In 2012, in partnership with Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley and NCIIA, Jerry Engel and I first offered the Lean LaunchPad Educators Class. The class was designed to teach educators (and the entrepreneurs that support them) the Lean LaunchPad approach (Business Model Design, Customer Development and Agile Engineering) for teaching entrepreneurship. In addition the class offers … Continue reading “Developing a 21st Century Entrepreneurship Curriculum”
Category: New York
Give Your Online Life a Lift with IFTTT
How many times have you come across a new technology or service and said to yourself, “That’s ridiculous, only a real geek would use that!”, only to find yourself happily benefiting from the same innovation a year or two later? Well, can you say “the Web” or “text messaging” or “Facebook photo albums” or “RSS … Continue reading “Give Your Online Life a Lift with IFTTT”
Build It In The Back Yard: Why We Need American Manufacturing
[Editor’s Note: This post was co-authored by Brian Patrick Quinn, Patrick Connelly, Patricia Hurter, John Condon, Peter Mueller & Joshua Boger of Vertex Pharmaceuticals.] American companies, in recent years, have developed a massive appetite for foreign labor. The shirt you’re wearing, the cell phone you’re using, and even the medicine you’re taking might have been … Continue reading “Build It In The Back Yard: Why We Need American Manufacturing”
East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Ariad, Celgene, Amgen, More
—The last of the year’s major medical conferences, the American Society of Hematology annual meeting in Atlanta, was held this week (Dec. 8-11), and several biotechs reported promising clinical data results. Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARIA]]), in Cambridge, MA, said on Monday that 56 percent of 444 chronic myeloid leukemia patients treated with its drug ponatinib, all … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Ariad, Celgene, Amgen, More”
Seed&Spark Garners Seed Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=921cceaf-773c-4226-9b0e-b5b0807e9fdd&Preview=1 Date 12/14/2012 Company Name Seed&Spark Mailing Address Undisclosed New York, NY 10017 Company Description We’re the most unlikely group of filmmakers, the lot of us. We started Seed&Spark because we want to make films but we wanted a healthier environment in which to make them. We believe that the art of … Continue reading “Seed&Spark Garners Seed Funding”
Seed&Spark Garners Seed Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=921cceaf-773c-4226-9b0e-b5b0807e9fdd&Preview=1 Date 12/14/2012 Company Name Seed&Spark Mailing Address Undisclosed New York, NY 10017 Company Description We’re the most unlikely group of filmmakers, the lot of us. We started Seed&Spark because we want to make films but we wanted a healthier environment in which to make them. We believe that the art of … Continue reading “Seed&Spark Garners Seed Funding”
BeyondTrust Acquires NY’s Blackbird Group, Deepens AD Security
BeyondTrust, the Carlsbad, CA-based network security provider, says today it has acquired the Blackbird Group, a New York specialist in Windows Active Directory (AD) systems management and auditing software. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal is the latest in an acquisition spree by BeyondTrust, a specialist in software that controls user privileges and helps … Continue reading “BeyondTrust Acquires NY’s Blackbird Group, Deepens AD Security”
Nielsen Backs VC Fund Pereg Focused on Marketing, Israeli Startups
Nielsen (NYSE: [[ticker:NLSN]]), the television ratings company, is backing a new VC firm, Pereg Ventures, based in New York, that will be looking for early stage advertising and Web-based-marketing technology startups, as well as Israeli entrepreneurs seeking to crack the US market. Pereg said in its press release that it will invest in “market intelligence … Continue reading “Nielsen Backs VC Fund Pereg Focused on Marketing, Israeli Startups”
Plizy Lands $4,000,000 Series A Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f267fafa-e9d5-411f-8d4f-22442b6dcc5e&Preview=1 Date 12/13/2012 Company Name Plizy Mailing Address 60 Broad Street New York, NY 10004 Company Description Plizy learns who you are and recommends videos based on what you like. Our unique, patent pending recommendation engine builds an “entertainment graph” using your existing graphs (including Facebook and Twitter). We already know what … Continue reading “Plizy Lands $4,000,000 Series A Round”
