BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation, a new philanthropic organization that puts money into startups, has made its first round of investments. BrightStar, which was granted nonprofit status by the Internal Revenue Service in November, says today it’s putting more than $250,000 into three early-stage Wisconsin companies: Engineered Propulsion Systems, New Richmond; Stemina Biomarker Discovery, Madison; and 425 … Continue reading “BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation Makes First Investments”
Category: National
Fort Collins Entrepreneurs Planning for City’s First Startup Week
Entrepreneurs in Fort Collins, CO, are going to be busy this spring—not just with running startups, but also with community building. The city of nearly 150,000 in northern Colorado will host its first startup week this May. The event will run from May 20 to 25. Fort Collins Startup Week is modeled on similar multi-day … Continue reading “Fort Collins Entrepreneurs Planning for City’s First Startup Week”
See You Later at Xconomy Xchange: Nurturing a Startup Ecosystem
Start off your St. Paddy’s Day celebration right with our Xconomy Xchange event today, featuring Jason Mendelson on sustaining and nurturing a startup ecosystem. Mendelson is the managing director and co-founder of the Foundry Group, a Boulder, CO-based venture fund that invests in early-stage information technology, Internet, and software startups. He’s also a metro Detroit … Continue reading “See You Later at Xconomy Xchange: Nurturing a Startup Ecosystem”
Colorado-based GlobeImmune Gives IPO a Second Shot, Aims for $35M
Maybe the second time will be the charm for GlobeImmune, a Louisville, CO-based biotech that filed for an IPO on Monday after seeing its first effort to do so come up empty. The company, which initially filed for an IPO in 2012 but cancelled those plans last October after it couldn’t find buyers, is looking … Continue reading “Colorado-based GlobeImmune Gives IPO a Second Shot, Aims for $35M”
Ataxion Emerges From Stealth With $17M, Option Deal With Biogen
Last year, a once-promising Danish biotech named NeuroSearch completed a precipitous fall from grace and announced plans to shut down. But before it did, NeuroSearch managed to ship some of its assets off to other places. A few of them landed in the hands of Atlas Venture, which is giving them a second lease on … Continue reading “Ataxion Emerges From Stealth With $17M, Option Deal With Biogen”
Texas Roundup: Bio2 Medical, Oxane Materials, Alkami Tech, Illumitex
A summary of the news-in-brief from Texas’s innovation community in the last week. (Yes, there was more going on than just South By Southwest:) — Bio2 Medical has raised $5.8 million out of a possible $7.5 million equity financing round from 10 investors, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. … Continue reading “Texas Roundup: Bio2 Medical, Oxane Materials, Alkami Tech, Illumitex”
Zumper Aims to Take the Pain Out of Renting, If Not the High Prices
Here in San Francisco, there’s never been a crazier time to try to rent an apartment. As fortune-seekers rush to the region to get in on the continuing tech boom, demand is far outstripping supply. That means more prospective renters are competing for each unit, landlords and brokers have more applications to sort through, and … Continue reading “Zumper Aims to Take the Pain Out of Renting, If Not the High Prices”
Wisconsin Roundup: Tech Transfer, Supercomputers, Stem Cells
Here are a few notable news items from Wisconsin’s tech and innovation community over the past week: —Discovery to Product (D2P), the new University of Wisconsin-Madison initiative for accelerating commercialization of campus innovations, named Wisconsin entrepreneur John Biondi as its first director. In his career, Biondi has raised nearly $60 million for nine early-stage ventures … Continue reading “Wisconsin Roundup: Tech Transfer, Supercomputers, Stem Cells”
Five Prime, Bristol-Myers Squibb Cut $350M Immuno-Oncology Deal
Five Prime Therapeutics didn’t spring out of the blocks like many of the other members of biotech’s IPO class of 2013. But the South San Francisco, CA-based biotech is now having its day in the sun, because it just cut a deal worth up to $350 million with Bristol-Myers Squibb to team up and discover … Continue reading “Five Prime, Bristol-Myers Squibb Cut $350M Immuno-Oncology Deal”
San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Zogenix, Ignyta, AnaptysBio, & More
[Updated 3/18/14 10:05 am. See below.] Here is a quick rundown of the strategic partnerships, funding deals, clinical trials, and other developments that kept San Diego’s life sciences sector hopping last week. —San Diego-based AnaptysBio and Waltham, MA-based Tesaro (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TSRO]]) agreed to collaborate in the development of certain antibody drug candidates that could be … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Zogenix, Ignyta, AnaptysBio, & More”
