The Health Datapalooza, which began in 2010 as the Community Health Data Initiative, convenes today and continues through tomorrow in Washington, DC. An estimated 1,200 people are expected to attend the conference, which opened this morning at the Washington Convention Center with a keynote address by Todd Park, the Athenahealth co-founder who three months ago … Continue reading “Enroute to Health Datapalooza, Esri’s Davenhall Sees Opportunity in Apps”
Category: National
Complete Genomics Cuts Staff, Hires Banker for ‘Strategic Alternatives’
Complete Genomics has seen its cash reserves dwindle and its stock tumble, and now it is sending a big group of its workers to the exits. The Mountain View, CA-based company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GNOM]]), which provides whole human genome sequences as a service for researchers and clinicians, said today it is cutting 55 workers. It has … Continue reading “Complete Genomics Cuts Staff, Hires Banker for ‘Strategic Alternatives’”
NYC’s Radiator Labs Nabs MIT Clean Tech Prize, Vies for New US Crown
Marshall Cox moved into graduate housing at Columbia University a couple years back and immediately ran into a problem that plagues many New York City residents. His apartment was too hot. Cox couldn’t adjust his radiator because all of the heat for the building came from a single steam generator. So the only way he … Continue reading “NYC’s Radiator Labs Nabs MIT Clean Tech Prize, Vies for New US Crown”
Smarterer Scores Series A, Looks to Replace Resumés with Skill Matching
That Boston tech startup with too many vowels is at it again. Smarterer, a creator of crowdsourced skills tests online, is announcing today a $1.75 million Series A round from previous investors True Ventures and Google Ventures. The deal, which also includes about a dozen angel investors (some of them are new to the company), … Continue reading “Smarterer Scores Series A, Looks to Replace Resumés with Skill Matching”
Cartera Commerce Pockets $12.2M for Card-Linked Deals Tech
Less than a year ago Cartera Commerce CEO Tom Beecher said local merchants were the fastest growing piece of his company, which helps businesses and financial institutions offer card-linked deals to consumers. And now, he says, they’re “a key reason” the company has closed a new $12.2 million round of financing to put toward new … Continue reading “Cartera Commerce Pockets $12.2M for Card-Linked Deals Tech”
New UW Spinout Zplasma Aims to Keep Moore’s Law Humming
For years, the people who make semiconductors have been trying to unlock their industry’s next big technological leap. A fledgling company in Seattle thinks it may have an answer—and right now, it’s crammed into the basement of a University of Washington research lab. The startup, called Zplasma, has a patented method for producing the high-powered … Continue reading “New UW Spinout Zplasma Aims to Keep Moore’s Law Humming”
ASCO Wrap-Up: A Summary of This Week’s Cancer R&D Headlines
There’s so much going on in the world of cancer drug R&D that it’s hard to keep up with all the news about drugs that are changing the standards of care. And quite a few of those standards are changing, based on a quick rundown of what was new at this year’s American Society of … Continue reading “ASCO Wrap-Up: A Summary of This Week’s Cancer R&D Headlines”
Brightcove, Surviving the Recession, Seeks New Fortune in Cloud Content
Whatever happened to Brightcove? You know, the Jeremy Allaire company known for developing a Web video-hosting platform and raising lots of money in the mid-to-late 2000s? Well, for starters, it went public in February with a $55 million IPO. That didn’t begin to match the $103 million it had raised from prominent venture investors, including … Continue reading “Brightcove, Surviving the Recession, Seeks New Fortune in Cloud Content”
Awarepoint Adds $14M to Fund its Continuing Expansion
San Diego-based Awarepoint, which raised $27 million in a Series F financing round last August, says today it’s raised $14 million in additional financing, with the Heritage Healthcare Innovation Fund putting up $7.5 million of the total. A spokeswoman for Awarepoint says the new funding is not part of last year’s Series F funding, so … Continue reading “Awarepoint Adds $14M to Fund its Continuing Expansion”
