Vertex Pharmaceuticals has struck a deal to raise a jaw-dropping $320 million in a secondary offering of stock. The biotech company, which has 1,300 employees at its Cambridge, MA headquarters and 200 in San Diego, is rallying investors around drug candidates that it hopes will set new standards of effectively treating hepatitis C and cystic … Continue reading “Vertex Raises $320M in Secondary Stock Offering”
Category: Boston
Verenium, BP Form Joint Venture to Build Biofuel Plant in Florida
Verenium (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VRNM]]), a Cambridge, MA, startup whose proprietary microbes break down high-cellulose material like sugar cane into ethanol, said yesterday that it has established a joint venture with British Petroleum (NYSE: [[ticker:BP]]) to build commercial-scale biofuel plants in the United States. BP, which owns 50 percent of the new company, is contributing $22.5 million … Continue reading “Verenium, BP Form Joint Venture to Build Biofuel Plant in Florida”
Genocea Biosciences Receives $23,000,000 Series A Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7cd981f9-d792-4cf5-8d52-3bf768ec2bc3&Preview=1 Date 2/19/2009 Company Name Genocea Biosciences Mailing Address 161 First Street Cambridge, MA 02142 Company Description Genocea was founded in 2006 based on technology from University of California at Berkeley and Harvard Medical School. Infectious diseases are the third leading cause of death each year in the United States and the … Continue reading “Genocea Biosciences Receives $23,000,000 Series A Financing Round”
RedShift Systems Corp Secures $6,000,000 Series B Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=09258acc-c046-4e81-937e-7092b40b75bf&Preview=1 Date 2/19/2009 Company Name RedShift Systems Corp Mailing Address 41 Second Avenue Burlington, MA 01803 Company Description RedShift Systems Corp. is a pioneer in enabling low-cost, high-performance thermal imaging solutions for mass-market applications. The RedShift Thermal Light ValveTM technology translates thermal energy into visible images – allowing CMOS sensors to see … Continue reading “RedShift Systems Corp Secures $6,000,000 Series B Financing Round”
How Obama Put Digital Technology and Social Media to Work—and How You Can Too
It’s well accepted that Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign broke new ground in the utilization of social media and digital technologies. David Talbot, Chief Correspondent for Technology Review, will moderate a panel of experts (including Jascha Franklin-Hodge and Nick Nyhan from the Obama campaign) to discuss how interactive technology connects people online and in the real … Continue reading “How Obama Put Digital Technology and Social Media to Work—and How You Can Too”
Personalized Medicine: How to Survive the Attack on Its Intellectual Property
Personalized medicine—developing individualized drug therapies for patients—will be an increasingly important part of health care. But the foundation of personalized medicine, diagnostics methods, are under increasing attack from the courts and the Patent and Trademark Office. These court decisions and U.S. Patent Office actions are likely to have a significant impact on the personalized medicine … Continue reading “Personalized Medicine: How to Survive the Attack on Its Intellectual Property”
Democamp Boston
DemoCamp—a participant-generated networking and idea-sharing event for designers, developers, and entrepreneurs—is coming to Boston. Participants each have 5 minutes to demonstrate software or products, share ideas, or to give a presentation with the goal to inspire, educate or challenge the audience. Visit the event web site for a list of presentors and ticket information.
