Immunoids, and friends of Immunoids, listen up. Come December, it will be 10 years since Immunex agreed to be acquired by Amgen. I figure it’s the perfect time to reunite the people who lived through the exhilarating, and sometimes terrifying, experience of building Seattle’s first major biotech company. So I’m super-psyched to say that we … Continue reading “The Immunex Impact: Join Steve Gillis, Chris Henney and Many More on Dec. 1”
Category: National
Xconomist of the Week: Reed Sturtevant of Lotus, Idealab, and Microsoft Fame Talks Tech Trends to Watch
You know the type. He’s at every tech startup event, every investor event, and every incubator and early-stage mentorship session (at least every good one). He’s talked to every entrepreneur in the area and has had a hand in the development of many of their companies. He has been a fixture of the local software … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: Reed Sturtevant of Lotus, Idealab, and Microsoft Fame Talks Tech Trends to Watch”
Ion Torrent’s Fast and Cheap DNA Sequencer Catches On, Even as Biologists Tighten Belts
Ask Jonathan Rothberg a few questions about his new venture in DNA sequencing, and, ever the showman, he find references to a pivotal event in world history while delivering what amounts to a “no comment.” The questions were basic enough: How many employees do you have in San Francisco and Guilford, CT? How much has … Continue reading “Ion Torrent’s Fast and Cheap DNA Sequencer Catches On, Even as Biologists Tighten Belts”
Dendreon Slashes 500 Jobs, Gates Foundation Adds Novartis Exec, Theraclone Tacks on $10M, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
The writing was on the wall at Dendreon for weeks, but that didn’t make the bad news of layoffs any easier to stomach. —Seattle-based Dendreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]) said this past week that it is cutting 500 jobs, including about 100 locally, as it seeks to conserve cash in the wake of its sales and marketing … Continue reading “Dendreon Slashes 500 Jobs, Gates Foundation Adds Novartis Exec, Theraclone Tacks on $10M, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
IPOs Look Dicey, But Private Equity May Pick Up Some Of The Slack
For a while, I was optimistic that 2011 would be a good year for venture capital-backed IPOs, and it wasn’t just wishful thinking. There were 72 VC-backed IPOs last year—six times as many as in 2009. The year ended with a bang and 2011 got off to a good start. In the first half of … Continue reading “IPOs Look Dicey, But Private Equity May Pick Up Some Of The Slack”
Clearwire Takes Another Step Toward LTE While Investor Search Continues
Broadband provider Clearwire (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CLWR]]) is working with a major Chinese company to encourage development of devices for a new fourth-generation wireless network, even as the Kirkland, WA company continues looking for investors to bankroll its expansion. Clearwire is collaborating with China Mobile to develop common technical specifications for makers of networking gear and mobile devices, … Continue reading “Clearwire Takes Another Step Toward LTE While Investor Search Continues”
New Angel Alliance Aims to Keep Startups Out of Venture Capital’s Clutches Longer
[Updated 5:15 pm PT with fresh quotes from Richard Sudek, see below] Regional angel investing groups in Southern California, Northern California, and New York say they’re banding together in an effort to lengthen the financial runway for early-stage startups before their founders are forced to turn to venture capital firms. Tech Coast Angels, based in … Continue reading “New Angel Alliance Aims to Keep Startups Out of Venture Capital’s Clutches Longer”
Pier 38 Drama Isn’t Over Yet
[Updated 3:20 pm PT with comments from Jason Wong, see page 2] Entrepreneurs trying to prevent the eviction of more than 20 tech startups at San Francisco’s Pier 38 haven’t yet won a reprieve, but they’ve won a meeting with Mayor Ed Lee. Jason Wong, CEO of San Francisco-based software consultancy i5Labs and leader of … Continue reading “Pier 38 Drama Isn’t Over Yet”
California Dreamin’: TalkTo, Tasted Menu, Bluefin Robotics, and Burst Media Make Bicoastal Noise
