Whatever happened to the lazy “dog days of summer?” The past week was busy with life science news, with a lot of deals and other developments. Here’s our summary: —Carlsbad, CA-based Life Technologies (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LIFE]]), in a bid to gain a competitive advantage in the market for fast and cheap gene sequencing, acquired Ion Torrent … Continue reading “Life Wants Ion Torrent for Fast Gene Sequencing, Biogen-Idec Takes On Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Two Biotechs Move Toward IPOs, & More San Diego Life Science News”
Category: National
Is Hardware Coming Back in Boston? Analog, Lyric, and Local VCs Suggest Yes
What do you get when you cross an MIT startup, a longtime public tech company, and three of the Boston area’s top VC firms? That sounds like a joke, but I’d argue that you get the makings of an interesting trend. The trend is that hardware—the actual machinery that powers our computers, phones, and other … Continue reading “Is Hardware Coming Back in Boston? Analog, Lyric, and Local VCs Suggest Yes”
Nonprofits and the Valley of Death in Drug Discovery
The research and development (R&D) process that ultimately leads to effective drugs is exceedingly difficult, and often the public does not understand the drug discovery pipeline. In a typical model, drug companies will research tens of thousands to millions of compounds and spend in excess of a billion dollars over a 10- to 20-year period … Continue reading “Nonprofits and the Valley of Death in Drug Discovery”
Lee Hood & Team Moving to South Lake Union, Mirina Vs. Marina, Trubion Gets Acquired, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
We had some noteworthy personnel moves, a big real estate deal, and some legal battling on the biotech beat this week. —The Institute for Systems Biology made it clear early this year it was scoping out the former Rosetta Inpharmatics building in South Lake Union as its future home, and this week the nonprofit research … Continue reading “Lee Hood & Team Moving to South Lake Union, Mirina Vs. Marina, Trubion Gets Acquired, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
Feds Pumps $54.5M in Stimulus Funds into Washington State to Expand Broadband Service, Spark Economic Growth
The Northwest Open Access Network (NoaNet) has received an additional $54.5 million in Recovery Act funds to expand high-speed broadband Internet to underserved areas across Washington state. U.S. Secretary of Commerce and former Washington state Gov. Gary Locke announced the funding, alongside U.S. Reps. Jay Inslee and Brian Baird, at the Seattle Central Library yesterday. … Continue reading “Feds Pumps $54.5M in Stimulus Funds into Washington State to Expand Broadband Service, Spark Economic Growth”
SaveWave, Formerly Upromise Grocery Operations, Spins Out from Sallie Mae with $2.3M from VCs, Angels
[Corrected, 8:35am. See below] Jeff Bussgang knows a few things about building consumer Internet companies. He’ll be applying all that knowledge to a new Boston-area company being announced today called SaveWave. Except it’s not actually new. In a previous life, Bussgang, a general partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, co-founded Upromise, a rewards-service company that helped … Continue reading “SaveWave, Formerly Upromise Grocery Operations, Spins Out from Sallie Mae with $2.3M from VCs, Angels”
Director Quits Cypress Bio’s Board During Buyout Struggle
San Diego’s Cypress Bioscience (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CYPB]]), which is in a standoff with a Ramius Group fund over its buyout offer, disclosed in a regulatory filing today that one of its independent directors has resigned from its eight-member board. The company, which yesterday reiterated its rejection of Ramius’ $160 million buyout offer, maintains that Jean-Pierre Millon … Continue reading “Director Quits Cypress Bio’s Board During Buyout Struggle”
Leroy Hood & Team Walk into South Lake Union With Plans to Grow
Leroy Hood is a walker. Now the biotech pioneer is going to be able to walk around in a very productive way. Once Hood and the rest of the Institute for Systems Biology team moves to South Lake Union next spring, he will be able to walk around the halls of a single building with … Continue reading “Leroy Hood & Team Walk into South Lake Union With Plans to Grow”
Scio Secures Investment From True Ventures, Others to Develop Safe Mobile Transactions
