Every month we take some time to look at the deals Washington tech and biotech companies inked in the month prior, and compare them to recent trends. Unlike our weekly investment deals roundups, these monthly features give us the opportunity to look back through both the large investment that made big headlines when they broke, … Continue reading “Washington Startups Bring in $51.7M in September, Healthcare, Internet, and Software Sectors Lead in Deals”
Category: National
Omeros Nabs $25M from Paul Allen and the State, Immune Design Strikes 1st Big Deal, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
A couple of sizable deals crossed the Seattle biotech news desk this week, and one of the Northwest’s main venture firms eagerly awaited its first IPO in a long time. —Omeros (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OMER]]), the Seattle biotech company, pulled in $25 million through an unusual deal that pooled $20 million from billionaire Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital … Continue reading “Omeros Nabs $25M from Paul Allen and the State, Immune Design Strikes 1st Big Deal, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
Dexrex Gear’s Technology Makes Instant, Text Messaging and Social Media Appropriate for the Workplace
There have been countless times where I’ve started a conversation on Facebook, expanded on it via e-mail, and wrapped it up through text messaging. For me, it’s not really a big deal, as I’m usually discussing weekend plans or roommate issues and not anything subject to examination by a federal agency. But for entities that … Continue reading “Dexrex Gear’s Technology Makes Instant, Text Messaging and Social Media Appropriate for the Workplace”
Meet Xconomy’s Tech Editors, Wade Roush and Greg Huang, Friday in Seattle
We’ve been having a lot of fun with our informal Xconomy Meetups, and now I really have a good excuse to do another one. Xconomy’s chief correspondent and San Francisco editor, Wade Roush, and Boston editor Greg Huang—who many of you know well from his two-year run as editor of this bureau—will both be in … Continue reading “Meet Xconomy’s Tech Editors, Wade Roush and Greg Huang, Friday in Seattle”
Agricultural Biotech Cibus Expanding as Launch of First Enhanced Crop Nears
[Corrected 10/28/10, 9:45 am. See below.] San Diego-based Cibus Global held an open house last night at the company’s new headquarters, which gave me an opportunity to get an update from CEO Keith Walker on the agricultural biotech’s growth spurt since last year. The startup, which officially spun out of Pennsylvania-based ValiGen in late 2001, … Continue reading “Agricultural Biotech Cibus Expanding as Launch of First Enhanced Crop Nears”
Limeade CEO Henry Albrecht On Why Healthy, Happy Employees Are the Key Ingredient to a Thriving Business
It’s not often that you meet a CEO who works a maximum of 55 hours a week, participates in push up challenges with coworkers in the office, and wears the company values—which read “anything is possible,” “speak plainly,” “we make things for customers,” and “be it”— on a dog tag around his neck. But for … Continue reading “Limeade CEO Henry Albrecht On Why Healthy, Happy Employees Are the Key Ingredient to a Thriving Business”
Beyond Gaming Adds Web-based, Social Networking Components to Traditional Console Gaming to Virtualize Tournaments
Tony Legeza and his fellow video game lovers at Beyond Gaming are out to add a bit of new-world flavor to the more traditional world of playing games on consoles like Xbox 360 or Sony’s Playstation models. The inspiration for the Toledo, OH-based startup, which is working to build a Web community of video gamers … Continue reading “Beyond Gaming Adds Web-based, Social Networking Components to Traditional Console Gaming to Virtualize Tournaments”
5×5: Five Cities, Five Big Tech Ideas Coming to Boston on Dec. 8
For entrepreneurs, sometimes the next great Twitter app or IT software package just isn’t enough. Sometimes you need to build something that takes longer than a few months to design and test. Sometimes you need to think big—really big. What are the biggest ideas in technology, and where are they coming from? How will they … Continue reading “5×5: Five Cities, Five Big Tech Ideas Coming to Boston on Dec. 8”
Codexis Morphs From Big Science Project Into $100M Business
