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SpikeSource, a startup that helps companies build, test and integrate software, is partnering with Intel to launch the SpikeSource Solutions Factory Platform. For SpikeSource, it’s a big strategy change — instead of partnering with independent software vendors, the startup will now provide its technology to major players like Intel so they can certify products in their ISV networks.

The new platform could catapult SpikeSource into the big leagues. When SpikeSource launches a new product, it normally signs up around 30 ISV customers, says Dominic Sartorio, SpikeSource’s senior director of product management. With the Intel deal, the Redwood City, Calif.-based startup hopes to reach 200 customers in the next few months, then hold a bigger launch and reach out to the full pool of 12,000 ISVs that’s already registered with Intel.

To help SpikeSource meet the increased demand, the company has raised a new round of funding. Intel’s investment branch Intel Capital contributed $10 million, while Kleiner Perkins, Fidelity Ventures, CMEA Ventures and DAG Ventures — who are all prior investors — also contributed undisclosed amounts.

Sartorio says SpikeSource’s platform allows ISVs (namely, companies making software, usually niche software) to assemble, test, package and update their products automatically. It combines the different offerings that SpikeSource has developed since it was founded in 2003, and creates a single package that Intel — and, eventually, other big vendors — can use to give its seal of approval to new software.

Each of the platform’s components (security, inventory, updating, etc.) faces real competition, but Sartorio says SpikeSource is the first company to bring everything together in a commercial product. The only real competitors are do-it-yourself, in-house solutions developed by big tech companies, he says.

The new approach should help software vendors to get their products to market, because the platform makes it easy for them to use Intel’s branding and distribution network. Sartorio hopes to eventually sell the platform to enterprise IT departments and to the developer community as well, although the company is still figuring out the details.

SpikeSource first made a name for itself as an open source company, but the new platform is compatible with proprietary and hybrid software, Sartorio says. At the same time, it still serves open source developers, and parts of the platform are open source too.

The startup has a high-profile chief executive — Kim Polese, who was the original product manager of Java, and who was declared “the web’s 1997 It Girl” by Time Magazine.

Read our previous coverage of the company here.

This new funding should be SpikeSource’s last before it becomes profitable or makes an exit, Sartorio says.

[This article is expanded from a VentureBeat Wire story posted earlier today.]

InSound Medical, a medical-device startup in Newark, Calif., wants to let people with hearing loss regain that sense without having to wear a conspicuous hearing aid. Instead of clipping around the ear or fitting precariously into the opening of the auditory canal, the company’s Lyric hearing aid is implanted deeper into that canal, where it can remain for up to four months.

The device uses an extended-wear battery and is implanted in a non-surgical procedure in a doctor’s office. Every two to four months, a Lyric device must be extracted and replaced with a new device. InSound sells Lyric on a “subscription” model, in which patients buy a year’s worth of devices at a time. (That’s a company graphic of the device below.)

InSound just raised $11 million in an extension to its fifth round of funding, according to Dan Saccani, the company’s CFO. Investors in the round included De Novo Ventures, J&J Development and CMEA Ventures.

The Lyric was cleared by the FDA in late 2002, although InSound didn’t launch it until last year, Saccani told me. During that time, it underwent a name change — it was originally called the InSound XT — and additional engineering development. The Lyric is currently in limited release in the San Francisco Bay Area.

A five-year delay between approval and product launch is pretty unusual in my experience of the medical-device industry, although I’d be the first to admit I haven’t fully grasped all of its ins and outs. The XT received fast FDA approval because it’s not a surgical device, Saccani said, adding that continuing to develop a product following FDA approval “happens all the time” in the industry.

I’m apparently not the only one a bit baffled by this situation. This 2003 article in Ear, Nose and Throat Journal also describes the San Francisco Bay Area as “the first test market for the InSound XT in 2003.”

InSound doesn’t disclose the Lyric’s price, either — in a FAQ for patients on its Web site, the company replies to the sensible question of cost by blathering on about the revolutionary nature of the device and then suggests that patients “[t]alk with your ENT physician and audiologist to discuss pricing and payment options.” (ENTs are ear, nose and throat doctors.) Saccani explained that because the Lyric is only available on a limited basis, the company is keeping pricing information “close to the vest.”

