San Diego’s Acadia Pharmaceuticals Updates Plans for Experimental Parkinson’s Drug

Acadia Pharmaceuticals of San Diego and its Canadian partner Biovail are continuing to move ahead with pimavanserin. The experimental drug, you might recall, failed last September in a trial testing it as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease-related psychosis. Pimavanserin is Acadia’s lead drug candidate, which may help explain why Acadia (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ACAD]]) and its partner … Continue reading “San Diego’s Acadia Pharmaceuticals Updates Plans for Experimental Parkinson’s Drug”

How Google’s New App Store Impacts Microsoft, Amazon, and Startups

Google announced last night that it has officially opened an online store for outside developers to sell their business software applications. The Google Apps Marketplace offers cloud-based software that is integrated with Google Apps—things like Google Calendar, Google Docs, and Gmail for businesses. (That might be a record for the number of Googles in one … Continue reading “How Google’s New App Store Impacts Microsoft, Amazon, and Startups”

What Happens to a Dream Deferred?

[Editor’s note: This post is from a speech by Trish Millines Dziko of the Technology Access Foundation. It begins by citing a poem from Langston Hughes.] What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore– And then run? Does it stink like rotten … Continue reading “What Happens to a Dream Deferred?”

A Heartfelt Thanks to Mobile Madness Speakers, Sponsors, and Underwriters—and our New Backup Service!

Xconomy held another sold out forum yesterday afternoon, with more than 225 people pouring into Microsoft’s New England Research & Development Center for our Mobile Madness conference. A writeup and photo spread of the afternoon’s events and the insights provided by the great array of speakers—including the results of the Mobile Smackdown between iPhone, Android, … Continue reading “A Heartfelt Thanks to Mobile Madness Speakers, Sponsors, and Underwriters—and our New Backup Service!”

Amylin, Alkermes Sit in Suspense For FDA Verdict on Once-Weekly Diabetes Drug

It’s pins-and-needles time for employees and investors at San Diego-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Waltham, MA-based Alkermes. The FDA has a deadline of Friday, March 12, to say whether it has approved a new drug from Amylin and Alkermes (oh yeah, and Eli Lilly too) which seeks to transform diabetes treatment with the first once-weekly injectable … Continue reading “Amylin, Alkermes Sit in Suspense For FDA Verdict on Once-Weekly Diabetes Drug”

Leroy Hood Sizes Up South Lake Union as Institute for Systems Biology Expands

[Clarification: 3:35 pm, 4/2/10] Leroy Hood‘s eye is turning from the north to the south side of Seattle’s Lake Union. The biotechnology pioneer and his colleagues at the Institute for Systems Biology are looking for new digs that are twice as big as their 65,000 square foot facility on the north side of the lake, … Continue reading “Leroy Hood Sizes Up South Lake Union as Institute for Systems Biology Expands”

World Wide Web Consortium Must Seize High Ground on Web Standards Earlier, Says New CEO Jeffrey Jaffe

[Corrected 3/12/10, see below] When Tim Berners-Lee and colleagues from CERN proposed the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) and the hypertext markup language (HTML) as Internet-wide standards back in the early 1990s, they didn’t face much resistance, because there weren’t any competing ideas for doing what Berners-Lee wanted to do—that is, setting up a global network … Continue reading “World Wide Web Consortium Must Seize High Ground on Web Standards Earlier, Says New CEO Jeffrey Jaffe”

New “Innovation Tax” Puts Tech Industry and Professional Service Firms at Risk

The challenge currently before our Governor and Legislature to balance the Washington state budget in the face of declining tax revenues is not an easy one. No one envies the task of either cutting needed state programs or raising new taxes—yet this year we are faced with the prospect of both. In the past 24 … Continue reading “New “Innovation Tax” Puts Tech Industry and Professional Service Firms at Risk”

Leap Wireless Closes Cricket Stores, Cuts 180 Employees

Amid considerable speculation about a potential merger, San Diego’s Leap Wireless (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LEAP]]) has trimmed about 4 percent of its workforce and closed or transferred 38 of its Cricket Communications storefronts. Leap spokesman Greg Lund confirms that the flat-rate wireless service provider laid off a total of 180 employees nationwide on March 1 as part … Continue reading “Leap Wireless Closes Cricket Stores, Cuts 180 Employees”

