Stock in VMware (NYSE: VMW), the skyrocketing subsidiary of Hopkinton-based storage-systems giant EMC (NYSE: EMC), blew past analysts’ expected ceiling today after the company announced the acquisition of Dunes Technologies, a Swiss startup that makes software that automates the management of virtualized computing systems. VMware stock briefly peaked at about $82 per share—well above the … Continue reading “VMware Snaps Up Swiss Software Suite, Sees Stock Swell”
Rich Stew at Web Innovators Bash
If you’re hungry for a taste of Web 2.0 technology, Boston style, just attend one of the Web Innovators Group meetings, hosted every other month or so by David Beisel, a vice president in the Cambridge office of Menlo Park, CA-based venture firm Venrock. Last night’s gathering, the 14th in the series, filled the second-floor … Continue reading “Rich Stew at Web Innovators Bash”
Tiny Massachusetts Agency Seeks to Leverage State’s $5.5 Billion in Federal Research Funds-Can it Succeed?
With its bevy of top-flight universities and hospitals, Massachusetts boasts a fire-hydrant-like flow of some $5.5 billion in federal research dollars pumping into the state annually. How can the state best help commercialize some of that research to further boost the Bay State economy? That’s the daunting mission of the three-year-old Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center … Continue reading “Tiny Massachusetts Agency Seeks to Leverage State’s $5.5 Billion in Federal Research Funds-Can it Succeed?”
The Fourth Screen: Frame Media Turns Digital Picture Frames into Information Portals
When content producers want to brag about their multimedia strategies, they often say they’re getting their material out to “all three screens,” meaning TV networks, Internet video sites, and Internet-enabled mobile phones. But while it might not be on your radar screen yet, there’s an emerging “fourth screen” showing up in some homes and offices: … Continue reading “The Fourth Screen: Frame Media Turns Digital Picture Frames into Information Portals”
VC Varsity: The Best Athletes on Boston’s Private-Equity Circuit—the Roster
With the Sox driving for the World Series, the Pats early Super Bowl favorites, and the invigorated Celtics waiting in the wings to bring Beantown back to the NBA playoffs, Xconomy thought it was a fitting time to determine the best athletes amongst Greater Boston’s top private equity investors. You can read about the hunt … Continue reading “VC Varsity: The Best Athletes on Boston’s Private-Equity Circuit—the Roster”
VC Varsity: The Best Athletes on Boston’s Private-Equity Circuit
[Executive editor’s note: Bob’s about to wax philosophical about sports. It could take a while. To cut to the chase and see the roster, click here.] The hoops game is serious. Invitation only. Two “runs” a week, at 6 a.m.—when it can be tough to get the juices flowing. And if I told you the … Continue reading “VC Varsity: The Best Athletes on Boston’s Private-Equity Circuit”
Court Documents Detail Lead-Up to Genzyme’s Controversial Repurchase of its Biosurgery Division
Just-unsealed federal court documents detail the events leading up to Genzyme’s 2003 repurchase of its biosurgery division, the Boston Globe reports today on its front page. The deal was the subject of a class-action lawsuit filed by shareholders of the biosurgery division who alleged that Genzyme timed the transaction to undervalue the division; Genzyme settled … Continue reading “Court Documents Detail Lead-Up to Genzyme’s Controversial Repurchase of its Biosurgery Division”
Second-Order Effects of Research Funding Sources: Is the U.S. Innovation Pipeline Headed for a Hiccup?
Back in the good old days we academic-lab or research directors used to worry that the sources of research funding for our faculty and their research groups might bias their research in ways that were not scientifically pure. Nowadays we have something new to worry about. Today we need to worry about whether the research … Continue reading “Second-Order Effects of Research Funding Sources: Is the U.S. Innovation Pipeline Headed for a Hiccup?”
