Category: Seattle

Aneesh Chopra on Innovation, Pinpoint Pickup Takes on Uber, Charles River Embraces IP, & More in the Seattle-Area Tech Roundup

A chat with the nation’s first chief technology officer was one of the highlights of the past week in tech news. Aneesh Chopra, President Barack Obama’s CTO, is in town this week for a panel discussion at the Technology Alliance’s State of Technology luncheon. He had lunch with local corporate execs yesterday, and we published … Continue reading “Aneesh Chopra on Innovation, Pinpoint Pickup Takes on Uber, Charles River Embraces IP, & More in the Seattle-Area Tech Roundup”

Pharma-Academic Alliances: What the Numbers Don’t Tell You

If you’ve been following the drug industry at all for the past few years, you know that Big Pharma has gone alliance crazy. It seems that every other week a new deal is announced in which a pharmaceutical company has partnered with an academic institution to help identify or develop new drugs for a variety … Continue reading “Pharma-Academic Alliances: What the Numbers Don’t Tell You”

Hutch President Larry Corey on Combating Cancer in the Developing World

Larry Corey, the president of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, will be the featured speaker at “Combating Cancer in the Developing World: Where Infectious Disease, Immunity and Cross-cultural Research Solutions Intersect” on June 6. The event is being organized by the World Affairs Council in Seattle, in collaboration with the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical … Continue reading “Hutch President Larry Corey on Combating Cancer in the Developing World”

Aneesh Chopra, Obama’s Chief Techie, on Building a Startup-Friendly Region and Why Now is the Best Time to be an Innovator in America

As chief technology officer for the Obama administration, Aneesh Chopra has been heavily involved in efforts to expand access to huge amounts of government data, and encourage techies and entrepreneurs to help solve public policy problems using that data. Xconomy’s Wade Roush talked with Chopra last year, producing this in-depth Q&A that included discussions about … Continue reading “Aneesh Chopra, Obama’s Chief Techie, on Building a Startup-Friendly Region and Why Now is the Best Time to be an Innovator in America”

What Kind of Taste Does Lee Hood Have for Interior Decoration? Get a Sense on May 19

There was a big ribbon cutting, and lots of back-slapping local politicians, when Merck officially opened up the fancy labs it built for Rosetta Inpharmatics in March 2004. Merck and Rosetta are long gone now—and so are most of the local officials, come to think of it—but the modern biomedical research center at 401 Terry … Continue reading “What Kind of Taste Does Lee Hood Have for Interior Decoration? Get a Sense on May 19”

Why Are Drugs Getting Such Weird Brand Names?

Oddball product names are one of the occupational hazards of biotech writing. Drugs in particular can be hard to spell, and often hard to pronounce. While I can practically type telaprevir, telaprevir, telaprevir in my sleep at this point, I can almost feel the reader reaction when that scientific name flows from my keyboard. ZZZ…. … Continue reading “Why Are Drugs Getting Such Weird Brand Names?”

Science & Technology Discovery Series: Joshua Akey on Very Recent Human Evolution

Joshua Akey, an assistant professor in Genome Sciences at the University of Washington, will be the featured speaker on May 13th at the Technology Alliance’s Science and Technology Discovery Series. He will talk about “very recent human evolution.” The Technology Alliance asks attendees to RSVP by NOON on Monday, May 9. RSVP by contacting Amy … Continue reading “Science & Technology Discovery Series: Joshua Akey on Very Recent Human Evolution”

The Challenge of Financing Renewable Fuels: A Chat With James Dack of Stern Brothers

The cleantech industry has a million different technology ideas out there, and just about as many financing strategies. There are mom-and-pop companies raising cash from friends and family, there’s venture capital, government grants, big energy company partnerships, and huge projects such as wind farms or ethanol refineries that rely on deep pockets in private equity … Continue reading “The Challenge of Financing Renewable Fuels: A Chat With James Dack of Stern Brothers”

Striptease Threats, Aggressive Shushing & Mascot Mania: Memorable Moments from the Seattle 2.0 Awards

