Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a4612283-b85b-4894-9450-7652dba26366&Preview=1 Date 4/13/2012 Company Name Bonobos Mailing Address 59 W. 19th St. New York, NY 10011 Company Description The company operates a men’s clothing website. Website http://www.bonobos.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $16,400,000 Transaction Round Series C Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed, however the company announced that Nordstrom will … Continue reading “Bonobos Secures $16,400,000 Series C Financing”
Category: New York
Xconomist of the Week: Jason Baptiste and the Ultralight Startup
Where did this guy find the time to write a book? Never mind that. Jason Baptiste is on the prowl again. The co-founder and CEO of New York-based Onswipe, a tablet-based media and advertising startup, has just released his new book, The Ultralight Startup (Portfolio Penguin, 2012). It’s a how-to-entrepreneur guide with lots of details … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: Jason Baptiste and the Ultralight Startup”
Provid Pharma Leans on MS Society’s Venture Fund to Boost Lead Drug
North Brunswick, NJ-based Provid Pharmaceuticals could be a case study in biotech bootstrapping. The company, founded in 2001, had been subsisting largely on angel funding, grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Small Business Innovation Research arm of the U.S. government, and an early collaboration with San Diego-based Sequenom (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SQNM]]). Then, in … Continue reading “Provid Pharma Leans on MS Society’s Venture Fund to Boost Lead Drug”
Google Ventures-Backed Signpost Brings Repeat Business to Daily Deals
The daily deals sector may be overcrowded and highly competitive, but New York’s Signpost is leveraging a different approach to help attract customers to small merchants. The two-year-old startup operates as an advertising platform that gets deals published online on behalf of cafés, spas, restaurants, and other retailers. On the surface that sounds like the … Continue reading “Google Ventures-Backed Signpost Brings Repeat Business to Daily Deals”
Why There’s No Such Thing as An Overnight Exit Strategy
It’s highly unlikely that you’re going to wake up one morning, hear a knock on your door, and open it to find an acquisition partner with a briefcase full of cash ready to buy your business. The reality is that successful exits—whether through an IPO, a buyout, a strategic acquisition, or a merger—take years of … Continue reading “Why There’s No Such Thing as An Overnight Exit Strategy”
Outrigger Media Garners Series A Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ab190f4e-ce22-429d-bd95-e3af2c0d7eb3&Preview=1 Date 4/12/2012 Company Name Outrigger Media Mailing Address 460 West 34th Street 14th Floor New York, NY 10001 Company Description Our company has expertise creating and monetizing Internet-distributed video content. We develop advertising solutions for some of the biggest brands in the world and operate a content marketplace that includes more … Continue reading “Outrigger Media Garners Series A Financing”
Synchronoss Technologies Makes Strategic Moves to Boost Innovation
It can be tough for wireless carriers and users alike to sort out the increasingly complex mash-up of mobile devices and data. The ongoing releases of new handsets, software, and digital content makes it difficult to keep all the pieces working together smoothly. Synchronoss Technologies (Nasdaq: [[ticker:SNCR]]) in Bridgewater, N.J. develops software platforms that work … Continue reading “Synchronoss Technologies Makes Strategic Moves to Boost Innovation”
BioPharma Needs A Safe, Reliable Way To Repair Broken Genes
The sequencing of the human genome didn’t immediately lead to treatments for a number of diseases, as many had hoped and a smaller number had predicted. However, the enormous drop in the price of DNA sequencing over the past decade has now made it possible to sequence an individual’s complete genome for less than $5,000. … Continue reading “BioPharma Needs A Safe, Reliable Way To Repair Broken Genes”
Sefaira Secures $10,800,000 Series A Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=045ca94c-1329-486a-a9a0-05c828fa26ef&Preview=1 Date 4/11/2012 Company Name Sefaira Mailing Address 419 Lafayette Street 2nd Floor New York, NY 10003 Company Description Sefaira was founded in 2009 with a mission to promote more sustainable buildings by helping the building industry design, build, operate, maintain and transform all facets of the built environment. We do this … Continue reading “Sefaira Secures $10,800,000 Series A Funding Round”
H.Bloom Obtains $10,000,000 Series B Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=70a96d54-44e8-41ac-a078-66c43bdda4bc&Preview=1 Date 4/11/2012 Company Name H.Bloom Mailing Address 20 W. 22nd St. New York, NY 10010 Company Description H.Bloom launched in February 2010 to provide luxurious flowers at affordable prices. Delivering directly to the home or business, H.BLOOM makes it convenient and easy to regularly enjoy extraordinary flowers. Website http://www.hbloom.com Transaction Type … Continue reading “H.Bloom Obtains $10,000,000 Series B Funding Round”
Core Innovation Capital’s $45M Fund Seeks Tech for the “Underbanked”
