Category: Seattle

NWEN “First Look” Forum Tells Story of Software Vs. Medical Startups: Online Travel Is the Winner

Variety was the theme of the Northwest Entrepreneur Network’s First Look Forum yesterday at the Arctic Club Hotel, a venerable establishment in downtown Seattle. There were a dozen startup companies with a wide array of ideas, each giving a five-minute pitch to an eclectic audience that included investors, entrepreneurship coaches, media, and sponsors. The startups … Continue reading “NWEN “First Look” Forum Tells Story of Software Vs. Medical Startups: Online Travel Is the Winner”

Lucid Commerce Lands $4,000,000 Series B Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e6a41e83-4a47-4e6c-883d-42846fb09f50&Preview=1 Date 4/14/2010 Company Name Lucid Commerce Mailing Address 159 S. Jackson St Seattle, WA 98104 Company Description Lucid Commerce provides on-demand business intelligence that combines automatic data consolidation, organization, and analysis for direct marketing companies. Website http://www.lucidcommerce.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $4,000,000 Transaction Round Series B Proceeds Purposes Proceeds … Continue reading “Lucid Commerce Lands $4,000,000 Series B Round”

Beaming Power to UAVs, Space Elevators, and Someday, Earth: The LaserMotive Plan

Think it’s possible to shoot down a swarm of buzzing mosquitoes in mid-air? Or maybe you want to power up a remote flying vehicle? Tom Nugent is your man. The Seattle-area entrepreneur just might be the most versatile guy with a laser you’ve ever met. Yes, a laser. Until recently, Nugent worked in the laboratory … Continue reading “Beaming Power to UAVs, Space Elevators, and Someday, Earth: The LaserMotive Plan”

Wings, the Medical Device Angel Network, Poised for Lift-Off at Initial Meeting

The Northwest’s new medical device angel investing network, called Wings, is showing more signs that it is starting to get off the ground. Three local medical device startups have been picked by the Wings selection committee to give 10-minute talks at the angel network’s inaugural invitation-only meeting this Wednesday. The entrepreneurs made it through a … Continue reading “Wings, the Medical Device Angel Network, Poised for Lift-Off at Initial Meeting”

Venture Activity Report Charts Surge in Energy and Cleantech Investments, Smaller-Sized Deals

Venture investments continued to improve during the first three months of 2010, led by a strong comeback in both dollars and deals involving startups focused on energy and utilities, according to a national report released today by CB Insights, the New York private company intelligence firm previously known as ChubbyBrain. Venture firms sank $5.9 billion … Continue reading “Venture Activity Report Charts Surge in Energy and Cleantech Investments, Smaller-Sized Deals”

From Apptio to Zillow: Seattle 2.0 Announces Finalists for Startup Awards Bash

The Seattle area’s hippest celebration for local software and technology startups is gearing up for its big night. After receiving nearly 7,000 nominations for 11 “best of” categories in Seattle tech, media company Seattle 2.0 is announcing today the finalists for its annual awards show. (Disclosure: I am one of the 36 judges who helped … Continue reading “From Apptio to Zillow: Seattle 2.0 Announces Finalists for Startup Awards Bash”

How a Business Can Span the Globe and Stay Close-Knit: Microsoft’s “Telepresence” Project

Stop me if this sounds familiar. You work in a tight-knit team that has one or two colleagues who are located in a different office—across the street, across the state, or across the country. You’d like to communicate with them more regularly, but phone calls, e-mails, and video conferences have to do. Inevitably, you feel … Continue reading “How a Business Can Span the Globe and Stay Close-Knit: Microsoft’s “Telepresence” Project”

UW Pulls in $300M From Stimulus, Places Big Bet for the Future on Genomics

The woman in charge of spinning University of Washington technology out into the business world, Linden Rhoads, boldly predicted a year ago that UW would pull in $300 million from the federal stimulus. Now one of UW’s top genome scientists, Debbie Nickerson, has confirmed the number, and says a big chunk of the loot is … Continue reading “UW Pulls in $300M From Stimulus, Places Big Bet for the Future on Genomics”

Cell Therapeutics Shareholder Meeting Postponed, After FDA Rejection

Cell Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CTIC]]) apparently has had enough humiliation for one day. The Seattle-based biotech company postponed a special shareholder meeting this morning at its headquarters along Elliott Bay, after announcing that the FDA rejected the application for its only cancer drug with a shot at reaching the U.S. market anytime soon. About a dozen … Continue reading “Cell Therapeutics Shareholder Meeting Postponed, After FDA Rejection”

