creative spaces, classrooms, home offices, kids rooms, playrooms… or any … Continue reading “IdeaPaint Secures $3,300,000 Series B Financing Round”
Isabella’s Vizit Wins Mobile Award
Isabella Products of Concord, MA, announced that the award for Best Embedded Mobile Device at the GSMA World Mobile Congress in Barcelona went to its Vizit digital photo frame today. The competition is designed to encourage innovation among wireless device makers. The $280 Vizit, which will be available by lottery beginning in mid-March, is a … Continue reading “Isabella’s Vizit Wins Mobile Award”
Presidents Day
Posting will be light today as Xconomy is closed for Presidents Day. We’ll be back tomorrow full force. Meanwhile, enjoy the holiday!
Helicos President Resigns
Helicos Biosciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:HLCS]]), the Cambridge, MA-based maker of genetic analysis instruments, said today in a regulatory filing that president Steve Lombardi has resigned. Lombardi’s exit was official as of February 11 from his full-time job and from his position on the board of directors. Helicos didn’t say why Lombardi is leaving, but noted that … Continue reading “Helicos President Resigns”
FIRST Robotics Boston Regionals Competition
The regionals of the FIRST Robotics competition will hit Boston in late March. The engineering challenge, held by nonprofit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, enlists sponsors, colleges, and technical professionals to team with high school students in a competitive game environment. Teams can register here.
$140M for New MPM BioVentures Fund
Boston-based MPM Capital, an investment firm focused on life sciences companies, has raised $140 million for its fifth BioVentures fund, according to regulatory filings. Earlier reports pegged the deal at $69.1 million, but the company amended its original filing this afternoon to indicate the higher total. The firm declined to comment further on the new … Continue reading “$140M for New MPM BioVentures Fund”
Geography, Venture Capital, and Public Policy: Can Publicly Supported Entrepreneurship Succeed?
Here’s another event examining the intersection of government and entrepreneurs, put on by Harvard’s Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston. Harvard Business School professor Josh Lerner will explore how state and local policies can attract and retain venture capital firms. Venture-backed companies make outsized contributions to local economies compared to the money invested, he explains. Check … Continue reading “Geography, Venture Capital, and Public Policy: Can Publicly Supported Entrepreneurship Succeed?”
Sirtris Founders Build New Venture Capital Fund, Keep Mum
The people who built Cambridge, MA-based Sirtris Pharmaceuticals on the idea of treating diseases of aging, and sold it to GlaxoSmithKline for more than $700 million two years ago, are apparently busy building a new venture capital fund. Christoph Westphal, Michelle Dipp, and Rich Aldrich are listed as co-managers of Longwood Founders Fund, on a … Continue reading “Sirtris Founders Build New Venture Capital Fund, Keep Mum”
After Pulling Plug, Veoh Networks’ Dmitry Shapiro Says Litigation “Choked Off Our Oxygen”
In the beginning, San Diego’s Veoh Networks had the support of several prominent VCs, and some of the biggest names in the media business. Venture firms like Boston’s Spark Capital, and names like Michael Eisner, the former Disney titan. After five years, founder Dmitry Shapiro tells me the site had 23 million unique visitors a … Continue reading “After Pulling Plug, Veoh Networks’ Dmitry Shapiro Says Litigation “Choked Off Our Oxygen””
NEXX Systems Files for IPO
Billerica, MA-based NEXX Systems, a manufacturer of semiconductor equipment, has filed for an initial public offering that could be worth as much as $42 million. The filing lists the company’s top stakeholders as Enterprise Partners, Sigma Partners, and NEXX chairman Richard Post. Canaccord Adams and CIBC will co-lead the undewriting for the IPO; the price and … Continue reading “NEXX Systems Files for IPO”
Excelimmune Raises $1M
Excelimmune, a Woburn, MA developer of human antibody-based therapies, announced that it has raised $1 million in Series B funding from a group of existing and new investors. The funding will go to research for its first drug candidate, Staphguard, designed to treat methicillin-resistant staph infections. Greenheart was the sole investor in Excelimmune’s 2007 Series A … Continue reading “Excelimmune Raises $1M”
ARC Energy Raises $5M
Advanced RenewableEnergy Company, a Nashua, NH maker of equipment for growing and processing the sapphire crystals used in LEDs, has raised $5 million of a $10 million equity round, according to an SEC filing. The filing lists Hemant Taneja, managing director of Cambridge, MA-based General Catalyst Partners, as a director of the stealthy ARC Energy.
