“You’ve got to play to win.” “With great risk, comes great reward.” Both of those popular phrases address the same concept – that in order for a company to grow, the leaders must be invested in every aspect of the business and willing to embrace technology, communication, and social changes. That idea is especially important … Continue reading “Taking the Social Media Plunge at the C-Level”
Category: National
Debugging the Gender Gap: Filmmaker Warns of Economic Crisis in Tech
As a former stockbroker, Robin Hauser Reynolds knows what it’s like to be a woman in a field dominated by men. Over the past couple of years, the San Francisco Bay Area film director and self-described feminist has immersed herself in another industry that has become notorious for its gender gap: tech. Poor gender diversity … Continue reading “Debugging the Gender Gap: Filmmaker Warns of Economic Crisis in Tech”
Jeep Cyberattack: Why Cars Are Much Bigger Security Risks Than Mobile Devices
[Updated 8/6/15, 10:44 am. See below.] Back in early 2012, cybersecurity researcher Cameron Camp wrote a blogpost under the heading, “Could your next new car be hacked (should you be scared)?” Camp identified significant potential dangers as automakers moved beyond the simpler computers first installed in cars years ago—to do tasks like calculating fuel inputs … Continue reading “Jeep Cyberattack: Why Cars Are Much Bigger Security Risks Than Mobile Devices”
Drug Discovery in Seattle 2015: An Updated History
The drug discovery and development process is a difficult one that takes considerable expertise in both the research and business realms. Seattle (and the rest of Washington state) currently has approximately 112 drug-focused biotechnology companies, 17 of which are publicly traded either in the U.S. or Japan. The area also has a number of non-profit … Continue reading “Drug Discovery in Seattle 2015: An Updated History”
HiveLend Seeks to Connect Beekeepers and Farmers Online
We’re firmly in the era of the Uberization of Everything, and even the slow-to-digitize agricultural industry is getting in on the trend. HiveLend, the Ann Arbor, MI-based startup that won Ann Arbor SPARK’s Best of Bootcamp honors in May, is seeking to help mitigate the ravages of colony collapse disorder (CCD) by connecting farmers and … Continue reading “HiveLend Seeks to Connect Beekeepers and Farmers Online”
Smartwatch Maker Olio Raises $10M: ‘No Need For Cellphones On Wrists’
At first glance, the story of veteran technology product design expert Steve Jacobs could be told as a version of “David and Goliath.” But in this case, it’s a bit more like “David and Two Goliaths.” With his startup smartwatch company, San Francisco-based Olio Devices, Jacobs is clearly challenging tech heavyweight Apple, whose long-anticipated Apple … Continue reading “Smartwatch Maker Olio Raises $10M: ‘No Need For Cellphones On Wrists’”
Advocates for STEAM Gather at Tumblr, Talk Need to Reach More Kids
The prosperity of New York, and frankly the country, rests on the commitment to train more kids for careers yet to be invented. That was a key takeaway from Thursday night’s #STEAMFWD panel at Tumblr headquarters in New York. Advocates for education in science, technology, engineering, art, and math discussed the need for dedicated efforts … Continue reading “Advocates for STEAM Gather at Tumblr, Talk Need to Reach More Kids”
East Coast Biotech Roundup: Regeneron, Synergy, Foundation & More
Biotech was in recovery mode this week. After Biogen’s (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) disappointing quarterly results send the sector’s indices downward, investors looked to other industry stalwarts, like Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GILD]]), to right the ship (Gilead succeeded, as Alex Lash writes here). On the East Coast, a couple of New York biotechs helped the cause. Those … Continue reading “East Coast Biotech Roundup: Regeneron, Synergy, Foundation & More”
WITS(MD) Raises $1.6M to Securely Share Medical Images on Smartphones
The smartphone is starting to play a bigger role in healthcare. Doctors are using mobile devices for everything from accessing electronic health records to communicating with patients to taking photos of patients’ ailments. The trouble with that last one, says WITS(MD) CEO K. Thomas Pickard, is that taking medical images with a smartphone creates two … Continue reading “WITS(MD) Raises $1.6M to Securely Share Medical Images on Smartphones”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: Hutch, Gilead, Soon-Shiong IPO & More