In 2007, a not-for-profit Chicago outfit called the Center for Financial Services Innovation launched a private equity fund to support tech startups with innovative financial products. The fund, says its New York-based manager Arjan Schutte, specifically sought out companies serving the “underbanked,” or as he explains it, “consumers who either don’t have a bank, or … Continue reading “Core Innovation Capital’s $45M Fund Seeks Tech for the “Underbanked””
Merck Teams With Flagship to Bankroll Early Biotech Ventures
Cambridge, MA-based Flagship Ventures said today it has formed a partnership with Merck Research Ventures Fund—the $250 million fund the Whitehouse Station, NJ-based drug giant set up last year to foster biotech startups. The two companies will collaborate to find and back new companies that are developing drugs to address unmet medical needs. As part … Continue reading “Merck Teams With Flagship to Bankroll Early Biotech Ventures”
J&J Group Awards 3 Finalists $50,000 Each for Gaps in Patient Care
Janssen Healthcare Innovation says three finalists are getting $50,000 each to advance their technologies for coordinating and improving patient care in the gray area that exists between different healthcare providers. Janssen, which is part of New Brunswick, NJ-based Johnson & Johnson, unveiled its incentive prize competition three months ago to spur entrepreneurs, inventors, and others … Continue reading “J&J Group Awards 3 Finalists $50,000 Each for Gaps in Patient Care”
Vesting Is a Hack
Vesting in general (and founder vesting in particular) is an oft-misunderstood tool that has a tendency to really screw up young companies. There are some deep misconceptions at work here that often cause founders all sorts of grief. Most of it comes from the simple fact that stock grants are, at their heart, a crude … Continue reading “Vesting Is a Hack”
Betaworks-Backed News.me Puts a More Social Spin on News Medium
The ever-increasing use of social media to share stories can sometimes overwhelm users, but a New York-based startup has created a platform to curb such information overload. News.me, wholly funded by investor and business accelerator Betaworks, and born from a prototype created at The New York Times, curates news articles to help readers focus on … Continue reading “Betaworks-Backed News.me Puts a More Social Spin on News Medium”
Four Xconomists in the News this Weekend, Including Two XSITE Keynoters
It was a busy weekend in tech coverage, despite the holiday. Among other things, four Xconomists were in the news, making headlines, announcing key moves, or as part of national articles—three of them in the New York Times. Here is a quick pointer: –Stephen Wolfram was the focus of a New York Times article about … Continue reading “Four Xconomists in the News this Weekend, Including Two XSITE Keynoters”
Investing in Biotech Isn’t Just for Investors Anymore
There hasn’t been much to crow about for years in the world of biotech financing. There’s no getting around the fact that new drugs still take a long time and a lot of money to develop, and they usually fail. It doesn’t fly in an instant-gratification economy, where people take extraordinary technical achievements—like, say, streaming … Continue reading “Investing in Biotech Isn’t Just for Investors Anymore”
Fynanz Secures $1,000,000 New Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=be05d721-737e-4ddc-b018-acf1d35fa5cf&Preview=1 Date 4/9/2012 Company Name Fynanz Mailing Address 104 W. 27th St. 4th Floor New York, NY 10001 Company Description Fynanz Inc. was founded in 2007 by a team of proven student loan industry veterans with over 100 combined years of finance and technology expertise. We are committed to developing unique, affordable, … Continue reading “Fynanz Secures $1,000,000 New Financing”
Notepaper App Showdown: Bamboo, FiftyThree, and Noteshelf
Most geeks like me suffer from a condition called Amazing New Tech Syndrome. The chief symptom of ANTS is a happy delirium over the latest gadget you’ve acquired, followed by resentful disillusionment toward that same gadget as soon as a newer one comes out. You can only assuage the resentment by buying the new gadget, … Continue reading “Notepaper App Showdown: Bamboo, FiftyThree, and Noteshelf”
Apple and the Cloud: A Cautionary Tale
The consumer’s electronic world as we know it today is shared between Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, and a handful of other popular brands. Most offerings must ride on these platforms and play by their rules. Yet I believe our current interest in—and use of—this ecosystem will peak in 3-6 years, and what awaits each of … Continue reading “Apple and the Cloud: A Cautionary Tale”
Umami Receives $125,000 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=278f3062-bac6-488a-ab1c-d90e2118e1d4&Preview=1 Date 4/6/2012 Company Name Umami Mailing Address 347 West 36th Street New York, NY 10018 Company Description Umami (www.umami.tv) develops products that enhance the consumer TV viewing experience, while dramatically simplifying the creation of these experiences for networks and advertisers. The company, led by digital media veterans from TV Guide, Comcast, … Continue reading “Umami Receives $125,000 New Funding Round”
