SurveyMonkey has come a long way since Ryan Finley started the company in his Madison, WI, apartment. The online polling service, which counts Facebook and Harvard among its customers, began in 1999 after Finley earned his computer science degree from the state’s flagship university. It survived the dot-com era’s collapse, reportedly bootstrapping its way to … Continue reading “Startups Still Abandon Wisconsin, But Growing Cluster Keeping More Here”
Category: National
Edtech Companies Foresee Boost from New K-12 Standards
[Corrected 8/4/14, 10:24 am. See below.] As California teachers prepare for the start of classes this fall, many will face new uncertainties and demands. Starting in the 2014-2015 academic year, California school districts will begin implementing the Common Core, a new set of K-12 educational achievement standards that raise the bar for both students and … Continue reading “Edtech Companies Foresee Boost from New K-12 Standards”
Military Strategies Being Used in the War on Cancer
Nearly everyone has heard of the War on Cancer, which was launched during the Nixon administration with the passage of the National Cancer Act of 1971. The goal of this legislation was to eradicate (or at least significantly decrease) the number of U.S. cancer deaths. Progress in meeting this goal has been slow over the … Continue reading “Military Strategies Being Used in the War on Cancer”
In Search of New Markets, Qualcomm Moves Uplinq to Silicon Valley
About 800 people flocked to the downtown San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina back in 2001, when Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]) staged its first BREW developers conference. The San Diego-based company created BREW, an acronym for Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless, as a technology platform that would make it easier for independent programmers to create games, … Continue reading “In Search of New Markets, Qualcomm Moves Uplinq to Silicon Valley”
How Cotton Bureau Became the Internet’s Coolest T-Shirt Store
You may not have realized that it was possible to become addicted to buying T-shirts. But that probably means you just haven’t stumbled upon Cotton Bureau, a year-old website that has quickly become the world’s coolest T-shirt shop. The four-person crew behind Cotton Bureau has managed to pull this off by stitching together an impressive number … Continue reading “How Cotton Bureau Became the Internet’s Coolest T-Shirt Store”
Colorado Online Video Advertising Startup SpotXchange Sold for $144M
Companies like Facebook and AOL and advertisers are confident that video ads will be a big part of online advertising, and the latest startup to benefit with an outsized exit is SpotXchange, a startup based outside of Denver. RTL Group, a major European media company, announced Thursday it will buy a majority stake in online-ad … Continue reading “Colorado Online Video Advertising Startup SpotXchange Sold for $144M”
Boston Tech Roundup: EyeNetra, ViralGains, MetraTech, HubSpot
Here’s a smattering of deal and departure news to catch up on for the end of the week: —EyeNetra, an MIT spinout that is developing vision-testing hardware for smartphones, has raised $4 million in an equity investment. Co-founder David Schafran tells MedCity News that the company is engaged in foreign and U.S.-based clinical trials for the … Continue reading “Boston Tech Roundup: EyeNetra, ViralGains, MetraTech, HubSpot”
UnLtd USA Launches in Austin, Targets Social Venture Startups
A new accelerator called UnLtd USA has come to Austin, focused on on entrepreneurs focused on social and environmental problems. The accelerator is the latest, and the first American perch, of a program originally started in the United Kingdom. Accelerators have also been launched in three other countries, including India. UnLtd starts its program tomorrow … Continue reading “UnLtd USA Launches in Austin, Targets Social Venture Startups”
Innovation Hub: Legendary Investor Roger McNamee on “Day of Reckoning”
There’s always plenty of coverage of the newest phones—are they a millimeter thinner? Is the camera slightly better? But when you back up and look at the broad sweep of how technology has changed our lives over the last generation, it’s profound. Celebrated Silicon Valley investor Roger McNamee has been part of this transformation—having spent … Continue reading “Innovation Hub: Legendary Investor Roger McNamee on “Day of Reckoning””
Global Warming and the Power of Fear to Drive Innovation
[Corrected, see below] As graduation approached at my rural Michigan high school in 1985, our principal had a problem. The commencement ceremony usually featured two speeches: one from the valedictorian and one from the salutatorian. But in my graduating class eight people, including me, had a 4.0 grade point average. Who would give the valedictorian … Continue reading “Global Warming and the Power of Fear to Drive Innovation”
