Every once in a while, an investment model comes along that turns the innovation community on its head. The venture capital industry, still less than 50 years old, is one example. Now an emerging paradigm called royalty-based financing, applied to early-stage startups, may be another. The approach has its roots in the Boston area, and … Continue reading “Royalty-Based Venture Financing, Born in Boston, Could Shake Up VCs and Startups from New England to the Northwest”
Category: Seattle
DC Matters, But Biotech Can’t Neglect City Hall
Biotechnology companies who’ve taken time to focus on politics over the last few years have focused most of their attention on national-level issues. That’s understandable given the renewal of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act that controls FDA deadlines for reviewing new drug applications, legislation that would make it possible for makers of cheaper “biosimilar” … Continue reading “DC Matters, But Biotech Can’t Neglect City Hall”
Daptiv Obtains $2,000,000 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b59de500-170e-4a35-bea4-0f8d5dfc8a15&Preview=1 Date 10/7/2009 Company Name Daptiv Mailing Address 1008 Western Avenue Seattle, WA 98104 Company Description Daptiv is the on-demand leader in collaborative business software that enables companies of all sizes to transform their mid-office business operations. From new product development to operations and service delivery, Daptiv’s on-demand solutions streamline employees’ day-to-day … Continue reading “Daptiv Obtains $2,000,000 New Funding Round”
Technology Commercialization in Difficult Times
Leroy Hood, the biotech pioneer and president of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, will join Accelerator CEO Carl Weissman for a discussion on technology commercialization in difficult times. The event will be held from 5-8 pm at Town Hall Seattle on Nov. 12. For more information and to register, click here.
Science & Technology Discovery Series: David Baker
UW biochemistry professor David Baker will be the featured speaker at the Technology Alliance’s Science & Technology Discovery Series breakfast on Oct. 9. Baker, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, is creating new proteins and enzymes not found in nature which could be used for biofuels, drugs, or other products. For more information, click here.
Technology Alliance’s Innovation Showcase
The Technology Alliance is organizing a new program called Innovation Showcase to highlight four promising startups. The event is co-chaired by Rick LeFaivre of OVP Venture Partners and Bob Nelsen of Arch Venture Partners. It will feature four young companies—ProfUSA, X-Caps, Time Dot, and Ajuga Biosciences. For more information on the event, click here.
Seattle Social Games Meetup
Online gaming developers, designers, and entrepreneurs are invited to this inaugural meeting and social event. Featured speakers include: Garrett Link, RealGames David Nixon, I-Play John Vechey, PopCap To RSVP and get more information visit http://www.meetup.com/socialgameseattle.
Sage Bionetworks, Biology’s Open Source Spark, Snags “Major” Donation from Quintiles
[Updated: 10/05/09, 7:05 pm Pacific] Sage Bionetworks, the Seattle-based nonprofit seeking to spark an open source movement for biology, has secured a “major founding donation” from Durham, NC-based Quintiles, the giant contract research organization for pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Sage didn’t disclose how much the donation is worth in its statement announcing the news. But … Continue reading “Sage Bionetworks, Biology’s Open Source Spark, Snags “Major” Donation from Quintiles”
Veratect Secures $4.2M Debt
Veratect, the Kirkland, WA-based company that tracks emerging health threats like swine flu, has raised $4.2 million out of $5 million debt financing, according to an amended regulatory filing today. The filing doesn’t say who invested, but the company’s list of directors includes William Savoy, the former manager of billionaire Paul Allen’s Vulcan investment portfolio … Continue reading “Veratect Secures $4.2M Debt”
PopCap Games Raises $22.5M in First Outside Funding Round
Seattle-based PopCap Games dropped a bit of a bombshell this morning. The casual games developer and publisher announced it has secured $22.5 million—the first outside funding in its nearly 10-year history—led by Meritech Capital Partners, a late-stage investment firm based in Palo Alto, CA. Also participating in the round are Larry Bowman, a PopCap board … Continue reading “PopCap Games Raises $22.5M in First Outside Funding Round”
As Mobile Phones Overtake Cameras, Consumers Still Struggle to Use Them, Says Ontela Survey at CTIA
An interesting tidbit from the mobile industry: Film cameras are going out of style, while camera phones have become ubiquitous. But even as the popularity of things like mobile data plans and text messaging continues to grow in the U.S., people still have problems doing simple things with photos on their phones. That’s according to … Continue reading “As Mobile Phones Overtake Cameras, Consumers Still Struggle to Use Them, Says Ontela Survey at CTIA”
