Cambrios lands $14.5M for electronic display components
Cambrios, maker of conductive films used in electronic displays and monitors, has brought in $14.5 million in a fourth round of venture capital. Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., the company is backed by ARCH Venture Partners, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Alloy Ventures, Altitude Life Science Ventures, Avalon Ventures, Harris & Harris Group, Headland Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Kidron, Lux Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Oxford Bioscience Partners, Presidio Ventures, Sumitomo, Chisso and Nissha Printing.
Solar ink maker Innovalight shines with $15M
Innovalight, a Sunnyvale, Calif. company that has developed solar ink (made of liquid-like solar cells) capable of being printed onto conducting surfaces to generate power, has brought in $15 million of an anticipated $20 million round of equity and rights, according to a filing with the SEC.
This brings the company’s total raised to $55 million, with backers including Arch Venture Partners, Apax Partners, Convexa Capital, Harris & Harris, Seven Rosen Funds, Leader Ventures and Silicon… Continue Reading
Innovalight pushes solar ink to record efficiency
Innovalight, maker of liquid-like silicon cells that convert sunlight into energy, announced that its product has achieved 18 percent efficiency, a record for so-called solar inks. Given that typical solar panels are 12 percent efficient on average, this is quite the achievement — especially considering all of the unique applications for solar cells that you can print straight onto silicon.
Verified by both the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Reneable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Germany’s Fraunhofer… Continue Reading
Sapphire Energy launches algae-powered hybrid
Sapphire Energy, maker of an algae-based replacement for gasoline and jet fuel, unveiled its plug-in hybrid electric vehicle today in front of San Francisco’s city hall — combining several promising technologies aimed at slashing carbon emissions.
The car, aptly dubbed the “Algaeus” — built into the shell of a Toyota Prius — will take off today on a 10-day nationwide tour, stopping first in Sacramento, where governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is planned to pour a vial of… Continue Reading
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
Spray-on solar ink is coming soon — to paint on roofs and generate energy
[Update: We've clarified this story to make clear that Innovalight is not involved with this project]
Technology to turn light-absorbing materials into nano-size particles to make so-called solar ink that can be sprayed on to roofs to generate energy, is apparently only three to five years from becoming a reality.
At least, that’s according to Brian Korgel, an entrepreneur and chemical engineer at the University of Texas at Austin. Korgel tells LiveScience that his project, which has… Continue Reading
Shocking Technologies raises $10 million in second round
San Jose-based Shocking Technologies Inc., which builds materials for preventing electrostatic discharge from cellphones and electronics, raised $10 million in a second round of funding today.
The round was led by Vista Ventures and had participation from ARCH Venture Partners, ATA Ventures, Balch Hill Partners and other private investors. The company raised $4 million in January last year and $7 million in August 2007.
Simon Michael joins the board from Balch Hill Partners.
Semprius absorbs $6M for cheaper, printed solar cells
Semprius is one of a few companies focused on thin, printed solar modules — a relatively new technology that could save a tremendous amount of solar cell waste if widely implemented. The modules are considered “printed” because they consist only of a very thin layer of active solar cells stripped off the top of a normal solar wafer. Based in Durham, N.C., the company has raised $6.4 million in a second round of funding to… Continue Reading
Limerick BioPharma raises $1.5M to limit drug side effects
Limerick BioPharma, a South San Francisco firm specializing in drugs that curb the side effects of other drugs, has brought in $1.5 million in debt, rights and securities that it plans to use as working capital, according to VentureWire. Formerly called Limerick Neurosciences, the company says its products minimize the toxic impact some drugs can have on organs that they aren’t targeting — making more medications safer for a wider range of people. So far,… Continue Reading
Achaogen takes in $5.6M to fight bacterial infections
Pharmaceutical company Achaogen received a $5.6 million grant from the U.K.-based Wellcome Trust as part of its Seeding Drug Discovery Initiative. The money will go toward phase one clinical trials of the San Francisco company’s lead drug candidates, aimed at treating bacterial infections that are already resistent to multiple antibiotics.
It last raised funds in 2006, bringing in $26 million in second-round funding from Venrock, Versant Ventures, Domain Associates and Arch Venture Partners.
Innovalight rakes in $5M for solar cell ink
Investors Leader Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank have shined on solar cell company Innovalight, providing $5 million in new financing toward the development of silicon solar modules so small they can be painted onto surfaces like ink.
The Sunnyvale, Calif. company uses liquid processing of silicon to produce nanosize solar prarticles that are not only more efficient than crystalline wafers, but also much cheaper to make than regular solar panels. It received $28 million last year… Continue Reading
Sapphire Energy getting the green for its algal biofuel
Well-known but still young biofuel company Sapphire Energy has more than doubled its funding to more than $100 million for its “green crude,” a fuel it says will mimic the best characteristics of the oil we drill for today.
