Category: Seattle

Tippr’s Federal Patent Lawsuit: 14 Daily Deals Players Targeted, Now All Quietly Settled

It’s been a wild few months for companies peddling daily deals. As market leader Groupon faces criticism for its accounting and turmoil in its executive ranks, bigger competitors continue to expand or kill their efforts, while smaller fish get gobbled up in a spree of consolidation. If that’s not enough churn, you can also add some … Continue reading “Tippr’s Federal Patent Lawsuit: 14 Daily Deals Players Targeted, Now All Quietly Settled”

UW Scores $40M for Biofuels, Cocrystal’s Fight Against HepC, The Women’s Biotech Network, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

We had an unusual mix of headlines this week on RNA interference, biofuels, and a quiet little startup in Bothell with Icos pedigree. —There weren’t any major life science company financings to report this week, but the state’s academic centers had something to crow about with $80 million in new federal grants going to the … Continue reading “UW Scores $40M for Biofuels, Cocrystal’s Fight Against HepC, The Women’s Biotech Network, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

Excerpt from “The Body Politic: The Battle Over Science in America”

No particular group, right or left or somewhere else, is immune from the sense that change is accelerating at an ever faster pace with each passing year. The experience of too-rapid change, whether trivial or profound, is a characteristic of modernity. Information technologies are perhaps the sentinel sources and examples of what Alvin Toffler called “future shock” in 1970, right … Continue reading “Excerpt from “The Body Politic: The Battle Over Science in America””

Xconomist of the Week: Pfizer’s Barbara Dalton to Speak at Our NY Life Sciences 2031 Forum

As Pfizer’s vice president of venture capital, Barbara Dalton will bring two valuable perspectives to Xconomy’s Life Sciences 2031 panel discussion on October 13: that of a VC and that of a pharma executive. Dalton, who was trained in immunology and virology at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, began her career as a research scientist … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: Pfizer’s Barbara Dalton to Speak at Our NY Life Sciences 2031 Forum”

UW, WSU Get $80M Federal Grants to Spur Biofuels Industry

We have a lot of biomass here in the Northwest (i.e., trees) and a lot of smart scientists at the University of Washington and Washington State University. Now the federal government is kicking in some money to see what the Northwest can do to combine the biomass and the brain mass to produce the kind … Continue reading “UW, WSU Get $80M Federal Grants to Spur Biofuels Industry”

Why Amazon’s Tablet Matters: It’s Not a Computer. It’s a Store.

Updated 11 am Pacific The tech world is going into hype-tastic overdrive today with the release of Amazon’s new tablet computer. If the predictions and previews are correct, the new device could be a big competitor to the market-defining Apple iPad and cement Amazon as a major player in the computing game. But this isn’t … Continue reading “Why Amazon’s Tablet Matters: It’s Not a Computer. It’s a Store.”

Join Us for a Live ‘Tweetchat’ on the Future of RNAi, With Guest John Maraganore of Alnylam

Usually when I want to chat with someone, I still pick up that 19th century contraption called the telephone or sometimes meet in person. Each of those communications methods has its merits, but you can bring a lot more voices to a conversation through a real-time chat like the ones happening now on Twitter. So … Continue reading “Join Us for a Live ‘Tweetchat’ on the Future of RNAi, With Guest John Maraganore of Alnylam”

Sony Electronics Acquires Micronics for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0afe0969-f27e-42cf-9c85-2114ea560368&Preview=1 Date 9/28/2011 Company Name Micronics Mailing Address 8463 154th Avenue NE Building G Redmond, WA 98052 Company Description Micronics provides comprehensive development services to clients worldwide that bring complementary technologies and/or chemistries for incorporation into a disposable device. Micronics’ services include state-of-the-art rapid prototyping, reagent printing, ability to integrate MEMs, electrodes, … Continue reading “Sony Electronics Acquires Micronics for Undisclosed Sum”

From the Kinect to AIDS Vaccines: Rick Rashid Reflects on 20 Years of Microsoft Research

How many top-level Microsoft executives have been in the same job for 20 years? By Rick Rashid’s count, he’s the only one. That sort of continuity says a lot about Microsoft Research, the in-house invention factory that Rashid was recruited from Carnegie Mellon to run in 1991. It’s still growing—up to about 850 PhDs and … Continue reading “From the Kinect to AIDS Vaccines: Rick Rashid Reflects on 20 Years of Microsoft Research”