The Real Truth About the iPad: A Non-Early Adopter Tests It Out, Pronounces It Lckig=ng (Typed on an iPad)

If you’re a fan of the TV show Supernatural, as the writer of this essay is, then at this point you might think a demon has taken possession of my colleague Wade Roush, who of course writes his World Wide Wade column every (or almost every) Friday. That would not be correct. But a demon … Continue reading “The Real Truth About the iPad: A Non-Early Adopter Tests It Out, Pronounces It Lckig=ng (Typed on an iPad)”

Cell Therapeutics Lymphoma Drug Fails to Win FDA Approval

Cell Therapeutics suffered what I called a “humiliating public beatdown” last month in front of an FDA advisory committee, and now the FDA has made it official in writing. The Seattle-based biotech company said its application to market a new lymphoma drug in the U.S. has been formally turned down by the FDA. The FDA … Continue reading “Cell Therapeutics Lymphoma Drug Fails to Win FDA Approval”

Washington Companies Raised $21M in March, Down from $53M in Previous Month

This is not good. Less than a month after proclaiming that venture funding may have stabilized at a lower but more sustainable level, I have to report that funding for Washington-based companies in March plunged to $21.3 million in just three deals. That’s significantly down from $53.5 million in 10 deals in February, and $57 … Continue reading “Washington Companies Raised $21M in March, Down from $53M in Previous Month”

Site9 Secures New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ebd52cfe-e1c2-410d-8cb6-e4d18be5dcce&Preview=1 Date 4/9/2010 Company Name Site9 Mailing Address 519 SW 3rd Ave. Portland, OR 97204 Company Description We were web programmers, in the trenches, when we discovered what web software designers couldn’t see: horrible inefficiency. We answered the call and the surprising result wasn’t just less time to launch websites or the … Continue reading “Site9 Secures New Funding”

Concur Raises $287.5M in Debt Financing

Redmond, WA-based Concur Technologies (NASDAQ:[[ticker:CNQR]]) announced this week it has raised $287.5 million in convertible note debt financing, payable at an annual interest rate of 2.5 percent. The notes will mature on April 15, 2015, and will convert into equity if the stock price is above $52.35 per share, which represents a 25 percent increase … Continue reading “Concur Raises $287.5M in Debt Financing”

Dendreon Hires Roche Sales Boss

Dendreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]), the Seattle-based developer of an immune-stimulating drug for prostate cancer, said today it has hired Varun Nanda to be its senior vice president of commercial operations. Nanda was formerly the senior vice president and head of global oncology for Roche, the world’s largest maker of cancer drugs, with hits like rituximab (Rituxan), … Continue reading “Dendreon Hires Roche Sales Boss”

Sage Bionetworks On a Roll, Allon’s Foray into Alzheimer’s, Frazier Bets on Antibiotics, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

The Seattle biotech scene had a smattering of blurbs this week from a few of the lesser-known names. But at least one local organization is clearly starting to emerge. —Sage Bionetworks, the Seattle-based nonprofit seeking to spark an open source movement for biology, secured a $5 million grant from the state’s Life Sciences Discovery Fund. … Continue reading “Sage Bionetworks On a Roll, Allon’s Foray into Alzheimer’s, Frazier Bets on Antibiotics, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

Biotech’s Second Big Win in Healthcare Reform: A Tax Credit Bonanza

The biotech industry won a major victory last month when President Obama signed healthcare reform into law. Biologic drugs, those developed through genetic engineering techniques and incubated in living cells, will now be granted a 12-year period of data exclusivity on the market, to protect them from cheaper copycat competitors. That will allow the innovative … Continue reading “Biotech’s Second Big Win in Healthcare Reform: A Tax Credit Bonanza”

Fate Therapeutics Expands its Stem Cell Empire Into Canada

The Fate Therapeutics mini-empire already extends from coast to coast, and now it’s expanding northward. The San Diego-based developer of stem cell technologies has agreed to acquire Ottawa, Canada-based Verio Therapeutics to grab a few more bright minds, and some clever techniques for developing drugs that spark the body to regenerate damaged tissue. Financial terms … Continue reading “Fate Therapeutics Expands its Stem Cell Empire Into Canada”

Who Should Microsoft Acquire in Health IT? Who Is InnovateHealth? A Blog Sampler

With this week’s opening of our national Health IT news channel, we’ve been ramping up our coverage of all things healthcare, medical computing, and electronic health records. So a couple of Seattle-related items caught my eye this week. —First, the Texas-based online resource site Software Advice, which profiles electronic health record software (among other things), … Continue reading “Who Should Microsoft Acquire in Health IT? Who Is InnovateHealth? A Blog Sampler”

Clean Tech Open–Northwest Launch Event

The Clean Tech Open, a national competition that seeks to discover promising new cleantech startups, is hosting its regional launch event from 5 to 7 pm on April 20 at the Hyatt at Olive 8 in downtown Seattle. For more information on how to register, click here.

