Trupanion, Riding the Wave of Fast-Growing Industry, Seeks to Lead in Pet Medical Insurance

[Corrected: 11:30 am] Little known fact: more than half of American pet owners now buy holiday presents for their pets. But even in a country where buying stocking stuffers for your four-legged pal is more than commonplace, the sale of medical insurance plans to protect pets—and their owners’ pocketbooks—from medical emergencies and other health related … Continue reading “Trupanion, Riding the Wave of Fast-Growing Industry, Seeks to Lead in Pet Medical Insurance”

DataXu CEO Mike Baker on the Online Advertising Startup’s Move Into Mobile and Video

Things are evolving quickly over at DataXu. Six months after announcing a new $11 million round of venture financing, the Boston-based online advertising software firm has expanded its focus to help its corporate customers reach a wider swath of consumers wherever they are. Earlier this week, DataXu (pronounced “Data Zoo”) rolled out what it calls … Continue reading “DataXu CEO Mike Baker on the Online Advertising Startup’s Move Into Mobile and Video”

PCN Technology Translates Industrial “Tower of Babel” Networks Into Language of the Internet

The key to the formation of San Diego’s PCN Technology came almost a decade ago, while co-founders Daniel Drolet and David Stumpf were working in a corner of the information technology sector that the Internet had seemingly left in the 20th century dust. In the world of industrial computer networks and embedded systems, Drolet tells … Continue reading “PCN Technology Translates Industrial “Tower of Babel” Networks Into Language of the Internet”

ATS Gets $3M in Cancer Funding

The National Cancer Institute awarded $3 million to San Diego’s Advanced Targeting Systems, a company that develops and provides products for neuroscience researchers, and has developed technology for targeting specific types of cells. In 1997, for example, ATS developed SP-SAP, a reagent that eliminates specific pain transmission neurons that propagate chronic pain signals. In a … Continue reading “ATS Gets $3M in Cancer Funding”

Qualcomm Hosts Dave Matthews Band for 25th Anniversary Festival

The tweets have been flying out of San Diego’s Sorrento Valley, where wireless technology giant Qualcomm is hosting the Dave Matthews band and multi-instrumentalist Tim Reynolds tonight as part of the company’s 25th anniversary festival. Thousands of Qualcomm employees and invited guests flocked to the party, which began at 5:30 p.m. at the company’s headquarters … Continue reading “Qualcomm Hosts Dave Matthews Band for 25th Anniversary Festival”

Cytomx Pockets $30M, AvidBiotics Eyes Food Safety Market, Rigel Passes Arthritis Trial, & More Bay Area Life Sciences News

We had the usual wide variety of stories this week from the worlds of antibody drugs, antibiotics, medical devices, and oral small molecules. Get caught up here. —The Bay Area has a new player in the world of antibody drugs—Cytomx Therapeutics. This company, founded in February 2008 in Santa Barbara, CA, is primed to move … Continue reading “Cytomx Pockets $30M, AvidBiotics Eyes Food Safety Market, Rigel Passes Arthritis Trial, & More Bay Area Life Sciences News”

Novartis Edges Out Biogen Idec in Oral MS Drug Race, Ironwood Sells Microbia to DSM, RXi Teams With Eyegate, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

It was New England’s public life sciences companies that made the most news in the sector this week. —Ryan chatted with Mark Corrigan, CEO of Zalicus (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ZLCS]]), about the Cambridge, MA-based company’s efforts to rebuild its image among investors after a long period of upheaval. Originally known as CombinatoRx, the firm has seen the … Continue reading “Novartis Edges Out Biogen Idec in Oral MS Drug Race, Ironwood Sells Microbia to DSM, RXi Teams With Eyegate, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”

Tensilica Garners New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=3ce9ad0f-9d9d-4b53-b439-f9f57d3000cb&Preview=1 Date 9/24/2010 Company Name Tensilica Mailing Address 3255-6 Scott Blvd Santa Clara, CA 95054 Company Description Develops application-tailored microprocessors. Website http://www.tensilica.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds purposes were not disclosed. M&A Terms Venture Investor Fujitsu-Siemens

Innovid Obtains $4,100,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d8fe119f-7290-4136-a872-efeb6714eeb2&Preview=1 Date 9/24/2010 Company Name Innovid Mailing Address 520 Broadway St., 10th Floor New York, NY 10012 Company Description Our focus is creating a video ad experience that integrates well with the content, both contextually and visually. Website http://www.innovid.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $4,100,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes The … Continue reading “Innovid Obtains $4,100,000 New Financing”

