Category: National

Exact Sciences Shares Dip After Company Adjusts Revenue Forecast

Exact Sciences reported third-quarter earnings Wednesday and despite increases in revenue and other closely watched metrics, the reaction from investors was unfavorable. Madison, WI-based Exact (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EXAS]]) reported a net loss of $37.8 million for the three-month period that ended Sept. 30, on revenues of $28.1 million. Those figures marked improvements over the same period … Continue reading “Exact Sciences Shares Dip After Company Adjusts Revenue Forecast”

Unity Nabs $116M To Bring “Diseases of Aging” Drugs Into Human Trials

Unity Biotechnology launched earlier this year to tackle common diseases such as knee arthritis, glaucoma, and clogged arteries in a new way. The company said Thursday it has raised $116 million in a Series B funding round. Unity wants to kill cells that have gone dormant but continue to produce chemicals that cause damaging inflammation … Continue reading “Unity Nabs $116M To Bring “Diseases of Aging” Drugs Into Human Trials”

Zimmer Biomet Digs Deeper into Digital Health with RespondWell Deal

Zimmer Biomet is expanding into telemedicine through the acquisition of RespondWell, a startup whose software allows patients to rehabilitate from surgery at home using messaging, videos, and monitoring handled over the Internet. Warsaw, IN-based Zimmer Biomet (NYSE: [[ticker:ZBH]]) is one of the largest providers of medical devices and products for musculoskeletal care. But care is … Continue reading “Zimmer Biomet Digs Deeper into Digital Health with RespondWell Deal”

Allergan Snags Rhythm’s Diabetes-Related GI Drug for $200M

[Updated 2:03 p.m. See below.] Rhythm Pharmaceuticals is selling a stomach drug for $200 million to Dublin-based Allergan, a deal that has been in the works since 2014. Allergan is acquiring Motus Therapeutics (formerly Rhythm Health), which holds the rights to the gastrointestinal drug that aims to help the stomach empty more normally. Motus is … Continue reading “Allergan Snags Rhythm’s Diabetes-Related GI Drug for $200M”

MIT Raising $150M Venture Fund to Rev “The Engine,” a New Incubator

MIT is investing $25 million in a potentially $150 million venture capital fund and opening a 26,000-square-foot startup space on the edge of its campus. The two investments will jumpstart a broad entrepreneurship initiative, dubbed The Engine, that will provide resources to startups whose technologies typically take lots of time and capital to develop—think biotech, … Continue reading “MIT Raising $150M Venture Fund to Rev “The Engine,” a New Incubator”

Boston’s Life Science Disruptors: The Photos

How did one of the ambitious gene editing startups in biotech come together? What lessons does Harvard University professor and biotech veteran Vicki Sato have about closing the gender gap after spending “most of her career” as the only woman in the room? And what would it take to get organ systems on tiny microchips … Continue reading “Boston’s Life Science Disruptors: The Photos”

Facebook Boston Grows to 100 People, Expands Networking Projects

Facebook’s Boston-area office is about three years old, and seems to be hitting a critical mass. With a headcount of about 100, the engineering center is supporting some of the company’s most visible products—as well as leading projects that could pay off further down the road. The local office—at One Broadway in Kendall Square, Cambridge, … Continue reading “Facebook Boston Grows to 100 People, Expands Networking Projects”

Despite Low Crop Prices, Corporate and VC Agtech Investments Soar

Prices for agricultural commodities such as corn, soy, and wheat are at their lowest levels in years, but investment in agricultural technology has never been better. Venture capital firms have increased their agtech investments by 80 percent since 2012, bringing total VC investment in the sector to a total of $3 billion in 2015, according … Continue reading “Despite Low Crop Prices, Corporate and VC Agtech Investments Soar”

Boston Tech Watch: TVision Tracks Eyeballs, Diffeo Grabs Cash, & More

Here are a few of the latest happenings in the Boston-area tech scene: —MIT spinout TVision Insights raised $6.8 million in an investment round led by Accomplice, with contributions from Golden Venture Partners, Jump Capital, Itochu Technology Ventures, and Project 11 Ventures. The Boston-based company uses sensors and software to detect TV viewers’ eyes, in order … Continue reading “Boston Tech Watch: TVision Tracks Eyeballs, Diffeo Grabs Cash, & More”

Healthfinch’s Drug Refill App Graduates to Athenahealth Marketplace

Healthfinch, a Madison, WI-based developer of software that’s aimed at saving healthcare providers and patients time and energy, said on Monday that one of its products recently became available to a wider audience. Swoop, an application Healthfinch created to make the process of reviewing prescription refill requests more efficient, is now listed on the Athenahealth … Continue reading “Healthfinch’s Drug Refill App Graduates to Athenahealth Marketplace”