Unlimited Abilities: A View from the MedtechVision Conference

We are limited, not by our abilities, but by our vision. —Ralph Waldo Emerson In a world thick with healthcare conferences, MedtechVision, held September 15-16 at the Rosewood Hotel in Menlo Park, CA, stood out, both for its quality of content and for its participants. “I hadn’t given any thought to the fact that it … Continue reading “Unlimited Abilities: A View from the MedtechVision Conference”

Complete Genomics, PacBio CEOs to Lead Off “Computing in the Age of the $1K Genome” Oct. 24

Complete Genomics and PacBio are two of the companies pumping out huge volumes of DNA data that needs to be kept on computers somewhere. So I figured it would be cool to get the leaders of both companies to sit down and talk about what they are doing to deal with one of their big … Continue reading “Complete Genomics, PacBio CEOs to Lead Off “Computing in the Age of the $1K Genome” Oct. 24″

TechStars, Wetpaint, Intel: A 1-Minute Recap of Seattle Tech Headlines

—TechStars has upped its game in the incubator wars by adding a $24 million fund that will help it offer startups in the competitive program another $100,000 in financing, on top of the small stipends that founders get for the 12-week entrepreneurship bootcamp. The new money, which won’t take effect until next year’s classes, signals … Continue reading “TechStars, Wetpaint, Intel: A 1-Minute Recap of Seattle Tech Headlines”

Smart Kitchens & Beyond: Intel’s New Research Partnership with UW Boosts “Pervasive Computing”

You reach for the peppers, dicing them to the perfect size for your famous homemade stir-fry. As the knife does its work, cameras mounted around your kitchen are watching. They log your knife technique and the size of the dice, while sensors at the stove relay the temperature when you add them to the mix. … Continue reading “Smart Kitchens & Beyond: Intel’s New Research Partnership with UW Boosts “Pervasive Computing””

The Immunex Impact: An Xconomy Forum

More than any other company, Immunex made Seattle believe in the ’80s and ’90s that it could diversify its economy beyond aerospace and software to also become a world-class cluster for biotechnology. Immunex suffered some wrenching ups and downs, but ultimately delivered a breakthrough for autoimmune diseases that’s projected to be the world’s third-best selling … Continue reading “The Immunex Impact: An Xconomy Forum”

Social Innovation Fast Pitch

Social Venture Partners Seattle hosts the Social Innovation Fast Pitch, where 14 social entrepreneurs selected from over 120 applicants can connect with more than 400 attendees representing social investors, donors, and other interested people. Social entrepreneurs from non-profits, for-profits, high school and college compete for grants and investments of more than $175,000 using a 5-minute pitch. … Continue reading “Social Innovation Fast Pitch”

200 Women and 5 Men: How Women in Bio’s Network Could Close the Gender Gap

Women have come a long way in the biotech business the past couple decades, no doubt. But if you have any illusions that the industry is nearing gender balance in 2011, then you haven’t seen what I witnessed a few days ago in a hotel lobby in Seattle. The gender balance issue jumped out at … Continue reading “200 Women and 5 Men: How Women in Bio’s Network Could Close the Gender Gap”

Cleantech Open Pacific Northwest Awards Expo

The Cleantech Open, which honors emerging cleantech companies in the Northwest, will hold its third annual cleantech awards expo on Oct. 5 in Seattle. Three finalist companies will be picked to advance to the national competition. For more information on how to register, click here.

Turning the Social Network Inside Out: What the Changes at Facebook Mean For Apple and Google-and You

One of the most persistent criticisms of Facebook is that it’s trying to build a “walled garden” analogous to AOL’s dialup service in the 1980s and early 1990s. Blogger Jason Kottke said it in 2007. Tim Berners-Lee said it in Scientific American in 2010. Google’s Vint Cerf revived the meme earlier this week at an … Continue reading “Turning the Social Network Inside Out: What the Changes at Facebook Mean For Apple and Google-and You”

The Next Mobile Revolution: Near-Field Communications

Near-Field Communications (NFC) is a technology that has been around for a number of years, but has been thrust into new prominence by an explosive growth in mobile phones, slated to reach five billion worldwide in 2011. With one chip, NFC enables trusted information sharing and secure business transactions to occur between paired devices. The … Continue reading “The Next Mobile Revolution: Near-Field Communications”

Governor’s Life Sciences Summit and WBBA Annual Meeting

The Governor’s Life Sciences Summit and WBBA annual meeting will be held Nov. 18 this year. Gov. Chris Gregoire, Eli Lilly CEO John Lechleiter, University of Washington president Michael Young, and Philips Ultrasound CEO Conrad Smits will be featured speakers. For more information on how to register, click here.

