Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9ccb224a-9135-4cea-ae75-a58e6ed2531f&Preview=1 Date 3/29/2012 Company Name MediaPass Mailing Address 12100 Wilshire Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90025 Company Description MediaPass was founded with big ambitions. It needed to be so simple that anyone with basic blog skills could use it. It had to be able to handle millions of users. It had to work … Continue reading “MediaPass Secures $1,750,000 Series B Financing”
Category: San Diego
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”
On-Ramp Wireless, Learning From the Past, Says Its System Is Ready
San Diego’s On-Ramp Wireless was founded in 2008 to develop low-power, low data rate wireless networking technology. The idea was that such technology could be used to provide low-cost monitoring of electric power grids and similar infrastructure that extends across thousands of square miles. Now the company is ready to roll out its technology, including … Continue reading “On-Ramp Wireless, Learning From the Past, Says Its System Is Ready”
ImaginAb Secures $12,500,000 Series A Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b40f9f70-c165-4a4e-a2b5-5a504b6c52e9&Preview=1 Date 3/28/2012 Company Name ImaginAb Mailing Address Undisclosed Los Angeles, CA 90049 Company Description ImaginAb’s mission is to transform the clinical management of cancer and autoimmune diseases via targeted molecular imaging. We re-engineer therapeutic antibodies against biologically important targets into small proteins optimized for diagnostic imaging with Positron Emission Tomography (PET). … Continue reading “ImaginAb Secures $12,500,000 Series A Funding Round”
Quarterly Garners $1,254,281 Series A Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1880aab5-3531-4017-ae7a-4ea092de8fe6&Preview=1 Date 3/28/2012 Company Name Quarterly Mailing Address P.O. Box 69307 West Hollywood, CA 90069 Company Description Quarterly is a new way to connect with the people you follow and find interesting. We spend so much of our lives connecting with people online that we forget the value of tangible interactions that … Continue reading “Quarterly Garners $1,254,281 Series A Financing Round”
Wemo Media Receives $500,000 New Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f55d53e4-c3df-42b8-9351-ff780b930f1d&Preview=1 Date 3/28/2012 Company Name Wemo Media Mailing Address Undisclosed Los Angeles, CA 90049 Company Description Wemo Media is a small team of developers and artists pioneering a new form of art and entertainment on the Web called “Maker Media”. Website http://www.wemomedia.com Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $500,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds … Continue reading “Wemo Media Receives $500,000 New Financing”
Obalon Therapeutics Obtains $1,500,000 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=79402133-9b1d-41c1-8c8c-1c0059a03887&Preview=1 Date 3/27/2012 Company Name Obalon Therapeutics Mailing Address 12481 High Bluff Drive San Diego, CA 92130 Company Description The company is developing unspecified drug treatments for human disease. Website Undisclosed Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $1,500,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. SEC regulatory filing. M&A Terms … Continue reading “Obalon Therapeutics Obtains $1,500,000 New Financing Round”
San Diego Tech Roundup: Flud, Verve, and a “Swiss Cheese” Job Market
Here’s the important technology news from the past week: —The latest jobless numbers for San Diego County remain unchanged—at 9.3 percent—from January to February, according to data released Friday by the California Employment Development Department. While unemployment in San Diego has declined from 10.2 percent a year ago, job creation is still anemic and the … Continue reading “San Diego Tech Roundup: Flud, Verve, and a “Swiss Cheese” Job Market”
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”
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”
A Biocom Seminar: Navigating the Contract Maze
Gaining marketing approval and reimbursement provides market access for your new product, but achieving optimal market access also requires you to negotiate a favorable formulary listing and/or contract for your product. Constructing and negotiating a contract for pricing and utilization of a new product is not an area of expertise for many companies, compared with … Continue reading “A Biocom Seminar: Navigating the Contract Maze”
A Biocom Seminar: To Russia with Love
Russia represents the next frontier for the pharmaceutical industry. Biocom has organized this session to provide an overview of the pharma, diagnostics, and medical device development in Russia, along with market access and opportunities for global partnerships. Speakers will review the growth potential, challenges and risk profile of the rapidly expanding Russian pharmaceutical industry; new … Continue reading “A Biocom Seminar: To Russia with Love”
Energy Conservation and the GE Lighting Revolution Tour
CleanTech San Diego is teaming up with GE Lighting in San Diego as part of the 2nd annual GE Lighting Revolution Tour, which is intended to promote energy-saving lighting products from GE. More information and registration is available here.