Yapp Lands Seed Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=156e26f1-1b74-45d5-8c9c-f428af1f98d7&Preview=1 Date 4/6/2012 Company Name Yapp Mailing Address 244 5th Avenue New York, NY 10001 Company Description Yapp Inc. is a New York-based app development platform for non-technical users. Website http://www.yapp.us Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Seed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. M&A Terms Venture Investor … Continue reading “Yapp Lands Seed Financing Round”
Innovation in Startup Business Models
In our industry, it’s not uncommon for entrepreneurs to become so mono-focused on the novelty of product innovation that they forget to innovate equally around their business model. In my estimation, a disruptive business model is at least as important as disruptive technology. As an investor, the perfect scenario for me is a disruptive technology … Continue reading “Innovation in Startup Business Models”
Xconomist of the Week: Roger Ehrenberg Plans for Deeper Investments
Innovative use of data will change our world when you peer through the lens of Roger Ehrenberg, founder and managing partner of two-year-old IA Ventures in New York. From financial services to education and beyond, he sees opportunities to mine, harvest, cleanse, and analyze data in competitive ways. Armed with a $105 million fund that … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: Roger Ehrenberg Plans for Deeper Investments”
Coursekit Obtains $6,105,837 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=4443a226-bce6-4009-94fa-0d194cda461c&Preview=1 Date 4/5/2012 Company Name Coursekit Mailing Address 40 Wall Street 32nd Floor New York, NY 10005 Company Description We’ve re-imagined what a class should look like online. We give instructors and students amazingly designed tools to manage their courses – gradebook, calendaring, file management – and we make it unbelievably easy … Continue reading “Coursekit Obtains $6,105,837 New Funding Round”
Campalyst Secures Seed Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=2fb7cc3a-b5a7-45da-aa9e-785a5c9a99ff&Preview=1 Date 4/5/2012 Company Name Campalyst Mailing Address 1 Little West 12th Street New York, NY 10014 Company Description Campalyst provides social media management and analytics software that helps brands manage their social media presence while measuring sales and conversions from social media channels. Campalyst software helps to optimize brand presence on … Continue reading “Campalyst Secures Seed Funding Round”
FanDuel Garners $1,300,000 New Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=99f44127-5017-49c8-be3b-384097f9ee24&Preview=1 Date 4/5/2012 Company Name FanDuel Mailing Address 1375 Broadway 6th Floor New York, NY 10018 Company Description FanDuel.com lets you play and win at fantasy sports in a day instead of waiting the whole season. Players can draft a new team at any time, and pitch it head-to-head against a single … Continue reading “FanDuel Garners $1,300,000 New Round”
MK Capital-Backed DramaFever Brings International TV Shows to the Web
While some cable television channels such as BBC America offer entertainment from overseas, there are even more shows on the global stage looking for new audiences. DramaFever in New York provides access, via the Web and mobile devices, to those hard-to-find shows from countries such as Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. Seung Bak, co-founder of DramaFever, … Continue reading “MK Capital-Backed DramaFever Brings International TV Shows to the Web”
Boston Startups Join New NY Incubator With Women, Mobile Niche
A New York startup incubator program is underway with a new class, and before you call me Captain Obvious, let me say I’m not talking about TechStars. This particular program may be navigating its way through the oft-reported incubator bubble with a very specific niche that should be obvious in its name: Women Innovate Mobile. … Continue reading “Boston Startups Join New NY Incubator With Women, Mobile Niche”
Krossover Garners $1,569,116 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b7c52857-5662-4cf3-8621-ae8e075d8a01&Preview=1 Date 4/4/2012 Company Name Krossover Mailing Address 100 Riverside Blvd Unit 5J New York, NY 10069 Company Description Krossover Intelligence is a New York City based technology company with a focus on the online video search industry. The company’s first vertical of choice is the sports world, with the aim of … Continue reading “Krossover Garners $1,569,116 New Financing Round”
Hard-Nosed Hedge Fund Chief Has Soft Spot for Rare-Disease Startup
On March 19, Martin Shkreli posted an article on the investing blog Seeking Alpha urging readers to “short” shares of San Diego-based Cytori (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CYTX]])—essentially telling them they should bet that the company would falter and its share price would drop. Cytori is developing so-called regenerative treatments, using stem cells from fat, for example, to … Continue reading “Hard-Nosed Hedge Fund Chief Has Soft Spot for Rare-Disease Startup”
Google Acquires TxVia for Undisclosed Sum
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=dc37699d-0f2b-4731-a74d-f5160e7b89ce&Preview=1 Date 4/3/2012 Company Name TxVia Mailing Address 340 Madison Ave. 3rd Floor New York, NY 10017 Company Description TxVia,Inc. a pioneer in prepaid card processing technology. Website http://www.txvia.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Proceeds Purposes M&A Terms Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed by the parties.
