Seattle-based Presage Biosciences has found another big partner that thinks it can help separate the winners from the losers in early cancer drug development, before the really big bucks get wasted on bad experiments. Presage, a spinoff from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, is announcing today it has struck a new partnership with Summit, … Continue reading “Presage Snags $13M from Celgene to Pick Winning Cancer Drug Combos”
Category: National
Detroit Startups Stik.com and UpTo Raise Key Financing Rounds
Detroit’s nascent tech scene got another boost with the announcement today that Stik.com, an online business referral platform that relocated to the Motor City from San Francisco last year, has closed a fundraising round worth $2.3 million. Nathan Labenz, Stik’s co-founder, says that the round was led by Detroit Venture Partners (DVP) with a host of … Continue reading “Detroit Startups Stik.com and UpTo Raise Key Financing Rounds”
Square Founder Jack Dorsey and Union Square’s Fred Wilson Chat at NYU
Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Square and Twitter’s executive chairman, made his way back to New York University for a fireside chat Friday with Fred Wilson, the co-founder of Union Square Ventures. Dorsey, an NYU alum, talked about his early startup days and how his latest endeavor is evolving. “Where we’re going with Square is … Continue reading “Square Founder Jack Dorsey and Union Square’s Fred Wilson Chat at NYU”
In the Season of Ticketfly, Is It Ticketmaster’s Time to Die?
[Updated 3/7/13, further updated 3/20/13, see notes below] Ticketmaster has been called soul-crushingly evil and the most hated brand in America. If it had been included in this January poll, it probably would have ranked somewhere below root canals, head lice, cockroaches, and the U.S. Congress, although it might have beaten out North Korea and … Continue reading “In the Season of Ticketfly, Is It Ticketmaster’s Time to Die?”
Synteract Acquires Harrison Clinical Research to Form Global CRO
At the DIA EuroMeeting in Amsterdam today, Synteract, a Carlsbad, CA-based contract research organization (CRO), says it has acquired Harrison Clinical Research, an international CRO based in Munich, Germany. The combined company will operate globally as SynteractHCR, with offices in Western and Eastern Europe, Israel, Russia, South America, and the U.S. Financial terms of the … Continue reading “Synteract Acquires Harrison Clinical Research to Form Global CRO”
Boston Startup School Adds NY, Gets New Name: Startup Institute
The push to remake higher education is picking up steam, and some Boston-based innovators are once again on the front lines. Boston Startup School, an education company that offers two-month skills training classes for people seeking to join early stage companies, says today that it’s expanding to New York with a first Big Apple-based class scheduled … Continue reading “Boston Startup School Adds NY, Gets New Name: Startup Institute”
Mobile Payment Platform Wars: LevelUp, Paydiant, PayPal, & More
Is 2013 the year I put all the cash under my mattress away, leave my credit card at home, and start paying for everything with my phone? Not bloody likely. At least not for a neo-Luddite like me. Yet some proponents of mobile payments are saying this is a crucial year for the sector to … Continue reading “Mobile Payment Platform Wars: LevelUp, Paydiant, PayPal, & More”
Someone Needs to Rank U.S. Biotech Hubs, For Real
[Updated: 11:40 am PT] It’s time for a challenge: Will somebody please come out with a deeply researched and credible report that ranks U.S. regional biotech clusters, on the criteria that matter the most? I’m feeling compelled to issue this challenge after going over the latest deeply flawed report on this subject, from real estate … Continue reading “Someone Needs to Rank U.S. Biotech Hubs, For Real”
Challenge Detroit and Detroit Revitalization Fellows Seek New Participants
Two fellowship programs that bring talented young professionals to Detroit in the hopes that they’ll make a permanent home here are accepting applications through Sunday for a new cohort of participants. Both the Challenge Detroit and the Detroit Revitalization Fellows programs have succeeded in luring some of the country’s most passionate young entrepreneurs and community builders … Continue reading “Challenge Detroit and Detroit Revitalization Fellows Seek New Participants”
As Obamacare Kicks In, Microsoft Eyes Big Health Data
If you need any more evidence that healthcare is going to be a monster new growth market for high-powered computing, take it from a guy like Craig Hodges. As a general manager overseeing sales for Microsoft in the Northeast, you could say that Hodges sees some pretty big software contracts cross his desk. And right … Continue reading “As Obamacare Kicks In, Microsoft Eyes Big Health Data”
Facebook Killed My Blog
