The Top 10 Northern California Venture Deals of the Second Quarter—Two Ways

Followers of venture capital industry statistics know that at least three separate organizations tally the data and publish summaries a couple of weeks after the end of each quarter. They also know that the three organizations—Dow Jones VentureSource, MoneyTree, and CB Insights—rarely agree on all of the numbers. Today we wanted to bring you a … Continue reading “The Top 10 Northern California Venture Deals of the Second Quarter—Two Ways”

Mobile Monday & BostInnovation – Summer Block Party

Information and registration here. Join us for a Block Party hosted by Mobile Monday & BostInnovation. Starting at 5pm, we’ll be on the pedestrian Summer Street beside Macy’s for an evening of open networking. This one’s a real party, not just another tech event. Featuring live music from In Like Lions and the Cirque de … Continue reading “Mobile Monday & BostInnovation – Summer Block Party”

Google Buys Metaweb

Metaweb, the San Francisco startup that runs the Freebase open database of 12 million interconnected entries on people, places, and things, has become part of Google, the Mountain View, CA, search giant announced on its company blog today. Google (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GOOG]]) said it hopes the acquisition well help it upgrade its search engine so that … Continue reading “Google Buys Metaweb”

Lessons Learned About the Outlook for New Obesity Drug Approval

Yesterday’s FDA advisory committee meeting on Vivus’ weight loss pill proved to us, once again, how incredibly difficult it is to successfully develop and register new drugs for obesity. Mountain View, CA-based Vivus had a solid program supporting their drug—demonstrating that their combination product of phentermine and topirimate (Qnexa) is very effective and has a … Continue reading “Lessons Learned About the Outlook for New Obesity Drug Approval”

TechStars Set to Open in Seattle: A Photo Tour of the New Space (and Bar)

It’s a shame I’m moving away from this neighborhood. South Lake Union in Seattle, I mean. Because just three blocks away from my soon-to-be-former apartment, the next big startup experiment is about to begin. TechStars, the seed-stage investment fund and mentorship program started in Boulder, CO, and now in Boston, is about to open in … Continue reading “TechStars Set to Open in Seattle: A Photo Tour of the New Space (and Bar)”

Surface Logix Grabs $4M

Surface Logix, a Brighton, MA-based developer of drugs for obesity and diabetes, pulled in $4 million in an offering of equity, options, and warrants that could total $4.6 million, according to an SEC filing. The startup, which launched in 2001 with technology from Harvard chemist George Whitesides, raised $20 million in Series E funding last … Continue reading “Surface Logix Grabs $4M”

ESRI Reshapes its Proprietary Mapping System Into an Open Crowdsourcing Platform, Raising a Challenge for Google

In the plenary session that kicked off the ESRI International User Conference this week in downtown San Diego, ESRI founder and president Jack Dangermond demonstrated the features of ArcGIS.com, a free website the company recently launched that allows ordinary folks to create their own maps. Dangermond also highlighted a free mobile app that the private, … Continue reading “ESRI Reshapes its Proprietary Mapping System Into an Open Crowdsourcing Platform, Raising a Challenge for Google”

$15M More for Calisolar

According to a July 14 regulatory filing, Sunnyvale, CA-based solar cell manufacturer Calisolar has raised an additional $15 million in a sale of equity, rights, and securities. The “vertically integrated” manufacturer, which purifies silicon, crystallizes it, cuts it into wafers, and assembles it into solar cells and modules, had raised at least $131 million prior … Continue reading “$15M More for Calisolar”

Axcient Pulls in $9M

Mountain View, CA-based Axcient, which provides backup and disaster recovery services to managed service providers serving small and medium sized businesses, has collected $9 million out of a potential $10 million in equity-based Series B funding, according to a July 14 regulatory filing. The funders were undisclosed. Axcient last raised $6 million in a May … Continue reading “Axcient Pulls in $9M”

AVI Biopharma Wins Big Ebola Contract Worth up to $291M

The Northwest might just be an emerging cluster for Ebola. Research, anyway. Bothell, WA-based AVI Biopharma (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AVII]]) said today it has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop treatments for the deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses, in case they were ever used as bioterrorism agents. AVI stands to receive … Continue reading “AVI Biopharma Wins Big Ebola Contract Worth up to $291M”

TEDxBoston 2010

This independently organized TED event will honor Boston-area personalities—from designers to social entrepreneurs—for their innovation. You’ll hear about how they’re aiming to revolutionize in spaces such as democracy and globalization, home design, and spinal cord injury treatment. Register here.

