Retrevo, electronic product shopping site, raises $8M
Retrevo, the Silicon Valley company that helps you shop electronic products, and then helps you after the purchase (with troubleshooting tips), has raised $8 million more in a second round of financing.
We reported on the company’s first fundings, which totaled $3.9 million (see our coverage here and here), and then later on its release of a set of useful comparison features. Retrevo now offers a great overview of a category of products. For example, if you… Continue Reading
Ravenflow, an app delivery specialist, pulls in $5M
Ravenflow falls somewhere between a software maker and consulting firm, with its enterprise software package that helps businesses streamline the process of getting new applications rolled out.
The product, RAVEN, helps teams at companies like IBM to agree on standards, requirements and specifications, and reduce the amount of time needed to put an application online.
Along with the funding announcement the company brought on a new chief executive. Susan Boers was formerly the president of Telelogic.
The $5… Continue Reading
Arbor draws another $5.5M for heart-valve replacements
(UPDATED: See below.)
Irvine, Calif.-based Arbor Surgical Technologies, a developer of minimally invasive heart-valve replacement devices, raised another $5.5 million in its third funding round, VentureBeat Life Sciences has learned. The cash came courtesy of the Laguna Fund, a new investor, and Delphi Ventures and Alloy Ventures, which have participated in previous funding rounds.
Arbor said it raised $20 million in the round in late January, so the extension brings that round to a total of $25.5 million…. Continue Reading
Ensenda, a provider of last-mile logistics, raises $10.3M
Ensenda, a San Francisco provider of last-mile logistics, has raised $10.3 million in a third round of funding, according to a regulatory filing cited first by PE Wire. Questmark was joined by return backers Alloy Ventures and Bay Partners.
Intelleflex raises $15.5M for RFID equipment
Intelleflex is the maker of an “extended capability” radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, along with the higher-powered readers that make the passive tags active at longer ranges.
Although the RFID industry hasn’t quite lived up to the “RFID revolution” that was proclaimed for retailers several years ago, the technology has still seen a gradual warming of interest.
Intelleflex’s own tags can be used for purposes including parts and yard maintenance and temperature tracking for refrigerated foods, according… Continue Reading
Qwaq, offering a 3D virtual workplace
Qwaq, a Silicon Valley company seeking to let company work groups collaborate in a 3D online virtual environment, has just raised $7 million in financing.
Virtual collaboration might sound fanciful, but increasingly experts are saying this is where the office environment is headed. Well-known venture capitalist John Doerr is just the latest to speak of a 3D “radically immersive” Web and to say that he is looking to invest in it, though he is not the… 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
Xangati raises $10.7M to identify delivery problems in corporate networks
Xangati, a Cupertino, Calif. company that identifies delivery problems within corporate networks, said it has raised $10.7 million in a second round of financing.
The round was led by new investor Walden International, and included existing investor Alloy Ventures, which led the company’s first round two years ago. The company has now raised $18 million.
The company calls its technology “Rapid problem identification,” and works by precise monitoring of “endpoints” within a network, such as servers and… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Aug. 13, 2007
(UPDATED: See below.)
Featured companies: FoldRx Pharmaceuticals, Ophthotech, Pevion Biotech, Restoration Robotics, Glide Pharma, Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Nanosphere, SurModics, BioFX Laboratories
FoldRx Pharma to receive $22M against cystic fibrosis — Cambridge, Mass.-based FoldRx Pharmaceuticals, a biotech focused on diseases that result from misfolded proteins, will get $22 million over the next five years from an affiliate of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to further its work against the genetic lung disease. The money will be paid as FoldRx meets various developmental… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Aug. 9, 2007
(UPDATED at 6:40pm PT: See below.)
Featured companies: Nereus Phramaceuticals, KFx Medical, NeuroMed Pharmaceuticals, Adnexus Therapeutics, Masimo, Biofisica, Aegera Therapeutics, LymphoSign, InfuScience, Palmetto Infusion Services
Nereus Pharma raises $45M for ocean-derived cancer drugs — San Diego’s Nereus Pharmaceuticals, a biotech that searches for cancer drugs in marine microbes, raised $45 million in a follow-on to its fourth funding round.
