Consumer brands have long employed celebrities to build their brands, but this may not be the most effective way of targeting consumers, says Jay Ziskrout, founder and CEO of Dympol, a Vermont and Cambridge, MA-based startup. “Is just being co-located with the entertainment enough for the magic to rub off on the brand?” asks Ziskrout, … Continue reading “Dympol Uses Targeted Advertising to Cut Online Music Costs”
Category: National
What Facebook VP Mike Schroepfer Is Looking For in Seattle Engineers: Entrepreneurial Passion
Facebook made big local news this morning when it said it is planning to open a Seattle engineering office in July. This will be the Palo Alto, CA-based social networking company’s first engineering center in the U.S. outside of its headquarters. (It also has an engineering office in Tokyo.) Facebook currently boasts more than 400 … Continue reading “What Facebook VP Mike Schroepfer Is Looking For in Seattle Engineers: Entrepreneurial Passion”
Tough Challenges for Clinical Trials
For those of you who, like me, wonder why the cost of getting a drug to market continues to grow each year, here’s what may be a piece of the puzzle: It’s getting harder to do clinical studies. A report released this morning by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development describes how … Continue reading “Tough Challenges for Clinical Trials”
Facebook Coming to Seattle in July: Engineering Center Could Hire 30 People
Facebook, the social networking phenom based in Palo Alto, CA, is planning to open an engineering office in Seattle in July. The company says it is actively looking for office space to accommodate as many as 30 employees over the next year, and it is recruiting for experienced engineers in Seattle starting today. The news … Continue reading “Facebook Coming to Seattle in July: Engineering Center Could Hire 30 People”
Glaxo Stops Study of Sirtris “Red Wine” Drug in Cancer Patients
There’s bad news this week about one of the much-hyped drug candidates based on the red wine chemical called resveratrol. Several news outlets are reporting that safety concerns have prompted GlaxoSmithKline to halt a mid-stage clinical trial of the drug, called SRT501, which the London-based drug giant gained in its $720 million buyout of Sirtris … Continue reading “Glaxo Stops Study of Sirtris “Red Wine” Drug in Cancer Patients”
Eliza Speech Recognition Technology Out to Make Healthcare Communication Sexier
It’s no surprise that many aspects of the healthcare system are deemed broken. But Beverly, MA-based Eliza is targeting a segment of the healthcare business that draws far less attention than the usual big ticket subjects like health insurance coverage or Medicare reimbursement codes. Eliza uses a software-as-a-service model to deliver interactive communications for insurance … Continue reading “Eliza Speech Recognition Technology Out to Make Healthcare Communication Sexier”
Mobile Health Edges Closer to Transformation as Industry Convenes Fifth Summit
As mobile healthcare entrepreneurs, technologists, and investors gather in San Diego next week for a three-day conference on wireless health, a report assessing the state of the industry concludes that “mHealth” is still emerging, and not yet ready for mainstream adoption. A survey of mobile health companies found that 94 percent of the wireless health … Continue reading “Mobile Health Edges Closer to Transformation as Industry Convenes Fifth Summit”
Celebrate Entrepreneurs Like the Red Wings Winning the Stanley Cup
I am very pleased to see Xconomy moving into the Michigan area to help with the reinventing of the economy there. A lot of people are clearly feeling real pain from the economy, and the injection of “innovation adrenaline” can not only be incrementally beneficial economically, it can make a profound change in the spirit … Continue reading “Celebrate Entrepreneurs Like the Red Wings Winning the Stanley Cup”
Motown Robots Rock With Bon Jovi
With the downturn in the auto industry, industrial robots that assemble car parts are down on their luck. So, like their flesh-and-blood counterparts, robots are looking to diversify. A few metallic laborers from ABB Robotics North America in Auburn Hills, MI, have found a new gig to help make ends meet…as backup dancers for the … Continue reading “Motown Robots Rock With Bon Jovi”
Venter Institute Raises $53M Through Sale-Leaseback Deal
