Robotic FX Fires Back—Says iRobot’s “Secrets” Aren’t Secret

First, a warning. If you are looking for closure—an answer to the question of whether iRobot will get its requested preliminary injunction against Robotic FX—you’re out of luck. Although witness testimony ended on October 3, and ostensibly the filing period for further arguments was over the following week (or so), Judge Nancy Gertner of U.S. … Continue reading “Robotic FX Fires Back—Says iRobot’s “Secrets” Aren’t Secret”

MIT Venture Capital Conference

The MIT Venture Capital Conference is one of the premier VC conferences in the region. Organized by MIT Sloan Venture Capital Club, it brings together over 400 entrepreneurs, innovators, and venture capital professionals to discuss all aspects of the venture business. Register here.

MITX Awards Ceremony

The Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange hosts its 12th annual awards for the best Web and interactive media projects of 2007. Tickets $90 for members, $175 for non-members; information and registration here.

Another Big Venture Round for Acceleron Pharma

Acceleron Pharma’s $25 million Series A financing round was the biggest Boston-area venture deal of 2004. The Cambridge, MA-based firm’s $30 million Series B was the seventh largest New England biotech/pharma deal of 2006. No telling yet exactly how the firm’s Series C, announced today, will rank, but it’s another big one: $31 million in … Continue reading “Another Big Venture Round for Acceleron Pharma”

Dataupia Collects $16 Million Second Round

Fairhaven Capital Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, and Valhalla Partners have joined in a $16 million Series B funding round for Dataupia, according to a report yesterday at peHUB. The Somerville, MA, startup sells a data warehousing appliance—called “Satori,” from the Zen Buddhist term for deep or lasting satisfaction—that consists of an exandable rack of AMD … Continue reading “Dataupia Collects $16 Million Second Round”

OwnerIQ Raises $2 Million for User Manual Archive

Newton, MA-based OwnerIQ, formerly known as Most Effective Media, announced today that it has raised $2 million in venture backing from Atlas Venture, the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation, and Common Angels. The company has built a network of websites containing user manuals for hundreds of brands and models of consumer devices, from microwave ovens to … Continue reading “OwnerIQ Raises $2 Million for User Manual Archive”

Virtual Iron “An Alternative to the Juggernaut Called VMware,” New CEO Says

Part of the investor optimism driving the stock price of VMware (NYSE: [[ticker:VMW]]) ever higher since its August IPO is based on the size of the market yet to be tapped by it and other virtualization software makers. Analysts say that only 5 to 7 percent of business servers have been equipped to run virtualization … Continue reading “Virtual Iron “An Alternative to the Juggernaut Called VMware,” New CEO Says”

The Coming New Face of Eons—All About Social Networking

Eons, the upbeat web portal for those on the “flip side of 50,” has been feeling the vagaries of age—young age, that is. Despite amassing $32 million in venture capital, the 15-month-old (depending on how you count) startup has experienced severe growing pains and in September was forced to lay off a third of its … Continue reading “The Coming New Face of Eons—All About Social Networking”

Curbed.com Obtains $1,200,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=cbcf9d6c-9863-448e-a175-f7a335a2614e&Preview=1 Date 10/30/2007 Company Name Curbed.com Mailing Address 36 Cooper Square New York, NY 10003 Company Description Since its launch in May 2004, Curbed has established itself as the center of the virtual conversation about real estate in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and beyond. Sales and rental prices, celebrity deals, new developments, amusing … Continue reading “Curbed.com Obtains $1,200,000 New Financing”

The Exponential Economy

A decade ago, economists and investors began referring to the “New Economy” to describe the revolution in economic affairs that they expected the Internet and other computer technologies would launch. Even at the time, it wasn’t clear what exactly was so new about the New Economy that it would suspend the conventional laws of economics. … Continue reading “The Exponential Economy”

