[Corrected 1/27/10, 3:00 pm (see below).] Seattle-based venture firm Voyager Capital has added a heavy hitter from the local tech scene to its advisory board. He is Steve Singh, chairman and chief executive of Concur Technologies, the Redmond, WA-based software firm focused on corporate travel and expense management. It’s another step in Voyager’s recent efforts … Continue reading “Steve Singh, CEO of Concur, Joins Voyager Capital Advisory Board”
Category: Seattle
Under the Radar Deals: 11 Northwest Startup Financings from December Worth $1M or Less
As you may have noticed, we here at Xconomy look at startups’ financing as signs of what companies or industries are making a big impact on innovation in the region. Just last week we reported on the major equity investments in Northwest startups in December, tracked by our partner ChubbyBrain, a New York-based information services … Continue reading “Under the Radar Deals: 11 Northwest Startup Financings from December Worth $1M or Less”
Accelerator Slowed Down in 2009, Expects to Rev Back Up in 2010
Any fair assessment of Seattle biotech over the past five years would have to count Accelerator as one of the bright spots. But the past year or so has been unusually quiet at the biotech startup incubator. Accelerator recently endured a six-month dry spell when it didn’t see any exciting new investment ideas enter its … Continue reading “Accelerator Slowed Down in 2009, Expects to Rev Back Up in 2010”
Inside Seattle Genetics’ Big Partnership, Motricity Files for $250M IPO, VC Stats for 2009, & That’s About It for Seattle-Area Deals News
It was a quiet week for deals in the Northwest—too quiet. Maybe companies are steering clear of breaking news so they don’t get drowned out by all the big quarterly earnings news and Apple’s much-anticipated product announcement tomorrow. Probably there’s a storm coming. —Ryan took us inside a major partnership between Bothell, WA-based Seattle Genetics … Continue reading “Inside Seattle Genetics’ Big Partnership, Motricity Files for $250M IPO, VC Stats for 2009, & That’s About It for Seattle-Area Deals News”
Harvest Power Strikes Deal with Waste Management to Turn Trash Into Fertilizer and Fuel
Homes and businesses in North America generate about 55 million tons of organic waste every year, and that’s without even counting sewage. Roughly half of this solid waste comes from grass clippings and other biomass from the typical yard, and the other half is food scraps. Most of the yard waste gets recycled, but most … Continue reading “Harvest Power Strikes Deal with Waste Management to Turn Trash Into Fertilizer and Fuel”
Millennium, In a New Role, Flexes Global Muscle to Cut Deal With Seattle Genetics
Millennium is playing the role of global development and marketing partner to Seattle Genetics, something that would have been tricky for Cambridge, MA-based Millennium to nail before it became the cancer R&D arm of Japanese drug giant Takeda Pharmaceutical Company in May 2008. Last month, Millennium closed a major collaboration deal with Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ:[[ticker:SGEN]]), … Continue reading “Millennium, In a New Role, Flexes Global Muscle to Cut Deal With Seattle Genetics”
Addressing the Innovation “Valley of Death:” It’s the Products, Stupid!
Several articles published in the press this past year have emphasized the importance of technology innovation in creating high-paying jobs and fueling our nation’s economy. Janet Rae-Dupree’s aptly titled New York Times piece, “Innovation Should Mean More Jobs, Not Less,” makes the case that investing in innovative technologies is critical to the future of the … Continue reading “Addressing the Innovation “Valley of Death:” It’s the Products, Stupid!”
