Mobile devices and Wi-Fi mean that we really can work anywhere. But we’re still pulled into an office setting when it comes to conference calls and other meetings with colleagues. Austin, TX-based Vobi says its cloud-based technology, which is being released today, can set those gatherings free. Think of it as the next generation conference … Continue reading “Vobi Wants to Update Conference Calls for Mobile Workers”
Category: National
Amazon Expands Boston-Area Office, Room for About 800
One of the technology industry’s biggest names is increasing its footprint in Boston. Real estate records show that Amazon recently added about 11,000 square feet to its existing offices in Cambridge’s Kendall Square neighborhood, right next to the prime recruiting grounds at MIT. It’s a popular spot for West Coast technology giants to set up … Continue reading “Amazon Expands Boston-Area Office, Room for About 800”
New Janssen Labs Incubator Could Bring Up to 50 Companies to South SF
Tiny biotech startups will have a new place to germinate in the San Francisco Bay Area. Healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Labs division is opening a new 30,000 square foot incubator in the biotech-rich suburb of South San Francisco. The flexible space, complete with common rooms, wet labs, and offices, could hold as many … Continue reading “New Janssen Labs Incubator Could Bring Up to 50 Companies to South SF”
Xconomy Surveys Innovation in the Sacramento-Davis Corridor
As Xconomist Bob Metcalfe has said, “Invention is a flower. Innovation is a weed.” What better place for the weed of innovation to grow than in the fertile region around the California capital of Sacramento, and, especially, nearby University of California at Davis, one of the premier agricultural research institutions in the world? In fact, … Continue reading “Xconomy Surveys Innovation in the Sacramento-Davis Corridor”
Can Sacramento End Its Innovation Drought?
It’s raining, at last, in the Sacramento region. It’s just past noon on the last day of March. As I’d glided east on Interstate 80 that morning, the sky had been darkly pregnant, a wash of Payne’s Gray. Yet not a drop of rain had streaked my windshield. Now, as I’m leaving City Hall in … Continue reading “Can Sacramento End Its Innovation Drought?”
With New Calendar App, Owaves Takes First Step to Healthy Lifestyle
To Royan Kamyar, the first line of defense against heart disease, obesity, diabetes, anxiety, and a litany of other modern ills is to take better care of yourself. And taking care of yourself, Kamyar says, involves five major ingredients: sleeping right; eating well; exercising regularly; mindful meditation (i.e., actively managing your stress); and making time … Continue reading “With New Calendar App, Owaves Takes First Step to Healthy Lifestyle”
MI’s Power Electronics Industry Collaborative Snags $500K Award
Today, NextEnergy announced that the Power Electronics Industry Collaborative (PEIC) has been awarded a two-year, $500,000 grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The award was given as part of the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia, or AMTech, program to fund the PEIC’s efforts toward strengthening the domestic power electronics cluster and supply … Continue reading “MI’s Power Electronics Industry Collaborative Snags $500K Award”
Boulder Startup Week Kicks Off With Look at Angel Investing Pitfalls
Angel investing isn’t for the faint of heart. Doing it right takes patience, acceptance of risk, and the knack for spotting entrepreneurs who can work together as a team. Those were the major themes at a panel discussion Monday that was part of the first day of Boulder Startup Week. The panel, titled “Trouble in … Continue reading “Boulder Startup Week Kicks Off With Look at Angel Investing Pitfalls”
SolveBio Grabs $2M to Make Genomics Easier for Programmers
The explosion of quicker and cheaper DNA sequencing tools hasn’t just made it easier to map a person’s genome. It’s also created several potential niches for fledgling companies coming up with answers for what to do with all the data those tools generate. SolveBio, a new startup based out of New York, is the latest … Continue reading “SolveBio Grabs $2M to Make Genomics Easier for Programmers”
Sprinklr Sets Off to Cut Down Noise in Social Media Monitoring
There is plenty of chatter about brands on social media these days; figuring out how to use that information can be tricky, though. Whether it is the outrage of a disgruntled customer or the praise of a happy one, people are not squeamish about speaking their minds online about companies. Sprinklr, based in New York, … Continue reading “Sprinklr Sets Off to Cut Down Noise in Social Media Monitoring”
HAXLR8R Demo Day 2014: Robotics and ‘Niche’ Products
