Enjoy lunch and a discussion with Meetup.com co-founder Scott Heiferman, who will be interviewed by Meetup’s other founder, Matt Meeker. A Q&A will follow. Register here.
BlogWorld and New Media Expo
More than 200 bloggers, podcasters, and other Internet experts will gather at this conference to discuss the latest in technology and tools. Speakers include Amber Naslund, co-author of The Now Revolution and Tom Webster, author of Twitter Users in America. Register here.
Bioaccelerate NYC Panel Discussion
Bioaccelerate NYC provides prize money to scientists at New York academic institutions who are working on commercially promising biomedical projects. During this panel, representatives of the New York City Investment Fund and Columbia University will discuss the factors that make for a suitable entry. Register here.
Variety of Tech Entrepreneurs Panel
This panel, part of Tech@NYU’s Startup Week, feature a variety of technology entrepreneurs, including Spencer Fry, co-founder of Carbonmade; Hilary Mason, chief data scientist at bit.ly; and Vin Vacanti, Yipit co-founder. Register here.
Digital Healthcare Innovation Summit
The first of this planned annual event will feature industry experts, private equity and venture capital investors, corporations, healthcare IT innovators and government officials. Speakers include Todd Park, chief technology officer for the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services. Register here.
GiftRocket, Practice Fusion, & Sundance Meets Netflix—The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News
As weeks go in the Silicon Valley/San Francisco business and technology world, last week was a pretty busy one, featuring some big investments and some big acquisitions. In roughly reverse chronological order: —The Department of Justice finally approved Google’s proposed takeover of Cambridge, MA-based travel software company ITA Software, but with some strings attached, as … Continue reading “GiftRocket, Practice Fusion, & Sundance Meets Netflix—The 1-Minute Version of Last Week’s Bay Area BizTech News”
UC San Diego 30th Annual Research Expo at the Jacobs School of Engineering
UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering hosts more than 250 M.S. and Ph.D. students, who will display their research results at a poster session at this annual event that was was created to strengthen ties between industry and academia. Hear technical talks by the Jacobs School’s world-renowned faculty, and a keynote address by Greg … Continue reading “UC San Diego 30th Annual Research Expo at the Jacobs School of Engineering”
CIO Innovation Forum 2011: What CIOs Want to Buy
The San Diego Software Industry Council has organized this colloquium on corporate IT, and recruited Barbara Gomolski, VP of IT Metrics and Finance for CIO Research at Gartner to serve as a keynote speaker. The CIO panel will discuss emerging technology trends, innovation with market-facing products and services, innovation with internal business operations, how to … Continue reading “CIO Innovation Forum 2011: What CIOs Want to Buy”
Zixi Gets $4 Million
Zixi, a Waltham, MA-based startup developing software to better deliver HD Internet video content, announced it has raised a $4 million financing, led by Boston-based Schooner Capital. The deal also included former Scientific Atlanta chairman and CEO Sidney Topol, and Maurice Schonfeld, the co-founder and first chief executive of CNN and the founder and former … Continue reading “Zixi Gets $4 Million”
Medivation, Pfizer Fail Huntington’s Test
San Francisco-based Medivation (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MDVN]]) and its partner, New York-based Pfizer (NYSE: [[ticker:PFE]]) said today that an experimental drug for Huntington’s disease failed in a pivotal clinical trial. The companies are now discontinuing development of the drug, dimebon, for Huntington’s, although a Phase III clinical trial is continuing for patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease.
