The Ann Arbor, MI-based startup Covaron Advanced Materials, formerly known as Kymeira Advanced Materials, has secured $300,000 in seed funding from four investors: Houston’s Mercury Fund; Two Seven Ventures in Aspen, CO; Huron River Ventures in Ann Arbor; and the Detroit-based First Step Fund. Dave Hatfield, Covaron’s co-founder and CEO, says the company has created a … Continue reading “Covaron Advanced Materials Secures Seed-Round Funding”
Category: National
Blippar Believes Its Image Recognition App Goes Beyond Augmented Reality
Among the tricks that smartphones can learn, augmented reality is still maturing its way towards the mainstream, but Blippar hopes its app will become as common as tweeting. Augmented reality is a way to view one’s surroundings using cameras on mobile devices to see virtual layers of images and information inserted into the scene. Blippar’s … Continue reading “Blippar Believes Its Image Recognition App Goes Beyond Augmented Reality”
Meeting the Wizard of Moz: Culture Breeds Community
You can pay lip-service to corporate culture, or you can build a culture so deep that employees think about it when disciplining their kids. SEOmoz, the Seattle Internet marketing software company, is today changing its name to just Moz. While the company is shortening its name, it’s broadening its offerings in a competitive and closely-watched … Continue reading “Meeting the Wizard of Moz: Culture Breeds Community”
Skyhook CEO Jeff Glass on Growth, Google, & the Glitz of Indoor Location
As an entrepreneur and a venture capitalist, Jeff Glass has seen his share of challenging companies. Now he faces perhaps his greatest task, as he leads Boston mobile-tech stalwart Skyhook through the perilous world of location technology. Back in December, Glass took the reins from longtime Skyhook CEO Ted Morgan, the company’s co-founder (who remains … Continue reading “Skyhook CEO Jeff Glass on Growth, Google, & the Glitz of Indoor Location”
Eleven’s Hybrid Approach Takes Shape With ThromboGenics Pact
Eleven Biotherapeutics wants to churn out a promising pipeline of treatments for eye diseases such as dry eye and allergic conjunctivitis that it can see all the way through to the marketplace. But Tuesday it proved that it can use its method for designing and creating protein drugs to earn some cash through partnerships as … Continue reading “Eleven’s Hybrid Approach Takes Shape With ThromboGenics Pact”
Mirador Biomedical Study: Spend $35 on Our Device & Save $116
Seattle-based Mirador Biomedical is trying to sell hospitals a little digital device for about $35 apiece, in hopes of preventing a rare and disastrous thing from happening to patients. Now the company has gathered some data that it hopes will prove it’s worth the money. Mirador’s device is a digital pressure sensor that’s supposed to … Continue reading “Mirador Biomedical Study: Spend $35 on Our Device & Save $116”
Assigning Credit and Blame to Biopharma R&D Chiefs
There’s been an awful lot of turnover lately among Big Biopharma R&D chiefs, with departures from Merck, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Roche, and AbbVie. Their average tenure in this position was less than 7 years; the range was from less than 2 to 12. That’s similar to the average CEO tenure, which is only 8.4 … Continue reading “Assigning Credit and Blame to Biopharma R&D Chiefs”
San Diego’s Evoke Pharma Files IPO to Advance Gastrointestinal Drug
San Diego’s Evoke Pharma, founded in 2007 to advance a nasal spray used to treat diabetic gastroparesis, plans to raise $23.9 million through an IPO as an “emerging growth company,” according to a recent securities filing. Under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act of 2012, companies that qualify as an emerging growth company can … Continue reading “San Diego’s Evoke Pharma Files IPO to Advance Gastrointestinal Drug”
Ophthotech Nabs $175M To Fund Late-Stage Trial For Eye Drug
Ophthotech was founded by former Eyetech Pharmaceuticals executives to change the standard of care for the “wet” form of age-related macular degeneration: the leading cause of blindness among adults in the western world. With a new $175 million round of financing the New York company will get its shot to prove its new drug candidate … Continue reading “Ophthotech Nabs $175M To Fund Late-Stage Trial For Eye Drug”
Microsoft’s GeoFlow Lets Spreadsheet Jockeys Tell Stories with Maps
When Curtis Wong was a kid growing up in Los Angeles, he knew that the Milky Way existed. But like most urban-dwellers, he’d never seen it. “It was just this mythical thing in books,” says Wong, who is now a principal researcher at Microsoft. “It wasn’t until after high school that some friends and I … Continue reading “Microsoft’s GeoFlow Lets Spreadsheet Jockeys Tell Stories with Maps”
Campus Commandos’ Adam Grant on Marketing to College Students
