Category: New York

East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Jounce, Tokai, Lux, & More

Companies in the life sciences centers around Boston and New York made news this week with movement on cancer drug programs and efforts to create therapies by influencing the immune system. Maverick VC firm Lux Capital raised another $245 million, and health care companies will share in it. Meanwhile, scores of New York City health … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Jounce, Tokai, Lux, & More”

Prostate Cancer Drug Winners and Losers at ASCO GU

The latest clinical research in prostate cancer is being presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitorinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO GU) in Orlando, FL. Presentations started yesterday, and run through tomorrow, but here’s some quick commentary on three of the early “winners” and “losers” in the oral presentations. Winners San Francisco-based Medivation (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MDVN]]): … Continue reading “Prostate Cancer Drug Winners and Losers at ASCO GU”

Mailbox App Is Fun, But There’s Only One Real Fix for E-Mail

I have some difficult news to share. Your e-mail overload problem is here to stay. We’d all prefer to spend less time managing e-mail, and every so often a new app, service, or time-management system comes along promising to help. The latest one is called Mailbox, and it’s been generating a lot of buzz over … Continue reading “Mailbox App Is Fun, But There’s Only One Real Fix for E-Mail”

Corporate Compliance Programs: The Importance of Being Effective

Now more than ever, pharmaceutical companies must not only have an effective Corporate Compliance Program in place, but senior management and boards of directors at these companies must ensure that their Corporate Compliance departments evaluate the effectiveness of those Programs. The federal government has sent numerous signals of its intent to hold the highest levels … Continue reading “Corporate Compliance Programs: The Importance of Being Effective”

Why Conveying a Clear Vision for Your Startup Is Important

Can you see the forest for the trees? If you can’t, and you’re an entrepreneur seeking out seed money for your business, it’s likely you won’t succeed. Recently, an investor friend of mine approached me and asked that I review a company slide deck for him. He said he was considering an investment in the … Continue reading “Why Conveying a Clear Vision for Your Startup Is Important”

HowAboutWe Opens its Website to Couples Looking for Romantic Ideas

Plenty of singles search online for love these days, but HowAboutWe in Brooklyn sees an opportunity to serve couples who want to try new dating ideas with their current partners. At last week’s New York Tech Meetup, HowAboutWe debuted new features on its website to serve people in relationships—just in time for Valentine’s Day. Co-founder … Continue reading “HowAboutWe Opens its Website to Couples Looking for Romantic Ideas”

The Holy Grail of Drug Development: Small Molecules with the Power of Biologics

FDA new drug approvals hit a 16-year high with 39 drugs approved in 2012; the highest number since 1996 when 53 drugs were approved. Of those, 18 or slightly less than half, were biologics up from 12 in 2011 but still surprisingly low when you consider an industry report citing that nearly 40 percent of … Continue reading “The Holy Grail of Drug Development: Small Molecules with the Power of Biologics”

Kitchensurfing Receives $1,000,000 Seed Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=57529440-a7fe-4956-8c71-356398763637&Preview=1 Date 2/14/2013 Company Name Kitchensurfing Mailing Address Undisclosed New York, NY 10001 Company Description Kitchensurfing is a global marketplace for people that love connecting over delicious food. Our goal is to unify the intimacy of a dinner party with the ease of walking into restaurant: Whether it’s a worry-free meal at … Continue reading “Kitchensurfing Receives $1,000,000 Seed Funding Round”

Tutorspree Garners $1,903,885 Seed Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=be008f9e-4454-48a4-86c7-5e4f579e613c&Preview=1 Date 2/14/2013 Company Name Tutorspree Mailing Address 36 East 12th Street New York, NY 10003 Company Description Tutorspree is a market place for high quality tutoring. Our tutors are all educators, and our students, well, they’re the best. The idea behind Tutorspree goes all the way back to high school. Back … Continue reading “Tutorspree Garners $1,903,885 Seed Financing Round”

Persado Obtains $15,000,000 Series A Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1beb61f2-4682-49b2-83fe-699a6b9b6fa1&Preview=1 Date 2/14/2013 Company Name Persado Mailing Address 50 West 17th Street 11th Floor New York, NY 10011 Company Description Persado is the leader in marketing persuasion technology, a new category within digital marketing. The company provides marketing software through a managed SaaS platform to leading enterprise and Internet consumer marketers, including … Continue reading “Persado Obtains $15,000,000 Series A Round”

