Latest Posts

• You May Have Helped Crash the Internet. But How Would You Know?

  Cyberattackers this month brought down Internet access to Twitter, Netflix, Airbnb, the New York Times, and many other companies by hijacking thousands of poorly protected devices and forcing them to overwhelm a key Web traffic hub with a barrage of messages.... Read more »

  Bernadette Tansey10/31/16

• Isomark, gBETA, Gregor, & More: This Week’s Wisconsin Watchlist

  Keep up with the latest news from Wisconsin’s innovation community with these recent headlines:

  —Members of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s football team are using a device developed by the startup Isomark that gives them feedback on how they’re metabolizing food, the... Read more »

  Jeff Buchanan10/31/16

• New York Institutions, VCs Team up to Build Drug Discovery “Bridge”

  [Updated, 11:10 a.m. ET, see below] New York biotech has historically lagged behind more established life sciences hubs like Boston and San Francisco, but collaborations between its research institutions have helped the city start to move forward. Another step... Read more »

  Ben Fidler10/31/16

• Third Rock Gets $616M to Grow New Crop of Biotech Startups

  Third Rock Ventures is known for making big bets on risky science, and over the past decade a number of those gambles have paid off for its shareholders. That success has helped the Boston firm close on a new $616 million... Read more »

  Ben Fidler10/31/16

• Plug and Play San Diego Finds Home in New Downtown Works Space

  Plug and Play San Diego has formed a partnership with Downtown Works, a new co-working space in downtown San Diego, which will give the local Plug and Play program a place to call home.

  Plug and Play San Diego, established in... Read more »

  Bruce V. Bigelow10/31/16

• CUNA Mutual Group Venture Arm Exits Stealth, Reveals Investments

  CMFG Ventures, an arm of CUNA Mutual Group that supports fintech and insurance technology startups, says it led a $10 million Series A investment in Chicago-based ForeverCar, which helps users purchase extended vehicle warranties.

  Madison, WI-based CUNA Mutual provides... Read more »

  Jeff Buchanan10/28/16

• Seattle Week in Review: Tech Money in Politics, Metamaterials & More

  If there’s any doubt about the enduring impact that home-grown tech company billionaires can have on a region, refer back to this week. Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and Steve Ballmer made moves big and small to encourage and influence the course... Read more »

  Benjamin Romano10/28/16

• Roundup: Naturalicious, Ford STEAM Lab, MedHealth Summit & More

  Here’s a look at recent tech and innovation news from around Michigan:

  —Gwen Jimmere, founder of Detroit-based beauty startup Naturalicious, has been named one of the 100 most influential African Americans in the country by The Root. Jimmere started the... Read more »

  Sarah Schmid Stevenson10/28/16

• Bio Roundup: Drug Pricing, Cystic Fibrosis Showdown, Myovant & More

  The 2016 election is (thankfully) almost here, and as one biotech analyst noted this week, a possible Democratic victory is to blame for a big October sell-off in biotech stocks. Since Donald Trump’s infamous “Access Hollywood” tape was released on October... Read more »

  Ben Fidler10/28/16

• Exact Sciences Shares Dip After Company Adjusts Revenue Forecast

  Exact Sciences reported third-quarter earnings Wednesday and despite increases in revenue and other closely watched metrics, the reaction from investors was unfavorable.

  Madison, WI-based Exact (NASDAQ: EXAS) reported a net loss of $37.8 million for the three-month period that ended... Read more »

  Jeff Buchanan10/27/16

• Unity Nabs $116M To Bring “Diseases of Aging” Drugs Into Human Trials

  Unity Biotechnology launched earlier this year to tackle common diseases such as knee arthritis, glaucoma, and clogged arteries in a new way. The company said Thursday it has raised $116 million in a Series B funding round.

  Unity wants to kill... Read more »

  Alex Lash10/27/16

• Zimmer Biomet Digs Deeper into Digital Health with RespondWell Deal

  Zimmer Biomet is expanding into telemedicine through the acquisition of RespondWell, a startup whose software allows patients to rehabilitate from surgery at home using messaging, videos, and monitoring handled over the Internet.

  Warsaw, IN-based Zimmer Biomet (NYSE: ZBH) is one... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan10/27/16

• Allergan Snags Rhythm’s Diabetes-Related GI Drug for $200M

  [Updated 2:03 p.m. See below.] Rhythm Pharmaceuticals is selling a stomach drug for $200 million to Dublin-based Allergan, a deal that has been in the works since 2014.

  Allergan is acquiring Motus Therapeutics (formerly Rhythm Health), which holds the... Read more »

  David Holley10/27/16

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• MIT Raising $150M Venture Fund to Rev “The Engine,” a New Incubator

  MIT is investing $25 million in a potentially $150 million venture capital fund and opening a 26,000-square-foot startup space on the edge of its campus.

  The two investments will jumpstart a broad entrepreneurship initiative, dubbed The Engine, that will provide... Read more »

  Jeff Engel10/27/16

• Boston’s Life Science Disruptors: The Photos

  How did one of the ambitious gene editing startups in biotech come together? What lessons does Harvard University professor and biotech veteran Vicki Sato have about closing the gender gap after spending “most of her career” as the only woman in... Read more »

  Ben Fidler10/27/16

• Facebook Boston Grows to 100 People, Expands Networking Projects

  Facebook’s Boston-area office is about three years old, and seems to be hitting a critical mass. With a headcount of about 100, the engineering center is supporting some of the company’s most visible products—as well as leading projects that could pay... Read more »

  Gregory T. Huang10/27/16

• Despite Low Crop Prices, Corporate and VC Agtech Investments Soar

  Prices for agricultural commodities such as corn, soy, and wheat are at their lowest levels in years, but investment in agricultural technology has never been better.