Elliott Makes $2B Bid for Novell, Summit Partners Leads $23M Investment in Cloudmark, Stemgent Backs Scottish Startup, & More Boston-Area Deals News

Deal flow was a bit slow among New England’s tech and life sciences firms this week. Perhaps folks were too distracted by the unexpected appearance of that warm glowing ball in the sky to attend to contracts and negotiations? —Stemgent of Cambridge, MA, and San Diego announced plans to invest $4.5 million over the next … Continue reading “Elliott Makes $2B Bid for Novell, Summit Partners Leads $23M Investment in Cloudmark, Stemgent Backs Scottish Startup, & More Boston-Area Deals News”

ActiveTrak Obtains Series A Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f94045c8-a18b-4639-b5a3-55d6a4d8e919&Preview=1 Date 3/10/2010 Company Name ActiveTrak Mailing Address Undisclosed Portland, OR 97201 Company Description Mobile-device anti-theft software company ActiveTrak Inc. Website http://www.activetrak.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. M&A Terms Venture Investor Undisclosed

RainStor Obtains $7,500,000 Series B Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=96c59d04-e451-4f00-8a24-1bf3b520beae&Preview=1 Date 3/10/2010 Company Name RainStor Mailing Address 45 Belden Place 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA 94104 Company Description RainStor™ is a technology pioneer in online information preservation. The company’s specialized data repository significantly reduces the total cost of preserving information through extreme data compression, simplified data management, and near-perfect scalability on … Continue reading “RainStor Obtains $7,500,000 Series B Financing Round”

firstRain Obtains $7,300,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=75771d59-a078-4205-a818-1ce763a86e27&Preview=1 Date 3/10/2010 Company Name firstRain Mailing Address 1510 Fashion Island Blvd. San Mateo, CA 94404 Company Description firstRain provides custom-configured, on-demand intelligence services to professionals in the financial-services, pharmaceutical, and high-tech industries. Website http://www.firstrain.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $7,300,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. … Continue reading “firstRain Obtains $7,300,000 New Financing Round”

Apprion Obtains $8,000,000 Series C Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8cb05195-26dd-43b1-84b6-6e4c0527f96d&Preview=1 Date 3/10/2010 Company Name Apprion Mailing Address 1340 Space Park Way Mountain View, CA 94043 Company Description Apprion delivers wireless application network systems and services specifically designed for the process manufacturing industry. Accordingly, we have assembled a powerful team with extensive wireless and networking experience to develop products that address the … Continue reading “Apprion Obtains $8,000,000 Series C Funding Round”

Abbott Laboratories Acquires Facet Biotech for $450,000,000

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1fc5e57d-5d44-46c3-8a33-1de1651eefd3&Preview=1 Date 3/10/2010 Company Name Facet Biotech Mailing Address 1500 Seaport Blvd Redwood City, CA 94063 Company Description With several products currently in the clinic and a compelling long-term vision for our future, Facet Biotech is a small but sophisticated biotechnology company. Combining our expertise in antibody engineering with a disciplined, biology-driven … Continue reading “Abbott Laboratories Acquires Facet Biotech for $450,000,000”

Brizzly Acquires WikiRank for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e80d0c54-976b-43ad-8770-d26160ec0ebf&Preview=1 Date 3/10/2010 Company Name WikiRank Mailing Address Undisclosed San Francisco, CA 94104 Company Description Wikirank is a website that claims to track the popularity of Wikipedia articles. It was designed by Small Batch Inc. Website http://www.wikirank.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Proceeds Purposes M&A Terms Financial terms of … Continue reading “Brizzly Acquires WikiRank for Undisclosed Sum”

NW Energy Angels Names Director

Seattle-based Northwest Energy Angels announced today it has hired Margo Shiroyama as its new executive director. Shiroyama is a veteran of the Washington Technology Industry Association, Northwest Entrepreneur Network, enterpriseSeattle, and the Washington Biomedical Device Innovation Zone. Martin Tobias and Jeff Morris founded Northwest Energy Angels in 2006. The angel group provides early-stage capital to … Continue reading “NW Energy Angels Names Director”

