Carbonite Eyes IPO, Aims to Be the Symantec of Online Backup

The first thing you should know about Carbonite, the Boston-based online backup company, is that it is indeed named after the ice-like substance in which Darth Vader encased Han Solo at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. David Friend, Carbonite’s co-founder and CEO, even has a replica of the frozen Solo in his office. … Continue reading “Carbonite Eyes IPO, Aims to Be the Symantec of Online Backup”

Vertex’s Matt Emmens on His Journey From Security Guard to CEO

The man hired to turn Cambridge, MA-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals into biotechnology’s next big success story might never have gotten into the industry if he hadn’t been a security guard. It was the early 1970s, and Matt Emmens was a middle-class New Jersey kid with a vague idea of studying business at nearby Fairleigh Dickinson University. … Continue reading “Vertex’s Matt Emmens on His Journey From Security Guard to CEO”

Accelerator Slowed Down in 2009, Expects to Rev Back Up in 2010

Any fair assessment of Seattle biotech over the past five years would have to count Accelerator as one of the bright spots. But the past year or so has been unusually quiet at the biotech startup incubator. Accelerator recently endured a six-month dry spell when it didn’t see any exciting new investment ideas enter its … Continue reading “Accelerator Slowed Down in 2009, Expects to Rev Back Up in 2010”

Virtify Plans Global Expansion, Forms Key Partnership with IMS Health

Virtify is making great strides lately, based on the strength its Web-based software that helps life sciences companies manage the data they need to comply with health regulators around the world, like the FDA. Satish Tadikonda, the company’s co-founder and CEO, told Xconomy this week about his plans to accelerate the growth of the company … Continue reading “Virtify Plans Global Expansion, Forms Key Partnership with IMS Health”

NeoMend Garners $30,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a45241b9-1d8c-4746-a1fc-d5bc194a5a2e&Preview=1 Date 1/27/2010 Company Name NeoMend Mailing Address 60 Technology Drive Irvine, CA 92618 Company Description NeoMend, Inc. is a privately held, clinical stage biomedical device company engaged in the development and commercialization of advanced surgical wound healing products. Website http://www.neomendinc.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $30,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds … Continue reading “NeoMend Garners $30,000,000 New Financing Round”

Yelp Secures $100,000,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7aa08979-52af-4989-a9a3-61a1056096a3&Preview=1 Date 1/27/2010 Company Name Yelp Mailing Address 650 Mission St 2nd Fl San Francisco, CA 94105 Company Description Yelp is the ultimate city guide that taps into the community’s voice and reveals honest and current insights on local businesses and services on everything from martinis to mechanics. Website http://www.yelp.com Transaction Type … Continue reading “Yelp Secures $100,000,000 New Funding Round”

Juvaris BioTherapeutics Secures $25,000,000 Series B Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=37959b47-7bb4-4f96-9160-985c65e37ae2&Preview=1 Date 1/27/2010 Company Name Juvaris BioTherapeutics Mailing Address 866 Malcolm Road Burlingame, CA 94010 Company Description Juvaris BioTherapeutics is a new biotechnology company, started in February, 2003, that is developing potent active immunotherapeutic vaccines. Active immunotherapy involves the activation of the patient’s own immune system to combat disease as opposed to … Continue reading “Juvaris BioTherapeutics Secures $25,000,000 Series B Funding”

CIRIS Energy Lands New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e69dc8f8-b36d-4c1a-b73d-5dcf75bb27f8&Preview=1 Date 1/27/2010 Company Name CIRIS Energy Mailing Address 9155 East Nichols Avenue Centennial, CO 80112 Company Description Ciris Energy was formed to develop, commercialize and produce clean energy from abundant, low-value carbon sources, on a large scale. We are practical technology implementers, and primarily an energy production company. Website http://www.cirisenergy.com Transaction … Continue reading “CIRIS Energy Lands New Financing Round”

Good Technology Acquires CloudSync for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d301891a-a4a8-4e45-92ab-5b58f36ebffe&Preview=1 Date 1/27/2010 Company Name CloudSync Mailing Address 3222 Tejon Street Denver, CO 80211 Company Description CloudSync allows you to easily manage, support and secure your mobile devices anywhere in the world through the convenience of a web based mobile device management system. Website http://www.cloudsync.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction … Continue reading “Good Technology Acquires CloudSync for Undisclosed Sum”

Inside Seattle Genetics’ Big Partnership, Motricity Files for $250M IPO, VC Stats for 2009, & That’s About It for Seattle-Area Deals News