  Venture capital firms have increased their agtech investments by 80 percent since 2012, bringing total... Read more »

  Frank Vinluan10/27/16

• Boston Tech Watch: TVision Tracks Eyeballs, Diffeo Grabs Cash, & More

  Here are a few of the latest happenings in the Boston-area tech scene:

  —MIT spinout TVision Insights raised $6.8 million in an investment round led by Accomplice, with contributions from Golden Venture Partners, Jump Capital, Itochu Technology Ventures, and Project 11... Read more »

  Jeff Engel10/27/16

• Healthfinch’s Drug Refill App Graduates to Athenahealth Marketplace

  Healthfinch, a Madison, WI-based developer of software that’s aimed at saving healthcare providers and patients time and energy, said on Monday that one of its products recently became available to a wider audience.

  Swoop, an application Healthfinch created to make... Read more »

  Jeff Buchanan10/26/16

• Propel Aims to Close Tech Talent Gap by Offering On-Demand IT Gurus

  A few years ago, when Nick Birch and Scott Jones co-founded Indianapolis’s Eleven Fifty Academy, a nonprofit coding school, they realized their goal of harnessing Eleven Fifty to “close the nation’s growing technology skills gap” wasn’t going to be realized... Read more »

  Sarah Schmid Stevenson10/26/16

• FanDuel, DraftKings Settle NY Lawsuit, Ending Yearlong Legal Battle

  DraftKings and FanDuel have each agreed to pay $6 million to the state of New York to settle allegations of false and deceptive advertising, clearing the final legal hurdle in an almost yearlong dispute with authorities in one of the most... Read more »

  Jeff Engel10/26/16

• Roundup: Techstars Leaves, U.K. Healthcare Firms Arrive, & Other News

  Let’s get caught up with the latest innovation news from Xconomy Texas:

  Austin:
  —Techstars Ventures and Texas-based angel investors have added $1 million to the $1.6 million previously raised by NuPark, an Austin startup with video technology to help... Read more »

  Angela Shah10/26/16

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• With Insider Help, Ra Pharma Upsizes IPO, Bags $92M

  The IPO market has been much more discerning about biotechs in 2016 than it was during the 2013-2015 boom. But Wall Street investors embraced Ra Pharmaceuticals Tuesday evening, enabling the Cambridge, MA-based company to close an even bigger IPO than it... Read more »

  Ben Fidler10/25/16

• Accelerate Michigan 2016: One Day, One Location, 36 Semi-Finalists

  The 36 semi-finalists competing in the annual Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition, the state’s largest business plan competition targeting mid-to-late-stage startups, have been announced.

  Although this year’s edition, overseen by Invest Detroit for the first time, has been helpfully streamlined to... Read more »

  Sarah Schmid Stevenson10/25/16

• 80/20 Foundation Donates $600K for New San Antonio Tech High School

  San Antonio—The San Antonio nonprofit 80/20 Foundation is giving Tech Bloc a $600,000 grant for an effort to construct a new high school focused on technology and entrepreneurship, called CAST Tech.

  Tech Bloc, a San Antonio tech-focused advocacy group,... Read more »

  David Holley10/25/16

• Houston SheHacks Event Encourages Women to Form, Lead Tech Startups

  Houston—Rebellion Photonics co-founder and CEO Allison Lami Sawyer said she’s tired of being alone when attending technology conferences full of men.

  “Where is the pipeline of women behind me?” she said. “I want to see more women CEOs.”

  Sawyer’s... Read more »

  Angela Shah10/25/16

• New Leader at Intel Capital Adjusts Strategy as Global Summit Opens

  Intel Capital has invested $38 million in 12 technology startups since July, highlighting its venture investment focus on innovations in self-driving cars and machine vision, the Internet of Things, sports and health, drones, and virtual reality.

  The recent funding deals that... Read more »

  Bruce V. Bigelow10/25/16

• FDA: Keytruda Now OK For Some Patients With Untreated Lung Cancer

  The FDA has approved the use of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for some previously untreated patients with a certain type of lung cancer, the drug’s owner Merck (NYSE: MRK) announced late Monday.

  Pembrolizumab can now be used for patients who have... Read more »

  Alex Lash10/25/16

• Seattle Startup Beta Hatch Wants Bugs to Be the Future of Farming

  Like the Very Hungry Caterpillar, there’s more to the humble mealworm than meets the eye. It doesn’t become a beautiful butterfly, but it may contain part of the solution to one of the world’s biggest challenges: sustainably feeding the growing population.... Read more »

  Benjamin Romano10/24/16

• Green Sense Farms Aims to Change How Produce is Grown, Distributed

  Green Sense Farms is on a mission to build the country’s largest network of tech-enabled, indoor vertical farms.

  To help it get there, the Portage, IN-based company has turned to a new mechanism for raising capital—equity crowdfunding, which allows companies to... Read more »

  Sarah Schmid Stevenson10/24/16

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