Enzymes make the world go around, if you spend much time listening to biochemists. Now one of the emerging players in the business of engineering industrial enzymes, Redwood City, CA-based Codexis, is starting to show it can make those biological workhorse proteins into something else important—money. Codexis (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CDXS]]) made headlines back in April when … Continue reading “Codexis Morphs From Big Science Project Into $100M Business”
PacBio Raises $200M Through IPO for Fast, Cheap Gene Sequencing Tools
Pacific Biosciences found a pretty strong appetite from investors who want a piece of the future of super-fast, cheap genomic sequencing. Menlo Park, CA-based PacBio has raised $200 million through its initial public offering, settling on a price of $16 a share, smack in the middle of its $15 to $17 expected range. The deal … Continue reading “PacBio Raises $200M Through IPO for Fast, Cheap Gene Sequencing Tools”
Corengi Seeks to Bring Clinical Trial Information Into the World of Web 2.0
Punch the search term “Type 2 diabetes” into the main public website for clinical trials, and you’ll find more than 1,000 ongoing studies. That might be a wealth of information if you are an endocrinologist looking to get up to speed on the latest and greatest therapies. But to patients, it’s mostly a vast wilderness … Continue reading “Corengi Seeks to Bring Clinical Trial Information Into the World of Web 2.0”
MedNetworks, Co-Founded by Harvard’s Nicholas Christakis, Aims to Tap Healthcare’s Hidden Social Networks
A Facebook dashboard might be the first thing that comes to mind when we think of social networks. Yet the next big thing in social networking might be technologies that enable businesses to benefit from a deep understanding of existing social networks rather than creating them from scratch like Facebook. Newton, MA-based MedNetworks, for one, … Continue reading “MedNetworks, Co-Founded by Harvard’s Nicholas Christakis, Aims to Tap Healthcare’s Hidden Social Networks”
NextSpace Shows a New Way to Work
In 2009, in the depth of the recession, Rebecca Brian and Jamie Capozzi both found themselves working at home, trying to keep their marketing and branding agencies afloat. They felt isolated and distracted, and as they looked around, they saw that they weren’t the only ones. “It was the year of the contractor,” says Capozzi, … Continue reading “NextSpace Shows a New Way to Work”
Trimble Scoops Up ThingMagic, Resolvyx Sells Option to Celtic Therapeutics, GSK Venture Arm Puts $4M into Dicerna, & More Boston-Area Deals News
Dealmaking activity was on the light side this week in the New England tech and life sciences sectors, but there are still some interesting items to report. —Search-engine developer Goby raised $2.5 million from Kepha Partners and Flybridge Capital Partners, both return investors. The Boston-based startup is taking a local-search approach to helping people find … Continue reading “Trimble Scoops Up ThingMagic, Resolvyx Sells Option to Celtic Therapeutics, GSK Venture Arm Puts $4M into Dicerna, & More Boston-Area Deals News”
In Talk on Personalized Medicine, Life Technologies’ CEO Explains Shift in Corporate Strategy
On the day that Carlsbad, CA-based Life Technologies (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LIFE]]) is scheduled to issue its third-quarter financial results, Life chairman and CEO Greg Lucier provided a hugely insightful overview of the company’s changing corporate strategy. “We’ll do about $3.6 billion in revenue this year,” Lucier said at a breakfast meeting in San Diego earlier today. … Continue reading “In Talk on Personalized Medicine, Life Technologies’ CEO Explains Shift in Corporate Strategy”
Competitors Claim ITA Acquisition Would Give Google an Unfair Advantage in Travel Search
[Updated, see page 2] Quite a few online travel-info companies—FareCompare, Fly.com, Hotwire, Kayak, Sidestep, TripAdvisor, and Orbitz, to name a few—get their airline fare and seat availability information from a vast real-time database called QPX, the creation of Cambridge, MA-based ITA Software. Even search engines like Bing rely on QPX for flight data. So it … Continue reading “Competitors Claim ITA Acquisition Would Give Google an Unfair Advantage in Travel Search”
CommonAngels, Moving Into Smaller Seed-Stage Deals, Looks to Drive East Coast “Super Angel” Agenda—Some Reactions
