The Center for Women & Enterprise Venture Center is sponsoring this day-long forum and networking sessions designed to explore how to raise money and get new businesses off the ground.
Meeting Offers Vision of Future U.S. Personalized Healthcare System
What if within the next decade or so the U.S. healthcare system was completely transformed? Hospitals like Boston’s Beth Israel were all replaced by retail clinics and medical centers specializing in specific procedures, such as hernia repair or hip replacement. Diagnostics companies finally started reaping the big profits while pharmaceutical companies, biotechs, and device makers … Continue reading “Meeting Offers Vision of Future U.S. Personalized Healthcare System”
Peru Orders 260,000 XO Laptops
The One Laptop Per Child Foundation—bedeviled by recent criticism from the Wall Street Journal over a dearth of solid orders for its XO Laptop, and defended by Bob in our pages recently—received a request last week for 260,000 laptops from the government of Peru, the Boston Globe reported on Saturday. OLPC founder and MIT professor … Continue reading “Peru Orders 260,000 XO Laptops”
Blackwave Raises $16 Million for Internet Video Delivery
Acton, MA-based Blackwave said today it has raised $16 million in Series B funding to continue development of servers that store video and stream it to consumers over the Internet. The company, formerly known as Acinion, raised $5 million last year in a funding round led by Globespan Capital Partners and IDG Ventures. Both firms … Continue reading “Blackwave Raises $16 Million for Internet Video Delivery”
Hotel@MIT to Become a Le Meridien
Welcome, or should we say “bienvenue,” to Cambridge, Le Meridien. The incoming owner of the Hotel@MIT (aka the University Park Hotel) has announced that the current Doubletree establishment, located in the University Park high-tech and biomedical area between Central Square and MIT, will become part of the luxury Le Meridien hotel group, the Boston Globe … Continue reading “Hotel@MIT to Become a Le Meridien”
Building Better Bridges Over the Valley of Death—An Optimist’s View
Almost every presentation on incubating early stage technology companies includes some reference to the “Valley of Death” or the “Funding Gap”—meaning the difficulty entrepreneurs have finding initial small investments to get their startup companies going and to complete technical viability and proof-of-concept work. Several research institutions and universities have been busy over the last five … Continue reading “Building Better Bridges Over the Valley of Death—An Optimist’s View”
Spark Capital’s Bijan Sabet Says Cross Out Those Non-Compete Clauses—An Xconomy Interview
The non-compete agreement. When people ponder the reasons for Silicon Valley’s surge as a startup haven—often leaving New England licking its wounds, as it did after student venture Facebook’s departure for Palo Alto, for example—they often point to the persistence of this little clause in many New England-area employment agreements as a major contributor. The … Continue reading “Spark Capital’s Bijan Sabet Says Cross Out Those Non-Compete Clauses—An Xconomy Interview”
Inverness Buys Again, BIND Ties Up Some Dough, TurboPower Fires Up, Passport Systems Screens New Funds, and More
Last week saw a steady stream of smallish and medium-sized deals for Greater Boston’s high-tech and life-sciences firms. The list includes many familiar faces: —Inverness Medical Innovations (AMEX: [[ticker:IMA]]), a Waltham-based diagnostics maker, announced its planned $230 million acquisition of Upper Saddle River, NJ’s ParadigmHealth. Malorye profiled Inverness a couple of weeks ago. —Voice-over-Internet device … Continue reading “Inverness Buys Again, BIND Ties Up Some Dough, TurboPower Fires Up, Passport Systems Screens New Funds, and More”
Hawk vs. Pigeon: Impromptu Lunch in Kendall Square Gives Two Lotus Legends Pause
Got this photo in an e-mail from Reed Sturtevant, who’s creating a new Microsoft advanced development lab in Kendall Square. He was walking to lunch in the square yesterday with another former Lotus legend, Bob Frankston, when an unusual sight stopped them in their tracks. As Sturtevant described it: “a hawk eating a pigeon in … Continue reading “Hawk vs. Pigeon: Impromptu Lunch in Kendall Square Gives Two Lotus Legends Pause”
MA’s Woman-Led Firms Growing, Well-Represented in Tech Industries
Woman-led businesses in Massachusetts are outpacing state and national growth averages, and are less concentrated in lifestyle or retail sectors than their national counterparts, according to a report unveiled today by Babson College and the nonprofit Commonwealth Institute. Indeed, female-helmed firms are particularly well represented in tech and life sciences industries. The report is based … Continue reading “MA’s Woman-Led Firms Growing, Well-Represented in Tech Industries”
Made in Canada: More Boston Tech Companies Poached from North of the Border
A few weeks ago I chronicled the tale of Xkoto, a database virtualization company founded in Toronto that has a brand-new headquarters in Boston and a brand-new American CEO, courtesy of GrandBanks Capital, which has made something of a specialty lately out of moving Canadian companies (or at least their administrative functions) to Massachussetts. Today … Continue reading “Made in Canada: More Boston Tech Companies Poached from North of the Border”
Wilson TurboPower Raises $4M in 2nd Series A Closing
Wilson TurboPower, a Woburn, MA-based MIT spinoff, yesterday announced it had closed $4M in Series A funding, on top of nearly 3 million Series A dollars that the firm closed in early October. The funds bring the company’s total Series A closings and near-term warrants to nearly $18M, and will be used to complete development … Continue reading “Wilson TurboPower Raises $4M in 2nd Series A Closing”
Resolvyx Pharmaceuticals: Fish-Oil Mystery Solved, Blockbuster Drugs to Follow?