If you’re a certified geezer like I am (let’s say Generation X and older), then you have likely run into a brick wall when trying, at some point, to communicate with a Millennial. My big communication breakdown moment happened last spring, when my second cousin Tyler turned 16. He had exactly zero interest in rushing … Continue reading “Campus Commandos’ Adam Grant on Marketing to College Students”
Hackers Challenged to Tackle Social Problems in Upcoming Hackathons
The government knows an awful lot about you, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, at least in the eyes of the organizers of the National Day of Civic Hacking. The day is an attempt to bring entrepreneurs, software developers, and activists together with government agencies to take on close-to-home problems like pollution monitoring or … Continue reading “Hackers Challenged to Tackle Social Problems in Upcoming Hackathons”
NVCA: Venture Capital Finally Returned More Than It Took in 2012
It’s no secret that venture capital has struggled since the dot-com implosion. The latest dispatch from the industry’s U.S. trade group, however, says there might be some promising signs of better performance. In a new report wrapping up the 2012 performance for VCs, the National Venture Capital Association says the broad industry finally returned to the … Continue reading “NVCA: Venture Capital Finally Returned More Than It Took in 2012”
Applying “Innovation Arbitrage” to Develop Novel Medicines in China
[Editor’s Note: This post was co-authored by Jessica Yingling of Little Dog Communications.] Loosely defined, arbitrage is striking a combination of matching deals that capitalize upon an imbalance. Profit is gained from the difference between the market prices. With the Chinese government focusing on innovation through forward-looking national agendas for economic development, the opportunity to … Continue reading “Applying “Innovation Arbitrage” to Develop Novel Medicines in China”
Epilepsy Device Pioneer Cyberonics Still Evolving After 25 Years
Long before the explosion in the personal electronics field brought us iPods and iPhones, biomedical engineers were making devices to interact with the personal electrical “circuitry” that regulates the human heart and other organs. Back in 1958, Minneapolis, MN-based Medtronic produced its first battery-operated, portable pacemaker to stimulate nerves in the malfunctioning heart. It looked … Continue reading “Epilepsy Device Pioneer Cyberonics Still Evolving After 25 Years”
Redstar Building “New Retail Channel” Startup Led by Former Krush CEO
Sounds like it’s business as usual at Redstar this summer. So look out, startup world. Redstar, based in Cambridge, MA, has always been a little different. It’s not an incubator. It’s not a venture firm. It calls itself a venture “foundry” (though I’m not sure that label will stick). The 20-person company got started in … Continue reading “Redstar Building “New Retail Channel” Startup Led by Former Krush CEO”
International Caregiver Network, JEMS Tech Sign Mobile Health Deal
JEMS Technology, the Orion, MI-based mobile health company, announced late last month that it has signed a deal with the Southfield, MI-based International Caregiver Network (ICN) to offer JEMS’ remote monitoring platform to ICN’s network of home health and hospice care providers. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. JEM offers plug-and-play, real-time video … Continue reading “International Caregiver Network, JEMS Tech Sign Mobile Health Deal”
Colorado Looks to Reward Entrepreneurs who Risk “Glorious Failures”
Entrepreneurs know embracing risk brings with it the possibility of failure. It’s a fact of life, but it’s usually the last thing government officials acknowledge when touting job creation programs backed with state support. But the state of Colorado is taking a different approach with its new “Glorious Failure” innovation challenge. The program will give … Continue reading “Colorado Looks to Reward Entrepreneurs who Risk “Glorious Failures””
Ekos, Maker of Ultrasound Blood Clot Dissolver, Bought for $180M
Ekos has been around a long time in the business of making ultrasound devices to improve the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Now it’s getting some rewards for that investment of time and money. The Bothell, WA-based company agreed to be acquired by U.K.-based BTG for $180 million upfront, and another potential $40 million in payouts … Continue reading “Ekos, Maker of Ultrasound Blood Clot Dissolver, Bought for $180M”
Astellas Tells Aveo to Go It Alone in Kidney Cancer
If Aveo Oncology has any plans to sell tivozanib as a kidney cancer drug, it’s going to have to do it without Astellas Pharma. The fallout from the disastrous May 2 FDA advisory panel continues as Cambridge, MA-based Aveo (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AVEO]]) revealed in a short filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Astellas has … Continue reading “Astellas Tells Aveo to Go It Alone in Kidney Cancer”