It was a quiet week for deals in the Northwest—too quiet. Maybe companies are steering clear of breaking news so they don’t get drowned out by all the big quarterly earnings news and Apple’s much-anticipated product announcement tomorrow. Probably there’s a storm coming. —Ryan took us inside a major partnership between Bothell, WA-based Seattle Genetics … Continue reading “Inside Seattle Genetics’ Big Partnership, Motricity Files for $250M IPO, VC Stats for 2009, & That’s About It for Seattle-Area Deals News”

Harvest Power Strikes Deal with Waste Management to Turn Trash Into Fertilizer and Fuel

Homes and businesses in North America generate about 55 million tons of organic waste every year, and that’s without even counting sewage. Roughly half of this solid waste comes from grass clippings and other biomass from the typical yard, and the other half is food scraps. Most of the yard waste gets recycled, but most … Continue reading “Harvest Power Strikes Deal with Waste Management to Turn Trash Into Fertilizer and Fuel”

Prometheus Positions for IPO, Licenses Novartis Drug

Prometheus Laboratories, a San Diego-based specialty pharmaceutical and diagnostics company, says it has executed a commercialization deal with Novartis that gives Prometheus exclusive rights to sell aldesleukin (Proleukin) in the United States. Aldesleukin is a recombinant human interleukin-2 for treating metastatic melanoma and metastatic kidney cancer, and generated about $75 million in U.S. sales last … Continue reading “Prometheus Positions for IPO, Licenses Novartis Drug”

San Diego’s Top 10 Venture Deals of 2009

The good folks at Dow Jones VentureSource provided us with a list of the 10 biggest private-equity deals in Southern California in 2009, but it might have been just as easy if Dow Jones had focused solely on San Diego. Seven of the region’s 10 biggest deals of 2009 were in the San Diego area, … Continue reading “San Diego’s Top 10 Venture Deals of 2009”

Burnham Snags $50M Gift, Sparks Translation of Basic Science into New Treatments

Big news is out this morning from the Burnham Institute for Medical Research. The San Diego-based nonprofit says it’s getting a $50 million donation from T. Denny Sanford, enough for the whole institution to be re-named in honor of the philanthropist. The center will now be called the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. That decision was … Continue reading “Burnham Snags $50M Gift, Sparks Translation of Basic Science into New Treatments”

Under the Radar Deals: 20-Something New England December Financings Worth $1M or Less

We recently summarized the major December equity investments in Massachusetts’ tech and life sciences startups, but the New England region also had some more pint-sized deals worth noting. They’re between $100,000 and $1 million—what we like to call the under-the radar-deals tracked by our partner, New York-based ChubbyBrain, an information services company developing tools for … Continue reading “Under the Radar Deals: 20-Something New England December Financings Worth $1M or Less”

Millennium, In a New Role, Flexes Global Muscle to Cut Deal With Seattle Genetics

Millennium is playing the role of global development and marketing partner to Seattle Genetics, something that would have been tricky for Cambridge, MA-based Millennium to nail before it became the cancer R&D arm of Japanese drug giant Takeda Pharmaceutical Company in May 2008. Last month, Millennium closed a major collaboration deal with Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ:[[ticker:SGEN]]), … Continue reading “Millennium, In a New Role, Flexes Global Muscle to Cut Deal With Seattle Genetics”

Addressing the Innovation “Valley of Death:” It’s the Products, Stupid!

Several articles published in the press this past year have emphasized the importance of technology innovation in creating high-paying jobs and fueling our nation’s economy. Janet Rae-Dupree’s aptly titled New York Times piece, “Innovation Should Mean More Jobs, Not Less,” makes the case that investing in innovative technologies is critical to the future of the … Continue reading “Addressing the Innovation “Valley of Death:” It’s the Products, Stupid!”

