The State of Video on the Internet

Video on the Internet is hot – especially with the success of YouTube and social networking technologies like Facebook. Some of Boston’s leading technologists and strategists discuss key issues facing their companies such as privacy, customer experience, and funding at this speaker series event. See the event listing for a speaker list and directions.

Proteon Fills Coffers with $38M Round, Inks Deal for Potential Sale to Novartis

Proteon Therapeutics says it has closed a $38 million Series B round of financing to fund development of its drug for kidney disease patients on chronic dialysis—and the Waltham, MA-based company has struck a separate deal that gives Swiss drug giant Novartis an option to buy the firm if the drug, the lead treatment in … Continue reading “Proteon Fills Coffers with $38M Round, Inks Deal for Potential Sale to Novartis”

Optimer Raises $32.9M in Stock Offering

Optimer Pharmaceuticals has seen its stock almost triple from its low point in the past year, and yesterday it took advantage of the rising tide. The San Diego biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:OPTR]]) received commitments from investors to buy new shares and warrants that add up to a cash infusion worth $32.9 million. The company agreed … Continue reading “Optimer Raises $32.9M in Stock Offering”

M&A Workshop Offers A Glimmer of Hope For Defense Companies, Others

Some unexpected bright spots appeared in the outlook for mergers and acquisitions yesterday during a workshop for local executives, which was co-sponsored by Connect and the San Diego offices of the Allen Matkins law firm. The overall M&A market is bleak. But John Stiska, who oversees venture lending for the San Diego office of Agility … Continue reading “M&A Workshop Offers A Glimmer of Hope For Defense Companies, Others”

Conn. Agency Pumps $515K into Helix Therapeutics

Helix Therapeutics, a biotech startup developing treatments for infectious and genetic diseases, has reeled in a $515,000 investment from quasi-public investor Connecticut Innovations, according to Connecticut Innovations. The investment is part of a $965,000 round of financing that included Cambridge, MA-based investment firm LaunchCapital, individual backers, and a line of credit from Webster Bank. Helix … Continue reading “Conn. Agency Pumps $515K into Helix Therapeutics”

Founded by Apple Vets, Apperian Gets Down to Business with the iPhone

The Apple iPhone is perhaps the most powerful mobile phone ever built, so it’s no surprise that big enterprises want to use it, both to make their mobile workforces more efficient and to help customers access their products and services in new ways. But Apple, for a variety of reasons, isn’t interested in catering directly … Continue reading “Founded by Apple Vets, Apperian Gets Down to Business with the iPhone”

The British Columbia Cleantech Cluster: The A-to-Z List of Alternative Energy Players

(Updated) British Columbia is bigger in land area than Washington, Oregon, and California combined, but has about one-tenth the total population. Yet pound-for-pound, our neighbor to the north appears to have its share of entrepreneurs thinking hard about energy alternatives that can be profitable while also better protecting the natural environment. We’ve been on a … Continue reading “The British Columbia Cleantech Cluster: The A-to-Z List of Alternative Energy Players”

Friend Leads Open Source Biology Push, Arzeda Leaves UW Nest, SBRI Teams with PATH on Malaria, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

It was another busy week in Seattle life sciences, with some good news from the nonprofit side, and some bad news from the public-traded biotechs. —Xconomy had the exclusive story this week on how Merck’s Stephen Friend is forming a new nonprofit in Seattle called Sage that hopes to spark an open-source biology movement to … Continue reading “Friend Leads Open Source Biology Push, Arzeda Leaves UW Nest, SBRI Teams with PATH on Malaria, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

How to Turn Cloud Computing Into Big Business—A Peek Inside Amazon Web Services

On Tuesday night, I attended an intriguing event in the Washington Technology Industry Association’s cloud computing series, on “Scaling Into the Cloud with Amazon Web Services.” It was held at Amazon’s Beacon Hill headquarters in Seattle, in a room with gorgeous, sweeping views of the downtown skyline. The talks, given by Amazon and two prominent … Continue reading “How to Turn Cloud Computing Into Big Business—A Peek Inside Amazon Web Services”

