VentureBeat

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.

Featured companies: Acceleron Pharma, Bledsoe Brace Systems, Eurobiobiz, Genoptix, Harmony Information Systems, ImmuneWorks, Pasteuria Bioscience, Renal CarePartners, Quantum Genomics, Synergy Software, Vitreo Retinal Technology

UPDATED: Expanded items on Genoptix and Acceleron Pharma.

Diagnostics biotech Genoptix prices IPO above range, raises up to $98M — Genoptix became one of the first biotechs in a long time to demonstrate some oomph with an IPO, pricing its shares above its expected range and then soaring nearly 50 percent in its first day of trading. Genoptix priced its shares at $17 apiece, above its expected range of $14 to $16, netting itself as much as $97.8 million in the process. (Actually, existing shareholders sold close to three-quarters of a million shares in the IPO, so the proceeds to Genoptix are more like $85.6 million.)

At the very least, the positive reception appears to support the notion that biotech investors are currently more interested in reliable service businesses such as Genoptix’s diagnostics work than they are in traditional biotech moon shots, since they offer lower risk even at the cost of slower growth. Perhaps there’s hope for Talecris Biotherapeutics after all.

We’ve covered the company here and here. The offering initially valued Genoptix at $265.2 million, although today’s share run-up to $25.35 now values the company at $395.5 million. Genoptix provides diagnostic services to cancer and blood-disease specialists in order to help with diagnosing and selecting appropriate treatments for various cancers.

Acceleron Pharma draws in $31M for tissue-regeneration drugs — Cambridge, Mass.-based Acceleron Pharma, a biotech focused on “regenerative” drugs that target a family of growth and development proteins, raised $31 million in a third funding round. Investors included Bessemer Venture Partners, MPM BioEquities, QVT Financial, Advanced Technology Ventures, Flagship Ventures, OrbiMed Advisors, Polaris Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures and Venrock.

The company’s lead drug candidate, ACE-011, aims to stimulate bone regrowth in cancer patients. That drug should move into mid-stage clinical trials in the first quarter of next year. The company intends to begin early human tests of two other drugs — one designed to increase muscle mass and strength, the other an “anti-angiogenesis” cancer drug — next year.

OTHER HEADLINES OF NOTE:

• Medical-IT co. Harmony Info raises $28M, acquires Synergy Software (release)
• Vitreo Retinal Tech adds $3M to round for eye drugs (PE Hub)
• ImmuneWorks gets $300K for lung-disease drugs (release)
• Bledsoe Brace sells majority stake to Essex Woodlands (PE Hub)
• Quantum Genomics acquires Eurobiobiz (release)
• Renal CarePartners acquires two dialysis providers (VentureWire, sub req’d)
• Pasteuria Bioscience names David Duncan new CEO (release)

Here’s the latest action:
1) Google facing employee overload
2) Verizon Wireless abandons legal challenge of FCC rules
3) Qualcomm comes up with competition for WiMAX
4) Could Yahoo finally be giving up social networking?
5) Google’s PageRank changes injure startups, again
And a handful of fundings:
6) Linkstorm raises $4.2 million from 60 angels
7) JibJab takes a further $3 million from Polaris
8) Zoji receives $1.5 million in seed funding
9) Socialthing raises $300,000 for profile aggregation

Google facing employee overload — Google may be overstocking itself with new employees. Jordan Rohan, an RBC Capital Markets analyst, told News.com, “Half the company has been hired in the last 12 months. That’s chaotic. The new employees find it difficult to figure out how to get things done.” Facing an employee glut, Google may not have the corporate expertise to structure the next for their new worker bees.
Simultaneously, Google is undergoing a talent drain, with some of its best and brightest striking out on their own. (The most recent: Salman Ullah.) Even John Doerr, an original Google investor and board member, is worried that the company’s culture may not survive the changes. Larger, more lumbering and less talented by the day: Is Google finally ready to become a regular corporation?

