Tweets from the Edge: The Ins and Outs (and Ups and Downs) of Twitter

If you already know all about Twitter—if you spent mid-March in Austin tweeting away with your pals at South by Southwest, if you can explain the differences between Twhirl and Twitterrific and Tweetdeck, and if you’ve already mastered thinking in 140-character fragments—this week’s column is not for you. It’s for all the other people, the … Continue reading “Tweets from the Edge: The Ins and Outs (and Ups and Downs) of Twitter”

Calypso Gets Florida Medicare Unit to Pay for “GPS for the Body” for Prostate Cancer

Calypso Medical Technologies has an expensive new technology for targeting radiation beams to cancerous prostate glands, so it shouldn’t be any surprise when insurers balk before they pay up. But Calypso got some good news this week as it persuaded an important customer, the regional Medicare unit that serves a lot of elderly men with … Continue reading “Calypso Gets Florida Medicare Unit to Pay for “GPS for the Body” for Prostate Cancer”

Pathway Medical Raises $40M for Device to Clear Out Blocked Leg Arteries

Pathway Medical Technologies, the Kirkland, WA-based maker of a device that clears out blockages in clogged leg arteries, has raised $40 million in new venture capital, Xconomy has learned. The investing group was led by Amsterdam-based Forbion Capital Partners, and joined by HLM Venture Partners, Oxford Bioscience Partners, Latterell Capital Management, Cooperative AAC, and Giza … Continue reading “Pathway Medical Raises $40M for Device to Clear Out Blocked Leg Arteries”

Bsquare Brings Flash to Google Android

Bellevue, WA-based Bsquare (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BSQR]]), a maker of software for embedded devices, has announced it will port Adobe’s Flash technology onto Google’s Android operating system for a top-tier wireless carrier. More specifics and financial terms were not disclosed. The news is significant because, with Bsquare’s work, Android may get Flash before the iPhone does.

Xconomy Forum Tonight: The Rise of Cleantech in the Northwest

We’re putting on a cleantech show tonight at K&L Gates in downtown Seattle, starting at 6 pm. The event is sold out, but we may still have a few standing-room tickets available if you contact me. Our panel, moderated by Michael Butler of Cascadia Capital, is made up of Mark Aggar from Microsoft, Jesse Berst … Continue reading “Xconomy Forum Tonight: The Rise of Cleantech in the Northwest”

Obama Stimulates UW, Public Biotechs Run Low on Cash, Healionics Ships Glaucoma Product & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

Biomedical research funded by Uncle Sam is hot, but publicly traded biotech companies that seek to develop those discoveries in the Northwest are cold. Here’s a recap of the week’s ups and downs in the local life sciences scene: —President Obama is proposing a whopping $10 billion addition to the National Institutes of Health’s budget … Continue reading “Obama Stimulates UW, Public Biotechs Run Low on Cash, Healionics Ships Glaucoma Product & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

Ontela, Visible, Wetpaint Win WTIA Awards

The 14th annual WTIA Industry Achievement Awards were announced last night at the Paramount Theater in downtown Seattle. The winning companies, as determined by online community voting, were AdReady (service provider), Ontela (breakthrough startup), Wetpaint (consumer product), and Visible Technologies (commercial product). Best use of technology in government, nonprofit, or education went to Snohomish County … Continue reading “Ontela, Visible, Wetpaint Win WTIA Awards”

Vioguard CEO Larry Ranta Takes Germ-Zapping Keyboard Into Growing Hospital Market

The concept is simple: a computer keyboard that self-sanitizes by zapping potentially deadly germs with ultraviolet light. The technology could help prevent the spread of nasty bacterial invaders like MRSA in hospitals and other institutions with shared computer facilities. That’s the idea behind Vioguard, a Bothell, WA, company co-founded by startup specialist Larry Ranta and … Continue reading “Vioguard CEO Larry Ranta Takes Germ-Zapping Keyboard Into Growing Hospital Market”

Pathway Medical Technologies Obtains $40,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ad36cedc-0603-490b-afbd-e8ff5905ec13&Preview=1 Date 3/26/2009 Company Name Pathway Medical Technologies Mailing Address 10801 120th Ave NE Kirkland, WA 98033 Company Description Pathway Medical Technologies, Inc. (Pathway), located in Redmond, Washington was founded in 1998 to design, develop and manufacture innovative medical devices intended for the treatment of arterial disease. The company’s initial focus is … Continue reading “Pathway Medical Technologies Obtains $40,000,000 New Financing”

