Stealthy Adesto lands $14M for fabless semiconductors
Adesto Technologies, a fabless semiconductor company that’s so secretive that there’s no content on its web site, has raised $14 million in equity and warrants, according to a regulatory filing. Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., the three-year-old company has a pretty healthy funding history. It raised $6 millon in 2007 and another $5.5 million in 2008 in seen money from Arch Venture Partners, Harris & Harris, Adams Street Partners and Applied Ventures. It’s unclear whether any… Continue Reading
Integral Development raises $11M for electronic foreign exchange trades
Integral Development, provider of a software platform that connects global financial institutions for electronic foreign exchange trading, just raised $11 million in a round of capital provided in part by Adams Street Partners. The system allows individual investors to make their own trusted trades or broker trades for clients, reports VentureWire.
Based in Mountain View, Calif., the 100-employee company has also taken financing from Accel Partners, Hudson Ventures, MMV Financial and Sand Hill Capital. It recently… Continue Reading
Revascular adds $3M to clear arteries
Revascular Therapeutics, maker of a device that helps doctors clear blockages in major arteries, has tacked on $3 million to a second round of funding, bringing its total to $11 million, reports VentureWire. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company hopes to add $1 million more to fully fund a study on its lead product.
Revascular’s device — which combines light and sound to guide physicians through vein-clearing procedures — is under testing in Europe expected to finish in… Continue Reading
Neuraltus scores $17M to treat degenerative brain disease
Neuraltus Pharmaceuticals, developer of drugs used to treat degenerative neurological diseases, brought in $17 million in a first round of funding from Latterell Venture Partners, VantagePoint Venture Partners and Adams Street Partners. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company says it’s currently working on therapies for conditions ranging from Lou Gehrig’s Disease to Parkinson’s Disease.
The money should be enough to push drugs for both these diseases through the first two phases of clinical trials, Neuraltus says.
Jaspersoft raises $12.5M for open source business intelligence
Jaspersoft, a provider of open-source business intelligence software, has raised $12.5 million in new funding. The round was led by Adams Street Partners, with participation from leading open-source company Red Hat and Jaspersoft’s previous investors Scale Venture Partners, SAP Ventures, DCM, Morgenthaler Ventures, and Partech International.
The San Francisco company last raised a $12 million fourth round in 2007. Jaspersoft says that with 7 million downloads, it offers the most-downloaded business intelligence software in the world…. Continue Reading
OncoMed nabs $93M for stem cell programs
OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, a company working to fight cancer using stem cells, added a $93 million tranche to a second round of funding that now totals $154 million. The money will be used to push its lead antibody candidate through phase-two clinical trials.
The Redwood City, Calif. firm specializes in developing treatments to target cancer stem cells — the cells that cause tumor growth and renewal. They are unique in their resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments…. Continue Reading
Proteus snaps up $30M to take on heart failure
Proteus Biomedical Inc., a company developing microscopic electromechanical devices capable of one day treating or preventing congestive heart failure, brought in more than $30 million in its first call for fourth round financing. It’s original goal was $28.6 million, but CEO Andrew Thompson says the company is looking for even more money before the round’s second close, VentureWire reported.
The Redwood City, Calif.-based biotech firm is looking to strike out ahead of its competitors, CardioMEMS Inc…. Continue Reading
Sportgenic raises $10M for sports ad network
Sportgenic, a company that claims to provide high-value market reach to sports advertisers and marketers, has raised $10 million in a second round of funding.
The company targets specific groups of sports enthusiasts based on their predilections, from country club members to outdoorsmen and team athletes. It claims to have 350 publisher sites that it places ads on.
Adams Street Partners led the funding round, with participation from previous investors Alsop Louie Partners, KPG Ventures and Greycroft… Continue Reading
Visible World, a targeted cable advertiser, raises $25M
Targeted advertising, based on geographic location, age, gender and other factors, is a pretty common concept by now. Visible World wants to bring it to cable television, with an added twist — editing of specific commercial spots to appeal more to individuals.
Say a large company like Toyota doesn’t want to exclude certain groups from an advertisement, but does want to make it appeal more to each individual. Visible World’s technology allows a special version for… Continue Reading
Paylocity gets venture payroll of $10M
Paylocity, a startup that provides payroll and human services software, has raised $10 million at a valuation of more than $60 million, according to VentureWire.
The Arlington Heights, Ill.-based company has been boostrapped since it was founded in 1997, and it has 180 employees and almost 3,500 customers. Paylocity’s WebPay software allows customers to calculate paychecks, do direct deposits and more.
The funding comes from Adams Street Partners.