Alnylam Cuts 25-30% of Workforce, As Novartis Alliance Ends

Cambridge, MA-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals is facing some big cuts now that one of its major partners is going its separate way. Alnylam (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALNY]]) said today it is planning to cut about 25 to 30 percent of its workforce. The move came after one of Alnylam’s big partners, Novartis, effectively brought a five-year alliance to … Continue reading “Alnylam Cuts 25-30% of Workforce, As Novartis Alliance Ends”

Brammo Scores $12.5M More, Fueling New Wave of Electric Motorcycles

Tesla may have made the electric car chic, but Ashland, OR-based Brammo is taking the electric vehicle even further—on two wheels. The electric motorcycle company, founded in 2002, has raised a $12.5 million out of a Series B financing round that could be worth as much as $30 million, according to a report by The … Continue reading “Brammo Scores $12.5M More, Fueling New Wave of Electric Motorcycles”

Aspen Prices Secondary Public Offering

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AZPN]]), a Burlington, MA-based provider of software for optimizing manufacturing, announced today that it has priced a secondary public offering of 18 million shares at $9 per share. Private equity firm Advent International is selling all of the shares, and originally expected to sell 15 million shares, Aspen said. J.P. Morgan Securities … Continue reading “Aspen Prices Secondary Public Offering”

ViaSat to Provide JetBlue In-Flight Internet

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: [[ticker:JBLU]]) has signed up for a substantial chunk of the high-speed Internet bandwidth that Carlsbad, CA-based ViaSat is providing via its ViaSat1 satellite, which is scheduled for launch in 2011. ViaSat says its satellite will provide space-based Internet service in excess of 100 gigabits—which is about 10 times the capacity of existing … Continue reading “ViaSat to Provide JetBlue In-Flight Internet”

MerchantCircle Buys TimeBridge

Mountain View, CA-based MerchantCircle, which provides local merchants with online social networking tools, said yesterday that it has acquired TimeBridge, maker of a Web app for business meeting scheduling. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. “The TimeBridge team has developed innovative scheduling technologies and we are very happy to bring them on board to … Continue reading “MerchantCircle Buys TimeBridge”

Rigel Arthritis Drug Passes Trial

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:RIGL]]), the South San Francisco-based biotech company, reported that its oral pill for rheumatoid arthritis was able to help patients who responded poorly to standard treatment with methotrexate. About two-thirds (67 percent) of patients on a twice-daily 100 milligram dose of fostamatinib (R788) saw at least a 20 percent improvement in the … Continue reading “Rigel Arthritis Drug Passes Trial”

FDA Panel Votes Against Arena’s Weight-Loss Drug, ImThera Encouraged by Early Test Results, Novartis Wins FDA Approval for MS Pill, & More San Diego Life Sciences News

Much of San Diego’s life sciences news over the past week was about drug development and the FDA approval process. We’ve wrapped it up for you here. —As setbacks go, this one was pretty substantial for San Diego’s Arena Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARNA]]) and its partner, Japan-based Eisai Pharmaceuticals. The Food and Drug Administration’s expert advisory … Continue reading “FDA Panel Votes Against Arena’s Weight-Loss Drug, ImThera Encouraged by Early Test Results, Novartis Wins FDA Approval for MS Pill, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”

Sungevity Founder Danny Kennedy on Making a Difference With Solar

Yesterday we published Part 1 of a Q&A with Danny Kennedy, the former Greenpeace activist and administrator who founded Oakland, CA-based Sungevity in 2007. The company’s mission is to make it easier and more affordable for homeowners to reduce their monthly utility bills by installing rooftop photovoltaic panels. The main strategy: computerize as much of … Continue reading “Sungevity Founder Danny Kennedy on Making a Difference With Solar”

Cytomx, Backed by Third Rock & Roche, Raises $30M for New Class of Antibodies

The Bay Area has a new player in antibody drug development, backed with some big bucks from the world’s largest maker of antibody drugs. CytomX Therapeutics is announcing today it has raised $30 million in a Series B venture round led by Third Rock Ventures, along with Roche Venture Fund. While CytomX is currently based … Continue reading “Cytomx, Backed by Third Rock & Roche, Raises $30M for New Class of Antibodies”