In the mere two years since Sean O’Sullivan and Cyril Ebersweiler founded the Shenzhen, China-based HAXLR8R hardware accelerator, a lot has changed. Technology prices continue to fall, more and more entrepreneurs are willing to jump into hardware, and instead of streamlining to a single connected device, it seems as though consumers are willing to tote … Continue reading “HAXLR8R Demo Day 2014: Robotics and ‘Niche’ Products”
Nonprofit Aims to Boost Early-Stage Healthcare Startups in Milwaukee
The spotlight for healthcare innovation in Wisconsin often falls on the state capital of Madison, and for good reason. The city’s biotech scene has produced a number of successful startups that got acquired or went public, and researchers at its flagship university have for decades made impactful—and at times, incredibly lucrative—discoveries that have fueled a … Continue reading “Nonprofit Aims to Boost Early-Stage Healthcare Startups in Milwaukee”
Austin’s Peach Digitally Connects Local Farmers to Restaurant Chefs
Call it a virtual farmers market. Two Austin entrepreneurs have developed a mobile app that they say will digitize the marketplace for produce, meat, and other food products grown by local farms. “Chefs want to source more locally but they have no time to research, find these products, and connect to the farmers,” says co-founder … Continue reading “Austin’s Peach Digitally Connects Local Farmers to Restaurant Chefs”
Entrepreneurship Inside Corporations
There is a real trend developing right now of large corporations becoming crucibles of innovation and entrepreneurship in a systematic way. In this post, I will discuss four specific sub-categories of this trend that we’re seeing, and for all practical purposes, participating in. Intrapreneurship Incubation Corporations have come to realize that there are numerous great … Continue reading “Entrepreneurship Inside Corporations”
Catalog Your Memories: Moju Labs Debuts Its First App
Heads up, social media fiends. Menlo Park’s Moju Labs is launching its first product today, a photo sharing app that the company is marketing as “Instagram on steroids.” Co-founders Mok Oh and Justin Legakis believe that photos and videos are “artifacts of legacy devices”—photos can only show one stagnant moment in time, and videos are … Continue reading “Catalog Your Memories: Moju Labs Debuts Its First App”
LTI Corrals $5M to Exploit Link Between Gaucher, Parkinson’s
[Updated 5/12/14 10:30 pm. See below.] It’s been known for a while: Patients with the rare Gaucher disease are at much higher risk for Parkinson’s disease, as well. But only recently have drug makers, like Lysosomal Therapeutics (LTI), set out to turn that knowledge into a Parkinson’s treatment. LTI said Monday it has secured a … Continue reading “LTI Corrals $5M to Exploit Link Between Gaucher, Parkinson’s”
Ignoring the Old Math, a San Francisco Startup Reinvents UAV Wings
What if you could eliminate turbulence around an aircraft wing and get twice as much lift for the same amount of engine power—or five or 10 times as much? What if the outer surfaces of a wing weren’t rigid, but were more like a living thing, moving relative to the wing’s interior parts? To most … Continue reading “Ignoring the Old Math, a San Francisco Startup Reinvents UAV Wings”
U-M Student Funds Talk About First 2014 Acquisition, New Investment
In April, the Wolverine Venture Fund, which is managed by students from the University of Michigan’s Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies and Ross School of Business, announced that one of its portfolio companies, Silverpop, has been acquired by IBM. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Erik Gordon, faculty managing director for the … Continue reading “U-M Student Funds Talk About First 2014 Acquisition, New Investment”
Shire Pays Over $260M Upfront in IPO Detour for San Diego’s Lumena
San Diego’s Lumena Pharmaceuticals, which was on the road to raising $75 million in an IPO, has instead agreed to a $260 million-plus buyout offer from Shire (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SHPG]]), the Irish pharmaceutical giant. Since it was founded three years ago, Lumena has worked to develop new oral drugs for rare liver diseases that stem from … Continue reading “Shire Pays Over $260M Upfront in IPO Detour for San Diego’s Lumena”
Tesaro Climbs on Phase 3 Data for Nausea Drug
Investors pummeled Tesaro in December when an anti-nausea drug it’s been developing for cancer patients missed some key secondary goals in the first two of three late-stage trials. But today the Waltham, MA-based company bounced back when it said a third trial came through unscathed. Tesaro (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TSRO]]) said today that rolapitant, a drug it’s … Continue reading “Tesaro Climbs on Phase 3 Data for Nausea Drug”
Talkspace Raises $2.5M Seed Round for Therapist Texting Service