Anyone can say they want to be “Boston’s super angels.” But Chris Sheehan and James Geshwiler are trying to back that up with some action. The managing directors of Lexington, MA-based CommonAngels announced last week they are adding a key new component to their firm’s financing strategy: the ability to invest in a greater number … Continue reading “CommonAngels, Moving Into Smaller Seed-Stage Deals, Looks to Drive East Coast “Super Angel” Agenda—Some Reactions”
Hospitals Should Embrace What They Learned In Kindergarten
I have been intrigued by numerous articles written recently on how hospital administrators are looking to other industries to learn how to adopt processes to reduce errors and improve quality of care. One recent example is that of hospitals learning from the manufacturing sector and adopting their lean manufacturing techniques to improve the efficient flow … Continue reading “Hospitals Should Embrace What They Learned In Kindergarten”
First Impressions of Michigan’s Innovation Landscape: An Institutional Legacy, A Fragmented Entrepreneurial Community, and Some Unexpected Promising Sectors
Last week I headed to the Detroit and Ann Arbor area to make my first visit to one of Xconomy’s newer outposts. I spoke with entrepreneurs and industry veterans, as well as academics and investors looking to jumpstart the region’s innovation engine. Some of what I saw and heard on my trip stood in stark … Continue reading “First Impressions of Michigan’s Innovation Landscape: An Institutional Legacy, A Fragmented Entrepreneurial Community, and Some Unexpected Promising Sectors”
ThingMagic-Trimble Deal a “Desired Outcome,” and a Next Stage for RFID and GPS Technologies
Yesterday’s acquisition of Cambridge, MA, technology firm ThingMagic by Silicon Valley-based Trimble (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TRMB]]) left a lot of people in the radio frequency identification (RFID) and location-based tech sectors wanting to know more. I spoke with both companies late in the day to get some answers. Overall it sounds like a fairly standard acquisition that … Continue reading “ThingMagic-Trimble Deal a “Desired Outcome,” and a Next Stage for RFID and GPS Technologies”
Countdown to VC Crossfire: Get Ready for Sparks to Fly on Thursday
We are chomping at the bit here at Xconomy Seattle about our next big event, circled in magic marker on my white board. This is the gathering we’re calling “VC Crossfire,” coming Thursday evening at Amazon’s new headquarters in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. This event will bring together a fearsome foursome of some of … Continue reading “Countdown to VC Crossfire: Get Ready for Sparks to Fly on Thursday”
The Northwest Cleantech Cluster: The A-to-Z List of Energy Efficiency Players
[UpdatedI 12:15 pm Pacific] We’ve been covering the cleantech space here at Xconomy for some time, and the whispers we keep hearing from the folks at the Northwest Energy Angels, cleantech incubators like the McKinstry Innovation Center, or the Puget Sound Regional Council, is that although the Northwest is an obvious contender to lead in … Continue reading “The Northwest Cleantech Cluster: The A-to-Z List of Energy Efficiency Players”
Ablexis Cuts Deal With Pfizer, Four Other Pharmas, For Antibody Drug Discovery Tool
Ablexis didn’t force its investors to wait very long to see some returns. The San Francisco-based biotech company is announcing today it has struck an unusual deal to provide its antibody drug discovery technology to five big drugmakers simultaneously, as an alternative way to generate returns without waiting around for the unlikely event of an … Continue reading “Ablexis Cuts Deal With Pfizer, Four Other Pharmas, For Antibody Drug Discovery Tool”
ATyr Pharma Pockets $23M to Create New Class of Protein Drugs, and New Targets
One of the more audacious biotech startups in San Diego just got a big vote of confidence at a moment when few companies of its kind are getting any sort of respect. San Diego-based aTyr Pharma has pulled in $23 million in its Series C round of venture financing, led by Domain Associates. aTyr’s existing … Continue reading “ATyr Pharma Pockets $23M to Create New Class of Protein Drugs, and New Targets”
Immune Design Snags $212M Deal With MedImmune To Provide Vaccine Booster
Immune Design has struck its first big deal with a Big Pharma company. The Seattle-based vaccine developer has agreed to provide a license to an immune-boosting compound, called an adjuvant, to the MedImmune unit of London-based AstraZeneca. The pharma giant plans to use the compound as a key ingredient in potent new vaccines it has … Continue reading “Immune Design Snags $212M Deal With MedImmune To Provide Vaccine Booster”
