It’s no question that March was a disorderly month. Here in New England, 70-degree days were quickly followed by record flooding for the region. The NCAA tournament saw major upsets in nearly every round (only for Duke to win the championship in the end.) Oh, and a little something called healthcare reform was signed into … Continue reading “Massachusetts Venture Funding Slimmed Down to $194 Million in March, But Healthcare Investing Swelled”
Category: National
Wings, the Medical Device Angel Network, Poised for Lift-Off at Initial Meeting
The Northwest’s new medical device angel investing network, called Wings, is showing more signs that it is starting to get off the ground. Three local medical device startups have been picked by the Wings selection committee to give 10-minute talks at the angel network’s inaugural invitation-only meeting this Wednesday. The entrepreneurs made it through a … Continue reading “Wings, the Medical Device Angel Network, Poised for Lift-Off at Initial Meeting”
SpaceClaim Captures $5 Million Series D Funding to “Democratize” 3D Modeling
Concord, MA-based SpaceClaim has raised an additional $5 million in Series D funding, bringing its total venture pot to just over $30 million, president and CEO Chris Randles told Xconomy yesterday. The four-year-old startup sells 3D modeling software for non-engineers, and has been enjoying explosive growth over the past year, according to Randles. The funds … Continue reading “SpaceClaim Captures $5 Million Series D Funding to “Democratize” 3D Modeling”
Venture Activity Report Charts Surge in Energy and Cleantech Investments, Smaller-Sized Deals
Venture investments continued to improve during the first three months of 2010, led by a strong comeback in both dollars and deals involving startups focused on energy and utilities, according to a national report released today by CB Insights, the New York private company intelligence firm previously known as ChubbyBrain. Venture firms sank $5.9 billion … Continue reading “Venture Activity Report Charts Surge in Energy and Cleantech Investments, Smaller-Sized Deals”
Mersana Strikes Deal With Teva Worth up to $334M for Long-Lasting Cancer Drug
Mersana Therapeutics has snagged its first big partnership. The Cambridge, MA-based company that makes drugs last longer in the bloodstream has formed an alliance with Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries that could be worth as much as $334 million over time for developing a new polymer-based drug for cancer and other diseases. Mersana isn’t saying how … Continue reading “Mersana Strikes Deal With Teva Worth up to $334M for Long-Lasting Cancer Drug”
From Boston to San Diego, Companies Maneuver to Catch Online Video Wave
Apple’s recent launch of the iPad has triggered intensifying interest in online video distribution, which seems to be reflected in a string of announcements that coincide with today’s kickoff of the National Association of Broadcasters’ annual conference in Las Vegas. As if reminding everyone of the size of their network, Cambridge, MA-based Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: … Continue reading “From Boston to San Diego, Companies Maneuver to Catch Online Video Wave”
From Apptio to Zillow: Seattle 2.0 Announces Finalists for Startup Awards Bash
The Seattle area’s hippest celebration for local software and technology startups is gearing up for its big night. After receiving nearly 7,000 nominations for 11 “best of” categories in Seattle tech, media company Seattle 2.0 is announcing today the finalists for its annual awards show. (Disclosure: I am one of the 36 judges who helped … Continue reading “From Apptio to Zillow: Seattle 2.0 Announces Finalists for Startup Awards Bash”
Cooking with the Genzyme Recipe: New Players Funding Rare Disease Drugs in Boston
Many people have probably never heard of some of the diseases that venture capitalists and drug company executives are swooning over lately. But regardless of how obscure a rare illness like X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia is, investments in developing drugs for such diseases are growing in popularity. In Boston, both venture firms and pharma executives … Continue reading “Cooking with the Genzyme Recipe: New Players Funding Rare Disease Drugs in Boston”
