Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=110a5199-f49e-41d3-8cb9-f46bab96a434&Preview=1 Date 11/19/2008 Company Name Finjan Software Mailing Address 2025 Gateway Place San Jose, CA 95110 Company Description Finjan is a global provider of best-of-breed web security solutions for businesses and organizations. Website http://www.finjan.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $22,000,000 Transaction Round Series E Proceeds Purposes The company will use the … Continue reading “Finjan Software Secures $22,000,000 Series E Round”
Mobui, VH1 Do Mobile Chat on AT&T
Redmond, WA-based Mobui, a mobile applications firm, announced today it has partnered with VH1 (a division of Viacom’s MTV Networks) to deliver a live-chat service that is available from the AT&T Media Mall. The mobile application, which lets you instant-message your friends while watching VH1 programs, is currently supported on 37 AT&T phones and is … Continue reading “Mobui, VH1 Do Mobile Chat on AT&T”
NitroMed and Archemix to Merge
Last month, when Lexington, MA-based biotech company NitroMed announced it was selling off all the assets related to its only drug product, CEO Kenneth M. Bate said the company would concentrate on “combining, through one or more strategic transactions, with companies that have significant unrealized value or growth potential.” Apparently it didn’t take long for … Continue reading “NitroMed and Archemix to Merge”
Federal Judge Says Qualcomm in Contempt—Again
A federal judge in Santa Ana ruled yesterday that San Diego’s Qualcomm is in contempt of an order he issued in December to prevent Qualcomm from infringing on two patents held by rival Broadcom of Irvine, CA. The ruling is the latest salvo in a continuing legal battle that involves at least four lawsuits between … Continue reading “Federal Judge Says Qualcomm in Contempt—Again”
Spark Puts Bucks into Boxee
Boston’s Spark Capital and New York’s Union Square Ventures have put $2 million each into Boxee, a New York-based startup working on “social media center” software that optimizes Internet TV shows, music, and photos for consumption on high-definition TVs, Spark announced Tuesday. Spark’s Bijan Sabet and Union Square’s Fred Wilson will join the board of … Continue reading “Spark Puts Bucks into Boxee”
SunEthanol Converts Name to Qteros, Raises $25M to Convert Non-Food Plant Materials and Waste into Ethanol
It doesn’t get much more homegrown than this one: SunEthanol—a Hadley, MA-based developer of a process to produce ethanol using a microbe discovered here in the Bay State—has changed its name to Qteros and raised $25 million in a Series B round of financing. (Mass High Tech broke the story this morning.) Qteros is one … Continue reading “SunEthanol Converts Name to Qteros, Raises $25M to Convert Non-Food Plant Materials and Waste into Ethanol”
Breakaway Innovation
The title of this Connect Frameworks presentation conjures up the Tour de France, and the metaphor might hold, with topics addressing how to break out ahead of the competition in different stages of your company’s growth.
Fundamentals of Licensing
Granted, you’re not likely to undertake preparing license agreements without some legal eagle involvement, but it never hurts to be at least passingly familiar with the topic. This Connect Frameworks presentation might get you there—it covers a range of topics in the preparation and pitfalls of licensing agreements.
Electricity Economy Expert Jesse Berst Weighs In on EnerG2 Startup
I pinged energy expert Jesse Berst, the managing director of Redmond, WA-based GlobalSmartEnergy, to get his take on EnerG2, the venture-backed energy-storage startup we profiled earlier today. EnerG2 has developed a nanotech approach to building better batteries and “ultracapacitors” for storing electricity. Berst, an Xconomist, replied with some insights into the startup’s prospects for becoming … Continue reading “Electricity Economy Expert Jesse Berst Weighs In on EnerG2 Startup”
AutoVirt Adds $4M to Series A Round
Nashua, NH-based virtualization startup AutoVirt, which makes software for file virtualization and data migration in Windows environments, announced today that it has added $4 million to a Series A round originally announced in January. Previous investors Kepha Partners and Sigma Partners provided the new funds, bringing AutoVirt’s total raised to $8.5 million. The additional funds … Continue reading “AutoVirt Adds $4M to Series A Round”
Targanta-Cubist Rivalry Brews on FDA Review of Targanta Drug
Targanta Therapeutics’ stock has made gains since the FDA yesterday posted a favorable review of Targanta antibiotic oritavancin to treat certain skin infections—the latest development in the intrastate rivalry between the Cambridge, MA-based biotech firm (NASDAQ:[[ticker:TARG]]) and Cubist Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:[[ticker:CBST]]), headquartered in Lexington, MA. As Luke reported last month, an FDA advisory committee is scheduled … Continue reading “Targanta-Cubist Rivalry Brews on FDA Review of Targanta Drug”
Amazon Takes on Akamai with CloudFront Delivery Network
Does Amazon’s CloudFront announcement today mean a cold front is on the way for Cambridge, MA-based Akamai? Amazon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMZN]]) said a couple of months ago that it was working on a way to let users of its Amazon Web Services infrastructure speed delivery of Web graphics, software downloads, audio and video files, and other … Continue reading “Amazon Takes on Akamai with CloudFront Delivery Network”
