Category: San Diego

Rematch Time: Carl Icahn and Biogen Idec Square Off Again

It’s rematch time in the battle for control of Biogen Idec. With the Cambridge, MA-based company’s annual shareholder meeting likely coming sometime in the next couple months, the incumbent board nominees are being challenged by four rivals put forth by billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn. A media leak has fueled speculation of a potential buyout … Continue reading “Rematch Time: Carl Icahn and Biogen Idec Square Off Again”

Departed Amylin Co-Founder Greene Says Company in ‘Perfect Storm,’ But Confident in Management

Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMLN]]) co-founder Howard E. “Ted” Greene, long a leading figure in San Diego’s biotech community, said today that Amylin has encountered a “perfect storm” of events that have caused its share price to drop precipitously and unleashed a proxy battle—but that he’ll seek other ways to help the company since he has … Continue reading “Departed Amylin Co-Founder Greene Says Company in ‘Perfect Storm,’ But Confident in Management”

Prometheus Adds Cancer Diagnostics

San Diego’s Prometheus Laboratories says it has signed a licensing and collaboration deal with Rosetta Genomics, an Israeli company that does commercial molecular diagnostic tests at its lab in Philadelphia, PA. Under the agreement, Prometheus will make an $8 million equity investment in Rosetta and gets rights to three micro-RNA-based cancer diagnostic tests. In addition, … Continue reading “Prometheus Adds Cancer Diagnostics”

Amylin Braces to Battle Carl Icahn, Calit2’s Network for Institutional Innovation, Sangart Ponders Its Next Move, & More San Diego BizTech News

Perhaps the week before Easter was a good time for San Diego’s technology innovators to be taking stock. Amylin is busy weighing how best to fend off dissident investors Carl Icahn and Eastbourne Capital before next month’s annual shareholder meeting. Other San Diego startups, such as Trius Therapeutics and Sangart, are considering how best to … Continue reading “Amylin Braces to Battle Carl Icahn, Calit2’s Network for Institutional Innovation, Sangart Ponders Its Next Move, & More San Diego BizTech News”

The Rubicon Project Secures $13,000,000 Series B Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=141f98e5-1a1d-419d-bc54-79d14c7a8089&Preview=1 Date 4/13/2009 Company Name The Rubicon Project Mailing Address 1925 S. Bundy Drive Los Angeles, CA 90025 Company Description Based in Los Angeles, the Rubicon Project launched in 2007 on a mission to automate the $65 billion global online advertising industry. Responding to one of the largest problems plaguing website publishers … Continue reading “The Rubicon Project Secures $13,000,000 Series B Round”

Surfin’ Safari at the MIT Enterprise Forum

Bruce McFarland, an engineer and lifelong surfer, founded American Wave Machines to develop his concept for a new type of patented wave machine. But his startup company faces a variety of challenges as it tries to break into a market with already-established technologies. A panel of experts review the company as a business case study. … Continue reading “Surfin’ Safari at the MIT Enterprise Forum”

The Coming Boom in Wireless-Health Care

San Diego’s Wireless Life Sciences Alliance has opened its registration to the public for the second day of an invitation-only conference on the convergence of healthcare and wireless technologies. The agenda includes presentations on managing the regulatory approval process for medical devices, understanding markets and insurors, and an insider’s look at what’s happening in Washington, D.C. Online information and registration is available here.

Nirvanix Raises $5 Million

San Diego-based online data cloud storage provider Nirvanix has secured $5 million in capital out of a $6 million secondary round of venture funding, according to a filing today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company, which was previously known as Streamload, aims to compete with Amazon’s (Nasdaq: [[ticker:AMZN]]) S3 storage web service. Nirvanix … Continue reading “Nirvanix Raises $5 Million”

San Diego’s Sangart Readying for Clinical Trials of ‘Oxygen Therapeutic’

When I reported last month that San Diego-based Sangart had raised $50 million in additional venture funding, CEO Brian O’Callaghan was eager to discuss how the biopharmaceutical has progressed in a field where others ran aground. But O’Callaghan, who is every bit as Irish as his name sounds, was unavailable at the time. So I … Continue reading “San Diego’s Sangart Readying for Clinical Trials of ‘Oxygen Therapeutic’”

