Category: National

Mascoma Seeks IPO, Tokai Takes in $23M, Boston-Power Gets $125 for Shift to China, & More Boston-Area Deals News

This week’s deals news in New England was dominated by cleantech and life sciences firms. —Quincy, MA-based Bluefin Robotics, a maker of  autonomous underwater vehicles, acquired the assets of Hawkes Remotes for an undisclosed sum. Hawkes Remotes is a spinoff of Hawkes Ocean Technologies, a Bay Area developer of deep-ocean explorer vehicles. —Providence, MA-based NABsys, … Continue reading “Mascoma Seeks IPO, Tokai Takes in $23M, Boston-Power Gets $125 for Shift to China, & More Boston-Area Deals News”

Orexigen Revives Obesity Drug After One More Go-Round With FDA

Orexigen Therapeutics was left for dead earlier this year when its obesity drug was shot down by the FDA. But today it had a message for investors that could be interpreted as “hold on, we might not be dead yet after all.” The San Diego-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OREX]]) said today that has decided to re-start … Continue reading “Orexigen Revives Obesity Drug After One More Go-Round With FDA”

New Citrix Startup Accelerator Makes Seed Investment in San Diego’s Nukona

Nukona, a Solana Beach, CA-based software developer that enables IT administrators to manage consumer-oriented mobile apps, says today it has closed on a funding round led by Citrix Systems’ Startup Accelerator program in Santa Clara, CA. The corporate incubator program was launched earlier this year by Fort Lauderdale, FL-based Citrix Systems. The accelerator program, which … Continue reading “New Citrix Startup Accelerator Makes Seed Investment in San Diego’s Nukona”

Calypso Medical Technologies Acquired for $10M by Varian Medical Systems

Calypso Medical Technologies, a Seattle company whose “GPS for the body” technology helps target radiation at cancerous tumors, has been acquired for $10 million upfront by Varian Medical Systems of Palo Alto, CA. While there are unspecified earn-outs for hitting sales milestones, the price probably isn’t something that will make investors smile. Calypso raised $50 … Continue reading “Calypso Medical Technologies Acquired for $10M by Varian Medical Systems”

PacBio Slashes 28 Percent of Its Workforce to Conserve Cash

[Updated 2:20 pm PT] Pacific Biosciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:PACB]]), the Menlo Park, CA-based maker of a super-fast, super-cheap DNA sequencing instrument for medical, agricultural, and biofuels researchers, disclosed today that it’s laying off 130 employees, or 28 percent of its total workforce. The announcement came today in an 8-K report to the Securities and Exchange Commission. … Continue reading “PacBio Slashes 28 Percent of Its Workforce to Conserve Cash”

Fotopedia Photo Stories Arrive on Flipboard, As Photo Curation Goes Mainstream

The mobile Web is fostering a remarkable renaissance in traditional art forms such as photography—surprisingly, right alongside the explosion of videos, games, gossip, tweets, and other distractions. And if there’s one organization that has figured out how to use the Web and the latest mobile gadgets to showcase great images, it’s Paris- and San Francisco-based … Continue reading “Fotopedia Photo Stories Arrive on Flipboard, As Photo Curation Goes Mainstream”

It’s True: We’re Happy in Detroit

A few years ago, it dawned on me that I was driving to Detroit—80 miles each way–nearly every weekend. Why? Because there was nothing to freaking do in the city I lived in and Detroit seemed to have it all: concerts of every size and genre, live professional sporting events, awesome bars and restaurants. I … Continue reading “It’s True: We’re Happy in Detroit”

CustomMade, Hopper, OfficeDrop, Yottaa Join Xconomy’s Venture Chat on Sep. 26

We’re gearing up for a very interesting panel discussion next Monday, September 26, in downtown Boston. And the program just got even more interesting. Xconomy is organizing a venture chat around the theme of “Consumers, the Cloud, and Beyond—New Rules for Innovation,” which will tackle hard questions about what entrepreneurs and investors need to think … Continue reading “CustomMade, Hopper, OfficeDrop, Yottaa Join Xconomy’s Venture Chat on Sep. 26”

Jason Mendelson, the Elvis of Innovation, Offers Some Lessons for San Diego’s Tech Sector

I like you. Just maybe you’ve got a clue Meet my partners on a Monday, We’ll see if they can dig you too ‘Cuz I’m a VC, I’m a VC I drive around a Prius and meet over sushi I’m a VC. Uh-huh. Who are you? It takes more than PowerPoint slides to impress me … Continue reading “Jason Mendelson, the Elvis of Innovation, Offers Some Lessons for San Diego’s Tech Sector”

