Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=be4f36e9-023c-46f3-a268-6a81e6913f6f&Preview=1 Date 4/22/2011 Company Name Aurora Feint Mailing Address 330 Primrose Rd. Burlingame, CA 94010 Company Description Aurora Feint Inc. develops mobile games and operates OpenFeint, a leading mobile social platform and application for smartphones. OpenFeint includes a set of online game services such as leaderboards and achievements running in a cloud … Continue reading “GREE Acquires Aurora Feint for $104,000,000”
Pixable Garners $3,600,000 Series B Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d3bf4dde-5d99-457b-bacb-7610c7c81ca1&Preview=1 Date 4/22/2011 Company Name Pixable Mailing Address 160 Varick Street New York, NY 10013 Company Description The company operates a website and service that allows users to print their Facebook and other social networking website content. Website http://www.Pixable.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $3,600,000 Transaction Round Series B Proceeds Purposes … Continue reading “Pixable Garners $3,600,000 Series B Round”
GREE Buys OpenFeint for $104M
GREE, the Japanese mobile social gaming company, said today (PDF) that it has purchased all shares in OpenFeint, the Burlingame, CA-based maker social games for iOS and Android devices such as Tiny Wings, Pocket God, and Mega Jump. GREE said it spent $104 million on the acquisition, which will make it the world’s largest social applications … Continue reading “GREE Buys OpenFeint for $104M”
Mobile Enterprise Summit
GigaOm and Appconomy present the Mobile Enterprise Summit. From the event site: “The iPhone and then the iPad have spawned a recent cultural revolution that has bled into the boardroom. Admittedly, RIM was way ahead of the curve and owned the biggest killer app for mobile in the enterprise – Mobile Email. Now with people … Continue reading “Mobile Enterprise Summit”
Impinj Files for $100M IPO
Seattle-based Impinj, a 10-year-old RFID tech firm founded by University of Washington professor Chris Diorio, filed registration papers for an initial public offering today. The company said it was seeking up to $100 million. Impinj’s numbers were a little up and down in the past few years: The company went from about $25 million in … Continue reading “Impinj Files for $100M IPO”
Former Pfizer R&D Chief Urges Big Pharma To Go Small
Dr. Peter Corr thinks the business model that underpinned Big Pharma for years is irrevocably broken. And he should know. Dr. Corr, a former global research and development chief for Pfizer, witnessed firsthand how big corporations approached product development, which, he says, was not particularly impressive. In fact, it was downright dysfunctional, Dr. Corr says. … Continue reading “Former Pfizer R&D Chief Urges Big Pharma To Go Small”
Please Don’t Go! Microsoft Boosting Pay Across Company After Watching Silicon Valley Encroach on Its Turf and Talent
Looks like Microsoft is officially tired of having people poached by the Silicon Valley raiders setting up shop in its backyard. CEO Steve Ballmer’s new memo on employee compensation changes, in wide circulation this morning, looks somewhat like the Redmond, WA-based software giant’s version of Google’s abrupt companywide raise-and-bonus combo of late last year. Microsoft … Continue reading “Please Don’t Go! Microsoft Boosting Pay Across Company After Watching Silicon Valley Encroach on Its Turf and Talent”
The Lean LaunchPad at Stanford—Class 6: Channel Hypotheses
The Stanford Lean LaunchPad class was an experiment with a new model of teaching startup entrepreneurship. With two weeks and two more updates to go, this post is part six. Parts one through five are here, Syllabus is here. While we’ve been pushing hard on the teams, this week the teaching team was about to … Continue reading “The Lean LaunchPad at Stanford—Class 6: Channel Hypotheses”
Social Shopping Sites Storm NYC, Offering Everything From Indian Goods to Makeup
On Monday, I wrote about three new websites that are part of a plethora of online fashion-based startups in New York City. A Forrester analyst described the phenomenon using the dreaded “B” word: “bubble.” Here’s a list of all the companies I’ve found in NYC. Let me know if I missed any, and if you … Continue reading “Social Shopping Sites Storm NYC, Offering Everything From Indian Goods to Makeup”
Philips, Corindus Collaborate
Royal Philips Electronics and Natick, MA-based Corindus announced today that they will collaborate to use Corindus’ minimally invasive, robotics-based treatment for blocked arteries in Philips’ cardiology products. Philips has acquired a minority stake in Corindus as a result of the deal, whose financial terms were not disclosed. “As part of our strategy, Philips is committed … Continue reading “Philips, Corindus Collaborate”
West Wireless Repositions Itself as an Impartial Arbiter, Amylin Makes Headway in Europe, VCs Debate Viability of Venture-Backed Biotech, & More San Diego Life Sciences News