If you haven’t considered eating more fish or taking fish-oil pills by now, you’re probably very young, just in from Mars, or both. The case for the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, the compounds of interest in fish oil, rests on thousands of studies over the past two decades, and the list of ills … Continue reading “Resolvyx Pharmaceuticals: Fish-Oil Mystery Solved, Blockbuster Drugs to Follow?”
Massachusetts Firms Rolling in a Growing Pile of Cleantech Venture Cash
Massachusetts is second only to California when it comes to raking in VC dollars for cleantech—and those dollars are evidently piling up faster than maple leaves in autumn. This according to new data from Thomson Financial and the National Venture Capital Association. The numbers, released yesterday, show that in the first three quarters of this … Continue reading “Massachusetts Firms Rolling in a Growing Pile of Cleantech Venture Cash”
Renewable Energy Business Network Happy Hour
Rob Day sends word that @Ventures, the Boston cleantech venture firm where he’s a partner, will sponsor another REBN-East networking event at Flat Top Johnny’s in Cambridge on Thursday, December 6. These networking events, the East Coast versions of a Renewable Energy Business Network happy hours that Day and a colleague initiated in the Bay … Continue reading “Renewable Energy Business Network Happy Hour”
Legislators Promise Action on $1 Billion Biotech Bill
After months of delays that have clearly frustrated the Governor’s office, leaders of the Massachusetts legislature have set a schedule for acting on the Governor’s proposed $1 billion initiative to bolster the commonwealth’s life sciences industry. According to a joint statement from Governor Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray, and Speaker of the House Salvatore … Continue reading “Legislators Promise Action on $1 Billion Biotech Bill”
How to Launch a Googellite: Stephen Vinter Speaks
If you were creating a satellite office for Google 3,100 miles away from the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA, yet you wanted to make it authentically Google, what would you do? The short, superficial answer would be to buy a few lava lamps, paint the walls in bright primary colors, build a great cafeteria with … Continue reading “How to Launch a Googellite: Stephen Vinter Speaks”
Microsoft Cambridge Lab Getting into Gear—Core Hires Expected Soon
Reed Sturtevant is building a Microsoft development lab and innovation group here in Cambridge, but I caught up with him in Redmond, WA. I gather the former Eons chief technology officer and local tech legend has logged a lot of miles between Seattle and Boston since being plucked away from Eons in late September. And, … Continue reading “Microsoft Cambridge Lab Getting into Gear—Core Hires Expected Soon”
Myomo: FDA Approval, Press Recognition, New CEO-Now, Customers?
Myomo, the privately held Boston-based startup, has a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. The company won FDA approval in July for its first product: the “e100 NeuroRobotic System,” an elbow brace that helps stroke victims recover use of their arms by detecting tiny electric signals from the skin’s surface. Earlier this month, … Continue reading “Myomo: FDA Approval, Press Recognition, New CEO-Now, Customers?”
