Category: Raleigh-Durham

What I’ve Learned From 25 Years in the Tech Industry

Building and running a successful startup in America’s fiercely competitive tech industry is never easy. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution or manual for how to go about it. But as they say, experience is the best teacher. So it’s my pleasure to share with you some of my own experiences and observations in building and managing … Continue reading “What I’ve Learned From 25 Years in the Tech Industry”

North Carolina Roundup: BioCryst, Biotech Center, Validic, & More

Here are this week’s headlines in North Carolina tech and biotech news: —BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BCRX]]) is moving toward Phase 1 clinical trials of its experimental treatment for Ebola and Marburg viruses with $4.1 million in new funding. The money from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease is the latest award in a … Continue reading “North Carolina Roundup: BioCryst, Biotech Center, Validic, & More”

Clinverse Lands $9,000,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=52e896bb-3ff5-4f66-bc32-418d50a70fad Date 8/19/2014 Company Name Clinverse Mailing Address 4505 Emperor Boulevard Durham, NC 27703 USA Company Description Clinverse, Inc. is a technology company solely focused on the financial management of clinical trials and associated payments in over 140 currencies. Our flagship product ClinPay revolutionizes the Investigator payment process and considerably reduces study … Continue reading “Clinverse Lands $9,000,000 New Funding Round”

Innovation Hub: Your Brilliant Other Half

We spend a lot of time celebrating one-in-a-million entrepreneurs: the Mark Zuckerbergs, the Steve Jobs, the Elon Musks. But what if most entrepreneurs are more like two in a million? People who couldn’t realize their vision without a brilliant partner. Joshua Wolf Shenk writes about this phenomenon in Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of … Continue reading “Innovation Hub: Your Brilliant Other Half”

Carless in Cambridge: Bike & Car Sharing and the Future of Traffic

Nine weeks ago, I lost my fancy hybrid street/trail bike to one of San Francisco’s plentiful bicycle thieves. Seven weeks ago, in preparation for a big move east, I sold my car. Now I’m settling into a new apartment in Cambridge, MA, and for the first time in my adult life, I don’t own a … Continue reading “Carless in Cambridge: Bike & Car Sharing and the Future of Traffic”

Non-Compete Agreements: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Twenty years ago, renowned researcher AnnaLee Saxenian wrote a book called Regional Advantage, which compared the development of two high-tech regions, Silicon Valley and Route 128. Everyone in the tech world knows how this story played out: In the face of global competition and technological trends, Silicon Valley reinvented itself and roared ahead, while Route … Continue reading “Non-Compete Agreements: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”

Entigral Systems Receives $171,750 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=11f6a88c-9fb8-4fae-a04c-d71c3dfe20f2 Date 8/14/2014 Company Name Entigral Systems Mailing Address 3716 National Drive Raleigh, NC 27612 USA Company Description Founded in 2003, Entigral Systems is an enterprise software company that develops and sells TraxWare – an industry-leading sensor automation platform. TraxWare enables a new generation of sensor-based asset tracking applications, primarily using Radio … Continue reading “Entigral Systems Receives $171,750 New Funding”

Novartis Helps Pour $16M Into Seventh Sense for Pain-Free Blood Tests

What’s the worst part of getting your blood drawn? For many people, it’s thinking about the big needle or the finger prick that comes with it. Seventh Sense Biosystems is trying to replace those methods with something quick and painless. And while it’s still a long way from selling its first product—let alone supplanting the … Continue reading “Novartis Helps Pour $16M Into Seventh Sense for Pain-Free Blood Tests”

CellBreaker Kills Termination Fees in Wireless Contracts (and More)

Cell phone users think of switching carriers for all sorts of reasons, such as price or network quality. But Jon Colgan points to just one reason many consumers don’t squeeze the trigger on a switch: early termination fees. Fees that can reach $350 or more keep many consumers using phones they no longer want on … Continue reading “CellBreaker Kills Termination Fees in Wireless Contracts (and More)”