San Diego’s Halozyme Injects New Life into Old Drugs

Smart companies are cautious about fiddling with successful products. So I was intrigued to learn that Roche was reformulating its blockbuster breast cancer drug trastuzumab to include an enzyme from San Diego-based Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:HALO]]). Last week I caught up with Halozyme CFO Kurt Gustafson, who offered some insight into why companies like Roche … Continue reading “San Diego’s Halozyme Injects New Life into Old Drugs”

What Entrepreneurs Need Most in 2010—and Which Seattle Startups Are Hiring

January for startup companies is a little like spring training for baseball teams. Everyone is 0-0, they have the whole year in front of them, and anything is possible. With that in mind, I recently checked in with Rebecca Lovell, the executive director (and commissioner?) of the Northwest Entrepreneur Network, to hear her thoughts on … Continue reading “What Entrepreneurs Need Most in 2010—and Which Seattle Startups Are Hiring”

Brightcove Wants to Help Its Customers Adapt to Comcast’s Proposed Controls on Internet Video

Before the week gets away from me, I wanted to make brief note of an interesting piece of news yesterday out of Brightcove, the Cambridge-based provider of online distribution platforms for video publishers. Hundreds of companies use the Brightcove 4 platform to organize their video content online and serve it up on demand to Internet … Continue reading “Brightcove Wants to Help Its Customers Adapt to Comcast’s Proposed Controls on Internet Video”

Quest Discovery Obtains $3,750,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=c10833e4-0fa3-4f53-8e3c-3ce6e992d4da&Preview=1 Date 1/26/2010 Company Name Quest Discovery Mailing Address 981 Ridder Park Drive San Jose, CA 95131 Company Description In the tradition of Robert A. Cook, — a recognized industry founder in the delivery of high quality records services — Quest will meet and surpass your document acquisition, duplication, and distribution needs. … Continue reading “Quest Discovery Obtains $3,750,000 New Funding”

AllVoices Secures $3,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=2a9d1c8f-25a5-4db1-9b03-ccdd84cc5fb0&Preview=1 Date 1/26/2010 Company Name AllVoices Mailing Address 1 Sansome Street San Francisco, CA 94104 Company Description AllVoices is a global community that shares news, videos, images and opinions tied to news events and people. It is the first true people’s media. Website http://www.allvoices.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $3,000,000 Transaction … Continue reading “AllVoices Secures $3,000,000 New Financing Round”

Mikojo Secures $23,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=586e179f-d90a-4b48-b07f-f01c7fff0cc3&Preview=1 Date 1/26/2010 Company Name Mikojo Mailing Address 1840 Gateway Blvd Foster City, CA 94404 Company Description Mikojo is a leading provider of search services and technology. Mikojo improves the search experience for consumers by providing mechanisms for users to specify search queries that integrate multiple data sources on the Internet. Based … Continue reading “Mikojo Secures $23,000,000 New Financing Round”

ReachForce Receives New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f93ff151-70b4-4c0d-950c-e1e1cc251758&Preview=1 Date 1/26/2010 Company Name ReachForce Mailing Address 9020-I Capital of Texas Hwy. N Austin, TX 78759 Company Description ReachForce is a worldwide provider of OnDemand Data Services for CRM – Driving Marketing initiatives and Sales effectiveness. ReachForce’s revolutionary approach increases demand generation effectiveness and accelerates sales cycles by delivering high quality … Continue reading “ReachForce Receives New Financing”

VCs Are Not Evil: What Entrepreneurs Need To Know

Venture capitalists are not evil. That is the message that Bill Bryant, the prominent Seattle venture capitalist and venture partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, had for Seattle technology entrepreneurs earlier this month at the STS (Seattle Tech Startups) meeting. In recent years VCs have been vilified as “vulture capitalists” among tech entrepreneurs for demanding ridiculous … Continue reading “VCs Are Not Evil: What Entrepreneurs Need To Know”

Bill Gates Posts Annual Letter, Backs Khosla

Bill Gates has posted his 2010 annual letter for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The letter focuses on innovation and the foundation’s efforts in education, food, and health—tackling ambitious projects in online learning, agriculture, vaccines, malaria, and HIV, to name a few. Gates also has invested in Vinod Khosla’s most recent clean energy fund, … Continue reading “Bill Gates Posts Annual Letter, Backs Khosla”

2009’s Top 10 Private Equity Deals in Massachusetts: The List

Life sciences companies nabbed nine of the 10 largest private equity deals in the Boston area in 2009, a year when investors were called on to fund biotechs and medical devices companies in late stages of product development, according to a recent survey by Dow Jones VentureSource. The survey data indicate that private equity investors … Continue reading “2009’s Top 10 Private Equity Deals in Massachusetts: The List”

Ralph Whitworth on What Must Change at Genzyme, Verari Starts Anew, V-Vehicle Tries to Keep it Stealthy, & More San Diego BizTech News

