Zacharon Aligns with Pfizer, Conatus Raises Big Bucks, Software Veteran Wins Wireless Institute Challenge, & More San Diego Life Sciences News

A couple of San Diego biotechs have managed to raise some venture capital in recent weeks. We’ve got details on their good fortune, along with the rest of the local life sciences roundup. —In its first big partnership with a major pharmaceutical, San Diego’s Zacharon agreed to share its expertise in developing small-molecule drugs that … Continue reading “Zacharon Aligns with Pfizer, Conatus Raises Big Bucks, Software Veteran Wins Wireless Institute Challenge, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”

MIT Sloan CIO Symposium

This all-day conference will focus on the evolving role of the chief information officer at a company, and how the position can be adapted to the digital business world. The day will feature panels of CEOs and academics, and speakers from companies such as VMware, Iron Mountain, Hubspot, and more. An innovation showcase will conclude … Continue reading “MIT Sloan CIO Symposium”

Huron River Ventures: Locked, Loaded, and Ready to Invest In Cleantech

The boys are back in town. Fresh from the high finance worlds of Chicago and New York, University of Michigan grads Tim Streit and Ryan Waddington have returned to the state to launch Huron River Ventures (HRV), a $15 million fund aimed squarely at cleantech startups. HRV has so far raised half of the money … Continue reading “Huron River Ventures: Locked, Loaded, and Ready to Invest In Cleantech”

Zipcar’s $174M IPO and What It Means to the Boston Tech Scene: Some Reactions

Zipcar, the Cambridge, MA-based car-sharing company, has raised $174.3 million in an initial public offering. The company sold about 9.7 million shares at $18 per share—an increase over the 8.3 million shares it originally planned to offer at $14 to $16 apiece—according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The IPO was led by Goldman Sachs and … Continue reading “Zipcar’s $174M IPO and What It Means to the Boston Tech Scene: Some Reactions”

Life Sciences Discovery Fund On Pins and Needles During Budget Talks (Again)

The state budget being hashed out in Olympia is spreading angst far and wide, and you can bet Washington state’s biotech community will feel it this time. The Life Sciences Discovery Fund, the program championed by Gov. Chris Gregoire to foster more biotech innovations and jobs in Washington, is being primed for what looks like … Continue reading “Life Sciences Discovery Fund On Pins and Needles During Budget Talks (Again)”

Atlas and Monsanto the Latest VC and Big Co. Getting Close

Cambridge, MA-based Atlas Venture and the agribusiness giant Monsanto (NYSE: [[ticker:MON]]) are working together to find interesting life sciences investments to complement Monsanto’s agriculture business, Monsanto said today. It’s another case of venture firms working with large companies at an early stage. While no financial terms of the agreement were disclosed, the companies called this … Continue reading “Atlas and Monsanto the Latest VC and Big Co. Getting Close”

Proper Cloth Tackles Custom Shirt Design Online for the Novice to the Expert

Seph Skerritt, a New York entrepreneur, says he has a foolproof way to solve a problem well-known to many New York men—how to find a perfect fitting dress shirt. Skerritt’s company, Proper Cloth, offers an online interface enabling men to custom create dress shirts based on their desired measurements, style, fit, and fabric. I know … Continue reading “Proper Cloth Tackles Custom Shirt Design Online for the Novice to the Expert”

Hitting the Target, Missing the Mark: How Targeted Therapies Have Left Patients Wanting

It is not unusual to read about another drug failure in a challenging neurological disease such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, or Parkinson’s disease. Designing therapeutics with exquisite specificity has been the goal of modern drug development, and significant resources continue to be allocated towards this approach, only to see treatments fail due to inadequate … Continue reading “Hitting the Target, Missing the Mark: How Targeted Therapies Have Left Patients Wanting”

The New Tech Bubble, Biotech Vs. Big Pharma, and More Thoughts from Boston BD Conference

Please excuse this bout of drive-by journalism, but it’s been a very busy couple of weeks for events and news in Xconomy-land. One very impressive local event was the Boston Biotech Business Development Conference on Tuesday (part of the greater Boston Biotech Conference series). The Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Back Bay was full of biotech’s … Continue reading “The New Tech Bubble, Biotech Vs. Big Pharma, and More Thoughts from Boston BD Conference”

