Category: Boulder/Denver

Sea Level Rise: Time for a Barrage of New Ideas

Everyone recognizes the Golden Gate Bridge. Even if you’ve never visited it in person, you’ve seen it in hundreds of movies and photographs. But I’ll bet you’ve never heard of the Golden Gate Barrage. That’s because it doesn’t exist yet. But as the atmosphere warms, ice sheets melt, and the unruly oceans slosh past their … Continue reading “Sea Level Rise: Time for a Barrage of New Ideas”

Starting a Company Is Hard. Good Health Insurance Makes It Easier.

Usually late August is fairly laid-back, but this year the debate over how states are implementing the federal Affordable Care Act seems to get louder by the day. Except here in Massachusetts, where it’s pretty quiet. Why? Because it’s already been addressed here. I must admit, I don’t remember there being very much angst at the … Continue reading “Starting a Company Is Hard. Good Health Insurance Makes It Easier.”

Boulder Conference Seeks to Encourage Women Entrepreneurs to Lean In

Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg might have made “lean in” a mantra for female entrepreneurs with her book this year, but it’s a lesson TRUSTe co-founder and chairwoman Fran Maier learned years ago—and she learned it the hard way. Maier was part of the team that founded Match.com and was the startup’s general manager in the … Continue reading “Boulder Conference Seeks to Encourage Women Entrepreneurs to Lean In”

RoundPegg Obtains $2,416,833 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6e1baf96-9a4b-4bc5-90c2-2db470201a1e Date 8/29/2013 Company Name RoundPegg Mailing Address 1433 Pearl St. Boulder, CO 80302 Company Description The company develops pre-employment software solutions. Website http://www.roundpegg.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $2,416,833 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. amount includes conversion of outstanding convertible promissory notes. SEC regulatory filing. … Continue reading “RoundPegg Obtains $2,416,833 New Funding”

Sal Khan Wants to Teach Everyone: Here Are 6 Lessons for Innovators

Khan Academy founder and executive director Salman Khan wants to democratize education so anyone, anywhere can get a great education. Today, Khan had to settle for Denver. But it’s safe to say he accomplished his mission. Khan gave the keynote speech for the annual Colorado Innovation Network Summit, a gathering of the Mile High State’s political … Continue reading “Sal Khan Wants to Teach Everyone: Here Are 6 Lessons for Innovators”

Announcing Oct. 15 Xconomy Healthcare Summit: Request An Invitation

There’s hardly an issue that is more of a hot button than healthcare—and there’s hardly an issue that is surrounded by as much poorly understood, misguided, or outright misleading information. Yet neither are there many sectors as fundamentally important to our economy and future growth. To get to some real answers (or at least valuable … Continue reading “Announcing Oct. 15 Xconomy Healthcare Summit: Request An Invitation”

The Healthcare Summit 2013: Precision Medicine to Precision Management

Advances in genomics, mobile technology, and data collection and analysis are poised to transform healthcare from drug development to patient care and hospital management. But what will it take to realize their promise in the age of the Affordable Care Act, and what does this require of payers, providers, and patients? How can we finally … Continue reading “The Healthcare Summit 2013: Precision Medicine to Precision Management”

The Challenge of Monetizing Content In A Changing Era

The University of Colorado’s Silicon Flatirons Center kicks off the academic year with a conference that looks at issues facing content creators, especially in the video world. Heavy hitters from NBCUniversal, Starz, and Dish Network are scheduled to speak. The conference will frame the challenges and opportunities facing the established and upstart video programming distribution … Continue reading “The Challenge of Monetizing Content In A Changing Era”

4 Lessons from Google for Entrepreneurs Day in Denver

Google is in Denver today at Galvanize for its “Google for Entrepreneurs” event. More than 350 people are registered for the event, which features speakers from the team Google created to reach out to entrepreneurs. The first few presentations have been about Google’s global strategy and some products, but afternoon sessions will discuss building business … Continue reading “4 Lessons from Google for Entrepreneurs Day in Denver”

Colorado Innovators to Celebrate Risking and Recovering from Failure

Failure in the business world is a funny thing. Entrepreneurs who take risks and build innovative companies against long odds are celebrated, and their failures become part of their legend. But for a huge number of talented people with great ideas, fear of getting labeled with the other F word holds them back. “Failure has … Continue reading “Colorado Innovators to Celebrate Risking and Recovering from Failure”