East Coast Biotech Roundup: Emulate, Accelerator, Retrophin, & More
A new high-profile startup, an evolving biotech soap opera, and a long-awaited new entrant to New York City’s life sciences scene dot the roundup this week—all as we say goodbye to a volatile July and Thursday’s market carnage, which saw many biotech indexes plummet. Those stories and more below: —After about five years of incubation … Continue reading “East Coast Biotech Roundup: Emulate, Accelerator, Retrophin, & More”
DiBS’s BioWheel Aims to Paint a Dynamic Picture of Life Sciences Data
[Updated 8/01/14 1:59 pm. See below.] Big Data is everywhere, and one Houston health IT startup says its software can help clinicians and researchers better interpret all the numbers—in color. Data is Beautiful Solutions, or DiBS, is a Rice University startup focused on making more useful versions of the “heat maps” used by healthcare researchers to … Continue reading “DiBS’s BioWheel Aims to Paint a Dynamic Picture of Life Sciences Data”
With $2M Seed, Perlstein Lab Tests Unorthodox Rare-Disease Plan
DIYBio is a hot term these days, as more so-called citizen scientists gain access to biotechnology tools and “biohacker” lab spaces. But how about DIY drug discovery? Independent scientist Ethan Perlstein is trying to prove it’s possible. After a year bootstrapping an ambitious project to find treatments for diseases too rare to attract drug industry … Continue reading “With $2M Seed, Perlstein Lab Tests Unorthodox Rare-Disease Plan”
Fashion Startup Wantable Raises $1.5M, Expands to Fitness Apparel
Wantable, the fast-growing Milwaukee e-commerce startup focused on young women’s fashion, said it has closed a $1.5 million Series A funding round that will help it grow the business and expand its product lines. The money comes from undisclosed Wisconsin and California investors. Wantable, founded in 2012 by Milwaukee serial entrepreneur Jalem Getz, previously raised … Continue reading “Fashion Startup Wantable Raises $1.5M, Expands to Fitness Apparel”
MA Won’t Change Noncompete Law, VCs Pledge to Continue Campaign
Startups and technology investors in Boston are finding out that political change usually doesn’t happen very fast. Despite a heavy lobbying campaign coordinated by the state’s venture capital firms, Massachusetts legislators have once again declined to restrict the use of non-competition agreements in the state. Employers use those contracts to ensure their workers won’t jump … Continue reading “MA Won’t Change Noncompete Law, VCs Pledge to Continue Campaign”
MHA Partners with ArborMetrix to Analyze Readmissions, Improve Care
The Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA), which lobbies the state and federal government on behalf of healthcare providers, said this month that its nonprofit Keystone Center will form a partnership with ArborMetrix to analyze state hospital data in order to find where providers can improve care and cut costs. ArborMetrix is an Ann Arbor, … Continue reading “MHA Partners with ArborMetrix to Analyze Readmissions, Improve Care”
VenueBook Grabs $2M, Wants To Be the OpenTable for Booking Events
Reserving a spot for dinner is easy these days, thanks to apps and websites, but booking the right spot to host an event can still take a fair amount of legwork. VenueBook, a New York-based startup, believes it can change that, particularly at so-called middle-tier locations, says Kelsey Recht, CEO and founder. Her cloud-based software … Continue reading “VenueBook Grabs $2M, Wants To Be the OpenTable for Booking Events”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: Amgen Layoffs, Avalanche, Venter & More
Summer in Seattle is usually a joyous season, but with the big West Coast news this week, a gloom more typical of the city’s winter months settled over the biotech community. Amgen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMGN]]) said it would shut down its research facility in town and a manufacturing plant in the suburb of Bothell. The closures … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Amgen Layoffs, Avalanche, Venter & More”
Raleigh-Durham Roundup: Targacept, Causam Energy, Merz, & Google
Targacept fails another clinical trial and suggests a possible change in course. Meanwhile, Causam Energy announces an acquisition and Merz completes one. Read about these and other headlines in this roundup of North Carolina technology and biotech news. —North Carolina biotech company Targacept (NASDAQ:[[ticker:TRGT]]) is halting work on an experimental drug to treat incontinence after … Continue reading “Raleigh-Durham Roundup: Targacept, Causam Energy, Merz, & Google”
