Category: Seattle

Cyanogen Secures $80,000,000 Series C Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=cedae74c-e9ba-4df2-ab8f-5b8b961dfb18 Date 3/23/2015 Company Name Cyanogen Mailing Address 542 1st Ave S. Seattle, WA 98104 USA Company Description CyanogenMod (pronounced sigh-AN-oh-jen-mod), is a customized, aftermarket firmware distribution for several Android devices. Based on the Android Open Source Project, CyanogenMod is designed to increase performance and reliability over Android-based ROMs released by vendors … Continue reading “Cyanogen Secures $80,000,000 Series C Round”

Innovation Hub: Did a Computer Write This Story?

Forget Malcolm Gladwell and Tom Friedman. The next great journalist could be a computer program. Already, artificial intelligence has been put to work at Forbes, the Associated Press, Reuters, and The Big Ten Network. Coverage of NCAA basketball games, earnings reports, and dips in housing prices are regularly penned by this new breed of “journalist.” … Continue reading “Innovation Hub: Did a Computer Write This Story?”

Seattle Roundup: Remitly, Healthentic, Microsoft Accelerator Startups

In addition to the major funding rounds announced this week by FiftyThree ($30 million) and Rover ($25 million), smaller deals went down at Remitly and Healthentic. Meanwhile, Pro.com joined an accelerator program and Microsoft named 14 companies to its next startup accelerator in Seattle. Read on for details: —Remitly, a Seattle startup taking a modern, … Continue reading “Seattle Roundup: Remitly, Healthentic, Microsoft Accelerator Startups”

Lessons From Building a Global Engineering Team

It used to be that if you referenced a “global engineering team” you had contracted with a few freelance developers in a remote location to do a few hours of work per week. There’s a good reason for that: historically, recruiting, retaining, and growing global engineering teams has been a significant challenge. At HubSpot, we … Continue reading “Lessons From Building a Global Engineering Team”

Healthentic Lands $3,750,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0b396266-abff-4c44-b053-dda12805b259 Date 3/20/2015 Company Name Healthentic Mailing Address 9706 4th Ave NE Seattle, WA 98115 USA Company Description People are the most treasured asset for any organization. They are the difference between success and failure. Employers want their people to be happy, healthy, and more productive. One of the biggest investments an … Continue reading “Healthentic Lands $3,750,000 New Funding Round”

Illumagear Lands $600,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0a2fc91d-71d8-4c51-9112-cee46872e335 Date 3/20/2015 Company Name Illumagear Mailing Address 1752 NW Market St. Seattle, WA 98107 USA Company Description ILLUMAGEAR’s mission is to illuminate people working in high-risk environments, making them safer and more prepared. We’ve been on work sites. We know how dangerous they are. Every year hundreds of workers die and … Continue reading “Illumagear Lands $600,000 New Financing Round”

StratoScientific Garners $150,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b945f56e-5dd2-461f-a009-eedd05d7a6ee Date 3/20/2015 Company Name StratoScientific Mailing Address 1215 Fourth Avenue Seattle, WA 98161 USA Company Description Innovating elegant products to improve patient outcomes and greatly reduce healthcare costs. We are poised and ready to make a big difference in the health care space. Out of the box thinking, world class design, … Continue reading “StratoScientific Garners $150,000 New Financing Round”

West Coast Biotech Roundup: Juno, Nektar, Kite, Glooko & More

Out west this week, Bay Area clinical data carried the day. Nektar got bad news from a Phase 3 breast cancer trial, but Pharmacyclics, about to become (a very expensive) part of AbbVie, kept rolling with lymphoma/leukemia data so good that reviewers voted to release it early. Vancouver was also abuzz, as Bill Gates spoke … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Juno, Nektar, Kite, Glooko & More”

Milestones of Innovation 4: The Letter That Led to the Atomic Bomb

Crisp statements of a case to a prepared, if skeptical, mind have often changed the history of innovation. Perhaps the most critical example of this in the 20th Century is the memorandum that reached Sir Henry Tizard, chief scientific advisor to Britain’s Air Ministry, 75 years ago today, on the 19th of March, 1940. This … Continue reading “Milestones of Innovation 4: The Letter That Led to the Atomic Bomb”