Validic Lands $5,000,000 Series A Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9db12e86-8b7a-42c9-9c59-f45ba590e278 Date 8/13/2014 Company Name Validic Mailing Address 400 W Main St. Durham, NC 27701 USA Company Description Validic is a motley crew of developers and healthcare professionals drawn together by our ardent belief that technology can solve the world’s health problems. The Validic Enterprise mHealth API is setting the standard for … Continue reading “Validic Lands $5,000,000 Series A Funding Round”

Raleigh-Durham Roundup: Windsor Circle, Salix, CED, & More

Here are this week’s headlines in North Carolina tech and biotech news: —Comcast Ventures, the venture capital arm of cable television giant Comcast, led a $5.25 million financing round for Windsor Circle. Durham, NC-based Windsor Circle has developed customer-retention software for online retailers. The startup says the new financing will help it expand and boost … Continue reading “Raleigh-Durham Roundup: Windsor Circle, Salix, CED, & More”

LED Maker Xicato Plots Move into “Internet of Lights”

As an executive at Philips, Gerard Harbers developed technology that helped expand the use of LED lighting in TV monitors, streetlights, and outdoor signs. But when it came to the LEDs in his own home, he couldn’t stand the quality of light. Motivated by his own experience, he co-founded Xicato to create light from LEDs … Continue reading “LED Maker Xicato Plots Move into “Internet of Lights””

The Perfect Hacker Storm: CyberVor Was Lightning; Here Comes Thunder

A Russian “hacker gang” they’ve dubbed CyberVor accumulated more than 1.2 unique user credentials from more than 420,000 Web services, ranging from smaller sites to major household names. For scale – if the CyberVor hack were a box office return, it would be the total global gross of the final Harry Potter as compared to … Continue reading “The Perfect Hacker Storm: CyberVor Was Lightning; Here Comes Thunder”

While Protesters Rage Against Tech Giants, Biotech Drives Quietly By

Not long ago, biotech made a lot of people angry. Up until 2005 or so, the annual Biotechnology Industry Organization conference attracted large street protests, which in turn attracted cops in riot gear in some cases (see San Francisco, 2004) as well as the attention of the industry’s top brass. Here’s then-BIO president Carl Feldbaum … Continue reading “While Protesters Rage Against Tech Giants, Biotech Drives Quietly By”

Windsor Circle Lands $5,250,000 Series B Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=972c7b20-2b3d-4022-bc39-c903245e1a30 Date 8/12/2014 Company Name Windsor Circle Mailing Address 111 E. Chapel Hill St. Durham, NC 27701 USA Company Description Windsor Circle’s eCommerce Intelligence software helps online retailers increase email marketing revenue through better customer segmentation. Website http://www.windsorcircle.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $5,250,000 Transaction Round Series B Proceeds Purposes The … Continue reading “Windsor Circle Lands $5,250,000 Series B Funding Round”

Moneyball Meets Sales and Marketing: Tips from Two Masters

Moneyball has come to sales and marketing. I’m trusting you know about the revolution that hit baseball due to the arrival of sophisticated data and analytics—and if you don’t, well, read Moneyball by Michael Lewis. It shouldn’t be a surprise, in any case, to hear that the same type of data-mining and number-crunching that turned … Continue reading “Moneyball Meets Sales and Marketing: Tips from Two Masters”

Innovation Hub: Forget Big Bets—Success Means Thinking Small

If you want to reap big rewards, you’ve got to take big risks. Right? Not according to Peter Sims, author of Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries, who argues that companies from Google to Hewlett-Packard have cashed in by thinking small, floating trial balloons, and understanding that micro failures are inevitable. I … Continue reading “Innovation Hub: Forget Big Bets—Success Means Thinking Small”

Linda Stone’s Antidote to Quantified Self: The Essential Self

The Quantified Self movement emerged in the late 2000s in response to an absence: the lack of useful data about our bodies as we move through the day. Before the QS era, an EKG could show you your heart rhythms; a lab analysis could show you your cholesterol levels; a treadmill stress test could measure … Continue reading “Linda Stone’s Antidote to Quantified Self: The Essential Self”

Novozymes’ BioAg R&D Turns to Microbials to Boost Crop Yields

Before Colin Bletsky’s work took him around the world to talk about agricultural microbials, he was using them himself in the fertile region often called Canada’s breadbasket. Bletsky, now global bioag strategic alliance director for Novozymes, still farms at his Saskatchewan home. It’s too far north for corn or soy, but he uses microbials—beneficial microorganisms … Continue reading “Novozymes’ BioAg R&D Turns to Microbials to Boost Crop Yields”

