Dendreon raised $630 million from investors last year to gear up for the commercial push of its new drug for prostate cancer, and the Seattle-based company plans to spend a lot of it this year. The company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]) plans to use about $460 million of its cash in 2010—about triple what it burned through … Continue reading “Dendreon To Spend $460M on Provenge Push This Year, Looks for Payoff in 2011”
Category: National
How Microsoft’s New Mobile Approach Stacks Up with Apple and Google
Pretty soon you might not be able to tell the difference between Microsoft and its most hated rivals. At least in the mobile sector. This would be good news for Microsoft. That’s my take after thinking more about Microsoft’s announcement last week of its heir apparent to Windows Mobile—the Windows Phone 7 Series operating system. … Continue reading “How Microsoft’s New Mobile Approach Stacks Up with Apple and Google”
Report: Thermo Fisher Bids to Take Over Millipore
According to a report today from the Bloomberg news agency, Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: [[ticker:TMO]]), the Waltham, MA-based supplier of laboratory instruments and equipment to the life sciences industry, has made an unsolicited bid to acquire Billerica, MA-based Millipore (NYSE: [[ticker:MIL]]) for $6 billion. Millipore makes diagnostic and laboratory equipment for biotech firms. Bloomberg attributed … Continue reading “Report: Thermo Fisher Bids to Take Over Millipore”
NIH Chief Stresses Economic Impact of Federal Biomedical Funding
Cancer and certain types of mental illness are diseases that appear ripe for research breakthroughs, according to Francis Collins, who just marked his sixth month as director of the National Institutes of Health. “I’m always loath to say what’s on the brink of some big breakthrough,” says Collins, who met with local reporters while attending … Continue reading “NIH Chief Stresses Economic Impact of Federal Biomedical Funding”
Icahn Making His Move On Genzyme
Carl Icahn is now officially making moves on the Boston area’s two biggest biotech companies. After boosting his stake in the slumping Cambridge, MA-based firm Genzyme, Icahn is now seeking representation on its board, according to the company. Icahn has been making similar plays for control at Genzyme’s neighbor, Biogen Idec, for years. Icahn has … Continue reading “Icahn Making His Move On Genzyme”
Chairman Bill Young: Next Biogen Idec CEO May Be a Scientist
The future leader of Biogen Idec might be as familiar with a petri dish as he or she is with a spreadsheet. That’s according to Bill Young, who took over as Biogen’s chairman of the board on January 1. Young is on the board committee that’s searching to replace CEO Jim Mullen, who announced last … Continue reading “Chairman Bill Young: Next Biogen Idec CEO May Be a Scientist”
Survey Finds Venture Deal Terms Improving, But Still Below Historical Levels
Even though venture capital funding plunged dramatically in 2009, it was nevertheless encouraging when the VC surveys that came out in January showed an uptick in venture deals during the fourth quarter—like a ski jump into 2010. Now the Cooley Godward Kronish Venture Financing Report for the fourth quarter of 2009 gives us another piece … Continue reading “Survey Finds Venture Deal Terms Improving, But Still Below Historical Levels”
Sony Electronics Outlines its 3D Strategy, Fallbrook Files For IPO, Electronics Recycler EcoATM Raises Venture Round, & More San Diego BizTech News
It was a great week for innovation in San Diego, with Fallbrook Technologies filing for an IPO and Sony Electronics previewing its 3D strategy (along with some new products) after opening the doors of its new $160-million North American headquarters. —Sony Electronics showed off its new 11-story North American headquarters building in San Diego during … Continue reading “Sony Electronics Outlines its 3D Strategy, Fallbrook Files For IPO, Electronics Recycler EcoATM Raises Venture Round, & More San Diego BizTech News”
Boston-Power Adds Ex-GM Exec to Board, Prepares to Take On Automotive Battery Market
Around the time Steve Jobs unveiled the Apple iPad, a funny Photoshopped picture began making the rounds on the Web, showing Jobs with four iPhones crudely lashed together with duct tape. The picture’s unspoken message, of course, was that the iPad is just a big iPhone. Well, something like that is actually coming true in … Continue reading “Boston-Power Adds Ex-GM Exec to Board, Prepares to Take On Automotive Battery Market”
