Spinal Kinetics raises $5.3M to treat degenerative spine diseases
Spinal Kinetics, maker of artificial disks used to treat spine injuries and degenerative diseases, has brought in $5.3 million of an anticipated $9.5 million round of debt, rights and securities, according to a filing with the SEC. The Sunnyvale, Calif. company did not list investors in this round, but has been previously backed by the Ascent Group, BA Venture Partners, De Novo Ventures, HLM Venture Partners, International Life Sciences Fund, Ivy Capital Partners, Lumira Capital… Continue Reading
Oraya scores $42M for eye radiation treatments
Oraya Therapeutics, maker of radiosurgical tools used to treat eye diseases, has brought in $42 million in a third round of funding from Domain Associates, Scale Venture Partners, Essex Woodlands Health Ventures and Synergy Life Partners.
Based in Newark, Calif., the company says it will use its new financing to widen its overseas clinical trials. It hopes to earn international approval and clearance for commercialization. Called the IRay system, its lead treatment can deliver precise doses… Continue Reading
Siimpel raises undisclosed round for low-power micro-cameras
Siimpel, manufacturer of precise low-power mobile and digital cameras, announced an undisclosed round of strategic funding from LG Innotek. The Arcadia, Calif. company previously raised $75 million from backers Motorola Ventures, DOCOMO Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Global Catalyst Partners, Portage Venture Partners, Scale Venture Partners, Sun America Ventures and Zone Venture Fund.
In the fall, Siimpel said it was going to start developing micro-elecro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) technology ideal for cell phones.
diaDexus lands $9.2M for cardiovascular diagnostics
South San Francisco, Calif. biotech firm diaDexus just raised $9.2 million in sixth-round funding from Scale Venture Partners, GlaxoSithKline and Baker Brothers Advisors, according to peHUB. The company’s first and only product, the PLAC Test, is used to detect early indicators of risk for heart attack and stroke. If such conditions can be determined at an early stage, aggressive treatment can prevent possibly-fatal events from ever occurring, diaDexus claims.
Founded in 2000, the company had… Continue Reading
Discera pulls in funds for MEMS chips
Fabless chip maker Discera brought in a new round of funding exceeding $3.2 million from undisclosed investors. It will use the new money for development of its quartz-based timing products.
Previously, the San Jose, Calif.-based company has raised $35 million from backers including Ardesta, Horizon Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Qualcomm Ventures and 3i Group.
Jaspersoft raises $12.5M for open source business intelligence
Jaspersoft, a provider of open-source business intelligence software, has raised $12.5 million in new funding. The round was led by Adams Street Partners, with participation from leading open-source company Red Hat and Jaspersoft’s previous investors Scale Venture Partners, SAP Ventures, DCM, Morgenthaler Ventures, and Partech International.
The San Francisco company last raised a $12 million fourth round in 2007. Jaspersoft says that with 7 million downloads, it offers the most-downloaded business intelligence software in the world…. Continue Reading
AT&T acquires Wayport for $275M — now has 80,000 hot spots
AT&T has acquired Wayport, a company that built out about 8,000 WiFi hot spots including in places like McDonald’s, for $275 million in cash. The move is another signal that AT&T intends to become a WiFi access point giant — the company now boasts 80,000 points world wide.
The purchase of the Austin, Texas company, which comes at a time when acquisitions have slowed to a trickle, is significant because it reflects how mobility technology investments… Continue Reading
Set-top box company Entone wants to be TiVo-killer
Entone, a company that sells a set-top box for Internet television that can distribute video to three different TVs at once, has raised $14.5 million in a second round of financing.
It wants to replace your TiVo.
The box is sold via 25 telecom operators that provide Internet TV services to the home. Right now, the consumer pays for the Entone service when ordering it through their broadband carrier. Typically, an end user pays for a year… Continue Reading
Musical chairs in Silicon Valley’s venture world: Theis, Brown, Lisbonne, Marshall, Ringo
updated
Four venture capital personnel moves:
Robert Theis, a venture capitalist who left Silicon Valley firm DCM last year after serving for eight years, has joined Scale Venture Partners, also in Silicon Valley, as managing director. Thies will focus on investment in “technology infrastructure and applications.” At DCM, Theis invested in companies PGP, Roamware, NeoPath (acquired by Cisco) and the now-public VanceInfo. We’re not certain why things didn’t work out at DCM (all sides say something different),… Continue Reading
Biz360 gets more funding, says market research business is still wide open
There has been no shortage of attention to market research in the past few years. Established business like Nielsen and J.D. Power have struggled to encompass the Internet and use its information to give their clients a better idea of how new products are seen by consumers. Where they’ve fallen short, multiple startups have bloomed to do a better job.
The innovation has led to plenty of acquisitions: Umbria, Buzzmetrics, Telephia, Audience Analytics and others have… Continue Reading
PlayPhone acquires Pitch Entertainment Group for European mobile expansion
Mobile entertainment provider PlayPhone is announcing today that it has acquired Pitch Entertainment Group as part of its global expansion. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed.