Mobile Madness Is This Wednesday: 8 Startup Tix Left to Give Away
Our annual spring mobile event, Mobile Madness 2014, takes place this Wednesday afternoon. We’re coming down to the closing stretch when it comes to buying tickets—and if you are at a startup company, it’s the last chance to snag a free ticket. That’s because last week MIT Sloan Executive Education and The Martin Trust Center … Continue reading “Mobile Madness Is This Wednesday: 8 Startup Tix Left to Give Away”
Tip-Skimming Lawsuits Against Uber Motor Along
As it battles established competitors and local regulators around the country, Uber is becoming known for its legal troubles almost as much as its slick car-for-hire smartphone app. Recently, the focus of those skirmishes has been local regulations in a handful of cities around the country. But Uber also continues to battle several lawsuits in … Continue reading “Tip-Skimming Lawsuits Against Uber Motor Along”
Intercept Ends Roller Coaster Weekend With Phase 3 Victory
Intercept Pharmaceuticals gave investors a scare on Friday night, but the New York-based company bounced back on Sunday by revealing that its experimental liver drug, obeticholic acid (OCA), aced a late-stage clinical trial. Intercept (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ICPT]]) said that OCA met all of its goals in a Phase 3 study testing the drug in people with … Continue reading “Intercept Ends Roller Coaster Weekend With Phase 3 Victory”
Seattle Roundup: Kickstarter, Kineta, Ride-Share Regs, Lively
In addition to funding news this week for Seattle-area outfits Seattle BioMed, Rover.com, Tipbit, Illumagear, and ComputeNext, we got word of a Kickstarter milestone, more funding for drug developer Kineta, and a potentially big week for Lively. Next week, we’re expecting a final decision on new city regulations on the likes of Uber, Sidecar, and … Continue reading “Seattle Roundup: Kickstarter, Kineta, Ride-Share Regs, Lively”
Already On Watch: MSpy Monitoring Software Preloaded on Some Phones
It just got a bit easier to snoop on some smartphones. MSpy, a developer of communication monitoring technology, said Wednesday it is selling smartphones preloaded with its software. Available models include the iPhone 5s, Samsung Galaxy S4, Nexus 5, and HTC One. The startup’s software can be used to track phones’ activities, including voice calls, … Continue reading “Already On Watch: MSpy Monitoring Software Preloaded on Some Phones”
Xconomy Xchange: Meet Panelists Carla Walker-Miller and Moses Lee
On Monday, Xconomy is hosting an event featuring Jason Mendelson, a metro Detroit native and a University of Michigan alum who went on to co-found the Foundry Group, a highly successful venture fund based in Boulder, CO. Mendelson will discuss how to sustain and nurture a startup ecosystem. After his chat, a panel of local … Continue reading “Xconomy Xchange: Meet Panelists Carla Walker-Miller and Moses Lee”
Boston Tech Roundup: Persimmon, OwnCloud, Basho, Echo Nest, Loci
Check out a few investments, executives coming and going, and busted business deals in this trip through the week’s Boston-area technology headlines: —Persimmon Technologies, a Wakefield, MA-based developer of advanced motors for high-tech manufacturing, has added about $8 million to its Series B round. The money came from two new investors: the ABB Group and Berwind … Continue reading “Boston Tech Roundup: Persimmon, OwnCloud, Basho, Echo Nest, Loci”
For Products, Technology Still Matters
Popular media has seriously overshot on the relative importance of marketing and design versus technology for product companies. Just spend some time perusing the usual outlets and you’ll quickly forget that startups employ technologists. What’s scary is it’s not just media—the rest of the world is starting to follow. The number of companies, raising very … Continue reading “For Products, Technology Still Matters”
After Raising More Cash, PatientSafe Solutions Eyes Foreign Markets
PatientSafe Solutions, the digital health technology company based in San Diego, says it has inked a couple of deals that mark the company’s first move into markets outside the United States. The company, which introduced its PatientTouch handheld smart device for nurses in 2011, first announced a Series C round of financing more than a … Continue reading “After Raising More Cash, PatientSafe Solutions Eyes Foreign Markets”
East Coast Biotech Roundup: ImmusanT, NY Disruptors, Tesaro, & More
Immuno-oncology fever still rages. Another Third Rock Ventures-backed company looks primed for an IPO. We’ve got those stories and many more in a jam-packed roundup this week: —People with celiac disease have one option to be symptom-free: steer clear of gluten. But Cambridge, MA-based startup ImmusanT is trying to come up with a vaccine that … Continue reading “East Coast Biotech Roundup: ImmusanT, NY Disruptors, Tesaro, & More”
