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, Mass., the firm has broken away from the usual drugs, like Pfizer’s Aricept, that slow the symptoms but don’t address the base-level process of the disease. Most of these treatments have… Continue Reading

Concentric Medical closes $15M to ease stroke symptoms

Concentric Medical, developer of minimally invasive devices used to remove blood clots in ischemic stroke patients, took $15 million in new venture backing to expand its product portfolio and run more clinical trials. The Mountain View, Calif. company says it ended 2008 on a strong financial note that helped attract investors despite the tight economy. This is an uptick from February, when it withdrew its plans for a $69 million initial public offering.

Concentric Medical’s devices… Continue Reading

Force10 and Turin merge, pool their capital and clients

Network builder Force10 Networks has merged with Ethernet services provider Turin Networks to create a powerhouse in both spaces, with an impressive list of clients, numbering 1,300 (including eHarmony and Facebook), reports peHUB. More significant than that is the marrying of two significant pots of venture capital. Since their nearly simultaneous founding a decade ago, Force10 has raised $400 million, and Turin $250 million.

Combined under the Force10 name, the new entity, based in San Jose,… Continue Reading

Positive Energy snags $14M for energy efficiency data

Positive Energy, an Arlington, Va. company that gathers energy usage data for homeowners — distinguishing the most efficient homes — took in $14 million in second-round funding from New Enterprise Associates. Quarterly reports show clients how to save energy and have already produced reductions in energy demand up to 2 percent per household, the company says. It also offers web tools like carbon calculators to help homeowners gain a better understanding of their consumption habits.

Positive… Continue Reading

Motion Computing snags $6M for tablets

Tablet computer maker Motion Computing raked in $6 million in fourth-round funding to increase its penetration of the health care sector. The Austin, Tex.-based company sells products with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities. Its newest, the Motion C5, is tailored for medical assitants, and is already used in over 4,000 hospitals and doctor’s offices around the world. It also has a tough LE1700 model designed for rugged outdoor use.

Motion has raised close to $49 million from… Continue Reading

Motion Computing picks up $6M for tablet PCs

Just a day after the long-suffering smartphone and handheld maker Palm picked up a $100 million investment from Elevation Partners, mobile computing startup Motion Computing is announcing a smaller, $6 million investment of its own.

Motion Computing makes slate tablet PCs that are used within industries, especially health care and mobile service. The company has three main lines of tablets, ranging from semi-rugged to fully ruggedized.

The Austin, Tex. company last raised $25 million in 2004, and… Continue Reading

Konarka powers up with $45M for solar “plastic”

Solar innovator Konarka Technologies took in $45 million in strategic funding to further develop its new product for sunlight conversion called Power Plastic and bring it to market. Oil and gas company Total provided the round, acquiring a 20 percent stake in Lowell, Mass.-based Konarka. It hopes to integrate the plastic solar film into products made and used by its subsidiaries, including Hutchinson, Sartomer and Bostik.

The Power Plastic line is prized for being lightweight, flexible… Continue Reading

Med device maker Acclarent’s IPO flatlines — but could be revived

Acclarent, maker of medical devices to treat ear, nose and throat conditions, has become the latest biotech firm to withdraw its IPO due to poor market conditions. It originally filed in June, hoping to bring in $86.3 million to expand marketing and sales activities.

The Menlo Park, Calif. company’s chief financial officer, George Harter, told VentureWire that it will be keeping its eye on the situation, but said he didn’t expect the IPO market to thaw… Continue Reading

Panasonic and Samsung invest in SiBEAM to promote WirelessHD

Panasonic and Samsung invest in SiBEAM to promote WirelessHD

In an endorsement for wireless video networking, Panasonic and Samsung said today they have invested an undisclosed amount into SiBEAM, the maker of high-speed networking chips.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based SiBEAM makes WirelessHD chips that can wirelessly transfer video from one device to another in a living room. The SiBEAM chip sets operate in the 60 gigahertz band of the wireless spectrum. It’s difficult to make radio chips that operate at that frequency, but there is very little… Continue Reading

Music blog network Buzznet lays off 10

Buzznet, a social network of music and celebrity-related blogs, cut its staff by 10 to refocus efforts on its more popular products in the poor economy. For this reason, the Los Angeles-based company actually has plans to increase headcount in sales, editorial and engineering divisions, reports VentureWire.

Stereogum, Absolute Punk, Idolator and Celebuzz are all connected via the Buzznet network, which saw a 50 percent increase in revenue this past quarter. It’s last investment round, valued… Continue Reading

Aprius lands $20M for high-speed server interconnects

Aprius, a developer of high-speed bandwidth interconnect systems, brought in $20 million in second-round funding from Menlo Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and New Enterprise Associates. Previously, the Sunnyvale, Calif. company had raised $11 million. Its technology lets companies pool their server resources for fast, communal use.

