It’s probably not much consolation for the entrepreneurs who tried to raise venture funding last year, but U.S. venture capital firms raised much less money from their institutional investors in 2009 than they have in recent years. New figures from Dow Jones LP Source show that fund-raising by venture firms in 2009 fell almost 55 … Continue reading “Fund-Raising By U.S. Venture Capital Funds Fell 55% in 2009: We Have the Boston, San Diego, and Seattle Details, Too”
Category: National
Alnylam Maps Out First Steps in ‘RNA Decade’
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals CEO John Maraganore had a snappy greeting ready for our first conversation of 2010. “Happy RNA Decade,” Maraganore said. For the sake of his Cambridge, MA-based company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALNY]]), Maraganore is wagering that this will be the decade in which scientific seeds of RNA-based therapies start to fulfill their potential. The decade-long vision … Continue reading “Alnylam Maps Out First Steps in ‘RNA Decade’”
Tandem Diabetes Care Snags $52M Financing for Insulin Pumps
Tandem Diabetes Care, a San Diego-based company developing insulin pumps for diabetics, has raised a whopping $52.3 million round of equity financing that began last May, according to a regulatory filing. The company is led by CEO Kim Blickenstaff, the co-founder and former CEO of Biosite, a diagnostic company that was acquired by Inverness Medical … Continue reading “Tandem Diabetes Care Snags $52M Financing for Insulin Pumps”
Quattro Scooped Up By Apple, Medtronic Invests in GI Dynamics, EMC Acquires Archer, & More Boston-Area Deals News
New England’s tech and life sciences companies hit the ground running in the new year, inking a host of deals this week. —Data storage giant EMC of Hopkinton, MA, made a bold move into the market for governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) with the acquisition of Overland Park, KS-based Archer Technologies. Archer will become … Continue reading “Quattro Scooped Up By Apple, Medtronic Invests in GI Dynamics, EMC Acquires Archer, & More Boston-Area Deals News”
Qualcomm Shows its Consumer Side at CES, Venture Investor Joins Economic Development Corp., Dot Hill Buys Cloverleaf, & More San Diego BizTech News
There was a lot of tech news from Las Vegas last week, and it wants to get out. So we’re setting it free now. —Dazzling examples of the latest innovations of tablet computers, e-book readers, 3D-TVs, netbooks, and many more electronic devices were introduced at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which ended yesterday … Continue reading “Qualcomm Shows its Consumer Side at CES, Venture Investor Joins Economic Development Corp., Dot Hill Buys Cloverleaf, & More San Diego BizTech News”
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s Unique Take on Startup Hiring and Culture
What’s more annoying than a 24-year-old who sells his company to Microsoft for $265 million and never has to work another day in his life? Easy. When that same guy sells his next company to Amazon.com for more than $1 billion. OK, so it took 10 more years of hard work, but Tony Hsieh, now … Continue reading “Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s Unique Take on Startup Hiring and Culture”
See You at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference
It’s mid-January, and in biotech that means only one thing—it’s time for the annual industry pilgrimage known as the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. I’m here as always, attending the meeting in San Francisco’s Union Square that draws most of this fragmented industry’s major investors, biotech executives, and pharma dealmakers in one place for a frenzy … Continue reading “See You at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference”
The Intellectual Property Century
Great technology improvements over the past decade have proven again that innovation serves as the best currency for progress against our greatest challenges. Terrific new tools and applications in information technology have been on display everywhere during the holidays; green tech ideas abound offering great promise; and even in the more prolonged R&D world of … Continue reading “The Intellectual Property Century”
Asset Liquidation Signals End of San Diego’s Verari Systems
When San Diego tech firm Verari Systems abruptly laid off nearly all of its employees last month, senior vice president Dan Gatti maintained that the doors remained open, a few executives were staying on, and the company was restructuring its business. In a Dec. 14 statement posted on Verari’s website, the company said it had … Continue reading “Asset Liquidation Signals End of San Diego’s Verari Systems”
