Music Hack Day

From the event website: “The main goal of Music Hack Day is to explore and build the next generation of music applications. It’s a full weekend of hacking in which participants will conceptualize, create and present their projects. Music + software + hardware + art + the web. Anything goes as long as it’s music … Continue reading “Music Hack Day”

Genzyme Shares Tank After FDA Discovers Bits of Steel, Rubber in Five Different Drugs

[Update: 6:22 pm Eastern, 11/13/09] Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse for Genzyme, it did. The FDA reported today that it has found tiny bits of garbage—steel, rubber, and fiber—in vials of five of the major drugs produced by the Cambridge, MA-based biotech company. Genzyme (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GENZ]]) shares fell $3.89, or about 7 … Continue reading “Genzyme Shares Tank After FDA Discovers Bits of Steel, Rubber in Five Different Drugs”

Energy Networking Groups Merge

The Renewable Energy Business Network (REBN), a networking group for cleantech professionals with 10,000 members across 17 local chapters and a strong presence in the Boston area, has merged with the Clean Economy Network Foundation (CENF), a young cleantech policy research and education organization based in Washington, DC. The news came today in an e-mail … Continue reading “Energy Networking Groups Merge”

Seattle’s Bill McCoy, E-Books and Digital Distribution Expert, Leaving Adobe

We’ve all been wondering how the Adobe layoffs, reported earlier this week, may affect the Seattle area—especially given the slew of other recent cutbacks in the local tech industry. Adobe (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ADBE]]), which is headquartered in San Jose, CA, has a strong presence in Seattle. As of recently, it employed some 500 people, focused on … Continue reading “Seattle’s Bill McCoy, E-Books and Digital Distribution Expert, Leaving Adobe”

Enroute Closes Series A, Looks for More as It Expands and Aims for Profitability

Early-stage tech financings are still chugging along, it seems. On the heels of yesterday’s news of a $5.25 million financing of Seattle stealth startup Doxo, I checked in with Keith McCall of Bellevue, WA-based Enroute Systems, a maker of parcel-shipping management software, to hear the latest on his company’s recent financing. McCall, the company’s founder … Continue reading “Enroute Closes Series A, Looks for More as It Expands and Aims for Profitability”

San Diego Serves as a Hotbed for Analytics Tech Cluster—at Least Up to a Point

When Tom Clancy introduced a panel discussion yesterday at a forum on analytics software, the founder of San Diego’s Tao Venture Partners said the forum was “founded four years ago by people who had an interest in seeing San Diego get established as a leading cluster in the analytics space.” The forum, which is sponsored … Continue reading “San Diego Serves as a Hotbed for Analytics Tech Cluster—at Least Up to a Point”

Zoll Medical Pumps Out iPhone App for CPR Training

Here’s an iPhone application that could actually help people save lives. Zoll Medical, a maker of cardiac defibrillators and other products for the critical care market, says this morning that it has released a CPR training app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This isn’t the first iPhone app of this sort that I’ve seen—but … Continue reading “Zoll Medical Pumps Out iPhone App for CPR Training”

Xconomy Videos: Sirtris’ Westphal and Millennium’s Dunsire Talk Cures for Ills of Big Pharma

There’s new a dynamic at work in Big Pharma’s acquisitions of biotech companies in Boston and elsewhere. Drug companies don’t only want to buy biotech firms to enhance their R&D pipelines, they want to bring the innovators behind the biotechs into the fold—and often give them prominent roles in the parent company. (This is a … Continue reading “Xconomy Videos: Sirtris’ Westphal and Millennium’s Dunsire Talk Cures for Ills of Big Pharma”

Powerhouse Dynamics Raising $2 Million for Home Energy Monitoring, Report Says

When utility customers can see exactly how much energy they’re consuming, and how, they can be far smarter about using it. That’s the argument made by Powerhouse Dynamics, a Newton, MA, startup developing energy-management software that lets users observe and control the flow of power through their homes. To fund the effort, the company is … Continue reading “Powerhouse Dynamics Raising $2 Million for Home Energy Monitoring, Report Says”

Ironwood Nabs $75M in Deal With Japanese Firm, Gloucester Drug Gets FDA Approval, Alnylam Branches Into Biomanufacturing Tech, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

