PowerVision pulls in $20M for intraocular lenses
See our story on this Belmont, Calif., implantable-lens maker in today’s daily briefing at VentureBeat Life Sciences.
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Dec. 31, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
PowerVision pulls in $20M for intraocular lenses (VentureWire)
Heart device maker Mitralign raises $24M (release)
LifeOnKey, electronic medical-record IT firm, draws $5M of $10M round (Globes)
Merrion Pharma withdraws IPO filing (Edgar)
Hi-Tech Pharmacal acquires Midlothian Labs for $5M (release)
Anti-infective developer Calixa receives $15M (VW)
PowerVision pulls in $20M for intraocular lenses — Belmont, Calif.-based PowerVision, a device company developing implantable intraocular lenses, raised $20 million in a second funding round, VentureWire reports. Investors included Advanced Technology Ventures, Frazier… Continue Reading
GMail updates: A sneaky, creepy new year from Google?
Updated
Google is about to include some controversial new features in your GMail account: updates on activities by your GMmail contacts.
The coming feature is being reported by Google Operating System, which is a reliable blog that follows Google.
According to that blog, the updates will be shown in the chat box on the left of your GMail account, and will reveal online actions taken by your contacts even if you haven’t explicitly chosen them as your “friends.”… Continue Reading
WhatsOpen shows you what nearby stores are open
WhatsOpen, a secretive local search company that promises an easier way to find which stores are open near you, is now open for public use.
Just type in the name of the store you’re looking for, and your location. Results are displayed on a Google Map mashup, with listing of stores, their hours of operation, their phone numbers and their distance from the city center appearing in a left-hand column.
I often need coffee in Mountain View,… Continue Reading
Lilliputian Systems, a fuel-cell maker, adds on $20M
As the name implies, Lilliputian Systems is developing tiny fuel cells that the company says will be usable in consumer electronics like cell phones and laptop computers.
Although secretive, the company has made claims that its butane-fueled cells will be far cheaper, and run for much longer, than current battery technology. It has not yet announced plans to manufacture or sell the cells.
Lilliputian is backed by Atlas Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Rockport Capital Partners,… Continue Reading
ANDA Networks files for Nasdaq IPO
In one of the last tech filings of the year, ANDA Networks has applied for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq that could raise almost $90 million.
ANDA manufactures equipment used by telecom carriers (primarily Verizon) to provide high-speed broadband to their customers. Founded in 1998, it has only had one profitable year, in 2005, but has steadily narrowed its average losses.
Investors in the Sunnyvale, Calif. firm include Venrock Associates, Highland Capital, Crimson Asia Capital,… Continue Reading
Genstar Capital acquires TravelCLICK
TravelCLICK is an e-marketing firm that resells hotel rooms for chains like Accor Hospitality and La Quinta Inns. It was founded in 1999 and is based in Schamburg, Illinois.
The company was jointly held by its founders and investor Bain Capital Ventures. With the Genstar acquisition, Bain is re-investing in the firm, and will continue to hold a minority stake.
The acquisition by Genstar Capital, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, was for an undisclosed amount.
Events site going strong
If you don’t know what to do New Year’s Eve, take a look at the parties on Going, a year-old event listing site. Mos Def’s ‘Sneakers Required’ party may not be that exciting for you if you’re not in the site’s targeted demographic of 21-29 year olds, but nightlife is only one area where Going wants to beat the competition (see our previous coverage here, here and here).
Going is all about “what’s happening?” and “who’s… Continue Reading
Dear Google Reader: Use OpenSocial to figure out who my friends are
Updated
On December 14, Google’s RSS feed reader application, Google Reader, introduced a new way for “friends” to see your “shared” feed items. The feature caused me to blow a fuse, because I realized it was letting competing bloggers automatically see my shared feed items. Google was defining who my friends were, not me.
At the time, a couple of others wondered about the move. But this past week, more fuses have been blowing, as Google Reader… Continue Reading
Holiday Roundup: Apple devices for store purchases? Digg, and more
The VentureBeat team is mostly taking a much-needed holiday break this week. In the meantime, here’s some of the latest news:
1. Apple devices to offer payment service?
2. Digg tells BusinessWeek that “no acquisitions are in the works” but we’re sticking by our story
3. Amazon Music Store to sell Warner Bros. music
4. Apple’s iTunes to rent Fox Studios movies
5. Web analytics service Compete examines Kayak-Sidestep travel site merger
Apple devices to offer payment service? — The company… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
India’s Perfint, medical-device co., raises $3.5M (release)
Source MDx strikes Pfizer partnership to ID cancer, inflammation “fingerprints” (release)
Columbia River Resources acquires pharma RFID maker Traxxec (release)
India’s Perfint, medical-device co., raises $3.5M – Perfint, a Chennai, India-based producer of medical equipment, raised $3.5 million in a new funding round.