Zafgen Plans Weight-Loss Study, Infinity CEO Perkins Plans for Growth, Boston Scientific Cuts 1000+ Jobs, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News
This week we’ve got another crop of great interviews with the founders and executives of some of New England’s most fascinating life sciences companies. —Zafgen CEO Tom Hughes filled Luke in on his Cambridge, MA-based startup’s plans to begin human tests of its anti-obesity drug, which the company hopes will be the first drug to … Continue reading “Zafgen Plans Weight-Loss Study, Infinity CEO Perkins Plans for Growth, Boston Scientific Cuts 1000+ Jobs, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”
Paragon Lake, Out to Ring in a New Era of Jewelry Customization, Changes Name to Gemvara and Shifts Focus to the Web
Paragon Lake, a jewelry virtualization and customization company, is looking to add a new layer of sparkle to its business. It’s renaming itself Gemvara and revamping its business model to to focus on allowing customers to personalize jewelry pieces directly from their own computers and not from computer stations inside retail stores as it had … Continue reading “Paragon Lake, Out to Ring in a New Era of Jewelry Customization, Changes Name to Gemvara and Shifts Focus to the Web”
The $14.99 E-Book: Publishing’s Salvation, Or Just the Last Nail in the Coffin?
Last summer, when the UK National Portrait Gallery and the Wikimedia Foundation got into a kerfuffle over whether the foundation had the right to copy thousands of the gallery’s high-resolution digital images to the Wikimedia site without paying, I wrote that the foundation may have been within its rights, since the original portraits are in … Continue reading “The $14.99 E-Book: Publishing’s Salvation, Or Just the Last Nail in the Coffin?”
Shutdown Reported at Veoh Networks, Backed by Boston’s Spark Capital and Other VCs
The lights are on, but is anybody left at Veoh Networks? We’re seeing multiple accounts of sweeping layoffs at Veoh, the San Diego-based Internet TV service, with several citing a report by Media Memo’s Peter Kafka, who says a Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation is expected soon. I sent a quick e-mail to Veoh CEO Dmitry … Continue reading “Shutdown Reported at Veoh Networks, Backed by Boston’s Spark Capital and Other VCs”
An Innovations Agenda for Massachusetts
Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Gregory Bialecki will discuss aspects of his agenda to fuel innovation in the state, at this Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston event. He’s previously announced initiatives to support startups at all stages, from marketing to funding, and will reveal some of the preliminary results of these moves, as … Continue reading “An Innovations Agenda for Massachusetts”
The Geography of Innovation: Why Do Clusters of Entrepreneurs Exist in Some Areas and Not in Others?
Ever wonder why certain cities seem to attract and nurture innovation and others simply don’t? Economist Edward Glaeser will look at how entrepreneurs are influenced by and in turn influence local economies, and what role regional policy plays in that cycle, at this lecture put on by the Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston at Harvard’s … Continue reading “The Geography of Innovation: Why Do Clusters of Entrepreneurs Exist in Some Areas and Not in Others?”
“International M&A’s: Seizing Strategic Opportunities in 2010”
This panel, put on by the Boston chapter of the International Executive Resources Group, explores how companies can position themselves in a climate of mergers and acquisition, and benefit from global partnerships. Registration is free, but limited to business professionals.