The Honest Company Secures $27,000,000 Series A Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=c04d6c4f-28bd-4137-aa28-2136c2ca4e15&Preview=1 Date 3/24/2012 Company Name The Honest Company Mailing Address 1550 17th Street Santa Monica, CA 90404 Company Description A dad named Christopher and a mom named Jessica found themselves utterly frustrated trying to find the perfect products for their babies and homes. We both wanted an ideal: not only effective, but … Continue reading “The Honest Company Secures $27,000,000 Series A Financing Round”
An Evangelist Makes the Case for Google+
Guy Kawasaki, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor who first rose to notoriety as chief evangelist for Apple back in the early days of the Macintosh, has found something new to evangelize. He’s just published an e-book about Google+ called What the Plus: Google+ for the Rest of Us. At a trim 180 pages, including … Continue reading “An Evangelist Makes the Case for Google+”
Glaxo and J&J’s Shrewd Move Will Help the Biotech Ecosystem
Index Ventures made news recently when it announced a new €150 million fund to invest in early-stage, life science companies. With many venture firms scaling back or exiting the business entirely, any successful fundraising is good news. However, two aspects made the announcement from Index particularly noteworthy: first, the fund is focused on early-stage innovation, … Continue reading “Glaxo and J&J’s Shrewd Move Will Help the Biotech Ecosystem”
UCSD Proposes Innovator Space as Entrepreneurial Life Sciences Hub
Officials at UC San Diego are seeking to build a new “Center for Innovative Therapeutics” that would serve as a hub for a variety of academic research collaborations, as well as an incubator for accelerating private life sciences startups. University officials described their proposal for the first time at the end of an annual cancer … Continue reading “UCSD Proposes Innovator Space as Entrepreneurial Life Sciences Hub”
PromoJam Secures $1,200,000 Series A Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=2628f65a-b47a-4356-87ce-1d3521c1c07e&Preview=1 Date 3/23/2012 Company Name PromoJam Mailing Address 2434 Lincoln Boulevard Floor 4 Los Angeles, CA 90291 Company Description Promojam can help you maximize your reach across the social media landscape! wanna know more? request for a free demo now. Website http://www.promojam.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $1,200,000 Transaction Round Series … Continue reading “PromoJam Secures $1,200,000 Series A Round”
Nuage Secures $500,000 New Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=849df804-6d23-4c9b-90a1-601b03dddc73&Preview=1 Date 3/23/2012 Company Name Nuage Mailing Address Undisclosed Los Angeles, CA 90049 Company Description Social Media has changed the way we live. At Nuage, we believe it should also change the way we work. That’s why we created Nuage Café. Nuage Café opens the door to a whole new world of … Continue reading “Nuage Secures $500,000 New Round”
Flud (Quietly) Relaunches Its Android App
When we last checked in with Flud, the Web startup had just launched a new-and-improved version of its iPhone app, which allows users to aggregate, curate, and share news content. Bobby Ghoshal, Flud’s co-founder and CEO, says the company was riding high on widespread news coverage (Ghoshal says the accompanying spike in traffic briefly killed … Continue reading “Flud (Quietly) Relaunches Its Android App”
The Supreme Court’s Bad Precedent for Innovation
The Supreme Court’s ruling this week in Prometheus vs Mayo that medical tests relying on correlations between drug dosages and treatment are non-patentable portends a dramatic and frightening reduction in patent protection for innovations in the life sciences and bio-technology industries – and beyond. The Court held that San Diego-based Prometheus Laboratories’ patent claim for … Continue reading “The Supreme Court’s Bad Precedent for Innovation”
‘Breakthrough’ in Quantified Health Sets Stage for Innovation Summit
It’s not often when a big local conference intersects with an important scientific breakthrough. It’s exciting when it happens. Attendees can feel that low-volt current of excitement that comes with realizing they are witnessing the dawning of a whole new industry. Maybe they’ll even become part of the lore around an event that becomes known … Continue reading “‘Breakthrough’ in Quantified Health Sets Stage for Innovation Summit”
12 Investing and Business Gems from Avalon’s Kevin Kinsella
Current and former MIT students gathered at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, Tuesday night to hear one of San Diego’s most renowned venture investors, Avalon Ventures founder Kevin Kinsella, share insights from a long and adventurous career. Fresh off Avalon’s huge Zynga payout—the firm invested $5.3 million and saw the value of … Continue reading “12 Investing and Business Gems from Avalon’s Kevin Kinsella”
Xconomist of the Week: Linda Rottenberg on Global Tech Boom
