[Updated 1/19/16 12:23 pm. to clarify how Ebullient’s systems work.] Data centers are hot. One of these buildings typically houses thousands of computer servers, some of which may be owned or rented by cloud storage services like Dropbox, Box (NYSE: [[ticker:BOX]]), and the Web Services division of e-commerce giant Amazon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMZN]]). Processing bits nonstop … Continue reading “Ebullient Continues Hot Streak, Snags $2.3M For Computer Cooling Tech”
Category: National
The Next Phase of the TV Tech Battle: Quantum Dot vs. OLED Display
“This will be the year of the . . .” Such claims get repeated seemingly every January at CES when new televisions roll out, with promises of tremendous, blazing new visuals to come. But this protracted war to create the sexiest television in the world may be getting a little hard on the eyes. It is … Continue reading “The Next Phase of the TV Tech Battle: Quantum Dot vs. OLED Display”
Seattle Roundup: Venture Stats, Elevate Capital, VR, UIEvolution, & More
Lots to catch up on this week in the Northwest including Washington’s 2015 venture investment tally; a new Portland, OR-based venture fund forming with an explicit focus on under-represented entrepreneurs and parts of the region; new funding for EnvelopVR and UIEvolution; the growing regional and global footprint of Tableau Software; and a new round of … Continue reading “Seattle Roundup: Venture Stats, Elevate Capital, VR, UIEvolution, & More”
Grail’s Discount, Pfizergan & Pricing Plans: Notes from the JPM Vortex
[Editor’s note: Deputy Biotechnology Editor Ben Fidler co-wrote this story] The week of the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco kicked off with a rousing, sleeves-rolled-up defense of the drug industry’s pricing policies by Ron Cohen, CEO of the multiple sclerosis drug maker Acorda Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ACOR]]) and new chair of the industry’s … Continue reading “Grail’s Discount, Pfizergan & Pricing Plans: Notes from the JPM Vortex”
Tech Startups Succeed With Top Talent, But Where Will They Park?
While companies are in the process of refining prototypes, hiring key employees, and nailing down investment, one overlooked area is where the business will be housed and, more specifically, where everyone will park. In Austin, it’s not just the new companies that are struggling with finding enough parking for their employees downtown. Established firms are … Continue reading “Tech Startups Succeed With Top Talent, But Where Will They Park?”
New Head of Techstars in Austin Prepares for First Class
Amos Schwartzfarb is only a few weeks away from the start of another Techstars program in Austin, TX, but this one is a bit different for him. A co-founder and executive of multiple companies, including Austin’s BlackLocus and Joust Inc., Schwartzfarb has been a mentor at Techstars since it started in Austin in 2013. When … Continue reading “New Head of Techstars in Austin Prepares for First Class”
OurCrowd-Xconomy Study Documents Growth in Equity Crowdfunding
In a short few months, the number of people who can invest in equity crowdfunding will dramatically increase. In October, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced a framework for allowing individual investors to participate in the new form of financing, which had previously been restricted to wealthy accredited investors. Those new rules go into … Continue reading “OurCrowd-Xconomy Study Documents Growth in Equity Crowdfunding”
New Capital For Anaplan, App Annie, Shape Security
Bay Area companies, back from the holidays, unveiled some substantial fundraising hauls this week. —Anaplan, a provider of Web-based planning software for businesses, announced a $90 million Series E financing round that pegs its valuation at more than $1 billion. The San Francisco-based company’s planning tools are designed to track numerical data from all aspects … Continue reading “New Capital For Anaplan, App Annie, Shape Security”
Mega Deals Push 2015 VC to 15-Year High, But Slowdown Looming?
U.S. venture capitalists poured more money into private companies last year than they had since the height of the dot-com boom, but an investing drop off late in 2015 could signal that the VC gravy train is slowing down. New data out today show that VCs invested $58.8 billion across 4,380 deals in 2015. The … Continue reading “Mega Deals Push 2015 VC to 15-Year High, But Slowdown Looming?”
As Feud Rages, UCSD Names New Director to Lead Alzheimer’s Study
UC San Diego today named Howard Feldman, a Canadian neurologist who specializes in dementia, as director of a nationwide Alzheimer’s disease research program riven in a bitter feud between two of the biggest academic powers in California. Feldman, known for his expertise in large-scale clinical trials, steps into a breach that was created when his … Continue reading “As Feud Rages, UCSD Names New Director to Lead Alzheimer’s Study”
Will Tech Be A Boon To Insurance Firms, Or Threaten Their Existence?
