Category: Finance
-
Challenge Seeks Atmospheric Benzene, Butadiene Monitors
A new challenge on InnoCentive seeks a process or technology that can quickly detect benzene and 1,3 butadiene gases in low concentrations in the air. The challenge has an award of $30,000 and a deadline of 4 June 2012. InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts is a company the conducts open-innovation, crowd-sourcing competitions for corporate and organization…
-
Not-For-Profit Hospital Starts $10M Health Care Venture Fund
Rex Healthcare, a not-for-profit health care system in Raleigh, North Carolina, has unveiled Rex Strategic Innovations that offers funding for start-up companies and organizations, including venture capital financing. The program is also devising ways to help individuals and organizations develop ideas for improving health care into real-life goods and services. The initiative includes Rex Health…
-
Energy Department Seeking New Power Storage Technologies
The U.S. Department of Energy is looking for new methods for storing electric power, for use in plug-in passenger cars and to improve the performance of the nation’s power grids. The $30 million research program is being offered by the department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E). The agency’s Advanced Management and Protection of…
-
Michigan State Forms Subsidiary to Encourage Start-Ups
Michigan State University in East Lansing has formed a subsidiary of its MSU Foundation to help faculty and students turn their research discoveries into operating businesses. Spartan Innovations LLC will be part of the university’s Innovation Center located adjacent to the campus. Spartan Innovations is expected to tap into a $350 million capital fund from…
-
DuPont Expanding Iowa Agriculture R&D Center
DuPont Corporation says it will add a $40 million plant genetics research center to its current facilities in Johnston, Iowa. The 200,000 square foot center is expected to add some 400 jobs. The new facility will be part of DuPont’s Pioneer Hi-Bred business, a subsidiary developing seeds through plant genetics. Johnston is located northwest of…
-
Merck Investing in Life Sciences Venture Fund
Flagship Ventures in Cambridge, Massachusetts says Merck’s venture arm has joined in a recent investment fund backing start-up life sciences companies. The amount of the investment, which was not disclosed, was made by Merck’s Research Ventures Fund in Flagship Ventures Fund IV that closed in January. Flagship says its Ventures Fund IV will be devoted…
-
Venture Funds in U.S., Europe Raise More Cash in Q1
More venture capital (VC) funds in the U.S. successfully hit their fund-raising targets in the first quarter of 2012, and like their counterparts in Europe, raised more cash in the process, according to Dow Jones LP Source, a financial industry research service. Tracking VC fund-raising offers an early indicator of investment money for start-up companies…
-
U.S. Angel Investment Deals, Dollars Jump in 2011
The number and dollar amounts of angel investment deals in the U.S. rose sharply in 2011, with financing for science-related companies comprising nearly half of those transactions. The summary report of angel investing released yesterday by the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Venture Research also shows more initial-stage involvement in start-up companies than in…
-
NSF Computer Science Funding Addresses Robots, Big Data
National Science Foundation today unveiled $40 million in funding for this year’s Expeditions in Computing awards. The four sets of five-year grants, each set totaling $10 million, go one or more universities studying robotics, exploding volumes of data, and computer-assisted programming. Two sets of awards deal with robotics. One team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology,…
-
Algae Biofuel Start-Up Secures $144M for Demo Plant
Sapphire Energy in San Diego says it received the last installment of its series C financing — the third round of funding after initial start-up — valued at $144 million. The company develops biofuels from algae and bacteria, and the new financing is expected to fund a demonstration production plant in Luna County, New Mexico.…