Category: National

Austin-Based Yard Care Startup LawnStarter Raises $1M Seed Round

Mowing the yard might get easier—or rather, finding the right person to mow the yard for you. At least that’s the ambition of LawnStarter, an Austin, TX-based startup that wants to become the tool homeowners turn to when they need to find a local company to take care of their lawns. LawnStarter this week raised … Continue reading “Austin-Based Yard Care Startup LawnStarter Raises $1M Seed Round”

It Had to be You: Why Roche Was The Lone Suitor For Foundation

The buzz from day one of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco earlier this week was the announcement on Sunday night by Roche that it was acquiring a majority interest in Foundation Medicine (NASDAQ: [[ticker:FMI]]) for a bit more than $1 billion in cash, which translates into $50 a share. Those were just … Continue reading “It Had to be You: Why Roche Was The Lone Suitor For Foundation”

East Coast Biotech Roundup: Foundation, Biogen, Moderna, & Lots More

Well, the circus (the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference) is over. After a few days running around in sunny Union Square in San Francisco, it’s back to reality for us East Coasters—three more months of thick coats and blustery wind. Alex Lash and I will be emptying the notebook from the conference in the weeks and … Continue reading “East Coast Biotech Roundup: Foundation, Biogen, Moderna, & Lots More”

Uber’s Data-Sharing Welcomed, But City Regulators Still Want More

Uber has become an intensely admired, sometimes reviled, and fabulously wealthy company in just a few short years by sticking to an uncompromising playbook. When it wants to expand into a new city, the next-generation taxi company tends to move first and deal with regulatory and legal concerns second. Competitors and government officials who object can find themselves … Continue reading “Uber’s Data-Sharing Welcomed, But City Regulators Still Want More”

Failure:Lab Offers Empowerment Through Personal Tales of Woe

Failure: We’ve all experienced it, and, in the startup world, failure is often seen as a necessary step on the path to success. But if it’s such a universal experience, why are we so reluctant to talk about it? Wouldn’t we all feel a little better if we knew our friends and neighbors struggle just … Continue reading “Failure:Lab Offers Empowerment Through Personal Tales of Woe”

TVC Capital Raises $115M, Keeps Focus on Software, Value Investing

San Diego-based TVC Capital, a small private equity firm that specializes in growth-stage investments in software companies, has closed its third investment fund with $115 million in capital commitments. All of the firm’s existing institutional investors participated in the fund, TVC Capital III, along with three new investors, according to Jeb Spencer, a co-founder and … Continue reading “TVC Capital Raises $115M, Keeps Focus on Software, Value Investing”

West Coast Biotech Roundup: Tobira, Novartis, NantCell, & More

Whew. J.P. Morgan is almost over. (The healthcare conference, that is, not the investment bank.) Opening the week’s proceedings at the Biotech Showcase, a satellite conference that features small, private, often European companies that would get trampled at the main event, Sangamo Biosciences CEO Ed Lanphier greeted the early crowd: “Welcome to Hell Week.” We’ll … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Tobira, Novartis, NantCell, & More”

Forward Health Stays Aggressive in Healthcare Analytics, Snags $5.7M

Michael Barbouche has been helping hospitals and clinics crunch patient data since before many had installed electronic health records systems, and well before “population health management” became a buzz phrase in the industry. In 2004, the statistician was tapped to help build a system to collect and analyze patient data for the Wisconsin Collaborative for … Continue reading “Forward Health Stays Aggressive in Healthcare Analytics, Snags $5.7M”

Lucigen Grabs $2M to Move Rapid Ebola, C. Diff Diagnostics to Market

Lucigen has raised nearly $2 million from angel investors to help fund tests needed to win regulatory approval for its rapid molecular diagnostic technology that will initially target Ebola and Clostridium difficile, or C. diff. Middleton, WI-based Lucigen, founded in 1998 as a supplier of life sciences research products, got into diagnostics several years ago … Continue reading “Lucigen Grabs $2M to Move Rapid Ebola, C. Diff Diagnostics to Market”

Austin’s Aceable Aims to Make Driver’s Ed Portable, More Fun

Driver’s ed is getting mobile. That’s the idea behind Aceable, an Austin, TX, startup that makes an app on which teens and other soon-to-be drivers can take the required coursework for a driver’s license. “Having these courses on an app is a far more interactive experience than on a browser,” says Blake Garrett, Aceable’s founder … Continue reading “Austin’s Aceable Aims to Make Driver’s Ed Portable, More Fun”

