VentureBeat

Uber, an also-ran social network turned microblog platform, closes down — Investors included Universal Music Group and Sterling Stamos Co-Investors fund. The company claimed that it closed down due to economic issues, as you can read on its site. More on PaidContent.

Mobile payment company Transaction Wireless raises $2.25 million — Funding comes from Mission Ventures and Okapi Ventures.

House debates about how its members can use web video, devolves into childish squabbling — The Senate has already avoided such squabbling and worked out its own rules.

Avigo Capital Partners is raising a $300 million fund — The New Delhi, India-based private equity fund plans to close this third fund by the end of the year.

Teen virtual world Habbo may be making up to $38 million in revenue a year? — Jeremy Liew looks at various rumors about how much the company could be making.

Yahoo president Sue Decker defends “Yahoogle” deal — More on All Things D.

Immunotherapeutics company Macrogenics raises $25 million — Investors include Nextech Ventures, Arcus Ventures, Innovis Investments and Eli Lilly and Company.

Half a million sign up for EA’s Warhammer Online — This comes a week after launch.

Featured companies: DirectFlow, Direvo, Indigo Biosystems, MacroGenics

Direct Flow raises $27M for heart-valve implants — Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Direct Flow Medical, a startup developing heart implants, raised $27 million in a second funding round. Investors included Johnson & Johnson Development, Foundation Medical Partners, VantagePoint Venture Partners, ePlanet, EDF Ventures, New Leaf Venture Partners and Spray Venture Partners.

Direct Flow makes minimally invasive aortic-valve replacements for the heart. This particular field happens to be booming — we’ve previously covered competitors JenaValve, AorTx and Sadra.

MacroGenics signs Eli Lilly pact worth initial $43M for autoimmune disease — MacroGenics, a Rockville, Md., biotech developing antibody-based therapies for autoimmune disease, signed a partnership with Eli Lilly that could be worth more than $600 million. MacroGenics is working on antibodies designed to tamp down autoimmune responses by inducing tolerance to antigens that might otherwise promote strong immune reactions to the body’s own cells. The company’s first drug candidate targets diabetes — specifically “type one” diabetes that results when the immune system targets insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

OTHER HEADLINES OF NOTE:

• Indigo Biosystems gets funding for lab-data software (VentureWire, sub req’d)
• Germany’s Direvo pulls in €12M for biomanufacturing (release)