Small Businesses Aren’t Too Small to Go Mobile

Shifts in technology often occur first in large organizations and trickle their way down to small businesses years later. During the Internet boom of the mid-to-late 1990s, most small businesses avoided having a Web presence. In the early-to-mid 2000s, while these companies finally ventured into the Web, the overwhelming majority didn’t offer e-commerce solutions to … Continue reading “Small Businesses Aren’t Too Small to Go Mobile”

Lycera Enters Into Second Collaboration Deal with Merck

Lycera, the biopharmaceutical company based in Plymouth, MI, announced today that it is entering into a second collaboration agreement with pharmaceutical giant Merck. This is the second collaboration deal between Lycera and Merck in two years. Merck will spearhead clinical development and will have worldwide marketing and commercialization rights to any products that are developed as … Continue reading “Lycera Enters Into Second Collaboration Deal with Merck”

Simulmedia Gets $5M from Avalon, Time Warner, and Union Square

New York-based television advertising company Simulmedia announced Tuesday it raised an additional $5 million from prior investors, bringing its total funding to $32 million since its inception in 2009. The company’s backers include Avalon Ventures, Time Warner Investments, and Union Square Ventures. Simulmedia draws on data from set top boxes and media monitoring sources such … Continue reading “Simulmedia Gets $5M from Avalon, Time Warner, and Union Square”

Swarm of Applicants Vying for New York City’s Health Tech Grants

Supporters of New York City’s rising health IT sector are poring over scores of applications this week for $100,000 city grants to help young companies test-drive their health tech products by working with major New York health care providers. Jean-Luc Neptune of Health 2.0 says a mass of application submissions arrived in a flurry on … Continue reading “Swarm of Applicants Vying for New York City’s Health Tech Grants”

Incentient Lands $364,583 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1d7f530f-2263-41d3-ad31-971cd0b804fe&Preview=1 Date 2/12/2013 Company Name Incentient Mailing Address 120 Commercial Street Plainview, NY 11803 Company Description Based in Plainview, New York, Incentient is a transaction services company that is beginning to modernize the hospitality industry in its entirety. In the past year, Incentient has developed its groundbreaking SmartTouchsm system that allows guests … Continue reading “Incentient Lands $364,583 New Funding Round”

Nomi Obtains $3,000,000 Seed Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7467781b-76db-4b9d-baca-a5a95816cba6&Preview=1 Date 2/12/2013 Company Name Nomi Mailing Address Undisclosed New York, NY 10003 Company Description Dedicated to helping retailers create a unified view of their customers across all channels, Nomi leverages current store infrastructure to integrate real world customer behavior into existing CRM, loyalty and e-commerce platforms. Nomi’s solution empowers retailers to … Continue reading “Nomi Obtains $3,000,000 Seed Financing Round”

Simulmedia Secures $5,000,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=caba7450-b7db-40a4-883a-f1db5d971541&Preview=1 Date 2/12/2013 Company Name Simulmedia Mailing Address 670 Broadway, 2nd Floor New York, NY 10012 Company Description Simulmedia is a company aimed at helping television companies improve ratings by lifting the effectiveness of tune-in programming spots. Website http://www.simulmedia.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $5,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds … Continue reading “Simulmedia Secures $5,000,000 New Funding Round”

MediaShift Acquires Travora Media for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b3348a64-af4f-4b37-a53f-52fe88a66223&Preview=1 Date 2/12/2013 Company Name Travora Media Mailing Address 55 Broad Street 24th Floor New York, NY 10004 Company Description Travora is the next generation of travel media and information––300 sites and over 30 million travelers strong. We bring a belief that online travel can become expertly informed and deeply engaging. But … Continue reading “MediaShift Acquires Travora Media for Undisclosed Sum”

MediaShift Snaps Up Remaining Pieces of Travel Ad Network Travora Media

A few short months ago, travel ad network company Travora Media in New York sought to increase its stake in the online travel market. After several substantial changes, on Monday digital ad technology company JMG Exploration in Glendale, CA, announced it has acquired Travora for an undisclosed amount. Travora Media had owned travel sites such … Continue reading “MediaShift Snaps Up Remaining Pieces of Travel Ad Network Travora Media”

Poll: Which of These 10 New Drugs Is Priced Too High?