Tech blogs typically cover startups in North America and Europe that want to be the next Facebook-style success, but the innovation ecosystem is far more diverse and far-reaching. Linda Rottenberg, CEO and co-founder of New York nonprofit Endeavor Global, has spent the last 15 years or so championing an effort to connect mentors and investors … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: Linda Rottenberg on Global Tech Boom”
Gridtest Systems Garners Seed Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=63d4b833-1e84-4e80-a2ab-53075e804cac&Preview=1 Date 3/22/2012 Company Name Gridtest Systems Mailing Address 411 S. Hewitt Street Los Angeles, CA 90013 Company Description Gridtest Systems is an independent and trusted provider of test equipment for the Electric Vehicle (EV) charging industry. Gridtest Systems manufactures the first independent portable EV Emulator that ensures Level 1 and 2 … Continue reading “Gridtest Systems Garners Seed Round”
Symantec Acquires Nukona for Undisclosed Sum
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=adaa6cd0-b018-4f4e-bd11-80e012188d1f&Preview=1 Date 3/22/2012 Company Name Nukona Mailing Address 535 N Highway 101 Solana Beach, CA 92075 Company Description At Nukona we agree, but also believe that the impact of the new generation of consumer- oriented, app-centric devices is driving a fundamental change to the way people work. Website http://www.nukona.com Transaction Type M&A … Continue reading “Symantec Acquires Nukona for Undisclosed Sum”
Verve Raises $7M, Studies Mobile ‘Paradox’ for Old Media Customers
Verve Wireless has raised at least $7 million from investors in a new round of financing, according to a recent regulatory filing. Verve, which has headquarters both in Encinitas, CA, and Washington, D.C., also is addressing a fundamental challenge as it builds out its Web-based technology, which enables regional newspapers, broadcast stations, and other media … Continue reading “Verve Raises $7M, Studies Mobile ‘Paradox’ for Old Media Customers”
Xconomy Launches Mobile Channel
Coming on the heels of a fantastic, jam-packed Mobile Madness 2012 event last Wednesday here in Cambridge, MA, Xconomy is pleased to announce the official debut of our new Mobile Channel. The mobile sector—from apps to iPads—has been a growing part of our daily coverage. Our Mobile Madness conference, meanwhile, has been a mainstay in … Continue reading “Xconomy Launches Mobile Channel”
Verve Wireless Obtains $7,000,001 Series C Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8ee92c96-ee7d-4759-96d2-1b488dd5ab7f&Preview=1 Date 3/21/2012 Company Name Verve Wireless Mailing Address 1010 S. Coast Highway 101 Encinitas, CA 92024 Company Description Verve is a wireless technology developer providing applications and services to publishers and media companies. Using the proprietary Verve Publishing Platform, content partners are able to extend their readership onto mobile phones – … Continue reading “Verve Wireless Obtains $7,000,001 Series C Round”
Biotech Lagging Behind Go-Go Web Valuations, Survey Says
Developing the latest breakthrough drug just doesn’t pay these days as much as creating the hot new web app does. Private life sciences companies in Silicon Valley that got financing in the fourth quarter of 2011 had an average per-share value that was about 10 percent higher than their previous round of financing, which typically … Continue reading “Biotech Lagging Behind Go-Go Web Valuations, Survey Says”
Dog Vacay Lands $1,000,000 Seed Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=813d097c-94f8-4149-986f-369427c3d1c7&Preview=1 Date 3/20/2012 Company Name Dog Vacay Mailing Address 1410 2nd St Santa Monica, CA 90401 Company Description Our company motto is ‘Why should humans have all the fun?’ because creating positive experiences for dogs is our mission. Dog Vacay is a community where dog lovers can connect with one another to … Continue reading “Dog Vacay Lands $1,000,000 Seed Financing Round”
Why WebMD Is History: The Next Generation of Web-Based Medicine
The healthcare industry has been waiting a long time for its “2.0” moment. As social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn exploded in the late 2000s, so did e-commerce, enterprise SaaS, and cloud services. Business models, features and strategies have all dramatically evolved in the past decade and the valuations of many IT companies have taken … Continue reading “Why WebMD Is History: The Next Generation of Web-Based Medicine”
San Diego Tech Roundup: Givit, ID Analytics, and Rain on the Parade
—A steady rain is lingering this morning from the monster storm that blew through San Diego over the weekend. Also lingering is what you might call my “curiosity of the week:” Don Casey resigned as CEO of the San Diego-based West Wireless Health Institute, just two years after he was lured from Johnson & Johnson’s … Continue reading “San Diego Tech Roundup: Givit, ID Analytics, and Rain on the Parade”
Biotech’s New Frontier: Europe?