Konarka Nabs $5M State Loan
Konarka Technologies, a Lowell, MA-based maker of flexible plastics that convert light into energy, says that it has landed a $5 million loan from the Emerging Technology Fund of Massachusetts Development Finance Agency and the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust’s Business Expansion Initiative. The loan is related to the October 2008 opening of Konarka’s manufacturing facility … Continue reading “Konarka Nabs $5M State Loan”
Defending the U.S. Cyber Castle: Core Security’s Tom Kellermann on Internet Attacks and Obama’s Strategy
Last week President Obama tapped Melissa Hathaway, a former Booz Allen Hamilton consultant and top aide to President Bush, to undertake a sweeping 60-day review of the country’s computer security posture. Once that review is complete, the 40-year-old Hathaway could be in line to be named the nation’s first assistant to the president for cyberspace—or, … Continue reading “Defending the U.S. Cyber Castle: Core Security’s Tom Kellermann on Internet Attacks and Obama’s Strategy”
Alnylam Looks to Spinoffs To Unleash RNAi Technologies for Stem Cells, Vaccines
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals is one of the fortunate few in biotech with more than $500 million in the bank, so money is the least of its worries. But prioritizing a dizzying array of opportunities, and finding the best way to rally teams of bright people around them, is another thing altogether. I got some insight into … Continue reading “Alnylam Looks to Spinoffs To Unleash RNAi Technologies for Stem Cells, Vaccines”
Alkermes Aims for Big Time, Partners Launches Blood Pressure Tracker, Synta Gets GSK Payday, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News
It seems like some of New England’s life sciences firms might have headed off for February vacation a little early this year, but a few of them still had news to report. —Ryan took the pulse of SmartBeat, a new Web-based blood-pressure-management system developed by Partners HealthCare’s Center for Connected Health. Partners plans to use … Continue reading “Alkermes Aims for Big Time, Partners Launches Blood Pressure Tracker, Synta Gets GSK Payday, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”
North Bridge in $15M OfferPal Round
Waltham, MA-based North Bridge Venture Partners is part of a $15 million Series B funding round for OfferPal Media, according to a company announcement today. OfferPal, based in Fremont, CA, targets consumers who use social networking sites like Facebook, Bebo, and MySpace with commercial offers customized based on their profiles and friend lists. The lead … Continue reading “North Bridge in $15M OfferPal Round”
TechStars “Entrepreneurship Boot Camp” Comes to Boston: An Interview with Co-founder David Cohen
You lose some, you win some. Less than four weeks after Paul Graham’s unceremonious announcement that his formerly bicoastal startup school Y Combinator would be taking up permanent residence in Mountain View, CA, ending a tradition of summer sessions in Cambridge, MA, a new startup program is coming to town: Boulder, CO-based TechStars. Founded in … Continue reading “TechStars “Entrepreneurship Boot Camp” Comes to Boston: An Interview with Co-founder David Cohen”
Oasys Water Raises $10M
Oasys Water, a Cambridge, MA-based startup, has wrapped up a $10 million financing led by venture firms Advanced Technology Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Flagship Ventures to develop its technology for converting salt water into potable drinking water, the Boston Globe reported over the weekend. Oasys tells the daily broadsheet that its forward osmosis technology, … Continue reading “Oasys Water Raises $10M”
GSK Pays Synta $10M Milestone Fee
Synta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:[[ticker:SNTA]]), a Lexington, MA-based developer of drugs for cancer and other diseases, says that it has received a $10 million payment from London-based drug giant GlaxoSmithKline for reaching an operational milestone in the development of elesclomol, which is in late-stage clinical trials for the treatment of metastatic melanoma in combination with chemotherapy drug … Continue reading “GSK Pays Synta $10M Milestone Fee”
MIT-Trained Entrepreneurs Create Businesses With $2 Trillion a Year in Sales, Kauffman Report Says
It’s no secret that the Massachusetts economy benefits from the presence of large, prestigious, star-studded universities and the companies started by their faculty and graduates. In fact, these universities take every opportunity to remind people of their importance: Just a few weeks ago, Harvard put out a report taking credit for nearly $5 billion in … Continue reading “MIT-Trained Entrepreneurs Create Businesses With $2 Trillion a Year in Sales, Kauffman Report Says”
What Now, Medical Device Entrepreneurs?
Years ago, new medical device companies were often formed by a small group of people who came up with an idea for a new concept and started the company by working on it nights and weekends in someone’s garage. Often, this new company had little or no real financial backing other than the money that … Continue reading “What Now, Medical Device Entrepreneurs?”
