Osprey picks up $3.8M more for immune disease treatments
Osprey Pharmaceuticals, a drug maker focusing on inflammatory and immune disease medications, added $3.8 million to its first round of funding, bringing its total to $14.8 million, according to VentureWire. The San Francisco company says the new money was needed to see its lead drug candidate through clinical trials. It did not disclose its recent investors.
Osprey has focused its resources on a drug that could treat inflammatory kidney disease. Results from its clinical trials are… Continue Reading
Neuralitic pulls in $3M for data service analytics
Blackberry Partners Fund has provided a $3 million investment to Neuralitic, a company that analyzes how people use data services on their mobile phones — from email and games to video and web surfing. It joins BDC Venture Capital, GO Capital Fund and Vertex Venture Capital in a now $10 million second-round of funding for Neuralitic.
This is the fourth startup Blackberry’s fund has backed since its own founding in May 2008. Neuralitic says the money… Continue Reading
Osprey raises $11M for protein therapeutics
Osprey Pharmaceuticals U.S.A. has raised $11 million in a first round of funding, according to VentureWire. The San Francisco company’s protein therapeutics treatment targets kidney disease. Burrill & Co. led the round, with participation from BDC Venture Capital, GeneChem Therapeutics Venture Fund, Novo Nordisk Biotech Fund, Western Technology Seed Investment Fund and Yasuda Enterprise Development.
Zeugma Systems raises $22.5M for next-gen broadband
Zeugma Systems is a Vancouver, B.C. company that says it is developing a telecommunications network for next-generation high-speed broadband.
The company will use the most recent round of funding for its commercial launch, but has so far remained in stealth, and has not yet announced any specific products.
Zeugma System’s hefty second round of funding was led by Vertex Venture Capital. Return investors Granite Ventures, Ventures West, Yaletown Venture Partners, GrowthWorks Capital and BDC Venture Capital also… Continue Reading
CellFor raises $24.5M for cloned trees
Like ImageTree, a startup we reported on two weeks ago, CellFor’s cleantech angle is forest management, aided by the about-face the timber market has had in the last few years.
CellFor, a Vancouver, British Columbia company, clones trees through a process called somatic embryogenesis. The trees it produces grow quickly and predictably, and tend to be resistant to diseases.
Those are desirable traits to forest owners, many of whom are now hedge funds and investment vehicles called… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Nov. 1, 2007
Featured companies: Asteres, HemaQuest Pharmaceuticals, Nanosphere, Novalar Pharmaceuticals, Tranzyme Pharma
(UPDATED: Expanded items for Nanosphere, HemaQuest and Transzyme. Moved Novalar to a separate item here.)
Diagnostic maker Nanosphere prices IPO at low end of range, raises up to $113M — Nanosphere, a Northbrook, Ill., biotech focused on nanotech-derived diagnostics, priced its IPO at $14 a share, at the low end of its estimated range. The company, which could sell as many as eight million shares, stands to raise up… Continue Reading
Vantrix, helps publishers deliver video to fragramented mobile market, raises $12M more
Vantrix, a Montreal, Canada company that helps publishers deliver video and other data across multiple handsets via various carriers, said it has raised $12 million in a second round of financing.
An increasing number of companies are focused on the thorny problem of video and audio transmission across today’s fragmented mobile landscape — characterized by hundreds of different phones and protocols.
Competitors include Quickplay and Dynetic.
Vantrix says it has customers like AT&T, Orange, and ABC News. It… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007
(UPDATED at 7:40pm PT: See below.)
Featured companies: Adnexus Therapeutics, BioForm Medical, Confirma, Cardiovascular Systems, Mirabilis Medica, Neuromed Pharmaceuticals, PlaCor, Seno Medical Instruments, Vibrynt
BioForm Medical files $115M IPO for “medical aesthetics” — BioForm Medical, a San Mateo, Calif., developer of wrinkle fillers and other products for cosmetic procedures, filed to raise $115 million in an initial offering. BioForm’s major customers are plastic surgeons and dermatologists.
BioForm, however, takes pains to describe itself differently on its Web site…. Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Aug. 20, 2007
(UPDATED at 7:10pm PT: See below.)
Featured companies: NeurAxon, VytronUS, Avila Therapeutics, CardioNet, Ventana Medical Systems, CytoLogix, PlaCor
NeurAxon raises $32M for pain drugs — You have to hand it to Waltham, Mass.-based NeurAxon — the company certainly knows how to keep itself in the news. Today, it announced it has raised $32 million in a second funding round, a week after it reported a positive early-stage trial result for its experimental migraine treatment.
Investors included Delphi Ventures, OrbiMed Advisors,… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007
(UPDATED at 5:55pm PT: See below.)
Featured companies: Sierra Surgical Technologies, HerbalScience Nutraceuticals, Topigen Pharmaceuticals, EKR Therapeutics, Molecular Partners, Celsense, Glucose Sensing Technologies, Falcon Genomics, Waters, Calorimetry Sciences, Parion Sciences, Gilead Sciences, Isto Technologies, Fluidnet, NABsys
Sierra Surgical raises $7.1M — Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sierra Surgical Technologies, a developer of female sterilization technology, raised $7.1 million in a first funding round, PE Hub reports, citing a regulatory filing. Alta Partners and De Novo Ventures provided the funding.
Singapore’s HerbalScience raises… Continue Reading
Radian6 raises $4M to monitor viral behavior in social media
Radian6 Technologies, a New Brunswick, Canada provider of software that monitors viral behavior in blogs, online video and other social networking sites, said it has raised a $4 million round of financing.
BCE Capital led the investment round, which included Brightspark Ventures and BDC Venture Capital.
According to its statement:
Radian6 provides social media monitoring and viral behavior measurement solutions
specifically designed for the needs of marketing, public relations and advertising professionals. Social media, whether in the form… Continue Reading