Life-science briefing: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Luminous Medical raises $24M for automated glucose monitoring (release)
Alimera Sciences gets $30M for eye-disease drug (release)
Vaccine maker LigoCyte draws $28M (release)
Heartbeat tracker CardioNet trims IPO, aims for listing today (IPOhome)
Axial Biotech takes in $6M for spinal diagnostics (release)
Insulin bioengineer enGene receives $6.4M (release)
GlucoLight raises funding for, well, glucose monitoring (release)
Germany’s InflaRx gets seed funding for sepsis work (release)
Cell imager Amnis pulls in $3.5M (VentureWire)
Korea Bone Bank gets funding for bone transplants (release)
Luminous Medical raises… Continue Reading
Roundup: Amazon S3, VentureBeat go down, Montalvo’s mobile chip and more
1. Amazon S3, VentureBeat go down
2. Montalvo Systems vs. Intel, with chip for handheld devices
3. Fox Interactive to introduce “music Hulu for MySpace”
4. Yahoo’s board moving against Yang
5. Google searchers are wealthier, buy more online
6. Xobni hires Jeff Bonforte away from Yahoo, to be its new CEO
7. Stormfisher raises $350 million for biofuel project
8. Cable veteran Philip Balboni moving to online news site
9. Nielsen buys Audience Analytics
10. Air commuter conference coming up this spring
11. Report:… Continue Reading
Microsoft gobbles up Danger, maker of the Sidekick mobile software
Microsoft Corp has agreed to acquire Danger, a Silicon Valley company that makes the software for the Sidekick and other mobile devices, for an undisclosed amount.
Danger has worked away for ten years on its device software, and recently filed for an IPO, which we termed as risky (see our piece The Danger-ous IPO), because Danger has not been as open as trends would suggest it should be, and it’s difficult to see how it could… Continue Reading
Ticketmaster to buy ticket reseller TicketsNow for $265M
Ticketmaster, the large ticket seller, said it would buy entertainment event ticket reseller TicketsNow for $265 million.
Ticketmaster has long been the monster of ticket sales, but it has been greedy, charging high fees for its service, and now it is facing increasing competition. Even this deal raises new questions for the company.
Announcement is here.
TicketsNow is a Web-based site specializing in music, sports and other live entertainment event tickets. Ticketmaster joins eBay and others in going… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007
Featured companies: American Aerogel, Clinicient, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Genome Diagnostics, RadPharm, RainDance Technologies, Vivacta
UPDATED: Expanded items on Vitae, RadPharm, Vivacta and Genome Diagnostics. Intelligent Bio-Systems is now covered in a standalone item here.
Vitae Pharma takes in $15M for blood pressure, diabetes drugs — Vitae Pharmaceuticals, a Fort Washington, Pa., biotech focused on new drugs for hypertension and metabolic disorders, raised $15 million in a fourth funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Boehringer Ingelheim, which struck a major… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Nov. 12, 2007
(UPDATED: See below.)
Featured companies: Anaptys Biosciences, Arterial Remodeling Technologies, Cambria Biosciences, CaseNet, ChemoCentryx, Ensemble Discovery, MediQuest, Piedmont Pharmaceuticals, Raven Biotechnologies, Sensys Medical, Verus Pharmaceuticals, Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals
UPDATED: Expanded items on Anaptys, Arterial Remodeling, Raven Biotech, Sensys and MediQuest. Moved ChemoCentryx and Xanodyne to a separate item.
Antibody-drug maker Raven Biotech merges with VaxGen — Raven Biotechnologies, a South San Francisco biotech developing antibody drugs, is merging with the troubled, publicly held vaccine maker VaxGen. The confusingly worded release is here.
Although… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007
Featured companies: Algorithme Pharma, Bacchus Vascular, Botaneco, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Ikonisys, Healthcare Management Systems, Illumigen Biosciences, Kilmer Capital Partners, Medical Specialties Distributors, Metastatix, Microphage, Orthosoft, Thomas McNerney & Partners, TranS1, TriReme Medical, Wren Medical, Zimmer
UPDATE: Expanded TriReme Medical, Ikonisys and TranS1 items.
UPDATE REDUX: Added MicroPhage item.
Stent-maker TriReme Medical sails off with $15.6M — Pleasanton, Calif.-based TriReme Medical, a device maker developing a new type of artery-opening stent for blood-vessel junctions, raised $15.6 million in a third funding… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007
Featured companies: Ablynx, Cardiosolutions, Carigent Thereapeutics, Elusys, Genome Corp., GlobeImmune, Novazone, Targanta Therapeutics, Waterfront Media
UPDATED at 5:45am on 9/27/07
GlobeImmune raises $41M for immune-system therapies — GlobeImmune, a Louisville, Colo., biotech focused on new forms of immunotherapy to treat viral infections and cancer, raised $41.2 million in a third funding round. Investors included Wexford Capital, Celgene, the Mellon Family Investment Company, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, Eminent Venture Capital, Boston Life Science Venture, WRF Capital, HealthCare Ventures,… Continue Reading
WhiteFence, a residential home services shopping site, raises $14M
WhiteFence, a company in Houston, Texa that offers a comparison shopping site for people looking for residential home services (Internet connections, home phone accounts, electricity, natural gas, etc), said it has raised $14 million in a second round of funding.
Adams Street Partners led the round, which included Internet Capital Group, the investor that led the first round.
The company is run by Eric Danziger, who ushered both ZipRealty and Starwood Hotels through IPOs.
According to the… Continue Reading
Jazz Pharmaceuticals files for gutsy $172M IPO
Jazz Pharmaceuticals, a Palo Alto, Calif. company that seeks to license drugs from other companies, buy other drug companies and develop its own drugs, all in the area neurology and psychiatry, has filed for a $172.5 million IPO.
Here is its filing. It is four years old, and lost $81 million last year.
This is largely a financial engineering strategy, and it will be interesting to see whether the public is willing to buy stock in such… Continue Reading