Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b037d2d9-2dc5-4d9b-86b3-47fa746a55d7&Preview=1 Date 12/8/2010 Company Name Cramster.com Mailing Address 175 S. Lake Ave. Pasadena, CA 91101 Company Description Cramster is the leading provider of online homework help for college and high school students. Students can get unstuck on any homework problem whether it’s math, science, engineering, humanities, business, or writing help. Our tools, … Continue reading “Chegg Acquires Cramster.com for Undisclosed Sum”
Category: San Diego
Australia, San Diego, and the Algae Biofuels Revolutions
With the total market for algae biofuels projected to reach $1.6 billion over the next five years, Australia and San Diego are emerging as industry leaders. Both regions have significant research and development, as well as key corporations that are helping to commercialize new technologies. This event brings together key figures in algae biofuels research, … Continue reading “Australia, San Diego, and the Algae Biofuels Revolutions”
Waze Raises $25M to Turn Your Smartphone into a Traffic-Avoidance Tool
There are plenty of GPS-based smartphone apps these days that can give you turn-by-turn directions as you commute to work or drive to Grandma’s for the holidays. But there aren’t many that can tell you to get off at the next exit because an app user 10 minutes ahead of you got stuck in a … Continue reading “Waze Raises $25M to Turn Your Smartphone into a Traffic-Avoidance Tool”
Orexigen Beats the Odds, Wins OK from FDA Panel for Obesity Drug
Orexigen Therapeutics, the San Diego-based developer of obesity drugs, beat the odds today by winning a positive recommendation from an FDA advisory panel that said its lead drug deserves a spot on the U.S. market. The FDA’s expert panel on obesity drugs voted 13-7 in favor of allowing Orexigen’s combination of bupropion/naltrexone (Contrave) for sale … Continue reading “Orexigen Beats the Odds, Wins OK from FDA Panel for Obesity Drug”
Helix Wind’s Fate is Blowin’ in the Wind
Helix Wind, which appeared to be in critical condition last year when Scott Weinbrandt replaced co-founder Ian Gardner as CEO, says it’s now searching for a new CEO to step in for Weinbrandt, according to a regulatory filing. Weinbrandt, a former computer industry executive, left the company and its board on Dec. 2. The tiny … Continue reading “Helix Wind’s Fate is Blowin’ in the Wind”
EvoNexus Evolves: CommNexus Absorbs Incubator, Accepts San Diego’s Independa as Latest Resident Startup
San Diego’s CommNexus wireless industry group has reorganized EvoNexus, the free technology incubator it created last year, and has folded its operations into the non-profit group’s programs, according to CommNexus CEO Rory Moore. Moore also confirmed that Cathy Pucher, who was hired as executive director when EvoNexus was founded, recently departed the incubator to head … Continue reading “EvoNexus Evolves: CommNexus Absorbs Incubator, Accepts San Diego’s Independa as Latest Resident Startup”
IPO Still Awaits as Fallbrook Raises $39M
San Diego’s Fallbrook Technologies says today it has raised about $39 million in a Series E preferred stock private placement that encompasses $6 million the company disclosed in a June regulatory filing. Fallbrook, which has spent more than a decade developing advanced technology for a continuously variable transmission, says the latest deal brings its cumulative … Continue reading “IPO Still Awaits as Fallbrook Raises $39M”
Google, Amazon Play Catch-Up in Group Buying: Analysis and Reactions from BuyWithMe, Tippr
In the Wild West of group-buying and daily-deals sites, there’s about to be a major showdown. Investors have been talking about consolidation in this sector for a while now—and it looks like that’s where things are headed. But not without a few curveballs first. Last week, Google (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GOOG]]) was widely reported to be pursuing … Continue reading “Google, Amazon Play Catch-Up in Group Buying: Analysis and Reactions from BuyWithMe, Tippr”
Seattle’s HemaQuest Sets New Headquarters in San Diego
After hiring former Favrille CEO John Longenecker a few weeks ago, HemaQuest Pharmaceuticals said Friday it is relocating its headquarters to San Diego. The three-year-old startup, which is developing drugs to treat hemoglobin-associated diseases, plans to maintain an office in Seattle, but the center of gravity is now here. In its statement, HemaQuest also says … Continue reading “Seattle’s HemaQuest Sets New Headquarters in San Diego”
JMI Equity Raises $875M for Seventh Fund, Sempra Completes Solar PV Plant, Awarepoint Raises $9M, & More San Diego BizTech News
It was a week for raising money, and software specialist JMI Equity led the way. The private equity firm had plenty of company, though, and we’ve got a rundown here. —JMI Equity, the software investment firm based in San Diego and Baltimore, said last week it has closed its seventh fund after raising $875 million. … Continue reading “JMI Equity Raises $875M for Seventh Fund, Sempra Completes Solar PV Plant, Awarepoint Raises $9M, & More San Diego BizTech News”