Globespan Helps Fund COPAN
Globespan Capital Partners of Boston is one of the participants in an $18.5 million funding round announced today by COPAN Systems, a Longmont, CO-based maker of data archiving hardware for large enterprises that also has offices in Southborough, MA. The round was led by Westbury Partners and also included Austin Ventures, Firstmark Capital, and Credit … Continue reading “Globespan Helps Fund COPAN”
Dartmouth College: An Innovation Hub in Northern New England
It takes about two hours to drive to Dartmouth College from the Boston area—not nearly as convenient as the 15- or 20-minute trip that many of the area’s venture capitalists can make between their firms and Harvard or MIT. Nevertheless, some local VCs make the trek to Dartmouth’s Hanover, NH, campus on a regular basis. … Continue reading “Dartmouth College: An Innovation Hub in Northern New England”
Oasys Water Inc Garners $10,000,000 Series A Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=90778215-38a0-4a87-9efc-c2d2ef2e5211&Preview=1 Date 2/17/2009 Company Name Oasys Water Inc Mailing Address 222 Third St. Cambridge, MA 02142 Company Description Oasys (Osmotic Application Systems) is a Cambridge MA based company developing a suite of proprietary water treatment products to address the growing, global water crisis. The Company’s Engineered Osmosis (EOTM) process provides a novel … Continue reading “Oasys Water Inc Garners $10,000,000 Series A Financing”
StarWind Software Inc Receives New Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8b2ee012-5d5f-4035-a431-31b11cd2d8da&Preview=1 Date 2/17/2009 Company Name StarWind Software Inc Mailing Address 40 Mall Rd Burlington, MA 01803 Company Description StarWind is a global leader in reliable, scalable, high-performance and easy-to-use Windows iSCSI SAN storage software. StarWind Server is a software solution that converts any Windows server into a powerful iSCSI SAN and is … Continue reading “StarWind Software Inc Receives New Funding”
Happy Birthdays Misters President
Xconomy will be off today in honor of the birthdays of George and Abe. (And while we’re at it we’ll probably lift a belated glass to Charles as well.) For those of you embarking on school-vacation-week adventures, bon voyage! To the rest, we’ll be back tomorrow with all the high-tech and life-sciences news you can … Continue reading “Happy Birthdays Misters President”
Xconomy Forum: The Future of Mobile Innovation in New England **SOLD OUT**
The world is going mobile, and New England is home to many leading creators of applications for iPhones, Android phones, Windows Mobile, and other mobile platforms, as well as important wireless services, infrastructure, and advertising companies. But there’s a lot of froth and hype in the market. With the economy in the tank and customers … Continue reading “Xconomy Forum: The Future of Mobile Innovation in New England **SOLD OUT**”
Partnering Workshop: Meeting R & D Challenges Through Strategic Alliances
Apelles Partners is a consortium of “like-minded” companies and consultants working in synergy to deliver specialized knowledge-based solutions. Their strategies are aimed at finding better ways to collectively nurture innovation, obtain a deeper understanding of the science, and improve productivity while still containing costs. The Apelles Partnering Workshop will present how this unique business model … Continue reading “Partnering Workshop: Meeting R & D Challenges Through Strategic Alliances”
HeartWare Takes $282M Buyout
HeartWare International (ASX:[[ticker:HIN]]), a small Framingham, MA-based developer of an implant used to keep the heart beating, has agreed to be sold to Pleasanton, CA-based medical devices firm Thoratec (NASDAQ:[[ticker:THOR]]) in a half stock, half cash deal valued at $282 million, according to Thoratec. The deal is expected to close in the second half of … Continue reading “HeartWare Takes $282M Buyout”
Former Arthur D. Little CEO McNamara, Taking a Top Post at Cambridge Consultants, Says She’s Gone “Back to the Future”