Trubion Starts Lupus Trial

Trubion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TRBN]]), said today it has started a clinical trial of a drug for lupus, an autoimmune disease. The drug, SBI-087, is made to hit a target called CD20, that’s currently blocked by Genentech and Biogen Idec’s rituximab (Rituxan) for patients with a different form of autoimmune disease, rheumatoid arthritis. The Trubion drug-which … Continue reading “Trubion Starts Lupus Trial”

Vulcan Re-ups with Audience

Audience, a Mountain View, CA-based company that makes voice-processing software to reduce noise in cell phones, announced it has closed a $15 million Series D round of financing from existing investors, including Seattle-based Vulcan Capital. Other investors in the round were New Enterprise Associates, Tallwood Venture Capital, and VentureTech Alliance.

NWEN Investor Forum Yields Five Startup Finalists and a Winner, Hydrovolts

I stopped by The Big Picture, a cozy movie theater and lounge in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood, to catch the end of the Northwest Entrepreneur Network’s First Look Forum yesterday. The concept of the retooled event was to showcase only companies that had not yet pitched to an organized angel group or VCs. These are startups … Continue reading “NWEN Investor Forum Yields Five Startup Finalists and a Winner, Hydrovolts”

State Budget Cuts Limit UW’s Ability to Attract Federal Research Funding

Federal stimulus grants from the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation do not compensate for cuts in state support to the University of Washington or to other colleges and universities. In fact, state budget cuts have limited the state’s premier research university’s ability to pursue these considerable additional research funds. Headlines such as … Continue reading “State Budget Cuts Limit UW’s Ability to Attract Federal Research Funding”

The Northwest Biotech Survival Index 2: Companies Scraping By in Downturn

When I last crunched the financial numbers of the Northwest’s life sciences companies in November, the local contingent was taking a beating, and it has only continued. Just three of the 12 publicly-traded life sciences companies in the Northwest—Seattle Genetics, SonoSite, and Dendreon—were really well-positioned to weather this downturn with more than $100 million in … Continue reading “The Northwest Biotech Survival Index 2: Companies Scraping By in Downturn”

Clean Water Boom: Halosource Spreads Purifying Technology Across India, China

The last time I checked in with Bothell, WA-based Halosource in July, it was gaining momentum with a cheap, simple technology for purifying drinking water that was being used by a million people in India. Nine months later, privately held Halosource, a company with just 100 employees, appears to have a hit on its hands. … Continue reading “Clean Water Boom: Halosource Spreads Purifying Technology Across India, China”

Xconomy Forum Preview: Northwest Cleantech Rising this Thursday

It’s shaping up to be a really special event. Xconomy is putting on a forum about cleantech innovation this Thursday evening at K&L Gates in downtown Seattle. Our distinguished panelists will put away their PowerPoint slides and get right down to debating the tough questions. What are the real opportunities in cleantech-meets-software? How should the … Continue reading “Xconomy Forum Preview: Northwest Cleantech Rising this Thursday”

Nanostring CEO Perry Fell Departs

Nanostring Technologies CEO Perry Fell has resigned as CEO, and has been replaced on an acting basis by chief financial officer Wayne Burns. The Seattle-based company, which makes instruments that provide a digital readout for large-scale genomic experiments, shipped its first commercial product in July. The company was founded in 2004, and has raised $17 … Continue reading “Nanostring CEO Perry Fell Departs”

Leroy Hood, ISB Scientists Spot Genes For “Mad Cow” Disease; May Lead to Diagnostic Test

A team of scientists led by biotech pioneer Leroy Hood have spotted a set of genes that go haywire in mice infected with a form of “Mad Cow” disease—a finding that could pave the way for more effective early diagnostic tests for the brain-wasting condition in cattle. The new findings are being published online today … Continue reading “Leroy Hood, ISB Scientists Spot Genes For “Mad Cow” Disease; May Lead to Diagnostic Test”

Healionics Takes First Step Toward Glaucoma Treatment, Appoints New CEO

Healionics is taking an important step today toward becoming a commercial business. The Redmond, WA-based company, the two-year-old developer of technology to promote healing around implantable medical devices, has sold and shipped its first product. It has also undergone a leadership shake-up, with CEO Rob Brown stepping aside and being replaced by the company’s former … Continue reading “Healionics Takes First Step Toward Glaucoma Treatment, Appoints New CEO”

