Sadra Medical raises $30M for aortic valve replacement
Sadra Medical, which is developing a procedure to replace the aortic valve (for the less medically-savvy, that’s part of your heart), has raised $30 million in a third round of funding. The Campbell, Calif., company dubs its procedure “percutaneous aortic valve replacement,” and it involves placing the prosthetic valve in a patient’s heart by threading a catheter through their arteries. The round was led by Accuitive Medical Ventures, with participation from previous investors Boston Scientific,… Continue Reading
SecondMarket sets up online marketplace for private stock sales
SecondMarket, formerly known as Restricted Stock Partners, has launched an online marketplace where private companies and their employees can sell stock, and it claims to have 600 reputable investors already signed up as buyers.
Trading in this environment will give companies greater control over how they sell their stock and who gets to buy it, the firm says. The service has been in testing over the last year but is coming to a head now that… Continue Reading
Entrepreneurs: Apply for Silicon Alley Insider’s startup conference!
Silicon Alley Insider is launching its first annual “Startup” conference, a one-day event and competition meant to recognize the very best early-stage internet company. You can enter your startup this week for the opportunity to win buzz, bragging rights and $50,000 in cash and prizes.
Applying for the conference is free, and all entries will be evaluated by General Catalyst Partners, Softbank, Venrock, and FirstMark Capital for possible investments. The top 10 companies will be featured… Continue Reading
Aptus takes $30M to repair aneurysms
Aptus Endosystems, a biotech firm working on a device to fix abdominal aneurysms, just brought in $30 million in third-round funding to finish off clinical trials of its Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair System, reports VentureWire. Heron Capital led the round, which also included Longitude Capital, Oakwood Medical Investors, Baird Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, Prism VentureWorks and US Venture Partners.
The Sunnyvale, Calif. company says the round should be enough to cover the U.S. launch of the… Continue Reading
WePlay plays with Little League, Derek Jeter and LeBron James, raises $8.6M
If you get superstar athletes to invest in your youth-sports social network, does that mean you’re onto something big?
WePlay seems to think so. The company, which combines standard social network features with scheduling functionality to manage practices and games, hopes to attract young athletes and their parents and coaches, and has just raised $8.6 million in its second round of funding. While Deep Fork Capital led the round, previous investors Derek Jeter, LeBron James and… Continue Reading
Clickable targets small to medium-sized search advertisers, raises $14.5M
Ads that appear next to search results are one of the most valuable forms of online advertising, because they are matched with users’ searches for things they want to buy. You see an ad next to a result for what you’re looking for, then you click on the ad instead of the result, and make a purchase. But organizing large search ad campaigns gets complicated, because these ads are matched up with a user’s search… Continue Reading
Riot Games raises round for quick-hit 3D online games
Venture capitalists tend to stay away from funding game developers because games are considered a hit or miss business. But Riot Games has convinced some VCs it has some hits on the way. The company has raised a $7 million round of funding from Benchmark Capital and FirstMark Capital.
The money will go to complete the company’s first game, said Marc Merrill, president and chief marketing officer of the Los Angeles company. He isn’t telling what… Continue Reading