Why Good Drugs Sometimes Fail: The Bexxar Story

Quite a few biotech entrepreneurs go to work each day operating under the assumption that clinical trial data is king. If you put together a rock-solid dataset from a big clinical trial that says your experimental drug beats today’s standard of care, then you’re onto something big, or so the line of thinking goes. Everything … Continue reading “Why Good Drugs Sometimes Fail: The Bexxar Story”

Mile High Roundup: Spaceships, SomaLogic Stays Silent, and SanDisk

Welcome to the Mile High Roundup, a look at some of the interesting things that have happened over the past two weeks in the tech scene in Boulder, Denver, and around Colorado. In this edition, NASA tests out a Colorado-made spaceship, SomaLogic quietly raises $10 million, and SanDisk finishes its deal for Smart Storage Systems. … Continue reading “Mile High Roundup: Spaceships, SomaLogic Stays Silent, and SanDisk”

Trada Takes Inc.’s Top Spot for Fastest Growing Colorado Companies

Colorado companies did well on this year’s Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies, with 134 making the list. Dozens of tech companies from Boulder, Denver, and the surrounding areas made this year’s list, with the top spot for Colorado companies going to Boulder’s own Trada. Colorado held its own when compared to other … Continue reading “Trada Takes Inc.’s Top Spot for Fastest Growing Colorado Companies”

Misfit Shine and the Pros and Cons of Wearable Fitness Trackers

I don’t like being encumbered. That’s why I stopped wearing a wristwatch years ago, around the time I got my first mobile phone. That’s also why I’ve long looked askance at activity-tracking bracelets like the Fitbit Flex, the Nike FuelBand, and the Jawbone UP. I liked the idea of having more data about my exercise … Continue reading “Misfit Shine and the Pros and Cons of Wearable Fitness Trackers”

SkyFuel Obtains $3,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e5cfb630-ccb6-4a1e-9905-88a48244ffdc Date 8/23/2013 Company Name SkyFuel Mailing Address 18300 W. Hwy 72 Arvada, CO 80007 Company Description SkyFuel delivers solar-power that is cost competitive in many applications. We deliver turn-key, large-scale solar plants that use Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) to produce steam for power generation, desalination, waste water treatment, and other industrial … Continue reading “SkyFuel Obtains $3,000,000 New Financing Round”

Ajubeo Raises Third Round from Private Equity Investors to Go Global

Cloud infrastructure provider Ajubeo has raised an undisclosed amount from a Boulder, CO-based private equity firm and plans to use the financing to expand nationally within the next year and increase its international clientele. Ajubeo (pronounced a-joo-bee-oh) is a cloud infrastructure-as-a-service provider based in Boulder. It has clients in the healthcare, financial services, and online … Continue reading “Ajubeo Raises Third Round from Private Equity Investors to Go Global”

Ajubeo Secures New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a23d84e4-4067-419e-a7c3-aa1aecb52de3 Date 8/22/2013 Company Name Ajubeo Mailing Address 1470 Walnut Street Boulder, CO 80302 Company Description Ajubeo is a privately held Cloud Infrastructure as a Service provider, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. Website http://www.ajubeo.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes The new capital will be used to … Continue reading “Ajubeo Secures New Financing”

SomaLogic Obtains $9,999,997 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=35402ba5-c21f-46d4-bd65-db0626a9a2cd Date 8/21/2013 Company Name SomaLogic Mailing Address 2945 Wilderness Place Boulder, CO 80301 Company Description SomaLogic, Inc. is developing novel proteomics systems and applications based on its proprietary aptamer technology. Aptamers are single-stranded DNA and RNA molecules that, like antibodies, can bind to target molecules with high affinity and specificity. Website … Continue reading “SomaLogic Obtains $9,999,997 New Financing Round”

$60.2M from ’90s Startups Make Boulder’s Polis 7th Richest U.S. Rep

Jared Polis, former tech entrepreneur, Techstars co-founder, longtime figure in Colorado’s tech scene, and now Boulder’s representative in Congress, is the seventh wealthiest lawmaker in Washington, according to rankings released today by the Hill, a print and online publication that covers politics and government. The Democratic Congressman’s personal wealth is an estimated $60.2 million, according … Continue reading “$60.2M from ’90s Startups Make Boulder’s Polis 7th Richest U.S. Rep”

