Seattle-based Theraclone Sciences is enjoying a moment in the national biotech spotlight today, just as it happens to be on the prowl for some new cash. Theraclone was honored today as one of the Fierce 15, an annual award that the trade publication FierceBiotech gives out to 15 emerging biotech companies around the world. In … Continue reading “Theraclone Nabs Industry Award, Scopes Out Extra $10M Financing”
Category: National
PTC Acquires 4CS for Warranty Management Software
PTC (NASDAQ: [[ticker:PMTC]]), the Needham, MA-based product development software maker, said today that it has acquired East Moline, IL-based 4CS, a maker of software for warranty and service management. The financial terms of the deal were not announced. PTC said the 4CS technology will work with its existing product lines that enable manufacturers to keep … Continue reading “PTC Acquires 4CS for Warranty Management Software”
Google Ventures, Zurb, MyPad: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News
In the run-up to the long weekend, we churned out a few of our patented long stories. —My big opus for the week was a writeup of a lengthy conversation with Bill Maris, the managing partner at Google Ventures. Maris shared insights about Google Ventures’ founder-friendly operating philosophy and its roots in his own experiences … Continue reading “Google Ventures, Zurb, MyPad: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News”
AT&T, T-Mobile, Decide: The 1-Minute Week in Seattle Tech Headlines
—The federal government’s surprise lawsuit to block the $39 billion merger of AT&T and T-Mobile dominated the region’s tech headlines last week, and the fallout will continue to turn heads for the rest of the year (and maybe beyond). I deconstructed the Justice Department’s arguments in this post, which is kind of a Cliff’s Notes … Continue reading “AT&T, T-Mobile, Decide: The 1-Minute Week in Seattle Tech Headlines”
Goby Bought by TeleNav; Watkins and Team to Keep Working on Location-Based Content
Another Boston-area software startup has been snapped up by a West Coast power. Sunnyvale, CA-based TeleNav (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TNAV]]), a location-based services firm, said today it has completed an acquisition of Boston-based Goby, a local and travel search startup that has recently focused on mobile apps. Terms of the deal weren’t given. (The news was buried … Continue reading “Goby Bought by TeleNav; Watkins and Team to Keep Working on Location-Based Content”
Sony Launches Its Tablet, Ortiva Looks to Expand Through Partnerships, Oberon Fuels Lands Deal with SoCalGas, & More San Diego BizTech News
Welcome back from the last long weekend of the summer. Here’s the definitive roundup of all the news you’ll need to start your week. —Sony (ticker: [[NYSE:SNE]]) officially launched its Tablet S, a 9.4-inch tablet computer that includes apps developed by San Diego’s Chumby Industries. The Japanese consumer electronics giant also made it easier for … Continue reading “Sony Launches Its Tablet, Ortiva Looks to Expand Through Partnerships, Oberon Fuels Lands Deal with SoCalGas, & More San Diego BizTech News”
Sam Waksal, Pfizer Venture Investments, and More: Moderator Looks Forward to All-Star Chat at New York Life Sciences 2031
Les Funtleyder, manager of the Miller Tabak Health Care Transformation Fund (MTHFX), recently told Xconomy that in a few years, investors are going to look back and wish they had invested more in healthcare today. That forward-thinking attitude prompted Xconomy to invite Funtleyder to moderate our first public New York event, Life Sciences 2031, a … Continue reading “Sam Waksal, Pfizer Venture Investments, and More: Moderator Looks Forward to All-Star Chat at New York Life Sciences 2031”
Harvest Power, Waste-to-Energy Startup with Big Investors, Buys Coastal Supply
It’s not often that soil and mulch makes the front page of Xconomy. But this is Harvest Power we’re talking about. The Waltham, MA-based cleantech company, which has operations in Seattle and Vancouver, BC, said today it has acquired Coastal Supply, a Delaware-based soil and mulch manufacturer. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. But Harvest … Continue reading “Harvest Power, Waste-to-Energy Startup with Big Investors, Buys Coastal Supply”
