Category: Seattle

Roger Perlmutter Returns to Merck, Looks to Biotech Future (Again)

Roger Perlmutter is heading back to Merck, after a decade away. This time around, he’s got a lot more experience knowing how to build a pharmaceutical pipeline. The Whitehouse Station, NJ-based pharmaceutical giant (NYSE: [[ticker:MRK]]) said today it has hired Perlmutter as executive vice president and president of Merck Research Laboratories, starting April 15. He … Continue reading “Roger Perlmutter Returns to Merck, Looks to Biotech Future (Again)”

Haiku Deck Rises From the Ashes of ‘Mix-N-Match with Sir Mix-A-Lot’

After Giant Thinkwell flopped with its initial efforts—a celebrity based social game starring Sir Mix-A-Lot and later a social video play—the Seattle startup was falling apart. For a while, co-founders Adam Tratt and Kevin Leneway were the only ones left. “At that moment of darkness, we realized we needed to sort of start over,” Tratt … Continue reading “Haiku Deck Rises From the Ashes of ‘Mix-N-Match with Sir Mix-A-Lot’”

Limit the Decisions You Make as a Leader

My hardest job as a CEO: Not making decisions. Yes, you read that right. My goal as an executive is to make only one significant decision a year. But isn’t that what a leader is supposed to do? Take the heat, call the shots, and have the final say? That’s the conventional wisdom on leadership. … Continue reading “Limit the Decisions You Make as a Leader”

Lucid Energy Obtains New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f2edeed9-9879-4a3d-8d30-3946db5dc23b&Preview=1 Date 3/6/2013 Company Name Lucid Energy Mailing Address 108 NW 9th Avenue Portland, OR 97209 Company Description Lucid Energy is a provider of renewable energy systems. Our patented LucidPipe Power System enables industrial, municipal and agricultural facilities to produce clean, reliable, low-cost electricity from their gravity-fed water pipelines and effluent streams. … Continue reading “Lucid Energy Obtains New Funding”

Small Businesses to Tech Providers: Nah, We’re Good

If you’re a technology entrepreneur thinking about trying to crack the small-business market, be prepared for an unenthusiastic reception. That’s a big takeaway from a recent survey of small businesses in the Boston area sponsored by Dell and Intel. After asking 101 local small companies (less than 100 employees), the survey found 91 percent “satisfied … Continue reading “Small Businesses to Tech Providers: Nah, We’re Good”

EnerG2 Takes Energy Storage Innovation From UW Lab to Factory

A year after opening a $28.5 million factory, Seattle-based EnerG2 is looking like a textbook example of laboratory innovation in a strategically important industry generating U.S. high-tech manufacturing jobs, with an assist from Uncle Sam. Someone page Joe Biden. The company got a $21.3 million Department of Energy stimulus grant covering three-quarters of the cost … Continue reading “EnerG2 Takes Energy Storage Innovation From UW Lab to Factory”

Presage Snags $13M from Celgene to Pick Winning Cancer Drug Combos

Seattle-based Presage Biosciences has found another big partner that thinks it can help separate the winners from the losers in early cancer drug development, before the really big bucks get wasted on bad experiments. Presage, a spinoff from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, is announcing today it has struck a new partnership with Summit, … Continue reading “Presage Snags $13M from Celgene to Pick Winning Cancer Drug Combos”

Someone Needs to Rank U.S. Biotech Hubs, For Real

[Updated: 11:40 am PT] It’s time for a challenge: Will somebody please come out with a deeply researched and credible report that ranks U.S. regional biotech clusters, on the criteria that matter the most? I’m feeling compelled to issue this challenge after going over the latest deeply flawed report on this subject, from real estate … Continue reading “Someone Needs to Rank U.S. Biotech Hubs, For Real”

PivotLink Obtains $2,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1d556ffb-3064-467d-ae52-9354c7009fda&Preview=1 Date 3/4/2013 Company Name PivotLink Mailing Address 15325 SE 30th Place Bellevue, WA 98007 Company Description PivotLink is the provider of business intelligence solutions that meet the needs of organizations in a variety of industries. Our PivotLink Solutions and the PivotLink Framework data platform put the full power of business intelligence … Continue reading “PivotLink Obtains $2,000,000 New Financing Round”