Nok Nok Working With Tech Giants to Secure Smartphones, Networks
[Corrected 8/1/14, 12:20 p.m. See below.] There’s a certain irony that in a time when smartphones can tell who we are by scanning our fingerprints or taking a picture of our face, we still rely on usernames and passwords—a strategy developed in the age of the mainframe—to keep everything secure. But for people like Nok Nok … Continue reading “Nok Nok Working With Tech Giants to Secure Smartphones, Networks”
Avalanche Bio Rolls Onto Nasdaq After Upsized, $102M IPO
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals placed a bet on Avalanche Biotechnologies earlier this year with a wide-ranging partnership. Now, it appears public investors are jumping on the Menlo Park, CA-based company’s bandwagon too. Avalanche, which is developing gene therapies for severe eye diseases, has raised a whopping $102 million in its IPO by pricing 6 million shares at … Continue reading “Avalanche Bio Rolls Onto Nasdaq After Upsized, $102M IPO”
Wake Forest Institute Advancing Bioprinter Tech for Wound Care
In the not too distant future, one of the most important pieces of equipment for treating injured soldiers at a combat hospital could be a printer. Doctors may someday wheel a portable “bioprinter” over to a soldier’s bed, line it up, and print new layers of skin directly onto a severe wound or burn. That’s … Continue reading “Wake Forest Institute Advancing Bioprinter Tech for Wound Care”
Venter Hires Google Translate Leader at Human Longevity Startup
Human Longevity, the San Diego startup founded by human genomics pioneer J. Craig Venter, says it has recruited Franz Och, a 42-year-old expert in machine learning and language translation, to develop new ways to rapidly interpret raw genomic and proteomic data. Och has worked as a distinguished research scientist at Google for the past decade, … Continue reading “Venter Hires Google Translate Leader at Human Longevity Startup”
Apartment Website Abodo Snags 4490 Ventures’ First Investment
Abodo, the Madison, WI-based apartment rental website, has closed a $1.25 million Series A investment that’s significant not only for the company, but also because of the investors involved. The round was led by Madison-based American Family Ventures, the $50 million VC arm of American Family Insurance. The fund was formed in 2010 but only … Continue reading “Apartment Website Abodo Snags 4490 Ventures’ First Investment”
Green Charge Networks Bags $56M to Expand Smart Battery Market
Traditionally, batteries have had few uses in commercial buildings. But a handful of companies are reinventing batteries, making them connected devices that can cut utility bills without an upfront investment. Santa Clara, CA-based Green Charge Networks said Tuesday it has raised $56 million from K Road DG, a private equity firm focused on distributed energy, … Continue reading “Green Charge Networks Bags $56M to Expand Smart Battery Market”
Knoa Puts $5.1M to Work Bringing Efficiency to Enterprise Software
Piling on software for workers to use does not necessarily mean they will be better at their jobs. Even if employees clamor away at their computers to meet a quota or other targets, it can be hard to know if they are getting the most out of the software they use. New York-based Knoa Software … Continue reading “Knoa Puts $5.1M to Work Bringing Efficiency to Enterprise Software”
Driving Corporate Innovation: Design Thinking vs. Customer Development
Startups are not smaller versions of large companies, but interestingly we also see that companies are not larger versions of startups. I’ve been spending some time with large companies that are interested in using “Lean Startup” methods. One of the conundrums is why does innovation take so long to happen in corporations? Previously Hank Chesbrough … Continue reading “Driving Corporate Innovation: Design Thinking vs. Customer Development”
Drone Startups, Like Airware, Seek Profit in Software and the Cloud
Airware is a drone company that won’t be selling any drones. And it’s not alone: as the emerging market for commercial drones takes shape, a number of startups plan to earn profits by developing software and services for unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), rather than focusing just on the hardware. San Francisco-based Airware said last week … Continue reading “Drone Startups, Like Airware, Seek Profit in Software and the Cloud”
Be Gone, Junk: Austin Startup Touts “Reverse Amazon” Service