Scio Security, an Ann Arbor, MI-based developer of mobile phone transaction security systems, has received an undisclosed amount of venture capital investment from True Ventures, a Palo Alto, CA-based firm that invests in early-stage companies. Scio co-founder Jon Oberheide confirmed in an e-mail to me this morning that the investment happened this week and that … Continue reading “Scio Secures Investment From True Ventures, Others to Develop Safe Mobile Transactions”
Institute for Systems Biology Makes it Official: It’s Moving to Seattle’s South Lake Union
The worst kept secret in the local biotech real estate market is now official: The Institute for Systems Biology is moving to Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, into the modern building once occupied by Merck’s Rosetta Inpharmatics unit. Leroy Hood, the biotech pioneer who heads up the Institute for Systems Biology, told me back in … Continue reading “Institute for Systems Biology Makes it Official: It’s Moving to Seattle’s South Lake Union”
Biogen Idec Strikes Potential $345M Deal with Knopp to Develop ALS Drug
Biogen Idec now has a shot at treating a neurodegenerative disease that has befuddled researchers for decades. The Weston, MA-based biotech powerhouse (NASDAQ:[[ticker:BIIB]]) says today it has landed a deal with Knopp Neurosciences to develop an experimental drug for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Biogen, which has significant operations in … Continue reading “Biogen Idec Strikes Potential $345M Deal with Knopp to Develop ALS Drug”
Taste-Maker Allylix Prepares to Make “Nootkatone” a Household Word, as San Diego Gains Momentum in Industrial Biotechnology
In the six years since Allylix was founded, the San Diego startup has been developing ways of getting yeast to produce complex hydrocarbon molecules called terpenes for use initially as flavor and fragrance enhancers. In April, Allylix raised $9 million in a C Series round of venture capital to fund its commercialization plans, which call … Continue reading “Taste-Maker Allylix Prepares to Make “Nootkatone” a Household Word, as San Diego Gains Momentum in Industrial Biotechnology”
Dashwire CEO Ford Davidson Talks Financing, Apple Vs. Android, and the Future of Smartphone Syncing in a “Market That’s on Fire”
Ford Davidson has more smart phones than he can hold in two hands. It’s all part of the business, he says, a necessary product of keeping tabs on different mobile platforms—and competitors—and staying abreast of new trends. And though finding pocket space for all of his devices may be challenging at times, the 31-year-old founder … Continue reading “Dashwire CEO Ford Davidson Talks Financing, Apple Vs. Android, and the Future of Smartphone Syncing in a “Market That’s on Fire””
TechStars Alum Baydin Launches Gmail Plug-In to Keep You From Forgetting to Send Important E-mails
It’s no secret that consumers are looking for technology to help better handle e-mail communications. We’ve written about strategies for keeping the volume of your inbox down, and applications for reminding you to follow up on an e-mail conversation. Alexander Moore’s Cambridge-based startup Baydin was originally focused on helping consumers better bring in relevant files … Continue reading “TechStars Alum Baydin Launches Gmail Plug-In to Keep You From Forgetting to Send Important E-mails”
Hipmunk, Conceived by David Pogue’s Teenage Co-Author, Embarks On Mission to Make Travel Search Easier
This is the fourth in a series of profiles of companies emerging this summer from Mountain View, CA-based startup incubator Y Combinator. If anyone was ever predestined to be the co-founder of a Y Combinator-backed Web startup, it’s Adam Goldstein. He’s got the academic pedigree, having gotten his bachelor’s degree from MIT in electrical engineering … Continue reading “Hipmunk, Conceived by David Pogue’s Teenage Co-Author, Embarks On Mission to Make Travel Search Easier”
Seattle Children’s Moves in at Prominent Biotech Address as Targeted Genetics Moves Out
There’s a changing of the guard happening over at one of the historic addresses in Seattle biotech—1100 Olive Way. This former car dealership, which for more than 15 years was home to Targeted Genetics’ leading-edge gene therapy work, is now going to be the center of a new initiative in pediatric cancer studies at Seattle … Continue reading “Seattle Children’s Moves in at Prominent Biotech Address as Targeted Genetics Moves Out”
Susan Windham-Bannister on the State of the State’s $1B Life Sciences Initiative, Part II
