Biotech and mobile security account for the notable deals making headlines around the Boston area in the past week: —IT security firm Rapid7, loaded up with nearly $60 million in venture capital, is boosting its portfolio of business services by acquiring Seattle-based Mobilisafe. Founded in 2010 by two veterans of T-Mobile, Mobilisafe just unveiled its … Continue reading “Rapid7, Veracode, Boston Scientific, Vaxxas in the Boston Deals Roundup”
Category: National
See the Agenda for ‘Reinventing Biotech’s Business Model’ Oct. 16 in SF
We’re less than a week away from our biggest life sciences event of the year in the San Francisco Bay Area. So today it’s time to scratch an important event prep item off my to-do list, by giving you the updated agenda for our big conference on “Reinventing Biotech’s Business Model.” This event will be … Continue reading “See the Agenda for ‘Reinventing Biotech’s Business Model’ Oct. 16 in SF”
Gazelle Leaps Past $35M in Revenue, Pushed by iPhone 5
Which local consumer-facing tech company is benefiting the most from the new iPhone release? It just might be Gazelle (fka Second Rotation). The six-year-old Boston startup, which has raised roughly $46 million in venture funding from Venrock, RockPort Capital Partners, and other investors, is starting to turn the corner on the “re-commerce” market—buying used smartphones … Continue reading “Gazelle Leaps Past $35M in Revenue, Pushed by iPhone 5”
Boston Scientific Buys Rhythmia, Expands Cardiac Footprint
Boston Scientific (NYSE: [[ticker:BSX]]) is expanding its presence in the fast-growing market for electrophysiology treatments for irregular heartbeats with its acquisition, announced Oct. 8, of privately held Rhythmia Medical. The Natick, MA-based medical device giant will make an initial payment of $90 million for the Burlington, MA-based startup, plus another $175 million through 2017 if … Continue reading “Boston Scientific Buys Rhythmia, Expands Cardiac Footprint”
Rapid7 Acquires Mobilisafe, Boosting Mobile Device Security
Looks like it’s a good time to be in the mobile security business. Seattle-based Mobilisafe, a startup that just rolled out its product in June, has been acquired by Boston IT security company Rapid7 for an undisclosed price. And Mobilisafe’s technology will live on—Rapid7 will start selling the product as of Wednesday, Mobilisafe co-founder Giri … Continue reading “Rapid7 Acquires Mobilisafe, Boosting Mobile Device Security”
Ann Arbor’s Compendia Bioscience Acquired by Life Technologies
Compendia Bioscience, an Ann Arbor, MI, startup spun out of technology developed at the University of Michigan, announced today that it has been acquired by California-based Life Technologies Corp. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Compendia, which has 34 employees, was started in 2006 to commercialize Oncomine, a cancer genomics research database that pharmaceutical companies … Continue reading “Ann Arbor’s Compendia Bioscience Acquired by Life Technologies”
Blueprint Health’s Latest Class Tackles Drug Adherence, Other Issues
Graduating its second batch of startups to bring more innovation to healthcare, Blueprint Health in New York is rapidly cementing its place among the city’s accelerators. Nine healthcare technology companies from Blueprint’s summer session held a demo day last Thursday to impress investors and potential collaborators. By specializing in health, which frankly affects everyone, these … Continue reading “Blueprint Health’s Latest Class Tackles Drug Adherence, Other Issues”
Search Engine Blekko Brings Human Evaluation to Search Results
Two years after he sold his second start-up, the online news aggregator Topix, to a trio of media companies, Blekko CEO Rich Skrenta was ready for a new challenge. During his 20-year career, the computer engineer had worked for AOL, Sun Microsystems, Unix Systems Labs, and Commodore Business Machines, and had also founded two companies … Continue reading “Search Engine Blekko Brings Human Evaluation to Search Results”
Massachusetts: The Global Cluster of Water Innovation?
The worldwide demand for water is accelerating and shows no signs of abating. How will this demand be satisfied? This question was explored in depth last month at a meeting of the New England chapter of Environmental Entrepreneurs, and the answer may lie right here in Massachusetts. It turns out that exports are key. While … Continue reading “Massachusetts: The Global Cluster of Water Innovation?”