Updated 4:15 pm with new photo. Anytime you get a few hundred people in a room and add a couple of drink tickets, there are bound to be some interesting moments. And when that crowd is comprised of the techies, entrepreneurs, risk-takers and rich people from the startup scene, you’re starting from some pretty fertile … Continue reading “Striptease Threats, Aggressive Shushing & Mascot Mania: Memorable Moments from the Seattle 2.0 Awards”

How Do You Like to Get Your Xconomy Content? Check Out Our New Look on Facebook

Facebook, for me at least, has mainly been about looking for newly updated photos of my two-year-old nephew who lives two time zones away in the Midwest. But I’m well aware this isn’t a mainstream point of view, and that many of the online social network’s 600 million global users really like to get their … Continue reading “How Do You Like to Get Your Xconomy Content? Check Out Our New Look on Facebook”

The News Embargo Is Dead. TechCrunch Killed It. Let’s Move On.

My passion is for storytelling, and the stories that fascinate me most are about new technologies, how they’re brought into being, and how they’re changing everyday life. But there’s a wrinkle that’s been distracting me from doing my best work and getting it out to the readers who will appreciate it most. It’s called the … Continue reading “The News Embargo Is Dead. TechCrunch Killed It. Let’s Move On.”

PerkinElmer Acquires Geospiza, Beefing Up Software for DNA Analysis

Geospiza has been around the block a time or two in the bioinformatics business, and now after 14 years in the game, it has come to the end of the road. The Seattle-based company, which makes software for scientists who analyze data from genetic experiments, said today it has agreed to be acquired by Waltham, … Continue reading “PerkinElmer Acquires Geospiza, Beefing Up Software for DNA Analysis”

SeaGen Ends March With $456M Cash

Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SGEN]]), the developer of targeted cancer drugs, said today in its quarterly financial report that it ended March with $455.9 million of cash and investments in the bank. That’s up from $295 million in cash that it reported heading into this year. The increased cash reserves reflect the addition of $168 million … Continue reading “SeaGen Ends March With $456M Cash”

Bezos Invests in General Fusion

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos is among the investors in a new financing round for General Fusion, a British Columbia-based company working on “utility-scale fusion power.” The investment, part of General Fusion’s $19.5 million Series B round, was through Bezos Expeditions. Other investors named by General Fusion include Cenovus Energy, Chrisalix Energy Venture Capital, GrowthWorks, along … Continue reading “Bezos Invests in General Fusion”

Best of ASCO Seattle

The 2011 Best of ASCO Meetings will feature the most relevant and cutting-edge science and education from the ASCO Annual Meeting. Condensed into a two-day program in Seattle on August 5-6, the Best of ASCO Meeting offers attendees the opportunity to network with peers and connect with world-class faculty. Every member of the oncology community … Continue reading “Best of ASCO Seattle”

General Fusion Adds $19.5M

General Fusion, the Burnaby, BC-based developer of nuclear power technology, said today it has raised $19.5 million in a Series B financing to build the first phase of a demonstration facility. The round included Cenovus Energy, Bezos Expeditions, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, GrowthWorks, Braemar Energy Ventures, Entrepreneurs Fund, Business Development Bank of Canada, and SET … Continue reading “General Fusion Adds $19.5M”

Kleiner Perkins’ Bet on a Concrete Stomach, The Gates Foundation’s Out-of-the-Box Ideas, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

We had a grab bag of life sciences-related coverage this week, with a big device company acquisition, some wild ideas for global health, and a whole lot of focus on biofuels. —Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers never has done much investing in the Northwest from what I can tell, but this week I came across … Continue reading “Kleiner Perkins’ Bet on a Concrete Stomach, The Gates Foundation’s Out-of-the-Box Ideas, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

Buzzlabs acquired by CityGrid

Seattle-based social media monitoring startup Buzzlabs, started by former Microsofties Philip Lee and Dou Shen, has been acquired by West Hollywood, CA-based CityGrid Media. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Buzzlabs’ service helps businesses sort and analyze the cacophony of user-generated content flooding the Web. CityGrid said Buzzlabs’ offering will be added to its existing … Continue reading “Buzzlabs acquired by CityGrid”