Inverness Name Change to Alere

Waltham, MA-based Inverness Medical Innovations (NYSE: [[ticker:IMA]]), a maker of consumer diagnostic tests and a provider of disease management services, announced it has changed its name to Alere. Shareholders approved the name change at the company’s annual stockholder meeting on Wednesday. The life sciences company also said it expects to change its stock symbol on … Continue reading “Inverness Name Change to Alere”

Name Game: We Review Our Readers’ Choices for Boston’s Most (and Least) Successful Rebrandings

Call it market research, Xconomy style. On Wednesday, we initiated a poll asking our readers to weigh in on whether the rebranding efforts of eight New England startups that had changed their names in the past year worked for them. Readers were asked to pick whether the new name was better, worse, or the same … Continue reading “Name Game: We Review Our Readers’ Choices for Boston’s Most (and Least) Successful Rebrandings”

Seattle’s Deal-A-Day Sites, DealPop and Tippr, Challenge Groupon and LivingSocial

There is no arguing that the Internet has made the world smaller. Because of the Internet we can now share information instantly—and virally—from Seattle to Cairo to Bangladesh. One somewhat counterintuitive byproduct of this global information age, at least for me, is the increasing number of hyperlocal services popping up as a result. Internet culture … Continue reading “Seattle’s Deal-A-Day Sites, DealPop and Tippr, Challenge Groupon and LivingSocial”

Kristina Burow, Arch’s Rising Star in SF, Spots Big Ideas in Biotech, Cleantech

Kristina Burow came to UC Berkeley as a teenager from Minnesota with a vague idea about what she wanted in life, other than to become a champion collegiate swimmer. She ended up finding her purpose in both chemistry and business. Operating at the nexus of those two fields, at just 36, Burow has assembled a … Continue reading “Kristina Burow, Arch’s Rising Star in SF, Spots Big Ideas in Biotech, Cleantech”

Evernote Opens a Trunk of Goodies for Online-Notes Fans

If I only had a second brain—one that could hold my Web clips, store my business cards, transcribe my voice memos, keep my to-do lists, preserve my receipts and recipes and passwords, and archive items from my Twitter, Facebook, and RSS feeds, just to list a few of the myriad types of information I attempt … Continue reading “Evernote Opens a Trunk of Goodies for Online-Notes Fans”

Adimab Inks Novartis Deal, GSK-Founded Tempero Pursues Hot Immunology Field, Metamark Gets $22M, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News

This week we ran several meaty profiles spotlighting strategies of New England biotech companies powered by some big life sciences players. —Lebanon, NH-based Adimab struck a research deal with Novartis, in which the startup will use its technology to discover antibodies that could potentially be used in drugs against two undisclosed diseases that Novartis chooses … Continue reading “Adimab Inks Novartis Deal, GSK-Founded Tempero Pursues Hot Immunology Field, Metamark Gets $22M, & More Boston-Area Life Sciences News”

Surface Logix Garners $4,000,000 New Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=15169ce0-dc56-4cfc-9535-9a0d5d2a093c&Preview=1 Date 7/16/2010 Company Name Surface Logix Mailing Address 50 Soldiers Field Place Brighton, MA 02135 Company Description Surface Logix is a drug development company which uses its expertise in biophysical chemistry to create new small molecule drugs with significantly improved pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) properties compared with class leaders. Website … Continue reading “Surface Logix Garners $4,000,000 New Funding Round”

ZanAqua Technologies Obtains $400,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=fc047022-ecaf-478f-847d-fdeb06fb6354&Preview=1 Date 7/16/2010 Company Name ZanAqua Technologies Mailing Address 62 Hart Street Beverly Farms, MA 01915 Company Description Ovation Products is a development stage company focused on creating small scale water treatment solutions. Our core technology is proprietary and based on highly efficient vapor compression distillation that has broad application across the … Continue reading “ZanAqua Technologies Obtains $400,000 New Round”

Google Acquires Metaweb Technologies for Undisclosed Sum

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=0f88f1a1-dcb4-41ec-b160-ca4f9205c345&Preview=1 Date 7/16/2010 Company Name Metaweb Technologies Mailing Address 631 Howard St. San Francisco, CA 94105 Company Description Metaweb Technologies, Inc. was spun out of Applied Minds, Inc. in July, 2005 to build a better infrastructure for the Web. It is led by battle-hardened alumni of Netscape, The Internet Archive, Alexa, Tellme, … Continue reading “Google Acquires Metaweb Technologies for Undisclosed Sum”