After a week off, the roundup is back. Up in Seattle, comments that the president of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center made a month ago raised some fresh hackles. In San Francisco, Gilead Sciences raised the roof with its quarterly earnings, Foresite Capital raised $450 million, and the Gladstone Institutes raised a much smaller … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Hutch, Gilead, Soon-Shiong IPO & More”
3D Sensor Startup Occipital Closes $13M Series B, Plans Expansion
Occipital, a San Francisco startup founded by two University of Michigan alums, announced this week that it has raised $13 million in a Series B round. Participating in the round is a previous investor, Colorado-based Foundry Group, as well as Intel Capital, Shea Ventures, and Grishin Robotics. Adam Rodnitzky, Occipital’s vice president of marketing, said … Continue reading “3D Sensor Startup Occipital Closes $13M Series B, Plans Expansion”
Austin’s Nuve Uses Sensors, Smart Locks to Combat Theft
Nuve started out trying to solve a simple, yet important, problem for one of the world’s largest energy producers. The Austin, TX-based startup was working with Pemex to prevent fuel theft, and Nuve developed a series of smart locks and sensors that it says saved the Mexican state oil company millions of dollars each year. … Continue reading “Austin’s Nuve Uses Sensors, Smart Locks to Combat Theft”
Recipe App Handpick Launches Online Meal Kit Service for the 99%
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about tech sectors that are well established, but still see new entries keep piling in. Why are all these latecomer startups so hopeful as they launch, for example, another digital marketing idea or cloud collaboration toolset? Are there some sectors that can still reward clever newbies in a crowded … Continue reading “Recipe App Handpick Launches Online Meal Kit Service for the 99%”
vTv Therapeutics IPO Raises $117M For Alzheimer’s, Diabetes Drugs
[Updated 7/30/15, 4:48 pm. See below.] Drug developer vTv Therapeutics has joined the ranks of biotech companies going public, raising $117 million in an initial public offering mainly financing late-stage clinical trial work on an Alzheimer’s disease drug candidate that Pfizer pursued, then dropped. The High Point, NC-based company offered 7.8 million shares at $15 … Continue reading “vTv Therapeutics IPO Raises $117M For Alzheimer’s, Diabetes Drugs”
Synergy Hits Mark on Second Trial, Eyes Approval For Constipation Drug
It looks like Synergy Pharmaceuticals may have a drug on its hands. Shares of the New York-based company surged over 15 percent in pre-market trading this morning after its drug for chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC), plecanatide, hit all of its goals in the second of two Phase 3 trials. As with an earlier study in … Continue reading “Synergy Hits Mark on Second Trial, Eyes Approval For Constipation Drug”
No Tumor Left Behind: FDA Clears NeuWave Software for Procedures
NeuWave Medical, a Madison, WI-based maker of medical devices that use microwave energy to zap tumors, has received FDA clearance to sell new software that it says can help doctors more easily monitor each step of the procedure, and more confidently determine that the cancerous tissue was eradicated. NeuWave’s products deliver focused heat to “ablate,” … Continue reading “No Tumor Left Behind: FDA Clears NeuWave Software for Procedures”
Boston’s HubSpot Axes Marketing Exec Over Book Manuscript
[Updated Wednesday, July 29, 10:30pm] Boston-area online marketing business HubSpot, which netted about $114 million from an IPO in October, said late Wednesday it has fired its chief marketing officer and replaced him with Kipp Bodnar, a vice president who started at the company in 2010. Mike Volpe was terminated from his role at HubSpot, a … Continue reading “Boston’s HubSpot Axes Marketing Exec Over Book Manuscript”
La Jolla Immunology Institute Agrees to Formal Ties with UCSD
In what may be a sign of the times, an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institute in San Diego that is focused on immune diseases and disorders has officially established ties with the UC San Diego Health System. The agreement signed by the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology and the UC San Diego Health … Continue reading “La Jolla Immunology Institute Agrees to Formal Ties with UCSD”
Foresite Capital Keeps Late-Stage Healthcare Focus With $450M Third Fund
Foresite Capital is launching its third fund in as many years. It has closed the $450 million Foresite Capital Fund III, bringing the healthcare-focused firm’s assets to more than $1 billion, the company said in a statement today. With its new fund, Foresite, which has offices in San Francisco and New York, aims to invest … Continue reading “Foresite Capital Keeps Late-Stage Healthcare Focus With $450M Third Fund”