[Updated 9/20/11. See below] The Silicon Valley vs. Boston tech scene discussion is a tired one, I know. But today we’ve seen a number of Boston-area companies make a splash with some significance to the San Francisco Bay Area. Here we go with the highlights: —Burst Media, the Burlington, MA-based online ad distributor now owned … Continue reading “California Dreamin’: TalkTo, Tasted Menu, Bluefin Robotics, and Burst Media Make Bicoastal Noise”
Fab.com’s Daily Deals Brings Designer Wares Picked by Fast Company to the Masses
When Fast Company sought a way to showcase 76 products made in the United States, the magazine turned to New York’s Fab.com, a flash sales site for design. Fab created online pop-up shops unveiled today on its existing website to sell items featured in Fast Company‘s U.S. Design app, also debuting today, for the iPad. … Continue reading “Fab.com’s Daily Deals Brings Designer Wares Picked by Fast Company to the Masses”
Wednesday Deals Roundup: Red Robot, Zetta, Apsalar, Xignite
Today: a dollop of new funding deals, and a dash of older news we didn’t have time to tell you about on Monday and Tuesday. —Red Robot Labs, the Palo Alto, CA-based maker of the mobile massively multiplayer online game Life Is Crime, has closed an $8.5 million Series A funding round with support from … Continue reading “Wednesday Deals Roundup: Red Robot, Zetta, Apsalar, Xignite”
Ford, Bug Labs Team Up To Develop Open-Source Car Connectivity Tools
Cars have come a long way since the Model T. Technology now allows your car to play music off your iPhone, to tell you how to parallel park, and to alert you when you’re about to bump into a shopping cart as you’re backing out. If Ford and New York City-based Bug Labs have anything … Continue reading “Ford, Bug Labs Team Up To Develop Open-Source Car Connectivity Tools”
GI Dynamics Starts Trading on Aussie Exchange, Eyes U.S. Pilot Study for Device in Diabetes and Obesity
Earlier this year, Lexington, MA-based GI Dynamics faced a challenge that’s all too common these days in life sciences: It needed to raise $80 million to get through the next three years, and there are limited options for medical-device companies seeking that much cash. The company is developing a weight-loss device, and the money was … Continue reading “GI Dynamics Starts Trading on Aussie Exchange, Eyes U.S. Pilot Study for Device in Diabetes and Obesity”
Computing in the Age of the $1,000 Genome. Our Next Big Event in SF Oct. 24
The $1,000 genome is coming fast, whether society is ready for it or not. This field has moved so fast, reasonable people have estimated we will have sequenced millions of genomes within a few years. It’s even conceivable that individuals will get sequenced more than once in a lifetime, to track how their health is … Continue reading “Computing in the Age of the $1,000 Genome. Our Next Big Event in SF Oct. 24”
10 Surprises of a First-Time Entrepreneur
As a young entrepreneur, I cannot overstate the importance of serendipity. I don’t know whether I’ll ultimately be successful or not, but the success I’ve had so far has been 10 percent inspiration, 90 percent perspiration, and 50 percent surprises. And if you’re saying that this adds up to 150 percent—you’re catching on to my … Continue reading “10 Surprises of a First-Time Entrepreneur”
PerkinElmer Acquires Caliper for $600M, VideoIQ Nabs $7.5M, MC10 Snags $2.5M, & More Boston-Area Deals News
Seems like Cambridge, MA, is buzzing with dollar signs. Many of the financings we spotted this week went to life sciences and Web companies in the city. —MC10, a Cambridge-based developer of technology enabling electronics to bend and stretch, added $2.5 million in Series B funding, bringing the round’s total to $14.75 million. The new … Continue reading “PerkinElmer Acquires Caliper for $600M, VideoIQ Nabs $7.5M, MC10 Snags $2.5M, & More Boston-Area Deals News”
CEO Transitions at Boston-Power and Boston Scientific: Schmid Out at Battery Firm, Mahoney In at BSX
