Cypress Bioscience, After Months of Give and Take, Agrees to a $255M Buyout

After months of rejected offers and dueling media statements, Cypress Bioscience (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CYPB]]) says today it has agreed to a buyout-and-merger deal that will combine the San Diego drug development company with Royalty Pharma, a New York firm that holds a revenue-generating portfolio of drug royalty interests. Ramius V&O Acquisition, an affiliate of the $7.8 … Continue reading “Cypress Bioscience, After Months of Give and Take, Agrees to a $255M Buyout”

Clustrix Collects $12M

San Francisco-based Clustrix said today that it has closed a $12 million Series B financing round, joined by existing investors U.S. Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, and ATA Ventures. The company makes database appliances that are equally capable of handling SQL, MySQL, and “NoSQL” databases. It was founded by Isilon Systems founder Paul Mikesell and has now … Continue reading “Clustrix Collects $12M”

Zipcar Pulls in $21M, Adds Case and Mahoney to Board

Zipcar has added big money and big-name board members to its fleet, according to two different company announcements today. The Cambridge, MA-based car-sharing service said it has raised a $21 million Series G financing, with Meritech Capital Partners leading with a $20 million investment and Pinnacle Ventures contributing $1 million. It also added a big corporate … Continue reading “Zipcar Pulls in $21M, Adds Case and Mahoney to Board”

Spoken Raises $4M

Bellevue, WA-based Spoken Communications, the maker of speech recognition technology for customer call centers, said today it has raised $4 million from Ignition Growth Capital. The company said it plans to use the money to provide extra capacity to customers that are looking to expand with virtual call centers.

With UW Partnership, Novel Moves a Step Closer to “The Matrix” for Businesses

When we last checked in with Brayden Olson, it was early fall, and the wunderkind co-founder and CEO of Redmond, WA-based videogame startup Novel was busy telling us about his company’s massively multiplayer online game, Empire & State. That was all well and good. But the real intrigue behind Novel is its plan to develop … Continue reading “With UW Partnership, Novel Moves a Step Closer to “The Matrix” for Businesses”

Streaming Music for Apple iTunes Users, Courtesy of mSpot

When Apple bought streaming music company Lala a year ago, observers thought it might herald a day when Apple customers would be able to stream their iTunes music to their iPhones and iPod Touch players. That hasn’t happened yet, and if it ever does, it won’t be Lala’s engineers who do it—I’m told that what’s … Continue reading “Streaming Music for Apple iTunes Users, Courtesy of mSpot”

BG Medicine Eyes $70M IPO, Nano-Terra Picks Up $17.2M, Rive Technology Raises $25M, & More Boston-Area Deals News

Lots of nice deals to report this week from New England’s tech and life sciences sectors. —E-mail archiving provider Sonian indicated to the SEC that it had raised $4 million in an equity offering that could total $9 million. Previous backers of the Needham, MA-based firm include Prism VentureWorks and Summerhill Venture Partners. —BG Medicine … Continue reading “BG Medicine Eyes $70M IPO, Nano-Terra Picks Up $17.2M, Rive Technology Raises $25M, & More Boston-Area Deals News”

Adimab Adds Genentech, Lilly, and Human Genome Sciences to Growing List of Partners

Adimab has made its name for assembling a high-profile roster of Big Pharma partners that use its technology to discover new antibody drugs. Today, the Lebanon, NH-based company is announcing a new batch of partners—Genentech, Eli Lilly (NYSE:[[ticker:LLY]]), and Human Genome Sciences (NASDAQ:[[ticker:HGSI]])—which add greater heft to co-founder and CEO Tillman Gerngross’s argument that his … Continue reading “Adimab Adds Genentech, Lilly, and Human Genome Sciences to Growing List of Partners”

JiWire Launches Ad Network

Going head-to-head with other location-based advertising platforms such as Boston-based Where, San Francisco startup JiWire today unveiled a mobile ad network called Compass that’s designed to serve ads directing consumers to nearby stores where a brand’s products are available. The ads use location data from a consumer’s smartphone, tablet, or laptop to show nearby retail … Continue reading “JiWire Launches Ad Network”

Real Time Farms, From Former Android Developer, Offers Crowdsourced Local Food Guides for Farmer’s Markets and Restaurants