Rover.com Lands $25,000,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=52036d4b-f48a-4a74-8ed0-33af3617590a Date 3/19/2015 Company Name Rover.com Mailing Address 808 Howell St. Seattle, WA 98101 USA Company Description At Rover.com, our mission is to allow dog owners to easily tap into the 40 million U.S. dog-owning households as well as a myriad of other pet lovers-including professionals – to meet their dog care … Continue reading “Rover.com Lands $25,000,000 New Funding”

Remitly Secures $12,500,000 Series B Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=3d702712-73a1-4b7b-b501-e62b15d8ab3a Date 3/19/2015 Company Name Remitly Mailing Address 1725 Westlake Ave. N Seattle, WA 98109 USA Company Description Remitly has changed the way to send money. We understand the pain of sending money abroad. We make things easier and faster, and work smarter so you can send more and pay less. Website … Continue reading “Remitly Secures $12,500,000 Series B Financing”

Mars Satellite Makes Unexpected Discoveries: Pretty Lights and Dust

A trip to Mars already is yielding surprises for NASA—no, not Martians, but two unexpected atmospheric phenomena that have been detected for the first time. The scientists running NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft announced Wednesday they’ve spotted an aurora like Earth’s Northern Lights and a high-altitude dust cloud that reaches deep … Continue reading “Mars Satellite Makes Unexpected Discoveries: Pretty Lights and Dust”

Consumption Rules, E-mail Thrives, Enterprise Agreements are Dead

Microsoft opened its Office suite to play with other cloud services, Box debuted on Wall Street, and Google reinvented the inbox. Not even three months into 2015, and we’ve already had several interesting developments in the online collaboration software market. Here’s how these announcements fit into trends we’re seeing at Smartsheet. Consumption-Based Pricing Eats Per-User … Continue reading “Consumption Rules, E-mail Thrives, Enterprise Agreements are Dead”

As FAA OKs Commercial Drones, 3D Robotics Aims for Blue Sky Market

The largest U.S. maker of lightweight, multi-rotor drones and unmanned aerial systems is looking to substantially expand its commercial business—targeting companies that want to use drones to inspect railways, monitor construction sites, and for all sorts of other things. After raising $50 million late last month, 3D Robotics is at a watershed moment made possible … Continue reading “As FAA OKs Commercial Drones, 3D Robotics Aims for Blue Sky Market”

FiftyThree Draws $30M Series B to Launch Think Kit in April

FiftyThree, the company known for creating sketching app Paper and the stylus Pencil, is taking $30 million of venture capital from New Enterprise Associates and its other major investors as it prepares to bring a new product to market focused on business and education. The company is launching a product called Think Kit that is … Continue reading “FiftyThree Draws $30M Series B to Launch Think Kit in April”

In Mental Health Therapy, Cautious Steps Toward the Pharmacodigital

[Corrected 3/17/15, 7:55 pm. See below.] The phrase “better living through chemistry,” derived from an old DuPont corporate slogan, has accumulated all kinds of ironic and wink-wink connotations over the decades. But there’s a fascinating revival and upgrade underway. For people with debilitating mental health problems, many researchers, doctors, and businesspeople think the new phrase … Continue reading “In Mental Health Therapy, Cautious Steps Toward the Pharmacodigital”

Echodyne Targets Drones, Self-Driving Cars with Metamaterials Radar

Echodyne, a secretive Seattle-area startup company backed by investors including Bill Gates and Paul Allen, is developing a novel, high-performance radar suitable for drones, robots, and self-driving cars. The technology could potentially allow such vehicles to operate independently in a range of conditions. The company, housed in a drab, unmarked building just off State Route 520 in Bellevue, … Continue reading “Echodyne Targets Drones, Self-Driving Cars with Metamaterials Radar”

Innovation Hub: Wadhwa’s Dystopian Future

Vivek Wadhwa is a big-picture guy. A guy whose vision of the future includes printing meat, banning humans from the road, and sidelining Wall Street. Wadhwa currently juggles appointments at Stanford, Duke, and Singularity Universities, and he says that massive technological advances will reroute our lives, a shift that may lead to massive dislocation, perhaps … Continue reading “Innovation Hub: Wadhwa’s Dystopian Future”

Qumulo Promises Insights into Data with New Software-Based Storage

Qumulo, the Seattle data storage startup that has raised $67 million, says it has about 15 customers so far for the high-capacity system it’s bringing to the market today. For the last three years, the company founded by early employees of Seattle’s last major data storage success, Isilon, has been quietly at work on Qumulo Core—a … Continue reading “Qumulo Promises Insights into Data with New Software-Based Storage”