Startup Diary: Looking Back on Life in an Accelerator
[Editor’s Note: Justin Lee is a co-founder of TheSquareFoot, a two-year-old Web-based commercial leasing platform based in Houston. He and his three co-founders were part of the most recent class of the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator in New York, which started in January and ended with the accelerator’s fourth Demo Day earlier this month.] I had … Continue reading “Startup Diary: Looking Back on Life in an Accelerator”
Do You Have A Story to Tell? Here Are the Digital Tools You’ll Need
Back in January I got an invitation out of the blue to give a 1-hour talk at the Palo Alto Research Center—the Xerox-owned lab better known as PARC. The invitation was completely open-ended. The full extent of PARC’s guidance was “we think you would have a lot of interesting things to share.” If you’re a … Continue reading “Do You Have A Story to Tell? Here Are the Digital Tools You’ll Need”
East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Regeneron, Actavis, NPS, & More
Broad startup initiatives, big acquisitions, critical data readouts, and more characterized the news flowing out of the biotech sector along the East Coast this week. Details below: —Residents of Long Island, NY, were dismayed when Astellas Pharma shut down their local biotech flagship, OSI Pharmaceuticals. But Accelerate LI is trying to turn things around. The … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Regeneron, Actavis, NPS, & More”
Wireless Health Summit Looks to “Engaged Consumer” to Drive Change
In the beginning, the Wireless Health Convergence Summit was viewed as a way to bring innovation to reality, according to Rob McCray, a co-founder and CEO of the San Diego-based Wireless Life Sciences Alliance, which organizes the annual conference. “At that first meeting, we had some people who wondered why a technology company would want … Continue reading “Wireless Health Summit Looks to “Engaged Consumer” to Drive Change”
Merrimack Aims For Penny-Wise Pipeline of Cancer Drugs
It’s not often that you’ll find a company with six cancer drugs in clinical trials that have their own companion diagnostics, and an in-house drug discovery engine. So why all the skepticism surrounding Merrimack Pharmaceuticals? After going public in March 2012 at $7 a share, Cambridge, MA-based Merrimack (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MACK]]) still has a lot to … Continue reading “Merrimack Aims For Penny-Wise Pipeline of Cancer Drugs”
Twitter Shows Off Bluefin Labs Buy with New TV Ad Targeting
When Twitter landed in Boston earlier this year it didn’t mess around, spending around $200 million for two startups. And we’re starting to see more of the payoff for that expensive shopping trip. Today, as part of its efforts to get a piece of the TV advertising action, Twitter pitched a new program that lets … Continue reading “Twitter Shows Off Bluefin Labs Buy with New TV Ad Targeting”
Girl Develop It’s Detroit Chapter Teaches Women to Code
It’s no secret that the tech world—in Detroit just as much as Silicon Valley or anywhere else, really—is a man’s world. Go to any local tech event to see the demographics play out. Even in a budding tech community like Detroit’s, which can be open and welcoming in its newness, female tech founders and CEOs … Continue reading “Girl Develop It’s Detroit Chapter Teaches Women to Code”
TechStars Boston Demo Day: Four Startups Taking Innovation Offline
TechStars Boston has officially unleashed its latest group of early stage companies, 14 startups with well-practiced pitches and big hopes. And this time around, several companies stood out for their focus on tackling real-world problems with software and online tools. That shouldn’t be a big surprise for a couple of reasons. First of all, we … Continue reading “TechStars Boston Demo Day: Four Startups Taking Innovation Offline”
Shutterstock CEO Jon Oringer Speaks About Deciding to Go Public
Selling digital images and video helped Shutterstock in New York make its mark. Now CEO and founder Jon Oringer sees potential to expand into other content and media. He spoke as part of Internet Week New York, discussing why his company went public last October and new ways in which he wants to expand its … Continue reading “Shutterstock CEO Jon Oringer Speaks About Deciding to Go Public”
San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Effector, Ignyta, and More
A startup with a new approach to cancer drug development made its debut this week in San Diego. We’ve got the details, along with other local news in life sciences and industrial biotechnology. —Effector Therapeutics, a San Diego startup developing anti-cancer drugs based on technology licensed from UC San Francisco, raised $45 million in a … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Effector, Ignyta, and More”
