Sonian raises $5.6M to store employee communication, ease compliance
Sonian, a provider of hosting services for companies looking to store their employees’ communications, has brought in $5.6 million in a first round of funding from Prism VentureWorks and Summerhill Venture Partners. About $1.3 million of the money came from undisclosed individual investors.
The company says its product stores and indexes all channels of communication, including emails and instant messages. This material is used by many businesses to enforce regulations and compliance. Sonian targets businesses… Continue Reading
Astoria Software raises funds to produce technical and product documentation
Astoria Software, maker of applications used to produce technical and product documentation for the technology, lifescience and manufacturing sectors, announced that it raised an undisclosed amount of financing from Goldman Sachs, BluePrint Ventures, Prism VentureWorks and Ticonderoga Capital, according to VentureWire.
Based in San Francisco, Astoria says it has between 35 and 40 customers, each with contracts amounting to $500,000 and more. It says it will use its new money to beef up its sales and… Continue Reading
iScience sees $20.5M for eye surgery instruments
iScience Interventional, maker of surgical tools for eye operations, has closed a prolonged sixth round of funding at $20.5 million after facing a bit more of a challenge due to the economic climate. The money will be used to commercialize its line of micro-catheters used to remove fluid from or deliver medication to the back region of people’s eyes. It hopes to have them on the market by the end of 2010 at the latest,… Continue Reading
Aptus takes $30M to repair aneurysms
Aptus Endosystems, a biotech firm working on a device to fix abdominal aneurysms, just brought in $30 million in third-round funding to finish off clinical trials of its Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair System, reports VentureWire. Heron Capital led the round, which also included Longitude Capital, Oakwood Medical Investors, Baird Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, Prism VentureWorks and US Venture Partners.
The Sunnyvale, Calif. company says the round should be enough to cover the U.S. launch of the… Continue Reading
Optiscan adds $5M tranche for glucose monitor
Optiscan Biomedical, developer of a less-invasive human glucose monitor for hospitals, received an additional $5 million in a second round of funding that now totals $53 million. The boost came from Wexford Capital, reports VentureWire.
The Hayward, Calif.-based company plans to use its new resources to see its product through clinical trials next year. While it has already been tested on humans, it has yet to receive the stamp of approval from the Food and Drug… Continue Reading
Stealth mode Conduit Labs’ LoudCrowd revealed
The mysterious Conduit Labs has gone through pains to keep its nature under wraps. The company’s stated goal is to create online social experiences that are as rich as those we have offline, and it has managed to raise $5.5 million from Charles River Ventures and Prism Ventureworks without even launching a product.
Yet, despite numerous appearances on gaming conference panels from its CEO and co-founder, Nabeel Hyatt, and buzz surrounding the fact that one of… Continue Reading
Six Degrees Games raises $7M for sports virtual world
Virtual world creator Six Degrees Games has taken $7 million to develop a world for six to 14 year old children with a sports theme. The funding is the company’s first.
Six Degrees hasn’t given many specific details on the game, called Action AllStars, but the company’s executive roster includes two people from Jamdat Mobile, which Electronic Arts acquired in 2006. Jamdat was well known for simple, but engaging games for mobile phones.
Clearstone Venture Partners and… Continue Reading
XLumena raises $6.15M for endoscopic devices
XLumena, a Mountain View, Calif. maker of endosurgical devices, has raised $6.15 million for a new line of endoscopic examination tools, according to VentureWire.
The company develop and sell ultrasound devices that are capable of clearly viewing internal organs.
Prism VentureWorks led the round, and was joined by Ascent Biomedical Ventures and Charter Life Sciences. XLumena was founded in 2007.
Ibeatyou is off to the races and on to the social networks
Competition exists in all walks of life. Ibeatyou capitalizes on that idea with a site that allows users to set up competitions across a wide range of fields, everything from dancing to comedy to music to yes, sports (checkout our full coverage here).