MIT MBA Students: Amazon, Google, and T-Mobile Are Hiring, Expedia Isn’t; Microsoft “Super Interesting,” Apple Is “Sterile”
[Updated 3:30pm 1/9/10 with clarification (see below)] If you want to know which companies are looking to hire top young business talent around town, just ask the group of 20 or so first-year MBA students from MIT Sloan School of Management. The students from Cambridge, MA, are in Seattle this week looking to make contacts … Continue reading “MIT MBA Students: Amazon, Google, and T-Mobile Are Hiring, Expedia Isn’t; Microsoft “Super Interesting,” Apple Is “Sterile””
San Diego’s Organovo Develops Bio-Printer Technology to Engineer New Organs
A biomedical startup in San Diego is giving new form to tissue engineering, with the help of proprietary technology licensed from the University of Missouri and a 3-D “bio-printer” capable of building human blood vessels and organs. Organovo CEO Keith Murphy demonstrated the bio-printer for me several weeks ago, explaining that the technology was developed … Continue reading “San Diego’s Organovo Develops Bio-Printer Technology to Engineer New Organs”
Dynadec, Harvest, and Konarka: A Trio of Friday Fundings
Three New England firms rounded out the first week of the New Year with new financing rounds. —Konarka Technologies of Lowell, MA, which is famous for its flexible “Power Plastic” photovoltaic material, raised $23.8 million in Series G funding through an offering combining equity and warrants. All of the money came from a single source, … Continue reading “Dynadec, Harvest, and Konarka: A Trio of Friday Fundings”
Subscription Model Turns Rent the Runway into a Real “Dressflix”
“Netflix for designer dresses” is the elevator pitch that everyone uses to describe Rent the Runway, the New York City startup that launched in November with Series A funding from Boston-based Bain Capital Ventures. The company buys dresses from top fashion designers, then lets customers reserve them online for a four- or eight-day rental period. … Continue reading “Subscription Model Turns Rent the Runway into a Real “Dressflix””
The FCC Calls for a Standard Set-Top Box: Open Box, Open Market, Open Mind?
I may be in the minority, but I think the FCC’s recent call for an open, retail-ready set-top box standard could be a boon for incumbent service providers, their technology partners, and consumers. The cable companies, who charge a nice little fee for set-top box rentals, may say that regulation will cost them the revenues … Continue reading “The FCC Calls for a Standard Set-Top Box: Open Box, Open Market, Open Mind?”
Five Disruptive Biotech Ideas to Watch in the Coming Decade
It was a remarkable decade. There were so many advances in biotech during the first decade of the millennium that it is hard to choose the most important ones so I’d prefer to focus on five transformational biotechnologies coming in the future. 1. Who would have guessed that by the end of the decade, what … Continue reading “Five Disruptive Biotech Ideas to Watch in the Coming Decade”
Tablet Fever: How Apple Could Go Where No Computer Maker Has Gone Before
After a steady crescendo over the last several years, the talk in the mediasphere about a new tablet computer from Apple has reached deafening proportions. With an actual product announcement now expected on January 27 (at least, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cites “sources in a position to know”), Apple may finally be … Continue reading “Tablet Fever: How Apple Could Go Where No Computer Maker Has Gone Before”
ISB Wins Top Scientific Impact Rank
The Institute for Systems Biology, a Seattle-based research center known for its entrepreneurial activity, was ranked No. 1 among all U.S. research institutions and No. 3 worldwide in terms of the impact of its scientific publications, according to an analysis by Spain-based SCImago Research Group. The impact ranking was based on an institution’s total research … Continue reading “ISB Wins Top Scientific Impact Rank”
Of Slates, Tablets, and Kindles: The Most Important Message of CES 2010
Lost amidst the cacophony of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is a simple message. It has nothing to do with what Microsoft did or didn’t announce—for example, some upcoming “slate PCs,” but no foldable book-like tablet or other rumored gadgetry. It has nothing to do with Google’s Nexus One “superphone,” with HTC and … Continue reading “Of Slates, Tablets, and Kindles: The Most Important Message of CES 2010”