Six Finalists Vie For $100K From the Zino Society

Zino Society, the Seattle-based investor and entrepreneur network, just wrapped up one of its biggest annual events—the Zino Zillionaire Investment Forum. Now it’s time to follow up on who made the initial cut in the competition for its two $50,000 investment prizes. At the end of the event, Zino named the six finalists among the … Continue reading “Six Finalists Vie For $100K From the Zino Society”

Lee Hartwell’s Next Career Move, Swedish’s Social Media Ace, Cell Therapeutics’ Lifeline, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

This week, I profiled a person in his 70s and someone in her 20s. It really reminded me how covering the life science innovation beat leads to a lot of fascinating people at different stages of their careers. —Lee Hartwell, the Nobel Prize-winning biologist who is stepping down as president of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer … Continue reading “Lee Hartwell’s Next Career Move, Swedish’s Social Media Ace, Cell Therapeutics’ Lifeline, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

U-M Student Group, MPowered, Gears Up for 1,000 Pitches, Looks to Help Build Startup Ecosystem

A culture of entrepreneurial innovation might not be something one would expect to find in a rust belt state like Michigan, but one student group at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is trying to change that. MPowered Entrepreneurship aims to cultivate and support student entrepreneurs in hopes that they turn their ideas into … Continue reading “U-M Student Group, MPowered, Gears Up for 1,000 Pitches, Looks to Help Build Startup Ecosystem”

KangoGift Platform Sends Gift Vouchers Via Text, Brings Virtual Goods Convenience to Real-World Use

Virtual gifts are a nice way to send someone good thoughts online. But if you’re going to spend real money to get someone a virtual gift like a digital cupcake or bouquet of flowers, why not spend a bit more to get them something concrete? Now Cambridge, MA-based KangoGift makes online gift-giving just as convenient … Continue reading “KangoGift Platform Sends Gift Vouchers Via Text, Brings Virtual Goods Convenience to Real-World Use”

JNJ Mobile Secures $3,500,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=207e4de9-d156-4c7f-be97-af3610cccb23&Preview=1 Date 9/23/2010 Company Name JNJ Mobile Mailing Address 186 South St Boston, MA 02111 Company Description JNJ Mobile develops and publishes innovative mobile entertainment applications, including the premier mobile social networking service under the MocoSpace™ brand. Website http://www.jnjmobile.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $3,500,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes The … Continue reading “JNJ Mobile Secures $3,500,000 New Round”

RightScale Obtains $25,000,000 Series C Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=f4c843b4-6fc5-4e70-bd3d-6f4330ca119e&Preview=1 Date 9/23/2010 Company Name RightScale Mailing Address 136 West Canon Perdido Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Company Description RightScale, Inc. delivers the platform, tools and expertise that enable companies to create scalable web solutions on cloud computing services that are reliable, easy to manage, and cost less. Website http://www.rightscale.com Transaction Type … Continue reading “RightScale Obtains $25,000,000 Series C Round”

Geodelic Obtains New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9ea7a2ed-7dcb-45ee-9972-8236fc96f75e&Preview=1 Date 9/23/2010 Company Name Geodelic Mailing Address 2110 Main Street Santa Monica, CA 90405 Company Description The company operates as a mobile telecommunication company. Website http://www.geodelic.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes The company is launching a beta test for its new GeoGuides service. M&A … Continue reading “Geodelic Obtains New Funding Round”

CytomX Therapeutics Lands $30,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=c6758873-dd35-4174-bee7-c7933696d5f9&Preview=1 Date 9/23/2010 Company Name CytomX Therapeutics Mailing Address 460 Ward Dr. Santa Barbara, CA 93111 Company Description CytomX Therapeutics is an early stage, privately-funded biotechnology company developing Probodies, proteolytically-activated antibodies. Website http://www.cytomx.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $30,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes Proceeds from the financing will be used … Continue reading “CytomX Therapeutics Lands $30,000,000 New Financing”

Aster Data Secures $30,000,000 Series C Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=97e850ee-b8ea-4a28-bbc1-8789989207f9&Preview=1 Date 9/23/2010 Company Name Aster Data Mailing Address 959 Skyway Road San Carlos, CA 94070 Company Description Aster transforms off-the-shelf, commodity hardware into a powerful, self-managing, and scalable analytic database capable of handling the most demanding data warehousing environments. Website http://www.asterdata.com/ Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $30,000,000 Transaction Round Series … Continue reading “Aster Data Secures $30,000,000 Series C Funding”