Pamela McNamara says that her new post at Cambridge Consultants, a technology product design and development firm, is like going “back to the future.” That’s because she once oversaw the firm as CEO of then-fading consulting powerhouse Arthur D. Little, which owned Cambridge Consultants until 2002. Yet her new employer has evolved in the years … Continue reading “Former Arthur D. Little CEO McNamara, Taking a Top Post at Cambridge Consultants, Says She’s Gone “Back to the Future””
Public Radio for People Without Radios
I have a bunch of wireless devices at home, but none of them are radios. And if I’m at all typical, then the radio business has a big problem. For broadcasters, getting radio programming to people like me, who find most or all of their news, information, and entertainment on the Internet, is challenging enough. … Continue reading “Public Radio for People Without Radios”
Backchannelmedia Opens Revenue Channel, GSK to Shell Out Up to $450M for Idenix Drug, GI Dynamics Packs On $15M, & More Boston-Area Deals News
Once again, New England’s tech and life sciences firms have managed to eek out a few notable deals despite the daunting climate. —Idenix Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:IDIX]]), a maker of infectious-disease treatments in Cambridge, MA, forged an alliance with GlaxoSmithKline potentially worth about $450 million. The deal, which will bring Idenix $34 million up front, as … Continue reading “Backchannelmedia Opens Revenue Channel, GSK to Shell Out Up to $450M for Idenix Drug, GI Dynamics Packs On $15M, & More Boston-Area Deals News”
The Best $1 Billion We Can Spend: Investing in Innovations for the Disabled, Disadvantaged, and Dismissed
The battle is over and the final economic recovery and stimulus bill preserves $15 billion for basic science and over $50 billion for upgrading America’s technology infrastructure. These expenditures will put people to work immediately, provide a foundation for steady economic growth, and set the stage for discoveries that address longstanding human problems. As a … Continue reading “The Best $1 Billion We Can Spend: Investing in Innovations for the Disabled, Disadvantaged, and Dismissed”
Report: Bain Raises $475M VC Fund
Boston-based Bain Capital has managed to raise a $475 million venture fund during a harsh climate for VC fund-raising, the Boston Globe reports this morning, citing unnamed sources. The story says that Bain, which manages some $70 billion through its private equity, hedge, debt, and venture funds, could bring in a total of $550 million … Continue reading “Report: Bain Raises $475M VC Fund”
Oscient to Shed 32% of Workers
Oscient Pharmaceuticals, a Waltham, MA-based drug maker, says it is laying off 32 percent of its total workforce, or about 100 jobs, to conserve cash. The company—which markets fenofibrate (Antara) for high cholesterol and antibiotic gemifloxacin mesylate (Factive) for bronchitis—expects a charge of $2 million in this fiscal quarter related to the layoffs. The cuts, … Continue reading “Oscient to Shed 32% of Workers”
Alkermes Knocks on Door of Biotech Big Leagues, Aims to Make Drugs of its Own
People in the life sciences business throw around the term “Big Biotech” as a way to distinguish the industry’s elites from the money-losing masses in the product-development stage. The “Big Biotechs” are the industry’s select few profitable companies with multi-billion dollar stock valuations, like Amgen, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, Celgene, and a duo from Cambridge, MA—Genzyme … Continue reading “Alkermes Knocks on Door of Biotech Big Leagues, Aims to Make Drugs of its Own”
Partners’ Center for Connected Health to Launch Disease-Monitoring System, Mulls Commercial Spinoff
A group within Boston’s largest health system is launching a Web-based service so employers can help their workers keep their high blood pressure in check. The service developed by the Center for Connected Health, which is part of Partners HealthCare, could help reduce thousands of fatal strokes and heart attacks in the U.S. caused by … Continue reading “Partners’ Center for Connected Health to Launch Disease-Monitoring System, Mulls Commercial Spinoff”
Sensata Cuts 150 Workers