Extreme Reach, Profitable and Growing Fast, Looks to Go Big with New Financing
Extreme Reach is going through some extreme growth—and it’s about to get very interesting, very fast. The Needham, MA-based video-ad distribution startup is rumored to be raising a large investment round, one that could fuel its rise to become one of the Boston area’s top software startups. OK, advertising tech companies can be deadly boring … Continue reading “Extreme Reach, Profitable and Growing Fast, Looks to Go Big with New Financing”
Dramatic Changes in Hepatitis C Treatment Expected to Continue
Earlier this year the FDA approved telaprevir (Incivek) from Vertex Pharmaceuticals and boceprevir (Victrelis) from Merck for the treatment of hepatitis C. Both agents are protease inhibitors and represent the first approvals of direct acting antivirals for hepatitis C. Direct acting antivirals are a broad class of agents that act to block the growth of … Continue reading “Dramatic Changes in Hepatitis C Treatment Expected to Continue”
Fearless Fantasy Football, Uh, I Mean Biotech, Predictions for the Season Ahead
Football season is getting started this week, and I’m pumped. This is the time millions of people test their wits against friends (and strangers) in fantasy football. For fellow biotech nerds who aren’t familiar, this is a little bit like the stock market—you try to pick a diversified portfolio of pro football players who you … Continue reading “Fearless Fantasy Football, Uh, I Mean Biotech, Predictions for the Season Ahead”
Understanding the Human Element of Startups: Inside NCIIA’s VentureLab
Written on the whiteboard on the first day of my entrepreneurship class at Tufts was a sobering statistic: 80 percent of startups die in their first four years. There exist a variety of factors that can kill a business. Luckily, Boston is full of programs and organizations designed to help entrepreneurs navigate through the startup … Continue reading “Understanding the Human Element of Startups: Inside NCIIA’s VentureLab”
Labor Day Friday Bad News Poll Results: Government Jobs Report the Worst Biz News of the Weekend
Well, it turned out that perhaps I was too cynical. On Friday morning, I posted the Labor Day Bad News Poll, pointing out that companies often buried bad news after markets closed on a Friday—and asking readers to predict what type of bad news they expected, if any, on the extra slow Friday before Labor … Continue reading “Labor Day Friday Bad News Poll Results: Government Jobs Report the Worst Biz News of the Weekend”
MyPad and the Coming Facebook Wars on the iPad
Why on earth isn’t there an official Facebook app for the iPad? The social networking giant has had an iPhone app ever since the launch of the iTunes App Store in 2008, and the company says that more than 250 million people access Facebook through mobile devices. Its engineers have tried to make the Facebook … Continue reading “MyPad and the Coming Facebook Wars on the iPad”
Pfizer Grows in Cambridge, Repligen Eyes Imaging Approval, GI Dynamics Gets Aussie IPO, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News
New England biotech firms are roaring out of summer with news of fundraising, hires, regulatory moves, and acquisitions. —Cambridge, MA-based medical imaging startup Lantos Technologies announced a new round of funding and a new CEO. The firm pulled in $4.1 million in Series B money—led by return Lantos investor Excel Venture Management and with participation from … Continue reading “Pfizer Grows in Cambridge, Repligen Eyes Imaging Approval, GI Dynamics Gets Aussie IPO, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”
The Labor Day Friday Bad News Poll
Any savvy news hound knows that companies love to bury bad news by disclosing it after the close of markets on a Friday. The Friday before a long weekend like Labor Day is especially attractive. That got me wondering what bad news might be coming today. Is there another big CEO shuffle looming, a la … Continue reading “The Labor Day Friday Bad News Poll”
Seattle Snippets: Windows Phone, Expedia, Bungie Aerospace
Fresh Mangoes: HTC, the handset maker with North American headquarters in Bellevue, WA, has unveiled its first phones running on Microsoft’s new “Mango” version of the Windows Phone operating system. The phones are named the Titan and the Radar—guess which one is bigger—and gadget geeks can check out a thorough demo via Engadget, which features … Continue reading “Seattle Snippets: Windows Phone, Expedia, Bungie Aerospace”