An Insider’s Guide to Angel Investing
Thomas Wisniewski, board director of New York Angels, will provide a thorough overview of the market for early-stage investments at this evening event. Attendees will learn how to identify the right angel investors for their companies, how to effectively pitch them, and how to navigate the entire angel-investing process. Register here.
Successful Transitions from Academia to Startups
Pfizer’s Centers for Therapeutic Innovation presents this panel discussion on securing IP, fundraising, and other challenges of translating academic discoveries into startup biotech companies. Speakers include Allen Fienberg,vice president of business development for Intra-Cellular Therapies, and Kambiz Shekdar, co-Founder and chief scientific officer of Chromocell. Register here.
Startup Roundtable Series 11 with Naval Ravikant
New York Entrepreneurs Business Network presents an evening with Naval Ravikant, creator of AngelList. Up to five entrepreneurs will be selected to take the stage with Ravikant and pitch their business ideas in real time. The afternoon event includes lunch and networking. Register here.
Digital Healthcare Innovation Summit
This conference will unite investors, healthcare and medical IT business providers, hospital administrators, insurers, and government and public policy experts for a full day of discussion on IT changes in healthcare. Speakers include Brian Ascher, general partner at Venrock, Jonathan Bush, chairman and CEO of athenahealth, and Brandon Hull, co-founder of Cardinal Partners. Register here.
Biotech Can’t Sidestep Cost-Effectiveness Anymore
Back in the old days of biotech, the business was pretty straightforward. You’d craft your scientific idea, aim a new drug at patients in need, charm investors to give you some money, run bang-up clinical trials, win FDA approval. Do all that, and you’re good as gold. Charge insurers whatever the market will bear, and … Continue reading “Biotech Can’t Sidestep Cost-Effectiveness Anymore”
2tor Garners $26,000,000 Series D Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ff70f9dd-a69c-4c6a-87be-6d0ed2a76c3a&Preview=1 Date 4/2/2012 Company Name 2tor Mailing Address 60 Chelsea Piers New York, NY 10011 Company Description Founded by a unique team of education veterans with unparalleled experience, 2tor Inc. is a private company that partners with preeminent institutions of higher education to deliver rigorous, selective degree programs online.2tor develops state-of-the-art technology … Continue reading “2tor Garners $26,000,000 Series D Financing”
Xconomist of the Week: Andy Ory on the Real Opportunity for Acme Packet
Acme Packet is not the easiest technology company to write about. If you’re not careful, you end up bogging down in things like SIP trunking, IMS deployments, session delivery solutions, and other Internet Protocol networking lingo. Fortunately, Acme Packet’s co-founder and CEO, Andy Ory, makes things easy. Ory has led the Bedford, MA-based company (NASDAQ: … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: Andy Ory on the Real Opportunity for Acme Packet”
Steve Blank Hands A New Owner’s Manual to Startup Founders
If you look closely at the cover of Steve Blank’s new book, The Startup Owner’s Manual, you’ll see that it shows an exploded view of the transmission from an automobile engine. Leonardo da Vinci invented the exploded view more than 500 years ago, and it has stayed with us as a visualization tool, because it’s … Continue reading “Steve Blank Hands A New Owner’s Manual to Startup Founders”
Blueprint Health Graduates First Class at Demo Day
A new NYC incubator, Blueprint Health, started up in January with a goal of fostering entrepreneurship in an often-overlooked corner of the booming technology sector: health IT. Today the incubator, part of the TechStars network, held its first demo day, which attracted an standing-room-only audience of 500 venture capitalists and health IT professionals. Blueprint Health … Continue reading “Blueprint Health Graduates First Class at Demo Day”
Nokia and Microsoft Try to Woo New York Developers to Windows Phone 7