PerkinElmer Acquires Geospiza for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=4f8ea7b0-7422-4bad-ac20-c3f3b71cc5a3&Preview=1 Date 5/5/2011 Company Name Geospiza Mailing Address 100 West Harrison North Tower Seattle, WA 98119 Company Description Geospiza is a leading developer of enterprise-class software systems for workflow management of genetic analysis. Website http://www.geospiza.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Proceeds Purposes M&A Terms Financial terms of the transaction … Continue reading “PerkinElmer Acquires Geospiza for Undisclosed Sum”

Bioscience on the Brink

What happens when the brightest researchers in Seattle get together to talk, eat, drink and listen to each other? Join SpreadingScience on May 24 for the organizational meeting of BioScience on the Brink. For more information, click here.

In the Age of Health Reform, Healthcare IT to the Rescue?

Talking about health insurance is a good way to clear a room. It is a rare person who is excited to interact with their insurance company or who can understand the explanation of benefits they receive in the mail detailing all of the things that the insurance carrier has decided not to pay on their … Continue reading “In the Age of Health Reform, Healthcare IT to the Rescue?”

RPX, Defensive Patent Firm, Goes from Zero to $160M IPO in Less than Three Years—Thoughts from Boston Investor CRV

As examples of ultra-fast growth in the tech world, people like to talk about Groupon and Zynga. While they are phenomenal success stories, neither of those companies is publicly traded yet—nor, for that matter, are Twitter or Facebook. Well, how about a different kind of tech company that started in 2008 and held its IPO … Continue reading “RPX, Defensive Patent Firm, Goes from Zero to $160M IPO in Less than Three Years—Thoughts from Boston Investor CRV”

Blue Marble Energy Joins Ensemble Cast at Alternative Fuels Confab May 19

Oil, one of my college buddies who majored in chemical engineering once told me, is in everything. He was talking about not just the fuel that goes in your car, but also the petrochemicals in the laptop you type on, the chair you sit on, the clothes you wear, and the pharmaceuticals you take. Kelly … Continue reading “Blue Marble Energy Joins Ensemble Cast at Alternative Fuels Confab May 19”

Pinpoint Pickup, the Car-Booking Startup Facing off Against Uber, has Seven Cities Under its Belt—and Wants More

For anyone who’s ever stood in the rain waiting for a cramped bus, or wondered if that hurried call to the taxi dispatcher was going to pay off, there’s now a quick way to book a pricier, but more luxurious ride by tapping a few times on your smartphone. I’m not talking about Uber, the … Continue reading “Pinpoint Pickup, the Car-Booking Startup Facing off Against Uber, has Seven Cities Under its Belt—and Wants More”

Charles River VC, a $300M Investor in Intellectual Ventures, Says Patents Are Huge Market, Not a “Dirty World”

Quick, which Boston- and San Francisco-area venture firm has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the burgeoning—and controversial—market of intellectual property and patent protection over the past five years? If you said Charles River Ventures, you are correct. In fact, CRV is the only big venture investor behind Intellectual Ventures, the Bellevue, WA-based firm … Continue reading “Charles River VC, a $300M Investor in Intellectual Ventures, Says Patents Are Huge Market, Not a “Dirty World””

Oregon’s RadiSys Acquires San Diego’s Continuous Computing in Deal Valued at $120M

Hillsboro, OR-based RadiSys (NASDAQ: [[ticker:RSYS]]), which provides hardware and software for Internet-based telecommunications, has agreed to acquire San Diego’s Continuous Computing, a privately held company whose wireless infrastructure technologies are based on a set of software protocols called Trillium. Under terms of the deal, RadiSys agreed to pay roughly $120 million, which includes $73 million … Continue reading “Oregon’s RadiSys Acquires San Diego’s Continuous Computing in Deal Valued at $120M”

The Big Science Challenge With Biofuel: A Chat with ISB’s Nitin Baliga

Talk to any biofuels entrepreneur, and you are likely to hear a passionate riff on why their technology trumps all the up-and-comers. Some, like San Diego-based Sapphire Energy, say you’ve got to harness free sunlight and the magic of photosynthesis, to grow oil-rich algae in open ponds at the scale of modern agriculture. Others, like … Continue reading “The Big Science Challenge With Biofuel: A Chat with ISB’s Nitin Baliga”

Web Directions Unplugged HTML5 Conference

Two days of workshops, networking, and more focused on using HTML5 to develop Web and native apps for platforms incuding Android, iOS, and webOS. Keynote on “The Convergence of All Things” by Google developer advocate Chris Wilson. More information at the website.