Boston Can Survive, Even Thrive, Without Today’s Globe

It’s difficult to see how the Boston Globe can last long in its current form. Even if its owner, the New York Times Co., extracts the entire $20 million in concessions that it demanded this week from the paper’s unions, the paper would still lose $65 million this year, according to the company’s own figures. … Continue reading “Boston Can Survive, Even Thrive, Without Today’s Globe”

Nirvanix, Inc. Lands $5,000,000 Series B Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=5f20bcc1-08f3-4cc6-9d5a-877b9535be7d&Preview=1 Date 4/10/2009 Company Name Nirvanix, Inc. Mailing Address 4445 Eastgate Mall San Diego, CA 92121 Company Description Incorporated in 2007, Nirvanix was founded by storage industry veterans to create a massively-scalable media storage and delivery network (SDN) for the Internet. Offered as a web service, the Nirvanix SDS allows any Internet-enabled … Continue reading “Nirvanix, Inc. Lands $5,000,000 Series B Funding”

Navy Showcases R&D Lab to Business Community and High Tech Execs

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders has referred to SPAWAR, the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, as one of the city’s best kept secrets, and I started to understand why during a presentation yesterday at San Diego’s Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center. SPAWAR is a major Navy procurement agency, with a total budget of more … Continue reading “Navy Showcases R&D Lab to Business Community and High Tech Execs”

La Jolla Pharmaceutical Gets Delisting Notice

San Diego-based La Jolla Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LJPC]]) said today it received a Nasdaq delisting warning that says the company is not in compliance with the Nasdaq rule requiring at least $10 million in stockholders’ equity. La Jolla Pharmaceutical’s 2008 annual report also includes a “going concern” notice from its auditor that questions the company’s ability to … Continue reading “La Jolla Pharmaceutical Gets Delisting Notice”

Amylin Braces for Proxy Battle Amid Flurry of Filings

Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMLN]]) became one of San Diego’s Cinderella success stories in 2005, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved two of its diabetes drugs—some 18 years after the biotech was founded. But the company has been buffeted by some unusual challenges in recent months. Demand for exenatide, Amylin’s lead diabetes drug, has slumped … Continue reading “Amylin Braces for Proxy Battle Amid Flurry of Filings”

Can Business Schools Teach Entrepreneurship?

When the Dow is sitting at half its 52-week high, the U.S. economy is shedding about a half million jobs a month, and the financial institutions of entire countries are collapsing, it’s as good a time as any to do some hard thinking about your professional future. At business schools these days, more and more … Continue reading “Can Business Schools Teach Entrepreneurship?”

Ethertronics Gets $4 Million

San Diego-based internal antenna developer Ethertronics raised an additional $4 million in a secondary round of venture funding, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. Details of the funding, which were first reported today by socaltech.com, were not disclosed in the filing, but a representative of Ridgewood Capital, a private equity firm with offices in Ridgewood, … Continue reading “Ethertronics Gets $4 Million”

Former UC President Dynes Views CalIT2 as a New Paradigm for Innovation

At a luncheon that followed the La Jolla Research and Innovation Summit on Friday, I sat with Bob Dynes, the former President of the University of California system, who began talking about the formation of CalIT2 (Cal-IT-squared) almost a decade ago. These days, the research center also known as the California Institute for Telecommunications and … Continue reading “Former UC President Dynes Views CalIT2 as a New Paradigm for Innovation”

Sony Electronics Restructuring its U.S. Headquarters

Sony Electronics, which moved its U.S. corporate headquarters from New Jersey to suburban San Diego five years ago, is restructuring its business here as part of a global overhaul the Japanese giant has been undergoing since January. Sony arrived in San Diego’s Rancho Bernardo neighborhood in 1972, becoming the first foreign company to establish a … Continue reading “Sony Electronics Restructuring its U.S. Headquarters”

Ardea Biosciences, in Moment of Serendipity, Discovers HIV Drug That May Work for Gout

Biotech companies like to talk up the discipline it takes to move a drug through years of development, but discovery sometimes depends on plain serendipity. I got an interesting reminder of that the other day from Barry Quart, the CEO of San Diego-based Ardea Biosciences. Back in late 2007, Ardea (NASDAQ: [[ticker:RDEA]]) scientists were looking … Continue reading “Ardea Biosciences, in Moment of Serendipity, Discovers HIV Drug That May Work for Gout”