YoYo.com, Brainchild of Amazon-Owned Quidsi, Debuts Its Version of Toyland

A new online retailer of toys, YoYo.com, goes live today, out to grab its share of the coming holiday gift buying season. YoYo is the latest addition to Jersey City-based Quidsi’s gallery of online specialty shops, which also includes Wag.com, Diapers.com, Soap.com, and BeautyBar.com. Quidsi is part of the Seattle giant Amazon.com. “There was a huge opportunity … Continue reading “YoYo.com, Brainchild of Amazon-Owned Quidsi, Debuts Its Version of Toyland”

FDA at the Center of Huge Gray Area in Establishing Regs for Wireless Health, Execs Say

When Rob McCray founded San Diego’s Wireless Life Sciences Alliance (WLSA) in 2005, the group’s corporate membership constituted just three companies: Qualcomm; Johnson & Johnson; and TripleTree, a boutique banking and research firm where McCray was a partner. Since then, the convergence of healthcare and wireless technologies has become more obvious, and the WLSA has … Continue reading “FDA at the Center of Huge Gray Area in Establishing Regs for Wireless Health, Execs Say”

Tokai Snaps Up $23M From Novartis and Apple Tree to Challenge Leaders in Prostate Cancer

[Correction: 2 pm ET 10/6/11] The big bet at Cambridge, MA-based Tokai Pharmaceuticals is on prostate cancer, and now the size of that bet is getting a lot bigger. Tokai is announcing today it has raised $23 million in a Series D3 financing, which included its existing investors Novartis Venture Fund, Apple Tree Partners, and … Continue reading “Tokai Snaps Up $23M From Novartis and Apple Tree to Challenge Leaders in Prostate Cancer”

UW’s Shwetak Patel Named “Genius Grant” Recipient for Work on Sensor Networks

University of Washington professor Shwetak Patel, best known for his work on developing sensor networks that can be used to monitor power use in buildings, has been named a MacArthur Fellow—the award commonly known as the “genius grant,” which comes with a $500,000 cash prize that recipients can use however they want. Patel, 29, is … Continue reading “UW’s Shwetak Patel Named “Genius Grant” Recipient for Work on Sensor Networks”

Plunging Valuations and Surplus of Groupon Clones Sets Off Frenzy of M&A Activity

Buyouts and mergers of Web companies that offer online “daily deals” have accelerated sharply over the past five months, driven by a rapid decline in valuations and a surplus of Groupon clones, according to a report issued today by CB Insights, a New York data services firm. CB Insights counted 22 global mergers and acquisitions … Continue reading “Plunging Valuations and Surplus of Groupon Clones Sets Off Frenzy of M&A Activity”

Boston-Power Pulls In $125M, Shifting Focus and Most Operations to China to Get Its Battery Tech into Electric Vehicles

Just after I wrote that no Massachusetts-based cleantech companies inked funding last month, Westborough-based Boston-Power bucks that trend for September. The developer of advanced lithium-ion battery technology is announcing today that it has raised $125 million. The deal, which brings Boston-Power’s total funding pot to more than $316 million, has some serious implications for the … Continue reading “Boston-Power Pulls In $125M, Shifting Focus and Most Operations to China to Get Its Battery Tech into Electric Vehicles”

Will Detroit’s Hantz Farms be the World’s First Urban Farm?

In a few weeks, Detroit-based  Hantz Farms will present the Detroit City Council with its plan to build the largest urban farm the nation has ever seen. The plan has been years and millions of dollars in the making, and there’s no doubt that it has the potential to reinvent the city’s economy, creating jobs … Continue reading “Will Detroit’s Hantz Farms be the World’s First Urban Farm?”

Five Take-Home Messages from the FutureM Conference

Between the FutureM conference, Web Innovators Group, Mobile Monday, the Entrepreneur Walk of Fame, and the MIT tech festival t=0, there wasn’t a lot of time for Boston techies to breathe last week. To keep you up to date, here are some high-level takeaways from FutureM, the sprawling MITX event that was really 50-plus separate … Continue reading “Five Take-Home Messages from the FutureM Conference”

Wizard World Jumps Off Printed Page and Into Digital Age

There has never been a better time to be a self-professed geek. Gareb Shamus, CEO and founder of New York’s Wizard World, is out to feed fans of comic books and superhero movies more of the news and content they crave. What began some 20 years ago with Wizard magazine, a publication devoted to the … Continue reading “Wizard World Jumps Off Printed Page and Into Digital Age”