Innovation’s New Wave: MassChallenge, Shark Tank, and HackReduce
October is when you can really feel the next wave of innovators emerging in Boston. Especially with all the structures now in place for early stage entrepreneurs. Consider: —MassChallenge, the accelerator program and startup competition now in its third year, announced its final 26 companies that are vying for $50K and $100K prizes. These are … Continue reading “Innovation’s New Wave: MassChallenge, Shark Tank, and HackReduce”
Anametrix Raises $4.4M, Unveils Web-Based B2C Marketing Analytics
San Diego-based Anametrix, a cloud-based provider of digital analytics for business customers, says today it has raised $4.4 million in a Series A round of funding from TVC Capital, the boutique PE firm that specializes in growth-stage software investments and buyouts. The deal marks the first investment from the $75 million that San Diego-based TVC … Continue reading “Anametrix Raises $4.4M, Unveils Web-Based B2C Marketing Analytics”
The Early Stage Innovation Crisis
With more than 850 biotechnology companies, the Bay Area is the oldest, largest and most productive life sciences cluster in the world, employing more than 125,000 people in the region. For more than 30 years, this region has led the world in researching and delivering new cures and treatments for debilitating diseases including cancer, Multiple … Continue reading “The Early Stage Innovation Crisis”
Vaxxas Entices Merck to Try Needle-Free Vaccine Technique
Scientists have been trying for a long time to deliver vaccines without needles. Now the Boston biotech community is importing a new take on this idea from Australia that’s also caught the eye of Merck. Vaxxas, a company founded in Mark Kendall’s lab at the University of Queensland in Australia, said it is establishing a … Continue reading “Vaxxas Entices Merck to Try Needle-Free Vaccine Technique”
Watch Out SF, Boston Is Turning Into Biotech’s No. 1 Cluster
Biotech has never concentrated in just one place. This industry tends to grow up in geographic clusters, but it will always be spread across the map, partly because great science comes from hundreds of academic hotspots around the world. But there have always been two places—San Francisco and Boston—that have stood out far above all … Continue reading “Watch Out SF, Boston Is Turning Into Biotech’s No. 1 Cluster”
Seattle Deals: Amazon, Buuteeq, Startup Weekend, Microsoft
A few pieces of Seattle-area news spanning real estate, startup financing, and acquisitions to catch up on before the weekend: —Amazon is expanding its real estate holdings in Seattle. In a filing with federal regulators, the e-commerce pioneer and ever-expanding tech leader says it’s buying 11 buildings it already occupies for about $1.16 billion. Amazon … Continue reading “Seattle Deals: Amazon, Buuteeq, Startup Weekend, Microsoft”
San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Regulus, Aragon, Cytori, & More
[Corrected 10/09/12, 1:45 pm. See below.] We saw some significant financing transactions in San Diego’s life sciences community over the past week. Here’s our rundown of those deals, along with other recent developments. It was a busy week! —[Thanks to Greg Greenberg of suburban Kansas City for calling out my error on Astra Zeneca’s stake … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Regulus, Aragon, Cytori, & More”
Good Jobs Await Us, If Health and Tech Sectors Can Work Together
Much has been made about waste in healthcare, with a new government report tallying $750 billion in unnecessary costs each year – enough to insure 150 million American workers. The digitization of healthcare, from the introduction of electronic health records to the application of high tech data analytics to reveal patterns that can point to … Continue reading “Good Jobs Await Us, If Health and Tech Sectors Can Work Together”
Veracode Buys Marvin Mobile Security, Moves Into App Intelligence
BYOD is starting to become a big business driver. I’m talking about “Bring Your Own Device,” the corporate practice of letting employees use their personal smartphones, tablets, and other computers for work purposes. As you can imagine, this is a major challenge for IT departments, which need to make sure the software and business data … Continue reading “Veracode Buys Marvin Mobile Security, Moves Into App Intelligence”
New Kiva Zip Program Lets Detroiters Lend Directly to Entrepreneurs
At the end of September, the microfinance initiative Kiva Detroit announced it was launching Kiva Zip to allow Detroiters to lend directly to small-business entrepreneurs using digital tools like PayPal. Similar to the Kickstarter model, any resident can nominate a local entrepreneur for community support as well as contribute directly to a crowd-funded, interest-free loan. Lenders … Continue reading “New Kiva Zip Program Lets Detroiters Lend Directly to Entrepreneurs”
Xconomist of the Week: SRI’s Curt Carlson on 7 Rules for Creating Jobs