Several of New England’s life sciences firms had good news to report this week. —Ryan gave a run-down of the key insights to emerge from our Xconomy Forum on pharma innovation. Sirtris CEO Christoph Westphal, for example, offered insight into one of the biggest biological mysteries around the Xconomy office: how Luke manages to eat … Continue reading “Ironwood Nabs $75M in Deal With Japanese Firm, Gloucester Drug Gets FDA Approval, Alnylam Branches Into Biomanufacturing Tech, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”

Avnera Corporation Secures $8,000,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=3bca99fd-b6ee-492a-bcf2-bb4cf43c0075&Preview=1 Date 11/13/2009 Company Name Avnera Corporation Mailing Address 16505 NW Bethany Ct Beaverton, OR 97006 Company Description Avnera is a fabless semiconductor company founded in June 2004 in Beaverton, Oregon. It has pioneered a new semiconductor technology enabling breakthrough products for wireless audio and Voice-over-IP (VoIP) applications that remove the pain-points … Continue reading “Avnera Corporation Secures $8,000,000 New Funding Round”

Playdom Acquires Trippert Labs for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=2c42b6a3-cecd-460e-8779-18be0ae5fb8a&Preview=1 Date 11/13/2009 Company Name Trippert Labs Mailing Address Undisclosed Menlo Park, CA 94025 Company Description We build fun games and applications on the web, in social networks, and on the iPhone. We are at the intersection of the social web, multiplayer 3D gaming, and user-generated content. We work with web and … Continue reading “Playdom Acquires Trippert Labs for Undisclosed Sum”

Playdom Acquires Green Patch for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b4780ec2-1e9c-4f23-85e5-572935520d8a&Preview=1 Date 11/13/2009 Company Name Green Patch Mailing Address 451 Florence Palo Alto, CA 94043 Company Description Green Patch Inc is an iPhone social game developer. Website Undisclosed Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Proceeds Purposes M&A Terms Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Doxo Digs Up $5.25M

Seattle-based Doxo, a stealthy tech startup, has raised $5.25 million in equity financing, according to a regulatory filing. The funding was reported by Northwest Innovation and TechFlash. The investors were not disclosed, but David Feinleib of Silicon Valley-based Mohr Davidow Ventures is listed on the SEC form as a director. Doxo was started by members … Continue reading “Doxo Digs Up $5.25M”

Qliance Nabs First Union Health Plan

Qliance Medical Management, the Seattle-based company that operates primary care clinics that don’t accept insurance payments, has been selected for a one-year pilot program to offer services to members of Washington state’s largest employee union. The agreement is with the South Health & Wellness Trust, which provides health benefits to 50,000 union members and their … Continue reading “Qliance Nabs First Union Health Plan”

Redfin Raises $10M More to Improve Customer Service, Expand, and Invest in R&D

Well, this does nothing to change the downward trend of early-stage software financings, but it’s good news nonetheless. Seattle-based Redfin, the online real estate broker and information discovery service, has announced a $10 million Series D funding, led by new investor Greylock Partners, the Silicon Valley venture firm formerly based in the Boston area. Existing … Continue reading “Redfin Raises $10M More to Improve Customer Service, Expand, and Invest in R&D”

Cyntellect Raises $15.5M as it Expands Biotech Instrument Business

San Diego-based Cyntellect , which makes work stations used by biotechs for cell analysis, purification, and processing, has raised $15.5 million so far in a secondary round that aims to raise a total of $18.6 million, according to a recent regulatory filing. Cyntellect says its instruments are used in life sciences research, biopharmaceutical production, stem … Continue reading “Cyntellect Raises $15.5M as it Expands Biotech Instrument Business”

Oncothyreon Advances Cancer Drug

Seattle-based Oncothyreon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ONTY]]) said it has decided to advance an experimental cancer drug into mid-stage clinical trials in the first half of 2010. The company plans to run two or more trials of PX-866, an oral pill made to block the PI3 Kinase pathway implicated in cancer cell growth. This shift in priorities, from … Continue reading “Oncothyreon Advances Cancer Drug”

Massachusetts Startup Funding Slowed Way Down in October—But Early Stage Deals Gained

It wasn’t just the leaves that began to fall in the Bay State in October: last month also saw a big falloff in venture deal-making. After a (relatively) spectacular September in which $228 million was pumped into 25 Massachusetts funding deals, investors only managed to shell out $169 million in 19 deals in October. It … Continue reading “Massachusetts Startup Funding Slowed Way Down in October—But Early Stage Deals Gained”