Propel Aims to Close Tech Talent Gap by Offering On-Demand IT Gurus

A few years ago, when Nick Birch and Scott Jones co-founded Indianapolis’s Eleven Fifty Academy, a nonprofit coding school, they realized their goal of harnessing Eleven Fifty to “close the nation’s growing technology skills gap” wasn’t going to be realized through classroom instruction alone. Sure, they were teaching people the programming skills needed to compete … Continue reading “Propel Aims to Close Tech Talent Gap by Offering On-Demand IT Gurus”

FanDuel, DraftKings Settle NY Lawsuit, Ending Yearlong Legal Battle

DraftKings and FanDuel have each agreed to pay $6 million to the state of New York to settle allegations of false and deceptive advertising, clearing the final legal hurdle in an almost yearlong dispute with authorities in one of the most lucrative states for the online daily fantasy sports industry. The settlements announced Tuesday mark … Continue reading “FanDuel, DraftKings Settle NY Lawsuit, Ending Yearlong Legal Battle”

Roundup: Techstars Leaves, U.K. Healthcare Firms Arrive, & Other News

Let’s get caught up with the latest innovation news from Xconomy Texas: Austin: —Techstars Ventures and Texas-based angel investors have added $1 million to the $1.6 million previously raised by NuPark, an Austin startup with video technology to help schools and governments better manage parking. NuPark says its software can help customers manage permit sales, … Continue reading “Roundup: Techstars Leaves, U.K. Healthcare Firms Arrive, & Other News”

With Insider Help, Ra Pharma Upsizes IPO, Bags $92M

The IPO market has been much more discerning about biotechs in 2016 than it was during the 2013-2015 boom. But Wall Street investors embraced Ra Pharmaceuticals Tuesday evening, enabling the Cambridge, MA-based company to close an even bigger IPO than it had hoped for. Ra raised close to $92 million in the offering. The company … Continue reading “With Insider Help, Ra Pharma Upsizes IPO, Bags $92M”

Accelerate Michigan 2016: One Day, One Location, 36 Semi-Finalists

The 36 semi-finalists competing in the annual Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition, the state’s largest business plan competition targeting mid-to-late-stage startups, have been announced. Although this year’s edition, overseen by Invest Detroit for the first time, has been helpfully streamlined to one day and one location, still at stake is more than $1 million in cash … Continue reading “Accelerate Michigan 2016: One Day, One Location, 36 Semi-Finalists”

Latest Data Show Venture Capital Industry on Pins and Needles

Given the obvious anxiety and frustration that surrounds us all, the U.S. venture industry is also exhibiting some fatigue as we finish the 88th month since the last recession. This is the fourth-longest period of economic growth in U.S. history (admittedly, at 2.1 percent, the growth over this period of time is the slowest since … Continue reading “Latest Data Show Venture Capital Industry on Pins and Needles”

80/20 Foundation Donates $600K for New San Antonio Tech High School

San Antonio—The San Antonio nonprofit 80/20 Foundation is giving Tech Bloc a $600,000 grant for an effort to construct a new high school focused on technology and entrepreneurship, called CAST Tech. Tech Bloc, a San Antonio tech-focused advocacy group, plans to seek a dollar-for-dollar match for the grant. It’s starting a foundation that will work … Continue reading “80/20 Foundation Donates $600K for New San Antonio Tech High School”

Houston SheHacks Event Encourages Women to Form, Lead Tech Startups

Houston—Rebellion Photonics co-founder and CEO Allison Lami Sawyer said she’s tired of being alone when attending technology conferences full of men. “Where is the pipeline of women behind me?” she said. “I want to see more women CEOs.” Sawyer’s remarks on Sunday were given to an assembled crowd attending SheHacks, a hackathon geared towards women … Continue reading “Houston SheHacks Event Encourages Women to Form, Lead Tech Startups”

New Leader at Intel Capital Adjusts Strategy as Global Summit Opens

Intel Capital has identified 12 technology startups that have received a total of $38 million, highlighting its venture investment focus on innovations in self-driving cars and machine vision, the Internet of Things, sports and health, drones, and virtual reality. The recent funding deals that Intel Capital laid out in San Diego Monday, on the first … Continue reading “New Leader at Intel Capital Adjusts Strategy as Global Summit Opens”