Ethertronics, Inc. Garners $4,000,000 Series B Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6b24f1ba-8d68-4bce-9d71-3214746d9023&Preview=1 Date 4/8/2009 Company Name Ethertronics, Inc. Mailing Address 9605 Scranton Road San Diego, CA 92121 Company Description Ethertronics designs and manufactures high performance, internal (embedded) antennas for wireless devices. We have been chosen by major OEMs and ODMs around the world to support a wide range of applications including cellular, UMTS, … Continue reading “Ethertronics, Inc. Garners $4,000,000 Series B Financing”

Google CEO Suggests Micropayments, Subscriptions Might Take Off for Online News

The Associated Press did some saber-rattling in San Diego yesterday at the annual convention of the Newspaper Association of America, and today Google CEO Eric Schmidt delivered his riposte. In a keynote speech, AP chairman William Dean Singleton had vowed to more aggressively enforce the AP’s intellectual property rights. He said the wire service will … Continue reading “Google CEO Suggests Micropayments, Subscriptions Might Take Off for Online News”

Moving Fast, Trius Therapeutics Assesses Capital Needs for Late-Stage Clinical Trials

When Luke checked in at Trius Therapeutics almost six months ago, he reported that the San Diego life sciences startup was on a roll, but not quite ready to talk about results of its early stage clinical trials. These days, CEO Jeff Stein says Trius is assessing how best to move ahead in its development … Continue reading “Moving Fast, Trius Therapeutics Assesses Capital Needs for Late-Stage Clinical Trials”

Qualcomm’s Irwin Jacobs is Retired, But Not Retiring

When Qualcomm co-founder and longtime chairman and CEO Irwin Jacobs stepped down as chairman of the wireless giant last month, he said he was taking another shot at retiring. Jacobs, who turned 75 in October, told The San Diego Union-Tribune after Qualcomm’s annual shareholders meeting that his first attempt at retiring didn’t take, presumably because … Continue reading “Qualcomm’s Irwin Jacobs is Retired, But Not Retiring”

Sweeney Appointed CEO of IntelliDOT

San Diego-based IntelliDOT has named James M. Sweeney as chairman and CEO. IntelliDOT provides wireless handheld barcode solutions to hospitals. In a statement, the company noted that Sweeney has founded eight healthcare service companies, including Caremark, a pioneer of in-home infusion therapy, and Cardionet (Nasdaq: [[ticker:BEAT]]), which provides wireless cardiac monitoring services.

Fisker Automotive, Inc. Lands $85,000,000 Series D Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b8f267ca-634a-49f3-ab5e-94dd5dbccb7f&Preview=1 Date 4/7/2009 Company Name Fisker Automotive, Inc. Mailing Address 2811 McGaw Ave Irvine, CA 92614 Company Description The concept was created between two independent companies who clearly wanted to make a difference in not only the automotive industry, but to the environment as well. Fisker Coachbuild, LLC and Quantum Technologies announced … Continue reading “Fisker Automotive, Inc. Lands $85,000,000 Series D Funding Round”

TouchCommerce Inc Receives $10,000,000 Series E Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=64245af2-294d-46fe-97e6-a947d7b71c59&Preview=1 Date 4/7/2009 Company Name TouchCommerce Inc Mailing Address 30501 Agoura Road Agoura Hills, CA 91301 Company Description TouchCommerce is a leading provider of Online Interaction Optimization Solutions. Combining best-in-class real time customer analytics and live interaction technology with our program optimization services, we enable sales and care chat agents to significantly … Continue reading “TouchCommerce Inc Receives $10,000,000 Series E Funding Round”

Socialcast Obtains $1,000,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ca3fc57a-fd63-4e27-b2f9-ec7329d1ec53&Preview=1 Date 4/7/2009 Company Name Socialcast Mailing Address 9891 Irvine Center Drive Irvine, CA 92618 Company Description Since 2005, Socialcast has been a leading provider of social networking platforms and solutions for both consumer-facing clients and enterprise customers. Based in Irvine, California, Socialcast is the only SaaS provider of private self-service corporate … Continue reading “Socialcast Obtains $1,000,000 New Funding”