Monday Deals Roundup: One Kings Lane, eASIC, DailyDeal.de

It’s been a relatively slow news day so far, at least as far as funding and M&A news in the Bay Area tech world. —One Kings Lane, the San Francisco-based flash sales site for home goods, said it has raised $40 million in Series C financing. Tiger Global Management led the round, which was joined … Continue reading “Monday Deals Roundup: One Kings Lane, eASIC, DailyDeal.de”

My Child Has WHAT? A Former Microsoft Exec’s Mission to Fight a Tough Brain Disease

One of the scariest things as a parent is to learn that your child has a disease that has no cure. This happened six years ago when my son William was born prematurely at 30 weeks and developed hydrocephalus. It was a big Greek word for a condition that had little medical research and its … Continue reading “My Child Has WHAT? A Former Microsoft Exec’s Mission to Fight a Tough Brain Disease”

What Bubble? August Startup Funding in MA Slides Further to $156.5M

The rate at which investors put money into startups continued to slow last month. Bay State tech and life sciences companies received $156.5 million across 27 equity-based deals, sinking further from the July total of $250.5 million. That’s according to data from FundingFlash, a daily roundup put out by CB Insights that tracks companies receiving … Continue reading “What Bubble? August Startup Funding in MA Slides Further to $156.5M”

Stirring the Pot Once in a While Doesn’t Hurt, and It Could Help Biotech Break its Malaise

Listen to enough biotech industry leaders talk in public, and you’ll hear a lot of carefully scripted comments. Everyone can list off their corporate milestones on a PowerPoint slide, and utter some politically correct platitudes about novel technology, helping patients, having a “good working relationship” with the FDA, constructive partnership talks. Blah, blah, blah. Rarely … Continue reading “Stirring the Pot Once in a While Doesn’t Hurt, and It Could Help Biotech Break its Malaise”

Northwest Deals: Hootsuite, Symform, Avalara, X2Impact, Osprit

—HootSuite, the Vancouver, B.C.-based social media company best known for its power-user Twitter interface, has raised $3 million in what it calls “debt bridge financing.” Millennium Technology Ventures is on board as a new investor in the round, which included return investments from Hearst Interactive Media, Blumberg Capital, and ubiquitous Seattle angel Geoff Entress. In … Continue reading “Northwest Deals: Hootsuite, Symform, Avalara, X2Impact, Osprit”

Mascoma, Biofuels Maker Backed by Big VCs, Files for IPO

Big news today in New England cleantech—a sector that could certainly use some positive developments. Lebanon, NH-based Mascoma, a biofuels firm that plans to break ground on a cellulosic ethanol plant in Michigan later this year, has filed for an initial public offering. In its SEC filing, Mascoma says it intends to sell up to … Continue reading “Mascoma, Biofuels Maker Backed by Big VCs, Files for IPO”

WA Attorney General Joins Fed Lawsuit Blocking AT&T and T-Mobile

Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna, the Republican favorite for governor in 2012, has joined his counterparts from six other states to support the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit blocking AT&T’s proposed $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA. It’s not unusual for state governments to get involved in cases like this, particularly when there may be … Continue reading “WA Attorney General Joins Fed Lawsuit Blocking AT&T and T-Mobile”

Apperian CEO Patrick Will Turn the Tables on VCs as Moderator of Xconomy Venture Chat on Sep. 26

The worlds of founding and investing in startups seem to have turned almost upside down in recent years—at least in the Internet space. Suddenly, in this age of the cloud and mobile apps, it’s possible for hopeful entrepreneurs to create a hugely profitable company, not out of their garage, but from their desktops—and they might … Continue reading “Apperian CEO Patrick Will Turn the Tables on VCs as Moderator of Xconomy Venture Chat on Sep. 26”

Women in Bio’s Seattle Chapter Kick-Off: The Photo Gallery

Last night, I was in a room with 200 women and, oh, about five guys. I’m sure most men have never been to an event quite like this, especially in the typically male-dominated world of the biotech business. This was the founding meeting for the Seattle chapter of Women in Bio, an international networking organization … Continue reading “Women in Bio’s Seattle Chapter Kick-Off: The Photo Gallery”

Mayor Lee to Visit SF’s Pier 38 Today; Here’s the Full Safety Inspection Report

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee is expected to visit Pier 38 today at noon to meet with tenants at the bustling but endangered tech hub. Immediately after the mayor’s tour, tenants and city officials will proceed to the Port’s offices on Pier 1 to discuss the impending shutdown of the pier. The city’s Office of … Continue reading “Mayor Lee to Visit SF’s Pier 38 Today; Here’s the Full Safety Inspection Report”