American Internet Services Acquires Complex Drive
San Diego’s largest data center, American Internet Services (AIS), said it has acquired Complex Drive, a well-established San Diego data center provider. No financial terms were disclosed. Seaport Capital, a New York private equity firm, said last month it had acquired 14-year-old AIS with investment partners Viridian Investment Partners and DuPont Capital Management. San Diego-based … Continue reading “American Internet Services Acquires Complex Drive”
DivX Shares Fall After Warning Over Split in Ad Deal With Yahoo
Shares of San Diego digital video provider DivX (NASDAQ: [[ticker:DIVX]]) fell more than 17 percent in early trading, hitting $4.53 a share shortly before noon ET, after DivX said its financial results would be hurt following Yahoo’s decision to breach a two-year advertising deal. In a regulatory filing last night, DivX said it had filed a lawsuit … Continue reading “DivX Shares Fall After Warning Over Split in Ad Deal With Yahoo”
Accelerator Accepts $4.5M, EMC Merges Mozy and Pi, EnerG2 Tells All, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
It was another slow week in the Northwest for deals. Still, there was a trickle of activity in energy, biotech, and software. —Seattle-based EnerG2 and its lead investor, Kirkland, WA-based OVP Venture Partners, told Xconomy the full story of the energy-storage startup’s $8.5 million Series A financing. Turns out EnerG2 needed to refocus on a … Continue reading “Accelerator Accepts $4.5M, EMC Merges Mozy and Pi, EnerG2 Tells All, & More Seattle-Area Deals News”
ThingMagic Inks In-Q-Tel Deal
ThingMagic, the Cambridge, MA-based maker of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems, announced today that it has signed a strategic investment and technology development deal with In-Q-Tel, a venture firm founded by the CIA. Under the agreement, terms of which were not disclosed, ThingMagic will expand its development efforts “to facilitate the integration of RFID and … Continue reading “ThingMagic Inks In-Q-Tel Deal”
Zacharon Raises $5.7 Million from VCs, Government, Hires CEO
Zacharon Pharmaceuticals has gotten a shot of cash to develop a new class of drugs. The San Diego company said it has raised $3.5 million in a Series A venture round provided by Avalon Ventures, along with $2.2 million in research grants from the National Institutes of Health. The company also named Jay Lichter of … Continue reading “Zacharon Raises $5.7 Million from VCs, Government, Hires CEO”
Geospiza Sells Genetics Software To Harvard Medical, Children’s Hospital Boston
Geospiza, a Seattle-based maker of software to help researchers analyze reams of genomic data, said today it has sold its FinchLab product to the Molecular Genetics Core Facility shared by Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School. Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed, although Geospiza president Rob Arnold said it June that it typically charges … Continue reading “Geospiza Sells Genetics Software To Harvard Medical, Children’s Hospital Boston”
ATG Adds Click-to-Call to Video Ads
Back in 2006, Cambridge, MA-based Art Technology Group (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARTG]]) spent north of $48 million in cash and stock to acquire eStara, a maker of software that allows Web surfers to open voice-over-Internet connections with sales agents by clicking on Internet ads. Yesterday the company announced that it’s extending eStara’s capabilities to Flash-based video ads. … Continue reading “ATG Adds Click-to-Call to Video Ads”
Royalty Share Expands With Web Services for Music Industry
Life seemed so much simpler in 1914, when Tin Pan Alley’s songwriters and music publishers founded the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, to protect its members’ musical copyrights. Today, the music organization still collects licensing fees from users of music created by its members, and distributes money back to them as royalties. Of … Continue reading “Royalty Share Expands With Web Services for Music Industry”
ReGen Power Raises $5M
ReGen Power Systems announced it has raised $5 million from 21Ventures and Quercus Trust to further develop an external combustion engine that coverts heat sources into power. The New Salem, MA-based firm plans to use the new funds to design and build two prototypes of its engines, one for evaluation and testing and another to … Continue reading “ReGen Power Raises $5M”
Vaccine Impresario, Todd Patrick, At it Again With Immunization Against Strep Throat
Todd Patrick is one of those rare people in the pharmaceutical business who can say he built a successful career as a vaccines entrepreneur. He was the president of ID Biomedical, a Vancouver, BC-based vaccine company with operations in Bothell, WA, for 12 years before it was sold to the world’s second-largest drugmaker, GlaxoSmithKline, for … Continue reading “Vaccine Impresario, Todd Patrick, At it Again With Immunization Against Strep Throat”
The Scoop on Pandora for the iPhone and Other Platforms: Tim Westergren Speaks at Boston’s Apple Store
At least two of us here at Xconomy—Rebecca and myself—are huge fans of Pandora, the Oakland, CA-based streaming music company. My enthusiasm has only grown since July, when Pandora released an iPhone application that, I think many users would agree, is the single most useful and enjoyable third-party app available for the device. (It’s currently … Continue reading “The Scoop on Pandora for the iPhone and Other Platforms: Tim Westergren Speaks at Boston’s Apple Store”
