VentureBeat

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 Q1 (release)

PolyRemedy, developer of robotic wound care, takes in $25M – Mountain View, Calif.-based PolyRemedy, a developer of systems that robotically manufacture wound dressings for patients, raised $25 million in a second funding round. Investors included Advanced Technology Ventures, IDG Ventures Boston, MedVenture Associates and Harris & Harris Group.

PolyRemedy has been keeping quiet about its work until now, but the company’s release lays out its strategy, which is to fabricate customized wound dressings at the “point of care” — here, apparently, doctors’ offices and home-care situations. The goal is to provide better treatment for chronic wounds such as diabetic ulcers, a common complication of diabetes that can manifest in the feet and other extremities as a result of nerve damage and poor blood circulation. The company claims its technology has been proven in clinical trials, but hasn’t provided any details.

Bacchus Vascular gets $15M for clot-busting device – Bacchus Vascular, a Santa Clara, Calif., developer of devices for local drug treatment of blood clots, raised $15 million in an extension of a recent recapitalization round, VentureWire reports. Investors included Vertical Group, Warburg Pincus, Kaiser Permanente Venture Development and Bacchus founder Thomas J. Fogarty.

Bacchus makes and markets a system it calls Trellis, which is a minimally invasive, catheter-based device consisting of two inflatable balloons and a “dispersion wire.” Physicians thread the catheter through the clot and inflate balloons at each end of it, then infuse a clot-busting drug directly into the clot. The dispersion wire then mechanically helps break up the clot, whose remains are then sucked out through the catheter. Bacchus is currently focused on deep-vein thrombosis, which are large clots usually located in the legs. Its device was approved in 2005, and the company intends to use the new funds to expand its marketing efforts.

Bacchus restarted with a $7.6 million recapitalization in June 2006 after apparently exhausting the patience of two initial investors, Three Arch Partners and De Novo Ventures, who haven’t participated in subsequent fundings. Prior to the recapitalization, Bacchus had raised $40 million, according to VentureWire.

Protein-evolution company Modular Genetics gets $1.2M – Modular Genetics, a Cambridge, Mass., biotech that engineers new proteins with enhanced function, raised $1.2 million toward an expected $5 million fourth funding round, VentureWire reports. Individual investors provided the funding.

Modular makes a gene-engineering system it calls the CombiGenex that can shuffle and recombine genes in order to make modified or novel proteins. By making thousands of slightly different molecules and then screening for the ones with improved functions, Modular aims to “evolve” new proteins for therapeutic uses.

PharmatrophiX gets $300K for Alzheimer’s disease prevention drugs – San Francisco’s PharmatrophiX (no Web site), a biotech working on drugs that prevent neurodegenerative disease, received a $300,000 grant from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation. Founded by Stanford researcher Frank Longo, PharmatrophiX is developing a class of drugs that mimic the activity of proteins called neurotrophins, which aid in the development, health and survival of neurons.

Light Sciences Oncology withdraws IPO – Bellevue, Wash.-based Light Sciences Oncology, a developer of light-activated chemotherapy, withdrew its $96.6 million IPO, citing “unfavorable market conditions.” Light Sciences becomes the seventh life-science startup to yank an IPO filing this year.

Light Sciences has kept hope alive for an awfully long time. The company originally filed its registration statement in April 2006, but hasn’t amended it since September of that year. Light Sciences raised $30 million in a second funding round last July, despite its still-active IPO registration.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this item misstated PolyRemedy’s systems as “robotically apply[ing] wound dressings.” I’ve restated that to match the description in the second paragraph, which accurately describes the systems.

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 people streaming it, and so storage demands are exploding too, both from publishers who need to store it all somewhere, but also content delivery networks that store video too, such as Akamai Technologies and Limelight Networks. Blackwave serves both publishers and CDN.

The company has changed its name from Ancinon. Blackwave’s investors include Sigma Partners, Globespan Capital Partners and IDG Ventures Boston.

The Acton, Mass. company’s product is a mixture of hardware and software components. The hardware is off-the-shelf. On the software side, there are two parts. First, the software improves the process of how to store data. It seeks to understand the content, for example to distinguish between a user-generated video or a tv show. It does this by checking the “meta data” of information contained around a video identifying the name of the content and creator, for example. Then Blackwave’s software algorithms deliver storage resources based on the popularity of the content.