TableSafe Receives $2,500,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f9338e46-2b17-434f-92d6-59637434f512 Date 3/16/2015 Company Name TableSafe Mailing Address 12220 – 113th Ave. NE Kirkland, WA 98034 USA Company Description TableSafe provides solutions for secure payment transactions, while providing a marketing platform for communications between the hospitality industry and their guests. The Company partners with industry leading technology companies to ensure the highest … Continue reading “TableSafe Receives $2,500,000 New Funding”

Robo Madness Boston: The Photos and Takeaways

Our first-ever dedicated robotics event in Boston was a smash hit. Here’s hoping the local community can keep the momentum going and solidify its standing as a worldwide leader in the field. Huge thanks to our event sponsors who made the conference possible: Argosight, BDO, Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, IDA Ireland, and iRobot. And … Continue reading “Robo Madness Boston: The Photos and Takeaways”

Seattle Roundup: Spaceflight Industries, Expedia, Magicflix, & More

This week, Spaceflight Industries collected a major funding round, strengthening another player in the state’s commercial space industry. Meanwhile, startups Magicflix and PatrolTag raised smaller sums; Expedia continued its spending spree; Avalara picked up assets from a Brazilian tax company; Cambia Grove opened its doors; ChickTech is opening a Seattle chapter; EnergySavvy is collaborating with … Continue reading “Seattle Roundup: Spaceflight Industries, Expedia, Magicflix, & More”

West Coast Biotech Roundup: Apple, 23andMe, Amgen, Acadia & More

A is for all the news up and down the West Coast this week, and much of that news was both about bio and tech. Apple launched an iPhone-based medical research platform, 23andMe has hired a former Genentech star to turn its genomic database into a drug discovery platform, and Google is expanding its genomic … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Apple, 23andMe, Amgen, Acadia & More”

Xconomy Forum: Seattle Biotech Seizes the Momentum

Biotech has roared back to life the past couple years, perhaps more than any other U.S. economic sector. Seattle’s biotech community is no different. Last year’s signs of revival include the ascendance of Juno Therapeutics, the burgeoning pipeline of Seattle Genetics, the kickoff of a study that could become a key part of the national … Continue reading “Xconomy Forum: Seattle Biotech Seizes the Momentum”

There’s an Algorithm for That: Algorithmia Helps You Find It

These days, you don’t have to be an expert in natural-language processing or computer vision to make an app that can automatically summarize text or recognize faces. You just have to find the right algorithm. Seattle startup Algorithmia is making both finding and using algorithms easier with a marketplace that unites algorithm creators and the … Continue reading “There’s an Algorithm for That: Algorithmia Helps You Find It”

Spaceflight Garners $19,200,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e586ee0c-1a36-4cca-8bf5-8473b1502f9f Date 3/12/2015 Company Name Spaceflight Mailing Address 3415 S. 116th Street Tukwila, WA 98168 USA Company Description Spaceflight was founded in 2010 by Jason Andrews to address the emerging need for a launch service provider dedicated to the small satellite payload market. Website http://www.spaceflightservices.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $19,200,000 … Continue reading “Spaceflight Garners $19,200,000 New Financing”

Microsoft to Create Free Online Programming Courses for EdX

Microsoft is dipping its toe in the world of free online education, partnering with Cambridge, MA-based EdX to create courses for software developers. EdX announced Tuesday that the courses would be the latest addition to its curriculum of interactive and massive open online courses, or MOOCs. EdX is a nonprofit founded by the Massachusetts Institute … Continue reading “Microsoft to Create Free Online Programming Courses for EdX”

Apple: A123’s Lawsuit “Baseless Conjecture,” Not Actionable Under Law

Apple is asking a Massachusetts federal court to dismiss a lawsuit that A123 Systems, an electric-car battery maker, filed against the computing giant for allegedly poaching A123’s employees. Apple filed a 13-page memo Monday that details why it believes claims in the suit, which also named five current Apple and former A123 employees as defendants, … Continue reading “Apple: A123’s Lawsuit “Baseless Conjecture,” Not Actionable Under Law”

Cardiac Dimensions Obtains $15,200,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=fc9a04d1-cfaf-4f3d-9784-36ef5e0c8ec1 Date 3/11/2015 Company Name Cardiac Dimensions Mailing Address 5540 Lake Washington Blvd. NE Kirkland, WA 98033 USA Company Description Cardiac Dimensions, Inc. is a medical device company developing novel interventional tools for the treatment of congestive heart failure (CHF) and related conditions. Website http://www.cardiacdimensions.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $15,200,000 … Continue reading “Cardiac Dimensions Obtains $15,200,000 New Financing”