Interesting day for a couple of companies whose names start with “Boston.” Who’s next, Boston Dynamics? Boston Harbor Cruises? Maybe the Boston Red Sox. —Westborough, MA-based Boston-Power, a developer of advanced lithium-ion battery technology, saw three top executives leave last Friday, including CEO Keith Schmid. The news was first reported by Mass High Tech this … Continue reading “CEO Transitions at Boston-Power and Boston Scientific: Schmid Out at Battery Firm, Mahoney In at BSX”
Urbanspoon Co-Founder Hates Insurance Shopping, Creates New Search Service
What’s a technology entrepreneur do when facing the head-slappingly opaque process of shopping for individual health insurance coverage? Get to work hacking together a solution. That’s what gave rise to PickHealthInsurance, a new online search service developed by Urbanspoon co-founder Adam Doppelt. PickHealthInsurance is a side project—Doppelt is hard at work on Dwellable, which helps … Continue reading “Urbanspoon Co-Founder Hates Insurance Shopping, Creates New Search Service”
RF Surgical Adds $12M to Make Sure Surgeons Don’t Leave Sponges Inside Patients
RF Surgical, the Bellevue, WA-based maker of technology to make sure surgical sponges aren’t left inside patients, has raised another $12 million in venture capital. Split Rock Partners, a new investor, joined the financing round along with previous investors Menlo Ventures, Stanford University, and two of the company founders. Back in November, when I wrote … Continue reading “RF Surgical Adds $12M to Make Sure Surgeons Don’t Leave Sponges Inside Patients”
Sprint, Amazon, BigDoor, Giant Thinkwell: The One-Minute Week in Seattle Tech Headlines
It looked like so much fun, they just had to join. Sprint is an unabashed fan of the U.S. Justice Department‘s lawsuit to block the AT&T and T-Mobile merger, and has now jumped into the fray itself with a separate antitrust lawsuit that expands on the DOJ’s arguments. Interestingly, Sprint (NYSE: [[ticker:S]]) reportedly wanted to … Continue reading “Sprint, Amazon, BigDoor, Giant Thinkwell: The One-Minute Week in Seattle Tech Headlines”
Angelsoft to Become Gust, Rebrands Platform for Finding Financing
New York-based Angelsoft—a platform for entrepreneurs to connect with 600 angel investor groups around the world—is revamping at midnight tonight with the new name Gust, according to its CEO David Rose. And one new customer with ambitious goals will tap its services. According to Rose, Startup America Partnership—an organization launched in January and chaired by … Continue reading “Angelsoft to Become Gust, Rebrands Platform for Finding Financing”
Former Genzyme Boss Henri Termeer Gives $10M to MGH for Personalized Medicine
Henri Termeer, the former CEO of Cambridge, MA-based Genzyme, has given $10 million to Massachusetts General Hospital to establish a new center for developing more personalized cancer drugs, according to a report in today’s Boston Globe. The new Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies will initially focus on certain genetic forms of breast … Continue reading “Former Genzyme Boss Henri Termeer Gives $10M to MGH for Personalized Medicine”
As Browsing Becomes the “Killer Use” in Mobile, Qualcomm Makes Web Technology a Priority
San Diego-based Qualcomm has traditionally been known as the world’s biggest maker of mobile phone chips—with most of that technology coming out of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, the company’s “QCT” division. But Qualcomm crossed a kind of tipping point three years ago, when the software engineers at QCT began to outnumber the hardware engineers, according to … Continue reading “As Browsing Becomes the “Killer Use” in Mobile, Qualcomm Makes Web Technology a Priority”
Punchbowl, Priceline, and the Post Office: Some Consumer Tech News Around New England
When last we checked with Matt Douglas of Punchbowl, a Framingham, MA, startup known for its party-planning software, he was taking a bloggy swing at Seth Priebatsch of SCVNGR fame. Now he has set his sights on the greeting card industry and the U.S. Postal Service. Yes, with his startup’s latest product—a way for people … Continue reading “Punchbowl, Priceline, and the Post Office: Some Consumer Tech News Around New England”
Magoosh Unveils a Video Bible for the Newly Revised GRE