Clean Energy Council, Ignite Prizes Honor Boston-Area Energy Innovators

It must be Clean Energy Week in Boston, judging from all of the trophies, plaques, and award checks being handed out to the region’s energy and cleantech innovation leaders. We wanted to tell you about the winners in two of this week’s biggest events: the MIT Enterprise Forum’s Ignite Clean Energy Prize business plan competition … Continue reading “Clean Energy Council, Ignite Prizes Honor Boston-Area Energy Innovators”

Alnylam Eyes RNAi for Manufacturing Drugs

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a Cambridge, MA-based developer of RNA-interference drugs, said today that it sees a new business opportunity in using its gene-silencing technology to increase the output of biomanufacturing processes. The company, which has already successfully licensed its RNAi technology for drugs, is looking to make additional money from its science by licensing it for … Continue reading “Alnylam Eyes RNAi for Manufacturing Drugs”

Negotiating a Better Series A Deal

[Updated 11/18/09, see below] This post is about how to get a better deal from VCs investing in your first round of financing. It is also about how to make the deal into a win-win. The idea for the post came from an exchange with @bakespace about some of the resources for entrepreneurs on FastIgnite. … Continue reading “Negotiating a Better Series A Deal”

Cautious Perspectives on Recovery in the IPO, M&A, and Credit Markets

The second half of 2009 provided a good measure of optimism, easing some of the pain investors felt toward the end of 2008 and in early 2009. The stock market has been volatile but up significantly overall. There are signs of increased lending activity. Mergers and acquisitions have picked up. And there’s a pulse in … Continue reading “Cautious Perspectives on Recovery in the IPO, M&A, and Credit Markets”

Dossia Off to Slow Start with Personal Electronic Health Records

Dossia is nearly three years from launching to provide electronic personal health records for major U.S. employers. And though the vision to provide employees of self-insured companies with a secure and portable electronic record of their health information is still alive, so far one company is offering the records to its workers. The Cambridge, MA-based … Continue reading “Dossia Off to Slow Start with Personal Electronic Health Records”

Trius Therapeutics Reveals Plans for IPO, SpectraScience Raises $4.3M, Sequenom Tightens its Belt, & More San Diego Life Sciences News

Some San Diego life sciences companies reported a burst of new financing, while embattled Sequenom told investors it’s trying to conserve its available cash. Here’s our rundown of the latest highlights: —San Diego’s Trius Therapeutics, a venture-backed biotech developing a new antibiotic for treating acute and life-threatening bacterial infections, disclosed plans to raise as much … Continue reading “Trius Therapeutics Reveals Plans for IPO, SpectraScience Raises $4.3M, Sequenom Tightens its Belt, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”

Alder’s Breakout $1B Deal, Kineta Teams With UW on Vaccines, Verathon Gets Acquired, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

This was the week that a little biotech company in Bothell that few of the locals have ever heard of, burst onto the national stage. —Bothell, WA-based Alder Biopharmaceuticals had its breakout moment this week when it pulled in $85 million in upfront cash, and stands to gain more than $1 billion over time from … Continue reading “Alder’s Breakout $1B Deal, Kineta Teams With UW on Vaccines, Verathon Gets Acquired, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

Isis Spinoff Altair Therapeutics Closes $17M Venture Round For Asthma Drug

[Corrected: 7:26 am Pacific, 11/12/09] San Diego-based Altair Therapeutics, a company developing inhalable drugs to block inflammatory proteins involved in asthma and other respiratory diseases, has closed on the second part of a Series A venture financing, meaning it has raised a total of $17 million this year. [An earlier version said the company has … Continue reading “Isis Spinoff Altair Therapeutics Closes $17M Venture Round For Asthma Drug”

Israeli Startup Wins Inaugural QPrize

San Diego-based Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]) says Panoramic Power, a wireless sensor startup based in Kidron, Israel, is the winner of the first QPrize, the incentive prize competition launched earlier this year by Qualcomm Ventures. Panoramic Power has developed energy monitoring wireless technology that enables a company or institution to deploy Smart Grid technologies within their … Continue reading “Israeli Startup Wins Inaugural QPrize”