IDG Ventures India and Erasmus Venture Fund provided the cash. IDG supplied the bulk of the investment — $3 million — with Erasmus providing the rest.
Perfint’s first product,… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Romark Labs raises $18M for hepatitis drugs (release)
Cubist buys Illumigen Bio, a hepatitis-drug biotech, for $9M (release)
MedCap voices opposition to VaxGen-Raven Bio reverse merger (release)
NeuroMetrix acquires EyeTel Imaging assets for $10M (release)
Solstice Neurosciences appoints Dennis Smith as CEO (release)
LeMaitre Vascular snaps up graft maker Biomateriali for €4M (release)
Bosch Group acquires remote health-monitoring co. Health Hero Network (release)
Romark Labs raises $18M for hepatitis drugs – Tampa, Fla.-based Romark Laboratories, a biotech developing drugs for hepatitis and… Continue Reading
Hulu launches private beta, faces challenge
Updated
Hulu, the joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp to compete against YouTube, launched an expanded private testing mode last week. While the TV service, which launched its initial beta version earlier this fall, has won kudos for a clean interface, it faces big questions.
Hulu’s primary problem is that it doesn’t own any of the content on its site and is beholden to its content partners such as NBC and Fox.
Additionally, the same content is… Continue Reading
Voting begins for the Crunchies. Awards, party Jan. 18
The nomination process for the Crunchies is complete. You’ve helped us narrow the list of possible winners for the awards, and it’s now time to vote on them.
The Crunchies is a joint effort between us, GigaOm, Read/WriteWeb and TechCrunch, and aims to recognize the best technology innovations and start-up achievements.
Some 82,000 nominations were made for companies in each of twenty categories. Five companies in each category have made it to the final vote. Starting now,… Continue Reading
Corthera draws $23M for heart-failure drug
See our story on this San Mateo, Calif., biotech in today’s daily briefing at VentureBeat Life Sciences.
Cogentus Pharma raises $63M for blood thinners
See our story on this Menlo Park, Calif., specialty pharmaceutical company in today’s daily briefing at VentureBeat Life Sciences.
VisualOn raises $2.1M for mobile multimedia
VisualOn, a company based in Campbell, Calif. with separate offices in Shanghai, offers audio and video software for mobile phones.
The company uses the H.264 video codec for its offerings, which include a viewer, recorder and mobile TV. It also offers all of the standard codecs. VisualOn claims its advantages are in low processor requirements and speedy dowloading.
AsiaTech Management and EXA Ventures led the $2.1 million second round for the company, according to VentureWire (subscription required).
3d models coming to the web, cell phones?
Two-dimensional display modeling on computers developed out of necessity, not choice. Three dimensions can easily be displayed on a screen, but 3D representations are difficult for computers to process and hold in their memory.
However, games like Second Life, office utilities like Qwaq (our coverage), and applications like Google Earth are slowly bringing 3D into everyday computerized life. Now a company called 3D Solid Compression (3DSoC) says it can bring easy 3D representation to the internet,… Continue Reading
Bebo’s platform growing fast, worth something?
Social network Bebo has just announced that its users have installed third-party applications 4,250,409 times since the site launched its developer platform last week.
This install number is significant, as it shows Bebo users want these applications nearly as much as Facebook users have. It also shows that applications developers on Facebook can expand beyond their Facebook audiences.
For sake of comparison, the most popular applications on Facebook grew to millions of users within a couple weeks… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Dec. 21, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Cogentus Pharma raises $63M for blood thinners (release)
Corthera draws $23M for heart-failure drug (release)
Nanolymf seeks $2M for drug-delivery tech (release)
LineaGen pulls in $5.6M for molecular diagnostics (release)
Cogentus Pharma raises $63M for blood thinners — Menlo Park, Calif.-based Cogentus Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharma developing combined formulations of existing drugs, raised $62.5 million in a third funding round. Investors included Keffi Group, Prospect Venture Partners, Ridgeback Capital, Apothecary Capital and Pinnacle Ventures.
Cogentus aims to combine existing… Continue Reading