(UPDATED: See below.)

A common dilemma in biotech acquisitions is how to keep a startup’s entrepreneurial management happy and productive when they’ve just been assimilated by the Borg. The answer, often enough, is not to bother, and to let them spin out a new company with scientific “leftovers” that weren’t the point of the acquisition in the first place.

That’s more or less what Amgen has just done in launching Relypsa, a new Santa Clara, Calif., biotech just spun out of the big biotech’s Ilypsa unit. Relypsa is basically a full restart of Ilypsa — thus the name, I suppose — which Amgen acquired earlier this year for roughly $420 million (see our coverage here).

Of course, the new startup now lacks the kidney-disease drug (specifically, a treatment for hyperphosphatemia) that Amgen had shown particular interest in. But Relypsa is free to rev up its existing drug-discovery platform — one focused on making drugs out of long-lasting polymers that grab and eliminate excess molecules such as potassium or sodium — and also managed to keep a pipeline of promising candidates that might one day be useful in treating kidney and heart disease.

Such restarts of acquired biotechs aren’t unknown in the industry, although they’ve been growing in popularity. For instance, the former management of Eyetech Pharmaceuticals recently banded together to form Ophthotech with technology left over from Eyetech after it was swallowed by OSI Pharmaceuticals (our coverage here). This sort of strategy is likely to hold increasing relevance for Big Pharma as its companies fire up their biotech-acquisition machines.

The Relypsa deal, however, may set records for speed and continuity. The former CEO of Ilypsa, Jay Shepard, reprises that role at Relypsa; Ilypsa co-founder Garrett Klaerner returns as COO; and Ilypsa’s former chief medical officer Detlef Albrecht now resumes that position at Relypsa. (Honestly, props to whoever came up with the name “Relypsa,” because it’s really apropos here.) And so on down the line.

Relypsa raised $33 million in a first spinout round, with investors that included 5AM Ventures, New Leaf Venture Partners, the Sprout Group, Delphi Ventures, CMEA Ventures and Mediphase Venture Partners. Amgen, of course, retains a minority stake in Relypsa, and probably insisted on some form of right-of-first-refusal should Relypsa get interested in striking a partnership with — or selling itself to — another company. (I’ve asked Relypsa’s representatives about that, and will report back if I learn more.)

UPDATE: Relypsa’s external PR person got back to me on the right-of-first-refusal question, but kudos to you if you can make any sense of it. Here’s the response in its entirety: “Amgen retained certain rights related to transferred programs customary for spin outs at this stage. Relypsa will initiate partnering campaigns for certain indications and territories as appropriate.” Well, that was helpful. Sometimes I wonder why I bother asking.

UPDATE REDUX: In a later interview, Relypsa COO Gerrit Klaerner told me that “of course” Relypsa has an “entanglement” with Amgen, although he wouldn’t go much further than the official statement in describing Amgen’s particular rights. “There is enough skin in the game for Amgen to keep an interest in Relypsa,” he said. “If you see us doing a partnership, you will get an answer to your question.”

Klaerner added that the idea of recreating Ilypsa came up shortly after the acquisition. “We wanted to save a bunch of jobs and create a new home for the technology,” said Klaerner, who worked as an advisor to 5AM for the deal. “We had 38 people who, after the success of Ilypsa, had multiple job offers and asked them to stick with us, even though the company wasn’t really created.” What’s more, he said, Amgen’s backing of the deal didn’t waver despite the company’s recent woes (see, for instance, here). “Given what they were going through, to give this level of high-level support was really, really remarkable,” Klaerner said.

Oh, and the name Relypsa was apparently an internal placeholder that turned into the real thing when no one could think of anything better, Klaerner said.

FINAL UPDATE: I started thinking about other recent deals that resemble Ilypsa-Relypsa after an email correspondent planted the bug in my ear. The one that comes most immediately to mind would be the launch of Sequel Pharmaceuticals — another clever name — out of NovaCardia’s acquisition by Merck (our coverage here). Another example would be Cerexa Pharmaceuticals, which spun out of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals in 2005 after Peninsula was purchased by J&J. Cerexa was acquired by Forest Labs this past January, and doesn’t appear to have launched another spinout.