Sirtris Touts Its Next Generation of Diabetes Drug Candidates, Massively More Powerful than its First
When I visited Cambridge-based Sirtris Pharmaceuticals a few weeks ago, CEO Christoph Westphal told me that the company would soon be publishing data on a new drug candidate that’s 1000 times as effective as the company’s lead compound—a diabetes drug—at activating a key gene called SIRT1. Those data are now out in this week’s issue … Continue reading “Sirtris Touts Its Next Generation of Diabetes Drug Candidates, Massively More Powerful than its First”
Microwave Device Technology Sells Assets to Microsemi
Westford, MA’s Microwave Device Technology, a provider of largely custom microwave and semiconductor products and components, will sell all of its assets to Irvine, CA’s Microsemi Corporation for $7.8 million in cash, the companies announced today. The deal is expected to close before year’s end.
NSTAR, Energy Department Offer $200K Prize to Energy Entrepreneurs
The pot of prize money available to students and entrepreneurs with innovative ideas about commercializing clean-energy technologies just got a lot bigger. MIT, the U.S. Department of Energy, and local electric utility NSTAR announced today that they’re collaborating to offer a new $200,000 cash prize for the best idea for a business supporting a technology, … Continue reading “NSTAR, Energy Department Offer $200K Prize to Energy Entrepreneurs”
One Laptop Foundation Sued Over Keyboard Design
A Nigerian businessman says the keyboard of the XO Laptop, produced by the Cambridge-based One Laptop Per Child Foundation, is suspiciously similar to a multilingual keyboard patented by his company, technology writer Hiawatha Bray is reporting today in the Boston Globe. Ade Oyegbola, founder and CEO of Natick, MA-based Lagos Analysis Corp., also called Lancor, … Continue reading “One Laptop Foundation Sued Over Keyboard Design”
New IRobot Contract Unrelated to Lawsuit (and Not Actually Issued Yet)
Never let it be said that Xconomy doesn’t look out for its readers. Yesterday you asked us to look into an intriguing posting on a government website about what looked to be a new $200 million contract for iRobot—marked with a date suspiciously close to when the Army set aside the $279.9 million “xBot” contract … Continue reading “New IRobot Contract Unrelated to Lawsuit (and Not Actually Issued Yet)”
NitroMed is Feeling the Pressure but Still Betting on Marketing to Save BiDil
One of the most controversial drugs ever made could disappear if a new marketing plan can’t save it. Widely known as the “race-based” medicine, BiDil (isosorbide dinitrate and hydralazine hydrochloride) was launched in July 2005 by Lexington, MA-based NitroMed (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NTMD]]) for treatment of heart failure in black patients. The wording of that approval caused … Continue reading “NitroMed is Feeling the Pressure but Still Betting on Marketing to Save BiDil”
Boston Micromachines Wins $750K for Optical Transponder Project
The Defense Department’s Small Business Technology Transfer program has awarded $750,000 to Watertown-based Boston Micromachines to create portable optical communications devices from deformable micromirrors, according to an article today in Laser Focus World. The company, working with partners at Boston University, hopes to build small, low-power devices that soldiers can use in open air to … Continue reading “Boston Micromachines Wins $750K for Optical Transponder Project”
Ariad Staffs Up In Anticipation of Growth
Cambridge, MA-based Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARIA]]) has made three key new appointments in anticipation of the launch of its first product and the growth of its pipeline. Matthew E. Ros is vice president, oncology marketing, Virginia R. Dean is vice president, human resources, and Frank G. Haluska is senior medical director. Ariad’s deforolimus is in … Continue reading “Ariad Staffs Up In Anticipation of Growth”
GuildCafe Conquers Uberguilds
GuildCafe, a Cambridge-based social networking site for players of massively multiplayer online roleplaying games such as World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online, has acquired Uberguilds, which hosts about 20 high-profile guild sites and fansites related to various MMORPGs, the company announced last week. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but Uberguilds … Continue reading “GuildCafe Conquers Uberguilds”
Warning: Reading This Article May Contribute to Global Warming. But These Young Entrepreneurs Want to Do Something About It.
Simply by breathing while you’re sitting there at your computer, you’re releasing about 40 grams of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every hour. But because you’re at that computer—which is using electricity, which was likely produced by burning some fossil fuel—you’re indirectly responsible for emitting another 60 grams of CO2 per hour. Or are you? … Continue reading “Warning: Reading This Article May Contribute to Global Warming. But These Young Entrepreneurs Want to Do Something About It.”