WBBA Pub Night

The Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association is hosting one of its regular pub nights on Oct. 6 at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Seattle. For more information, click here.

Women in Bio: Network Hop

Heard of bar hopping? The Women in Bio Seattle chapter is planning to go “Network Hopping,” and do some “noshing along the way.” Ada Healey, VP of Real Estate, Vulcan, will be one of the featured speakers. For more information, click here.

How to Build a Web Startup: Lean LaunchPad Edition

As part of our Lean LaunchPad classes at Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia and for the National Science Foundation, students build a startup in 8 weeks using Business Model Design + Customer Development. One of the problems they run into is building a website. If you’re an experienced coder and user interface designer you think nothing is … Continue reading “How to Build a Web Startup: Lean LaunchPad Edition”

Cocrystal, Led by Icos Vets and Stanford Nobelist, Hunts for Next Big Thing for Hepatitis C

One of the older tricks in biotech is to sign up a Nobel Laureate as a scientific advisor, and hope some of his or her credibility impresses investors. Never mind if the renowned scientist only shows up for a company meeting a couple times a year. But Gary Wilcox, the CEO of Cocrystal Discovery, didn’t … Continue reading “Cocrystal, Led by Icos Vets and Stanford Nobelist, Hunts for Next Big Thing for Hepatitis C”

The Immunex Impact, Calypso Gets Acquired, Women in Bio’s Kickoff, & More in Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

This week we had a so-small-it’s-scary acquisition of a local medical device company, along with some more encouraging news of a local biotech company entering its first clinical trial. —Seattle-based Calypso Medical Technologies agreed to be acquired by Palo Alto, CA-based Varian Medical Systems this week for $10 million upfront, plus undisclosed future milestone payments. This … Continue reading “The Immunex Impact, Calypso Gets Acquired, Women in Bio’s Kickoff, & More in Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

Xconomist of the Week: Ben Elowitz Goes Deep with TV Gossip, Maps the Future of Media

What does “Jersey Shore” star Snooki have to do with the future of online media? Plenty, it turns out. That’s one of the surprising things I learned recently chatting with Ben Elowitz, the CEO of Seattle-based Wetpaint, a well-financed startup that’s about a year into its newest mission: Trying to reinvent how content is created … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: Ben Elowitz Goes Deep with TV Gossip, Maps the Future of Media”

Bobber Interactive Lands $1,400,000 Series A Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=38ce7325-738f-4c9f-93e7-42875a53da85&Preview=1 Date 9/22/2011 Company Name Bobber Interactive Mailing Address 521 Wall Street Seattle, WA 98121 Company Description From the shadow of the Seattle Space Needle, Bobber is changing the game in the money lives of Generation Y. Website http://www.bobberinteractive.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $1,400,000 Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes … Continue reading “Bobber Interactive Lands $1,400,000 Series A Funding Round”

TechStars Raises $24M More, Offers Each Startup $100K; Founder David Cohen Talks “Quality Over Quantity”

The early-stage tech accelerator business just got even more competitive. Boulder, CO-based TechStars, which runs seed-stage mentorship programs for startups in Boulder, Boston, Seattle, and New York, announced today it has raised a new $24 million fund from a long list of investors that includes Foundry Group, IA Ventures, Avalon Ventures, DFJ Mercury, SoftBank Capital, … Continue reading “TechStars Raises $24M More, Offers Each Startup $100K; Founder David Cohen Talks “Quality Over Quantity””

Computing on the Brink

What happens when the brightest technologists in the Puget Sound get together to talk, eat, drink and listen to each other? Spreadingscience will host a conversation about computing with invited guests Deepak Singh of Amazon Web Services, Sarah Killcoyne of the Institute of Systems Biology, and Jeff Paslay, president of Paslay Consulting. For more information … Continue reading “Computing on the Brink”