Intellectual Ventures Inks India Deal, Ontela Teams with T-Mobile, MDRNA Nabs $7.25M, & More Seattle-Area Deals News

It was a quiet week for deals in the Northwest, with a few partnerships formed in software, biotech, and intellectual property. —Bothell, WA-based MDRNA (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MRNA]]), a developer of RNA interference technology for drug development, agreed to license its technology non-exclusively to Novartis in exchange for $7.25 million in upfront fees, as Luke reported. MDRNA … Continue reading “Intellectual Ventures Inks India Deal, Ontela Teams with T-Mobile, MDRNA Nabs $7.25M, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”

Mobile Trends: The Cell Phone Body Count

You may not realize it, but your mobile phone is a cold-blooded killer. Its assault began with little fanfare—the first victim, the phone booth, wasn’t particularly well-loved, and nobody was expecting a complete extermination. Yet here we stand in a world where Clark Kent couldn’t find a place to pull on his Supersuit if the … Continue reading “Mobile Trends: The Cell Phone Body Count”

Jeff Raikes on Backing Agile Sports, a Startup Focused on Football, Built on Microsoft Tech

Even the chief executive of the world’s largest philanthropic institution has a little time for his boyhood passions. Jeff Raikes, the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, grew up on a ranch near Omaha, NE, rooting for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers, a national college football powerhouse. Raikes made his fortune at Microsoft, … Continue reading “Jeff Raikes on Backing Agile Sports, a Startup Focused on Football, Built on Microsoft Tech”

MDRNA Nabs $7.25M From Novartis

MDRNA, the Bothell, WA-based developer of RNA interference technology for drug development, said today it agreed to provide a non-exclusive license its technology to Novartis in exchange for $7.25 million in upfront fees. MDNRA (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MRNA]]) also negotiated a separate deal that gives Novartis an exclusive period in which it can strike a larger R&D … Continue reading “MDRNA Nabs $7.25M From Novartis”

Obama Stimulus Plan May Generate $300M Research Windfall, UW Says

The Northwest’s biggest research center is going to get a lot bigger in a hurry. The University of Washington expects it will rake in a $300 million windfall of research money in the next six months as part of President Obama’s economic stimulus plan, according to Linden Rhoads, the UW’s vice provost of technology transfer. … Continue reading “Obama Stimulus Plan May Generate $300M Research Windfall, UW Says”

MDRNA Secures $7,250,000 Series D Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8ec043f0-02bb-46a2-a9a5-40ac9cbb38cf&Preview=1 Date 3/23/2009 Company Name MDRNA Mailing Address 3830 Monte Villa Parkway Bothell, WA 98021 Company Description MDRNA is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutic products based on RNA interference (RNAi). We are building a broad, flexible and cutting-edge drug discovery platform based on the premise that … Continue reading “MDRNA Secures $7,250,000 Series D Financing Round”

Seattle Layoff Update: Amaze Entertainment, Evri Cut Staff

The carnage continues. At least two area technology companies that we follow at Xconomy have had significant layoffs this week—both at least in part because of the worsening economic climate. Here’s a quick summary of the news: —Kirkland, WA-based Amaze Entertainment, the console-game developer studio owned by Foundation 9 Entertainment (F9E), has laid off about … Continue reading “Seattle Layoff Update: Amaze Entertainment, Evri Cut Staff”

Clean Tech Open Expands to Northwest

The Clean Tech Open, a nonprofit based in Palo Alto, CA, announced today it is expanding its 2009 business competition to include cleantech entrepreneurs in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The fourth annual competition will award $50,000 each to three winners in the Northwest, in addition to winners in California and the Rocky Mountain region. Regional … Continue reading “Clean Tech Open Expands to Northwest”

EU Spurns Gilead’s Aztreonam

Gilead Sciences, the Foster City, CA-based biotech company that has a research center in Seattle, said a scientific committee of the European Union adopted a negative opinion of its aztreonam lysine drug. The treatment, an inhalable antibiotic for cystic fibrosis developed by Seattle-based Corus Pharma, was turned down by the FDA last fall. EU regulators … Continue reading “EU Spurns Gilead’s Aztreonam”

Google Voice: It’s the End of the Phone As We Know It

[Update 12:00 pm 3/20/09: We were swamped with hundreds of e-mails in response to our offer of 100 free Google Voice beta accounts this morning. Thanks everyone! We’ll be in touch with the winners as soon as possible with details about their new accounts.] Brace for impact, again. Google is about to change the way … Continue reading “Google Voice: It’s the End of the Phone As We Know It”