MABEL: U-M Robot to the Rescue
Dateline: 2030, give or take. We’re at war. Bullets are flying, ordnance is exploding, and conditions are beyond dangerous. Soldiers are scattered across the landscape, bleeding and waiting for help. A commander gives the order, and suddenly a fleet of robots storms the battlefield to pull the wounded to the safety of waiting rescue helicopters. … Continue reading “MABEL: U-M Robot to the Rescue”
500 Startups Brings Its Latest Grads to New York
Armed with gusto and a microphone, Bay Area Internet guru Dave McClure and his gang from 500 Startups brought their latest batch of hatchlings to New York at last night’s demo day at General Assembly. A handful of locally bred startups stood among the twenty-one exuberant presenters—all graduates of McClure’s Mountain View, CA-based accelerator program—who … Continue reading “500 Startups Brings Its Latest Grads to New York”
Who’s Hiring, Who’s Starting, and Who’s Dead: A Pre-Labor Day Roundup of Tech Tidbits
Here in Boston, September 1st brings about quite a bit of change: students migrating back into town, moving trucks and furniture in the streets, and street cleaners around my office (all cutting down on parking options, sorry to say). We’ve weathered Tropical Storm Irene and a roller-coaster stock market, felt the mild rumblings of an … Continue reading “Who’s Hiring, Who’s Starting, and Who’s Dead: A Pre-Labor Day Roundup of Tech Tidbits”
Sony Integrates Its Online Entertainment Services in New Brand
In addition to announcing the launch of its new tablets yesterday in Berlin, Sony (NYSE: [[ticker:SNE]]) said it’s combining its Qriocity on-demand music and video services with the PlayStation Network under a new brand, the Sony Entertainment Network. The announcement underscores the importance Sony is placing on its online content—and how the company has endeavored … Continue reading “Sony Integrates Its Online Entertainment Services in New Brand”
Why Governments Don’t Get Startups–Or, Why There’s Only One Silicon Valley
Not understanding and agreeing what “entrepreneur” and “startup” mean can sink an entire country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. I’m getting ready to go overseas to teach, and I’ve spent the last week reviewing several countries’ ambitious attempts to kick-start entrepreneurship. After poring through stacks of reports, white papers and position papers, I’ve come to a couple of … Continue reading “Why Governments Don’t Get Startups–Or, Why There’s Only One Silicon Valley”
Mascoma Gets New Financing, Plans 2011 Biorefinery Groundbreaking
Lebanon, NH-based biofuels company Mascoma Corporation has tapped a new $50 million convertible debt financing for $6.9 million, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 18. Thirty investors participated in the financing, including Hemant Taneja from General Catalyst Partners and Jim Matheson from Flagship Ventures. Mascoma announced in January that it … Continue reading “Mascoma Gets New Financing, Plans 2011 Biorefinery Groundbreaking”
Pfizer Beefs Up Cambridge Presence, Adding 400 Jobs in Kendall Square
Pfizer is gobbling up some prime biotech real estate in Cambridge, MA. The New York-based pharma company (NYSE: [[ticker:PFE]]) is adding space for 400 employees at the heart of the biotech R&D hub in Kendall Square. The world’s largest drug company—which greatly increased its Boston presence a couple years ago through the $68 billion acquisition … Continue reading “Pfizer Beefs Up Cambridge Presence, Adding 400 Jobs in Kendall Square”
The Education of Bill Maris: How One Entrepreneur’s History Shaped Google Ventures
Fade in on a paper-strewn office in Manhattan. It’s the North American headquarters of Investor AB, a giant Swedish holding company with investments across the healthcare, telecommunications, manufacturing, and financial industries. Two recent college graduates, a man and a woman, share a small office; they are the only Americans at the firm. One is trained … Continue reading “The Education of Bill Maris: How One Entrepreneur’s History Shaped Google Ventures”
Repligen Seeks Approval for Imaging Product While Pursuing Rare-Disease Drugs and Manufacturing Platform