River Vision Development Secures $17,000,000 Series A Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=797911b2-4ffa-4a9b-b876-d42f63198ba4&Preview=1 Date 12/13/2012 Company Name River Vision Development Mailing Address One Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10020 Company Description River Vision Development Corp. was founded by Narrow River Management, LP (Narrow River) for the sole purpose of developing RV001 for GO and other potential indications. The Company is managed under contract with … Continue reading “River Vision Development Secures $17,000,000 Series A Round”
When VCs Run Out of Energy: The New Era of Cleantech Investing
The hasty promotion of cleantech to the high expectations of high-tech and biotech led to well-documented investment disasters. Capital intensity, time to exit—as we all know by now, energy simply isn’t IT (with all due respect to the plucky, if likely short-lived, promotion of “clean Web”). The apparent decline of the word cleantech may be … Continue reading “When VCs Run Out of Energy: The New Era of Cleantech Investing”
FinTech Startup Weekend Pushes for Innovations That Work with Money
Few places in the world can match the concentration of financial institutions found in New York, so it is little surprise Startup Weekend chose this city for its first-ever FinTech event. Held this past weekend at co-working space Alley NYC, 13 teams toiled to come up with new ways to use technology to solve real-world … Continue reading “FinTech Startup Weekend Pushes for Innovations That Work with Money”
Q-Sensei Lands New Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=3268468b-74c7-4256-88c7-930f5085de35&Preview=1 Date 12/12/2012 Company Name Q-Sensei Mailing Address 111 Lawrence Street Brooklyn, NY 11201 Company Description Q-Sensei’s award-winning search-based applications let you access contextually-relevant and actionable information quickly and easily from your data. At the core of Q-Sensei is its powerful search and index technology which dynamically presents search results and data … Continue reading “Q-Sensei Lands New Funding”
MPowerD Lights up the Night at New York Tech Meetup with Luci
Visit the monthly New York Tech Meetup enough times and you get your fill of apps, hacks, and Web-based platforms. So it is a welcome surprise when tangible, physical technology makes its way on stage at Skirball Center for Performing Arts at NYU. Amid last week’s demos for app creation, file sharing, and media wizardry, … Continue reading “MPowerD Lights up the Night at New York Tech Meetup with Luci”
What’s Hot in Digital Health? The Venture Capital Perspective
The U.S. healthcare market is ripe for technical disruption. Costs are spiraling out of control while quality of service and customer satisfaction continue to go down. The system is opaque, complex and fragmented. Regulation is required but imposes heavy costs. As in other industries before it, the healthcare sector can benefit from technology-enabled efficiency gains … Continue reading “What’s Hot in Digital Health? The Venture Capital Perspective”
Reval Lands $6,000,000 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7d575827-7ae1-4db3-b71c-10d1f74680db&Preview=1 Date 12/11/2012 Company Name Reval Mailing Address 420 Fifth Ave, 5th Floor New York, NY 10018 Company Description Reval provides web-based treasury and risk management solutions and services to corporations and financial institutions. Reval blends finance, technology, software, and operations expertise to deliver effective and rapidly deployable solutions that bring immediate … Continue reading “Reval Lands $6,000,000 New Financing Round”
Nike + TechStars: Another Licensing Deal for Top Startup Accelerator
TechStars, the top-tier startup accelerator program with branches across the country, is finding a bigger corporate appetite for its three-month startup “bootcamp” sessions. Nike has announced that it will partner with Boulder, CO-based TechStars for a version of the accelerator focused on using the sports apparel company’s Nike+ technology, which incorporates sensors and software to … Continue reading “Nike + TechStars: Another Licensing Deal for Top Startup Accelerator”
In-Car Health Monitoring: Lemon or Lifesaver?
Patient monitoring outside the hospital has been a hot topic (and also a not so hot topic) for the past 15 years. Starting back in the late 1990s with companies like Health Hero, a company whose products for patient home monitoring are still in use today, company after company has sought to bring a successful … Continue reading “In-Car Health Monitoring: Lemon or Lifesaver?”