Mass Biotech Council’s Image Troubles, Boston Scientific’s Mixed Bag, Another Big IPO in the Offing, and More
The summertime business damper has definitely been lifted. So much was happening at the end of last week that we ran out of time for a Friday round up. But fear not–here are the most interesting developments. —The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council’s image troubles continued, with several members expressing “dismay” over the trade group’s recent direction … Continue reading “Mass Biotech Council’s Image Troubles, Boston Scientific’s Mixed Bag, Another Big IPO in the Offing, and More”
Apple and Starbucks to Boston: Drop Dead (When it Comes to Music)
My, Apple makes life fun. Every week there’s something new to awe at, or argue about; something kindly or incredibly innovative that the company has done, and something crazy-making. Today I’m feeling grateful to Mr. Jobs for offering $100 in store credit to people like myself who bought the 8-gigabyte iPhone for $599 two months … Continue reading “Apple and Starbucks to Boston: Drop Dead (When it Comes to Music)”
Tech Networking Nirvana on Lansdowne Street
My ears are still ringing from the din last night at Tequila Rain, where hundreds of local digerati gathered for the first TECH Cocktail Boston. Aside from the the Nintendo Wii boxing matches sponsored by Waltham-based search company ZoomInfo and the free vodka-and-Red-Bulls, the most head-pounding thing about the gathering was its sheer size and … Continue reading “Tech Networking Nirvana on Lansdowne Street”
Biogen Idec Shares Enjoy Nice Pop; Forget Rumors of Being Acquired, Company Hasn’t Given Up on a Major Acquisition of Its Own
Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) stock surged nearly 6 percent yesterday, rising $3.66 to $66.53, as CEO Jim Mullen predicted strong growth throughout the decade at a major healthcare conference. But overshadowded by these main remarks was an interesting comment that Mullen made about Biogen’s future acquisition plans. Yesterday I wrote about Mullen’s talk at the … Continue reading “Biogen Idec Shares Enjoy Nice Pop; Forget Rumors of Being Acquired, Company Hasn’t Given Up on a Major Acquisition of Its Own”
That Dinner You Charged on Your iCache at Hamersley’s: $360. Not Having to Worry About Stolen Credit Cards: Priceless.
If you live inside a Norman Rockwell painting or a Frank Capra movie, then perhaps everyone you interact with knows you by sight and can vouch for your identity. But in the real world, we tote around all sorts of digitally encoded data to verify that we’re entitled to carry out our daily business: the … Continue reading “That Dinner You Charged on Your iCache at Hamersley’s: $360. Not Having to Worry About Stolen Credit Cards: Priceless.”
Another Voice Heard in the Genzyme-Bioenvision Takeover Debate: Elliot Associates is “Extremely Dissatisfied”
Shareholders of New York-based Bioenvision (NASDAQ: BIVN) have yet to vote on Genzyme’s (NASDAQ: GENZ) much-maligned $5.60-per-share offer for the firm, but one of them is making its intentions clear now. In a scathing letter to the Bioenvision board dated yesterday, Hedge fund Elliott Associates wrote that it is “extremely dissatisfied with the proposed Genzyme … Continue reading “Another Voice Heard in the Genzyme-Bioenvision Takeover Debate: Elliot Associates is “Extremely Dissatisfied””
Bullish Biogen Idec CEO Forecasts 15 Percent Revenue Growth While Fending Off Talk of Icahn Plans
Riding a year of solid earnings and strong stock market gains, Biogen Idec CEO James Mullen today provided an upbeat outlook for the next few years, basically saying the good times for the biotech company were far from over. Foreseeing vigorous international expansion and a healthy pipeline that would enable Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) to expand … Continue reading “Bullish Biogen Idec CEO Forecasts 15 Percent Revenue Growth While Fending Off Talk of Icahn Plans”
Boston’s New Generation of University Spinoffs