Patients who arrive in the emergency room complaining of abdominal pain often have to undergo a type of endoscopy—an invasive and sometimes dangerous test— so doctors can determine if the problem is in the pancreas. Taking an MRI scan is a safer alternative, but the resulting images often aren’t sharp enough to make a proper … Continue reading “Repligen Seeks Approval for Imaging Product While Pursuing Rare-Disease Drugs and Manufacturing Platform”
Apricus Bio Wins Third FDA Clearance, Aethlon to Test Blood Filtering Device, & More San Diego Life Sciences News
There wasn’t a lot of news out of San Diego’s life sciences community over the past week, unless you count the executives at public companies who plan to give presentations at various financial conferences in coming weeks. We’ve got the best of the rest, and our briefing begins now. —San Diego’s Apricus Biosciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:APRI]]) … Continue reading “Apricus Bio Wins Third FDA Clearance, Aethlon to Test Blood Filtering Device, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”
Xconomist of the Week: Bob Langer’s Advice for Turning Foundation and Government Money into Startup Success
Yesterday, Selecta Biosciences—one of many companies founded by MIT professor and entrepreneur Bob Langer—announced that it had received a subcontract from the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to develop a vaccine against malaria. The financial details weren’t released, but the initiative is part of a $76.5 million contract SAIC has with the National Institutes of … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: Bob Langer’s Advice for Turning Foundation and Government Money into Startup Success”
Gamemaker Zeebo Raises Additional Capital in Major Strategy Change
San Diego-based Zeebo, founded in 2007 to build a business around a new wireless game console, apparently is making a significant change in its strategy, and has raised additional equity funding, according to a recent regulatory filing. Zeebo discloses in the document submitted to the SEC that it’s raising $17 million in equity financing, but … Continue reading “Gamemaker Zeebo Raises Additional Capital in Major Strategy Change”
Ardelyx Nabs $30M To Develop Drug for Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and High Blood Pressure
Fremont, CA-based Ardelyx said today it has nailed down $30 million in a Series B venture round. Much of the cash will go toward developing Ardelyx’s lead drug candidate for a couple different uses, for patients with a form of irritable bowel syndrome and others with high blood pressure. Amgen Ventures participated in the round, … Continue reading “Ardelyx Nabs $30M To Develop Drug for Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and High Blood Pressure”
Xoma CEO Resigns After Four-Year Push To Go Commercial
Xoma, the Berkeley, CA-based antibody drug developer that has been around for 30 years, said today that CEO Steve Engle has resigned, effective immediately. He will be replaced on an interim basis by John Varian, a member of the board. Engle, who has been with the company four years, is also relinquishing his titles of … Continue reading “Xoma CEO Resigns After Four-Year Push To Go Commercial”
Sony Tablets Open New Opportunities for San Diego’s Chumby
[Updated 8/31/11, 3:30 pm. See below.]The new 9.4-inch Tablet S that Sony is introducing today includes many features that the consumer electronics giant hopes will be compelling for users, including access to Sony’s network of PlayStation video games, music, movies, and other entertainment services. The Android-based tablet also can “throw” steaming video or music to … Continue reading “Sony Tablets Open New Opportunities for San Diego’s Chumby”
Decoding the DOJ’s Lawsuit Against the AT&T and T-Mobile Merger
The federal government has put its foot on AT&T’s proposed $39 billion buyout of Bellevue, WA-based T-Mobile USA, filing a lawsuit today that yanks the merger away from regulators at the Federal Communications Comission and puts the whole thing in the court system. If the Justice Department has its way, that’s where the story will … Continue reading “Decoding the DOJ’s Lawsuit Against the AT&T and T-Mobile Merger”