The $53 million generated by the sale of the J. Craig Venter Institute’s five-building campus in Rockville, MD, could help finance construction of a multi-disciplinary research facility proposed for a scenic coastal bluff on the U.C. San Diego campus. The nonprofit genomic research institute announced the sale of its Maryland property yesterday to BioMed Realty … Continue reading “Venter Institute Raises $53M Through Sale-Leaseback Deal”
Five Ways to Build a Culture For Innovation in Michigan
First of all, don’t be fainthearted. Let’s face it, the Michigan workforce has been trained to perform in very hierarchical institutions, where compliance is rewarded and innovation is not. The old days are gone, but the attitude lingers. It will take serious blood, sweat, and tears to turn this around. Second, seek out the community … Continue reading “Five Ways to Build a Culture For Innovation in Michigan”
Introducing the Detroit X Lists: Xconomy’s Guide To Michigan Innovation
Did you know that Detroit has an image problem? Strange, but true. Just recently, “Dateline NBC” did a report on Detroit, “City of Heartbreak and Hope,” that has us, once again, talking about how the world perceives us. It’s become a big debate around these parts. Well, cartoon images aside (NBC has been criticized for … Continue reading “Introducing the Detroit X Lists: Xconomy’s Guide To Michigan Innovation”
Idenix Prices Stock Offering, Google Ventures Reveals Investments, Sophos Sells Stake to Apax, & More Boston-Area Deals News
Google pulled off the veil this week to reveal the portfolio companies in its two-year-old venture fund. Add that to a flurry of startup funding rounds, a stock sale, and an acquisition transaction, and it’s made for a busy deals news week for us in New England. —Management Health Solutions, a Fairfield, CT, maker of … Continue reading “Idenix Prices Stock Offering, Google Ventures Reveals Investments, Sophos Sells Stake to Apax, & More Boston-Area Deals News”
Welcome to the New World Order, Where Our Gadgets Rule Us
I refuse to live in a world where my computer appliances are now smarter and more powerful than I am. Last week, my Kindle wouldn’t download new books because I was too far away from the cell tower—I had to drive ten miles from my Vermont house to the nearest town, go around the green, … Continue reading “Welcome to the New World Order, Where Our Gadgets Rule Us”
Big Ideas for Health IT from Hood, Smarr, Lazowska: Highlights of the OVP Tech Summit
The fabled convergence of information technology and biology has been going on for a long time, but merging these fields ain’t easy. Chad Waite, a managing director with OVP Venture Partners in Kirkland, WA, knows this all too well, even though he has a megahit on his resume with Rosetta Inpharmatics, a computational biology company … Continue reading “Big Ideas for Health IT from Hood, Smarr, Lazowska: Highlights of the OVP Tech Summit”
An OVP IPO is Brewing, Allozyne Doing Fine, VLST Finds Second Partner, & More Tidbits from the OVP Tech Summit
There was a lot of big picture talk about the future of IT, biotech, and cleantech today at the OVP Tech Summit in downtown Seattle, but I also picked up quite a few morsels of news on the portfolio companies from the venerable Kirkland, WA-based venture firm. Here are the highlights, which largely came from … Continue reading “An OVP IPO is Brewing, Allozyne Doing Fine, VLST Finds Second Partner, & More Tidbits from the OVP Tech Summit”
Icahn Calls Genzyme’s Manufacturing “Broken,” Advises Against Termeer’s Re-Election to Board
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn ratcheted up his campaign to get himself and three of his associates elected to Genzyme’s board of directors next month, telling shareholders that the Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company’s manufacturing system is “broken,” according to a proxy statement filed with the SEC today. Icahn, who controls 4.9 percent of Genzyme’s (NASDAQ:[[ticker:GENZ]]) common … Continue reading “Icahn Calls Genzyme’s Manufacturing “Broken,” Advises Against Termeer’s Re-Election to Board”
Microloans Help 3 Michigan Companies See Another Day
Customers of three Michigan companies might soon see much better now that the Michigan Microloan Fund has given them a combined $121,000 to develop their products. Seeing what you’re killing: RiserCam, based in Saline, MI, makes video equipment for the outdoors industry. Its flagship product is the Roscoby Riser Cam, which is a flash memory … Continue reading “Microloans Help 3 Michigan Companies See Another Day”