Agreement Between Genzyme and San Diego Activist Shareholder Suggests Truce
In what may be a pre-emptive move to turn down the heat, beleaguered Genzyme (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GENZ]]) says today it has entered into a “mutual cooperation agreement” with Relational Investors, the $6 billion activist investment fund based in San Diego. The private investment firm began to acquire Genzyme shares in 2008, and Relational co-founder Ralph Whitworth … Continue reading “Agreement Between Genzyme and San Diego Activist Shareholder Suggests Truce”
Alder Rises from Ashes, Seattle Genetics Gets Empowered, ZymoGenetics Nets $79M & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
The New Year kicked off with a lot of exclusive biotech news and features, and next week will be even busier when I’m attending next week’s JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. —Alder Biopharmaceuticals was one of the Seattle biotech companies that emerged in 2009, but few people realize what humble beginnings it had … Continue reading “Alder Rises from Ashes, Seattle Genetics Gets Empowered, ZymoGenetics Nets $79M & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
Top Five Innovations to Watch in the Coming Decade
The next decade will see the realization of many of the buzzwords of the last decade. The combination of the information era, the biotechnology revolution, and materials breakthroughs will drive new medical and cleantech inventions that will change our lives. The future of innovation in the United States is promising at its core and we … Continue reading “Top Five Innovations to Watch in the Coming Decade”
MicroCHIPS Adds $16.5 Million to Pursue Wireless Medical Implants
MicroCHIPS, the Bedford, MA-based startup developing wireless medical implants containing chemical sensors or drug reservoirs, has raised $16.5 million in Series C venture funding, according to a company announcement today. Existing investors Polaris Venture Partners, Novartis Venture Fund, Flybridge Capital Partners, Medtronic, Saints Capital, Intersouth Partners, Care Capital, and CSK Venture Capital were all on … Continue reading “MicroCHIPS Adds $16.5 Million to Pursue Wireless Medical Implants”
ZeeVee Recasts Zinc Video Browser for the Cloud—and for a New Generation of Internet-Connected TVs
By the end of the new decade—and probably a lot sooner—television will be just another application of the Internet, the way e-mail and the Web and Twitter are today. All TV sets will connect directly to the Internet, and they’ll have built-in user interfaces that help viewers navigate the universe of digital video content (which … Continue reading “ZeeVee Recasts Zinc Video Browser for the Cloud—and for a New Generation of Internet-Connected TVs”
Lycera, a Midwestern Biotech Star, Moves Head Office to Boston, Hires Biogen Vet as CEO
One of the hot biotech startups from the Midwest is setting up shop in Boston. Lycera, the Ann Arbor, MI-based company with a novel idea for attacking autoimmune diseases, has decided to move its headquarters to Cambridge, MA and is naming a young management talent as CEO. Lycera is announcing today it has hired Bill … Continue reading “Lycera, a Midwestern Biotech Star, Moves Head Office to Boston, Hires Biogen Vet as CEO”
Biogen Idec CEO Stepping Down, Ambrx Focuses on Empowered Antibodies, Intellikine Testing First Drug Candidate, & More San Diego Life Sciences News
San Diego’s biotech community got busy in the first week of 2010, with a flurry of news falling as heavily as a New England snowstorm. Better get your snow shovel. —James Mullen announced his plans to retire June 8 (at the tender age of 51) as CEO of Cambridge, MA-based Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]). Mullen … Continue reading “Biogen Idec CEO Stepping Down, Ambrx Focuses on Empowered Antibodies, Intellikine Testing First Drug Candidate, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”
Three Questions on Hyperlocal Advertising with Satbir Khanuja, CEO of DataSphere
In the world of news media these days, there’s no getting away from two things: online advertising, and hyperlocal sites. Where they meet is a company called DataSphere in Bellevue, WA. On Tuesday, we reported that DataSphere had raised $10.8 million in Series B funding. The investors in the new round are Ignition Partners, also … Continue reading “Three Questions on Hyperlocal Advertising with Satbir Khanuja, CEO of DataSphere”
Tysabri’s PML Count Climbs to 28, and Some Reflections From Biogen Idec’s Departing CEO