Biogen Idec Passes Pivotal Trial With Oral MS Drug; Shares Climb
Biogen Idec is the world’s biggest maker of multiple sclerosis drugs, and today it just cleared a hurdle that might help it stay at the top of the heap for years to come. The Weston, MA-based biotech giant (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) said today that its oral MS drug candidate, dimethyl fumarate (BG-12), met its main goal … Continue reading “Biogen Idec Passes Pivotal Trial With Oral MS Drug; Shares Climb”
Siobhan Quinn Says “Technology is the Underdog” in New York; A Check-In with Foursquare’s First Product Manager
If you’re a software engineer turned product manager who’s overseen the seventh-most-visited website in the world—Google’s Blogger platform—what do you do for an encore? You move to New York to work for a little startup trying to change the world through mobile check-ins, of course. Siobhan Quinn got her BS in computer science at the … Continue reading “Siobhan Quinn Says “Technology is the Underdog” in New York; A Check-In with Foursquare’s First Product Manager”
Blueprint Medicines Brings In $40M, Led by Third Rock, for Targeted Cancer Therapies
In one of the Boston area’s biggest startup deals in recent years, Cambridge, MA-based Blueprint Medicines said today it has raised $40 million in Series A financing led by Third Rock Ventures. Blueprint has been stealthy to date, but its focus is on developing “personalized” cancer treatments based on molecular and cancer genome data and … Continue reading “Blueprint Medicines Brings In $40M, Led by Third Rock, for Targeted Cancer Therapies”
SocialFlow Raises $7 Million and Secures Twitter Partnership
SocialFlow, a New York based developer of social-media optimization tools, pulled together $7 million in a Series A, according to a press release. Investors included Softbank, RRE, Betaworks, Highline Venture Partners, AOL Venture Partners, and SV Angel. SocialFlow’s product analyzes the Twitter topics that people are most engaged in and their likelihood of taking action … Continue reading “SocialFlow Raises $7 Million and Secures Twitter Partnership”
OrbiMed Raises $203 Million for Israel Biomed Fund
OrbiMed Advisors, a healthcare investment firm in New York, has brought in $203 million for its one-year-old OrbiMed Israel Partners fund—including $40 million from the Israeli government, according to VentureWire. OrbiMed will use the fund to back 15-20 Israeli startups, OrbiMed general partner Jonathan Silverstein told VentureWire. The fund’s first big move is a $10.5 million … Continue reading “OrbiMed Raises $203 Million for Israel Biomed Fund”
Why Entrepreneurs Should Avoid Convertible Notes, and Other Wisdom Gleaned From Raising $1M From Silicon Valley Angels
Last summer, our company AppMakr raised a $1 million angel round over 14 weeks and learned some big lessons in the process. Luckily, Brendan Baker, an MBA student at Oxford University, took an interest in our raise and documented the process, creating a visual infographic of our efforts (see below). His infographic illustrated pertinent trends … Continue reading “Why Entrepreneurs Should Avoid Convertible Notes, and Other Wisdom Gleaned From Raising $1M From Silicon Valley Angels”
TED Wants Michigan To Get Crazy
Michigan got a little crazy last week. TEDxUofM didn’t have same star power as the annual conference in California that inspired it. But the message was undeniably similar. “Don’t get scared by the fact that [when] something is tough, crazy ideas are worth working on,” Thomas Zurbuchen, the founding director of University of Michigan’s Center … Continue reading “TED Wants Michigan To Get Crazy”
San Diego Venture Group Hires First President, Senturia Talks Entrepreneurship, Maxwell Arranges Financing, & More San Diego BizTech News
Venture capital for early stage companies remains a serious concern among San Diego’s high tech startups. We have details on how that is being addressed, along with a wrap-up on the rest of the week’s biztech news. —The San Diego Venture Group has hired a local VC, Windward Ventures co-founder David Titus, to serve as … Continue reading “San Diego Venture Group Hires First President, Senturia Talks Entrepreneurship, Maxwell Arranges Financing, & More San Diego BizTech News”
LiquidPlanner, Inspired by Social and Mobile Computing, Aims to Make Business Software Sexier
The explosion of faster networks, connected crowds and mobile computing has made millions of Americans into astonishingly fast and efficient consumers. But when the weekend’s over, too many of us walk back into a technological time-warp of email chains, conference calls and endless meetings. Bellevue-based LiquidPlanner is among the companies trying to break down that … Continue reading “LiquidPlanner, Inspired by Social and Mobile Computing, Aims to Make Business Software Sexier”
Open Source Biology Deserves a Shot
Gene sequencing has gotten incredibly fast and cheap, and researchers around the world are pouring huge volumes of genomic data onto their private servers, in the hope they will sift through it all to make groundbreaking discoveries. Should so much genomic data be so closely guarded, or should it be poured into a free and … Continue reading “Open Source Biology Deserves a Shot”
Mushroom Networks Advances Technology for Live Field Broadcasts