New York-based counseling startup Talkspace said Monday it raised a $2.5 million seed round from investors Spark Capital and Softbank. Talkspace connects people anonymously via mobile devices and the Web to licensed therapists for help with relationships, anxiety, and other problems. The service includes Unlimited Messaging Therapy that, for a fee, lets people text therapists without revealing their … Continue reading “Talkspace Raises $2.5M Seed Round for Therapist Texting Service”
In Pursuit of Hot Autoimmune Target, GSK and Academics Team Up
Drug targets are like fashion items. When a trendsetter proves one is worth spending money on, a lot of followers pile in. That’s no knock on drug developers, necessarily: When a new target shows some promise, it’s good to have lots of researchers with different ideas and approaches trying to find a drug to hit … Continue reading “In Pursuit of Hot Autoimmune Target, GSK and Academics Team Up”
Digital Health Check-Up: More Dollars, Fewer Bracelets
[Corrected 5/12/14, 11:15 am. See below.] Digital health funding is booming, but one of the most visible areas of the nascent field is looking a little tired. Those were two of the messages brought to bear Friday by a gathering of entrepreneurs, financiers, and others at a half-day event hosted by law firm Fenwick & … Continue reading “Digital Health Check-Up: More Dollars, Fewer Bracelets”
Seattle Roundup: CPA Fund, Minetta Brook, Appetas, Ada, & More
Lots to catch up on this week: Columbia Pacific Advisors shared more about its tech investment strategy; Minetta Brook released an interesting big data offering; Google ate Appetas; Smore raised cash; the Ada Developers Academy partnered with Bellevue College; and WallyHome partnered with HomeAdvisor. That’s all in addition to our coverage this week of funding … Continue reading “Seattle Roundup: CPA Fund, Minetta Brook, Appetas, Ada, & More”
Boston Tech Roundup: Perfecto, Extreme Reach, Finally, AllClasses
It was a pretty busy week for investment deals and other startup company news around the greater Boston region—here are a few more items to fill out the collection: —Perfecto Mobile, a Woburn, MA-based software company that helps business customers test and monitor their mobile apps, has raised another $20 million. The private investment was … Continue reading “Boston Tech Roundup: Perfecto, Extreme Reach, Finally, AllClasses”
Innovation Hub: Joi Ito on Failing to the Top
Joi Ito may be a tech luminary, but he says that he has mostly learned by failing. Ito—an early investor in Twitter, Kickstarter, and Flickr—is now the head of the MIT Media Lab. And he believes that young people, entrepreneurs, and even those in established positions should be encouraged to try more and fail more. … Continue reading “Innovation Hub: Joi Ito on Failing to the Top”
Boston’s Moontoast Buys Spendship, a Nashville Startup With WI Roots
Spendship, a mobile marketing startup with Wisconsin roots, has been acquired for an undisclosed sum by Boston-based adtech company Moontoast, the companies announced Thursday. Jason Weaver, founder and former CEO of Madison, WI-based Shoutlet, created the Spendship platform as a way for businesses to simultaneously boost sales and relationships with consumers by “turning fans into … Continue reading “Boston’s Moontoast Buys Spendship, a Nashville Startup With WI Roots”
MI Roundup: Sandberg, U-M Mobility Center, Detroit Trends
Here’s a look at some of the news from around southeast Michigan’s innovation community that you may have missed: —Facebook COO and bestselling author Sheryl Sandberg was in town last week to talk marketing strategies at a meeting of the Adcraft Club in Troy, MI. The informal theme of the presentation was Detroit’s importance in … Continue reading “MI Roundup: Sandberg, U-M Mobility Center, Detroit Trends”
Radius Health Yanks IPO, Cites Market Conditions
For the second time in two years, Radius Health is taking itself out of the IPO queue. The Cambridge, MA-based company has postponed its IPO, citing “poor market conditions,” according to IPO research firm Renaissance Capital. Radius had been looking to raise about $75 million and list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “RDUS.” … Continue reading “Radius Health Yanks IPO, Cites Market Conditions”
East Coast Biotech Roundup: Mergers, Rhythm, Regeneron, & More
Pharma megadeals once again took center stage this week as more giant divisions were flipped, and the tension around a potential 12-figure, international buyout affecting thousands of workers across the globe escalated even higher. Those stories, and—oh yeah, biotech news—below. —Nothing is more closely watched in the life sciences world right now than the ongoing … Continue reading “East Coast Biotech Roundup: Mergers, Rhythm, Regeneron, & More”
Radio is the New Netflix. Here’s Your Binge Listening Guide.
