The new City on a Hill is solar-powered
Utopian experiments have finally gone high-tech. Today, Florida real estate developer and former NFL linebacker Syd Kitson announced his intention to build the U.S.’s first city powered entirely by solar energy. Dubbed “Babcock Ranch,” the 17,000-acre community — 20 miles from Fort Myers on the Gulf Coast — will include residential, commercial and industrial zones and draw all of its electricity from a 75-megawatt solar array operated by Florida Power & Light (twice the size… Continue Reading
Revolution Money nabs $42M from marquee firms
Payment-transfer platform Revolution Money just brought in $42 million from several major investment firms, including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley – not to mention a few high-profile individuals like AOL co-founder Steve Case, former Charles Schwab chief executive David Pottruck and former JP Morgan vice chairman David Golden. With this backing, Revolution is poised to chip away at the big boy credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard, as well as competing online services… Continue Reading
The ‘investor of China’s money’ is mum on Morgan Stanley rumors, says he’s cautious about venture capital
Rumors are swirling around Gao Xiqing, the general manager of the China Investment Corporation, and his visit to the United States. Gao is reportedly traveling with Wei Christianson, who runs Morgan Stanley’s business in China. Morgan Stanley’s stock values are plunging, and an anonymous source told Bloomberg that the state-owned CIC (which is China’s sovereign wealth fund) could buy as much as a 49 percent stake in the investment bank.
Meanwhile, another Chinese investment group, CITIC… Continue Reading
BPL Global raises $23M for smart grid control
BPL (Better Power Lines) Global is a Pittsburgh, Penn. company that makes software and equipment for utilities in order to manage and monitor the grid, and help integrate in renewable energy sources.
The company has partnerships with utilities both in the United States and overseas in Africa, Asia and South America, and reports that it is near to profitability.
The $23 million funding was providd by existing investors IFA Group, Novitas Capital, El Dorado and Morgan Stanley,… Continue Reading
Fast gene sequencing in two years? Investors bet $100M on Pacific BioSciences making it happen
Representing a potential medical quantum leap similar to, but even more important than the commercialization of X-ray imaging, Pacific BioSciences has taken a whopping $100 million to make it possible to affordably map out an individual’s entire genome in a matter of minutes, and for under $1,000 dollars.
While several startups, including 23andMe and deCODEme, are already offering cheap genetic testing for individuals, the technology Pacific Bio is looking at is about as different from those… Continue Reading
Range Fuels ups earlier round to $166M, racing against Mascoma and Coskata
Cellulosic ethanol producer Range Fuels has heaped more than $50 million extra onto a $100 million round we reported two months ago, picking up the support of Passport Capital, Morgan Stanley Capital Group and others.
While the company originally planned to keep the round to $100 million, it appears to have received intense interest in its project. While the round was at first over-subscribed to $130 million, according to Ethanol Producer Magazine, Range has now taken… Continue Reading
Kapow raises $11.6M more to provide mashup technology
Kapow Technologies, which sells software to companies that lets them assemble their own “mashup” applications by gathering data from around the web, has raised a $11.6 million third round of financing.
Mashup technologies have become increasingly important lately, now that data has proliferated around the Web and new technologies such as RSS allow people to pipe it directly to their computers, versus having to go get it themselves. A research analyst covering the retail sector, for… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Dec. 17, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Specialty pharma Innocoll raises $30M for collagen technologies (release)
Immusol changes name to ItherX Pharma, names Jeffery McKelvy CEO (release)
Austin’s Santé Ventures raises $130M healthcare VC fund (release)
Belgium’s AlgoNomics, immunogenicity screener, names Philippe Stas as CEO (release)
Specialty pharma Innocoll raises $30M for collagen technologies — Ashburn, Va.-based Innocoll, a developer of collagen-based drugs and drug-releasing implants, raised $30 million in an equity financing. Investors included Camulos Capital, NewSmith Asset Management and Morgan Stanley. In addition,… Continue Reading
Bull Moose Energy gets $60M for another biomass project
Bull Moose Energy, a San Diego company developing biomass plants to provide power to San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and elsewhere, said Morgan Stanley has agreed to invest up to $60 million for the project
The announcement is here.
San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, has contracted with Bull Moose to purchase 20 megawatts (MW) of biomass electricity annually to help meet its goal of supplying 20 percent of its customers’… Continue Reading