MI Roundup: iDashboards, OnStar, Zagster, Pure Michigan LIVE & More
Here’s a look at news you may have missed from around Michigan’s innovation hubs: —iDashboards, the Troy-based business intelligence software company, has formed a “value-add reseller” partnership with Phoenix Systems, a Canadian software and hardware service provider. Phoenix Systems will now offer iDashboards’ data visualization products to its customers, and the company said in a … Continue reading “MI Roundup: iDashboards, OnStar, Zagster, Pure Michigan LIVE & More”
Accelerate LI, Eyeing New Seed Fund, Debuts Ninth Grad: Envisagenics
It’ll be several years before we’ll know whether the efforts of Accelerate Long Island lead to successful, sustainable companies. But with the emergence of its latest graduate today, Envisagenics, Accelerate LI can now say it’s helped get nine startups hailing from Long Island’s research institutions off the ground. Accelerate LI and its strategic partner, the … Continue reading “Accelerate LI, Eyeing New Seed Fund, Debuts Ninth Grad: Envisagenics”
With $550M Fund, Deerfield Management Tackles Early Stage Biotech
Developing lab research into the foundations of a profitable biotech company has always been a high-risk, high-reward business. Deerfield Management, a New York-based healthcare investor with more than $5 billion under management and two decades of experience, has created a new $550 million fund that targets early stage science from academic medical centers and hospitals. … Continue reading “With $550M Fund, Deerfield Management Tackles Early Stage Biotech”
Wisconsin Roundup: Capital Midwest, Healthfinch, TAI, & More
Here’s a collection of recent headlines from Wisconsin’s tech and innovation community: —ProNAi Therapeutics’ recent $138 million initial public offering is a win for Capital Midwest Fund, a Milwaukee-area venture capital firm that invested $3.5 million in ProNAi through its Series C and D rounds, according to SEC filings. Capital Midwest holds more than 798,000 … Continue reading “Wisconsin Roundup: Capital Midwest, Healthfinch, TAI, & More”
Avvo Raises $71.5M from TCV, Others for Growing Legal Marketplace
Seattle-based Avvo, which helps people find and review lawyers, has raised $71.5 million from Technology Crossover Ventures, with participation from Vulcan and prior backer Coatue Management. The new capital will be spent on hiring, marketing, and product development, the company says in a news release. Earlier this month, the company announced plans to consolidate its … Continue reading “Avvo Raises $71.5M from TCV, Others for Growing Legal Marketplace”
DraftKings CEO: Early interest From MLB, Kraft Group ‘Eye-Opening’
DraftKings is in a growth phase, attempting to draw as many users as possible to its daily fantasy sports website, which in turn the company hopes will drive more sports fans to advertising partners that include ESPN and FOX Sports, according to CEO and co-founder Jason Robins. The Boston-based startup this week raised a $300 million Series … Continue reading “DraftKings CEO: Early interest From MLB, Kraft Group ‘Eye-Opening’”
Baebies Hauls In $13M For Newborn Screening Technology
Baebies, a diagnostics developer aiming to make neonatal screening easier and more widely accessible, has raised $13 million in equity financing as the company moves forward developing and testing its technology. The Durham, NC-based company said investors in the oversubscribed round included Rex Health Ventures; DUMAC, an investment group controlled by Duke University; Cunning Capital; … Continue reading “Baebies Hauls In $13M For Newborn Screening Technology”
Vero Launches Social Media App to Mirror Real World Relationships
Another would-be rival to Facebook’s dominance in the social media world unveiled an iPhone app Tuesday, coming out of closed beta, and hinged its hopes on a promise to make digital connections behave more like real world relationships. Self-funded Vero, with offices in New York and overseas, developed an app that lets people put their … Continue reading “Vero Launches Social Media App to Mirror Real World Relationships”
ServiceNow Founder and Investor Offer Lessons in Startup Growth
After Fred Luddy founded ServiceNow in 2003, he was still a little shell-shocked from his experience as the CTO of San Diego’s Peregrine Systems. Luddy had spent 13 years developing Peregrine’s asset management product before the high-flying enterprise software giant collapsed in a corporate accounting scandal in 2002. When a new management team finally calculated … Continue reading “ServiceNow Founder and Investor Offer Lessons in Startup Growth”
