Google, ITA, and the Future of Travel: It’s All About Data, Not Search

Sitting across the table from me, on the seventh floor of a brick building near Kendall Square, is the head of Google travel. He controls where the big, bad Internet giant (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GOOG]]) will go in the vast competitive landscape of flight and hotel search, airline reservation systems, relationships with online travel agencies, and so … Continue reading “Google, ITA, and the Future of Travel: It’s All About Data, Not Search”

Sapphire Energy CEO Jason Pyle’s Parting Thoughts on Big Biofuel

After stepping down as the founding CEO of San Diego’s Sapphire Energy, Jason Pyle tells me he’s accomplished a number of key initiatives at the algae-based biofuels startup, and basically that it’s time to move on. His departure surprised me. Founding CEOs don’t often walk away from startups that have amassed a $1 billion valuation … Continue reading “Sapphire Energy CEO Jason Pyle’s Parting Thoughts on Big Biofuel”

Robots and You: See the Connections on May 3

Maybe you’re under the impression that robots are still sci-fi technology, decades away from the point where they might affect your everyday life. Well, tell that to Jeff Bezos, who just spent $775 million of Amazon’s cash to acquire Kiva Systems. If you’ve ordered a handbag or a pair of shoes from Amazon subsidiary Zappos … Continue reading “Robots and You: See the Connections on May 3”

Amazon’s Fight Against Content Middlemen: Books, TV, Movies, Games

The publishing industry was rocked last year when Amazon.com, long the most important retailer in books, got serious about becoming a publisher. No longer content to control a few niche imprints, Amazon took aim at the big publishing houses’ cash cows by directly signing up best-selling authors and hiring an industry insider to run the … Continue reading “Amazon’s Fight Against Content Middlemen: Books, TV, Movies, Games”

Riverside Chats: Eric Schadt

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s office of technology development hosts an evening with Eric Schadt,director of the Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology and chair of the department of genetics and genomics sciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Schadt will pass along insights from his years of experience blending mathematics, biology and supercomputers to pursue a … Continue reading “Riverside Chats: Eric Schadt”

E-Commerce Startup Material Wrld Opens up Fashionistas’ Closets

For Jie Zheng and Rie Yano, the options for selling used clothing were just not cutting it. Consignment stores were picky, thrift shops paid virtually nothing for their wares, and eBay was complicated. Both were working as marketers for big fashion brands, buying a lot of clothes for office days and work events, and trying … Continue reading “E-Commerce Startup Material Wrld Opens up Fashionistas’ Closets”

What Are the Hottest Targets in Biotech Today?

Hardly anybody wants new drugs that act like a sledgehammer, bashing diseased and healthy cells like old-school cancer chemotherapy. Many drugs today are supposed to be smart enough to work like laser-guided missiles that hit the diseased cells and mostly spare the healthy ones. But if your goal is to create one of these amazing … Continue reading “What Are the Hottest Targets in Biotech Today?”

Locu Secures $4,000,000 Series A Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=03633a55-bdfd-44ed-913e-2d430bf36981&Preview=1 Date 4/23/2012 Company Name Locu Mailing Address Undisclosed Cambridge, MA 02139 Company Description Founded by MIT graduates and computer science researchers, Locu is creating the world’s largest semantically-annotated repository of real-time small-business data. We are excited to have the support and backing from a group of acclaimed angel investors and early-stage … Continue reading “Locu Secures $4,000,000 Series A Funding”

Cloze Receives $1,199,999 Seed Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f7694d74-a7fc-4da3-a2fd-bce12f593d9c&Preview=1 Date 4/23/2012 Company Name Cloze Mailing Address 33 Pine Ridge Rd. Wellesley, MA 02481 Company Description Robert Louis Stevenson had it right when he said “everyone lives by selling something.” We’re all selling all the time, whether we know it or not – and connections are key. Why not make it … Continue reading “Cloze Receives $1,199,999 Seed Financing Round”

JeNu Biosciences Obtains $1,800,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=62ead3dc-5f38-480e-9b11-1e5306c0e69d&Preview=1 Date 4/23/2012 Company Name JeNu Biosciences Mailing Address 3911 Ne Belvoir Place Seattle, WA 98105 Company Description JeNu is looking to use ultrasound waves to deliver specially formulated creams into the skin, or simply, “put good things into the skin,”. Website Undisclosed Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $1,800,000 Transaction Round … Continue reading “JeNu Biosciences Obtains $1,800,000 New Funding Round”