Drug pricing tends to drive people to extreme positions. Critics see the drug companies as evil, greedy bastards out to gouge grandma. Defenders say the industry improves patients’ lives, and merely charges what the free market will bear, and what it must to recoup its substantial R&D investments. Those positions have held firm for at … Continue reading “Poll: Which of These 10 New Drugs Is Priced Too High?”

Sailthru Lands $19,000,000 Series B Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=55ec4406-a64b-4f3f-9371-fccab219bb60&Preview=1 Date 2/11/2013 Company Name Sailthru Mailing Address 770 Broadway New York, NY 10003 Company Description Triggermail Our flagship service monitors delivery of transactional email into the user Inbox. If it gets sent we’ll tell you when it was delivered and what happened when it was opened. Website http://www.sailthru.com Transaction Type Venture … Continue reading “Sailthru Lands $19,000,000 Series B Financing Round”

Groundhogs and Superstorms

Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see it coming, but this weekend’s New England blizzard is actually a triumph for modern weather forecasting. Specifically, it’s a triumph for numerical weather prediction models—the primary method used to forecast the weather one to two weeks in advance. These computer-generated simulations are run primarily by large governmental agencies. The National Center … Continue reading “Groundhogs and Superstorms”

East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Biogen Idec, Celgene, Alnylam, More

Celgene of Summit, NJ, received some good news late Friday from the FDA, while Boston-area companies large and small made out well during the week, as partnerships were born and reformed. And the startup community got a boost from a Massachusetts agency’s funding for a new incubator space in the heart of Cambridge. —The FDA … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Biogen Idec, Celgene, Alnylam, More”

Celgene Wins FDA Approval of Third Myeloma Drug

Celgene has diversified its lineup of drugs once again, winning FDA approval today to start selling its third product for multiple myeloma in the U.S. Summit, NJ-based Celgene (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CELG]]) said today it has gotten FDA clearance to start selling pomalidomide (Pomalyst) for patients whose disease has gotten worse after two prior rounds of treatment … Continue reading “Celgene Wins FDA Approval of Third Myeloma Drug”

I’m Returning My iPad Mini. These Pictures Show Why.

[Important! Author’s Note, June 6, 2014: The article below refers to the first-generation iPad mini, released in November 2012. The second-generation iPad mini, released in the fall of 2013, features a 2048 x 1536-pixel Retina display that fixes all of the display-related problems I perceived with the original. Related to this, I wrote a review of … Continue reading “I’m Returning My iPad Mini. These Pictures Show Why.”

RNA Therapeutics Are Coming of Age

RNA therapeutics are new, innovative high-impact medicines. The combined efforts of pioneering biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical and academic institutions have helped these treatments, which act on ribonucleic acids in the cell, to evolve and come of age. For those unfamiliar, these medicines are designed to target RNA and can ultimately affect many cellular components. They can … Continue reading “RNA Therapeutics Are Coming of Age”

Finomial Secures $4,999,999 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=eb74e338-99c3-4176-a06d-31e2e24183e4&Preview=1 Date 2/8/2013 Company Name Finomial Mailing Address 244 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10001 Company Description Finomial transforms the buy side investment process, investor analytics, and regulatory compliance by automating the current manual hedge fund subscription process between investor, fund manager and administrator. Finomial delivers risk reduction, cost savings and efficiency, … Continue reading “Finomial Secures $4,999,999 New Financing”

Little Pim Lands $2,000,000 Series C Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1d0627a7-b508-4825-a0f1-f09bf4da8261&Preview=1 Date 2/7/2013 Company Name Little Pim Mailing Address 41 Union Square West New York, NY 10003 Company Description Little Pim Corporation is a language education and entertainment company that has developed a proprietary system of teaching second languages to children ages 0 to 6, the age that studies have shown children … Continue reading “Little Pim Lands $2,000,000 Series C Funding”

TechStars Alum Shelby.tv Moves Back Towards Spotlight at NYTM

Last night’s New York Tech Meetup put some familiar faces on stage, including the team at Shelby.tv, which gave a look at what the startup has been up to since last summer when it began to rebuild. From a big picture perspective, Shelby.tv continues to be about discovering video online; however this alumnus from the … Continue reading “TechStars Alum Shelby.tv Moves Back Towards Spotlight at NYTM”