The Road to Predictable Innovation: Genomics in Drug R&D
There is a great need by large biotechs and pharma companies to show true and more predictable innovation. In an industry report issued just last week by Deloitte and Thomson Reuters, analysis of the top 12 pharmaceutical companies globally shows that the risk in new drug discovery have grown worse. The report notes an increasing … Continue reading “The Road to Predictable Innovation: Genomics in Drug R&D”
Staples Plans to Enter 3-D Printing Scene, Shapeways Keeps Cool
There are two ways, generally speaking, for growing companies to react when big players take competitive interest in their market: scramble for new survival strategies or grin knowingly with a look that screams “let’s dance.” Office supply chain Staples (Nasdaq: [[ticker:SPLS]]) based in Framingham, MA announced plans to bring 3-D printing in the first quarter … Continue reading “Staples Plans to Enter 3-D Printing Scene, Shapeways Keeps Cool”
The Wisconsin Biotech Story: Slow and Steady Wins the Race
[Updated 1:04 pm PT] They say you can’t go home again. But sometimes you can go home after a few years and notice that your home has changed quite a bit. This past week, I went back to Wisconsin, where I’m originally from, to visit family and do some reporting. I stopped by the capitol, … Continue reading “The Wisconsin Biotech Story: Slow and Steady Wins the Race”
Consmr Receives $565,000 Seed Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=086195a4-6bf0-41f5-9c42-987f1946999b&Preview=1 Date 12/10/2012 Company Name Consmr Mailing Address 175 Varick Street New York, NY 10014 Company Description Consmr is an unbiased, democratic platform for ratings and reviews of grocery and drugstore products. Our mobile app lets you instantly see the opinions of people just like you. Consmr allows you to make informed … Continue reading “Consmr Receives $565,000 Seed Funding Round”
SEC’s Action Against Hastings a Step Backwards
Last night, Netflix disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission, @sec_news if you want to follow them on Twitter, intends to institute a cease and desist proceeding and/or bring a civil injunction against Netflix and its CEO Reed Hastings for a posting he made on the social media website Facebook this summer. As an individual … Continue reading “SEC’s Action Against Hastings a Step Backwards”
Pearl Harbor: A Day That Should Live in Innovation
Almost everyone raised in America knows the story of Pearl Harbor. On the morning of December 7, 1941—71 years ago today—the Japanese Imperial Navy launched a surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, claiming eight battleships and other vessels, and 2,403 military and civilian lives, nearly as many as on … Continue reading “Pearl Harbor: A Day That Should Live in Innovation”
How to Crowdfund Your Dream: Checking In on Our Kickstarter Fund
Back on Nov. 9, I published a list of 10 Kickstarter projects every geek should support, and put my money where my mouth was by creating the World Wide Wade Kickstarter Fund. I pledged $10 to each project on the list (eventually there were 13 in all), and promised that I’d return in a few weeks … Continue reading “How to Crowdfund Your Dream: Checking In on Our Kickstarter Fund”
East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Zafgen, Moderna, Merck, More
—Obesity is paying off for Cambridge, MA-based Zafgen. On Tuesday the company said it closed on $21 million in a Series D equity funding to support continued development of its obesity drug, beloranib, currently in a Phase IIa clinical trial. New investor Alta Partners joined existing backers Atlas Ventures and Third Rock Ventures in this round. … Continue reading “East Coast Life Sciences Roundup: Zafgen, Moderna, Merck, More”
Onyx, Millennium, Ariad: Firms to Watch at Hematology Meeting
[Corrected 12/07/12, 10:18 pm. See below.] The life sciences industry has been talking up personalized medicine for more than a decade, but so far the idea that diseases will be treated with a unique drug regimen tailored to each patient has made little headway in actual clinical practice. A number of drug developers large and … Continue reading “Onyx, Millennium, Ariad: Firms to Watch at Hematology Meeting”
NewBay Media Acquires Intent Media for Undisclosed Sum
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=c48181e8-05df-4421-961e-88d7975391db&Preview=1 Date 12/7/2012 Company Name Intent Media Mailing Address 180 Varick Street New York, NY 10014 Company Description Intent Media is a online advertising startup launched by the founding team of Site59. Website http://www.intentmedia.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Proceeds Purposes M&A Terms Financial terms of the transaction were … Continue reading “NewBay Media Acquires Intent Media for Undisclosed Sum”
Mobile Madness New York: The Photos
Xconomy held its first Mobile Madness event in New York on Tuesday afternoon. We had a fantastic group of speakers, wonderful sponsors and hosts, and, most importantly, an off-the-charts group of attendees. The program featured founder-investor stories from Rich Miner, co-inventor of the Android operating system now at Google Ventures, and Robby Stein, the CEO … Continue reading “Mobile Madness New York: The Photos”