A123 Nabs Navistar EV Deal

A123 Systems (NASDAQ:[[ticker:AONE]]) reports today that it will supply its advanced lithium-ion battery systems for Warrenville, IL-based Navistar, which plans to use the batteries in electric trucks it is developing in a joint venture with Tokyo-based Modec. Watertown, MA-based A123 says that it expects to manufacture the batteries for the Navistar (NYSE:[[ticker:NAV]]) vehicles at its … Continue reading “A123 Nabs Navistar EV Deal”

Algae World Summit: From the Lab to Commercial Scale

The algae-biofuels industry is pushing to take technology from the laboratory to commercial-scale plants, which is the theme of this three-day conference in Del Mar, CA. Key industry players attending the event include algae biofuels refiners, oil and chemical companies, utilities, industrial carbon dioxide generators, financiers, transportation companies, and government officials. More information and online … Continue reading “Algae World Summit: From the Lab to Commercial Scale”

Joe Eichinger, Top Medical Device Entrepreneur and UW Volunteer, Dies From Cancer

Joe Eichinger, one of the Northwest’s best-known medical device entrepreneurs of the past three decades, died yesterday at his home in Everett, WA, from complications of pancreatic cancer. He was 65. Eichinger was in his prime as a businessman, and was fired up about his latest startup, Redmond, WA-based CoAptus Medical, when he was diagnosed … Continue reading “Joe Eichinger, Top Medical Device Entrepreneur and UW Volunteer, Dies From Cancer”

Chuck Thacker of Microsoft Research Wins Turing Award, Talks Future of Mobile Interfaces

One of the founding fathers of the personal computing era, Microsoft Research technical fellow Chuck Thacker, has won the Association for Computing Machinery’s A.M. Turing Award, which is often called the “Nobel Prize of computer science.” The award, which was announced today, comes with a $250,000 prize, sponsored by Intel and Google. Thacker, 67, was … Continue reading “Chuck Thacker of Microsoft Research Wins Turing Award, Talks Future of Mobile Interfaces”

The Smart Grid is Coming! What’s a Smart Grid?

Several hundred utility executives, government regulators, and engineers have gathered in downtown San Diego this week for a three-day conference that is focused on what may be the utility industry’s biggest paradigm shift since the Tennessee Valley Authority electrified the Southeastern United States. The only problem is that it’s the biggest paradigm shift that people … Continue reading “The Smart Grid is Coming! What’s a Smart Grid?”

West Wireless Health Institute Names J&J Exec as First CEO

San Diego’s West Wireless Health Institute today named Donald Casey as its first chief executive officer. Casey, a former worldwide chairman of Johnson & Johnson’s Comprehensive Care group, also will serve on the institute’s board of directors, according to a statement issued today. Gary West, who sold his Omaha, NE-based West Corp. for $3.3 billion … Continue reading “West Wireless Health Institute Names J&J Exec as First CEO”

PatientsLikeMe Launching Transplant Community

PatientsLikeMe, a Cambridge, MA-based provider of a social networking website for patients, reports today that the Swiss drug giant Novartis is supporting the startup’s development of a new online community for people who have received organ transplants. No financial details about the startup’s deal with Novartis were revealed. Novartis, which has a large R&D organization … Continue reading “PatientsLikeMe Launching Transplant Community”

Ruffolo New CEO at Crossbeam

Crossbeam Systems, a Boxborough, MA-based provider of network security software, says today it has named Michael Ruffolo as its new president and CEO. Ruffolo’s appointment follows the company’s announcement in December that its previous chief executive, Pete Fiore, passed away after his bout with cancer. Ruffolo was previously chairman and chief executive of Waltham, MA-based … Continue reading “Ruffolo New CEO at Crossbeam”

ULocate Launches Ad Network for Location-Aware Mobile Devices

Boston’s uLocate Communications, known up to now mainly as the creator of the Where local search and recommendation app popular with many smartphone owners, is turning into something more. Today it announced the launch of a geographically targeted mobile advertising network called Where Ads that other mobile publishers can also use to sell local ads … Continue reading “ULocate Launches Ad Network for Location-Aware Mobile Devices”

Z2Live Rolls Out Voice Chat for iPhone Games, Announces New Mobile Game Community

This week is nuts for videogame companies: the annual Game Developers Conference starts today in San Francisco. Z2Live, a Seattle-based social mobile gaming startup, kicked off what is sure to be a busy news week for local companies by making a couple of notable announcements. First, it unveiled a “voice chat” feature for games on … Continue reading “Z2Live Rolls Out Voice Chat for iPhone Games, Announces New Mobile Game Community”