In the not-so-distant future, the insurance industry could find itself under siege from interlopers large and small. During the first nine months of 2015, insurance technology startups such as San Francisco, CA-based Zenefits and New York-based Oscar took in more than $2.4 billion in funding, a 250 percent increase over the total amount raised by … Continue reading “Will Tech Be A Boon To Insurance Firms, Or Threaten Their Existence?”
FDA Rejects BioMarin’s Duchenne Drug, Sarepta Up Next
The FDA on Thursday rejected an experimental drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy from BioMarin Pharmaceutical, a decision that doesn’t necessarily come as a surprise given the harsh criticism of the drug at an advisory panel in November. BioMarin (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BMRN]]), of San Rafael, CA, said that the FDA decided not to approve drisapersen (Kyndrisa) because … Continue reading “FDA Rejects BioMarin’s Duchenne Drug, Sarepta Up Next”
Euclid Analytics Pushes Customer Data Tracking Forward With $20M
[Updated 1/14/15, 12:45 p.m. See below.] Most cell phone users have received some sort of “push” text message, whether it’s a warning of a flash flood from a government agency or an unwanted pitch from a marketer who somehow got your personal information. As cell phones have become ubiquitous, more companies are attempting to glean information … Continue reading “Euclid Analytics Pushes Customer Data Tracking Forward With $20M”
Medical Test Validity Will Be Debated In 2016: 5 Storylines To Watch
Despite lots of headlines, an underappreciated storyline this year was the undercurrent surrounding the validity of medical tests: —The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a long Watchdog Report focused primarily on quality issues with waived lab tests, which don’t require FDA approval. —The headline of a shorter version in the Wall Street Journal asked whether lab … Continue reading “Medical Test Validity Will Be Debated In 2016: 5 Storylines To Watch”
Boston Tech Watch: DraftKings, HubSpot, New Balance, Zagster, & More
This week, we’re tracking the latest news from the daily fantasy sports industry, what’s happening inside HubSpot, new money for several local startups, and a pair of wearable devices from Massachusetts companies. (It’s not all GE.) Read on for details. —Boston-based DraftKings and New York-based FanDuel will be allowed to continue operating in New York … Continue reading “Boston Tech Watch: DraftKings, HubSpot, New Balance, Zagster, & More”
Dallas’s Mend, Children’s Health Align to Expand Healthcare Access
Jonathan Clarke was a U.S. Navy surgeon and received much of his training in the unforgiving classroom of a battlefield. But it’s his memories watching his grandfather calling on patients in small-town East Texas that inspired his journey as an entrepreneur. “He would make house calls in the ’60s and ’70s,” Clarke recalls. “There are … Continue reading “Dallas’s Mend, Children’s Health Align to Expand Healthcare Access”
In First Outside Round, MindTouch Raises $12M to Extend Growth
San Diego-based MindTouch, which provides software as a service that helps companies profitably repurpose their own user manuals, training materials, and other “help content,” has raised $12 million in a Series A round led by PeakSpan Capital. SK Ventures and SAP SE also participated, according to a statement today. MindTouch CEO Aaron Fulkerson said in … Continue reading “In First Outside Round, MindTouch Raises $12M to Extend Growth”
Knight Contest’s Detroit Finalists Propose Innovative Civic Projects
More than a dozen Detroit-based civic projects incorporating entrepreneurship, repurposed vacant spaces, co-working, and more have been nominated as part of the second-annual Knight Cities Challenge, a national competition that seeks ideas for improving the 26 communities where the Knight Foundation invests its philanthropic dollars. The winning pitches are awarded grants in various amounts. Applicants … Continue reading “Knight Contest’s Detroit Finalists Propose Innovative Civic Projects”
Eyeing First Trials, Syros Brings in $40M and More Crossovers
Publicly traded biotech stocks have been getting pounded during this year’s J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, but money is still flowing into privately held startups this week. The latest is Syros Pharmaceuticals, which continues to add to its syndicate of backers. Cambridge, MA-based Syros, a startup founded by Flagship Ventures and Arch Venture … Continue reading “Eyeing First Trials, Syros Brings in $40M and More Crossovers”
Savioke’s Hotel Robots Spark $15M Investment for Robot Fleet
Savioke, a Bay Area startup that has deployed 15 of its errand-running robots in California hotels, has scored a $15 million Series A financing led by Intel Capital. The Santa Clara, CA-based startup, founded in 2013, plans to use the cash infusion to expand its fleet of rolling robots, which deliver towels, Starbucks coffee, and … Continue reading “Savioke’s Hotel Robots Spark $15M Investment for Robot Fleet”