CloudSwitch Details Plans to Bridge Corporate Data Centers, Cloud Resources
Doing your business computing on cloud systems owned by companies like Amazon sounds like a great idea, on the surface of it. Who wouldn’t want to rent computing resources just for the time they’re needed, rather than shelling out for expensive on-premises equipment that might sit idle half of the time? The problem is that … Continue reading “CloudSwitch Details Plans to Bridge Corporate Data Centers, Cloud Resources”
HBS Alumni Club Cleantech Panel & Intro to Ignite Clean Energy Competition
This is the unofficial kickoff for the Ignite Clean Energy (ICE) business plan competition (the more formal launch is later this month). The evening starts with the Harvard Business School Alumni’s 3rd annual Cleantech Panel, where investors and industry experts will give an outlook on jobs and opportunities in the clean energy space. The ICE … Continue reading “HBS Alumni Club Cleantech Panel & Intro to Ignite Clean Energy Competition”
Announcing Mass Mobile Month: A Celebration of New England Mobile Innovation in March 2010
Ever wondered how “official” events like National Poetry Month or National Corndog Day or International Talk Like a Pirate Day get started? We did too. Turns out all you have to do is get some people together and make a declaration. So that’s what we’re doing. In recognition of the fact that there’s an unusually … Continue reading “Announcing Mass Mobile Month: A Celebration of New England Mobile Innovation in March 2010”
Happy 2010: Bay State Startups Ring in the New Year with $355M in January Venture Funding
Apparently, Massachusetts venture investors aren’t like most American consumers in January, when purse strings tighten and spending comes to a halt following the previous month’s holiday shopping excesses. By contrast, they significantly upped their investments in the state’s tech and life sciences startups, investing $355.2 million across 28 equity deals, according to information provided by … Continue reading “Happy 2010: Bay State Startups Ring in the New Year with $355M in January Venture Funding”
Former CombinatoRx CEO Alexis Borisy Lands at Third Rock Ventures, Launches New Startup
Alexis Borisy is back in company-building mode. The former CEO of the drug developer CombinatoRx tells Xconomy that he has joined Third Rock Ventures in Boston as an entrepreneur in residence—and he’s already at the helm of a secretive new life sciences firm called Foundation Medicine. Borisy gave few details on the startup, other than … Continue reading “Former CombinatoRx CEO Alexis Borisy Lands at Third Rock Ventures, Launches New Startup”
Ready, Set, Go Public—The 10 Things You Need to Do Now
The IPO market is open for business. The IPO market window has slammed shut. Which is it? Unless your IPO is pricing in the next week or two, it doesn’t matter. The reality is that IPO planning typically takes six to 12 months. If you hope to go public in the next year-and want to … Continue reading “Ready, Set, Go Public—The 10 Things You Need to Do Now”
Excelimmune Garners $1,000,000 Series B Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d04ce05b-dd4a-48d0-88d1-66d664ee97e3&Preview=1 Date 2/11/2010 Company Name Excelimmune Mailing Address 12-B Cabot Road Woburn, MA 01801 Company Description Excelimmune Inc., based in Cambridge, is a biotechnology company developing therapuetic applications of human recombinant polyclonal antibodies. Website http://www.excelimmune.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $1,000,000 Transaction Round Series B Proceeds Purposes Proceeds from the financing … Continue reading “Excelimmune Garners $1,000,000 Series B Financing Round”
Boston Scientific Cutting up to 1,300 Jobs
Boston Scientific, the Natick, MA-based medical devices giant, says today that it plans to cut 1,000 to 1,300 employees or 8 percent to 10 percent of its total work force, as part of a company-wide restructuring initiative. The company (NYSE:[[ticker:BSX]]) expects pre-tax charges of $180 million to $200 million from the layoffs and restructuring plans, … Continue reading “Boston Scientific Cutting up to 1,300 Jobs”
Boston Beats Seattle for Hospitality, At Least for Heavy Metal Techies
We were really stoked when we received the e-mail from Greg asking if we’d be interested in playing at the Boston Xconomy Battle of the Tech Bands. We had a great time at the Seattle battle, but we really thought that was the end of a fun gig… Traveling out to Boston to play a … Continue reading “Boston Beats Seattle for Hospitality, At Least for Heavy Metal Techies”
Veolia Energy Buys Comfort Link
Veolia Energy North America, a Boston-based company that provides “district energy” or centralized heating, cooling, and power generation for 1,100 government and industry customers, said today that it has acquired Comfort Link of Baltimore, MD. Formerly a partnership between Baltimore Gas and Electric and Monumental Investment Corporation, Comfort Link uses an 11-mile network of chilled … Continue reading “Veolia Energy Buys Comfort Link”
Genzyme and Isis Report Positive Results for Cholesterol-Lowering Drug, Liver Safety Issue Lingers
[Updated 2/10/10 12:15 pm. See below] Genzyme and Isis Pharmaceuticals are making progress in the clinic with their cholesterol-lowering therapy mipomersen, a major potential moneymaker for both firms. Today the companies, which are collaborating on the development of the drug, report that the treatment significantly lowered the cholesterol of patients with a rare condition called … Continue reading “Genzyme and Isis Report Positive Results for Cholesterol-Lowering Drug, Liver Safety Issue Lingers”