Force10 rolls out virtualization products

Force10 Networks, a developer of 10-gigabit networking hardware, will be launching a new line of products over the next half year to help companies set up automated and virtual networks. Currently, it provides routers and switches to web companies like Facebook and eHarmony, to help them manage large amounts of data over their local networks, reports VentureWire.

In this pursuit, Force10 faces a full field of competition including Woven Systems, Foundry Networks, Cisco Systems and Juniper… Continue Reading

SiliconBlue takes $24M for low-power mobile chips

SiliconBlue, a company that provides programmable logic chips for use in mobile devices, has landed $24 million in a second round of funding led by New Enterprise Associates and including BlueRun Ventures and Crosslink Capital.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company plans to sink its new funds into scaling its operations. It has raised a total of $40 million in venture capital since it spun off from semiconductor company Kilopass Technology in 2006.

The chips it produces, called field-programmable… Continue Reading

Predictive Biosciences raises $21.8M for cancer diagnostic tech

Predictive Biosciences, a company that hopes to improve the way cancer is diagnosed and monitored, announced that it brought in $21.8 million in second-round financing led by New Enterprise Associates and including contributions from Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Flybridge Venture Capital and Highland Capital Partners. This brings the company’s VC total up to $31.7 million since its inception in 2006.

The Lexington, Mass.-based company plans to use its new funds to complete clinical studies and launch new… Continue Reading

Expect to see start-ups and VCs hit standoff over valuations

Expect to see start-ups and VCs hit standoff over valuations

When the stock market goes into the dumps, it takes a while for the effects to trickle down to start-ups. That’s because start-ups are often are working away on a project that’s isolated from the larger market — and if they’re lucky, they have money from venture capitalists.

For the start-ups with no angel or VC backing, forget about raising money. They’re going to have trouble immediately. VCs are paying too much attention to their existing… Continue Reading

Alien Technology raises $38 million for RFID technology

Alien Technology raises $38 million for RFID technology

Alien Technology, a maker of tiny radio tags and readers, has a somewhat bumpy history. But now it’s back with a new round of $38 million in venture funding.

Back in 2006, without ever recording a profit and with losses exceeding sales, it filed for a scary IPO but was forced to pull it and then cut its worforce. It has burned through a whopping $302 million.

The new round is only slightly smaller than the $40… Continue Reading

Dexterra raises $21.5M to expand mobile platform, carrier partnerships

Mobile business software provider Dexterra announced today that it scored $21.5 million in sixth round financing from existing investors led by New Enterprise Associates and including Canaan Partners, Intel Capital, Mesirow Financial, Motorola Ventures and Sigma Partners. This brings the company’s total funding to $106.5 million.

Bothell, Wash.-based Dexterra develops mobile applications to meet different business needs and the software used to distribute them wirelessly to employees’ phones. One application would let a service company track… Continue Reading

Smart grid company GridPoint heaps on $120M and buys electric vehicle startup V2Green

Smart grid company GridPoint heaps on $120M and buys electric vehicle startup V2Green

GridPoint, one of the largest of the smart grid startups, who aim to more intelligently distribute energy across the electrical grid, has more than doubled up on its prior funding with $120 million. Along with the new money, it has bought out V2Green, which makes software for electric vehicles to efficiently plug into the grid.

This latest move shows a company trying to get a leg up on a bevy of well-funded competitors, who include Silver… Continue Reading

E-Commerce marketing co. ChannelAdvisor raises cash, trims staff

E-Commerce marketing co. ChannelAdvisor raises cash, trims staff

ChannelAdvisor, a company that lets online retailers manage product marketing across marketplaces such as eBay, Amazon.com, Overstock.com and a series of shopping comparison sites, has raised an additional $20 million, VentureWire reports. The company has also laid off 70 of the company’s 350 employees — including four vice presidents.

According to CEO Scott Wingo in the article, ChannelAdvisor’s revenue has grown more than 55 percent and has more than 5,500 customers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and… Continue Reading

Data Robotics raises $15 million for Drobo backup storage business

Data Robotics raises $15 million for Drobo backup storage business

Data Robotics has raised $15 million in a fourth round of funding for its consumer-focused Drobo backup storage business.

The Santa Clara, Calif., company makes “data robots,” or external backup storage units that make it easy to back up data on a computer or a network of computers. The lead investor is Greylock Partners. Other participants include new investor New Enterprise Associates, as well as existing investors RRE Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures. To date, the… Continue Reading