The 20-Year Future of San Diego Biotech, Coming March 31

A wise man once said that overnight success in biotech takes about 15 years. All kidding aside, we at Xconomy recognize that real innovation in life sciences doesn’t just pop out of the blue on a quarterly time horizon. So we thought it would be worthwhile to ask some of San Diego’s scientific and business … Continue reading “The 20-Year Future of San Diego Biotech, Coming March 31”

Phase Forward Offering Pharmas One-Stop Shopping for Clinical Research Software

Phase Forward has been one of the success stories in the Route 128 tech cluster during the past decade, and has grown to be one of the largest health IT companies in Massachusetts. But a big question about the firm on Wall Street is how—or whether—its growth spurt will continue. The Waltham, MA-based firm (NASDAQ:[[ticker:PFWD]]) … Continue reading “Phase Forward Offering Pharmas One-Stop Shopping for Clinical Research Software”

Google Buys DocVerse, Madrona Backs ShopIgniter, ISB Gets Mystery Gift, & More Seattle-Area Deals News

In the week since Google’s acquisition of Picnik, the Northwest deals scene came back to earth a little bit. But there was a decent amount of activity in software, Internet, mobile, and cleantech, much of it from Oregon-based companies. —Seattle’s Institute for Systems Biology received a five-year, $6 million gift from a venture capitalist in … Continue reading “Google Buys DocVerse, Madrona Backs ShopIgniter, ISB Gets Mystery Gift, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”

Venture Funding Down, Overall Deal Flow Up for Boston Mobile Industry in 2009

Venture investments in Boston-area mobile technology companies decreased in both volume and value in 2009, plummeting to levels not seen since 2005. But payouts from mergers and acquisitions hit a record level, raising overall deal flow to an unprecedented $1.5 billion, according to data compiled by Mobile Monday Boston. Venture investing started out strong in … Continue reading “Venture Funding Down, Overall Deal Flow Up for Boston Mobile Industry in 2009”

Scale Computing Secures $9,000,000 Series B Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=daff6909-9b20-4a22-997d-61e559b0af57&Preview=1 Date 3/9/2010 Company Name Scale Computing Mailing Address 5225 Exploration Drive Indianapolis, IN 46241 Company Description Super Bruce needed data storage. Our research revealed that a few TBs of storage cost more than Super Bruce cost to build. Additionally, existing market solutions in our price range couldn’t scale like Super Bruce … Continue reading “Scale Computing Secures $9,000,000 Series B Funding”

ServerEngines Garners $2,200,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a209a24e-28c9-4ffa-b352-185dc7209175&Preview=1 Date 3/9/2010 Company Name ServerEngines Mailing Address 209 N. Fair Oaks Ave Sunnyvale, CA 94085 Company Description ServerEngines is a privately funded Silicon Valley startup that has been operating in stealth mode for over three years, developing silicon solutions that will make next year’s servers and a new class of clients … Continue reading “ServerEngines Garners $2,200,000 New Round”

SiBEAM Secures $36,500,000 Series D Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1eaf4f3b-436a-4c01-8089-9115f93a38ed&Preview=1 Date 3/9/2010 Company Name SiBEAM Mailing Address 555 N. Mathilda Avenue Sunnyvale, CA 94085 Company Description SiBEAM is a fabless semiconductor company and founding member of the WirelessHD™ Consortium. A pioneer in developing intelligent millimeter wave technologies for wireless communications, SiBEAM is the first to build 60GHz chipsets using standard CMOS … Continue reading “SiBEAM Secures $36,500,000 Series D Funding”

TellAPal Obtains $1,600,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0f0a1c52-b6b5-4b1e-a66c-998c6beddae1&Preview=1 Date 3/9/2010 Company Name TellAPal Mailing Address 185 Berry St. San Francisco, CA 94107 Company Description TellAPal was founded with a vision to leverage social media to re-invent referral marketing and make it a mainstream online marketing channel. All the pieces are there. Website http://www.tellapal.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount … Continue reading “TellAPal Obtains $1,600,000 New Funding”

