National – Page 283

Psilos Spells Out Hot Areas for Health Technology Investing

The water’s fine in the healthcare-and-technology market, and institutional investors should come on in. That’s the message from Psilos Group, a healthcare-focused venture firm based in New York City and Corte Madera, CA, in an outlook report on healthcare economics released today. It’s the fifth annual edition of the report, and it points to four … Continue reading “Psilos Spells Out Hot Areas for Health Technology Investing”

Tigerlabs Health Accelerator to Pair Corporate Needs with Startups

Eager to nurture ripe ideas from startups in the healthcare IT sector, Tigerlabs Health accelerator in Princeton, NJ today announced it has launched an additional program to match industry needs with entrepreneurs. New York-Presbyterian Hospital and the Merck Global Health Innovation fund will help choose startups to join a select group within the accelerator—and leverage … Continue reading “Tigerlabs Health Accelerator to Pair Corporate Needs with Startups”

Alkermes Stock Climbs on Positive Trial for Depression Drug

Investors weren’t expecting Alkermes to do anything big this year to help people deal with major bouts with depression. But today the Dublin, Ireland and Waltham, MA-based company showed it just may be onto something important for this form of mental illness. Shares of the company climbed more than 15 percent on Alkermes’ latest clinical … Continue reading “Alkermes Stock Climbs on Positive Trial for Depression Drug”

Coolhouse Labs: The Accelerator With a View of Lake Michigan

When you grow up in a quaint resort town on the hilly shores of Lake Michigan, moving back is always on your mind. So says Jordan Breighner, founder of Coolhouse Labs, a new tech startup incubator located in Harbor Springs, MI. “I moved away when I was 14 to Utah, and then I lived in … Continue reading “Coolhouse Labs: The Accelerator With a View of Lake Michigan”

Highland Capital Partners Seeking $400M New Fund

Boston-area venture capitalists have been busy raising money in recent months, and here’s one more to add to the list. Highland Capital Partners, based in Cambridge, MA, has filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission that outlines its plan to raise a $400 million ninth fund. The SEC filing says Highland is seeking that much, but … Continue reading “Highland Capital Partners Seeking $400M New Fund”

Amid Grief, Boston Tech Firms Spot Threats, Analyze Video, Aid Victims

I was having a drink with an entrepreneur friend last Friday, before the bombs. Something he said has been ringing in my head this week. Instead of going after the next Facebook or Instagram, he said, tech entrepreneurs should be trying to solve people problems. Real societal problems. Like improving elder care, helping families spend … Continue reading “Amid Grief, Boston Tech Firms Spot Threats, Analyze Video, Aid Victims”

Report: Matrix Partners Raises $450M Fund

Another Massachusetts venture capital firm is apparently rounding up a new batch of investment dollars. Fortune is reporting that Matrix Partners, headquartered in Waltham, MA, has raised $450 million for its 10th VC fund. As reporter Dan Primack notes, it’s smaller than the firm’s $600 million fund dating from 2009, and in line with the $450 … Continue reading “Report: Matrix Partners Raises $450M Fund”

With LonoCloud Acquisition, ViaSat Gets Head Start on New Technology

There weren’t many details in the statement that ViaSat (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VSAT]]) issued last week, after the Carlsbad, CA-based specialist in satellite-based communications technologies acquired LonoCloud, a San Diego startup founded two years ago. ViaSat said it would integrate core components of LonoCloud’s Platform as a Service (PaaS) technology with its broadband network, which includes its … Continue reading “With LonoCloud Acquisition, ViaSat Gets Head Start on New Technology”

When Hell Froze Over—in the Harvard Business Review

In my 21 years as an entrepreneur, I would come up for air once a month to religiously read the Harvard Business Review. It was not only my secret weapon in thinking about new startup strategies, it also gave me a view of the management issues my customers were dealing with. Through HBR I discovered … Continue reading “When Hell Froze Over—in the Harvard Business Review”

Welcome to Xperience, The New Consumer Section of Xconomy

It’s been a busy spring here at Xconomy. Last month we added a seventh city to our national network—Xconomy Boulder/Denver. And today we’re excited to announce Xperience, a new section designed to guide consumers to the best technologies for their lifestyles. You might have stumbled across Xperience already. We “soft-launched” the section on March 28 … Continue reading “Welcome to Xperience, The New Consumer Section of Xconomy”