ARPA-E Director Arun Majumdar Meets with Bill Gates, Advises Local Startups, Speaks at UW
There’s no better way to kick off a Seattle visit than to have a two-hour meeting with Bill Gates. That was Arun Majumdar’s morning yesterday. The director of ARPA-E, the new $400 million research agency within the U.S. Department of Energy, was on tour to promote novel energy R&D programs and get feedback from innovators … Continue reading “ARPA-E Director Arun Majumdar Meets with Bill Gates, Advises Local Startups, Speaks at UW”
Online Video Advertisers: Enough Double Stuf, Time to Get Targeted
What a wonderful world: Thanks to Fox, Comedy Central, and the other TV networks that are generous enough to post the latest episodes from their hit shows online, I can watch all of my favorite episodes on the Web on demand without paying a dime to Comcast (oops, “Xfinity”) for premium cable channels or DVR … Continue reading “Online Video Advertisers: Enough Double Stuf, Time to Get Targeted”
NanoString Chairman Bill Young Scopes Out Diagnostic Future, Considers Bay Area Expansion
Big decisions about the future of NanoString Technologies are in the works. The Seattle-based maker of genetic analysis tools is crafting a strategy to enter the clinical diagnostics market, it expects to hire a permanent CEO within a couple months, and it may establish its headquarters to the San Francisco Bay Area to get the … Continue reading “NanoString Chairman Bill Young Scopes Out Diagnostic Future, Considers Bay Area Expansion”
San Diego Entrepreneurs Exchange Provides Networking, Support for Early-Stage Startups
With hundreds of biotechnology companies and thousands of people employed in life sciences, San Diego has a large, informal network of people with deep knowledge across a wide range of skills. The Torrey Pines mesa, among the densest biotech clusters in the world, “acts like one big biotech incubator,” says Scott Thacher, CEO of Orphagen … Continue reading “San Diego Entrepreneurs Exchange Provides Networking, Support for Early-Stage Startups”
BiddingForGood Aims to Streamline Donation Requests and Boost Charity Auction Pool
Jon Carson describes the newest offering on his website, BiddingForGood.com, as the idea he is most proud of in his “entire startup life.” “It solves a real problem. It makes something efficient,” says Carson, whose previous entrepreneurial efforts include a keg delivery startup he ran while at Babson College, and FamilyEducation Network, a Web portal … Continue reading “BiddingForGood Aims to Streamline Donation Requests and Boost Charity Auction Pool”
Sirtris Founders Resurface with New Fund, Icahn Continues to Make Biotech Waves, Sentillion Bought by Microsoft, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News
Despite the Presidents Day holiday, it’s been a big life sciences week for us. —A new venture fund is being assembled by the founders of Cambridge, MA-based Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, a developer of treatments for aging-related diseases that went to GlaxoSmithKline for more than $700 million in 2008. Christoph Westphal, Michelle Dipp, and Rich Aldrich have … Continue reading “Sirtris Founders Resurface with New Fund, Icahn Continues to Make Biotech Waves, Sentillion Bought by Microsoft, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”
Nathan Myhrvold Shares Plan to Create Invention Capital Industry, but Skeptics Abound
Intellectual Ventures has been making a lot of waves lately. Today the Bellevue, WA-based firm, focused on the business of invention and patents, laid out its arguments for creating a new industry of “invention capital,” in a Harvard Business Review article penned by CEO and co-founder, Nathan Myhrvold. In a separate piece, the New York … Continue reading “Nathan Myhrvold Shares Plan to Create Invention Capital Industry, but Skeptics Abound”
Brightcove Attempts to Straddle Front Line in Mobile Video Wars
Brightcove has a problem. The Cambridge, MA-based startup’s Brightcove 4 video hosting platform, which hundreds of publishers use to distribute and monetize Web video on desktop and laptop PCs, was built around Adobe’s Flash Player. But more and more people want to watch videos on their smartphones, and Flash videos won’t play on most mobile … Continue reading “Brightcove Attempts to Straddle Front Line in Mobile Video Wars”