Ideas for Diversity, Education, and Computer Science

On December 24 2009, Xconomy published a column in which I reflected on the preceding decade and predicted for the coming one. I still quote that column in talks, because it’s the one time I can remember when I was actually right: I said that this would be the decade in which computer scientists put … Continue reading “Ideas for Diversity, Education, and Computer Science”

Uber-Size Deals Dominate Mega Year in U.S. Venture Activity

Venture capital firms invested more than $47.3 billion in U.S. startups in 2014, marking the highest funding level of VC funding since 2001, according to data being released today by CB Insights, the New York-based venture capital database. The $47.3 billion was 62 percent more than the $29.2 billion that venture firms invested in 2013. … Continue reading “Uber-Size Deals Dominate Mega Year in U.S. Venture Activity”

Attacking Parkinson’s Via Gaucher Link, LTI Ready for Its Series A

When his company raised nearly $5 million in seed funding last year, Lysosomal Therapeutics founder, president, and CEO Kees Been said he had two goals: learn more about the underlying connection between the rare Gaucher disease and Parkinson’s disease, and sort through compounds licensed from the National Institutes of Health to find the best one … Continue reading “Attacking Parkinson’s Via Gaucher Link, LTI Ready for Its Series A”

Qualcomm-Novartis Deal Portends Wave of Clinical Trial Innovation

The significance of a deal announced last week during the 2015 International CES in Las Vegas went largely unnoticed amid the hubbub of the world’s biggest consumer technology show, packed as it was with 3,600 exhibitors and over 170,000 attendees. The deal creates a new collaboration in clinical trials between Qualcomm Life, the wireless health … Continue reading “Qualcomm-Novartis Deal Portends Wave of Clinical Trial Innovation”

Tom Douglas Serving Local, Sustainable Startups to Would-be Investors

Tom Douglas, builder of food empires, is putting his imprimatur on a new Seattle startup event meant to bring together wealthy, connected professionals and entrepreneurs in what organizers bill as “Shark Tank with a soul.” Some 300 people—mainly accredited investors—are expected to fill Douglas’ Palace Ballroom on Thursday night, paying $15 a pop to hear … Continue reading “Tom Douglas Serving Local, Sustainable Startups to Would-be Investors”

Zayo to Buy Datacenter Operator Latisys in $675M Deal

Zayo Group is a public company now, and that hasn’t changed the Boulder, CO-based telecom provider’s acquisitive ways. Zayo announced Wednesday it has reached an agreement to buy Latisys, another Colorado company, for $675 million in what will be the second largest of Zayo’s 34 acquisitions. It’s a deal that marks Zayo’s (NYSE: [[ticker:ZAYO]]) expanding … Continue reading “Zayo to Buy Datacenter Operator Latisys in $675M Deal”

Wisconsin Roundup: Okanjo, Arrowhead, Cellular Dynamics, & More

Here’s a quick recap of recent announcements from Wisconsin’s startup and innovation community: —Okanjo, a Milwaukee-based e-commerce startup, raised $1.7 million from previous investors, primarily local angels, according to TechCrunch. The company has now snagged $3.2 million total in outside money. —On Monday, shares of Arrowhead Research (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARWR]]) slid as much as 28 percent … Continue reading “Wisconsin Roundup: Okanjo, Arrowhead, Cellular Dynamics, & More”

Health IT Deals Keep Rolling With Athenahealth, MediSafe

Athenahealth, one of the Boston area’s anchor tenants in healthcare technology, is seeking new markets for its software, which handles billing and electronic medical records for healthcare providers and systems. The Watertown, MA-based company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ATHN]]) said Wednesday it has acquired RazorInsights, an Atlanta-area startup that sells low-cost electronic health records software to rural and … Continue reading “Health IT Deals Keep Rolling With Athenahealth, MediSafe”

Secure Beginnings Offers Air-Permeable Crib Mattress to Combat SIDS

My first, adorable-beyond-words niece was born November 30, and since then I’ve gotten a crash course on the modern rules of safe sleeping for infants. These days, they tell you to take all pillows and blankets out of the crib, lay newborns on their backs, and avoid letting them get too warm. It’s understandable why … Continue reading “Secure Beginnings Offers Air-Permeable Crib Mattress to Combat SIDS”

