Category: Seattle

Merck Joins the Big Pharma VC Party, Setting Up $250M Biotech Investment Fund

[Updated with Merck comment 1:25 pm ET, 9/16] Just about all the major pharmaceutical companies have their own venture capital funds to invest in biotech startups, and now one of the real biggies, Whitehouse Station, NJ-based Merck, has joined the club. Merck (NYSE: [[ticker:MRK]]) has established the new Merck Research Venture Fund (MRVF) with $250 … Continue reading “Merck Joins the Big Pharma VC Party, Setting Up $250M Biotech Investment Fund”

Silicon Valley’s Pay-It-Forward Culture

Foreign visitors to Silicon Valley continually mention how willing we are to help, network and connect strangers. We take it so for granted we never even to bother to talk about it. It’s the “Pay-It-Forward” culture. The Chips are Down in 1962 Walker’s Wagon Wheel Bar/Restaurant in Mountain View became the lunch hangout for employees … Continue reading “Silicon Valley’s Pay-It-Forward Culture”

The Immunex Impact: Join Steve Gillis, Chris Henney and Many More on Dec. 1

Immunoids, and friends of Immunoids, listen up. Come December, it will be 10 years since Immunex agreed to be acquired by Amgen. I figure it’s the perfect time to reunite the people who lived through the exhilarating, and sometimes terrifying, experience of building Seattle’s first major biotech company. So I’m super-psyched to say that we … Continue reading “The Immunex Impact: Join Steve Gillis, Chris Henney and Many More on Dec. 1”

Xconomist of the Week: Reed Sturtevant of Lotus, Idealab, and Microsoft Fame Talks Tech Trends to Watch

You know the type. He’s at every tech startup event, every investor event, and every incubator and early-stage mentorship session (at least every good one). He’s talked to every entrepreneur in the area and has had a hand in the development of many of their companies. He has been a fixture of the local software … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: Reed Sturtevant of Lotus, Idealab, and Microsoft Fame Talks Tech Trends to Watch”

Dendreon Slashes 500 Jobs, Gates Foundation Adds Novartis Exec, Theraclone Tacks on $10M, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

The writing was on the wall at Dendreon for weeks, but that didn’t make the bad news of layoffs any easier to stomach. —Seattle-based Dendreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]) said this past week that it is cutting 500 jobs, including about 100 locally, as it seeks to conserve cash in the wake of its sales and marketing … Continue reading “Dendreon Slashes 500 Jobs, Gates Foundation Adds Novartis Exec, Theraclone Tacks on $10M, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

IPOs Look Dicey, But Private Equity May Pick Up Some Of The Slack

For a while, I was optimistic that 2011 would be a good year for venture capital-backed IPOs, and it wasn’t just wishful thinking. There were 72 VC-backed IPOs last year—six times as many as in 2009. The year ended with a bang and 2011 got off to a good start. In the first half of … Continue reading “IPOs Look Dicey, But Private Equity May Pick Up Some Of The Slack”

Cocrystal Discovery Lands $7,500,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0693c826-0130-4ccb-afe7-4bd7568bb584&Preview=1 Date 9/15/2011 Company Name Cocrystal Discovery Mailing Address 19805 North Creek Parkway Bothell, WA 98011 Company Description Cocrystal Discovery, Inc. is a privately funded biotechnology company developing antiviral therapeutics for human diseases. Cocrystal has breakthrough technologies that enable the creation of first- and best-in-class antivirals. Our mission today is to discover … Continue reading “Cocrystal Discovery Lands $7,500,000 New Funding Round”

Smartlogic Acquires SchemaLogic for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d5520281-9001-4228-876b-92ad086a48fd&Preview=1 Date 9/15/2011 Company Name SchemaLogic Mailing Address 800 Bellevue Way NE Bellevue, WA 98033 Company Description SchemaLogic is the leading provider of Business Semantics Management solutions. SchemaLogic Enterprise Suite provides a framework that enables companies to model the structures and relationships of business semantics that define corporate knowledge and content. Facilitating … Continue reading “Smartlogic Acquires SchemaLogic for Undisclosed Sum”

Clearwire Takes Another Step Toward LTE While Investor Search Continues

Broadband provider Clearwire (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CLWR]]) is working with a major Chinese company to encourage development of devices for a new fourth-generation wireless network, even as the Kirkland, WA company continues looking for investors to bankroll its expansion. Clearwire is collaborating with China Mobile to develop common technical specifications for makers of networking gear and mobile devices, … Continue reading “Clearwire Takes Another Step Toward LTE While Investor Search Continues”