Amazon makes it easy to buy a lot of stuff. Gone wants to bring that ease to getting rid of it all. Today, the Austin, TX-based startup has unveiled its app designed to help consumers sell unwanted items around the house. The service is available in Austin and San Francisco, with plans to expand to … Continue reading “Be Gone, Junk: Austin Startup Touts “Reverse Amazon” Service”
Epic Sciences Raises $30M to Advance Cancer Diagnostics
It’s been about six years since San Diego’s Epic Sciences was founded to commercialize technology that Peter Kuhn and others developed at The Scripps Research Institute for detecting and analyzing circulating tumor cells. In more recent years, the company has moved rapidly to create an entirely new business based on its diagnostic technology. Epic Sciences … Continue reading “Epic Sciences Raises $30M to Advance Cancer Diagnostics”
A Window Into the Mind of NC Serial Entrepreneur Aaron Houghton
Aaron Houghton likes to build things. Sure, it was exhilarating running his previous company, Morrisville, NC-based iContact, after the e-mail marketing firm had grown well past the point of an initially bootstrapped startup formed by a pair of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students in 2003. At the apex of Houghton’s and co-founder … Continue reading “A Window Into the Mind of NC Serial Entrepreneur Aaron Houghton”
Venture for America Fellows Fall in Love with Detroit, Start TernPro
After Brian Bosche graduated from Dartmouth in 2012, he headed for Detroit, sight unseen, as part of the Venture for America program. “I had heard not-great things in the media, but seeing all the development and the startup scene really impressed me,” he says. “I realized it was a community I wanted to be a … Continue reading “Venture for America Fellows Fall in Love with Detroit, Start TernPro”
Seattle Jobs? Big Biotech Gives And Takes Away (Mostly The Latter)
Reporting a 25 percent jump in profits, Amgen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMGN]]) also dealt a blow to Seattle’s biotech job market today. The Thousand Oaks, CA-based biotech drug maker announced a huge round of job cuts, 12 to 15 percent of its staff worldwide, and a shuttering of research and manufacturing groups in Washington state and Colorado. … Continue reading “Seattle Jobs? Big Biotech Gives And Takes Away (Mostly The Latter)”
Bloom Energy Lands Utility to Fund “Energy Servers”
Bloom Energy has found a surprising financial partner—utility Exelon—to fund installation of its walk-in freezer-size fuel cells. The Sunnyvale, CA-based company said on Tuesday that Chicago-based Exelon will provide financing for Bloom’s generators, called “energy servers,” at commercial sites such as office parks. It’s the first time an energy company has provided capital to finance … Continue reading “Bloom Energy Lands Utility to Fund “Energy Servers””
New Leaf CEO: “The Vision Hasn’t Changed” as Payment Tech Heats Up
The checkout counter at your neighborhood hangout has become one of the hottest pieces of real estate in technology. Younger companies like Square and Groupon are pushing digital cash registers based on the iPad, and the software that goes along with them. Heavyweights like PayPal, Amazon, and Google are in the mix too, with digital … Continue reading “New Leaf CEO: “The Vision Hasn’t Changed” as Payment Tech Heats Up”
To Solve Alzheimer’s Mystery, Better Biological Clues Sorely Needed
The other day, I found a video on the website of the Alzheimer’s Association, a nonprofit foundation. It was part of an HBO documentary series produced a few years ago by Maria Shriver to educate the public about Alzheimer’s disease. The first couple minutes showed people going into scanners, doctors gently examining patients, color-contrasted brain … Continue reading “To Solve Alzheimer’s Mystery, Better Biological Clues Sorely Needed”
Accelerator Bags $51M, Makes Long-Awaited Move to NYC
Seattle’s Accelerator has talked for a long time about expanding into other relatively untapped life sciences clusters, aiming to offer a helping hand to early-stage biotech entrepreneurs where there aren’t already a bunch of venture capitalists devoted to the task. Today, Accelerator’s finally making that jump. It’s raised a whole bunch of cash and opened … Continue reading “Accelerator Bags $51M, Makes Long-Awaited Move to NYC”
Is Jibo the Next Roomba, or a Bigger Test for Consumer Robots?
Cynthia Breazeal has been a media darling since her grad-student days at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. She has worked on “social robots” with expressive faces and names like Kismet and Leonardo. So it’s no surprise that her current startup—and robot, called Jibo—is getting lots of attention. The company’s crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo has netted more … Continue reading “Is Jibo the Next Roomba, or a Bigger Test for Consumer Robots?”