Boston Tech Scene Gains Big Anchor Tenant in General Electric
EMC, schmee-MC. We’ve got GE now. General Electric, one of the world’s biggest companies, will relocate its global headquarters from Fairfield, CT, to Boston, as first reported by the Boston Globe. The move was prompted by a change in corporate-tax policies in Connecticut last year. Boston ended up beating out New York and other cities … Continue reading “Boston Tech Scene Gains Big Anchor Tenant in General Electric”
In The Eyes Of VCs, Saunders Will Be The “Pfizergan” Man
There’s plenty of speculation whether Allergan CEO Brent Saunders will become CEO of Pfizer—and how quickly—after the two companies’ $160 billion tax-inversion merger, which they hope to consummate later this year. But at an early morning breakfast meeting at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco Tuesday, Saunders left little doubt in the minds … Continue reading “In The Eyes Of VCs, Saunders Will Be The “Pfizergan” Man”
Mcor Technologies Dives Into Desktop Niche of 3D Printing
Like a proud parent taking a child to their first day of school, Conor MacCormack, CEO of Mcor Technologies, last week at CES showed off his company’s latest entry in the 3D printing market: a full-color desktop model. MacCormack revealed some of the inner workings of the Mcor ARKe to me at the annual technology … Continue reading “Mcor Technologies Dives Into Desktop Niche of 3D Printing”
Zerto, Led By Two Brothers and Data Storage Vets, Scoops Up $50M
One of Boston’s most heavily funded data-recovery software companies just took in another pile of cash. Zerto said Wednesday it raised $50 million in a Series E round that brings its total venture capital haul to more than $110 million since it was founded in the late 2000s. Institutional Venture Partners led the new round. … Continue reading “Zerto, Led By Two Brothers and Data Storage Vets, Scoops Up $50M”
Announcing Robo Madness: The AI Explosion, March 31 at Google
After decades of research, artificial intelligence has hit the big time. So has robotics. Now companies of all sizes are using A.I. and robotics technologies from deep learning to computer vision to natural language processing to build their businesses—and impact our daily lives. Think Google, Facebook, Amazon, iRobot, Toyota, and a whole new generation of … Continue reading “Announcing Robo Madness: The AI Explosion, March 31 at Google”
Top 5 Strategies to Increase Student Engagement Online
Good teachers often say that “95 percent of good teaching is just getting students motivated.” Online learning presents a new opportunity to both measure engagement and create learning methods that increase it. Facebook sets the high bar for online engagement—65 percent of its billion-plus users are on the platform for an average of 40 minutes … Continue reading “Top 5 Strategies to Increase Student Engagement Online”
FreshJets Brings Sharing Economy to Air Travel in Ski Country
Nearly 35,000 cars clog the Interstate 70 highway from Denver to the mountains on a typical Sunday. And taking the state’s new mountain toll express lane home only saves travelers about 30 minutes and costs $3 to $30, depending on traffic. Saving time on the roads for more time on the slopes is exactly what … Continue reading “FreshJets Brings Sharing Economy to Air Travel in Ski Country”
Kymeta Raises $62M, Demonstrates Satellite Antenna on Toyota Car Roof
Investors in Kymeta, including Bill Gates, have plowed another $62 million into the Seattle-area technology company as it aims to bring lower cost, high-speed satellite communications to automobiles and other vehicles. Kymeta’s metamaterials-based satellite antenna technology is on display this week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, where Toyota is showing a … Continue reading “Kymeta Raises $62M, Demonstrates Satellite Antenna on Toyota Car Roof”
Catching Up with Captureproof, Hitlist, Glowforge, & Others at Eureka Park
A few years ago, it might have been outrageous to think of CES as an essential event to meet startups from across country. Given the explosive growth of this part of the annual technology conference, it makes one wonder if Eureka Park is now big enough to be its own show. Last week some 500 … Continue reading “Catching Up with Captureproof, Hitlist, Glowforge, & Others at Eureka Park”
Marketing Tech Starts Year Strong With 3 MA Deals
[Updated 1/12/16, 2:57 p.m. See below.] It’s still early in the year, but one of Massachusetts’s hottest tech sectors of 2016 is a potentially surprising one: marketing-related software. Investors have pumped nearly $40 million into a trio of local advertising and marketing software startups in the past week. The investments highlight some of the themes … Continue reading “Marketing Tech Starts Year Strong With 3 MA Deals”
SpellBound Launches Indiegogo Campaign, Prepares Public App Release
