With big bets by the titans of technology and consumer finance, 2011 is becoming the year that American business got serious about jumpstarting the “Internet of things“—a broad web of digitally enhanced locations that consumers can navigate the same way they now use smartcards to pay their bus fare or open security doors at work. … Continue reading “Iota, led T-Mobile Vets, Seeks a Simpler Way to Navigate the ‘Internet of Things’”
Category: National
I Love Entrepreneurs, But Not as My Science Teacher
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” It may be just a bumper sticker aphorism, but lately it’s got me thinking. Peter Thiel, early Facebook investor and Paypal cofounder, announced recently that he’s offering $100,000 to 24 young people to drop out of school and pursue an entrepreneurial idea in Silicon Valley. Thiel says … Continue reading “I Love Entrepreneurs, But Not as My Science Teacher”
aTyr Pharma Looks to Strike Balance Between Nonprofits, and Really Big For-Profits
Quite a few biotech entrepreneurs are thinking hard these days about how to reinvent the industry’s wobbling business models, and one of these interesting experiments is happening at San Diego-based aTyr Pharma. John Mendlein, the well-known entrepreneur who splits time as the executive chairman at both San Diego-based aTyr Pharma and Fate Therapeutics, says that … Continue reading “aTyr Pharma Looks to Strike Balance Between Nonprofits, and Really Big For-Profits”
Zynga Files For IPO, Brightcove Inks Boston Lease, Lotus Adds $26M, & More Boston-Area Deals News
New England biotechs helped make some deals headlines in the last week, while other startups have been a bit quieter surrounding the holiday weekend. —Boston-based cancer drug developer Acetylon Pharmaceuticals nabbed $27 million in Series B financing from individual investors, bringing its funding pot $40 million, including a mix of federal grants, private financing, and … Continue reading “Zynga Files For IPO, Brightcove Inks Boston Lease, Lotus Adds $26M, & More Boston-Area Deals News”
Zuckerberg Promises “Something Awesome,” Likester Parses Facebook Data, RevenueLoan Recalibrates, & More in Seattle-Area Tech News
How does one of the world’s hottest web properties keep up with insane user growth, continue adding features, and still keep the whole thing held together? To hear the head honchos of Facebook tell it, the answer isn’t to just vacuum up all the engineers you can find. Instead, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and … Continue reading “Zuckerberg Promises “Something Awesome,” Likester Parses Facebook Data, RevenueLoan Recalibrates, & More in Seattle-Area Tech News”
TeraDiode, MIT Lincoln Lab Spinoff, Trying to Create the Future of Laser Weapons & Welding
If laser weapons and tools ever become mainstream, it might be because of a quiet little company called TeraDiode. Sure, there are lots of more imminent (and perhaps more practical) applications for the Littleton, MA-based laser firm—welding, cutting metal, illuminating targets, and so forth—but blowing stuff up is what a laser was meant to do. … Continue reading “TeraDiode, MIT Lincoln Lab Spinoff, Trying to Create the Future of Laser Weapons & Welding”
Apture, Stipple, Zynga: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News
Fresh back from vacation last week, I dived back into the Bay Area tech news scene with three long news profiles, an e-book review column, and a smattering of other stories. —I profiled True Ventures, a six-year-old venture firm focused on early stage infotech companies. With only four full-time partners managing $378 million, the firm … Continue reading “Apture, Stipple, Zynga: The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News”
Legend 3D Lays Off 15 Percent, Avalon Ventures Holds 6.1 Percent of Zynga, SweetLabs Launches App Platform for PCs, & More San Diego BizTech News
There was no shortage of news from San Diego’s high-tech business front last week. If you’ve been on a holiday the past few days, here’s your chance to get up to speed. —Legend 3D, the San Diego-based 3D film conversion specialist, laid off 15 percent of its local workforce Friday, according to a note I … Continue reading “Legend 3D Lays Off 15 Percent, Avalon Ventures Holds 6.1 Percent of Zynga, SweetLabs Launches App Platform for PCs, & More San Diego BizTech News”
Comixology Builds One-Stop Shop for Comics Publishers, Retailers, and Fans