Frazier, Arch Join $56M Antibiotic Deal

[Correction: 8:30 am Pacific, 4/7/10] Seattle-based Frazier Healthcare Ventures is leading a $56 million Series C venture investment in San Francisco-based Achaogen, a developer of new antibiotics that fight multi-drug resistant infections. Alta Partners also participated in the financing, along with existing investors Arch Venture Partners, 5AM Ventures, Domain Associates, Venrock Associates, Versant Ventures, and … Continue reading “Frazier, Arch Join $56M Antibiotic Deal”

Big Ideas Need Work, Amazon Isn’t Too Late in Mobile Apps, and More from VC Tom Huseby

Breakthrough ideas and management “dream teams” by themselves are overblown. What really counts is hard work and the ability to adapt. That’s one of my main takeaways after chatting with Seattle-area venture capitalist and mobile guru Tom Huseby. He also shed new light on the dynamics between Apple, Google, and Amazon in the mobile sector—and … Continue reading “Big Ideas Need Work, Amazon Isn’t Too Late in Mobile Apps, and More from VC Tom Huseby”

World Health Day is Today—Let’s Make it An Everyday Habit in Seattle

It is somewhat strange to me that one day each year is selected as “World Health Day.” My belief is that every day should be “World Health Day.” But I certainly won’t miss the opportunity to observe today, April 7th, which has been celebrated as World Health Day since 1950, to mark the founding of … Continue reading “World Health Day is Today—Let’s Make it An Everyday Habit in Seattle”

Galgon, Ex-aQuantive, Joins Market Leader

Kirkland, WA-based Market Leader (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LEDR]]) announced today that Mike Galgon has joined its board of directors. Galgon is the co-founder of online advertising technology firm aQuantive (along with Nick Hanauer and Scott Lipsky) and the former chief advertising strategist for Microsoft (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MSFT]]). Hanauer is also a board member and investor in Market Leader, … Continue reading “Galgon, Ex-aQuantive, Joins Market Leader”

Sage Bionetworks, UW, Fred Hutch Secure $15M Grants from State Life Sciences Fund

Sage Bionetworks, it can now be said unequivocally, is on fire. The Seattle-based nonprofit that aims to spark an open-source movement for biology, has secured one of three $5 million grants that were announced this afternoon by the state’s Life Sciences Discovery Fund. The state’s biotech fund, which suffered a deep round of budget cuts … Continue reading “Sage Bionetworks, UW, Fred Hutch Secure $15M Grants from State Life Sciences Fund”

Jobster Gets New Owner, MDRNA Merges with Cequent and Teams Up with Pfizer, & More Seattle-Area Deals News

Today has been a most interesting day in the Seattle tech and media community. There was some prominent TV and radio coverage of TechStars (see Andy Sack and Andy Liu interviewed on KING 5 here), the North American Eagle “jet car” (interview with team leader Ed Shadle on KUOW, following Thea’s story here), and the … Continue reading “Jobster Gets New Owner, MDRNA Merges with Cequent and Teams Up with Pfizer, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”

Tune In Now to Hear “Turbojet Car” Driver Ed Shadle on KUOW

For those of you interested in Thea’s story yesterday on the effort to bring the land speed record to Washington state, we have another treat for you. KUOW 94.9 FM is doing an interview with the North American Eagle “turbojet car” co-leader and driver, Ed Shadle, in just a few minutes, starting at 12:00 pm … Continue reading “Tune In Now to Hear “Turbojet Car” Driver Ed Shadle on KUOW”

Sack, Entress, Liu, Patel, and Other Angel Investors Lure Twiistup to Seattle

Tired of Seattle-area tech startup events? Well, get ready for a whole new one. It’s coming April 26, and it has been a closely guarded secret until now. The event is called Twiistup, and it was started in Los Angeles by AOL executive Mike Macadaan in 2007. Think of it as a tech conference with … Continue reading “Sack, Entress, Liu, Patel, and Other Angel Investors Lure Twiistup to Seattle”