Novophage Forming to Combat Antibiotic Resistance with Engineered Viruses

A group of biotech veterans and up-and-comers in the Boston area are forming a startup called Novophage to make engineered viruses that may help combat the growing problem of resistance to antibiotics. It’s early days for Novophage. The firm has no office or venture backers to speak of, but it has formed an impressive roster … Continue reading “Novophage Forming to Combat Antibiotic Resistance with Engineered Viruses”

How to Collect Baseball Cards: A Few Thoughts for Coping With the Downturn

I have approximately 7,000 baseball cards in my collection. These treasures are arranged in numerical order, in long and slender cardboard “card boxes,” with the typical box containing cards from a single year. The vast majority of my collection hails from the sixties. My heyday covered the years 1962 through 1965, when I collected every … Continue reading “How to Collect Baseball Cards: A Few Thoughts for Coping With the Downturn”

Proteon Therapeutics Inc. Secures $38,000,000 Series B Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=59912525-3ffa-4b5e-a87d-a1498c36cbe1&Preview=1 Date 3/5/2009 Company Name Proteon Therapeutics Inc. Mailing Address 200 West Street Waltham, MA 02451 Company Description Proteon Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company developing PRT-201, a novel human recombinant protein that permanently dilates segments of blood vessels, blocks vasospasm, and reduces the formation of vascular scarring. Website http://www.proteontherapeutics.com Transaction Type Venture … Continue reading “Proteon Therapeutics Inc. Secures $38,000,000 Series B Financing”

Helix Therapeutics Obtains $965,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=02d3d778-942e-42c8-9fc9-c7c4bb92b0da&Preview=1 Date 3/5/2009 Company Name Helix Therapeutics Mailing Address Undisclosed New Haven, CT 06520 Company Description The company is developing DNA therapeutics that will cause a paradigm shift in the way that common genetic diseases are treated…by permanently curing them. Website http://www.helixtherapeutics.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $965,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed … Continue reading “Helix Therapeutics Obtains $965,000 New Round”

SendMe Obtains $12,000,000 Series D Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d455bc6b-5305-4c0f-84ce-c74f719db4f2&Preview=1 Date 3/5/2009 Company Name SendMe Mailing Address 585 Howard Street Third Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 Company Description SendMe is all about fun for your phone! As a leading provider of direct to consumer mobile entertainment, SendMe offers the broadest selection of mobile subscription services currently available online in the US. … Continue reading “SendMe Obtains $12,000,000 Series D Funding”

Judge Dismisses 3 Lawsuits Over Qualcomm’s Licensing Practices

Qualcomm has taken a beating in the courtroom in recent years through its patent disputes with Irvine, CA-based Broadcom. So the San Diego wireless giant (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]) was no doubt relieved when a San Diego federal judge dismissed three class-action consumer complaints against the company yesterday. U.S. District Court Judge William Q. Hayes granted Qualcomm’s … Continue reading “Judge Dismisses 3 Lawsuits Over Qualcomm’s Licensing Practices”

Second Avenue Re-ups with Fanzter

Seattle-based Second Avenue Partners has invested in a $2 million Series B financing round in Fanzter, a Collinsville, CT-based new media development company. The round was led by Steamboat Ventures. Fanzter was founded in 2007 and was also backed by Seattle-area investors Rich Barton from Zillow and Expedia, and Curious Office Partners. The startup runs … Continue reading “Second Avenue Re-ups with Fanzter”

Venrock Launches $194M Healthcare Fund

Venrock Associates says it has formed Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners with a $194 million fund to invest in public and late-stage private healthcare companies. The venture firm, which has offices in Cambridge, MA, New York, Palo Alto, CA, and Israel, now has $2.2 billion under management. Venrock’s previous healthcare investments in Boston, San Diego and … Continue reading “Venrock Launches $194M Healthcare Fund”

Wine, Startups, and VCs—A Report from DEMO

Late last fall, after discussion with some board members, I decided to apply to show some new features from Evri at DEMO 09, which we were about to start active development on. We got accepted, so now we really did have to get the stuff ready to ship. In fact, one of the great reasons … Continue reading “Wine, Startups, and VCs—A Report from DEMO”

St. Bernard Software Names Ryan CEO

Internet security appliance maker St. Bernard Software (OTCBB: [[ticker:SBSW]])has named its chairman, Lou Ryan, as CEO. Ryan, who acquired a 5.3 percent stake in the San Diego company in December, replaces CEO Vincent Rossi, who also was serving as the company’s chief financial officer. Ryan, a software industry veteran, plans to remain as chairman.

