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A series of manufacturing process improvements could make the cost of electricity from silicon-based solar cells comparable to today’s prices for coal generation within about four years, according to a company emerging out of stealth today.

The new startup, called 1366 Technologies, was founded by professor Ely Sachs based off advancements made in the labs of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The company has picked up a $12.4 million financing co-led by North Bridge Venture Partners and Polaris Ventures, and plans to begin building a pilot plant immediately.

Unlike many new solar companies that get financing, 1366 will not be trying to build a new type of cell. The company’s processes can work with any type of multi-crystalline silicon solar cells — the common type that most people have seen adorning rooftops and water heaters.

For 1366, that means that once its pilot plant has proved that the technology can be used in large manufacturing volumes, it can also be licensed out to major manufacturers. The president, Frank van Mierlo, told me that 1366 already has a deal with one of the top ten cell manufacturers in the world. The company will scale up to a 25 megawatt per year plant after the pilot, then 100 megawatt plants afterward, but the greatest volume should come from established companies using the technology.

There are several reasons that bringing costs down will take a few years. One is that 1366 is developing multiple technologies, each of which lowers costs by a certain percentage; together, the three processes will cut costs by over 50 percent, according to Mierlo. However, the company is also factoring in falling silicon prices to its calculations.

And what will happen if 1366’s claims pan out, and silicon-based solar cells really drop below $1 per watt within the next few years? If the costs for those cells, solar PV, drop more rapidly than expected, thin-film solar based on other materials could face more challenges than expected. However, companies that make thin-film cells like First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) and Nanosolar (coverage here) are working on their own process improvements, and it’s difficult to tell when breakthroughs will come.

More importantly, though, all types of solar cells could proliferate much more rapidly than expected. Coal and uranium prices are already on their way up, and the higher the cost for coal- and nuclear-based generation, the easier it will be for financiers and government to stomach shelling out money for widespread deployment of solar cells.

1366’s timeline calls for completion of its pilot plant later this year, and the first cells being manufactured by winter. It will probably begin looking for another round of funding around the same time.

Battery maker A123 Systems has secured its place as the most heavily funded battery startup, adding $30 million in its fifth round of funding.

Early this year, A123 broke $100 million. The Watertown, Mass. company, which is developing new lithium ion technology, already has some products on the market, mainly batteries for hand-held power tools. More importantly, companies like General Electric are considering its technology for use in upcoming hybrid vehicles.

A123 has shown itself to be rather aggressive, chasing down potential customers and acquiring Hymotion, a related battery tech firm, and with the potential for battery storage technology, it’s no surprise that plenty of firms are ready to invest.

The company didn’t disclose which investor led the round, but aside from a number of well known venture and private equity firms — Sequoia Capital, North Bridge Venture Partners, CMEA Ventures, FA Technology Ventures, OnPoint and Carruth Management — several other large institutions invested, including General Electric, Procter & Gamble, Alliance Capital, Motorola, Qualcomm, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Desh Deshpande, who is the company’s chairman.

Other lithium ion battery companies include San Francisco’s Li*On Cells and Fremont, Calif.’s Mobius Power (see our June coverage). Other battery companies working with lithium ion or some other material include Valence, Saft, EEStor and Infinite Power Solutions.

Featured companies: Abiant, CellXplore, Diffusion Pharmaceuticals, WMR Biomedical, Zosano Pharmaceuticals

Diffusion Pharma raises $4.5M for vascular-disease and brain-cancer drug — Charlottesville, Va.-based Diffusion Pharmaceuticals, a biotech focused on drugs that enhance oxygen diffusion, raised $4.5 million in a private placement. Angel investors provided the funding, which brings Diffusion’s take to $10.2 million in equity and $2.6 million in government R&D grants.

Diffusion’s lead drug candidate — trans sodium crocetinate, or TSC — is designed to increase oxygen levels in otherwise oxygen-starved tissues. The drug just completed an early-stage clinical trial for safety, and will move on to mid-stage trials in two conditions: peripheral vascular disease and brain cancer.

Abiant draws $600K for advanced bio-imaging — Chicago’s Abiant, a device company now developing image-processing methods and software to speed the process of drug development, raised $600,000 in a private placement. Heartland Angels, Kettering Medical Center, and other investors provided the funding.