BIND Biosciences Raises $16 Million for Targeted, Drug-Loaded Nanoparticles
As it promised during its “public debut” a few weeks ago at MassOpps (here’s my take on that presentation and the rest of the conference) BIND Biosciences has closed a $16 million Series B financing round. Polaris Venture Partners and Flagship Ventures—founding investors of the Cambridge, MA-based startup—were joined in the deal by ARCH Ventures … Continue reading “BIND Biosciences Raises $16 Million for Targeted, Drug-Loaded Nanoparticles”
Genzyme Teams With French Firm to Combat Blindness
Cambridge, MA-based biotech giant Genzyme (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GENZ]]) has forged a research agreement with French startup Fovea Pharmaceuticals. The deal—financial terms of which were not disclosed—is aimed a developing gene-based therapies for preventing or ameliorating blindness.
Why EMC Bought Mozy, Part 2: The Consumer As Enterprise
The home consumer is a far cry from a big corporate enterprise, but each one of us can be seen as a mini enterprise. That was the big revelation I took away from a recent interview with Jeff Nick, EMC’s chief technology officer. We spoke about many things, but I was particularly curious to ask … Continue reading “Why EMC Bought Mozy, Part 2: The Consumer As Enterprise”
Shopping Goes Virtual: Browsing Brookstone in 3-D
The “Cyber Monday” phenomenon is a baseless piece of marketing fluff crafted by the National Retail Federation—the biggest online shopping day of the holiday season actually falls somewhere between December 5 and 15 every year. But if virtual shopping floats your boat, today is a good day for it anyway: the novelty retailer Brookstone, based … Continue reading “Shopping Goes Virtual: Browsing Brookstone in 3-D”
Passport Systems Books $7.4 Million
Passport Systems, the Acton, MA-based maker of cargo screening systems profiled here in September, has closed on about $7.4 million of an anticipated $10 million funding round led by angel investors and two local venture funds, according to company COO Bill McLendon. PE Week Wire first reported the milestone this morning.
Covergence Collects $15 Million
PeHub has news of a regulatory filing showing that Maynard, MA-based Covergence, which makes network devices that help corporations manage voice-over-Internet traffic, has collected $15 million in a Series D funding round. Backers reportedly include Highland Capital Partners, Globespan Capital Partners, and North Bridge Venture Partners. Covergence had no immediate comment on the funding.
2007 New England Venture Summit
This one-day paid event connects technology entrepreneurs with venture capitalists and angel investors. Information here; online registration has closed but limited space is available for walk-ins.
Inverness to Pay $230 Million for ParadigmHealth
Fast on the heels of a $806.4 million stock sale, Waltham-based diagnostics maker Inverness Medical Innovations (AMEX: [[ticker:IMA]]) today announced it has agreed to acquire Upper Saddle River, NJ-based ParadigmHealth for roughly $230 million in cash. Bent on growth, Inverness has already announced about a dozen acquisitions this year alone.
The Little Laptop That Could…One Way or Another
Opening my weekend Wall Street Journal yesterday, I found the following headline: “A Little Laptop With Big Ambitions: How a Computer for the Poor Got Stomped by Tech Giants.” The article vividly detailed the woes of the One Laptop Per Child effort, and how far OLPC is from achieving founder Nicholas Negroponte’s 2005 vision of … Continue reading “The Little Laptop That Could…One Way or Another”
Dare to be Greater
At the outset of my career I had the great fortune of working with Bruce Wasserstein on Wall Street who made his reputation imploring CEOs that they should “dare to be great.” Now as President of the New England Venture Capital Association (and a General Partner at IDG Ventures) I am focused on why we … Continue reading “Dare to be Greater”
Let Your Fingers Do the Crossing: “Direct Navigation” Companies Heat Up
The statistics are hard to believe, but hundreds of thousands of Internet users are apparently so intimidated by conventional search engines that they find things on the Web by typing random, imaginary domain names into their browsers’ adddress bars and hoping against hope that the made-up URLs will lead to something useful. And sometimes, they … Continue reading “Let Your Fingers Do the Crossing: “Direct Navigation” Companies Heat Up”
Inverness Investors Go Back for Seconds, Alkermes Grabs a Slice of the GSK/Reliant Pie, Kalido Restocks the (Cash) Larder, and the Rest of Thanksgiving Week’s Deals
Even with all the roasting, basting, and digesting everybody had to do last week, Boston-area tech businesses still managed to cut a few deals: —Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) agreed to pay Swiss startup Neurimmune Therapeutics as much as $380 million for potential treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, which Biogen will develop and commercialize. —Diagnostics maker Inverness … Continue reading “Inverness Investors Go Back for Seconds, Alkermes Grabs a Slice of the GSK/Reliant Pie, Kalido Restocks the (Cash) Larder, and the Rest of Thanksgiving Week’s Deals”
Xconomy Poll: As the Holiday Shopping Season Starts, Is Kindle Must-Buying?