Intellectual Ventures’ Indian Deal Epitomizes Strategy to Support Invention in Asia

On Monday, Bellevue, WA-based Intellectual Ventures signed an agreement with the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay to license some of the university’s inventions and to work on technology commercialization strategies with its researchers, as reported by CIOL, Express India, TechFlash, and other outlets. It’s not really big news by itself—Intellectual Ventures has formed similar partnerships with … Continue reading “Intellectual Ventures’ Indian Deal Epitomizes Strategy to Support Invention in Asia”

Five More Life Sciences Companies To Watch: Invest Northwest Notebook, Part 2

There were lots of intriguing ideas circulating at this year’s Invest Northwest conference in Seattle; so many, in fact, that I couldn’t jam them all into one story. Yesterday, I offered an update on the progress of five intriguing Seattle-area companies in the business of making new drugs, vaccines, or medical devices—Alder Biopharmaceuticals, Immune Design, … Continue reading “Five More Life Sciences Companies To Watch: Invest Northwest Notebook, Part 2”

Amazing Society Makes Gazillion Game

Issaquah, WA-based Amazing Society, a game development studio owned by San Mateo, CA-based Gazillion Entertainment, is making a video game based on the Super Hero Squad cartoon, through a partnership between Gazillion and Marvel Entertainment. Gazillion emerged from stealth mode this week, as reported by VentureBeat and Northwest Innovation. Amazing Society is slated to develop … Continue reading “Amazing Society Makes Gazillion Game”

Snapshot of a Tipping Point: Ontela Teams Up with T-Mobile to Deliver Photos Online

Seattle mobile startup Ontela is announcing today that its photo-sending service for camera phones is now available through T-Mobile, via a partnership with the photo-sharing website Photobucket. The news comes on the heels of Ontela’s software going live on Verizon Wireless phones in November (also through Photobucket), as well as being pre-installed on four of … Continue reading “Snapshot of a Tipping Point: Ontela Teams Up with T-Mobile to Deliver Photos Online”

Invest Northwest Notebook: Five of Seattle’s Next-Generation Life Sciences Innovators Seek to Adapt

No single company captured the lion’s share of buzz at this year’s Invest Northwest conference with a mega-partnership or a lucrative round of venture capital. But there were signs that the Northwest’s life sciences companies have adapted to life in a recession, and are continuing to get out of bed each day with plans to … Continue reading “Invest Northwest Notebook: Five of Seattle’s Next-Generation Life Sciences Innovators Seek to Adapt”

Merck’s Creationist-Turned-Genomicist, Pfizer’s VC Leader Scouts the Northwest, Zymo Nabs $20M, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

This was a busy week in Xconomy’s life sciences department with lots of story ideas to chase at Invest Northwest, a fascinating life story of Merck’s Eric Schadt, and the usual pace of breaking news. —Merck’s Eric Schadt has been in the news lately since he and Rosetta Inpharmatics founder Stephen Friend told me about … Continue reading “Merck’s Creationist-Turned-Genomicist, Pfizer’s VC Leader Scouts the Northwest, Zymo Nabs $20M, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

UW Energy Talks Dive Deep into Boeing Biofuels, Smart Grid Savings, and Solar Cells

New ideas for alternative energy and cleantech were in the air on Tuesday at the University of Washington, which hosted a regional meeting of the National Academy of Engineering and a public symposium on energy topics. We’ve taken a keen interest in this subject lately at Xconomy as we prepare for our own Northwest cleantech … Continue reading “UW Energy Talks Dive Deep into Boeing Biofuels, Smart Grid Savings, and Solar Cells”

HipCricket Expands to Mexico

Kirkland, WA-based HipCricket, a mobile marketing software firm, announced today it has formed a partnership with investors Pablo Peralta and Enrique Lopez-Negrete of Mexico. The resulting service, HipCricket de Mexico, is the first step in the company’s plans to expand its reach to wireless customers in Latin America.

Discovery Sues Amazon over Kindle

Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DISCA]]), the owner of Discovery Channel and other TV networks and websites, has filed a lawsuit against Amazon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMZN]]), alleging that the Kindle and Kindle 2 infringe on a Discovery patent issued in 2007 for e-book security and copyright protection. Discovery is seeking an unspecified amount of compensation.

