Could healthcare-management apps and Web-based social networking services enable ordinary people to more successfully take control of their own health? How would the medical establishment react if a Web-based technology for patients could be as compelling as Facebook? Xconomy is rallying top clinicians, entrepreneurs, investors, and technology innovators to explore such questions in a lively … Continue reading “Xconomy Forum: Health IT-The Consumer Payoff”
Category: San Diego
Biocom Breakfast Meeting with CareFusion Chairman and CEO David Schlotterbeck
Cardinal Health officially spun off its medical technology business, which included the San Diego-based operations of Pyxis and Alaris, as CareFusion on Sept. 1, 2009. Now, just over a year later, CareFusion is a full-blown publicly traded company with 15,000 employees and roughly $3.7 billion in annual sales. Schlotterbeck offers his thoughts about the transition … Continue reading “Biocom Breakfast Meeting with CareFusion Chairman and CEO David Schlotterbeck”
Clean Tech Innovation and Commercialization Showcase
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and Sempra Energy Executive Vice President Debra Reed are scheduled to give remarks concerning the San Diego Clean Tech Innovation and Commercialization Program, which was created to accelerate the transition of promising clean technologies from university research labs to the marketplace. RSVP by e-mail to [email protected]
The Virtual Biotech Business Model in San Diego
While San Diego has become a center of excellence for drug development, the prolonged development costs are pushing some entrepreneurs to explore the virtual business model as an alternative strategy for building a biotech startup. San Diego also is benefitting from increasing numbers of biotech and service companies that are now collaborating in San Diego. … Continue reading “The Virtual Biotech Business Model in San Diego”
A Breakfast Chat With Life Technologies Chairman & CEO Greg Lucier
Biocom is hosting Life Technologies chairman and CEO Greg Lucier for its monthly breakfast meeting. Lucier will discuss industry challenges, opportunities to fill new gaps, and how international competition could play a role in the life sciences industry. Registration begins at 7 am, or register online here.
The Science of Visualization: Inside Calit2 San Diego
Join Ramesh Rao, who is director of the San Diego campus of the California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) and holds the Qualcomm Endowed chair in Telecommunications and Information Technology at the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC San Diego. CommNexus has organized this guided tour of virtualization capabilities includes the … Continue reading “The Science of Visualization: Inside Calit2 San Diego”
Business Leasing Strategies in a Soft Market
This workshop offers an overview of the challenges and opportunities in the current San Diego commercial real estate market, and then delve into more sophisticated leasing strategies for commercial tenants. Expert presenters will provide you with specific tactics you can use for lease provisions, options for non-traditional companies, strategies to limit your exposure, and workplace … Continue reading “Business Leasing Strategies in a Soft Market”
Startup Founders & The Art of the Term Sheet
San Diego’s Connect and the Morrison & Foerster law firm have organized a seminar to provide practical and relevant information on the art of the term sheet. A panel of experts will professional guidance on what entrepreneurs and their advisors need to know about getting a term sheet from a venture fund, what it means … Continue reading “Startup Founders & The Art of the Term Sheet”
Bump: Using License Plates to Build A Social Media Network
San Diego’s Startup Circle is hosting serial Entrepreneur Mitch Thrower, who founded the Bump Network as a way to connect people through their license plates. We’re right next to each other on the highway, but we have no way to communicate, connect, and network. Now a Bump-enabled camera phone enables users to identify other motorists … Continue reading “Bump: Using License Plates to Build A Social Media Network”
New CEO Hired at V-Vehicle, Now Called Next Autoworks
V-Vehicle, the San Diego-based automotive startup whose investors include Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and T. Boone Pickens, has a new name and a new CEO. The company, which has been rechristened Next Autoworks, named former Tower Automotive CEO Kathleen Ligocki as chief executive earlier this week. Next Autoworks also has operations in Detroit and northeastern … Continue reading “New CEO Hired at V-Vehicle, Now Called Next Autoworks”
RunKeeper Versus Runmeter on the iPhone: A Newbie Runner’s Review
[Corrected, see p. 2] If there’s one seductive thing about being a startup entrepreneur, it’s that you can utterly neglect exercise without feeling guilty about it. After all, doesn’t building a great company require every moment of wakefulness, every ounce of concentration? I know I’ve got a lot to show for my last three years … Continue reading “RunKeeper Versus Runmeter on the iPhone: A Newbie Runner’s Review”
Anadys Raises $25M
Anadys Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ANDS]]), the San Diego-based developer of a treatment for hepatitis C, said today it has raised about $25 million through a stock offering. The company sold about 13.9 million shares at $1.80 apiece. Lazard Capital Markets managed the deal.