Verivue Launches Media Delivery System, Scores $40 Million B Round

These days, there’s no sense in producing video for just one platform, like cable TV. Media companies also want to get their content out to consumers via the Web, mobile phones, game consoles, video-on-demand networks, and other platforms. The problem is that all of these channels use different video formats, protocols, and resolutions, which makes … Continue reading “Verivue Launches Media Delivery System, Scores $40 Million B Round”

Regulus Therapeutics Follows Through on Fundraising, Independence Plans

Regulus Therapeutics, the fledgling biotech firm developing microRNA-based drugs, wasn’t kidding when it told Xconomy earlier this year that it planned to gain a more independent corporate charter and raise a significant round of financing. The Carlsbad, CA-based startup says this morning that it has raised $20 million in a Series A round of financing; … Continue reading “Regulus Therapeutics Follows Through on Fundraising, Independence Plans”

The Oregon Cleantech Cluster: The A-to-Z List of Alternative Energy Players

(Updated) Yesterday, we provided a rundown of about 80 companies we identified in Washington as players in the alternative energy industry. Today, it’s Oregon’s turn. For those who missed the first installment, here’s the idea: We thought it would be useful for people across the Northwest (and elsewhere) to have a detailed list of who’s … Continue reading “The Oregon Cleantech Cluster: The A-to-Z List of Alternative Energy Players”

Geoff Entress Joins Voyager Capital, Looks to Strengthen the VC Firm’s Internet Plays

The newest face at Seattle-based Voyager Capital is a familiar one to Northwest techies. Voyager is announcing today that Geoff Entress, one of the region’s most active and prominent angel investors, has joined the firm as a venture partner. He will focus primarily on consumer Internet and digital media investments in Washington state. Entress was … Continue reading “Geoff Entress Joins Voyager Capital, Looks to Strengthen the VC Firm’s Internet Plays”

Permabit: Storing Enterprise Data Unerasably, At Bargain Prices

If you ate on your best china every night, flew first class even on puddle jumpers, and habitually drove your Mercedes rather than your minivan to the grocery store, it would be a lot like what most big companies do with their data, according to Tom Cook. More and more of the information that e-commerce … Continue reading “Permabit: Storing Enterprise Data Unerasably, At Bargain Prices”

Synta Melanoma Drug Trial Halted, Drug Regulators Hand Genzyme Mixed Bag, Ariad and ImmunoGen Reach Milestones, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

It was a bit of a rollercoaster for New England’s biotech firms this last week, with Synta Pharmaceuticals taking the worst dip. —Clinical Data (NASDAQ:[[ticker:CLDA]]) of Newton, MA, has raised $50 million in a convertible debt financing aimed at supporting late-stage development of its depression drug, vilazodone, and its cardiac imaging agent apadenoson (Stedivaze). —There … Continue reading “Synta Melanoma Drug Trial Halted, Drug Regulators Hand Genzyme Mixed Bag, Ariad and ImmunoGen Reach Milestones, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”

Advanced Cell Technology Inc. Receives $400,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1aa489f3-203d-4294-a2ef-694ecacb95bb&Preview=1 Date 3/4/2009 Company Name Advanced Cell Technology Inc. Mailing Address 381 Plantation Street Biotech V Worcester, MA 01605 Company Description Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (OTCBB:ACTC – News) is applying stem cell technology in the field of regenerative medicine to bring effective, patient-specific therapies to the bedside. The company’s Myoblast program is … Continue reading “Advanced Cell Technology Inc. Receives $400,000 New Financing”