It’s featured on Amazon’s home page, and the star-power testimony behind it runs from Toni Morrison to Michael Lewis. But is Amazon’s new e-book reader, Kindle, produced with Cambridge company E Ink’s “electronic paper” technology, a winner? Will it really transform the way people consume literature? At $399 for the reader and $9.99 a book, … Continue reading “Xconomy Poll: As the Holiday Shopping Season Starts, Is Kindle Must-Buying?”
2007 Executive Compensation Study: Life Sciences Leads the Way, New England Pay Lagging
First, the good news: salaries and bonuses for key employees of privately held firms in life sciences and information technology went up virtually across the board in the past year. Now, the not-so-good news: New England high-tech executives are in the middle of the pack (or lower) in compensation when compared to their peers around … Continue reading “2007 Executive Compensation Study: Life Sciences Leads the Way, New England Pay Lagging”
Shell Spinoff Kalido Raises $10 Million
Kalido, a data warehousing and management software company based in Burlington, MA, has raised $10 million in Series D funding, according to a regulatory filing cited by PE Week. The company, which has reportedly garnered $29 million in venture funding to date, spun out of Royal Dutch/Shell Group in 2003. Return backers, all of which … Continue reading “Shell Spinoff Kalido Raises $10 Million”
Inverness Nets $806.4M in Stock Sale
Waltham, MA-based Inverness Medical Innovations (AMEX: [[ticker:IMA]]) netted a tidy $806.4 million by selling 13,634,302 shares at $61.49 in a public offering that closed yesterday. All told the deal—which included an over-allotment of 1.8 million shares that was exercised in full—wound up being about twice the size as originally planned. Inverness will likely use the … Continue reading “Inverness Nets $806.4M in Stock Sale”
Vertex Faces Setback in Targeted Cancer Drug Program
Cambridge, MA-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: [[ticker:VRTX]]) yesterday announced a potentially serious setback in its program to develop novel cancer drugs aimed at a family of enzymes called the Aurora kinases. Vertex and its partner Merck have one of the most advanced drug candidates (MK-0457) in this category, which is part of an emerging “targeted” approach … Continue reading “Vertex Faces Setback in Targeted Cancer Drug Program”
Just in Time for the Holidays, We Gobble Up More Filings in the iRobot-Robotic FX Case
The chances of a Pilgrims-and-Indians-style Thanksgiving detente between iRobot and Robotic FX, if they ever existed, are looking pretty slim today. The latest point of contention is a request from Robotic FX that Judge Nancy Gertner of U.S. District Court in Boston change her November 2 injunction against Robotic FX. The injunction effectively prevents the … Continue reading “Just in Time for the Holidays, We Gobble Up More Filings in the iRobot-Robotic FX Case”
ConforMIS is Reaching for a Big Piece of the Knee-Surgery Market by Taking Smaller Pieces of Bone
I pride myself on having an extraordinarily high tolerance for medical gore, but I have to admit that the phrase “bone saw” always gives me the willies. Which is probably why I was intrigued when I first heard that there was a company out in Burlington, MA, that makes a new kind of implant for … Continue reading “ConforMIS is Reaching for a Big Piece of the Knee-Surgery Market by Taking Smaller Pieces of Bone”
Amazon Kindle: One Very Small Step for E-Books
An “electronic paper” screen created by Cambridge’s E Ink is the heart of the new Amazon Kindle e-book reading device, introduced yesterday amidst grand pronouncements about the beginning of a new era of electronic book publishing and reading. “This is the future of reading. It will be everywhere,” said business writer Michael Lewis, who ought … Continue reading “Amazon Kindle: One Very Small Step for E-Books”
Mass’s $1 Billion Biotech Bill Likely Stalled for the Year, House Speaker Says
Things aren’t looking so good for Governor Deval Patrick’s $1 billion life sciences initiative, according to the Boston Globe. There’s just a day left before the state legislature closes shop for the calendar year, and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi told a Globe reporter that Patrick’s life sciences bill doesn’t have a great chance of … Continue reading “Mass’s $1 Billion Biotech Bill Likely Stalled for the Year, House Speaker Says”