At least one more patient has been diagnosed with a rare, and potentially fatal brain infection after taking natalizumab (Tysabri), the hit drug for multiple sclerosis from Biogen Idec and Elan, according to Biogen CEO James Mullen. There are now 28 confirmed cases of patients with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) as of the last count … Continue reading “Tysabri’s PML Count Climbs to 28, and Some Reflections From Biogen Idec’s Departing CEO”
Halosource Nails Down $10M for Global Expansion of Water Purifying Technology
Halosource, the Bothell, WA-based company with a cheap and simple technology for purifying water in developing countries, has raised another $10 million in a venture financing that could be worth as much as $15 million, Xconomy has learned. The investment is being led by Prime Partners Asia Merchant Capital of Singapore, according to Halosource’s chief … Continue reading “Halosource Nails Down $10M for Global Expansion of Water Purifying Technology”
ZymoGenetics On the Prowl to Raise $85M in Stock Deal
ZymoGenetics is on the prowl for a lot more cash from investors—possibly more than $85 million. The Seattle-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ZGEN]]) said today it is looking to sell 12 million new shares to investors in an underwritten stock offering, plus another 1.8 million shares to its underwriters. The company currently has about 69 million … Continue reading “ZymoGenetics On the Prowl to Raise $85M in Stock Deal”
Acton Pharmaceuticals Snares $15M for Inhaled Asthma Drug
Acton Pharmaceuticals, the Marlborough, MA-based developer of an inhalable drug for asthma, said today it has secured $15 million in a Series A financing round led by Sequoia Capital. The company doesn’t have to navigate most of the usual technology and regulatory risks that are inherent in biotech. Acton is getting started with a license … Continue reading “Acton Pharmaceuticals Snares $15M for Inhaled Asthma Drug”
Seattle Genetics Maps Out a Future With Antibody Drugs That Are “Empowered”
Some of the best-selling drugs in the pharmaceutical industry are what biotechies call “naked” antibodies. These are engineered Y-shaped proteins that zero in on markers of diseased cells, while sparing healthy ones. They generate an estimated $30 billion in annual sales, from big names like Roche’s trastuzumab (Herceptin) for breast cancer. But to hear one … Continue reading “Seattle Genetics Maps Out a Future With Antibody Drugs That Are “Empowered””
Kendall Square Gets a Logo to Go With Its Motto
First came the motto, now comes the logo. Back in October, we brought you the news that Kendall Square (via the Kendall Square Association, of which Xconomy is a member) had adopted a motto: The Future Lives Here. I wrote then that adopting a motto was only fitting, since “there is arguably no other place … Continue reading “Kendall Square Gets a Logo to Go With Its Motto”
OVP Leads $9M Investment in Aggregate Knowledge, Gets Serious About Online Ads
Kirkland, WA-based OVP Venture Partners is leading a new $9 million Series C financing round in Aggregate Knowledge, an online advertising and analytics firm in San Mateo, CA. Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, DAG Ventures, and original angel investors are also participating. In connection with the deal, OVP managing director Lucinda Stewart is joining the … Continue reading “OVP Leads $9M Investment in Aggregate Knowledge, Gets Serious About Online Ads”
Mullen to Relinquish Biogen Idec Reins, Joule to Test Ethanol Tech, Dicerna to Team with Kyowa Hakko Kirin, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News
I’ve got a couple weeks’ worth of New England life sciences news to catch you up on, so let’s dive in. —Shares of Watertown, MA-based pSivida (NASDAQ: [[ticker:PSDV]]) jumped more than 50 percent after the company reported its treatment for diabetic macular edema, an eye disorder, did well in a clinical trial. The treatment employs … Continue reading “Mullen to Relinquish Biogen Idec Reins, Joule to Test Ethanol Tech, Dicerna to Team with Kyowa Hakko Kirin, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”
The Quest for MIT’s Next Billion Dollar Idea
[Editor’s Note: The other day, upon checking Xconomy’s e-mail, we discovered the following message, encoded using quantum encryption. We ran it through our nifty decryption matrix, and at first all we could decipher was the reply-to address—MIT’s Howard Anderson. But then we realized that we’d intercepted the description for a new course that Anderson is … Continue reading “The Quest for MIT’s Next Billion Dollar Idea”
From VC to EDC: Venture Investor Dave Titus Joins San Diego’s Economic Development Corp.