You can’t spend much time in Kendall Square without realizing how critical universities are to the local innovation ecosystem. One way to look at the role they play is to look at the startup companies formed around technology invented in academia. That’s exactly what I’m about to do—and if you want to cut to the … Continue reading “Boston’s New Generation of University Spinoffs”
Boston’s New Generation of University Spinoffs: The List
Below are some of the Boston area’s newest university spinoffs—including companies incorporated or formed since January 2006—and the schools from which they spun. For more on how we generated the list and determined the founding date for each (who’d have thought it could be so tricky?), see here. Ascent Therapeutics Sherborn, MA (Tufts, 2006) Ascent … Continue reading “Boston’s New Generation of University Spinoffs: The List”
The UpDown: Fantasy Stock Investing with Real Money at Stake
A handful of websites have turned user-generated content into figurative gold: think YouTube, which started with $11.5 million in venture capital, convinced a few hundred thousand amateurs to upload their home videos, and got purchased by Google for $1.65 billion. But now a trio of Harvard Business School students has launched a Web business designed … Continue reading “The UpDown: Fantasy Stock Investing with Real Money at Stake”
IRobot Founder to be Inducted into Women’s Technology Hall of Fame
We’ve all clapped robotically at some boring function or other. Now it’s time to clap for a roboticist. Helen Greiner, chairman and co-founder of iRobot and a charismatic champion of a new generation of commercial and military robots, will be inducted into the Women in Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame, the professional group announced … Continue reading “IRobot Founder to be Inducted into Women’s Technology Hall of Fame”
$12.3 Million Second Round for Quattro Wireless
As more content migrates to the mobile Web—websites customized for the smaller screens of cell phones and other mobile devices—all of the Web’s usual mechanisms for monetizing that content are also migrating, or being recreated. Waltham, MA, startup Quattro Wireless is one of the companies in this space, helping publishers create websites customized for mobile … Continue reading “$12.3 Million Second Round for Quattro Wireless”
O’Reilly Ignite Boston
A series of short “lightning talks” by Boston-area Web 2.0 developers; details here.
Go East, Young Man: How Clean Tech Drew Two Venture Insiders from the Bay Area to the Bay State
If there is a central incubator for “clean-tech” businesses, it’s California. Stiff environmental regulations, generous tax incentives, top-ranked research universities and national labs, abundant capital, a huge potential market, and a Governator who takes global warming for real make the Golden State the nation’s undisputed leader in renewable energy innovation. Of the 10 investment firms … Continue reading “Go East, Young Man: How Clean Tech Drew Two Venture Insiders from the Bay Area to the Bay State”
Clean Energy Market Research and News Site Launches
It’s not every day a digital media news site opens in Kendall Square. But lately it seems like it’s every month or two. In yet another sign of the explosion of activity in the clean-energy sector, Greentech Media—a Cambridge-based market research, news, and events company devoted to alternative energy investment and technology information—announced its launch … Continue reading “Clean Energy Market Research and News Site Launches”
Two Patent-Related Scourges Addressed
After years of relative neglect, the courts, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and even Congress have taken important steps over the past several months to correct some of the patent system’s most glaring problems. (For one example, see this post from July.) The latest changes attempt to deal with dreaded “submarine patents” and the … Continue reading “Two Patent-Related Scourges Addressed”
On the Creation, Protection, and Delivery of Shareholder Value—Lessons from the Color Kinetics Experience