Evri Teams Up with The Times of London, Helps Online Audience Browse the Web Better

Seattle-based Internet startup Evri is announcing today that it has formed a partnership with The Times of London, one of the UK’s leading newspapers, to provide content recommendation software for online articles. For selected stories in the Times Online, Evri’s widget shows up next to the text with a list of links to related articles … Continue reading “Evri Teams Up with The Times of London, Helps Online Audience Browse the Web Better”

How to Stimulate Biotech? Gillis, Chhabra, Williams Sound Off

No one would have been surprised if there was a lot of self-pity going around at this year’s Invest Northwest conference. After all, biotech investors have been clobbered like every other sector in the market, and one-third of public biotech companies are said to be running on their last six months of cash or less. … Continue reading “How to Stimulate Biotech? Gillis, Chhabra, Williams Sound Off”

Pfizer’s VC Leader, Barbara Dalton, on Corporate Venture and Northwest Deal Hunting

Pfizer is the world’s largest drugmaker, and it tends to make headlines when it pulls off megadeals like its pending $68 billion takeover of Wyeth. It’s one of the deals the company is hoping will help replenish its pipeline with new medicines after the patent expires in 2010 for atorvastatin (Lipitor), the $12 billion a … Continue reading “Pfizer’s VC Leader, Barbara Dalton, on Corporate Venture and Northwest Deal Hunting”

Ex-Microsoftie’s Startup, Telligent, Takes on Jive (and Others) in Social Software for Businesses

A week ago, I reported on Portland, OR-based Jive Software’s latest product, a business software package designed to let employees communicate and collaborate more effectively using social networking tools. Jive competes with the likes of big companies such as IBM and Microsoft, who want to own the business communication space and have been adding social-network … Continue reading “Ex-Microsoftie’s Startup, Telligent, Takes on Jive (and Others) in Social Software for Businesses”

Geospiza Wins $1.1M NIH Grant

Geospiza, the Seattle-based maker of software to help researchers sort through massive amounts of genomic data, said today it has received a two-year, $1.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. It’s part of a collaboration with The HDF Group. The collaboration will aim to support biological software applications that use Hierarchical Data Format, … Continue reading “Geospiza Wins $1.1M NIH Grant”

Blade Games Raises $4M, Skytap Scores $7M, ZymoGenetics Gets $20M, & More Seattle-Area Deals News

St. Paddy’s Day caps a relatively busy week for deals in the Northwest, with activity in business software, gaming, and biotech. —In the big funding news of the week, Seattle-based Skytap scored a $7 million Series B round from existing Seattle-area investors Ignition Partners, Madrona Venture Group, and WRF Capital. Skytap develops cloud-computing software to … Continue reading “Blade Games Raises $4M, Skytap Scores $7M, ZymoGenetics Gets $20M, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”

Cell Therapeutics Reports Severe Cardiac Events in Drug Trial

[[Updated: March 16, 5:50 pm. Adds comments from chief medical officer Jack Singer and clarifies study results.]] Cell Therapeutics is betting its future on winning FDA approval of a drug that looks effective for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but now comes word that patients on the drug in a clinical trial had a higher number of heart … Continue reading “Cell Therapeutics Reports Severe Cardiac Events in Drug Trial”

Funding Advice from Global Smart Energy

Redmond, WA-based Global Smart Energy has released guidelines for evaluating proposals for smart-grid projects that seek federal stimulus funds. The “stimulus scorecard” recommends proposals should be specific about how they impact things like consumer choice and energy bills, utilities’ desire for open, secure, and replicable systems, and job growth and other economic factors. The report … Continue reading “Funding Advice from Global Smart Energy”

Azaleos Merges With M3

Seattle-based Azaleos, a Microsoft Exchange services company, announced today it has merged with Charlotte, NC-based M3 Technology Group. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the new company will retain the name and management team of Azaleos. Azaleos was founded in 2004 by senior Microsoft execs to handle e-mail for businesses.

Cloud Computing Firm Skytap Scores $7M More from Ignition, Madrona, WRF

What financing risk? Seattle-based Skytap, a cloud-based virtualization startup, said today it has closed a $7 million Series B funding round from previous investors Ignition Partners, Madrona Venture Group, and WRF Capital. The company said the funds will be used to bolster product development, sales, and marketing efforts. Skytap was spun out of the University … Continue reading “Cloud Computing Firm Skytap Scores $7M More from Ignition, Madrona, WRF”