Biotech Survival Index: Cash Woes Creeping Up on San Diego Life Sciences Companies
These are grim times for many industries, and the life sciences are no exception. Most of these enterprises depend on the ability to raise fresh investment capital on a regular basis, so when investors turn cautious, things can get ugly fast. To get a sense of just how big of a bruising San Diego biotechs … Continue reading “Biotech Survival Index: Cash Woes Creeping Up on San Diego Life Sciences Companies”
EnerG2, Backed by OVP and Firelake, Wants to Own Energy Storage in the Electricity Economy
Two weeks ago, Xconomy broke the news of the Seattle startup EnerG2’s $8.5 million first-round venture deal with Kirkland, WA-based OVP Venture Partners and Palo Alto, CA-based Firelake Capital Management. Today, the energy storage and advanced materials company is officially announcing its approach and giving the story behind its financing. I had a chance to … Continue reading “EnerG2, Backed by OVP and Firelake, Wants to Own Energy Storage in the Electricity Economy”
Brightcove Bonds with Conde Nast, BSX Backs Brain-Implant Firm, $8 Million Shared With PeerApp, & More Boston-Area Deals News
The theme for the week was definitely video, with four different deals cut around different aspects of the technology (five, if you count all the video-playing gizmos that cycle through Second Rotation’s reselling system). Those, and the rest of the week’s Boston-area tech and life sciences deals news, below. —Second Rotation circled $6 million in … Continue reading “Brightcove Bonds with Conde Nast, BSX Backs Brain-Implant Firm, $8 Million Shared With PeerApp, & More Boston-Area Deals News”
ReGen Power Systems Obtains $5,000,000 New Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6798aedf-fc73-4ed4-a508-4a0189344121&Preview=1 Date 11/18/2008 Company Name ReGen Power Systems Mailing Address 113 Michael Lane New Salem, MA 01335 Company Description ReGen Power Systems, Inc., is pioneering development of industrial sized (250kW-2MW), low temperature Stirling engines to convert excess process heat and steam energy at industrial plants into electricity. The system will be powered … Continue reading “ReGen Power Systems Obtains $5,000,000 New Round”
ReVance Therapeutics Obtains $8,000,000 New Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=3f7e06fa-7037-44dd-86ae-71e9db780090&Preview=1 Date 11/18/2008 Company Name ReVance Therapeutics Mailing Address 7555 Gateway Boulevard Newark, CA 94560 Company Description Revance is developing its lead compound, a topical botulinum toxin based on its cutting-edge drug delivery platforms and low molecular weight botulinum toxin. This product leverages Revance’s platform technologies to enhance patient tolerability of botulinum … Continue reading “ReVance Therapeutics Obtains $8,000,000 New Funding”
Numerate Garners $4,000,000 Series A Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=5790acf9-8261-4c48-a128-bc51e8fa6a05&Preview=1 Date 11/18/2008 Company Name Numerate Mailing Address 1150 Bayhill Drive San Bruno, CA 94066 Company Description Numerate engineers rather than discovers drugs. We have built and validated our Drug Engineering Process to deliver leads faster, cheaper and more predictably. Website http://www.numerate.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $4,000,000 Transaction Round Series … Continue reading “Numerate Garners $4,000,000 Series A Financing Round”
IBM Acquires Transitive Corporation for Undisclosed Sum
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ad69e754-2e9a-4b1c-99d5-0fddcfba4224&Preview=1 Date 11/18/2008 Company Name Transitive Corporation Mailing Address 718 University Avenue Los Gatos, CA 95032-7608 Company Description Transitive Corporation is a pioneer and leader in providing solutions that allow the transportability of software applications across multiple OS and processor pairs. Website http://www.transitive.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Proceeds … Continue reading “IBM Acquires Transitive Corporation for Undisclosed Sum”
How to Start a Company: Advice from Seattle Entrepreneur T.A. McCann
On Friday, there was a really good talk by the noted tech entrepreneur and investor T.A. McCann at a Northwest Entrepreneur Network breakfast in Bellevue, WA. The topic was how to get a startup off the ground: he called it “0-25 mph.” What with the economy these days, advice from someone like McCann seems more … Continue reading “How to Start a Company: Advice from Seattle Entrepreneur T.A. McCann”
Innovating New Winners in Established Markets
I’m attracted to the market opportunity within large, established markets. These markets already have huge spend, they have established dominant players with an inertia resistant to major change, most of the innovative talent and money is off in new market spaces, and innovation within these spaces tends to be evolutionary in nature and follow predictable … Continue reading “Innovating New Winners in Established Markets”
ZafGen Scores $14M Series B
Anti-obesity drug developer ZafGen closed a Series B financing worth $14 million, PE Hub reports, citing a regulatory filing. Third Rock Ventures and Atlas Venture supplied the funding for the Cambridge, MA-based startup, which Luke profiled in September.