Computing in the Age of the $1,000 Genome. Our Next Big Event in SF Oct. 24

The $1,000 genome is coming fast, whether society is ready for it or not. This field has moved so fast, reasonable people have estimated we will have sequenced millions of genomes within a few years. It’s even conceivable that individuals will get sequenced more than once in a lifetime, to track how their health is … Continue reading “Computing in the Age of the $1,000 Genome. Our Next Big Event in SF Oct. 24”

10 Surprises of a First-Time Entrepreneur

As a young entrepreneur, I cannot overstate the importance of serendipity. I don’t know whether I’ll ultimately be successful or not, but the success I’ve had so far has been 10 percent inspiration, 90 percent perspiration, and 50 percent surprises. And if you’re saying that this adds up to 150 percent—you’re catching on to my … Continue reading “10 Surprises of a First-Time Entrepreneur”

Urbanspoon Co-Founder Hates Insurance Shopping, Creates New Search Service

What’s a technology entrepreneur do when facing the head-slappingly opaque process of shopping for individual health insurance coverage? Get to work hacking together a solution. That’s what gave rise to PickHealthInsurance, a new online search service developed by Urbanspoon co-founder Adam Doppelt. PickHealthInsurance is a side project—Doppelt is hard at work on Dwellable, which helps … Continue reading “Urbanspoon Co-Founder Hates Insurance Shopping, Creates New Search Service”

RF Surgical Adds $12M to Make Sure Surgeons Don’t Leave Sponges Inside Patients

RF Surgical, the Bellevue, WA-based maker of technology to make sure surgical sponges aren’t left inside patients, has raised another $12 million in venture capital. Split Rock Partners, a new investor, joined the financing round along with previous investors Menlo Ventures, Stanford University, and two of the company founders. Back in November, when I wrote … Continue reading “RF Surgical Adds $12M to Make Sure Surgeons Don’t Leave Sponges Inside Patients”

Sprint, Amazon, BigDoor, Giant Thinkwell: The One-Minute Week in Seattle Tech Headlines

It looked like so much fun, they just had to join. Sprint is an unabashed fan of the U.S. Justice Department‘s lawsuit to block the AT&T and T-Mobile merger, and has now jumped into the fray itself with a separate antitrust lawsuit that expands on the DOJ’s arguments. Interestingly, Sprint (NYSE: [[ticker:S]]) reportedly wanted to … Continue reading “Sprint, Amazon, BigDoor, Giant Thinkwell: The One-Minute Week in Seattle Tech Headlines”

Gates Foundation Adds Novartis Vet, Trevor Mundel, as New Global Health Leader

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has a new boss for its multi-billion dollar global health division. Trevor Mundel, the former global head of development for Novartis, the Switzerland-based pharmaceutical giant, will start at the Seattle-based foundation on December 1, according to a statement. Mundel will oversee the foundation’s $14.7 billion global health grant portfolio … Continue reading “Gates Foundation Adds Novartis Vet, Trevor Mundel, as New Global Health Leader”

Solta Acquires Ultrasound Body Sculpting Technology from Medicis for $35M

The big idea of removing body fat through concentrated ultrasound waves hasn’t really caught on yet, but Hayward, CA-based Solta Medical is going to take a flier on it now. Solta (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SLTM]]) said today it has agreed to pay $15 million up front, plus another $20 million in near-term payments, to acquire the Bothell, WA-based … Continue reading “Solta Acquires Ultrasound Body Sculpting Technology from Medicis for $35M”

VentiRx Concentrates Its Bet on Cancer, and Seattle

For its first five years, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals had an unusual setup in which it was based in two places, with a drug development team in Seattle, and the business and administrative operation in San Diego. Now it’s all being merged together in Seattle, as the company looks to conserve cash and concentrate its efforts on … Continue reading “VentiRx Concentrates Its Bet on Cancer, and Seattle”

Mobile Platform Wars: What’s Next?

This has been the month of the handset. First, Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility, then HP’s effective exit from the handset business, and finally the sad news about Steve Jobs. These recent events kick off what I believe will be an accelerated pace of developments and re-shaping of the mobile device/platform ecosystem. Within the next … Continue reading “Mobile Platform Wars: What’s Next?”