Comixology’s small staff of 24 comic-book freaks are working around the clock these days, preparing for one of the biggest changes their industry has ever seen: On Aug. 31, mega-publisher DC Comics will begin releasing its titles digitally and in paper form on the same day. Until now, there’s been a lag of at least … Continue reading “Comixology Builds One-Stop Shop for Comics Publishers, Retailers, and Fans”
Entrepreneurial Walk of Fame Looking Real-September 16 Launch Targeted
It’s an idea people love the instant they hear it: movies stars have their Walk of Fame out in Hollywood, so entrepreneurs should have one, too—and what better place than right here in Kendall Square, the most fertile, concentrated ground for entrepreneurship in the world? Last August, Xconomy was first to report on the idea … Continue reading “Entrepreneurial Walk of Fame Looking Real-September 16 Launch Targeted”
Optivia Biotech Finds its Way to Profits, With a Little Help from Friends at the FDA
Get most biotech executives talking about the FDA, and they usually tiptoe around with diplomatic sound bites, or maybe they’ll grumble about what they consider unreasonable burdens and arbitrary decisions by the U.S. drug regulatory agency. The guys at Menlo Park, CA-based Optivia Biotechnology have a completely different take. “The tougher the FDA gets, the … Continue reading “Optivia Biotech Finds its Way to Profits, With a Little Help from Friends at the FDA”
Seattle Genetics, On the Verge of Going Commercial, Seeks to Keep Its Scientific Soul
Just glance at the name, Seattle Genetics, and you get the drift this is a science-based company. But Seattle Genetics is morphing into something bigger and more valuable, which creates a whole new challenge: How do you maintain an inspired scientific culture from the early days, while living up to the cold market reality to … Continue reading “Seattle Genetics, On the Verge of Going Commercial, Seeks to Keep Its Scientific Soul”
Syndax Moves Closer to Pivotal Trials of Selective Lung Cancer Treatment
Executives from Syndax Pharmaceuticals are spending their post-holiday week in Amsterdam, where they’ll be presenting three sets of data on the company’s lung cancer drug at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer conference. The drug, called entinostat, is in Phase 2 clinical testing, the results of which will be critical to advancing … Continue reading “Syndax Moves Closer to Pivotal Trials of Selective Lung Cancer Treatment”
Editor’s Picks: Xconomy Boston’s Top 20 Stories of the Second Quarter
Hold on to your lighter fluid there, Mr. Barbecue. Not so fast, Ms. I’m-Leaving-Early-For-The-Cape. Yes, I’m talking to you, Fourth of July holiday slackers. Actually, go ahead and slack off—this should go down pretty easy. At the end of each quarter, we like to look back at some of Xconomy’s top stories. These are not … Continue reading “Editor’s Picks: Xconomy Boston’s Top 20 Stories of the Second Quarter”
NextCAT Continues To Push Forward With The Help of Uncle Sam
The biofuels industry is still a difficult business to crack, but fortunately for startups like Detroit-based NextCAT, the government continues to believe in the technology. NextCAT Founder Charles Salley tells Xconomy that the company will likely win a $500,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant this month. The Wayne State University spinout, based at the TechTown … Continue reading “NextCAT Continues To Push Forward With The Help of Uncle Sam”
Three E-Books That Are Making the iPad Sing, Just in Time for Summer Reading Season
Technology changes quickly, and sometimes, so does my own mind. In January, I wrote a dismissive column about two e-book titles tailored for the Apple iPad, Alice for the iPad and Why the Net Matters. My main beef was that the apps, which had been lauded by the New York Times as “superbooks,” contained more … Continue reading “Three E-Books That Are Making the iPad Sing, Just in Time for Summer Reading Season”
Acorda Acquires Medtronic Drug, Fills Out Mid-Stage Neurology Pipeline
Today Hawthorne, NY-based Acorda Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ACOR]]) announced that it licensed an experimental compound to treat spinal cord injury from medical-device giant Medtronic (NYSE: [[ticker:MDT]]). Acorda paid $3 million up front for worldwide rights to the compound, and pledged up to $32 million in regulatory and development milestone payments to Medtronic, which is based in Minneapolis. … Continue reading “Acorda Acquires Medtronic Drug, Fills Out Mid-Stage Neurology Pipeline”