What Entrepreneurs Need Most in 2010—and Which Seattle Startups Are Hiring
January for startup companies is a little like spring training for baseball teams. Everyone is 0-0, they have the whole year in front of them, and anything is possible. With that in mind, I recently checked in with Rebecca Lovell, the executive director (and commissioner?) of the Northwest Entrepreneur Network, to hear her thoughts on … Continue reading “What Entrepreneurs Need Most in 2010—and Which Seattle Startups Are Hiring”
NWEN Breakfast Buzz
Info and registration here. You have what you believe is a great idea for a business, but are not sure how much of your “secret sauce” you want to share publicly. How much is enough when it comes to vetting an idea? Should you release early and often? Lather, rinse, repeat with user feedback? Or … Continue reading “NWEN Breakfast Buzz”
Seattle Lunch 2.0 @BuddyTV
Happy New Years!! It will be fun to see what this year has in store for the Seattle Startup Community, and to kick things off right, Seattle Lunch 2.0 has gotten together with BuddyTV to bring you a classic event!! There will be lots of who’s who in the community, free lunch, and a great … Continue reading “Seattle Lunch 2.0 @BuddyTV”
VCs Are Not Evil: What Entrepreneurs Need To Know
Venture capitalists are not evil. That is the message that Bill Bryant, the prominent Seattle venture capitalist and venture partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, had for Seattle technology entrepreneurs earlier this month at the STS (Seattle Tech Startups) meeting. In recent years VCs have been vilified as “vulture capitalists” among tech entrepreneurs for demanding ridiculous … Continue reading “VCs Are Not Evil: What Entrepreneurs Need To Know”
Bill Gates Posts Annual Letter, Backs Khosla
Bill Gates has posted his 2010 annual letter for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The letter focuses on innovation and the foundation’s efforts in education, food, and health—tackling ambitious projects in online learning, agriculture, vaccines, malaria, and HIV, to name a few. Gates also has invested in Vinod Khosla’s most recent clean energy fund, … Continue reading “Bill Gates Posts Annual Letter, Backs Khosla”
The Apple Paradox: How a Company That’s So Closed Can Foster So Much Open Innovation
[Corrected and clarified, 1:30 p.m. 1/25/10, see page 2] Come Wednesday, we’ll learn a lot more about Apple’s presumed slate device. What we know right now, first hand, is a big fat nothing. Apple keeps a famously tight lid on its employees, suppliers, and partners, the only exception being the occasional strategic leak designed to … Continue reading “The Apple Paradox: How a Company That’s So Closed Can Foster So Much Open Innovation”
UW Adds Heavy Hitters from High Tech and Biotech to Turn More Ideas Into Companies
Two big names from the Seattle high tech and biotech scene—Rick LeFaivre of OVP Venture Partners and Pathway Medical’s Tom Clement—are taking new jobs at the University of Washington to help turn some of its most promising research ideas into new startup companies. LeFaivre and Clement are joining the rebranded UW Center for Commercialization as … Continue reading “UW Adds Heavy Hitters from High Tech and Biotech to Turn More Ideas Into Companies”
Ground Truth Emerges from Stealth, Provides New Window Into Mobile Internet Usage
It’s been hard to keep a company like Ground Truth under wraps for this long. The secretive Seattle startup, led by prominent entrepreneurs Sterling Wilson and Michael “Luni” Libes, is emerging from stealth mode today, after raising $2.6 million in venture funding from Voyager Capital and Steamboat Ventures last summer. Although many in the startup … Continue reading “Ground Truth Emerges from Stealth, Provides New Window Into Mobile Internet Usage”
Top Trends for the Decade Ahead in Venture, Tech, Genomics, IP, and More Innovative Fields
We hit a nerve last month when we asked leading innovators in high-tech, biotech, cleantech, and venture capital to write guest editorials about the transformational changes they see coming in their fields over the next decade. We got so many thoughtful submissions from the advisers we call “Xconomists,” and other tech leaders, that we figured … Continue reading “Top Trends for the Decade Ahead in Venture, Tech, Genomics, IP, and More Innovative Fields”
ClearEdge Power Receives $11,000,000 New Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a9bae431-70f5-4a0a-a309-8ed3a936e7ce&Preview=1 Date 1/25/2010 Company Name ClearEdge Power Mailing Address 7205 NW Evergreen Parkway Hillsboro, OR 97124 Company Description ClearEdge Power is a pioneer and leading provider of ultra-clean and efficient on-site energy generation systems for homes and small businesses. With operations throughout the West Coast of the United States, our company is … Continue reading “ClearEdge Power Receives $11,000,000 New Financing”
New Surveys Suggest Venture Investing Reset at Lower Level in 2009; We Break Out Data for Boston, San Diego, & Seattle
The picture of venture capital investments in U.S. startups filled in a bit this week, with the results of two more VC surveys aligning generally with the findings we reported earlier this month from ChubbyBrain, the New York data services company that tracks the innovation economy. New surveys from Dow Jones VentureSource and the MoneyTree … Continue reading “New Surveys Suggest Venture Investing Reset at Lower Level in 2009; We Break Out Data for Boston, San Diego, & Seattle”