Techstars Pieces Together Connected Devices Accelerator with R/GA

The hardware sector, regarded by some as the black sheep of the innovation world, is enjoying a bit of renewed interest from the startup community. On Monday the folks at Techstars in Boulder, CO latched on to this rising trend, announcing a new connected devices accelerator that will be in partnership with digital marketing agency … Continue reading “Techstars Pieces Together Connected Devices Accelerator with R/GA”

Zayo to Acquire Minnesota-based Access Communications in $40M Deal

Zayo Group, a rapidly growing telecommunications company headquartered in Boulder, CO, has signed a definitive agreement to buy Access Communications and its 1,200-mile fiber optic network in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region, the company announced Monday. The acquisition price was $40 million, but it could be adjusted, Zayo said. Zayo is paying for Access with cash … Continue reading “Zayo to Acquire Minnesota-based Access Communications in $40M Deal”

Who Should Biotech Pros Follow on Twitter? An Update for 2013

[Updated: 12:07 pm PT] Twitter is where the biotech industry comes to trade news, analysis, and gossip every day. This has been true for a couple years. The 140-character blogging platform just keeps gaining strength every day as more people join, more people figure out how they can contribute in a meaningful way, and more … Continue reading “Who Should Biotech Pros Follow on Twitter? An Update for 2013”

RichRelevance Goes Shopping for Data Analytics Platform, Buys Precog

After two years of trying to “go broad” with predictive data analytics, Precog has been bought by a company that wants it to “go deep.” RichRelevance announced earlier this week that it bought Precog, a Boulder, CO-based startup, for an undisclosed amount. RichRelevance specializes in personalized e-commerce software, and the San Francisco-based company works with … Continue reading “RichRelevance Goes Shopping for Data Analytics Platform, Buys Precog”

Denver Startup Week 2013 Schedule Features 125 Events, Seth Godin

Talk about rapidly scaling the size of a new startup. Denver Startup Week is back for its second year, and organizers released the event’s schedule Thursday. It’s pretty big, with more than 125 events scheduled around Denver, most of them happening downtown. The event, which runs Sept. 16-21, is Denver’s chance to showcase the tech … Continue reading “Denver Startup Week 2013 Schedule Features 125 Events, Seth Godin”

Biotech VCs, Stung by Startup Returns, Elbow into Royalty Financing

The new landscape for venture capital investing does not seem to leave much room for classic company formation. Investor after investor has shut down or moved beyond startups into what seem like greener pastures. So it should come as no surprise that at least a few VC firms are now expanding into the royalty space, … Continue reading “Biotech VCs, Stung by Startup Returns, Elbow into Royalty Financing”

High-Speed Rail or Hyperloop? Let’s Try Both, and Reward the Winner

It’s been a bumpy week for high-speed rail advocates in California. On Sunday, the Los Angeles Times published a story saying that groundbreaking on the first section of the “bullet train” route linking L.A. and San Francisco will likely slip into 2014—more than two years behind schedule. Then on Monday, aerospace and automotive mogul Elon … Continue reading “High-Speed Rail or Hyperloop? Let’s Try Both, and Reward the Winner”

Dream Chaser Spacecraft Rolls Through Runway Test, Faces New Hurdles

The spaceship being built in Colorado continues to make progress here on Earth, although NASA announced today it will have to clear a few more hurdles before reaching space. Sierra Nevada Corp. is designing and building the Dream Chaser spacecraft, which is a privately developed vehicle NASA could use to ferry up to seven astronauts … Continue reading “Dream Chaser Spacecraft Rolls Through Runway Test, Faces New Hurdles”

nVoq Garners $4,335,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=61790bf9-a89d-471f-bfe4-55c9d766e960 Date 8/15/2013 Company Name nVoq Mailing Address 2580 55th Street Boulder, CO 80301 Company Description nVoq has created a suite of applications that call centers use to increase the productivity of their telephone agents. Website http://www.nvoq.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $4,335,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were … Continue reading “nVoq Garners $4,335,000 New Financing”

Development Patent Summit: Boulder

Patents Summits are a series of events hosted by the Application Developers Alliance that bring developers, policymakers, and patent experts together to discuss practical topics like assertion and defense strategies for startups and examine the issue of policy reform. The event will feature a patent expert, followed by a panel discussion between policymakers, app developers, and attorneys. … Continue reading “Development Patent Summit: Boulder”

Co-Founders Lab Boulder Meetup

The Co-Founders Lab helps “hackers and hustlers” find co-founders for their businesses or helps them find a business to join as a co-founder. This event is a meetup hosted by Techstars at its downtown Boulder HQ. Click here for more details, the schedule, and the registration form.