Acetylon Adds $27M, Third Rock Leads Lotus Round, InfraReDx Gets $24M, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News
New England drug developers, health IT startups, and med devices firms all made life sciences this week. —Genentech brokered a rare deal to obtain an early-stage cancer drug program from Cambridge, MA-based Forma Therapeutics. On top of the more typical upfront payment, development costs coverage, research support, and development milestones, Genentech has the option to … Continue reading “Acetylon Adds $27M, Third Rock Leads Lotus Round, InfraReDx Gets $24M, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”
Cadence Faces Competition from Generic Pain Reliever, Less Than a Year After FDA Approval
San Diego-based Cadence Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CADX]]) won FDA clearance in November to start selling the first intravenous form of a common pain reliever, and it’s already attracting competition from a generic rival. The FDA’s website was updated today to show that another company is seeking to sell a generic version of injectable acetaminophen, which Cadence … Continue reading “Cadence Faces Competition from Generic Pain Reliever, Less Than a Year After FDA Approval”
Dendreon, After Yearlong Inquiry, Sways Medicare to Pay for $93,000 Prostate Cancer Drug
Dendreon is no stranger to controversy, but the story today is about minimizing the debate about when taxpayers ought to pay for its high-priced prostate cancer drug. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said today it has made a final decision to reimburse healthcare providers in the U.S. who prescribe sipuleucel-T (Provenge). The Medicare … Continue reading “Dendreon, After Yearlong Inquiry, Sways Medicare to Pay for $93,000 Prostate Cancer Drug”
Mobile Apps Are Not Just for Smart Phones; Ford Courts App Developers
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how cars have become enormous smart phones on wheels. At the time, though, I didn’t know just how much Ford Motor agreed with me. I certainly do now. The company (NYSE: [[ticker:F]]), based in Dearborn, MI, is aggressively recruiting software developers to write mobile apps specifically for its … Continue reading “Mobile Apps Are Not Just for Smart Phones; Ford Courts App Developers”
New York Startup Social Amp Turns Facebook Friends into E-commerce Commentators
The next time you shop online for gifts and your Facebook friends’ interests appear on the webpage, Social Amp’s technology may be running under the digital hood. Matt Sunbulli, cofounder of the two-year-old New York startup, is on a mission to make e-commerce a more social experience. With a dose of crowdsourcing for shopping suggestions, … Continue reading “New York Startup Social Amp Turns Facebook Friends into E-commerce Commentators”
BeyondTrust Buys Security Technology from Likewise Software
Carlsbad, CA-based BeyondTrust said today it has acquired software from Likewise Software of Bellevue, WA, that helps businesses bridge Linux, Unix, and Mac environments to Microsoft Active Directory. Financial terms of the deal for Likewise Open and Likewise Enterprise were not disclosed. Likewise, an open source company that provides a platform for identity, security, and … Continue reading “BeyondTrust Buys Security Technology from Likewise Software”
True Ventures Looks for Magic in the Crowd of Portfolio CEOs, Not Its Partners’ Brains
How do you run a venture capital fund with $378 million under management with just four full-time partners? San Francisco-based True Ventures, a six-year-old early stage investing firm, has found a way: you crowdsource a lot of the work of shepherding your investments to the group of portfolio company CEOs themselves. You can’t go far … Continue reading “True Ventures Looks for Magic in the Crowd of Portfolio CEOs, Not Its Partners’ Brains”
IBM Is Looking to Buy-Is EMC in Its Crosshairs?
Big Blue celebrated 100 years of success in the tech industry earlier this month. It’s a rare feat in an industry where companies are often rendered obsolete in a decade, oftentimes sooner. In fact, IBM has managed to stay relevant while literally thousands of tech companies have come and gone. So, what’s its secret recipe? … Continue reading “IBM Is Looking to Buy-Is EMC in Its Crosshairs?”