From Apps to Tools: Mobile Developer Raizlabs Gets Into the Platform Business with AppBlade
The world of mobile software applications has evolved so rapidly in the past couple of years, it will make your head spin. One guy whose head isn’t spinning, though, is mobile-app veteran Greg Raiz. In fact, he is probably doing the spinning for everyone else. Raiz is the founder and CEO of (aptly named) Raizlabs, … Continue reading “From Apps to Tools: Mobile Developer Raizlabs Gets Into the Platform Business with AppBlade”
Jennerex Shows that Unorthodox Cancer-Fighting Virus Can be Delivered the Usual Way
Most patients who take cancer drugs today get them through an intravenous infusion. Scientists have never been quite been able to consistently get this delivery route to work for genetically engineered cancer-fighting viruses, but San Francisco-based Jennerex Biotherapeutics is reporting today that it has found a way, in a move that could help its oncolytic … Continue reading “Jennerex Shows that Unorthodox Cancer-Fighting Virus Can be Delivered the Usual Way”
UM to Offer New Graduate Program in Entrepreneurship
Students and venture capitalists seeking to bring more startups to Ann Arbor may find just the catalyst they’ve been looking for in a new University of Michigan graduate program in entrepreneurship. UM currently offers a nine-credit certificate in entrepreneurship for undergraduates, but the forthcoming master’s in entrepreneurship program—which will consist of 36 credits, according to … Continue reading “UM to Offer New Graduate Program in Entrepreneurship”
Decide’s Hunt for New-Gadget Rumors Points to the Future of Smarter Search
Oren Etzioni is getting a little impatient. More than dozen years after Google emerged from Stanford and set up shop in a California garage, the University of Washington professor and artificial intelligence expert says Internet search still isn’t evolving fast enough. Right now, as Etzioni recently wrote in Nature, the list of links coughed up … Continue reading “Decide’s Hunt for New-Gadget Rumors Points to the Future of Smarter Search”
George Scangos, the Boy From Working Class Boston, on His Road Back to Lead Biogen Idec
George Scangos spends much of his time these days in an office about 10 miles from the working class Greek neighborhood in Lynn, MA, where he grew up. You could say he’s come a long way in those 10 miles. The kid who didn’t speak English until he went to elementary school, and who didn’t … Continue reading “George Scangos, the Boy From Working Class Boston, on His Road Back to Lead Biogen Idec”
San Diego’s EvoNexus Eyes Downtown Move and Expansion
EvoNexus, the free incubator founded in San Diego more than two years ago by CommNexus, the non-profit technology industry group, is evaluating a move that would significantly expand the scale of its operations. Kevin Hell, who stepped in nine months ago as part-time chairman of the incubator’s oversight committee, tells me “the infrastructure is in … Continue reading “San Diego’s EvoNexus Eyes Downtown Move and Expansion”
The “Un-Incubator” vs. the Echo Chamber: Five Questions for New Venture Partners’ Robert Rosenberg
New Venture Partners is a VC firm with a twist: It invests exclusively in corporate spinouts. The firm—which has U.S. offices in San Mateo, CA, and Murray Hill, NJ—counts among its successes Flarion Technologies (bought by Qualcomm), GeoVideo Networks (acquired by Wire One Technologies), and Silicon Hive, a spinout from Philips Electronics that was acquired … Continue reading “The “Un-Incubator” vs. the Echo Chamber: Five Questions for New Venture Partners’ Robert Rosenberg”
Xconomy’s “Consumers, the Cloud, and Beyond” Features 3 Top VCs on the Future of Venture and Entrepreneurship
A double dip recession may be looming. But you wouldn’t know it from the valuations of venture-backed companies like Facebook, Zynga, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Groupon, Gilt Groupe—as well as a host of other startups either based in the cloud and/or focused on the Internet and consumers. So is there some perfect, endless summer-type wave in these … Continue reading “Xconomy’s “Consumers, the Cloud, and Beyond” Features 3 Top VCs on the Future of Venture and Entrepreneurship”
Verizon Buys CloudSwitch, Adimab Inks Biogen and Novo Nordisk Deals, EMD Millpore Buys Amnis, & More Boston-Area Deals News