While overall venture funding in San Diego was off dramatically during the first quarter, three life sciences deals disclosed last week suggest that a turnaround is underway. We’ve got those details and more. —By making a few management changes, shedding some commercial initiatives, and distancing itself from Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]), San Diego’s West Wireless Health … Continue reading “West Wireless Repositions Itself as an Impartial Arbiter, Amylin Makes Headway in Europe, VCs Debate Viability of Venture-Backed Biotech, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”
Bo.lt Lets Anyone Clone and Rewrite Web Pages; The Elephant in the Room is Copyright
From its beginning, the World Wide Web has been a deliberately transparent, copyable medium. I’m not just talking about the fact that it’s easy to copy and paste text or images from a website; in almost every browser since Mosaic, users have also had the ability to click the “view source” menu item to see … Continue reading “Bo.lt Lets Anyone Clone and Rewrite Web Pages; The Elephant in the Room is Copyright”
Biogen Shares Jump on Good News on Revenue, Oral MS Drug
Biogen Idec’s (NASDAQ:[[ticker:BIIB]]) stock price is soaring this morning after the Weston, MA-based biotech company reported a bump in first quarter revenue and new details about a successful late-stage clinical trials for its oral multiple sclerosis drug. Shares of Biogen were up more than 22 percent to $105.83 as of 10:23 am Eastern time. The … Continue reading “Biogen Shares Jump on Good News on Revenue, Oral MS Drug”
It’s So Easy, a Fourth Grader Can Do It: Wiggio 2.0 Collaboration Software Aims to Take on SharePoint, Basecamp, Dropbox, & More
Boston entrepreneur Dana Lampert says he tests every new feature for his collaboration software, Wiggio, in a fourth-grade classroom. “If they can’t do it, we don’t put it out,” he says. “We’re kind of the anti-SharePoint [Microsoft], the anti-Wave [Google]. We don’t want to just add bells and whistles. We really focus on user experience.” … Continue reading “It’s So Easy, a Fourth Grader Can Do It: Wiggio 2.0 Collaboration Software Aims to Take on SharePoint, Basecamp, Dropbox, & More”
XSITE 2011: The Entrepreneurship Era
Great entrepreneurs have repeatedly transformed the landscape of America, driving growth, improving lives, and employing millions. But now, as the nation picks itself up from the Great Recession, comes increased attention to and appreciation for entrepreneurship—the art of taking company-building risks in pursuit of changing the world. From the Oval Office to state and local … Continue reading “XSITE 2011: The Entrepreneurship Era”
Five Questions for IBM on Watson, Jeopardy, and Real-World Applications for Sophisticated Analytics
In mid-February, IBM’s Watson computer was the biggest star on television. In a three-day tournament against former Jeopardy champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, Watson was the hands-down champion, winning more than $77,000. To create Watson, IBM had to engineer analytics technology that could sift through the equivalent of one million books and find a … Continue reading “Five Questions for IBM on Watson, Jeopardy, and Real-World Applications for Sophisticated Analytics”
Amgen Passes Key Trial With “Son of Dmab” For Osteoporosis
The financial crowd who follows Amgen may be talking all about dividends or techniques to boost the stock through share buybacks, but the medical and scientific world will be chirping today about an interesting new finding the company has made for treating osteoporosis. Amgen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMGN]]), the Thousand Oaks, CA, biotech giant with R&D operations … Continue reading “Amgen Passes Key Trial With “Son of Dmab” For Osteoporosis”
West Wireless Health Institute Distances Itself from Qualcomm, Seeks to Recast its Role
When the West Wireless Health Institute named Don Casey as its first CEO last year, the San Diego nonprofit said the former Johnson & Johnson executive was hired to drive development of the institute as “a world-class research organization focused on accelerating wireless health innovations, technology incubation, advocacy and education.” Today the institute is describing … Continue reading “West Wireless Health Institute Distances Itself from Qualcomm, Seeks to Recast its Role”
Scanbuy Completes Oversubscribed $12.5 Million Funding
New York-based Scanbuy, which makes mobile barcode technology, said in a statement that it had completed a $12.5 million funding round. Investors included Motorola Solutions Venture Capital and Hudson Ventures. Scanbuy markets ScanLife, a barcode-reading application for mobile devices. Scanbuy said the funding round was oversubscribed, a phenomenon the company attributes to a 1,600 percent … Continue reading “Scanbuy Completes Oversubscribed $12.5 Million Funding”
Brooks Automation Sells Manufacturing Unit
Brooks Automation (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BRKS]]), a Chelmsford, MA-based maker of automation technology for the semiconductor market, said today that it has sold its Portland, OR-based contract manufacturing unit to Canadian firm Celestica, for $80 million in cash. The company said the transaction will enable it to better focus on developing technology for controlled temperature and pressure … Continue reading “Brooks Automation Sells Manufacturing Unit”