Qlipso Acquires Veoh Networks, V-Vehicle Ousts Founding CEO, Local Technology Clusters Converge on Bioinformatics, & More San Diego BizTech News
With all the life sciences news in San Diego last week, it would be understandable if you thought there was no high-tech news to be had. A simpler explanation, though, is that I was out of the country. So I cast the net a little beyond Xconomy’s pages for this summary. —A shakeup at San … Continue reading “Qlipso Acquires Veoh Networks, V-Vehicle Ousts Founding CEO, Local Technology Clusters Converge on Bioinformatics, & More San Diego BizTech News”
How a Business Can Span the Globe and Stay Close-Knit: Microsoft’s “Telepresence” Project
Stop me if this sounds familiar. You work in a tight-knit team that has one or two colleagues who are located in a different office—across the street, across the state, or across the country. You’d like to communicate with them more regularly, but phone calls, e-mails, and video conferences have to do. Inevitably, you feel … Continue reading “How a Business Can Span the Globe and Stay Close-Knit: Microsoft’s “Telepresence” Project”
Avalon Stakes Claim as Survivor Among San Diego Biotech VCs
Nobody will ever confuse San Diego’s Sorrento Valley for Sand Hill Road. And that’s not a bad thing if you’re one of the guys at Avalon Ventures. “The story is really that Avalon is now one of just two really active life sciences venture funds in San Diego, which is the third largest biotech hub … Continue reading “Avalon Stakes Claim as Survivor Among San Diego Biotech VCs”
UW Pulls in $300M From Stimulus, Places Big Bet for the Future on Genomics
The woman in charge of spinning University of Washington technology out into the business world, Linden Rhoads, boldly predicted a year ago that UW would pull in $300 million from the federal stimulus. Now one of UW’s top genome scientists, Debbie Nickerson, has confirmed the number, and says a big chunk of the loot is … Continue reading “UW Pulls in $300M From Stimulus, Places Big Bet for the Future on Genomics”
Google’s Cambridge Office Assumes Growing Role Inside Search Giant
If you glanced at the software engineering job listings page for Google Boston, you might think that the company’s Kendall Square office has only two positions open. That would be wrong. Site director Steven Vinter says the office has been hiring aggressively since December. The growth would have started sooner if it hadn’t been for … Continue reading “Google’s Cambridge Office Assumes Growing Role Inside Search Giant”
Cell Therapeutics Shareholder Meeting Postponed, After FDA Rejection
Cell Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CTIC]]) apparently has had enough humiliation for one day. The Seattle-based biotech company postponed a special shareholder meeting this morning at its headquarters along Elliott Bay, after announcing that the FDA rejected the application for its only cancer drug with a shot at reaching the U.S. market anytime soon. About a dozen … Continue reading “Cell Therapeutics Shareholder Meeting Postponed, After FDA Rejection”
The Real Truth About the iPad: A Non-Early Adopter Tests It Out, Pronounces It Lckig=ng (Typed on an iPad)
If you’re a fan of the TV show Supernatural, as the writer of this essay is, then at this point you might think a demon has taken possession of my colleague Wade Roush, who of course writes his World Wide Wade column every (or almost every) Friday. That would not be correct. But a demon … Continue reading “The Real Truth About the iPad: A Non-Early Adopter Tests It Out, Pronounces It Lckig=ng (Typed on an iPad)”
Cell Therapeutics Lymphoma Drug Fails to Win FDA Approval
Cell Therapeutics suffered what I called a “humiliating public beatdown” last month in front of an FDA advisory committee, and now the FDA has made it official in writing. The Seattle-based biotech company said its application to market a new lymphoma drug in the U.S. has been formally turned down by the FDA. The FDA … Continue reading “Cell Therapeutics Lymphoma Drug Fails to Win FDA Approval”
Pietzo’s Bikes Electrify Massachusetts Commuters
Millions of commuters suffer daily in traffic jams. Cars burn expensive, non-renewable gasoline and pollute our air while producing tons of carbon dioxide that threaten to bring about disastrous global climate change. But relief is coming, promises Pietzo, a year-old startup in Bedford, MA. The medicine is inexpensive, and can actually save money and offer … Continue reading “Pietzo’s Bikes Electrify Massachusetts Commuters”