RF Surgical Systems Obtains $12,000,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=c91e9930-09b0-40eb-ac1e-d802e81d05c6&Preview=1 Date 9/13/2011 Company Name RF Surgical Systems Mailing Address 3326 160th Avenue SE Bellevue, WA 98008 Company Description RF Surgical Systems, Inc. is a medical device company with headquarters in Bellevue, Washington and engineering R & D facilities in San Diego, California. The privately held company was founded by Chairman Jeffrey … Continue reading “RF Surgical Systems Obtains $12,000,000 New Funding”

Don’t Ask for Introductions to Investors

Raising money is hard, and there’s no way to screw it up faster than going around asking, “Hey, could you introduce me to some investors?” It’s sort of like when, on the second day of school, a goofy freshman asked me if I could introduce him to any girls. Reason 1: Not every investor is … Continue reading “Don’t Ask for Introductions to Investors”

What Most Biotechies Are Missing on Twitter: A Huge Networking Opportunity

Twitter is coming to biotech, it’s only a matter of time. And this is a truly wonderful thing. This thought occurred to me as I sat in my Seattle office, watching a video from a panel discussion of eight people in Boston—journalists, executives, venture capitalists, a PR person—who were talking about how biotechies can get … Continue reading “What Most Biotechies Are Missing on Twitter: A Huge Networking Opportunity”

3Tier Garners $2,500,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0a93295d-184c-452f-b383-b100eed1a6db&Preview=1 Date 9/12/2011 Company Name 3Tier Mailing Address 2001 Sixth Avenue Seattle, WA 98121 Company Description 3TIER is an energy efficiency company: we provide the core data and knowledge for clients to make the best decisions regarding their investment in a renewable energy generation technology. 3TIER is unique in that we cover … Continue reading “3Tier Garners $2,500,000 New Funding Round”

Kal Raman Resigns from GlobalScholar

Entrepreneur Kal Raman has resigned as CEO of education imprint GlobalScholar, the company that was acquired for up to $160 million late last year by Scantron. GlobalScholar spokeswoman Jodie Cadieux confirms a report in GeekWire, saying that Raman left the CEO’s job “to pursue other interests but does continue in a consulting role.” Scantron, a … Continue reading “Kal Raman Resigns from GlobalScholar”

The Tech World Deserves Better Than TechCrunch

Back in April 2009, community leaders in Boston were in a tizzy over the prospect of a shutdown at the Boston Globe, where unions were resisting salary and pension cuts proposed by the paper’s owner, the New York Times Co. I didn’t quite understand the leaders’ concerns. As a longtime admirer of the Globe, I … Continue reading “The Tech World Deserves Better Than TechCrunch”

American Innovators Lose Big in Newly Passed Patent Bill

American innovation lost big again as the U.S. Senate passed “patent reform” and caved to big business lobbyists at the expense of true innovators in small companies and universities. Bottom line: America has dominated innovation in the world for 100 years based on our patent system and protection of risk-takers. Innovation is the one thing … Continue reading “American Innovators Lose Big in Newly Passed Patent Bill”

Giant Thinkwell Ditches Facebook Games, Dives into the “Live Web” with Flickmob

The Seattle startup that put hip-hop legend Sir Mix-a-Lot back in the national headlines is making a big shift. Giant Thinkwell, a member of the first Seattle TechStars class, has dropped its previous focus on making Facebook-based games for celebrities and is now digging into a new project called Flickmob. It’s still in a semi-private … Continue reading “Giant Thinkwell Ditches Facebook Games, Dives into the “Live Web” with Flickmob”

Dendreon Concentrates Job Cuts in Manufacturing, but Seattle Feels the Axe Too

Employees at Seattle-based Dendreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]) have been on pins and needles for five weeks since they heard layoffs were in the works, and when the bad news came today, few parts of the company were spared. Today’s layoffs of 500 employees, about one-fourth of the workforce, were spread among all functions within the company, … Continue reading “Dendreon Concentrates Job Cuts in Manufacturing, but Seattle Feels the Axe Too”

Dendreon Whacks 500 Jobs, 25% of Workforce, After Missing Sales Goal

[Updated: 1:15 pm PT] People at Seattle-based Dendreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]) have been waiting for five weeks to find out how many employees would lose their jobs, after the company said it was falling short of its sales forecast for 2011. Now the other shoe has dropped. Dendreon said today it has cut the jobs of … Continue reading “Dendreon Whacks 500 Jobs, 25% of Workforce, After Missing Sales Goal”

Theraclone Snaps Up $10.6M Financing

Theraclone Sciences acting CEO Steve Gillis dropped a hint earlier this week that he was looking to close another $10 million in financing for the company, and now it’s official. Seattle-based Theraclone, the antibody drug discovery shop, is announcing today it has raised $10.6 million in an extension to its Series B financing. The Series … Continue reading “Theraclone Snaps Up $10.6M Financing”