Plenty of places in the world are messed up, but Europe has been near the top of the list lately. If all the horrible scenarios play out, this will be the year the euro collapses, the European Union fractures, and some economically advanced countries could go bust. Yet while the world financial system holds its … Continue reading “Biotech’s New Frontier: Europe?”
Bootstrappers Breakfast: Join Other Entrepreneurs Who Eat Problems For Breakfast
The Bootstrappers Breakfast has been meeting in Silicon Valley since 2003, and SKMurphy began holding the peer networking breakfasts in San Diego in late 2010. For a small fee, plus the cost of breakfast and a tip, the Bootstrappers Breakfast holds conversations about growing a business based on internal cash-flow. This is not for entrepreneurs … Continue reading “Bootstrappers Breakfast: Join Other Entrepreneurs Who Eat Problems For Breakfast”
Reinventing Fire with Amory Lovins
Amory Lovins is reinventing fire—and CleanTECH San Diego, the California Center for Sustainable Energy, and Xconomy are bringing him to San Diego to explain how it can be done. In his latest book, Reinventing Fire, Lovins argues that it is possible for the U.S. to run in 2050—without oil, coal, or nuclear power—and in ways … Continue reading “Reinventing Fire with Amory Lovins”
Social Rewards Garners $600,000 New Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=5f288855-ea4e-4e79-9ea5-4302001accd7&Preview=1 Date 3/19/2012 Company Name Social Rewards Mailing Address 21250 Hawthorne Blvd Torrance, CA 90503 Company Description Loyalty Marketing Programs for Businesses Social Rewards is a simple way to reward your brand enthusiasts with loyalty program reward points for their Social Media activity! Website http://www.socialrewards.com Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $600,000 Transaction … Continue reading “Social Rewards Garners $600,000 New Round”
Life Sciences News Roundup: InflammaGen, HemaQuest, ImThera & More
A spate of funding deals were disclosed over the past week, including a sizable investment in San Diego’s Allylix, an industrial biotechnology startup. —San Diego’s HemaQuest Pharmaceuticals said it raised $13 million in an extension of its Series B funding round to support a mid-stage trial of its experimental drug for patients with sickle cell … Continue reading “Life Sciences News Roundup: InflammaGen, HemaQuest, ImThera & More”
Bikes and Business: Can Cities Cycle Their Way To Prosperity?
I’ve been in Boston this week, attending Xconomy’s big Mobile Madness conference and hanging out with my colleagues in our Cambridge, MA, headquarters. For all the debate among startup entrepreneurs about whether Boston or Silicon Valley is a better place to start a company, I’ve been reminded during my visit that Boston has a huge … Continue reading “Bikes and Business: Can Cities Cycle Their Way To Prosperity?”
