11/18/08

Spark Puts Bucks into Boxee

Boston’s Spark Capital and New York’s Union Square Ventures have put $2 million each into Boxee, a New York-based startup working on “social media center” software that optimizes Internet TV shows, music, and photos for consumption on high-definition TVs, Spark announced Tuesday. Spark’s Bijan Sabet and Union Square’s Fred Wilson will join the board of Boxee, which has not yet released its software to the public.

AutoVirt Adds $4M to Series A Round

Nashua, NH-based virtualization startup AutoVirt, which makes software for file virtualization and data migration in Windows environments, announced today that it has added $4 million to a Series A round originally announced in January. Previous investors Kepha Partners and Sigma Partners provided the new funds, bringing AutoVirt’s total raised to $8.5 million. The additional funds will be used to enhance product development, as well as support sales and marketing, the company said.

ThingMagic Inks In-Q-Tel Deal

ThingMagic, the Cambridge, MA-based maker of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems, announced today that it has signed a strategic investment and technology development deal with In-Q-Tel, a venture firm founded by the CIA. Under the agreement, terms of which were not disclosed, ThingMagic will expand its development efforts “to facilitate the integration of RFID and sensors into a wider range of applications” with both commercial and security purposes, according to the announcement.

ATG Adds Click-to-Call to Video Ads

Back in 2006, Cambridge, MA-based Art Technology Group (NASDAQ: ARTG) spent north of $48 million in cash and stock to acquire eStara, a maker of software that allows Web surfers to open voice-over-Internet connections with sales agents by clicking on Internet ads. Yesterday the company announced that it’s extending eStara’s capabilities to Flash-based video ads. “While consumers are more comfortable watching video clips online now than ever before, direct-response advertisers—many of whom are small, local businesses—have struggled to find a video advertising model that is cost-effective and measurable,” said Ruth Habbe, vice president of ATG’s eStara Business Group, said in a statement. “eStara Video Connect solves this problem by making video ads actionable, and by giving media companies a rich tool for tracking consumer actions and leads generated from each and every video ad.”

ReGen Power Raises $5M

ReGen Power Systems announced it has raised $5 million from 21Ventures and Quercus Trust to further develop an external combustion engine that coverts heat sources into power. The New Salem, MA-based firm plans to use the new funds to design and build two prototypes of its engines, one for evaluation and testing and another to install at a corporate facility for field testing.

11/17/08

ZafGen Scores $14M Series B

Anti-obesity drug developer ZafGen closed a Series B financing worth $14 million, PE Hub reports, citing a regulatory filing. Third Rock Ventures and Atlas Venture supplied the funding for the Cambridge, MA-based startup, which Luke profiled in September.

IRobot Wins 6 R&D Grants

Bedford, MA-based iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT), which makes small robots for home and military applications, announced today that it has secured six grants totaling $4.4 million under the Pentagon’s Small Business Innovative Research program. The grants, which are aimed at making iRobot’s Packbot and small unmanned ground vehicle (SUGV) robots easier to use and at developing ways to coordinate ground robots and unmanned aerial vehicles, are coming from the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, the Office of Naval Research and the U.S. Army Research Office.

FDA Plans To Clear Genzyme’s Myozyme Made at Large Scale

Genzyme said today the FDA plans to allow it to market alglucosidase alfa (Myozyme) made in a large-scale 2000 liter bioreactor. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech company (NASDAQ: GENZ) said it first needs to agree with the agency on a risk-lowering strategy, and a post-marketing study that will look at whether the drug made at the larger scale is equivalent to the version currently approved for the market at a smaller scale. The FDA’s deadline to officially act has now been pushed back 90 days, to Feb. 28. Genzyme has said it expects to sell between $275 million and $285 million of the product this year, for a rare genetic condition called Pompe disease.

11/14/08

Pfizer Starts Stem Cell R&D Unit

Drug giant Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) has announced the launch of Pfizer Regenerative Medicine, an independent research unit focused on discovering stem cell treatments for multiple diseases. New York-based Pfizer says the research unit will be co-located in Cambridge, U.K., and at its existing R&D operation— Research Technology Centre—in Cambridge, MA.