The Apple iPad: Lightning Strikes Cupertino Again

How do you sell 300,000 of anything on the first day it’s in stores? By convincing people that it’s going to be even cooler than the last incredible thing you built. Steve Jobs and his crew pulled that off with the iPad, which has been breaking the sales records set by the iPhone in 2007. … Continue reading “The Apple iPad: Lightning Strikes Cupertino Again”

Elemental Technologies Looks to Hit Home Run with Streaming Video for TV and Web Content

If you watched last night’s NCAA men’s basketball championship game on the Web, or followed any of Major League Baseball’s opening day action via video on your mobile phone, then you have an idea of the market that Elemental Technologies is trying to tap. Elemental, a Portland, OR-based video processing startup, is announcing today its … Continue reading “Elemental Technologies Looks to Hit Home Run with Streaming Video for TV and Web Content”

Allon Treads Into the Great Unknown, Alzheimer’s Disease, With New Kind of Drug

It must take real guts, or maybe hubris, to try to do what Allon Therapeutics is attempting. This Vancouver, BC-based biotech company has designed a drug that is made to work unlike anything else on the market against some of the world’s major neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s. Scientists don’t really know what causes Alzheimer’s, and … Continue reading “Allon Treads Into the Great Unknown, Alzheimer’s Disease, With New Kind of Drug”

Recruiting.com Sells Jobster Business to Zapoint

[Updated 4/6/10, 7:05 pm. See below.] Seattle-based Recruiting.com has sold its Jobster business to Boston-area-based talent management firm Zapoint for an undisclosed sum. I confirmed the acquisition this afternoon with Kate Gerber, director of sales and marketing for Recruiting.com, formerly called Jobster, which makes online software for recruiters and search tools for job seekers. The … Continue reading “Recruiting.com Sells Jobster Business to Zapoint”

Report from DEMO: The DigitalScirocco Experience

The Internet is dying, and visitors are lost among its crumbling ruins. Sounds like hyperbole, but we are all trapped by an obsolete ideology binding most sites and keeping the Web from being all it could be. We go to the Internet seeking entertainment, information, communication, commerce, and comfort. We find ourselves lost in a … Continue reading “Report from DEMO: The DigitalScirocco Experience”

MDRNA Gets Research Deal With Pfizer

MDRNA (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MRNA]]), the Bothell, WA-based developer of RNA interference therapies, said today it has formed a research agreement with Pfizer. MDRNA will be responsible for taking oligonucleotides from Pfizer, and formulating them in amino acid packages that MDRNA has developed for RNA interference. The smaller company will also be asked to design and synthesize … Continue reading “MDRNA Gets Research Deal With Pfizer”

Toward a New Land Speed Record: A Day in the Life of the North American Eagle “Turbojet Car”

It was just after 10 a.m. on a hazy spring morning as Ed Shadle drove a trailer the size of a semi-truck to the far end of the Spanaway Airport, a quarter-mile active airstrip located 15 miles south of Tacoma, WA. A handful of his 44-person crew, which includes his son Cam and eight-year-old grandson … Continue reading “Toward a New Land Speed Record: A Day in the Life of the North American Eagle “Turbojet Car””

Where Bytes, Bio, and Healthcare Converge: Introducing Xconomy’s Health IT News Channel

We’re not much in favor of rigidly categorizing news by industry here at Xconomy, in part because we follow exciting companies that often transcend conventional definitions of what is a software, energy, or biotechnology business. But we do try our best to deliver breaking news and in-depth coverage to communities of readers, and one such … Continue reading “Where Bytes, Bio, and Healthcare Converge: Introducing Xconomy’s Health IT News Channel”

Zapoint Acquires Jobster for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9e43b3d5-1fee-443f-8284-3f77bdbe9b2d&Preview=1 Date 4/5/2010 Company Name Jobster Mailing Address 3131 Elliott Avenue Seattle, WA 98121 Company Description Jobster’s mission is to help people meet their potential by providing innovative online services that enable meaningful career matches. Website http://www.jobster.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Proceeds Purposes M&A Terms Financial terms of … Continue reading “Zapoint Acquires Jobster for Undisclosed Sum”

Our Top 20 Stories of the First Quarter: Amazon, Cell Therapeutics, Dendreon, Microsoft, and More

