Fate Therapeutics, a La Jolla, CA-based biotech startup tapping advances in stem cell biology to develop new drugs, says it has gained exclusive rights to technology involving blood-forming stem cells from Children’s Hospital Boston and Massachusetts General Hospital. The hospitals jointly own the technology. Leonard Zon, director of the stem cell program at Children’s and … Continue reading “Stem Cell Tech in Fate’s Hands”
Category: San Diego
A Pathfinder in Wireless Healthcare Says Reimbursement, Not Innovation, is the Critical Factor for Startups Today
Within the span of a few months, it seems as though wireless healthcare has come into focus as an emerging area of innovation and technology convergence. That has been especially true in San Diego, where the Gary and Mary West Foundation committed $45 million at the end of March to create the West Wireless Health … Continue reading “A Pathfinder in Wireless Healthcare Says Reimbursement, Not Innovation, is the Critical Factor for Startups Today”
In Economic Outlook for San Diego, 2009 Branded a “Throw-Away Year”
San Diego County’s regional economy is still contracting, with housing starts at a 41-year low, employers continuing to shed jobs, and consumer spending stuck in the doldrums, according to an economic report set for release today by the UCLA Anderson Forecast. “Consider 2009 a throw-away year except that the existing housing sector should recover,” UCLA’s … Continue reading “In Economic Outlook for San Diego, 2009 Branded a “Throw-Away Year””
Slacker, Inc. Garners $9,600,000 Series C Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=79c80463-bb80-4906-bff4-12fbe9a577b1&Preview=1 Date 5/15/2009 Company Name Slacker, Inc. Mailing Address 16935 W. Bernardo Dr. San Diego, CA 92127 Company Description Slacker is a new kind of music company. We deliver personal radio that is customized for every listener. Slacker is effortless to use and the music is accessible at home, in the car, … Continue reading “Slacker, Inc. Garners $9,600,000 Series C Funding”
Benchmark Gets Cash Infusion
San Diego-based healthcare administration technology provider Benchmark Revenue Management said today it has raised additional capital in what it called a Series A funding round that was led by David Barach of the Tech Coast Angels. CEO Tyson McDowell says the round will enable the company to achieve positive cash flow, but he declined to … Continue reading “Benchmark Gets Cash Infusion”
Slacker Raises Another $9.7M in Venture Funding
Slacker, the San Diego-based online music streaming service, disclosed in a regulatory filing this week that it has raised almost $9.7 million so far in a secondary venture round intended to raise $10.2 million. As Xconomy’s Juha-Pekka Tikka reported Tuesday, Slacker raised $5 million in venture funding just six months ago from Rho Ventures of … Continue reading “Slacker Raises Another $9.7M in Venture Funding”
Biogen Idec Pipeline Strong, Tysabri Coming Back; Icahn Would “Weaken” Board, Company Says
Biogen Idec shot back at Carl Icahn today in a regulatory filing. The company disputed the ways in which the billionaire challenged virtually every aspect of its business, and disagreed with Icahn’s fundamental conclusion that it is suffering from “failed leadership.” Cambridge, MA-based Biogen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) says its R&D pipeline is strong, physicians are regaining … Continue reading “Biogen Idec Pipeline Strong, Tysabri Coming Back; Icahn Would “Weaken” Board, Company Says”
Altair Therapeutics Changes CEO
San Diego’s Altair Therapeutics today named former Forward Ventures partner Joel Martin as president and CEO. Martin, who left the San Diego life sciences VC firm in October, was previously a co-founder of Avant BioVentures. Altair’s current CEO Paul Brennan will continue working with the company. Privately held Altair, which was founded in 2007, develops … Continue reading “Altair Therapeutics Changes CEO”
Anaphore Gets Extra $13M
San Diego-based Anaphore said today it has raised $13 million in a second closing of its Series A preferred stock financing, bringing the round to a total of $38 million. Anaphore, founded in 2008, is developing a new class of protein therapeutics for life-threatening diseases. The company’s investors are the SR One venture unit of … Continue reading “Anaphore Gets Extra $13M”
BakBone buys ColdSpark for $15.9M
San Diego-based data backup and recovery firm BakBone has acquired Broomfield, CO-based ColdSpark, a provider of enterprise email solutions. According to a press release, BakBone will pay $15.9 million for the company in cash and common shares. ColdSpark’s co-founder and chief technologist Scott Brown will become GM of BakBone’s new Message Management Division. This month, … Continue reading “BakBone buys ColdSpark for $15.9M”
Regulus Hits GSK Milestone