As Obamacare Kicks In, Microsoft Eyes Big Health Data

If you need any more evidence that healthcare is going to be a monster new growth market for high-powered computing, take it from a guy like Craig Hodges. As a general manager overseeing sales for Microsoft in the Northeast, you could say that Hodges sees some pretty big software contracts cross his desk. And right … Continue reading “As Obamacare Kicks In, Microsoft Eyes Big Health Data”

Finding Parallels in Baseball and Drug Development

Consider a candidate.  Selecting that candidate takes thousands of hours of time and research–checking background, verifying data, assessing probabilities, projecting futures.  Once selected, more years of development follow, during which time the odds of success are less than 10 percent.  And if that candidate finally does make it, there’s just a small window of exclusivity … Continue reading “Finding Parallels in Baseball and Drug Development”

Cadence Biomedical Garners $213,158 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b5afe6b0-1fd9-4a49-a726-6e6613b6ae65&Preview=1 Date 3/1/2013 Company Name Cadence Biomedical Mailing Address 3534 Bagley Ave N Seattle, WA 98103 Company Description Cadence Biomedical, headquartered in Seattle, WA, is an early stage medical device company that is committed to helping the 2.3 million Americans who suffer severe mobility impairments to gain a more mobile and independent … Continue reading “Cadence Biomedical Garners $213,158 New Financing Round”

Julep Beauty Obtains $10,300,000 Series B Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f87c6fc0-725f-4998-8f05-fe3d2b20c5c7&Preview=1 Date 3/1/2013 Company Name Julep Beauty Mailing Address P.O. Box 19523 Seattle, WA 98109 Company Description Julep was created as a tribute to the girlfriends who tell it like it is. Who push us to take a break from the bob and try something a little more daring with our hair. … Continue reading “Julep Beauty Obtains $10,300,000 Series B Financing”

With Atlas Buy, Facebook Positioning For Ad Expansion

Facebook appears to be moving closer to an Internet-wide advertising network, and much of that effort will be based in Seattle. The social network is buying from Microsoft the Atlas Advertiser Suite, one of the last vestiges of the Redmond technology giant’s costly 2007 purchase of aQuantive. While terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed, … Continue reading “With Atlas Buy, Facebook Positioning For Ad Expansion”

Osage University Partners Expanding Its Novel Venture Firm Model

Discoveries at the Yale School of Medicine are helping nearby Kolltan Pharmaceuticals in New Haven, CT, to try to keep cancer drugs working by eliminating the resistance that patients often develop to current cancer treatments. Kolltan is the kind of company routinely spun out by Yale and other top research universities, which often hold the … Continue reading “Osage University Partners Expanding Its Novel Venture Firm Model”

Paul Allen Gives $7.5M to Little-Known Scientists Dreaming Big

Just a few days after tech moguls Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin gave a bunch of prize money to some of biotech’s biggest stars, along comes Paul Allen doing his own thing, giving his money to some lesser-known scientists striving for all different kinds of breakthroughs. The Seattle-based Paul G. Allen Family Foundation said today … Continue reading “Paul Allen Gives $7.5M to Little-Known Scientists Dreaming Big”

Byliner’s New Adventure in Publishing—A Talk with CEO John Tayman

In 1997, Outside magazine published a memorable non-fiction story by Peter Stark about what it feels like to freeze to death. The headline, awesomely, cribbed from Emily Dickinson: “As freezing persons recollect the snow—First chill, then stupor, then the letting go.” John Tayman was an editor at Outside at the time, and he remembers that … Continue reading “Byliner’s New Adventure in Publishing—A Talk with CEO John Tayman”

Roundup: Julep Mints, TiE Angels, Showrooming, Predictive Policing

Seattle beauty brand Julep scores Series B cash, while TiE Seattle joins the angel investing game, Placed studies Amazon “showrooming,” and Seattle police get crime prediction software. We also note comings and goings at Contour, the University of Washington College and Engineering, Lighter Capital, and Cascadia Capital. —You may have to be on the A-list … Continue reading “Roundup: Julep Mints, TiE Angels, Showrooming, Predictive Policing”

