Category: Boulder/Denver

The Women’s Entrepreneurship Opportunity Is Not For Women Only

My doctoral dissertation, published in 2009, was a phenomenological study of 15 trailblazing women who held board of director positions in life sciences and technology businesses. The findings focused on the common traits and characteristics shared by the study participants, all of whom found success in an industry that is defined and dominated by men. … Continue reading “The Women’s Entrepreneurship Opportunity Is Not For Women Only”

Angie’s List Acquires BrightNest for $2,650,000

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d882b445-87e2-4ed6-adb7-c8d6f5c00d7a Date 8/6/2013 Company Name BrightNest Mailing Address Undisclosed Denver, CO 80205 Company Description BrightNest is a free service that helps homeowners by providing customized tips, weekly reminders and step-by-step instructions on how to care for their home. When you sign up, it only takes us one minute to create a custom … Continue reading “Angie’s List Acquires BrightNest for $2,650,000”

NASA’s Next Mars Mission Leaves Colorado on Trip to the Red Planet

Next stop: Mars. NASA’s next mission to the Red Planet is the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN spacecraft, or MAVEN, which on Friday arrived at the Kennedy Space Center. The satellite was designed and built outside Denver by Lockheed Martin Space Systems. MAVEN is scheduled to launch this November, following prelaunch setup and testing. The … Continue reading “NASA’s Next Mars Mission Leaves Colorado on Trip to the Red Planet”

How to Think Like a Hacker, Even If You Can’t Code

What do Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Larry Page all have in common? Yes, they’ve founded multi-billion dollar businesses with virtually no formal business training, with combined revenues of over $80 billion. But they are also former software engineers and hackers, an experience that undoubtedly taught them skills in critical thinking and problem solving. Making … Continue reading “How to Think Like a Hacker, Even If You Can’t Code”

Celgene Emerges as Biotech’s Shrewdest, Nimblest Dealmaker

Celgene is best known for taking a notoriously dangerous compound, thalidomide, and turning a derivative into a hugely successful cancer drug. But what fewer people may realize is that it is fast building the biotech industry’s best network of partnerships with innovators. This feels odd to say, even though Celgene (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CELG]]) has been a … Continue reading “Celgene Emerges as Biotech’s Shrewdest, Nimblest Dealmaker”

Colorado Dominates List of Best Places to Work for Outdoorsy Types

Colorado-based companies dominated Outside Magazine’s annual list of best places to work Thursday, with companies based in Boulder, Denver, and the Denver suburbs taking three of the top five and five of the top 10 spots. The list includes some tech companies that are familiar names, like ninth-ranked Gnip and 24th-ranked Rally Software (NYSE: [[ticker:RALY]]). … Continue reading “Colorado Dominates List of Best Places to Work for Outdoorsy Types”

What’s In Your Earthquake Kit? Here’s a Look at Mine

If you live in California, where earthquakes measuring 4.0 or above hit once or twice a month, you can’t ignore the fact that the continental plates are shifting. Frequent, minor temblors help to remind us that someday, the Big One could instantly disable our fragile highways, aqueducts, and communications networks. In that scenario, all of … Continue reading “What’s In Your Earthquake Kit? Here’s a Look at Mine”

Four Startup Challenges that Technology Can Help Solve

Many startups think that their greatest challenge is to get funding. Sure, that’s tough. And when you do find a willing investor, half the battle is won. But after that, the real work begins. You need to build a good team, put in place processes and infrastructure, innovate, and of course, pursue aggressive marketing strategies. … Continue reading “Four Startup Challenges that Technology Can Help Solve”

Slicebooks Receives Seed Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=66e5091f-ac6a-49ea-9af8-f68faf2575ee Date 8/2/2013 Company Name Slicebooks Mailing Address 3457 Ringsby Court Denver, CO 80216 Company Description We aim to make content available everywhere whole, sliced, customized and readable on any device, right now. Website http://www.slicebooks.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Seed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. … Continue reading “Slicebooks Receives Seed Financing Round”

