Life-science briefing: Tuesday, March 25, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Antibody-discovery startup Adimab raises new funding (release)
Lung-device maker Spiration gets $19M (release)
Sample-prep startup Protein Discovery pulls in $10M (release)
Inogen takes in $13M for portable oxygen device (VentureWire)
Healthcare IT concern Medaptus raises $11M for expansion (VentureWire)
Contract lab Synexis raises $14M (peHUB)
Medical-device VC firm BioStar Ventures takes in $24M of $80M fund (peHUB)
Halsa Pharma gets $250K for “natural” obesity-control treatment (release)
Diagnostics provider Lab21 acquires NPTech (peHUB)
Galil Medical names Martin Emerson CEO (release)
Antibody-discovery startup Adimab raises new funding – Lebanon,… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Luminous Medical raises $24M for automated glucose monitoring (release)
Alimera Sciences gets $30M for eye-disease drug (release)
Vaccine maker LigoCyte draws $28M (release)
Heartbeat tracker CardioNet trims IPO, aims for listing today (IPOhome)
Axial Biotech takes in $6M for spinal diagnostics (release)
Insulin bioengineer enGene receives $6.4M (release)
GlucoLight raises funding for, well, glucose monitoring (release)
Germany’s InflaRx gets seed funding for sepsis work (release)
Cell imager Amnis pulls in $3.5M (VentureWire)
Korea Bone Bank gets funding for bone transplants (release)
Luminous Medical raises… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, March 5, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Precision Thera merger with “blank check” Oracle Healthcare collapses (release)
Sleep Solutions takes in $21M for sleep-apnea diagnostics (release)
Trevena takes in $24M for drugs targeting G-proteins (release)
“Specialty biotech” PanGenetics gets €23M for antibody drugs (release)
Cancer-drug maker Unibioscreen pulls in €5M (release)
Danish contract manufacturer CMC Biologics raises new funding (PDF release)
Healthcare investor EDF Ventures postpones fourth fund (VentureWire)
Global TB-drug alliance names former Sanofi-Aventis exec Jerome Premmeurer as CEO (release)
Liquidia Tech names Neal Fowler as CEO (release)
(NOTE: Sorry… Continue Reading
PublicEarth raises $3M for GPS data directory
PublicEarth seems to be a little different from the various other GPS and location-based startups currently swarming the scene, although the company is currently in stealth.
According to an article from CommerceNet, written over a year ago, the company is building a directory of data for locations around the world. More from the article:
PublicEarth will create a database of relevant and concise, constantly updated content, created and managed by users, for users — content attached through… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Feb. 4, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
PEAK Surgical takes in $21M for electrosurgical tools (release)
CellGate acquired by Australian cancer biotech ProGen for $2.5M (release)
Traversa raises $2M for RNAi-delivery technologies (release)
RemitDATA, Web-based healthcare-service co., takes in $5.5M (bizjournals.com)
Spinal-implant maker Archus Orthopedics gets $10M venture loan (release)
Promedior pulls down another $5.5M for fibrotic disease (release)
Acrongenomics takes 11 percent stake in Molecular Vision (release)
Hepatitis drug-developer Biolex withdraws IPO (IPO Home)
Employee drug screener eScreen gets Carlyle investment (release)
NovaMin raises $2.5M for dental-care products (VentureWire)
Cardious… Continue Reading
Health-info site HealthCentral Network pulls in $50M
(UPDATED: IAC put out a release this morning — see below.)
The HealthCentral Network, an Arlington, Va., collection of health-information sites, raised roughly $50 million, paidContent reports. Investors included some big names, include Barry Diller’s online media and commerce conglomerate IAC, Sequoia Capital, Carlyle Group and Polaris Venture Partners.
HealthCentral runs about 30 health-related Web sites, ranging from general-info offerings like HealthCentral.com to disease-specific sites such as OurAlzheimers.com and MultipleSclerosisCentral.com. (The company also owns the DrKoop.com name, although… Continue Reading
Spurning purchase offers, Automattic raises round and partners with NYT
Automattic, the company that owns the popular Wordpress blogging software platform, has raised $29.5 million from existing investors and a new partner, the New York Times. Some companies had offered to buy it, founder Matt Mullenweg writes.
The San Francisco company started out as an open source code project at WordPress.org, which provided software that anyone could download and then host on their own server (what VentureBeat currently uses). More recently, it also began offering free… Continue Reading
Web traffic measurement company Quantcast raises $20M more
Quantcast, the company that places a piece of code on Web sites so that it can track traffic and other data directly, has raised $20 million more in financing.
The round was led by the Founders Fund and included Polaris Venture Partners. It follows $6 million in previous funding from Founders Fund, Revolution Ventures, Allen & Co., and the company’s founders.
Some 20,000 publishers have already agreed to place Quantcast’s code on their sites, which allows them… Continue Reading
LIfe sciences briefing: Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Pervasis Thera pulls in $9.8M for regenerative medicine (release)
Embrella Cardio receives $2.3M for stroke-prevention heart-surgery devices (release)
Vivendy Thera raises CHF 17M for rare-disease drug (Private Equity Europe)
Novacta Bio gets £3.5M grant for anti-infective drugs (release)
Metavante acquires health-plan admin software co. Bensoft (release)
Pharma-marketing analyst ImpactRx acquires Paragon Research (release)
Arteriocyte gets $509K grant for stem-cell work (release)
HBM BioVentures shoots for Swiss IPO (Reuters)
Covington Capital assumes control of NGB biotech fund (release)
Pervasis Thera pulls in $9.8M for… Continue Reading
ARPU takes $8.7M for point-of-sale advertising
ARPU bills itself as an advertising network that adds value for businesses by offering additional services to buyers at the time of an online sale.