“Android kind of felt like a startup,” Ann Arbor native Karl Rosaen says of the original development team for Google’s mobile phone platform. Rosaen says the entire team could fit inside a single conference room at the company headquarters. As a software engineer he saw Android go from the initial device launch to a technology … Continue reading “Real Time Farms, From Former Android Developer, Offers Crowdsourced Local Food Guides for Farmer’s Markets and Restaurants”

Facebook Has the Nation’s Happiest Employees, Glassdoor’s Employee Survey Says

Facebook, the Palo Alto, CA-based social networking giant with half a billion users worldwide, has won the highest overall rating of any company in a 2010 survey of U.S. employees. Meanwhile, Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg received a 96 percent approval rating from survey respondents, putting him among the top eight CEOs in the … Continue reading “Facebook Has the Nation’s Happiest Employees, Glassdoor’s Employee Survey Says”

Sungevity Collects $15M More

Oakland, CA-based Sungevity, which aims to become the “Amazon of solar electricity” by making it easier for homeowners to install leased solar panels, announced today that it has extended its Series C funding round by $15 million, with existing investors Greener Capital and Firelake Capital in the lead. New investor Brightpath Capital Partners also pitched … Continue reading “Sungevity Collects $15M More”

Q&A on Startups and Investing Strategy with Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s “State Angel” Arif Padaria

It’s tough out there for angel investors and venture capitalists—not to mention entrepreneurs scrambling for money so they can build the next big thing. Nothing surprising there, but it’s especially true in cleantech and energy, where the exit market has not yet matured, and the process of building early-stage companies is as thorny as ever. … Continue reading “Q&A on Startups and Investing Strategy with Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s “State Angel” Arif Padaria”

Zipcar Receives $21,000,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e6b67f76-1913-42de-8437-c4db6d7f599b&Preview=1 Date 12/15/2010 Company Name Zipcar Mailing Address 25 First Street 4th Floor Cambridge, MA 02141 Company Description Zipcar, the Web-based car-sharing service, Zipcars are as ubiquitous as ATMs. Z2B (business) and personal drivers alike are loving the freedom and cost savings a Zipcar brings to their life – many have even … Continue reading “Zipcar Receives $21,000,000 New Funding Round”

Sungevity Obtains $15,000,000 Series C Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=1d915331-83f9-4b3e-9526-40d9e5586423&Preview=1 Date 12/15/2010 Company Name Sungevity Mailing Address 816 Bancroft Way Berkeley, CA 94710 Company Description Sungevity is a solar sales company, with a mission to take solar to the mainstream market. Our company has a strong team that brings together successful start-up experience, environmental leadership and solar industry knowledge. Sungevity has … Continue reading “Sungevity Obtains $15,000,000 Series C Financing”

DevonWay Secures $7,050,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f379acb9-fe26-495e-928e-73669335e3a3&Preview=1 Date 12/15/2010 Company Name DevonWay Mailing Address 101 California Street San Francisco, CA 94111 Company Description DevonWay On-Demand is a web services offering representing a new generation of solutions designed to improve work processes while supplying budget relief across the enterprise. Our service offerings are designed to be additive to client/server … Continue reading “DevonWay Secures $7,050,000 New Financing Round”

Pocket Gems Receives $5,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b5225ff8-53d4-47df-9512-974f0d0f8685&Preview=1 Date 12/15/2010 Company Name Pocket Gems Mailing Address Undisclosed San Francisco, CA 94105 Company Description Pocket Gems, a pioneer of the movement of social games to mobile, developed a series of phenomenally successful free-to-play mobile games that have been downloaded more than 15 million times. Website http://www.pocketgems.com Transaction Type Venture Equity … Continue reading “Pocket Gems Receives $5,000,000 New Financing Round”

RiseSmart Obtains $3,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f8531b03-dc16-4999-9bca-c364ed93edba&Preview=1 Date 12/15/2010 Company Name RiseSmart Mailing Address 2055 Gateway Place San Jose, CA 95110 Company Description Based in Dallas, RiseSmart is a human-powered job search service that prescreens online search results for time-starved managers and executives. The RiseSmart team matches opportunities with jobseekers based on each member’s unique profile, freeing senior-level … Continue reading “RiseSmart Obtains $3,000,000 New Financing”