Digital Lumens, Finding Its Identity, Brings Cost & Energy Savings to Light
Among local startups, Digital Lumens is a different kind of animal. It’s a hardware company. It’s a networking software company. It’s an energy-efficiency company. It’s an LED and “smart lighting” company. So what is it? Well, all of the above. Interestingly, Brian Chemel, a co-founder of the Boston startup, penned an op-ed earlier this year … Continue reading “Digital Lumens, Finding Its Identity, Brings Cost & Energy Savings to Light”
Under Purple Spotlights, Surge Accelerator’s Startups Make Their Debut
The mimosas and Bloody Marys began flowing before 9 a.m. at Houston’s House of Blues, setting up a rock-concert after-party feel for the coming out party for a group of energy startups. The entrepreneurs were the headliners at Wednesday’s Surge Day, the 2nd annual Demo Day featuring Surge Accelerator’s latest class of entrepreneurs. The companies … Continue reading “Under Purple Spotlights, Surge Accelerator’s Startups Make Their Debut”
Mayer’s Challenge: Merging the Cultures of Yahoo and Tumblr
Yahoo + Tumblr is a good match because Tumblr has the huge and vibrant social network, but no revenues, while Yahoo lacks social, but knows how to earn money on ads. Yahoo + Tumblr are a bad match, because Yahoo is a company with 14,000 employees in a corporate organizational culture needing change, while Tumblr … Continue reading “Mayer’s Challenge: Merging the Cultures of Yahoo and Tumblr”
Scheduling App Maker TeamSnap Grabs Rival Weplay’s Users, Content
A lot of professional sports teams try to steal away each other’s superstars. But what if one franchise tried to snatch its biggest rival’s entire fan base and all their ticket holders? TeamSnap, a Boulder-based startup, recently accomplished something very much like that. TeamSnap develops applications to help manage groups such as recreational sports teams. … Continue reading “Scheduling App Maker TeamSnap Grabs Rival Weplay’s Users, Content”
Bay Area’s TubeMogul Opens Detroit Office to Pursue Automotive Ad Dollars
TubeMogul, a Bay Area startup that runs a platform distributing pay-per-view video ads across the Internet, announced earlier this month that it is opening an office in downtown Detroit. TubeMogul joins companies like Twitter in setting up shop in Dan Gilbert’s Madison Building and deploying new technologies to chase Big Three ad dollars. TubeMogul’s Jen … Continue reading “Bay Area’s TubeMogul Opens Detroit Office to Pursue Automotive Ad Dollars”
Crunchyroll Upgrades Anime Site to Connect Fans with Merchandise
Much of the media world makes its money by pairing merchandise with television programs and movies. Now Web-streaming service Crunchyroll has updated its platform to improve the way it sells toys and other show-related products to fans. Kun Gao, co-founder and CEO of Crunchyroll in San Francisco, is in New York this week to speak … Continue reading “Crunchyroll Upgrades Anime Site to Connect Fans with Merchandise”
Texas Venture Capital Market “Weak,” But Still Shows Promise
[Corrected 5/24/13, 8:23 am. See below.] Blair Garrou came to Houston in 1996, intending to stay four years while his wife completed her degree in veterinary medicine at Texas A&M University in nearby College Station. He was working in the banking industry, focusing on energy, but as the price of oil fell to $10 a barrel … Continue reading “Texas Venture Capital Market “Weak,” But Still Shows Promise”
CommonAngels Pledges 20 Startup Tix for XSITE June 19: Get Yours Here
With just under a month to go before our fifth annual XSITE conference at Babson College (agenda here), we’re pleased to announce that CommonAngels has pledged to buy 20 tickets for startups looking to attend—see below for details. (CommonAngels is an investor in Xconomy.) This year’s event features top speakers including Akamai CEO Tom Leighton, … Continue reading “CommonAngels Pledges 20 Startup Tix for XSITE June 19: Get Yours Here”
Cardeas Pharma Snags $34M For Antibiotic Against Hospital Infections
Seattle-based Cardeas Pharma just raised a lot more cash to fight a big problem that hospitals wrestle with every day, and which they’d rather not say much about publicly. Cardeas, the startup led by prolific drug developer Bruce Montgomery, has raised the healthy sum of $34 million in its Series B venture financing, Xconomy has … Continue reading “Cardeas Pharma Snags $34M For Antibiotic Against Hospital Infections”
Ironwood, NPS Pharma Tap Wall Street To Roll Out Lead Drugs
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals and NPS Pharmaceuticals have plenty in common: both won FDA approval of their first drugs in 2012, and both are trying to prove to investors that they can successfully sell them. And now, both have sought out Wall Street to help them get it done. Cambridge, MA-based Ironwood and Bedminster, NJ-based NPS both … Continue reading “Ironwood, NPS Pharma Tap Wall Street To Roll Out Lead Drugs”