FDA: Keytruda Now OK For Some Patients With Untreated Lung Cancer

The FDA has approved the use of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for some previously untreated patients with a certain type of lung cancer, the drug’s owner Merck (NYSE: [[ticker:MRK]]) announced late Monday. Pembrolizumab can now be used for patients who have never received treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has spread to other parts of … Continue reading “FDA: Keytruda Now OK For Some Patients With Untreated Lung Cancer”

Green Sense Farms Aims to Change How Produce is Grown, Distributed

Green Sense Farms is on a mission to build the country’s largest network of tech-enabled, indoor vertical farms. To help it get there, the Portage, IN-based company has turned to a new mechanism for raising capital—equity crowdfunding, which allows companies to sell small stakes in their businesses to the general public. With four days left … Continue reading “Green Sense Farms Aims to Change How Produce is Grown, Distributed”

Techstars Decides to Close Cloud Accelerator in San Antonio

San Antonio—Techstars Cloud is closing its San Antonio accelerator program focused on cloud computing startups after four years in the Alamo City, according to managing director Blake Yeager. Yeager is staying with Techstars but moving to the company’s headquarters in Boulder, CO, where he’ll work as vice president of engineering for the national chain of … Continue reading “Techstars Decides to Close Cloud Accelerator in San Antonio”

Gener8tor Unveils New Class of Startups, Hits Fundraising Milestone

Daniel Rotman wishes he had been able to tell sooner that his cat was sick. Rotman says that in 2010, he started noticing that his cat, Gingi, wasn’t her normal self. He brought her into a veterinarian’s office, and Gingi was later diagnosed with feline leukemia. Not long after that, she passed away. “Cats are … Continue reading “Gener8tor Unveils New Class of Startups, Hits Fundraising Milestone”

Water Metering Startup Wins Vote for “Best Demo” at EvoNexus Event

A San Diego civil engineer who has developed an alternative technology for automating the measurement of water flow gave the best presentation at EvoNexus Fall Demo Day, an event that drew nearly 400 entrepreneurs, investors, and supporters late Thursday to Qualcomm’s corporate headquarters. Water Pigeon co-founder Sarp Sekeroglu got the most votes in a survey … Continue reading “Water Metering Startup Wins Vote for “Best Demo” at EvoNexus Event”

Why Friday’s Massive DDoS Attack Should Be Terrifying

Friday’s massive DDoS attack made a number of hugely popular websites unavailable for much of the country for large parts of the day. Our service wasn’t directly affected by this incident, but the nature and scope of this attack is tremendously worrisome. In a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, the perpetrator overwhelms a target company … Continue reading “Why Friday’s Massive DDoS Attack Should Be Terrifying”

Safety Issue Triggers Partial FDA Hold for Aduro Bio

Aduro Biotech ran into some trouble earlier this year when one of its cancer immunotherapies failed a clinical trial. Now the Berkeley, CA, company has a safety problem and a clinical trial delay to deal with. Aduro (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ADRO]]) said this morning that one of the patients in its ongoing clinical trials of CRS-207, a … Continue reading “Safety Issue Triggers Partial FDA Hold for Aduro Bio”

Xconomy’s Disruptors Houston Conference Showcases Texas Innovators

Houston—In just a few days, Xconomy’s Disruptors conference will bring some of the brightest innovators in Texas together. The daylong forum, being held Thursday at the Texas Medical Center’s TMCx accelerator in Houston, features innovation in healthcare, space, transportation, energy, artificial intelligence, and other sectors. Here are some of the highlights: —Edward Jung, co-founder and … Continue reading “Xconomy’s Disruptors Houston Conference Showcases Texas Innovators”

Seattle Week in Review: Private Funding for Public Universities

The foremost universities of the Northwest, which provide much of the talent and technology on which the region’s innovation economy is built, are increasingly turning to private donations to advance their efforts in the sciences, engineering, and healthcare. It’s a good thing our region has a substantial number of people and corporations wealthy enough to … Continue reading “Seattle Week in Review: Private Funding for Public Universities”

From Automatic to Zumper: SF Startups Launch Apps, Raise Cash

Tech startup founders are convinced that any human experience can be duplicated—or improved—by translating it into an app. A flurry of Bay Area startups inspired by this creed raised money or introduced new products this week. —Has your child ever set up a make-believe shop to sell toy snack foods, and implored passing adults to … Continue reading “From Automatic to Zumper: SF Startups Launch Apps, Raise Cash”

From Robo Doctors to Mood Trackers, Emotion Sensing Is Coming

The proliferation of smartphones and wearable devices has enabled people to track all kinds of data about their physical health, from heart rate to steps walked in a day. Now, tech companies have their sights set on helping us—and perhaps others—monitor our mental health. “We’ve gotten very good at quantifying the physical self,” said Affectiva … Continue reading “From Robo Doctors to Mood Trackers, Emotion Sensing Is Coming”