Amylin, Alkermes Eagerly Await FDA Verdict (Again) For Once-Weekly Diabetes Drug
Back in March, it was “pins and needles” time at San Diego-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMLN]]) and Waltham, MA-based Alkermes (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALKS]]). Now these two companies are getting that prickly feeling again. Both biotech companies are eagerly awaiting word from the FDA on whether the agency will allow the first once-weekly injectable diabetes drug for … Continue reading “Amylin, Alkermes Eagerly Await FDA Verdict (Again) For Once-Weekly Diabetes Drug”
New Reality for U.S. Venture Capital: Data Shows Startup Deals Are Smaller, More Numerous and More Capital-Efficient
The MoneyTree Report on third-quarter venture funding echoes results that we reported earlier this week, showing $4.8 billion was invested in 780 venture deals nationwide. That was a 7 percent decline in venture capital invested—but a nearly 9 percent increase in the number of deals—compared with the same quarter in 2009, when almost $5.2 billion … Continue reading “New Reality for U.S. Venture Capital: Data Shows Startup Deals Are Smaller, More Numerous and More Capital-Efficient”
Healthcare Venture Investment Deals Climbing Back, Halozyme Sells Its Diagnostics Business, Dry Lab Biotechs Cluster in Carmel Valley, & More San Diego Life Sciences News
We took a long Columbus Day weekend here at Xconomy, but it didn’t shorten our roundup of life sciences news much. Here’s your latest update. —Healthcare venture capital deals continue to climb back from their first-quarter plunge during the three months that ended September 30, according to the latest report from CB Insights, a New … Continue reading “Healthcare Venture Investment Deals Climbing Back, Halozyme Sells Its Diagnostics Business, Dry Lab Biotechs Cluster in Carmel Valley, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”
Fate Therapeutics Snags Deal With Becton Dickinson to Market Stem Cell Technology
Fate Therapeutics, after months of hunting, has found a deep-pocketed partner to take its stem cell technology mainstream, at least for academic and pharmaceutical industry labs. The San Diego-based startup—founded by scientific big shots at Harvard University, Stanford University, The Scripps Research Institute, and the University of Washington—is announcing later today that it has struck … Continue reading “Fate Therapeutics Snags Deal With Becton Dickinson to Market Stem Cell Technology”
Overland Buys MaxiScale
San Diego data storage and management provider Overland Storage (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OVRL]]) said today it has acquired MaxiScale, a Sunnyvale, CA-based provider of data management and data protection technologies. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. MaxiScale’s technology, which is being integrated into Overland’s file storage portfolio, provides infinitely scaling storage capabilities that promise to … Continue reading “Overland Buys MaxiScale”
Qualcomm Buys iSkoot
San Diego’s Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]) said today it has acquired San Francisco-based iSkoot Technologies, a mobile social networks software developer. Financial terms were not disclosed. In a statement, the wireless technologies giant said iSkoot works with mobile device makers and mobile operators to bring popular social networks and Internet services to mobile handsets in ways … Continue reading “Qualcomm Buys iSkoot”
Prop. 24 Will Hurt California Businesses, Big and Small
Proposition 24, on the November ballot, is all about jobs. Prop. 24 will cost us as many as 322,000 jobs a year…next year, and for some years to come. Prop. 24 will cost us as much as $1.8 billion a year in revenues to the state…next year, and for some years to come. Those numbers … Continue reading “Prop. 24 Will Hurt California Businesses, Big and Small”
San Diego’s Mini-Cluster of Virtual Biotechs Without Labs on High Bluff Drive
One fascinating geographic pattern jumped out at me on my last visit to San Diego a couple weeks ago. More and more of my meetings with biotech leaders are occurring in places other than Torrey Pines Mesa, the regional heart of science and home to UC San Diego, The Scripps Research Institute, the Sanford-Burnham Medical … Continue reading “San Diego’s Mini-Cluster of Virtual Biotechs Without Labs on High Bluff Drive”
Venture Trend Toward Smaller-Size Deals Continues as Survey Shows Big Q3 Funding Surge in Texas, Drop in Massachusetts
Our friends at CB Insights made an early break out of the gate again today with data on venture capital investments in private companies, this time reporting total VC funding of $5.4 billion in 715 deals nationwide for the third quarter that ended Sept. 30. The CB Insights Venture Capital Activity Report shows, though, that … Continue reading “Venture Trend Toward Smaller-Size Deals Continues as Survey Shows Big Q3 Funding Surge in Texas, Drop in Massachusetts”
