Textbook rental site Chegg.com raises another $57m
Popular textbook rental site Chegg.com continues to raise tremendous amounts of money — today it announced a $57 million fourth round, as well as $55 million in credit and debt.
The Santa Clara, Calif. company says it will use the extra $112 million (!) to meet the demands of its rapid growth. Chegg applies a Netflix-like model (where you check out the books you need at the beginning of the semester then send it back to… Continue Reading
Satiety fills up on $25.3M for obesity treatments
Satiety, maker of a minimally-invasive medical device that reduces obesity, has raised $25.3 million of an anticipated $33 million round of equity and rights, according to a filing with the SEC. The Palo Alto, Calif. company was previously backed by HLM Venture Partners, Morgenthaler Ventures, Pinnacle Ventures, Skyline Ventures, Thomas Fogarty, Three Arch Partners and Venrock. It has raised four rounds of funding to date, not including a $7.5 million bridge loan from its investors… Continue Reading
Satiety secures $7.5M bridge for tummy tuck shortcut
Satiety, maker of a minimally-invasive device that shrinks stomach capacity via the mouth, has landed a $7.5 million bridge loan from its existing investors — a group that includes Skyline Ventures, HLM Venture Partners, Pinnacle Ventures, Morgenthaler Ventures, Three Arch Partners, Venrock and medical inventor Thomas Fogarty, reports VentureWire.
Based in Palo Alto, Calif., the company is still developing its lead product, called the TOGA System, which makes users feel sufficiently full after eating very little…. Continue Reading
1Life Healthcare raises $8M for boutique medicine
1Life Healthcare, a San Francisco-based network of boutique primary medical care, just brought in $8 million in a second round of funding led by Benchmark Capital. (While Pinnacle Ventures lists the company as a member of its portfolio, 1Life says that no funds have been received from the firm.)
The money will be used to increase the number of services the company offers. Its goal is to provide a uniquely high quality of care to its… Continue Reading
Cardiovascular drug developer Cogentus files for Chapter 7
Menlo Park, Calif.-based Cogentus Pharmaceuticals has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, despite $83 million raised in equity capital. At the time of the filing, the company reported $2.2 million in assets and liabilities totaling $17.2 million.
The company was just about to launch third-phase clinical trials on its lead drug candidate, an anti-platelet therapy used to treat cardiovascular disease. The trial was expected to enroll 4,000 patients in the U.S., South America, Canada and Europe.
Congentus’ backers… Continue Reading
Wireless network provider WiChorus may end funding at $18M
WiChorus, a provider of wireless network hardware and software, may be calling it quits on VC backing following an $18 million third-round of funding, reports VentureWire. Raised to cushion the downturn, the new financing exceeded the round’s goals, and will be used to grow the business before it files for an IPO when the market brightens.
The young San Jose, Calif. company gives wireless carriers the ability to track their users’ exact locations and control network… Continue Reading
Cobalt Biofuels gets $25M for biobutanol
Usually when a startup classifies itself as a biofuel company, it makes one of two fuels: biodiesel or ethanol. However, there’s a range of alternatives that could be commercialized, one of which Cobalt Biofuels is after: biobutanol, a liquid fuel that is more similar to gasoline than ethanol.
Cobalt has just taken a third venture round of $25 million to put further work into the fuel, which it plans to use as an additive for either… 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 Burlingame, Calif., develops drugs to combat lung diseases. Currently, the spotlight is on a compound that could prevent lung transplant rejection. The company plans to use the $55 million brought in… Continue Reading
Database appliance company Kickfire raises $20M
Kickfire, the maker of a database appliance that’s completely compatible with MySQL, has raised $20 million in a second round of funding. Pinnacle Ventures led the round, with participation from existing investors Accel Partners, Greylock Partners and the Mayfield Fund.
The Santa Clara, Calif. startup told VentureWire that its first product, which will analyze and report on data from a MySQL database, will hit the market in October, and will be cheaper than competing offerings from… Continue Reading
Big companies line up to invest in cellulosic — Mascoma is latest beneficiary, gets $81M
With oil past $120 a barrel and possibly headed to $200, cellulosic ethanol companies are looking like a smarter investment choice every day. Following the increase of Range Fuels’ second funding to $166 million, its competitor Mascoma has pulled the wraps off an $81 million funding of its own, with $10 million coming a major oil and gas producer, Marathon Oil Corporation.