Regulus Therapeutics, the Carlsbad, CA-based developer of drugs that block microRNA targets, said today it has reached the first milestone as part of its partnership with GlaxoSmithKline. Regulus has delivered specific microRNA blockers, known as anti-MIRs, in mice, and shown how they change the expression of genes in immune cells. Regulus didn’t disclose any financial … Continue reading “Regulus Hits GSK Milestone”
Cadence Applies for FDA Approval
Cadence Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CADX]]), the San Diego-based developer of a new pain medication, said today it has filed an application to seek FDA approval to start selling it in the U.S. The drug, an intravenous form of acetaminophen with the trade name of Acetavance, reached its goal of providing pain relief in a clinical trial. … Continue reading “Cadence Applies for FDA Approval”
Words to the Wise When the Exits Are Closed
If you’re the CEO of a venture-backed company, what can you do when the exit doors remain closed for IPOs, and the collapse of capital markets has slowed mergers and acquisitions to a trickle? That may be the question of the hour, or perhaps the year. But preserving your options, and creating new ones, was … Continue reading “Words to the Wise When the Exits Are Closed”
For Nirvanix, Bliss is a Number Followed by Fifteen Zeros in a Cloud
San Diego’s cloud storage provider Nirvanix has raised eyebrows by claiming to be 200 percent faster than the great storage pioneer, Amazon’s Simple Storage Service. Cloud storage is a current hot topic many find hard to understand, but it all comes down to this: Nirvanix and similar companies store your computer’s archives on the Internet. … Continue reading “For Nirvanix, Bliss is a Number Followed by Fifteen Zeros in a Cloud”
Anaphore, Inc. Lands $13,000,000 Series A Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d78bc7e8-c43f-42e5-85b3-8bddd56d5ac5&Preview=1 Date 5/14/2009 Company Name Anaphore, Inc. Mailing Address Undisclosed San Diego, CA 92120 Company Description Anaphore was created through the acquisition of Borean Pharma ApS, a Danish biotechnology company with both a product portfolio and technology platforms for creating improved protein therapeutics. The Danish firm spent six years establishing the technologies … Continue reading “Anaphore, Inc. Lands $13,000,000 Series A Funding”
Bootstrapping Your Business
In times of economic stress, enterprising tech execs find ways of trimming costs and conveying a renewed sense of focus and urgency that enables their workforce to do more with less. The San Diego Venture Group has organized a breakfast panel discussion on surviving in a hostile environment—moderated by a former Navy Seal. Networking and … Continue reading “Bootstrapping Your Business”
Patent Policy in a Perfect Storm of Federal Power
All three branches of the federal government are acting on U.S. patent policy, with potentially far-reaching consequences for innovation in San Diego’s life sciences and high technology sectors. Connect has organized the session to address changes underway at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, in Congress and at the Federal Circuit. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m., or … Continue reading “Patent Policy in a Perfect Storm of Federal Power”
San Diego’s BlackBall Finds the Files from Unstructured Data
“How many of us have lost a file sometimes?” BlackBall CEO Bob Brown’s first question to his audience is a killer. Hasn’t everyone lost or missed a file in their computer? We’re all storing more and more files in unremembered places all over our computers, where they become “unstructured data” instead of organized in some supposed folders. And … Continue reading “San Diego’s BlackBall Finds the Files from Unstructured Data”
Advice for Startups in Gloomy Times: Outwit, Outplay, Outlast
The backstory wasn’t exactly auspicious as Red Herring publisher and tech conference organizer Alex Vieux convened the North America 100 in San Diego yesterday saying, “This is an economic crisis whose end is not near.” In a bid to sound positive, Vieux added that a crisis also represents an opportunity “that is too good to … Continue reading “Advice for Startups in Gloomy Times: Outwit, Outplay, Outlast”
High Density Networks Inc Secures $1,000,000 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=c629c76a-fa5c-43bb-8637-72f2f56e164e&Preview=1 Date 5/13/2009 Company Name High Density Networks Inc Mailing Address 900 N. Alameda St. Los Angeles, CA 90012 Company Description HDN realizes economies of scale in operations and deployment through our network architecture; we are able to guarantee Quality of Service throughout our entire network and will provide full multimedia services … Continue reading “High Density Networks Inc Secures $1,000,000 New Financing Round”