KellBenx Locks Up $2.5 Million Seed Round
KellBenx, a New York-based company developing prenatal diagnostic tests, raised $2.5 million from four investors, according to a press release. The announcement came just days after KellBenx secured an agreement with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to develop a new blood test designed to predict the risk of premature births early in pregnancy. The test may even … Continue reading “KellBenx Locks Up $2.5 Million Seed Round”
The Brave New World of Enterprise Television
Successful businesses take pride in knowing their customers, listening to them, and exceeding their expectations. They evolve their products, services, pricing, terms, and distribution based on what the market is looking for and how the landscape is changing—not on what worked in the past. This quality has never been more important than in the past … Continue reading “The Brave New World of Enterprise Television”
From Three-Month Ice to Fast Broadband Everywhere: Some Projects You Might Not Know About From Intellectual Ventures Lab
There are two sides to Intellectual Ventures, the Bellevue, WA-based “invention capital” company started by former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold. The revenue-generating side of the business is a stockpile of more than 30,000 patents, which Intellectual Ventures licenses and sells to other firms, including tech companies large and small looking to defend themselves in lawsuits. … Continue reading “From Three-Month Ice to Fast Broadband Everywhere: Some Projects You Might Not Know About From Intellectual Ventures Lab”
Triangulating VC Activity: Third Survey Shows Q1 Increase in Invested Capital
Another survey on venture capital activity during the first quarter shows that venture investors put $6.4 billion into 661 startups nationwide. That’s a 35 percent increase in capital and a 5 percent rise in deals, according to the report from Dow Jones VentureSource. It’s the third survey to show a substantial increase in the amount … Continue reading “Triangulating VC Activity: Third Survey Shows Q1 Increase in Invested Capital”
EBay’s $135M Acquisition of Where Could Drive PayPal’s Mobile Future; Boston CEOs React to Another Silicon Valley Buyer
[Updated 4/24/11. See comment below] Chalk up another $100 million-plus purchase of a Boston-area mobile technology company. First there was m-Qube, then Third Screen Media, Enpocket, Starent Networks, Quattro Wireless, and now, Where. Their acquirers read like a who’s who of tech giants: VeriSign, AOL, Nokia, Cisco, Apple, and now, eBay. Indeed, Boston-based Where’s purchase … Continue reading “EBay’s $135M Acquisition of Where Could Drive PayPal’s Mobile Future; Boston CEOs React to Another Silicon Valley Buyer”
Life Science Discovery Fund Faces Cuts, Boeing’s Biofuel Push, SeaGen’s Latest Deal, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
We’ve got biofuel on the brain here at Xconomy as we prep for our next big event. —Boeing and Alaska Airlines are taking the lead on a regional network that wants to turn the Northwest into a hotspot for biofuel production by growing the plants, refining the oil, transporting, and consuming it all locally to … Continue reading “Life Science Discovery Fund Faces Cuts, Boeing’s Biofuel Push, SeaGen’s Latest Deal, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”
BG Medicine Chief Speaks on Rough IPO Climate, (Finally) Going Public
BG Medicine (NASDAQ:[[ticker:BGMD]]) took the long road to becoming a public company, scrapping its first attempt in 2008 and then spending just more than a year to wrap up its second IPO campaign this past February. In a recent interview, Pieter Muntendam, the CEO of the Waltham, MA-based medical diagnostic company, told me how BG … Continue reading “BG Medicine Chief Speaks on Rough IPO Climate, (Finally) Going Public”
Humedica Lands $20,000,002 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b834a756-77dc-403b-9440-5af1e505420a&Preview=1 Date 4/21/2011 Company Name Humedica Mailing Address 1380 Soldiers Field Rd. Boston, MA 02135 Company Description Humedica is a next-generation health care informatics company that provides novel SaaS-based clinical business intelligence solutions. We connect patient information across varied medical settings and time periods to generate a truly longitudinal and comprehensive view … Continue reading “Humedica Lands $20,000,002 New Funding Round”
Groupon Lands $6,084,800 New Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=133e2eeb-5386-4c18-a0bd-e85d0592975c&Preview=1 Date 4/21/2011 Company Name Groupon Mailing Address 600 W Chicago Ave Chicago, IL 60654 Company Description Launched in November 2008, Groupon features a daily deal on the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in a variety of cities across the United States. We have about 40 wonderful people working … Continue reading “Groupon Lands $6,084,800 New Financing”
Rivet Games Garners Series B Funding