Open Source Biology’s Moment, Mirador Advances the Runner, Allen’s Latest Brain Map, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

We had an eclectic news mix this week, with features on medical devices, open source biology and an innovation story from the East Side of the Cascades. —Sage Bionetworks, the Seattle-based nonprofit seeking to light a spark for open source biology, is gearing up for its second big annual conference, which is expected to draw … Continue reading “Open Source Biology’s Moment, Mirador Advances the Runner, Allen’s Latest Brain Map, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

Cannibalization, Breakage, and Exposure: Calculating the Value of a Groupon

The humble coupon has become the epicenter of an Internet startup mania, the height of which I believe we witnessed when Groupon rejected a $6 billion buyout offer from Google last December. In the wake of Groupon’s vertiginous arc, a mob of copycats has followed. With names like Weforia, LivingSocial, Tippr, and LevelUp (SCVNGR), they … Continue reading “Cannibalization, Breakage, and Exposure: Calculating the Value of a Groupon”

Looking Up: First Quarter Venture Capital Deals & Dollars Rise

Venture capital investments surged during the first three months of 2011, driven mostly by sharply increased funding for Internet and cleantech-renewable energy startups, according to CB Insights, a New York information and data services firm. Venture investors sunk a total of $7.5 billion into 738 deals throughout the country during the first quarter, a 27 … Continue reading “Looking Up: First Quarter Venture Capital Deals & Dollars Rise”

Currensee Lands $4,000,000 Series C Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f3633cee-8648-46e3-b314-4633bf8c0038&Preview=1 Date 4/14/2011 Company Name Currensee Mailing Address 77 North Washington Street 6th Floor Boston, MA 02114 Company Description Currensee is the first Forex trading social network where like-minded traders can connect with each other and share unique ideas, insights and data based on the actual trading activity of the community. Website … Continue reading “Currensee Lands $4,000,000 Series C Financing”

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Secures $77,000,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8370e71d-2d5b-44c8-b5bc-d90cdcac10ac&Preview=1 Date 4/14/2011 Company Name Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Mailing Address One Kendall Square Cambridge, MA 02139 Company Description Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a privately held biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We are dedicated to the discovery and development of innovative therapies for the treatment of autoimmune disease and cancer. Website http://www.merrimackpharma.com Transaction … Continue reading “Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Secures $77,000,000 New Round”

GreenBytes Lands $1,001,361 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=fd2139ce-ca11-4646-87a9-da564bc722d8&Preview=1 Date 4/14/2011 Company Name GreenBytes Mailing Address 15 Gray Lane Ashway, RI 02804 Company Description GreenBytes is the most efficient data storage system on the market today. An ultra high-efficiency NAS. Website http://www.green-bytes.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $1,001,361 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. SEC … Continue reading “GreenBytes Lands $1,001,361 New Funding”

FLUD Secures $1,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=98da5ed0-cc6a-473b-962f-3c118d181aeb&Preview=1 Date 4/14/2011 Company Name FLUD Mailing Address Undisclosed San Diego, CA 92121 Company Description FLUD is a modern, beautiful and personalized mobile news ecosystem with a vision to empower it’s users to interact with each other to access, engage and broadcast content that is relevant to them. You probably visit hundreds … Continue reading “FLUD Secures $1,000,000 New Financing”

MarketShare Lands $32,000,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=740f8843-fb9c-445d-ab39-ead36de8722f&Preview=1 Date 4/14/2011 Company Name MarketShare Mailing Address 11100 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025 Company Description MarketShare’s platform provides a combination of technology, data, modeling and business intelligence solutions that lead to improved decision-making for businesses. Website http://www.MarketShare.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $32,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes … Continue reading “MarketShare Lands $32,000,000 New Round”

GoBalto Lands $2,872,832 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=df3e7898-4267-4d1c-b6dd-69ae78d20c34&Preview=1 Date 4/14/2011 Company Name GoBalto Mailing Address 230 California St. San Francisco, CA 94111 Company Description goBalto was founded in 2008 by award winning industry veterans who believe study startup can be improved. How? By delivering web-based solutions that are simple, easy-to-use and accessible. Behind the scenes, we assembled a stellar … Continue reading “GoBalto Lands $2,872,832 New Round”