Entrepreneurship for the 99 Percent
As the morning fog burns off the California coast, I am working with Steve Blank, preparing for the Lean LaunchPad Faculty Development Program we are running this August at U.C. Berkeley. This is a three-day program for entrepreneurship faculty from around the world to learn how to teach entrepreneurship via the Lean LaunchPad approach (business … Continue reading “Entrepreneurship for the 99 Percent”
Student-Led Wolverine Venture Fund Invests in Sonitus Medical
The Wolverine Venture Fund, a $5.5 million fund led by students at the University of Michigan, announced last week that it joined Arboretum Ventures in a $25 million Series A investment in Sonitus Medical, a California-based medical device company. This is the second time the Wolverine Venture Fund has invested in Sonitus Medical. This time around, the … Continue reading “Student-Led Wolverine Venture Fund Invests in Sonitus Medical”
Leftronic Turns Any Startup Office into a Command Center
Walk into a network operations center for an electrical utility or an ISP, or the command center for a space or military agency, and what do you see? Displays. Lots and lots of displays, showing all sorts of data visualizations. The people who design command centers obviously think this data is mission-critical, or they wouldn’t … Continue reading “Leftronic Turns Any Startup Office into a Command Center”
Barclaycard Acquires Social Couponing Startup Analog Analytics
Analog Analytics, the Solana Beach, CA-based entry in the online social coupon business, got its own deal of the day. Founder Ken Kalb says in a recent email to local business leaders that Barclaycard, a member of the Barclays global financial services giant, has acquired the four-year-old company. As I reported a year ago, Analog … Continue reading “Barclaycard Acquires Social Couponing Startup Analog Analytics”
Salesforce.com Buys Buddy Media for $690M, Plans to Augment Radian6
In an effort to beef up its cloud-based social marketing services, San Francisco’s Salesforce.com (NYSE: [[ticker:CRM]]) announced today it acquired New York’s Buddy Media for nearly $690 million in cash, stock, and options. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said during a conference call the deal is the largest acquisition to date for his company and is expected to … Continue reading “Salesforce.com Buys Buddy Media for $690M, Plans to Augment Radian6”
Gemvara Gets $25M More, Goes Big in Online Jewelry
Gemvara continues to raise more venture capital in its quest to become the world’s preeminent jeweler. The Boston-based Web company said today it has raised a $25 million Series D round led by Norwest Venture Partners. Previous investors Highland Capital Partners, Canaan Partners, and Balderton Capital also participated in the round, which brings Gemvara’s total … Continue reading “Gemvara Gets $25M More, Goes Big in Online Jewelry”
TiE Angels Boston, Now in Second Year, Looks to Make More Deals
“Some angel groups tend to have more executives who are high net worth. We tend to have a more entrepreneurial bent,” says Abhishek Jain, chairman of TiE Angels Boston. That sure is an understatement. The “entrepreneurial bent” he refers to includes a couple of inventors extraordinaire who invest as part of the angel group. Like … Continue reading “TiE Angels Boston, Now in Second Year, Looks to Make More Deals”
Building Bridges in a New Global Health Landscape
[Editor’s note: This article is adapted from a speech given at PATH’s annual Breakfast for Global Health on May 22, 2012.] Today I begin a new chapter in my life as president and CEO of the global health organization PATH. Why has this business and social entrepreneur, IP attorney, and human rights activist made this … Continue reading “Building Bridges in a New Global Health Landscape”
Why Would a Biotech Company Go the Trouble of Changing Its Name?
[Updated 1:26 pm PT with survey results] If you’re trying to figure out what the heck a certain biotech company does, the last place to look is usually the company name. Names often don’t mean much, or at least it isn’t obvious. But sometimes you actually can learn a lot about what makes a company … Continue reading “Why Would a Biotech Company Go the Trouble of Changing Its Name?”