Zoomingo Obtains $525,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9de589f8-37fd-4d89-94af-7049135bb344&Preview=1 Date 2/28/2013 Company Name Zoomingo Mailing Address 12600 Se 38th Street Bellevue, WA 98006 Company Description Zoomingo (which stands for “Zoom-in and go”) is a shopping discovery application that helps you find the best sales in local retail stores in town. Website http://www.zoomingo.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $525,000 Transaction … Continue reading “Zoomingo Obtains $525,000 New Round”

UW Spinoff Resolve Therapeutics Lures In Takeda, Lines Up Return

Seattle-based Resolve Therapeutics was founded three years ago on the notion that on a shoestring budget, and short timeline, it could deliver a venture-style return for its investors without pulling off a miraculous IPO or big-ticket acquisition. Today it has announced it has found the partner it was looking for to make the dream come … Continue reading “UW Spinoff Resolve Therapeutics Lures In Takeda, Lines Up Return”

Emily Anthes: ‘Frankenstein’s Cat’ and Biotech’s Other Brave New Beasts

Modern society has created an embrace of personalized pets, from cats dressed in holiday costumes to new breeds of dogs tailored to our lifestyles. But what happens when we alter a cat’s genes so it turns green under ultraviolet light, or when we clone the family Labrador? Emily Anthes, author of Frankenstein’s Cat, goes from … Continue reading “Emily Anthes: ‘Frankenstein’s Cat’ and Biotech’s Other Brave New Beasts”

New Partner at Quiet Hambrecht Fund Takes ‘Moneyball’ Approach to VC

Thomas Thurston says we’ve entered “the era of the Moneyball VC,” and no less a name than investment banking pioneer Bill Hambrecht is placing a bet on this Northwest-based data scientist’s formula for picking winners. Over the last seven years, Thurston (pictured) has been developing algorithms—first at Intel Capital, and later in collaboration with Harvard … Continue reading “New Partner at Quiet Hambrecht Fund Takes ‘Moneyball’ Approach to VC”

As MWC Opens in Barcelona, We’re All on the Eve of Disruption

It’s sunny but cold in Barcelona today, as more than 72,000 telecom and technology professionals arrive for the first day of the Mobile World Congress. They come for the spinning, networking, and opportunity seeking—and perhaps for the tapas and Spanish wine. Yet the show is so big and so dispersed that most companies begin trumpeting … Continue reading “As MWC Opens in Barcelona, We’re All on the Eve of Disruption”

Zuckerberg Takes a Small Step in Right Direction, Backing Biotech

Woody Allen is often quoted as saying 80 percent of life is just showing up. This past week Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote a decent check, and just as important, he showed up for life sciences. It’s a small gesture, but a start. The social-networking wizard took some time out of his week to stop … Continue reading “Zuckerberg Takes a Small Step in Right Direction, Backing Biotech”

LiveMocha Secures $240,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d05464f2-f874-43cd-96e2-99a62daf352b&Preview=1 Date 2/25/2013 Company Name LiveMocha Mailing Address 1011 Western Ave. Seattle, WA 98104 Company Description Livemocha is the world’s largest online language learning community, offering free and paid online language courses in 35 languages to more than 9 million members from 195 countries around the world. Website http://www.livemocha.com Transaction Type Debt … Continue reading “LiveMocha Secures $240,000 New Financing”

Roundup: Version One Ventures, Scope 5, Gigabit Squared, and Fledge

In the news this week: Canadian fundraising with an eye on U.S. startups, funding for sustainability software company Scope 5, Seattle’s high-speed broadband project expanding, and a new flock of Fledglings. —Vancouver, B.C., angel investor Boris Wertz has raised $19 million for Version One Ventures, a seed fund planning to back early stage tech startups … Continue reading “Roundup: Version One Ventures, Scope 5, Gigabit Squared, and Fledge”

Blaze Bioscience Caps Off $8.5M Financing, Charges Toward Clinic

Seattle-based Blaze Bioscience has gotten a little extra vote of confidence, a little more cash, and a few more smart people to help it move ahead with its new cancer surgery technology. Blaze, a spinoff from Jim Olson’s lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, is announcing today it has closed its Series A … Continue reading “Blaze Bioscience Caps Off $8.5M Financing, Charges Toward Clinic”

I Switched from Mint.com to Pageonce. Maybe You Should Too.