IRobot Wins 6 R&D Grants
Bedford, MA-based iRobot (NASDAQ: [[ticker:IRBT]]), which makes small robots for home and military applications, announced today that it has secured six grants totaling $4.4 million under the Pentagon’s Small Business Innovative Research program. The grants, which are aimed at making iRobot’s Packbot and small unmanned ground vehicle (SUGV) robots easier to use and at developing … Continue reading “IRobot Wins 6 R&D Grants”
Talisma Bought by Campus Management
Bellevue, WA-based Talisma announced today its customer relationship management business has been acquired by Boca Raton, FL-based Campus Management, which makes a software platform for e-learning. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Talisma, which was founded in 1999, was bought by Austin, TX-based nGenera last May.
Solera Holdings Plans $90M Secondary Offering
San Diego’s Solera Holdings (NYSE: [[ticker:SLH]]) plans to issue 4.5 million shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering at a price of $20 a share. The company, which is a leading provider of software used to process automobile insurance claims, announced the deal Friday and expects it to close by Wednesday, Nov. … Continue reading “Solera Holdings Plans $90M Secondary Offering”
Pacira Pharmaceuticals Receives $10 Million in Venture Funding
[Corrected 2/26/09. See below for details.] New Jersey-based Pacira Pharmaceuticals, which operates its research and manufacturing center in San Diego, has received a $10 million final installment of a venture financing round, the total value of which was not disclosed. Backers of the company, which makes controlled-release injectable products, include MPM Capital, HBM BioVentures, OrbiMed Advisors, … Continue reading “Pacira Pharmaceuticals Receives $10 Million in Venture Funding”
DigitalArbor, Backed by Flybridge, Offshores Digital Marketing
When you’re listing countries rich in Web development and software engineering talent, you might think of places like Estonia, Russia, Poland, and Romania. Now you can add Costa Rica to the list. That’s the location of the “offshoring” facility where a new Massachusetts-based digital advertising, marketing, and communications firm called digitalArbor will turn for low-cost … Continue reading “DigitalArbor, Backed by Flybridge, Offshores Digital Marketing”
MIT Sloan School Student One of Three Finalists in “Crazy Green Idea” Contest to Create Energy X Prize
Updated (see below): A student group at MIT’s Sloan School of Management has been named one of three national finalists in a contest seeking YouTube video proposals for the creation of a new X Prize in Energy and the Environment, the X Prize Foundation announced today. Jonathan Dreher’s 2-minute proposal, “Energy X PRIZE: Reduce Home … Continue reading “MIT Sloan School Student One of Three Finalists in “Crazy Green Idea” Contest to Create Energy X Prize”
FDA Plans To Clear Genzyme’s Myozyme Made at Large Scale
Genzyme said today the FDA plans to allow it to market alglucosidase alfa (Myozyme) made in a large-scale 2000 liter bioreactor. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GENZ]]) said it first needs to agree with the agency on a risk-lowering strategy, and a post-marketing study that will look at whether the drug made at the … Continue reading “FDA Plans To Clear Genzyme’s Myozyme Made at Large Scale”
Cymer Lays Off 8 Percent of its Global Workforce
San Diego’s Cymer (CYMI), widely viewed as a bellwether for the chipmaking industry, says it will reduce its worldwide workforce by 85 employees, or about 8 percent. Cymer makes sophisticated ultraviolet lasers that serve as the light source in a photolithographic process used by nearly every semiconductor manufacturer to make advanced microcircuits. The company’s technology … Continue reading “Cymer Lays Off 8 Percent of its Global Workforce”
Stewart Parker Resigns from Board of Targeted Genetics, Susan Robinson Takes Her Spot
H. Stewart Parker has resigned from the board of Targeted Genetics, a week after she stepped down as president and CEO. The Seattle-based biotech company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:TGEN]]) named her replacement as CEO, Susan Robinson, to also fill Parker’s position on the board. Parker left the company she founded as a series of setbacks in the … Continue reading “Stewart Parker Resigns from Board of Targeted Genetics, Susan Robinson Takes Her Spot”