Software Equity Group Sees Improving Valuations, M&A Activity, in Software Sector

There were 394 software buyouts and mergers around the world during the first three months of 2011, with the cumulative value of all deals totaling $8.3 billion, according to a M&A tracking report from the San Diego-based Software Equity Group. That was down from the 421 M&A deals that amounted to a total value of … Continue reading “Software Equity Group Sees Improving Valuations, M&A Activity, in Software Sector”

Kleiner Perkins’ Organic Waste-to-Energy Play, Harvest Power, Bets $150M on Turning Compost Into Natural Gas

The team at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers gets inundated with pitches from entrepreneurs who dream of winning support for their own big ideas. But once in a while, the big VC firm turns the tables by hatching the idea, crafting the business plan, and recruiting the founding management team to make it into a … Continue reading “Kleiner Perkins’ Organic Waste-to-Energy Play, Harvest Power, Bets $150M on Turning Compost Into Natural Gas”

UW Business Competition Highlights, ExtraHop’s $14M Haul, PopCap’s Acquisition, & More in the Seattle-Area Tech Roundup

Anybody concerned with the future of entrepreneurship in the Seattle area would have been buoyed by the enthusiasm at the University of Washington‘s annual business plan competition last week on the waterfront. Nearly 40 teams were whittled down to a “sweet 16” by a horde of judges, but I picked out five that caught my … Continue reading “UW Business Competition Highlights, ExtraHop’s $14M Haul, PopCap’s Acquisition, & More in the Seattle-Area Tech Roundup”

Avalara Obtains $10,000,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=4473e7e3-2f6f-4412-9392-59ac9e83b0d5&Preview=1 Date 5/3/2011 Company Name Avalara Mailing Address 435 Ericksen Ave. N.E. Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 Company Description Avalara was founded by a team of tax and software industry veterans to fulfill a vision of delivering an affordable, scalable sales tax solution. Thus making what was not economically feasible in the past … Continue reading “Avalara Obtains $10,000,000 New Funding Round”

COLOURlovers Obtains $1,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=37ba5e58-ec53-495c-a2d1-2a850542e682&Preview=1 Date 5/3/2011 Company Name COLOURlovers Mailing Address 333 S. State St. Lake Oswego, OR 97034 Company Description COLOURlovers is a creative community where people from around the world create and share colors, palettes and patterns, discuss the latest trends and explore colorful articles. Website http://www.colourlovers.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount … Continue reading “COLOURlovers Obtains $1,000,000 New Financing Round”

What Do Amazon, Ezell’s, and Virginia Mason Have in Common? They Supply General Biodiesel

Biodiesel made from leftover kitchen grease isn’t going to wean the country off fossil fuels, but at least one Seattle-based company has shown there’s a market for this stuff, and enough local suppliers and customers to make this into a business. I’m happy to say that this organic waste-to-energy company, General Biodiesel, will be part … Continue reading “What Do Amazon, Ezell’s, and Virginia Mason Have in Common? They Supply General Biodiesel”

ExtraHop Lands $14M

Seattle-based ExtraHop Networks, which makes software to help businesses manage their information technology, has raised a $14 million investment round, according to this SEC filing. ExtraHop was was founded in 2007 by Jesse Rothstein and Raja Mukerji, formerly of Seattle’s F5 Networks. GeekWire reports the new round was led by Meritech Capital Partners. ExtraHop and … Continue reading “ExtraHop Lands $14M”

