Life sciences briefing: Monday, Feb. 11, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
PolyRemedy, developer of robotic wound care, takes in $25M (release)
Bacchus Vascular gets $15M for clot-busting device (VentureWire)
Protein-evolution company Modular Genetics gets $1.2M (VentureWire)
PharmatrophiX gets $300K for Alzheimer’s disease prevention drugs (release)
Light Sciences Oncology withdraws IPO (Edgar)
Arizona’s Translational Accelerator launches $20M life-sciences fund (bizjournals.com)
Cornea-reshaper Avedro gets $7M (VentureWire)
Gastrotech Pharma gets $6M in wake of Lilly deal (VentureWire)
Biomaterials maker MiMedx goes public via reverse merger (release)
Acrongenomics to complete acquisition of Molecular Vision by the end of… Continue Reading
Jingle Networks rings up $13M for directory assistance
A competitor to free phone directory assistance services offered by Microsoft and Google, Menlo Park’s Jingle Networks runs 1-800-Free-411, one of the most popular in the category.
We’ve written about Jingle before. Back in 2006, we reported that it had just taken $30 million with a $150+ million valuation, driven by advertising played back to callers.
In the interim, the company has grown from a base of some 200 advertisers to over 50,000, according to the Investor’s… Continue Reading
Blackwave, says it has major storage improvement for video
updated
Blackwave, a video storage company that says it can store video seven to ten times more efficiently than other technologies, has raised $16 million more in a second round of financing. The company’s bold technology claims, however, can’t be verified just yet: It plans to roll out its video product in the first quarter of next year.
The market for video storage is large and increasing, because online video quality is increasing and there are more… Continue Reading
Roundup: Verizon, Gdrive, and more
1) Verizon to let “any apps, any device” onto its network
2) Google GDrive is real, almost here
3) Brightcove to focus on video distribution for its partners
4) JotSpot, where are you?
5) GuildCafe, a social network for gamers, buys Uberguilds Network, an online gaming network
6) Xbox introduces more advanced friend features
Verizon to let “any apps, any device” onto its network – There’s lots of excitement today about an announcement by oligarchic mobile carrier Verizon that it will… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007
Featured companies: Cyntellect, Lectus Therapeutics, NeoMatrix, Nexstim, Pearl Therapeutics, Proteon Therapeutics, SupplyScape
(UPDATED at 10am PT: See below.)
Airway-disease specialist Pearl Therapeutics raises $15.5M — Redwood City, Calif.-based Pearl Therapeutics, a drug-formulation company focused on respiratory disease, raised $15.5 million in a first funding round. Investors included New Leaf Ventures, Clarus Ventures and 5AM Ventures.
Pearl doesn’t appear to have a working Web site yet, but according to its release, the company aims to treat unspecified airway diseases using “particle… Continue Reading
Dell buys Zing, wireless access company for digital players
Dell said it has agreed to buy Zing Systems, a Mountain View, Calif. company that provides wireless download technology for mp3 or digital players. The terms were undisclosed.
Dell said it bought the company (see statement) to help its consumer business, but did not specify what devices would be supported with Zing’s WiFi access technology.
Although Zing doesn’t solve the wireless download problem for Apple’s iPod/iPhone, it does it for other mp3 or digital players, such as… Continue Reading
Curse, a maker of social networks for multi-player games
Curse, another online company that offers social networking around multi-player online games, has received a $5 million in a first round of venture capital funding.
Curse offers gamers the standard social networking features around their games, from image and video uploading, to blogging, social bookmarking, wikis, databases, forums and guild website hosting.
The funding, which comes from France’s AGF Private Equity and other individual investors, follows more than $800,000 in angel money, the company said in a… Continue Reading
Zing, developer of WiFi mobile devices, raises $13M
Zing Systems, a Mountain View company developing WiFi mobile audio and entertainment devices that are “always connected,” and which don’t require connection to a PC, has raised $13 million in a third round of funding, according to VentureWire.
The funding, which closed last month, was led by new investor IDG Ventures Boston with participation from previous investors Redpoint Ventures and Camp Ventures. Zing Chief Financial Officer Doug Sinclair said the company has now raised less than… Continue Reading
Mall Networks raises $2 million for online customer loyalty programs
Mall Networks, a two-year old company that develops online customer loyalty sites for sports organizations such as the Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Dodgers and other organizations, said it has raised $2 million in a second round of venture capital.
The round was led by the Venture Capital Fund of New England, and included existing investors IDG Ventures Boston and LBO Enterprises. It follows $2 million in March.
The company is headquartered in Lexington, Mass. with an office… Continue Reading