[Update: As of May 2013, Pageonce has officially changed the name of its app and service to Check.] For more than a decade, I was a faithful user of Quicken, Intuit’s desktop personal finance program. I stopped using it in 2008 after Mint.com came along, giving me the ability to monitor all my accounts from … Continue reading “I Switched from Mint.com to Pageonce. Maybe You Should Too.”

Blaze Bioscience Lands $3,500,000 Series A Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=05b5c065-58c3-4117-9e0e-fa5b5cdd133e&Preview=1 Date 2/22/2013 Company Name Blaze Bioscience Mailing Address 530 Fairview Avenue North Seattle, WA 98109 Company Description For years, surgeons have been searching for better intraoperative tools to more effectively treat cancer. When removing tumors, the ability to precisely identify them is of paramount importance. If too little tissue is removed, … Continue reading “Blaze Bioscience Lands $3,500,000 Series A Funding”

Innovations in Financial Technology: Wisdom of the Crowd

It is of particular interest to me when an established industry begins to innovate and move in new directions. Financial technology has been an active area of innovation all along, but the advent of social media and crowd sourcing has infused new life to the sector. Aside from crowdfunding, here at 1M/1M we are also … Continue reading “Innovations in Financial Technology: Wisdom of the Crowd”

On the Cusp of Commercialization, Hydrovolts Runs Out of Cash

Seattle renewable energy equipment maker Hydrovolts, which was on the “cusp” of initial commercial sales of its small hydroelectric turbines, is evaluating its options after running out of capital. “The company does not have operating capital right now, and we’re looking at ways to restructure it and move forward,” Hydrovolts president and chief operating officer … Continue reading “On the Cusp of Commercialization, Hydrovolts Runs Out of Cash”

Facebook, Google Moguls Give $33M in Prizes to Biomedical Stars

[Updated 11:35 am with Zuckerberg comment] Some of the highest achievers in technology are giving away a lot of money to people who have made some of the biggest achievements in biotech. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, along with Google’s Sergey Brin and his wife Anne Wojcicki, announced today they have come … Continue reading “Facebook, Google Moguls Give $33M in Prizes to Biomedical Stars”

Lost My iPhone in Royal Danish Moat—Can You Beat That?

I don’t have too many firsts to my name. But I’m betting I’m the first to lose an iPhone 5 in the moat of Rosenborg Castle, the famous Danish royal family castle in the heart of Copenhagen. At least in 2013. It just happened today—luckily my laptop was back at the hotel. I am here … Continue reading “Lost My iPhone in Royal Danish Moat—Can You Beat That?”

The Academy Awards: Biopharma Edition

Academy Award season is upon us, with the Oscars being polished up in anticipation of the big night. Who knows which Hollywood heavyweights and newcomers will be recognized for their seminal contributions to this year’s films? Suppose, however, that there was a drug industry version of the awards. What kind of categories would there be, … Continue reading “The Academy Awards: Biopharma Edition”

Trends to Watch at This Year’s Big AGBT Meeting

Mainstream news stories often mistake technology for science.  Such conflation likely reflects how gizmos and knowledge, like arteries and veins, form a virtuous cycle: understanding nature requires, and refines, good tools. In genomics, that symbiosis burns brightest at Advances in Genome Biology & Technology (AGBT), the yearly nucleic acid trip in Florida, where new sequencing … Continue reading “Trends to Watch at This Year’s Big AGBT Meeting”

Mirabilis Medica Secures $120,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1cfd514e-de91-412f-8940-0761dbd5e086&Preview=1 Date 2/20/2013 Company Name Mirabilis Medica Mailing Address 18706 North Creek Parkway Bothell, WA 98011 Company Description Develops and designs Ultrasound technology for medical imaging. Website http://www.mirabilismedica.com Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $120,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. SEC regulatory filing. M&A Terms Venture Investor Undisclosed

EndoGastric Solutions Garners $10,001,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8d597d16-608a-4fd8-8bd5-96e9f1ab1bf3&Preview=1 Date 2/20/2013 Company Name EndoGastric Solutions Mailing Address 8210 154th Ave NE Redmond, WA 98052 Company Description EGS leverages the most current wisdom in gastroenterology and surgery in developing new transoral incisionless procedures and products to advance the state of the art in treating gastrointestinal diseases. Website http://www.endogastricsolutions.com Transaction Type Debt … Continue reading “EndoGastric Solutions Garners $10,001,000 New Financing”

