IRobot Hired to Make Shape-Shifting Robots, Alnylam Forges Asian Connection, Navic Scooped Up By Microsoft, More Orders for Evergreen Solar, & More Deals News

Rebecca Zacks6/23/08Comments (1)

Last week was a good one for New England tech and life sciences startups trying to raise cash. But first, the shape-shifting robots.

—IRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT) of Burlington, MA, won a $3.3 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Army Research Office to develop “soft, flexible” robots that can shimmy through tight spaces for reconnaissance and search-and-rescue work.

—Brookline, MA-based online directory firm JazzD Markets reportedly raised $8 million in Series A financing round from investors including Commonwealth Capital Ventures and Pilot House Ventures.

—Navic Networks of Waltham, MA, was scooped up by Microsoft for an undisclosed sum. The firm, whose investors include Pilot House Associates, Highland Capital Partners, Himalaya Capital Ventures, Pequot Ventures, and Lauder Partners, makes ad-targeting software for TV set-top boxes.

—Waltham, MA-based Battery Ventures teamed with Gemini Israel Funds to invest $11.4 million in New Jersey-based Neocleus, which makes virtualization software for Windows desktops and laptops.

—American Well of Boston inked a deal with Hawaii Medical Service Association—American Well’s first major customer—to offer the Boston firm’s online medical consultation services to all of the health plan’s 710,000 members. It also forged an agreement with Microsoft to integrate the software giant’s health information management service, HealthVault, into the American Well interface.

—Cambridge, MA-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALNY) formed an alliance worth up to $93 million (not including royalties) with Japan’s Kyowa Hakko Kogyo to commercialize an RNAi-based treatment for respiratory syncytial virus in Japan and other major Asian markets.

—Evergreen Solar (NASDAQ: [ESLR) received two new long-term orders, worth a combined $600 million, bringing the photovoltaic manufacturer’s total contractual backlog up to $1.7 billion.

—Friday saw a flurry of financings: Newton, MA’s OwnerIQ, which builds websites offering downloadable user manuals for consumer products, raised $6 million in Series B funding from Egan Managed Capital, Atlas Venture, CommonAngels, and the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation. Sciformix, of Westborough, MA, which handles regulatory paperwork for biotech and pharma firms, closed a $3.3 million Series A round led by Boston-based Flybridge Capital Partners. And web consulting firm Optaros of Boston raised $12 million in a Series C round from .406 Ventures, Charles River Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, and Globespan Capital Partners.