AirWalk Communications Secures $4,000,000 New Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=63feb705-1c91-49ca-b01e-ac60ac420a47&Preview=1 Date 7/16/2010 Company Name AirWalk Communications Mailing Address 1830 North Greenville Ave. Richardson, TX 75081 Company Description AirWalk Communications Inc. is a CDMA Radio Access Network (RAN) developer supplying voice and data platforms to address hotspots, blind spots and in-building/campus networks. Website http://www.airwalkcom.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $4,000,000 Transaction … Continue reading “AirWalk Communications Secures $4,000,000 New Financing Round”

Peter Lee to Head MSR Redmond

Microsoft Research announced today that Peter Lee has been named the managing director of Microsoft Research Redmond, effective this fall. Lee was previously director of the Transformational Convergence Technology Office at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Before that, he was head of Carnegie Mellon University’s computer science department and had served as … Continue reading “Peter Lee to Head MSR Redmond”

EVO Media’s Geoff Nuval Talks About the New DevHub, Adding Fun to Business, and the Future of Gamification

With all the talk about “gamification” of the Web—adding video game mechanics to websites to boost customer engagement, loyalty, and spending—it’s time we spoke in depth with a Seattle company that really has taken the trend to heart. EVO Media Group, the maker of the DevHub website-building software platform, has been around since late 2007. … Continue reading “EVO Media’s Geoff Nuval Talks About the New DevHub, Adding Fun to Business, and the Future of Gamification”

Tekmira Nails $140M Defense Contract to Make RNAi Drug for Ebola

Score one huge U.S. defense contract for the Canadians. Vancouver, BC-based Tekmira Pharmaceuticals (TSX: [[ticker:TKM]]), a leading developer of technology for RNA interference drugs, said today it has secured a contract from the U.S. military worth as much as $140 million to make a drug that can effectively combat the deadly Ebola virus. This is … Continue reading “Tekmira Nails $140M Defense Contract to Make RNAi Drug for Ebola”

Vivus Obesity Drug Shot Down by FDA Panel, in Close Vote

[Updated: 12:45 pm Pacific, 7/16/10] Mountain View, CA-based Vivus (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VVUS]]) suffered a setback today at an important meeting for the future of obesity drug development, with implications for San Diego’s Arena Pharmaceuticals and Orexigen Therapeutics. A panel of experts who advise the FDA said today in a 10-6 vote that Vivus’ experimental weight loss … Continue reading “Vivus Obesity Drug Shot Down by FDA Panel, in Close Vote”

Sony Electronics Gets New Boss

Japan’s Sony Corp. today named Phil Molyneux as the new president and chief operating officer of Sony Electronics in San Diego, the North American headquarters for the company’s consumer electronics business. Stan Glasgow, who has served as president and COO since 2006, was named to a newly created position—senior advisor, entrepreneurship and innovation—at Sony Corp. … Continue reading “Sony Electronics Gets New Boss”

U-M President Co-Chairs Obama Panel

President Obama has selected University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman to co-chair his new National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which will help develop policies to foster entrepreneurship, create jobs, and drive economic growth. U.S. Commerce Secretary and former Washington governor Gary Locke announced the members of the 26-person council at a U.S. … Continue reading “U-M President Co-Chairs Obama Panel”

New Tech Clusters, Energy Boom, and VC Survival: Some Early Themes to Watch

Every so often, we like to step back and take stock of the bigger innovation trends we’re seeing across our network of cities. Though I haven’t quite landed permanently in Boston yet (glad to miss those flash floods), a few themes have caught my eye that I want to explore in more depth. They have … Continue reading “New Tech Clusters, Energy Boom, and VC Survival: Some Early Themes to Watch”

Paul Allen To Donate Most of Fortune

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen said today that he intends to donate the majority of his estimated $13.5 billion fortune to philanthropy. In a statement commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Allen said he had long planned this move, which will ensure that his “philanthropic efforts will continue after my lifetime.” … Continue reading “Paul Allen To Donate Most of Fortune”

Trilliant Gets $106M from GE, ABB, Others

Trilliant, the Redwood City, CA-based maker of wireless equipment and software for managing smart utility grid networks, has collected $106 million in Series B equity-based financing and venture credit from a group that includes General Electric and ABB, according to a report in VentureWire today. Investor AB, VantagePoint Venture Partners, MissionPoint Capital Partners, and Zouk Ventures … Continue reading “Trilliant Gets $106M from GE, ABB, Others”

Biofuels Reboot: Verenium Sells Cellulosic Biofuels Business to BP for $98M, Includes San Diego R&D Facilities

[[Updated: 2:15 pm, 7/15/10]] Looking to get out from under ongoing financial losses and focus on new growth opportunities, Cambridge, MA-based Verenium has struck a deal to sells its cellulosic biofuels business for $98.3 million in cash to BP, the energy giant at the center of the oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. … Continue reading “Biofuels Reboot: Verenium Sells Cellulosic Biofuels Business to BP for $98M, Includes San Diego R&D Facilities”

Where Will the New Disease Treatments Come From a Decade From Now?