Testing Kickstarter’s Appetite for a Digital Fork and “Positive Punishment”

Do you find yourself wolfing down your food and paying for it later in the form of heartburn and other health problems? Do you wish you could learn to pace yourself a little better between mouthfuls? There’s an app for that. Actually, there’s a whole utensil for that—the HAPIfork, from Hong Kong-based HAPIlabs. The battery-powered, … Continue reading “Testing Kickstarter’s Appetite for a Digital Fork and “Positive Punishment””

Sage Therapeutics Shifts Gears, Focuses on Rare Form of Epilepsy

Sometimes it takes a little time, and a little luck for a company to find its identity. Of course, when you’re a biotech like Cambridge, MA-based Sage Therapeutics, it doesn’t hurt to have the backing of a life sciences company creation specialist Third Rock Ventures to get there either. When Xconomy last checked in on … Continue reading “Sage Therapeutics Shifts Gears, Focuses on Rare Form of Epilepsy”

UW Spinout, Beat Bio, Gets $2.5M to Treat Heart Failure

[Updated: 3:15 pm PT 4/17] Beat Biotherapeutics looked like it was in trouble after its co-founder and CEO died suddenly in June 2009. But the University of Washington spinout is definitely back in business, after recruiting a veteran CEO and raising another $2.5 million to advance an experimental treatment for heart failure. The Seattle-based company said … Continue reading “UW Spinout, Beat Bio, Gets $2.5M to Treat Heart Failure”

At BoostCTR, Crowdsourcing Brings a Human Touch to Search Ads

Say you’re a human-resources manager inside a big company and you’re looking for a way to say thanks to an outstanding employee. You go to Google or Bing and you type in the search term “employee recognition certificate.” On the right side of the search result page, there’s the usual column of text ads. The … Continue reading “At BoostCTR, Crowdsourcing Brings a Human Touch to Search Ads”

University Grants Could Aid Data Science Push in New York, Seattle

The New York Times turned its attention last weekend toward education of data scientists, highlighting a budding “rivalry” between New York City and Seattle. The paper’s Education Life section focused on the relative merits of the two cities as big data hubs, and efforts to build curricula in this field at universities around the country. … Continue reading “University Grants Could Aid Data Science Push in New York, Seattle”

Hungrier Investors, Loosened Regulations Could Spur More Local IPOs

Not every startup’s path to Wall Street will take it through the White House Rose Garden, but the journey could be made shorter, easier, and cheaper thanks to legislation signed there last year, as the CEOs of two startups based in Colorado have learned. On April 5, 2012, President Barack Obama signed the Jumpstart Our … Continue reading “Hungrier Investors, Loosened Regulations Could Spur More Local IPOs”

Get Help, Give Help: Boston Tech Responds to Marathon Bombings

Nonprofits, companies, and service providers of all sizes across the technology scene are banding together in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, offering ways to show support, donate money, and get things done. We’ve compiled a list of some of the most notable efforts so far, but please e-mail me if you see other … Continue reading “Get Help, Give Help: Boston Tech Responds to Marathon Bombings”

Booker Lines Up $27.5M in Series B Round Led by Bain Capital Ventures

More funding means even more new hires in the works at Booker in New York. The company today announced it raised $27.5 million in a Series B round led by Bain Capital Ventures with participation from prior investors Grotech Ventures, Vital Financial, Revolution Ventures, and TDF Ventures. Booker, which developed a cloud-based service management platform … Continue reading “Booker Lines Up $27.5M in Series B Round Led by Bain Capital Ventures”

Michigan Startups Made Some Noise at SXSW Interactive

In the past, Michigan was well known for its automotive roots. With the turn of the century and the changing in the economy, Michigan adjusted and evolved into something I would have never guessed—a haven for software startups. More than ever, people from all over the world are seeing this change too, which was obvious … Continue reading “Michigan Startups Made Some Noise at SXSW Interactive”

MGH-Veridex Device Enters Challenging Arena in Cancer Testing

Mehmet Toner wants cancer doctors to be able to see what he can see. Most oncologists rely on imaging tools like CT scans, and perhaps only a single biopsy, to learn what they can about patients’ tumors and the biological traits of their cancer cells. Toner, a biomedical engineering specialist, says he can track the … Continue reading “MGH-Veridex Device Enters Challenging Arena in Cancer Testing”

