VentureBeat

Featured companies: AgraQuest, BridgeHealth, CardioMems, Collegium Pharmaceutical, Emergin, Entegrion, gDiapers, Precision Therapeutics, PregLem

UPDATED: Expanded items on Entegrion, Collegium, and gDiapers. Added CardioMems item. New items posted on AgraQuest (link), BridgeHealth (link) and Precision Therapeutics (link).

Entegrion draws $4.7M for bleeding control — Entegrion, a Research Triangle Park, N.C., biotech focused on products that stop bleeding, raised $4.7 million in a second funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription req’d). Investors included BD Ventures, Catalysta Partners and unnamed individuals.

Entegrion’s main product is Stasix, a formulation derived from human platelet cells that promote blood clotting. Those cells are processed and freeze-dried into a powder, which can be applied directly to wounds or reconstituted and infused throughout the body. The U.S. military has picked up the tab for much of the product’s development, courtesy of congressional earmarks arranged by the North Carolina delegation.

Specialty drug maker Collegium Pharma nets $2.5M — Collegium Pharmaceutical, a Cumberland, R.I., specialty pharma developing drugs for neurological, respiratory and skin disorders, raised $2.5 million from insiders, VentureWire reports. Westfield Life Sciences Fund and Boston Millennia Partners provided the funding.

Like most specialty pharmas, Collegium licenses cast-off or failed drugs from other companies and pushes them through clinical testing. The company, which already markets drugs for acne and wound healing, said it may seek a fourth funding round depending on its 2008 sales. Collegium hopes to request marketing approval for a new allergy early next year.

CardioMems closes $33M funding for wireless heart sensors — Atlanta’s CardioMems, a device maker focused on wireless heart sensors, raised $33 million in a fifth funding round. Investors included Arcapita Ventures, Boston Millennia Partners, Medtronic, Easton Capital Partners, Foundation Medical Partners, Arboretum Ventures, Deerfield Capital Management, Vision Capital Advisors, Aperture Venture Partners and Rockport Venture Securities.

CardioMems’ first product is a sensor that can detects the pressure within an aneurysm, a weakened section of an arterial wall that is susceptible to rupture. We previously covered the company here.

Eco-friendly gDiapers pulls in new funding — Portland, Ore.-based gDiapers, a maker of biodegradable, flushable baby diapers, raised a second funding round. The company didn’t disclose how much it raised. 2x Consumer Products Growth Partners provided the funding. (For the amusing tale of a columnist who tried these diapers — complete with a mildly panicked online comment apparently from the gDiapers CEO — see this NJ Star-Ledger piece.)

HEADLINES OF NOTE:

• AgraQuest raises $20M for biotech pesticides (release)
• Precision Thera drops IPO, goes public via reverse merger (release)
• Women’s health co. PreLem raises CHF 36M (release)
• Entegrion draws $4.7M for bleeding control (VentureWire, sub req’d)
• Specialty drug maker Collegium Pharma nets $2.5M (VW)
• Medical tourism firm BridgeHealth raises $1M+ (release)
• Eco-friendly diaper co. gDiapers raises funding (VW)
• Wireless hospital-alarm co. Emergin acquired by Philips Electronics (release)

Cisco, the large networking company, said it has agreed to acquire Navini Networks, a company that offers a WiMAX “upgrade” for mobile customers, for $330 million in cash and stock.

This shows that Cisco is getting serious about WiMax, a technology long in development but which is now being deployed in earnest. It differs from WiFi in that it has much longer ranges — as much as 10 miles vs. WiFi’s reach of a few hundred feet.

Navini enables mobile PC users to more easily access WiMax networks. The Richardson, Texas company provides a CPE and PCMCIA cards that allow WiMax access without an install, and powers them with “smart beamforming,” giving carriers more flexibility and lowering their costs.

Cisco said the acquisition would help extend Cisco’s WiFi offerings to include the more powerful broadband WiMax technology, over any device over any networks.

Navini’s offerings include base stations, adaptive antenna arrays, management systems, and subscriber modems, and has been sold to more than 75 customers in several countries.

A warning signal for Navini came in May, when one of its venture backers, Sequoia Capital, did not participate in the company’s sixth round of financing. Seequoia looks for big wins, and its lack of support may have signaled that the company didn’t have what it would take to be a stand alone company — though we don’t know for sure. Navini, founded seven years ago, had raised $195 million from Arcapita Ventures, Austin Ventures, Alcatel Ventures, Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, Granite Ventures, Intel Capital, Sequoia Capital and Sternhill Partners.