Calibra Medical Lands $8,110,136 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=5edf6b6e-911a-464d-8472-78d9e81dc6a8&Preview=1 Date 4/14/2011 Company Name Calibra Medical Mailing Address 220 Saginaw Drive Redwood City, CA 94063 Company Description Calibra Medical, Inc. develops medical devices and technologies in the diabetes sector. It offers insulin delivery devices. The company was formerly known as Seattle Medical Technologies, Inc. Website http://www.myfinesse.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction … Continue reading “Calibra Medical Lands $8,110,136 New Financing”

Ioxus Receives $21,000,000 Series B Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6d5ee79e-9b5c-439a-9bf8-4c28edefeb1c&Preview=1 Date 4/14/2011 Company Name Ioxus Mailing Address 118 Winney Hill Road Oneonta, NY 13820 Company Description Ioxus ultracapacitor devices are optimized for higher voltage levels that combine improved materials and provide simple solutions, with significantly enhanced performance. The IP-protected technology improvements offer markets a much higher performing product that is easier … Continue reading “Ioxus Receives $21,000,000 Series B Financing Round”

SilverRail Technologies Garners $4,999,998 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=8783471c-c9d1-4cb1-97dd-5348a3c43f08&Preview=1 Date 4/14/2011 Company Name SilverRail Technologies Mailing Address Undisclosed Boston, MA 02108 Company Description SilverRail connects the world of rail. We specialize in building best-in-class technical solutions that help Railways and Travel Distributors to easily connect with each other. Website http://www.silverrailtech.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $4,999,998 Transaction Round Undisclosed … Continue reading “SilverRail Technologies Garners $4,999,998 New Funding Round”

Flipboard Receives $50,000,000 Series B Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=44f0a0cf-b965-48b8-b59c-da9c7697111b&Preview=1 Date 4/14/2011 Company Name Flipboard Mailing Address 818 Emerson St. Palo Alto, CA 94301 Company Description Flipboard is the world’s first social magazine. Inspired by the beauty and ease of print media, Flipboard’s mission is to fundamentally improve how people discover, view and share content across their social networks. Website http://www.flipboard.com … Continue reading “Flipboard Receives $50,000,000 Series B Funding Round”

Silicon Image Acquires SiBEAM for $25,500,000

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9a8b09fb-adf4-4d0d-b416-3c33d2ad380b&Preview=1 Date 4/14/2011 Company Name SiBEAM Mailing Address 555 N. Mathilda Avenue Sunnyvale, CA 94085 Company Description SiBEAM is a fabless semiconductor company and founding member of the WirelessHD Consortium. A pioneer in developing intelligent millimeter wave technologies for wireless communications, SiBEAM is the first to build 60GHz chipsets using standard CMOS … Continue reading “Silicon Image Acquires SiBEAM for $25,500,000”

Northwest Entrepreneur Network Showcases Startups in Health Care, Software, Clean Power, Apparel, & Plenty More

A really interesting variety of startups made their initial pitches to the broader investing crowd yesterday at the Northwest Entrepreneur Network’s First Look Forum. The 12 presenters represented a wide array of sectors, from food to retail to software services and—seriously—nuclear fusion power. “I don’t think we could have imagined a more diverse slate, in … Continue reading “Northwest Entrepreneur Network Showcases Startups in Health Care, Software, Clean Power, Apparel, & Plenty More”

Grab Those Michigan 2031 Tickets While You Can

You know you want to go. So obey those instincts and come out to Xconomy’s Michigan 2031 forum Thursday evening at TechTown in downtown Detroit. Since I’ve arrived in the area three months ago, I’ve seen firsthand the tremendous amount of innovation and initiative circulating in Michigan. What’s now needed is context, a thoughtful discussion … Continue reading “Grab Those Michigan 2031 Tickets While You Can”

Verve Wireless in a Growth Spurt

Verve Wireless, which provides a technology platform to traditional media companies for mobile advertising, has been on a tear in recent weeks—raising additional capital, filling out its management team, and recruiting five digital media leaders for its board of advisors. In a recent regulatory filing, Verve disclosed that it has raised $3.5 million of a … Continue reading “Verve Wireless in a Growth Spurt”

Lexalytics Digests Wikipedia, Sees Text Analysis Markets Broaden to Include Search, Travel, Law