Travels With Rhody has reached the end of the road. Don’t worry, Rhody himself is fine—he’ll turn 16 in a couple of months and his only problem in life is a touch of arthritis. I’m talking about my blog, not my dog. Since 2004 I’ve owned the domain name travelswithrhody.net, where I’ve always maintained a … Continue reading “Facebook Killed My Blog”
East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Third Rock, SciFluor, Cubist
Another act in a stark boardroom drama unfolded this week for a public pharmaceutical company in New Jersey, but brighter stories took center stage in the Massachusetts biomedical arena. —A sweeping executive shakeout continued at Optimer Pharmaceuticals on Wednesday as CEO Pedro Lichtinger agreed to resign, and was replaced by Henry McKinnell, the former CEO … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Third Rock, SciFluor, Cubist”
San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Optimer, Zogenix, MediciNova, & More
We saw a flurry of updates from San Diego’s biotech and medical device companies over the past week, running the gamut from the formation of a new startup to funding deals and fresh regulatory concerns. Here’s my wrap-up: —Shares of San Diego’s Optimer Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OPTR]]) gained more than 13 percent Wednesday, rising by over … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Optimer, Zogenix, MediciNova, & More”
Finding Parallels in Baseball and Drug Development
Consider a candidate. Selecting that candidate takes thousands of hours of time and research–checking background, verifying data, assessing probabilities, projecting futures. Once selected, more years of development follow, during which time the odds of success are less than 10 percent. And if that candidate finally does make it, there’s just a small window of exclusivity … Continue reading “Finding Parallels in Baseball and Drug Development”
Feds Scrutinizing Stock Grant to Former Optimer Chairman
San Diego’s Optimer Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OPTR]]) said yesterday the filing of its official annual 10-K financial statement would be delayed because of a management shakeup disclosed earlier this week, along with problems related to “processes and procedures.” Optimer has not provided many specifics about the internal problems that first surfaced 11 months ago. But Optimer’s … Continue reading “Feds Scrutinizing Stock Grant to Former Optimer Chairman”
Opponents of CA’s Retroactive Tax on Investors Win A Reprieve
[Updated 3/6/13, see below] In a bitter contest over tax changes that could hit California investors with bills for up to $120 million in unpaid taxes dating back to 2008, one side has stopped the clock. Under pressure from the office of California Gov. Jerry Brown, the state’s Franchise Tax Board indicated today that it … Continue reading “Opponents of CA’s Retroactive Tax on Investors Win A Reprieve”
With Atlas Buy, Facebook Positioning For Ad Expansion
Facebook appears to be moving closer to an Internet-wide advertising network, and much of that effort will be based in Seattle. The social network is buying from Microsoft the Atlas Advertiser Suite, one of the last vestiges of the Redmond technology giant’s costly 2007 purchase of aQuantive. While terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed, … Continue reading “With Atlas Buy, Facebook Positioning For Ad Expansion”
Osage University Partners Expanding Its Novel Venture Firm Model
Discoveries at the Yale School of Medicine are helping nearby Kolltan Pharmaceuticals in New Haven, CT, to try to keep cancer drugs working by eliminating the resistance that patients often develop to current cancer treatments. Kolltan is the kind of company routinely spun out by Yale and other top research universities, which often hold the … Continue reading “Osage University Partners Expanding Its Novel Venture Firm Model”
Paul Allen Gives $7.5M to Little-Known Scientists Dreaming Big
Just a few days after tech moguls Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin gave a bunch of prize money to some of biotech’s biggest stars, along comes Paul Allen doing his own thing, giving his money to some lesser-known scientists striving for all different kinds of breakthroughs. The Seattle-based Paul G. Allen Family Foundation said today … Continue reading “Paul Allen Gives $7.5M to Little-Known Scientists Dreaming Big”
Byliner’s New Adventure in Publishing—A Talk with CEO John Tayman
In 1997, Outside magazine published a memorable non-fiction story by Peter Stark about what it feels like to freeze to death. The headline, awesomely, cribbed from Emily Dickinson: “As freezing persons recollect the snow—First chill, then stupor, then the letting go.” John Tayman was an editor at Outside at the time, and he remembers that … Continue reading “Byliner’s New Adventure in Publishing—A Talk with CEO John Tayman”
Agenda for Mobile Madness on March 19: Athenahealth, Timbre, Twitter, Verizon…