When I profiled San Diego’s Mushroom Networks last June, the venture-backed developer of “broadband bonding” technology had just introduced Teleporter, a hardware package that enables a broadcast journalist to send high-quality digital video over local cellular networks. One year later, the company says its Teleporter technology is now available with HD capability. Mushroom Networks says … Continue reading “Mushroom Networks Advances Technology for Live Field Broadcasts”
Zixi Garners $4,000,000 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=5954be74-51d1-4add-b9c1-599ca371f889&Preview=1 Date 4/11/2011 Company Name Zixi Mailing Address 950 Winter St. Waltham, MA 02451 Company Description Zixi is the leading enabler of flawless broadcast quality HDTV over the Internet. Broadcasters, enterprises and video-on-demand services use Zixi to enrich user experience, create new services and significantly reduce costs. Zixi enables the delivery of … Continue reading “Zixi Garners $4,000,000 New Financing Round”
Blueprint Medicines Lands $40,000,000 Series A Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=da01941f-0ed2-4b42-8e59-ab1172041e41&Preview=1 Date 4/11/2011 Company Name Blueprint Medicines Mailing Address Undisclosed Cambridge, MA 02138 Company Description Blueprint Medicines is driving the development of personalized, highly-selective cancer therapies that harness the growing understanding of the molecular blueprint of cancer. Website http://www.blueprintmedicines.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $40,000,000 Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes … Continue reading “Blueprint Medicines Lands $40,000,000 Series A Financing Round”
Akebia Therapeutics Receives $11,999,998 New Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6155420c-f6c1-4069-b919-600d6f9f1c0f&Preview=1 Date 4/11/2011 Company Name Akebia Therapeutics Mailing Address 9987 Carver Rd. Cincinnati, OH 45242 Company Description Akebia Therapeutics is a venture-backed start-up pharmaceutical company with a focus on treatments for ischemia and improvement of vascular disease. Website http://www.akebia.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $11,999,998 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds … Continue reading “Akebia Therapeutics Receives $11,999,998 New Financing”
Sonitus Medical Obtains $21,988,993 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0089b7ae-9d6e-44e4-8d4f-b0c92d6fa0b8&Preview=1 Date 4/11/2011 Company Name Sonitus Medical Mailing Address 1825 S. Grant Street San Mateo, CA 94402 Company Description Sonitus Medical, Inc. is committed to innovating novel hearing solutions. Our mission is to serve the Otolaryngology and Audiology professional community by providing therapeutic solutions to address the unmet clinical needs of their … Continue reading “Sonitus Medical Obtains $21,988,993 New Funding Round”
Marchex Acquires Jingle Networks for $62,500,000
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b6fffb96-090e-4f7c-95be-d972638c4986&Preview=1 Date 4/11/2011 Company Name Jingle Networks Mailing Address 50 California Street San Francisco, CA 94111 Company Description One day, one of our founders looked at his phone bill and thought, I hate paying for directory assistance. These fees are ridiculous. Website http://www.free411.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount $62,500,000 Transaction Round Proceeds … Continue reading “Marchex Acquires Jingle Networks for $62,500,000”
Alert Logic Lands $12,600,000 Series E Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=fbfd8114-08db-4cf6-b72c-d5d9d263485f&Preview=1 Date 4/11/2011 Company Name Alert Logic Mailing Address 1776 Yorktown 7th Floor Houston, TX 77056 Company Description Alert Logic is the security industry’s leading provider of on-demand internal network security solutions designed to protect networks from threats that bypass perimeter, desktop, and server defenses. Website http://www.alertlogic.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction … Continue reading “Alert Logic Lands $12,600,000 Series E Funding Round”
The Renewables Plus: An Introduction to Clean Energy
Understanding and implementing clean technology is becoming a business requirement, but keeping pace with the cleantech industry can be difficult. While there is no shortage of information, gathering and acting upon it can be time consuming. This program offers a one-day, in-depth look at renewable energy generation, including biofuels, solar, wind, smart grid, utility integration, … Continue reading “The Renewables Plus: An Introduction to Clean Energy”
Will One of These Be the Next Google? Student Entrepreneurs Compete at Stanford [Video]
This morning I headed down to Palo Alto with iPad 2 in hand to check in with students and speakers at the Stanford BASES BT National Entrepreneurship Bootcamp. For this event, more than a hundred student delegates from campuses around the country gathered at Stanford for an intensive weekend of workshops and talks given by … Continue reading “Will One of These Be the Next Google? Student Entrepreneurs Compete at Stanford [Video]”
Evolve or Die: Versant’s Beckie Robertson on Four Ways Med Device Companies Can Survive