J&J Prostate Cancer Trial Shouldn’t Have Been Stopped Early
One of the more anticipated clinical trials at this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting was for Johnson & Johnson’s abiraterone (Zytiga) in prostate cancer patients. This study, known as COU-AA-302, was stopped early because independent monitors said the drug was clearly effective. But that decision to stop the trial early is questionable, … Continue reading “J&J Prostate Cancer Trial Shouldn’t Have Been Stopped Early”
Genentech, ImmunoGen ‘Smart Bomb’ for Breast Cancer Blazes New Trail
Genentech has spent more than a decade developing a souped-up version of its multi-billion dollar breast cancer drug, and today it is delivering hard evidence on cancer R&D’s biggest stage that it works. The South San Francisco-based biotech company, a unit of Roche, has shown that its experimental drug trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) hit its main … Continue reading “Genentech, ImmunoGen ‘Smart Bomb’ for Breast Cancer Blazes New Trail”
Ford Increases Focus on Outside Innovation With Two New Programs
Bill Coughlin, the CEO of Ford Global Technologies (which manages the intellectual property portfolio belonging to the Ford Motor Company), recently paid a visit to a group of students at Lawrence Technological University in metro Detroit. While there, a student showed Coughlin his design for a self-cleaning wheel. Coughlin says the concept was not only … Continue reading “Ford Increases Focus on Outside Innovation With Two New Programs”
Marina Biotech Runs Out of Cash, Axes 90% of Staff
Bothell, WA-based Marina Biotech ran dangerously low on cash several times over the past few years, but now it appears to have finally run out of gas. The company (OTCQX: [[ticker:MRNA]]), a developer of RNA interference-based medicines, said today it has laid off 90 percent of its remaining workers to preserve the cash it still … Continue reading “Marina Biotech Runs Out of Cash, Axes 90% of Staff”
New San Diego VC Firm Emerges as ‘The Moneyball of Venture Capital’
[Corrected 6/5/12, 10:05 pm. See below.] Here’s some big news for San Diego’s innovation economy: There’s a new venture capital firm in town—and its investment methodology represents a fundamentally different approach to the conventional business model for venture investing. The firm, Correlation Ventures, is using predictive analytics technology to tilt the odds in its favor. … Continue reading “New San Diego VC Firm Emerges as ‘The Moneyball of Venture Capital’”
The Pace of Re-Imagination: We All Live in Dog Years Now
My dog Rhody, an Australian Shepherd, turned 15 a few weeks ago. He’s a living refutation of the old myth that dogs age as much in one year as humans do in seven. By that formula he’d be acting like a doddering 105-year-old, but if you met him you’d agree that he doesn’t seem a … Continue reading “The Pace of Re-Imagination: We All Live in Dog Years Now”
IDRI Makes Move From Old First Hill Digs to Shiny New SLU
The Infectious Disease Research Institute is probably the least-visible global health organization in Seattle, but now it’s moving its growing staff to a place where all the cool kids in global health can’t miss it—South Lake Union. IDRI, the nonprofit global health R&D center, said this week it is moving from its long-term home on … Continue reading “IDRI Makes Move From Old First Hill Digs to Shiny New SLU”
Accelerator Looks to Expand, With an Eye on the Big Apple
Accelerator, the venture-backed biotech startup machine, has made its name over the past decade as a hotspot for financing life sciences companies in Seattle with big dreams and potential. Now it’s considering expanding its model for starting biotech companies in other life science clusters around the world, including New York. Plans are still in the … Continue reading “Accelerator Looks to Expand, With an Eye on the Big Apple”
Vertex, N-of-One, Flexion & More Boston Life Sciences News
New England biotechs have been reporting funding, partnership, and clinical trial news this week. —Visterra pulled in $12.9 million of a targeted $19.6 million equity- and options-based funding round, an SEC filing shows. The Cambridge, MA-based startup is developing treatments for infectious diseases. —Xconomy East Coast biotechnology editor Arlene Weintraub took a look at Genentech … Continue reading “Vertex, N-of-One, Flexion & More Boston Life Sciences News”
Safety Light Startup Illumagear Wins Seattle Angel Conference
Illumagear, a Seattle startup that has developed a hardhat-mounted “halo” light to improve safety on construction sites, won a $100,000 investment at the inaugural Seattle Angel Conference. And not a moment too soon—founder Max Baker says the infusion will help him get to work on a new prototype of his product, tackle intellectual property protection, … Continue reading “Safety Light Startup Illumagear Wins Seattle Angel Conference”
Merchant Exchange Tries Exclusivity as Hook in Daily Deals
While the luster fades on some daily deals and rewards programs, a New York-based startup is trying to set itself apart from rivals in this market by essentially being less social. Merchant Exchange is a website that connects consumers to deals. But what makes it different is the merchants do not broadcast the same deals … Continue reading “Merchant Exchange Tries Exclusivity as Hook in Daily Deals”