The Series A Crunch: Don’t Get Discouraged

Much is being said on a daily basis about the “Series A crunch.” Supposedly, there aren’t enough venture investors to support all the startups winning seed funding these days. I will give you my thoughts on how to deal with the issue. Please note that this advice is entirely for entrepreneurs, not investors. First and … Continue reading “The Series A Crunch: Don’t Get Discouraged”

Ironwood Bucks the Trends, Makes Big Bet on Drug For Millions

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals is a bit of throwback in biotech. And this is the year the Cambridge, MA-based company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:IRWD]]) will find out if some old-school sensibility, combined with new technology, can still pay off. While many of today’s biotechs aspire to become bite-size entities that are easily absorbed by Big Pharma acquirers, Ironwood has … Continue reading “Ironwood Bucks the Trends, Makes Big Bet on Drug For Millions”

Plum Perfect Secures $1,300,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=18d4efbe-597e-4425-852b-390dc6c06f3c&Preview=1 Date 2/6/2013 Company Name Plum Perfect Mailing Address Undisclosed New York, NY 10017 Company Description Plum Perfect is a visual recommendation engine for beauty shoppers. Users can take and upload a photo, and the service recommends their personal color signature and matches them with a products that will fit their look. … Continue reading “Plum Perfect Secures $1,300,000 New Funding Round”

London’s Hailo Gets $30.6M Fare from Union Square Ventures, Others

As initially reported by The  Wall Street Journal, London-based taxi app maker Hailo raised $30.6 million in a Series B round led by Union Square Ventures. Other investors participating in the round include Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson, Phenomen Ventures, teleco KDDI in Tokyo, Red Swan Ventures, Felicis Ventures, and prior investors. A version of … Continue reading “London’s Hailo Gets $30.6M Fare from Union Square Ventures, Others”

Zynga, East Coast Publishers Talk Strategies at Mobile Gaming USA East

Zynga Mobile New York, GSN Digital, The Tap Lab, and other mobile game publishers gave a glimpse inside their playbooks on getting more revenue from freemium titles at last week’s Mobile Gaming USA East conference. Chieh Huang, a director with Zynga Mobile NY, said during a panel that game makers can let money slip through … Continue reading “Zynga, East Coast Publishers Talk Strategies at Mobile Gaming USA East”

J&J Creates Space at Janssen Labs for Life Sciences Entrepreneurs

Johnson & Johnson’s innovation center, Janssen Labs, has admitted 18 early stage companies since opening its “no strings attached” business accelerator program in San Diego a year ago. Now the incubator is opening its doors to solo entrepreneurs as well. In a statement today, Janssen Research & Development says it is making room at Janssen … Continue reading “J&J Creates Space at Janssen Labs for Life Sciences Entrepreneurs”

California Suit Alleges Blockbuster Pfizer Drug Has Little Benefit

New York drug giant Pfizer is again responding to allegations that its former blockbuster drug Zoloft is an ineffective product that reaped billions of dollars by dint of aggressive marketing. A California patient who claims that Pfizer misled her and other consumers about the effectiveness of its anti-depressant Zoloft is suing the company for a … Continue reading “California Suit Alleges Blockbuster Pfizer Drug Has Little Benefit”

Sprinklr Obtains $15,000,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a1769402-febf-4562-8e87-a4bcc09015a0&Preview=1 Date 2/5/2013 Company Name Sprinklr Mailing Address 115 W. 30th Street New York, NY 10001 Company Description Sprinklr was founded on the core idea that it is not only possible for large enterprises to successfully adapt to the realities of a world dominated by mobile, social, and network-empowered customers, but to … Continue reading “Sprinklr Obtains $15,000,000 New Funding”

Vizibility Obtains $242,500 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=de06f398-17d0-4514-af4d-d81b6aa074b3&Preview=1 Date 2/5/2013 Company Name Vizibility Mailing Address 154 Grand Street New York, NY 10013 Company Description Vizibility Inc. was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Manhattan, NY. Vizibility delivers the world’s first SearchMe Button for Google which instantly returns the right results in one click. Website http://www.vizibility.com Transaction Type Debt … Continue reading “Vizibility Obtains $242,500 New Financing Round”