Zayo’s Startup Story: Building a $6B Telecom From Behind a Pizzeria

[Editor’s note: Dan Caruso is CEO of Zayo Group, a telecom company based in Boulder. Zayo has grown into a company with revenue of $1.1 billion and an enterprise value of $6 billion. Zayo and Caruso are giving back to Boulder, although as Caruso admits, it took a little time before he “got it.” This … Continue reading “Zayo’s Startup Story: Building a $6B Telecom From Behind a Pizzeria”

The Sowing of a Startup Community in Telluride

All it takes are the right seeds and soil for a startup community to take root and thrive. I recently saw this first hand in a seemingly off-the-beaten-path city—Telluride, CO. I discovered Telluride’s entrepreneurial aspirations last summer, when I received a call from Jesse Johnson, an entrepreneur who relocated from New York City to Telluride … Continue reading “The Sowing of a Startup Community in Telluride”

Startup Phenomenon Launches, Aims to Capture Essence of Startup Hubs

You could call the recent interest in startup communities and entrepreneurial hubs a movement, a trend, a revolution, or possibly just a fad. But whatever it is, entrepreneurs clustered in cities around the world are making something happen, and as with any natural, technological, or economic phenomenon, people are watching it and trying to learn. … Continue reading “Startup Phenomenon Launches, Aims to Capture Essence of Startup Hubs”

Why Deborah Dunsire’s Unusual Bet on Alzheimer’s Makes Sense

Just because a biotech company has landed a high-profile chief executive, does that mean its product is going to work? I’ve been asking myself that question in the wake of the unexpected July 11 announcement of the hiring of a biotech superstar, the Novartis veteran and former Millennium Pharmaceuticals CEO Deborah Dunsire, by Boston-area biotech … Continue reading “Why Deborah Dunsire’s Unusual Bet on Alzheimer’s Makes Sense”

Clock Ticks Toward Last Call for Potential Denver Startup Crawl Hosts

Have a great startup you want to introduce people to? Want to show off the cool new office? Interested in recruiting new talent in a relaxed setting over a beer or two? Then Denver Startup Crawl might be the event for you. The Startup Crawl is back and looking for startups to be hosts. The … Continue reading “Clock Ticks Toward Last Call for Potential Denver Startup Crawl Hosts”

Digabit Receives $3,000,000 Series A Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9264cedf-b149-41e4-ba34-4b5b92290f1b Date 7/30/2013 Company Name Digabit Mailing Address 215 Union Blvd Lakewood, CO 80228 Company Description Technical documentation is part of the information explosion of this era. Companies understand that they will eventually drown in this data unless it is moved into web-accessible databases. Accordingly, Documoto represents an obvious application of database/web … Continue reading “Digabit Receives $3,000,000 Series A Funding Round”

Array to Receive $11M From Celgene as Part of New Development Deal

Array BioPharma and Celgene have signed a drug development deal that will bring Array $11 million up front and could yield $376 million in milestone payments for Array if its experimental drugs reach certain goals, the companies announced Monday. The companies are collaborating on a preclinical development program that targets a novel inflammation pathway, which … Continue reading “Array to Receive $11M From Celgene as Part of New Development Deal”

Denver Startup Week 2013

The “Celebration Of Everything Entrepreneurial In Denver” returns. The inaugural event last year featured more than 70 events, 3,500 attendees, and 500 companies, which put the Denver startup community on the map in a major way. The event was officially the “Largest New Startup Event in the United States in 2012.” Organizers are in the … Continue reading “Denver Startup Week 2013”

Startup Phenomenon Women

Startup Phenomenon’s debut event is a Spotlight on Entrepreneurial Women and their integral part of entrepreneurial ecosystems. In the words of the organizers, the conference will ask: what sorts of entrepreneurial communities will be best positioned to attract talented female entrepreneurs? What does inclusion look like from women’s perspectives? What, to paraphrase Sheryl Sandberg, can … Continue reading “Startup Phenomenon Women”