San Jose, Calif.-based PlayPhone aggregates mobile content and offers it directly to consumers, who can download it onto their mobile phones. Pitch Entertainment Group, based in London, does the same thing in the European and Brazilian markets.
PlayPhone specializes in obtaining content from big brands from Disney to Sony. Then it takes… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Thursday, Jan. 31, 2007
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
5AM Ventures puts $3.3M into stealthy ImmunoNewco (VBLS exclusive)
NewLink Genetics raises $17M for cancer vaccine, immune drugs (VBLS exclusive)
Biochip, stem-cell biotech Minerva Bio ousts CEO Jim Czirr and sues (release)
Sonexa Therapeutics takes $30M for Alzheimer’s treatment (release)
Tissue regenerator Healionics pulls in $1.7M (release)
EGeen, clinical research organization, receives $245K (VentureWire)
Barnvet Labs, HeMemics Bio get $75K apiece from Maryland gov’t (release)
5AM Ventures puts $3.3M into new immune-related startup – I’ve moved this item to a standalone post… 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
Citysearch, Merchantcircle connect their local business services
Citysearch, an online guide service about local US businesses, has partnered with MerchantCircle, in an effort to hold their own in the increasingly competitive area of local reviews.
The move comes as Citysearch is under attack from newer, fresher sites like Yelp, which offers reviews about locales and is appearing as high, if not higher than Citysearch in search engine results.
Citysearch, a division of IAC, has a large collection of local data that includes 14.5 million… Continue Reading
MerchantCircle, helps small businesses market online — aggressively
Online advertising remains hot. But with Google, Microsoft and Yahoo fighting to serve advertising to large companies and publishers, smaller business clients are left neglected.
MerchantCircle, a controversial Silicon Valley company helping thousands of small businesses market themselves online, has raised $10 million in financing to pursue these small businesses further.
It has also arranged a credit line with Square 1 Bank to acquire other rivals in the sector.
The Los Altos, Calif. company has been accused of… Continue Reading
Siimpel raises $21.5M for imaging technology for cellphones
Siimpel Corp., an Arcadia, Calif., maker of imaging technology for cellphone cameras, has raised $21.5 million in a fourth round of funding.
SunAmerica Ventures led the round. Other investors include Motorola, Qualcomm and Micron Technology and existing backers Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Scale Venture Partners, Global Catalyst Partners, Portage Venture Partners and Zone Venture Partners.
The company improves imaging for camera technology in cellphones, using MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems), optics, electro-optical design, image sensors, packaging and camera electronics.
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007
Featured companies: Ablynx, Cardiosolutions, Carigent Thereapeutics, Elusys, Genome Corp., GlobeImmune, Novazone, Targanta Therapeutics, Waterfront Media
UPDATED at 5:45am on 9/27/07
GlobeImmune raises $41M for immune-system therapies — GlobeImmune, a Louisville, Colo., biotech focused on new forms of immunotherapy to treat viral infections and cancer, raised $41.2 million in a third funding round. Investors included Wexford Capital, Celgene, the Mellon Family Investment Company, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, Eminent Venture Capital, Boston Life Science Venture, WRF Capital, HealthCare Ventures,… Continue Reading
FaceTime, provider of messaging control software, raises $15.6M
FaceTime Communications, a Foster City, Calif. provider of software that provides security control over communications within businesses, said it has raised $15.6 million in financing.
Here’s the statement,
The investment was led by the Credit Suisse NEXT II Fund, and included existing investors Sutter Hill Ventures, JK&B Capital and Scale Venture Partners.
The company’s product offers control over things like peer-to-peer, instant messaging and voice-over Internet protocol applications. Research firm IDC named FaceTime the market share leader among… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Aug. 27, 2007
Featured companies: Bravo Health, InfraReDx, MedAssets, Prestwick Pharmaceuticals
Prestwick Pharma raises $20M for neuro drugs — Specialty pharma Prestwick Pharmaceuticals, a Washington, D.C., firm that acquires cast-off drug candidates to treat neurological conditions, raised $20 million from existing investors, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Among those participating in the funding were Atlas Venture, Sofinnova Ventures, Vivo Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Warburg Pincus and Pequot Ventures.
Prestwick said it raised the funds to acquire additional drug candidates. The company filed… Continue Reading
Horizon Therapeutics: Combining generic pain meds for greater drug safety
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Horizon Therapeutics, a biotech that aims to combine existing generic drugs to fight pain, raised $30 million in a third funding round. The company’s lead drug candidate, known only as HZT-501, is a “proprietary” combination of the generic drugs ibuprofen and famotidine, the latter of which is better known by its brand name Pepcid. It’s aimed at providing pain relief without gastrointestinal discomfort or injury, which is the same claim made by… Continue Reading