Phenomix, Former Highflying Diabetes Drugmaker, Shuts Down After Forest Labs Walks
San Diego-based Phenomix is history. The one-time highflying IPO candidate has shut down its operations, laid off essentially all of its 45 employees, and only has a skeleton crew left attempting to find someone to continue developing its lead drug candidate for diabetes, Xconomy has learned. Phenomix went out of business about three weeks ago, … Continue reading “Phenomix, Former Highflying Diabetes Drugmaker, Shuts Down After Forest Labs Walks”
OhLife’s Daily E-Mails Motivate a New Wave of Online Diarists
This is the ninth in a series of profiles of companies funded this summer by Paul Graham’s Y Combinator startup incubator in Mountain View, CA. Dear Diary, This will be the last time I write in you. Your crisp pages and smooth leather cover have comforted me through many lonely nights. But I’ve found someone … Continue reading “OhLife’s Daily E-Mails Motivate a New Wave of Online Diarists”
RPI Raises $5M More, Optify Nabs $6.1M from Triangle Peak, Madrona, TalentSpring and Recruiting.com Are Acquired, & More Seattle-Area BizTech News
For months the flow of news about Seattle-area technology company deals has felt like a trickle, and then all of the sudden this week we have deals coming out of our ears. It must be the fall weather, which has finally set in, quite a bit later than usual. Take a look at the highlights: … Continue reading “RPI Raises $5M More, Optify Nabs $6.1M from Triangle Peak, Madrona, TalentSpring and Recruiting.com Are Acquired, & More Seattle-Area BizTech News”
Curaspan Undergoes Big Expansion as Demand for Patient-Transition Software Grows
Curaspan Health Group set out 11 years ago to pursue founder and CEO Tom Ferry’s idea that there had to be a better way than the long, paper- and people-intensive process traditionally required to transition patients from hospitals to their post-acute care facilities or elsewhere. Now the Newton, MA-based firm is enjoying a period of … Continue reading “Curaspan Undergoes Big Expansion as Demand for Patient-Transition Software Grows”
Trend in Q3 Venture Data From Dow Jones Falls in Line
The quarterly venture capital survey by Dow Jones VentureSource was released earlier today, showing a trend that’s generally in line with data previously reported by CB Insights and The MoneyTree Report. Dow Jones says venture-backed companies in the U.S. raised $5.5 billion in the third quarter—a 5 percent drop in funding from the $5.8 billion … Continue reading “Trend in Q3 Venture Data From Dow Jones Falls in Line”
Grab a Beer With Me and Chris Rivera Tuesday at Xconomy Meetup
The Xconomy Meetup was an experiment last month. Now I reckon it’s time to replicate the experiment. Tomorrow afternoon, Xconomy readers are welcome to break away from the lab or the desk to come join me and special guest Chris Rivera of the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association for an informal meetup-style event. Regular Xconomy … Continue reading “Grab a Beer With Me and Chris Rivera Tuesday at Xconomy Meetup”
ThingMagic Technology Bought by Location Firm Trimble—Terms and Future Unclear
This is big news for the Boston and MIT startup communities—and maybe for Silicon Valley tech observers too. Cambridge, MA-based ThingMagic said today its technology has been acquired by Trimble (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TRMB]]), a mobile and location tech firm based in Sunnyvale, CA. Terms of the deal weren’t given, and representatives from the companies weren’t immediately … Continue reading “ThingMagic Technology Bought by Location Firm Trimble—Terms and Future Unclear”
Evernote Snags Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins Goes Social, Zuckerberg Speaks Out, & More Bay-Area BizTech News
Companies building cloud-based services got lots of attention last week, as did those building social applications. And companies building cloud-based social applications? Watch out! —Evernote, the Mountain View, CA-based online notekeeping service with nearly 5 million users, collected another $20 million in venture backing in a Series C round led by new investor Sequoia Capital. … Continue reading “Evernote Snags Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins Goes Social, Zuckerberg Speaks Out, & More Bay-Area BizTech News”
Tech CEO Pay Rises From 10-Year Low, Q3’s Biggest VC Deal Goes to SkinIt, Avalon Ventures Gets a New Headquarters in La Jolla & More San Diego BizTech News