“This all comes down to job growth,” Curt Carlson says, considering the future of the U.S. economy. “Budget cuts and changes to tax policies and regulations are necessary. But whether they lower rates for some people, increase revenue by taxing the rich, or close corporate loopholes, they aren’t remotely enough to offset the deficit we face. … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: SRI’s Curt Carlson on 7 Rules for Creating Jobs”
San Diego’s Regulus Lowers Share Price in Revised IPO Filing
Regulus Therapeutics must be playing to a tough crowd. The San Diego biopharmaceutical startup, which planned to offer 4.5 million shares priced between $10 and $12 a share, revised its IPO filing this morning—and now plans instead to offer 11.25 million shares at $4 a share. The company, which is slated to go public this … Continue reading “San Diego’s Regulus Lowers Share Price in Revised IPO Filing”
Hitachi Data Systems Buys Cofio, Software Infrastructure Developer
Hitachi Data Systems, a Santa Clara, CA-based subsidiary of Japan’s Hitachi conglomerate, has acquired San Diego-based Cofio Software, which specializes in data protection software and related technology. Financial terms were not disclosed, and Cofio CEO Tony Cerqueira did not respond to an email query yesterday. He joined Hitachi Data Systems as a senior director for … Continue reading “Hitachi Data Systems Buys Cofio, Software Infrastructure Developer”
Bigger, Stronger, Faster: 5 Questions with Dyn CEO Jeremy Hitchcock
It’s a familiar scenario. Tech company toils away for 10 years, rides the ups and downs of its market, quietly bootstraps its way to profitability, lands some huge customers, and becomes an overnight success story. I’m talking about Dyn, the Manchester, NH-based Internet infrastructure company that just raised a $38 million first round of financing … Continue reading “Bigger, Stronger, Faster: 5 Questions with Dyn CEO Jeremy Hitchcock”
LS9 Scales Up in Chemical Business As Biofuels Industry Re-Tools
The South San Francisco company LS9 recently produced five tons of industrial chemicals from plant sugars at a Florida demonstration facility, a step toward proving that its genetically engineered microbes can manufacture carbon compounds and fuels at a commercial scale. Chief executive officer Ed Dineen says the private company is eager to raise money to … Continue reading “LS9 Scales Up in Chemical Business As Biofuels Industry Re-Tools”
Opscode Expands Overseas as Enterprise Cloud Software Biz Grows
Opscode, a Seattle startup that offers cloud-computing software and services for businesses, is putting some of its recent venture cash to use with expansions in Europe and Asia. The new European office—which starts with just one London-based employee—will focus on sales and fostering the open-source community participating in Chef, the software system that Opscode created … Continue reading “Opscode Expands Overseas as Enterprise Cloud Software Biz Grows”
Qualcomm Foundation Awards Scripps Health $3.75M for Digital Health
The Qualcomm Foundation has awarded a three-year, $3.75 million grant to San Diego’s Scripps Health and its Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI) to help advance the development of diagnostic tests, wireless devices, sensors, and other digital health technologies. In a statement today, the institute says the funding is intended to support the kind of clinical … Continue reading “Qualcomm Foundation Awards Scripps Health $3.75M for Digital Health”
GSN Digital Adds Ex-Zynga Exec to Amp Up Mobile, SF Presence
Last time I caught up with Waltham, MA-based GSN Digital, the digital games unit of the Game Show Network was seeing its Facebook business really start to heat up. About a year and a half later, the company is experiencing a similar take off with its newly launched mobile channels, and is figuring just how … Continue reading “GSN Digital Adds Ex-Zynga Exec to Amp Up Mobile, SF Presence”
Rhapsody Beefs up Smart TV Offerings, Hints at More Features
The living room used to be the pinnacle of music listening: A big, shiny, multi-component stereo system, preferably with some big speakers stacked up alongside. With the 30th anniversary of the compact disc just passing, it’s hard to miss the fact that this ain’t how we listen to tunes anymore. “It went away after the … Continue reading “Rhapsody Beefs up Smart TV Offerings, Hints at More Features”
Top Angel Investors of New England: An Innovation Slideshow
Angel investors play a crucial role in any startup ecosystem, by making bets on companies at their earliest stages—to help them develop prototypes, get through beta phases, and attract early customers and the next level of investors. It seems every time a Boston-area company announces it has landed some seed funding, a mysterious crop of … Continue reading “Top Angel Investors of New England: An Innovation Slideshow”
T-Mobile Merging with MetroPCS, Forming New Independent Carrier
T-Mobile, the fourth-place U.S. wireless carrier, is splitting from its German parent to compete in the domestic mobile market as a standalone public company. T-Mobile and MetroPCS, a smaller pre-paid carrier based in Texas, announced their plans to form a new company on Wednesday morning. MetroPCS and T-Mobile’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, had confirmed a … Continue reading “T-Mobile Merging with MetroPCS, Forming New Independent Carrier”
