VentureBeat

Xumii, a mobile service that lets you access feeds of activity from other social networks and services, is launching a private testing version (beta) next month.

When I first looked at it, I was skeptical. I’ve already written that large, web-based social networks such as Mypace and Facebook have moved to offer their services on mobile, and have momentum. It’s a little late for new players to enter the mobile social market.

Specifically, MySpace and Facebook are closing deals with carriers at a furious pace, I’m told. Carriers are attracted by their large web audiences and the promising growth of their mobile web sites and applications. I also hear that mobile-only networks (there are many of them), are hoping to cut deals in which a carrier will include them on their decks, but are getting asked, “What makes you different from MySpace/Facebook?” Many don’t have an answer.

Still, carriers have approached Xumii (a rare thing for a mobile startup), according to company chief executive Jennifer Zanich. She says they see Xumii as “an open version of Yahoo One Connect,” a popular mobile service.

Yahoo One Connect has gained a lot of acclaim from the industry because it lets you access a single service through which you can access other services. On most mobile devices you can’t run more than one app at a time, so there’s a bonus to having a central way to manage many of them.

Features Xumii promises to offer in the private beta include the following:

* All contacts from all social communities in the one place/list
* Presence & Availability – Status updates from mobile phone, social networks and IMs
* Ability for IM and offline communications that are persistent and threaded (history of chat)
* Groups – a microblogging shared private space one can invite others to
* Share rich graphics, photos, music, video, interactive apps (widgets)
* Walls –Personal Mobile Message Board – post messages, photos, interactive applications

Xumii, in some sense, appears to be joining a rather long and ever-growing list of mobile social networks. Some of them are showing amazing off-deck traction, getting into billions of page impressions per month. It’s a new twist on two services I’ve previously looked at: Bluepulse and Zannel.

One aspect of Xumii’s discussions with carriers include a revenue share of the data plan (even rarer), and transactions, Zannich disclosed. Other carriers are considering a subscription model (like Loopt has done, offering a fee per month per subscriber). The names of the carriers were not disclosed as the discussions are still pending.

Mind you, the carrier interest is an “accident” — Zanich is very firm in portraying Xumii as a consumer-orientated company, not a white-label service. We are curious to see whether users will show the same interest when the private beta is launched at the end of the month.

The company has received $4.3 million from CM Capital and Southern Cross Venture Partners, in November 2007.

[Xumii is a nominee for best mobile company at MobileBeat2008, VentureBeat's conference on July 24]

Featured companies: AngioScore, Forsight Labs, Genoptix, Metastatix, Optherion, QLT

UPDATED: See below.

Artery opener AngioScore pulls in $30M — AngioScore, a Fremont, Calif., maker of balloon catheters used to open up clogged arteries, raised $30 million in a fifth funding round. Investors included Telegraph Hill Partners, Psilos Group Management, QuestMark Partners, L.P., UV Partners, California Technology Ventures and Innomed Ventures.

AngioScore’s balloon catheters, which inflate inside blocked blood vessels to restore blood flow, are designed to overcome problems that sometimes occur during traditional angioplasty procedures. Conventional angioplasty can lead to tears and splits in the plaque that lines blocked arteries and can damage arterial walls as well. AngioScore claims its new catheter overcomes this problem by making precise cuts, or “scores,” in the plaque, thereby reducing the chance that it will crack and split unpredictably.

Optherion raises $37M for macular degeneration — New Haven, Conn.-based Optherion, a biotech focused on new treatments for forms of the eye condition macular degeneration, raised $37 million in a first funding round. Investors included Quaker BioVentures, Domain Associates, Johnson & Johnson Development, Purdue Pharmaceutical Products, Pappas Ventures, Biogen Idec New Ventures and GE Healthcare Financial Services.

Optherion is developing drugs that affect the “alternative complement pathway,” an arm of the immune system that may be implicated in two forms of macular degeneration, an eye condition that can lead to partial blindness, and possibly other autoimmune disorders as well. The company was founded in 2005 following discoveries that linked the alternative-complement system to macular degeneration.

Metastatix draws $35M for low-side-effect drugs — Atlanta’s Metastatix, a biotech working on drugs for AIDS, cancer and inflammatory disease, raised $35 million in a second financing round. Investors included Frazier Healthcare, H.I.G. Ventures, the Aurora Funds, CM Capital, SR One, MedImmune Ventures, Georgia Venture Partners, Centrosome Ventures and the State of Georgia.

Metastatix is developing drugs that block a cellular receptor called CXCR4, which is best known as one of the two ways HIV can enter and infect cells. CXCR4 may also be involved in cancer and inflammation. Metastatix says it is particularly focused on drug candidates with the “fewest possible side effects.”

Optical-device incubator Forsight Labs sells unnamed “newco” to QLT for $42M+ — Forsight Labs, an incubator for optical-device companies backed by Morgenthaler Ventures, Split Rock Partners and Versant Ventures, agreed to sell its second, unnamed startup to QLT for $42 million plus milestone payments that could be worth $25 million or more. The startup, known only as ForSight NewCo II, has developed a new type of ocular drug-delivery system that could potentially be used to treat a variety of conditions including glaucoma. The release describing the deal is here.

Diagnostic-services company Genoptix sets IPO terms, aims for $92M — The Carlsbad, Calif., provider of cancer and blood-disease diagnostic services, said it plans to sell up to 5.75 million shares at a price of $14 to $16 apiece, for a maximum possible take of $92 million. The company’s SEC filing is here. We covered the company in some detail at the time of its IPO filing here.

UPDATE: Added items on Metastatix and Optherion.