Orbotix Rolls Out Next-Gen Sphero, Considers Possible New Directions

The ball, reinvented, has itself been reinvented—and that means changes could be on the horizon for Orbotix, the Boulder, CO, startup that took the ball and put a robot inside it. Orbotix this morning launched Sphero 2.0, the next generation of the Sphero robotic ball that’s controlled by iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. Sphero … Continue reading “Orbotix Rolls Out Next-Gen Sphero, Considers Possible New Directions”

Survey: VCs Less Confident in Global Markets, Look to Home Turf

Private-market investors tend to be an optimistic bunch, at least in public—it comes with the territory when you’re betting on unknown or unproven companies and their founders. But a new survey of market confidence from the National Venture Capital Association shows a pretty dour outlook in several cases from VC, private equity, and growth equity … Continue reading “Survey: VCs Less Confident in Global Markets, Look to Home Turf”

SomaLogic Partners with Agilent to Distribute Proteomic Technology

SomaLogic and Agilent Technologies announced Monday they have formed a partnership to install SomaLogic’s protein biomarker discovery platform at research centers around the country. The Boulder, CO-based biotech is developing diagnostic tests that use protein biomarkers to identify illnesses. The tests are based on the idea that diseases create telltale proteins as they develop and … Continue reading “SomaLogic Partners with Agilent to Distribute Proteomic Technology”

Younity Lands $3,540,000 Seed Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8fd5fb0d-1dab-4012-8f1b-fb88446f7e78 Date 8/13/2013 Company Name Younity Mailing Address 1035 Pearl Street Boulder, CO 80302 Company Description Younity is brought to you by Entangled Media, a company focused on changing the relationship between people, data and devices. While we obviously design and build software/online services, we consider ourselves a user experience company. Website … Continue reading “Younity Lands $3,540,000 Seed Funding”

Secure64 Software Lands $172,116 Series A Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d89a75a9-2aad-4fca-80ef-f68a53420d6f Date 8/13/2013 Company Name Secure64 Software Mailing Address 5600 South Quebec Street Greenwood Village, CO 80111 Company Description Secure64 Software Corporation was founded in 2002 to provide network and server software technology capable of assuring unheard of levels of security and performance. Website http://www.secure64.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $172,116 … Continue reading “Secure64 Software Lands $172,116 Series A Round”

Build Locally, Thrive Globally: CEO David Cohen on Techstars’ Future

As we wrap up our seventh year of the Boulder Techstars program, it’s been a time to reflect on the past and look to the future. Not just the future of Techstars, but of startups everywhere. Because we strongly believe that we’re making a difference that spreads far beyond the companies we invest in or … Continue reading “Build Locally, Thrive Globally: CEO David Cohen on Techstars’ Future”

Six Reasons Why Giving Scientists Big Bonuses Won’t Fix Pharma R&D

Scientists in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry are an underappreciated bunch. They make decent salaries, but nowhere near the big bucks that go to their bosses. Even when an industry scientist discovers a new drug that helps people and makes billions, he or she almost never gets publicly recognized. They live mostly anonymous middle class … Continue reading “Six Reasons Why Giving Scientists Big Bonuses Won’t Fix Pharma R&D”

Techstars Names New President, Accelerates Plans for Worldwide Reach

In its quest to go global, Techstars is going back to its roots. The Techstars startup accelerator held its annual demo day Thursday in its hometown of Boulder, CO. Along with pitches from 10 startups, the presentation included a rare joint appearance by all four Techstars founders and the introduction—or possibly reintroduction—of its new president, … Continue reading “Techstars Names New President, Accelerates Plans for Worldwide Reach”

The Geek Doesn’t Always Get the Girl: A Novelist on Hacking Romance

In today’s Silicon Valley, the hacker wunderkinds are ascendant. Boy-kings are running billion-member social networks, founding massive new venture capital firms, building incubators that churn out hundreds of new startups every year, and even fighting poverty and disease by drilling for water in Ethiopia. Materially, at least, their revenge on whatever high-school cliques once excluded … Continue reading “The Geek Doesn’t Always Get the Girl: A Novelist on Hacking Romance”