It’s the beginning of GRE season—the period from September to November when hundreds of thousands of college students and others considering applying to graduate school take the Graduate Record Exam, administered by Princeton, NJ-based Educational Testing Service (ETS). But this year’s GRE is a completely new animal. In August, ETS rolled out the biggest changes … Continue reading “Magoosh Unveils a Video Bible for the Newly Revised GRE”
Tuesday Roundup: 8×8, BonitaSoft, Rally to Save Pier 38
Time for the daily roundup of funding and M&A news—a short one today, as I’m flying out the door to a round of meetings and conferences. —Sunnyvale, CA-based cloud communications provider 8×8 has acquired Contactual, a maker of cloud-based call center and customer interaction software, in an all-stock transaction, according to a press release. —BonitaSoft, … Continue reading “Tuesday Roundup: 8×8, BonitaSoft, Rally to Save Pier 38”
Gates Foundation Adds Novartis Vet, Trevor Mundel, as New Global Health Leader
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has a new boss for its multi-billion dollar global health division. Trevor Mundel, the former global head of development for Novartis, the Switzerland-based pharmaceutical giant, will start at the Seattle-based foundation on December 1, according to a statement. Mundel will oversee the foundation’s $14.7 billion global health grant portfolio … Continue reading “Gates Foundation Adds Novartis Vet, Trevor Mundel, as New Global Health Leader”
Solta Acquires Ultrasound Body Sculpting Technology from Medicis for $35M
The big idea of removing body fat through concentrated ultrasound waves hasn’t really caught on yet, but Hayward, CA-based Solta Medical is going to take a flier on it now. Solta (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SLTM]]) said today it has agreed to pay $15 million up front, plus another $20 million in near-term payments, to acquire the Bothell, WA-based … Continue reading “Solta Acquires Ultrasound Body Sculpting Technology from Medicis for $35M”
Qualcomm Adds Femtocell Capabilities to Wi-Fi Products for Corporate Networks
In the five months since San Diego’s Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]) completed its acquisition of San Jose, CA-based Atheros Communications, the two companies have been working to integrate their operations and combine their technologies. One example of how that’s playing out came into focus yesterday, with Qualcomm saying it has combined its proprietary Femtocell modem chipset … Continue reading “Qualcomm Adds Femtocell Capabilities to Wi-Fi Products for Corporate Networks”
Valeritas Raises $150M for Insulin Device
[Updated 9/13/11 2:30 p.m. See below.] Valeritas, a Bridgewater, NJ-based medical device company, announced yesterday that it has raised $150 million in a Series C funding round. The money will support the company’s lead product, a disposable device designed for patients with Type 2 diabetes who require insulin. The product, called V-Go Disposable Insulin Delivery Device … Continue reading “Valeritas Raises $150M for Insulin Device”
Brigham and Women’s Teams Up With GNS Healthcare to Fend Off Adverse Events in Heart Patients
Boston-based Brigham and Women’s Hospital and its Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice, led by David Bates, are announcing today a collaboration with GNS Healthcare to use supercomputing technology to improve patient care. Cambridge, MA-based GNS Healthcare’s computer-simulation models will be used to predict the likelihood of adverse drug events and hospital readmission in … Continue reading “Brigham and Women’s Teams Up With GNS Healthcare to Fend Off Adverse Events in Heart Patients”
Odyl Launches Facebook Platform for Authors and Publishers
Just one month after New York-based Buddy Media raised a remarkable $54 million to support its Facebook-management platform for consumer brands, another Big Apple company has started up with a Facebook marketing solution—this one for the book industry. Odyl, founded by veterans of HotJobs, rolled out a software platform today that’s designed to help publishers … Continue reading “Odyl Launches Facebook Platform for Authors and Publishers”
Mobile Platform Wars: What’s Next?