Kraft Group Plans Biotech Park

According to a report yesterday in the Sun Chronicle, a newspaper serving the Attleboro and Foxborough areas southwest of Boston, the Kraft Group is seeking tenants for a planned 1.6-million-square-foot biotech office park to be located on land near Foxborough’s Gillette Stadium. The Kraft Group owns the New England Patriots football team. It recently shut down Web recommendation subsidiary Matchmine, citing a cash crunch.

New England Biotech Group Kicks Off

The nascent New England Biotech Association, an umbrella group comprised of trade associations from all six New England states, held its first board meeting yesterday, the Boston Globe reports. The group is chaired by Paula Newton, President of the New Hampshire Bio/Medical Council. According to its website, “NEBA is committed to ensuring the region remains a global leader in biotechnology and the life sciences.”

11/13/08

.406 Ventures Leads $12M Digitalsmiths Funding

Video analytics and search startup Digitalsmiths has raised $12 million in a Series B round led by Boston’s .406 Ventures, the Research Triangle Park, NC-based company announced today. Previous investors The Aurora Funds and Chrysalis Ventures also joined the round.

Flybridge Leads $8.25M Transpera Financing

Boston venture firm Flybridge Capital Partners has led an $8.25 million Series B round of financing in Transpera, a Santa Monica, CA-based provider of software to deliver Web video and advertising to mobile phones, according to a company statement. The firm’s second round of funding included investments from new backer Labrador Ventures and repeat investors Flybridge, Intel Capital, and First Round Capital.

11/12/08

Springpad Opened to Public

Boston’s Spring Partners, a venture-backed Web software startup founded by five former executives from mobile marketing firm Third Screen Media, announced today that it’s opening beta testing of its first product, Springpad, to the general public. Springpad is a Web-based personal information management system that helps users create annotated lists or “notebooks” around dozens of themes such as pet care, prescriptions, holiday gift planning, receipts, and recipes.

Clean-Tech Firm C Change Launched

C Change Investments, a Cambridge, MA-based firm focused on investment in and development of clean technologies, has officially launched, according to a statement. The co-founders of the firm are John Preston, former director of technology development at MIT, and Russell Read, who previously served as chief investment officer of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS).

Thermo Buys U.K. Company

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO), a Waltham, MA-based provider of scientific research tools and materials, has acquired histology and anatomical pathology lab products maker Raymond A. Lamb, of Eastbourne, U.K., according to a company statement. Thermo Fisher, which did not disclose financial terms of the buyout, reports that Raymond had 2007 revenues of $9 million and will be integrated into its analytical technologies unit.

Boston Scientific Invests in Intelect

Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX), a Natick, MA-based medical devices firm, has led an equity round expected to total $11 milion to $13.5 million in Intelect Medical, a developer of an implantable neuromodulation system headquartered in Cleveland, Intelect reports in a statement. Intelect says, as part of the deal, it has granted Boston Scientific co-exclusive rights to its software under development to provide graphical information on electrical changes made by electrodes in the brain.

11/11/08

PeerApp Raises $8 Million

PeerApp, a Newton, MA-based maker of caching servers that Internet service providers use to speed delivery of frequently-downloaded peer-to-peer video and music files, said today that it has closed an $8 million Series B financing round. Investors Pilot House Ventures, Cedar Fund, and Evergreen Venture Partners, who ponied up $3 million in Series A funding in January, all returned for the Series B, which will go toward an expansion of the startup’s sales and marketing operations. We profiled PeerApp last December.

11/10/08

Molecular Biometrics Snags $12M For IVF Procedure

Molecular Biometrics has raised $12 million in a Series A round of venture capital from Boston-based Oxford Bioscience Partners and Safeguard Scientifics. The cash will be used to support development of ViaMetrics, a diagnostic tool to help doctors identify which embryos created through in vitro fertilization have the greatest chance to become viable embryos. The company is currently headquartered in Chester, NJ, although it plans to move to the Boston area in early 2009.

MicroLogic Sold to Alanco

Lowell, MA-based MicroLogic, which developed the wireless technology behind the LoJack theft recovery system for vehicles and has recently focused on wireless tracking of heavy construction equipment, will be acquired by the StarTrak Systems division of Alanco Technologies (NASDAQ: ALAN), the Scottsdale, AZ-based company announced today. StarTrak makes cellular- and satellite-based systems that track “cold chain” equipment such as refrigerated trucks, trailers, and shipping containers. The terms of the acquisition weren’t disclosed.