Fanzter Inc. Lands $2,000,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=50986ad0-7633-4b2b-a43d-6f8fc3c26ea8&Preview=1 Date 3/4/2009 Company Name Fanzter Inc. Mailing Address 75 Crown Street, 2nd Floor Collinsville, CT 06022 Company Description The company is developing a website that brings together product recommendations and pop culture. Website http://www.fanzter.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $2,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. … Continue reading “Fanzter Inc. Lands $2,000,000 New Funding”

VeriVue Inc. Receives $65,000,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=78011d77-798d-44b0-945e-84eea2369b76&Preview=1 Date 3/4/2009 Company Name VeriVue Inc. Mailing Address 3 Carlisle Road Westford, MA 01886 Company Description The company is developing video telecommunications technologies. Website http://www.verivue.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $65,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. M&A Terms Venture Investor Undisclosed

Regulus Therapeutics Inc Lands $20,000,000 Series A Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=c94f2ff1-bcdb-461f-af61-eb2255003d0d&Preview=1 Date 3/4/2009 Company Name Regulus Therapeutics Inc Mailing Address 1896 Rutherford Road Carlsbad, CA 92008-7208 Company Description Regulus Therapeutics, Inc., is a biopharmaceutical company created to discover, develop and commercialize microRNA-targeted therapeutics. microRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that regulate networks of genes and biological pathways through post-transcriptional mechanisms. microRNAs function by … Continue reading “Regulus Therapeutics Inc Lands $20,000,000 Series A Round”

Conveneer Obtains $4,500,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=397480d5-cb3d-473e-a92b-69d8172e48f9&Preview=1 Date 3/4/2009 Company Name Conveneer Mailing Address 153 Second Street Los Altos, CA 94022 Company Description Conveneer is an emerging leader in technology that enables content on mobile phones to be accessed like a Web site. Website http://www.conveneer.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $4,500,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes The … Continue reading “Conveneer Obtains $4,500,000 New Round”

Qualcomm’s Irwin Jacobs Passes Chairman’s Role to Son

Qualcomm said today that CEO Paul Jacobs is succeeding his father, co-founder Irwin Jacobs, as chairman of the San Diego wireless giant. Irwin Jacobs, 75, started the digital wireless company with Andy Viterbi and a handful of others in 1985 and served as CEO for 20 years. He plans to remain on the board. The … Continue reading “Qualcomm’s Irwin Jacobs Passes Chairman’s Role to Son”

Vertex Acquires Virochem for $375M to Make Cocktail Treatments For Hepatitis C

Vertex Pharmaceuticals sees combination treatments as the future of hepatitis C treatment, just as is the case with HIV already, and today it made a big move to beef up that cocktail approach. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech company said it has agreed to acquire Laval, Quebec-based ViroChem Pharma, a privately held company, for an estimated … Continue reading “Vertex Acquires Virochem for $375M to Make Cocktail Treatments For Hepatitis C”

Akamai Mum on Presidential Video Plans

Rather than sending President Obama’s weekly Web video address to YouTube for hosting, as it has in past weeks, the White House published last Saturday’s video on its own website, Whitehouse.gov, which is hosted by Akamai. But an Akamai official says the company can’t comment on whether the widely discussed decision signals a permanent turn … Continue reading “Akamai Mum on Presidential Video Plans”

MOD to Present at Retail IT Show

Seattle-based MOD Systems, a maker of digital-media delivery technology, announced it is demonstrating its product at Retailtech Japan 2009 in Tokyo, the country’s largest retail IT event. Toshiba and NCR, which are investors in MOD, will jointly present MOD’s system for downloading videos from a touch-screen kiosk to SD memory cards.

Highland Program Offers No-Strings Stipends to Student Entrepreneurs

With the departure of Paul Graham’s Y Combinator startup school, Boston-area entrepreneurs have one less local source for seed funding and mentorship. With the advent of a Boston clone of Boulder, CO-based TechStars, they have one more—so things have evened out. But Highland Capital Partners‘ “Summer@Highland” program has been a constant in the area throughout … Continue reading “Highland Program Offers No-Strings Stipends to Student Entrepreneurs”

TrafficGauge Bought by Networks In Motion

Seattle-based TrafficGauge, a provider of road traffic information in real time, has been acquired by Networks In Motion, a mobile navigation and search company in Aliso Viejo, CA. Financial terms were not disclosed. TrafficGauge first launched its mobile traffic map in Seattle in 2003.

