VentureBeat

Here’s the latest action:

The WB rises from the dead with a new website — The television network, famous for launching teen-aimed shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dawson’s Creek, merged with UPN to become the CW network in 2006. But now the WB is returning as a website. And while the nerd in me is most excited about the ad-sponsored Buffy reruns, the most interesting news is that the site will also feature original content. older shows. The goal is to attract 16- to 34-year-old women, particularly those whose TV viewing habits have already moved online.

Microsoft cutting XBox 360 prices in Asia — Prices will fall between 5 percent and 20 percent in Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. That’s four out of the five Asian markets where Microsoft has officially launched the game console (the fifth is India). A Microsoft spokesperson tells us that these price adjustment are normal as foreign exchange rates fluctuate.

Metacafe owners cash out with for $5 million — Co-founders Arik Czerniak and Ofer Adler, who together owned shares representing 5 percent of the company, have left the video startup. (TechCrunch cites Israeli newspaper The Marker, whose article is in Hebrew.) The site’s traffic hasn’t grown much, which means that online video king YouTube continues to widen the gap. Czerniak stepped down as chief executive in February 2007, but he continued to serve on the company’s board — until now, apparently.

Did MSN Music betray its customers? — The Electronic Frontier Foundation says it did. Microsoft announced last week that it will stop issuing digital rights management “keys” for the defunct MSN Music service at the end of the summer, meaning that customers won’t be able to transfer their music to new computers. The EFF argues that Microsoft should apologize and compensate customers. If this story doesn’t persuade online music buyers that DRM (which also comes with most of the songs available on iTunes) can be very bad news, even for music fans who aren’t interested in illegal sharing, I don’t know what will.

Newest Morgan Stanley report finds that social applications are growing – Sure, that’s not exactly surprising news, but the report presents some pretty compelling facts to illustrate the point. For example, six out of the top 10 Internet sites are social.

Monsanto and startup Mendel Biotechnology to develop biofuel crop — It’s nice to hear the two companies say their partnership could reduce greenhouse gas emissions. On the downside, biofuels appear to be a mixed bag economically and environmentally, and Monsanto isn’t the most Earth-friendly corporation in the world.

Featured companies: Altair Therapeutics, ICyt Visionary Biosciences, Linkage Biosciences, Mendel Biotechnology, Rules-Based Medicine

Mendel Biotechnology raises funds for cellulosic-energy production — Hayward, Calif.-based Mendel Biotechnology, a biotech developing new varieties of switchgrass, Miscanthus and poplar for use as biofuels, raised an undisclosed sum in a new funding round. The company first drew funding from several investment firms, including ZBI Ventures, Capricorn Investment Group and CFM, and also raised additional cash from its partner Monsanto, which was already an equity investor in the company.

Releases for the two fundings are here and here, although both are pretty cryptic. The funding will not only assist in the development of seeds and feedstock for the cellulosic biofuel industry, but will also help Mendel further develop its core technology for regulating genes that affect plant growth.

Linkage Biosciences draws $1M to streamline genetic testing — San Francisco’s Linkage Biosciences raised approximately $1 million in a seed funding round. Greenhouse Capital Partners provided the cash. Linkage isn’t describing its business in detail, but says it is at work on new clinical diagnostic tests for stem-cell and organ transplantation that should speed up complex genetic testing.

Rules-Based Medicine raises $25M for diagnostics, pays half that to settle lawsuit — Rules-Based Medicine, an Austin, Tex., biotech focused on diagnostics that utilize new “biomarkers” that can be detected in blood samples, raised $25 million in a first financing round. Investors included Equity Group Investments, an investment fund founded by Sam Zell; Cross Creek Capital, the private equity affiliate of Wasatch Advisors; and Stephens Capital Partners.

The company, however, will immediately pay half that sum, $12.5 million, back to its former parent company, Luminex, from which RBM spun out in 2002. The two companies have fought out a licensing dispute in court since 2005; that lawsuit will now be dismissed.

RBM makes diagnostics that can test for hundreds of biomarkers at once in a single drop of blood. The idea is to develop tests that will show whether a drug candidate is likely to have bad side effects down th road. Our earlier coverage of the company is here and here.

OTHER HEADLINES OF NOTE:

• ICyt raises another $1.5 million for cell-sorting devices (VentureWire, sub req’d)
• Altair Therapeutics spins out of Isis to commercialize antisense drugs for respiratory disease (release)

Featured companies: Biolipox, Cellpoint Diagnostics, Corum Medical, MediKeeper, Mendel Biotechnology, NanoMed, Orexo, Rules-Based Medicine, Tengion

UPDATED: Expanded the Tengion item, and that’s about it.

Tengion raises $33M for bladder regrowth — Tengion, a Norriton, Pa., biotech focused on regenerating diseased or damaged organs, raised $33 million in a third funding round. Investors included Deerfield Partners, Bain Capital, Johnson & Johnson Development, HealthCap, Quaker BioVentures, Oak Investment Partners, L Capital Partners, Horizon Technology Finance and Oxford Finance.

Tengion is working on growing new bladders for adults and children with spinal bifida or spinal-cord injuries based on cells biopsied from the patients’ own bladders. We mentioned the company briefly here.

OTHER HEADLINES OF NOTE:

• Biomarker lab Rules-Based Medicine gets $25M from private equity (release)
• Cancer-diagnostics firm CellPoint Diagnostics pulls in $11.2M (VentureWire, sub req’d)
• Swedish specialty pharma Orexo to acquire Biolipox for $133M (release)
• Cancer drug, diagnostic maker NanoMed gets $1.5M (VentureWire)
• Biocontrol raises £500 against antibiotic-resistant infections (release>
• Satoris reports potential blood test for Alzheimer’s disease (release)
• Corum Medical raises $225K, seeks $3.5M for anemia test (VentureWire)
• Mendel Biotech completes financing round (release)
• Health, wellness Web-tool developer MediKeeper raises funds (release)

Hayward, Calif.’s Mendel Biotechnology, an agricultural biotech, raised an undisclosed sum in a fourth round of funding, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The funding accompanied a development deal with the U.K. energy giant BP; Monsanto, a major developer of genetically modified seeds and a longtime Mendel partner, also participated.

The BP deal centers on the development of new genetically modified strains of grass that could be used to produce cellulosic ethanol. The production of ethanol from grasses and similar cellulosic sources should theoretically be more efficient than existing corn-based derivations, since the process utilizes the entire plant and not just its grains.