Selecta Scores $15M, Fate Expands into Canada, Xconomy Launches Health IT Channel, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News
With the world aflutter over Apple’s iPad release, it seemed this week was all about IT, making it a lighter life sciences news week for us. The two spaces don’t have to be mutually exclusive, though; a fact we showcased with the launch of our new Health IT channel. —Ryan introduced Xconomy’s Health IT channel, … Continue reading “Selecta Scores $15M, Fate Expands into Canada, Xconomy Launches Health IT Channel, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”
Is Bioinformatics in San Diego’s Future? A Chat with UC San Diego Expert Lucila Ohno-Machado
One notion that emerged at Xconomy’s event in San Diego last week was that biomedical informatics might have a promising role to play in the region’s economic future. There is no consensus on this as yet, as Luke discovered when he talked with Illumina CEO Jay Flatley. Among the true believers is UC San Diego’s … Continue reading “Is Bioinformatics in San Diego’s Future? A Chat with UC San Diego Expert Lucila Ohno-Machado”
Washington Companies Raised $21M in March, Down from $53M in Previous Month
This is not good. Less than a month after proclaiming that venture funding may have stabilized at a lower but more sustainable level, I have to report that funding for Washington-based companies in March plunged to $21.3 million in just three deals. That’s significantly down from $53.5 million in 10 deals in February, and $57 … Continue reading “Washington Companies Raised $21M in March, Down from $53M in Previous Month”
MedVentive Reveals Clarian Health Deals, Banks $10M C Round
MedVentive is getting a big endorsement for its technology for helping healthcare groups use their growing volume of electronic medical data to save money and improve treatment of patients. The Waltham, MA-based software firm has tapped one of its largest new customers, Indianapolis-based Clarian Health, to help wrap up a $10 million Series C funding … Continue reading “MedVentive Reveals Clarian Health Deals, Banks $10M C Round”
San Diego Life Sciences 2030, in Pictures
It’s hard to believe, but eight days have zipped by since we held the big Xconomy event on the 20-year outlook for life sciences in San Diego. Sure, I already wrote up a little summary of what our great panel of speakers had to say at this event, but I admit I have been a … Continue reading “San Diego Life Sciences 2030, in Pictures”
With “Murder on Beacon Hill,” an iPhone App Debuts at Boston Film Festival
As far as anyone knows, it’s a first in movie history: a location-based iPhone application has been accepted as an entry at a major film festival. Walking Cinema: Murder on Beacon Hill, an app built around a 43-minute series of interactive videos, will appear on the big screen at the AMC Loews Boston Common theater … Continue reading “With “Murder on Beacon Hill,” an iPhone App Debuts at Boston Film Festival”
Sage Bionetworks On a Roll, Allon’s Foray into Alzheimer’s, Frazier Bets on Antibiotics, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
The Seattle biotech scene had a smattering of blurbs this week from a few of the lesser-known names. But at least one local organization is clearly starting to emerge. —Sage Bionetworks, the Seattle-based nonprofit seeking to spark an open source movement for biology, secured a $5 million grant from the state’s Life Sciences Discovery Fund. … Continue reading “Sage Bionetworks On a Roll, Allon’s Foray into Alzheimer’s, Frazier Bets on Antibiotics, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
Biotech’s Second Big Win in Healthcare Reform: A Tax Credit Bonanza
The biotech industry won a major victory last month when President Obama signed healthcare reform into law. Biologic drugs, those developed through genetic engineering techniques and incubated in living cells, will now be granted a 12-year period of data exclusivity on the market, to protect them from cheaper copycat competitors. That will allow the innovative … Continue reading “Biotech’s Second Big Win in Healthcare Reform: A Tax Credit Bonanza”