Techstars, Angels Add $1M to Seed Round for Parking Startup NuPark

Austin—NuPark, a startup with video technology and software that helps customers like schools and governments manage parking, has added $1 million in new funding to the $1.4 million seed round the company raised last year, CEO Kevin Uhlenhaker tells Xconomy. That brings NuPark’s total seed money to about $2.6 million, including an early friends and … Continue reading “Techstars, Angels Add $1M to Seed Round for Parking Startup NuPark”

Bio Roundup: Jenkins Gets Mad, Bernie Gets His Pen, CRISPR IPO & J-Lo

If you’re among those frustrated by the lack of talk about health and science in the three presidential debates, this week perhaps brought you a wee consolation prize. The steady drip of hacked Hillary Clinton-related emails showed her campaign team questioning then-candidate FDA commissioner Robert Califf’s ties to the pharma industry. The staff also crowed … Continue reading “Bio Roundup: Jenkins Gets Mad, Bernie Gets His Pen, CRISPR IPO & J-Lo”

Alkermes Eyes FDA Nod After Retooled Study Yields Desired Results

Alkermes believes it has done it: showed that patients who took its treatment for depression fared better than people who didn’t. Based in Dublin and Waltham, MA, Alkermes (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALKS]]) said Thursday afternoon that its once-a-day pill, ALKS 5461, met the primary aim of reducing symptoms of major depressive disorder in comparison to a placebo … Continue reading “Alkermes Eyes FDA Nod After Retooled Study Yields Desired Results”

Wipro Splashes Out $500M to Acquire Appirio in Cloud Services

Wipro, a Bangalore-based IT services firm, announced today that it has signed an agreement to fork over $500 million to acquire Appirio, an Indianapolis-based cloud services company. Established in 2006, Appirio has more than 1,200 employees spread across five global offices and counts Coca-Cola, Facebook, and Home Depot among its customers. According to an article … Continue reading “Wipro Splashes Out $500M to Acquire Appirio in Cloud Services”

Endomag, European Device Makers Eye U.S. Amid Regulatory Changes

San Antonio — Eric Mayes is in Texas to look for deals. As the CEO of Endomag, a medical device company from the U.K. with a magnetic-based technology used for cancer diagnosis, he’s no stranger to making them. In 2014, Endomag acquired Boulder, CO-based Actium Biosystems, a company with a device that aims to use … Continue reading “Endomag, European Device Makers Eye U.S. Amid Regulatory Changes”

Notion Emerges From Stealth with Smart E-Mail App, $9.5M in VC Bucks

After more than a year spent quietly beta-testing its intelligent e-mail app, Ann Arbor, MI-based startup Notion publicly launched this week with the goal of nothing less than solving our modern communications overload, co-founder Guy Suter says. “We’ve been very intentionally under the radar building our team and technology,” Suter says. Notion is coming out … Continue reading “Notion Emerges From Stealth with Smart E-Mail App, $9.5M in VC Bucks”

Eli Lilly Wins FDA Nod for New Soft Tissue Sarcoma Drug

An Eli Lilly drug for treating soft tissue sarcoma has received accelerated FDA approval, the first new drug to win the regulator’s approval for this type of cancer in more than 40 years. Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly’s (NYSE: [[ticker:LLY]]) olaratumab (Lartruvo) is an injectable product approved for used in combination with doxorubicin, a chemotherapy drug used … Continue reading “Eli Lilly Wins FDA Nod for New Soft Tissue Sarcoma Drug”

Propeller Health Raises $21.5M for Respiratory Disease Technology

The winds continue to blow in Propeller Health’s favor. In the past year, Madison, WI-based Propeller—which makes Internet-connected inhalers and sensors designed to help asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients manage their conditions—has announced several new partnerships and programs with other healthcare organizations, including some large pharmaceutical companies. Now comes news that the 55-employee … Continue reading “Propeller Health Raises $21.5M for Respiratory Disease Technology”

Jamf, Nordic, Titan Spine, & More: This Week’s Wisconsin Watchlist

Catch up on news from Wisconsin’s innovation community with these recent headlines: —Jamf announced a collaboration with University of California San Diego Health that’s aimed at equipping every patient room in a still-to-be-built 245-bed facility with an iPad and an Apple TV box. Jamf, which is headquartered in Minneapolis but has significant operations in Eau Claire, … Continue reading “Jamf, Nordic, Titan Spine, & More: This Week’s Wisconsin Watchlist”