Startup Phenomenon 2013 Conference

The inaugural Startup Phenomenon Conference will focus on what it takes to create and connect communities where startups thrive. The event will draw on the experiences of startup leaders from across the world, from Silicon Valley to Reykjavik and Nairobi. Entrepreneurs, executives, venture capitalists, and thought leaders like Brad Feld, Anil Dash, Jim Collins, and John … Continue reading “Startup Phenomenon 2013 Conference”

Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor and Partnering Conference

Join leading industry investors and strategic partners for presentations by the region’s most innovative life science companies at this event hosted by the Colorado BioScience Association. Presenting companies will span a range of sectors within this industry including, biologics, medical devices, drug delivery and diagnostics. The event kicks off with an opening night reception on Sept. … Continue reading “Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor and Partnering Conference”

TechStars Tech Demos @ Galvanize

Join Galvanize for an end-of-the-month tech extravaganza featuring the TechStars Boulder 2013 class! The focus of this evening will be on the products and technology that these companies have built. The event includes elevator pitches and tech demos. Drinks will be provided.

Denver Startup Week 2013 Startup Crawl

The startup crawl returns. One of the biggest events that’s part of Denver Startup Week, the startup crawl lets startups around Denver throw open their doors to host entrepreneurs, coders, and everyone else in their headquarters. Check here for more details as the date grows near.

Pharma Fails Credibility Test, Misses Opportunity, on Transparency

Some of the biggest scandals in the pharmaceutical industry (think Vioxx and Avandia) have been about drug safety, and how much of the clinical trial data on prescription drugs—especially the negative stuff—is kept hidden. Not surprisingly, some scientists, physicians, regulators, and patients have joined forces to push for all clinical-trial results, positive or negative, to … Continue reading “Pharma Fails Credibility Test, Misses Opportunity, on Transparency”

Mile High Roundup: Winners Needed, TechStars, and $50K for Failures

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, Convercent’s CEO reminds Denver of a truth, TechStars’ Class of 2013 starts taking the stage, and the state finds four … Continue reading “Mile High Roundup: Winners Needed, TechStars, and $50K for Failures”

Rally Investors, Executives Cash In With $114M Follow-On Offering

Three Boulder-based venture capital firms are about to be rewarded for their stakes in Rally Software, as they will soon sell shares in company’s follow-on public offering. Rally (NYSE: [[ticker:RALY]]) announced last week it was conducting the offering, and on Thursday it priced the shares. They will be available to the public at a price … Continue reading “Rally Investors, Executives Cash In With $114M Follow-On Offering”

What Will the End of Moore’s Law Mean for Consumers? Not Much

“The party isn’t exactly over, but the police have arrived, and the music has been turned way down.” That’s how Peter Kogge, an ex-IBM computer scientist who teaches at Notre Dame, described the state of supercomputing in a 2011 article in IEEE Spectrum. The giant machines that researchers use to simulate things like climate change, … Continue reading “What Will the End of Moore’s Law Mean for Consumers? Not Much”

Ciris Energy Lands $25,000,000 Series C Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8e871be1-9301-41f0-a7a8-e16ded7ad1a0 Date 7/26/2013 Company Name Ciris Energy Mailing Address 9155 East Nichols Avenue Centennial, CO 80112 Company Description Ciris Energy was formed to develop, commercialize and produce clean energy from abundant, low-value carbon sources, on a large scale. We are practical technology implementers, and primarily an energy production company. Website http://www.cirisenergy.com Transaction … Continue reading “Ciris Energy Lands $25,000,000 Series C Financing Round”

High-end SSD Developer SolidFire Closes $31M C Round Led by Samsung

SolidFire, a developer of solid-state drive data storage technology, announced today that it has closed a $31 million Series C round. The investment brings the total of venture capital raised by the Boulder, CO-based startup to $68 million. That’s not bad for a company that was formed in 2009 and only really began selling its … Continue reading “High-end SSD Developer SolidFire Closes $31M C Round Led by Samsung”