Genzyme Forges Chinese Connection to Speed Gene Therapy to World Market

Genzyme (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GENZ]]) and China are probably the world’s biggest players in gene therapy, and now the two are working together, thanks to a deal announced last Friday around Genzyme’s lead gene therapy candidate. The deal—with Shanghai Sunway Biotech—should put Genzyme’s gene therapy program on the fast track, but also into the midst of some … Continue reading “Genzyme Forges Chinese Connection to Speed Gene Therapy to World Market”

Startup Weekend Yields Desktop Yoga Site

Startup Weekend Boston, a three-day volunteer collaboration held October 19-21 and aimed at launching a new Web business from scratch, resulted in a website aimed at keeping weary knowledge workers limber at DeskHappy.com. At the site you can watch video demonstrations of easy exercises that don’t require getting up from your chair, or sign up … Continue reading “Startup Weekend Yields Desktop Yoga Site”

Dace Ventures Closes $70 Million Fund

Waltham, MA-based Dace Ventures, founded by former CMGI President and COO Dave Andonian, announced the closing today of its initial investment fund of over $70 million. The firm focuses on digital media, consumer marketing and mobile services companies whose products are approaching mass commercialization. Its portfolio companies include auctionPAL, CityVoter, Panraven, LocaModa, and (just announced … Continue reading “Dace Ventures Closes $70 Million Fund”

Angel Funding Rivaling Venture Investments By Picking Up Slack in Early-Stage Ventures, But Slowdown is Foreseen

A growing body of professional angel investor organizations poured $11.9 billion into 24,000 deals in the first half of 2007, not too far off the 14.5 billion invested by venture firms. A large portion of the angel funds went into early stage ventures, partially filling a hole left by larger venture funds, which have increasingly … Continue reading “Angel Funding Rivaling Venture Investments By Picking Up Slack in Early-Stage Ventures, But Slowdown is Foreseen”

EnerNOC Plans Secondary Offering

EnerNOC, an energy demand aggregator, has filed for a secondary offering of 4 million shares—800,000 of them to be sold by the Boston-based firm (NASDAQ: ENOC), and 3.2 million from certain shareholders. EnerNOC’s $97.5 million IPO five months ago was one of New England’s cleantech success stories; shares priced at $27, well above the expected … Continue reading “EnerNOC Plans Secondary Offering”

EveryScape: Street-Level Views That Go Behind Closed Doors

The race is on to create an immersive, photorealistic online model of the real world. Such an environment could ultimately serve not just as navigation tool or a kind of 3-D yellow pages, but as a canvas for an endless variety of advertising, business intelligence, scientific and environmental data, and user-generated content such as photographs, … Continue reading “EveryScape: Street-Level Views That Go Behind Closed Doors”

GAO Dismisses IRobot Protest—Calls It Moot as Army Reassesses Robotic FX

In the latest episode of the iRobot-Robotic FX drama, the Government Accountability Office has dismissed iRobot’s protest of the $279.9 million military contract awarded last month to its rival. The GAO says the protest no longer applies in light of the Army’s decision earlier this week to set aside the contract as it reassesses Robotic … Continue reading “GAO Dismisses IRobot Protest—Calls It Moot as Army Reassesses Robotic FX”

Boston Blogtoberfest 2007—Beer, Bloggers, and Community-Building

Boston-area bloggers met up to celebrate their craft and watch Game 2 of the World Series (or rather, the endless pre-game show) last night in The Pour House’s basement “dungeon” on Boylston Street. It was the second annual Boston Blogtoberfest, expertly organized by local Web designer Jenny Frazier. From culture pundits to experts on identify-theft … Continue reading “Boston Blogtoberfest 2007—Beer, Bloggers, and Community-Building”

Bidding for Biogen Idec Could Begin in Early November, Report Says

Biogen Idec, which has put itself up for sale under pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn, could receive its initial bids for the company in the first 10 days of November, the Financial Times reported today. Pfizer (NYSE:[[ticker:PFE]]) and Novartis (NYSE:[[ticker:NVS]]) are reportedly the two leading contenders to purchase the pioneering Cambridge biotech, according to … Continue reading “Bidding for Biogen Idec Could Begin in Early November, Report Says”