Amazon Goes Mobile, Theraclone Inks $18M Deal, Spiration Pulls In $7M, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
In the past week, the Northwest has seen its share of debt financings in medical devices and bio-IT, small funding deals and partnerships in Internet software, and mounting interest in an impending IPO. —Amazon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMZN]]) rolled out a new mobile payments service that lets applications developers and distributors tap into the e-commerce giant’s one-click … Continue reading “Amazon Goes Mobile, Theraclone Inks $18M Deal, Spiration Pulls In $7M, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”
PopCap Games Receives $22,500,000 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=60adcbeb-36b2-4075-959b-6cbacfb620a3&Preview=1 Date 10/6/2009 Company Name PopCap Games Mailing Address 2401 4th Ave Seattle, WA 98121 Company Description Here at PopCap our goal is to create fun games that literally everyone can enjoy. Our games are easy to learn, tough to master…and utterly addictive! Website http://www.popcap.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $22,500,000 … Continue reading “PopCap Games Receives $22,500,000 New Financing Round”
Omeros Made Errors on NIH Grant, But Feds Accepted Internal Investigation Saying They Weren’t Overbilled
Omeros, the Seattle biotech company accused by its former chief financial officer of filing false time records on grant work for the National Institutes of Health, disclosed late last night in a federal court filing that it alerted the government to its internal mistakes, and that the NIH accepted the results of an internal investigation … Continue reading “Omeros Made Errors on NIH Grant, But Feds Accepted Internal Investigation Saying They Weren’t Overbilled”
Hutch Pulls In $40M From Stimulus
The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has been awarded 60 grants worth a combined $40.4 million under the $787 billion American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009, otherwise known as the federal stimulus. The Hutch estimates that 2.3 jobs in the community are created or retained for every $100,000 of grant funding, so the awards … Continue reading “Hutch Pulls In $40M From Stimulus”
Cheezburger Network Hits 1B Views, Hires Exec
Seattle-based Cheezburger Network (formerly called Pet Holdings) announced today it has served 1 billion page views, or 10 billion images, since its first user-generated humor site, I Can Has Cheezburger, was launched in January 2007. The company also said it has hired Todd Sawicki as chief revenue officer. Sawicki is a senior sales and marketing … Continue reading “Cheezburger Network Hits 1B Views, Hires Exec”
Amazon Dives Into Mobile, Bringing Its Online Checkout to Wider World of App Distributors
Seattle-based Amazon has started a mobile payments service that allows consumers to make purchases from their mobile devices using their Amazon accounts, according to a statement released today. More significantly, the service also gives developers, retailers, and distributors of mobile applications a way to process mobile payments from customers using Amazon’s online checkout system—without having … Continue reading “Amazon Dives Into Mobile, Bringing Its Online Checkout to Wider World of App Distributors”
AVI Nabs $11.5M Defense Contract
AVI Biopharma, the Bothell, WA-based developer of RNA-based therapies, said today it has won an expanded $11.5 million contract from the U.S. Defense Department to develop its drug candidate for Junin virus infection. The new contract means AVI has received $45 million in combined contracts to develop treatments for Ebola, Marburg, and now Junin viral … Continue reading “AVI Nabs $11.5M Defense Contract”
Seattle Genetics Shares Drop on Halted Lymphoma Trial
Some unexpected bad news out of Seattle Genetics is driving down its stock 14 percent this morning. The Bothell, WA-based developer of antibody drugs for cancer (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SGEN]]) said a mid-stage clinical trial of an experimental lymphoma drug was halted midway through enrollment after an independent panel of data monitors determined the experimental drug was … Continue reading “Seattle Genetics Shares Drop on Halted Lymphoma Trial”
Seattle’s Theraclone Strikes $18M Deal to Make Flu-Fighting Antibodies with Japanese Company
Theraclone Sciences has formed a partnership with a Japanese drug company, worth as much as $18 million over time, to discover new antibodies that could broadly protect millions of people in a flu pandemic. Seattle-based Theraclone has formed the alliance with Tokyo-based Zenyaku Kogyo, which markets a blockbuster antibody drug for cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, … Continue reading “Seattle’s Theraclone Strikes $18M Deal to Make Flu-Fighting Antibodies with Japanese Company”