A New Age in Aerospace & Other Takeaways from the Rock Stars Summit

As the editor in chief of Wired magazine for a dozen years, Chris Anderson was in the enviable position of seeing over the horizon and anticipating how innovation is changing our lives. So would you take heed if Anderson said an industrial revolution is imminent in aerospace innovation? Indeed, more than 200 people were spellbound … Continue reading “A New Age in Aerospace & Other Takeaways from the Rock Stars Summit”

Re-thinking Clinical Trials for the World of Crowdsourcing

Disruption isn’t a word normally associated with clinical drug development, but nevertheless it is coming. We can feel the rumblings of it. New technologies and technology-enabled techniques for productivity in mainstream business applications are slowly making their way into the clinic. There are signals that drug development is starting to catch up with the general … Continue reading “Re-thinking Clinical Trials for the World of Crowdsourcing”

Boston Tech Community Raising Money for Marathon Bombing Victims

I don’t have much to say right now, but if you want to help support the people of Boston, please check out this fundraising effort from a group of well-known entrepreneurs, tech companies, and venture capitalists. Will update if I hear more about this effort, or others in the business/innovation community. [Update: As of noon … Continue reading “Boston Tech Community Raising Money for Marathon Bombing Victims”

Dish Network Launches $25.5B Unsolicited Takeover of Sprint Nextel

Dish Network announced Monday it has launched an unsolicited $25.5 billion bid to acquire Sprint Nextel in an attempt to create a new leader in the video, data, voice, and broadband markets. Dish (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DISH]]), a satellite television company based in Englewood, CO, is the nation’s third largest pay TV provider, behind Comcast and DirecTV. … Continue reading “Dish Network Launches $25.5B Unsolicited Takeover of Sprint Nextel”

EcoMotors CEO Talks $200M Deal With Chinese Manufacturer

Last week, Allen Park, MI-based EcoMotors announced a $200 million deal with China’s Zhongding Power to build a manufacturing plant in Anhui Province. The plant will produce EcoMotors’ opposed piston opposed cylinder (“opoc”) engines, which the company says are cheaper to manufacture and will deliver up to 60 percent greater fuel efficiency than conventional engines at half the … Continue reading “EcoMotors CEO Talks $200M Deal With Chinese Manufacturer”

Acorda Stock Climbs on Post-Stroke Study

Acorda Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ACOR]]) put itself on the map three years ago when the FDA approved dalfampridine (Ampyra) to improve walking in patients with multiple sclerosis. Now, the Hawthorne, NY-based biotech is at it again, hoping that some promising data can open up a new revenue stream for its sole drug on the market. Acorda … Continue reading “Acorda Stock Climbs on Post-Stroke Study”

Rewarding High-Risk Innovation: The Case for Carried Interest

As Washington grapples with the deficit, nothing generates more emotion than tax “loopholes.” A priority “loophole” target in the budget that President Obama sent to Congress last week is the treatment of managers’ carried interest in private equity funds as capital gains, which he characterizes as “unfair” and the key reason for the low tax … Continue reading “Rewarding High-Risk Innovation: The Case for Carried Interest”

NY Angels Buys 50 Startup Tickets for our April 25 Venture Challenge

With the event just 10 days away, New York Angels has grabbed a clutch of 50 tickets that will be doled out to local startups wishing to attend Xconomy’s half-day “New York’s Venture Challenge” forum on Thursday, April 25. This great event featuring some of the city’s preeminent tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists takes place … Continue reading “NY Angels Buys 50 Startup Tickets for our April 25 Venture Challenge”

Thermo Fisher Scientific Acquires Life Technologies in $13.6B Deal

Waltham, MA-based Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: [[ticker:TMO]]) said today it will pay $13.6 billion to acquire Carlsbad, CA-based Life Technologies (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LIFE]]) following an auction that began in January and initially drew interest from a consortium of private equity firms. The deal combines two giants of the laboratory equipment and supply business just as the … Continue reading “Thermo Fisher Scientific Acquires Life Technologies in $13.6B Deal”