From Cosimo to Cosmos: The Medici Effect in Culture and Technology
Deep inside the Palazzo Vecchio, the tall stone fortress that has served as the seat of government power in Florence since the 14th century, there’s a room called the Sala delle Carte Geografiche, the Hall of Maps. The cabinets lining the walls, which once held scientific instruments and other precious items, are decorated with 53 … Continue reading “From Cosimo to Cosmos: The Medici Effect in Culture and Technology”
4490 Ventures Head Brings Silicon Valley Experience, Midwest Mindset
Greg Robinson spent 12 years in the Silicon Valley venture capital world, where the amount of money constantly being pumped into startups can at times seem almost unreal to Wisconsin observers. But Robinson says he brings a Midwest-like mindset of prudence to his role as general partner of the new 4490 Ventures fund based in … Continue reading “4490 Ventures Head Brings Silicon Valley Experience, Midwest Mindset”
South By Southwest: Interactive 2014 in Pictures
Panel discussions and parties. “Meatups” and Mario Kart. SXSW Interactive aimed to have a little something for everyone. And considering that more than 30,000 people came to downtown Austin for this year’s festival, the variety is probably a good thing. Here is a very unscientifically collected group of photos crowdsourced from Xconomy readers over the … Continue reading “South By Southwest: Interactive 2014 in Pictures”
U-M Students’ Books to Teach Kids About Steve Jobs, Entrepreneurship
Sara Abraham and Reda Jaber created a bucket list of things they wanted to do as a couple, and near the top of that list was writing a children’s book. They both attend the University of Michigan; she’s finishing up a bachelor’s degree in Global Health on her way to becoming a teacher, and he’s … Continue reading “U-M Students’ Books to Teach Kids About Steve Jobs, Entrepreneurship”
What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Sci-Fi: Previewing CU Law’s Event
On Friday, the University of Colorado Law School’s Silicon Flatirons Center will host its annual conference on entrepreneurship. This year the event comes with a twist: instead of discussing a topic such as fundraising, the conference, titled Sci-Fi and Entrepreneurship: Is Resistance Futile?, will be about what entrepreneurs can learn from science fiction. Brad Bernthal, … Continue reading “What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Sci-Fi: Previewing CU Law’s Event”
Here’s the Full Agenda for Xconomy’s Robo Madness Bash on April 10
When Google is buying robotics companies left and right and Jeff Bezos is promising to send you Amazon packages via drone aircraft, you know that change is speeding up in the robotics industry. And we’ve got a great way to help you get a handle on it. Robo Madness, Xconomy’s signature annual technology event in … Continue reading “Here’s the Full Agenda for Xconomy’s Robo Madness Bash on April 10”
In “Marketization” of Consumer Apps, Springpad Aims for Mainstream
The line between content and advertising grows blurrier by the day. That might be good for some tech startups—but to gain mainstream adoption, and users’ trust, they have to ride the trend in just the right way. The newest data point comes from Springpad, a Charlestown, MA-based company known for its personal-organizer app and notebook … Continue reading “In “Marketization” of Consumer Apps, Springpad Aims for Mainstream”
Renaissance Learning Being Sold for $1.1B to Hellman & Friedman
[Updated 3/14/14, 8:50 am. See below.] Renaissance Learning is being sold for $1.1 billion to private equity firm Hellman & Friedman in what it says is one of the largest education technology acquisitions ever. Hellman & Friedman, with offices in San Francisco, New York, and London, will acquire Renaissance Learning from U.K.-based private equity firm … Continue reading “Renaissance Learning Being Sold for $1.1B to Hellman & Friedman”
MIT Sloan Buys 20 Tickets for Startups to Attend Mobile Madness—Claim Yours Now
With just under a week to go until Xconomy’s annual Mobile Madness conference, MIT Sloan Executive Education and The Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship have stepped up in a big way—purchasing 20 tickets for those at startups wishing to attend the event. Anyone wishing to claim one of the tickets should write right away … Continue reading “MIT Sloan Buys 20 Tickets for Startups to Attend Mobile Madness—Claim Yours Now”
Sage Therapeutics Grabs $38M More For CNS Drugs
Sage Therapeutics has just reined in another big financing round and a new group of investors to help rev up its first clinical trial—and perhaps an IPO to boot. The Cambridge, MA-based startup said today it has nailed down a $38 million Series C round of equity financing and brought in several additional backers, among … Continue reading “Sage Therapeutics Grabs $38M More For CNS Drugs”
