Category: New York

Skillshare Garners $3,100,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6a015a48-b7f6-4cfd-bd7c-151cbd36e816&Preview=1 Date 8/16/2011 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 Garners $3,100,000 New Funding”

Major League Gaming Lands $3,083,328 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=42075146-200a-45c4-9605-c9fb6edbc552&Preview=1 Date 8/16/2011 Company Name Major League Gaming Mailing Address 420 Lexington Ave New York, NY 10170 Company Description Major League Gaming (MLG) is the largest organized league and international sanctioning body for the world’s fastest growing competitive sport: professional video gaming. Website http://www.mlgpro.com Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $3,083,328 Transaction Round … Continue reading “Major League Gaming Lands $3,083,328 New Financing”

Evolutionary Road: From Invention to Exit in Medical Devices

This afternoon event will feature three panels of experts discussing key challenges for medical-device startups, as well as networking opportunities with venture capitalists, angels, and executives from major life sciences companies. Speakers include Martin Leon, director of the Center for Interventional Vascular Therapy at Columbia University Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital (keynote), Orin Hershkowitz of Columbia … Continue reading “Evolutionary Road: From Invention to Exit in Medical Devices”

Startups: Always Have a Plan B

One of the key distinctions between an entrepreneur and an operating executive is an entrepreneur’s almost seamless agility in the face of changing circumstances versus an operating executive’s intense execution focus on a plan. World-class entrepreneurs learn how to combine both. WTF? Driving home over the mountains from a Coastal Commission hearing, I had time … Continue reading “Startups: Always Have a Plan B”

Go Try It On Raises $3M in Series A Round, Adds Board Members

New York’s Go Try It On, the developer of a mobile app that lets users ask for opinions on their fashion choices, says in a press release it raised $3 million in a series A round. Investors include Len Blavatnik, Alex Zubillaga, and Index Ventures. Zubillaga and Index Ventures’s Danny Rimmer will join Go Try … Continue reading “Go Try It On Raises $3M in Series A Round, Adds Board Members”

Pfizer Wins Viagra Patent Case

A U.S. District Court judge ruled in favor of New York-based Pfizer (NYSE: [[ticker:PFE]]) in a patent-infringement case brought by Israel’s generic drug giant Teva (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TEVA]]) over impotence blockbuster sildenafil (Viagra), according to a press release. Teva had been trying to invalidate Pfizer’s patent so it could market a generic version of the drug, but the … Continue reading “Pfizer Wins Viagra Patent Case”

Gojee Finds Its Way Into the Food Spotlight, Enters Talks for First Round of Funding

Sometimes a startup needs to pivot a few times until it finds just the right idea. Similar to chefs trying out new dishes, Gojee co-founder Michael LaValle says his one-year-old company changed its own formula twice before its latest idea caught on this summer. The New York startup curates recipes based on the ingredients its … Continue reading “Gojee Finds Its Way Into the Food Spotlight, Enters Talks for First Round of Funding”

Time to Cure Cancer or Stash Cash Under the Mattress?

If you dared to flip the channel to CNBC any time during the past week, it would have been hard to stay calm. The market was whipsawing all over the place, up one minute, down the next. Fear of government defaults and the potential for another recession were topics of endless debate. Fund managers were … Continue reading “Time to Cure Cancer or Stash Cash Under the Mattress?”

Buddy Media Lands $54,000,000 Series D Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e04a829b-bcda-412e-9fbe-1b7290b7c914&Preview=1 Date 8/15/2011 Company Name Buddy Media Mailing Address 1845 Broadway New York, NY 10023 Company Description Buddy Media is a leading developer of applications for social media sites, including Facebook and MySpace. Buddy Media owns and operates more than 15 applications that have been added by more than 7 million Facebook … Continue reading “Buddy Media Lands $54,000,000 Series D Financing”

Fynanz Garners $2,027,288 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=c14e99a6-3c71-4c1f-84c9-9489bad76d53&Preview=1 Date 8/15/2011 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 Garners $2,027,288 New Financing Round”

