Category: National

Point Inside Locates $3.2M to Fuel Indoor GPS for Retailers

Even for some of the brightest technology minds of this generation, mobile advertising is a tough nut to crack. Just ask Mark Zuckerberg and company. While the media portals sort that out, a different breed of company is banking on the mobile computing revolution by helping bricks-and-mortar retailers serve the people in their stores. And … Continue reading “Point Inside Locates $3.2M to Fuel Indoor GPS for Retailers”

Power Panel Brings Solar Manufacturing to Detroit

Solar panel manufacturing in Detroit? I didn’t know it either until I received an e-mail from Adam Stratton, Power Panel‘s vice president of business development. An affable Canadian, he invited me out to the company’s manufacturing facility on the far western edge of the city, in a corner of Detroit I had yet to visit. … Continue reading “Power Panel Brings Solar Manufacturing to Detroit”

Aveo Shares Fall as FDA Questions Cancer Drug Survival Trend

Cambridge, MA-based Aveo Oncology was fired up early this year when it hit the main goal of its pivotal clinical trial with a kidney cancer drug. But today some new questions have emerged about how much benefit its drug is offering to patients, which sent the company’s stock down more than 25 percent. Aveo (NASDAQ: … Continue reading “Aveo Shares Fall as FDA Questions Cancer Drug Survival Trend”

Overseas Pirates a Big Target for Big Fish Games’ Streaming Service

It’s easy to see why Seattle’s Big Fish Games is bullish on the streaming service it unveiled last week. More than a year in development, the new Big Fish Unlimited offering gives players unlimited access to a catalog of casual video games on smartphones, tablets, traditional computers, and even some connected TVs. And at $7.99 … Continue reading “Overseas Pirates a Big Target for Big Fish Games’ Streaming Service”

Genomatica Withdraws IPO, Instead Raises $41.5M in Private Financing

Almost exactly a year ago, San Diego-based Genomatica filed paperwork to raise roughly $100 million through an initial public offering, with a proposed listing on NASDAQ under the symbol GENO. Then the industrial biotech went silent. Today, the company is announcing that it is withdrawing its IPO, and has raised $41.5 million in a Series … Continue reading “Genomatica Withdraws IPO, Instead Raises $41.5M in Private Financing”

EMC, Lenovo Going After Multibillion Dollar, Post-PC China Market

EMC is a bear of a company to get your arms around. So let’s throw in another big global company, plus the world’s most populous country, and see where that gets us. Yes, Hopkinton, MA-based data storage giant EMC (NYSE: [[ticker:EMC]]) announced yesterday a far-ranging partnership with personal-computer maker Lenovo (HKSE: [[ticker:LNVGY]]), which has dual … Continue reading “EMC, Lenovo Going After Multibillion Dollar, Post-PC China Market”

OncoGenex Waits, and Waits, For Data on Prostate Cancer Drug

Pity Scott Cormack. As the CEO of an aspiring prostate cancer drug developer, he’s got to answer to the masters at the FDA and the cancer physicians who want unequivocal, long-term data to prove his company’s product works. His other masters, those on Wall Street, want to know the answer by next Monday. Naturally, Cormack … Continue reading “OncoGenex Waits, and Waits, For Data on Prostate Cancer Drug”

TechStars Grad Lua Technologies Gets $2.5M from IA Ventures, Angels

New York’s Lua Technologies says it closed on a $2.5 million seed round Wednesday, led by Roger Ehrenberg’s IA Ventures. Lua, a graduate of this spring’s NYC TechStars class, developed a communication and collaboration platform geared for teams of workers who are constantly on the go. Angel investors participating in the seed round include Aaron … Continue reading “TechStars Grad Lua Technologies Gets $2.5M from IA Ventures, Angels”

Enlight Bio’s Knode Advances Social Network for Pharma

Enlight Biosciences, a pharma industry-backed entrepreneurial venture, unveiled its newest portfolio company today, Knode. The Cambridge, MA-based startup, which is developing a LinkedIn-like social networking tool for drug companies, has formed strategic partnerships with AstraZeneca and other industry and academic partners, says David Steinberg, founding CEO of both Enlight and Knode. Enlight was co-founded in … Continue reading “Enlight Bio’s Knode Advances Social Network for Pharma”