Dendreon Gets $28M Revenue in Q1

Seattle-based Dendreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]), the maker of an immune-boosting therapy for prostate cancer, said today it generated $28.1 million in revenue in the quarter that ended March 30. Dendreon also said it had $15 million in sales in the month of April, which reflects its increased manufacturing capacity for making sipuleucel-T (Provenge) at a factory … Continue reading “Dendreon Gets $28M Revenue in Q1”

Open Letter to Mike Arrington: Please Stop Investing in Startups

Hi Mike, I’m one of your customers. We don’t really know each other. We’ve chatted at a few events, you’ve covered some of my antics, but I’m mostly just a guy who reads TechCrunch a lot. I find it’s a pretty good place to see what’s important in the industry. And you and your team … Continue reading “Open Letter to Mike Arrington: Please Stop Investing in Startups”

Assessing the Best M&A Opportunities for 2011

As 2011 nears its midpoint, we’re now in a position to see how the recession-era and follow-on consolidation trends have impacted middle-market and growth-stage mergers and acquisitions. Large blue-chip technology companies, both old and new, have spent the better half of the past decade chasing the latest fads to generate growth and keep up with … Continue reading “Assessing the Best M&A Opportunities for 2011”

Kilimanjaro Energy Seeks to Pop Loose Trillions’ Worth of Underground Oil, Save the World

Four years ago when Ned David and his wife were thinking of starting a family, a realization hit. Why was he using his knowledge of chemistry and entrepreneurship to start biotech companies? Wasn’t there something more meaningful to do with his life than come up with a new diabetes drug or antibiotic? How about saving … Continue reading “Kilimanjaro Energy Seeks to Pop Loose Trillions’ Worth of Underground Oil, Save the World”

SeaGen FDA Deadline Set for Aug. 30

Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SGEN]]) said today that the FDA has agreed to provide a faster-than-usual six-month review of its application to start selling brentuximab vedotin (SGN-35) for the treatment of patients with Hodgkin’s disease and anaplastic large cell lymphoma. The agency now has until August 30 to decide whether the drug is ready for sale … Continue reading “SeaGen FDA Deadline Set for Aug. 30”

Considering a Career in Biotech? How About Trying Computer Science Instead

Sometimes biotech really feels like an industry in danger of being left behind. Take last Friday afternoon for example. I was at a networking reception at the University of Washington, chatting with undergraduates from all kinds of engineering fields about the job market. People were finding jobs, but nothing much to brag about, until I … Continue reading “Considering a Career in Biotech? How About Trying Computer Science Instead”

ExtraHop Networks Secures $14,000,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1f98daad-aca9-450c-9db8-b18e102ccbb5&Preview=1 Date 5/2/2011 Company Name ExtraHop Networks Mailing Address 520 Pike St. Seattle, WA 98101 Company Description ExtraHop Networks is a venture-backed technology startup based in Seattle. We have a world-class team focused on solving problems in computer networks everywhere. We are building cutting-edge technology to deliver a disruptive level of performance … Continue reading “ExtraHop Networks Secures $14,000,000 New Funding Round”

WCTA Lunch Seminar

Featuring James Billmaier, author of “JOLT! The Impending Dominance of the Electric Car and Why America Must Take Charge.” Also includes a discussion with Tim Miller of Drive Oregon. Tickets are $15-25.

Washington Companies Scored $53M in Equity Financing for March, Led by nLight, Tier 3 & Physware

Washington state companies collected about $53 million in equity financing from venture capitalists and angels in March, led by an $11 million VC round for Vancouver, WA-based semiconductor laser manufacturer nLight Photonics, according to data compiled by research firm CB Insights. nLight still had another $4 million left to sell from the offering, according to … Continue reading “Washington Companies Scored $53M in Equity Financing for March, Led by nLight, Tier 3 & Physware”

Appature Gets ‘Cool Vendor’ Kudo

Seattle-based Appature, the maker of software to help healthcare companies better connect with physicians, was named as a “cool vendor” in life sciences by market analyst Gartner. Appature got the kudo, Gartner said, because its software is helping pharma sales reps, who are stretched thin, to do a better job of reaching physicians, who increasingly … Continue reading “Appature Gets ‘Cool Vendor’ Kudo”