Clustrix Obtains $12,000,000 Series B Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=523fb862-b6f1-47ea-a1d3-f67b0205e486&Preview=1 Date 12/15/2010 Company Name Clustrix Mailing Address One Post Street San Francisco, CA 94104 Company Description Clustrix is an early stage, very well funded start up. We are building the next generation of highly scalable distributed infrastructure products. Our products make it possible to scale infrastructure just by adding nodes – … Continue reading “Clustrix Obtains $12,000,000 Series B Funding”

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company Acquires Nimblefish Technologies for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=e912fa15-43a6-40c8-8731-3769faef13cb&Preview=1 Date 12/15/2010 Company Name Nimblefish Technologies Mailing Address 149 New Montgomery Street 6th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 Company Description Nimblefish is the world’s premier provider of automated micromarketing engines for customer-centric enterprises. Our customized micromarketing engines enable large and leading-edge organizations to leverage the latest technology-powered relevant-messaging capabilities to significantly … Continue reading “R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company Acquires Nimblefish Technologies for Undisclosed Sum”

Chip Path Design Systems Lands $3,000,000 Series A Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=20311179-769a-4752-87d5-1bf2943b8e78&Preview=1 Date 12/15/2010 Company Name Chip Path Design Systems Mailing Address 10773 N. Wolfe Rd. Cupertino, CA 95014 Company Description Targeting the front-end process from specification through IP-Assembly to Physical Planning, Chip Path delivers Architectural Design tools based on Semiconductor-IP for new ASIC designs as well as for compilation onto existing FPGA … Continue reading “Chip Path Design Systems Lands $3,000,000 Series A Funding”

Twitter Secures $200,000,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=247de247-9024-42d4-8c01-92e88ace9b9c&Preview=1 Date 12/15/2010 Company Name Twitter Mailing Address 795 Folsom St. San Francisco, CA 94107 Company Description Twitter provides an instant-broadcast, SMS type Internet service. Website http://www.twitter.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $200,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes The additional resources and expertise will be extremely helpful as Twitter continues to … Continue reading “Twitter Secures $200,000,000 New Round”

GAIN Capital Holdings Receives $81,000,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=3499b740-8116-4d0e-9c5b-26c82ffe357a&Preview=1 Date 12/15/2010 Company Name GAIN Capital Holdings Mailing Address 44 Wall Street 6th Floor New York, NY 10005 Company Description GAIN Capital Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: GCAP) is a leading non-bank provider of foreign exchange (FOREX) trading and asset management services Website http://www.gaincapital.com Transaction Type IPO Transaction Amount $81,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed … Continue reading “GAIN Capital Holdings Receives $81,000,000 New Round”

SpotXchange Garners $12,000,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=25601b9e-627c-402d-80e8-9b45e1777fc7&Preview=1 Date 12/15/2010 Company Name SpotXchange Mailing Address 11030 CirclePoint Road Denver, CO 80020 Company Description SpotXchange is the Internet’s first platform that allows online video publishers to auction off available in-stream video ad slot inventory. Media buyers, advertisers and agencies use SpotXchange’s self-service tools to load commercials and target ad slots … Continue reading “SpotXchange Garners $12,000,000 New Round”

Abound Solar Garners $110,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=5ee31198-73e8-4f50-a979-d6dd11934927&Preview=1 Date 12/15/2010 Company Name Abound Solar Mailing Address 2695 Rocky Mountain Avenue Loveland, CO 80538 Company Description From our corporate and manufacturing headquarters in Colorado, Abound Solar (formerly known as AVA Solar) is producing the next generation of thin-film cadmium telluride solar modules ideally suited for large- and utility-scale commercial installations. … Continue reading “Abound Solar Garners $110,000,000 New Financing Round”

RigNet Receives $60,000,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d42f1df0-5193-47b8-9113-a7c23b8f65aa&Preview=1 Date 12/15/2010 Company Name RigNet Mailing Address 1880 S. Dairy Ashford Houston, TX 77077 Company Description RigNet, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNET) provides broadband, plug-and-play, voice and video networks exclusively to offshore rigs and remote locations of drilling and production operations. Website http://www.rignet.com Transaction Type IPO Transaction Amount $60,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds … Continue reading “RigNet Receives $60,000,000 New Funding Round”

Cypress Pursuing Alternative Buyout Deal

Shares of San Diego’s Cypress Bioscience gained more than 20 percent in furious trading of nearly 4.8 million shares on Nasdaq—more than eight times the company’s recent average volume—after rejecting a new cash offer from the New York-based Ramius group of funds. In a statement today, Ramius and affiliates of Royalty Pharma Finance Trust said … Continue reading “Cypress Pursuing Alternative Buyout Deal”