Opinionaided Raises $4.3M, Forms Board

New York’s Opinionaided, a mobile question-and-answer startup, said in a blog post Friday it raised $4.3 million in a Series A round led by SoftBank Capital and BlueRun Ventures. Other investors in the round include General Catalyst, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, ENIAC Ventures, as well as Mark Wachen, managing partner with DreamIt Ventures; Jonah Goodhart, co-founder … Continue reading “Opinionaided Raises $4.3M, Forms Board”

There Is an Incubator Bubble—And It Will Pop

This week we published the third annual edition of the Xconomy Guide to Venture Incubators. It’s the only source we know of where U.S. entrepreneurs starting technology, life sciences, or energy companies can survey all of the early-stage mentoring and investment programs open to them in a single document. (You can buy the downloadable file … Continue reading “There Is an Incubator Bubble—And It Will Pop”

Go Try It On Lands $3,000,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=30edc3ee-fb95-4704-a0c1-d040c59b4db5&Preview=1 Date 8/12/2011 Company Name Go Try It On Mailing Address Undisclosed New York, NY 10001 Company Description GO TRY IT ON is an easy and fun way to share your look with a community or even just your friends. Website http://www.gotryiton.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $3,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed … Continue reading “Go Try It On Lands $3,000,000 New Funding Round”

Peek Lands $626,096 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9053ff1a-ad3b-4cce-b20d-eb22c6d30ddd&Preview=1 Date 8/12/2011 Company Name Peek Mailing Address 419 Lafayette St. 3rd Floor New York, NY 10003 Company Description Peek is a new company that has created a device entirely designed to make mobile email easy for anybody. We saw the need for a straight-forward, easy-to-use email device without all of the … Continue reading “Peek Lands $626,096 New Funding Round”

BankSimple Raises $10M, Adds Partnerships

Brooklyn’s Simple Finance Technology Corp., which does business as BankSimple, said in a blog post Wednesday that it raised $10 million in a round led by IA Ventures. Shasta Ventures and other investors also participated in the round. BankSimple is a startup working with charter banks to offer personal banking services. It plans to use the new … Continue reading “BankSimple Raises $10M, Adds Partnerships”

DreamIt Ventures Brings Its Startup Accelerator Program to New York

Making their debut within throwing distance of Radio City Music Hall, the first 14 startups to graduate from the New York version of the DreamIt Ventures accelerator program presented to investors on Wednesday. Demo day brought to a close three months of mentoring that helped these fledgling companies strengthen their plans. Now that they have … Continue reading “DreamIt Ventures Brings Its Startup Accelerator Program to New York”

Opinionaided Garners $4,300,000 Series A Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=152393b9-07fc-4f9c-98e0-2c0c7f21bf6f&Preview=1 Date 8/11/2011 Company Name Opinionaided Mailing Address 902 Broadway Fourth Floor New York, NY 10010 Company Description The company operates an online Q&A website and community. Website http://www.Opinionaided.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $4,300,000 Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes The company will use the funding to continue to rapidly … Continue reading “Opinionaided Garners $4,300,000 Series A Financing Round”

Voxy Secures $2,800,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8aee8674-75ce-4e10-9ee8-e804a5689f09&Preview=1 Date 8/11/2011 Company Name Voxy Mailing Address 85 East 10th Street New York, NY 10003 Company Description Voxy is about learning from what’s around you. From your life. Our unique bite-size language lessons use fresh, entertaining, topical content of your choosing, whether that be a story about your favorite team, some … Continue reading “Voxy Secures $2,800,000 New Funding”

BUZZD Obtains $500,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=710209f2-0013-4425-91ec-fc25dd31c99e&Preview=1 Date 8/11/2011 Company Name BUZZD Mailing Address 37 West 28th Street 5th Floor New York, NY 10001 Company Description buzzd is about what’s going on right now at that bar, restaurant or club in your city, in your neighborhood or even the block you’re on. Website http://www.buzzd.com Transaction Type Debt, Venture … Continue reading “BUZZD Obtains $500,000 New Financing”

NYC Startup Crawl

Learn about the startup scene at this afternoon tour of young, NYC tech companies, sponsored by 10gen. Participants will visit six companies, including Crowdtap, Smartling, and Yodle, where they’ll be able to lob questions at top execs and engineers. RSVP here.