Sensata Technologies, a maker sensors and switches based in The Netherlands, has cut 150 jobs though layoffs and buyouts, with most of the reductions coming at the firm’s Attleboro, MA, operation, the Attleboro Sun Chronicle newspaper reports. The company revealed this week that its fourth-quarter revenue of $267.6 million was down 28.2 percent from the … Continue reading “Sensata Cuts 150 Workers”
Usama Fayyad on ChoiceStream’s Effort to Save Online Display Ads from Irrelevance
If you’re like me, you don’t pay much attention to display ads on the Web—the big “banner” and “skyscraper” ads that run along the top or the side of many media sites. The problem is that few of these ads are for products or companies that interest me, so I tune them all out. Well, … Continue reading “Usama Fayyad on ChoiceStream’s Effort to Save Online Display Ads from Irrelevance”
More Info Needed on Alkermes Drug
Alkermes (NASDAQ:[[ticker:ALKS]]), a Cambridge, MA-based biotech company, says that the FDA has asked the firm’s partner, Johnson & Johnson, for more information about a long-acting version of schizophrenia drug risperidone before the agency decides whether to approve it as supplemental treatment for bipolar disorder. The drug, marketed under the names Risperdal and Consta, garnered U.S. … Continue reading “More Info Needed on Alkermes Drug”
Vivox Partners with Epic Games
Vivox, a Natick, MA-based company that makes voice communications software for online games and virtual worlds such as Second Life, said today that its technology will be integrated into Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3, the graphics engine behind blockbuster console-game titles such as Gears of War and Bioshock. The partnership will make it easier for … Continue reading “Vivox Partners with Epic Games”
VC Firms, Led By Advanced Technology Ventures, Aim To Polish Image with Entrepreneurs
This we’ve known: The venture capital business model relies on having talented entrepreneurs to run their portfolio companies. Yet many entrepreneurs love to hate VCs, and new online forums such as TheFunded.com have made this reality more clear than ever (Bob wrote about how TheFunded.com has made its ratings of VC firms and partners available … Continue reading “VC Firms, Led By Advanced Technology Ventures, Aim To Polish Image with Entrepreneurs”
Deux Deals for Dyax, Au Revoir for Vertex’s Boger, Grande Alliance for Idenix and GSK, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News
This week’s life sciences news was dominated by New England’s public companies—starting with three developments from Dyax. —Last Wednesday, an FDA advisory committee voted by a margin of just 6-5 to recommend approval of ecallantide from Cambridge, MA-based Dyax (NASDAQ:[[ticker:DYAX]]). The drug, a treatment for the rare blood disease hereditary angioedema, is the lead drug … Continue reading “Deux Deals for Dyax, Au Revoir for Vertex’s Boger, Grande Alliance for Idenix and GSK, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”
Alexandria Wins Zoning Change in East Cambridge, Removing One Obstacle to Huge Biotech Park
An ambitious plan by Pasadena, CA-based Alexandria Real Estate Equities to create a 16-acre biotech park in East Cambridge, MA, moved one step closer to being realized last night. By an 8-1 vote, the Cambridge City Council approved a rezoning request from Alexandria that will allow it to build taller, denser buildings than those previously … Continue reading “Alexandria Wins Zoning Change in East Cambridge, Removing One Obstacle to Huge Biotech Park”
Charles River Cutting 3% of Workers
Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:[[ticker:CRL]]), a Wilmington, MA-based contract researcher for the pharmaceutical industry, says that it plans to reduce its global workforce by 3 percent during the first quarter of this year to reduce costs. The firm reportedly has between 8,500 and 9,000 employees, meaning the cuts could impact from 255 to 270 workers. … Continue reading “Charles River Cutting 3% of Workers”
Dell Launches Zink-based Printer
Waltham, MA-based Zink, known for commercializing an inkless printing technique originally conceived at Polaroid, is providing the technology behind a new ultra-mobile wireless printer from Dell. Called the Wasabi, the $149 printer is similar to the Polaroid PoGo mobile printer, which also based on technology licensed from Zink; it’s about 5 inches long, 3 inches … Continue reading “Dell Launches Zink-based Printer”