Oncothyreon CEO Bob Kirkman Takes Leave, Chairman Chris Henney to Fill In

[Updated: 10:28 am PT] Seattle-based Oncothyreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ONTY]]) is getting some new executive leadership, at least for a while, anyway. CEO Bob Kirkman is taking what the company calls a “temporary medical leave of absence,” starting Monday, Sept. 12, according to a regulatory filing. While Kirkman is away, chairman Chris Henney will step in to … Continue reading “Oncothyreon CEO Bob Kirkman Takes Leave, Chairman Chris Henney to Fill In”

BigDoor Media Snaps up OneTrueFan as Gamificiation Gets Serious

Gamification as a concept in the broader business world is still in the toddler stage. But that’s soon enough for a little consolidation, right? Guess so. Today, Seattle’s BigDoor Media is announcing the acquisition of San Francisco-based OneTrueFan, a company backed by 500 Startups that uses game mechanics to help website publishers keep their audience … Continue reading “BigDoor Media Snaps up OneTrueFan as Gamificiation Gets Serious”

Theraclone Sniffs Around for $10M, Dendreon Gets Third Factory OK, Zymeworks’ Big Merck Deal, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

This being a short week, I’m reaching back for two weeks’ worth of headlines, especially since a lot of readers are just getting back from vacation. —Seattle’s Theraclone Sciences picked up some national recognition this week by being named one of the Fierce 15 emerging life sciences companies by FierceBiotech. Acting CEO Steve Gillis told … Continue reading “Theraclone Sniffs Around for $10M, Dendreon Gets Third Factory OK, Zymeworks’ Big Merck Deal, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

Xconomist of the Week: Five Questions with Biocom CEO Joe Panetta

Joe Panetta is a 30-year biotech veteran on both sides of the interface between business and government regulators. He’s spent close to half of that time as president and CEO of Biocom, the San Diego-based regional life sciences industry association. Panetta also happens to be the latest member of the local innovation community to join … Continue reading “Xconomist of the Week: Five Questions with Biocom CEO Joe Panetta”

Booyami Obtains $655,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9e63b614-49b5-44bf-aa95-b7ad1f439f88&Preview=1 Date 9/8/2011 Company Name Booyami Mailing Address 6530 Preston Fall City Rd SE Fall City, WA 98024 Company Description Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, we’re passionate about streamlining the relationship between banks and their clients. We’ve experienced both the banking side and the small business side of borrowing base certificates. There is … Continue reading “Booyami Obtains $655,000 New Financing”

Theraclone Sciences Secures $10,600,000 Series B Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8bdff59f-085c-4298-9c99-e9ec583e7c81&Preview=1 Date 9/8/2011 Company Name Theraclone Sciences Mailing Address 1124 Columbia Street Seattle, WA 98104 Company Description Theraclone Sciences is a discovery-stage biotech developing novel therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of infectious disease and inflammation. Our proprietary discovery platform allows us to comprehensively screen and identify the rare antibodies that select individuals … Continue reading “Theraclone Sciences Secures $10,600,000 Series B Round”

Amazon Tablet Tracker: A Timeline of Leaks, Reports, and Non-Denials

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMZN]]) is notoriously tight-lipped about the details of its day-to-day business, telling the press and analysts only what it wants them to know. Ever try to find out how many books they’re selling? How quickly certain types of merchandise is moving? Tough luck. But when it comes to the Seattle e-commerce pioneer’s ambitions … Continue reading “Amazon Tablet Tracker: A Timeline of Leaks, Reports, and Non-Denials”

Seattle Sequencing Interest Group Meeting

Jason Smith and Tony Dodge from Ion Torrent will be guest speakers, along with Lara Mangravite of Sage Bionetworks, at a gathering of the Seattle Sequencing Interest Group on Thursday, Sept 8. For more information on how to sign up, click here.

Marina Biotech Shuffles Management Team, as RNAi Falls Out of Favor, Cash Runs Low

[Updated: 8:45 am PT, 9/8/11] Bothell, WA-based Marina Biotech (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MRNA]]), the developer of RNA interference drugs, has been struggling to hold on during a period when many drug companies have given up on its technology, and today it’s seeing whether a bunch of new blood in the executive suite can help turn things around. … Continue reading “Marina Biotech Shuffles Management Team, as RNAi Falls Out of Favor, Cash Runs Low”

General Assembly Incubator Takes in $4.25 Million

General Assembly, a New York-based technology incubator, has raised $4.25 million, as announced today on the company’s blog by co-founder Brad Hargreaves. The funding round was led by Maveron, the Seattle-based firm co-founded by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, with participation from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Yuri Milner, Tom Vander Ark, Alexis Ohanian, Hosain Rahman, and Alex … Continue reading “General Assembly Incubator Takes in $4.25 Million”