General Catalyst Raises $715 Million For Two Funds

Cambridge-based venture firm General Catalyst Partners has raised two new funds totaling $715 million, PE Week Wire reports today, citing regulatory filings. The funds, General Catalyst Group V and General Catalyst Group V Supplemental, were culled from 77 investors, according to the publication. The $600 million General Catalyst V was listed in a Dow Jones … Continue reading “General Catalyst Raises $715 Million For Two Funds”

Linear Air on Verge of FAA Approval for Very Light Jet Service; Backlog Already Brewing

When it comes to business travel within the Northeast, there’s nothing more satisfying than climbing into your vehicle, turning the ignition key, pulling out, and then zipping past all the traffic at 160 miles per hour. Of course, I’m assuming that your vehicle, like the one I’ve depended on for many of my regional trips, … Continue reading “Linear Air on Verge of FAA Approval for Very Light Jet Service; Backlog Already Brewing”

GreatPoint Previews Demo Facility for Coal-to-Gas Technology

In the shadow of the New England’s largest coal-fired power plant, the Brayton Point station in Somerset, MA, Governor Deval Patrick presided yesterday over a ceremony heralding a future in which coal can be inexpensively converted into cleaner-burning natural gas before being used to generate electricity. The ceremony marked an agreement between Cambridge-based clean-energy startup … Continue reading “GreatPoint Previews Demo Facility for Coal-to-Gas Technology”

Big Gains for Akamai, EMC, Monster, VMware

Investors responded to rosy earnings reports from Cambridge networking leader Akamai, Hopkinton-based storage giant EMC, and EMC subsidiary VMware with rare enthusiasm today. All three companies saw gains of at least 8 percent in their share values, with Akamai soaring more than 12 percent. Job site Monster (which has offices in Maynard) was also a … Continue reading “Big Gains for Akamai, EMC, Monster, VMware”

One Laptop Organization to World: Chill!

If you aren’t on a schedule, you can’t be late. That was the gist of a conversation I had last night with Mary Lou Jepsen, chief technology officer at the One Laptop Per Child organization here in Cambridge. Jepsen says that a Reuters report yesterday asserting that production delays will cause the organization to miss … Continue reading “One Laptop Organization to World: Chill!”

$40 Million for Paratek Pharmaceuticals

Paratek Pharmaceuticals of Boston announced it has closed the first tranche of a $40 million financing round. (It’s a Series H round, according to peHUB.) The company says it will use the funds in part to further the development of antibiotics to treat infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other drug-resistant bacteria.

Making Games into Communities—Q&A with Turbine’s Jeff Anderson

Computer gaming is a big business—and a growing force in the Boston economy. Cambridge’s Harmonix Music Systems makes the popular game Guitar Hero II, and 2K Games in Quincy built BioShock, one of the best-selling console games in the world. Even Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling is in the act—he’s formed a company called 38 … Continue reading “Making Games into Communities—Q&A with Turbine’s Jeff Anderson”

Army Is Prepared to Award “XBot” Contract to IRobot If Robotic FX Fails New Assessment

The U.S. Army will cancel Robotic FX’s $279.9 million contract for bomb-detection robots and award it to iRobot as the next-lowest bidder if a new assessment of Robotic FX finds it is not a “responsible” government contractor, according to a letter from an Army contracts officer. IRobot, which received the letter yesterday, passed on the … Continue reading “Army Is Prepared to Award “XBot” Contract to IRobot If Robotic FX Fails New Assessment”

Robotic FX Contract Set Aside, IRobot Says

Looks like iRobot has caught a break in its effort to stop Robotic FX from selling its Negotiator robots, as the Burlington, MA-based company announced moments ago that the Army has set aside a $279.9 million contract awarded to its rival in September. IRobot contends in two ongoing lawsuits against Robotic FX that the Negotiator … Continue reading “Robotic FX Contract Set Aside, IRobot Says”

Yet Another Aquisition for Inverness

Inverness Medical Innovations (AMEX: IMA), a diagnostics maker in Waltham, MA, announced that it it will acquire Reno, NV’s Alere Medical, for $302 million. By my count that’s the ninth acquisition agreement Inverness has forged this year.