The business model for medical device startups is said to be in jeopardy, and it’s the topic du jour at conferences everywhere, as entrepreneurs are complaining bitterly about arbitrary FDA regulators and tight-fisted insurers. Much of this industry’s spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship is migrating overseas, it is often said. Yesterday, I heard all that … Continue reading “Evolve or Die: Versant’s Beckie Robertson on Four Ways Med Device Companies Can Survive”
The VC65 Photo Gallery: Happy 65th Birthday, Venture Capital
In case you haven’t heard, we held a rocking 65th birthday party on Wednesday…for the venture capital industry. Nearly 1,000 attendees piled into MIT’s Kresge Auditorium for “VC65,” which Xconomy organized in partnership with the National Venture Capital Association and the MIT Museum. (NVCA bused over more than 500 VCs who were in Boston for … Continue reading “The VC65 Photo Gallery: Happy 65th Birthday, Venture Capital”
Google and ITA Software: The Acquisition That Almost Wasn’t, Is Again (With Some Strings Attached)
[Updated 3:30 pm. See below] It took a while, but we now have a ruling in a case that has major ramifications for the online travel industry. The U.S. Department of Justice said today it has proposed a settlement in the case of Google’s $700 million bid to acquire ITA Software, a Cambridge, MA-based airfare … Continue reading “Google and ITA Software: The Acquisition That Almost Wasn’t, Is Again (With Some Strings Attached)”
About.com Announces Expansion Plans
About.com is expanding its premium content, launching a Spanish-language channel, and doubling its video content, according to a press release. The site, which is part of the New York Times Company (NYSE:[[ticker:NYT]]), also plans to grow its collection of so-called Guide sites, which are run by independent experts and cover popular topics like food, health, … Continue reading “About.com Announces Expansion Plans”
Exclusively.In Launches Discount Asia Travel Offering
Online retailer Exclusively.In, which offers flash sales of discounted Indian clothing and jewelry to its members, has started a luxury travel division, according to a statement from the company. Exclusively.In launched last summer with $2.8 million in funding from Accel Partners India and Helion Venture Partners, and has offices in New Delhi and New York. … Continue reading “Exclusively.In Launches Discount Asia Travel Offering”
Thanks to Our VC65 Speakers, Sponsors, and Partners
Our big VC65 event in MIT’s Kresge Auditorium was a tremendous success. The intent of course, was to celebrate the 65th anniversary of venture capital in America—but in a way that drew out lessons and insights about building great companies and great partnerships between VCs and entrepreneurs. We drew an amazing crowd of nearly 1,000 … Continue reading “Thanks to Our VC65 Speakers, Sponsors, and Partners”
Report: MOD Systems Furloughs
Seattle-based MOD Systems, which makes technology to deliver movie and music files through self-service kiosks, is putting some workers on unpaid furlough as it attempts to raise more money. The news comes via TechFlash, which says it confirmed the furloughs with CEO Anthony Bay today. TechFlash also notes this SEC filing from early last month … Continue reading “Report: MOD Systems Furloughs”
Separating Hype From Reality in Alternative Fuels: Mark Your Calendars for May 19
Energy independence and reducing greenhouse gas emissions were big issues in the last couple Presidential elections. Yet, if you look around town in 2011, it’s still the norm to see people filling up inefficient cars with gasoline from non-renewable sources, at a cost of about $4 a gallon. Lots of entrepreneurs are pursuing dreams of … Continue reading “Separating Hype From Reality in Alternative Fuels: Mark Your Calendars for May 19”
GoldSpot Media Raises $12M
Goldspot Media, a Sunnyvale, CA-based startup developing software for creating, distributing, and tracking rich-media ad campaigns on smartphones and tablet devices, said today (PDF) that it has closed a $12.05 Series B funding round. Exa Ventures and Berg Enterprises were the backers. Carl Berg from Berg Enterprises has joined Goldspot’s board. The company said the … Continue reading “GoldSpot Media Raises $12M”
Video Search Provider Blinkx Buys Burst Media’s Ad Network for $30 Million
Blinkx, the San Francisco-based video search engine, has taken a big leap into the online advertising business—and expanded its operations to the Boston area in the process. The company said today it has acquired Burlington, MA-based Burst Media, which manages an online advertising network catering to niche or “long tail” Web publishers. Burst distributes ads … Continue reading “Video Search Provider Blinkx Buys Burst Media’s Ad Network for $30 Million”
$5.5M Stock Sale for World Energy
Worcester, MA-based World Energy Solutions (NASDAQ: [[ticker:XWES]]) said yesterday it is raising $5.5 million in a sale of 1.5 million shares of common stock ($3.60 per share) to several institutional investors. The company says the money will be used for new investments and acquisitions in energy management, among other strategic initiatives. World Energy is known … Continue reading “$5.5M Stock Sale for World Energy”
Legolas Media Raises $5 Million
Legolas Media, an advertising technology company based in New York City, raised $5 million in an equity-based funding round, an SEC filing shows. There were three investors, according to the document. Legolas’s website defines the company as “not really” an ad exchange, but rather a marketplace that connects advertisers with publishers in a manner that’s … Continue reading “Legolas Media Raises $5 Million”