Ebullient Heats Up With $1M For Computer Cooling Tech

Ebullient has raised nearly $1 million in seed funds meant to jolt commercialization of the Madison, WI-based startup’s liquid cooling technology for computer equipment. The company expects to close the $969,000 round of convertible debt by the end of the month, co-founder and CEO Tim Shedd says. Investors include the management team and wealthy individuals … Continue reading “Ebullient Heats Up With $1M For Computer Cooling Tech”

Houston, Austin, Raleigh, Denver Tops in U.S. for STEM Workers

All metro areas are not created equal. If you’re looking at job markets in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)—a major indicator of economic growth and innovation—the U.S. is a study in contrasts. That’s according to a survey by WalletHub, a financial information site based in Washington, DC. The analysis looked at metrics such as … Continue reading “Houston, Austin, Raleigh, Denver Tops in U.S. for STEM Workers”

Watching A Cyberattack Bloom: vArmour Visualizes The Data Breach

Financial firm Morgan Stanley is the latest big company forced to acknowledge a data breach, after finding to its horror early this month that the names and account numbers of thousands of its wealthy investment clients had been posted on the Internet. The New York firm follows entertainment giant Sony and a long list of … Continue reading “Watching A Cyberattack Bloom: vArmour Visualizes The Data Breach”

Colleges Must Mix Entrepreneurial Skills, Traditional Liberal Arts

The great challenge facing higher education is to prepare students to navigate a world of accelerating uncertainty and faster churn. Training students to re-invent themselves every few years, as is already required in the world today, is an objective that legacy approaches to higher education is not optimized for. I’m convinced, however, that the University … Continue reading “Colleges Must Mix Entrepreneurial Skills, Traditional Liberal Arts”

In Search of a Better Approach to Breast Cancer Screening

As a venture investor in the healthcare sector, I see a lot of new medical technologies that promise improvement over the current standard of care. Opportunities that represent truly transformational change in medicine are rare, and those that address a major clinical challenge affecting tens of millions of lives are rarer still. Breast cancer screening … Continue reading “In Search of a Better Approach to Breast Cancer Screening”

Musk Wants More Seattleites to Build Satellites for SpaceX

[Updated, 1/13/15 at 11:38 am. See below.] Elon Musk, CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), says the company’s Seattle office could eventually employ “several hundred people, maybe a thousand people,” in what would be a major boost to Washington state’s commercial space industry. Musk made the comments in an interview with Bloomberg News posted … Continue reading “Musk Wants More Seattleites to Build Satellites for SpaceX”

Migraine Drug Developer CoLucid Lands $37.1M for Phase 3 Trial

CoLucid Pharmaceuticals has raised $37.1 million to finance late-stage clinical trials on a potential migraine drug that the company hopes will be a safer alternative to currently available migraine treatments. TVM Capital Life led the Series C round, which included participation from new investors Novo Ventures and Auriga Partners. Existing investors Pappas Ventures, Domain Associates, … Continue reading “Migraine Drug Developer CoLucid Lands $37.1M for Phase 3 Trial”

Get Ready for Robo Madness Boston at Google, March 11

It’s a critical time for robotics and artificial intelligence companies. Once the domain of niche players and academic spinouts, the field has become more mainstream—and could be crucial to the future of big industries such as manufacturing, logistics, and transportation. Tech giants ranging from Google and Amazon to Facebook and Qualcomm have made big strides … Continue reading “Get Ready for Robo Madness Boston at Google, March 11”

More Green For Moderna as Merck Makes $50M Equity Grab, mRNA Deal

Even a week after a $450 million round, the cash keeps flowing into Moderna Therapeutics. The Cambridge, MA-based company announced this morning that Merck has become the latest company angling for a piece of Moderna’s messenger RNA therapeutics. The pharma giant is signing on for a three-year research collaboration to develop mRNA-based treatments and vaccines … Continue reading “More Green For Moderna as Merck Makes $50M Equity Grab, mRNA Deal”

To OLED, or Not to OLED for the Future of High-End Television Screens

The fight to own the living room is getting more convoluted, as LG Electronics doubles down on organic LEDs (OLEDs) for its future screens while rival Samsung turns to a competing technology. Each year, television makers attempt to introduce some new feature or gimmick, from 3D to curved screens, to draw consumer attention. Less than … Continue reading “To OLED, or Not to OLED for the Future of High-End Television Screens”