A Pair of $20 Million Research Initiatives

How much does it take to jumpstart a serious academic research initiative these days? Apparently the answer is $20 million. That’s the amount pledged for two different projects announced this week. One is an initiative at MIT to study major psychiatric diseases including bipolar disorder, depression, and schizophrenia, and the other is an agreement between … Continue reading “A Pair of $20 Million Research Initiatives”

Allurent Inks Deal With GSI

Cambridge, MA-based e-commerce firm Allurent announced it has forged a stragetic partnership with King of Prussia, PA’s GSI Commerce. Under the agreement, GSI will integrate Allurent’s tools into its e-commerce platform and will also take an equity stake in the Cambridge startup. Financial terms were not disclosed.

HistoRx Raises $6 Million

New Haven, CT’s HistoRx, which is developing tissue-based diagnostics, announced it has closed a $6 million Series B funding round. The deal was led by Brook Venture Partners, and joined by Navigator Technology Ventures, The Roche Venture Fund, Commons Capital, and Maven Capital.

Biogen-Icahn? Pfiz-ogen or Pfiz-zyme? Is All of Cambridge Biotech Suddenly Up For Sale?

Thank you Carl Icahn. Thanks for stirring the pot by purchasing a few million shares in the local economy. In just the last 12 days, you’ve raised the market cap of Cambridge’s biotech giants by, oh, I don’t know, a few billion dollars. It’s nice work if you can get it, this activist investing. But … Continue reading “Biogen-Icahn? Pfiz-ogen or Pfiz-zyme? Is All of Cambridge Biotech Suddenly Up For Sale?”

Vertica: Getting Its Ducks in a Column

At Vertica, the company blog has a plain, seemingly straightforward name: The Database Column. But it’s actually an inside joke—and one that hints at the fundamental innovation that the Andover, MA, startup hopes will catapult it into the ranks of established database makers like Oracle, IBM, and Sybase. Vertica’s software stores data in the form … Continue reading “Vertica: Getting Its Ducks in a Column”

A123 Raises $30 Million to Expand Battery Production Capacity

A123 Systems is like some sort of entrepreneurial Energizer bunny: it just keeps on marching through investment rounds and deals. In the latest news, the Watertown, MA, supplier of high-power lithium ion batteries announced today that it had received $30 million in new venture financing. The money will be used to scale up production capacity … Continue reading “A123 Raises $30 Million to Expand Battery Production Capacity”

Tolerx and GSK Ink Deal Worth Up to $760 Million

In perhaps the biggest vindication to date of a field that torpedoed a couple of Boston-area firms years ago, Cambridge, MA’s Tolerx announced today that is has signed an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) that could be worth up to $760 million. Tolerx is developing treatments for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including type 1 diabetes, … Continue reading “Tolerx and GSK Ink Deal Worth Up to $760 Million”

Buzzword Brings Beauty, Flash to Word Processing for Adobe

It’s showtime at Virtual Ubiquity. In the conference room at the start-up’s Waltham, MA, office, a band of engineers gathers to see the latest tweaks to the way Buzzword, their new word processor, organizes documents. “This is the alphabetical view,” says Dave Coletta, a programmer who’s one of the company’s 11 employees. Projected on one … Continue reading “Buzzword Brings Beauty, Flash to Word Processing for Adobe”

Solar Market Outlook

Greentech Media and the Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development sponsor a day of discussions about the future of the solar industry, with an emphasis on data, market research, analysis, and forecasts. Aimed at investors, stock analysts, and financial and legal professionals. Registration $795. More information here.