White House’s $100M TechHire Initiative Echoes with General Assembly

One of the criticisms often leveled at New York’s innovation scene, particularly from out-of-towners, is a need for more local people with skills in technology to help fill positions from entry-level jobs to rock-star developer opportunities. A new federal program could help change that for people in different parts of the job market. On Monday, … Continue reading “White House’s $100M TechHire Initiative Echoes with General Assembly”

In Oncology Shuffle, Amgen To Shutter Onyx, Lay Off About 300

[Updated 3/10/15 4:48 pm. See below.] Amgen subsidiary Onyx Pharmaceuticals delivered good news last week. But it has received bad news in return. Thousand Oaks, CA-based Amgen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMGN]]), which bought Onyx in August 2013 for $10.4 billion, is shutting down Onyx’s South San Francisco, CA, facility and plans to lay off about 300 people, … Continue reading “In Oncology Shuffle, Amgen To Shutter Onyx, Lay Off About 300”

CTI Goes Up, And Down, And Back Up On Phase 3 Myelofibrosis News

Seattle’s CTI Biopharma (NADSAQ: [[ticker:CTIC]]) just ended a rollercoaster trading day. First thing Monday, the firm released positive Phase 3 trial results for its myelofibrosis treatment, pacritinib, and shares shot up 11 percent higher than the Friday closing price of $2.65. Before noon, shares had given back all those gains, then immediately began to rise … Continue reading “CTI Goes Up, And Down, And Back Up On Phase 3 Myelofibrosis News”

OceanGate Unveils Cyclops Sub to Help Businesses, Researchers Go Deep

Small, manned submersibles are typically seen attached to mega-yachts, or in the headlines making extreme dives to the deepest spots in the oceans. Now a Seattle company is building a new generation of underwater vehicles to charter to a range of commercial, industrial, and government customers in the new ocean economy. OceanGate is unveiling Cyclops … Continue reading “OceanGate Unveils Cyclops Sub to Help Businesses, Researchers Go Deep”

4-Tell Lands $140,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=adbfd54c-ba34-4067-b718-c77f7ead51a1 Date 3/9/2015 Company Name 4-Tell Mailing Address 110 NE Cedar St. Stevenson, OR 98648 USA Company Description Our mission is to listen to our customers and create the right features at the right price so that we provide the highest value personalized recommendation solution. Website http://www.4-tell.com Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount … Continue reading “4-Tell Lands $140,000 New Funding Round”

KinDex Pharmaceuticals Receives $500,000 Series A Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e689f80c-ea38-4b27-ae7d-dfef31bd2e33 Date 3/9/2015 Company Name KinDex Pharmaceuticals Mailing Address 800 Fifth Avenue Seattle, WA 98104 USA Company Description KinDex was established in the fall of 2009 to focus on the discovery and development of molecules that modulate key regulatory networks associated with chronic disease. Website http://www.kindexus.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount … Continue reading “KinDex Pharmaceuticals Receives $500,000 Series A Funding”

Seattle Roundup: Avalara, Alternative Capital, Car2Go, & More

Two companies providing financing alternatives to technology companies made news this week. Lighter Capital did a deal with Portland, OR-based Building Energy, and SaaS Capital raised a new fund and grew its presence in Seattle. Also, Avalara bought a company making tax software for vacation rentals; Car2Go and Uber announced Seattle expansions; Airbiquity landed a … Continue reading “Seattle Roundup: Avalara, Alternative Capital, Car2Go, & More”

Study: Best Places For Women in Tech are Outside Silicon Valley

A new report suggests that the best opportunities for women in technology may be located outside of the industry’s hotbed in Silicon Valley. The analysis last week by SmartAsset, a New York-based financial technology and data analytics company, indicates that the best cities for women in computer-related jobs are found primarily on the East Coast … Continue reading “Study: Best Places For Women in Tech are Outside Silicon Valley”

My Best Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs and Tech Startups

What an incredible time to be a tech startup! The opportunities out there are just tremendous. Digital payments, wearable technology, mobile healthcare, virtual reality and gamification, predictive analytics, and green tech—these are just a few of the startup areas that are expected to be big this year, according to venture capitalists and industry experts. “Full … Continue reading “My Best Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs and Tech Startups”