Funding Options Shrink for Early-Stage Cleantech Ventures

The term “cleantech” has gone through a rebranding. However it’s defined, though, investment in energy and natural resource-related startups continues. Just don’t expect venture capitalists to be writing all the checks. As a reporter, I chronicled the rush of venture capital in cleantech in the mid-to-late 2000s and the subsequent financial bust and politicization of … Continue reading “Funding Options Shrink for Early-Stage Cleantech Ventures”

Axial Exchange Aims to Keep Patients Healthy Outside the Hospital

The United States has some of the best hospitals in the world. That’s why 800,000 international patients come here every year seeking specialty care, according to data from Chapel Hill, NC-based Patients Beyond Borders. If only the great care most patients receive while they’re inside the hospital could continue after they’ve left. Too often, patients are … Continue reading “Axial Exchange Aims to Keep Patients Healthy Outside the Hospital”

Military Strategies Being Used in the War on Cancer

Nearly everyone has heard of the War on Cancer, which was launched during the Nixon administration with the passage of the National Cancer Act of 1971. The goal of this legislation was to eradicate (or at least significantly decrease) the number of U.S. cancer deaths. Progress in meeting this goal has been slow over the … Continue reading “Military Strategies Being Used in the War on Cancer”

How Cotton Bureau Became the Internet’s Coolest T-Shirt Store

You may not have realized that it was possible to become addicted to buying T-shirts. But that probably means you just haven’t stumbled upon Cotton Bureau, a year-old website that has quickly become the world’s coolest T-shirt shop. The four-person crew behind Cotton Bureau has managed to pull this off by stitching together an impressive number … Continue reading “How Cotton Bureau Became the Internet’s Coolest T-Shirt Store”

Innovation Hub: Legendary Investor Roger McNamee on “Day of Reckoning”

There’s always plenty of coverage of the newest phones—are they a millimeter thinner? Is the camera slightly better? But when you back up and look at the broad sweep of how technology has changed our lives over the last generation, it’s profound. Celebrated Silicon Valley investor Roger McNamee has been part of this transformation—having spent … Continue reading “Innovation Hub: Legendary Investor Roger McNamee on “Day of Reckoning””

Global Warming and the Power of Fear to Drive Innovation

[Corrected, see below] As graduation approached at my rural Michigan high school in 1985, our principal had a problem. The commencement ceremony usually featured two speeches: one from the valedictorian and one from the salutatorian. But in my graduating class eight people, including me, had a 4.0 grade point average. Who would give the valedictorian … Continue reading “Global Warming and the Power of Fear to Drive Innovation”

Is Radio Silence Endangering Your Business?

Let’s see if this scenario sounds all-too-familiar. A divisional company director is facing a distressed situation. Her CEO suggests bringing in an outside consultant to help. They meet, and the director decides to hire the consultant and immediately confirms a follow-up meeting on both of their calendars. Except that this second meeting never takes place. … Continue reading “Is Radio Silence Endangering Your Business?”

Raleigh-Durham Roundup: Targacept, Causam Energy, Merz, & Google

Targacept fails another clinical trial and suggests a possible change in course. Meanwhile, Causam Energy announces an acquisition and Merz completes one. Read about these and other headlines in this roundup of North Carolina technology and biotech news. —North Carolina biotech company Targacept (NASDAQ:[[ticker:TRGT]]) is halting work on an experimental drug to treat incontinence after … Continue reading “Raleigh-Durham Roundup: Targacept, Causam Energy, Merz, & Google”

Wake Forest Institute Advancing Bioprinter Tech for Wound Care

In the not too distant future, one of the most important pieces of equipment for treating injured soldiers at a combat hospital could be a printer. Doctors may someday wheel a portable “bioprinter” over to a soldier’s bed, line it up, and print new layers of skin directly onto a severe wound or burn. That’s … Continue reading “Wake Forest Institute Advancing Bioprinter Tech for Wound Care”