VoloMetrix Garners $1,600,000 Series A Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=daa18596-2037-45ff-81a7-33839449bb20&Preview=1 Date 4/23/2012 Company Name VoloMetrix Mailing Address 2101 Fourth Ave Seattle, WA 98121 Company Description VoloMetrix is an enterprise analytics start-up in Seattle focused on providing tools to improve organizational effectiveness and drive knowledge worker productivity in the enterprise. We are passionate about empowering business leaders to make better, more data … Continue reading “VoloMetrix Garners $1,600,000 Series A Financing Round”

Viddy Lands New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=55428cc6-7888-4553-840f-cf401646fed3&Preview=1 Date 4/23/2012 Company Name Viddy Mailing Address Undisclosed Venice, CA 90291 Company Description Viddy is a simple way for anyone to capture, produce, and share beautiful videos with the world. Record a moment of your life, give it that cinematic look with our production packs, and share it with those who … Continue reading “Viddy Lands New Financing”

Biotix Holdings Obtains $2,195,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=98720b79-60ff-406e-8b32-f02b63a2e26f&Preview=1 Date 4/23/2012 Company Name Biotix Holdings Mailing Address 9880 Mesa Rim Road San Diego, CA 92121 Company Description Our goal is to give you the best tips imaginable. We believe we have succeeded with the advanced pipette tip technology available only from Biotix. Website http://www.biotixinc.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount … Continue reading “Biotix Holdings Obtains $2,195,000 New Financing Round”

Duetto Research Receives $2,100,000 Seed Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=17a0ed26-8c16-4bc7-86dd-33abe04fd7ad&Preview=1 Date 4/23/2012 Company Name Duetto Research Mailing Address 649 Mission St San Francisco, CA 94105 Company Description Duetto Research is a ‘big data’ company founded by Patrick Bosworth, Craig Weissman and Marco Benvenuti. Duetto aggregates demand data and produces SaaS applications to help travel companies optimize demand. Website http://www.duettoresearch.com Transaction Type … Continue reading “Duetto Research Receives $2,100,000 Seed Funding Round”

Singly Obtains $7,000,000 Series A Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ab4d3500-c54d-4eae-9175-5d08519671f6&Preview=1 Date 4/23/2012 Company Name Singly Mailing Address 2261 Market St. San Francisco, CA 94114 Company Description The open source service will capture what’s called exhaust data from users’ activities around the web and offline via sensors, put it firmly in their own possesion and then allow them to run local apps … Continue reading “Singly Obtains $7,000,000 Series A Funding”

Sociogramics Secures $300,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=462bcc08-e9db-49db-998a-71156f8b2648&Preview=1 Date 4/23/2012 Company Name Sociogramics Mailing Address 284 San Antonio Rd Mountain View, CA 94040 Company Description Sociogramics’ vision is to return character and community to the core practices of financial institutions with an emphasis on the 80+ million in the U.S. who are unbanked, under-banked and those new to credit … Continue reading “Sociogramics Secures $300,000 New Funding”

Verient Lands $5,999,997 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=06a60f8e-3619-4202-b6bb-8744fde244ac&Preview=1 Date 4/23/2012 Company Name Verient Mailing Address 1190 Saratoga Avenue San Jose, CA 95129 Company Description Verient is a venture funded start-up with a blue chip executive team, strong intellectual property and compelling business proposition. We are developing solutions to drive convergence in identity, security, customer care automation and online payment … Continue reading “Verient Lands $5,999,997 New Funding Round”

JBara Software Receives $250,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9f59111f-2f8c-4ad3-bd8e-f66c664d0d96&Preview=1 Date 4/23/2012 Company Name JBara Software Mailing Address 303 Twin Dolphin Drive Redwood City, CA 94065 Company Description JBara has a complete integrated customer success management suite that monitors customer product usage, manages surveys such as Net Promoter Score, and recommends action based on customer intelligence. JBara’s suite of modules keeps … Continue reading “JBara Software Receives $250,000 New Funding”