How to Raise Money for an Honest-to-God Innovative Biotech Startup: Highlights from Convergence
[Update: 1:15 pm Eastern] Lots of people in biotech think they are doing innovative things, even when they are really doing something pretty conservative, like testing a proven drug for some new use, or crafting some new way to deliver a therapy with more efficiency or convenience. But how, especially in today’s sluggish economy, do … Continue reading “How to Raise Money for an Honest-to-God Innovative Biotech Startup: Highlights from Convergence”
The WLSA Convergence Summit
The San Diego-based Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance will hold its annual summit with CEOs from the world’s most innovative wireless health companies and global leaders in healthcare and technology. The three-day meeting is intended to present new technologies, offer outstanding networking, and accelerate business opportunities. Alliance partnership and event participation is exclusively extended to senior executives … Continue reading “The WLSA Convergence Summit”
Understanding Global Market Access and Reimbursement
Biocom has organized this overview of global access and reimbursement requirements for the United States and key overseas markets. Speakers include Bruce Quinn, a senior health policy specialist with Foley Hoag, and Michael Pollock of Reynolds Pollock & Associates. More information and online registration is here.
Xconomy Forum: San Diego’s Fight Against Diabesity
An estimated two-thirds of all Americans are currently overweight, and U.S. health agencies estimate that 25 million people have Type 2 diabetes—and an estimated one-third of the U.S. population could have diabetes by the year 2050. It’s becoming an epidemic of diabetes and obesity—or diabesity. San Diego’s biotech cluster happens to have core strength in … Continue reading “Xconomy Forum: San Diego’s Fight Against Diabesity”
The Xconomy 2010 Gadget Gift Guide
If the people on your holiday gift lists have asked for clothes, sports equipment, beauty products, or fancy food, I can’t help you. But I do know electronics, and this week I want to point you toward a few of the products that I think are among the most enticing on the market this year. … Continue reading “The Xconomy 2010 Gadget Gift Guide”
San Diego’s Fight Against Diabesity: Can Investors Make Money, and Can Startups Still Thrive?
San Diego might be the world’s leading center for “diabesity” R&D, and since this represents two of the most common public health threats today (diabetes and obesity), logic would say this ought to be a great thing for the local biotech cluster. Yet anyone who follows healthcare headlines knows that times have never been tougher … Continue reading “San Diego’s Fight Against Diabesity: Can Investors Make Money, and Can Startups Still Thrive?”
San Diego’s Cleantech Cluster Looks to Canada & Other International Partners for Collaboration
In June, 2007, a study commissioned by the City of San Diego and the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. found 148 cleantech companies in San Diego County. The study encouraged San Diego business leaders in establishing Cleantech San Diego as a way to help stimulate the emerging cluster (and to encourage adoption of renewable … Continue reading “San Diego’s Cleantech Cluster Looks to Canada & Other International Partners for Collaboration”
MicroPower Raises $2.2M
MicroPower Technologies, a two-year-old startup incubating in San Diego’s EvoNexus program, says it has raised $2.2 million from a variety of investors that complets its Series B round of venture funding. The company is developing power-efficient wireless video surveillance cameras for use by public safety, government, commercial, and small-to-medium business customers. Founder and CEO Jon … Continue reading “MicroPower Raises $2.2M”
Sequenom Plans $84M Offering
San Diego’s Sequenom (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SQNM]]) says today it hopes to raise gross proceeds of $84 million from an underwritten public offering of 14 million shares of its common stock at a price of $6 a share. Jefferies & Company is the sole book-running manager for the offering. The company, which specializes in biomedical diagnostics, says … Continue reading “Sequenom Plans $84M Offering”
Receptos Hires New CEO, Former Facet Leader, as Rastetter Moves Upstairs
Receptos, the San Diego-based startup with an eye toward capturing super high-res images of an important class of new drug targets, has found itself a new CEO from the Bay Area who happened to sell his last company to Abbott Laboratories for $722 million. Faheem Hasnain, the former chief executive of Redwood City, CA-based Facet … Continue reading “Receptos Hires New CEO, Former Facet Leader, as Rastetter Moves Upstairs”
Grid2Home Raises $400,000
San Diego-based Grid2Home, which was founded last year to develop specialized software for two-way data communications in “Smart Grid” applications, has raised $400,000 of a targeted $500,000 round of securities, according to a recent regulatory filing. Grid2Home announced in September that it had completed an undisclosed round of seed funding led by Granite Ventures. The … Continue reading “Grid2Home Raises $400,000”