Regulatory Concerns Over Halozyme’s Flagship Product Trigger Selloff

Shares of Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:HALO]]) plunged by more than 55 percent this evening, after the 14-year-old biopharmaceutical said FDA regulators have raised concerns about the potential effects its adjunctive enzyme technology might have on human fertility and reproduction. In a statement released after regular trading, San Diego-based Halozyme says a complete response letter issued … Continue reading “Regulatory Concerns Over Halozyme’s Flagship Product Trigger Selloff”

SenseAide: Digital Eldercare Coming to a Computer Near You

Sri Rao, founder of the Rochester Hills, MI-based startup SenseAide, knows firsthand how challenging it can be to care for an aging loved one, especially from a remote location. After his mother-in-law had a stroke, Rao saw the delicate balance in play that comes after someone suffers a health setback and needs a bit of … Continue reading “SenseAide: Digital Eldercare Coming to a Computer Near You”

WePay Discovers Its Hidden Talent: Social Risk Evaluation

WePay has come a long way from its humble beginnings at Boston College in 2008, where co-founders Bill Clerico and Rich Aberman created it as a way for groups like fraternities or ski-weekend buddies to collect and spend money. The company moved to the Bay Area in 2009, went through the Y Combinator startup program, … Continue reading “WePay Discovers Its Hidden Talent: Social Risk Evaluation”

Gladstone, Sage Bionetworks Top ‘Best Places to Work’ List

A couple of small West Coast research centers, the J. David Gladstone Research Institutes in San Francisco, and Sage Bionetworks in Seattle, have gotten kudos as the “Best Places to Work” in academia by The Scientist magazine. The 10th annual survey by the magazine found that the Gladstone Institutes, composed of 27 researchers affiliated with … Continue reading “Gladstone, Sage Bionetworks Top ‘Best Places to Work’ List”

Actinium Advances Armed Cancer Drugs, Preps for Wall Street Debut

In the annals of cancer medicine, radiation has a long and distinguished reputation as a potent weapon. But like all cancer treatments, radiation can cause side effects, because it attacks healthy cells, as well as diseased ones. In 2000, New York physician David Sheinberg started a company, Actinium Pharmaceuticals, around an idea for making radiation … Continue reading “Actinium Advances Armed Cancer Drugs, Preps for Wall Street Debut”

Seattle Fundraising Notes: Contour, Adapx, Jawfish, Solavei, Motiga

Updated 11:45 am with more on Motiga Who said summer was a time for taking vacation? Around the Seattle region, it appears, startup companies have been putting the finishing touches on some fundraising. Here are the highlights from a recent flurry of financing paperwork reported to the SEC from companies in the area: —Contour, the … Continue reading “Seattle Fundraising Notes: Contour, Adapx, Jawfish, Solavei, Motiga”

Top 3 Themes at Boston Mobile-Ad Firms: Timing, Targeting, & TV

Mobile advertising is one of those tech areas that the average guy on the street might find boring. But it is quietly crucial to the way most of us interact with digital information and content—now, and (especially) in the future. Think of it this way: If mobile advertising fails to take off as an industry, … Continue reading “Top 3 Themes at Boston Mobile-Ad Firms: Timing, Targeting, & TV”

Brightcove, Avalon, Bit9, & More from the Boston Deals Roundup

This last week’s New England deals spanned venture firms, biotechs, and mobile, social, and security software startups. —Boston-based Brightcove (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BCOV]]), which provides hosting technology for digital content, signed an agreement to acquire San Francisco-based Zencoder, a provider of cloud-based video encoding services, for $30 million. —EyeNetra, an MIT Media Lab developer of technology for … Continue reading “Brightcove, Avalon, Bit9, & More from the Boston Deals Roundup”

Coffee Meets Bagel Takes Flash Sales Approach to Online Dating in NY & Boston

New York startup Coffee Meets Bagel is built around some of the biggest themes in online shopping innovation over the last few years: content curation, limited-time events, social recommendations, and daily e-mail communications. But users of its site aren’t browsing the latest deal on a designer bag, vintage home goods, or a haircut. They’re opening … Continue reading “Coffee Meets Bagel Takes Flash Sales Approach to Online Dating in NY & Boston”