FUHU Inc Receives $6,250,000 Series B Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1dc3f4ac-8170-48be-8799-8b087d488835&Preview=1 Date 5/13/2009 Company Name FUHU Inc Mailing Address 909 N. Sepulveda Blvd El Segundo, CA 90245 Company Description FUHU is a leading provider of Web 2.0 properties and applications that help people manage, access and share their digital life anywhere, anytime. Website http://www.fuhu.com/ Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $6,250,000 Transaction … Continue reading “FUHU Inc Receives $6,250,000 Series B Financing”
OptionEase Secures $2,500,000 Series A Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1c03b3db-5f5d-4d69-9df8-c06e8a9e816f&Preview=1 Date 5/13/2009 Company Name OptionEase Mailing Address 31351 Rancho Viejo Road San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675 Company Description OptionEase is a comprehensive Software as a Service (SaaS), which satisfies all audit requirements regarding FAS 123(R) – Accounting for Employee Stock Options. The OptionEase web based system is credible and flexible enough … Continue reading “OptionEase Secures $2,500,000 Series A Funding”
Amylin Co-Founder Sides with Rebels in Proxy Fight
Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMLN]]) co-founder and original CEO Howard Greene is urging shareholders to vote for Carl Icahn’s or Eastbourne Capital Management’s proposed slate of directors, the Associated Press is reporting today. Greene’s support for dissident nominees adds new twist to a hot proxy fight at the diabetes drug maker. In a letter to shareholders … Continue reading “Amylin Co-Founder Sides with Rebels in Proxy Fight”
San Diego Startup’s Breakthrough Is Making Lasers “the Color of Heat”
One understandable reaction to Daylight Solutions, a 23-employee startup that has developed a breakthrough in semiconductor-based, mid-infrared laser technology, might be to ask, “Where did this company come from?” The suburban San Diego company says its high-power lasers, about the size of a small box of matches, can be used in medical diagnostics, in environmental … Continue reading “San Diego Startup’s Breakthrough Is Making Lasers “the Color of Heat””
Q&A With Slacker Founder: The Demand for Free Online Music Just Won’t Quit
Two years ago, Dennis Mudd summoned his team of former Internet music executives and started Slacker, an online music service that offers personalized radio stations. The big idea was to mix the streaming music from Internet radio stations with personalized content according to listeners’ liking. When you want to listen to Led Zeppelin only, Slacker … Continue reading “Q&A With Slacker Founder: The Demand for Free Online Music Just Won’t Quit”
Icahn Throws Down the Gauntlet, Attacks Biogen Idec’s “Failed Leadership”
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn made a relatively softball argument a year ago about why shareholders should throw out the management slate for the Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) board and vote for his nominees instead. It didn’t work. This time, he’s launching a blistering attack that accuses the company of botching its 2003 merger with Idec … Continue reading “Icahn Throws Down the Gauntlet, Attacks Biogen Idec’s “Failed Leadership””
Amylin Urges Shareholders to Vote Blue
In a letter to shareholders today, San Diego’s Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALMN]]) urges them to vote for the company’s slate of directors on a blue proxy card. Amylin’s annual meeting will be held on May 27th. The diabetes drug developer asks shareholders to discard gold or white proxy cards with board candidates nominated by billionaire … Continue reading “Amylin Urges Shareholders to Vote Blue”
Ernst & Young Report: State of the Life Sciences
Ernst & Young partners Dan Kleeburg and Doug Regnier present the firm’s annual report on the life sciences industry. For the first time, this year’s presentation will also include valuable data concerning the medical device industry. You can register online here.
Cypress Shipping Fibromyalgia Drug
San Diego’s Cypress Bioscience (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CYPB]]) says in its Q1 financial results today that it began shipping its new drug milnacipran HCL (Savella) last month. The drug gained FDA approval earlier this year for treating fibromyalgia. Cypress says its first-quarter loss widened to $9.2 million from $2.9 million in the same quarter last year. The biotech has … Continue reading “Cypress Shipping Fibromyalgia Drug”
Novocell Hires John West as CEO
Novocell, the San Diego-based developer of stem cell therapies for diabetes, said it has named John West as president, CEO , and a member of its board. West was previously CEO of Solexa, a maker of genome sequencing machines that was sold to San Diego-based Illumina (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ILMN]]) in 2007 for more than $600 million.
