Mobile search engine Taptu raises 7.45 million euros
Mobile search engine Taptu has raised 7.45 million euros in a second round of funding. The money comes from existing investors 3i and Sofinnova.
The Cambridge, U.K. company touts its “super-fast entertainment search” and says it has experienced exponential growth. It’s available to both consumers and for use in other mobile products through application programming interfaces (APIs). Taptu was founded in 2007.
Netsuite buys professional services automation company OpenAir for $26M
Netsuite, the online business management software company, said it has acquired Boston’s OpenAir for $26 million in cash. OpenAire offers customers a way to manage professional services, including billable time and project management.
The acquisition of OpenAir, which will become Netsuite’s East Coast office, includes $5 million of restricted stock held by OpenAir employees that will continue to vest through mid-2010.
OpenAir had raised at least $16 million, from investors including Fidelity Capital, 3i, i-Hatch Ventures… Continue Reading
OmniGuide raises $25 million for non-invasive laser surgery
OmniGuide has raised $25 million in a fifth round of financing to expand its laser surgery business. The company, based in Cambridge, Mass., makes BeamPath, a flexible optical fiber used to guide CO2 laser beams in surgery.
New investor Psilos Group led the round and was joined by existing investors 3i, Argonaut Ventures, ESI, Gainesborough Investments, Stata Venture Partners and Westbury Partners.
The Beam Path has been used in more than 3,000 surgeries to date. The surgery… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Affinergy gets $3M in grants for biological “linkers” (release)
Specialty pharma EUSA raises $50M, spends $23M for public biotech Cytogen (release)
Calderome takes in $12M for cancer diagnostics (peHUB)
Pulse Health raises $2M for handheld free-radical device (release)
LifeMasters takes in $15M for wellness, disease-management programs (release)
Dubai Techno Park launched $300MVC fund for life sciences, other sectors (release)
Affinergy gets $3M in grants for biological “linkers” – Affinergy, a Duke University spinout in Research Triangle Park, N.C., received grants worth more… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Jan. 18, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Ulthera receives $23M for cosmetic ultrasound devices (release)
Senexis raises £2.9M for Alzheimer’s drugs (PDF release)
Elixir Pharma postpones IPO (IPO Home)
Cancer Therapeutics names Randall Riggs as CEO (release)
Ulthera receives $23M for cosmetic ultrasound devices — Ulthera, a Mesa, Ariz., startup developing ultrasound systems for cosmetic procedures, raised $22.5 million in a second funding round. Investors included New Enterprise Associates and 3i.
Ulthera, whose Web site is still a stub, aims to use its ultrasound devices… Continue Reading
Twenga gets €2.6M for yet another shopping search engine
European shopping search engine Twenga has received €2.6 million from venture capital firm 3i, reports Techcrunch.
The site launched in the UK in early November, and it is translated into several European languages. Perhaps it has a fighting chance by launching in Europe, because the U.S. market is chock full of competitors, with sites like Yahoo, but also Shopping.com, Nextag, Shopzilla, The Find and a bunch of other startups from Bountii to Pricefight, Retrevo and SmartShopper.
The… Continue Reading
Konarka raises $45M more for solar, despite no clear direction
Konarka, yet another company experimenting with new-fangled technology to produce more efficient solar cells, hasn’t been able to articulate a clear business strategy in the six years since it started.
However, solar technology is hot, and the company has raised $45 million more in capital to give it more time to keep trying. It has now raised more than $100 million.
Like several other start-ups, the Lowell, Mass. company has been using non-silicon material to produce a… Continue Reading
Roundup: Facebook IPO talk, the video firehose, Ning’s ridiculous valuation & more
Here’s the latest action (updated):
Airborne mash-up: lawn chair travels 193 miles –Oregon resident Kent Couch tried to fly to Idaho last weekend — in an apparatus made out of his lawn chair carried by 105 large helium balloons. He carried instruments to measure altitude and speed, and also a parachute. He didn’t make it, though. (Image courtesy of AP)
More adult supervision at Facebook — Chamath Palihapitiya, a former AOL executive turned venture capital investor at the… Continue Reading
DiBcom receives $27 million more to get dibs on mobile TV market
The mobile TV market is expected to have more than 130 million customers by 2011, according to Screen Digest.