How to Power “Eternal” UAVs in Flight: A LaserMotive Blueprint
You want some real tech? Here’s some real tech: LaserMotive, the Kent, WA-based startup founded by physicists Jordin Kare and Tom Nugent, has published a white paper on how to beam power to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) so they don’t have to land and refuel, or change batteries. The idea is to recharge UAVs while … Continue reading “How to Power “Eternal” UAVs in Flight: A LaserMotive Blueprint”
Sophos Sells Majority Stake to Apax to Fuel Growth
Sophos, a Burlington, MA-based maker of IT security software and hardware, announced its plans to sell a majority stake to private equity firm Apax Partners. The transaction values Sophos at $830 million, and will leave the company founders remaining as significant minority stakeholders in the company. Sophos had been exploring different avenues for entering a … Continue reading “Sophos Sells Majority Stake to Apax to Fuel Growth”
Fool Gets Its Xconomy On—Motley Fool to Carry Xconomy Stories
I am extremely pleased to announce that Xconomy and The Motley Fool have reached an agreement that will put one Xconomy feature story a day on Fool.com, the flagship website of the Alexandria, VA-based organization. The first story, by our Seattle editor Greg Huang about how startups might learn from Clay Christensen’s “disruptive innovation” model … Continue reading “Fool Gets Its Xconomy On—Motley Fool to Carry Xconomy Stories”
Link Medicine Ups Third Round to $45M, Taking Aim at Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
Link Medicine has wrapped up its Series C round at $45 million, $5 million more than the $40 million the developer of drugs for neurodegenerative diseases said it would raise in the financing in September 2008, says Michael Fitzgerald, the company’s financial chief. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech company finished the venture round with a third … Continue reading “Link Medicine Ups Third Round to $45M, Taking Aim at Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s”
WiTricity and Qualcomm Add Their Perspectives to Smart Energy Forum, Coming June 8
As the editor of San Diego Xconomy, I’m as thrilled as the next journalist to say I have electrifying news—and this time it’s almost literally true. In planning the Xconomy forum on smart energy, now just five weeks away, we’ve asked some of San Diego’s leading luminaries in energy innovation to discuss what they’re doing … Continue reading “WiTricity and Qualcomm Add Their Perspectives to Smart Energy Forum, Coming June 8”
Behind the Scenes at Google Ventures: The Full Q&A with Bill Maris
Last week Google Ventures unveiled a new website that includes the first public information about its portfolio and its staff. Yesterday, as part of the fund’s first real media outreach campaign, managing partner Bill Maris and partner David Krane spent about 45 minutes speaking with reporters in Boston via teleconference. I summed up the conversation … Continue reading “Behind the Scenes at Google Ventures: The Full Q&A with Bill Maris”
Six Things Michigan Can Do To Reinvigorate The Local Economy
The business model for the U.S. automotive industry needs to be re-evaluated to find ways to become competitive again with foreign manufacturers. Innovators and entrepreneurs in Michigan can help drive this by bringing new ideas for improving the supply chain, speeding up cycle times for innovative R&D, and cost reduction. These ideas need to come … Continue reading “Six Things Michigan Can Do To Reinvigorate The Local Economy”
Using MIT-Harvard Technology, Ligon Discovery Speeds Up Search for New Drugs
Ligon Discovery has been discovered, and I could argue that I was there the moment it happened. Patrick Kleyn, co-founder and CEO of Ligon, was sitting in the back of a crowded conference for drug industry dealmakers in Harvard Square last month when a senior pharmaceutical executive on an industry panel noted Kleyn’s fledgling firm … Continue reading “Using MIT-Harvard Technology, Ligon Discovery Speeds Up Search for New Drugs”
Bill Gates Backs Schrödinger, Bonanzle Lands Angel-VC Deal, Qliance Scores Big-Name Cash, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