Join Xconomy on March 9 as We Come to Grips with the Mad Pace of Change in Mobile Computing
When people started lugging around the first brick-sized, 2G mobile phones in the late 1980s, I said to myself, “Eventually, those will be small enough and cheap enough that everyone will have one.” And what do you know—by 1999 I was carrying around a slim little Nokia candybar phone. When the Enterprise crew started using … Continue reading “Join Xconomy on March 9 as We Come to Grips with the Mad Pace of Change in Mobile Computing”
PatientsLikeMe Growing as Pharma Customers Boost Focus on Patients
There’s a quilt hanging on the wall at PatientsLikeMe, made with different patches of fabric from members of the firm’s online community of multiple sclerosis patients. “We have it hanging in our office because it represents so much of what our site is about—individual experiences that, when pulled together, give you a very powerful collective … Continue reading “PatientsLikeMe Growing as Pharma Customers Boost Focus on Patients”
ATG Banks $101M, Veracode Collects $12M, & More Boston-Area Deals News
It’s only been a few days since I last rounded up the deals news from New England’s tech and life sciences companies, but there are still a few new transactions to report. —Irvine, CA-based Allergan (NYSE:[[ticker:AGN]]) revealed in an earnings report that it acquired Medford, MA-based biomaterials maker Serica Technologies late last year. Financial terms … Continue reading “ATG Banks $101M, Veracode Collects $12M, & More Boston-Area Deals News”
M/C Gains in NuVox Sale
Boston’s M/C Venture Partners is the big winner in the $647 million sale of NuVox, a Greenville, SC-based provider of business telecommunications services, to Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ: [[ticker:WIN]]), a deal announced yesterday. In a press release yesterday, M/C said that it became NuVox’s largest shareholder after NuVox absorbed M/C portfolio companies NewSouth in 2004 and … Continue reading “M/C Gains in NuVox Sale”
MTLC Tech Tuesday
This networking event put on by the Mass. Technology Leadership Council has a mobile focus this month, featuring consultants, individual entrepreneurs, startup companies, and investors in the space. It’s also introducing office hours, where entrepreneurs can reserve slots to meet with industry players for advice on how to market and grow their business. Registration is … Continue reading “MTLC Tech Tuesday”
Battle of the Tech Bands 3: Boston vs. Seattle—A Video and Photo Extravaganza
It’s not every day you get to see three great East Coast rock bands on the same stage with two amazing West Coast bands—so we made a point of documenting our big fundraiser last Thursday, the Battle of the Tech Bands 3: Seattle vs. Boston. Today we want to share the amazing footage and images … Continue reading “Battle of the Tech Bands 3: Boston vs. Seattle—A Video and Photo Extravaganza”
Battle of the Tech Bands 3: The Slide Show
NEXT IMAGE >> Rock On — Xconomy’s third Battle of the Tech Bands took Cambridge by storm on February 4, featuring our first bicoastal smackdown: a faceoff between standout bands from past battles in Boston and Seattle. This shot shows the winning band, country rock act The Dirty Truckers, who edged out Deadbeat Darling for … Continue reading “Battle of the Tech Bands 3: The Slide Show”
Cheers to the Environment: PurposeEnergy Aims to Make Brewing More Sustainable
When Eric Fitch decided to start his own company a few years back after working on a string of other startups, he knew clean energy was the way to go. “I couldn’t escape the gravity of this renewable energy thing,” he says. He thought the industrial and manufacturing arenas would be the best targets, as … Continue reading “Cheers to the Environment: PurposeEnergy Aims to Make Brewing More Sustainable”
Web Innovators Group 25
David Beisel of Venrock writes: “We’re only three weeks away from our first 2010 WebInno event on March 1st. In addition to the usual format for the upcoming meeting, I’ve just added a special break-out session entitled, ‘Serial Web Entrepreneurs’ Founding Stories.’ The teaser: “Entrepreneurs Steven Kane, Tom Gerace, and David Cancel all successfully founded … Continue reading “Web Innovators Group 25”
Infinity’s New CEO, Veteran Dealmaker, Seeks to Deliver on Company’s Early Promise
The story of Infinity Pharmaceuticals can be told through three people. Steve Holtzman got the company started, and raised the money for the company’s proprietary chemistry. Julian Adams brought the focus on cancer drugs. Now it’s up to Adelene Perkins to show that the company’s treatments work, and can be successfully marketed to patients. At … Continue reading “Infinity’s New CEO, Veteran Dealmaker, Seeks to Deliver on Company’s Early Promise”
How to Win Influencers and Friend People: Pursway Raises $6M, Arrives in Boston
If you change your tech startup’s name, you might get a one-line notice from the business press. If you get a prominent firm to invest in your technology, particularly if it’s a sizeable amount or if it’s your first big round of funding, we’ll probably write a paragraph or two. If you move your headquarters … Continue reading “How to Win Influencers and Friend People: Pursway Raises $6M, Arrives in Boston”