Sanofi, Regeneron Set Sights on Immuno-Oncology With New $2B+ Pact
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has risen to prominence in part by working with Sanofi to develop drugs for a number of diseases, most recently high cholesterol. Now the two are trying their hands at biotech’s hottest, and most crowded field, immuno-oncology, through a new wide-ranging deal that will see the two companies jointly invest more than $2 … Continue reading “Sanofi, Regeneron Set Sights on Immuno-Oncology With New $2B+ Pact”
Qlik CEO Lars Björk Discusses Big Data and Artificial “Stupidity”
Big data has been a hot topic for awhile now, putting companies such as Qlik in an in-demand market—that also gets noisier and noisier by the hour. Startups and larger software developers trip over each other trying be the service that sorts out mountains of digital information. Microsoft has teams of researchers here constantly creating … Continue reading “Qlik CEO Lars Björk Discusses Big Data and Artificial “Stupidity””
Hear This: Dolby Family Puts More Cash Into Alzheimer Alternatives
[Updated, 7/27/15, 7:35pm. See below.] After a battle with Alzheimer’s disease, audio engineering pioneer Ray Dolby died in 2013. Now his family is using the fortune he left behind to help find treatments that take a different tack than much of the work in the field to date. Through both venture and philanthropy, the family … Continue reading “Hear This: Dolby Family Puts More Cash Into Alzheimer Alternatives”
Healthtech Startup ConsortiEX Closes $1M Round Led By Open Prairie
ConsortiEX, a healthcare IT startup with roots in both Wisconsin and Massachusetts, has closed a $1 million funding round led by Open Prairie Ventures, the company announced today. ConsortiEX developed an ordering and tracking software system for the production and distribution of sterile injectable compounds, such as antibiotics, analgesics, and neuromuscular blockers. Its target customers … Continue reading “Healthtech Startup ConsortiEX Closes $1M Round Led By Open Prairie”
DraftKings Plans International Growth With $300M Funding
Just a month after Walt Disney Co. reportedly backed out of a expected investment in Boston startup DraftKings, the Bay State company has found some other big-name investors willing to bet on its ability to rule the daily fantasy sports world. FOX Sports, which represents 21st Century FOX’s US-based sports assets, announced it is leading … Continue reading “DraftKings Plans International Growth With $300M Funding”
International Accelerator Program Brings Foreign Startups to Austin
Being an entrepreneur is a tough business. Then, tack on an added level of difficulty if that entrepreneur is foreign-born and seeking to enter the U.S. market. Angelos Angelou, a longtime business development consultant in Austin, TX, had helped entrepreneurs he had met on and off, including Schoox, a software maker founded by Greek entrepreneur, … Continue reading “International Accelerator Program Brings Foreign Startups to Austin”
Modustri Software Helps Caterpillar Monitor Equipment’s Wear and Tear
The Grand Rapids, MI-based heavy-equipment technology startup Modustri announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with Caterpillar to develop new products that will help Caterpillar’s customers measure the amount of wear on their machines and better optimize their fleets. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed. “We had an opportunity to understand … Continue reading “Modustri Software Helps Caterpillar Monitor Equipment’s Wear and Tear”
Raleigh-Durham Roundup: Chimerix, vTv, Biotech Center, & More
Here are headlines from the past week in North Carolina biotech and cleantech news. —A Chimerix (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CMRX]]) antiviral being studied as a smallpox countermeasure showed positive results in a trial evaluating the drug in animals. The Durham company is studying brincidofovir under the FDA’s animal efficacy rule, which is used to test a drug’s … Continue reading “Raleigh-Durham Roundup: Chimerix, vTv, Biotech Center, & More”
Are Qualcomm Layoffs a Disaster for San Diego—or an Opportunity?
After years of strong corporate and financial growth, the pace of change in the wireless industry has forced a massive global layoff at San Diego-based Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]. If the wireless giant had only 1,000 employees, a layoff of 150 folks would not be big news. But with a worldwide payroll of 31,000, and a … Continue reading “Are Qualcomm Layoffs a Disaster for San Diego—or an Opportunity?”