Moat Garners $12,000,000 Series B Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=cd194484-1731-425d-a3f9-7146ae66d532&Preview=1 Date 4/23/2012 Company Name Moat Mailing Address 228 Park Ave South New York, NY 10003 Company Description Moat has a proxy for attention. It can generate a heat map of where people hover their mouse over an ad, and where they click as well. A date Moat offers these heatmap analytics … Continue reading “Moat Garners $12,000,000 Series B Funding”

Lore Garners New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ef1b18f1-eb1b-4e2a-b60a-8a70ac9e4b75&Preview=1 Date 4/23/2012 Company Name Lore Mailing Address 40 Wall Street 32nd Floor New York, NY 10005 Company Description We’ve re-imagined what a class should look like online. We give instructors and students amazingly designed tools to manage their courses – calendaring, file management – and we make it unbelievably easy to … Continue reading “Lore Garners New Financing Round”

DoubleDutch Obtains $2,000,000 Series A Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=28476670-47ba-428c-8a50-3b8ee835e145&Preview=1 Date 4/23/2012 Company Name DoubleDutch Mailing Address 2601 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94110 Company Description The company develops mobile social business applications. Website http://www.DoubleDutch.me Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $2,000,000 Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes The new money will be used to develop more mobile apps, integrate the … Continue reading “DoubleDutch Obtains $2,000,000 Series A Financing”

San Diego Bootstrappers Breakfast

Join a meetup group of entrepreneurs who eat problems for breakfast. Bootstrappers collaborate and discuss innovative ways to operate more efficiently, gain revenue and reach company goals. More information and online registration is here.

How We Sold Our Company

The San Diego Venture Group has organized its regular monthly breakfast meeting around a discussion with local founders and entrepreneurs who have sold their companies. Find out how they sold, to whom they sold, and what they’re doing now. More information and online registration is here.

Funding Without Wires: An Industry Overview

Representatives from Qualcomm Ventures and Verizon Ventures are joining Jeff Belk, managing director of ICT168, to discuss global growth opportunities in the Information and communication technology sector. The session is intended to provide an overview of San Diego’s mobile start-ups; entrepreneurs looking to expand their understanding of accessing venture capital in the mobile space; and … Continue reading “Funding Without Wires: An Industry Overview”

Perfect Your Pitch SF

EFactor presents an event for startup entrepreneurs. From the event site: “Do you have a promising startup & need funding? Are you ready to pitch your idea to investors? Do you know what investors look for in a perfect pitch? Join EFactor for a fast-paced and information packed event to learn, directly from Angel Investors … Continue reading “Perfect Your Pitch SF”

International Space Apps Challenge

The International Space Apps Challenge is a two-day technology development event during which citizens from around the world will work together to solve current challenges relevant to both space exploration and social need. The International Space Apps Challenge will take place on all seven continents-and in space-on 21-22 April 2012. Locations at which events are … Continue reading “International Space Apps Challenge”

CoffeeTable Aims to Reinvent Catalog Shopping for the iPad Era

When e-commerce startup CoffeeTable was brand new, the company occupied a table at San Francisco’s Dogpatch Labs, right across from another startup called Burbn. The week Burbn launched its iPhone app, CoffeeTable’s lead engineer “started to see that it was going to take off, and decided to switch over and join them,” says Ben Choi, … Continue reading “CoffeeTable Aims to Reinvent Catalog Shopping for the iPad Era”

NY Tech Day Brings Together Startups and Potential Investors

New York is teeming with events to showcase startups, but Thursday’s NY Tech Day presented a lineup of up-and-comers who, in some cases, drew more attention than big-name exhibitors such as tumblr. In its debut event, NY Tech Day brought out some 160 tech companies to the 69th Regiment Armory in New York’s Flatiron District. … Continue reading “NY Tech Day Brings Together Startups and Potential Investors”

Convergence Forum East

The Convergence Forum will bring together top-notch life sciences executives and investors to debate topics like corporate partnerships, funding, research, product development, the regulatory process, and more. The East Coast edition will feature organizations like OvaScience, Genzyme, Third Rock Ventures, and Avila Therapeutics. Those interested in attending can request an invite here.