Most of last week’s technology news was about deals—funding deals and partnership deals. Get your latest update here. —San Diego’s Avalon Ventures, which has been raising its ninth venture fund, has a new headquarters in the upscale community of La Jolla. Avalon founder Kevin Kinsella bought the ivy-covered Copley Library for a reported $3.75 million … Continue reading “Tech CEO Pay Rises From 10-Year Low, Q3’s Biggest VC Deal Goes to SkinIt, Avalon Ventures Gets a New Headquarters in La Jolla & More San Diego BizTech News”
Omeros Nabs $25M from Paul Allen, State Life Sciences Fund to Pursue Elusive Drug Targets
Seattle-based Omeros has raked in $25 million for its drug discovery technology from a couple of unusual suspects—billionaire Paul Allen and Washington state’s Life Sciences Discovery Fund. Omeros (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OMER]]) is collecting $20 million from Allen’s investment operation, Vulcan Capital, along with a $5 million grant from the state fund that aspires to spur more … Continue reading “Omeros Nabs $25M from Paul Allen, State Life Sciences Fund to Pursue Elusive Drug Targets”
Antigenics, and its UCSF Champion, Stick With Immune Booster For Brain Cancer
Antigenics could easily have thrown in the towel on its immune boosting therapy for cancer. But now the Lexington, MA-based biotech company, with the help of one of its main backers at UC San Francisco, is gearing up to run a significant trial to see if its lead therapy has a shot as a treatment … Continue reading “Antigenics, and its UCSF Champion, Stick With Immune Booster For Brain Cancer”
The End of a Recession, the Beginning of a Talent Crunch
The longest recession in U.S. history officially ended in June of this year, according to the National Bureau of Economic Statistics. Yet people in Washington State, even in the technology sector, are still feeling the pinch. Between July and August of this year, our state lost more than 9,000 jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau … Continue reading “The End of a Recession, the Beginning of a Talent Crunch”
Arena Obesity Drug Fails to Win FDA Approval, May Need More Clinical Testing
Arena Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARNA]]) sent out some devastating news around midnight Pacific time on Friday. The San Diego-based biotech company, after about a dozen years of effort and $1 billion of investment, said the FDA had turned down its application to market a new drug to help people in the U.S. lose weight. Arena cited … Continue reading “Arena Obesity Drug Fails to Win FDA Approval, May Need More Clinical Testing”
PostEgram’s Facebook-By-Mail Service Bridges Generation Gap
The grandkids never call. They never write. They do something called Facebook on their laptops, and something called texting on their phones, but what good is that to a grandma who doesn’t have a computer or a cell phone? Enter PostEgram, a 6-month-old Detroit-based startup that wants to bridge the gap between the greatest generation … Continue reading “PostEgram’s Facebook-By-Mail Service Bridges Generation Gap”
Massachusetts Startups Raise $147M in 25 September Deals; Software Investments Surge
The activity around events in the Boston startup community rapidly picked up pace in September, but venture investments in Massachusetts tech and life sciences companies grew far more modestly. The equity investments last month totaled $146.8 million, up slightly from $143.6 million in August. The September money came in across a smaller number of deals … Continue reading “Massachusetts Startups Raise $147M in 25 September Deals; Software Investments Surge”
Dendreon CEO at WBBA Meeting: State Should Reject Income Tax, Inspire Young Scientists
Dendreon CEO Mitch Gold has said for years that he wants to make his company the anchor tenant for Seattle biotech. Now that his company has had a breakout success, he’s clearly got the full attention of 700 members of the biotech community who met this morning, wanting to know what can be done to … Continue reading “Dendreon CEO at WBBA Meeting: State Should Reject Income Tax, Inspire Young Scientists”
Find The Investor of Your Dreams—For Free
There’s all sorts of wisdom about how to find folks to invest in your startup, ranging from the obvious to the slightly stalkerish. Approach investors who’ve supported companies like yours in the past. Go to startup school. Wait until a famous VC is stranded somewhere and give him a lift. In some ways, the most … Continue reading “Find The Investor of Your Dreams—For Free”