FetchDog Retrieves $4M
Portland, ME-based FetchDog—a shopping and blogging website focused on dogs and dog-related merchandise and co-founded by actor Glenn Close and her husband David Shaw, former CEO of IDEXX Laboratories and Ikarian Holding—announced yesterday that it has closed a $4 million funding round. The investors included Portsmouth and Hanover, NH-based Borealis Capital Partners and Keene, NH-based … Continue reading “FetchDog Retrieves $4M”
Dyax and Fovea Strike Drug Pact
Biotech firm Dyax (NASDAQ:[[ticker:DYAX]]), based in Cambridge, MA, says that it has struck an exclusive license deal with French drug firm Fovea Pharmaceuticals to develop a version of Dyax’s lead drug ecallantide for eye diseases. Separately, Dyax is pursuing U.S. approval of ecallantide for a rare blood disease called hereditary angioedema (HAE). Last week an … Continue reading “Dyax and Fovea Strike Drug Pact”
Teva Takes Aim at Cubist Pharma’s Key Antibiotic Business
Cubist Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:[[ticker:CBST]]) plans to mount a lawsuit against Teva Parenteral Medicines after Teva made known that it plans to seek U.S. approval of a generic version of Cubist’s top-selling antibiotic daptomycin (Cubicin), Cubist announced this morning. Lexington, MA-based Cubist says that Teva informed the company in a letter that it planned to gain approval … Continue reading “Teva Takes Aim at Cubist Pharma’s Key Antibiotic Business”
Forrester Cuts 50
Forrester Research (NASDAQ: [[ticker:FORR]]), the Cambridge, MA-based technology market research firm, said yesterday it will deal with the economic crunch by cutting 50 positions, or about 5 percent of its global workforce. But the move comes after a big hiring surge in 2008; even after the cuts, the company will still have 14 percent more … Continue reading “Forrester Cuts 50”
As Unemployment Rises, “Service Networking” Startups Find Niche Matching Workers With Odd Jobs
When a good idea is ready to be born, it can surface in several minds at once. That appears to be what’s happening right now around Boston, as four local Web-based startups launch online marketplaces that match people willing to do small jobs with people who need jobs done. In each case, the founders point … Continue reading “As Unemployment Rises, “Service Networking” Startups Find Niche Matching Workers With Odd Jobs”
PerkinElmer Sacrifices Short-Term Profit to Preserve R&D, Buy Technologies on the Cheap
Not many CEOs of publicly traded companies tell Wall Street that they are willing to sacrifice profits for the next few quarters to preserve the long-term health of their R&D operations. So I was eager to hear Rob Friel, CEO of Waltham, MA-based PerkinElmer, explain why he thinks this strategy makes sense for his company, … Continue reading “PerkinElmer Sacrifices Short-Term Profit to Preserve R&D, Buy Technologies on the Cheap”
FetchDog Receives $4,000,000 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6c52e112-6219-460e-a9e2-182be7a005f5&Preview=1 Date 2/10/2009 Company Name FetchDog Mailing Address 100 Fore St Portland, ME 04101 Company Description FetchDog began as the dream of a bunch of dog-crazy friends with a common complaint—why was there no great place online to shop for our dogs or to connect with dog experts and other dog lovers? … Continue reading “FetchDog Receives $4,000,000 New Funding Round”
Black Duck Software Inc. Secures $5,000,000 Series D Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=069746fe-c80a-4491-b843-4d63e2bb4c25&Preview=1 Date 2/10/2009 Company Name Black Duck Software Inc. Mailing Address 265 Winter Street, North Entrance Waltham, MA 02451 Company Description Black Duck Software(TM) is the leading provider of automated software compliance management solutions that help companies govern how software assets are created, managed and licensed. Website http://www.blackducksoftware.com Transaction Type Venture Equity … Continue reading “Black Duck Software Inc. Secures $5,000,000 Series D Financing Round”