[A previous version of this story inferred that Fresh Digital Group developed the TVPyx app. Viafo created the app.] It is no secret that Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems dominate the smartphone realm. But Microsoft and phone maker Nokia are marching in lockstep together in a bid to disrupt the near duopoly of … Continue reading “Nokia and Microsoft Try to Woo New York Developers to Windows Phone 7”
Amylin Booms on Report it Rejected Bristol’s $3.5B Takeover Bid
San Diego-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMLN]]) saw its shares boom today after it reportedly turned down a $3.5 billion takeover bid from New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: [[ticker:BMY]]). Amylin shares rose 48 percent to $22.72 at Noon Eastern time today after Bloomberg News said Bristol privately bid $3.5 billion, or $22 a share, to acquire … Continue reading “Amylin Booms on Report it Rejected Bristol’s $3.5B Takeover Bid”
New York Social Game Makers Go Mobile to Grow in a Post-Zynga World
Online social games started out as popular distractions for the masses on Facebook. But these days how often do you actually play “Mafia Wars”? While some doubts have been raised by industry insiders about the early model for attracting players to social and casual games, a handful of companies in and around New York’s lesser … Continue reading “New York Social Game Makers Go Mobile to Grow in a Post-Zynga World”
DecisionView Looks to Help Speed Up Pharma’s Painfully Slow Trials
For years, real-time analytics have helped people to see patterns in data about traffic, weather, and the stock market. The pharmaceutical industry has plenty of ways it could benefit from real-time data feedback, and one of the obvious ones is in finding bottlenecks that slow down patient enrollment in the clinical trials that cost the … Continue reading “DecisionView Looks to Help Speed Up Pharma’s Painfully Slow Trials”
Ad Tech Startup Visual IQ Adding NY Presence, Eyes Funding Round
Local startup Visual IQ‘s story begins with co-founder Manu Mathew’s frustrations as a marketer trying to understand how to best spend an advertising budget. He left his job managing the Boston office of the ad firm Carat to take “that marketer’s problem and turn it into a technology, data-driven solution,” he says. Visual IQ launched … Continue reading “Ad Tech Startup Visual IQ Adding NY Presence, Eyes Funding Round”
CiRBA Obtains $15,000,000 Series C Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8bf53268-131d-41a7-b355-421cb5ecc844&Preview=1 Date 3/27/2012 Company Name CiRBA Mailing Address 367-245 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10011 Company Description CiRBA Data Center Intelligence (DCI) is predictive analytics software that powers a revolutionary console for policy-based control of virtual and cloud infrastructure. CiRBA enables organizations to maximize efficiency and mitigate risk by optimizing resource allocations … Continue reading “CiRBA Obtains $15,000,000 Series C Round”
The iPhone Before the Apple iPhone
Ask most people to tell you the story of the iPhone, and you’ll likely hear about how an innovative computer company took the traditional telephone, combined it with the Internet, and came up with an attractive and low-cost device that pioneered a new category of touch screen hardware, appealing not just to the tech savvy, … Continue reading “The iPhone Before the Apple iPhone”
Covestor Looks to Disrupt Investment Industry with “Mirror” Marketplace
If you’ve got $50K or $500K to invest with a financial advisor, you might want to check out Covestor. And well, even if you don’t, the New York-based company tells a pretty interesting story of one effort to make the field of money management more transparent. Covestor has built an online marketplace for consumers to … Continue reading “Covestor Looks to Disrupt Investment Industry with “Mirror” Marketplace”
Some Tongue-in-Cheek Fantasy Baseball (and Biotech) Picks
Baseball season starts this week, which means it’s time for me to spend too much time and energy on fantasy baseball. This is a strange little hobby in which millions of people use a combination of real-time data, news, and intuition to pick an imaginary team of baseball players that they hope will beat the … Continue reading “Some Tongue-in-Cheek Fantasy Baseball (and Biotech) Picks”