Latest Posts

• Using Analytics, Fitcode Aims to Connect Shoppers to Jeans That Fit

  There are few things more universal in wardrobes the world over than blue jeans. But they are also the number one item that is returned by online shoppers, says Rian Buckley, founder and CEO of Fitcode.

  “Fit is the number one... Read more »

  Angela Shah4/20/18

• Bio Roundup: Hope for Lungs, Bradner’s Complaint, FDA Nods & More

  The biggest news this week was in oncology, hands down. Merck showed that its immunotherapy pembrolizumab (Keytruda) might become a common option for many patients newly diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, but the bigger picture is that the field is moving... Read more »

  Alex Lash4/20/18

• Ford Offers Non-Emergency Medical Transport with New GoRide Service

  Proponents of mobility and autonomous vehicle technologies say those innovations have a lot of humanity-improving potential.

  Self-driving cars will dramatically reduce congestion and accidents, they say, and will allow elderly and disabled people to get around more independently. One future scenario... Read more »

  Sarah Schmid Stevenson4/19/18

• Detroit Tech School Trains Vets, Returning Citizens for Tech Careers

  Tucked away in Southwest Detroit, not too far from the geodesic Buckminster Fuller domes built by Jack White’s brother, sits the Detroit School of Digital Technology (DSDT).

  Unlike many other tech schools, DSDT is a woman-owned organization that specializes in... Read more »

  Sarah Schmid Stevenson4/18/18

• Cancer Wrap: Blueprint, Checkmate, More AACR News & Phase 3 Blues

  The big headlines from the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Chicago were all about the battle over the latest lung cancer data, and for good reason. Lung cancer remains the deadliest cancer, but the Phase 3 data suggest... Read more »

  Alex Lash4/18/18

• For More Lung Cancer Patients, the Promise of No Chemo Looms Larger

  [Editor’s note: Ben Fidler co-authored this report.] A decade from now, it’s possible that immunotherapy will have made a big dent in lung cancer, which is by far the deadliest type of the disease.

  Drugs from several companies... Read more »

  Alex Lash4/16/18

• Sonodontics, Locker Lifestyle Win Big at GreenLight Competition

  We have a smaller startup ecosystem in Michigan, and that sometimes makes it seem like the same companies are always pitching at startup competitions. That was not the case with this year’s installment of the GreenLight Business Competition, which featured... Read more »

  Sarah Schmid Stevenson4/13/18

• Onapsis Bags $31M as U.S. Cybersecurity Funding Slows

  The U.S. cybersecurity industry has seen a decline in venture capital investments recently, but Boston-area security startups are having a good week.

  On Tuesday, Boston-based ObserveIT said it recently pulled in a Series B investment led by Bain Capital Ventures. The... Read more »

  Jeff Engel4/13/18

• Bio Roundup: Lung Cancer Showdown, Gene Therapy Deals, IPO Busts

  This weekend, cancer immunotherapy will once again take biopharma’s center stage. At one of the year’s big cancer meetings, investors, researchers, and many others will have a close eye on a group of presentations touting new lung cancer regimens that combine... Read more »

  Ben Fidler4/13/18

• Karamba Security Snags $10M from WTI, Contemplates Acquisition Targets

  Karamba Security, an automotive cybersecurity startup based in Hod Hasharon, Israel, and Bloomfield Hills, MI, announced this week that it has closed on $10 million in financing from Silicon Valley’s Western Technology Investment. That brings the total amount raised to... Read more »

  Sarah Schmid Stevenson4/13/18

• No “Pink Tax”: Billie, a Shave Club for Women, Raises $6M

  [Corrected, 4/11/18, 4:48 p.m. ET. See below.] Billie, a direct-to-consumer seller of monthly shaving and body care products subscriptions, has raised $6 million in new funding.

  The New York-based startup, which launched in November, previously raised $2.5 million. This... Read more »

  Angela Shah4/11/18

• With New Data, Drug Combos, Lung Cancer Experts Scramble to Keep Pace

  When oncologist Renato Martins finished his medical training, advanced lung cancer was almost certainly a quick death sentence. “I knew, by name, every patient who had survived two years,” he says.

  Thanks in large part to the arrival of cancer immunotherapy,... Read more »

  Ben Fidler4/11/18

• InterVision Buys Bluelock, Plans to Grow Disaster Recovery Services

  Bluelock, the Indianapolis “disaster-recovery-as-a-service” startup, has been acquired by InterVision, a managed IT consultancy headquartered in St. Louis, MO, and Santa Clara, CA. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

  Bluelock CEO Christopher Clapp says he and... Read more »

  Sarah Schmid Stevenson4/11/18

Load More News ›

• Movatic Allows Hardware Makers to Tap into Shared Mobility Market

  When Ansgar Strother co-founded A2B Bikeshare in 2012, he was on a mission to make bike-sharing more affordable and accessible.

  The company’s approach involved a kiosk-free “smart bike, dumb rack” model that put the technology of a rental kiosk onto... Read more »

  Sarah Schmid Stevenson4/10/18

• Expectations Rise on Q1 Surge in Venture Funding; and Top 10 Deals

  [Updated 4/11/18 10:13 am. See below.] Venture capital investors poured more than $28.2 billion into U.S. companies during the first three months of 2018—marking the strongest single quarter in at least a dozen years, according to the Venture Monitor Report... Read more »

  Bruce V. Bigelow4/10/18

• E-Commerce Startups Open Door to Endless Virtual Closet

  The sharing economy is moving into our bedroom closets.