Sapphire’s plan, which I covered in depth back in May, is to grow tailored strains of algae on waste water. Algae is criticized because it often uses open pools of water, which evaporate quickly in hot climes,… Continue Reading
Limerick BioPharma raises $15.2M for drug bioavailability
A stealthy life sciences startup called Limerick BioPharma has raised $11 million in venture funding and $4.2 million in debt, according to VentureWire. The participants in the round are not clear, but Arch Venture Partners, Sevin Rosen Funds and Altitude Funds are all listed as investors.
Limerick says on its website that it’s working on improving existing therapies through modulating bioavailability — keeping potentially harmful substances out of tissues while maintaining their effectiveness. The technology could… Continue Reading
Sapphire Energy gets “open checkbook” from investors for algae-based gasoline
Another algal biofuel company has emerged from stealth mode, and this one has the biggest story yet, at least according to the estimation of its investors.
Only a year old, Sapphire Energy is a San Diego startup that has lab-developed an algae that it says can create a substance akin to crude oil that can be processed by existing refineries, transported through existing infrastructure and burned without difficulty by today’s vehicles.
Sapphire has raised over $50 million… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Friday, March 14, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES
Cantimer takes in $2M for dehydration diagnostics (VentureWire)
Recodagen launches, takes aim at cancer (release)
Juniper Diagnostics spins out of ChemSensing (VentureWire)
Cantimer takes in $2M for dehydration diagnostics –The mystery of Menlo Park, Calif.-based Cantimer has resolved a bit. We wrote about this stealthy company back in December and reached the conclusion that the company was developing a particular type of nanosensor intended to identify water levels in human tissue.
Now VentureWire reports that Cantimer is doing… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
RNAi developer PhaseRx gets $4M of a pledged $19M (Seattle Times)
TyRx Pharma, drug-device combo maker, raises $25M (release)
Agennix aims at $40M for cancer drugs (VentureWire)
Starr Life Sciences goes after $1.6M for small-animal vital-signs scanner (VW)
CardioNet sets IPO terms, aims to raise $96M (IPOhome)
RNAi developer PhaseRx gets $4M of a pledged $19M – Investor interest in RNA interference, an ancient cellular mechanism for silencing dangerous genes, continues apace. PhaseRx, a Seattle biotech, has raised $4 million… Continue Reading
Shocking Technologies raises $4M venture debt for surge protection
Shocking Technologies is a San Jose, Calif. company that has developed a dielectric material that can be printed onto circuit boards and semiconductors to protect them from electrostatic discharges.
Electronic devices have historically been vulnerable to unexpected electrical discharges. The company says its thin polymer could be installed in devices like mobile phones and computers.
The $4 million venture debt financing was provided by Hercules Technology Growth Capital (NASDAQ: HTGC), a publicly-traded investment vehicle. Shocking Technologies previously… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Nov. 30, 2007
Featured companies: Fate Therapeutics, Medgenics, Satoris
UPDATED: Expanded items on Fate Therapeutics and Medgenics. The Satoris item is now a standalone post here.
Fate Therapeutics launches regenerative-medicine quest with $12M — In one of the splashiest launches in recent memory, Seattle’s Fate Therapeutics launched a new regenerative-medicine quest and raised $12 million to help it along. The company aims to develop drugs that redirect fundamental cell biology in ways that mimic the regenerative powers of stem cells, either by… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Oct. 26, 2007
Featured companies: Allozyne, Arteriocyte Medical Systems, Arthrosurface, Bay City Capital, EnteroMedics, OncoVista, Novotech, Power Medical Interventions, Reliant Technologies
UPDATED: Expanded items on Allozyne, Reliant Tech, Power Medical and Bay City Capital.
UPDATE REDUX: Added item on EnteroMedics IPO.
Seattle’s Allozyne draws $30M for new interferon — Allozyne, a Seattle biotech focused on tweaking existing protein-based drugs to improve their properties, raised $30 million in a second round of financing. Investors included MPM Capital, OVP Venture Partners, Amgen Ventures, ARCH Venture… Continue Reading
Innovalight raises $28M for new ink-based solar cell
Innovalight, a Silicon Valley company that says it has come up with new solar cell with nano-particles of silicon, has raised a large $28 million round of capital and said it plans to open a 30,000 square foot manufacturing facility next year.Innovalight is still being very vague on the details of its technology, and it’s very late to the game. There are already more than a dozen other large companies and start-ups that are developing… Continue Reading