Optimizely’s Assault on the One-Size-Fits-All Web
Dan Siroker has a habit of looking at the future and imagining something very different from the present. Back in 2007, when George W. Bush was still president, he left his plum product-manager job at Google to work for a junior Illinois senator named Barack Obama, as director of analytics for the candidate’s presidential campaign. … Continue reading “Optimizely’s Assault on the One-Size-Fits-All Web”
Bill Warner, Dharmesh Shah Join XSITE 2012 Lineup: Here’s the Agenda
You’ve been waiting for it. We’ve been waiting for it. Here it is: the full agenda for XSITE 2012 on June 14 at Babson College. We’re exactly two weeks out from Xconomy’s biggest innovation conference of the year. We’re really excited to announce that Bill Warner, the angel investor, entrepreneur evangelist, and founder of Avid … Continue reading “Bill Warner, Dharmesh Shah Join XSITE 2012 Lineup: Here’s the Agenda”
Sonian Nabs $13.6M, Led By OpenView
OpenView Venture Partners has led a $13.6 million Series C round for Newton, MA-based Sonian, marking the Boston-based venture firm’s first investment in a company native to Boston. Return Sonian investors Prism VentureWorks and Summerhill Venture Partners also participated in the deal for the developer of archiving software for the cloud. In January 2011, Sonian … Continue reading “Sonian Nabs $13.6M, Led By OpenView”
Merck Oncology Chief Heads to ASCO With High Hopes for New Drugs
At the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), starting tomorrow in Chicago, drug giant Merck will be presenting no less than 100 abstracts detailing its efforts to develop new cancer drugs. The company’s oncology franchise head, Gary Gilliland—who left a 20-year faculty position at Harvard to join New Brunswick, NJ-based Merck … Continue reading “Merck Oncology Chief Heads to ASCO With High Hopes for New Drugs”
N-of-One Names CEO, Forms Pact With Foundation Medicine
Waltham, MA-based N-of-One announced today several milestones in its quest to provide tools that can help oncologists design personalized treatment regimens for their patients. The company, founded in 2008 by Harvard-trained physician Jennifer Levin Carter, formed a partnership with Boston-based Foundation Medicine to transform genomic data from individual cancer patients into treatment strategies. N-of-One has … Continue reading “N-of-One Names CEO, Forms Pact With Foundation Medicine”
SD Biotech Roundup: Wireless Sensor Prize, Zogenix, Sangart, & More
The X Prize Foundation’s Peter Diamandis came to San Diego to announce the formation of a new incentive prize competition, while a variety of companies disclosed new funding deals. It’s all part of our roundup of local life sciences news. —San Diego-based Sangart, which has been developing an oxygen-carrying compound for treating the effects of … Continue reading “SD Biotech Roundup: Wireless Sensor Prize, Zogenix, Sangart, & More”
Medivation Emerges With New Prostate Cancer Drug
San Francisco-based Medivation doesn’t quite have the brand name recognition of its rivals in the world of prostate cancer drug development, but that could be starting to change, as soon as this weekend. Medivation (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MDVN]]) has been on a big-time roll since November, when it released results from a study of 1,200 patients, called … Continue reading “Medivation Emerges With New Prostate Cancer Drug”
Design In Detroit Connects Creative Entrepreneurs
Earlier this month, the Detroit Creative Corridor (DC3), a business accelerator for entrepreneurs in creative fields, announced it will launch “Design in Detroit,” a new online platform to try to connect artistically minded businesses with individuals and institutions in the region. This three-year, Knight Foundation-funded effort to create a digital network for Detroit’s creative community also … Continue reading “Design In Detroit Connects Creative Entrepreneurs”
Buddy Platform Open for Business, Raises $1M for App Backend Service
Buddy Platform, a Kirkland, WA-based startup that sells back-end services for mobile apps, is now open for business and says it has raised $1 million from investors. The company was founded by two former Microsofties, David McLauchlan and Jeff MacDuff. Their investors include Transmedia Capital and Crestlight Venture Productions, along with angel investors. The startup … Continue reading “Buddy Platform Open for Business, Raises $1M for App Backend Service”
Huddle, With a Fresh $24M, Puts a Predictive Spin on File Sharing
Was Steve Jobs correct that file sharing and synchronization is “a feature, not a product”? That’s what the Apple co-founder told Drew Houston in a now-famous 2009 meeting where he proposed buying Houston’s startup, Dropbox, for nine figures. Houston turned down the offer, Apple went on to introduce iCloud, and Dropbox went on to raise … Continue reading “Huddle, With a Fresh $24M, Puts a Predictive Spin on File Sharing”
Kona Medical Gets $30M To Zap High Blood Pressure With Ultrasound