So DiBcom, a France-based semiconductor-for-mobile-tv company has received another $27 million in funding from its many investors, this time adding French bank NATIXIS. The company says it will use the money to continue improving its TV-streaming technology, and to spread faster internationally to phones, laptops, cars and other devices around the world.
We’re speculating that the company timed… Continue Reading
AOptix raises $15M more for iris recognition
AOptix Technologies, a Campbell, Calif. company that makes lasers for iris recognition, and which can work from about 60 feet away, has raised $15 million in a third round of funding.
The round was led by DAG Ventures, and included Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Clearstone, 3i and Lehman Brothers.
Here is the company’s statement. The company continues to work on its underlying optical broadband technology for other applications.
The company previously raised $27 million.
Intelliden raises $10M more for corporate network configuration
Intelliden, a Menlo Park, Calif. company that allows businesses to configure their corporate networks, said it has received $10 million in a fifth round of funding.
It has now raised a total of $69 million in venture backing.
Matrix Partners led the round, and was joined by existing backers including 3i, Granite Global, Hercules Technology Growth Capital and Westbury Partners.
Intelliden’s networking software allows companies to things like deliver services such as VoIP, internet protocol television (IPTV)… Continue Reading
Highland opens in Europe, 3i closes Boston office
Highland Capital Partners is opening up an office in Europe, to compete with fellow venture firms like Accel Partners, Atlas Venture, Benchmark Capital and Index Ventures. Its office will be based in Geneva, Switzerland, according to PE Week, and adds to its offices already in Lexington, Mass., Bethesda, Marylanda and Menlo Park, Calif.
Meanwhile, Boston continues its decline as an area of investment. 3i Group is closing its Waltham, Mass. office, as it moves away from… Continue Reading
Fabrik raises $24.9M more for file storage and sharing
Fabrik, a company that offer online storage and easy sharing of big files, has just closed a $24.9 million deal and added Ross Levinsohn, former President of Fox Interactive Media, to the board.
Its financing came primarily from 3i, with a small chunk from ComVentures.
As noted before, Fabrik competes in an increasingly crowded market, though their website reveals an effort to create a youthful brand (compare their site, for example, to YouSendIt, Box.net, and Omnidrive). Fabrik… Continue Reading
Discera, silicon based oscillator co., raises $17.5M
Discera, a San Jose company that has been developing an alternative to existing oscillators — the electronic heart beats in all digital devices — has raised $17.5 million in a third round of financing.
Discera is one of the first companies to start shipping a MEMS based oscillator, which relies on semiconductor technology, and which the company says is cheaper and more efficient than existing quartz crystal oscillators.
Analysts say the market for oscillators is about… Continue Reading
Kineto raises $10M for fixed-mobile network technology
Kineto Wireless, a Milpitas, Calif. company that enables phone carriers to let their customers switch seamlessly between cellular and broadband networks, has raised $10 million in funding.
There are competing technologies that allow this fixed-mobile convergence of networks, and Kineto has bet on “UMA,” which stands for unlicensed mobile access.
InterDigital Communications Corporation led the round with an investment of $5 million, while Kineto’s existing investors participated. These include Sutter Hill Ventures, Venrock Associates, 3i, Oak… Continue Reading
Forte Design Systems raises $5.4M for hardware chip design
Forte Design Systems, a San Jose company that helps create chip hardware designs, said it has raised $5.4 million in a fourth round of venture backing.
Saints Capital joined 3i Corporation and Infinity Capital as main investors in the company.
Leo de Luna, senior associate at Saints Capital stated, “Forte has impressed us with its leading ESL synthesis product which accelerates the path from SystemC and ANSI C/C++ to quality RTL and ultimately silicon. Forte’s… Continue Reading