Yottaa and SiteSpect Find Ways to Make Money by Making Websites Faster, More Targeted
These are two startups that aren’t household names in the Boston-area tech scene, but probably should be. One started in 2009, raised venture capital when it was tough to get in the downturn, and is currently adding new features and generating some buzz. The other started five years earlier, in 2004, bootstrapped itself to profitability, … Continue reading “Yottaa and SiteSpect Find Ways to Make Money by Making Websites Faster, More Targeted”
Amylin Buoyed by Diabetes Trials, Vital Therapies Raises $22.6M, Acutus Medical Gets Seed Cash, & More San Diego Life Sciences News
The Food and Drug Administration, often the center of attention for the U.S. biotech and medical device industries, came under the spotlight a bit more this week amid talk of changing the agency’s mission statement. There also was news from Amylin that should address at least some concerns FDA regulators have raised about its once-a-week … Continue reading “Amylin Buoyed by Diabetes Trials, Vital Therapies Raises $22.6M, Acutus Medical Gets Seed Cash, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”
Lotus Pioneers New Treatment for Rare and Disfiguring Disorder, Raises $26 Million From Third Rock
Today marks the debut of Lotus Tissue Repair, a Cambridge, MA-based company that’s developing a treatment for a rare, genetic disease called dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB). The disease may not be well known, but the folks behind the startup certainly are. Lotus has closed a $26 million Series A financing round led by Boston-based Third … Continue reading “Lotus Pioneers New Treatment for Rare and Disfiguring Disorder, Raises $26 Million From Third Rock”
Sorbent Therapeutics Absorbs $36M to Go After New Treatment For Kidney, Heart Failure
Sorbent Therapeutics wants to soak up the excess sodium and fluids that linger in the blood of people with failing kidneys and failing hearts, and it’s now absorbing a lot more cash to put the idea to the test. Sunnyvale, CA-based Sorbent is announcing today it has secured another $36 million in venture financing to … Continue reading “Sorbent Therapeutics Absorbs $36M to Go After New Treatment For Kidney, Heart Failure”
This Drug Didn’t Work for Me. May I Have My $88,000 Back, Please?
If you bought a new toaster, carried it home, plugged it in, and it didn’t work, what would you do? Suppose you purchased a pineapple at the grocery store, sliced it open, and found it was inedible. In both cases you’d seek the same remedy: you’d return the item and ask for your money back. … Continue reading “This Drug Didn’t Work for Me. May I Have My $88,000 Back, Please?”
Gates Bets on Computer Drug Discovery, Tachi Yamada Joins Frazier, Dendreon’s LA OK, & More in Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
This week we had some global health news, some politics, and some personnel moves to keep things humming here on the local biotech desk as head into summer. —Bill Gates is spending most of his fortune on tackling the health woes of the world’s poorest people, but every once in a while he invests in … Continue reading “Gates Bets on Computer Drug Discovery, Tachi Yamada Joins Frazier, Dendreon’s LA OK, & More in Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
Zuckerberg, Schroepfer: Facebook’s Crazy Growth Means Balancing Small-Team Culture While Making Sure Things Don’t Fall Apart
As it marches toward 1 billion users, Facebook’s leaders are keenly focused on a defining tug-of-war: Making sure the company has enough hands working on critical projects without getting too big too fast and diluting the talent pool. That’s one of my key takeaways from tonight’s Seattle appearance by founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and … Continue reading “Zuckerberg, Schroepfer: Facebook’s Crazy Growth Means Balancing Small-Team Culture While Making Sure Things Don’t Fall Apart”
Dendreon Gets FDA Nod for New LA Cancer Drug Factory
Seattle-based Dendreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]) said today that it has won clearance from the FDA to start manufacturing its immune-boosting drug for prostate cancer at a new factory in the Los Angeles area. The manufacturing plant OK, which was widely expected by analysts, means that Dendreon now has its first new location to produce its treatment … Continue reading “Dendreon Gets FDA Nod for New LA Cancer Drug Factory”