Shareholder activist Ralph Whitworth explained his move on Cambridge, MA-based Genzyme in a week that was abuzz with news about San Diego people and capital. Here’s a recap of what all that buzzing was about. —Verari Systems, the San Diego provider of server racks that shut its doors and laid off all but a handful … Continue reading “Ralph Whitworth on What Must Change at Genzyme, Verari Starts Anew, V-Vehicle Tries to Keep it Stealthy, & More San Diego BizTech News”

Helixis, Like PC Firms of Old, Putting “Desktop” Genetics Tools on Every Biology Bench

The folks at Life Technologies, the giant Carlsbad, CA-based maker of supplies and instruments for biologists, like to say they seek to “democratize” molecular biology. That means simplifying sophisticated tests so they don’t have to be done in a few hard-core, central labs, but can be done at an everyday lab bench. This is the … Continue reading “Helixis, Like PC Firms of Old, Putting “Desktop” Genetics Tools on Every Biology Bench”

The Apple Paradox: How a Company That’s So Closed Can Foster So Much Open Innovation

[Corrected and clarified, 1:30 p.m. 1/25/10, see page 2] Come Wednesday, we’ll learn a lot more about Apple’s presumed slate device. What we know right now, first hand, is a big fat nothing. Apple keeps a famously tight lid on its employees, suppliers, and partners, the only exception being the occasional strategic leak designed to … Continue reading “The Apple Paradox: How a Company That’s So Closed Can Foster So Much Open Innovation”

UW Adds Heavy Hitters from High Tech and Biotech to Turn More Ideas Into Companies

Two big names from the Seattle high tech and biotech scene—Rick LeFaivre of OVP Venture Partners and Pathway Medical’s Tom Clement—are taking new jobs at the University of Washington to help turn some of its most promising research ideas into new startup companies. LeFaivre and Clement are joining the rebranded UW Center for Commercialization as … Continue reading “UW Adds Heavy Hitters from High Tech and Biotech to Turn More Ideas Into Companies”

Google’s Chief Economist to Speak at UCSD’s Future 2010 Economics Roundtable

As part of its Future 2010 Economics Roundtable speaker series, UCSD Extension is hosting Google Chief Economist Hal Varian on “Predicting the Present With Google Trends.” Varian started at Google in May 2002 as a consultant and has been involved in many aspects of the company, including auction design, econometric analysis, finance, corporate strategy and … Continue reading “Google’s Chief Economist to Speak at UCSD’s Future 2010 Economics Roundtable”

Telemedicine: Where is the Real Opportunity?

Biocom, the San Diego life sciences industry group, is hosting an evening of insights into the business opportunities and revenue potential of incorporating new healthcare applications for wireless technologies into healthcare. The panel will cover the current and future impact of wireless technology on the healthcare industry, selling to a hospital, and the emerging field … Continue reading “Telemedicine: Where is the Real Opportunity?”

Cubist Maintains Growth Streak, As Investors Fear Generic Threat, Thin Pipeline

Cubist Pharmaceuticals has grown into one of the big success stories in biotech industry of the past few years, based almost entirely on the sales of a single product. The Lexington, MA-based company’s big hit is an intravenous antibiotic for deadly infections called daptomycin (Cubicin). Even though this has propelled Cubist into profitable territory, the … Continue reading “Cubist Maintains Growth Streak, As Investors Fear Generic Threat, Thin Pipeline”

Working Our Way Out of San Diego’s Capital Formation Drought

As Xconomy has reported on many occasions, hometown venture capital firms have been receding from the startup scene in San Diego. This new reality might not seem apparent because the broader economic downturn has slowed activity across the board, and because some venture capital continues to flow into San Diego’s life sciences and technology companies … Continue reading “Working Our Way Out of San Diego’s Capital Formation Drought”

Ground Truth Emerges from Stealth, Provides New Window Into Mobile Internet Usage

It’s been hard to keep a company like Ground Truth under wraps for this long. The secretive Seattle startup, led by prominent entrepreneurs Sterling Wilson and Michael “Luni” Libes, is emerging from stealth mode today, after raising $2.6 million in venture funding from Voyager Capital and Steamboat Ventures last summer. Although many in the startup … Continue reading “Ground Truth Emerges from Stealth, Provides New Window Into Mobile Internet Usage”

Top Trends for the Decade Ahead in Venture, Tech, Genomics, IP, and More Innovative Fields

We hit a nerve last month when we asked leading innovators in high-tech, biotech, cleantech, and venture capital to write guest editorials about the transformational changes they see coming in their fields over the next decade. We got so many thoughtful submissions from the advisers we call “Xconomists,” and other tech leaders, that we figured … Continue reading “Top Trends for the Decade Ahead in Venture, Tech, Genomics, IP, and More Innovative Fields”