Renewable Energy Investor Says Wind Industry Ripe for Innovation
You could say I blew into the wind power event that Cleantech San Diego organized here last week. The canapés were gone by the time I arrived, but the show was just getting started. I got there in time to hear keynote speaker Jim McDermott of energy investment fund U.S. Renewables Group describe a somewhat … Continue reading “Renewable Energy Investor Says Wind Industry Ripe for Innovation”
Proteostasis, a Rich Boston Biotech with San Diego Ties, Grows to Pursue Diseases of Aging
Just before the financial crisis hit in September 2008, Cambridge, MA-based Proteostasis Therapeutics was fortunate to snag $45 million of initial venture financing to pursue a dream. It has been pretty quiet since then. But behind the scenes, the idea has morphed into a company built to make convenient oral pills for diseases of aging. … Continue reading “Proteostasis, a Rich Boston Biotech with San Diego Ties, Grows to Pursue Diseases of Aging”
RealNetworks, With Narrowed Focus, Seeks to Help Consumers Manage Digital Media Clutter
You might not know it, but you could say RealNetworks is being reborn today. The Seattle-based company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:RNWK]]) is announcing a new version of RealPlayer SP, its signature software for downloading, sharing, and transferring personal videos to smartphones and other devices. The new features include quick video editing—so you can keep just the parts … Continue reading “RealNetworks, With Narrowed Focus, Seeks to Help Consumers Manage Digital Media Clutter”
Another Setback for Cadence, Stimulus Funds Help Fuel Life Sciences Jobs, Tioga Gets More Funding for Drug Trial & More San Diego Life Sciences News
Some local biotechnology companies landed funding deals during the past week. We’ve got that and other highlights below. —Tioga Pharmaceuticals raised $18 million in private equity to fund a late-stage clinical trial of asimadoline, its experimental drug for irritable bowel disorder. —San Diego received $4.95 million of $225 million in stimulus funding awarded nationwide to … Continue reading “Another Setback for Cadence, Stimulus Funds Help Fuel Life Sciences Jobs, Tioga Gets More Funding for Drug Trial & More San Diego Life Sciences News”
Sentillion Sees Brighter Future in Healthcare Software Under Microsoft’s Ownership
Sentillion is no longer one of the little guys on the block. The Andover, MA-based provider of healthcare software announced this month that it officially became a subsidiary of technology giant Microsoft (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MSFT]]), a development that Sentillion founder Robert Seliger says will accelerate adoption of the firm’s software around the globe. Seliger, who had … Continue reading “Sentillion Sees Brighter Future in Healthcare Software Under Microsoft’s Ownership”
Cell Therapeutics Panel Stalled, Medical Device Angels Band Together, Calypso Cuts Side Effects, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
The world knows all too well that we don’t have much snow here in the Pacific Northwest (sorry, Vancouver), but we certainly felt the impact of the East Coast snowstorm here on the biotech beat over the last week. —Seattle-based Cell Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CTIC]]) is waiting a little longer than expected for its judgment day. … Continue reading “Cell Therapeutics Panel Stalled, Medical Device Angels Band Together, Calypso Cuts Side Effects, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
A Call for Showcase Participants at Xconomy’s March 9 Mobile Madness Forum
Xconomy’s big mobile conference, “Mobile Madness: The New Future of Computing,” is coming up fast, on March 9. But there’s still time to register for a ticket—and if you work for a mobile technology startup and you’d like to join the madness, either live at the event or online, there’s still time to get involved … Continue reading “A Call for Showcase Participants at Xconomy’s March 9 Mobile Madness Forum”
Nova Analytics Sale to ITT Provides “Very Good” Outcome for Battery Ventures
The private equity operation of Boston-based Battery Ventures helped buy out Nova Analytics, a Woburn, MA-based maker of lab and field equipment for electrochemical measurements, in 2003. Seven years later, after a string of strategic acquisitions that helped to consolidate the analytic instruments market, Battery has sold Nova to White Plains, NY-based ITT, which says … Continue reading “Nova Analytics Sale to ITT Provides “Very Good” Outcome for Battery Ventures”