Verizon Wireless abandons legal challenge of FCC spectrum rules — Verizon’s appeal to the courts to force the Federal Communications Commission to abandon the rule structure it set up for the 700mhz wireless spectrum auction has been dropped by the company. It’s unclear why the telecom giant decided to stop trying to force the issue, but it was probably simple a matter of good sense; the courts have historically declined to interfere with the FCC’s authority.
The auctions, set for January 2008, aren’t likely to run into any more obstacles at this point. Verizon had taken issue with the controversial “open access” requirement that will allow any device to work on the network, regardless of who owns it.

Qualcomm may have a better plan for wireless access — The vaunted WiMAX technology that companies like Intel, Motorola and Sprint are pouring money into may face a strong challenger. Qualcomm has announced a new line of chips, called Gobi, that are capable of accessing multiple types of networks — for example, both EV-DO and HSPA.
Building cellular access chips into laptops has long been a problem, because each type of chip can usually only process the signal from one carrier network. (The Gobi probably uses a technology called software radio, which is designed to eliminate the need for multiple chips.) Depending on how much Qualcomm charges, its new chips may be preferable until the more efficient WiMAX networks are fully built out.

Yahoo giving up on social networking? — “I don’t think Yahoo can be Facebook tomorrow. I don’t think we want to be Facebook,” said Jerry Yang to reporters at an advertising conference yesterday. That’s news to everyone who has watched Yahoo torturously modify its failed Yahoo 360 social network into the new Yahoo Mash, which has been compared to Facebook more than any other social networking site it may be trying to emulate.
Mash is still in private beta. The question now is whether Yahoo, under the new leadership of Yang, will drop the me-too project and focus on something that might actually succeed, or try to differentiate itself with some unusual features. (Via the Mercury.)

Google undergoes sweeping change in PageRank algorithms — The search giant periodically changes the automated rules that determine how sites rank in its search results. The latest shift, noticed today by bloggers, will have a serious effect on a number of blog networks and some startups. Major sites affected include Engadget and DownloadSquad; both will likely to lose a large amount of traffic due to their lower ranking. Google’s changes appear to have been made to combat paid links and in-text advertisement.

Linkstorm raises $4.2 million from 60 angel investors — Linkstorm offers a method for turning a single link into multiple links. When a mouse pointer touches the link, it opens up into a interactive box showing subject lines and other links, much like drop-down menus. It also offers a banner tool that expands the size of an advertisement on a mouse roll-over. Both products are marketed to advertisers; several have already been deployed from companies including Hyundai and Cisco. The company’s total funding is up to $13.2 million; Linkstorm had already taken $9 million from 150 individuals, and a few of them re-invested in this third round.  Funding news via VentureWire (subscription required).

JibJab takes a further $3 million from Polaris Ventures — peHUB dug up the funding amount, initially undisclosed in the company’s press release today. Together with the previous round, JibJab has taken about $6.4 million, all from Polaris. The company makes annoying-but-amusing videos and greeting cards (today’s announcement was for new e-cards); to see what we mean, check out Starring You.

Zoji receives $1.5 million in seed funding — Yet another online invitations site wanting to take down Evite, the grandfather of them all. Zoji is betting on a full set of social features, including messaging, chatting and photos; it will also save invitations and event details over time, leaving a sort of event scrapbook behind. Like another site we’ve profiled in the past, MyPunchBowl, Zoji also has a feature for reaching consensus for a date among the invitees.

Socialthing raises $300,000 for yet another social network profile aggregator — Boulder, Colo. based Socialthing, yet to launch publicly, consolidates social networks into a single dashboard. It will let you track contacts, blogs, photos and music across multiple social networks. But there are already a host of other companies that do something very similar, including ProfileBuilder, meeCard, FindMeOn.com, OtherEgo.com, ProfileMat.com. There are also ways to track activities on various networks, using Friendfeed, to stay on top of friends’ activities on various platforms. So we’re not certain why we need another company to do this, but we’ll wait and see. EonBusiness provided the funding, as part of a seed round totaling $500,000.