An Ann Arbor, MI-based augmented reality startup born out of Startup Weekend Detroit, which made a splash at last year’s CES, spent most of 2015 settling in and preparing for the next phase of growth. Now SpellBound, formerly known as MagicBook, is getting ready for the public release of its mobile app—which turns children’s books … Continue reading “SpellBound Launches Indiegogo Campaign, Prepares Public App Release”
Clear Ballot Out to Reinvent Voting Tech, One Oval at a Time
Here we are in 2016, a big U.S. election year, and yet voting technology is effectively still stuck in Bush v. Gore territory. In the early 2000s, there was a push to update decrepit systems used at the polls, but since then—basically nada. A number of tech companies are trying to do something about that. … Continue reading “Clear Ballot Out to Reinvent Voting Tech, One Oval at a Time”
Working Hard—and Smart—to Build Habits for a Lifetime
The turning point in my life that shaped my perspective on work happened at age 12. I had just done some landscaping for a friend’s dad and I thought I had done a great job. I overheard the father telling his wife that although he really cared for me and thought I was a great … Continue reading “Working Hard—and Smart—to Build Habits for a Lifetime”
Glimpsing Digital Publishing’s Future at Codex Hackathon at MIT
[Updated 1/12/16, 10:22 a.m. See below.] For the past 20 years, the story of the publishing industry has revolved largely around the rise of e-books, tablets, and Amazon. Call it “Digital Publishing 1.0.” But what will “Digital Publishing 2.0” look like? If the ideas born at a hackathon at the MIT Media Lab this past … Continue reading “Glimpsing Digital Publishing’s Future at Codex Hackathon at MIT”
Frazier Enlists Three Laguna Pharma Execs to Scout for New Drugs
Like a phoenix rising from the shutdown of San Diego’s Laguna Pharmaceuticals, former Laguna CEO Bob Baltera and two other ex-Laguna executives are now roosting under the wing of Menlo Park, CA-based Frazier Healthcare Partners as Hawkeye Therapeutics. Baltera, former Laguna CMO Howard Dittrich, and former Laguna chief business development officer Brian Farmer officially joined … Continue reading “Frazier Enlists Three Laguna Pharma Execs to Scout for New Drugs”
Exact Sciences Shares Down After Results For Quarter, Year Announced
Shares in Exact Sciences suffered double-digit losses Monday after the company announced preliminary results, some of them related to financial performance, for the final quarter of 2015 and the year as a whole. Madison, WI-based Exact (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EXAS]]) said it completed about 38,000 Cologuard tests—its stool-based DNA diagnostic for detecting colorectal cancer—during the three-month period … Continue reading “Exact Sciences Shares Down After Results For Quarter, Year Announced”
Seres Inks Nestlé As Potential $2B Partner; Key Microbiome Data Soon
[Updated, 1/11/16. Corrected, 1/20/16. See below.] Microbiome company Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MCRB]]) has inked a deal with one of its top investors, Nestlé Health Science, that effectively turns the division of the Swiss food and nutrition giant into Seres’s main partner outside North America. The deal, which calls for Nestlé to pay Seres $120 million … Continue reading “Seres Inks Nestlé As Potential $2B Partner; Key Microbiome Data Soon”
With Tensha Purchase, Roche Interest in Bradner Startups Continues
Roche may have a new investment plan: Where James Bradner has been, it follows. The Basel, Switzerland-based pharmaceutical giant announced this morning that it has bought Tensha Therapeutics, a Cambridge, MA-based company founded by Bradner, a physician-scientist who is now the president of the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research. Tensha is developing treatments for cancer … Continue reading “With Tensha Purchase, Roche Interest in Bradner Startups Continues”
General Assembly Expands to Denver, Classes to Start in February
Opening in its 15th city, General Assembly is coming to Denver. The New York-headquartered tech training and career education institution announced its latest expansion on Monday, with courses at the new location to begin next month. When the doors officially open in Colorado, General Assembly will offer quick classes such as Coding for Beginners and … Continue reading “General Assembly Expands to Denver, Classes to Start in February”
AI Rising: Boston Tech Dives Into Robot Cars With New Toyota Lab
By now, almost everyone has heard about self-driving cars. When a New Yorker cartoon uses the technology as a premise, you know it has gone mainstream—at least in concept. The reality is that a huge amount of work lies ahead before robot cars will be accepted by society. Now it looks like the Boston area … Continue reading “AI Rising: Boston Tech Dives Into Robot Cars With New Toyota Lab”
Dallas Entrepreneur Center Set to Franchise Startup ‘Blueprint’