Genentech Shot Down at FDA Hearing on Avastin for Breast Cancer
Genentech has had a lot of good fortune in its dealings with the FDA over the years, but it was dealt a significant setback today. The South San Francisco-based biotech company, a unit of Switzerland-based Roche, failed to win over an FDA advisory panel that was asked to weigh in on whether bevacizumab (Avastin) should … Continue reading “Genentech Shot Down at FDA Hearing on Avastin for Breast Cancer”
Hookit Goes Mobile and Hits the Road to Build its Online Brand, Audience
Southern California might well be the coastal lifestyle capital of the U.S., replete with hundreds of action sports and apparel companies, and scores of competitive events for surfers, skateboarders, BMX riders, and other extreme lifestyle sporting events. Connecting the up-and-coming amateurs with prospective corporate sponsors has become the online province of San Diego-based Hookit.com, which … Continue reading “Hookit Goes Mobile and Hits the Road to Build its Online Brand, Audience”
Acetylon, Backed by Patriots Owner Bob Kraft, Snags $27M to Develop New Cancer Drugs
Boston-based Acetylon Pharmaceuticals has been pursuing one of the hottest fields in cancer biology the past couple years, and today it said it was able to scrape together a sizable amount of money to execute on its game plan. The company, founded two years ago on scientific work at Harvard University and the Dana-Farber Cancer … Continue reading “Acetylon, Backed by Patriots Owner Bob Kraft, Snags $27M to Develop New Cancer Drugs”
New York Angels Play Fast but Tough in the City’s Startup Scene
The New York Angels is a group of 61 individual investors who have invested more than $40 million in more than 70 startups ever since the group launched in 1997. The organization’s vice chairman is Brian Cohen, who himself has a long history of entrepreneurship—the lessons from which he tries to pass along to the … Continue reading “New York Angels Play Fast but Tough in the City’s Startup Scene”
Apture Seeks to Keep Web Readers Glued On Sites Longer, While Still Enabling Them to Explore the Web
The Web giveth and the Web taketh away. On the giveth side, the Web is a great medium for publishers because of its low distribution costs, and because of all the free traffic that results when search engines and other sites create links to a publisher’s pages. On the taketh side, the Web’s abundance and … Continue reading “Apture Seeks to Keep Web Readers Glued On Sites Longer, While Still Enabling Them to Explore the Web”
My Lunch with Andy Ory: Acme Packet CEO Talks Startup Lessons, Growing Pains, and Building the Next Great Boston Company
It’s not every day I get to dine with the CEO of a public company worth $5 billion. Last month I sat down with Andy Ory, founder and chief exec at Bedford, MA-based Acme Packet (NASDAQ: [[ticker:APKT]]), for an in-depth chat about his company’s strategy and outlook in the area of networking technology. The setting … Continue reading “My Lunch with Andy Ory: Acme Packet CEO Talks Startup Lessons, Growing Pains, and Building the Next Great Boston Company”
Something New, Something Used, Something Sterile: Stryker Embraces Recycled Medical Devices
Stryker has not been shy about shopping for acquisitions of late. Last year, the Kalamazoo, MI-based company bought Boston Scientific’s neurovascular unit for a cool $1.5 billion, its most high profile (and expensive) deal in recent memory. But I’d argue Stryker’s most significant purchase of late occurred in 2009 when the medical device maker bought … Continue reading “Something New, Something Used, Something Sterile: Stryker Embraces Recycled Medical Devices”
Basho Adds New CEO, Funding
Basho Technologies, a Cambridge, MA-based provider of data storage and management software for enterprise customers, announced today that it has hired a new CEO and sewed up some new funding. The new chief executive, Donald Rippert, formerly chief technology officer of consulting and technology services firm Accenture, will start on July 1 at Basho, which … Continue reading “Basho Adds New CEO, Funding”
Likester Looks to Ride its “Popularity Engine” from Reality TV to Political Campaigns—Maybe Even the Next Big Thing in Online Shopping
Could a startup best known for predicting the winner of “American Idol” be poised to capitalize on the next wave of e-commerce? When you’re talking about the ever-expanding world of Facebook—and the mountains of data it churns out—that kind of evolution starts to sound a lot less crazy. At least, that’s the impression you might … Continue reading “Likester Looks to Ride its “Popularity Engine” from Reality TV to Political Campaigns—Maybe Even the Next Big Thing in Online Shopping”