Report: Genoptix is on the Auction Block

One of San Diego’s profitable biotech success stories, Genoptix, is reportedly looking to be acquired. Carlsbad, CA-based Genoptix (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GXDX]]) has hired an investment bank, Barclays, to seek out buyers of the company, according to a report today by Bloomberg News, which cited two people familiar with the situation. Takeover speculation helped drive the stock … Continue reading “Report: Genoptix is on the Auction Block”

Nissan Turning Over New Leafs, and EV Car Owners Are Electrified

Nissan has begun to deliver production models of its new Leaf all-electric vehicle in California and elsewhere. La Jolla resident Tom Franklin picked up his blue Leaf yesterday afternoon at a dealer in San Diego, just three days after the Japanese carmaker delivered its first 2011 model, a black Leaf SL, to Redwood City, CA, … Continue reading “Nissan Turning Over New Leafs, and EV Car Owners Are Electrified”

Life Technologies Debuts Ion Torrent Machine, Next Big Bet on Fast, Cheap Sequencing

Life Technologies turned heads four months ago with a bold acquisition of one of the hot startups in the field of faster/cheaper gene sequencing, and now it says the new product is ready for prime time. The Carlsbad, CA-based company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LIFE]]) said today it has started selling what it calls the Ion Personal Genome … Continue reading “Life Technologies Debuts Ion Torrent Machine, Next Big Bet on Fast, Cheap Sequencing”

Victrio Raises $5M

Mountain View, CA-based Victrio, which helps companies reduce telephone credit-card fraud by comparing callers’ voices to a database of known fraudsters’ voiceprints, has raised $5 million in new equity-based financing, according to a regulatory filing. The investors aren’t identified, but the filing lists U.S. Venture Partners principal Rick Lewis and individual investor Steve Tran as … Continue reading “Victrio Raises $5M”

$30M for Soladigm

Milpitas, CA-based Soladigm said today (PDF) that has raised $30 million in Series C financing in order to launch high-volume commercial production of its “dynamic glass,” which is covered with an electrochromic layer that allows it to change from clear to tinted to control the amount of sunlight entering a building. DBL Investors and NanoDimension led … Continue reading “$30M for Soladigm”

SensorLogic Finds $5M, New CFO

Boston-based SensorLogic said today that it has brought in $5 million in funding from its existing investors, and hired a new CFO, Brian Alton. The deal was led by Sevin Rosen Funds and Boston Millennia Partners, with participation from UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund and Covera Ventures. SensorLogic, which provides cloud-based platforms to help customers deploy applications … Continue reading “SensorLogic Finds $5M, New CFO”

Rive Technology Raises $25M to Help Refineries Squeeze More Fuel Out of Oil

This is one of the bigger cleantech bets around Boston as of late. Cambridge, MA-based Rive Technology said today it has scored $25 million in Series C financing led by new investor Blackstone Group. Rive’s existing investors Charles River Ventures, Advanced Technology Ventures, and Nth Power also participated in the round, which brings Rive’s total … Continue reading “Rive Technology Raises $25M to Help Refineries Squeeze More Fuel Out of Oil”

Vivus Submits Document to FDA

Vivus (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VVUS]]), the Mountain View, CA-based based obesity drug developer, said today it has submitted a briefing document to the FDA to answer questions the agency raised when it turned down the company’s new drug application in October. The company said it has also gotten a meeting scheduled with the FDA for late January … Continue reading “Vivus Submits Document to FDA”

CloudBees Gets Stax

CloudBees, a maker of cloud-based platforms for Java computing and development, announced it has acquired Seattle-based Stax Networks, for an undisclosed sum. CloudBees, which recently emerged from stealth mode and is setting up its headquarters in Boston, raised a $4 million Series A financing last month, led by Matrix Partners. Stax provides Java application platforms … Continue reading “CloudBees Gets Stax”

Inkling Reinvents Textbooks for the iPad

Throughout the two years Matt MacInnis spent working as senior manager in international education at Apple, he had plenty of opportunity to watch teachers integrate technology into their classrooms as a learning tool. And he found it wholly disappointing. “If you walk into a classroom today, and then you roll back the clock and walk … Continue reading “Inkling Reinvents Textbooks for the iPad”