This has been the month of the handset. First, Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility, then HP’s effective exit from the handset business, and finally the sad news about Steve Jobs. These recent events kick off what I believe will be an accelerated pace of developments and re-shaping of the mobile device/platform ecosystem. Within the next … Continue reading “Mobile Platform Wars: What’s Next?”
WSU Program Nurtures Budding Research Scientists
At Wayne State University, labs aren’t just a sterile space for solemn experiments. For students in the school’s Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD), it’s a chance to work directly with their instructors, get a taste of the scientific life, and gather some up-close career advice in the process. “The laboratory setting is almost like … Continue reading “WSU Program Nurtures Budding Research Scientists”
Intuit Is Looking for the Next Mint.com
If you’re a startup working on mobile, cloud, data analytics, or social technologies and you want to get noticed by consumer-financial-tools giant Intuit, you’ve got three days to apply to join a day of “speed dating” sessions coming up at Intuit headquarters in Mountain View, CA, on October 6. Intuit says its annual Entrepreneur Day … Continue reading “Intuit Is Looking for the Next Mint.com”
TeraDiode, Laser Spinout from MIT Lincoln Lab, Beams Up New CEO
Some big changes are afoot at an interesting Boston-area laser startup. TeraDiode, a Littleton, MA-based maker of laser systems for cutting, welding, and defense applications, said today it has named Parviz Tayebati the company’s new CEO and board member. Tayebati, the former chief executive of telecom laser company Azna and photonics firm CoreTek, succeeds TeraDiode’s … Continue reading “TeraDiode, Laser Spinout from MIT Lincoln Lab, Beams Up New CEO”
Monday Deals Roundup: 10gen, Mindjet, Ebates
Time for the daily roundup of Bay Area financing and M&A news. —10gen, the San Francisco- and New York-based provider of consulting, support, and training for users of the MongoDB open source “NoSQL” database, announced today that it has raised $20 million in new funding. New investor Sequoia Capital led the round, which was joined … Continue reading “Monday Deals Roundup: 10gen, Mindjet, Ebates”
GM, Pier 38, TechCrunch: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News
Though last week was a short post-holiday week, Bay Area entrepreneurs managed to pack in a lot of action. —More than 90 companies met with investors and journalists at a new demo event called Pitch San Francisco ’11 at AT&T Park. We captured seven of them on video. —Our biggest feature of the week was a … Continue reading “GM, Pier 38, TechCrunch: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News”
Don’t Ask for Introductions to Investors
Raising money is hard, and there’s no way to screw it up faster than going around asking, “Hey, could you introduce me to some investors?” It’s sort of like when, on the second day of school, a goofy freshman asked me if I could introduce him to any girls. Reason 1: Not every investor is … Continue reading “Don’t Ask for Introductions to Investors”
Epigenetic Drug Startup Tensha Therapeutics Snags $15M Series A
Cambridge, MA-based drug developer Tensha Therapeutics announced today that it has snapped up $15 million in Series A funding from HealthCare Ventures. The funding will go to developing Tensha’s small molecule drug candidates, which are designed to treat cancer and other diseases by regulating the expression of disease-associated genes. Tensha’s drugs are inhibitors of so-called bromodomains, … Continue reading “Epigenetic Drug Startup Tensha Therapeutics Snags $15M Series A”
Genentech Seeks FDA Clearance for Next Skin Cancer Drug
Genentech is shipping off its latest application to the FDA to start selling a new cancer drug. This morning, the South San Francisco-based unit of Roche said it has filed paperwork for U.S. approval of vismodegib, a new drug for people with a deadly type of skin cancer that can’t be surgically removed. The drug, … Continue reading “Genentech Seeks FDA Clearance for Next Skin Cancer Drug”
Adtech Is Harmful to Consumers
If the ads on the websites and in the apps you frequent disappeared tomorrow, would you miss them? Can you think of any specific sites or apps, other than search, where introducing ads improved user experience? I happened upon these questions a few days ago while preparing the opening remarks for a FutureM event my … Continue reading “Adtech Is Harmful to Consumers”