Politics play a significant role in Massachusetts’s 10-year plan to invest $1 billion into its life sciences sector. Gov. Deval Patrick championed the effort, which aims to grow the life sciences sector in the state and create new jobs. And every year the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, the quasi-public agency in charge of the initiative, … Continue reading “Susan Windham-Bannister on the State of the State’s $1B Life Sciences Initiative, Part II”
IBM Buys Unica, A123 Spinout Raises $10M, Zynga Acquires Conduit, & More Boston-Area Deals News
Acquisition news from big IT, Web, and biotech names, plus funding announcements for newer tech and life sciences companies, kept us buzzing with deals news in New England this week. —Watertown, MA-based Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, a startup developing gene-silencing drugs, raised $25 million in Series B funding. New investor Domain Associates led the round, which also … Continue reading “IBM Buys Unica, A123 Spinout Raises $10M, Zynga Acquires Conduit, & More Boston-Area Deals News”
Life Tech, In Competitive Frenzy for Cheap DNA Sequencing, Buys Ion Torrent for $375M
Life Technologies just made a very aggressive move in the ultra-competitive world of fast and cheap gene sequencing. The Carlsbad, CA-based maker of life sciences instruments (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LIFE]]) said today it has agreed to acquire Ion Torrent Systems for a whopping $375 million in cash and stock. And that’s not the end of the deal. … Continue reading “Life Tech, In Competitive Frenzy for Cheap DNA Sequencing, Buys Ion Torrent for $375M”
Mitek Siezes an App Opportunity: Enabling Your iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android Phone to Scan and Deposit Your Checks
San Diego’s Mitek Systems, the developer of optical character recognition and intelligent pattern recognition technologies that processes 10 billion checks a year, might have created a new opportunity in the emerging market for mobile check processing. Today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Mitek a utility patent for “systems for mobile image capture and … Continue reading “Mitek Siezes an App Opportunity: Enabling Your iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android Phone to Scan and Deposit Your Checks”
Zynga Buys Conduit Labs; Social Gaming Giant’s Footprint Now Includes Boston
[Updated, see page 2] San Francisco-based Zynga, continuing the acquisition spree enabled by the massive success of its social games for Facebook, MySpace, and the Apple iPhone, has acquired Conduit Labs, the three-year-old music gaming company based in Cambridge, MA. Zynga announced the acquisition in a press release. Conduit, headquartered in the Barron Building at … Continue reading “Zynga Buys Conduit Labs; Social Gaming Giant’s Footprint Now Includes Boston”
Google’s Rich Miner Says Timing Is Everything for Android: Three Thoughts from Mobile Monday
Rich Miner was no Billie Joe Armstrong. But I can’t say I’m too sad to have missed Green Day’s concert at Great Woods (Comcast Center) to attend Mobile Monday at Google in Kendall Square last night. OK, maybe I can. But I did pull out a few interesting nuggets from the presentations and demos, which … Continue reading “Google’s Rich Miner Says Timing Is Everything for Android: Three Thoughts from Mobile Monday”
New Michigan Incubator, NextWave, Helps Businesses Get Capital, Exposure
Nancy Skinner, CEO of NextWave Media Studios and part owner of the just-opened NextWave business space in Troy, MI, describes her new digs as a “different animal” from your average incubator. It is more than just shared office space, she says. “If we deem that your company has good prospects, then we’re going to throw … Continue reading “New Michigan Incubator, NextWave, Helps Businesses Get Capital, Exposure”
The Eyes Have It: GazeHawk Introduces Low-Cost Eye Tracking Studies for Web Designers
This is the third in a series of profiles of companies emerging this summer from Mountain View, CA-based startup incubator Y Combinator. In e-commerce, understanding the psychology of the all-important click is more art than science. No one knows for sure what stimulates Web page visitors to click on certain links and not others; all … Continue reading “The Eyes Have It: GazeHawk Introduces Low-Cost Eye Tracking Studies for Web Designers”
San Diego’s Zogenix Moving Fast to Commercialize Drug-and-Device Combo