Robots Remake the Workplace: The Photo Gallery

Apparently, these were the droids they were looking for. A standing-room-only crowd convened at SRI International last Thursday to meet the robots and robot makers being highlighted at Xconomy’s second annual Silicon Valley robotics forum, Robots Remake the Workplace. The bots in attendance ranged from the fairly tall—namely RP-VITA, a human-sized hospital telepresence robot built … Continue reading “Robots Remake the Workplace: The Photo Gallery”

Strategies for Navigating the Life Sciences Capital Crunch

The need for innovation in healthcare has arguably never been greater. A range of factors, from aging world populations to rising standards of living in developing countries, are poised to drive long-run demand for innovative drugs, devices and medical technologies that can improve outcomes and reduce costs. Ironically, however, funding for healthcare innovation remains in … Continue reading “Strategies for Navigating the Life Sciences Capital Crunch”

Meet Ben Fidler, Xconomy’s New East Coast Biotech Editor

Today is the IRS tax filing deadline, which is a bummer for some people. But it’s a very exciting day here at Xconomy. It’s my pleasure to announce that today is the first full day on the job for Ben Fidler, our new East Coast Biotech Editor. Ben joins us after spending the last nine … Continue reading “Meet Ben Fidler, Xconomy’s New East Coast Biotech Editor”

A Billion Prices and Counting: Big Data Ambition at Startup Indix

Indix, a startup straddling two continents with an enormous business data problem in its sights, is gradually coming out of stealth. After announcing a $4.5 million financing round last week, founder and CEO Sanjay Parthasarathy explained how he ended up back in Bellevue, WA, and offered a few details on the big data application Indix … Continue reading “A Billion Prices and Counting: Big Data Ambition at Startup Indix”

Big Data Is BS in Healthcare. When Will It Become Real?

Tech entrepreneurs have been raving for a while now about big data changing the world, and it’s mostly bullshit. Venture capitalist Brad Feld made this point, more or less, when he was being purposely provocative at an Xconomy event last fall. As a biotech journalist, I wanted to cheer “Preach On, Brother Feld!” Doctors are … Continue reading “Big Data Is BS in Healthcare. When Will It Become Real?”

Rally Opens Strong on Wall Street with $400M Market Cap; Stock Up

The opening act has been great so far for Rally Software Development, but only after more than a decade of work. Rally’s (NYSE: [[ticker:RALY]]) IPO this morning was worth $84 million, with its shares pricing at $14. The stock started climbing when trading opened and traded around $18 in the late morning, an increase of … Continue reading “Rally Opens Strong on Wall Street with $400M Market Cap; Stock Up”

15 Appetizing Apps for People Who Love to Cook and Eat

Phones and food are a match cooked up in heaven. Sometimes it seems as if our mobile gadgets were specifically designed to mesh with our cooking and eating habits. After all, you don’t lug your desktop or laptop computer with you when you’re going out to a restaurant. When you want to find a great … Continue reading “15 Appetizing Apps for People Who Love to Cook and Eat”

Rally Beats Expectations With $84M IPO, Shares to Trade This Morning

Rally Software Development beat expectations for its IPO, scheduled this morning. The company raised $84 million. Rally, a Boulder, CO-based company that develops cloud-based project management tools for software developers, set the price of its common stock at $14 per share and sold 6 million shares. Last week, Rally said it would offer 5.75 million … Continue reading “Rally Beats Expectations With $84M IPO, Shares to Trade This Morning”

Foursquare’s New Cash, New Focus: Why Local is So Damn Hard

Back in 2009, with the smartphone revolution just taking off, savvy app-makers started playing around with ways to use the iPhone’s GPS features, tracking where users are in real time. The sharpest among them, it turned out, wound up building little games that encouraged people to “check in” at places they visited in the real … Continue reading “Foursquare’s New Cash, New Focus: Why Local is So Damn Hard”

Biotech in the Belt-Tightening Era: The Photos

Healthcare costs can’t keep going up faster than inflation forever. Biotech companies aren’t going to have unlimited pricing power for new drugs and diagnostics forever. Innovators will have to adjust. But how? This was the theme of our big Xconomy Seattle event this week, “Biotech in the Belt-Tightening Era.” We had a great crowd from … Continue reading “Biotech in the Belt-Tightening Era: The Photos”

San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Receptos IPO, Isis, Versant, & More