VinPerfect Obtains New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=2af7ebb5-a054-4689-a4eb-fa7a01066470&Preview=1 Date 3/9/2010 Company Name VinPerfect Mailing Address Undisclosed Davis, CA 94104 Company Description VinPerfect is based in Davis CA and is currently developing and testing prototypes. Commercial trial bottlings will commence this year, and we expect an international launch after the harvest of 2010. Website http://www.vinperfect.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction … Continue reading “VinPerfect Obtains New Round”

Payfone Garners $6,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0af01deb-553d-4025-9780-10d24e308dc4&Preview=1 Date 3/9/2010 Company Name Payfone Mailing Address 137 5th Avenue 10th Floor New York , NY 10011 Company Description Payfone, Inc. allows users to pay for online goods and services using mobile credit. Website http://www.payfone.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $6,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not … Continue reading “Payfone Garners $6,000,000 New Financing”

Tocagen, Developing Anti-Cancer Therapies, Close to Closing on $8M Round

San Diego’s Tocagen, a biotech developing gene therapy treatments for terminal cancers, says it has raised nearly $7.8 million from 75 investors in a Series D round that began Feb. 2, according to a recent regulatory filing. Tocagen, which also raised about $3 million last month by selling preferred shares, says in the filing that … Continue reading “Tocagen, Developing Anti-Cancer Therapies, Close to Closing on $8M Round”

Fallbrook Reveals Development Deal

San Diego’s Fallbrook Technologies, which is developing a new and more-efficient design for a continuously variable transmission, says today it has signed an agreement with Hodyon of Austin, TX, for joint development of a new air conditioner compressor for medium and heavy-duty vehicles. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Fallbrook says its deal … Continue reading “Fallbrook Reveals Development Deal”

Terrafugia Says Flying Car Likely to Take Off in Massachusetts, But Might Land Elsewhere

Terrafugia, the Woburn, MA-based company out to produce the first practical flying car—or street legal airplane, to use the company’s term— said today it plans to build its first commercial vehicle next year in the Bay State. But CEO Carl Dietrich also said that while the company hopes to stay in Massachusetts and create hundreds … Continue reading “Terrafugia Says Flying Car Likely to Take Off in Massachusetts, But Might Land Elsewhere”

Introduction to Intellectual Property with the Sughrue Mion Law Firm

An understanding of intellectual property is essential to companies, universities, entrepreneurs, researchers and inventors. Anyone involved in innovation—from gene therapy treatments to surfboard designs—needs to know what their IP is and how to protect it. This introductory program will explain that and focus specifically on the patent process, including strategies for protecting IP on a … Continue reading “Introduction to Intellectual Property with the Sughrue Mion Law Firm”

BuddyTV’s Andy Liu on the One That Got Away, and What He’d Ask the God of Business

Andy Liu knew something most people didn’t. When I asked him to name his favorite Seattle-area company that he’s not involved with, he said “Picnik” without hesitation. “That’s the one I’d want to be in,” he said. “I’m a big fan.” That was on February 26, three days before Picnik, the photo-editing site, announced it … Continue reading “BuddyTV’s Andy Liu on the One That Got Away, and What He’d Ask the God of Business”

SensAble Pulls in $8M

SensAble Technologies, a Woburn, MA-based maker of 3D modeling and haptic systems for product design, medical modeling, dental restoration, and digital content creation, has pulled in $8 million in a mixed equity offering, according to an SEC filing. Existing SensAble investor HLM Venture Partners led the round, which also included North Bridge Venture Partners and … Continue reading “SensAble Pulls in $8M”

Isis Nabs $6M Bristol Payment

Isis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ISIS]]), the Carlsbad, CA-based biotech company, said today it has earned a $6 million payment from Bristol-Myers Squibb for getting clearance from regulators to begin clinical trials of a new cholesterol-lowering drug. Isis and Bristol are collaborating on BMS-PCSK9Rx, as a targeted antisense therapy which seeks to lower cholesterol by hitting the … Continue reading “Isis Nabs $6M Bristol Payment”

Cell Therapeutics Passes Factory Test

Cell Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CTIC]]), the Seattle-based company developing pixantrone for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, said today that the FDA has certified that a contract manufacturer is ready to make the treatment. The factory, run by NerPharMa in Italy, was inspected and found to be in compliance and acceptable for continued manufacturing,  Cell Therapeutics said. The treatment is … Continue reading “Cell Therapeutics Passes Factory Test”