Vical Developing Vaccine for Swine Flu, Acadia’s Stock Almost Doubles on Biovail Deal, Qualcomm Launches Business Plan Contest, & Other San Diego BizTech News
Although the financial meltdown has hit San Diego’s venture community pretty hard, Lux Capital’s Larry Bock says he made his most-successful investments during the biotech nuclear winter of the early 1990s. So what areas of venture innovation seem promising today? That’s what Xconomy is here for, my friends. Read on. — Serial healthcare entrepreneur James … Continue reading “Vical Developing Vaccine for Swine Flu, Acadia’s Stock Almost Doubles on Biovail Deal, Qualcomm Launches Business Plan Contest, & Other San Diego BizTech News”
Sorenson Wants to Become King of High-Quality Internet Video
At a time when Internet video is shifting increasingly to high-resolution images and towards professional-quality production, Sorenson Media is going through a transition of its own. The private online video codec company that was founded in Salt Lake City, UT, is joining the move to high-quality delivery with the Sorenson 360 video-publishing platform for serious … Continue reading “Sorenson Wants to Become King of High-Quality Internet Video”
HauteLook Receives $10,000,000 New Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=921c2e40-3290-4523-be43-2bc74b7bb362&Preview=1 Date 5/11/2009 Company Name HauteLook Mailing Address 1013 S. Los Angeles St Los Angeles, CA 90015 Company Description HauteLook is an exclusive private shopping club which offers its members branded goods at 40-75% off of retail prices. HauteLook operates a marketplace in which premium fashion & lifestyle brands host their own … Continue reading “HauteLook Receives $10,000,000 New Round”
A Brief Guide to Stimulus Act Funding for Health Information Technologies
A major focus of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Stimulus Act) that President Obama signed in February is to improve the quality and expand the scope of health information technology in the United States. One of the central goals is to develop a nationwide health IT infrastructure and transfer all Americans’ health records to … Continue reading “A Brief Guide to Stimulus Act Funding for Health Information Technologies”
Cytori Expands GE Partnership; Raises More Cash
San Diego’s Cytori Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CYTX]]) said today it has expanded its partnership agreement with GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric, in which GE Healthcare will commercialize Cytori’s proprietary stem cell technology in North America. No financial terms were disclosed. Under a previous deal in January, GE agreed to commercialize Cytori’s products in ten … Continue reading “Cytori Expands GE Partnership; Raises More Cash”
San Diego Just Beginning to Assess Needs of Emerging Algae Industry
Today is Algae Day plus 10 in San Diego. With all the enthusiasm expressed during the back-to-back events of April 28, I half-expected things would be greener by now. But now the real work begins. The effort is to make San Diego—home of many biologists, entrepreneurs, and lots of sun—nationally recognized as a “big green … Continue reading “San Diego Just Beginning to Assess Needs of Emerging Algae Industry”
Ardea Lays Off Half of Employees
San Diego-based Ardea Biosciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:RDEA]]) says it has started a corporate restructuring that will reduce its workforce by 47 percent. The company says in their Q1 news release that they are now focused on clinical-stage programs. Ardea had approximately 90 employees. Ardea announced a partnership with Bayer last week in which Ardea takes responsibility … Continue reading “Ardea Lays Off Half of Employees”
Why Kindle 2 is the Goldilocks of E-Book Readers
Fans of this column know that I spent months dithering over whether to buy Amazon’s Kindle 2 e-book reader. I had mercilessly panned the original Kindle, mainly for its ungainly looks. And while I was much more impressed by the Kindle 2 when it came out in February, I was put off by the $359 … Continue reading “Why Kindle 2 is the Goldilocks of E-Book Readers”
Vical Within Days of Prototype H1N1 Vaccine
San Diego’s Vical (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VICL]]) said today it has the necessary genetic sequence and plans to produce a prototype vaccine for the H1N1 influenza, aka Swine Flu, “within the next few days.” Yesterday, Vical announced it has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC), a biomedical research organization within the … Continue reading “Vical Within Days of Prototype H1N1 Vaccine”
Qualcomm Launches QPrize Competition
Joining in the latest wave of funding innovation, San Diego’s Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]) today launched a new international business plan competition called the QPrize. In a short announcement, the wireless chipmaker said its corporate venture fund has created a pool of $550,000 to provide early stage funding to the most-promising plans submitted by entrepreneurs “who … Continue reading “Qualcomm Launches QPrize Competition”
The Fastest Growing Anti-Virus Software Developer You’ve Never Heard Of
The economy might be stalling, but sales of anti-virus software developed by San Diego-based Eset, which have been almost doubling every year since 2005, are rising fast at the beginning of a classic S-shaped curve of market penetration. I know this because Eset’s founding CEO Anton Zajac, who began his career as a theoretical physicist … Continue reading “The Fastest Growing Anti-Virus Software Developer You’ve Never Heard Of”
BakBone Gets a Bargain in $3M Purchase of Asempra’s Technologies
It looked like a small deal when San Diego-based data backup and recovery company BakBone Software acquired the assets of Santa Clara, CA-based Asempra Technologies earlier this week. BakBone shares trade over-the-counter, and the company’s press release mentioned that only $350,000 in cash changed hands. In fact, the value of the overall, cash-and-stock transaction was approximately $3 … Continue reading “BakBone Gets a Bargain in $3M Purchase of Asempra’s Technologies”
Take My Wallet, Just Leave My SSN!