It took centuries for the basic concept of a syringe—a plunger that fits tightly in a tube—to evolve into the medical hypodermic syringe, which uses a hollow needle to inject medication beneath the skin. The founders of San Diego’s Zogenix say they have developed a faster and simpler method for subcutaneous injections—and on a much … Continue reading “San Diego’s Zogenix Moving Fast to Commercialize Drug-and-Device Combo”
Sound Physicians Taps Into Hospitalist Movement, Builds Fast-Growing Healthcare Delivery Business
One of the fastest-growing companies in the Northwest has little to do with high-tech, biotech, or cleantech. Tacoma, WA-based Sound Physicians owes its rapid rise to an innovative form of healthcare delivery that hospitals are flocking to as part of their ongoing quest to save money and improve patient care. Sound Physicians has got to … Continue reading “Sound Physicians Taps Into Hospitalist Movement, Builds Fast-Growing Healthcare Delivery Business”
Susan Windham-Bannister on the State of the State’s $1B Life Sciences Initiative, Part I
It’s been more than two years since Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed the bill for the state’s plan to invest $1 billion in its life sciences sector over a 10-year period. Susan Windham-Bannister, who started work as chief executive of the quasi-public Massachusetts Life Sciences Center around the time the bill was signed, has since … Continue reading “Susan Windham-Bannister on the State of the State’s $1B Life Sciences Initiative, Part I”
To Screen or Not to Screen, That is the Question
Almost everyone knows someone who has had cancer. It is the disease that seems to strike the most fear in people’s hearts, in part because it seems to affect people so randomly. We all know that if we eat right, exercise and keep our cholesterol low we are less susceptible to heart disease, but cancer … Continue reading “To Screen or Not to Screen, That is the Question”
KaloBios, Seeking to Apply Antibodies Beyond Cancer, Sets Sight on Killing Deadly Lung Invader
The people at Genentech have created an enduring perception about antibodies, which says these Y-shaped protein drugs are really good at specifically targeting cancer cells. When I was at Bloomberg News a few years ago, I learned that investors paid close attention to multi-billion dollar sales trends of the big three antibody drugs for cancer—bevacizumab … Continue reading “KaloBios, Seeking to Apply Antibodies Beyond Cancer, Sets Sight on Killing Deadly Lung Invader”
Cray Inks $25M DofD Grant, G5 Nabs $15M, Google Acquires Jambool, & More Seattle Area Deals New
There were, surprisingly, quite a few Seattle-area technology deals this week, breaking the typically slow summer deals trend we’ve seen recently. In the last week we’ve seen a local supercomputing company nab a pretty hefty Department of Defense grant, a cleantech startup partner with the Environmental Protection Agency, and an info commerce company settle a … Continue reading “Cray Inks $25M DofD Grant, G5 Nabs $15M, Google Acquires Jambool, & More Seattle Area Deals New”
Next Step Living Gets $2.6M Series B, Steps Out Into Green Retrofitting and Remodeling Sector
Boston-based energy efficiency startup Next Step Living announced it has pulled in $2.6 million in a first close of its Series B financing round, led by entrepreneur John McQuillan, who is president and CEO of environmental consulting firm Triumvirate Environmental. Existing investors Black Coral Capital and the Clean Energy Venture Group also participated in the … Continue reading “Next Step Living Gets $2.6M Series B, Steps Out Into Green Retrofitting and Remodeling Sector”
Mirina Vs. Marina: The Looming Court Battle Over Biotech Company Names
[Updated: 9:53 am Pacific, 8/17/10] Two Seattle-area biotech companies vying for a place among the nation’s elite developers of RNA-based drugs are now battling in court over names that make them sound like they’re in the yachting business. Mirina Corporation, a startup founded in August 2008 inside Seattle’s venture-backed Accelerator, filed a trademark infringement lawsuit … Continue reading “Mirina Vs. Marina: The Looming Court Battle Over Biotech Company Names”
Market for Space-Based Internet Service Heats Up for ViaSat
It appears that the competition to provide satellite-based Internet service is heating up for ViaSat, the Carlsbad, CA-based defense contractor, at least judging from an account today by Susanna Kim in the New York Times. As I reported earlier this year, ViaSat has placed a billion-dollar bet on creating space-based Internet service as a new … Continue reading “Market for Space-Based Internet Service Heats Up for ViaSat”