LinkedIn Acquires ChoiceVendor for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=6852ec45-25ea-42c6-8752-5c04d03fbe46&Preview=1 Date 9/23/2010 Company Name ChoiceVendor Mailing Address Undisclosed San Francisco, CA 94123 Company Description The company provides a website that allows users to rate and review business service providers. Website http://www.choicevendor.com Transaction Type M&A Transaction Amount Undisclosed Transaction Round Proceeds Purposes M&A Terms Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Brammo Obtains $12,500,000 Series B Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=9089028a-e893-4bb6-93e0-66d4d719bd60&Preview=1 Date 9/23/2010 Company Name Brammo Mailing Address 550 Clover Lane Ashland, OR 97520 Company Description Brammo is in business for one simple reason – to drive change in the New Energy Economy. Our technically-advanced Enertia plug-in electric motorcycle – which gets up to 45 miles per charge – is the lightweight, … Continue reading “Brammo Obtains $12,500,000 Series B Financing”

Glaukos Receives $6,000,392 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=c200713b-c0c2-4f6e-8e32-37456484e4c6&Preview=1 Date 9/23/2010 Company Name Glaukos Mailing Address 26051 Merit Circle Laguna Hills, CA 92653 Company Description Glaukos is creating a new class of micro-bypass therapies to achieve sustainable, target intraocular pressures through the restoration of physiologic outflow, reduce the challenges and risks of glaucoma management associated with traditional therapies, and aid … Continue reading “Glaukos Receives $6,000,392 New Funding Round”

iSites Secures $1,000,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=86339450-b367-4b1c-b0ab-13f48c143a15&Preview=1 Date 9/23/2010 Company Name iSites Mailing Address 825 San Antonio Rd. Palo Alto, CA 94303 Company Description The company provides a service that allows web publishers to create mobile phone applications from their website. Website http://www.isites.us Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $1,000,000 Transaction Round Undisclosed Proceeds Purposes The company launched … Continue reading “iSites Secures $1,000,000 New Round”

Votizen Garners $1,500,000 Series A Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7b77292d-5747-4ca4-9163-a73362bfed29&Preview=1 Date 9/23/2010 Company Name Votizen Mailing Address 548 Market St. San Francisco, CA 94104 Company Description Our approach is simple: we authenticate your existing Facebook, Twitter and email accounts as belonging to a registered voter, and we help match you with other voters who share your views. We then automatically connect … Continue reading “Votizen Garners $1,500,000 Series A Financing Round”

Motiv Power Systems Secures $252,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=4e89be9b-b6d0-4d47-ba98-d4fea1e694e2&Preview=1 Date 9/23/2010 Company Name Motiv Power Systems Mailing Address 1400 Fashion Island Blvd. San Mateo, CA 94404 Company Description Motiv designs and supplies Power Control Systems which enable electric-drive commercial vehicles to be built as easily as diesel vehicles, while providing clear benefits in operating costs, maintenance, configurability, and emissions reductions. … Continue reading “Motiv Power Systems Secures $252,000 New Round”

Genzyme Boss Henri Termeer Not Ready To Sell to Sanofi, Ride Into the Sunset, Sources Say

Henri Termeer has invested most of his professional life building Cambridge, MA-based Genzyme (NASDAQ:[[ticker:GENZ]]) into a global biotech powerhouse, and it could all come to an unceremonious end if French drug giant Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE:[[ticker:SNY]]) succeeds in its efforts to acquire the company. Yet people close to the Genzyme CEO tell Xconomy that Termeer has plenty … Continue reading “Genzyme Boss Henri Termeer Not Ready To Sell to Sanofi, Ride Into the Sunset, Sources Say”

Oceanhouse Adds 3 “Berenstain Bears” Titles

Encinitas, CA-based Oceanhouse Media, the electronic publisher that landed publishing rights for the entire catalog of 44 Dr. Seuss childrens’ books for the iPad, iPhone, and iTouch, is expanding into another branch of the children’s library. The not-even-a-year-old startup, which I profiled last month, says today it is releasing three faith-oriented titles from the popular … Continue reading “Oceanhouse Adds 3 “Berenstain Bears” Titles”

Tekmira Gets $5.8M from Hana

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, the Vancouver, BC-based company with technology to deliver RNA-based therapies in the body, said it has amended a licensing agreement with South San Francisco-based Hana Biosciences. Tekmira has agreed to accept a $5.75 million payment from Hana now, while agreeing to accept lower milestone payments from product candidates later. Tekmira has also agreed … Continue reading “Tekmira Gets $5.8M from Hana”