San Diego’s Q1 Venture Activity Surges on One Mega Deal

Boosted by a $144-million “mega deal” that Sappire Energy disclosed a few weeks ago, VC investments in San Diego climbed to a four-year high during the first quarter of 2012, according to a pair of VC surveys being released today. San Diego’s bouyant trend, however, ran counter to a significant downward trend in overall VC … Continue reading “San Diego’s Q1 Venture Activity Surges on One Mega Deal”

Dyax, Adimab, Mersana, & More Boston Life Sciences Newsmakers

Partnerships and funding news came out of New England biotechs, particularly a few working on antibody technology. —Newton, MA-based Alcresta, a startup developing nutritional supplements from enzymes, nabbed $10 million from Third Rock Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Frazier Healthcare Ventures. Alcresta will share office space and a management team with Allena Pharmaceuticals, an enzyme drug … Continue reading “Dyax, Adimab, Mersana, & More Boston Life Sciences Newsmakers”

OnePIN Receives $1,280,220 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=ea0c684d-630d-43fe-b2fb-efe7515c83ad&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2012 Company Name OnePIN Mailing Address 2200 West Park Drive Westborough, MA 01581 Company Description OnePIN delivers innovative communication and collaboration applications via web and wireless services. OnePIN’s permission-based contact management system enables individuals and organizations to keep their personal contact information current. Website http://www.onepin.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction … Continue reading “OnePIN Receives $1,280,220 New Funding Round”

Centri Technology Secures $810,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=788be6dc-6665-4348-994b-4a0ef0b23122&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2012 Company Name Centri Technology Mailing Address 411 First Avenue South North Seattle, WA 98104 Company Description Centri Technology develops a broad suite of solutions that make it possible for mobile phones to download files, access the Internet and send emails at speeds three times as fast as the current … Continue reading “Centri Technology Secures $810,000 New Funding”

Lifecrowd Secures $5,000,000 Series A Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=47d6c3b9-aa83-4802-8117-63aef267c3d3&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2012 Company Name Lifecrowd Mailing Address Undisclosed Santa Monica, CA 90044 Company Description Lifecrowd is a marketplace for social activities connecting people, interests and culture. Lifecrowd inspires its online community to experience life offline by providing a platform for both discovering and hosting local activities. By integrating individual social graphs, … Continue reading “Lifecrowd Secures $5,000,000 Series A Round”

Cirro Secures $2,500,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=75bfad7e-f34c-498f-8886-b5b41fcec8ea&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2012 Company Name Cirro Mailing Address 31920 Del Obispo San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675 Company Description This is a seed stage company in stealth mode. Website http://www.cirro.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $2,500,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. SEC regulatory filing. M&A Terms Venture … Continue reading “Cirro Secures $2,500,000 New Financing Round”

NComputing Obtains $21,800,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=5aa3e0ad-9fc3-4103-8b83-3364eb5fd1ff&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2012 Company Name NComputing Mailing Address 1 Lagoon Drive Redwood City, CA 94065 Company Description NComputing’s flagship product, the UTMA (UltraThinMultiAccess) technology based NStation – All-inclusive plug & play Windows, Linux terminal – is a uniquely designed extremely low cost multiuser sharable computing terminal for Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP … Continue reading “NComputing Obtains $21,800,000 New Funding Round”

SynGen Obtains $5,000,000 Series A Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=266aaac6-80ff-484f-9c5d-3e8e7a25dc35&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2012 Company Name SynGen Mailing Address 1919 21st Street Sacramento, CA 95811 Company Description SynGen enables regenerative cures through innovative engineering. We are in the business of inventing and commercializing products that utilizes single-use sterile plastic cartridge disposables and dedicated, highly automated mechanical medical devices to isolate and capture stem … Continue reading “SynGen Obtains $5,000,000 Series A Financing Round”

Neighborland Obtains New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0884e5a1-a21e-4434-8675-49da42ee96cc&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2012 Company Name Neighborland Mailing Address Undisclosed San Francisco, CA 94123 Company Description Our goal is to help residents shape the development of their neighborhoods. Neighborland is creating meaningful connections between neighbors, community leaders, property owners, developers, and our local governments. Website http://www.neighborland.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount Undisclosed … Continue reading “Neighborland Obtains New Funding”