New York Cloud Startup Apprenda Expanding to Seattle Area, Targets Microsoft’s Backyard

Money goes out, people come in. That’s the plan for the latest out-of-town investment by Bellevue, WA-based Ignition Partners, which led a $10 million growth round for Clifton Park, NY-based cloud computing startup Apprenda. I caught up with Apprenda CEO Sinclair Schuller after Tuesday’s announcement to get some more details on a nugget that wasn’t … Continue reading “New York Cloud Startup Apprenda Expanding to Seattle Area, Targets Microsoft’s Backyard”

Xconomy Guide to Venture Incubators Back For A Third Year, Sixty-Four Programs Strong

You could say that the institution of the startup incubator has gotten its chance to shine this year. One way we can tell? Our third annual Xconomy Guide to Venture Incubators has nearly doubled in size from the 2010 version. The big boom wasn’t a total surprise, given that this year politicians and the like … Continue reading “Xconomy Guide to Venture Incubators Back For A Third Year, Sixty-Four Programs Strong”

Helmsley Trust Funds New Boston-Based Website for Diabetes Patients

In New York, the name Leona Helmsley often evokes snarky jokes about Trouble, the pooch who inherited $12 million in 2007, when the hotel heiress known as the Queen of Mean died. So it might be a surprise to many New Yorkers to learn that Helmsley and her husband, Harry, set up a charitable trust … Continue reading “Helmsley Trust Funds New Boston-Based Website for Diabetes Patients”

San Diego’s Human Engines Makes Commercial Debut with Mobile Visualization Tool

A San Diego startup founded by a couple of Qualcomm alums yesterday introduced its first commercial product, a system for Android-based mobile devices that organizes the daily flood of e-mail, calendar notices, alerts, text messages, and social media messages. Baback Elmieh and Rachid El Guerrab founded Human Engines in 2008, initially providing customized user-interface technologies … Continue reading “San Diego’s Human Engines Makes Commercial Debut with Mobile Visualization Tool”

BankSimple Garners $10,000,000 Series B Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b5c7a5fd-0f1c-4d02-8914-c27cc9c5d82c&Preview=1 Date 8/10/2011 Company Name BankSimple Mailing Address 18 Bridge Street Brooklyn, NY 11201 Company Description BankSimple was born out of our frustration with banking. We were fed up with our banks: the fees, the constantly changing rules, the crappy customer service. We saw an opportunity to fix these issues by making … Continue reading “BankSimple Garners $10,000,000 Series B Round”

Downgrading America?

I don’t know how most Americans feel these days, but I haven’t felt like this since just before Richard Nixon left office in 1974. Our political leaders (think “jumbo shrimp” or “military intelligence”) have just completed a grand game of chicken. They ended up in just the same position Neville Chamberlain was when he negotiated … Continue reading “Downgrading America?”

NPS Re-Jiggers Glaxo Partnership, Finds Value in Ultra-Orphan Diseases

On August 2, NPS Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NPSP]]) announced that it had updated an 18-year-old licensing agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: [[ticker:GSK]]), allowing NPS to regain rights to two experimental treatments. It wasn’t the sort of news likely to induce panting on Wall Street, as Bedminster, NJ-based NPS is developing the compounds to treat orphan diseases—those that … Continue reading “NPS Re-Jiggers Glaxo Partnership, Finds Value in Ultra-Orphan Diseases”

ChallengePost Picks Up $4.1M in Series A Funding to Help Run Online Contests for New Ideas

Finding the best answers to big problems can mean looking to an outside party with bright ideas. The trouble is finding those fixes immediately. New York’s ChallengePost, a Web-based platform for running competitions, gives organizations and individuals a way to attract contenders who think they have got the right stuff. Brandon Kessler, CEO of ChallengePost, … Continue reading “ChallengePost Picks Up $4.1M in Series A Funding to Help Run Online Contests for New Ideas”

SinglePlatform Obtains $3,250,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=da5a0fda-8fc1-477c-bd5c-0069698360d8&Preview=1 Date 8/9/2011 Company Name SinglePlatform Mailing Address Undisclosed New York, NY 10001 Company Description SinglePlatform provides rich restaurant content to our Publisher Network, so that customers now have up-to-date menus, photos, and specials. Website http://www.singleplatform.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $3,250,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes SinglePlatform’s management decided to … Continue reading “SinglePlatform Obtains $3,250,000 New Financing”