You can learn a lot from Wikipedia, despite all its faults—and Jeff Catlin’s company has done just that. Boston-based Lexalytics said today that its latest text-analysis software incorporates insights from combing through Wikipedia’s entire user-generated online encyclopedia for relationships between words, phrases, and their meanings. The company says its new software, which powers products used … Continue reading “Lexalytics Digests Wikipedia, Sees Text Analysis Markets Broaden to Include Search, Travel, Law”

Sequoia, IVP Put $15M into Sugar

San Francisco-based Sugar Inc., which owns a hugely popular network of women-oriented websites including PopSugar, ShopStyle, PopSugarCity, and Fashionologie, announced today it has collected $15 million in growth-stage financing from Sequoia Capital and Institutional Venture Partners. The funding brings Sugar’s total venture pot to $46 million. “Brian and Lisa Sugar [the company’s founders] are entertaining … Continue reading “Sequoia, IVP Put $15M into Sugar”

NewBlue Joins EvoNexus Incubator

EvoNexus, the pro bono technology incubator supported by San Diego’s CommNexus non-profit industry group, has taken in NewBlue, a fledgling startup developing integrated video effects technologies. NewBlue is focused on supporting the coming introduction of Vibop, a patent-pending, cloud-based technology that enables social networking and shared video across smartphones and other mobile devices.

Clover Collects $5.5M

Stealthy Clover Network of Mountain View, CA, has raised $5.45 million in equity-based financing, according to a regulatory filing. The company was founded by Kelvin Zheng and Leonard Speiser and is backed by Sutter Hill Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Morado Venture Partners.

New York’s New General Assembly Incubator Attracts Entrepreneurs With Camaraderie, Classes, and a College Feel

Brad Hargreaves, co-founder of New York City’s newest tech incubator, was just 19 years old when he learned some bitter lessons about starting companies. He was the chief operating officer of GXStudios, one of the first players in online social gaming. The venture-backed company’s flagship product was GoCrossCampus, a multiplayer, rivalry-themed game played by college kids … Continue reading “New York’s New General Assembly Incubator Attracts Entrepreneurs With Camaraderie, Classes, and a College Feel”

Spokane’s Latest Idea: Invest in New Med School To Create Biotech Hub

The state budget is a mess, but that isn’t stopping the folks in Spokane, WA from thinking big about planting seeds today for biotech. I’ve been in Spokane the past couple days to give a keynote talk on the Northwest biotech industry at an event organized by an entrepreneurial networking group called LaunchPad Inland Northwest. … Continue reading “Spokane’s Latest Idea: Invest in New Med School To Create Biotech Hub”

Pfizer Sheds Light on Drug for Rare Neurological Disorder

Pfizer’s (NYSE: [[ticker:PFE]]) investigational compound, tafamidis, slowed the progression of a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disease over 30 months, according to a press release. The disease, called Transthyretin Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy (TTR-FAP), affects about 8,000 people worldwide. The data came from a late-stage clinical trial of the drug and was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Academy … Continue reading “Pfizer Sheds Light on Drug for Rare Neurological Disorder”

PTC Buys MKS

PTC (NASDAQ: [[ticker:PMTC]]), a Needham, MA-based maker of product development software, said it has agreed to acquire MKS (TSX: [[ticker:MKXX]]) for CDN$26.20 per share in cash, for a total purchase price of CDN$292.5 million. MKS  makes application lifecycle management technology for tracking the production of software-intensive products, by managing elements like requirements, models, and testing. … Continue reading “PTC Buys MKS”

ShowYou—The iPad Social Video Browser That’s Taking On TV

If you have an iPhone, an iPod Touch, or an iPad, and you’re active on Facebook and Twitter, and you like to watch videos from places like YouTube, Vimeo, and TED, and you have a Wi-Fi network at home with a fast broadband connection, and especially if you have an Apple TV, then there’s a … Continue reading “ShowYou—The iPad Social Video Browser That’s Taking On TV”

Zynga’s Mark Pincus on Becoming the Amazon of Social Games, Big Data Growth, & Recruiting Failures Spawning a Seattle Office