Update: For a more in-depth review, see GigaOm’s piece here.

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 let any application or device developer access its network — even somebody “in their basement,” a Verizon executive said.

At first glance, this is great news for mobile startups, because it could mean they’ll get less restricted access to Verizon’s 63.7 million customers. Verizon will publish its technical standards in early 2008, that developers will need to follow in order to work with Verizon’s mobile network. If you meet the minimal standard, Verizon will activate you, with designs being tested and approved in a special Verizon testing lab. Verizon customers will be able to choose any application on their devices.

With this timing, Verizon will be getting a jump on a rival effort, the Google-led Android open source mobile software project, as Larry Dignan points out.

There are all sorts of details that need to be clarified in Verizon’s plans or developers may stay in their basements, such as what turnaround time for testing will be, a better understanding of Verizon’s standards and the price of certification fees.

For more, see Om’s pithy take.

Google GDrive is real, almost here – Rumors have abounded around the blogosphere for years about such a service. Google’s GDrive will let you store large files, like video, music, and images Like Box.net, the Wall Street Journal reports. This apparently means it will compete against file-hosting startups like Box.net, Divshare and many others. Google already lets users have a few gigabyts of storage for free in GMail, its online email service. Gmail has been steadily increasing its storage capacity, recently adding a subscription-fee enterprise version with storage up to 25 gigabytes for a single account.

Brightcove to focus on video distribution for its partners – The company has until now offered a public site, Brightcove.tv, where users could share videos, but it was really late to the game. There are a horde of online video startups experimenting with variations on that theme. Brightcove, which raised a huge $59 million round last January, will stop allowing users to upload videos on December 17. It will focus on being a specialized media platform for media companies — including some of its funders, such as the The New York Times, Hearst, CBS, and others.

JotSpot, where are you? – Since JotSpot, the wiki company, was purchased by Google in 2006, it has closed off registration for new users and has otherwise gone quiet. The sharp eyes in the forums section of Google Blogoscoped spotted another clue over the weekend that JotSpot is returning soon — a new mention of Jotspot in some Google software code. We’ve also been hearing rumblings that it will be introduced soon and integrated with other Google Apps like Gmail and Google Docs.

GuildCafe, a social network for gamers, buys Uberguilds Network, an online gaming network — Guildcafe connects gamers across so-called massively multiplayer online role-playing games (or MMOGs), including World of Warcraft, the Lord of the Rings Online, and Guild Wars. Players can form groups, or “guilds,” that can move across these games. The purchase negotiation was no doubt bloodily simulated between the two companies in a virtual battle fought across the MMOGscape. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed.

Cambridge, Mass.-based Guildcafe raised an undisclosed amount from IDG Ventures Boston back in July, apparently to acquire companies.

Xbox introduces more advanced friend features – If you’re one of the eight million Xbox Live users around the world, you’ll be able to see who your friends on Xbox are friends with. Question is, when will Xbox owner Microsoft sync this the data in its social network ally, Facebook.

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 technologies” it has licensed from Nektar Therapeutics. Nektar, of course, is the company that spent years co-developing the inhalable insulin Exubera with Pfizer, only to see it flop in the marketplace — not least because the bulky inhaler resembled nothing so much as a bong.

In fact, Pearl’s ties to Nektar run deep. In addition to licensing its basic technology from Nektar, the company was founded in 2006 by two former Nektar executives, Adrian Smith and Sarvajna Dwivedi. Pearl most likely also aims to reformulate existing drugs into a better inhalable form — and presumably hopes for better luck in doing so.

Proteon Therapeutics sucks in $12M for vascular drug — Proteon, a Waltham, Mass., biotech, raised $12 million in a follow-on to its first funding round. Investors included TVM Capital, Skyline Ventures, Prism VentureWorks and Intersouth Partners.

Proteon’s main drug candidate, PRT-201, aims to do something new by permanently enlarging blood vessels at the site of administration. The technology is based on elastases, a type of protein-cutting enzyme, which supposedly modify the “extracellular matrix” of blood vessels in order to enlarge them. The company expects the drug might be useful for kidney-dialysis patients, who now often have to undergo surgery to create blood vessels large enough for a connection to the blood-filtration devices, and in peripheral arterial disease.