At the pace of today’s news, it can be hard to maintain perspective on what all the important stories are. Sure, the iPad is dominating headlines today, but remember when Google bought Picnik just a month ago? That deal is still resonating in the startup community. What’s more, headlines fly off the page so fast … Continue reading “Our Top 20 Stories of the First Quarter: Amazon, Cell Therapeutics, Dendreon, Microsoft, and More”

Revolutionary or Evolutionary? The Results from Xconomy’s iPad Survey

More newsprint and pixels have been sacrificed to iPad punditry than to any other tech subject in recent memory. I’m responsible for a good deal of the carnage myself (here, here, here, and here). With the device finally hitting stores tomorrow, though, there was no way my column today would be about anything else. The … Continue reading “Revolutionary or Evolutionary? The Results from Xconomy’s iPad Survey”

Information Technology 2010: M&A and Financing Outlook

Cascadia Capital is optimistic that the resurgence of information technology M&A and financings in late 2009 and early 2010 will continue throughout the remainder of the year. The evidence for this activity is supported by the market data and the sentiment of cautious optimism expressed by the CEOs with whom we regularly collaborate as part … Continue reading “Information Technology 2010: M&A and Financing Outlook”

Cray Lands $45M Contract from NNSA

Seattle-based Cray (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CRAY]]), the supercomputing firm, announced today it has been awarded a $45 million, multi-year contract to provide the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) with a next-generation Cray supercomputer. The new computing platform, called Cielo, will support all three NNSA laboratories—Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The … Continue reading “Cray Lands $45M Contract from NNSA”

MDRNA and Cequent Pharma in $46M Merger Deal

MDRNA, the Bothell, WA-based developer of gene-silencing drugs, could give itself a longer cash runway in a proposed merger with Cequent Pharmaceuticals, of Cambridge, MA. The companies announced plans this morning to combine in an all-stock deal worth about $46 million. Last week, MDRNA (NASDAQ:[[ticker:MRNA]]) said its cash would keep the company afloat only into … Continue reading “MDRNA and Cequent Pharma in $46M Merger Deal”

The Dendreon Alumni Directory, Sage Snags Merck Deal, Adaptive TCR Nabs $4.5M & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

There was a lot of variety in Seattle biotech this week, with stories on vaccines, diagnostics, an open-source biology, and an interesting new research service business that emerged from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. —Dendreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]) is staking its claim as Seattle’s biotech anchor tenant in the making. One of the things anchor … Continue reading “The Dendreon Alumni Directory, Sage Snags Merck Deal, Adaptive TCR Nabs $4.5M & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

Maveron Invests in Latimer Education

Seattle-based venture firm Maveron announced today it has invested in a $1.25 million financing round for Latimer Education, a company based in Washington, DC, that is developing an online university focused on African-American students. Angel investors and the company’s founders also participated in the round. Jason Stoffer and Amy Errett from Maveron are joining Latimer’s … Continue reading “Maveron Invests in Latimer Education”

Don’t Listen To Your Critics, VCs Are Not Enough, and Other Lessons from Breakthrough Idea Forum

This week, I’ve learned a lot about game-changing ideas and how to think about making them work. Like anything meaningful, some of the lessons will take more time and effort to sink in. But here are five lessons to take away from our Xconomy Forum (“What’s Your Breakthrough Idea”) held at the University of Washington … Continue reading “Don’t Listen To Your Critics, VCs Are Not Enough, and Other Lessons from Breakthrough Idea Forum”

The Next Policy Battle For Biotech After Healthcare Reform

With a new healthcare bill (and its “fixes”) signed into law, one might think that the biotech industry could shift its attention away from Washington DC and get back to work in the labs. That would be wrong. Starting this month, we begin a two-year project that will culminate, if things go according to plan, … Continue reading “The Next Policy Battle For Biotech After Healthcare Reform”

PV Powered Bought for $90M, Adaptive TCR Raises $4.5M, Microsoft and Ford Join Forces, & More Seattle-Area Deals News

It was a fairly quiet week for deals in the Northwest, as the event season is kicking into high gear. But there was a huge cleantech acquisition, and some notable deals in biotech, software, and mobile. —Microsoft and Ford Motor Co. are teaming up to implement online energy management software on electric vehicles. Ford is … Continue reading “PV Powered Bought for $90M, Adaptive TCR Raises $4.5M, Microsoft and Ford Join Forces, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”