Avalon Ventures, Coming Off Zynga Investment, Raising 10th Fund

Venture investing in the life sciences has been declining over the past year or so, along with a contraction in the number of VC firms that are actively investing. Yet San Diego’s Avalon Ventures, which also has a strong presence in Boston, seems to be running contrary to the industry’s overall trend. The venture firm—which … Continue reading “Avalon Ventures, Coming Off Zynga Investment, Raising 10th Fund”

Decide Gets Opinionated: Smart-Shopping Site Pulls in Reviews

Decide, a Seattle startup that pores over tons of data to make money-saving shopping recommendations, is getting a little more picky. Starting today, Decide will expand its data-based recommendations to include ratings on the quality of the products it analyzes. Decide arrives at it quality score—on a 100-point scale, ranging from “Don’t Buy It” to … Continue reading “Decide Gets Opinionated: Smart-Shopping Site Pulls in Reviews”

In Kuato’s Game World, Knowledge is Power, and the AIs are Friendly

Your spaceship has crash-landed on an alien world. You are apparently the last survivor. The ship’s electrical and life-support systems are failing, the atmosphere outside is poisonous, and hostile life forms are intruding. To stay alive, you’re going to have to fix some things, and that’s going to require some computer skills. Fortunately, “Alice” is … Continue reading “In Kuato’s Game World, Knowledge is Power, and the AIs are Friendly”

Fall Xconomy Xchange to Focus on Reinventing Biotech for the Big Apple

New York City has everything to offer to anyone interested in working in biotech, from top-notch science programs at colleges like Columbia and NYU, to access to top venture capitalists. So why do so many biotech entrepreneurs leave New York? Many fear there’s not enough affordable wet-lab space, or they can’t attract enough scientific talent … Continue reading “Fall Xconomy Xchange to Focus on Reinventing Biotech for the Big Apple”

Mersana Brings in $27M and New Investors NEA and Pfizer

Cambridge, MA-based Mersana Therapeutics announced today it has raised $27 million in a Series A-1 financing. The company brought in new investors Pfizer Venture Investments and New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Existing investors Fidelity Biosciences, ProQuest Investments, Rho Ventures, and Harris and Harris Group also participated. Mersana had raised a total of more than $50 million in … Continue reading “Mersana Brings in $27M and New Investors NEA and Pfizer”

Universal Display Mines for Opportunities in Fujifilm OLED Patents

In a move to beef up its opportunities, Universal Display Corp. (NASDAQ: [[ticker:PANL]]) in Ewing, NJ plunked down $105 million last week to grab more than 1,200 patents and patent applications for organic LED technology from Fujifilm. Organic LED—OLED for short—is a technology used to create new types of light sources as well as ultrathin … Continue reading “Universal Display Mines for Opportunities in Fujifilm OLED Patents”

CMC Biologics Snaps Up Biotech Manufacturing Plant From Xoma

Xoma has burned through a lot of shareholder cash over 30 years in business—$916 million at last count. Now that the venerable Berkeley, CA-based biotech (NASDAQ: [[ticker:XOMA]]) has come under pressure to shed employees and assets, it’s created new opportunity for a contract manufacturer to swoop in. CMC Biologics, the contract biotech drugmaker in Copenhagen, … Continue reading “CMC Biologics Snaps Up Biotech Manufacturing Plant From Xoma”

TSI Preps for Trials of New Clot-Busting Drug

Ever since Genentech’s clot dissolver known as tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, hit the market 15 years ago, the pharmaceutical industry has been laboring to come up with something to solve the drug’s main drawback: It has to be given within three hours of a stroke. The folks at Cambridge, MA-based Thrombolytic Science International (TSI) … Continue reading “TSI Preps for Trials of New Clot-Busting Drug”

The Case for Including Investors on Conference Calls

We are in the middle of a busy earnings season on Wall Street, which for an independent investor like me means listening to a lot of company conference calls. While that admittedly is not always the most exciting way to spend your days and evenings, I would like to relate a story about a novel … Continue reading “The Case for Including Investors on Conference Calls”

Lexalytics Looking Strong as Text Analytics Heats Up for Big Companies, Mobile

I wish I could say Lexalytics has analyzed the entirety of the world’s social-media and Web conversations, and deemed it all worthless. Alas. “That’s not our role,” says Jeff Catlin, the company’s CEO. Nevertheless it’s a good time to check in with Lexalytics, the Boston- and Amherst, MA-based text analysis company whose technology seeks to … Continue reading “Lexalytics Looking Strong as Text Analytics Heats Up for Big Companies, Mobile”