Fluidigm, Maker of Genomic Tools, Takes Second Crack at IPO, Hoping for Less Drama

If there are any aspiring authors on the management team of Fluidigm, they certainly have the kind of material that best-sellers are made of. Back in mid-September 2008 this South San Francisco-based company was out hustling on an IPO road show. It was the precise moment people were wondering if the global financial system would … Continue reading “Fluidigm, Maker of Genomic Tools, Takes Second Crack at IPO, Hoping for Less Drama”

Nano-Terra Takes in $17.2M for Nanotech Development

Nano-Terra appears to have taken in its largest round of financing in the five-year history of the nanotechnology development firm. The Cambridge, MA-based startup has raised $17.2 million in an equity and rights funding round, according to an SEC filing. (CB Insights previously posted this news on its blog.) Nano-Terra‘s CEO, Myer Berlow, and its … Continue reading “Nano-Terra Takes in $17.2M for Nanotech Development”

Pulmatrix Pulls in $5.7M DARPA Grant to Develop Drug Against Respiratory Threats

Pulmatrix might have just the defense for soldiers against respiratory invaders. Now the Lexington, MA-based biotech firm has won a $5.7 million grant to advance its technology that originated at MIT and Harvard for defense purposes. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), part of the U.S. Department of Defense, awarded the firm the grant … Continue reading “Pulmatrix Pulls in $5.7M DARPA Grant to Develop Drug Against Respiratory Threats”

At the Half-Year Mark, Looking Back at Xconomy San Francisco’s Top Stories

We launched Xconomy San Francisco six months ago today, on June 14. It’s hard to comprehend how fast that time has flown by—and how many stories we’ve published (almost 500). On this six-month-iversary, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at readers’ favorite Bay Area infotech, energy, and life sciences/healthcare stories. The … Continue reading “At the Half-Year Mark, Looking Back at Xconomy San Francisco’s Top Stories”

Life Sciences Discovery Fund Debunks Perceptions with Omeros Deal, Shows State Can Bankroll Companies

Railroad barons from the 19th century ruined it for Washington State, the common business perception goes, by snookering states into coughing up egregious corporate welfare. It led to a popular uprising and a subsequent state Constitution that forever prohibited direct aid to corporations. That, politicians often say, is the reason the state can’t invest in … Continue reading “Life Sciences Discovery Fund Debunks Perceptions with Omeros Deal, Shows State Can Bankroll Companies”

Avalon Funds Antibiotics Development at New Startup, RQx Pharmaceuticals

San Diego’s Avalon Ventures, which prefers to launch its own seed-stage startups, has provided $1 million in funding for RQx Pharmaceuticals, a new San Diego life sciences company founded earlier this year, according to a recent regulatory filing. The funding appears to be part of an early stage round that could total as much as … Continue reading “Avalon Funds Antibiotics Development at New Startup, RQx Pharmaceuticals”

RelayRides Hits The Ground In San Francisco, With Money From Google Ventures and August Capital

Roughly six months ago, a new alternative to car ownership came to the Cambridge area. RelayRides took the idea of car-sharing service Zipcar a bit further; rather than renting out cars from its own managed fleet, it set up a system for borrowing cars from individual car owners whose vehicles were dormant during the day. … Continue reading “RelayRides Hits The Ground In San Francisco, With Money From Google Ventures and August Capital”

Saagara Planning New Health Apps, Getting Advice from Ted Dacko, Former HealthMedia Chief

Ann Arbor-based Saagara, the maker of breathing exercise apps for mobile devices, plans to release new products aimed at specific health conditions in the coming months after spending a year of marketing a yoga-inspired app for the iPhone, says co-founder and CEO Nagabhushanam “Bobby” Peddi. (I actually demoed the firm’s yoga breathing app online for … Continue reading “Saagara Planning New Health Apps, Getting Advice from Ted Dacko, Former HealthMedia Chief”

RelayRides Garners New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f66aa0c7-879f-4be5-99c9-3b477bbcb1be&Preview=1 Date 12/14/2010 Company Name RelayRides Mailing Address 222 3rd St. Cambridge, MA 02141 Company Description The company operates a website and service that allows users to share automobiles. Website http://www.RelayRides.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes The company will be launching its service in the … Continue reading “RelayRides Garners New Financing Round”