SolidFire Obtains $31,000,000 Series C Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=5bd2a8bc-3fba-467b-919d-64081d88c283 Date 7/25/2013 Company Name SolidFire Mailing Address 1620 Pearl St Boulder, CO 80302 Company Description Atlanta-based SolidFire is a next-generation storage platform for cloud computing providers and other enterprises that need scalable, reliable storage for thousands of servers. The Company’s solution allows customers to take advantage of the performance of solid … Continue reading “SolidFire Obtains $31,000,000 Series C Financing”

Startup Colorado Forms $200K Fund to Back Events for Entrepreneurs

Rounding up money to support your latest great idea is tough, whether it’s for funding your company or putting together an event that benefits local entrepreneurs. Well, the latter just got easier, following Startup Colorado’s announcement today that it has created a $200,000 fund to provide financial support for groups that are hosting speakers or … Continue reading “Startup Colorado Forms $200K Fund to Back Events for Entrepreneurs”

Array Shares Climb After Asthma Drug Shows Positive Phase 2 Results

Array Biopharma’s stock price jumped more than 15 percent this morning, following the company’s announcement that an oral treatment for asthma it is developing showed positive results in a Phase 2 trial. Boulder, CO-based Array (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARRY]]) is developing ARRY-502 as a treatment for mild-to-moderate persistent asthma. About 12 million patients in the U.S. suffer … Continue reading “Array Shares Climb After Asthma Drug Shows Positive Phase 2 Results”

We’re Number 9! U.S. Slips in Internet Connection Ranking

Here’s something to add to your decline-of-the-empire files: the U.S. is falling further behind in world rankings of average Internet connection speeds. That’s the verdict from the latest State of the Internet Report by Akamai (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AKAM]]), the Cambridge, MA-based networking company that handles about a third of global Web traffic. The latest stats cover … Continue reading “We’re Number 9! U.S. Slips in Internet Connection Ranking”

An MVP Is Not a Cheaper Product—It’s About Smart Learning

A minimum viable product (MVP) is not always a smaller/cheaper version of your final product. Defining the goal for an MVP can save you tons of time, money and grief. Drones over the Heartland I ran into a small startup at Stanford who wants to fly unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) with a hyper-spectral camera over … Continue reading “An MVP Is Not a Cheaper Product—It’s About Smart Learning”

Attention “Hands-On” VCs—Startups Aren’t That Interested

If you’re a venture capitalist, you might think it’s important to be a hands-on, energetic, innovative thought leader. But a new survey contends that’s not the way to attract startup CEOs. The National Venture Capital Association partnered with PR and marketing firms on the survey of VCs and entrepreneurs to find out what both sides … Continue reading “Attention “Hands-On” VCs—Startups Aren’t That Interested”

Denver Startup Helps Employees Become “Convercent” in Values, Culture

Bosses don’t have many ways to measure the health of their companies’ corporate culture. Sure, they can take surveys or try to extrapolate from indirect measures—or they can suddenly call the entire staff together, offer everyone the chance to quit with two months pay, and see who leaves. Patrick Quinlan, CEO of Convercent, tried the … Continue reading “Denver Startup Helps Employees Become “Convercent” in Values, Culture”

The Biotech IPO Phenomenon of 2013: Enjoy It While It Lasts

The year is only half over, but one of the biggest biotech stories of 2013 is going to be the resurgence of the biotech IPO market. It’s a good news/bad news story, depending on where you stand, and how far you look out into the future. First, the good. The IPO surge is a vote … Continue reading “The Biotech IPO Phenomenon of 2013: Enjoy It While It Lasts”

How to Save $200 Billion and Cure Hepatitis C

Wall Street is buzzing with anticipation about the first new all-oral drugs for hepatitis C approaching the market. The high rate of HCV infection and dissatisfaction with current treatments have created a potential multi-billion dollar bonanza for drug companies. It’s estimated that Gilead, the frontrunner in this race, will charge as much as $90,000 per … Continue reading “How to Save $200 Billion and Cure Hepatitis C”