Go East, Young Developers
This week, Yahoo announced the acquisition of Tumblr, and journalists, pundits, investors, and advertisers alike speculated on what the acquisition means for Tumblr users, for Yahoo’s future, and for the technology space overall. What was missing from the dialogue was what the acquisition could mean for the East Coast, specifically my hometown of New York … Continue reading “Go East, Young Developers”
Gesture Is the New Touch
Most of us spend many waking hours hunched over our smartphones and tablets. We peck away on our miniature keypads, squint at our tiny screens, and pinch and flick Web pages in order to improve our view. But what if there were a better way? The judges of the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition think there … Continue reading “Gesture Is the New Touch”
Boston Roundup: Adelphic, SoundBite, MIT $100K, Acquia, & More
[Updated 12:55 pm] A CEO swap, some corporate M&A, student entrepreneurship, increased sales numbers, fundraising, and general deal-making in this quick trip through some Boston-area innovation headlines: —Mobile advertising startup Adelphic is getting a new leader. The company says Michael Collins, formerly of mobile marketing agency Joule, has replaced co-founder Changfeng Wang as CEO. Wang … Continue reading “Boston Roundup: Adelphic, SoundBite, MIT $100K, Acquia, & More”
Regeneron Eyes Potential Blockbuster With Asthma Drug
[Updated: 11:05 pm ET] Regeneron Pharmaceuticals became a breakout biotech star with a new drug for treating age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness among the elderly in the U.S. Now the Tarrytown, NY-based biotech believes it’s taken a big step towards creating a potential asthma drug. Regeneron unveiled the full results of a … Continue reading “Regeneron Eyes Potential Blockbuster With Asthma Drug”
Roundup: HasOffers Raises $9.4M, UW Bothell Chancellor, & More
This week’s Seattle tech news roundup features a hefty venture round for mobile ad tracking startup HasOffers, the new STEM-focused chancellor of University of Washington Bothell, an Avanade study of social collaboration tools use in the enterprise, and a Seattle AWS Direct Connect service from Equinix: —HasOffers, a Seattle startup tracking and managing mobile advertising … Continue reading “Roundup: HasOffers Raises $9.4M, UW Bothell Chancellor, & More”
Kineta, Scouring the World for Cash, Finds Oil Money
Seattle-based Kineta has found some more support for its drug development work from an unlikely source—a group of oil traders. The company said today it has raised an undisclosed amount of cash from Hydra, a group made up of 13 recently retired oil traders with Glencore Ltd. Although the amount is secret, Kineta now says … Continue reading “Kineta, Scouring the World for Cash, Finds Oil Money”
Boston and Other “Digital Cities” Visit Internet Week New York
A bit of friendly rivalry is healthy for cities with growing technology ecosystems, but sometimes they set aside the hype and find ways to collaborate. At the onset of this week’s Internet Week New York citywide festivities, representatives from 11 cities from the U.S. and beyond spoke about how their administrations are leverage technology to … Continue reading “Boston and Other “Digital Cities” Visit Internet Week New York”
Dream Chaser Reaches Edwards AFB to Prove It Has “The Right Stuff”
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The journey into space for a potentially breakthrough vehicle begins with a nearly 1,000-mile trip to Edwards Air Force Base—on the back of a flatbed truck, wrapped in plastic. At least that’s the case for the Dream Chaser, the space vehicle Sierra Nevada Corp. … Continue reading “Dream Chaser Reaches Edwards AFB to Prove It Has “The Right Stuff””
UT Horizon Fund Aims to Build, and Capture, Value from Its Startups
Campuses at the University of Texas, such as the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, can boast of star-studded faculties to rival the innovative scientific leadership at UC San Francisco, UC Berkeley and Stanford University. In 2009, the 15-institution University of Texas system was second only to the powerhouse University of California system in the … Continue reading “UT Horizon Fund Aims to Build, and Capture, Value from Its Startups”
Effector Therapeutics Raises $45M to Prove New Concept in Cancer
After Switzerland’s Roche paid $230 million in cash to buy San Diego’s Anadys Pharmaceuticals in 2011, Anadys CEO Steve Worland says he felt like an entrepreneur-in-residence, but without a venture capital firm to call home. So he began to roam the country in search of a new pharmaceutical adventure. Worland says he wanted to focus … Continue reading “Effector Therapeutics Raises $45M to Prove New Concept in Cancer”