TrendSpotting: eFood, iEat
The food industry may seem like the last bastion of brick and mortar companies, relying solely on human efforts. Think again. A new crop of entrepreneurs are taking our love of food out of the kitchen and into the digital realm. Several members of 1M/1M, our global virtual startup incubator, have created specialty brands that … Continue reading “TrendSpotting: eFood, iEat”
AppFirst Lands $8,700,000 Series B Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=99aad9c8-d502-41cc-92ae-b85e9e744523&Preview=1 Date 12/6/2012 Company Name AppFirst Mailing Address 6 W. 14th Street New York, NY 10011 Company Description AppFirst has commercialized that solution so now the rest of us can achieve operational excellence. In today’s world, with more and more businesses running on SaaS-based software solutions, it is imperative that IT be … Continue reading “AppFirst Lands $8,700,000 Series B Funding”
Roboinvest Obtains $324,070 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d2c5dad2-f873-4156-9755-f99260359522&Preview=1 Date 12/6/2012 Company Name Roboinvest Mailing Address 394 Broadway 5th Floor New York, NY 10013 Company Description Roboinvest is a social investing platform that allows anyone to look over the shoulder of top investors in real time. With web, iPhone and Android apps, Roboinvest allows top investors called leaders to accept … Continue reading “Roboinvest Obtains $324,070 New Financing Round”
Mobile Madness NY Speakers Discuss Fresh Ideas and Kissing Frogs
Xconomy introduced the Big Apple to the Mobile Madness conference yesterday, bringing together some of New York’s most dynamic innovators in mobile and seasoned investors who back the sector. And the crowd who attended this half-day forum at the Microsoft Technology Center in Midtown, a stone’s throw away from Radio City Music Hall, got a … Continue reading “Mobile Madness NY Speakers Discuss Fresh Ideas and Kissing Frogs”
Three Big Themes from the Personalized Medicine Conference
Hello from Boston, and from the 2012 Partners Personalized Medicine Conference, which last week brought together life science thought leaders from business, research and technology. Several themes that emerged from this year’s program: Genomes, genomes, genomes. Previous personalized medicine conferences had tended to focus on commercialization of and reimbursement for traditional molecular diagnostics. This year, … Continue reading “Three Big Themes from the Personalized Medicine Conference”
Knoa Software Secures $7,500,000 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=c05e493f-dbfb-4936-8889-867917ea1d1e&Preview=1 Date 12/5/2012 Company Name Knoa Software Mailing Address 5 Union Square West New York, NY 10003 Company Description Knoa® Software delivers on-premise and cloud-based solutions that monitor, measure and manage how end-users are utilizing enterprise applications to optimize end-user experience, enhance user performance, and deliver return on investment. Uniquely, Knoa automation … Continue reading “Knoa Software Secures $7,500,000 New Financing Round”
ShopKeep Receives $10,000,000 Series B Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=3d2486c5-e859-40a5-9add-8d05a3a297d9&Preview=1 Date 12/5/2012 Company Name ShopKeep Mailing Address 55 Broad Street 7th Floor New York, NY 10004 Company Description ShopKeep has developed a point-of-sale platform that retailers can use on the Apple iPad as well as with Mac-powered registers. The company also provides Web-based software, which can run in any browser, for … Continue reading “ShopKeep Receives $10,000,000 Series B Round”
MindBodyGreen Lands $635,000 New Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a26a47d2-dc66-4e4b-b39e-d7068d3a24c6&Preview=1 Date 12/5/2012 Company Name MindBodyGreen Mailing Address Undisclosed New York, NY 10017 Company Description Our aim is to make wellness inclusive and fun through original articles, tips, news, and interviews. Through MindBodyGreen we hope to give you the tools to make your life better and healthier or inspire you to keep … Continue reading “MindBodyGreen Lands $635,000 New Funding”
Seamless Sees Opportunity as LivingSocial Shrinks and Consolidates
Competition may be a form of flattery but in the end, someone limps away bruised. New York’s Seamless, which developed a Web and mobile platform for ordering meals for delivery and pickup from restaurants, is sounding rather confident of its place in the market. In late November, would-be rival LivingSocial, a daily deals company in Washington, … Continue reading “Seamless Sees Opportunity as LivingSocial Shrinks and Consolidates”
HHS CTO Bryan Sivak on How Government Can Spur Healthcare Innovation
It’s not every entrepreneur who even entertains the notion of moving from business to government. Bryan Sivak, though, has made the shift three times over. Sivak left his job at the company he helped create for a position in city government (as Chief Technology Officer for Washington, DC), then became Maryland’s Chief Innovation Officer, and … Continue reading “HHS CTO Bryan Sivak on How Government Can Spur Healthcare Innovation”
See You This Afternoon at Mobile Madness New York