We are coming down the home stretch towards Mobile Madness 2013. It’s March tomorrow (eek…I mean, yay). Luckily the program is all set. We are going from 1:30-5:30 pm, March 19, at Microsoft NERD in Kendall Square, with networking in the middle and a reception afterwards. Here is the detailed agenda. Tickets have been going … Continue reading “Agenda for Mobile Madness on March 19: Athenahealth, Timbre, Twitter, Verizon…”
Roundup: Julep Mints, TiE Angels, Showrooming, Predictive Policing
Seattle beauty brand Julep scores Series B cash, while TiE Seattle joins the angel investing game, Placed studies Amazon “showrooming,” and Seattle police get crime prediction software. We also note comings and goings at Contour, the University of Washington College and Engineering, Lighter Capital, and Cascadia Capital. —You may have to be on the A-list … Continue reading “Roundup: Julep Mints, TiE Angels, Showrooming, Predictive Policing”
SummerQAmp Tech Internship Expands to Boston, LA, Austin
Steve Martocci, co-founder of GroupMe in New York, let me drop by his office Tuesday so he could shed some light on how a summer program to train youths for technology jobs in quality assurance is expanding in its second year. “We talked a lot last year about having an online learning platform,” he says. … Continue reading “SummerQAmp Tech Internship Expands to Boston, LA, Austin”
Kinnear: Big Ideas Define U-M’s Current Entrepreneurial Climate
After 30 years, what sets apart winners of the University of Michigan’s annual Michigan Business Challenge competition? “Big ideas,” says Tom Kinnear. Kinnear is in a position to know. He helped found U-M’s Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, which hands out the awards, and has watched student entrepreneurs evolve through the years. “The number of teams and … Continue reading “Kinnear: Big Ideas Define U-M’s Current Entrepreneurial Climate”
Kala Pharma, From MIT & Johns Hopkins, Grabs $11.5M for Eye Drugs
If you need an effective drug today for age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly, you need to get an injection at the back of the eye. Waltham, MA-based Kala Pharmaceuticals believes it may be able to get the drug where it needs to go, without sticking a needle in your … Continue reading “Kala Pharma, From MIT & Johns Hopkins, Grabs $11.5M for Eye Drugs”
Testing New Business Model, Araxes Pharma Signs Deal with Janssen
In a short announcement yesterday, a previously unknown San Diego startup called Araxes Pharma said it entered into an exclusive partnership with Janssen Biotech of Horsham, PA, to develop a new group of cancer drugs that target an undisclosed signal pathway. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and CEO Troy Wilson wrote in an … Continue reading “Testing New Business Model, Araxes Pharma Signs Deal with Janssen”
MIT Report: U.S. Manufacturing Hits a Wall When It’s Time to Scale
Manufacturing isn’t dead in the U.S. But when it comes time to pump out products on a large scale, the pull of overseas economies and investors becomes too strong to resist. That’s one of the conclusions from a group of MIT researchers tackling a wide-ranging study of the American production economy. Their report aims to … Continue reading “MIT Report: U.S. Manufacturing Hits a Wall When It’s Time to Scale”
UW Spinoff Resolve Therapeutics Lures In Takeda, Lines Up Return
Seattle-based Resolve Therapeutics was founded three years ago on the notion that on a shoestring budget, and short timeline, it could deliver a venture-style return for its investors without pulling off a miraculous IPO or big-ticket acquisition. Today it has announced it has found the partner it was looking for to make the dream come … Continue reading “UW Spinoff Resolve Therapeutics Lures In Takeda, Lines Up Return”
Optimer Board Ousts CEO, Brings Back Former Pfizer CEO McKinnell
The board of Optimer Pharmaceuticals ousted the company’s co-founder and chairman and fired a couple of executives last spring over conflicts of interest stemming from an affiliated company in Taiwan. Apparently, the trouble didn’t end there. Jersey City, NJ and San Diego-based Optimer (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OPTR]]) said today in a statement that CEO Pedro Lichtinger agreed … Continue reading “Optimer Board Ousts CEO, Brings Back Former Pfizer CEO McKinnell”
Menlo Ventures Steps into the Spotlight
Venky Ganesan, the newest managing director at Menlo Ventures, likes to tell a story about one of his business idols, Sidney Weinberg. When Weinberg was building Goldman Sachs into a financial giant in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s, Ganesan recounts, he employed a full-time public relations officer whose sole job was to make sure the … Continue reading “Menlo Ventures Steps into the Spotlight”
Marc Benioff Talks Up Salesforce.com’s Strategy for the Mobile Arena