Americans are more concerned about someone stealing their Social Security Number (SSN) than their wallet, laptop, or purse, according to a survey released today by Ipsos and San Diego-based ID Analytics. Three in five Americans identified their SSN as the personal item they are most concerned about if someone breaks into their home. Almost 60 … Continue reading “Take My Wallet, Just Leave My SSN!”
Lux Capital’s Larry Bock and Josh Wolfe Warm to Venture Deals Despite Nuclear Winter
Since it began raising its second venture fund several years ago, New York-based Lux Capital has only invested in one startup in the San Diego region—Carlsbad’s Luxtera, which specializes in developing technologies to eliminate the bottlenecks in fiber optic networks for computers. (Luxtera got $26.7 million in a later-stage venture round at the end of … Continue reading “Lux Capital’s Larry Bock and Josh Wolfe Warm to Venture Deals Despite Nuclear Winter”
NextWave Changes Management
San Diego’s NextWave Wireless (NASDAQ: [[ticker:WAVE]]) said today its Chairman, CEO, and President Allen Salmasi “has transferred the day-to-day operating role” of CEO and President to James Brailean, who heads NextWave’s PacketVideo subsidiary. The company’s COO and CFO have both resigned. NextWave Wireless, founded in 2005, develops embedded multimedia software for mobile devices,and has had … Continue reading “NextWave Changes Management”
Neurocrine Cuts Half of Workforce
San Diego’s Neurocrine Biosciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NBIX]]) said today it’s eliminating approximately 60 employees, or half its workforce, to focus on developing its lead drug candidates and other “high value assets.” The biopharmaceutical’s is developing elagolix to treat endometriosis, which causes pelvic pain in women, and other compounds for potential use treating neurological and endocrine diseases … Continue reading “Neurocrine Cuts Half of Workforce”
Illumina Sues Affymetrix for Patent Infringement of Genetic Analysis Technology
Illumina (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ILMN]]), the San Diego-based developer of genetic analysis systems, said today it has filed a patent infringement suit in federal court in Madison, WI, against Affymetrix (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AFFX]]), the Santa Clara, CA-based maker of semiconductor-based “GeneChip” technology. The suit asserts that a variety of array plate products and a related scanner sold by … Continue reading “Illumina Sues Affymetrix for Patent Infringement of Genetic Analysis Technology”
Diabetes Drug Application May Be New Factor in Amylin Proxy Battle
Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMLN]]), which is engaged in a proxy fight, has submitted a new drug application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for exenatide, its once weekly drug for type 2 diabetes. The San Diego biotech made the announcement today with Eli Lilly (NYSE: [[ticker:LLY]]), its marketing partner, and Cambridge, MA-based drug developing … Continue reading “Diabetes Drug Application May Be New Factor in Amylin Proxy Battle”
Reva Medical Regaining Ground in Development of Next-Generation Stent
In the race to develop a fully dissolvable cardiac stent, San Diego’s Reva Medical is clearly second. And to CEO Robert Shultz, that’s a good place to be, especially for a startup that had to restart development of its stent technology. The cost of establishing a big new market, Shultz says, is better left to … Continue reading “Reva Medical Regaining Ground in Development of Next-Generation Stent”
An Ex-Cop Talks With Xconomy About Using X-Rays to Scan Cars
When I met Steven W. Smith last week, the founder of Spectrum San Diego made a casual comment that might help explain why he’s focused his company on developing advanced security imaging systems. Smith was explaining the technical advantages of Spectrum’s mainstay product—an ultra-high resolution video surveillance system—when he said: “Before I went to graduate … Continue reading “An Ex-Cop Talks With Xconomy About Using X-Rays to Scan Cars”