“Binge watching” TV shows wasn’t possible until the advent of full-season DVD sets in the late 1990s. And while bingeing was common enough in the 2000s—I definitely remember a few weekends spent inhaling 24, BSG, and The Wire—it didn’t really leap into the mainstream until 2013, when Netflix began streaming whole seasons of shows like … Continue reading “Radio is the New Netflix. Here’s Your Binge Listening Guide.”
The Xconomy SF Six: Funding for Udemy, Optimizely, & More
Here are the top six things we’re paying attention to in the San Francisco tech scene this week. –Yesterday, online teaching marketplace Udemy announced a $32 million Series C round, bringing its total funding to $48 million. Investors include Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), Insight Venture Partners and MHS Capital. The company plans to use the … Continue reading “The Xconomy SF Six: Funding for Udemy, Optimizely, & More”
Wisconsin Roundup: BrightStar, Propeller Health, JCI R&D lab, & More
Here’s a few news items from Wisconsin’s innovation and tech community that you might have missed this week: —BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation announced its next round of investments in local startups, with $285,000 total put into Milwaukee-based The Good Jobs, Fishidy of Madison, WI, and WholeTrees, a Madison-based company that plans to build a production facility … Continue reading “Wisconsin Roundup: BrightStar, Propeller Health, JCI R&D lab, & More”
Months Before CEO Shakeup, Leaf Investor Took Control of Startup
[Updated 11:30 am, see note below.] Boston-area startup Leaf gave us another glimpse at how rough the retail payments sector can be with this week’s sudden departure of its founding CEO. Such CEO swaps happen pretty frequently in the startup world, where companies are moving at a breakneck pace to either grow their business or … Continue reading “Months Before CEO Shakeup, Leaf Investor Took Control of Startup”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: Alder IPO, Exelixis, Corcept, and More
It was a big week for synthetic biology in San Diego, a bit rocky for Bothell, WA-based Alder’s IPO, and South San Francisco’s Exelixis had some encouraging results from an early-stage trial of melanoma patients. Here’s our wrap-up. —A new San Diego startup called Synthorx is working to capitalize on a breakthrough in synthetic biology … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Alder IPO, Exelixis, Corcept, and More”
Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network’s Leaders Learning Early Lessons
Two weeks ago, Blackstone announced it was putting up $4 million to create the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network in Colorado. As this longer article describes, BEN Colorado’s goal is to help Colorado companies successfully “scale up” to become leaders in their industries while also deepening connections across various high-growth industries. How’s that effort going so far? … Continue reading “Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network’s Leaders Learning Early Lessons”
10 Things to Know About BEN, Blackstone, and Colorado’s Gazelles
It was a big win for Colorado’s entrepreneurial ecosystem when the Blackstone Charitable Foundation announced it was putting up $4 million to create the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network in Colorado. BEN Colorado’s twofold mission is to help the next wave of companies with high-growth potential scale up and become leaders in their industries while also helping … Continue reading “10 Things to Know About BEN, Blackstone, and Colorado’s Gazelles”
Greentown Startups Work Around VCs, Find Niches in Cleantech
If you’re wondering what’s bubbling up in the fields of energy and sustainability, try visiting the incubator with the largest number of cleantech startups in the country. That would be Greentown Labs, based in a 33,000-square-foot facility in Somerville, MA, between Union Square and Porter Square. The co-working space originally formed in late 2010 in … Continue reading “Greentown Startups Work Around VCs, Find Niches in Cleantech”
Osborn Students Go Inside the Tech Bubble With Grand Circus Program
On Monday afternoon, a group of students from Detroit’s Osborn High School sat on the fourth floor of the Grand Circus office downtown, glued to their computer screens. They were there as part of a 10-week pilot program, in partnership with the Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation, called the Hacker Society—which aims to teach kids outside … Continue reading “Osborn Students Go Inside the Tech Bubble With Grand Circus Program”
Biotech IPO Slump Deepens as Alder Prices Below Range
As Alder Biopharmaceuticals can attest to today, the biotech IPO train has hit the skids. The Bothell, WA-based company has priced its IPO at $10 per share, well below its projected $13 to $15 per share range, according to IPO research firm Renaissance Capital. Alder upsized its offering to 8 million shares from 7.2 million … Continue reading “Biotech IPO Slump Deepens as Alder Prices Below Range”
