VentureBeat

Outbrain is a new start-up that gives blog readers a way to rate and recommend news items, by using a recommendation engine that is similar to Amazon’s feature that offers up other items that people like you have already enjoyed.

While there are several such “collaborative filtering” recommendation engines such as Amazon’s on the market (there’s Last.fm for music, for example), there are few services that focus solely on news. There’s a competing service Spotback, but it lets people rate any content, and isn’t as focused. Outbrain offers site-owners a widget (see screenshot below) that lets readers rate each news article according a five-star system. That way, Outbrain can track what stories you like, and recommend similar stories going forward. Other people making similar choices as you have in the past will also see which ones you’ve ranked higher or lower.

The New York company was launched by Yaron Galai, the co-founder of Quigo, which recently was acquired by AOL for a reported $350 million (not bad, given that Quigo took only $40 million in capital). Quigo offers something similar to Google’s Adsense (ads that are placed besides relevant content), but Quigo served very large publishers who wanted more transparency than Google’s service provided. There, Galia worked with large companies like Fox, ABC, NBC, ESPN, Time Warner and some 250 newspapers. So maybe its no surprise that he’s focusing his next venture on serving the publishing industry.

Galia told me he was tired of wasting his time, reading over articles that he didn’t like, just because they were posted at a favorite Web site.

The company has just raised $5 million in a first round of capital from Gemini Israel Funds and Lightspeed Venture Partners. GlenRock Israel, which seeded the company early on, also participated.

Galia said thousands of websites have already installed the Outbrain widget, which can be gotten here. More information about how it works is here.

Outbrain also offers an API, so that news aggregation sites can also use it.

Featured companies: Atritech, Avalon Partners, Ensemble Discovery, Hyperion Therapeutics, LifeBond, ReShape Medical, SafeStitch, Trophos, UltraShape

Hyperion Therapeutics raises $40M against GI and kidney disease — Hyperion Therapeutics, a South San Francisco, Calif., specialty pharmaceutical company, raised $40 million in a second funding round. Investors included Sofinnova Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, New Enterprise Associates and WRF Capital.

Hyperion, which buys the rights to test and market drug candidates from other companies, said the proceeds will allow it to complete a licensing agreement with Medicis Pharmaceutical’s Ucyclyd subsidiary, build out its management team and advance its clinical trials. The company’s two leading candidates address a genetic disease called urea cycle disorder, in which toxic ammonia builds up in the blood stream, and hepatic encephalopathy, a neurological complication of cirrhosis.

Atritech raises $22M for clot-prevention device — Plymouth, Minn.-based Atritech, a developer of a device designed to prevent dangerous blood clots, raised $22 million in a fourth funding round. Investors included SightLine Healthcare Vintage Fund, Prism Venture Partners and other existing investors.

Atritech’s device, which it calls the Watchman system, is essentially a tiny mesh basket designed to be implanted in the opening to the heart’s left atrial appendage, a small pouch on the top of the heart. That pouch is often the source of blood clots in patients with atrial fibrillation, a condition in which the heart’s upper chambers beat too fast. Ideally, the implanted basket will catch clots that threaten to escape into the bloodstream, where they could cause a stroke.

The funding will allow Atritech to finish enrolling patients in a late-stage trial of the Watchman device, which is being tested against a blood thinner typically given to prevent clots from forming.

UltraShape gets $15.1M for “body contouring” — UltraShape, an Israeli developer of ultrasound systems designed to break down fat cells for cosmetic purposes, raised $15.1 million in a fifth funding round. Investors included Meritech Capital Partners, Israel Seed Partners and Polaris Venture Partners. The company’s non-invasive device isn’t approved for use in the U.S.

Trophos raises $11.6M for neurological drugs — Trophos, a Marseille, France, biotech focused on developing new drugs for neurological conditions, raised $11.6 million (€8.5 million) in a third round of funding. Investors included OTC Asset Management, CM-CIC Capital Privé, Society General Asset Management (SGAM), Viveris Management, Turenne Capital Partners, Blue Medical and the Association Française contre les Myopathies.

Trophos develops drugs that it believes will promote the survival of neurons threatened by degenerative neurological diseases such as Huntingdon’s disease. Its leading candidates target neuropathic pain and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

SafeStitch goes public in reverse merger, raises $4M in debt — SafeStitch, a Miami medical-device maker without a Web site, went public in a reverse merger with the defunct firm Cellular Technical Services. The company will list its shares on the American Stock Exchange. As part of the deal, SafeStitch raised a $4 million line of credit from the Frost Group, a private-equity firm, and also takes control of $3 million in cash held by CTS. The company makes devices for minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgery.

NationsHealth acquires Diabetes Care & Education for $3M — NationsHealth, a Sunrise, Fla., provider of medical products and insurance-related services, acquired Diabetes Care & Education, a provider of insulin pumps and related supplies for diabetics. NationsHealth will pay $3 million, $2.5 million in cash and $500,000 in unregistered common stock.

Obesity-device maker ReShape Medical pulls in $3M — ReShape Medical, a Lake Forest, Calif., developer of minimally invasive medical devices to treat obesity, raised $3 million in a follow-on to its first funding round, PE Hub reported, citing a regulatory filing. Investors included New Leaf Venture Partners and SV Life Sciences. The company was previously known as Abdominis, and has now raised a total of $8 million.

Avalon Ventures raises $84 million in eighth fund — Avalon Ventures, a La Jolla, Calif., venture-capital firm specializing in life-science and wireless-technology companies, raised $84 million in an eighth fund, VentureWire reports (subscription required), citing a regulatory filing. Avalon previously raised $75 million for its seventh fund, which closed in 2005.

LifeBond gets $1.5M for new surgical bandages — LifeBond, a Jerusalem-based device company, raised $1.5 million. Investors included GlenRock Israel and the Zitelman Group.

LifeBond is developing a bandage that exudes a sticky gel when it comes into contact with blood, presumably creating a barrier that minimizes blood loss.

Ensemble Discovery , a Cambridge, Mass., biotech, named former Pfizer vice president Michael Taylor as its CEO. Ensemble is developing new drugs and tests based on large, repetitive molecules called macrocycles.

Ensemble raised $17 million in a first funding round in 2004, and in February VentureWire reported that the company was closing a second round in the “tens of millions.”