In Memoriam: Duane Roth Was a Driving Force in Our Innovation Economy

Duane Roth was a very special person to me and to the San Diego life sciences community. After he took over as the CEO of Connect at the end of 2004, he took on a larger role for the entire technology community—or as Duane would call it, the “Innovation Economy.” For Duane, San Diego has … Continue reading “In Memoriam: Duane Roth Was a Driving Force in Our Innovation Economy”

FitBionic Secures $2,200,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7fddc669-54bd-4b1c-9616-36d327064646 Date 8/9/2013 Company Name FitBionic Mailing Address 4900 Pearl St Boulder, CO 80301 Company Description FitBionic is located in Boulder, Colorado, an international epicenter of health and fitness. We are dedicated to one principle: that amputees deserve whole-person care. We believe in stimulating healthy, active lifestyles, and offering bionics that feel … Continue reading “FitBionic Secures $2,200,000 New Financing Round”

Intuit Acquires Tax Planning Startup GoodApril Before Techstars Demo

GoodApril, we hardly knew you. The founders of the Techstars startup announced Thursday that Intuit has bought their company for an undisclosed price. GoodApril makes tax-planning software intended to help users reduce their annual tax bill, so the company seems like a logical fit with Intuit (NASDAQ: [[ticker:INTU]]), which makes the TurboTax tax preparation and … Continue reading “Intuit Acquires Tax Planning Startup GoodApril Before Techstars Demo”

Understanding Open Science

The dream of getting to cures, faster, is one shared by many. But every new instrument we’ve invented to examine the human body has shown us only more complexity and interconnection.  The failure of all of our new technologies to translate rapidly into drugs has demonstrated that we’re the folks in the parking lot looking under the lamppost … Continue reading “Understanding Open Science”

Trada Lands $1,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=605f3ff5-5749-402c-92b2-e76184594ad2 Date 8/8/2013 Company Name Trada Mailing Address 1023 Walnut Street Boulder, CO 80302 Company Description Trada is revolutionizing the way Agencies, Advertisers and PPC Experts build and manage PPC marketing campaigns. We’ve developed the first PPC marketplace that allows agencies and in-house advertisers to leverage the skills of hundreds of the … Continue reading “Trada Lands $1,000,000 New Financing Round”

Array Biopharma Cuts Staff by 20%, Loses Development Deal with Amgen

Array Biopharma, a Boulder, CO-based drug development company, announced today it has laid off 20 percent of its staff and that Amgen has ended a drug development partnership with the company. The cuts leave Array (Nasdaq: [[ticker:ARRY]]) with about 200 employees. Array and Amgen (Nasdaq: [[ticker:AMGN]]) had been working on a treatment for type 2 … Continue reading “Array Biopharma Cuts Staff by 20%, Loses Development Deal with Amgen”

FullContact’s CEO Looks Back at Techstars, Two Years and $8.8M Later

This morning I went on a hike up Mt. Sanitas with the founders of Kato.im, Peter Hizalev and Andrei Soroker. It’s an exciting time for Peter and Andrei—they are presenting tomorrow as part of the Techstars Boulder 2013 class at Techstars Demo Day. As we hiked and talked about the past summer, Kato’s product, and … Continue reading “FullContact’s CEO Looks Back at Techstars, Two Years and $8.8M Later”

RoundPegg Uses Web-based Polls, Services to Build Stronger Cultures

Corporate culture is a tricky issue in the business world. Companies spend vast sums of money on consultants, surveys, and “Successories” motivational posters. Meanwhile, jaded employees roll their eyes when it comes time to take the annual survey or wisecrack their way through buzzword-filled HR meetings. Both points of view are justified. Studies show companies … Continue reading “RoundPegg Uses Web-based Polls, Services to Build Stronger Cultures”

Lost in Translation: The Novice’s Guide to BioPharma Idioms

Many fields of endeavor have their own special words, abbreviations, and coded language. People working in each of these disciplines learn over time how to use certain phrases that describe items or situations in the best possible light. In real estate listings, for example, a house will never be designated as “small.” Instead, it might … Continue reading “Lost in Translation: The Novice’s Guide to BioPharma Idioms”