Newdea Secures $13,615,290 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a2cf177b-e15d-45a5-9b5f-519629853db5 Date 7/22/2013 Company Name Newdea Mailing Address 4B Inverness Ct. E Englewood, CO 80112 Company Description Newdea’s software solutions help companies. Increase philanthropic success. Reduce resource requirements by equally focusing on impact and efficiency. Turn good intentions and hard work into positive results. Maximize organizational efforts to create the highest level … Continue reading “Newdea Secures $13,615,290 New Financing”

VC Investment in Boulder-Denver Area Companies Climbs to $111M in Q2

Accera, a pharmaceutical developer based in Broomfield that’s developing an Alzheimer’s-fighting shake, led the pack of Colorado companies that received venture capital in the second quarter. Yes, you read that right. Well, actually Accera makes an FDA-approved food additive that patients take daily to slow the progression of Alzeheimer’s symptoms. The “medical food” product, known … Continue reading “VC Investment in Boulder-Denver Area Companies Climbs to $111M in Q2”

Don’t Call Me “Girl,” Sir: Women, Tech, and a Chat with Olivia Munn

It is long past time to stop regarding the presence of women in technology as an anomaly—yet achieving widespread acknowledgment of their work remains a challenge. Multiple organizations in New York—including Girls Who Code, Cornell NYC Tech, and L’Oréal—and across the country are taking on this task while also encouraging new generations of women to … Continue reading “Don’t Call Me “Girl,” Sir: Women, Tech, and a Chat with Olivia Munn”

VC Funding Levels Out as Early Stage Turns Up & Top 10 Deals

Consistent and modest are the words that seem to best describe U.S. venture capital activity during the second quarter, as VC investments remained more or less level with the first three months of 2013, according to recent data from several venture-tracking surveys. But the pace of venture investing is down in comparison to the second … Continue reading “VC Funding Levels Out as Early Stage Turns Up & Top 10 Deals”

First Music Hack Day Builds Bridge Between Local Tech, Music Scenes

There might have been a time when the kids in bands and the kids who coded didn’t get along. But those days are in the past, and the upcoming Music Hack Day Denver is an example of that. Music Hack Day Denver is part of an international series of events that’s a few years old, … Continue reading “First Music Hack Day Builds Bridge Between Local Tech, Music Scenes”

Content Marketing Platform Helps Kapost Raise $5.6M Series C Round

First things first: it’s Kapost, pronounced like “kaboom.” The idea of blowing up—but only in the good way—seems apt, following Kapost’s announcement Thursday that it has raised a $5.6 million Series C round. Boulder-based Kapost has raised $8.2 million the past three years and develops content marketing software. Basically, it’s a robust content management system … Continue reading “Content Marketing Platform Helps Kapost Raise $5.6M Series C Round”

Kapost Secures $5,600,000 Series C Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=620d1af6-ac5e-4f8f-9e39-7e195dde0ebc Date 7/18/2013 Company Name Kapost Mailing Address 1800 Broadway Boulder, CO 80302 Company Description Kapost provides virtual newsrooms that enable publishers to manage and generate content from large networks of contributors. Website http://www.kapost.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $5,600,000 Transaction Round Series C Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. … Continue reading “Kapost Secures $5,600,000 Series C Financing Round”

Ping Identity CEO Opens Up About $44M Series F Round, Potential IPO

Sign up Ping Identity in the race to become the preeminent company in identity access management. The Denver-based company announced Tuesday it has closed a $44 million Series F round that CEO Andre Durand said lays the groundwork for an IPO that could come next year, and helps Ping Identity stay in “pole position” in … Continue reading “Ping Identity CEO Opens Up About $44M Series F Round, Potential IPO”

Would More SEC Paperwork Really Scare Away Angel Investors?

[Updated 7/17 with correction, see below.] Letting startups advertise that they’re raising money is supposed to be a boon for early stage companies. But a big advocate for angel investors says new federal regulations could have the opposite effect. Those new rules, approved by the SEC last week, could effectively “kill angel investing” by making … Continue reading “Would More SEC Paperwork Really Scare Away Angel Investors?”