Motricity Files for IPO
Bellevue, WA-based Motricity, a mobile software firm, has filed a form S-1 with the SEC, saying it plans to sell up to $250 million in an initial public offering. The company generated more than $100 million in revenue in 2008, and $117.1 million in the 12 months ending on September 30, 2009, but it is … Continue reading “Motricity Files for IPO”
Real Names New Head of Music, Media, Tech
Seattle-based RealNetworks has announced that Mike Lunsford has been named executive vice president of the Technology Products and Solutions and Media Software and Services divisions of the company. Lunsford, who joined Real in 2008, was previously executive vice president of strategic ventures, in charge of strategy and operations for Rhapsody America, the company’s digital music … Continue reading “Real Names New Head of Music, Media, Tech”
Ekos, Listening to Docs, Takes Ultrasound Clot Buster From the Legs to the Lungs
Ekos has been hearing scuttlebutt from doctors over the past few months about a new way of using its ultrasound technology to treat dangerous blood clots in a new organ—the lungs. The company hadn’t seriously considered investing in it, but over the past few months, anecdotes from doctors kept pouring in. So now the Bothell, … Continue reading “Ekos, Listening to Docs, Takes Ultrasound Clot Buster From the Legs to the Lungs”
Friend or Foe: How Apple Is Forcing Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and AT&T to Raise Their Game
Apple’s increasing overlap with other technology companies—including mainstays of the Seattle and Boston scenes—is one of the biggest business trends of the year. It doesn’t matter whether you are the world’s biggest software company (Microsoft), a Web search and advertising titan (Google), an online retail giant (Amazon), a wireless carrier (AT&T), a digital music startup … Continue reading “Friend or Foe: How Apple Is Forcing Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and AT&T to Raise Their Game”
State Cleantech Experts Debate Policy, Finance, and Global Opportunities at MITEF Event
“The easy answer is, ‘Of course it will,’” said panel moderator Jesse Berst, the head of Redmond, WA-based research and consulting firm GlobalSmartEnergy. He was referring to the title of last night’s event in downtown Seattle organized by the MIT Enterprise Forum: “Will Green Return the Green?” It’s a reasonable question, especially here in Washington … Continue reading “State Cleantech Experts Debate Policy, Finance, and Global Opportunities at MITEF Event”
Challenges and Opportunities in Personalized Medicine
The French-American Chamber of Commerce is hosting an event on challenges and opportunities in personalized medicine, the first in a series of events on biotech. Richard Mitchell, the director of business development at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, will moderate a panel discussion that features Paul Yager and Wylie Burke of the University of … Continue reading “Challenges and Opportunities in Personalized Medicine”
Merck’s Alan Sachs, on RNAi’s Big Challenge: Delivery, Delivery, Delivery
Merck hasn’t said much in public about what it’s doing in the field of RNA-based therapies, since it paid the jaw-dropping sum of $1.1 billion to acquire Sirna Therapeutics back in October 2006. So when I had the chance last week to sit down for an exclusive interview in San Francisco with Merck’s RNA therapeutics … Continue reading “Merck’s Alan Sachs, on RNAi’s Big Challenge: Delivery, Delivery, Delivery”
Dendreon’s New Operations Man, Acucela Enters Fast Growth Phase, JP Morgan Recap, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
News flow was light on the biotech beat this week, partly because of the MLK Day holiday, and everybody needed a little rest after the networking frenzy at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. —One of the more interesting interviews I had last week at the JP Morgan conference was with Hans Bishop, the new chief … Continue reading “Dendreon’s New Operations Man, Acucela Enters Fast Growth Phase, JP Morgan Recap, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
Genomics Laid the Foundation for Big Global Health Advances To Come This Decade
In science, success is often measured in small advances in understanding. But in the past decade, technology has led to large leaps of new knowledge that has been well utilized in the battle against global infectious disease. And, this decade holds even greater promise. Genomics is an excellent example. We’ve seen the genomics revolution begin … Continue reading “Genomics Laid the Foundation for Big Global Health Advances To Come This Decade”
Innovation Showcase
This networking event, sponsored by the Technology Alliance, ultimately aims to speed up the commercialization of the area’s top new technologies by bringing together investors, innovators, entrepreneurs, and service providers. The areas of innovation it features run the gamut, from mobile devices to prosthetics to microwave heating. Buy your tickets for the showcase here.