Have any other good examples? Sound off in comments.

Battery maker A123 Systems has secured its place as the most heavily funded battery startup, adding $30 million in its fifth round of funding.

Early this year, A123 broke $100 million. The Watertown, Mass. company, which is developing new lithium ion technology, already has some products on the market, mainly batteries for hand-held power tools. More importantly, companies like General Electric are considering its technology for use in upcoming hybrid vehicles.

A123 has shown itself to be rather aggressive, chasing down potential customers and acquiring Hymotion, a related battery tech firm, and with the potential for battery storage technology, it’s no surprise that plenty of firms are ready to invest.

The company didn’t disclose which investor led the round, but aside from a number of well known venture and private equity firms — Sequoia Capital, North Bridge Venture Partners, CMEA Ventures, FA Technology Ventures, OnPoint and Carruth Management — several other large institutions invested, including General Electric, Procter & Gamble, Alliance Capital, Motorola, Qualcomm, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Desh Deshpande, who is the company’s chairman.

Other lithium ion battery companies include San Francisco’s Li*On Cells and Fremont, Calif.’s Mobius Power (see our June coverage). Other battery companies working with lithium ion or some other material include Valence, Saft, EEStor and Infinite Power Solutions.

Here’s the latest action:
1) Brightroll raises $5M for video ads
2) LGC Wireless acquired for $169M plus
3) InterviewUp, answers for job interviews
4) Alibaba.com to go public
5) Yahoo’s CMO leaves, without explanation
6) Tesla’s shocking $1M crash tests
7) Tumblr, Collective Media, Veeker, MobileEye, BioFuelBox, GameLayers, Shooner, all raise cash
8) Boston’s Entrepreneur site

Brightroll serves billionth video ad, raises $5 million – The mark comes less than six months after serving half that number. The San Francisco company, which helps large ad agencies and brands sell video ads across leading web sites, has also raised $5 million from new investor KPG Ventures,
True Ventures and Adams Streep Partners.

LGC Wireless acquired by ADC Telecommunications – As we reported last week, LGC Wireless has been bought. Now its official by who. ADC picks it up for $169 million plus about $20.5 million in debt. LGC’s technology strengthens cell signal coverage in buildings, airports and other indoor areas. LGC Wireless had sales of $83 million in year ending Sept. 30. The 11-year-old company had raised $93 million in funding. Investors included Rembrandt Venture Partners, the Mayfield Fund, Allegis Capital, Crystal Ventures, Intel Capital, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and Dali Hook Partners.

InterviewUp is Q&A site for job interviews — The site is designed to help interviewers collect challenging questions and interviewees find good answers. We’re not sure the world needs another Q&A site, but a post discussing Google’s interview questions scored over 1500 diggs. If InterviewUp can deliver juicy tidbits like these, it has a shot. For more.

Yahoo’s chief marketing officer Cammie Dunaway leaves – She was head of the customer experience division, and there was no reason given for the departure (details here).

Alibaba Group, 39 percent owned by Yahoo, plans Alibaba.com IPO for Nov. 6th in Hong Kong – The IPO is expected to be the biggest ever by a Chinese Internet company, raising as much as $1.5 billion. Earlier story here from WSJ.

Collective Media, another online ad network, raises funds –The company says it reaches 120 million unique users per month. The round was led by Greycroft Partners, with iNovia Capital participating. More here.

Tumblr, offers you a lean Web site — The New York company offers you a personal site where can collect, share and discuss what headlines and other things found online. It lets you pull in your Twitter feeds, too. Other than that, its has few frills. It has raised $750,000 in a first round of funding from Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures.

Veeker, a mobile video and picture messaging startup, appears to be stuck — The San Francisco start-up raised $2.5 million from Labrador Ventures, but is struggling amid competition.

Tesla’s $1M crash tests — Ouch, at $1M each, no wonder executives at Tesla were gasping at the cost per crash for the testing of the anticipated all electric sports car. Apparently, though, the cost per crash is now a mere $300,000 (Earth2Tech).