Another relatively quiet week for deals in the Northwest, with some activity in software, e-commerce, healthcare, biotech, and medical devices. Let’s see if things pick up in the next few weeks—there haven’t been many new companies getting money lately. —Bothell, WA-based SonoSite, a maker of portable ultrasound machines, formed a partnership with Redmond, WA-based Physio-Control, … Continue reading “Bill Gates Backs Schrödinger, Bonanzle Lands Angel-VC Deal, Qliance Scores Big-Name Cash, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”
Five Ways to Create a Thriving Culture for Innovation in Michigan
—Invest in education and training. Make efforts to attract and retain college graduates within the state by implementing educational opportunities which are pertinent to students and employers. Maintaining a skilled and knowledgeable labor force will keep Michigan relevant and allow it to compete in the global economy. This is already being done through the programs … Continue reading “Five Ways to Create a Thriving Culture for Innovation in Michigan”
Raised in a General Motors Family, Jason Forcier Driving Growing Auto Battery Biz for A123 Systems
[Updated and corrected, 5/4/10, 1:15 pm ET] Jason Forcier was raised in Flint, MI, a city whose economic woes have been tied to the decline of the U.S. auto industry. Now he’s grown up and heading efforts at a growing company called A123 Systems to make advanced batteries for a new generation of energy-efficient cars … Continue reading “Raised in a General Motors Family, Jason Forcier Driving Growing Auto Battery Biz for A123 Systems”
Dendreon CEO Mitch Gold Cashes Out With $26.7M Payday On FDA Approval
[Correction: 5:10 pm Pacific, 5/3/10] Dendreon made history last Thursday, and its historic achievement made CEO Mitch Gold about $26.7 million richer. Gold, 43, exercised his options to buy shares of stock in his company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]) last Thursday, when Dendreon got the good news that the FDA had cleared its novel prostate cancer drug … Continue reading “Dendreon CEO Mitch Gold Cashes Out With $26.7M Payday On FDA Approval”
Google Ventures Pulls Back the Veil: Deals in San Diego, Boston, Dallas, and Silicon Valley
Just over two years ago, Google decided to get into the venture capital game, setting up a fund to invest in promising startups in much the same way that Silicon Valley VC firms Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers invested in Google itself back in 1999. Google Ventures has stayed mostly under the … Continue reading “Google Ventures Pulls Back the Veil: Deals in San Diego, Boston, Dallas, and Silicon Valley”
The Future of Patent Wars: More of the Same, but Less Litigation, Says John Amster of RPX
Intellectual property battles are a perennial hot-button topic in the tech world. Recently we’ve been hearing a lot about so-called “patent trolls,” companies that don’t produce goods or services but rather acquire patents and then try to extract licensing fees from firms they say are infringing on those patents. Most of these disputes involve lawsuits, … Continue reading “The Future of Patent Wars: More of the Same, but Less Litigation, Says John Amster of RPX”
Avalon Ventures Begins Fund-Raising for Ninth Fund, Sets $150M Goal
San Diego’s Avalon Ventures has embarked on fund-raising for its ninth venture fund, and intends to raise $150 million from its investment partners, according to a report this morning on VentureWire. Kevin Kinsella, who founded Avalon in 1983, confirms the report, but otherwise declined to comment. In a profile of the firm just last month, … Continue reading “Avalon Ventures Begins Fund-Raising for Ninth Fund, Sets $150M Goal”
Michigan’s Seneca Partners Plans to up the Ante with $50M Health Care Venture Fund
Seneca Partners, a venture capital firm with offices in Birmingham, MI, Ann Arbor, MI, and Bannockburn, IL, plans to raise between $50 million and $75 million for another health care venture fund this year, according to a report in VentureWire. Back in 2004, Seneca closed a $14 million fund health care fund and invested in … Continue reading “Michigan’s Seneca Partners Plans to up the Ante with $50M Health Care Venture Fund”
How Can IT Tame the $2.5 Trillion Healthcare Beast? Xconomy Takes Close Look May 12
Stephen Friend, the former chief of Merck’s cancer research and the visionary founder of an open-source movement for biology, likes to riff about the need for “globally coherent datasets.” What in the world is he talking about? Say you’re starting with a cancer patient. He’s talking about taking measurements of the patient’s DNA, RNA, and … Continue reading “How Can IT Tame the $2.5 Trillion Healthcare Beast? Xconomy Takes Close Look May 12”