SD Firm Gets $19.4M for Washington Wind Farm

The San Diego-based Cannon Power Group says it has received $19.4 million in federal renewable energy grants to help fund construction of a 400-megawatt wind farm in Klickitat County, WA, about 110 miles East of Portland, OR. Total investment in the project will be more than $1 billion. When completed, the Windy Point/Windy Flats project … Continue reading “SD Firm Gets $19.4M for Washington Wind Farm”

Boston’s Faneuil Hall Is a Finalist for Google Street View Visit—Vote Now, Then Meet Trike Builder Dan Ratner

Being journalists, we here at Xconomy try to refrain from bald political statements or endorsements. We’d never ask you to “vote early and often” for any candidate for office. But this week we can cheerfully recommend that you subvert the democratic process by going to www.google.com/trike and voting as many times as you can for … Continue reading “Boston’s Faneuil Hall Is a Finalist for Google Street View Visit—Vote Now, Then Meet Trike Builder Dan Ratner”

Widevine Technologies Lands $7,250,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=fd8b0d82-9c9e-4ff0-9ca8-1bb0d3e86a22&Preview=1 Date 11/12/2009 Company Name Widevine Technologies Mailing Address 901 5th Avenue Seattle, WA 98164 Company Description Widevine is the most widely deployed provider of content security solutions for IP video operators worldwide. Widevine enables telco, cable, fiber, satellite, internet and wireless service operators to generate new revenue opportunities through the secure … Continue reading “Widevine Technologies Lands $7,250,000 New Round”

Redfin Corporation Garners $10,000,000 Series D Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b9a51c69-e55f-4b33-8685-d9977c8e57b2&Preview=1 Date 11/12/2009 Company Name Redfin Corporation Mailing Address 710 2nd Avenue Seattle, WA 98104 Company Description Redfin is the industry’s first online real estate brokerage. Unlike any other real estate site, Redfin lets you buy and sell MLS-listed homes online. You can shop for homes and browse prices using our map-driven … Continue reading “Redfin Corporation Garners $10,000,000 Series D Funding”

Cyntellect Obtains $15,500,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=80760f75-5841-4001-9e7f-4581f2a5c5ef&Preview=1 Date 11/12/2009 Company Name Cyntellect Mailing Address 6620 Mesa Ridge Road San Diego, CA 92121 Company Description Cyntellect is a company dedicated to commercializing platform solutions and services, that will enable scientists to efficiently and accurately exploit living cells. The company has launched commercial products and services and has established business … Continue reading “Cyntellect Obtains $15,500,000 New Financing”

Six Degrees Games Receives $7,000,000 Series B Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e2045341-8666-4f75-abcc-67cfe295f7cd&Preview=1 Date 11/12/2009 Company Name Six Degrees Games Mailing Address 4223 Glencoe Boulevard Marina Del Rey, CA 90292 Company Description Six Degrees Games, Inc. is a video game and virtual world publisher for major video game systems and personal computers. Website http://www.sixdegreesgames.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $7,000,000 Transaction Round Series … Continue reading “Six Degrees Games Receives $7,000,000 Series B Funding Round”

Altair Therapeutics Receives $17,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1a36ca1d-10d3-48f5-9dda-6c9dd154ade4&Preview=1 Date 11/12/2009 Company Name Altair Therapeutics Mailing Address 12555 High Bluff Drive San Diego, CA 92130 Company Description Altair is building a dedicated team, combining antisense drug discovery expertise with respiratory drug development expertise, to focus solely on the development and commercialization of antisense drugs for the treatment of asthma and … Continue reading “Altair Therapeutics Receives $17,000,000 New Financing Round”

Yidio Obtains $500,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a16ea8f1-3c9c-4746-bf03-faaf25706fbb&Preview=1 Date 11/12/2009 Company Name Yidio Mailing Address 7770 Regents Rd San Diego, CA 92122 Company Description Through the website Yidio.com, users have the ability to search for any video based on topic, category, or source. Videos offered on Yidio.com range from full TV shows to full movies, celebrity gossip, sports, and … Continue reading “Yidio Obtains $500,000 New Financing”

Doxo Obtains $5,250,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=682cde41-c806-4c9b-bd4f-2e2f2a61eb0a&Preview=1 Date 11/12/2009 Company Name Doxo Mailing Address 206 1st Ave S Seattle, WA 98104 Company Description doxo™ is developing an innovative solution to an age-old problem – a simple and efficient system that addresses a multi-billion dollar business problem and a market opportunity with global impact. And on top of all … Continue reading “Doxo Obtains $5,250,000 New Round”