On Tuesday, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff dropped by the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York to talk about the ways his company plans to evolve, particularly through mobile platforms. “It feels like a huge wave of innovation is coming,” he said, regarding the overall surge of connected mobile devices and touch screen interfaces in the … Continue reading “Marc Benioff Talks Up Salesforce.com’s Strategy for the Mobile Arena”
San Diego’s Biotech Leaders of Tomorrow: ‘We Are the Wildcatters’
(Xconomy contributor Juliet Preston helped pull this story together) One more sign that the U.S. life sciences industry is in upheaval became evident last month, when the Chicago real estate group Jones Lang LaSalle issued its 2012 report on life sciences clusters. The study revealed that biomedical clusters in several smaller U.S. cities are gaining … Continue reading “San Diego’s Biotech Leaders of Tomorrow: ‘We Are the Wildcatters’”
Third Rock’s Bet on Lotus Tissue Repair Generates Big Return
Third Rock Ventures has seen its biotech startup companies achieve some impressive things since it got going in 2007. But now the firm can point to the first venture-style return on one of its home-grown startups. Dublin, Ireland-based Shire (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SHPG]]) shed some light on Third Rock’s biggest return in a regulatory filing this week. … Continue reading “Third Rock’s Bet on Lotus Tissue Repair Generates Big Return”
Boston Roundup: HubSpot, Harvard, Avid, Polar, Proletariat
Some tidbits that we need to note from the past week or so around the Boston region: —HubSpot, the fast-growing online marketing software company, posted its annual report online to tout another year of growth. The company says its sales grew 82 percent to $52.5 million in 2012. HubSpot also continues to make noise about going … Continue reading “Boston Roundup: HubSpot, Harvard, Avid, Polar, Proletariat”
Wayne State Biotech Spinout Advaita Continues Growth
Advaita, the Plymouth, MI-based biotech startup spun out of technology developed at Wayne State University, has been selected to participate in the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Commercialization Assistance Program (CAP). The 18-month program provides mentoring, training, and consulting to help companies get their products to market. Only 60 companies nationwide are picked to participate … Continue reading “Wayne State Biotech Spinout Advaita Continues Growth”
Concert Pharma, Jazz Pharma Strike $120M Deal for Narcolepsy
If there was ever an occasion to play some Miles Davis around a Boston biotech company’s office, today is the day. Lexington, MA-based Concert Pharmaceuticals has the right to play it cool, or at least crack a few music jokes, after striking a collaboration with another musically inspired company—Dublin, Ireland-based Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:JAZZ]]). The … Continue reading “Concert Pharma, Jazz Pharma Strike $120M Deal for Narcolepsy”
Casting a Wide Net, Anametrix Offers Big Clients Holistic Analytics
As an estimated 2,000 online retailers gather in Palm Desert, CA, today for the eTail West Conference, San Diego’s Anametrix says it’s introducing a new mobile app to give its corporate clients mobile access to cloud-based analytics data about their customers. The Anametrix Mobile App, available for iOS, Android, and BlackBerry platforms, is intended to … Continue reading “Casting a Wide Net, Anametrix Offers Big Clients Holistic Analytics”
Online Educator Thinkful Lands $1M Seed Round with Peter Thiel, Others
New York-based Thinkful, an online education startup, announced Tuesday it raised $1 million in a seed round with investor and entrepreneur Peter Thiel’s FF Angel, RRE Ventures, Quotidian Ventures, and other investors. Thinkful, founded in 2012, helps its students with job interviews, placement, and career coaching, in addition to providing education. The startup offers online … Continue reading “Online Educator Thinkful Lands $1M Seed Round with Peter Thiel, Others”
Failure and Redemption
What’s gone and what’s past help Should be past grief. —William Shakespeare – The Winter’s Tale We give abundant advice to founders about how to make startups succeed, yet we offer few models about dealing with failure. So here’s mine. ——– In my experience, living through failure has 6 stages: Stage 1: Shock and Surprise … Continue reading “Failure and Redemption”
Spark Capital Closes Fourth Fund at $450M
Boston’s Spark Capital, a venture firm with high-profile investments in Twitter, Tumblr, and Foursquare, has closed its fourth fund at $450 million. Founded in 2005 by Todd Dagres, Santo Politi, and Paul Conway, Spark started with an emphasis on early stage, consumer-focused technology and media companies. It’s since expanded its focus a bit, with investments … Continue reading “Spark Capital Closes Fourth Fund at $450M”
New Partner at Quiet Hambrecht Fund Takes ‘Moneyball’ Approach to VC