We’re all ready to go for Mobile Madness New York, our big afternoon conference tackling the big trends and smartest ideas in the mobile computing revolution. If you’ve waited to get your tickets, do it now—pre-sales stop at 11 am, after which you’ll have to buy a walk-up ticket at the door. We’re really excited … Continue reading “See You This Afternoon at Mobile Madness New York”
The Enduring Success of a Healthcare Radical
I’ve spent some time over the past few months reading about an American political figure’s transformative role in our health care system. His crusade began when his staff surveyed drug prices in 77 countries and found “of these, 28 allowed product patents and the prices of drugs in those countries were 18 to 255 times … Continue reading “The Enduring Success of a Healthcare Radical”
EnergyHub Receives $500,000 New Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=4a54c7b3-8b6e-474f-8a48-11ebc86e1db2&Preview=1 Date 12/4/2012 Company Name EnergyHub Mailing Address 232 3rd Street Brooklyn, NY 11215 Company Description EnergyHub produces smart, simple, and cost-effective energy management tools that strengthen the relationship between consumers and utilities and solve the energy problems of today and tomorrow. Website http://www.energyhub.net Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $500,000 Transaction Round … Continue reading “EnergyHub Receives $500,000 New Round”
Movio Network Lands $1,000,000 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a5c88673-9417-41db-a4bf-5731d23c406f&Preview=1 Date 12/4/2012 Company Name Movio Network Mailing Address 399 Park Avenue New York, NY 10022 Company Description Movio Network is the first service that rents and sells premium video content to mobile users at ultra-fast speeds over existing Wi-Fi networks. Our target customer is captive in a location, desires entertainment and … Continue reading “Movio Network Lands $1,000,000 New Funding Round”
1stdibs Raises $42 Million in Series B Round
[Updated 12/03/12 5:55 pm. See below.]When it comes to online shopping, you can’t get more high-end than 1stdibs, an 11-year-old online retailer based in New York that trades in very pricey antiques and luxury goods. Clearly, the site appeals to more than just the rich folks who shop there—1stdibs today said it has raised $42 … Continue reading “1stdibs Raises $42 Million in Series B Round”
Xconomist of the Week: Helen Greiner’s CyPhy Works Unveils Drones
After roughly three years in development and some $3 million in venture investment, iRobot co-founder Helen Greiner is showing off her newest robotic creations. But don’t be fooled by the cool things this new pair of aerial drones can do—the real advancement is the cable that connects them to the ground. Greiner’s robotics startup, CyPhy … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: Helen Greiner’s CyPhy Works Unveils Drones”
Fashion Sites Nomorerack, Rent the Runway Raise Funds
Christmas is coming early for two web-based fashion startups in New York, often referred to as the Target and the Netflix of online shopping. Nomorerack, the Target counterpart, is a discount e-commerce site that said on Friday it has raised $12 million in Series A financing, led by Giosis Gmarket, a large Asian e-market company … Continue reading “Fashion Sites Nomorerack, Rent the Runway Raise Funds”
How Ed-Tech Companies Will Make (and Lose) a Few Fortunes
It’s bubble time in education technology. Over the past few years, investment dollars have started to flow in larger amounts. MBAs (like me and one of my co-founders) are starting to get interested, and I know of at least two separate groups in Boston alone trying to develop ed-tech incubation spaces. But for all the … Continue reading “How Ed-Tech Companies Will Make (and Lose) a Few Fortunes”
Mobile Madness New York Tomorrow Afternoon—Hope You Can Make It
We are down to the wire for our Mobile Madness New York half-day forum tomorrow afternoon—Xconomy’s first mobile event in the Big Apple. We hope you can grab a ticket—we have special rates for students, and anyone at a startup. The event takes place from 2-5:30pm at the Microsoft Technology Center in midtown. Get your … Continue reading “Mobile Madness New York Tomorrow Afternoon—Hope You Can Make It”
Where’s the Can-Do Spirit in Biotech? It’s Alive, Deep Down
How many people in the biotech industry today really feel like they are part of something special, something bigger than themselves? How many people feel such camaraderie with their co-workers that they’d show up to meet them at a reunion five years from now? How many people in biotech feel the task in front of … Continue reading “Where’s the Can-Do Spirit in Biotech? It’s Alive, Deep Down”
1stdibs Receives $42,000,000 New Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=011e496f-c4af-4589-aa2c-8f7f87a1c84b&Preview=1 Date 12/3/2012 Company Name 1stdibs Mailing Address 156 5th Ave New York, NY 10010 Company Description Welcome to 1stdibs.com, the world’s 1st market place where you can search for, and on most items, negotiate the purchase of decorative arts on-line. Website http://www.1stdibs.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $42,000,000 Transaction Round … Continue reading “1stdibs Receives $42,000,000 New Funding”