Apartment Website Abodo Snags 4490 Ventures’ First Investment

Abodo, the Madison, WI-based apartment rental website, has closed a $1.25 million Series A investment that’s significant not only for the company, but also because of the investors involved. The round was led by Madison-based American Family Ventures, the $50 million VC arm of American Family Insurance. The fund was formed in 2010 but only … Continue reading “Apartment Website Abodo Snags 4490 Ventures’ First Investment”

Driving Corporate Innovation: Design Thinking vs. Customer Development

Startups are not smaller versions of large companies, but interestingly we also see that companies are not larger versions of startups. I’ve been spending some time with large companies that are interested in using “Lean Startup” methods. One of the conundrums is why does innovation take so long to happen in corporations? Previously Hank Chesbrough … Continue reading “Driving Corporate Innovation: Design Thinking vs. Customer Development”

A Window Into the Mind of NC Serial Entrepreneur Aaron Houghton

Aaron Houghton likes to build things. Sure, it was exhilarating running his previous company, Morrisville, NC-based iContact, after the e-mail marketing firm had grown well past the point of an initially bootstrapped startup formed by a pair of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students in 2003. At the apex of Houghton’s and co-founder … Continue reading “A Window Into the Mind of NC Serial Entrepreneur Aaron Houghton”

To Solve Alzheimer’s Mystery, Better Biological Clues Sorely Needed

The other day, I found a video on the website of the Alzheimer’s Association, a nonprofit foundation. It was part of an HBO documentary series produced a few years ago by Maria Shriver to educate the public about Alzheimer’s disease. The first couple minutes showed people going into scanners, doctors gently examining patients, color-contrasted brain … Continue reading “To Solve Alzheimer’s Mystery, Better Biological Clues Sorely Needed”

CivaTech Oncology Garners $1,202,201 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1fdde35a-7fc2-4844-9021-44332a31f65c Date 7/29/2014 Company Name CivaTech Oncology Mailing Address 104 T.W. Alexander Drive Building 4 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 USA Company Description The mission of the company is to create a product that will be the standard of care for low-dose-rate (LDR) brachytherapy. The first focus of the Company will be … Continue reading “CivaTech Oncology Garners $1,202,201 New Round”

Emulate Scores $12M to Shake Up Drug Testing With Organs on Chips

It’s an age-old problem with drug development: no matter how good a drug looks when tested in animals or petri dishes, there’s no guarantee it’ll have the same effect on a person. That unpredictability has delayed or doomed countless drug prospects—and drives up the cost, and time, it takes to make a successful therapeutic. A … Continue reading “Emulate Scores $12M to Shake Up Drug Testing With Organs on Chips”

G1, Out to Shield Body From Chemo, Heads to First Clinical Test

Chemotherapy is like nuking the body with chemicals. It kills good and bad cells alike, which is why cancer patients undergoing treatment get fatigued and suffer through a whole host of side effects. A little startup built around research at the University of North Carolina called G1 Therapeutics thinks it’s got an answer to some … Continue reading “G1, Out to Shield Body From Chemo, Heads to First Clinical Test”

Innovation Hub: How Lego Built a Blockbuster Global Brand

What products count as innovative? Often, the things we take most for granted. Like Legos. A toy that was started by a failing carpenter in the 1940s, suffered a near-death experience several years ago, and is now experiencing blockbuster growth. So, how did the company manage to stay afloat through a half-century of changing tastes … Continue reading “Innovation Hub: How Lego Built a Blockbuster Global Brand”

Dave Eggers’s “The Circle” Fails as Satire, Succeeds as Prophecy

When the anti-utopian book The Circle, the latest novel from McSweeney’s founder Dave Eggers, came out last October, reviewers hailed it as a “provocative” and “foreboding” warning about the spiritual costs of excessive sharing and transparency on the Internet. The Guardian even called it “a deft modern synthesis of Swiftian wit with Orwellian prognostication.” But … Continue reading “Dave Eggers’s “The Circle” Fails as Satire, Succeeds as Prophecy”