Range, Mascoma, Coskata and others are all racing to raise huge amounts in an… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Friday, March 7, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Allegro pulls in $4M for lung-cancer molecular diagnostics (release)
Ocular bandage developer I-Therapeutix raises $6M (Mass High Tech)
NanoBio gets last of $30M for skin-infection drugs (release)
Cayenne Medical raises $15M for sports medicine (release)
Aridis Pharma seeks $10M for oral-form drugs and vaccines (VentureWire)
Neurosurgical device maker Nfocus Neuro acquires StarFire Medical (release)
Allegro pulls in $4M for lung-cancer molecular diagnostics – Boston’s Allegro Diagnostics, a biotech developing molecular diagnostics for lung cancer, raised $4 million in a first funding… Continue Reading
Mascoma takes on $50 million more for cellulosic ethanol
Mascoma, an East Coast biofuel startup with a multi-pronged approach to commercializing cellulosic ethanol, has just become one of the most heavily funded companies of its kind with a $50 million funding reported by peHUB.
Based in Cambridge, Mass., Mascoma is in the process of building several demonstration-scale ethanol plants in three other states: Michigan, New York and Tennessee. It’s partnered with a variety of different corporations and universities at each location.
What that boils down to… Continue Reading
Aquantia, a 10GB ethernet developer, raises $26M
Aquantia is developing 10 gigabit per second ethernet product for use in datacenters, like a number of other companies we’ve recently reported fundings for, including Tehuti Networks, Chelsio Communications and BridgeWave (here, here and here).
The Milpitas, Calif. company has not yet released any products, and has so far only stated publicly that it is working with the 10GBASE-T standard, which uses copper twisted pair cables. The standard is a newer one, with products only slated… Continue Reading
Silver Peak Systems draws $21M for WAN systems
Silver Peak is a heavily-funded Santa Clara, Calif. company that deals with wide-area network acceleration.
The company’s software aids server centralization by enhancing the performance across a WAN. Its clients include both large companies with branch offices and municipalities.
The $21 million funding is Silver Peak’s fourth, from Artis Capital Management, Benchmark Capital, Duff Ackerman and Goodrich, Greylock Partners, J & W Seligman, and Pinnacle Ventures. The company has taken a total of $63 million to date.
Ze-Gen raises $2.5M venture debt for gasification tech
Ze-Gen is an energy company that converts municipal waste to a synthesized gas good for electricity generation.
The Boston, Mass. company sought the debt funding to finance the permitting and development fees for a new waste conversion facility.
We’ve recently written about other companies promising to turn waste into electricity, including EnerTech Environmental, which recently took $42 million for construction of a new plant.
The $2.5 million venture debt facility was provided by Pinnacle Ventures. Ze-Gen has taken… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Dec. 21, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Cogentus Pharma raises $63M for blood thinners (release)
Corthera draws $23M for heart-failure drug (release)
Nanolymf seeks $2M for drug-delivery tech (release)
LineaGen pulls in $5.6M for molecular diagnostics (release)
Cogentus Pharma raises $63M for blood thinners — Menlo Park, Calif.-based Cogentus Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharma developing combined formulations of existing drugs, raised $62.5 million in a third funding round. Investors included Keffi Group, Prospect Venture Partners, Ridgeback Capital, Apothecary Capital and Pinnacle Ventures.
Cogentus aims to combine existing… Continue Reading
Acquantia, IC maker, raises $19.17M of planned $25M round
Aquantia Corp, a Milpitas, Calif. developer of physical-layer transceiver ICs, has secured $19.17 million of a $25 million second round of financing, according to a regulatory filing cited by PE Wire. Pinnacle Ventures was joined by return backers Lightspeed Venture Partners and Greylock Partners. The company raised its first round in 2005 with more than $12 million.
Farecast, the airfare prediction site, raises $12.1M more
Farecast.com, the young Seattle start-up that now owns the niche of predicting airfares, and which continues to roll out new features (like letting you guarantee low fares), has raised $12.1 million more.
The round was led by Sutter Hill Ventures, and includes PAR Capital Management, Pinnacle Ventures, and Farecast board member and former Expedia CEO, Erik Blachford. Existing investors, Greylock Partners, Madrona Venture Group, and WRF Capital also participated — it has raised a total of… Continue Reading
Mobile broadcast chip co., NewPort Media, raises $30M
Newport Media, a chip company based in Lake Forest, Calif., serving the mobile broadcast media market, said it has raised $30 million in a third round of financing round. This makes for a whopping $66M in funding in less than two years, and shows that building chip companies — even fabless ones, like NewPort — takes cash.
The funding is led by new investor DAG Ventures. Previous investors Benchmark Capital, Global Catalyst Partners, Oak Investment… Continue Reading
Mascoma gets $30M for cellulosic ethanol — in bid to replace gasoline
Mascoma, a start-up that is trying to become the first commercial developer of cellulosic ethanol — something some environmentalists see as the Shangri La of alternative fuel — will announce tomorrow it has raised $30 million more in venture funding.
Funding for the Cambridge, Mass. company was led by General Catalyst Partners, and included Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Vantage Point Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, and Pinnacle Ventures. Existing investors Khosla Ventures and Flagship Ventures participated.
Khsola… Continue Reading