CareFusion Hits Acquisition Trail, Cadence Pharmaceuticals Enlists Manufacturing Expertise, Medsphere Systems Sees Explosion in Bookings, & More San Diego Life Sciences News
The integration of information technology and life sciences is well underway in San Diego, judging from the past week’s headlines. We’ve summarized it all here. —Illumina (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ILMN]]) CEO Jay Flatley chatted with Luke about the outlook for the gene-sequencing business, among other things. Flatley has an interesting take on the business potential of bioinformatics … Continue reading “CareFusion Hits Acquisition Trail, Cadence Pharmaceuticals Enlists Manufacturing Expertise, Medsphere Systems Sees Explosion in Bookings, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”
ThredUP Site Aims to Tie Together Loose Strings of Children’s Used Clothing Market
Cambridge, MA-based thredUP‘s mission is simple: to be “the place where America’s busiest families exchange clothing for kids,” says co-founder and CEO James Reinhart. The idea came to him in November 2008, when he was staring at a closet full of clothes that he no longer wanted to wear, he says. Last October, the company … Continue reading “ThredUP Site Aims to Tie Together Loose Strings of Children’s Used Clothing Market”
Fate Therapeutics Expands its Stem Cell Empire Into Canada
The Fate Therapeutics mini-empire already extends from coast to coast, and now it’s expanding northward. The San Diego-based developer of stem cell technologies has agreed to acquire Ottawa, Canada-based Verio Therapeutics to grab a few more bright minds, and some clever techniques for developing drugs that spark the body to regenerate damaged tissue. Financial terms … Continue reading “Fate Therapeutics Expands its Stem Cell Empire Into Canada”
Who Should Microsoft Acquire in Health IT? Who Is InnovateHealth? A Blog Sampler
With this week’s opening of our national Health IT news channel, we’ve been ramping up our coverage of all things healthcare, medical computing, and electronic health records. So a couple of Seattle-related items caught my eye this week. —First, the Texas-based online resource site Software Advice, which profiles electronic health record software (among other things), … Continue reading “Who Should Microsoft Acquire in Health IT? Who Is InnovateHealth? A Blog Sampler”
End the Speculation! Let’s Get Some Facts About Today’s Entrepreneurial Markets…
“New York entrepreneurship and venture capital are on fire.” “Silicon Valley is on the downswing.” “All of the venture firms in Boston are scrambling to set up shop in New York City.” “New York is way too expensive for entrepreneurs!” Depending on which blog you read, you can find almost any opinion on the state … Continue reading “End the Speculation! Let’s Get Some Facts About Today’s Entrepreneurial Markets…”
Illumina CEO Jay Flatley on the Future of Genomics, Part 2
Yesterday, we ran the first installment of a wide-ranging interview with Illumina CEO Jay Flatley. He talked a bit about some of the major competitors he sees emerging in the fast-paced world of gene sequencing, and how he hopes San Diego-based Illumina (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ILMN]]) can maintain an innovative edge, even as it grows into a … Continue reading “Illumina CEO Jay Flatley on the Future of Genomics, Part 2”
Big Ideas Need Work, Amazon Isn’t Too Late in Mobile Apps, and More from VC Tom Huseby
Breakthrough ideas and management “dream teams” by themselves are overblown. What really counts is hard work and the ability to adapt. That’s one of my main takeaways after chatting with Seattle-area venture capitalist and mobile guru Tom Huseby. He also shed new light on the dynamics between Apple, Google, and Amazon in the mobile sector—and … Continue reading “Big Ideas Need Work, Amazon Isn’t Too Late in Mobile Apps, and More from VC Tom Huseby”
Foursquare Is No Fad, Argues Founder Dennis Crowley; Xconomy’s Podcast and Q&A
I may not be the CEO of Xconomy (that title belongs to our founder Bob Buderi), but at least I’m the Mayor. I won that distinction last week by checking into Foursquare from our office on Rogers Street in Cambridge, MA more times than anyone else. If you haven’t heard of Foursquare, you’re in a … Continue reading “Foursquare Is No Fad, Argues Founder Dennis Crowley; Xconomy’s Podcast and Q&A”