NewBay, Irish Mobile Software Company, Opens U.S. Headquarters in Seattle, Looks to Hire 100 People (and Take On Real, Motricity)
There’s a new mobile company in town—Dublin, Ireland-based NewBay Software, which is celebrating the opening of its new U.S. headquarters in Seattle today. The firm says it chose Seattle for its Americas headquarters because of the unique mobile and technological ecosystem here in the Pacific Northwest. NewBay, founded in 2002, sits in a tech sector … Continue reading “NewBay, Irish Mobile Software Company, Opens U.S. Headquarters in Seattle, Looks to Hire 100 People (and Take On Real, Motricity)”
Shots from the Front Row of Boston’s War on Cancer Event
Xconomy’s “Boston’s War on Cancer” forum on Wednesday delivered insights into some of the biggest questions about how scientists might be able to defeat one of the most fierce and complex diseases of our time, cancer. We heard some inspiring developments from Boston-area biotech chiefs whose companies are trying to make cancer treatments more precise, … Continue reading “Shots from the Front Row of Boston’s War on Cancer Event”
Proposition 23: Nothing More Than Misdirection
After giving my best attempt at an objective summary of Proposition 23 to a colleague, he asked rhetorically, “How can something like this even make it onto the ballot?” He was, of course, familiar with the process that allows any proposition that gathers enough signatures to make it to the ballot in, but the question … Continue reading “Proposition 23: Nothing More Than Misdirection”
10 Fantastic Photo Apps for the iPad
The Apple iPad doesn’t have a camera—yet. But it does have a big, beautiful, multi-touch screen. And that makes it one of the best devices ever built for browsing and manipulating images. Mobile app developers have realized this, and have created a profusion of fascinating apps for editing or simply exploring photographs. In fact, there … Continue reading “10 Fantastic Photo Apps for the iPad”
Aastrom Maps Out Pivotal Trial Strategy With Adult Stem Cell Therapy
Biotech is one of the most regulated businesses on the planet, so it’s clear that if Aastrom Biosciences is going to get anywhere, it had better have a good strategy for working with U.S. drug regulators. This week, the Ann Arbor, MI-based company took a couple of important steps in the direction that investors like … Continue reading “Aastrom Maps Out Pivotal Trial Strategy With Adult Stem Cell Therapy”
Alkermes Drops on FDA Rejection, Glaxo’s SR One Backs Dicerna, Biogen Reworks Genentech Alliance, & More Boston-Are Life Sciences News
It was a busy New England area life sciences news week, with headlines of drug collaborations, failed applications with the FDA, clinical trial results, plus some lengthier profile stories. —Providence, RI-based Shape Up The Nation is using social networking to invite people’s friends to encourage them to eat better and make healthier choices, Ryan wrote. … Continue reading “Alkermes Drops on FDA Rejection, Glaxo’s SR One Backs Dicerna, Biogen Reworks Genentech Alliance, & More Boston-Are Life Sciences News”
Exelixis Seeks to Exit Doghouse, Sangamo Morphs Into Drugmaker, Siluria Adds $13M, & More Bay Area Life Sciences News
This week we ran a couple of features about Bay Area biotechs known as scientific hothouses, which have been testing the patience of investors who want them to become real drugmakers. —Mike Morrissey, the CEO of South San Francisco-based Exelixis (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EXEL]]), talked about how he’s been trying to get the company “out of the … Continue reading “Exelixis Seeks to Exit Doghouse, Sangamo Morphs Into Drugmaker, Siluria Adds $13M, & More Bay Area Life Sciences News”
MassChallenge Awards $1M to 16 Startups Across IT, Cleantech, Retail, and Healthcare (Also Some Words of Wisdom from Steve Case)
It was a packed house at the MassChallenge finals last night in Boston’s Seaport District. Business luminaries such as Desh Deshpande, Steve Case, Josh Boger, Brad Feld, and Greg Bialecki were in attendance. And Boston mayor Tom Menino kicked things off by emphasizing that, especially compared with other innovation clusters around the country, “what Boston … Continue reading “MassChallenge Awards $1M to 16 Startups Across IT, Cleantech, Retail, and Healthcare (Also Some Words of Wisdom from Steve Case)”