Optimer Seeks Fast Review of Drug for Intestinal Infection, Histogen Raises $10M, TSRI Shares its “Click” Chemistry in Deal with Massachusetts Biotech, & More San Diego Life Sciences News
The Thanksgiving holiday helped to keep activity in San Diego’s life science companies at minimum levels over the past week. Still, what we picked up was interesting reading. Judge for yourself. —San Diego’s Optimer Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OPTR]]) filed a new drug application with the FDA for fidaxomicin, the drug it developed to treat patients with … Continue reading “Optimer Seeks Fast Review of Drug for Intestinal Infection, Histogen Raises $10M, TSRI Shares its “Click” Chemistry in Deal with Massachusetts Biotech, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”
Verdezyne Raises $6.3M
Carlsbad, CA-based Verdezyne, which is developing gene libraries for use in industrial biology, has raised $6.3 million of a targeted $15 million equity round, according to a recent regulatory filing. The company, which secured $9 million toward a $15 million round in February, declined to comment, so it’s unclear whether the latest funding represents additional … Continue reading “Verdezyne Raises $6.3M”
Awarepoint Raises $9M, Names New CEO to Crack Hospital Market for Real-Time Tracking
This is “Day 3” on the job for Jay Deady, who was named as the new president and CEO today at San Diego-based Awarepoint, which uses wireless mesh networking and RFID technology to track just about anything that moves inside a hospital, clinic, or medical center. I figured that’s plenty of time for the new … Continue reading “Awarepoint Raises $9M, Names New CEO to Crack Hospital Market for Real-Time Tracking”
Sempra Completes Largest U.S. Solar PV Plant
San Diego-based Sempra Energy (NYSE: [[ticker:SRE]]) says its Sempra Generation subsidiary has completed construction of its 48-megawatt Copper Mountain Solar facility, billed as the largest U.S. photovoltaic solar power plant. The 380-acre plant in Boulder City, NV, about 40 miles southeast of Las Vegas, generates enough electricity to power some 14,000 homes. Construction of the … Continue reading “Sempra Completes Largest U.S. Solar PV Plant”
Energy Grants go to San Diego’s On-Ramp Wireless, “Smart Grid” Companies in Washington and New England
San Diego’s On-Ramp Wireless says it is among five companies to get more than $19 million in federal grants to develop innovations that are expected to make the nation’s power grid cleaner and more efficient, reliable, resilient, and responsive. On-Ramp Wireless, which is among the companies presenting at Xconomy’s 5×5 event in Boston next Wednesday, … Continue reading “Energy Grants go to San Diego’s On-Ramp Wireless, “Smart Grid” Companies in Washington and New England”
Histogen Raises $10M for Regenerative Hair Growth, Other Treatments
San Diego’s Histogen, which saw a group of angel investors pull out of a deal in early 2009, is announcing today that it successfully closed a $10 million Series A round and already has opened a Series B venture round with commitments from some investors. The life sciences company, which is developing regenerative medicine treatments … Continue reading “Histogen Raises $10M for Regenerative Hair Growth, Other Treatments”
Histogen Obtains $10,000,000 Series A Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=51216d5a-4fab-49af-a161-11ead962542b&Preview=1 Date 12/1/2010 Company Name Histogen Mailing Address 9855 Towne Centre Drive San Diego, CA 92121 Company Description Histogen, launched in 2007, seeks to redefine regenerative medicine by developing a series of high value products without the use of embryonic stem cells or animal products. Through Histogen’s proprietary bioreactors that mimic the … Continue reading “Histogen Obtains $10,000,000 Series A Round”
FindTheBest Secures Series A Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=10ec46ef-4277-496e-a740-1cea4c824599&Preview=1 Date 12/1/2010 Company Name FindTheBest Mailing Address 509 E. Montecito St., Second Floor Santa Barbara, CA 93103 Company Description The company operates a comparison shopping search engine. Website http://www.findthebest.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. M&A Terms Venture Investor … Continue reading “FindTheBest Secures Series A Round”
FamilyFinds Receives $5,750,000 Series A Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=2f7f340d-870a-4ceb-a53c-62d0a53ec14c&Preview=1 Date 12/1/2010 Company Name FamilyFinds Mailing Address 2118 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90403 Company Description The company operates a website and service that allows families to find the best daily deals. Website http://www.familyfinds.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $5,750,000 Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not … Continue reading “FamilyFinds Receives $5,750,000 Series A Funding”
JMI Equity, Based in San Diego & Baltimore, Raises $875M for Seventh Fund