Ultrasound waves can be engineered to do all kinds of nifty things, from creating high-resolution images of developing fetuses to non-invasive ways of busting up kidney stones. Now a Seattle-area startup called Kona Medical has raised a load of venture capital to pursue a big dream—ultrasound that could treat millions of people with high blood … Continue reading “Kona Medical Gets $30M To Zap High Blood Pressure With Ultrasound”
Google+ Local Replaces Google Places, Adds Zagat Rankings
Today Google launched its new Google+ Local service replacing the version of Google Places used by consumers with features that include the rating system developed by its New York-based Zagat subsidiary. The service curates recommendations on places to visit from users’ Google+ friends, as well as reviews drawn from others. Avni Shah, Google’s director of … Continue reading “Google+ Local Replaces Google Places, Adds Zagat Rankings”
Roambi Expands Core Business to Specialized Publishers of Biz Intel
When Mellmo’s founders were just sitting down to design their compelling mobile technology for visualizing business intelligence (BI) data, they realized how it might be used in other ways. “We could see there may some interesting use cases for the product outside the usual BI application,” says Mellmo co-founder and president Quinton Alsbury. Today, just … Continue reading “Roambi Expands Core Business to Specialized Publishers of Biz Intel”
Recorded Future, GreenBytes, Seahorse, & More Boston-Area Dealmakers
We saw plenty of deals coming out of local cleantech, IT, life sciences, and electronics startups. —Last week Cambridge, MA-based Recorded Future raised a $12 million venture financing round from Balderton Capital, Google Ventures, Atlas Venture, and In-Q-Tel. The startup’s software scours information on the Web to answer questions on subjects from civil unrest to the … Continue reading “Recorded Future, GreenBytes, Seahorse, & More Boston-Area Dealmakers”
Flexion Overhaul Bears Fruit With Upbeat Data From Arthritis Trial
[Updated 5/30/12 8:30 am. See below.] Today Woburn, MA-based Flexion Therapeutics announced that its treatment for osteoarthritis met its goal of significantly relieving joint pain in a mid-stage trial. Even though it’s a bit early to declare the drug a success, the results come as welcome news to the executives of Flexion, who have spent … Continue reading “Flexion Overhaul Bears Fruit With Upbeat Data From Arthritis Trial”
Q&A: Deloitte Finds More Ways to Connect with Digital Startups
As the crop of startups continues to grow, particularly in digital media, consulting and financial advisory firm Deloitte is working do more than just introduce innovators to potential investors. So Deloitte has been co-sponsoring the Digital Media Center (DMC) group to bring together New York startups from the digital media arena and venture capitalists. And … Continue reading “Q&A: Deloitte Finds More Ways to Connect with Digital Startups”
Basic Biology: The Complex Core of Drug Discovery
The hardest task in major league sports is hitting a baseball. Those who can successfully do this even three out of every ten times over the course of a career are likely to find themselves enshrined in Cooperstown at the Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, scientists who strive to discover new medicines can only fantasize about … Continue reading “Basic Biology: The Complex Core of Drug Discovery”
Khosla Ventures Bets on Liquid Metal Battery’s Energy Storage Tech
“Cost-effective, reliable, grid-scale storage is one of the holy grails in cleantech,” says Khosla Ventures partner Andrew Chung. But now, Chung thinks there may be an answer—and the path runs through Cambridge, MA, startup Liquid Metal Battery. That’s why Chung and Menlo Park, CA-based Khosla Ventures led the $15 million Series B investment in Liquid … Continue reading “Khosla Ventures Bets on Liquid Metal Battery’s Energy Storage Tech”
San Diego’s Carbon Capture Pulls Out as Synthetic Genomics Moves In
Synthetic Genomics, the San Diego startup developing microorganisms to synthesize biofuels and other products, said it has acquired an 81-acre site in Calipatria, CA, to expand beyond its laboratory tests of algae. Synthetic Genomics’s expansion appears to be counter-balanced, though, by a business consolidation at Carbon Capture, another San Diego algal biofuels developer. The price … Continue reading “San Diego’s Carbon Capture Pulls Out as Synthetic Genomics Moves In”
Quincy Apparel, Driven to Make Women’s Clothes Fit, Nabs $950K
Quincy Apparel, a New York-based women’s e-commerce site with a mission of improving fit, has raised $950,000 in a convertible debt-based seed round, the founders say. The round was led by Great Oaks Venture Capital, and included Launch Capital and a diverse group of angel investors such as Bobbi Brown Cosmetics co-founder Ken Landis, David … Continue reading “Quincy Apparel, Driven to Make Women’s Clothes Fit, Nabs $950K”
Massachusetts’ New Big-Data Initiative to Include MIT, Intel, and HackReduce
Who will own the emerging tech-business field of “big data”? Answer: probably no one entity or geographical region. But the state of Massachusetts is putting its best foot forward this week, with an assist from Intel, MIT, and some local big-data leaders. Wednesday afternoon, at 2 pm, Governor Deval Patrick will announce a new big-data … Continue reading “Massachusetts’ New Big-Data Initiative to Include MIT, Intel, and HackReduce”