Celly Obtains $1,400,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=4fde83d5-87bd-4c33-8a15-e19596697203&Preview=1 Date 2/20/2013 Company Name Celly Mailing Address Undisclosed Portland, OR 97209 Company Description Celly is a provider of a social Internet service for organizations. Website http://www.cel.ly Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $1,400,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. M&A Terms Venture Investor Oregon Angel Fund Venture … Continue reading “Celly Obtains $1,400,000 New Financing”

Itron CEO Talks Smart Grids and Cities, Big Data, China, and Water

Based outside of Spokane, WA, but with a business presence in 120 countries, Itron is the quiet, global giant in the state’s cleantech sector—and a key part of the Pacific Northwest’s cluster of smart grid businesses. Philip Mezey took the helm of Itron at the start of the year, guiding a company in an enormous … Continue reading “Itron CEO Talks Smart Grids and Cities, Big Data, China, and Water”

Xconomy Forum: Biotech in the Belt-Tightening Era

Payers didn’t have much power in biotech’s old days. Back then, biotech companies that offered patients important new drugs, devices or diagnostics could essentially impose high prices on U.S. health insurers. Getting data to win over the FDA, physicians, and shareholders was what counted. But payers are becoming increasingly powerful, as the Affordable Care Act … Continue reading “Xconomy Forum: Biotech in the Belt-Tightening Era”

NanoString Starts Selling First Breast Cancer Test in EU

NanoString Technologies is now officially in the diagnostics business. Seattle-based NanoString is announcing today that it has begun selling its first diagnostic product in the European Union and Israel. It’s called the Prosigna Breast Cancer Prognostic Gene Signature Assay, and it’s designed to provide a digital readout on the expression of 50 genes that are … Continue reading “NanoString Starts Selling First Breast Cancer Test in EU”

Sage Bionetworks Absorbs Dream, Plans Open Science ‘Challenges’

Sage Bionetworks is a nonprofit, so it isn’t in the business of doing mergers and acquisitions in the traditional sense. But today it’s completing a merger of sorts that will enable it to expand its reach on the Web. Sage, the Seattle-based nonprofit working to spark an open-source biology movement, is announcing today it will … Continue reading “Sage Bionetworks Absorbs Dream, Plans Open Science ‘Challenges’”

High Hanging Fruit

Let’s face it. There are tens of thousands of super smart, tech-savvy, funded teams out there chasing the next Massively Viral consumer Internet phenomenon. Think of it like an incredibly parallel search algorithm where every conceivable customer acquisition twist and hook is being explored with effectively infinite resources of fine young minds backed by the … Continue reading “High Hanging Fruit”

Biotech & Pharma Whining About Talent: That Makes Me Mad

Pharmaceutical and biotech companies axed something like 150,000 workers from 2009 through 2012. Now guess what? Those same companies are complaining, in a recent report from the consulting firm PwC, that they are unable to find enough qualified workers to fill key positions they need to grow. Sometimes, you come across a message in one of these … Continue reading “Biotech & Pharma Whining About Talent: That Makes Me Mad”

Prostate Cancer Drug Winners and Losers at ASCO GU

The latest clinical research in prostate cancer is being presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitorinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO GU) in Orlando, FL. Presentations started yesterday, and run through tomorrow, but here’s some quick commentary on three of the early “winners” and “losers” in the oral presentations. Winners San Francisco-based Medivation (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MDVN]]): … Continue reading “Prostate Cancer Drug Winners and Losers at ASCO GU”

Roundup: Cozi, X2Impact Raise Funds, Angels Report, and More

Investors are making bets on Seattle companies including family organizer Cozi and X2Impact, which aims to prevent sports head injuries, while angel groups the Keiretsu Form Northwest and Northwest Energy Angels closed the books on 2012. And what happens if you locate an accelerator inside an incubator? An accelerbator? An inculator? 9Mile Labs and SURF … Continue reading “Roundup: Cozi, X2Impact Raise Funds, Angels Report, and More”