Apprenda Garners $10,000,000 Series B Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0062b486-4c27-4128-b630-701fabb74374&Preview=1 Date 8/9/2011 Company Name Apprenda Mailing Address 3 Corporate Drive Clifton Park, NY 12065 Company Description Apprenda is the pioneering developer of a general purpose platform for SaaS applications that focuses on smashing the cost and technical barriers associated with building enterprise grade SaaS applications, making SaaS accessible as a distribution … Continue reading “Apprenda Garners $10,000,000 Series B Financing”

ChallengePost Garners $4,100,000 Series A Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=bb3465fc-d848-4f6f-a4e1-0571771dfe34&Preview=1 Date 8/9/2011 Company Name ChallengePost Mailing Address 425 West 13th Street New York, NY 10014 Company Description We all wish for things, large and small, to make the world a better place or to make our own lives a little easier or more entertaining. It might be a new smartphone app … Continue reading “ChallengePost Garners $4,100,000 Series A Financing”

Quirky Adds $16M

Quirky, a website that encourages anyone to be an inventor, has raised $16 million in a Series B. The funding was led by Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from existing investor RRE Ventures. Founder Ben Kaufman told VentureWire the cash would last until 2013, at which point he expects the company will be profitable. Several … Continue reading “Quirky Adds $16M”

Finovate Fall 2011

More than 50 startups will demo their goods at this conference for entrepreneurs in financial technology. There will be plenty of networking time, as well. Register here.

Taap.it Makes the Rounds in the New York Startup Trenches

New York’s evolving startup community offers a bevy of forums for fledgling companies to pitch their ideas to potential investors and collaborators. Duy Huynh, CEO and co-founder of startup Taap.it, has been to a menagerie of such events this summer, including the New York Venture Summit, NY Tech Meetup, and the NY Entrepreneurs Business Network. … Continue reading “Taap.it Makes the Rounds in the New York Startup Trenches”

Dendreon Wounds Are Self-Inflicted, Not the Start of a Biotech Industry Virus

Dendreon has made its share of mistakes before. But last week, the Seattle cancer drug developer achieved the biotech equivalent of fumbling the ball on the 1-yard line with time running out on the clock. The failure was so painful, so shocking, it erased two-thirds of the company’s stock value—about $3 billion. It even started … Continue reading “Dendreon Wounds Are Self-Inflicted, Not the Start of a Biotech Industry Virus”

An Open Letter to Dendreon’s Chairman

[Editor’s Note: This letter was sent today to Dendreon chairman Richard Brewer.] Dear Mr. Brewer: Just over five months ago I wrote to you expressing serious concerns about the composition of the board of directors and its oversight of Dendreon’s management. I appreciated the opportunity to discuss these views in person with management at company … Continue reading “An Open Letter to Dendreon’s Chairman”

Bonfire of the Vanities: The Difference Between Marketing and Sales in Tech

When I was in my 20s, I was taught the relationship between marketing and sales over a bonfire. — Over 30 years ago, before the arrival of the personal computer, there were desktop computers called office workstations. Designed around the first generation of microprocessors, these computers ran business applications like word processing, spreadsheets, and accounting. … Continue reading “Bonfire of the Vanities: The Difference Between Marketing and Sales in Tech”

Radio Without Radios, Books Without Bookstores: Welcome to the Era of Unbound Media

Last weekend I decided to get serious about the fact that I live in an earthquake zone, and started putting together a kit with all the food, water, and equipment I’d need to survive for a few days if local services broke down. One of the items that turns up on all of the standard … Continue reading “Radio Without Radios, Books Without Bookstores: Welcome to the Era of Unbound Media”

On Deck Capital Gets $4M in Follow to Series C Round

New York’s On Deck Capital said in a press release Thursday that it raised $4 million in follow-on funding. Five-year-old On Deck, a technology platform for connecting so-called Main Street businesses to capital, received $15 million in a series C round in January. On Deck evaluates the financial health of small businesses through data aggregation … Continue reading “On Deck Capital Gets $4M in Follow to Series C Round”