A Day in the Life of the San Francisco Tech Community

My job is pretty cool. I get to spend time picking the brains of some of the planet’s smartest and most successful entrepreneurs—and invariably, I’m asking them to talk about the one thing they care about most passionately, their startup and/or its technology. Even if I weren’t doing something I care about passionately myself—helping to … Continue reading “A Day in the Life of the San Francisco Tech Community”

From Children’s Clothing to Live Events: NYC SeedStart Demo Day 2011

Today the newest class of graduates of NYC SeedStart participated in a demo day at the Time Warner Conference Center in New York. SeedStart—a summer incubator sponsored by New York University and a number of supporters, including AOL, News Corp., and Polaris Venture Partners—is in its second year. The seven companies that completed this year’s … Continue reading “From Children’s Clothing to Live Events: NYC SeedStart Demo Day 2011”

Entrepreneur Walk of Fame Opens in Kendall Square: Gates, Jobs, Kapor, Hewlett, Packard, Swanson, and Edison are Inaugural Inductees

It was a little over a year ago that Xconomy broke the news that a movement was underway to bring an Entrepreneur Walk of Fame to Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA, modeled after its Hollywood namesake. The idea makes a lot of sense: If we celebrate movie stars and athletes, why not the top innovators … Continue reading “Entrepreneur Walk of Fame Opens in Kendall Square: Gates, Jobs, Kapor, Hewlett, Packard, Swanson, and Edison are Inaugural Inductees”

Tensha Nabs $15M, Termeer Gives MIT $10M, Stata Puts $10M Into NABsys, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

We saw an interesting mix of financings, collaborations, and research news from New England’s drug and medical device developers this week. —HealthCare Ventures put $15 million in Series A funding into Cambridge, MA-based Tensha Therapeutics, a startup developing small-molecule drugs designed to treat cancer and other diseases by regulating the expression of disease-associated genes. —Boston’s … Continue reading “Tensha Nabs $15M, Termeer Gives MIT $10M, Stata Puts $10M Into NABsys, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”

Seattle, Meet Shopobot: Amid Amazon Sales Tax Fight, Comparison-Shopping Startup Flees San Francisco

Seattle has already birthed a couple of early stage companies trying to help shoppers track the price swings and model rollouts of expensive electronic gadgets. Well, add another one to the mix—thanks in part to the national battle between Amazon.com and big-box retailers over collecting taxes for online sales. I’m talking about Shopobot, which just … Continue reading “Seattle, Meet Shopobot: Amid Amazon Sales Tax Fight, Comparison-Shopping Startup Flees San Francisco”

Cocrystal Discovery Snags $7.5M in Hepatitis C Collaboration With Teva

Cocrystal Discovery, the Bothell, WA-based drug discovery startup led by a couple of Icos veterans, has nailed down $7.5 million in new investment to develop a new kind of hepatitis C drug with Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical. Teva, the big maker of generic drugs that’s increasingly seeking to invent new ones, agreed to invest the money … Continue reading “Cocrystal Discovery Snags $7.5M in Hepatitis C Collaboration With Teva”

Merck Joins the Big Pharma VC Party, Setting Up $250M Biotech Investment Fund

[Updated with Merck comment 1:25 pm ET, 9/16] Just about all the major pharmaceutical companies have their own venture capital funds to invest in biotech startups, and now one of the real biggies, Whitehouse Station, NJ-based Merck, has joined the club. Merck (NYSE: [[ticker:MRK]]) has established the new Merck Research Venture Fund (MRVF) with $250 … Continue reading “Merck Joins the Big Pharma VC Party, Setting Up $250M Biotech Investment Fund”

Sequoia Leads $30M Round for Visualization App-Maker MeLLmo

Del Mar, CA-based MeLLmo, which provides visualization software that transforms data from spreadsheets and other business software into interactive graphics for the iPhone and iPad, says today it has secured $30 million through a round led by Sequoia Capital. This is MeLLmo’s first round of institutional financing. The startup had previously raised $20 million from … Continue reading “Sequoia Leads $30M Round for Visualization App-Maker MeLLmo”

Ion Torrent Racing to Change Healthcare, VentiRx to Close SD Office, RF Surgical Raises $12M, and More San Diego Life Sciences News

San Diego’s biggest life sciences stories over the past week were fundamentally about the potential of new technologies. We’ve got what’s happening at Life Technologies’ Ion Torrent and Panmira Pharmaceuticals wrapped up for you here. —Luke talked with Ion Torrent founder Jonathan Rothberg about the company’s increasingly high profile in sequencing genomes at high speed … Continue reading “Ion Torrent Racing to Change Healthcare, VentiRx to Close SD Office, RF Surgical Raises $12M, and More San Diego Life Sciences News”