Seven Socially Minded Startups to Take Flight at Fledge

Fledge, a new Seattle-based incubator for companies that hope to improve society, is announcing its first class of seven startups. The proto-companies will be running through the Fledge program for eight and a half weeks at the SURF Incubator co-working offices in downtown Seattle, and plan to have their demo day in late September at … Continue reading “Seven Socially Minded Startups to Take Flight at Fledge”

Dendreon Cutting 600 Jobs, Closing NJ Plant As Sales Fall Short

[Updated 3:45 pm PT] Dendreon’s new management team is making some drastic cuts in a bid to keep its cancer immunotherapy business going, after the company stumbled in its early marketing days and now faces an increasingly serious competitive onslaught. The Seattle-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]) said today it is cutting 600 jobs full-time and contractor jobs … Continue reading “Dendreon Cutting 600 Jobs, Closing NJ Plant As Sales Fall Short”

Tapjoy + Viximo = New Boston Social Mobile Studio

In an interesting deal today, San Francisco mobile firm Tapjoy has acquired the core team from Viximo, a social gaming tools startup in Cambridge, MA. Terms weren’t disclosed, and the companies’ announcement makes the deal sound like an expansion for Tapjoy (into the Boston area) rather than an acquisition per se. The companies share a … Continue reading “Tapjoy + Viximo = New Boston Social Mobile Studio”

State Launches Pure Michigan Venture Fund

Last month, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) announced it was accepting applications for the newly created Pure Michigan Venture Fund (PMVF). The fund, which has $5 million to invest and will seek an additional $4 million from the legislature, is targeting first- and second-generation venture capital firms that have raised at least $1 million … Continue reading “State Launches Pure Michigan Venture Fund”

San Diego’s Assay Depot Unveils Online Exchange for AstraZeneca’s R&D

San Diego’s Assay Depot, which unveiled an online marketplace of laboratory services for Pfizer (NYSE: [[ticker:PFE]]) a year ago, says today it has established a similar vendor relationship management system for AstraZeneca (LSE: [[ticker:AZN]]), the British multinational pharmaceutical. The Web-based system, which Assay Depot describes as a “research exchange” and “private virtual laboratory,” enables AstraZeneca scientists … Continue reading “San Diego’s Assay Depot Unveils Online Exchange for AstraZeneca’s R&D”

The 4G Security Threat for Mobile Developers

We are accustomed to thinking that smartphone safety depends on the habits of the user, but that’s likely to change with the transition to Long-Term Evolution (LTE) architecture, popularly known as 4G. Even the most careful user who never loses a phone, installs security software, and never uses suspicious apps might be more vulnerable than … Continue reading “The 4G Security Threat for Mobile Developers”

Inside Zipwhip’s Plan to Free Texting from the Phone

Text messages aren’t usually anyone’s idea of an innovative communication medium. But then again, most people probably haven’t used a text to remotely command a robotic coffee machine. That kind of thing is possible in the office of Seattle startup Zipwhip. Send a message to a special phone number, and the company’s hacked-together “Textspresso” machine … Continue reading “Inside Zipwhip’s Plan to Free Texting from the Phone”

TrueOffice Turns Boring Corporate Training Into a Game

It’s the memo every new employee dreads: “We need you to go to a drab, windowless conference room for a half-day session on compliance. During the meeting, we’ll bore you with details about our company’s policies on IT security, sexual harassment, confidentiality, and the like. If you don’t show up, you’ll be fired. Have a … Continue reading “TrueOffice Turns Boring Corporate Training Into a Game”

Bit9 Adds $34.5M, Led by Sequoia, for Trust-Based Security Software

Waltham, MA-based security software firm Bit9 is announcing today that it has brought in $34.5 million in Series D funding, led by new investor Sequoia Capital. Return backers Atlas Venture, Highland Capital Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and .406 Ventures participated in the deal, which brings Bit9’s total raised to $82.5 million. In April … Continue reading “Bit9 Adds $34.5M, Led by Sequoia, for Trust-Based Security Software”

A Lonely Voice Asking Tough Questions on Cancer Cost-Effectiveness

If a new cancer drug comes out at a price of $100,000 per person, how many patients likely to benefit will actually get it? How many will drain their entire life savings just to make the insurance co-pays? How many people will go bankrupt to stay alive a few more months? How many people will … Continue reading “A Lonely Voice Asking Tough Questions on Cancer Cost-Effectiveness”