Dave Titus, a co-founder and managing partner of San Diego VC firm Windward Ventures, notified his friends and colleagues in an e-mail blast yesterday that he’s joining the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. (EDC) as managing director of strategic initiatives. As it turns out, Titus has had some time on his hands. When we … Continue reading “From VC to EDC: Venture Investor Dave Titus Joins San Diego’s Economic Development Corp.”
Ensemble Discovery Nabs Second Partner, Pfizer, to Develop New Class of Therapies
Ensemble Discovery has found a second Big Pharma partner to support its R&D engine. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech is announcing today it has secured a partnership with Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, to develop a new class of drugs that combine some of the more desirable traits of conventional small molecule drugs and bigger … Continue reading “Ensemble Discovery Nabs Second Partner, Pfizer, to Develop New Class of Therapies”
Ambrx, Saying Thanks to its Rivals, Rides Wave of Interest in “Empowered” Antibodies
There’s no denying that Ambrx CEO Steve Kaldor is a competitor. Still, when I visited him in his San Diego office a few weeks ago, Kaldor was happy to tip his cap to a couple of trail-blazing competitors who have done a lot over the past year to make his life easier. Ambrx ended the … Continue reading “Ambrx, Saying Thanks to its Rivals, Rides Wave of Interest in “Empowered” Antibodies”
A Comparison of E-Book Readers for the New Year
Before any big trip, I always make sure I have enough books to read. That used to mean weighing myself down with pounds and pounds of paper, but now I can carry a library in my pocket. The new question is not which books to take, but which e-book reader to choose. Seattle-based Amazon.com’s Kindle … Continue reading “A Comparison of E-Book Readers for the New Year”
Five Biotechnologies That Will Fade Away This Decade
[Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of posts from Xconomists and other technology leaders from around the country who are weighing in with the Top 5 innovations they’ve seen in their respective fields the past 10 years, or the Top 5 disruptive technologies that will impact the next decade.] We look at amazement … Continue reading “Five Biotechnologies That Will Fade Away This Decade”
Incoming Viximo CEO Sees a Burgeoning Economy of Virtual Goods
Online publishers who want to let their users exchange virtual gifts—think singing Santa e-cards at Christmas or animated hearts for Valentine’s Day—can turn to Viximo, a two-year-old startup in Cambridge, MA, for both the virtual goods themselves and the microtransactions system needed to distribute them. And now Viximo is turning to a new leader to … Continue reading “Incoming Viximo CEO Sees a Burgeoning Economy of Virtual Goods”
DataSphere Raises $10.8M to Help Media Companies Manage Hyperlocal Websites (and Make Money)
Bellevue, WA-based DataSphere, an Internet software and advertising sales company, has raised $10.8 million in equity and options, according to a filing with the SEC. The investors in the round were not disclosed, but the company is backed by the venture firm Ignition Partners, also based in Bellevue. John Connors of Ignition is listed on … Continue reading “DataSphere Raises $10.8M to Help Media Companies Manage Hyperlocal Websites (and Make Money)”
Verdiem Nabs $4.7M To Help Make Computers Use Less Energy
Verdiem, the Seattle-based developer of software that helps computers use less energy, has raised $4.7 million in new equity financing out of a round that could be worth as much as $5.9 million, according to a regulatory filing. The filing doesn’t say who is pumping in the new capital, although it says eight investors have … Continue reading “Verdiem Nabs $4.7M To Help Make Computers Use Less Energy”