Microsoft Builds Open-Source Tool for Biologists Drowning in Data, an ‘On-Ramp’ for Customers Who Pay
The boss at the world’s leading maker of high-speed gene sequencing instruments, Illumina CEO Jay Flatley, pulled no punches a couple weeks ago when asked about bioinformatics. This is the field in which people make software to help biologists store, analyze, and visualize vast piles of genomic data that are accumulating every day. “If you … Continue reading “Microsoft Builds Open-Source Tool for Biologists Drowning in Data, an ‘On-Ramp’ for Customers Who Pay”
Proteostasis, with San Diego Roots and Boston Home, Seeks Edge in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
Peter Reinhart, the new chief scientist of Cambridge, MA-based Proteostasis Therapeutics, spent the last six years leading one of the top neuroscience groups in the pharmaceutical industry, at Wyeth. The group has gotten its share of press for its efforts, with mixed results, to take aim at neurodegenerative scourges like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. But Wyeth’s … Continue reading “Proteostasis, with San Diego Roots and Boston Home, Seeks Edge in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s”
Cleantech Emerging as Third Big Sector for VC Investing, Ultraviolet Sciences Seeks a Foothold in the Water Biz, Four Startups Get ‘Under-the-Radar’ Funding, & More San Diego BizTech News
It was a week for news about high-tech job trends, venture deals, and a rising tide of cleantech venture funding. Get our summary here: —Cleantech startups are now getting close to capturing as much venture capital as the two biggest industry categories—life sciences and information technology. By one official estimate, VCs invested $1.9 billion in … Continue reading “Cleantech Emerging as Third Big Sector for VC Investing, Ultraviolet Sciences Seeks a Foothold in the Water Biz, Four Startups Get ‘Under-the-Radar’ Funding, & More San Diego BizTech News”
Five Lessons from Busts in Houston and Seattle that Could Be Applied in Michigan
I lived in Houston when the Oil Bust hit in the 1980s. With it came crushing unemployment. Yet Houston led the nation for the next several years in new business start-ups. Now large numbers of people work in a more diverse economy, including biotechnology, alternative energy, and information technology. Seattle, where I live today, has … Continue reading “Five Lessons from Busts in Houston and Seattle that Could Be Applied in Michigan”
The Building Blocks of Innovation: Part 2 of Our Q&A with David Egner of the New Economy Initiative
Last week I wrote up Part 1 of my interview with David Egner, president of the Detroit-based Hudson-Webber Foundation and executive director of the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan. The coalition of 10 community and philanthropic organizations is working to support economic diversification efforts in the Detroit region. Egner talked about the attitude of … Continue reading “The Building Blocks of Innovation: Part 2 of Our Q&A with David Egner of the New Economy Initiative”
MIT Spinoff Levant Power On Track to Produce Energy-Boosting Shock Absorbers For Cars, Tanks, and Trains
With gasoline prices on the rise and carbon dioxide emissions threatening to bring about global climate disaster, MIT spinoff startup Levant Power is trying to help drivers cut fuel consumption—by turning their shock absorbers into a source of energy. A car going down a bumpy road vibrates. Springs absorb the vibrations, and shock absorbers damp … Continue reading “MIT Spinoff Levant Power On Track to Produce Energy-Boosting Shock Absorbers For Cars, Tanks, and Trains”
Campus Reactions to UW President Mark Emmert’s Departure to the NCAA
The big news in local academic circles this week is that University of Washington president Mark Emmert is leaving after almost six years to become head of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), based in Indiana, effective November 1. The move surprised many in the academic and business communities. Emmert, 57, has a reputation as … Continue reading “Campus Reactions to UW President Mark Emmert’s Departure to the NCAA”
Cleantech Becoming ‘Third Leg’ of VC Investing Stool—But Just How Big is That Leg?