Detroit’s UpTo Talks Traction, New Expanded Features

Detroit-based mobile startup UpTo, which aims to fill the “future void” by taking the appointment calendar and making it social, announced this week that users can now share third-party event streams with their Twitter and Facebook networks. To showcase its new functionality, UpTo launched an events stream from British shopping center Westfield, which sits in the … Continue reading “Detroit’s UpTo Talks Traction, New Expanded Features”

Vertex Wins EU Approval for Cystic Fibrosis Drug

[Updated: 2:30 pm ET] Vertex Pharmaceuticals made big news in the U.S. cystic fibrosis community six months ago when it won FDA approval for a groundbreaking drug, and now it’s taking the product to Europe. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VRTX]]), which has significant operations in San Diego, said today it has gotten clearance … Continue reading “Vertex Wins EU Approval for Cystic Fibrosis Drug”

A Mouse and Keyboard Don’t Make a Hardware Company

Microsoft is not, and never will be, a hardware company. Please don’t go off saying “what about Xbox or mice and keyboards?” Microsoft does not really want to build and sell hardware. Surface is akin to Google’s Nexus; a ‘north star’ product intended to lead OEMs in the right direction. “With Surface we wanted to … Continue reading “A Mouse and Keyboard Don’t Make a Hardware Company”

Fred Wilson and Dave McClure Talk Apple, Google Tablet Battles

When Dave McClure, founding partner of startup incubator 500 Startups, visits New York he typically tries to stir up the innovation community. Last night was no different. At the tail end of the one-day Smash Summit, McClure brought Fred Wilson, managing partner of Union Square Ventures on stage to chat about what gets each of … Continue reading “Fred Wilson and Dave McClure Talk Apple, Google Tablet Battles”

Not All E-Mails Are Created Equal; SaneBox Knows the Difference

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a column on ways we can work together to restore e-mail sanity. I argued that e-mail overload has a simple cause that’s often overlooked: we’re all sending each other too many messages. We can try all the time-management tricks and software plugins in the book to deal with … Continue reading “Not All E-Mails Are Created Equal; SaneBox Knows the Difference”

Tech Tidbits: Apptopia, Bluefin Labs, iRobot, PayPal, TripAdvisor, & More

Catching up on a smattering of technology news updates this week… —Cambridge, MA-based Bluefin Labs, which does social media analytics around TV, has appointed JP Maheu as its new CEO. Maheu is the former CEO of Razorfish and global CEO of Publicis Modem (the digital marketing unit of Publicis Worldwide). Deb Roy, Bluefin’s co-founder and … Continue reading “Tech Tidbits: Apptopia, Bluefin Labs, iRobot, PayPal, TripAdvisor, & More”

Impinj Backs Away from IPO, Raises $21.6M from Private Sources

Impinj, a Seattle-based seller of radio-frequency ID devices, is withdrawing its bid for an initial public stock offering and has instead raised $21.6 million from private investors. Impinj first filed its IPO registration papers in April 2011, seeking up to $100 million. But the 12-year-old company hadn’t updated that paperwork since July 2011, and there … Continue reading “Impinj Backs Away from IPO, Raises $21.6M from Private Sources”

Siluria Attracts Paul Allen, Gets $30M to Turn Natural Gas Into Chemicals, Fuels

[Updated: 2:50 pm PT] San Francisco-based Siluria Technologies, the company with a big idea for converting natural gas into fuels and specialty chemicals, has now attracted some more big money and big name investors. Siluria said today it has pulled in a $30 million Series C venture round led by new investors Bright Capital and … Continue reading “Siluria Attracts Paul Allen, Gets $30M to Turn Natural Gas Into Chemicals, Fuels”

VoltServer Adds $250K to Build “Internet Protocol of the Electricity World”

Earlier this week, Rhode Island-based Slater Technology Fund announced that it had backed VoltServer, a new startup out of the Ocean State, to the tune of $250,000. Charlestown, RI-based VoltServer is developing technology around packet energy transfer, a method that breaks up electricity into smaller chunks to transmit high volumes of power more safely than … Continue reading “VoltServer Adds $250K to Build “Internet Protocol of the Electricity World””