IBM SmartCamp Makes Its Debut in New York, Attracts Startups From Across the Atlantic
[Updated 6/30/11. See below] Eager entrepreneurs armed with ideas they believe can improve our way of life gathered on Tuesday for the first ever New York edition of the IBM Global Entrepreneur SmartCamp. The competition, which came to Boston last June, brings select groups of startups together with mentors from the investor community. Deborah Magid, … Continue reading “IBM SmartCamp Makes Its Debut in New York, Attracts Startups From Across the Atlantic”
Genentech Buys Rights to Forma Drug, Nimbus Gets $24M, Lilliputian Adds $11M, & More Boston-Area Deals News
Companies in the health IT, electronics, and biotech spaces have all been making deals headlines this week. —Wilmington, MA-based Lilliputian Systems, a maker of tiny fuel cells for powering cell phones and laptops, took in $11.1 million of a targeted $21 million equity- and rights-based financing from 14 investors, according to an SEC filing. —Vigix, … Continue reading “Genentech Buys Rights to Forma Drug, Nimbus Gets $24M, Lilliputian Adds $11M, & More Boston-Area Deals News”
Mark Zuckerberg Heading North for Sold-Out Developer Q&A at Facebook Seattle Office
If this counts as a recruiting stunt, it’s the best one yet. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is heading north for a Wednesday visit to the social networking behemoth’s Seattle office, its first outside of California. Word comes from Seattle office lead Ari Steinberg, who says in an e-mail to Seattle-area techies that Zuckerberg … Continue reading “Mark Zuckerberg Heading North for Sold-Out Developer Q&A at Facebook Seattle Office”
Running Rampant, On-Ramp Wireless Raises $11.5M in Equity Round
San Diego’s On-Ramp Wireless, which has been on quite a romp over the past year or so, recently raised $11.5 million of a planned $14.7 million round from investors, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. The investors were not disclosed in the filing. On-Ramp, which was founded in 2008 to develop low-power wireless networking technology … Continue reading “Running Rampant, On-Ramp Wireless Raises $11.5M in Equity Round”
Curis and Genentech Unleash the Hedgehog to Fight a Deadly Skin Cancer
Curis was founded in Lexington, MA, in 2000 with the intention of exploiting a disease-causing mechanism curiously named the hedgehog signaling pathway. Three years later, the startup attracted the attention of biotech pioneer Genentech, whose scientists believed hedgehog might offer a brand new way to fight cancer. Now the development deal that the two companies … Continue reading “Curis and Genentech Unleash the Hedgehog to Fight a Deadly Skin Cancer”
PopCap on the Block, Cloud Deals Aplenty, VC Anxiety, & More in the Seattle-Area Tech Roundup
PopCap Games is an undeniable Seattle success story. The company, started by three twenty-somethings in the aftermath of the dot-com bubble, has evolved from a freemium version of “Bejeweled” into an international, multi-platform publisher with $100 million in revenue and 400 employees. This year, with the casual games industry reaching mass-market investment potential, PopCap announced … Continue reading “PopCap on the Block, Cloud Deals Aplenty, VC Anxiety, & More in the Seattle-Area Tech Roundup”
Stipple Builds Out System to Help Publishers Profit from Tagged Web Images
Between 30 and 40 percent of all files on the Web are images, and even pages dominated by text usually have a few photos. Yet most of these photos aren’t linked to anything interesting, the way text can be. San Francisco startup Stipple sees this as a waste—and an opportunity. Last fall the company rolled … Continue reading “Stipple Builds Out System to Help Publishers Profit from Tagged Web Images”
Debra Reed Takes Over as Sempra Energy CEO
San Diego’s Sempra Energy has named Debra Reed as CEO of the global energy conglomerate, which operates two Southern California utilities and a separate holding company of diversified energy businesses focused on natural gas and power generation. Reed, who also joined Sempra’s board, is the first woman appointed to head Sempra, which posted an annual … Continue reading “Debra Reed Takes Over as Sempra Energy CEO”