VideoIQ Announces $7.5M, New CEO
Bedford, MA-based VideoIQ, a maker of video surveillance technology, announced today that it has pinned down $7.5 million in Series C funding, from Atlas Venture, Cisco, Matrix Partners and Tenaya Capital. The company reported $6 million in funding earlier this year in an SEC filing. It said today that the new funding will go to fueling … Continue reading “VideoIQ Announces $7.5M, New CEO”
10gen Raises $20M, Plans New Overseas Offices
New York’s 10gen said in a press release Monday it raised $20 million in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital. Prior investors participating in the round include Union Square Ventures and Flybridge Capital. 10gen developed and maintains MongoDB, an open source database used by such companies as Viacom, Foursquare, and Disney. So far 10gen … Continue reading “10gen Raises $20M, Plans New Overseas Offices”
Qualcomm Acquires Video Technologies, State Senate Blocks Brown’s Job Package, Wildcat Expands Funding Round, & More San Diego BizTech News
The Labor Day holiday made for a short week of technology news, but we’ve labored to pull it all together for you here. —Underscoring the growing importance of mobile video, San Diego-based Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]) said it’s acquiring video processing technologies and other assets from Integrated Device Technology (NASDAQ: [[ticker:IDTI]]) of San Jose, CA, for … Continue reading “Qualcomm Acquires Video Technologies, State Senate Blocks Brown’s Job Package, Wildcat Expands Funding Round, & More San Diego BizTech News”
Bluefin Labs, Named After a Sushi Bar, Tracks Social Media Around “Every Show on TV”
Deb Roy doesn’t strike me as a Jersey Shore kind of guy. Yet he can tell me exactly what viewers are saying about the estimable Deena Cortese during any episode, or how many people are annoyed by Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino and are tweeting about him (no, I haven’t been—too busy getting my GTL). I’ll … Continue reading “Bluefin Labs, Named After a Sushi Bar, Tracks Social Media Around “Every Show on TV””
Jeffrey Carr of NYU Stern’s Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship Talks About Need for Mentors in NY Startup Scene
Let’s be honest; the rush to grab funding in the New York startup community has brought out committed entrepreneurs as well as the ne’er-do-wells looking to make a quick buck. Not everyone is born with the savvy to create a killer idea, but Jeffrey Carr works to help those who—with the right mentors—can produce solid … Continue reading “Jeffrey Carr of NYU Stern’s Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship Talks About Need for Mentors in NY Startup Scene”
What Most Biotechies Are Missing on Twitter: A Huge Networking Opportunity
Twitter is coming to biotech, it’s only a matter of time. And this is a truly wonderful thing. This thought occurred to me as I sat in my Seattle office, watching a video from a panel discussion of eight people in Boston—journalists, executives, venture capitalists, a PR person—who were talking about how biotechies can get … Continue reading “What Most Biotechies Are Missing on Twitter: A Huge Networking Opportunity”
Xconomy and WGBH Team Up to Cover the Boston Innovation Economy
Boston area radio listeners may have noticed something pretty cool on Friday morning: Xconomy’s on-air debut, during “Morning Edition” on WGBH’s 89.7. The Xconomy Report segment, which will be a regular feature Fridays at 7:49 am, is the product of a new partnership between us and WGBH Radio. It should come as no surprise that several … Continue reading “Xconomy and WGBH Team Up to Cover the Boston Innovation Economy”
Play Ball! Video from the Pitch San Francisco Startup Fest at AT&T Park
Funny, I thought there were already enough startup events around the Bay Area to keep any investor or tech journalist busy eight days a week. But now there’s one more—it’s called Pitch, and it’s the result of “the challenges many startups have in getting new users, media, attention, and investors,” writes Duane Nason of Launchabl.es, … Continue reading “Play Ball! Video from the Pitch San Francisco Startup Fest at AT&T Park”