Bill Gates, Opening Up to World of Social Media, Rolls Out New Website and Twitter Feed
It feels like the dawn of a new era. As of yesterday, Bill Gates is officially on Twitter, where he has already attracted more than 235,000 followers in the first day or so. Gates also just announced a new website, called the Gates Notes, where he will be sharing his thoughts (that extend greater than … Continue reading “Bill Gates, Opening Up to World of Social Media, Rolls Out New Website and Twitter Feed”
Visible Gets $22M to Expand, Tantalus Tracks Down $14M for Smart Grid, Avnera Closes $10M for Audio Chips, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
The past week has been pretty busy in the Northwest, with a number of deals in software, Internet, electronics, and cleantech. And the activity wasn’t limited to Seattle—there’s a fair bit of news from Vancouver and Portland as well. —Tantalus, a Burnaby, BC-based company that develops wireless networks for smart-grid applications, raised $14 million in … Continue reading “Visible Gets $22M to Expand, Tantalus Tracks Down $14M for Smart Grid, Avnera Closes $10M for Audio Chips, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”
Cloudvox Bought by Ifbyphone
Seattle-based Cloudvox, an online service that bridges Web applications with phone services for developers, has been acquired by Ifbyphone, an Internet telephony company based in Chicago. Terms of the deal were not given. Cloudvox was developed by Seven Scale, a startup led by Troy Davis, a former Loudeye and RealNetworks employee.
Hardware vs. Software: The Defining Technology Battle of This Decade
History repeats itself, it seems, because the defining technology battle of this decade is going to come straight from the 80s: it’s hardware versus software. [tweet] Every decade brings substantial advancements to both software and hardware, but in certain decades the strategic importance of one versus the other shifts dramatically in many segments. I’m using … Continue reading “Hardware vs. Software: The Defining Technology Battle of This Decade”
Acucela Enters Fast-Growth Phase As Macular Degeneration Drug Advances to Key Trial
Brain teaser time: Name the Bothell, WA-based biotech company that has never raised a nickel from local VCs, has scored a partnership with a Big Pharma company, operates on a cash-flow positive basis, and plans to more than double in size from 40 employees to about 100 this year. Think it’s Alder Biopharmaceuticals? Guess again. … Continue reading “Acucela Enters Fast-Growth Phase As Macular Degeneration Drug Advances to Key Trial”
Ken Myer, Outgoing Head of WTIA, on the Challenges of Trade Associations and Nonprofits—and His Future
First Rob Glaser, then Ken Myer. Who’s next? (These things always seem to come in threes.) As a journalist, it can be hard to take off a holiday like MLK Day—you never know what juicy news you’re going to miss. Myer announced yesterday that he’s stepping down from his post as CEO and president of … Continue reading “Ken Myer, Outgoing Head of WTIA, on the Challenges of Trade Associations and Nonprofits—and His Future”
Tantalus Raises New Financing for Smart-Grid Wireless Technologies
[Updated 1/20/10, 10:10 am. See below.] Cleantech wireless networking firm Tantalus, based in Burnaby, BC, has raised about $13.5 million in new equity financing, according to a regulatory filing. The round was led by the Silicon Valley firm Redpoint Ventures, and other existing investors also participated, according to a press release issued by Tantalus after … Continue reading “Tantalus Raises New Financing for Smart-Grid Wireless Technologies”
MP3.com Founder Michael Robertson Explains Apple’s Cloud Music Strategy
San Diego’s Michael Robertson, who founded several startups since he sold MP3.com in 1997, offered some observations about online music providers and other aspects of the digital music business when we talked in late November. Today he offers more insights in a post for TechCrunch that explains why Lala, the Palo Alto, CA, digital music … Continue reading “MP3.com Founder Michael Robertson Explains Apple’s Cloud Music Strategy”
Avnera Closes $10M Series D
Beaverton, OR-based Avnera, which makes chips for wireless audio and other consumer electronics applications, announced today it has closed a $10 million Series D financing. The money was raised from new investor Onkyo, as well as existing investors. This is part of the same funding round we reported on in November, when the company had … Continue reading “Avnera Closes $10M Series D”
Cheezburger, Zillow Top Startup List
Seattle-based Cheezburger Network, a collection of humor websites, retained its top position in Seattle 2.0’s monthly rankings of local startups’ Web traffic for December. It was followed by Zillow, Picnik, and BuddyTV, whose rankings didn’t change from the previous month. Redmond, WA-based Smilebox, a maker of electronic greeting cards, moved up seven spots to #5. … Continue reading “Cheezburger, Zillow Top Startup List”
Dendreon’s New Operations Man, Hans Bishop, Aims to Keep Provenge Trains Running on Time
Dendreon has a new man on the spot, and his name is Hans Bishop. The Seattle biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DNDN]]) settled the raging debate last year about whether its immune booster can help men with prostate cancer live longer without serious side effects. Now the company has graduated to a less glamorous, but equally important … Continue reading “Dendreon’s New Operations Man, Hans Bishop, Aims to Keep Provenge Trains Running on Time”