Peter Schultz on New Merck-Funded Institute: ‘We’re Getting Lots of Resumes’
Merck made big news in San Diego yesterday when it said it is committing $90 million over seven years to a new nonprofit drug discovery shop led by chemist Peter Schultz. I caught up with Schultz briefly yesterday by phone to gather more information about the institute, called the California Institute for Biomedical Research (Calibr). … Continue reading “Peter Schultz on New Merck-Funded Institute: ‘We’re Getting Lots of Resumes’”
How the NY Times Got the JOBS Act Wrong
One of the great dilemmas in the modern economy is balancing risk and reward, cost and benefit. That is true for investors, corporate managers, citizens, and elected officials. The financial crisis was caused by excessive risk taking by almost every player in the system. Investors stretched for return but didn’t understand the risks to which … Continue reading “How the NY Times Got the JOBS Act Wrong”
Merck Returns to SD, Pouring $90M Into New Schultz-Led Institute
The pharmaceutical giant Merck bet big once before that San Diego would be a source for innovative new drugs, and now it’s doing it again. Whitehouse Station, NJ-based Merck (NYSE: [[ticker:MRK]]) is announcing today that it is putting $90 million over the next seven years into a new nonprofit biomedical research institute in San Diego … Continue reading “Merck Returns to SD, Pouring $90M Into New Schultz-Led Institute”
Xconomist of the Week: Rapundalo on How the Affordable Care Act May Thwart Innovation
Stephen Rapundalo, head of the industry association MichBio, has been spending some time on Capitol Hill recently lobbying Michigan’s congressional delegation to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act, which he says will have a chilling effect on innovation in Michigan’s nascent medical device sector. Along with representatives from 18 other states’ med-tech associations—including the … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: Rapundalo on How the Affordable Care Act May Thwart Innovation”
It’s a Lock: Arizona’s LifeLock Acquires San Diego’s ID Analytics
LifeLock, a Tempe, AZ-based startup that offers identity theft protection services to consumers, has tied the knot with ID Analytics, a San Diego-based company that uses sophisticated computer technology to analyze consumer transactions for signs of fraud. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. In a statement released yesterday, Lifelock says it raised more … Continue reading “It’s a Lock: Arizona’s LifeLock Acquires San Diego’s ID Analytics”
Skinit Obtains $8,056,155 New Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=58f2457f-1a74-4c0f-9e2e-61f05a98004d&Preview=1 Date 3/15/2012 Company Name Skinit Mailing Address 8969 Kenamar Drive San Diego, CA 92121 Company Description The company provides products and services that allow people to customize their portable electronic devices. Website http://www.skinit.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $8,056,155 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. SEC … Continue reading “Skinit Obtains $8,056,155 New Funding”
LifeLock Acquires ID Analytics for Undisclosed Sum
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e9d27503-e82b-495a-8d08-bece10a7b69c&Preview=1 Date 3/15/2012 Company Name ID Analytics Mailing Address PO Box 502833 San Diego, CA 92150 Company Description ID Analytics provides advanced analytic solutions built from the start to manage identity risk and prevent identity fraud. Website http://www.idanalytics.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Proceeds Purposes M&A Terms Financial terms … Continue reading “LifeLock Acquires ID Analytics for Undisclosed Sum”
In Search of Capital, San Diego Taking Startups on Roadshows to VCs
Venture capital and rainfall have always been in relatively short supply in San Diego. Yet somehow this semi-arid region has managed to grow and even thrive as a center of life sciences, technology, and cleantech innovation. Now, as part of a broader strategic initiative, some of the nonprofit organizations that helped establish San Diego as … Continue reading “In Search of Capital, San Diego Taking Startups on Roadshows to VCs”
San Diego BizTech Roundup: RealAge, Qualcomm, Angel Deals, & More
This week’s roundup of tech news from the San Diego area is short and sweet. —Sharecare, an Atlanta-based interactive health and wellness platform, has acquired San Diego’s RealAge, home of the RealAge test that helps people to live a healthy lifestyle. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, according to a statement. RealAge, which … Continue reading “San Diego BizTech Roundup: RealAge, Qualcomm, Angel Deals, & More”
Hello Health Deploys $10M To Expanding Patient-Funded Health Records
When Westfield, NJ-based internist Peter Weigel began thinking about switching from paper charts to electronic medical records, all sorts of tech salesmen appeared in his office with pitches that seemed to good to be true. They told Weigel if he paid them to implement electronic records in his practice, he would be reimbursed under the … Continue reading “Hello Health Deploys $10M To Expanding Patient-Funded Health Records”
A Seussian Guide to BioPharma
Years ago, pharma’s rep was grand, Selling drugs throughout the land. Many different problems mended, Diseases treated, lives extended. Sulfa drugs, antibiotics, Pain-relieving strong narcotics. A high point before the age of genes, Were Salk and Sabin’s new vaccines. Profit margins super high, Income more than “getting by”. As a group, they were admired, Nowadays, … Continue reading “A Seussian Guide to BioPharma”