Wisconsin Roundup: Exact Sciences, Bioforward, MCW, & More
A former Wisconsin governor has joined the board of promising Madison biotech company Exact Sciences. Meanwhile, there’s turnover at the top of the state’s biotech trade group. Read on for details about these announcements (and others) in this week’s rundown of Wisconsin innovation and technology headlines. —Jim Doyle, the Democrat who served as Wisconsin’s governor … Continue reading “Wisconsin Roundup: Exact Sciences, Bioforward, MCW, & More”
GraphLab Off to Fast Start with System for Building Predictive Apps
In the course of a mere 14 months, Seattle startup GraphLab Inc. has gone from a computer science professor and a few colleagues creating open source software to analyze graph datasets to a 25-person company with a new, full-fledged system for building predictive applications that draw on a range of data types. Their customers include … Continue reading “GraphLab Off to Fast Start with System for Building Predictive Apps”
San Diego’s Sapphire Energy Names New CEO Amid Signs of Change
It’s been clear for awhile that changes were underway at San Diego-based Sapphire Energy, an industrial biotech founded in 2007 to develop a revolutionary process for turning algae into gasoline and other fuels. Today the San Diego startup says former Verenium CEO James Levine has taken over as Sapphire’s CEO from Cynthia “C.J.” Warner, an … Continue reading “San Diego’s Sapphire Energy Names New CEO Amid Signs of Change”
Colombia & New York Connect To Chat about the Future of Commerce
Commerce has come a long way from the early days of digital shopping, and future innovations connecting companies to their customers could make it even easier for startups to compete—especially on the international stage. In the past, consumers were just getting comfortable with ordering books or making travel plans on the Web. Now, they can … Continue reading “Colombia & New York Connect To Chat about the Future of Commerce”
Investors Talk Venture Capital and the Midwestern Talent Gap
Earlier this month, MoneyTree released its quarterly venture capital report, and the news was overwhelmingly positive. VCs invested almost $13 billion in 1,114 U.S. startups during the second quarter, which is the highest level of VC funding in 13 years. That included a strong showing by the Midwest, which isn’t known for its VC investing. … Continue reading “Investors Talk Venture Capital and the Midwestern Talent Gap”
Zillow, Trulia Deal Means Fewer Competitors in Online Real Estate
Online real estate marketplace Zillow made good on the rumors today, announcing the $3.5 billion all-stock purchase of its major rival, San Francisco-based Trulia. The news was mostly sunshine and synergy in the corporate announcement and New York Times coverage. “We’ve been competitors and rivals for nine years, but I’ve always had respect for them,” … Continue reading “Zillow, Trulia Deal Means Fewer Competitors in Online Real Estate”
Energy Startups Take Page From Tech Playbook, Build Data Platforms
A standard playbook in the tech industry is to try to build a “platform” on top of which a company can attract developers and partners—and build revenue. In the energy industry, though, the notion of technology platforms and partner ecosystems is more or less non-existent. That could change, though, as more technology entrepreneurs cross over … Continue reading “Energy Startups Take Page From Tech Playbook, Build Data Platforms”
Emulate Scores $12M to Shake Up Drug Testing With Organs on Chips
It’s an age-old problem with drug development: no matter how good a drug looks when tested in animals or petri dishes, there’s no guarantee it’ll have the same effect on a person. That unpredictability has delayed or doomed countless drug prospects—and drives up the cost, and time, it takes to make a successful therapeutic. A … Continue reading “Emulate Scores $12M to Shake Up Drug Testing With Organs on Chips”
G1, Out to Shield Body From Chemo, Heads to First Clinical Test
Chemotherapy is like nuking the body with chemicals. It kills good and bad cells alike, which is why cancer patients undergoing treatment get fatigued and suffer through a whole host of side effects. A little startup built around research at the University of North Carolina called G1 Therapeutics thinks it’s got an answer to some … Continue reading “G1, Out to Shield Body From Chemo, Heads to First Clinical Test”
Colorado Tech Roundup: News From PivotDesk, Sierra Nevada, Vestas
Here is a quick roundup of some news from Colorado startups and tech companies, featuring PivotDesk, Sierra Nevada Corp., and Vestas. —PivotDesk’s new partners: PivotDesk wants to shake up the commercial real estate industry. Now they’re trying to do it by reaching out to new, unexpected allies. PivotDesk, which is based in Boulder, CO, this … Continue reading “Colorado Tech Roundup: News From PivotDesk, Sierra Nevada, Vestas”
Boston Tech Deals: TripAdvisor, PTC, Karmaloop, Intigua
Here are a handful of tech-industry financing and acquisition deals that went down this week, from travel and industrial software to IT and e-commerce: —TripAdvisor, the Newton, MA-based online travel site conglomerate, is making another acquisition. TripAdvisor says it’s spending about $200 million, mostly in cash, for online travel-booking company Viator. TripAdvisor says San Francisco-based … Continue reading “Boston Tech Deals: TripAdvisor, PTC, Karmaloop, Intigua”
Innovation Hub: How Lego Built a Blockbuster Global Brand
What products count as innovative? Often, the things we take most for granted. Like Legos. A toy that was started by a failing carpenter in the 1940s, suffered a near-death experience several years ago, and is now experiencing blockbuster growth. So, how did the company manage to stay afloat through a half-century of changing tastes … Continue reading “Innovation Hub: How Lego Built a Blockbuster Global Brand”