RideScout CEO Leads the Bunker to Austin For Veteran Entrepreneurs

Joseph Kopser wants to bring his fellow veterans back into the bunker. This one, however, will be focused on raising capital and business plans rather than battlefield tactics. Kopser, the founder of transportation app RideScout, has launched a new outpost in Austin, TX, of the Chicago-based Bunker incubator program aimed at veteran entrepreneurs. “It was … Continue reading “RideScout CEO Leads the Bunker to Austin For Veteran Entrepreneurs”

Invest Michigan Awards $375K to Four Tech Startups

Invest Michigan announced this week that it has invested $375,000 in four early-stage tech startups through the Michigan Pre-Seed Fund 2.0. Invest Michigan is funded by the Michigan Strategic Fund and has $5.8 million earmarked for investment in high-tech startups with an additional $1 million dedicated to help universities transfer technology to the marketplace. “These … Continue reading “Invest Michigan Awards $375K to Four Tech Startups”

With Vedanta Deal, J&J Marks Big-Pharma Milestone in the Microbiome

Through its Janssen Biotech division, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: [[ticker:JNJ]]) is taking over the development of a biotech bacterial mix that within a couple years could become the latest microbiome-related treatment in human testing. Although the microbiome is an immensely promising area to mine for human health secrets—not to mention fascinating as-yet-undiscovered biology—no big drug … Continue reading “With Vedanta Deal, J&J Marks Big-Pharma Milestone in the Microbiome”

SmartLink Raises $2.5M for Mobile App Linking Patients, Physicians

[Updated 1/13/15, 4:55 pm. See below.] The telephone is a wonderful device for doctor/patient communication except for one drawback—both the doctor and the patient must be on the line at the same time. Cary, NC, startup SmartLink Mobile aims to overcome that hurdle with a mobile app that shows patients the familiar interface of a … Continue reading “SmartLink Raises $2.5M for Mobile App Linking Patients, Physicians”

PeerTransfer Doubles Down on Payments, Looks Beyond Edtech

A local tech startup has become profitable in the past year by focusing on the international higher-education market. Now it has raised a sizable venture round to go big in the broader field of digital payments. Boston-based peerTransfer has closed $22 million in Series C funding, led by new investor Bain Capital Ventures. Previous investors … Continue reading “PeerTransfer Doubles Down on Payments, Looks Beyond Edtech”

Titan Spine Eyes Bigger Slice of Tricky Spinal Fusion Market

[Corrected 1/13/15, 3:45 p.m. See below.] It’s hard enough for a small company to jostle for position in a crowded, but booming, industry. It can be even tougher when the sector’s growth slows down, and a company isn’t fighting just against competitors—but also to win over critics who are skeptical that anyone in the industry … Continue reading “Titan Spine Eyes Bigger Slice of Tricky Spinal Fusion Market”

Schools Should Nurture Kids’ Natural Knack for Entrepreneurship

I think the most important change we could make in education would be to put more emphasis on exposing kids to entrepreneurship, starting very early on. I’ve found that kids have a natural inclination towards entrepreneurship—we just need to give them the opportunity to learn and practice the skills they need to act on their … Continue reading “Schools Should Nurture Kids’ Natural Knack for Entrepreneurship”

Qualcomm Ventures Forms Joint Investment Business with Novartis

Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]), the San Diego wireless technologies giant, plans to form a joint investment business through its corporate ventures arm with the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis. The joint investment entity would make as much as $100 million available for innovative health startups. In a statement, the partners say they would invest in early stage … Continue reading “Qualcomm Ventures Forms Joint Investment Business with Novartis”

Blood Test Maker Biodesix Raises $12M, Readies for Product Launch

Boulder, CO-based medical diagnostic company Biodesix announced today it has raised $12 million to help launch a new, as yet unannounced product line and to continue promoting its blood test that oncologists can use to guide lung cancer treatment. The money comes from Biodesix’s existing investors and extends the Series E round the company opened … Continue reading “Blood Test Maker Biodesix Raises $12M, Readies for Product Launch”