It looks like New England’s tech and life sciences firms are working to ink financing, collaboration, and acquisition deals before the holiday weekend hits. —Digital media and video-hosting firm Brightcove filed paperwork with the SEC indicating its hopes to raise $50 million in an initial public offering. Morgan Stanley and Stifel, Nicolaus & Company will … Continue reading “Verizon Buys CloudSwitch, Adimab Inks Biogen and Novo Nordisk Deals, EMD Millpore Buys Amnis, & More Boston-Area Deals News”
Some Biotechs Love New York—Hindrances and All
New Yorkers who follow technology trends know our state is losing jobs in life sciences. Many people in the industry believe it’s because New York is inhospitable to biotech. In the words of a recent academic report, “the state taxes too much, regulates too much [and] has fostered a generally risk averse atmosphere…” The exodus … Continue reading “Some Biotechs Love New York—Hindrances and All”
Viableware Enters Pay-at-Table Wars
Paying for your restaurant tab by handing a credit card over to the server is suddenly sounding so last-decade, now that startups are starting to attack the restaurant payment game with new devices and technologies. I guess it shouldn’t be much of a surprise with the spread of powerful mobile computing, novel payment devices like Square, … Continue reading “Viableware Enters Pay-at-Table Wars”
Zurb: The Boutique Interaction Design Firm That’s Really About Business
Why did Color, the $41 million startup that was launched with such force in March, slam instantly and with equal force into a wall of user dissatisfaction? The folks at Zurb have some thoughts about that. Color’s iPhone app is designed to let users share photos with other people using the app in the same … Continue reading “Zurb: The Boutique Interaction Design Firm That’s Really About Business”
Active Network Names Dejanovic to New Role
The San Diego-based Active Network today named former Monster Worldwide executive and chief information officer Darko Dejanovic as its chief technology, product, and innovation officer, a newly created role. At Monster Worldwide, parent of the online employment giant Monster.com, Dejanovic was responsible for global IT strategy, product design, online marketing, consumer sales, and operations and … Continue reading “Active Network Names Dejanovic to New Role”
Danotek Raises $15M in Series B Round
Canton, MI-based Danotek Motion Technologies, a startup company that develops and manufactures permanent magnet generators and related converter systems for the wind-energy industry, today announced that it has secured $15 million in funding. Led by four of the world’s leading renewable energy venture capital firms—Khosla Ventures, CMEA Capital, GE Energy Financial Services, and Statoil Technology Invest, along with … Continue reading “Danotek Raises $15M in Series B Round”
GI Dynamics Raises $85M USD in Aussie IPO
Lexington, MA-based GI Dynamics, a medical device developer focused on treating obesity and diabetes, has raised $85 million ($80 million in Australian dollars) in an initial public offering in Australia, according to an online report from The Australian. Earlier this summer the firm indicated that it hoped to go public in Australia, bringing in between $85 … Continue reading “GI Dynamics Raises $85M USD in Aussie IPO”
A123 Systems, ALTe Sign Long-term Supplier Agreement
Auburn Hills, MI-based ALTe last week announced a long-term supply agreement with Waltham, MA-based A123 Systems for complete lithium ion battery packs to be integrated into ALTe‘s range-extended hybrid electric powertrain systems. The battery packs are designed to deliver higher power, longer life, and increased safety. This announcement comes just weeks after ALTe’s agreement with Pacific … Continue reading “A123 Systems, ALTe Sign Long-term Supplier Agreement”
Amnis to Be Acquired by EMD Millipore of Merck KGaA
Some news from the world of life sciences equipment makers today. EMD Millipore, the Billerica, MA-based subsidiary of German pharmaceutical and chemical giant Merck KGaA, has agreed to acquire Seattle-based Amnis for an undisclosed sum. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year. Millipore was bought by Merck KGaA for … Continue reading “Amnis to Be Acquired by EMD Millipore of Merck KGaA”