  We already apply this idea to transportation (Uber vs. taxi) and vacation accommodations (Airbnb vs. hotel). Now, thanks to a growing number of e-commerce companies, the ability to share goods and services... Read more »

  Angela Shah4/9/18

• Novartis Bets $8.7B on AveXis’s Gene Therapy for Spine Disease

  A gene therapy for the rare disease spinal muscular atrophy could hit the U.S. market next year. If it does, the treatment will likely be sold by Novartis, not its developer, AveXis, thanks to a deal announced early this morning.

  Novartis... Read more »

  Ben Fidler4/9/18

• Xconomy Roadmap 2018: Top 15 Innovation Areas to Watch

  With the first quarter in the books, it’s time to step back and lay out Xconomy’s editorial map for the rest of the year. As readers know, we strive to cover a wide range of innovation sectors, from tech and life... Read more »

  Gregory T. Huang4/9/18

• Bio Roundup: Ex-Kiters Say Allo, NASH Cash & Data, Alkermes No & More

  Happy Friday, everyone. We’ll start this week with biotech deals, one featuring a couple of CAR-T heavyweights who have re-emerged after selling Kite Pharma for $12 billion. They will try to shepherd to market a different type of the promising cancer... Read more »

  Alex Lash4/6/18

• After a Year of Growth Milestones, Duo Security Opens Detroit Office

  Duo Security, a cybersecurity startup based in Ann Arbor, MI, announced today that it is opening a new office in Detroit to accommodate the company’s rapidly growing business.

  Duo plans to immediately relocate 30 employees from the company’s engineering, information... Read more »

  Sarah Schmid Stevenson4/4/18

• How Next-Gen Chipmakers Are Raising Money, Taking On Tech Giants

  The advent of big fundraising rounds for startup chip innovators—a class shunned by most venture capital firms only a few years ago—seems to mark a turnaround in recent VC attitudes about semiconductor investments.

  But it turns out VCs weren’t the only... Read more »

  Bernadette Tansey4/4/18

• UT, Aurora Health Join Strata Oncology’s Free Genomic Testing Network

  Ann Arbor, MI’s Strata Oncology launched in 2015 with a mission to help bring free tumor sequencing to as many patients as possible. To help accomplish that mission, the genomics startup has established the Strata Precision Oncology Network, a group of... Read more »

  Sarah Schmid Stevenson4/4/18

Load More News ›

• Getting Personal: Retailers Use New Tech to Court Individual Shoppers

  “Personalized shopping” has long been the guiding light for retailers. But in the age of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), traditional stores have been searching for the best way to digitize what was once a person-to-person process.

  “Internet shopping is now... Read more »

  Angela Shah4/2/18

• Bio Roundup: Biotech IPOs, Migraine Progress, Takeda Woos Shire & More

  If the recent IPO activity seems to be on overdrive, it’s not your imagination. The number of companies filing to go public in the U.S. in the first quarter was up 44 percent compared to the same period a year ago,... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan3/30/18

• Want to Hire a Kid Down the Street to do Yard Work? ToDoolie Can Help

  It used to be fairly simple to hire neighborhood kids to help move heavy objects or perform other household chores for a small fee. I’m not sure if the Internet and video games are to blame, or a general degradation of... Read more »

  Sarah Schmid Stevenson3/29/18

• Among Facebook’s Woes, EU’s Strict Privacy Laws May Loom Largest

  In a continuing effort to regain the trust of its disillusioned users, Facebook on Wednesday announced new privacy controls where settings can be made from a central menu, rather than by tunneling through as many as 20 screens.

  As Facebook unveiled... Read more »

  Bernadette Tansey3/28/18

• Going Downhill: Roam Robotics’ Exoskeleton Supports Aging Skiers

  Robotics has found its way to the ski slopes.

  San Francisco-based Roam Robotics has developed an exoskeleton, worn on the legs, that the company says will improve skiers’ endurance and safety while they blaze down trails. For skiers 45 or older,... Read more »

  Angela Shah3/28/18

• Invanti Seeks Entrepreneurs to Help Crack America’s Toughest Problems

  When Maria Gibbs and Dustin Mix were working on degrees at the University of Notre Dame a few years ago, they noticed a gap in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem.

  They were used to attacking big problems as part of their university... Read more »

  Sarah Schmid Stevenson3/27/18

• FTC Opens New Probe: Revisits Its Old Charges On Facebook Privacy Practices

  Among the host of legal woes Facebook is now confronting amid news about the misuse of its member profiles in election politics: The Federal Trade Commission revealed Monday that it is investigating the social media giant’s privacy practices.

  The FTC decision... Read more »

  Bernadette Tansey3/26/18

• EY Report Suggests Improving Conditions for U.S. IPOs in 2018

  U.S. IPO activity has been ticking up, with 36 IPOs raising more than $12.7 billion in the United States so far this year, according to data released Monday by EY, the global consulting and accounting firm.

  Although there are still several... Read more »

  Bruce V. Bigelow3/26/18

• Ada-AI Seeks to Build a Diverse Artificial Intelligence Community

  Artificial intelligence innovation has become part of our everyday lives—retailers use it to tailor the product recommendations they make; biotech companies hope it can create customized medicine. But its shortcomings, born of human biases, are becoming apparent as well.

  Take, for... Read more »

  Angela Shah3/26/18

Read More Posts ›