In the last two years, biotechnology companies, especially the smaller ones, have gone through a dramatic restructuring of priorities and focus. Like so many industries which have prioritized their businesses to the immediate, the cash efficient, the safe, the low risk, and the cash conserving, biotech has done the same. Some biotech companies have done … Continue reading “Where Will the New Disease Treatments Come From a Decade From Now?”

How Novartis Got Its Vaccines Groove Back, Intellikine Gets a Drug Development Deal, Ambrx CEO Departs, & More San Diego Life Sciences News

San Diego’s life sciences newsmakers must have been over compensating, after slacking off last week. This week we have deals, fundings, comings, and goings—not to mention Luke scoops No. 1 and 2—and our summary begins now. —Infinity Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, MA, could pay San Diego-based Intellikine as much as $488.5 million in various types of … Continue reading “How Novartis Got Its Vaccines Groove Back, Intellikine Gets a Drug Development Deal, Ambrx CEO Departs, & More San Diego Life Sciences News”

Itero, Seeking a “Biosimilar” That’s Better, Strikes Deal With Watson for Female Infertility

San Mateo, CA-based Itero Biopharmaceuticals, a small company seeking to make “biosimilar” treatments that provide an advantage over original biotech drugs, has found its first partner to help it develop a new product. The company has formed a collaboration with Morristown, NJ-based Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: [[ticker:WPI]]) to develop a new treatment for female infertility. Itero … Continue reading “Itero, Seeking a “Biosimilar” That’s Better, Strikes Deal With Watson for Female Infertility”

Technology Alliance Showcases Four New Companies in Biotech and Cleantech, and Revisits One Past Presenter

The Technology Alliance put on its fifth “Innovation Showcase” at the Rainier Square Conference Center earlier this week in Seattle, where a handful of up and coming local technology and life sciences companies presented their projects to a select group of entrepreneurs, businesspeople, academics, and potential investors. This is only the second time the press … Continue reading “Technology Alliance Showcases Four New Companies in Biotech and Cleantech, and Revisits One Past Presenter”

Glaxo’s Tempero Pharma Advances on Hot Niche of Immunology

Hold onto your lab coats and safety goggles. Big drug companies and venture firms are engaging in a scientific land grab in the Boston area and beyond to gain rights to new discoveries about what are known as adaptive immune responses. They’re jockeying for the best technology and help from top brains at Harvard, MIT, … Continue reading “Glaxo’s Tempero Pharma Advances on Hot Niche of Immunology”

NanoBio, With Glaxo as Big Partner, Sees Market in Treating and (Maybe) Preventing Cold Sores

NanoBio has spent a decade of R&D working on nanotech formulations that might help drugs and vaccines be better absorbed, more effective, or more convenient. Now the Ann Arbor, MI-based company is plowing ahead with its first big application—for the treatment and possibly the prevention of cold sores. This story has been unfolding for some … Continue reading “NanoBio, With Glaxo as Big Partner, Sees Market in Treating and (Maybe) Preventing Cold Sores”

In Facebook Experiment, Microsoft Works to Deliver Shared Documents and Connect with Consumers Online

Quick, what’s the world’s most popular photo-sharing application? It’s not Photobucket or Flickr or Picasa. It’s Facebook, where users share billions of new photos every month. “The Facebook Photos application may or may not be the best, but it is the most popular, by an absurd factor,” notes Pat Kinsel. “More photos are uploaded to … Continue reading “In Facebook Experiment, Microsoft Works to Deliver Shared Documents and Connect with Consumers Online”

Allozyne Breaks Silence, Accelerator’s Mini-Golf Hijinks, Maveron’s Vision for Primary Care, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News

One of the more interesting biotech startups in town re-emerged after more than a year of progress in stealth mode. —Allozyne CEO Meenu Chhabra gave her first in-depth interview in more than a year, and had a lot to say about her company’s progress in this Xconomy exclusive. Seattle-based Allozyne, a graduate of the Accelerator, … Continue reading “Allozyne Breaks Silence, Accelerator’s Mini-Golf Hijinks, Maveron’s Vision for Primary Care, & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News”

Location, Inc. Releases New Kind of Real Estate Reports, With Aims to Be the Carfax of Neighborhoods