Mimecast Garners $21,000,000 Series B Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0659588e-3746-4e8d-9b37-1fb4fa18a2c2&Preview=1 Date 1/25/2010 Company Name Mimecast Mailing Address 275 Grove Street Building 2 Newton, MA 02466 Company Description Mimecast is a rapidly expanding Software as a Service (SAAS) company. We provide an online technology platform that radically improves the way companies manage their most important business communication and data. Website http://www.mimecast.com Transaction … Continue reading “Mimecast Garners $21,000,000 Series B Funding Round”

Harvest Power Secures New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=fd97ce83-a4d6-46f8-b54a-8571adccb6f6&Preview=1 Date 1/25/2010 Company Name Harvest Power Mailing Address 610 Lincoln St 3rd Floor Waltham, MA 02451 Company Description Harvest’s superpowered products and capabilities give us the opportunity to create a new life-cycle for organics. We assist communities with source separation programs, build renewable energy facilities and utilize our best-in-class technologies to … Continue reading “Harvest Power Secures New Financing”

VideoIQ Garners $6,000,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=feef9375-4512-47cf-b63c-b0a29f94789d&Preview=1 Date 1/25/2010 Company Name VideoIQ Mailing Address 213 Burlington Road Bedford, MA 01730 Company Description VideoIQ acts as digital guard that transforms video surveillance into a dynamic, real-time, intelligent system for guarding against intruders, and gaining early warning of security breaches. It delivers the industry’s best detection accuracy and far fewer … Continue reading “VideoIQ Garners $6,000,000 New Funding Round”

CORAID Garners $10,000,000 Series A Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=c3b806ec-26bb-4e57-a51f-2bad45f41fbc&Preview=1 Date 1/25/2010 Company Name CORAID Mailing Address 101 S El Camino Real San Clemente, CA 92672 Company Description CORAID redefines storage economics with its breakthrough line of EtherDrive® storage solutions. EtherDrive delivers scale-out performance, Ethernet simplicity, and 5-8x price performance advantage over legacy storage. Designed from the ground up for virtualization … Continue reading “CORAID Garners $10,000,000 Series A Funding Round”

ClearEdge Power Receives $11,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a9bae431-70f5-4a0a-a309-8ed3a936e7ce&Preview=1 Date 1/25/2010 Company Name ClearEdge Power Mailing Address 7205 NW Evergreen Parkway Hillsboro, OR 97124 Company Description ClearEdge Power is a pioneer and leading provider of ultra-clean and efficient on-site energy generation systems for homes and small businesses. With operations throughout the West Coast of the United States, our company is … Continue reading “ClearEdge Power Receives $11,000,000 New Financing”

ExteNet Systems Obtains $128,400,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a513fcc2-ae98-497a-8e75-24d6ab62c151&Preview=1 Date 1/25/2010 Company Name ExteNet Systems Mailing Address 3030 Warrenville Road Lisle, IL 60532 Company Description ExteNet Systems, Inc. develops innovative distributed antenna system (DAS) networks for wireless service providers. The company designs, builds and operates DAS networks to extend and expand wireless performance in outdoor locations where conventional macro cell … Continue reading “ExteNet Systems Obtains $128,400,000 New Funding Round”

Terpenoid Therapeutics Obtains $1,500,000 Series A Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b40eecef-1a39-43b3-a1a8-40c1fc76c525&Preview=1 Date 1/25/2010 Company Name Terpenoid Therapeutics Mailing Address 2500 Crosspark Road Coralville, IA 42241 Company Description Terpenoid Therapeutics, Inc. is a drug discovery and development company focused on cancer. We use the platform of terpene chemistry to develop candidate drug molecules. Our team is creating, testing, and developing novel drug candidates … Continue reading “Terpenoid Therapeutics Obtains $1,500,000 Series A Financing Round”

Alvenda Lands $5,000,000 Series A Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=53f50bf1-2ce9-401a-b667-6481bac4becd&Preview=1 Date 1/25/2010 Company Name Alvenda Mailing Address 1201 Marquette Ave South Minneapolis, MN 55403 Company Description The majority of future online sales will happen offsite. Customers will be able to shop with brands wherever they happen to be whether they’re on YouTube, a favorite blogger web site, or in Facebook. Alvenda’s … Continue reading “Alvenda Lands $5,000,000 Series A Funding Round”