How to Win the Future of Social Mobile Gaming: The Z2Live Story
Take two technology areas that Seattle is best known for: mobile and gaming. Mix them together in a fast-growing market (iPhone multiplayer games), put some shrewd venture capital behind it (Madrona Venture Group), and what do you get? Answer: Z2Live. This isn’t two guys in a garage working on their passion. This Seattle startup was … Continue reading “How to Win the Future of Social Mobile Gaming: The Z2Live Story”
San Diego’s Tioga Pharmaceuticals Raises $18 Million to Develop IBS Drug
Tioga Pharmaceuticals, a virtual company based in San Diego with just two fulltime employees, is announcing today it has raised $18 million in private equity to fund a late-stage clinical trial of asimadoline, its experimental drug for irritable bowel disorder. A new investor, Genesys Capital Partners of Toronto, joined current stakeholders Forward Ventures, New Leaf … Continue reading “San Diego’s Tioga Pharmaceuticals Raises $18 Million to Develop IBS Drug”
San Diego-Based Sony Electronics Ready to Talk About 3D And Other Innovations
Sony Electronics usually maintains a low corporate profile at its North American headquarters, even though it ranks among San Diego’s biggest private employers—with roughly 2,000 workers here. That seemed especially true after its corporate parent announced a massive reorganization at this time last year, which included hundreds of Sony layoffs in San Diego. So it … Continue reading “San Diego-Based Sony Electronics Ready to Talk About 3D And Other Innovations”
Cozi CEO Confirms $5M Funding, Affirms Advertising Business Model
Maybe online advertising revenues are coming back—at least in certain markets. That’s what I thought after catching up yesterday with Robbie Cape, the founder and CEO of Seattle-based Cozi. Earlier this week, the family-focused software company disclosed in an SEC filing that it has raised $5 million in new equity funding. The news was first … Continue reading “Cozi CEO Confirms $5M Funding, Affirms Advertising Business Model”
Technology Icon Ray Stata Gives NABsys a Big Boost in $7M Series B
Ray Stata, the co-founder and chairman of Analog Devices, is arguably the biggest name in semiconductors that Massachusetts has to offer. So it’s noteworthy that Stata’s Stata Venture Partners is leading a $7 million Series B round of venture capital for Providence, RI-based NABsys, which is developing a DNA sequencing technology that relies heavily on … Continue reading “Technology Icon Ray Stata Gives NABsys a Big Boost in $7M Series B”
MPM Collects $140M for Fifth Fund, NEXX Files for IPO, Nuance Advances on Mac Market, & More Boston-Area Deals News
New England’s tech and life sciences firms inked lots of deals in the last week, with the software sector being particularly active. —Advanced RenewableEnergy Company of Nashua, NH, raised $5 million of a $10 million equity round, according to regulatory filings. Nicknamed ARC Energy, the company makes equipment for growing and processing the sapphire crystals … Continue reading “MPM Collects $140M for Fifth Fund, NEXX Files for IPO, Nuance Advances on Mac Market, & More Boston-Area Deals News”
RealNetworks Spins Off Rhapsody, Urban Airship and Swype Raise Cash, Winshuttle Buys A1, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
There were a bunch of small deals in the Northwest this week. Some hot spots were mobile, business software, and alternative fuels. —Portland, OR-based Urban Airship, a mobile software startup, raised $1.1 million in a deal led by True Ventures. Seattle-based Founder’s Co-op also participated in the round. Urban Airship makes infrastructure for mobile messaging … Continue reading “RealNetworks Spins Off Rhapsody, Urban Airship and Swype Raise Cash, Winshuttle Buys A1, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”
Calypso Study Shows Pinpoint Radiation for Prostate Cancer Curbs Side Effects
Calypso Medical Technologies was founded a decade ago on the belief that it could reduce side effects for cancer patients getting radiation treatment. Now the Seattle-based company has the first batch of clinical trial data to prove it. A study of 64 patients who used the Calypso system to track their prostate tumors in real-time … Continue reading “Calypso Study Shows Pinpoint Radiation for Prostate Cancer Curbs Side Effects”