Goldman Sachs invests $100M in Israel MobileEye, for driving tool — MobileEye’s technology calculates the speed and distance of a vehicle in front of a car, and alerts the driver when other vehicles are too close. The company raised the money at a pre-money valuation of $500M, reports Israel’s Globes. MobileEye, which has already raised $50M, plans an IPO for next year. The company says that it will have $10M in sales this year and that it will become profitable in 2008. Here’s its statement.

BioFuelBox, biofuel refining startup, raises $9.46M in first round — Backers of the a Hollister, Calif. start-up include Draper Fisher Jurvetson and DFJ Element. PE Hub has the scoop, reporting that the company’s technology is a “bio-refinery in a box — a modular, containerized innovation that produces biofuel cost-effectively and easily.”

GameLayers, a passive multiplayer online game maker, raises $500,000 — The San Francisco company is backed by O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Joi Ito and Richard Wolpert, reports PEHub.Schooner Information Technology, secretive finance company, raises $3.33 million — The company plans a $15 million total first round, according to regulatory filings cited by PE Week. The round was led by CMEA Ventures. The Oakland, Calif., company is led by Richard Busch, formerly with Sun Microsystems as research director of computer system architecture and analysis.

Social networking site for VCs launching next month in Boston – TheFunded lets entrepreneurs talk about VCs. Next month, the New England Venture Network will launch venturenetwork.vc, a place for VC’s to talk about deals. A deals section will feature a Craigslist-like listing of investment opportunities, including a place for VCs to post about companies that are looking for funding, that they chose not to invest in. A questions section will let analysts query VCs. A jobs section will let VCs advertise openings at portfolio companies. Via The Boston Globe.

Cnano Technology, a developer of carbon nanotubes, raised $6 million. CMEA Ventures and Pangaea Ventures led the round, joined by WI Harper.

Cnano, which maintains offices in Menlo Park, Calif., and a manufacturing facility in China, aims to improve the quality and efficiency of nanotube manufacture. Nanotubes are tiny tubes, often only a few atoms wide, that are formed out of a single-atom-thick carbon mesh-like structure. The tubes exhibit tremendous tensile strength and have other unusual properties, such as conducting heat and electricity in a controllable fashion.

From the company’s release:

Cnano has pioneered a novel hybrid technology that results in significantly reduced manufacturing costs compared to any other carbon nanotube production methods to date. “Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes, the applications have been limited due to high costs. With our patented, mass production technology, Cnano is strategically positioned to provide high quality nanotube products at good prices for our customers,” noted Xindi Wu, Cnano president and CEO.

Nanotubes, which can also be manufactured in a “nested” form known as multiple-walled nanotubes, may have important applications in biotechnology and sensitive diagnostics. The tubes may also be useful in developing super-strong fibers and other materials, and might be important as a way of helping chipmakers keep up with Moore’s Law.

Intermolecular, a new company located in the heart of Silicon Valley’s chip industry (San Jose, Calif.), has launched a technology it says will help semiconductor companies accelerate their research and development of new materials.

Manufacturing breakthroughs in semiconductors are getting more difficult, because of the tiny size of today’s chips. Finding new materials has become the hope for many chip companies. Intermolecular, which has been secretive for almost three years, has raised $36 million to develop its platform, which lets chip companies perform many more tests in R&D.

Early investors were CMEA Ventures and Redpoint Ventures, and U.S. Venture Partners and Symyx Technologies joined more recently.

Here’s a snippet from trade pub Semiconductor International (sorry, no link):

Today, much of the industry’s R&D is done with process equipment intended for volume wafer processing. By contrast, the Intermolecular system is intended to create “massively parallel” processes on a 300 mm wafer, up to 570 distinct process variations on a single wafer, said Gus Pinto, executive vice president of business development.

Intermolecular has worked with “a large logic manufacturer” to synthesize a unique molecule that will be used in copper interconnects at the 32 nm node. “This is a molecule that doesn’t exist anywhere else on Earth today, engineered to have properties of interest to that application,” [chief exec David] Lazovsky said. The Intermolecular approach helped the customer develop a novel integration scheme, including a specific process that allows the integration of the self-assembled monolayer. He called it “one of first implementations of a self-assembled copper monolayer.”

The company says it has more than 700 patents granted or applied for.