A123 Spinoff, 24M Technologies, Raises $10M to Develop Energy Storage Systems for Utilities, Electric Vehicles
There’s a new cleantech player in town. As we and other media outlets reported last week, Watertown, MA-based A123Systems (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AONE]]) has spun out a new company called 24M Technologies, which is developing a new kind of energy storage system that combines aspects of lithium-ion and flow battery technologies. The company announced today it has … Continue reading “A123 Spinoff, 24M Technologies, Raises $10M to Develop Energy Storage Systems for Utilities, Electric Vehicles”
American, European Auto Suppliers Marry Their ‘Collaboration-Ready’ Networks
Once upon a time in Detroit, automobiles were built using all U.S.-made parts, put together by an all-American crew working a U.S. assembly line. Well, no. As the first four words of this story indicate, the idea of a completely independent American auto industry is largely a fairy tale. Even the Ford Model T at … Continue reading “American, European Auto Suppliers Marry Their ‘Collaboration-Ready’ Networks”
PacBio Seeks $200M IPO to Gain Edge in Booming DNA Sequencing Market
Pacific Biosciences, the Menlo Park, CA-based company developing faster and cheaper gene sequencing technology, has filed a regulatory prospectus in which it says it hopes to raise as much as $200 million through an IPO. The PacBio investors who stand to gain the most from an IPO are Mohr Davidow Ventures (12 percent ownership), Kleiner … Continue reading “PacBio Seeks $200M IPO to Gain Edge in Booming DNA Sequencing Market”
1000Memories Confronts Death by Celebrating Lives
This is the second in a series of profiles of companies emerging this summer from Mountain View, CA-based startup incubator Y Combinator. When I met the founders of 1000Memories, a new website where family and friends of people who’ve died can create free multimedia memorials to their loved ones, my mind flashed first to The … Continue reading “1000Memories Confronts Death by Celebrating Lives”
ISE Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, West Wireless Offers Incentive Prize, Psilos Group’s Suennen Scouts Health IT, & More San Diego BizTech News
Summertime, and the livin’ is easy. ISE’s bankruptcy filing marked the only bit of pain in what was another serene week of tech news and unseasonably cool summer temperatures in San Diego. Get caught up on everything you need to know here. —ISE Corp. the Poway, CA-based maker of hybrid-electric drive trains for buses and … Continue reading “ISE Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, West Wireless Offers Incentive Prize, Psilos Group’s Suennen Scouts Health IT, & More San Diego BizTech News”
Former Solvay Pharma Chief Takes Lead Role at Startup Selecta Biosciences
A former pharmaceutical chief has taken the top job at Watertown, MA-based biotech startup Selecta Biosciences, a developer of nanoparticle vaccine technology. Werner Cautreels began work as chief executive of the startup in recent weeks, just months after leading one of the larger acquisition deals in the pharma industry this year. At the same time, … Continue reading “Former Solvay Pharma Chief Takes Lead Role at Startup Selecta Biosciences”
AirlineTickets and AirportParking CEO Sujan Patel on the Future of Online Travel
The airline industry may be in a slow and painful decline, but the online travel searching, booking, and rating industry is still soaring, especially here in Seattle. The combination of the Northwest’s tech startup culture, open-minded worldview, and the rainy winter months that leave us all yearning to hop on a plane to somewhere—anywhere—warm and … Continue reading “AirlineTickets and AirportParking CEO Sujan Patel on the Future of Online Travel”
$52 Million for Solazyme, $25 Million for Nanosys, $7.5 Million for WePay, & More Bay Area Biztech News
The news in San Francisco and Silicon Valley last week hit every stage of the innovation process, from new tech companies being born to mature ones finding new investors, to old ones firing their CEOs and suing each other. —I profiled inDinero, a Y Combinator-backed startup offering an online finance tracking tool that it bills … Continue reading “$52 Million for Solazyme, $25 Million for Nanosys, $7.5 Million for WePay, & More Bay Area Biztech News”
Innovating When You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know: The View from PARC