Entrepreneurship and innovation are powerful forces that, when combined, can lead to the creation of great value. Last week, the local startup community saw one of its finest recent examples of entrepreneurial innovation, Color Kinetics (CK), deliver nearly $800 million in cash to its shareholders—myself among them—upon the completion of its merger with Royal Philips … Continue reading “On the Creation, Protection, and Delivery of Shareholder Value—Lessons from the Color Kinetics Experience”
MIT Plans to Win DARPA Robot Car Challenge
Driving in urban traffic is a stupendously tricky task demanding a constant stream of split-second, almost subconscious decisions. In fact, if you give it too much thought—Am I driving inside the lane markers? How much space should I give the car ahead of me? Who got to this intersection first? Is that old lady going … Continue reading “MIT Plans to Win DARPA Robot Car Challenge”
Photos of MIT’s DARPA Urban Challenge Car
After interviewing MIT researchers Jonathan How and Seth Teller for my story “MIT Plans to Win DARPA Robot Car Challenge,” I snapped a few pictures with my iPhone. For captions, click on the individual photos in the slide show. First, you’lll see a few shots of the car itself, carrying a phalanx of radars, video … Continue reading “Photos of MIT’s DARPA Urban Challenge Car”
Happy Labor Day! We’re De-laboring. As Xconomy Completes Its Second Month, Here are Some Things You Might Have Missed
Xconomy has just wrapped up its second month of covering the New England business, technology, and innovation scene. The paparazzi have thinned out. The VCs still aren’t throwing money at us (repeat after me, “It’s not a venture deal.”). But we have secured our funding, and we’ve had a lot of fun, met a multitude … Continue reading “Happy Labor Day! We’re De-laboring. As Xconomy Completes Its Second Month, Here are Some Things You Might Have Missed”
GlassHouse Garners Funds, Boston Scientific Settles, Akamai Speeds Up, and More
Just in time for the long weekend, a bumper crop of news briefs. Enjoy, but don’t leave the laptop too close to the barbeque. —Framingham firm GlassHouse, which competes with the likes of EMC and IBM Global Services in the data storage and consulting services sector, is supplementing the $64 million it has already raised … Continue reading “GlassHouse Garners Funds, Boston Scientific Settles, Akamai Speeds Up, and More”
Rubbing Elbows and Dodging Bees With Synthetic Biology Pioneer George Church
On Monday I had the privilege of hanging out with Xconomist George Church and a few other distinguished scientists—Craig Venter, Freeman Dyson, Robert Shapiro, Dimitar Sasselov, and Seth Lloyd—as they discussed some deep topics like the origin of life, the end of Darwinian evolution, and what will come next on our planet. It all took … Continue reading “Rubbing Elbows and Dodging Bees With Synthetic Biology Pioneer George Church”
CEO Tucci and Other EMC Execs Also Sell Shares in Firm
New filings posted at the SEC show that several more key officials of EMC (NYSE: EMC)—including CEO and chairman Joe Tucci—have exercised options and/or sold shares of the company’s stock. Two days ago, we reported that six key company officials, including five executive vice presidents, had sold shares last Friday in what appeared to be … Continue reading “CEO Tucci and Other EMC Execs Also Sell Shares in Firm”
Adobe Snatches Up Stars from Crumbling Mitsubishi Lab—Creates Boston Research Outpost
Adobe Systems, the San Jose, CA-based company whose graphics and visual design programs are used by millions of people every day, has hired at least three prominent Boston-area computer scientists away from Cambridge’s troubled Mitsubushi Electric Research Laboratory (MERL) to form Adobe’s first significant research outpost outside the West Coast. And more MERL researchers could … Continue reading “Adobe Snatches Up Stars from Crumbling Mitsubishi Lab—Creates Boston Research Outpost”
VMware Teams Up With the NSA