Microchip Biotechnologies Lands $18,100,000 Series B Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9038e51d-47f2-4c9a-b39a-31c37827e25e&Preview=1 Date 11/12/2009 Company Name Microchip Biotechnologies Mailing Address 5720 Stoneridge Drive Pleasanton, CA 94588 Company Description Microchip Biotechnologies, Inc. is an early-stage, privately-held company located in Dublin, California that is developing advanced nanofluidic sample preparation and analysis instrumentation for the genomics, biodefense, and forensics markets. Website http://www.microchipbiotech.com Transaction Type Venture Equity … Continue reading “Microchip Biotechnologies Lands $18,100,000 Series B Financing”

Caring.com Obtains $10,000,000 Series B Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0863d0e2-30a5-4949-acc0-8ad303dd8854&Preview=1 Date 11/12/2009 Company Name Caring.com Mailing Address 2600 South El Camino Real San Mateo, CA 94403 Company Description Caring.com was created to help you care for your aging parents and other loved ones. Our mission is to give you the information and other resources you need to make better decisions, save … Continue reading “Caring.com Obtains $10,000,000 Series B Financing”

RealPage Acquires Propertyware for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ad63c1cd-3e1d-4fd4-9d6d-765d6f009e8d&Preview=1 Date 11/12/2009 Company Name Propertyware Mailing Address 343 Sansome Street San Francisco, CA 94105 Company Description Property management today is challenging. Properties and management teams can be scattered geographically, competition is intense and customer demands are greater than ever. What’s more, your business needs to stay competitive while increasing your bottom … Continue reading “RealPage Acquires Propertyware for Undisclosed Sum”

3Com Founder Bob Metcalfe Weighs in on News HP Has Purchased His Old Firm for $2.7 Billion

It was a newsroom holiday today at Xconomy, but Hewlett-Packard didn’t get the memo that we were off: the California company founded by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard announced today that it would acquire 3Com for $2.7 billion. You can read all about the acquisition deal at a host of news outlets, including the New … Continue reading “3Com Founder Bob Metcalfe Weighs in on News HP Has Purchased His Old Firm for $2.7 Billion”

Bing Partners with Wolfram Alpha

The teams behind Microsoft’s Bing and Wolfram Alpha announced today they have teamed up to enhance Bing’s search results across topics like nutrition, health, and advanced mathematics. Financial terms weren’t given, but the partnership gives Bing users access to Wolfram Alpha’s advanced algorithms and curated data. The move fits with Bing’s goal of helping people … Continue reading “Bing Partners with Wolfram Alpha”

Future of Search Event Nov. 30 to Draw Top Startups, VCs, and Execs to UW

Online search and information discovery are being transformed before our eyes. It’s no longer just Google, or Google and Bing, or even Google, Bing, and Twitter—there are big problems in technology and business to solve across all areas of social media search, real-time news and information, mobile search, user interfaces, search marketing, vertical search (travel, … Continue reading “Future of Search Event Nov. 30 to Draw Top Startups, VCs, and Execs to UW”

Aileron’s New Class of Drugs Shown to Get Inside Cells to Block Prime Cancer Target

Cambridge, MA-based Aileron Therapeutics has bet the company on the idea that it has discovered a whole new class of drugs that, like RNA interference, can hit targets in the body that are beyond the reach of conventional chemical compounds and biotech therapies. Today, scientists are reporting the drugs can achieve this goal and block … Continue reading “Aileron’s New Class of Drugs Shown to Get Inside Cells to Block Prime Cancer Target”

Washington Bioscience Business Roundtable

Washington biotech, government, and venture capital leaders are gathering  to discuss the future of Washington bioscience at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center on Dec. 2. For more information and to RSVP, click here by November 27.

Qualcomm’s Lauer Outlines Efforts to Ease Network Bottlenecks at Wireless Conference

[Corrected 11/11/09, 3:15 pm. See below] Qualcomm chief operating officer, Len Lauer, says the San Diego wireless chipmaking giant is working across a broad front of technology development to accommodate a surge in wireless data traffic. “The mobile Internet has arrived,” Lauer says in the opening keynote talk yesterday at the 2009 3G CDMA Americas … Continue reading “Qualcomm’s Lauer Outlines Efforts to Ease Network Bottlenecks at Wireless Conference”