NIH Director Hails “Stunning Case” as Example of Genomic Revolution

A pregnant mom who got a non-invasive prenatal test because she knew at age 40 that her baby was a higher risk for Down syndrome has become a case study in the potential power of precision medicine. The certified blood test, developed by San Diego-based Sequenom (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SQNM]]), is sensitive enough to identify bits of … Continue reading “NIH Director Hails “Stunning Case” as Example of Genomic Revolution”

Cerevast Therapeutics Garners $1,375,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=df3e253d-dbe9-4767-b982-0924f1aa293f Date 3/6/2015 Company Name Cerevast Therapeutics Mailing Address 11601 Willows Rd NE Redmond, WA 98052 USA Company Description Cerevast Therapeutics, Inc. is a medical technology company with primary emphasis in the field of SonoLysis for the treatment acute ischemic stroke and other vascular disorders. Website http://www.cerevast.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction … Continue reading “Cerevast Therapeutics Garners $1,375,000 New Round”

OGSystems Acquires Urban Robotics for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=26e03b6d-483a-4ab5-9adb-203a5cfc9d5d Date 3/6/2015 Company Name Urban Robotics Mailing Address 33 NW First Avenue Portland, OR 97209 USA Company Description Urban Robotics was founded in 2003 in response to technology advances in consumer-based digital cameras. Our first technology demo consisted of handheld PDAs actively displaying live overhead imagery of the user via air-ground … Continue reading “OGSystems Acquires Urban Robotics for Undisclosed Sum”

West Coast Biotech Roundup: Pharmacyclics, Gates, Ikaria & More

[Corrected 3/9/15, 11:46 pm. See below.] What a week for West Coast news, topped off by AbbVie’s surprise $21 billion grab of Pharmacyclics. It’s the ninth-largest biopharma acquisition of all time, according to one analyst. There was also immunotherapy news—a sentence that seems these days to apply to any week of the calendar—and immunotherapy views, … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Pharmacyclics, Gates, Ikaria & More”

Early VC Arch Exits Ikaria with $2.3B Sale to Mallinckrodt

Ikaria, the private healthcare startup that failed a stab at the public markets in 2010, is being sold by its private equity owner for $2.3 billion to global biopharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt. The sale provides a pretty exit for more than just Madison Dearborn, the Chicago firm that bought a majority stake in late 2013 (a … Continue reading “Early VC Arch Exits Ikaria with $2.3B Sale to Mallinckrodt”

Haiku Deck Taps Artificial Intelligence for Automatic Presentations

Haiku Deck is building a tool to automatically create slide presentations using artificial intelligence informed by choices the Seattle company’s users have made in designing millions of slides over the past two and a half years. Co-founder and CEO Adam Tratt says the company’s mission has been to make presentation authoring dramatically easier, while also … Continue reading “Haiku Deck Taps Artificial Intelligence for Automatic Presentations”

Ravenna Solutions Receives $407,625 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ee35d2aa-66b0-4445-bd4a-c6dd47853504 Date 3/5/2015 Company Name Ravenna Solutions Mailing Address 16301 NE 8th St. Bellevue, WA 98008 USA Company Description Ravenna Solutions is ushering in private school admissions to the modern Web era and delighting parents and admissions officers alike. Website http://www.ravennasolutions.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $407,625 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds … Continue reading “Ravenna Solutions Receives $407,625 New Financing Round”

Tempered Networks Garners $15,000,000 Series A Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=322925fe-3517-4175-b243-5ac82f3989fa Date 3/4/2015 Company Name Tempered Networks Mailing Address 100 West Harrison Street South Tower Seattle, WA 98119 USA Company Description Today’s ever-evolving threats require a new way of thinking to safeguard the integrity of your operations. We take a revolutionary new approach with a “baked in” versus “bolted on” security solution … Continue reading “Tempered Networks Garners $15,000,000 Series A Funding Round”

Focused on Glaucoma, Aerie Looks Toward Unblinding Critical Data

Glaucoma is a ripe opportunity for drug developers. Generics litter the field, yet it’s a roughly $5 billion market that will only grow with an aging population. What’s more, nothing out there cures the disease. Patients typically take eye drops, chronically, for the rest of their lives. In other words, there’s room for innovation. That’s … Continue reading “Focused on Glaucoma, Aerie Looks Toward Unblinding Critical Data”