Daily D Obtains $5,000,000 Series A Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=66a697a7-e63c-4619-bc78-16db59ee9847&Preview=1 Date 10/13/2010 Company Name Daily D Mailing Address 2919 1/2 Main Street Santa Monica, CA 90403 Company Description The site picks the best local merchants to provide significant discounts. Website http://www.Dailyd.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $5,000,000 Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. M&A Terms … Continue reading “Daily D Obtains $5,000,000 Series A Funding Round”
Halozyme Trims Workforce
Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:HALO]]) said it plans to decrease research relating to the discovery and preclinical assessment of new compounds in a strategic refocusing that will require laying off about 30 workers, or 25 percent of the company’s workforce. Halozyme said it is focusing its resources on developing and commercializing three compounds already in clinical … Continue reading “Halozyme Trims Workforce”
But How Will It Affect Me? An Xconomy Forum on Consumers, Innovation, and Opportunities in Health IT
These are days of tremendous changes in healthcare, as legislative reforms take effect over the next four years in an effort to make healthcare available to everyone—and at a cost they can afford. At the same time, technology advances in Web-based services, wireless communications, and other information technologies offer new possibilities to lower health costs. … Continue reading “But How Will It Affect Me? An Xconomy Forum on Consumers, Innovation, and Opportunities in Health IT”
Qualcomm Ends Direct Flo TV Service, Chumby Gets New CEO and $3M in Venture Funding, Equifax Acquires Anakam, & More San Diego BizTech News
We had a lot of wireless news pile up in San Diego last week. Good thing we had the bandwidth here at Xconomy to bring it all together for you here. —Aneesh Chopra, the first federal chief technology officer of the United States, offered numerous examples of how the Obama Administration is opening government data … Continue reading “Qualcomm Ends Direct Flo TV Service, Chumby Gets New CEO and $3M in Venture Funding, Equifax Acquires Anakam, & More San Diego BizTech News”
Ecomom.com Obtains $1,100,000 Series A Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=4c10e713-a8aa-4c0a-ae04-3add91c25f9a&Preview=1 Date 10/12/2010 Company Name Ecomom.com Mailing Address 8737 Venice Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90034 Company Description EcoMom is committed to making eco-conscious living easy, affordable, and rewarding. By helping women begin to take better care of themselves and their families – with education, support, tools and products – we empower them … Continue reading “Ecomom.com Obtains $1,100,000 Series A Financing”
Cyber-Rain Receives $1,800,000 Series B Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1310f7c7-e229-4ff6-ab1a-7a292936fcfc&Preview=1 Date 10/12/2010 Company Name Cyber-Rain Mailing Address 5272 Evanwood Ave Oak Park, CA 91377 Company Description The Cyber-Rain XCI controller is designed for homeowners who want to save time, money and natural resources with an easy-to-use system that they can easily install and run themselves. Website http://www.cyber-rain.com Transaction Type Venture Equity … Continue reading “Cyber-Rain Receives $1,800,000 Series B Financing Round”
Predixion Software Garners $5,000,000 Series A Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6d171fd3-d5f4-4f02-b58a-1349758013df&Preview=1 Date 10/12/2010 Company Name Predixion Software Mailing Address 65 Enterprise Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 Company Description Predictive analytics enable organizations to use and analyze current and historical data to make predictions about the future that can be applied across a multitude of functional areas. Predictions are used to increase profitability, streamline … Continue reading “Predixion Software Garners $5,000,000 Series A Funding”
Cypress Bio Sells Diagnostics Business
San Diego’s Cypress Bioscience (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CYPB]]), has agreed to sell its diagnostices business to Albuquerque, NM-based Exagen Diagnostics for as much as $8 million in upfront and milestone payments, with additional future payments in the form of royalties on product sales. Exagen Diagnostics, which specializes in the discovery and development of genomic marker tests, is … Continue reading “Cypress Bio Sells Diagnostics Business”
La Jolla Institute Nabs $12.6M RNAi Grant
The La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology said today it has received a $12.6 million federal grant to establish the first publicly funded center in San Diego dedicated to research on RNA interference. Scientists are excited about the possibilities of RNAi research because it holds potential to silence specific malfunctioning genes involved in disease, … Continue reading “La Jolla Institute Nabs $12.6M RNAi Grant”
Research Universities and Big Pharma’s Wicked Problem
A few years ago BP awarded a consortium of universities led by Berkeley the largest grant in University of California history: $500 million over 10 years to develop biofuels. Despite BP’s well-publicized travails, their commitment to the Energy Biosciences Institute remains firmly in place. BP is a huge company with a wealth of resources at … Continue reading “Research Universities and Big Pharma’s Wicked Problem”
Just When I Was Working Up Some Sympathy for Mark Zuckerberg—Facebook Blows It Again