Making Science Cool: Inspiring Students and Giving Society Something to Celebrate
Just a few days before we kicked off the month-long San Diego Science Festival in March, I wrote a post for the Xconomist Forum that concluded, “if we mean to achieve the essential goal of reviving American Science, the San Diego Science Festival is poised to provide an important start.” It proved to be a … Continue reading “Making Science Cool: Inspiring Students and Giving Society Something to Celebrate”
Cray, Isilon, Marchex Weigh In With Their Company Cultures Boiled Down to One Word
How do you go about summarizing a company’s culture in one word? I haven’t a clue, but whenever I ask CEOs, they always come up with something interesting—and often surprising. In the past couple of months, I’ve been asking top executives at Northwest tech startups to talk about their company culture and why it’s unique. … Continue reading “Cray, Isilon, Marchex Weigh In With Their Company Cultures Boiled Down to One Word”
“Don’t Touch My Bags If You Please, Mr. Customs Man”
Imagine the following scenario for a minute: A middle-aged man books a round trip ticket from San Francisco to Shanghai. His reservation indicates this will be a short trip; he is going to be in China less than one full day. Upon arrival at the airport in Shanghai, the immigration control officer asks him “What … Continue reading ““Don’t Touch My Bags If You Please, Mr. Customs Man””
UW Gets $25M For Genome Center
The University of Washington has been awarded a two-year, $25 million grant from the federal stimulus program to establish a new genome sequencing center to explore underlying causes of heart, lung, and blood diseases. The new UW center, to be led by scientist Deborah Nickerson, is one of two such sequencing centers being set up … Continue reading “UW Gets $25M For Genome Center”
Teranode Gets $900K Debt Deal
Seattle-based Teranode, the maker of software to organize life sciences laboratories, has raised $900,000 in a debt financing, according to a regulatory filing. The document doesn’t say who invested, although Cameron Myhrvold of Bellevue, WA-based Ignition Partners is on the board. Teranode, a spinoff from the University of Washington, was founded in 2002, according to … Continue reading “Teranode Gets $900K Debt Deal”
On Verge of Omeros IPO, Former Finance Chief Accuses Company of Filing False Records with NIH
Seattle-based Omeros, the biotech company attempting to raise as much as $80 million in an initial public offering slated for next week, has been accused of submitting false timekeeping records to the National Institutes of Health for grant work, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the company’s former chief financial officer. Richard J. Klein … Continue reading “On Verge of Omeros IPO, Former Finance Chief Accuses Company of Filing False Records with NIH”
Omeros Teed Up for IPO Next Week, Seeking to Rake In More Than $80M
Seattle-based Omeros is on the docket to go public next week, and will attempt to become the first pure-play biotechnology company to take the plunge since February 2008, according to Renaissance Capital, an IPO analysis firm. Omeros, which is developing an anti-inflammatory treatment to help people recover from arthroscopic knee surgery, has set a goal … Continue reading “Omeros Teed Up for IPO Next Week, Seeking to Rake In More Than $80M”
Charles Simonyi, Software Giant Turned Space Tourist, Talks Technology and Exploration at UW
Do you ever sit down with a friend who wants to show you all their latest vacation pictures? (Maybe not as much since photo-sharing sites took off.) Well, yesterday’s kickoff of the Distinguished Lecturer Series at the University of Washington’s department of computer science and engineering was just like that—if your friend were Charles Simonyi, … Continue reading “Charles Simonyi, Software Giant Turned Space Tourist, Talks Technology and Exploration at UW”
How to Launch a Professional-Looking Blog on a Shoestring
Maybe you’d like to have a sleek, attractive blog or website for yourself or your business. Maybe you’ve looked around at some of the free blogging or lifestreaming platforms like Blogger, Posterous, Tumblr, TypePad, and WordPress.com and you’ve been underwhelmed by the cookie-cutter sameness of the sites you see there. If either of those things … Continue reading “How to Launch a Professional-Looking Blog on a Shoestring”
How Much Do Biotech Workers Really Earn? Maybe Not as Much as Politicians Say
The biotech industry enjoys a lot of political clout in Washington D.C. and state capitals largely because it attracts highly educated people into high-paying jobs. But I spotted an intriguing bit of data this week that suggests biotech workers aren’t really taking home nearly as much money as some of the industry’s lobbyists and political … Continue reading “How Much Do Biotech Workers Really Earn? Maybe Not as Much as Politicians Say”
The Web Has Feelings Too: How Seattle Startups Are Cashing In on Sentiment Analysis
Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Weep, and you weep alone (as the old saying goes). Or maybe not. Maybe no one weeps alone anymore, what with Twitter, Facebook, and the like. This week’s release of a “sentiment analysis” product from Seattle-based Appature made me think about what’s really going on at the intersection … Continue reading “The Web Has Feelings Too: How Seattle Startups Are Cashing In on Sentiment Analysis”
Vaccine Exec Named SBRI Chair
Todd Patrick, a longtime vaccine company executive, has been named the chairman of the board of trustees at Seattle Biomedical Research Institute. Patrick is the former president of ID Biomedical, the Vancouver, BC and Bothell, WA-based vaccine developer that was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline for $1.5 billion in 2005. Patrick has served on the SBRI board … Continue reading “Vaccine Exec Named SBRI Chair”
Xconomy Channels Startups and Life Sciences
Notice anything new here? Over to the right a little… Little more… Next to the map? (Bear with me, loyal RSS and e-mail subscribers, this will all make sense in a minute.) Today marks the official launch of our new Startups and Life Sciences channels, whose homepages you can access via those handy new buttons … Continue reading “Xconomy Channels Startups and Life Sciences”
Association of Independent Research Institutes Annual Meeting, Bill Gates Sr. Award
The Association of Independent Research Institutes, an organization that represents 91 independent research centers in the U.S., is holding its 48th annual meeting from Oct. 4-7 at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle. The group will present Bill Gates Sr., the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with its public service award … Continue reading “Association of Independent Research Institutes Annual Meeting, Bill Gates Sr. Award”
AVI Settles In, ZymoGenetics MS Drug Fails, Dendreon’s FDA Filing Set for Mid-November & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
Dendreon watchers got all hyped up in anticipation of the company’s analyst day in New York, but there really wasn’t much in the way of news. So I dug up some other stuff for your reading enjoyment. —The biggest piece of news out of Seattle-based Dendreon‘s analyst day was that the company says it plans … Continue reading “AVI Settles In, ZymoGenetics MS Drug Fails, Dendreon’s FDA Filing Set for Mid-November & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
Top 5 Latest and Greatest iPhone Apps from Seattle
It’s been just over a year since we first catalogued the iPhone apps originating from our fair city (and environs). Back then, mobile applications like Urbanspoon, Whrrl (from Pelago), and Jott were relatively new and just starting to take off, letting iPhone users do things like discover restaurants and events and dictate e-mails and text … Continue reading “Top 5 Latest and Greatest iPhone Apps from Seattle”
Recruit Rock Star Scientists To Make Seattle Thrive as an Innovation Hub
I am quite often asked, in some form or another, “What can [STATE][LOCAL] government do to spur on an innovation-based economy in [SEATTLE][WASHINGTON]?” Well, as I said on a panel at the Technology Alliance meeting in Leavenworth yesterday, the single biggest correlate to the strength of an innovative biotechnology industry in any geography is the … Continue reading “Recruit Rock Star Scientists To Make Seattle Thrive as an Innovation Hub”
Appature Offers Sentiment Analysis
Seattle-based Appature announced late yesterday that it now provides “sentiment analysis” that lets healthcare marketers understand people’s feelings (positive or negative) about their brand, or other topics in their industry, from blogs and social media. Together with the rest of Appature’s marketing software, companies can do things like search against information in their Appature database … Continue reading “Appature Offers Sentiment Analysis”
Spiration Pulls in $7M Debt Financing For Device to Treat Lung Diseases
[Update: 1:55 pm, 09/30/09. See below] Spiration, the Redmond, WA-based maker of a device to treat deadly lung diseases like emphysema and chronic bronchitis, has raised $7 million in debt out of a $10 million financing, according to a regulatory filing. The financing is coming entirely from Spiration’s partner in Europe and Japan, Olympus Medical … Continue reading “Spiration Pulls in $7M Debt Financing For Device to Treat Lung Diseases”
Founder’s Co-op Funds Nearlyweds and BigDoor Media, and Is Exploring New Investment Model
[Updated 9/30/09 2:15 pm. See below.] Seattle-based Founder’s Co-op, the seed-stage fund run by Andy Sack and Chris DeVore, has been busy as of late. The peer-to-peer angel group has made two startup investments that have come to light this month. The financial details of the deals haven’t been announced, but something interesting may be … Continue reading “Founder’s Co-op Funds Nearlyweds and BigDoor Media, and Is Exploring New Investment Model”
Earth Class Mail Gets New CEO