Buzztime Games Moving Online After Restructuring, Layoffs

NTN Buzztime (AMEX: [[ticker:NTN]]), a Carlsbad, CA, company that sells interactive, multi-player games to sports bars and restaurants, said today it is reorganizing and refocusing its business, and named Terry Bateman as CEO. As part of a cost-cutting initiative, the company said it laid off about 17 percent of its workforce in January, without saying how … Continue reading “Buzztime Games Moving Online After Restructuring, Layoffs”

ImmunoGen Gets $6.5M Milestone Fee

ImmunoGen, a Waltham, MA-based developer of cancer treatments, says that it expects to collect a $6.5 million milestone from its partner, South San Francisco-based biotech giant Genentech, due to the start of dosing patients in a late-stage clinical trial for breast cancer drug T-DM1. The drug includes ImmunoGen’s cancer cell-killing agent linked to Genentech’s antibody … Continue reading “ImmunoGen Gets $6.5M Milestone Fee”

Evoke Pharma Developing its Drug Candidate in Stealth Mode

San Diego-based Evoke Pharma has managed to maintain a low profile since early 2007, when the specialized drug development company got started with the help of some prominent names in the local biotech industry. Cam Garner, who is listed on Evoke’s web site as a co-founder and chairman, has been on the ground floor of … Continue reading “Evoke Pharma Developing its Drug Candidate in Stealth Mode”

MIT Student, Startup Founder, Wins Prize

The new winner of the prestigious Lemelson-MIT Student Prize is Geoffrey von Maltzahn, an MIT graduate student of biomedical engineering. He has developed, among other inventions, particles made of gold nano-rods coated with polymers that are designed to gather inside tumors cells, according to a press release. Under near infrared light, the nano-rods heat up … Continue reading “MIT Student, Startup Founder, Wins Prize”

The Washington Cleantech Cluster: The A-to-Z List of Alternative Energy Players

(Updated) The venture capitalist John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers said three years ago that “greentech could be the largest economic opportunity of the 21st century.” Since then, voters in the U.S. have elected a President and Congress that have vowed to break the country’s addiction to oil. So here in the Northwest, … Continue reading “The Washington Cleantech Cluster: The A-to-Z List of Alternative Energy Players”

Arzeda Scores VC, Intellectual Ventures Teams with Telcordia, Twilio Gets Founders Funding, & More Seattle-Area Deals News

It was a relatively busy week for deals in the Northwest, with plenty of action in software, biotech, and alternative energy. —Seattle and San Francisco-based Twilio, a startup that provides cloud-based tools for building voice applications over the phone, raised its first institutional round of funding from Founders Fund and computing pioneer Mitchell Kapor. The … Continue reading “Arzeda Scores VC, Intellectual Ventures Teams with Telcordia, Twilio Gets Founders Funding, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”

The Greatest Internet Pioneers You Never Heard Of: The Story of Erwise and Four Finns Who Showed the Way to the Web Browser

Three quiet and unknown Finnish engineers in their late thirties, Kim Nyberg, Kari Sydänmaanlakka, and Teemu Rantanen, have spent their working careers at the engineering software company Tekla in Finland. Their clients have used the software they created to model several well-known buildings, including Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, New York’s … Continue reading “The Greatest Internet Pioneers You Never Heard Of: The Story of Erwise and Four Finns Who Showed the Way to the Web Browser”

Digital Reef’s Similarity-Based Search Helps Corporate Data “Speak For Itself”

Sometimes (just sometimes) it pays to look behind the jargon in press releases. One glance at yesterday’s coming-out-of-stealth-mode announcement from Boxborough, MA-based Digital Reef, which starts off talking about “massively scalable unstructured data management platforms” and “capabilities [that] improve eDiscovery outcomes,” was enough to make even a nerd like me want to tune out. But … Continue reading “Digital Reef’s Similarity-Based Search Helps Corporate Data “Speak For Itself””