Location, Inc., a provider of online real estate research tools, launched in 2002 with the intent to objectively measure which neighborhoods are the best fit for a particular customer, based on criteria such as school quality, crime rates, home appreciation values, and the prominence of upwardly mobile singles. The housing matchmaker service has been available … Continue reading “Location, Inc. Releases New Kind of Real Estate Reports, With Aims to Be the Carfax of Neighborhoods”

Calisolar Garners $15,000,000 New Funding

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7bdb3e37-ff52-4d87-8a16-033bf28af45e&Preview=1 Date 7/15/2010 Company Name Calisolar Mailing Address 985 Almanor Ave Sunnyvale, CA 94085 Company Description CaliSolar is a photovoltaic (PV) company that designs, patents, manufactures and markets solar cells in high volumes for the largest segments of the PV industry. Website http://www.calisolar.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $15,000,000 Transaction Round … Continue reading “Calisolar Garners $15,000,000 New Funding”

Solar City Receives $21,500,000 New Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=08cfdb76-5299-49c1-bb7c-077a0e00706a&Preview=1 Date 7/15/2010 Company Name Solar City Mailing Address 393 Vintage Park Drive Foster City, CA 94404 Company Description SolarCity matches advanced solar power technology with a suite of installation services. The company’s comprehensive offering removes the technical, regulatory, and financing barriers to solar power, helping customers make smart renewable energy choices … Continue reading “Solar City Receives $21,500,000 New Round”

Axcient Receives $9,000,000 New Financing

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7c9f7cae-6ed3-46e0-a0f7-7632c0a19544&Preview=1 Date 7/15/2010 Company Name Axcient Mailing Address 2761 Marine Way Mountain View, CA 94043 Company Description Axcient offers the first plug-and-play data protection service to make business continuity and online backup simple for small and medium sized businesses (SMB). Axcient incorporates an onsite data backup and replication management appliance with offsite … Continue reading “Axcient Receives $9,000,000 New Financing”

Trilliant Garners $106,000,000 Series B Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=4f538c9b-b75c-49c7-969f-82a497798683&Preview=1 Date 7/15/2010 Company Name Trilliant Mailing Address 1100 Island Drive Redwood City, CA 94065 Company Description Trilliant offers a combination of hardware, software and services that serve as the nervous system of the Smart Grid. Website http://www.trilliantinc.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $106,000,000 Transaction Round Series B Proceeds Purposes The … Continue reading “Trilliant Garners $106,000,000 Series B Financing Round”

Okta Secures $10,000,000 Series A Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=d2366b46-aa8d-4269-afa5-ac80265e782a&Preview=1 Date 7/15/2010 Company Name Okta Mailing Address 400 2nd St. San Francisco, CA 94107 Company Description Your cloud applications are no longer tactical point solutions, they are the backbone of your business. Now there’s a way to quickly and easily transform these applications from independent silos into a secure, flexible and … Continue reading “Okta Secures $10,000,000 Series A Financing Round”

Shopkick Lands $15,000,000 Series B Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=b0211857-d18a-4e27-9063-c7f978159d75&Preview=1 Date 7/15/2010 Company Name Shopkick Mailing Address Undisclosed Palo Alto, CA 94301 Company Description shopkick is a new Palo Alto-based startup funded by Kleiner Perkins’s iFund, Greylock Partners and Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, and investor in Facebook and Zynga. shopkick, Inc. brings the power of the mobile internet to the … Continue reading “Shopkick Lands $15,000,000 Series B Round”

BillFloat Obtains $4,500,000 Series A Financing Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=7752b066-810d-43b3-8cb4-da7c7f3e2403&Preview=1 Date 7/15/2010 Company Name BillFloat Mailing Address Undisclosed San Francisco, CA 94107 Company Description Our patent pending service helps ease short-term cash flow bumps more conveniently than ever before. We do this by partnering with service providers who have a strong commitment to customer service and satisfaction. Together, we can extend … Continue reading “BillFloat Obtains $4,500,000 Series A Financing Round”

GameSalad Receives $1,000,000 Series A Funding Round

Feed Type Link http://www.venturedeal.com/Search/SearchResultTransactionDetail.aspx?TransactionId=84a2f691-d296-4a87-9458-9ce1c4c2f70f&Preview=1 Date 7/15/2010 Company Name GameSalad Mailing Address 3925 W. Braker Ln. 3rd Floor Austin, TX 78759 Company Description The company operates a service that allows users to create videogames for smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. Website http://www.gamesalad.com Transaction Type Venture Equity Transaction Amount $1,000,000 Transaction Round Series A Proceeds Purposes … Continue reading “GameSalad Receives $1,000,000 Series A Funding Round”