JMI Equity, the private equity firm that bears the initials of software magnate John Moores (Inc.), says it has closed its seventh investment fund after raising a total of $875 million. In a statement today, the firm says with the closing of JMI Equity VII, it has raised over $2.1 billion since it was founded … Continue reading “JMI Equity, Based in San Diego & Baltimore, Raises $875M for Seventh Fund”
Optimer Seeks Quick Green Light From FDA for Antibiotic Against Deadly Bug
San Diego-based Optimer Pharmaceuticals has spent more than $200 million and a dozen years of effort to get to the point where it can ask the FDA to clear its first product for sale on the U.S. market. And that’s the position Optimer finds itself in now. Optimer (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OPTR]]) is announcing today that it … Continue reading “Optimer Seeks Quick Green Light From FDA for Antibiotic Against Deadly Bug”
How To Keep Academic/Big Pharma Alliances from Going off the Rails
The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston made headlines earlier this month after siding with Novartis in a brewing legal battle with a Dana-Farber spinout, Gatekeeper Pharmaceuticals. The disagreement stems from both companies claiming they are the rightful licensees of certain intellectual property (IP) created by Dana-Farber researchers. The IP, originally committed to Gatekeeper via an … Continue reading “How To Keep Academic/Big Pharma Alliances from Going off the Rails”
It’s Complicated: Survey Reveals Rough Patches in FDA’s Working Relationship With Life Sciences Industry
The life sciences industry says its working relationship with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has improved, particularly for the early stages of the agency’s product review process. But a survey of 50 life science companies, primarily in California and Massachusetts, also pointed to rising concerns about the latter part of the product review process, … Continue reading “It’s Complicated: Survey Reveals Rough Patches in FDA’s Working Relationship With Life Sciences Industry”
RingRevenue Lands $4,000,000 New Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=dce63025-7db2-4327-af1c-fd51ebe3d04b&Preview=1 Date 11/30/2010 Company Name RingRevenue Mailing Address 125 E. De La Guerra St Santa Barbara, CA 93130 Company Description RingRevenue improves every marketing campaign with better quality leads, higher conversions and increased ROI. Website http://www.ringrevenue.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $4,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes This financing will allow … Continue reading “RingRevenue Lands $4,000,000 New Funding”
Socialwise Raises $3.5M for Teen Prepaid Card and ‘Bill My Parents’ Payment Solution
San Diego-based Socialwise, which has developed payment solutions that target teens and their parents, has raised nearly $3.5 million of a planned $4 million offering, according to a recent regulatory filing. As I reported a couple of years ago, former Gateway computer executive Jim Collas founded Socialwise, which trades on the Nasdaq over-the-counter market as … Continue reading “Socialwise Raises $3.5M for Teen Prepaid Card and ‘Bill My Parents’ Payment Solution”
City Uses Sewage Gas for Renewable Energy, Peregrine Semiconductor Files for IPO, Cooley Q3 Venture Report, & More San Diego BizTech News
San Diego could be the first city in the country to use sewage gas in advanced fuel cells to generate electricity. We’ve got that and the rest of San Diego’s tech news roundup, which was abbreviated last week by the Thanksgiving holiday. —The City of San Diego is set to begin construction next month on … Continue reading “City Uses Sewage Gas for Renewable Energy, Peregrine Semiconductor Files for IPO, Cooley Q3 Venture Report, & More San Diego BizTech News”
The Myth of the “Patent Cliff”
Doctors, patients, and investors who follow the biopharmaceutical business all recognize that the industry is exceedingly complex and in the midst of change. Companies struggle daily with a multifaceted mix of scientific, clinical, and business unknowns. Will a drug be medically effective and make it through clinical trials? Will it get the thumbs up from … Continue reading “The Myth of the “Patent Cliff””
Dinner With Microsoft’s Craig Mundie: On Xbox Kinect, Instantaneous Total Recall, and a More Secretive Culture
I recently had dinner here in the Boston area with Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer. With just one other guest present, it was an unusually personal and far-ranging discussion. Most of the talk was of a general nature—more background than anything else. Still, a few things stuck with me as noteworthy. I … Continue reading “Dinner With Microsoft’s Craig Mundie: On Xbox Kinect, Instantaneous Total Recall, and a More Secretive Culture”
The Wireless Revolution: The Next Generation of Embedded Technology
UC San Diego professor Larry Larson, chairman of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, discusses advances in embedded wireless devices. As the technology evolves and costs come down, machines that were never originally created for this technology now have the functionality of being mobile workstations. Security devices, vehicle tracking, diagnostics and patient health monitors are … Continue reading “The Wireless Revolution: The Next Generation of Embedded Technology”