TEDxDetroit

Part of a of independently organized events seeking to bring the spirit of California’s Technology, Entertainment, and Design conferences to cities across the nation. From the event site: “The area’s leading creators, catalysts, entrepreneurs, artists, technologists, designers, scientists, thinkers and doers will gather on Wednesday, September 29th to share what they are most passionate about—positive … Continue reading “TEDxDetroit”

Sharp To Buy Recurrent

San Francisco-based Recurrent Energy, which develops distributed solar generation projects for utilities, said yesterday (PDF) that it will be acquired by Japan’s Sharp for up to $305 million in cash, subject to balance sheet adjustments. “It is essential for Sharp to function as a developer in the photovoltaic field, in order to further expand its business … Continue reading “Sharp To Buy Recurrent”

Rocket Fuel Adds $10M

Redwood Shores, CA-based Rocket Fuel,which manages a targeted display-ad network for Web publishers, said today it has raised $10 million in Series B financing. The new round, which doubles the startup’s venture pot, comes from new investors Nokia Growth Partners and Northgate Capital, with existing investors Mohr Davidow Ventures and Labrador Ventures pitching in. Using the new … Continue reading “Rocket Fuel Adds $10M”

Report: BrightSource Planning IPO

BrightSource Energy, the Oakland, CA-based developer of large-scale solar energy plants, is preparing for an initial public offering in 2011, according to a report today in Dow Jones VentureWire. The company has hired investment banks including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to manage the offering, the report said. BrightSource has raised at least $330 million … Continue reading “Report: BrightSource Planning IPO”

Sungevity, Founded by Greenpeace Activist, Tackles Climate Change as “The Amazon of Solar Electricity”

Yesterday we told you all about Recurve, a San Francisco home energy auditing and retrofitting startup whose founder argues that before energy-conscious homeowners put solar panels on the roof, they should focus on fixing what’s under it—poor insulation, leaky ducts and windows, inefficient HVAC systems, and the like. But let’s assume you’ve done all that. … Continue reading “Sungevity, Founded by Greenpeace Activist, Tackles Climate Change as “The Amazon of Solar Electricity””

Forget the Facebook Movie; Here’s the TechStars Casting Call

All this talk about “The Social Network,” and Mark Zuckerberg this and that, got me thinking. What if they made a movie about a technology company that’s doing something really innovative now? A modest company that’s expanding nationally and helping to set the agenda and culture for a new generation of techie entrepreneurs…One with deep … Continue reading “Forget the Facebook Movie; Here’s the TechStars Casting Call”

ImThera Encouraged by Results of European Sleep Apnea Study

ImThera Medical, the San Diego medical device startup developing an alternative to respirator-type treatments for sleep apnea, has disclosed what it calls “promising” results from a very small group of patients in a European study. Even though the test involved just 10 patients, ImThera chairman and CEO Marcelo Lima anticipated the results would be a … Continue reading “ImThera Encouraged by Results of European Sleep Apnea Study”

Joomla Day West

The organizers behind Joomla, the popular open-source content management system, will unveil the latest developments in their software at Joomla Day West on the eBay/PayPal campus in San Jose, CA. The three-day event will include open discussions and interactive sessions about the Joomla CMS. Information and registration here.

Biogen Rival Reaches Finish Line with Oral Drug for MS

Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]), one of the world’s biggest makers of multiple sclerosis drugs, has some catching up to do in bringing an oral MS treatment to market. Swiss drug giant Novartis said today it has won FDA approval of an MS pill, which some see as more convenient than the injected treatments for the … Continue reading “Biogen Rival Reaches Finish Line with Oral Drug for MS”

RXi, EyeGate Team Up

RXi Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:RXII]]), a Worcester, MA-based developer of RNA interference treatments, said today it will collaborate with Waltham, MA-based EyeGate Pharma to deliver RNAi therapeutics to the eye for retinal disorders. Financial details weren’t given, but the partnership combines EyeGate’s expertise in delivering drugs into the eye non-invasively with RXi’s technology and resources in … Continue reading “RXi, EyeGate Team Up”

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Sells Struggling Microbia Subsidiary to Royal DSM

The chemical giant Royal DSM has agreed to purchase the Lexington, MA-based bio-manufacturing firm Microbia from Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, according to a press release. DSM, based in Heerlen, The Netherlands, has not disclosed terms of the deal. Xconomy was unable to immediately reach representatives from Microbia and DSM about the transaction. Microbia (formerly Microbia Precision Engineering) … Continue reading “Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Sells Struggling Microbia Subsidiary to Royal DSM”