As an example, basketball star Steve Nash posted a video challenging users to see who could hit the most free-throws in a minute. Users watch the competiting videos and judge each on… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Monday, March 24, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Trius Therapeutics raises $30M for new antibiotics (release)
Genomas gets $1.2M grant for genomic side-effect tests (release)
Provasculon receives $500K, enters Biogen Idec incubator (VentureWire)
Animal diagnostics firm Quadraspec aims for $5M round (VentureWire)
MPM Capital names two executive partners (release)
Trius Therapeutics raises $30M for new antibiotics – Trius Therapeutics, a San Diego startup developing new treatments for antibiotic-resistant infections, raised $30 million in a second funding round. Investors included Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, FinTech Global Capital, Sofinnova… Continue Reading
Sparkplay Media gets funds for MMO game with social networking ties
Full-scale massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) are generally built by giant studios, not venture-funded startups, but Sparkplay Media is one of the few exceptions, with an upcoming game called Earth Eternal.
The game will come with its own distinct Web 2.0 angle, though — the ability to tie in with social networks like Facebook. Although CEO Matt Mihaly is being quiet on specific details, he says that there will be applications and activities on social sites… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
MRI image-analysis firm Confirma receives $18M (release)
Specialty pharma Zogenix raises $18M (release)
Arcion pulls in $8.8M for topical pain gel (release)
Bayhill Therapeutics files for $87M IPO (Edgar)
Peakdale Molecular, chemistry-services provider, raises £1M (release)
Radiopharmaceutical maker Cellectar draws in $13M (release)
Critical-care drug maker Ikaria names Daniel Tasse as CEO (release)
Noxxon Pharma appoints Frank Morich as CEO (release)
MRI image-analysis firm Confirma receives $18M –Confirma, a Bellevue, Wash., developer of automated systems for medical-image analysis, received $17.5 million in… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007
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… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007
(UPDATED at 3:10pm PT: See below.)
Featured companies: Agendia, EndoGastric Solutions, FlowCo, Gentris, MedManage Systems, ParagonDx, Presidio Pharmaceuticals, Xoova
Presidio Pharma raises $26M for viral treatments — San Francisco’s Presidio Pharmaceuticals, a biotech developing new antiviral drugs, raised $26 million in a second funding round. Investors included Panorama Capital, Baker Brothers Investments, Bay City Capital, Ventures West Capital, Nexus Medical Partners, Sagamore Bioventures, George Rathmann Fund and Peninsula Overview Partners.
Presidio’s lead drug candidates take aim at HIV, hepatitis… Continue Reading
Conduit Labs: social networking through gaming
Conduit Labs is a secretive new company, not launched yet, but which says it wants to build a new social network: One built around virtual world gaming, but with networking components that reflect real life, just like Facebook does for students on college campuses.
It has just received $5.5. million from Charles River Ventures and Prism Ventureworks.
Conduit Lab founder Nabeel Hyatt and Susan Wu, a virtual world games expert who led the investment for Charles River,… Continue Reading
KickApps, social network builder, raises $11 million
KickApps, which enables publishers to quickly add social network functions to their offerings, has just raised $11 million in its second round of financing.
Thanks to companies like Ning, PeopleAggregator, Me.com, and KickApps, the creation of new social networks has become a commodity, and people are seeing green. Ning recently secured $44 million at a lofty $170 million pre-money valuation. In this bubbly environment, it’s not surprising to see investors looking for more.
While KickApps and Ning… Continue Reading
Entrigue Surgical raises $6.3M for ear, nose and throat
Entrigue Surgical, a San Antonio, Tex., medical-devices maker, raised $6.3 million in a first funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription requires), crediting the San Antonio Express-News (no link available). Vertical Group and Prism VentureWorks provided the investment.
According to Entrigue’s bare-bones Web site — which features little more than a quick marketing blurb and a clock counting down to a “revolution” promised 65 days from now — and the Express-News item, Entrigue is developing devices and biomaterials… Continue Reading
Kiptronic raises $4M for podcast ad-insertion, a better Podbridge?
Kiptronic, a San Francisco company that lets publishers insert ads into audio and video files before they are downloaded for listening on a device, has raised $4 million in a first round of funding.
The investment was led by Blueprint Ventures and Prism VentureWorks.
Kiptronic’s technology works on files that are downloaded onto mobile phones, iPods and PCs for listening to later off-line. This is referred to as “podcasting,” and differs from video “streaming” process, whereby… Continue Reading