Theraclone Enters Clinical World, With Flu Antibody That Might Be Handy in Pandemic

Theraclone Sciences has made a lot of news lately with its antibody discovery prowess, but now it’s getting to the point where the rubber hits the road in biotech—clinical trials. The Seattle-based biotech company, founded in 2005, is announcing today that it has started its first clinical trial. This study will look at an experimental … Continue reading “Theraclone Enters Clinical World, With Flu Antibody That Might Be Handy in Pandemic”

Brammo Obtains $5,222,943 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=eedad393-ba76-40c2-b8ce-567c3fca1624&Preview=1 Date 9/21/2011 Company Name Brammo Mailing Address 550 Clover Lane Ashland, OR 97520 Company Description Brammo is in business for one simple reason – to drive change in the New Energy Economy. Our technically-advanced Enertia plug-in electric motorcycle – which gets up to 45 miles per charge – is the lightweight, … Continue reading “Brammo Obtains $5,222,943 New Funding”

Calypso Medical Technologies Acquired for $10M by Varian Medical Systems

Calypso Medical Technologies, a Seattle company whose “GPS for the body” technology helps target radiation at cancerous tumors, has been acquired for $10 million upfront by Varian Medical Systems of Palo Alto, CA. While there are unspecified earn-outs for hitting sales milestones, the price probably isn’t something that will make investors smile. Calypso raised $50 … Continue reading “Calypso Medical Technologies Acquired for $10M by Varian Medical Systems”

YoYo.com, Brainchild of Amazon-Owned Quidsi, Debuts Its Version of Toyland

A new online retailer of toys, YoYo.com, goes live today, out to grab its share of the coming holiday gift buying season. YoYo is the latest addition to Jersey City-based Quidsi’s gallery of online specialty shops, which also includes Wag.com, Diapers.com, Soap.com, and BeautyBar.com. Quidsi is part of the Seattle giant Amazon.com. “There was a huge opportunity … Continue reading “YoYo.com, Brainchild of Amazon-Owned Quidsi, Debuts Its Version of Toyland”

UW’s Shwetak Patel Named “Genius Grant” Recipient for Work on Sensor Networks

University of Washington professor Shwetak Patel, best known for his work on developing sensor networks that can be used to monitor power use in buildings, has been named a MacArthur Fellow—the award commonly known as the “genius grant,” which comes with a $500,000 cash prize that recipients can use however they want. Patel, 29, is … Continue reading “UW’s Shwetak Patel Named “Genius Grant” Recipient for Work on Sensor Networks”

Plunging Valuations and Surplus of Groupon Clones Sets Off Frenzy of M&A Activity

Buyouts and mergers of Web companies that offer online “daily deals” have accelerated sharply over the past five months, driven by a rapid decline in valuations and a surplus of Groupon clones, according to a report issued today by CB Insights, a New York data services firm. CB Insights counted 22 global mergers and acquisitions … Continue reading “Plunging Valuations and Surplus of Groupon Clones Sets Off Frenzy of M&A Activity”

Propel Biofuels Lands $3,500,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6360d217-adfd-43bc-9f09-14fbe4aff924&Preview=1 Date 9/20/2011 Company Name Propel Biofuels Mailing Address 4444 Woodland Park Ave North Seattle, WA 98103 Company Description Propel builds, owns and operates public biodiesel fueling sites. We also provide comprehensive consulting and support to large fleets seeking a transition to alternative fuels, because most fleets fuel at public sites. We … Continue reading “Propel Biofuels Lands $3,500,000 New Financing”

My Child Has WHAT? A Former Microsoft Exec’s Mission to Fight a Tough Brain Disease

One of the scariest things as a parent is to learn that your child has a disease that has no cure. This happened six years ago when my son William was born prematurely at 30 weeks and developed hydrocephalus. It was a big Greek word for a condition that had little medical research and its … Continue reading “My Child Has WHAT? A Former Microsoft Exec’s Mission to Fight a Tough Brain Disease”

Stirring the Pot Once in a While Doesn’t Hurt, and It Could Help Biotech Break its Malaise