The company features an all-star lineup of investors, which includes BankInvest, Roche Venture Fund, Astellas Venture Management, Boston Life Science Venture… Continue Reading
KaloBios draws in $20M for antibody drugs
KaloBios, a Palo Alto, Calif., biotech antibody-therapeutic company, raised $20 million in a third funding round. The company is developing new drugs based on monoclonal antibodies, which target specific cells or proteins in the body. Its lead candidate, an antibody against granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor, or GM-CSF — a protein that helps regulate the white-blood-cell immune response — is intended to treat a variety of immune-related diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and asthma.
Lehman Brothers led… Continue Reading
Apptera raises $9.74M for mobile search advertising
Apptera, a San Bruno, Calif. developer of speech recognition, search and advertising for mobile phones, has drawn $9.74 million from a $14.74 million fourth round of capital committed by investors, according to a regulatory filing cited by PE Wire.
Return backers include Alloy Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Walden International.
Living Microsystems pulls in $20M for prenatal tests
Living Microsystems, a Watertown, Mass., developer of new prenatal diagnostics, raised $19.6 million in a second funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The company is developing new blood tests designed to detect prenatal chromosomal and genetic defects that could complement or even one day replace amniocentesis and similar invasive tests.
The round was led by Alloy Ventures, joined by Mohr Davidow Ventures and angel funders. Living Microsystems had previously raised a total of $9 million in… Continue Reading
Update: Vivotech, radio frequency credit card co., raises $19.9M
(Updated. This story was originally posted 5/4/07)
Vivotech, a maker of software to allow payments with radio frequency-enabled credit cards, debit cards, or other wireless devices, has raised a third round of capital in the “double-digit millions” of dollars.
(Update: More concretely, it has raised around $19.9 million, according to regulatory filings cited by PE Week. It has only drawn $15 million of that money so far.)
The investment was led by First Data Corp. Previous investors Alloy… Continue Reading
3Leaf, virtualization company, raises $20M more
3Leaf Systems, a Santa Clara, Calif. company that provides a server virtualization product for data centers, said it has raised $20 million in a second round of funding.
Virtualization is a hot trend because it makes data centers more efficient.
The round was led by Intel Capital, the company said in a statement sent out under embargo last week. Existing investors Enterprise Partners, Storm Ventures, and Alloy Ventures also participated in the round.
The round raises… Continue Reading
YouSendIt raises $10M for file delivery service for professionals
YouSendIt, a Mountain View, Calif. service that lets professionals deliver large files over the Internet, said it has raised $10 million in a second round of venture capital financing.
The funding comes at a time when dozens of companies are helping speed up the delivery of files in multiple ways. “There are a zillion of them,” said Nick Sturiale, an investor with Seven Rosen Funds, which provided the funding, along with Sigma Partners, which led the… Continue Reading
Xactly raises $15 million for online sales compensation
Xactly, a San Jose seller of an on-demand sales compensation management product, said it has raised $15 million in a third round of financing led by Alloy Ventures.
Existing investors Bay Partners, Rembrandt Ventures, Outlook Ventures participated, as did Spinner Asset Management.
Here is the statement, which lists the company’s customers and more about how it works.
In correspondence with Xactly’s chief executive Christopher Cabrera, we asked how Xactly’s software differs from competitors such as Callidus and… Continue Reading
Seriosity tries to solve email spam — with virtual currency
We’ll call Seriosity the quirky company of the year.
The three-year old Palo Alto, Calif. company has been secretive, but now it has launched a new way for corporate employees to manage their email load.
It gives the employees a set amount of virtual currency, called Serio, and they have to spend it order to send email. The more they judge an email to be important, the more currency they use to send it, so that… Continue Reading
Cytyc to buy women’s contraception company, Adiana, for up to $215M
Cytyc Corporation, a publicly traded company targeting women’s health and cancer diagnostics, said it has agreed to acquire Adiana, a venture-backed Redwood City company that has developed a “non-incisional alternative to tubal ligation” for permanent contraception for women.
Cytyc, based in Marlborough, Mass., will make an initial upfront $60 million cash payment, and depending on milestones, such as whether Adiana’s product meets FDA approval, and sales growth over the next few years, total payments could reach… Continue Reading
DNA health company Pacific Biosciences raises $50M from Kleiner, others
Pacific Biosciences, formerly known as Nanofluidics, a Menlo Park, Calif. company focused on medications resulting from DNA gene sequencing, has raised around $50 million in a forth round of funding.
Investors include Maverick Capital, and return backers Alloy Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Mohr, Davidow Ventures, according to PE Week, which first reported the funding today. Pacific Biosciences previously has raised more than $15M.
Here is an article about its technology (free after registration).
(This… Continue Reading