Silicon Valley’s Pay-It-Forward Culture

Foreign visitors to Silicon Valley continually mention how willing we are to help, network and connect strangers. We take it so for granted we never even to bother to talk about it. It’s the “Pay-It-Forward” culture. The Chips are Down in 1962 Walker’s Wagon Wheel Bar/Restaurant in Mountain View became the lunch hangout for employees … Continue reading “Silicon Valley’s Pay-It-Forward Culture”

Fraunhofer CSE, With Roots In Post-WWII Germany, Eyes South Boston Building as Energy Efficiency Test Bed

Building owners and managers are often reluctant to adopt new energy efficiency technology because they doubt it will be worth the cost in the long run. Nolan Browne, managing director of the Cambridge, MA-based (for now) Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems, is on the same page. “I fundamentally agree with them,” he says. “If … Continue reading “Fraunhofer CSE, With Roots In Post-WWII Germany, Eyes South Boston Building as Energy Efficiency Test Bed”

J&J Honors Genentech Scientist, Holds Meeting on Future of Anti-Angiogenesis Drugs

It’s not every day that you see one Big Pharma company handing an award to another, but that’s just what happened yesterday at the New York Academy of Sciences. New Brunswick, NJ-based Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: [[ticker:JNJ]]) gave its Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research to Napoleone Ferrara, the Genentech scientist whose discoveries contributed to … Continue reading “J&J Honors Genentech Scientist, Holds Meeting on Future of Anti-Angiogenesis Drugs”

Thursday Deals Roundup: InMobi, Chegg, GCT, Alphabet Energy, RRKidz & More

It’s a busy day for venture-funding and IPO announcements. To wit: —San Mateo, CA-based InMobi, which runs the largest independent mobile ad network, said today that it has arranged a whopping $200 million investment from Softbank, in two tranches of $100 million each arriving this month and in April 2012. “With a global leader like … Continue reading “Thursday Deals Roundup: InMobi, Chegg, GCT, Alphabet Energy, RRKidz & More”

Gojee Gets $1.2M in Seed Round, Adds Ustream’s Brad Hunstable as Advisor

New York startup Gojee says it raised $1.2 million in a seed round led by Kapor Capital. Gojee CEO Michael LaValle said via e-mail that Brad Hunstable, co-founder and president of Ustream, will serve as an advisor. Gojee curates recipes for its members based on ingredients ostensibly from their own kitchens. The recipes come from food … Continue reading “Gojee Gets $1.2M in Seed Round, Adds Ustream’s Brad Hunstable as Advisor”

NABsys Takes in $10M Round, Led by Stata, for Gene Sequencing Tools

NABsys, a Providence, MA-based gene-sequencing startup, announced today it has closed a $10 million Series C investment led by return investor Stata Venture Partners, the Needham, MA-based firm founded by Analog Devices (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ADI]]) co-founder and chairman Ray Stata (a member of the NABsys board of directors). The new money, which brings NABsys’ total financing … Continue reading “NABsys Takes in $10M Round, Led by Stata, for Gene Sequencing Tools”

Altair ProductDesign Unveils World’s First Hydraulic Hybrid Bus

Last week, Troy-based Altair ProductDesign unveiled the world’s first series hydraulic hybrid transit bus, the LCO-140H (Low-Cost of Ownership-1st 40-foot Hybrid). The LCO-140H achieved an industry high fuel economy of 6.9 mpg when tested using “stop-and-go” cycles and test protocols established by the Federal Transit Administration —110 percent better fuel economy than conventional diesel buses … Continue reading “Altair ProductDesign Unveils World’s First Hydraulic Hybrid Bus”

Accumetrics CEO Measures Progress of Its Medical Diagnostics Business

Accumetrics CEO Tim Still tells me much has changed since I profiled the San Diego medical diagnostics company in 2009. The venture-backed company makes an automated diagnostic instrument that uses a disposable test kit to measure a cardiovascular patient’s specific response to anti-clotting drugs. More than a million Americans are hospitalized each year due to … Continue reading “Accumetrics CEO Measures Progress of Its Medical Diagnostics Business”

NextCAT Awarded $500K Small Business Grant

Detroit-based alternative energy startup NextCAT last week announced it has received a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the amount of $498,830, bringing NextCAT’s total grant funding to $1.3 million. The company is working to commercialize a class of biofuel catalysts developed at Wayne State University. The … Continue reading “NextCAT Awarded $500K Small Business Grant”