How to Handle the Downturn: Xconomy’s Top 9 List of Top 10 Lists
Death. Taxes. Advice. You can always count on the first two, as the saying goes. But advice—usually unsolicited—can be added to the “inevitables” list whenever things go sour. As in today’s economy. Said advice will be all over the map, too—everything from “cut your losses and head for the hills” to “double up and buy … Continue reading “How to Handle the Downturn: Xconomy’s Top 9 List of Top 10 Lists”
Ascent Therapeutics Climbs Out of Stealth Mode with “Pepducins”
Ascent Therapeutics wants to be known as “The Pepducin Company.” The Cambridge, MA, biotech startup, which plans to publicly unveil its science and new executive team today, says it’s the first and only developer of pepducins—a new class of drugs aimed at modulating a family of cell surface receptors that are already lucrative therapeutic targets … Continue reading “Ascent Therapeutics Climbs Out of Stealth Mode with “Pepducins””
Obama Envisions $150 Billion for “Green Energy Economy” in YouTube Address
In case you weren’t one of the 657,000 people who have watched it as of this writing, Barack Obama posted his first post-election YouTube address on Saturday, signaling a new stage in the evolution of presidential communications. The President elect, who plans to give weekly video addresses in parallel to the traditional weekly radio messages, … Continue reading “Obama Envisions $150 Billion for “Green Energy Economy” in YouTube Address”
The Security Network: Helping Small Defense Companies Innovate and Work Together
Michael Jones has an unusual perspective on the defense industry for a guy who oversees a non-profit industry group for San Diego’s defense and homeland security companies. While the defense industry abounds with examples of advanced technologies, “big defense companies are not doing innovation,” says Jones, chairman and CEO of The Security Network. “They’ll even … Continue reading “The Security Network: Helping Small Defense Companies Innovate and Work Together”
Seattle’s Pharma Godfather, Ben Shapiro, Sees Potential Here To Transform Medicine Despite Setbacks
Not many people in the world have played a leading role in delivering 23 new drugs and vaccines to the U.S. market. Bennett Shapiro is the only person living in Seattle who can say it. Shapiro, 69, spent the first chapter of his career as a biochemist at the National Institutes of Health, followed by … Continue reading “Seattle’s Pharma Godfather, Ben Shapiro, Sees Potential Here To Transform Medicine Despite Setbacks”
Qualcomm Adopts Skyhook Technology
San Diego-based Qualcomm, which is famous for its CDMA wireless communications chips but is also a leading maker of GPS chips for cell phones and other devices, has signed a deal with Boston’s Skyhook Wireless that will move it toward hybrid location-finding technologies. Qualcomm will incorporate Skyhook’s Wi-Fi Positioning System—a software system that determines a … Continue reading “Qualcomm Adopts Skyhook Technology”
EMC Forms New Company, Decho, to Help Customers Take Control of Personal Data Online
EMC, the software and data-storage giant based in Hopkinton, MA, is announcing today it has formed a new company called Decho. The new organization is composed of two formerly separate EMC businesses—American Fork, UT-based Mozy and Seattle-based Pi. The merged operation will focus on cloud computing services having to do with managing people’s digital information, … Continue reading “EMC Forms New Company, Decho, to Help Customers Take Control of Personal Data Online”
Zafgen, Inc. Lands $14,000,000 Series B Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1b29cfec-fdeb-4141-b661-75b5c8466d73&Preview=1 Date 11/17/2008 Company Name Zafgen, Inc. Mailing Address 29 Newbury Street Boston, MA 02116 Company Description The company is developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of obesity. Website http://www.zafgen.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $14,000,000 Transaction Round Series B Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. M&A Terms Venture Investor … Continue reading “Zafgen, Inc. Lands $14,000,000 Series B Financing Round”