Partnership with AnaptysBio Gives Tesaro Entrée to Immuno-Oncology
San Diego’s AnaptysBio has cut a deal with with Tesaro (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TSRO]]) that gives the Waltham, MA-based biopharmaceutical a new opening in the hot field of cancer immunotherapy. Under the deal, Anaptys has granted Tesaro exclusive worldwide rights to preclinical antibody programs that target three “checkpoint” receptors (PD-1, TIM-3, and LAG-3) that regulate T cells, … Continue reading “Partnership with AnaptysBio Gives Tesaro Entrée to Immuno-Oncology”
GE Healthcare Study Quantifies Economic Impact of Madison Operation
GE Healthcare has had a significant presence in Madison, WI, since 2003, when it bought Datex-Ohmeda, a company that traced its local roots to the opening of an Ohio Medical Products manufacturing facility in 1946. Today there are 630 people working at GE Healthcare’s 200,000-square-foot facility on the outskirts of Madison, the U.S. hub for … Continue reading “GE Healthcare Study Quantifies Economic Impact of Madison Operation”
Tipbit Raises $4M from Ignition for Personal Search in E-mail
Tipbit is going after a wicked problem that seems to get worse as each new cloud service spreads our digital work farther afield, making key information at once more accessible and harder to find. The Bellevue, WA-based startup’s solution is in the form of an e-mail application for iPhones, but “the heart of what we … Continue reading “Tipbit Raises $4M from Ignition for Personal Search in E-mail”
TrackVia’s List of “DIY” Apps Includes Cadavers, Stem Cell Therapy
Cadavers—there’s an app for that. TrackVia, a venture-backed startup in Denver, has released its annual list of “the 10 Most Interesting Business Apps” built using TrackVia’s “do-it-yourself” development platform for business applications. At the top of the list is an app designed by the Illinois-based Innoved Institute that tracks where body parts from cadavers go. … Continue reading “TrackVia’s List of “DIY” Apps Includes Cadavers, Stem Cell Therapy”
Capital Factory Pitch Day Offers Peek at Upcoming Austin Innovation
In addition to “Is SXSW too big?” another comment I heard frequently during the four days of Interactive was, “Josh Baer is everywhere.” And Baer, founder of Austin’s Capital Factory, did pop up ubiquitously over the festival, whether its was as his virtual avatar on social media or in person at the Austin Hilton and … Continue reading “Capital Factory Pitch Day Offers Peek at Upcoming Austin Innovation”
Sen Sigma Out to Battle Bad Welds, Save Manufacturers Millions
Defect formation, Jyoti Mazumder says, is a huge problem in manufacturing. According to Mazumder, a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at the University of Michigan and founder of Sen Sigma, hundreds of millions of dollars are wasted every year on defective products in the United States, with a big chunk of those defects occurring … Continue reading “Sen Sigma Out to Battle Bad Welds, Save Manufacturers Millions”
Hiding in 172M Cab Rides: A New Frontier for the ‘Sharing Economy’
Splitting a cab fare isn’t usually what you’d call a high-tech activity, even with millions of people carrying sophisticated Internet portals in their pockets and purses. Researchers at MIT think it’s about time that changed. By analyzing a year’s worth of New York City cab rides, MIT’s Sensable City Lab was able to see just … Continue reading “Hiding in 172M Cab Rides: A New Frontier for the ‘Sharing Economy’”
TaxJar Raises $600K as Congress Resumes Debate on Internet Sales Tax
When TaxJar CEO Mark Faggiano introduced himself to Bay Area angel investor and 500 Startups co-founder Dave McClure in San Diego recently, he explained that TaxJar is a local Web startup that helps online merchants track how much sales tax to pay, and where to pay it. “Your life is about to get very interesting,” … Continue reading “TaxJar Raises $600K as Congress Resumes Debate on Internet Sales Tax”
In Like a Lion: Techstars Alum DigitalOcean Leads March in NY Funding
March is not even half over and more than $64 million in new funding has been announced for startups in New York. DigitalOcean, a cloud-hosting startup and Techstars alum, said last Thursday it raised $37.2 million in a Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with IA Ventures and CrunchFund also participating. Though the startup … Continue reading “In Like a Lion: Techstars Alum DigitalOcean Leads March in NY Funding”
Why Companies Are Not Startups
In the last few years we’ve recognized that a startup is not a smaller version of a large company. We’re now learning that companies are not larger versions of startups. There’s been lots written about how companies need to be more innovative, but very little on what stops them from doing so. Companies looking to … Continue reading “Why Companies Are Not Startups”