Zynga, the San Francisco-based maker of addictive online games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars, officially opened its new Seattle office with a reception last night that was aimed squarely at recruiting new tech talent. And there wasn’t anything coy about the hunt, echoing a pitch Seattle-area techies have heard from many Silicon Valley companies in … Continue reading “Zynga’s Mark Pincus on Becoming the Amazon of Social Games, Big Data Growth, & Recruiting Failures Spawning a Seattle Office”

Ford, Chasing Nissan and Chevy, Rolling Out Focus EV in San Diego, Other Key Markets

After investing roughly $1 billion to overhaul a Ford F150 truck factory in Wayne, MI, the Ford Motor Co. has begun to introduce a new generation of electric and hybrid electric automobiles in the United States. Ford has targeted San Diego as a key beachhead for the initial commercial rollout of its all-electric car, following … Continue reading “Ford, Chasing Nissan and Chevy, Rolling Out Focus EV in San Diego, Other Key Markets”

Taris Bio Taps Third Rock Ventures and Previous Backers in $18.3M Financing Round

Taris Biomedical, an MIT spinout focused on treating bladder diseases, has brought on Third Rock Ventures as its new investor and lead backer in an $18.3 million Series B round of financing. Sarma Duddu, CEO of Lexington, MA-based Taris, says that the funding will be used to advance the company’s lead treatment, which holds the … Continue reading “Taris Bio Taps Third Rock Ventures and Previous Backers in $18.3M Financing Round”

Mirador Biomedical, Playing ‘Small Ball’ in Medical Devices, Pockets $1.5M Financing

Seattle-based Mirador Biomedical was able to win FDA approval of its first medical device on a shoestring budget of a shade over $1 million, and now investors are rewarding it with some more cash to see what it can do in the marketplace. Mirador has pulled in another $1.5 million in its Series B financing … Continue reading “Mirador Biomedical, Playing ‘Small Ball’ in Medical Devices, Pockets $1.5M Financing”

West Wireless Health Institute Awards $10K Incentive Prize

San Diego’s West Wireless Health Institute has awarded a $10,000 incentive prize to a Rhode Island software developer who answered a challenge the institute issued six months ago in conjunction with the Veterans Affairs Innovation Initiative (VAi2). The institute’s challenge called for development of a cost-effective wireless device or mobile app that enables VA patients … Continue reading “West Wireless Health Institute Awards $10K Incentive Prize”

Google-ITA Acquisition Advances, Nano Terra Buys Surface Logix, Blueprint Medicines Gets $40M, & More Boston-Area Deals News

We saw acquisitions in the life sciences, Internet, and mobile sectors, as well as financings for startups spanning high-tech industries in New England. —Akiban Technologies, a Boston database software maker, added another $3.2 million to its $6.5 million financing from 2009. The company, whose previous investors include North Bridge Venture Partners and Foundation Capital, used … Continue reading “Google-ITA Acquisition Advances, Nano Terra Buys Surface Logix, Blueprint Medicines Gets $40M, & More Boston-Area Deals News”

Stemgent Receives $750,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=85584c08-e345-40c4-8a81-75f6e3780306&Preview=1 Date 4/13/2011 Company Name Stemgent Mailing Address 790 Memorial Drive Cambridge, MA 02139 Company Description Stemgent advances stem cell science by providing proprietary reagents and tools developed and proven for reproducibility by some of the world’s leading stem cell scientists. Website http://www.stemgent.com Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $750,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed … Continue reading “Stemgent Receives $750,000 New Financing Round”

TARIS Biomedical Garners $18,300,000 Series B Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=60f17ac6-da75-4fa5-8ede-d3fe2f982e1c&Preview=1 Date 4/13/2011 Company Name TARIS Biomedical Mailing Address 99 Hayden Avenue Lexington, MA 02421 Company Description TARIS Biomedical Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company with deep domain expertise in therapeutics and drug-delivery, is focused on local minimally-invasive drug-device convergence products. Website http://www.tarisbiomedical.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $18,300,000 Transaction Round Series … Continue reading “TARIS Biomedical Garners $18,300,000 Series B Round”

CSIdentity Acquires IdentityTruth for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=db5dc693-a008-431f-bc98-7fa14f1802c5&Preview=1 Date 4/13/2011 Company Name IdentityTruth Mailing Address 404 Wyman Street Waltham, MA 02451 Company Description The company provides identity IT technologies. Website http://www.identitytruth.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Proceeds Purposes M&A Terms Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.