Beer Out as Struggling Aegerion Shuffles Leadership Ranks
It’s been a tumultuous few years for Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, marred by a stalled drug launch, the rise of new competitors, and a plummeting stock. And today its embattled CEO is leaving the company. Cambridge, MA-based Aegerion (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AEGR]]) said this morning that CEO Marc Beer has resigned, effective immediately. Chief operating officer Craig Fraser is … Continue reading “Beer Out as Struggling Aegerion Shuffles Leadership Ranks”
Boston’s Ecovent Snags $6.9M for Wireless Climate-Control Tech
Ecovent, the Boston startup whose wireless technology promises room-by-room control of a home’s temperature, has received $6.9 million in Series A funding as it prepares to ship its first round of products in August. The company has already pre-sold $1 million worth of its temperature-controlling technology, which starts at about $490 per order during the … Continue reading “Boston’s Ecovent Snags $6.9M for Wireless Climate-Control Tech”
Seattle Roundup: Acquisitions by Zillow, TUNE, Remitly, & More
We’re catching up this week on a spate of recent acquisitions, rumors of an IPO for Apptio, momentum for the Seattle commercial space cluster, funding for a carbon fiber recycling facility, and a new partner for Cambia Grove. The details: —Zillow, the Seattle online real estate giant, continues its acquisitive ways, snapping up DotLoop, which … Continue reading “Seattle Roundup: Acquisitions by Zillow, TUNE, Remitly, & More”
FDA OKs Cholesterol Fighter Praluent For More Patients Than Expected
The FDA has approved alirocumab (Praluent), a drug that gives people who aren’t helped enough by statins a new option to lower their cholesterol and fight heart disease. How many people might that be, however, is a subject of intense scrutiny, as the FDA seems to have given doctors wide discretion in prescribing the drug. … Continue reading “FDA OKs Cholesterol Fighter Praluent For More Patients Than Expected”
Canary Edging Forward with its Plan to Democratize Home Security
Everyone wants to be more secure, at least that is the sentiment that Adam Sager, CEO and co-founder of Canary, is using to fuel his company’s momentum with. At an event Wednesday night for the New York-based startup, Sager gave a tiny glimpse of what Canary has been up to lately. Canary’s wireless smart home … Continue reading “Canary Edging Forward with its Plan to Democratize Home Security”
Money, Mergers & Expansions For Booktrack, Other SF Startups
While big tech companies like Google filed their quarterly reports this week, a number of their smaller brethren in San Francisco caught my eye as they recorded their own benchmarks of progress. —Booktrack, which enhances the allure of e-books by adding music and sound effects, said it had closed a Series B financing round that … Continue reading “Money, Mergers & Expansions For Booktrack, Other SF Startups”
VoltDB Revs Up for Fast-Database Race With $9.8M More
One of the quieter database-tech startups around town is VoltDB. I’m not sure why that is, but probably because databases are hard for non-techies to understand—and there are so many database startups in the Boston area. Nevertheless, Bedford, MA-based VoltDB is going about its business, and this week it announced it raised $9.8 million in … Continue reading “VoltDB Revs Up for Fast-Database Race With $9.8M More”
East Coast Biotech Roundup: Biogen, RaNA, Inotek, Disruptors & More
This week offered a reminder of how quickly success can come and go in biotech. One of the Boston area’s stalwart biotechs saw its stock land right back where it had been last year before a short-lived boom; another had its coming out party on Wall Street after some good news from the FDA. Those … Continue reading “East Coast Biotech Roundup: Biogen, RaNA, Inotek, Disruptors & More”
VCs Back Voxel8 to See If a Professor’s Startup Can 3D-Print Money
Faculty members seem to be starting more companies these days. It’s particularly noticeable in the Boston area, where entrepreneurial professors are flourishing at MIT, Harvard, Northeastern, and other schools. One rising startup that fits that mold is Somerville, MA-based Voxel8, a maker of 3D printers that can print electronics. Voxel8 says today it has raised … Continue reading “VCs Back Voxel8 to See If a Professor’s Startup Can 3D-Print Money”
Boeing Company, Family Pledge $30M for Museum of Flight Education
The Boeing Company and its founding family have pledged $30 million to turn the 50-year-old Museum of Flight into a STEM-education powerhouse, with an explicit focus on women and minorities, who are underrepresented in technology fields. The donations—$15 million each from the aerospace giant itself and June Boeing, widow of William E. Boeing Jr., who died … Continue reading “Boeing Company, Family Pledge $30M for Museum of Flight Education”
With $22M Shot of Venture, Sutro Spinout Aims For Better Vaccines
[Corrected 7/27/15, 1.49pm. See below.] Spun out of its namesake two years ago, vaccine maker SutroVax has reeled in a $22 million Series A round to push forward a type of vaccine that uses sophisticated chemistry to boost its power. SutroVax came from South San Francisco, CA-based Sutro Biopharma, which has developed technology to stitch … Continue reading “With $22M Shot of Venture, Sutro Spinout Aims For Better Vaccines”
Gener8tor Launches Free Accelerator for WI College Startups
Wisconsin startup accelerator Gener8tor has launched a free business training program to nurture young companies with ties to Badger State universities—and perhaps build a more direct pipeline of local companies for its main for-profit program. The new initiative, dubbed gBETA, is essentially a “truncated version” of Gener8tor’s three-month accelerator held twice a year in Madison … Continue reading “Gener8tor Launches Free Accelerator for WI College Startups”
Ginkgo Bioworks Adds $45M to Expand Organism Engineering
Ginkgo Bioworks has raised its second round of funding this year, a $45 million Series B, which it plans to use to create new kinds of synthetically engineered organisms and build a second production facility. The Boston-based company designs and builds organisms for customers that can be turned into customized cultured ingredients, such as flavors, … Continue reading “Ginkgo Bioworks Adds $45M to Expand Organism Engineering”