BVS La Jolla Biotech Day
Biotech Vendor Services hosts its 8th annual La Jolla Biotech Day, an event that brings together top scientists, exhibitors, and top-notch speakers from local life science companies. Tim Harkins, R&D Director of next generation sequencing for Carlsbad, CA-based Life Technologies, will talk on the personal sequencing of Life CEO Greg Lucier to identify medically relevant … Continue reading “BVS La Jolla Biotech Day”
Spinning San Diego’s CareFusion Out of Ohio’s Cardinal Health
The San Diego Chapter of the Association of Corporate Growth is hosting CareFusion Executive Vice President Joan Stafslien and vice presidents Virginia Sanzone and Nathaniel Sisitsky for a presentation about the spinout of CareFusion from Cardinal Health. Their talk is intended to address business issues encountered in structuring the divestiture, standing up a new public … Continue reading “Spinning San Diego’s CareFusion Out of Ohio’s Cardinal Health”
SPAWAR: The Navy’s Information Dominance Command
The military special interest group at CommNexus has invited Rear Admiral Patrick H. Bradey, commander of the San Diego-based Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, to discuss SPAWAR and the doctrine of information dominance in modern naval strategy. Brady is responsible for providing superior decision systems to achieve information dominance for the U.S. Navy and … Continue reading “SPAWAR: The Navy’s Information Dominance Command”
Android Building Blocks
Since Android’s public release in 2008, it has emerged as one of the most popular mobile operating systems being used by mobile device manufacturer’s worldwide. CommNexus has organized this event with Deepak Kundra, principal staff software engineer for Motorola Mobility, to cover the architecture of the Android OS, explaining the different functional blocks, release history … Continue reading “Android Building Blocks”
San Diego Project Taps New England Fuel Cell Company to Generate Energy From Waste Methane Gas
A complicated financing deal led by New Energy Capital of Hanover, NH, has provided $23.5 million for a renewable energy project in San Diego that uses methane gas from a sewage treatment plant to generate electricity from advanced technology fuel cells. Construction is scheduled to begin next month on a “biogas” purification system developed by … Continue reading “San Diego Project Taps New England Fuel Cell Company to Generate Energy From Waste Methane Gas”
Roche Ends Deal with Ligand
San Diego’s Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LGNDD]]) said today that Roche has terminated their collaboration and licensing agreement to develop a treatment for hepatitis C, according to a regulatory filing. Ligand and the Swiss pharmaceutical giant signed the drug development deal two years ago, and Roche made a $6.5 million milestone payment to Roche in April.
Zogenix Goes Public, Amira Restructures, Apricus Gets Boost From FDA Agreement on Cancer Drug Trial, & More San Diego Life Sciences News
Most of the news from San Diego’s life sciences companies in the week before Thanksgiving was focused on funding deals. And you have our best wishes over the holiday. —After setting the price for its IPO between $12 and $14 a share earlier this month, San Diego specialty drug developer Zogenix (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ZGNX]]) priced its … Continue reading “Zogenix Goes Public, Amira Restructures, Apricus Gets Boost From FDA Agreement on Cancer Drug Trial, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”
Q3 Venture Capital Terms: Like a Rolling Stone
For me, the latest venture financing report for the third quarter that ended September 30 brings to mind Bob Dylan’s revolutionary rock ballad, “Like a Rolling Stone.” There is not only a sense of shattered hubris throughout the industry (granted, in some places more than others); there are no clear trends in the analysis of … Continue reading “Q3 Venture Capital Terms: Like a Rolling Stone”
AwarePoint Lands $3,268,167 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=541d6897-269e-4096-b78e-c3ca804a60cd&Preview=1 Date 11/24/2010 Company Name AwarePoint Mailing Address 225 Broadway San Diego, CA 92101 Company Description In 2002, the founders of Awarepoint recognized that despite the tremendous potential of active RFID technologies to improve operational efficiency in medium and large businesses, there were no solutions on the market that offered good performance … Continue reading “AwarePoint Lands $3,268,167 New Financing Round”
Socialwise Receives $3,400,000 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=27d78732-c81c-4943-811a-e70b578339b2&Preview=1 Date 11/24/2010 Company Name Socialwise Mailing Address 6440 Lusk Blvd. San Diego, CA 92121 Company Description We develop platforms that integrate into traditional eCommerce products and services. Our flagship product offering is an online payment solution for young people, BillMyParents. Website http://www.socialwise.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $3,400,000 Transaction Round … Continue reading “Socialwise Receives $3,400,000 New Funding Round”