Watchitoo Opens Video Chat Playground to Take on Google+ Hangouts
Almost anyone can start a video conference nowadays, thanks to the ubiquity of computer webcams and mobile devices equipped with cameras. No longer the province of elite corporate meetings, video chat services are accessible through social networks and telecom providers. Now New York’s Watchitoo believes its new service can challenge Google+ Hangouts for its share … Continue reading “Watchitoo Opens Video Chat Playground to Take on Google+ Hangouts”
Sam Waksal On Biotech’s New Paradigm—and Implications for New York
When it comes to building biotech companies in New York, there is arguably no one who knows more about the subject than Sam Waksal. He founded ImClone back in 1984, and now is building a new biotech company called Kadmon Corporation that is headquartered right in Manhattan. So we are especially pleased that Waksal will … Continue reading “Sam Waksal On Biotech’s New Paradigm—and Implications for New York”
Celgene Puts $35M into VentiRx, Gets Option to Buy Cancer Drugmaker
Celgene became one of the world’s biggest biotech companies because of its drug for blood cancers that scientists say works at least partly by stimulating an immune reaction against cancer cells. Now it’s putting some big money into a partnership with Seattle-based VentiRx Pharmaceuticals that aims to go a step further in developing cancer immunotherapies. … Continue reading “Celgene Puts $35M into VentiRx, Gets Option to Buy Cancer Drugmaker”
Sarepta Drug Helps Boys With Duchenne to Walk; Shares Boom
[Updated 9:42 am ET] Sarepta Therapeutics looked like road kill last spring when researchers pored over early results from a clinical trial of its drug for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. But now, as long-term follow-up data has arrived, the company looks like it is onto something big and important in the treatment of this crippling genetic … Continue reading “Sarepta Drug Helps Boys With Duchenne to Walk; Shares Boom”
See What GSK, J&J, KPCB, Third Rock & Orbimed Have in Common Oct. 16
Everywhere in biotech, people are scrambling to come up with more sustainable business models. Entrepreneurs, venture capital firms, public biotech companies, and Big Pharma all have their different ideas, but it all boils down to a pretty simple theme. They all want to get a lot more bang out of every buck they spend on … Continue reading “See What GSK, J&J, KPCB, Third Rock & Orbimed Have in Common Oct. 16”
Bringing Fantasy Sports to the Bar With MyInteractiveVision
“Come on, girls,” my mom said with a heavy sigh. “This is getting ridiculous.” It was a beautiful Sunday in September, and she was talking to my sister and me. We were sitting in a Montauk, NY, hotel room on a ladies weekend vacation/wedding-venue search mission. My mom was miffed because we were late to … Continue reading “Bringing Fantasy Sports to the Bar With MyInteractiveVision”
TripAdvisor, Nuance, Thinking Phone, & Others in the Boston Deals Roundup
[Updated 10/3/12 1:05 pm. See below.] Venture funding, acquisitions, and partnership news has been breaking in the last week among New England IT and Web companies. —Speech communication software giant Nuance Communications (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NUAN]]) made its second healthcare software-related acquisition announcement in a week, this time buying Atlanta-based J.A. Thomas and Associates (JATA), which develops clinical documentation … Continue reading “TripAdvisor, Nuance, Thinking Phone, & Others in the Boston Deals Roundup”
San Diego’s Innovation Economy Strong, With Some Emerging Concerns
San Diego’s innovation economy showed relatively strong economic growth during the first three months of 2012, according to an in-depth study released by Connect, a San Diego nonprofit group that supports technology entrepreneurship. But the Connect study also highlights some potential concerns, including a sharp drop in the number of software companies that were started … Continue reading “San Diego’s Innovation Economy Strong, With Some Emerging Concerns”
Square Goes All in for Design Studio 80/20, Gains New York Presence
New York-based design studio 80/20 said on its website it was joining San Francisco’s Square, the developer of electronic payments software and a card reader used with smartphones and tablets. 80/20’s team is led by veteran user-interface and product designers from Apple and Adobe. Prior to the acquisition by Square, 80/20 designed the look and feel … Continue reading “Square Goes All in for Design Studio 80/20, Gains New York Presence”
T-Mobile & MetroPCS in Merger Talks, Companies Confirm
Updated 12:45 pm Pacific Fourth-place US mobile carrier T-Mobile, heading in a new direction after its failed merger with AT&T last year, is getting more serious about tying up with a smaller carrier. Bellevue, WA-based T-Mobile’s parent company, German carrier Deutsche Telekom, confirmed on Tuesday that it’s discussing a merger with MetroPCS, a small pre-paid wireless … Continue reading “T-Mobile & MetroPCS in Merger Talks, Companies Confirm”