Innovation, construed as broadly as it is today, is seen as a universal panacea for all that ails developed economies. In the U.S., innovation has been credited with driving dramatic growth, productivity, and an unprecedented standard of living. Add the disintermediation of the Web, and innovation can also be credited with empowering the individual in … Continue reading “Innovating When You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know: The View from PARC”
Ayeah Games, With New Seed Capital in Hand, Looks to Create “Social Reality” Games
When it comes to social games, there isn’t all that much going on around Boston—at least compared to places like the San Francisco Bay Area, Germany and Eastern Europe, or Buenos Aires. But that might be about to change. Ayeah Games, a stealthy Boston startup, is working on what it calls a “social reality” game, … Continue reading “Ayeah Games, With New Seed Capital in Hand, Looks to Create “Social Reality” Games”
Are Casual Games Dead? Viximo and Z2Live Founders Weigh In Coast-to-Coast on Social Gaming Movement
There’s a little East Coast-West Coast brouhaha going on in the world of video games. I just spent a couple years in one of the casual gaming (and core gaming) epicenters of the world—Seattle. Little did I know the city might be becoming a graveyard of companies stuck in the past. At least, that could … Continue reading “Are Casual Games Dead? Viximo and Z2Live Founders Weigh In Coast-to-Coast on Social Gaming Movement”
Latterell Thinking: Ken Widder, Latterell Venture Partners’ Man in San Diego, on Early Stage Life Sciences Investing
Before he joined San Francisco-based Latterell Venture Partners almost four years ago, Ken Widder says the VC venture firm was trying to recruit a partner willing to work full time in Latterell’s Embarcadero Center headquarters. “I’ve known Pat for 24 years,” Widder says, referring to Pat Latterell, the namesake founder who started the life sciences … Continue reading “Latterell Thinking: Ken Widder, Latterell Venture Partners’ Man in San Diego, on Early Stage Life Sciences Investing”
IBM Buys Unica for $480M, Moves Deeper Into Marketing and E-Commerce
It’s one of New England’s biggest tech acquisitions of the year. Waltham, MA-based Unica Corporation (NASDAQ: [[ticker:UNCA]]) announced today it is being bought by IBM (NYSE: [[ticker:IBM]]) for about $480 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2010. Unica makes marketing and Web analytics software for big companies … Continue reading “IBM Buys Unica for $480M, Moves Deeper Into Marketing and E-Commerce”
Seattle Techies Take to the Streets for a 10-Day Geek Week
We have a lot of events here in Seattle that are so quintessentially representative of Northwest culture—Bumbershoot, Folklife, Bite of Seattle, SeaFair. And then there are all of the gaming conferences—like Casual Connect, and the Penny Arcade Expo—and way too many tech-themed meetups to count. Each and every event, no matter how different, is blogged, … Continue reading “Seattle Techies Take to the Streets for a 10-Day Geek Week”
Lighting Up the World’s Text: A Talk with Vook Founder Brad Inman
The San Francisco Bay Area is one of those places where the new is always coming up against the old, with strange and often delightful results. You’d think, for example, that anyone who has an iPad would want to show it off. But in the Potrero Hill neighborhood, not far from my office, there’s a … Continue reading “Lighting Up the World’s Text: A Talk with Vook Founder Brad Inman”
Calico Energy Emerges in Energy Management World, Partners with EPA
Calico Energy Services has been flying under the cleantech radar for some time. The Woodinville, WA-based company, founded just over a year ago, is in the business of energy management which is quite a bit different from most cleantech companies that get a lot of press. Unlike many companies out there that provide services to … Continue reading “Calico Energy Emerges in Energy Management World, Partners with EPA”
Genomics in San Diego: From the Human Genome to a New Biotechnology Focus
San Diego’s biotechnology industry has played an integral part in advances in genomics. Our reach extends from the research and tools created by startups during the genomics boom that began in the late 1990s, to cost-saving improvements made in DNA sequencing and the new field of synthetic genomics, which may provide important advances from biofuels … Continue reading “Genomics in San Diego: From the Human Genome to a New Biotechnology Focus”