The 12 Days of Xconomists: Leading Innovators Give Their Top Advances of the Past Decade
Over the last few weeks, as the holiday season heated up and the decade wound down, we reached out to our distinguished network of Xconomists—who include many of the top technologists, scientists, and business innovators in our three cities—and asked them (and a few more tech and life sciences leaders) to describe the most important … Continue reading “The 12 Days of Xconomists: Leading Innovators Give Their Top Advances of the Past Decade”
Consumer Electronics Show Offers Showcase for San Diego Tech Companies
[Corrected 1/5/10, 2:45 pm. See below.] “Connectivity” will be one of the prevailing themes at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show, according to analyst John F. Bright of the investment banking firm Avondale Partners. And several San Diego firms are poised to get connected at the show, which officially begins Thursday in Las Vegas. [Correction: … Continue reading “Consumer Electronics Show Offers Showcase for San Diego Tech Companies”
Dot Hill Buys Cloverleaf Communications
Dot Hill Systems (NASDAQ: [[ticker:HILL]]), which provides data storage equipment, says today it is buying Woodbury, NY-based Cloverleaf Communications, a privately held software developer. Dot Hill says the deal, which calls for issuing about $9.5 million in Dot Hill shares and $2.5 million in cash, will significantly broaden its capabilities in virtual data storage, data … Continue reading “Dot Hill Buys Cloverleaf Communications”
Report: Apple Snaps Up Quattro Wireless, Joins the Mobile Advertising Business
After Google acquired mobile advertising network AdMob in November for $750 million, the chief marketing officer at Waltham, MA-based Quattro Wireless, an AdMob rival, told me Quattro wasn’t worried about having Google as a competitor. “We actually think [the Google-AdMob deal is] great for the industry, because it really shows the importance of the mobile … Continue reading “Report: Apple Snaps Up Quattro Wireless, Joins the Mobile Advertising Business”
Stephen Wolfram Talks Bing Partnership, Software Strategy, and the Future of Knowledge Computing
There is something oddly human about Stephen Wolfram using his iPhone to look up the mass of the “cascade hyperon,” a subatomic particle with who-knows-what properties. That’s what Wolfram, one of the world’s most distinguished experts in physics and computing, was doing on the day we spoke a few weeks ago. Maybe it stood out … Continue reading “Stephen Wolfram Talks Bing Partnership, Software Strategy, and the Future of Knowledge Computing”
Intellikine Tests First Cancer Drug in Humans, Just Two Years After Opening Labs
Intellikine has only been cooking up new drugs in the laboratory for a little more than two years, and now its first candidate is being tested in human beings. The San Diego-based biotech dosed the first patient in a clinical trial of INK128 just before Christmas Day, says Intellikine CEO Troy Wilson. The experimental drug, … Continue reading “Intellikine Tests First Cancer Drug in Humans, Just Two Years After Opening Labs”
Former Idera Pharma CEO at Helm of AesRx, New Startup With Sickle Cell Drug
Stephen Seiler has been hunting for cash to advance an experimental therapy for sickle cell disease into initial human studies. And the veteran biotech executive, the former CEO of Cambridge, MA-based Idera Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:[[ticker:IDRA]]), has founded a startup in Newton, MA called AesRx to carry out his goal. Seiler said he has provided an undisclosed … Continue reading “Former Idera Pharma CEO at Helm of AesRx, New Startup With Sickle Cell Drug”