Acceleron, Celgene Take Aim at Amgen’s Multibillion-Dollar Anemia Market

Amgen became the biotech industry’s biggest company largely because of a drug it developed in the 1980s for treating anemia. Plenty have tried, and failed, to knock Amgen off that pedestal ever since. But now a deepening alliance between Summit, NJ-based Celgene (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CELG]]) and Cambridge, MA-based Acceleron Pharma is taking one, and possibly two, … Continue reading “Acceleron, Celgene Take Aim at Amgen’s Multibillion-Dollar Anemia Market”

Company Obtains $1,600,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1b809a73-2dbe-448b-89d2-6b605e477bed&Preview=1 Date 8/5/2011 Company Name Company Mailing Address Undisclosed New York, NY 11019 Company Description COMPANY is a curated secondary art market and community, for collectors, by collectors™. We provide a venue for collectors of Emerging Art to discover the next great artist and the tools to acquire and sell your art. … Continue reading “Company Obtains $1,600,000 New Financing”

Hipcricket Acquired by Augme for $44.5M to Combine Mobile Marketing Forces

[Updated at 12:15 Pacific with Hipcricket comment] OK, it’s officially M&A week in Seattle. Today we have Kirkland, WA mobile advertising software company Hipcricket being acquired by New York-based Augme Technologies for $44.5 million upfront—$6 million in cash and the balance in Augme stock. The price also could climb by another $27.5 million if Hipcricket … Continue reading “Hipcricket Acquired by Augme for $44.5M to Combine Mobile Marketing Forces”

Company Art Market Raises $1.6 Million

New York’s Company, an online art market, said in a press release Wednesday it raised $1.6 million in seed funding. The website lets art collectors sell and exchange pieces from their own collections. Investors in five-month-old Company include Ten Paces Capital Partners and the Reen Family Office. Company also runs networking events and has a reality television … Continue reading “Company Art Market Raises $1.6 Million”

iHT2 Health IT Summit

This two-day conference will bring together more than 200 CIOs and IT directors from hospitals, health systems, and physician practices. The agenda will cover a range of topics, from telehealth to mobile technology to patient engagement. Featured speakers include Mike McCallister, CEO of Humana, and Todd Park, CTO of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human … Continue reading “iHT2 Health IT Summit”

Xconomist of the Week: Five Questions About Life Sciences Investing for Dennis Purcell of Aisling Capital

Dennis Purcell is the senior managing partner of New York-based Aisling Capital, one of the top venture capital firms in the life sciences industry, with $1.65 billion under management. In 2009, Aisling closed its third fund, worth $650 million. Aisling Capital’s first fund started up in 2002 with the goal of supporting startups across the … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: Five Questions About Life Sciences Investing for Dennis Purcell of Aisling Capital”

LocalResponse Acquires Philo Media for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6e65a3b4-3030-40dc-9fe9-f0cea026e6be&Preview=1 Date 8/4/2011 Company Name Philo Media Mailing Address P.O. Box 46 New York, NY 10113 Company Description Philo makes TV social (again) by letting you connect with your friends and watch, chat, score points, and win awards and credits together. You can browse around television shows and see what your friends … Continue reading “LocalResponse Acquires Philo Media for Undisclosed Sum”

Quirky Obtains $16,000,000 Series B Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0d476eb8-3cb6-4615-b592-a51c84f2f354&Preview=1 Date 8/4/2011 Company Name Quirky Mailing Address 628 Broadway 3rd Floor New York, NY 10012 Company Description Quirky is rapidly changing the way people think about product development by using a unique method to harness the power of creativity. Website http://www.quirky.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $16,000,000 Transaction Round Series … Continue reading “Quirky Obtains $16,000,000 Series B Funding”

New York Throws Down Silicon Gauntlet at Boston’s Feet at Tech Meetup

A bit of chest-thumping kicked off last night’s NY Tech Meetup, a large gathering of startups grown in New York. Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert K. Steel took the stage with Seth Pinsky, president of the New York Economic Development Corp., at the onset to push Applied Sciences NYC—a plan to build up the … Continue reading “New York Throws Down Silicon Gauntlet at Boston’s Feet at Tech Meetup”