Apple’s Boston-Area Lease Carves Out Room for About 65

We know that the most important company in tech has been growing its office in the Boston area as it continues to build a speech-recognition engineering team on MIT’s doorstep. Now, we have a few more numbers to fill in the blanks. Documents filed with the local government show that Apple has leased about 11,500 square … Continue reading “Apple’s Boston-Area Lease Carves Out Room for About 65”

MakerBot CEO Jenny Lawton Talked New 3D Printing Materials at CES

The New Year brings new ingredients for desktop 3D printer maker MakerBot Industries to work with. Last week, the New York-based company rolled out new composite materials which mimic the look and feel of metal, stone, and wood, and can be used with some of MakerBot’s desktop 3D printers. The company also showed off the … Continue reading “MakerBot CEO Jenny Lawton Talked New 3D Printing Materials at CES”

Seven Surprises About Convertible Notes That Founders Should Know

Over the past two years, there has been an explosion of the use of convertible notes for seed rounds. It used to be these debt instruments that convert to equity later at a discount to the price of the next round were only for small initial financings of, say, $250,000 for a company to get … Continue reading “Seven Surprises About Convertible Notes That Founders Should Know”

NC State Presses For $180M Plant Sciences Plan with Ag Industry

[Corrected 1/13/15, 9:12 a.m. See below] Agriculture is a $78 billion annual business in North Carolina, making it far and away the state’s largest industry. Now North Carolina State University is working on a $180 million plan that backers hope will grow that industry into a $100 billion market. To make that math work, the … Continue reading “NC State Presses For $180M Plant Sciences Plan with Ag Industry”

10X Genomics Emerges With $80M and Toaster-Sized Sequencer Upgrade

Making Illumina’s industry-leading gene sequencing machines better? There’s an app for that. That’s the shorthand pitch from fresh-from-stealth sequencing company 10X Genomics, which is unveiling itself today with $80 million in venture funding. It has already raised two rounds, the latest being a $55.5 million Series B led by Foresite Capital Management, with Venrock, the … Continue reading “10X Genomics Emerges With $80M and Toaster-Sized Sequencer Upgrade”

Second Genome Has Begun First Drug Trial Based on Microbiome Secrets

The microbiome is moving forward. Second Genome of South San Francisco, CA, said Monday that it has begun its first human trial, and what could be the first in the field, of a drug based upon the emerging field of research around the trillions of microbes that live in our guts. Second Genome began life … Continue reading “Second Genome Has Begun First Drug Trial Based on Microbiome Secrets”

Genentech Redux? Roche Buys Majority Stake in Foundation Medicine

In a deal that shakes up the full-steam-ahead world of cancer diagnostics, the world’s top oncology drug company, Roche, said today it’s spending more than $1 billion for a majority stake in Foundation Medicine and creating a powerful drug-diagnostic collaboration. It’s a significant gamble on the as-yet-unrealized potential of tests that aim for broad genetic … Continue reading “Genentech Redux? Roche Buys Majority Stake in Foundation Medicine”

NPS Pharma’s Long Road Ends With a $5.2B Shire Buyout

It’s been rumored for awhile that NPS Pharmaceuticals was on the verge of a buyout. So perhaps it’s no surprise that the Bedminster, NJ-based company just cut a $5.2 billion deal with Shire on the eve of the healthcare industry’s biggest annual conference—the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, which kicks off tomorrow in San Francisco. Dublin-based … Continue reading “NPS Pharma’s Long Road Ends With a $5.2B Shire Buyout”

Plan for New $100M UW Computer Science Building Gains Steam

Plans for a new University of Washington computer science building gained momentum in recent weeks with a $40 million line-item in the governor’s proposed capital budget, a major private gift, and, Thursday, approval by UW regents of an architectural firm for pre-design work. The UW Board of Regents authorized negotiation of a contract with LMN … Continue reading “Plan for New $100M UW Computer Science Building Gains Steam”

Colorado Roundup: AntriaBio Raises $7M, VSCO Buys Artifact Uprising

A biotech startup chases the $10 billion market for diabetes treatments, and Artifact Uprising is snapped up by another photography startup. AntriaBio raises $7 million, clears hurdle. Biopharmaceutical company AntriaBio announced this week it has raised about $7 million in a private placement. The company develops extended release therapies, and currently is at work on a … Continue reading “Colorado Roundup: AntriaBio Raises $7M, VSCO Buys Artifact Uprising”