Livemocha Scales up Online Language Lessons, Lands New Deal in Brazil

For most of its four-year history, Seattle-based Livemocha has built its international language-learning business through the online equivalent of hand-to-hand combat: Amassing individual consumers into a big user base and earning money through advertising or premium services. It’s worked pretty well, with about $14 million in venture funding raised and more than 6 million members … Continue reading “Livemocha Scales up Online Language Lessons, Lands New Deal in Brazil”

(Mis)Understanding Drug Discovery: It’s Much Harder Than Rocket Science

Developing new medicines is an amazingly difficult undertaking. The research portion alone is daunting, and for those of us who have actually attempted it, humbling. A recent article reminded me just how little many people understand about the drug discovery process. The basic premise of “Pharma Needs an Innovation Intervention” was that pharma should change … Continue reading “(Mis)Understanding Drug Discovery: It’s Much Harder Than Rocket Science”

Balance Financial Obtains $1,500,000 Series A Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=820f7d2e-a8d1-40fc-8c83-bddaf2b3cc04&Preview=1 Date 9/7/2011 Company Name Balance Financial Mailing Address 1800 – 112th Ave NE Bellevue, WA 98004 Company Description Personal finance stresses most people out. For many it is just another chore that gets minimal attention. Free, do-it-yourself financial tools don’t work for most people either. Our team believes an alternative should … Continue reading “Balance Financial Obtains $1,500,000 Series A Funding”

Sprint Joins Antitrust Fight with New Lawsuit Against AT&T’s T-Mobile Bid

[Updated at 3:30 pm Pacific with details, AT&T response] Sprint (NYSE: [[ticker:S]]) was already cheering the federal government’s antitrust lawsuit against competitor AT&T’s $39 billion bid to acquire Bellevue, WA-based T-Mobile USA. Now, the third-place U.S. wireless carrier is putting some skin in the game with its own, separate civil suit, filed today in federal … Continue reading “Sprint Joins Antitrust Fight with New Lawsuit Against AT&T’s T-Mobile Bid”

Big Fish Gets New CFO from Amazon

Seattle casual games company Big Fish Games has added a former Amazon.com vice president as its new chief financial officer. David Stephenson replaces Michael Vernon, who left BigFish in May to join fast-growing Seattle daily-deal startup Zulily. Stephenson worked at Amazon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMZN]]) for 11 years, most recently serving as vice president of finance for … Continue reading “Big Fish Gets New CFO from Amazon”

Theraclone Nabs Industry Award, Scopes Out Extra $10M Financing

Seattle-based Theraclone Sciences is enjoying a moment in the national biotech spotlight today, just as it happens to be on the prowl for some new cash. Theraclone was honored today as one of the Fierce 15, an annual award that the trade publication FierceBiotech gives out to 15 emerging biotech companies around the world. In … Continue reading “Theraclone Nabs Industry Award, Scopes Out Extra $10M Financing”

AT&T, T-Mobile, Decide: The 1-Minute Week in Seattle Tech Headlines

—The federal government’s surprise lawsuit to block the $39 billion merger of AT&T and T-Mobile dominated the region’s tech headlines last week, and the fallout will continue to turn heads for the rest of the year (and maybe beyond). I deconstructed the Justice Department’s arguments in this post, which is kind of a Cliff’s Notes … Continue reading “AT&T, T-Mobile, Decide: The 1-Minute Week in Seattle Tech Headlines”

Harvest Power, Waste-to-Energy Startup with Big Investors, Buys Coastal Supply

It’s not often that soil and mulch makes the front page of Xconomy. But this is Harvest Power we’re talking about. The Waltham, MA-based cleantech company, which has operations in Seattle and Vancouver, BC, said today it has acquired Coastal Supply, a Delaware-based soil and mulch manufacturer. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. But Harvest … Continue reading “Harvest Power, Waste-to-Energy Startup with Big Investors, Buys Coastal Supply”

Dramatic Changes in Hepatitis C Treatment Expected to Continue

Earlier this year the FDA approved telaprevir (Incivek) from Vertex Pharmaceuticals and boceprevir (Victrelis) from Merck for the treatment of hepatitis C. Both agents are protease inhibitors and represent the first approvals of direct acting antivirals for hepatitis C. Direct acting antivirals are a broad class of agents that act to block the growth of … Continue reading “Dramatic Changes in Hepatitis C Treatment Expected to Continue”