Fred Hutch Team Wants To Move Clean-Room Gene Therapy To Tabletop

[Corrected, 10/24/16, 2:44 p.m. See below.] In 2009, Jennifer Adair was helping treat a brain cancer patient in an experimental study. The trial required genetic modification of the patient’s blood stem cells in a specialized sterile room at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where Adair is a gene therapy researcher. Over the course of … Continue reading “Fred Hutch Team Wants To Move Clean-Room Gene Therapy To Tabletop”

Insurance Marketplace EverQuote Grabs $23M to Goose $100M+ Business

With just $1 million in outside funding from Link Ventures, EverQuote built a $100 million-plus business with 185 employees. Now we’ll see what it can do with another $23 million in the bank. Today the Cambridge, MA-based firm announced a $23 million Series B funding round led by Maryland-based Savano Capital Partners, with contributions from … Continue reading “Insurance Marketplace EverQuote Grabs $23M to Goose $100M+ Business”

BlackThorn Emerges With $40M, New Weapons Against Neuro Disorders

For three years, a group of investors and experienced neuroscience executives have been stealthily advancing one of the more ambitious new startups in neurology, called BlackThorn Therapeutics. Today they’re finally shedding a little light on what they’ve been up to. As Xconomy reported last year, South San Francisco, CA-based BlackThorn was spun out of Scripps … Continue reading “BlackThorn Emerges With $40M, New Weapons Against Neuro Disorders”

Houston Storefront Chain Q Fifty One Buys Dallas E-Retailer Edition

Dallas—Edition Collective, a men’s e-commerce startup, has been acquired by a brick-and-mortar retail company, Q Fifty One. Terms of the cash and equity deal were not disclosed. The 13-year-old Q Fifty One is based in Houston and owns and operates Q Clothier and Rye 51 stores in four cities nationwide. Q Clothier sells men’s custom clothing, … Continue reading “Houston Storefront Chain Q Fifty One Buys Dallas E-Retailer Edition”

Austin Drone Software Startup Hangar Collects $6.5M in Seed Funding

Austin—Hangar, a startup that makes software to help businesses better collect and analyze data from drone flights, has raised $6.5 million in an early stage funding round. New York-based Lux Capital led the financing; the company reported that Fontinalis Partners, Haystack Partners, and several prominent angel investors also participated. Founder and CEO Colin Guinn says Hangar produces autonomous … Continue reading “Austin Drone Software Startup Hangar Collects $6.5M in Seed Funding”

Ashton Kutcher Funds Pillar at Forbes Summit, & More Boston Tech News

Boston was star struck this week, as the Forbes Under 30 Summit brought Michael Phelps, Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Alba, Richard Branson, and other big names to town. Besides the usual speeches and panel discussions one would expect at a business conference, the summit also featured musical performances by nationally known artists such as Jason Derulo; … Continue reading “Ashton Kutcher Funds Pillar at Forbes Summit, & More Boston Tech News”

Here’s the Agenda for What’s Hot in Boston Healthtech on Nov. 17

The older I get, the more often I am reminded of big problems in our healthcare system. I don’t have the answers, but I do have some questions. One of them is how much technology can help solve these problems—long wait times, high costs, failures of communication—and how fast that could happen. On November 17, … Continue reading “Here’s the Agenda for What’s Hot in Boston Healthtech on Nov. 17”

Arterys, GE Healthcare to Roll Out Next-Gen MRI Scans of Heart

The healthcare tools of the future often start as research projects in academic medical centers, but they may not break out into widespread clinical practice until some sort of logjam gives way to make them workable and affordable. GE Healthcare, a unit of Boston-based industrial giant General Electric, recognized some limits on MRI scanners like … Continue reading “Arterys, GE Healthcare to Roll Out Next-Gen MRI Scans of Heart”

Roundup: J&J and AT&T Grow in Houston, Inspyr and Meshify Move On

Let’s get caught up with the latest innovation news from Xconomy Texas. —Johnson & Johnson Innovation is expanding its presence at the Texas Medical Center in Houston with the launch of its Center for Device Innovation. William “Billy” Cohn, a Houston heart surgeon and serial medical device entrepreneur, is the director. Cohn will oversee the … Continue reading “Roundup: J&J and AT&T Grow in Houston, Inspyr and Meshify Move On”

All In One Place: A New Immuno-Oncology Trial Resource

More than 100 years ago, New York bone surgeon William Coley began to suspect that bacterial infections might be improving the outlook for patients also suffering from cancer. The infections were turbo-charging the immune system. Coley (pictured) would be gratified to see that in 2016 a growing array of immune-boosting cancer treatments are helping some … Continue reading “All In One Place: A New Immuno-Oncology Trial Resource”