Qualcomm’s Corporate Entrepreneurship Program—Lessons Learned

I ran into Ricardo Dos Santos and his amazing Qualcomm Venture Fest a few years ago and was astonished with its breath and depth. From that day on, when I got asked about which corporate innovation program had the best process for idea selection, I started my list with Qualcomm. This is part 2 of … Continue reading “Qualcomm’s Corporate Entrepreneurship Program—Lessons Learned”

Alnylam Gets $25M From Medicines Co. for Cholesterol Drug

Cambridge, MA-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has found a partner willing to help it go up against against some formidable competitors with a new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs. Alnylam (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALNY]]) said today that The Medicines Company of Parsippany, NJ, has agreed to take an exclusive global license to Alnylam’s RNA interference drug candidates that block PCSK9, … Continue reading “Alnylam Gets $25M From Medicines Co. for Cholesterol Drug”

What’s in a Name? A Lot, When It Comes to ‘Precision Medicine’

Personalized medicine was supposed to be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It was going to be the payoff our society would see after investing in the Human Genome Project and so much other biomedical research. While most people on the street can’t say what it means, anybody can understand the … Continue reading “What’s in a Name? A Lot, When It Comes to ‘Precision Medicine’”

JIBE Lands $10,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=414a8dd4-b152-4968-b513-4d56fe4842d2&Preview=1 Date 2/4/2013 Company Name JIBE Mailing Address 26 West 17th Street New York, NY 10011 Company Description JIBE connects you to people you already know at companies you want to work for and increases your chances of landing a great job. Website http://www.jibe.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $10,000,000 Transaction … Continue reading “JIBE Lands $10,000,000 New Financing”

Cyber Attacks: A Growing Threat to the U.S. Economy

The cost of ubiquitous cyber attacks and cyber probes in the United States and the rest of the world is a staggering, ever-growing challenge. Antivirus firm Symantec estimated the 2011 global price tag of direct financial loss and the cost of remediating attacks at $338 billion, excluding the theft of intellectual property and damage from … Continue reading “Cyber Attacks: A Growing Threat to the U.S. Economy”

How Lytro is Shifting Our Perspective on Photography

The first time I got to play with a Lytro light-field camera was in March, 2012. If I had to sum up my reaction in eight words, it would be: “Concept: Mind-blowing. Execution: Not quite there yet.” It was clear that the technology inside the camera—which makes it possible to refocus a picture after it’s … Continue reading “How Lytro is Shifting Our Perspective on Photography”

East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Sarepta, Vertex, Celsion, More

It was a roller coaster week for news on the East Coast, with two clinical trials ending with diametrically opposite results, Vertex explaining lackluster earnings, and Sarepta dealing with a weird Twitter hoax. —Vertex Pharmaceuticals  (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VRTX]]) reported its third quarterly loss in a row on Tuesday, all because sales of its once high-flying hepatitis … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Sarepta, Vertex, Celsion, More”

MusiXmatch Receives $3,700,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=64425c2f-c991-4441-8fb0-4c697660da99&Preview=1 Date 2/1/2013 Company Name MusiXmatch Mailing Address Undisclosed New York, NY 10017 Company Description Available on iOS, Android, WP7 desktop Mac, W8 and Spotify, musiXmatch is currently the world’s largest and official Lyrics Catalogue with more than 10,000,000 users worldwide and primary destination on mobile and connected devices for Songs Lyrics … Continue reading “MusiXmatch Receives $3,700,000 New Financing”

Floored Lands $1,000,000 Seed Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=3943cbb8-c0ce-45a8-8c83-54791b0f4d52&Preview=1 Date 2/1/2013 Company Name Floored Mailing Address Undisclosed New York, NY 10001 Company Description Floored is a New York-based developer of 3D modeling software for the commercial real estate market. Website http://www.floored.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $1,000,000 Transaction Round Seed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. M&A Terms … Continue reading “Floored Lands $1,000,000 Seed Round”

Skillshare Secures $1,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=36ad4fcd-0587-4fd3-a2af-8024fb871fdb&Preview=1 Date 2/1/2013 Company Name Skillshare Mailing Address 284 Mott St. New York, NY 10012 Company Description Skillshare is a community marketplace to learn anything from anyone. We believe that everyone has valuable skills and knowledge to teach and the curiosity to keep learning new things. This means our neighborhoods, communities and … Continue reading “Skillshare Secures $1,000,000 New Financing Round”