If you follow the Fox show “24” at all, you know that keeping track of who has access to which top-secret computer systems—and making sure that nobody goes poking around where he shouldn’t—is a huge pain for intelligence analysts and other security personnel. So much of a pain, in fact, that it necessitates user with … Continue reading “VMware Teams Up With the NSA”
Sure, You Can Watch Video on Your Phone—If You Can Find It; Andover-based Veveo Wants to Help
Some of the time we spend viewing video on the Internet is time stolen from older types of media consumption, such as watching network television. But thanks to broadband-connected mobile devices, Internet video is also filling up those interstitial moments when we weren’t previously jacked into the mediasphere—on the bus, for example, or at the … Continue reading “Sure, You Can Watch Video on Your Phone—If You Can Find It; Andover-based Veveo Wants to Help”
What Do Crisis Negotiation, Endoscopy, and Ice Cream Have in Common? MooBella’s Steve Moysey
Lordy, do I love MooBella. First off, the Taunton, MA-based company is developing serve-yourself ice-cream vending machines* that mix and freeze each scoop to order. Then there’s the fact that the whole shebang runs on Linux—don’t know why, but that really cracks me up. And now the company has gone and hired its first chief … Continue reading “What Do Crisis Negotiation, Endoscopy, and Ice Cream Have in Common? MooBella’s Steve Moysey”
Presidio Pharmaceuticals Obtains $26,000,000 Series B Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=a2d043ae-b80e-478d-9b83-63b58252ad7e&Preview=1 Date 8/29/2007 Company Name Presidio Pharmaceuticals Mailing Address 1700 Owens Street San Francisco, CA 94158 Company Description Presidio is focused on developing novel and established therapeutic modalities and small molecule compounds for the treatment of HIV-1, HCV and other chronic virus infections. Website http://www.presidiopharma.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $26,000,000 … Continue reading “Presidio Pharmaceuticals Obtains $26,000,000 Series B Round”
Six EMC Executives Exercise Options Worth $25 Million
In what appears to be a routine exercise of stock options, six EMC executives, including five executive vice presidents, sold shares of company stock worth more than $25 million on Friday, SEC documents registered yesterday reveal. In addition, EMC chief executive officer Joe Tucci entered into a pre-arranged trading plan to exercise a small amount … Continue reading “Six EMC Executives Exercise Options Worth $25 Million”
Wharton Professor Tapped as New Sloan School Dean; First Outsider in 40 Years—the Inside Reaction
For the first time in more than 40 years, MIT’s Sloan School of Management has reached outside its own ranks to pick a dean, tapping the deputy dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton School to help expand its reach. The new Sloan leader will be 52-year-old David C. Schmittlein, a longtime professor of … Continue reading “Wharton Professor Tapped as New Sloan School Dean; First Outsider in 40 Years—the Inside Reaction”
Accord Could Re-Ignite MIT’s Clean Energy Business Plan Competition
Imagine if the Oscars, the Tonys, the Nobels, and the Pulitzers were all announced on the same day. The individual prize winners, no matter how stellar, might get a bit lost in the glare. Followers of New England’s renewable-energy sector feared something like that might happen this spring, when local groups conducted not one but … Continue reading “Accord Could Re-Ignite MIT’s Clean Energy Business Plan Competition”
Carl Icahn: Biogen Idec Marriage Broker?
It’s no secret that major pharmaceutical makers are desperate to fill their thinning drug pipelines. Biotech companies like Biogen Idec, though not without their own pipeline concerns, have products to offer. So it might be reasonable to conclude that Big Pharma would pay a premium for biotech firms—and that major investors like Carl Icahn are … Continue reading “Carl Icahn: Biogen Idec Marriage Broker?”