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=85de6f77-3afb-4b93-a59e-a1f834c14c32&Preview=1 Date 4/21/2011 Company Name Rivet Games Mailing Address Undisclosed San Francisco, CA 94105 Company Description Our mission at Rivet Games is to produce fun, polished games that exceed your expectations. Games that you can be passionate about. We are a mix of traditional, casual, and social game industry veterans, obsessively working … Continue reading “Rivet Games Garners Series B Funding”
Intransa Secures $2,999,999 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=3230cc66-f41f-484b-ac89-d961d69a5456&Preview=1 Date 4/21/2011 Company Name Intransa Mailing Address 10710 N. Tantau Avenue Cupertino, CA 95014 Company Description Intransa is an innovator of an enterprise class, intelligent IP storage products and software. Based on technology that leverages the low cost and maturity of Ethernet technology, Intransa’s IP SAN solutions dramatically reduce the cost … Continue reading “Intransa Secures $2,999,999 New Funding Round”
KellBenx Obtains $2,500,000 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=01f3ab03-3e90-437d-a112-695f00483860&Preview=1 Date 4/21/2011 Company Name KellBenx Mailing Address 61 Alhambra Road Massapequa, NY 11758 Company Description KellBenx, Inc. is a privately-held biotechnology company based in New York City. KellBenx is developing high value, innovative tests that leverage the ability to extract clinically relevant information from blood. Our focus is to improve women’s … Continue reading “KellBenx Obtains $2,500,000 New Funding Round”
Aristotle Circle Secures $2,000,000 Series B Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f7b0c0d2-c17c-4bda-8c71-ebe516a1f42c&Preview=1 Date 4/21/2011 Company Name Aristotle Circle Mailing Address 475 Park Ave. S. Fourth Floor New York, NY 10016 Company Description Aristotle Circle helps parents and students globally, by connecting applicants with education and admission experts. The company offers services ranging from pre-K to graduate school. Website http://www.aristotlecircle.com Transaction Type Venture Equity … Continue reading “Aristotle Circle Secures $2,000,000 Series B Round”
Humedica Lands $20M Round
Humedica, a Boston-based clinical informatics company, has raised $20 million in a round of equity financing, according to an SEC filing. The firm, which previously raised $30 million from Bain Capital Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners, and the investment bank Leerink Swann in summer 2008, came out of stealth mode in September … Continue reading “Humedica Lands $20M Round”
MassCEC Announces New Solar Initiative
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center said today that it will launch an initiative called Solarize Massachusetts to encourage residents and businesses to adopt solar photovoltaic panels on a community-wide level. The program will deploy in the four pilot communities of Harvard, Hatfield, Scituate, and Winchester initially, and will use education, marketing, and group purchasing to … Continue reading “MassCEC Announces New Solar Initiative”
HBA Boston – Innovation in the Age of Collaboration, Reconstructing the Value Chain
This panel, put on by the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association, will explore the different routes a medical innovation can take to becoming a product on the market, from speakers on both the industry and academic sides. Register here.
How to Build Community in a Networked Economy
This event, sponsored by the Kendall Square Association, aims to take a look at how businesses, developers, and innovators can play a part in shaping their communities. Speakers include Professor Brent Ryan of MIT, Diane Paulus, Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge; Thomas Andrews, Executive Vice President and Regional Market Director, Alexandria Real … Continue reading “How to Build Community in a Networked Economy”
MIT Tech Review Lauds Sakti3’s Next Generation Battery Technology
If you haven’t heard about Ann Marie Sastry by now, then maybe you’ve been spending too much time (and money) pumping gas into your internal combustion engine. The University of Michigan professor has won plenty of kudos and cash for her efforts to develop a solid-state lithium ion battery for next generation electric cars. Her … Continue reading “MIT Tech Review Lauds Sakti3’s Next Generation Battery Technology”
Amira Drug Gets Orphan Status
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted orphan drug designation to AM152, the lead drug candidate under development at San Diego’s Amira Pharmaceuticals for treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease that makes it difficult to breathe. In a statement yesterday, the company says the designation provides a seven-year period of market exclusivity and … Continue reading “Amira Drug Gets Orphan Status”
Xconomy Forum: Separating Hype from Reality in Alternative Fuels
Cleantech was minted by venture capitalist John Doerr a few years ago as the greatest opportunity of the 21st century. The global energy and transportation market is about as big as any market in the world, worth an estimated $7 trillion a year. Despite all the talk, what kind of progress is really being made … Continue reading “Xconomy Forum: Separating Hype from Reality in Alternative Fuels”