When Ira Ehrenpreis came through San Diego a couple of weeks ago, the cleantech investment partner at Palo Alto, CA-based Technology Partners said there was no such thing as a cleantech investment category when his firm began investing 25 years ago. At that time, Technology Partner’s investments in environmentally friendly technologies amounted to less than … Continue reading “Cleantech Becoming ‘Third Leg’ of VC Investing Stool—But Just How Big is That Leg?”
Massachusetts CEOs, VCs Launch “12×12” Mentoring Program
Prominent Massachusetts venture firms and CEOs have formally rolled out a mentoring program aimed at supporting “a new generation of technology entrepreneurs” in the state, in the words of an announcement this morning. Called 12×12, the initiative is supported by 12 local CEOs and 12 venture capital partners, and will match entrepreneurs with advisors for … Continue reading “Massachusetts CEOs, VCs Launch “12×12” Mentoring Program”
Xconomy’s Healthcare In Transition Forum: In Photos
Monday was Xconomy’s first ever event dedicated specifically to exploring how information technology can be used to improve the healthcare system. The event opened with a keynote address by Frank Moss, director of the MIT Media Lab (our venue for the forum), who used a clip from Saturday Night Live satirizing the Middle Age-technique of … Continue reading “Xconomy’s Healthcare In Transition Forum: In Photos”
Northwest Under-the-Radar Deals: 11 Financings Worth $1 Million or Less in March
When it came to startup investing in the Northwest last month, it was a bit of a give and take. Washington-based companies raised about $21 million across three deals, each worth more than $1 million, plummeting from the $53.5 million that companies pulled in across 10 such transactions in February. But the number of “under-the-radar” … Continue reading “Northwest Under-the-Radar Deals: 11 Financings Worth $1 Million or Less in March”
Prize-Winning Enertia Team Begins Long Climb To Commercialize Clean, Portable Energy
University of Michigan business student Adam Carver says he is a “mountain climber at heart.” Maybe that’s why he’s going for two degrees at once. Last summer, he conquered the Matterhorn. Yes, the actual Matterhorn in Switzerland. This year, he set out for the foothills of a longer, perhaps even more ambitious journey-to bring to … Continue reading “Prize-Winning Enertia Team Begins Long Climb To Commercialize Clean, Portable Energy”
The iPad May Kill the Kindle, But Amazon Could Still Come Out Ahead: The Only Comparison You Need to Read
If you’re interested in the electronic book craze, but you don’t yet own an e-book reading device, your options just got a lot more complicated. Not only are there a handful of great devices that use electrophoretic screens from Cambridge, MA-based E Ink, such as the Amazon Kindle, the Barnes & Noble Nook, and the … Continue reading “The iPad May Kill the Kindle, But Amazon Could Still Come Out Ahead: The Only Comparison You Need to Read”
San Diego’s Under-the-Radar Funding: Four Startup Deals in March Worth Less Than $1 Million
Back in November, Bruce gave San Diego readers a preview of our list of “under-the-radar” deals—startup transactions worth less than $1 million, based on data provided to us by private company intelligence platform CB Insights. We’ve been tracking them in our other cities for months, but we didn’t see much activity in San Diego again … Continue reading “San Diego’s Under-the-Radar Funding: Four Startup Deals in March Worth Less Than $1 Million”
Seattle Is #3—Where Does Michigan Want To Be?
Seattle has, from my point of view, carved out its position as the No. 3 biotech market in the U.S. behind Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area. Michigan is currently an outsider looking in. Where does Michigan want to be in this hierarchy, and what will they need to do to get there? Michigan … Continue reading “Seattle Is #3—Where Does Michigan Want To Be?”