Bye Bye, Bootstrap: Dyn Digs Up $38M from North Bridge
If you’re bootstrapped and growing fast, there’s only so long you can fend off VCs with a stick. Dyn, the Web infrastructure company in Manchester, NH, said today it has raised a $38 million first round of venture financing from North Bridge Venture Partners. Ric Fulop and Russ Pyle from North Bridge are joining Dyn’s … Continue reading “Bye Bye, Bootstrap: Dyn Digs Up $38M from North Bridge”
MoviePass Emerges from Beta, Goes it Alone in Movie Ticketing
Weekends mean huge business for the movie industry, but weekdays are another story. Now a New York startup believes its platform can help fill those empty seats during weekday screenings. The team behind MoviePass is graduating its subscription service from its beta phase today with new technology for purchasing movie tickets. This two-year-old startup tried … Continue reading “MoviePass Emerges from Beta, Goes it Alone in Movie Ticketing”
Startup Atreca Joins With Gates Foundation to Speed Vaccine Discovery
Two-year-old Atreca, a very small company with very big plans, recently got a very big boost when the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation made a $6 million equity investment in the biopharmaceutical firm. San Carlos, CA-based Atreca and the Seattle non-profit will work together to speed up progress toward the development of new vaccines and drugs. … Continue reading “Startup Atreca Joins With Gates Foundation to Speed Vaccine Discovery”
The Reproducibility Initiative: A Good Idea in Theory that Won’t Work in Practice
The failure of scientists to independently confirm much of the data contained in “hot” academic publications is casting a long shadow over the biopharmaceutical industry. Research groups at Amgen and Bayer reported that the data in a significant percentage of published “breakthrough” papers from academic scientists could not be confirmed in their labs. Given that … Continue reading “The Reproducibility Initiative: A Good Idea in Theory that Won’t Work in Practice”
San Diego’s Regulus Therapeutics Readies for IPO This Week
San Diego’s Regulus Therapeutics is among eight companies on deck at the Nasdaq exchange for IPOs this week, according to a report today from Renaissance Capital, the Connecticut-based institutional research and investment management services firm. Regulus, founded five years ago, has been developing microRNA treatments for serious diseases. The company has formed alliances with Big … Continue reading “San Diego’s Regulus Therapeutics Readies for IPO This Week”
Microsoft Azure Accelerator: 10 Startup Names to Watch
Microsoft’s partnership with the TechStars accelerator is taking another big step forward today: It’s announcing the first class of 10 startups admitted to the Azure cloud computing program. The software giant says it screened more than 600 applicants for the program, which houses startup founders in Microsoft’s office in the South Lake Union neighborhood—right near … Continue reading “Microsoft Azure Accelerator: 10 Startup Names to Watch”
Fusion Coolant Systems Grows, Opens Detroit Tech Center
The University of Michigan has a good reputation for spinning out technology developed and pioneered at the university into successful startups, and cleantech startup Fusion Coolant Systems is no exception. The company, which was based in Ann Arbor before opening a tech center on the west side of Detroit, was launched in 2010 to commercialize an … Continue reading “Fusion Coolant Systems Grows, Opens Detroit Tech Center”
Diagnostics Instrument Maker AutoGenomics Files Again for IPO
AutoGenomics, a Vista, CA-based company that specializes in molecular diagnostics systems, has filed for a $65 million Initial Public Offering (IPO), according to a recent regulatory filing. The company, founded in 1999, plans to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol AGMX. The filing marks the second IPO attempt for the diagnostic instrument company. AutoGenomics … Continue reading “Diagnostics Instrument Maker AutoGenomics Files Again for IPO”
Golden Seeds, Now 260 Angels Strong, Looks to Amp Up Investor Education
Before getting involved with the women’s angel investing group Golden Seeds, former Wall Streeter Peggy Wallace was “fascinated by the question of where was the female Warren Buffet, of why we don’t read about famous women investors.” She connected with Golden Seeds founder Stephanie Newby (who’s now at an interim CEO job at Boston-based Crimson … Continue reading “Golden Seeds, Now 260 Angels Strong, Looks to Amp Up Investor Education”
Reinventing Biotech’s Biz Model for NY: Issues for Our Oct. 4 Event
We are getting really excited for our annual fall biotech event in New York, which this year has the theme of Reinventing Biotech’s Business Model for the Big Apple. It takes place this Thursday from 6:00-8:30 pm at the Apella event space at the Alexandria Center for Life Science. We have a stellar lineup for … Continue reading “Reinventing Biotech’s Biz Model for NY: Issues for Our Oct. 4 Event”