World Health Day is Today—Let’s Make it An Everyday Habit in Seattle
It is somewhat strange to me that one day each year is selected as “World Health Day.” My belief is that every day should be “World Health Day.” But I certainly won’t miss the opportunity to observe today, April 7th, which has been celebrated as World Health Day since 1950, to mark the founding of … Continue reading “World Health Day is Today—Let’s Make it An Everyday Habit in Seattle”
SS&C Prices IPO, Amag Gets $60M from Takeda, Selecta Nabs $15M, & More Boston-Area Deals News
Looks like the recent Boston sunshine helped plump up deal flow for the region’s software, Internet, and life sciences companies. —Financial services software company SS&C Technologies Holdings, of Windsor, CT, set its IPO price at $15 a share, for a total of 10.725 million new shares. The price was at the high end of SS&C’s … Continue reading “SS&C Prices IPO, Amag Gets $60M from Takeda, Selecta Nabs $15M, & More Boston-Area Deals News”
DR Systems Spins Off eMix to Provide Online Exchange for Medical Images
Bill O’Leary, an IT specialist at a hospital in Montana, got a typical request one evening in January. A physician at another hospital, in this case a pediatric neurologist in Seattle, needed O’Leary to send the doctor a patient’s medical imaging exam. To transfer the digital image a year ago, O’Leary would have spent hours … Continue reading “DR Systems Spins Off eMix to Provide Online Exchange for Medical Images”
Sage Bionetworks, UW, Fred Hutch Secure $15M Grants from State Life Sciences Fund
Sage Bionetworks, it can now be said unequivocally, is on fire. The Seattle-based nonprofit that aims to spark an open-source movement for biology, has secured one of three $5 million grants that were announced this afternoon by the state’s Life Sciences Discovery Fund. The state’s biotech fund, which suffered a deep round of budget cuts … Continue reading “Sage Bionetworks, UW, Fred Hutch Secure $15M Grants from State Life Sciences Fund”
Jobster Gets New Owner, MDRNA Merges with Cequent and Teams Up with Pfizer, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
Today has been a most interesting day in the Seattle tech and media community. There was some prominent TV and radio coverage of TechStars (see Andy Sack and Andy Liu interviewed on KING 5 here), the North American Eagle “jet car” (interview with team leader Ed Shadle on KUOW, following Thea’s story here), and the … Continue reading “Jobster Gets New Owner, MDRNA Merges with Cequent and Teams Up with Pfizer, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”
Tune In Now to Hear “Turbojet Car” Driver Ed Shadle on KUOW
For those of you interested in Thea’s story yesterday on the effort to bring the land speed record to Washington state, we have another treat for you. KUOW 94.9 FM is doing an interview with the North American Eagle “turbojet car” co-leader and driver, Ed Shadle, in just a few minutes, starting at 12:00 pm … Continue reading “Tune In Now to Hear “Turbojet Car” Driver Ed Shadle on KUOW”
Sack, Entress, Liu, Patel, and Other Angel Investors Lure Twiistup to Seattle
Tired of Seattle-area tech startup events? Well, get ready for a whole new one. It’s coming April 26, and it has been a closely guarded secret until now. The event is called Twiistup, and it was started in Los Angeles by AOL executive Mike Macadaan in 2007. Think of it as a tech conference with … Continue reading “Sack, Entress, Liu, Patel, and Other Angel Investors Lure Twiistup to Seattle”
The Boston Angel Market
[Editor’s Note: Chris Sheehan is a managing director of CommonAngels, which is an investor in Xconomy. This post also appears on Sheehan’s blog.] I was recently asked by a couple of early stage entrepreneurs to talk about angel investing in Boston. The angel market around town has always been fairly active and cuts across many … Continue reading “The Boston Angel Market”
The Apple iPad: Lightning Strikes Cupertino Again
How do you sell 300,000 of anything on the first day it’s in stores? By convincing people that it’s going to be even cooler than the last incredible thing you built. Steve Jobs and his crew pulled that off with the iPad, which has been breaking the sales records set by the iPhone in 2007. … Continue reading “The Apple iPad: Lightning Strikes Cupertino Again”