For instance, a consumer buying an internet access package from a service provider might be offered relevant add-ons like phone service or subscriptions to online services. The company also maintains a service portal for customers to manage their subscriptions through.
The $8.73 million funding was disclosed in a regulatory filing reported by… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Gelesis draws in $16M for obesity treatments (release)
Tempo Pharma raises $8B for nanoparticle drugs (release)
Calistoga Pharma receives additional $5M for cancer and inflammation drugs (release)
Montreux Equity Partners closes $250M life-sciences fund (release)
MTS Health Partners names Andrew Weisenfeld, Mark Epstein managing directors (release)
T2 Biosystems names John McDonough as CEO (release)
Gelesis draws in $16M for obesity treatments — Gelesis, a stealthy Boston company working on “novel” obesity treatments, raised $16 million in a first funding round…. Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Gene-silencing developer Santaris raises €20M (PDF release)
Consumer-driven healthcare manager RedBrick Health prescribed $15M (release)
Cardiac Dimensions takes in $36M for heart-valve device (release)
TcLand Expressions gets €8.2M for biomarkers (PDF release)
TheraQuest Bio gets $3M for pain drugs (release)
Brain-software maker NeuroTrax visualizes $1.5M (VentureWire)
ActivBiotics selling off assets after clot-busting drug failure (release)
Nanostart buys stake in Singapore’s Curiox, a drug-discovery tech firm (release)
Respiratory biotech Altair Thera gets additional funding (VentureWire)
Specialty pharma Prometheus Labs files for $100M IPO (Edgar)
Sirtris… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Friday, Nov. 30, 2007
Featured companies: Fate Therapeutics, Medgenics, Satoris
UPDATED: Expanded items on Fate Therapeutics and Medgenics. The Satoris item is now a standalone post here.
Fate Therapeutics launches regenerative-medicine quest with $12M — In one of the splashiest launches in recent memory, Seattle’s Fate Therapeutics launched a new regenerative-medicine quest and raised $12 million to help it along. The company aims to develop drugs that redirect fundamental cell biology in ways that mimic the regenerative powers of stem cells, either by… Continue Reading
BlackArrow inserts ads for cable companies, raises $12M
BlackArrow, a San Mateo, Calif., startup, is offering a new technology to help keep TV advertisers happy.
The company, in secrecy until now, will announce tomorrow (Monday) that it wants to insert targeted ads into on-demand viewing by placing a piece of hardware between cable operators and consumers. Prior to the user watching an on-demand show, BlackArrow helps deliver a brief ad, tailored to the theme of the show and the user’s apparent preferences. For example,… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Oct. 1, 2007
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… Continue Reading
Zink offers inkless printing, raises $25M
Saying it has perfected technology that allows it to print without using any ink, Zink’s next move will be to use $25 million recently raised from Petters Group Worldwide to manufacture its initial inventory.
The Boston-area company revealed its product, a printer-and-paper combination, at last January’s DEMO conference. The core of the technology is the paper, which is layered with crystals that, when melted at specific temperatures, become colored.
The resulting glossy printed paper is photographic-quality, and… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007
Featured companies: Atritech, Avalon Partners, Ensemble Discovery, Hyperion Therapeutics, LifeBond, ReShape Medical, SafeStitch, Trophos, UltraShape
Hyperion Therapeutics raises $40M against GI and kidney disease — Hyperion Therapeutics, a South San Francisco, Calif., specialty pharmaceutical company, raised $40 million in a second funding round. Investors included Sofinnova Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, New Enterprise Associates and WRF Capital.
Hyperion, which buys the rights to test and market drug candidates from other companies, said the proceeds will allow it to complete… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Aug. 20, 2007
(UPDATED at 7:10pm PT: See below.)
Featured companies: NeurAxon, VytronUS, Avila Therapeutics, CardioNet, Ventana Medical Systems, CytoLogix, PlaCor
NeurAxon raises $32M for pain drugs — You have to hand it to Waltham, Mass.-based NeurAxon — the company certainly knows how to keep itself in the news. Today, it announced it has raised $32 million in a second funding round, a week after it reported a positive early-stage trial result for its experimental migraine treatment.
Investors included Delphi Ventures, OrbiMed Advisors,… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Aug. 9, 2007
(UPDATED at 6:40pm PT: See below.)
Featured companies: Nereus Phramaceuticals, KFx Medical, NeuroMed Pharmaceuticals, Adnexus Therapeutics, Masimo, Biofisica, Aegera Therapeutics, LymphoSign, InfuScience, Palmetto Infusion Services
Nereus Pharma raises $45M for ocean-derived cancer drugs — San Diego’s Nereus Pharmaceuticals, a biotech that searches for cancer drugs in marine microbes, raised $45 million in a follow-on to its fourth funding round.
The company features an all-star lineup of investors, which includes BankInvest, Roche Venture Fund, Astellas Venture Management, Boston Life Science Venture… Continue Reading
Adimab: A potential one-stop shop for antibodies
Adimab, a Lebanon, N.H., biotech startup developing a “platform” for the discovery and commercialization of yeast-derived antibodies, raised $6 million in a first funding round (hat tips to the In Vivo Blog and VentureWire). The company was founded by Darthmouth’s Tillman Gerngross — who co-founded GlycoFi, a biotech acquired by Merck last year for $400 million — and MIT’s Dane Wittrup. Both researchers are chemical engineers with a longstanding interest in protein expression and engineering.
The… Continue Reading