Washington Startups Raised $21.7M in December, Down from $44.4M in Previous Month
Just a quick recap of the venture deals in Washington state from the last month of 2009. Things really slowed down heading into the dead of winter, with just four venture financings, all in software and Internet, worth a total of $21.7 million (see table below). That’s less than half the money invested in November, … Continue reading “Washington Startups Raised $21.7M in December, Down from $44.4M in Previous Month”
Top Five Trends in the Future of Work
We are increasingly a knowledge-based economy in the U.S., and work can be delivered digitally from anywhere. Take NightHawk Radiology in Coeur d’Alene, ID, for example—they are providing radiologists to any hospital that needs real-time availability and lower costs. They work online from Switzerland and Australia, but it could just as easily be Wenatchee or … Continue reading “Top Five Trends in the Future of Work”
Five Top Innovations to Look for in Search-Based Marketing in 2010
—Personalization based on predicted intent instead of past behavior (based on cookie). —More robust “universal search:” Better results for text and descriptive searches on videos, pictures, inside games, and applications. —GPS-based hyper-targeting of search results and advertising on smartphones. —Ubiquitous and non-text search: Search as an integrated activity rather than a separate activity into videos, … Continue reading “Five Top Innovations to Look for in Search-Based Marketing in 2010”
CEO Ken Myer to Leave WTIA
The Washington Technology Industry Association announced today that CEO and president Ken Myer is leaving his post at the end of March to return to the tech industry. Myer has headed the WTIA, one of the largest statewide associations of technology firms, for about three years, during which it made the transition from the Washington … Continue reading “CEO Ken Myer to Leave WTIA”
MLK Day
Posting will be light today as Xconomy’s offices are closed in observation of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. For those of you looking for a way to pitch in in your own city or town, Serve.gov has a searchable database of volunteer opportunities. If you or your organization would like to aid … Continue reading “MLK Day”
T.A. McCann Talks New Partnership with IBM’s Lotus Notes, Gist Strategy for 2010
Seattle startup Gist announced today that its technology for connecting people’s e-mail inbox with the Web now works, in limited release, with Lotus Notes, IBM’s popular communication and collaboration software. Gist’s software will be made available to a select group of Lotus Notes customers in advance of a wider release still to come. It’s part … Continue reading “T.A. McCann Talks New Partnership with IBM’s Lotus Notes, Gist Strategy for 2010”
Rob Glaser’s Real Legacy: A New Mass Medium, New Markets, and Constant Reinvention
The biggest news in a very busy week around the Seattle technology scene has been that Rob Glaser is out as chief executive of RealNetworks. Glaser stepped down on Wednesday after 16 years at the helm, but he remains chairman of the board and Real’s largest shareholder. Back in 1994, after leaving Microsoft, Glaser founded … Continue reading “Rob Glaser’s Real Legacy: A New Mass Medium, New Markets, and Constant Reinvention”
AboutUs Buys Jyte, Works with JanRain
Portland, OR-based AboutUs announced this week it has acquired Jyte.com, a social website where people can make claims, vet ideas, and comment on others’. Financial terms were not given. Jyte uses RPX, the flagship technology of Portland startup JanRain that lets people use a single portable identity and login across different websites. AboutUs, which is … Continue reading “AboutUs Buys Jyte, Works with JanRain”
The Value of Bumping Into People in the Hall: A Lesson from the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference
Twitter and Facebook have taken social networking to a higher level on the web, but I just got a reminder about the power of actually meeting people in person. I’m talking about the kind of interactions that happen when attending a jam-packed professional conference and bumping into a lot of smart people with similar interests. … Continue reading “The Value of Bumping Into People in the Hall: A Lesson from the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference”
Entrepreneurship May Work Like A Clock, But It Still Needs Winding: Exploring the Kauffman Study on New Firm Formation
Like others in the tech-journalism business, we here at Xconomy tend to pore over the latest statistics about the entrepreneurial economy pretty obsessively: how much money venture firms are raising and investing from quarter to quarter; how much they dole out to each new startup in their portfolios; how much these portfolio companies eventually return … Continue reading “Entrepreneurship May Work Like A Clock, But It Still Needs Winding: Exploring the Kauffman Study on New Firm Formation”
Can Molecular Medicine Survive Its Teenage Years, and Reach its Potential This Decade?
As the 21st century approaches its teenage years, so too does molecular medicine. Discovery of the structure of DNA more than 50 years ago launched the field of molecular biology. During the last decade, we have seen the first translation of some fundamental discoveries in this field into medical tools. Clearly, however, we are early … Continue reading “Can Molecular Medicine Survive Its Teenage Years, and Reach its Potential This Decade?”