One Week to Mobile Madness 2014: Boston Mobile Grows Up (and More)
We’re putting the finishing touches on a sparkling agenda for our sixth annual half-day conference on mobile tech. Yes, “Mobile Madness 2014: The Next Disruptors” is next Wednesday, March 19, at Microsoft NERD in Kendall Square, Cambridge. The full afternoon agenda is here. We’ll kick things off with a keynote panel on “Boston Mobile Grows … Continue reading “One Week to Mobile Madness 2014: Boston Mobile Grows Up (and More)”
New York’s Life Science Disruptors: The Photos
A true New York biotech cluster is coming. It’s just going to take some more disruption to get there. That was one of the big themes I took home when I recapped our latest Big Apple biotech event, “New York’s Life Science Disruptors,” on Monday. The event, which took place last Thursday, March 6, consisted … Continue reading “New York’s Life Science Disruptors: The Photos”
Pet Services Boom: Menlo Ventures Leads $12M Investment in Rover.com
Seattle-based Rover.com, which helps dog owners find someone to watch the pooch when they’re away, has raised $12 million that will back market expansion, and new services and pet types. “So that includes cats and hamsters and gerbils and horses and guinea pigs,” quips CEO Aaron Easterly. Dog-walking, daycare, and improvements to Rover’s mobile app … Continue reading “Pet Services Boom: Menlo Ventures Leads $12M Investment in Rover.com”
Scale Up Milwaukee, Aided by $350K From WEDC, Aims to Prove Itself
State officials are pouring a lot more cash into Scale Up Milwaukee, the entrepreneurship program that tests a college professor’s theories by helping existing businesses push for more rapid growth. For its second year, Scale Up is getting $350,000 from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., officials told Xconomy. That represents a big increase in support … Continue reading “Scale Up Milwaukee, Aided by $350K From WEDC, Aims to Prove Itself”
Growing Beyond Mobile Games, Kiip Wants to Own Your Daily Moments
The world of mobile games was not enough for Kiip. In 2012, when I last checked in with the San Francisco startup, it focused on helping developers of smartphone games earn extra money by building brand-based “reward moments” into their games. For example, successfully moving up a level in a game like Get Set Games’ … Continue reading “Growing Beyond Mobile Games, Kiip Wants to Own Your Daily Moments”
Carriers Lost Round One Against WhatsApp. Can They Rebound?
The day after Mark Zuckerberg spent up to $19 billion on WhatsApp, the world’s wireless carriers suddenly had a lot to say about their own big plans for Internet-based mobile messaging. Third-place U.S. carrier Sprint announced that its competitor app, Messaging Plus, was going to be pre-installed on most of its new Android smartphones. French … Continue reading “Carriers Lost Round One Against WhatsApp. Can They Rebound?”
South By Southwest Interactive—The Compulsory Tech Pilgrimage
Thirty thousand people have come to Austin, TX, for “Spring Break for Geeks.” You might know it as South By Southwest Interactive. What started as a small music festival in central Texas 27 years ago is now a heaving throng of entrepreneurs, investors, gurus, and groupies—each hoping to discover, or be, the next big thing. … Continue reading “South By Southwest Interactive—The Compulsory Tech Pilgrimage”
IAmA Seattle Startup Pivoting to Take On Reddit in AMAs
Yabbly has an ambitious new goal: It wants to do “Ask me anything” (AMA) better than Reddit, the Internet giant where this unique, wildly popular form of crowd-sourced interviewing was popularized and thrives today. The Seattle startup, headed by Tom Leung, is embarking on a new course after it failed to gain sufficient traction with … Continue reading “IAmA Seattle Startup Pivoting to Take On Reddit in AMAs”
DigitalGlobe’s Tomnod, Crowd Searching for Clues About Missing Plane
DigitalGlobe, the Longmont, CO-based satellite imagery provider, has once again turned to the crowd to help analyze its images as part of a disaster recovery effort, this time for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared Saturday. DigitalGlobe is participating in the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared Saturday while flying from Kuala … Continue reading “DigitalGlobe’s Tomnod, Crowd Searching for Clues About Missing Plane”
Amid Cyber-Theft Onslaught, Calit2 Begins New Program Focused on IP
In a recent issue of his weekly newsletter, the IT futurist Mark Anderson writes that the nature of Internet-based security threats—like a lot of other things on the Web—underwent a wholesale metamorphosis after 2003. Before 2003, Anderson says U.S. network administrators and security experts spent most of their time dealing with “old school” cyber threats … Continue reading “Amid Cyber-Theft Onslaught, Calit2 Begins New Program Focused on IP”