Listen to enough biotech industry leaders talk in public, and you’ll hear a lot of carefully scripted comments. Everyone can list off their corporate milestones on a PowerPoint slide, and utter some politically correct platitudes about novel technology, helping patients, having a “good working relationship” with the FDA, constructive partnership talks. Blah, blah, blah. Rarely … Continue reading “Stirring the Pot Once in a While Doesn’t Hurt, and It Could Help Biotech Break its Malaise”

Varian Acquires Calypso Medical Technologies for $10,000,000

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=771045e5-28dd-4512-85f8-6a7fdd7d2e60&Preview=1 Date 9/19/2011 Company Name Calypso Medical Technologies Mailing Address 2101 Fourth Avenue Seattle, WA 98121 Company Description Calypso Medical Technologies, Inc., was founded in 1999 and is a privately held medical device company located in Seattle, Washington. The Company and its employees are dedicated to enabling physicians with organ motion management … Continue reading “Varian Acquires Calypso Medical Technologies for $10,000,000”

Northwest Deals: Hootsuite, Symform, Avalara, X2Impact, Osprit

—HootSuite, the Vancouver, B.C.-based social media company best known for its power-user Twitter interface, has raised $3 million in what it calls “debt bridge financing.” Millennium Technology Ventures is on board as a new investor in the round, which included return investments from Hearst Interactive Media, Blumberg Capital, and ubiquitous Seattle angel Geoff Entress. In … Continue reading “Northwest Deals: Hootsuite, Symform, Avalara, X2Impact, Osprit”

WA Attorney General Joins Fed Lawsuit Blocking AT&T and T-Mobile

Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna, the Republican favorite for governor in 2012, has joined his counterparts from six other states to support the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit blocking AT&T’s proposed $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA. It’s not unusual for state governments to get involved in cases like this, particularly when there may be … Continue reading “WA Attorney General Joins Fed Lawsuit Blocking AT&T and T-Mobile”

Women in Bio’s Seattle Chapter Kick-Off: The Photo Gallery

Last night, I was in a room with 200 women and, oh, about five guys. I’m sure most men have never been to an event quite like this, especially in the typically male-dominated world of the biotech business. This was the founding meeting for the Seattle chapter of Women in Bio, an international networking organization … Continue reading “Women in Bio’s Seattle Chapter Kick-Off: The Photo Gallery”

A Day in the Life of the San Francisco Tech Community

My job is pretty cool. I get to spend time picking the brains of some of the planet’s smartest and most successful entrepreneurs—and invariably, I’m asking them to talk about the one thing they care about most passionately, their startup and/or its technology. Even if I weren’t doing something I care about passionately myself—helping to … Continue reading “A Day in the Life of the San Francisco Tech Community”

Entrepreneur Walk of Fame Opens in Kendall Square: Gates, Jobs, Kapor, Hewlett, Packard, Swanson, and Edison are Inaugural Inductees

It was a little over a year ago that Xconomy broke the news that a movement was underway to bring an Entrepreneur Walk of Fame to Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA, modeled after its Hollywood namesake. The idea makes a lot of sense: If we celebrate movie stars and athletes, why not the top innovators … Continue reading “Entrepreneur Walk of Fame Opens in Kendall Square: Gates, Jobs, Kapor, Hewlett, Packard, Swanson, and Edison are Inaugural Inductees”

Seattle, Meet Shopobot: Amid Amazon Sales Tax Fight, Comparison-Shopping Startup Flees San Francisco

Seattle has already birthed a couple of early stage companies trying to help shoppers track the price swings and model rollouts of expensive electronic gadgets. Well, add another one to the mix—thanks in part to the national battle between Amazon.com and big-box retailers over collecting taxes for online sales. I’m talking about Shopobot, which just … Continue reading “Seattle, Meet Shopobot: Amid Amazon Sales Tax Fight, Comparison-Shopping Startup Flees San Francisco”

Cocrystal Discovery Snags $7.5M in Hepatitis C Collaboration With Teva

Cocrystal Discovery, the Bothell, WA-based drug discovery startup led by a couple of Icos veterans, has nailed down $7.5 million in new investment to develop a new kind of hepatitis C drug with Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical. Teva, the big maker of generic drugs that’s increasingly seeking to invent new ones, agreed to invest the money … Continue reading “Cocrystal Discovery Snags $7.5M in Hepatitis C Collaboration With Teva”