Dallas Entrepreneur Center founder Trey Bowles has a quick metric he says shows how large the region’s technology and innovation community has grown. In 2013, he says, “We started the ‘State of Entrepreneurship’ event and we had 75 people. “We had 400 people in 2014 and 850 people attend this year.” The swell of interest … Continue reading “Dallas Entrepreneur Center Set to Franchise Startup ‘Blueprint’”
New NEI Director Wants Detroit to Lead Inclusive Economic Development
The New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan (NEI), one of the nation’s largest philanthropic partnerships focused on innovation and entrepreneurship, announced new executive director Pamela Lewis this week. Lewis replaces longtime director David Egner, who stepped down from NEI in December to take over as the president and CEO of the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. … Continue reading “New NEI Director Wants Detroit to Lead Inclusive Economic Development”
Amazon, Founders’ Co-op Fund AI2 Natural Language Spinout KITT.AI
Add KITT.AI to the growing cluster of startups and established technology companies pushing the boundaries of machine intelligence in Seattle. A spinout of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2), KITT.AI received an investment from Founders’ Co-op and the $100 million Amazon Alexa Fund, which points to the technology KITT.AI is working on: natural language … Continue reading “Amazon, Founders’ Co-op Fund AI2 Natural Language Spinout KITT.AI”
Preparing For A Downturn—A Fintech CEO’s Take
“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” – Milton Berle How should entrepreneurs and investors prepare for a future downturn? The economy always operates with opposing forces. It’s expected that there will be downturns and upturns. Entrepreneurs and investors can find opportunities to prepare, possibly flourish, and possibly fall apart, if not ready to deal … Continue reading “Preparing For A Downturn—A Fintech CEO’s Take”
Demand for Broadband Gets Ahead of Expected Norms in Tech Development
The most notable and surprising trend I noticed in 2015 was that broadband bandwidth consumption appears to be outpacing Moore’s Law, by a long shot. The increase of our own customers’ usage was immense: Their bandwidth consumption more or less doubled for New York City in 2015, and that follows a doubling in 2014. I have not seen this … Continue reading “Demand for Broadband Gets Ahead of Expected Norms in Tech Development”
Warp Drive, Surface, Bamboo Cut Deals on Eve of J.P. Morgan
There’s always some last-minute dealmaking on the eve of the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, and this year is no exception. Here are a few of the East Coast highlights to cross Xconomy’s radar screen as we gear up for this year’s festivities. —Sanofi and Warp Drive Bio have had a unique … Continue reading “Warp Drive, Surface, Bamboo Cut Deals on Eve of J.P. Morgan”
Illumina Forms Grail in Quest for Ultimate Cancer Diagnostic
Illumina (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ILMN]]), the San Diego-based pioneer in gene-sequencing technology, says it has formed a new company called Grail to advance the sensitivity of technology already being used to detect infinitesimal pieces of DNA shed by cancerous tumors into the bloodstream. In a conference call with analysts Sunday evening, Illumina CEO Jay Flatley laid out … Continue reading “Illumina Forms Grail in Quest for Ultimate Cancer Diagnostic”
Accelerator, Gates Team Up in NY to Put $17M Into Rockefeller Startup
Seattle’s Accelerator Corp. made its long-awaited splash in New York last week with its first Manhattan biotech startup, Petra Pharma. Now here comes Lodo Therapeutics, Accelerator’s second startup, right in Petra’s wake. Lodo didn’t get the big $48 million round that Petra did last week. But the startup, built around the work of Rockefeller University … Continue reading “Accelerator, Gates Team Up in NY to Put $17M Into Rockefeller Startup”
Apple Buys Emotient, A Digital Analyst of Consumer Feelings
Apple has snapped up Emotient, a startup that scrutinizes human faces to gauge feelings and reactions, the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets are reporting. San Diego-based Emotient, founded in 2012, had been marketing its services to advertisers and researchers as a tool to predict how consumers would react to digital ads, movies, and … Continue reading “Apple Buys Emotient, A Digital Analyst of Consumer Feelings”
West Coast Bio Roundup: Big Waves, Big Cash & a Deep Pre-JPM16 Breath
I’d say this week was the calm before the J.P. Morgan storm, except that we on the West Coast have had plenty of storms this week. Perhaps not tornadoes, but weather big enough to churn up 50 foot waves yesterday. (Not to be confused with 50 Foot Wave.) Seeing those surf pictures from Mavericks, just … Continue reading “West Coast Bio Roundup: Big Waves, Big Cash & a Deep Pre-JPM16 Breath”