Cianna Medical, Inc. Obtains $10,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=28ce4133-1044-4e4d-9de9-28281f573603&Preview=1 Date 4/7/2009 Company Name Cianna Medical, Inc. Mailing Address 6 Journey Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 Company Description Cianna Medical, Inc. is a women’s health company dedicated to the innovative treatment of early-stage breast cancer. When diagnosed early, most women have the option to save their breast by choosing breast conserving therapy … Continue reading “Cianna Medical, Inc. Obtains $10,000,000 New Financing Round”

Qualcomm May Slow Verizon’s LTE Rollout

Verizon’s schedule for deploying speedy fourth generation mobile phones may be subject to delay. Citing a Deutsche Bank research report issued this morning, GigaOM suggests Verizon won’t make its plan to have LTE (Long-Term Evolution) handsets available by the end of 2010. The holdup is due to the LTE chip production schedule at San Diego’s … Continue reading “Qualcomm May Slow Verizon’s LTE Rollout”

Wireless Medicine Gets $45M Booster Shot, Arena’s Weight-Loss Trial Underwhelms Wall Street, Venter’s Synthetic Genomics About to Ramp Up, & Other San Diego BizTech News

We saw first-hand the increasing convergence of advanced information technologies and the life sciences here in San Diego last week. The trend was evident in the formation of a new institute for wireless healthcare, and in a roundtable discussion about personal medicine at UC San Diego that highlighted the need for easy access to electronic … Continue reading “Wireless Medicine Gets $45M Booster Shot, Arena’s Weight-Loss Trial Underwhelms Wall Street, Venter’s Synthetic Genomics About to Ramp Up, & Other San Diego BizTech News”

Securing the Cyber Security Perimeter

Leading experts in computer security discuss the industry’s best practices and the importance of integrating cyber security as part of enterprise risk management planning. Panelists include Bill Maheu, senior director of Qualcomm Government Technologies, FBI Cyber Crimes Supervisor Mark Culp, and representatives from the Department of Homeland Security. The seminar, which is hosted by the San … Continue reading “Securing the Cyber Security Perimeter”

Venter Outlines Progress in Engineering Microbes to Make Fuels

Connect CEO Duane Roth says that when he was organizing an “innovation summit” to showcase San Diego’s prowess in advanced research and innovation, he wanted to start each session of the two-day event with a scientific headliner as keynote speaker. And J. Craig Venter, who gained fame for his sequencing and analysis of the human … Continue reading “Venter Outlines Progress in Engineering Microbes to Make Fuels”

Will Hunch Help You Make Decisions? Signs Point to Yes

Last week I wrote about Twitter, a flawed and difficult-to-grasp social media technology that nonetheless becomes addictive once you get the hang of it—so much so that it’s quickly changing the way many people communicate. This week I’m going to write about Hunch, a flawed and difficult-to-grasp social media technology that nonetheless becomes addictive once … Continue reading “Will Hunch Help You Make Decisions? Signs Point to Yes”

Traversa Gets $5M

San Diego-based Traversa Therapeutics today announced it has raised $5 million in a Series B financing round; Morningside Venture Investments led the deal, which was joined by Mesa Verde Venture Partners and existing investors. The company says the money will help it move its RNAi-based treatments for cancer into clinical trials. Founded in mid-2006, Traversa … Continue reading “Traversa Gets $5M”

The Jet Pilot Entrepreneur Behind Benchmark Software (and the Zoo’s PandaCam)

One of the difficulties in writing about Tyson McDowell is knowing where to begin. McDowell is the 27-year-old CEO and co-founder of Benchmark Revenue Management, a San Diego company that has developed financial management software designed to help hospitals handle billing and collection issues more efficiently. He has been an entrepreneur since he was 14, … Continue reading “The Jet Pilot Entrepreneur Behind Benchmark Software (and the Zoo’s PandaCam)”

San Diego Seeks to Remedy Scarcity of Homegrown Venture Capital

Since the Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago, San Diego has morphed from a Navy town into a capital of innovation that is renowned for its wireless industry, burgeoning biomedical community, and research institutions set like a city on a hill. Yet it seems like there has always been a dearth of homegrown venture capital … Continue reading “San Diego Seeks to Remedy Scarcity of Homegrown Venture Capital”