I was going to write an impassioned column this week attacking David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin for the hatchet job they performed on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network. I can’t remember the last time a movie made me so angry; no entrepreneur who’s created such a beloved and successful service, even if … Continue reading “Just When I Was Working Up Some Sympathy for Mark Zuckerberg—Facebook Blows It Again”
Venter Institute, Synthetic Genomics Form Vaccine Company, Partner With Novartis
San Diego’s Synthetic Genomics, co-founded by human genome pioneer J. Craig Venter, and the nonprofit J. Craig Venter Institute, are forming a new company called Synthetic Genomics Vaccines. The startup plans to develop next-generation vaccines, using the latest advances in synthetic biology and genomic sequencing from the Maryland-based Venter institute, and intellectual property and “business … Continue reading “Venter Institute, Synthetic Genomics Form Vaccine Company, Partner With Novartis”
Wireless Health Meeting Draws ‘A’ List Speakers, Seidel Takes the GNF Reins, Apricus Bio Raises $9.3M, & More San Diego Life Sciences News
It was a relatively quiet week for life sciences news. But we nevertheless saw some interesting developments in personnel moves and fund-raising, as some key local scientists helped start a couple of new companies, as well as in the clinical test of a new experimental cancer drug. —The Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation … Continue reading “Wireless Health Meeting Draws ‘A’ List Speakers, Seidel Takes the GNF Reins, Apricus Bio Raises $9.3M, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”
VentiRx, With Venti-Sized Ambition to Treat (and Maybe Prevent) Allergies, Passes First Big Test
Every corner drugstore carries cheap meds for allergies, and about 30 million people in the U.S. still suffer from the symptoms. But now VentiRx Pharmaceuticals, a small biotech with operations in Seattle and San Diego, has generated some intriguing data that suggests it might have found a completely new way to treat—and possibly prevent—allergies. VentiRx … Continue reading “VentiRx, With Venti-Sized Ambition to Treat (and Maybe Prevent) Allergies, Passes First Big Test”
TOPGUN: Good Training for Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship
Top Gun the movie, like many movies loosely based on true stories or real organizations, certainly left us all entertained, and hopefully even a little motivated. The scenes of beach volleyball, testosterone-charged competition, and Maverick’s famous rendition of the Righteous Brothers’ classic were all unforgettable. But Hollywood never lets the truth get in the way … Continue reading “TOPGUN: Good Training for Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship”
Aneesh Chopra, Obama’s Chief Technology Officer, Talks About Health IT Geek Squads, Entrepreneurship Prizes, and “Data as a Policy Lever”
“In the Obama Administration, entrepreneurs are welcome.” So said Aneesh Chopra, chief technology officer of the United States, in a keynote speech yesterday at “DC to VC,” a summit on healthcare IT investing organized by Morgenthaler Ventures partner Rebecca Lynn in San Francisco and co-sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank and Venrock. Speaking to a group … Continue reading “Aneesh Chopra, Obama’s Chief Technology Officer, Talks About Health IT Geek Squads, Entrepreneurship Prizes, and “Data as a Policy Lever””
Kyriba Receives $10,600,000 New Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0188ea08-f175-424c-875b-7abbcbe3e1ab&Preview=1 Date 10/7/2010 Company Name Kyriba Mailing Address 11622 El Camino Real San Diego, CA 92130 Company Description Kyriba is a leading provider of Treasury solutions delivered under the Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Website http://www.Kyriba.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $10,600,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds will be … Continue reading “Kyriba Receives $10,600,000 New Financing”
BlueCava Secures $5,000,000 New Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=cb58766c-35c7-4645-adfd-b850e05c7d59&Preview=1 Date 10/7/2010 Company Name BlueCava Mailing Address 2151 Michelson Dr. Irvine, CA 92612 Company Description The company has created the BlueCava Device Identification Platform that helps identify any device that is connected to the Internet. Website http://www.BlueCava.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $5,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes … Continue reading “BlueCava Secures $5,000,000 New Financing”
GluMetrics Garners $5,000,000 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=dca91ee7-4142-43de-9252-fbb76e797997&Preview=1 Date 10/7/2010 Company Name GluMetrics Mailing Address 15375 Barranca Parkway Irvine, CA 92618 Company Description GluMetrics, Inc. is a medical device company focusing patented technology on a currently shifting paradigm in the care of critically ill patients. Website http://www.glumetrics.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $5,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes … Continue reading “GluMetrics Garners $5,000,000 New Financing Round”