CellXplore raises $500,000 for breast-cancer diagnostics — CellXplore, a New Brunswick, N.J., biotech working on blood proteins that indicate early signs of cancer, raised $500,000 in new funding. Foundation Venture Capital Group provided the cash. The company has identified several “biomarkers” found in blood that it believes may not only identify the disease, but help oncologists assess different types and stages of cancer.

Heart- and eye-device maker WMR Biomedical assembles $13.1M — Cambridge, Mass.-based WMR Biomedical (no Web site, apparently), a developer of medical devices for cardiology and ophthalmology, raised $13.1 million in a second funding round, PE Hub reports, citing a regulatory filing. Investors included Intersouth Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners and Polaris Venture Partners. Although WMR remains largely tight-lipped about its intentions, this page on the Massachusetts Biotechnology Industry Directory site suggests it has a pretty illustrious scientific pedigree, as its founders include Harvard chemist George Whitesides and MIT’s Bob Langer.

Macroflux changes name to Zosano Pharma — There isn’t a whole lot more to say about this, actually, although the company put out a full release about it. Zosano is based in Fremont, Calif., and develops needle-free “transdermal” patches that use drug-coated “microprojections” — each about 200 microns long — to penetrate the outer layer of skin. Since the main difference between a microprojection and a needle seems to be whether the pointy object actually injects a drug or not — something of an academic distinction to anyone on the receiving end, I suspect — it’s not entirely clear to me what sort of advantage this system may have over competing needle-free approaches, such as that of Stratagent, which recently merged with Corium (our coverage in the first item here).

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.

Wis.dm, the site that lets people ask questions, voice opinions, discuss topics and issues, and seek guidance from peers, has raised $5 million.

In June, we called it the latest “me too” company, because there are multiple companies doing similar things, including Megabuzz, Avanoo and others. Like these others, Wis.dm says it lets users tap into the “wisdom of crowds.”

North Bridge Venture Partners is an investor in the Cambridge, Mass. company. Wis.dm was founded by Martin Clifford, who previously sold uDate to Interactive Corp. for $150M. The funding was mentioned in a Time story back in June, but only now only being picked up by others.

Mozes, the Palo Alto company that lets you text-message music bands for information like concert details, venue changes and promotions, had raised $5 million in a first round of venture capital funding.

Mozes’ mission is straightforward, but difficult to carry out. It wants becomes the one place you send messages to for information about your favorite band. All you do is send a message to M-o-z-e-s (or 66937 on your mobile dialpad), and then type in the name of the band in message (careful, sometimes the band will have initials). Mozes’ service then lets the band respond with its own message. It is popular at concerts.

Mozes’ Dorrian Porter says he’s signed up 500 bands and 15 labels, up from 25 bands and two labels last year when we talked with him. He says the model makes sense because bands need to cut through the noise created by the scores of other emerging mobile marketing methods.

For bands, the service is free. Eventually, Mozes wants to expand its services to businesses beyond music. For companies that want to use the Mozes service for profit, Mozes will charge (Wal-Mart would pay, for example, for use of the word “Wal-Mart” in the initial sign-up message). Mozes may also seek to make money from album or ringtone sales.

The funding comes from Norwest Venture Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners. We wrote about Mozes last year, when they first raised angel funding.

Noise there is. A number of mobile marketing players are doing similar things. There’s TextMarks, of San Francisco, which does something very similar, using its own “code 41411.” It lets bloggers communicate with their readers. It also lets them update their blogs while on the road. However it doesn’t focus on bands. Other mobile texting marketing companies include Waterfall Mobile, also of San Francisco, and Qtags, of Houston, Tex. One big player in the mobile entertainment marketing area that offers text messaging is Motricty, of Durham, NC.

Paul Santinelli, partner at North Bridge said he’s betting on Mozes because of the company’s narrow focus. The music fan demographic correlates strongly with the 15 to 25-year-old crowd, which is the most attractive group for large mobile marketers such as Nike, Reebok and others.

Porter wouldn’t say how many users have messaged with the system. He said the company is getting revenue, but isn’t profitable yet.