Kyocera Consolidates Sanyo Wireless in San Diego

Japanese electronics giant Kyocera, which acquired Sanyo’s troubled phone service last year for $375 million, today announced the formation of Kyocera Communications Inc., or KCI, saying it will be based in San Diego, where Kyocera already has its North American headquarters. In a statement released today, Kyocera named Eiichi Toriyama as KCI’s president. He previously … Continue reading “Kyocera Consolidates Sanyo Wireless in San Diego”

And Then There Were 3 at TorreyPines Therapeutics

TorreyPines Therapeutics (Nasdaq: [[ticker:TPTX]]) says it has reduced its workforce to just three employees—the CEO, CFO, and Vice President/General Counsel. In September 2008 the company said it had 13 employees, which was down from more than 40 at the beginning of last year. The company, which was known as Neurogenetics until 2005, is focused on … Continue reading “And Then There Were 3 at TorreyPines Therapeutics”

Veoh Restructuring Includes Layoffs

[Editors Note: See update below] Veoh, the San Diego-based Internet video and TV program provider, is reportedly undergoing a “major restructuring” that includes significant cuts in its workforce and a change in strategy, according to VentureBeat. Another web site, NewTeevee, says the layoffs include some Veoh executives, and the number could be “more than 40 … Continue reading “Veoh Restructuring Includes Layoffs”

FloTV Expands to New Markets

Qualcomm’s (Nasdaq:[[ticker:QCOM]]) MediaFLO today announced it’s expansion into 19 new markets around the United States. The company says this extends the  coverage for its FloTV mobile TV service to more than 10 million potential new viewers. Customers must use phones equipped to receive mobile TV programming and subscribe to the supplemental service, which is offered through AT&T and Verizon. FloTV … Continue reading “FloTV Expands to New Markets”

Big Drop in 1Q M&A Deals for VC-Backed Companies, IPO Drought Continues

We know there’s been a serious decline in exits for venture capitalists and their portfolio companies for the past year or more. Now two separate studies—one from Dow Jones VentureSource and the other done by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and Thomson Reuters—show just how abysmal M&A and IPO activities were in the first … Continue reading “Big Drop in 1Q M&A Deals for VC-Backed Companies, IPO Drought Continues”

Ambrx Gets $10 Million in Venture Round

San Diego-based Ambrx Inc. just raised another $10 Million in new equity funding, according to documents that Ambrx filed with the SEC today. The privately held biotech’s mission is to develop breakthrough therapeutics with genetically-engineered drugs. The company was founded 2003, and as Luke reported last month, previously raised $96 million in venture capital.

The Ups and Downs of Bitboys, Now Known As Qualcomm Finland

San Diego’s mobile-chip giant Qualcomm (NYSE: [[ticker:QCOM]]) said it wanted to enhance its capabilities in the mobile-graphics space when it acquired Advanced Micro Devices’s (NYSE: [[ticker:AMD]]) hand-held chip division in January. As part of the AMD deal, Qualcomm also acquired Bitboys, a small company in Finland that specializes in making mobile phone graphics look good … Continue reading “The Ups and Downs of Bitboys, Now Known As Qualcomm Finland”

Riding a Cancer Diagnostics Wave, Genoptix Sees Boom Continuing in 2009

There are about 11,000 physicians in the U.S. whose job is to diagnose and treat people thought to have cancers of the blood. These specialty physicians need to sort through a dizzying number of lab tests to identify subtle differences in types and stages of leukemias, lymphomas, and myelomas. Get it exactly right, and it … Continue reading “Riding a Cancer Diagnostics Wave, Genoptix Sees Boom Continuing in 2009”

Ambrx, Inc. Lands $10,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=3d24f069-296b-4571-8ef8-276cded01ebd&Preview=1 Date 4/1/2009 Company Name Ambrx, Inc. Mailing Address 10975 North Torrey Pines Road La Jolla, CA 92037 Company Description Ambrx, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company with a mission to deliver breakthrough protein therapeutics. Website http://www.ambrx.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $10,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not … Continue reading “Ambrx, Inc. Lands $10,000,000 New Financing Round”