In Verve Wireless, Founders Create a Mobile Technology Platform and a Lifeline for Local News
The New York Times has a pretty impressive website for mobile apps, with plenty of information to help its loyal readers access news on their iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm Pre, Android, and other mobile devices. As the premiere national newspaper, though, the Times also has more wherewithal than most local newspapers and broadcasters to develop customized … Continue reading “In Verve Wireless, Founders Create a Mobile Technology Platform and a Lifeline for Local News”
Stanford, UCSD Biologists Take Plunge Into Arpanet-Style Project With Sage Bionetworks
[Updated: 6:40 am Pacific] Stephen Friend had plenty of doubters last year when he quit a high-powered Big Pharma executive job to start a nonprofit seeking to spark an open source style movement for biology. One year later, the former chief of cancer research at Merck has pulled off another unlikely feat. He’s corralled four … Continue reading “Stanford, UCSD Biologists Take Plunge Into Arpanet-Style Project With Sage Bionetworks”
Qualcomm Ending Its Own Direct-to-Consumer TV Service
Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]) today confirmed media reports from yesterday, saying it has decided to stop offering its Flo TV direct consumer mobile television service to new customers. In a statement this afternoon, the San Diego wireless giant said it also has stopped selling its Qualcomm pocket-sized personal TV. The company says it anticipates there will … Continue reading “Qualcomm Ending Its Own Direct-to-Consumer TV Service”
Kyriba Raises $10.6M
Kyriba, which provides Web-based software that enables companies to better control their daily cash management tasks, says it has raised $10.6 million in a new financing round led by Iris Capital and existing investor BRED Banque Populaire. Kyriba, which was founded in 2000 and has headquarters in Paris and San Diego, says the funding will … Continue reading “Kyriba Raises $10.6M”
Strategy at San Diego’s Chumby Coming to Fruition Under New CEO
San Diego’s Chumby Industries, creator of the consumer gadget that is a plush toy, alarm clock, Web terminal, and video and music player, raised an additional $3 million in debt, options, and rights to securities, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. The latest funding, which co-founder and investor Steve Tomlin describes as “no real news…simply … Continue reading “Strategy at San Diego’s Chumby Coming to Fruition Under New CEO”
Novartis-backed Genomics Institute Names Martin Seidel as New Director, Replacing Peter Schultz
One of San Diego’s top biomedical research centers has a new boss. H. Martin Seidel, the longtime No. 2 official at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF), has been hired as the permanent replacement for founding director Peter Schultz. Seidel, who has served as interim director of GNF since Schultz stepped down … Continue reading “Novartis-backed Genomics Institute Names Martin Seidel as New Director, Replacing Peter Schultz”
A Cure for the Common Conference: HealthCamp Brings Consumer-Driven Health Care to Life
As many clinicians will tell you, there is no single change that will radically improve health care for everyone. Technology is often regarded as the secret sauce, but really, it is only an enabler. There is no silver bullet that will cause everyone to suddenly adopt healthy habits of eating, sleeping, and exercise. Yet if … Continue reading “A Cure for the Common Conference: HealthCamp Brings Consumer-Driven Health Care to Life”
Equifax Acquires SD’s Anakam
Atlanta-based Equifax said Monday it has acquired Anakam, a privately held identity security and management software developer in San Diego. Terms of the transaction, which closed October 1, were not disclosed. Anakam, founded in 2004, specializes in multi-factor identity authentication technology that can replace key cards and other methods for verifying a person’s identity. The … Continue reading “Equifax Acquires SD’s Anakam”
Passenger Receives $7,500,000 New Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=99a9c84a-1d6f-4de2-8be9-1b5d4735fa5b&Preview=1 Date 10/5/2010 Company Name Passenger Mailing Address 5900 Wilshire Blvd. 28th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90036 Company Description Passenger enables simple deployment of private brand communities that provide companies with actionable insight, while empowering consumers through ownership of ideas. Website http://www.thinkpassenger.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $7,500,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed … Continue reading “Passenger Receives $7,500,000 New Financing”
Yahoo! Acquires Dapper for Undisclosed Sum
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e0df3d0f-1163-4e86-92bb-a0b09e5fb08c&Preview=1 Date 10/5/2010 Company Name Dapper Mailing Address 4025 Lockridge Street San Diego, CA 92191 Company Description Dapper is a US company with offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Founded by Eran Shir and Jon Aizen in late 2005, Dapper aims to make it easy and possible for anyone to extract and reuse … Continue reading “Yahoo! Acquires Dapper for Undisclosed Sum”