Seattle-based Earth Class Mail, which helps companies access and manage their postal mail online, announced today it has promoted Sarah Carr to chief executive. Carr succeeds Ron Wiener, the company’s founding CEO who stepped down in June and is now chairman of the board. Carr joined Earth Class Mail in September 2008 as chief operating … Continue reading “Earth Class Mail Gets New CEO”
Fate Therapeutics Growing Fast on “Industrialized” Stem Cell Technology
Want to know how fast Fate Therapeutics is growing? When I toured the La Jolla, CA, company’s labs to get an update last week, one young scientist stood up from his desk, looked me in the eye, offered a firm handshake, and said “Welcome aboard.” I understood why a visiting journalist in a button-down shirt … Continue reading “Fate Therapeutics Growing Fast on “Industrialized” Stem Cell Technology”
Microsoft Buys Interactive Supercomputing, Digeo Acquired for $20M, Ignition’s Cloud Portfolio, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
The Northwest deal flow in the past week tended toward small partnerships and acquisitions. But there was still some significant activity in software, Internet, and entertainment. —As ghostbuster Bill Murray once said, “Dogs and cats living together…mass hysteria!” Seattle-based Pet Holdings, operators of I Can Has Cheezburger (Lolcats) and other humor websites, formed an advertising … Continue reading “Microsoft Buys Interactive Supercomputing, Digeo Acquired for $20M, Ignition’s Cloud Portfolio, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”
Spiration Secures $7,000,000 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=da49d1b0-9c46-4455-b1cb-6168d76e846c&Preview=1 Date 9/30/2009 Company Name Spiration Mailing Address 6675 185th Avenue N.E. Redmond, WA 98052 Company Description Spiration Inc. designs, manufactures and markets innovative Medical Devices & Instruments for the treatment of lung disease, including lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which together claim nearly 275,000 lives in the United … Continue reading “Spiration Secures $7,000,000 New Financing Round”
Pet Holdings Teams Up with Dogster
Seattle-based Pet Holdings, owners of I Can Has Cheezburger and other humor websites, has formed a partnership with Dogster, a San Francisco-based social networking site, whereby Dogster will sell ads for Pet Holdings’ animal-related sites. The news was reported by TechCrunch, which also notes that the Cheezburger network will hit one billion page views this … Continue reading “Pet Holdings Teams Up with Dogster”
The Quest for an HIV Vaccine
The HIV vaccine field received exciting news Thursday from an HIV vaccine trial conducted in Thailand, where the vaccines tested appeared to reduce the acquisition of HIV by about 30 percent. This milestone is the first sign from a study in humans that it is possible to develop an effective HIV vaccine. The trial, conducted … Continue reading “The Quest for an HIV Vaccine”
Intel Labs Seattle Shows Off New Sensing Interfaces, Self-Charging Robot, Wireless Power
Yesterday’s annual open house at Intel Labs Seattle, near the UW campus, did not disappoint. I got a whirlwind tour from incoming lab director Dieter Fox (who also talked with me about Intel and the future of robotics). In attendance were some prominent members of the Intel brass like chief technology officer Justin Rattner, and … Continue reading “Intel Labs Seattle Shows Off New Sensing Interfaces, Self-Charging Robot, Wireless Power”
AppBank Helps Facebook Users Make Money, Looks to Become the Ad King for Social Apps
It’s always good to hear about another small Seattle startup that’s bootstrapped and already profitable. Yesterday it was Appature, today it’s AppBank. They may share the first three letters of their names (and bootstrapped profitability), but after that they’re about as different as two Internet software companies can be. AppBank is a six-person company focused … Continue reading “AppBank Helps Facebook Users Make Money, Looks to Become the Ad King for Social Apps”
AVI Biopharma Settles Into New Digs, Scopes Out Seattle Biotech Talent Pool
The day I stopped by to visit Seattle’s newest biotech company, the building was chilly on one side and hot on the other. An assistant wasn’t sure at first where the light switch was in the conference room. Nobody answered right away when I called from the security phone outside. “Hopefully the next time you … Continue reading “AVI Biopharma Settles Into New Digs, Scopes Out Seattle Biotech Talent Pool”
Intel Labs Seattle’s New Director, Dieter Fox, on Why the Future of Robotics Matters to Intel
Yesterday afternoon I stopped by Intel Labs Seattle, the research lab run by the chip-making giant near the University of Washington campus, for the lab’s annual open house. It’s an extravaganza that always draws a big crowd from the local tech community. Besides the huge variety of lab demos, one of the most interesting things … Continue reading “Intel Labs Seattle’s New Director, Dieter Fox, on Why the Future of Robotics Matters to Intel”