Brain scanner Nexstim beams in €8M — Nexstim , a Helsinki, Finland-based developer of brain-imaging techniques, raised €8 million ($10.9 million) in a private placement. Investors included HealthCap, LSP (Life Sciences Partners), Finnish Industry Investment and Sitra.

Nexstim is working on a new brain-imaging technique it calls “navigated brain stimulation.” The details are pretty hairy — check out the company’s release if you’d like to know more — but it essentially combines several different electromagnetic-imaging techniques with a movable coil that can be guided wherever the operator would like. The system isn’t approved for clinical use, although Nexstim said the funding would allow it to obtain the necessary regulatory approval.

Health software company SupplyScape raises $10M, names new CEO — SupplyScape, a Woburn, Mass., developer of supply-chain software for life-sciences companies, raised $10 million in a third funding round. Investors in the latest round included IDG Ventures Boston, North Bridge Venture Partners, Pilot House Ventures, Bethesda Partners, and Pfizer Strategic Investments Group.

The company also named Mark O’Connell, former CEO of MatrixOne, as its chief executive.

The average person, however, could be forgiven for having no clue what SupplyScape actually does. According to the company’s press releases, it makes software to “maximize product integrity and create business value for pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device companies.” Its Web site promises “collaborative pharmaceutical value chains” that improve “security and profitability.” As it turns out, the company’s software helps track and trace drugs from their point of manufacture through various distribution channels in order to guard against counterfeits, at least so far as I can tell from its Web site.

Cancer screener NeoMatrix raises $9.6M — San Diego’s NeoMatrix, a company focused on early detection of breast cancer, raised $9.6 million in a third funding round. Private investors provided the funding, the company told me. (Its release doesn’t include these details.) Out of sheer coincidence, two southern California businessmen — Anthony Ciabattoni and Richard Franco Sr. — also just joined the company’s board (see the release for details).

Founded in 2000, NeoMatrix sells a screening test that detects pre-malignant or malignant cells in “nipple aspirate fluid,” which is extracted from the breast using a “gentle” suction device. The company said the new funds will allow it to hire its first sales reps, expand its marketing efforts and to convert or retire remaining debt the company used to finance development of its test.

Lectus draws in £3M for MS drugs — Cambridge, England-based Lectus Therapeutics, a biotech focused on a class of drugs known as ion-channel modulators, raised £3 million ($6.1 million) in funding from the Wellcome Trust. The investment is intended specifically to fund development of drugs for multiple sclerosis. Lectus had previously identified its primary disease interests as urinary bladder disorders, pain and angina.

Cell imager Cyntellect adds $3M in funding — Cytellect, a San Diego developer of cell imaging and manipulation systems, raised an additional $3 million in a fourth funding round, bringing the total for the round to $18.1 million. Bru II Venture Capital Fund, based in Reykjavik, Iceland, provided the additional funding.

Cyntellect’s laser-based equipment makes it possible to fluorescently image cells, isolate and destroy unwanted cells in a sample, and to “optoinject” various molecules directly into cells. See our previous coverage here.

UPDATE (10am PT): Added items on Cyntellect, Lectus Therapeutics, NeoMatrix, Nexstim, Pearl Therapeutics, and Proteon Therapeutics.

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 the Sansa (image left) from Sandisk, and Stiletto satellite radio players from Sirius. We covered the company’s launch here.

It had raised $13 million earlier this year from IDG Ventures Boston and Redpoint Ventures, for a total of just under $20 million in backing.

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 statement. It also comes as venture capitalists are pumping money into a other companies doing similar things, from Multiverse, which provides a way for developers to produce their own games, to Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning’s Rupture, a more direct competitor that also builds social networking around existing games. On Tuesday, GuildCafe , a Cambridge, Mass. company that also lets gamers network, said it had raised an undisclosed amount of financing from IDG Ventures Boston.

Gaming remains hot. Silicon Valley angel investor Jeff Clavier recently told us he’d resumed investing in Internet companies again after a brief hiatus at the end of last year, in part because of the promise of online gaming.