Thomas Thurston says we’ve entered “the era of the Moneyball VC,” and no less a name than investment banking pioneer Bill Hambrecht is placing a bet on this Northwest-based data scientist’s formula for picking winners. Over the last seven years, Thurston (pictured) has been developing algorithms—first at Intel Capital, and later in collaboration with Harvard … Continue reading “New Partner at Quiet Hambrecht Fund Takes ‘Moneyball’ Approach to VC”
TechStars Boston Spring 2013 Class Announced
TechStars, the top-shelf startup accelerator program, is kicking off its newest Boston class with a group that covers a wide array of sectors and includes several teams from outside the U.S. It’s the sixth time TechStars has run its three-month “bootcamp” for entrepreneurship in Boston, which is one of the program’s core cities. TechStars began in … Continue reading “TechStars Boston Spring 2013 Class Announced”
Ag Tech Startup FarmLogs Nets $1M in Seed Funding
The Ann Arbor, MI-based ag tech startup FarmLogs is on a quest to bring farm management into the digital age, and the recent completion of a $1 million seed round lead by Ann Arbor-based Huron River Ventures and Chicago-based Hyde Park Venture Partners will push the company forward. What FarmLogs offers is a one-stop farm … Continue reading “Ag Tech Startup FarmLogs Nets $1M in Seed Funding”
Cubist Grabs Option to Acquire Adynxx, Getting Drug for Pain
Cubist Pharmaceuticals has been looking to diversify for a while, to get something more than antibiotics it can sell to hospitals. Now it’s getting the rights to what it hopes will be a big new pain drug. The Lexington, MA-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CBST]]) said today it has obtained an exclusive right to acquire San … Continue reading “Cubist Grabs Option to Acquire Adynxx, Getting Drug for Pain”
With Fluorine Tech, SciFluor Aims to Vindicate “Me-Too” Drugs
Me-too drugs, knockoffs, copycats, retreads—they’re all names for new pharmaceuticals patterned after drugs already proven to work. The number of such labels alone signals the type of passionate commentary surrounding these products. Critics have charged pharmaceutical companies with churning out these modified drugs to fight common ailments like high cholesterol or heartburn without proving that … Continue reading “With Fluorine Tech, SciFluor Aims to Vindicate “Me-Too” Drugs”
New York’s Technology Future: Is It a Bubble or a Lasting Boom?
Amid the hullabaloo about New York’s growing innovation scene lurks a big question about the future. “Is New York’s rise in technology a combination of the mayor’s exuberant personality, things that are happening organically, and the overall growth of tech?” asked Steven Rosenbaum, CEO of Magnify.net. “Or is there a fundamental shift happening?” Last Thursday … Continue reading “New York’s Technology Future: Is It a Bubble or a Lasting Boom?”
Shipwire Gives Mom-and-Pops the Fulfillment Services of Big Retailers
Shipwire CEO Damon Schechter started his company with a simple goal: “To help small businesses take on the efficiencies that big businesses have.” He cofounded the Palo Alto-based order fulfillment services operation with chief technology officer Evan Robinson at the end of 2006, but to get there, he had to wait until the timing was … Continue reading “Shipwire Gives Mom-and-Pops the Fulfillment Services of Big Retailers”
Intersect ENT Grabs $30M for Drug/Device Combo for the Sinuses
If you utter the phrase “drug/device combo” inside the life sciences industry, most people will think you’re talking about products for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or maybe neurological disorders like Parkinson’s. Intersect ENT is hoping to find a niche of its own with combo products for the sinuses. The Menlo Park, CA-based company is announcing today … Continue reading “Intersect ENT Grabs $30M for Drug/Device Combo for the Sinuses”
Active Endpoints Bought by Informatica in Cloud Workflow Deal
Chalk up another acquisition of a Boston tech company by a Silicon Valley giant. Waltham, MA-based Active Endpoints has been acquired by data-integration software maker Informatica (NASDAQ: [[ticker:INFA]]), of Redwood City, CA. The news was buried in a press release announcing Informatica’s latest cloud-based product. It’s not immediately clear when the acquisition happened, or what … Continue reading “Active Endpoints Bought by Informatica in Cloud Workflow Deal”
As MWC Opens in Barcelona, We’re All on the Eve of Disruption
It’s sunny but cold in Barcelona today, as more than 72,000 telecom and technology professionals arrive for the first day of the Mobile World Congress. They come for the spinning, networking, and opportunity seeking—and perhaps for the tapas and Spanish wine. Yet the show is so big and so dispersed that most companies begin trumpeting … Continue reading “As MWC Opens in Barcelona, We’re All on the Eve of Disruption”