How EcoATM Became San Diego’s Hottest Startup Deal, If I Say So Myself
For a company that was founded by three wireless industry veterans only about a year ago, ecoATM ended 2009 with some pretty impressive results. If there was a yearbook for San Diego startups, you could say we were voted most likely to succeed: Out of more than 100 local start-ups that entered the San Diego … Continue reading “How EcoATM Became San Diego’s Hottest Startup Deal, If I Say So Myself”
Eleven Biotherapeutics Raises $35M, Seeks to Crank the Amplifer Up on Protein Drugs
It’s not every day on the biotech beat that we find a startup has been inspired by the 1984 rock mockumentary “This is Spinal Tap.” But that’s a true story behind the founding of Eleven Biotherapeutics, the latest high-profile startup in the Boston biotech cluster. Cambridge, MA-based Eleven Biotherapeutics is emerging from stealth mode today … Continue reading “Eleven Biotherapeutics Raises $35M, Seeks to Crank the Amplifer Up on Protein Drugs”
Fallbrook Technologies Files for $50M IPO
San Diego’s Fallbrook Technologies, a cleantech venture developing a proprietary transmission that offers improved efficiency for a variety of vehicles, intends to raise $50 million through an IPO, according to a filing today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A Fallbrook spokesman declined to comment on the stock offering. In its filing, Fallbrook says its … Continue reading “Fallbrook Technologies Files for $50M IPO”
Kashless Acquires Mercata Patents from Vulcan, Rolls Out New Group Buying Site, Tippr
“I believe it’s the pocket aces of IP in group collective buying,” Martin Tobias tells me. Tobias, the Seattle entrepreneur and investor who heads up the online community site Kashless, is talking about his latest strategic move. His company has acquired the patent portfolio of former Bellevue, WA-based dot-com Mercata from Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital, … Continue reading “Kashless Acquires Mercata Patents from Vulcan, Rolls Out New Group Buying Site, Tippr”
What Will San Diego’s Biotech Hub Look Like in 20 Years? Xconomy Event Takes Long View
San Diego has grown up into the world’s third-leading hub of life sciences over the past three decades. But what will the local life sciences landscape look like another two decades from now? Will the region have gained basic research prowess, attracted more venture financing, and stimulated more entrepreneurial activity? I’m excited to announce that … Continue reading “What Will San Diego’s Biotech Hub Look Like in 20 Years? Xconomy Event Takes Long View”
PatientsLikeMe Buys ReliefInsite to Help Patients Track Their Pain Online
PatientsLikeMe is pursuing new ways to enable patients to manage their healthcare online. The Cambridge, MA-based firm, which operates a social networking website for patients, reports today that it has acquired the online pain management firm ReliefInsite. Financial details weren’t disclosed. ReliefInsite’s software helps people to track their pain levels online and share the data … Continue reading “PatientsLikeMe Buys ReliefInsite to Help Patients Track Their Pain Online”
San Diego Gets $4.95M to Boost Life Sciences Employment
A $4.95 million grant from the federal stimulus package will be used to boost education, training, and placement services for people who are seeking jobs in San Diego’s life sciences and health care professions, according to local biotech and education leaders. The grant is part of more than $225 million in stimulus funds awarded by … Continue reading “San Diego Gets $4.95M to Boost Life Sciences Employment”
GenArts Bringing Boston to Special Effects Fore with Tinder Purchase from Britain’s The Foundry
Gradually, Cambridge, MA, is emerging as one of the world capitals of a highly specialized industry: digital effects plugins for film and video post-production. These are small software packages that production companies such as Lucasfilm or Sony Pictures buy to extend the capabilities of commercial digital compositing programs like Adobe’s After Effects, Autodesk’s Combustion, Avid’s … Continue reading “GenArts Bringing Boston to Special Effects Fore with Tinder Purchase from Britain’s The Foundry”
Veoh Networks RIP, Connect Is Recruiting an Innovation Lobbyist, Envision Solar Goes Public, & More San Diego BizTech News