Tracon Raises $14M to Advance Cancer Drug
San Diego’s Tracon Pharmaceuticals says today it has raised $14 million of a planned $22 million round of venture capital needed to advance development of TRC105, a promising therapeutic that inhibits the growth of new blood vessels that supply tumors. The National Cancer Institute also is supporting the company’s research and development, which includes ongoing … Continue reading “Tracon Raises $14M to Advance Cancer Drug”
Join Xconomy and TechShop on April 27 for “The Maker Revolution: From Workbench to Business”
There’s something amazing happening in garages, basement workshops, and hackerspaces across the country. Generations raised on mass consumption, the local mall, and ordering products online from Amazon are rediscovering the joy of making stuff—and sometimes selling it. In fact, the twisty path from being a “maker” to being a full-blown entrepreneur is being traced by … Continue reading “Join Xconomy and TechShop on April 27 for “The Maker Revolution: From Workbench to Business””
Ariad Extends Three Tech Licensing Deals
Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:[[ticker:ARIA]]), a Cambridge, MA-based developer of cancer drugs, said today it extended licenses to its cell-signaling regulation technology to three separate groups, all of which are using the technology for different purposes. Bellicum Pharmaceuticals of Houston, TX, is developing the technology for its experimental cancer vaccine and cell therapies; Washington, DC-based ReGenX Biosciences … Continue reading “Ariad Extends Three Tech Licensing Deals”
CrowdOptic Sees $1M
[Corrected 4/26/11] John Fisher, CEO of San Francisco-based CrowdOptic, has led a $1 million Series A funding round for the company, according to a report today from Dow Jones VentureWire. CrowdOptic is developing software for smartphones that shows users information about moving objects tracked with the phones’ cameras. CrowdOptic also said yesterday that it will … Continue reading “CrowdOptic Sees $1M”
Say Media Buys Dogster, Catster
San Francisco-based Say Media, which is building a network of advertising-supported niche publishing sites, said yesterday that it has acquired Dogster Inc., which runs the Dogster and Catster social networking sites for pet owners. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed; Say Media CEO Matt Sanchez said Say Media intends to continue running the sites. “This … Continue reading “Say Media Buys Dogster, Catster”
NanoBio and U-M To Develop Vaccine Against Urinary Tract Infections
NanoBio said today it signed a licensing deal with the University of Michigan to help commercialize a vaccine against urinary tract infections (UTI). The biopharmaceutical startup, based in Ann Arbor, MI, wants to use its NanoStat platform technology to deliver through the nose an antigen developed by U-M scientists designed to kill E. coli bacteria … Continue reading “NanoBio and U-M To Develop Vaccine Against Urinary Tract Infections”
What do Desh Deshpande, Gilt Groupe, Nobelist Phil Sharp, & Intellectual Ventures Have in Common? All Are Keynoting at XSITE 2011-The Entrepreneurship Era
For the past two years, Xconomy has pulled out all the stops to throw a full-day conference in June called XSITE—the Xconomy Summit on Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship. In that short amount of time, this cross-disciplinary event, spanning the Internet and other areas of IT, life sciences, energy, healthtech, and more, has become one of … Continue reading “What do Desh Deshpande, Gilt Groupe, Nobelist Phil Sharp, & Intellectual Ventures Have in Common? All Are Keynoting at XSITE 2011-The Entrepreneurship Era”
FDA Clears Gen-Probe for Trichomonas Test
San Diego-based Gen-Probe (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GPRO]]) says today the FDA has cleared its nucleic acid amplification test to detect the sexually transmitted infection Trichomonas vaginalis for use in the United States. Gen-Probe says its Aptima assay is the first such test to be approved specifically for Trichomonas vaginalis, which is the most common curable sexually transmitted … Continue reading “FDA Clears Gen-Probe for Trichomonas Test”
Where Acquired by eBay
Boston-based Where, a developer of technology for location-based mobile advertising and services, has been acquired by San Jose, CA-based eBay (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EBAY]]), according to a post today on the PayPal (part of eBay) blog. Financial terms were not revealed, but the acquisition of Where is expected to close later this quarter. Last December, Where, which has … Continue reading “Where Acquired by eBay”
Qwiki Hits the iPad
You haven’t used Qwiki, the multimedia reference service bankrolled by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, until you’ve tried it on the iPad. The San Francisco startup announced this morning that Apple has approved the new mobile version of its “rich media narrative” technology for distribution through the iTunes App Store. Owners of iPads can download the … Continue reading “Qwiki Hits the iPad”