Outside San Diego, Illumina Looks to Wisconsin for Key R&D
When an acquisition occurs, the worst-case scenario for the community of the purchased company usually occurs when the buyer gobbles up the pieces it wants and shutters the local operations. But this situation doesn’t always play out, and Nick Caruccio is glad that’s not what happened to his company, Madison, WI-based Epicentre, after San Diego-based … Continue reading “Outside San Diego, Illumina Looks to Wisconsin for Key R&D”
Hutch Starts Search for New Prez as Corey Steps Down
After several years under the stewardship of international HIV vaccine expert Larry Corey, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, one of the world’s leading biomedical research centers, is looking for a new leader. The “Hutch” announced today that Corey is stepping down after three and a half years on the job to “return to … Continue reading “Hutch Starts Search for New Prez as Corey Steps Down”
Austin’s RideScout Picks Up Steam, Rolling Out to Dozens of Cities
The last time we met Joseph Kopser, he was pitching his newly hatched startup, RideScout, at a Start Houston pitch night. Nine months later, the RideScout app, which Kopser describes as “Kayak for ground transportation,” is preparing to roll out to 40 cities by the end of the summer. Currently, commuters in four cities—Austin, Boston, … Continue reading “Austin’s RideScout Picks Up Steam, Rolling Out to Dozens of Cities”
Looking for Motivation? Strava Aims to Connect Athletes at All Levels
If there’s a misconception about Strava, it’s that the fitness app is only for super athletes, CEO Mark Gainey says. While Strava users do include elite athletes like Olympic road race champion Marianne Vos and racing cyclist Niki Terpstra, the data shows that the customer base is really just a bunch of folks committed to … Continue reading “Looking for Motivation? Strava Aims to Connect Athletes at All Levels”
Three Months in Berlin: One Tech Entrepreneur’s Journey
San Francisco is the center of the tech world. But after three months in Europe, my conclusion is that there’s a major new contender as a great place to start startups: Berlin. In this article I’ll tell you about the companies and investors I got the chance to work with, and then talk about the … Continue reading “Three Months in Berlin: One Tech Entrepreneur’s Journey”
NPS Pharma’s Francois Nader on the Megadeal Fallout for Biotechs
Sometime soon, it’s entirely possible that Pfizer will buy AstraZeneca for a price that would exceed the gross national product of all but about 50 countries worldwide. Should that happen, a long, complicated process will unfold. Pfizer (NYSE: [[ticker:PFE]]) will talk about bringing together two titans with franchises in big fields like oncology, inflammation, and … Continue reading “NPS Pharma’s Francois Nader on the Megadeal Fallout for Biotechs”
With $23.6M, Igneous Systems Targets Next-Gen Datacenters
Igneous Systems is quietly working on something to do with modern datacenter infrastructure—something that attracted a $23.6 million Series A funding round, announced by the Seattle startup today. New Enterprise Associates led the round, which was joined by Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group (which incubated the company’s founders over the last nine months and led a … Continue reading “With $23.6M, Igneous Systems Targets Next-Gen Datacenters”
Stackdriver Scooped Up by Google in Cloud-Monitoring Deal
Another promising technology startup, another acquisition by a West Coast giant. In a busy week for Boston tech deals, this one stands out: Stackdriver, a two-year-old company working on cloud-application monitoring, is being acquired by Google. Terms of the deal weren’t given, but Google product manager Tom Kershaw says in a blog post that Stackdriver … Continue reading “Stackdriver Scooped Up by Google in Cloud-Monitoring Deal”
San Diego’s Synthorx Adds To Genetic Alphabet, Aims for Bio-Products
[Corrected 5/7/14, 2 pm See below.] A group of scientists in San Diego who found a way to insert synthesized nucleotides into DNA—and who succeeded in coaxing the synthetic DNA to replicate in bacteria—have founded a new company to use the technology to make improved drugs and bio-products. Their breakthrough in synthetic biology, described in … Continue reading “San Diego’s Synthorx Adds To Genetic Alphabet, Aims for Bio-Products”
EndlessTV App Launches, Brings Television-style Experience to Mobile
Watching video on smartphones just got a bit more like flipping through channels on TV. On Wednesday, EndlessTV released its flagship app, offering personalized video viewing on mobile devices. There are many apps for streaming YouTube-style videos on mobile devices, but EndlessTV thinks its simplified approach sets it apart. New York-based EndlessTV already offers a collection … Continue reading “EndlessTV App Launches, Brings Television-style Experience to Mobile”