Insieme Obtains $100,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=864c0ffe-0dce-4fd4-832b-860a60ede8a8&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2012 Company Name Insieme Mailing Address Undisclosed Santa Clara, CA 95050 Company Description Insieme was founded by Cisco employees Mario Mazzola, Luca Cafiero, and Prem Jain in January to address issues in advanced networking. Specifically, it focuses on software-defined networking (SDN), an somewhat easier and less expensive way to deploy … Continue reading “Insieme Obtains $100,000,000 New Financing Round”

Five Prime Therapeutics Obtains $10,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=867b7650-9443-4850-a7a1-dafe58f94013&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2012 Company Name Five Prime Therapeutics Mailing Address Two Corporate Dr South San Francisco, CA 94080 Company Description FivePrime is a drug discovery and development company primarily focused on therapeutic proteins. The Company is creating a new paradigm in drug discovery by leveraging the Pharmanome(TM) – the entire set of … Continue reading “Five Prime Therapeutics Obtains $10,000,000 New Financing”

Svaya Nanotechnologies Obtains $1,250,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=582141a3-4b64-4079-963d-f2e40cd4b141&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2012 Company Name Svaya Nanotechnologies Mailing Address 275 Santa Ana Court Sunnyvale, CA 94085 Company Description Nanotechnology has the power to transform the world in ways scientists are just beginning to imagine. Svaya’s mission is to use nanotechnologies to make everyday products better and to enable revolutionary new products. Our … Continue reading “Svaya Nanotechnologies Obtains $1,250,000 New Funding”

Wander Obtains $1,200,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=5fd6388f-2fcf-4da9-ae87-b92e551bb6d7&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2012 Company Name Wander Mailing Address Undisclosed Brooklyn, NY 11211 Company Description Wander, which co-founder Jeremy Fisher describes as a “a way to the see the world through other people eyes” is still under wraps but Fisher reveals that the final product will be “adjacent” to both the curation and … Continue reading “Wander Obtains $1,200,000 New Funding”

Spirent Communications Acquires Mu Dynamics for $40,000,000

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=246faf0f-5d8d-4590-926c-d4d02a6a1211&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2012 Company Name Mu Dynamics Mailing Address 800 W. California Avenue Sunnyvale, CA 94086 Company Description Mu Dynamics is pioneering the new security analyzer market and is shipping the first commercially available systems that deliver a systematic and repeatable process for detecting known and unknown vulnerabilities in any IP-based application … Continue reading “Spirent Communications Acquires Mu Dynamics for $40,000,000”

Umbel Obtains $3,700,000 Series A Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=cb04c603-b85b-4a6c-a20d-6825f5b83927&Preview=1 Date 4/20/2012 Company Name Umbel Mailing Address 902 E. 5th Street Austin, TX 78702 Company Description Umbel is the standard for digital audience measurement. We leverage the power of big data Analytics and the validated principles of Market Research to deliver revenue-generating insights for publishers and brands that need to effectively … Continue reading “Umbel Obtains $3,700,000 Series A Funding”

CEO Changes in Planned Succession at San Diego’s Sapphire Energy

I thought the best presentation at the “Rock Stars of Innovation Summit” a few weeks ago was a chat between two co-founders of San Diego’s Sapphire Energy—CEO Jason Pyle and Steve Briggs, the UC San Diego cellular biologist and a member of Sapphire’s advisory board. It turns out that was Pyle’s last public appearance in … Continue reading “CEO Changes in Planned Succession at San Diego’s Sapphire Energy”

IPO On-Ramp Legislation: What Title I of the JOBS Act Means for You

Leading Silicon Valley law firm Latham & Watkins presents a seminar for entrepreneurs on the implications of the new JOBS Act. From the event site: “Title I of the JOBS Act, which President Obama signed into law on April 5, represents a sea change in (1) the US initial public offering process and (2) the … Continue reading “IPO On-Ramp Legislation: What Title I of the JOBS Act Means for You”

Internet Week New York

The fifth year of this week-long festival will celebrate NYC’s Internet community. Speakers include John Battelle, executive chairman of Federated Media, Mike Goslin,general manager of Rebel Entertainment,and Peter Bell, SVP of engineering at General Assembly. Register here.

General Assembly Digital Buffet

General Assembly presents a full week of workshops on topics ranging from social media to data and APIs. Each workshop will provide a full-day subject overview, highlighting trends and tactics. Register for individual workshops or the entire week here.