BioCryst Bets on New Ebola Drug to Fight Bioterror, Outbreak Threats

The unfortunate few infected by Ebola learn quickly that the rare disease is a near-certain death sentence. Outbreaks have led to fatality rates up to 90 percent, according to the World Health Organization. Treatment options are limited: no approved vaccines or drugs for treating Ebola exist, the WHO says. As the current virus outbreak continues … Continue reading “BioCryst Bets on New Ebola Drug to Fight Bioterror, Outbreak Threats”

Raleigh’s ThinkHouse Live-In Accelerator: Think Maker Faire, Not MTV

Yes, ThinkHouse is a place where eight young entrepreneurs, all in their early 20s, apply for a chance to live under the same roof for nine months while they start their own businesses. But here are some images to put out of your mind right from the start: Video cameras. Confessional interviews. Rivalry, backstabbing, and … Continue reading “Raleigh’s ThinkHouse Live-In Accelerator: Think Maker Faire, Not MTV”

North Carolina Innovation, From Barcodes to Berries

If you’ve made a retail purchase recently, chances are good you used technology developed in Research Triangle Park without even realizing it. The modern day barcode has its origins in the 1970s research of IBM scientists Joseph Woodland and George Laurer. Their work in IBM’s RTP labs was accompanied by the scanning technology to read … Continue reading “North Carolina Innovation, From Barcodes to Berries”

Xconomy Launches in Raleigh-Durham—10th Cluster in Our Network

Innovation, North Carolina style—at last. Ever since writing the original Xconomy business plan, I’ve been looking forward to the day when we began covering innovation in the Tar Heel state. Now, I am extremely happy to announce, that day has come. Xconomy Raleigh-Durham is officially off the ground, and with its launch we have grown … Continue reading “Xconomy Launches in Raleigh-Durham—10th Cluster in Our Network”

J&J Immunology Exec on Investing at the Crossroads of the Microbiome

When Roger Pomerantz, the CEO of Cambridge, MA-based Seres Health said last week that he’s preparing to take his company public off of a promising, early study, it wasn’t just the natural next step for a biotech startup. It also marked a key transition point for an entire field of scientific research. After a lot … Continue reading “J&J Immunology Exec on Investing at the Crossroads of the Microbiome”

Lea(R)n Obtains $20,000 Seed Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=4f65c105-1d0f-46ba-85b8-ed6e309a80e4 Date 7/24/2014 Company Name Lea(R)n Mailing Address 310 S. Harrington St. Raleigh, NC 27601 USA Company Description We are educators, data scientists, designers, clinicians, and thought leaders. With your help, we can change the way the world learns. Website http://www.learntrials.com Transaction Type Accelerator Transaction Amount $20,000 Transaction Round Seed Proceeds Purposes … Continue reading “Lea(R)n Obtains $20,000 Seed Round”

Venture Capital Had a Great 2013—But Public Markets Were Still Better

In an industry obsessed with creating the next big thing, it can be easy to forget that a lot of big ideas simply crash and burn. So here’s a little reminder: Last year, American venture capitalists put together their best annual performance since 1999. But it still wasn’t good enough to beat the public stock … Continue reading “Venture Capital Had a Great 2013—But Public Markets Were Still Better”

Key Risk Conversations to Have With Your Board and Investors

Building a startup is a risky business. The only way to stay ahead of the risks is to be aware and informed about them. The board of directors, in particular, needs to know enough about the risks in the business to make well-rounded strategic decisions. As for investors, most of them do their own risk … Continue reading “Key Risk Conversations to Have With Your Board and Investors”

Alphabet Energy Wants to Be the “Intel of Waste Heat Recovery”

Alphabet Energy wants to make electricity from hot air. The Hayward, CA-based company later this year will release what it says will be the first large-scale thermoelectric generator to convert heat from industrial activities into usable power. Earlier this month, Alphabet Energy licensed a material developed at Michigan State University that will go into the … Continue reading “Alphabet Energy Wants to Be the “Intel of Waste Heat Recovery””

Sexism and Misogyny in Tech: How Investors Can Help Drive Change

The image of some technology startups has been tarnished of late by bad behavior. It might be up to investors who are board members to ensure changes get made. Accusations of sexism and misogyny have circled Tinder, the dating-app startup owned by IAC. If the charges prove to be true, it is just one recent … Continue reading “Sexism and Misogyny in Tech: How Investors Can Help Drive Change”