The big news last week came from venture-backed Veoh Networks, which is filing for bankruptcy liquidation. Founder Dmitry Shapiro told me Veoh was the biggest Internet company that San Diego has ever seen (see below). —San Diego’s Veoh Networks, a video streaming website, was officially launched in 2005. It raised $70 million in venture capital, … Continue reading “Veoh Networks RIP, Connect Is Recruiting an Innovation Lobbyist, Envision Solar Goes Public, & More San Diego BizTech News”
Medical Device Entrepreneurs Converge on Wings, a New Angel Investing Network
People who make a living creating medical devices, like ultrasound machines or stents to prop open clogged arteries, have lived through a crummy 18 months. But that’s not discouraging a group of prominent medical device entrepreneurs from Seattle who are building the region’s first dedicated network of angel investors who have the money and expertise … Continue reading “Medical Device Entrepreneurs Converge on Wings, a New Angel Investing Network”
VoxOx Debuts Translator-in-the-Cloud for Instant Messaging, E-mails, Texting, Social Media
Today San Diego-based TelCentris is announcing at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that it has incorporated a new free offering—a “universal translator”—as part of VoxOx, its free, cloud-based, unified communications service. Some online services, such as Babelfish.com, currently enable users to copy and paste in foreign language text to get a translation. But TelCentris … Continue reading “VoxOx Debuts Translator-in-the-Cloud for Instant Messaging, E-mails, Texting, Social Media”
Lantheus Medical Imaging Stakes Future on Innovation After Generic Hit to Key Product
When Don Kiepert became chief executive of Lantheus Medical Imaging about two years ago, he says, he took over a business that was looking down the barrel of a generic threat to one of its top-selling products—and whose operations had been largely overlooked by its previous owner, the drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:[[ticker:BMY]]). Kiepert has attacked … Continue reading “Lantheus Medical Imaging Stakes Future on Innovation After Generic Hit to Key Product”
Winshuttle Expands to Germany with Acquisition, Keeps Growing Through the Recession
The global expansion continues for Winshuttle, one of the unsung heroes of the Seattle tech scene that I highlighted back in August. The Bothell, WA-based software company is announcing today it has acquired the German firm A1 Professional Software. Financial terms of the deal weren’t given, but Winshuttle is keeping the A1 Professional team of … Continue reading “Winshuttle Expands to Germany with Acquisition, Keeps Growing Through the Recession”
The Truth About Innovation Resistant Companies
The bigger the company, the tougher it is to innovate. There are two main pillars to this “innovation resistance” that seem common in large, profitable organizations. 1. Fear that innovative products will cannibalize existing revenue streams. The bigger the product line revenue, the more resistant that product group is to innovation that would threaten its … Continue reading “The Truth About Innovation Resistant Companies”
Rib-X Maps Out Pivotal Antibiotic Trial, As Part of Built-to-Last Company Strategy
Ten years have gone by since Susan Froshauer co-founded Rib-X Pharmaceuticals to create effective new antibiotics. If things break right, this will be the year her company makes some critical decisions that could ensure it lasts 10 more. Like a lot of startup drug companies, this one is consuming a lot of time and money. … Continue reading “Rib-X Maps Out Pivotal Antibiotic Trial, As Part of Built-to-Last Company Strategy”
Presidents Day
Posting will be light today as Xconomy is closed for Presidents Day. We’ll be back tomorrow full force. Meanwhile, enjoy the holiday!
Inside the McKinstry Innovation Center: A First Look at Seattle’s Big Cleantech Hope
Elsa Croonquist of McKinstry would cringe at the hype, but I’m here to say it’s at least partly true. The Seattle alternative energy scene has been eerily quiet as of late. This is not to diminish the efforts of organizations like the Clean Tech Open, Washington Clean Technology Alliance, Clean Energy Council, Climate Solutions, and … Continue reading “Inside the McKinstry Innovation Center: A First Look at Seattle’s Big Cleantech Hope”