Get Your Ticket Now for Michigan 2031 on April 14 and Get a Free Copy of Josh Linkner’s NYT Best Selling Book, Disciplined Dreaming
Here at Xconomy, we know something about the great investor-entrepreneur relationships that are often behind the best companies: not only are we a startup ourselves, we write about the venture capital and startup scene every day—often chronicling the efforts of investors and entrepreneurs needed to weather the storms a company faces before it can be … Continue reading “Get Your Ticket Now for Michigan 2031 on April 14 and Get a Free Copy of Josh Linkner’s NYT Best Selling Book, Disciplined Dreaming”
Biotech in New York: Scientists and Entrepreneurs Gather to Banter About the City’s Challenges and Opportunities
The 20th annual meeting of the New York Biotechnology Association (NYBA) kicked off on April 6 with a panel called “The Global Struggle for the Biopharmaceutical Industry: New York Must Step Up Its Game!” Nathan Tinker, executive director of the NYBA and the panel’s moderator, joked to the gathering crowd at the Marriott Marquis in … Continue reading “Biotech in New York: Scientists and Entrepreneurs Gather to Banter About the City’s Challenges and Opportunities”
With iMovie on the iPad 2, Video Editing Is Fun Again
As much as I loved the original Apple iPad, there was one thing about the device that stuck in my craw: the missing cameras. It was an easy guess when the original product debuted 12 months ago that Apple would rectify the omission in a near-future version. What annoyed me was the certainty that at … Continue reading “With iMovie on the iPad 2, Video Editing Is Fun Again”
Xenoport Wins FDA Green Light, The Coming ‘HealthTech’ Wave, More Genomes Go Public, & More Bay Area Life Sciences News
If your definition of news is when something surprising happens, then we had some pretty big news on the SF biotech beat this week. —Santa Clara, CA-based Xenoport (NASDAQ: [[ticker:XNPT]]), which many investors wrote off a year ago, bounced back big-time this week by winning a surprise FDA approval. The company, and its partner GlaxoSmithKline, … Continue reading “Xenoport Wins FDA Green Light, The Coming ‘HealthTech’ Wave, More Genomes Go Public, & More Bay Area Life Sciences News”
Westphal Leaving Glaxo, Cubist Settles Patent Litigation with Teva, BSX Buys S.I., & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News
We saw news of personnel shifts, litigation, clinical progress, financing, and acquisitions from health IT firms, device makers, and drug companies in New England this week. —Waltham, MA-based Forerun, a developer of patient-charting software for emergency room doctors, raised $2 million in a Series C funding led by the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation. —GlaxoSmithKline (NSYE: … Continue reading “Westphal Leaving Glaxo, Cubist Settles Patent Litigation with Teva, BSX Buys S.I., & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”
Tarpon Biosystems Lands $786,000 New Financing Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=76dd4e4a-303f-4d8e-aac1-c7edb101eaa9&Preview=1 Date 4/8/2011 Company Name Tarpon Biosystems Mailing Address 197 M Boston Post Rd. West Marlborough, MA 01752 Company Description The efficiencies of upstream processes have increased dramatically over the past decade. Downstream processing or purification has not kept pace with these innovations. Tarpon Biosystems has developed the first ever BioSMB systems … Continue reading “Tarpon Biosystems Lands $786,000 New Financing Round”
Astute Networks Receives $3,199,998 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=3f00e183-ebda-4780-add4-9457d316a05d&Preview=1 Date 4/8/2011 Company Name Astute Networks Mailing Address 16516 Via Esprillo San Diego, CA 92127 Company Description Astute Networks designs and markets intelligent silicon-based protocol acceleration technologies to OEM partners worldwide. Website http://www.astutenetworks.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $3,199,998 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. SEC … Continue reading “Astute Networks Receives $3,199,998 New Funding Round”
MEDomics Obtains New Financing
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f1b02391-68f8-45e4-a3ef-ab0eacc72473&Preview=1 Date 4/8/2011 Company Name MEDomics Mailing Address 426 N. San Gabriel Ave. Azusa, CA 91702 Company Description MEDomics is a provider of sequence-based DNA diagnostic testing and collaborative research services. Website http://www.medomics.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes This second capital infusion from SpaGus will … Continue reading “MEDomics Obtains New Financing”
PowerReviews Receives $2,840,312 New Funding Round
Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=90eaef61-a7bf-45d9-8c01-3e983beea84f&Preview=1 Date 4/8/2011 Company Name PowerReviews Mailing Address 665 Third Street San Francisco, CA 94107 Company Description PowerReviews has launched a Web-based portal for consumer reviews of products ranging from shoes to housewares. Website http://www.powerreviews.com Transaction Type Debt Transaction Amount $2,840,312 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. Amount … Continue reading “PowerReviews Receives $2,840,312 New Funding Round”