Some of San Diego’s public life sciences companies have been buoyed as the stock market has soared to new heights in recent weeks (for the year, the Dow is up 13 percent and the S&P 500 index 12 percent), but Acadia Pharmaceuticals had an extraordinary ride yesterday. We have details, along with the rest of … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Receptos IPO, Isis, Versant, & More”

East Coast Biotech Roundup: Bristol-Myers, Syros, On-Q-ity, Ziopharm

The Boston-area biotechnology cluster got a shot in the arm this week when a drug giant announced a major expansion. East Coast startups raised millions, or folded, or regrouped after significant setbacks. Venture firms still showed an appetite for health care in the first quarter, and East Coast VCs grabbed top spots in the rankings. … Continue reading “East Coast Biotech Roundup: Bristol-Myers, Syros, On-Q-ity, Ziopharm”

Roundup: AudienceScience, Treehouse, Donuts, EveryMove and More

Northwest companies AudienceScience, Treehouse, Donuts, and EveryMove were among those raising significant capital in early April, while business travel companies Egencia and Concur paired up for a new offering, Zipwhip introduced texting for business landlines, and new groups formed for Seattle-area women entrepreneurs and location-based marketers. Read on for details: —Digital marketing technology provider AudienceScience … Continue reading “Roundup: AudienceScience, Treehouse, Donuts, EveryMove and More”

Rare FDA Ruling Triggers Stampede for Acadia Pharmaceuticals

How often does the FDA tell a drug developer to dispense with a requisite, second late-stage trial—and to proceed with filing a new drug application? Shares of San Diego’s Acadia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ACAD]]) appreciated by two-thirds today, leaping from yesterday’s close of $7.97 a share to more than $13.30 in late mid-day trading on the … Continue reading “Rare FDA Ruling Triggers Stampede for Acadia Pharmaceuticals”

Tagwhat’s “Feed” App Serves Up Deals in Right Place at Right Time

It’s 4:30 p.m. on a Friday, which means it’s time to wrap up the workweek with coworkers and friends at a local happy hour. You get to pick the place and want to go to someplace new, but you don’t know that many places nearby. A few blocks away, the owner of a new bar … Continue reading “Tagwhat’s “Feed” App Serves Up Deals in Right Place at Right Time”

Stop Managing Your Career and Start a Company

First, a full confession. I have not read Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In.” I do have her book on my Kobo e-reader. I will read it this weekend. My fellow tech CEO friends highly recommend it. I know I am going to love it too. But my unintentional avoidance of “Lean In” (my “leaning out”?) goes … Continue reading “Stop Managing Your Career and Start a Company”

Bay State Newbies from J&J, PayPal, and More Gather in Kendall Square

Who are all these new guys around town? Over the past year or so, Massachusetts has seen lots of outside companies set up offices in the Boston area. Not a new trend, but something to keep an eye on. Tonight a bunch of them will be in one place—Genzyme’s headquarters in Kendall Square, Cambridge—for a … Continue reading “Bay State Newbies from J&J, PayPal, and More Gather in Kendall Square”

Who Says There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch? Not Danny Beckett

Danny Beckett, the co-founder and chairman of Free Lunch Friday, says his concept offering startups a monthly opportunity to break bread and connect without spending any of their hard-earned cash actually started in Michigan. Beckett, who was born and raised here, used to race motorcycles professionally, but his true passion has long been nurturing startups. … Continue reading “Who Says There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch? Not Danny Beckett”

Syros, a Whitehead and Dana-Farber Spinoff, Snags $30M For Cancer

Not many biotech startups are able to scrape together a $30 million venture round right out of the gate. But it’s happening today to a little company in Watertown, MA, with some edgy science from researchers at the Whitehead Institute and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The startup, Syros Pharmaceuticals, is announcing today it has raised that … Continue reading “Syros, a Whitehead and Dana-Farber Spinoff, Snags $30M For Cancer”

TechStars NYC alum Frederick Cook to Speak at NY Venture Challenge

Moveline co-founder and CEO Frederick Cook will give a glimpse of his startup’s evolution on April 25 at the “New York’s Venture Challenge” half-day forum organized by Xconomy. Moveline’s platform puts people who need to relocate in touch with moving companies they can hire and lets users create a video inventory of their stuff prior … Continue reading “TechStars NYC alum Frederick Cook to Speak at NY Venture Challenge”