Autonomic snags $20M to treat headaches
Autonomic Technologies, maker of implantable devices that can soothe severe headaches, has raised $20 million in a second round of funding led by InterWest Partners. The Menlo Park, Calif. company is one of three biotech firms InterWest has recently backed, including antiviral creator Eiger BioPharmaceuticals… Continue Reading
LensX Lasers nabs $22M for eye surgery lasers
LensX Lasers, a maker of surgical lasers used to repair cataracts, has brought in $22.36 million in a second round of funding from Versant Ventures, InterWest Partners and SV Life Sciences. Based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., the company was founded by the same team as… Continue Reading
Eiger snaps up $7.1M to treat hepatitis
Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, developer of treatments for strains of hepatitis, announced that it brought in $7.1 million in first-round funding from InterWest Partners and Vivo Ventures. The Palo Alto, Calif. company will use the new money to push its lead compound — which targets hepatitis C… Continue Reading
Exalt musters $15M for wireless backhauling
Exalt Communications, a company that transmits wireless data through microwave radio systems to relieve congestion on regular networks, announced today that it brought in $15 million in third-round funding to expand its “backhauling” systems globally. The Campbell, Calif. company claims that demand for its products… Continue Reading
InterWest funds Exalt to meet rising backhauling demand
Exalt Communications, provider of wireless backhauling services, is one of five companies sharing a $21 million investment from InterWest Partners, reports VentureWire. Neither the amount of the investment nor its intended purpose have been disclosed.
Based in Campbell, Calif., Exalt has witnessed an increase in… Continue Reading
Satori brings in $22M to stop Alzheimer’s in its tracks
Satori Pharmaceuticals, a company that says it’s developing drugs with the potential to actually stop Alzheimer’s disease in its early phases — an unprecedented claim — landed $22 million in second-round funding to push its products through a first battery of tests.
Based in Cambridge,… Continue Reading
SpectraLinear nabs $9.8M for computing timers
SpectraLiner, a company that provides internal clocking devices used in computing and internet communications systems, has raised $9.84 million in third-round funding, according to peHUB. It hasn’t disclosed plans for the new money but currently has six products on the market.
The Santa Clara, Calif…. Continue Reading
Bivio nets $15.8M for flexible networking systems
Networking systems developer Bivio Networks just took in $15.8 million in a round led by Silver Creek Ventures and including new Japanese investors Itochu Techno-Solutions Corporation and Cross Technology Partners, as well as existing backers InterWest Partners, Storm Ventures, Venrock and Goldman Sachs. The Pleasanton,… Continue Reading
Tween mobile provider Kajeet bags $1M
Kajeet, the cell phone service provider for kids and tweens, closed a $1.05 million second-round of venture backing to continue product and market development. The Bethesda, Md.-based company is coming off a big win last week, striking a deal with Amazon to sell its phones… Continue Reading
Staccato, Artimi merge to keep UWB efforts alive
Ultra-wideband chip makers Staccato Communications and Artimi announced that they have merged, adopting the name of the former. The new entity also received $20 million in new equity funding, allowing it to refocus its energies on the top products from both companies.
San Diego-based Staccato… Continue Reading
Double down? Spin in? New questions for a new economy
[Editor's Note: We focus a lot on how hard it must be to raise money as a startup in this economic climate, with little attention paid to how agonizing it must be for VCs to pick and choose who is to survive. Below, Silicon Valley... Continue Reading
Video processor maker Silicon Optix sells assets and tech to IDT
Silicon Optix, developer of high-definition video processors, has sold out almost entirely to Integrated Device Technology (IDT) for an undisclosed amount. The sale includes the transfer of intellectual property and engineering teams in addition to its Emmy-winning products (it was awarded for producing sharp picture… Continue Reading
HD electronics maker VizionWare short circuits
VizionWare Inc., a producer of cables and adapters, has shuttered — and fast. The announcement went out today and the company’s website has already disappeared. Attributed to disappointing sales in Blu-ray connectors, its close leaves investors who contributed $21 million since its 2002 founding out… Continue Reading
Avaak brings in $7M to prep wire-free camera
Avaak, a creator of video networking technology, received $7 million in its first round of private funding — money that will go toward putting the finishing touches on its new camera system, the Vue Personal Video Network. Even though it was initially developed for homeland… Continue Reading
New $32M round helps APT battle lung transplant rejection
APT Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced today that it has raised $32 million in its second round from a flock of investors led by Three Arch Partners, and including InterWest Partners, Pinnacle Ventures, Charter Life Sciences, Great Point Partners, Versant Ventures and Vivo Ventures.
APT, headquartered in… Continue Reading
Right90 raises $10 million to sell the world on “bottom-up” sales forecasting
Right90, a Foster City, California, company specializing in “bottom-up sales forecasting” software, has raised $10 million in its third round of financing.
According to salesopedia, a handy glossary for sales and marketing terms, bottom-up sales forecasting is “an approach…which takes market conditions rather than the… Continue Reading
Online ad network Brand.net raises $10 million
Brand.net is an online ad network that claims to be the first of its hundreds of competitors to focus “exclusively on brand advertising.” Unlike many ad networks, it doesn’t “own or ‘rep’” web site publisher inventory. The San Mateo, Calif. company has raised $10 million… Continue Reading
InterWest closes $650M fund
InterWest Partners has closed its tenth fund at $650 million. The firm plans to invest in early-stage life science and information technology companies, with the new money backing between 25 and 30 startups in each sector.
The Menlo Park, Calif, firm has also promoted three… Continue Reading
Alvine Pharmaceuticals raises $26 million for disease research
San Carlos, Calif. company Alvine Pharmaceuticals recently added $5 million to its first venture round, bringing total funding to $26 million, according to VentureWire.
Alvine’s research focuses on treatment for autoimmune and gastrointestinal diseases, and it started clinical trials in February for its treatment of… Continue Reading
RockYou between a funding rock and an acquisition
RockYou, the fast-growing online widget company — that lets you post images and slideshows in social networks and other web sites — has apparently hit a major juncture in its decision to raise funding or not. And I’m wondering if it may have decided to… Continue Reading