Elemental Technologies Looks to Hit Home Run with Streaming Video for TV and Web Content
If you watched last night’s NCAA men’s basketball championship game on the Web, or followed any of Major League Baseball’s opening day action via video on your mobile phone, then you have an idea of the market that Elemental Technologies is trying to tap. Elemental, a Portland, OR-based video processing startup, is announcing today its … Continue reading “Elemental Technologies Looks to Hit Home Run with Streaming Video for TV and Web Content”
Illumina CEO Jay Flatley on How to Keep an Edge in the Fast-Paced World of Gene Sequencing
San Diego-based Illumina (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ILMN]]) is without a doubt one of the bigger success stories in biotech of the past decade. It makes biological research tools that significantly boost the efficiency of high-speed gene sequencing, instruments that spot subtle variations in long stretches of DNA, and products that analyze important ways in which genes can … Continue reading “Illumina CEO Jay Flatley on How to Keep an Edge in the Fast-Paced World of Gene Sequencing”
Medsphere Systems Markets Open Source Electronic Health Records System
Experts agree that electronic medical records can lower costs and improve care. Yet just 10 percent of U.S. hospitals keep any computerized records, according to a survey in the New England Journal of Medicine last year. The biggest reason is cost: depending on the size of the hospital, the price of a digitized record system … Continue reading “Medsphere Systems Markets Open Source Electronic Health Records System”
Vitality’s Internet-Connected GlowCap Targets Behavior Change to Remind You to Stay on Meds
Some people feel guilty when evading their doctor’s recommendations; others need a logical reason to follow an instruction. Cambridge, MA-based Vitality tries to factor in these differences in motivations and psychological makeup to spur patients toward a common goal: to make sure they take their medications as prescribed. On its most basic level, Vitality’s GlowCap … Continue reading “Vitality’s Internet-Connected GlowCap Targets Behavior Change to Remind You to Stay on Meds”
Allon Treads Into the Great Unknown, Alzheimer’s Disease, With New Kind of Drug
It must take real guts, or maybe hubris, to try to do what Allon Therapeutics is attempting. This Vancouver, BC-based biotech company has designed a drug that is made to work unlike anything else on the market against some of the world’s major neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s. Scientists don’t really know what causes Alzheimer’s, and … Continue reading “Allon Treads Into the Great Unknown, Alzheimer’s Disease, With New Kind of Drug”
Brighter Planet, Founded in Vermont, Sees Brighter Future in Bay Area
It’s another win for the Bay Area’s formidable social networking cluster. Brighter Planet, a provider of online and offline products that aim to help people and businesses reduce their carbon footprints, is downsizing its Vermont offices and expanding in San Francisco, company CEO Pattie Prairie says. The startup, which was formed by students and a … Continue reading “Brighter Planet, Founded in Vermont, Sees Brighter Future in Bay Area”
Recruiting.com Sells Jobster Business to Zapoint
[Updated 4/6/10, 7:05 pm. See below.] Seattle-based Recruiting.com has sold its Jobster business to Boston-area-based talent management firm Zapoint for an undisclosed sum. I confirmed the acquisition this afternoon with Kate Gerber, director of sales and marketing for Recruiting.com, formerly called Jobster, which makes online software for recruiters and search tools for job seekers. The … Continue reading “Recruiting.com Sells Jobster Business to Zapoint”
Report from DEMO: The DigitalScirocco Experience
The Internet is dying, and visitors are lost among its crumbling ruins. Sounds like hyperbole, but we are all trapped by an obsolete ideology binding most sites and keeping the Web from being all it could be. We go to the Internet seeking entertainment, information, communication, commerce, and comfort. We find ourselves lost in a … Continue reading “Report from DEMO: The DigitalScirocco Experience”