Entrepreneurs are Not Hors D’oeuvres and Other Random Thoughts
As a venture capitalist, I thought it might be interesting to explore our lack of social graces when it comes to deal-flow interactions, particularly since so many of us like to say to limited partners, to CEOs, in panel discussions, and on our websites how our mission is to be Good Partners to Entrepreneurs. If … Continue reading “Entrepreneurs are Not Hors D’oeuvres and Other Random Thoughts”
Merger Brewing Between New England Energy Innovation Collaborative, Clean Energy Council
The “green” energy business is growing so quickly in Massachusetts that it will soon leapfrog textiles to become Massachusetts’ 10th-largest industry, according to a survey released earlier this month. In the latest sign of the ferment, the leader of the New England Energy Innovation Collaborative (NEEIC)—a non-profit group launched by the venture-capital community last year … Continue reading “Merger Brewing Between New England Energy Innovation Collaborative, Clean Energy Council”
Mocospace Lands $3,000,000 Series A Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e5d167e2-ad1a-4dc9-80f1-f7933fcc0631&Preview=1 Date 8/27/2007 Company Name Mocospace Mailing Address 186 South St Boston, MA 02111 Company Description JNJ Mobile develops and publishes innovative mobile entertainment applications, including the premier mobile social networking service under the MocoSpace™ brand. Website http://www.jnjmobile.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $3,000,000 Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes The … Continue reading “Mocospace Lands $3,000,000 Series A Funding”
Icahn Gets Okay to Purchase Biogen Idec Shares
Biogen Idec shares (NASDAQ: BIIB) hit a one-year high yesterday after billionaire investor and occasional corporate raider Carl Icahn was cleared by U.S. antitrust authorities to buy shares in the corporation. The stock closed Friday at $62.89, up $2.92 (nearly 5 percent) for the day. The news came barely a week after Icahn revealed he … Continue reading “Icahn Gets Okay to Purchase Biogen Idec Shares”
Clarus Ventures’ Very Big Deal, Color Kinetics’ Acquisition, VMware’s Upward Trek, and More
It’s been a crazy week here at Xconomy. We’ve suffered a few technical and other difficulties, but (inside joke alert) we’re keeping our chins up. So, it seems, are many local tech firms. —Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) amended a $2 billion line of credit and a $5 billion term loan—in part by prepaying $1 billion—in … Continue reading “Clarus Ventures’ Very Big Deal, Color Kinetics’ Acquisition, VMware’s Upward Trek, and More”
USS Grunion Found: Boston Scientific Founder and Brothers Locate Father’s Lost WWII Sub in Aleutians
The blogosphere and newswires are alive this morning with news that a team led by brothers John, Bruce, and Brad Abele have located their father’s submarine, the USS Grunion, which had been lost in the Aleutians during World War II. The following notice appears on the Grunion blog: “Just got the first set of 8 … Continue reading “USS Grunion Found: Boston Scientific Founder and Brothers Locate Father’s Lost WWII Sub in Aleutians”
Online Marketing for Dummies—and for People with Better Things to Do
I know plenty of people who have all of the ingredients for business success today, save one. They have a keen talent. They can turn out cool products or services. They know how to line up financial backing and keep account books. They’re “people people,” meaning they actually like to interact with others all day … Continue reading “Online Marketing for Dummies—and for People with Better Things to Do”
Conduit Labs: “Bored of the Same Old Social Networks, Virtual Worlds, and Massively Multiplayer Online Environments”
Here at Xconomy we’re keeping a long list of recently funded, stealth-mode technology startups that have potentially interesting stories to tell but aren’t quite ready for real publicity. It’s certainly encouraging to see so many new ventures springing up in the neighborhood. But it can also be frustrating to realize that it might be weeks … Continue reading “Conduit Labs: “Bored of the Same Old Social Networks, Virtual Worlds, and Massively Multiplayer Online Environments””
Former Bioenvision Exec Sues for $108 Million; Genzyme Biding Its Time on Takeover
For anyone who’s been following Genzyme’s attempted merger with New York-based biotech firm Bioenvision (NASDAQ: BIVN), one phrase likely comes to mind: What a mess. Here’s a quick summary of what we’ve covered so far (the related posts list at right pretty much has everything): Individual shareholder protest. Merger rejected. CEO and other execs cash … Continue reading “Former Bioenvision Exec Sues for $108 Million; Genzyme Biding Its Time on Takeover”
Entrepreneur Segways Toward Medical Revolution Directing Genomics X Prize
The Segway Personal Transporter was perched just inside the Starbucks door at the Kendall Square Marriott. Truth be told, I didn’t notice it going in, but I pretty much had to going out, because the person I’d just spent the last hour with unlocked the transporter, wheeled it outside, then tooled down the street beside … Continue reading “Entrepreneur Segways Toward Medical Revolution Directing Genomics X Prize”