Science and Enterprise

Tag: equity

  • Devices, Industrial Biotech Lead 2012 Life Science Funding

    Funding for privately-held life sciences companies worldwide in the first six weeks of 2012 shows medical device developers and industrial biotechnology companies attracting the most equity capital, but drug developers engaging in the largest number of financing deals. The report by life sciences venture capital firm Burrill and Company was released on Friday. Burrill reports…

  • Venture Investment for European Companies Drops in 2011

    Venture capital declined 14 percent and number of deals dropped 19 percent for European companies in 2011 compared to 2010, with €4.4 billion ($US 5.8 billion) going into 1,012 deals. Industries based on scientific discoveries were among those suffering double-digit percentage declines from the previous year. Dow Jones VentureSource that compiled the data says it…

  • Knee Replacement Maker Lands $89M Series E Financing

    ConforMIS Inc. in Burlington, Massachusetts, a developer of customized knee-replacement implant technology, has raised $89 million in a series E round of funding, the fifth investment cycle after start up. The privately held company says the investments were made by private equity funds, led by AGC Equity Partners and Axel Johnson Inc., along with government…

  • VC Company, Harvard Start Seed-Stage Fund

    The Experiment Fund, a joint venture of Harvard University’s engineering school and venture capital company New Enterprise Associates (NEA), opened today in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The fund plans to support technology-based student start-ups in Cambridge and companies begun elsewhere by former students. The venture expects to support companies working in information technologies, health care, and energy.…

  • Dutch Biotech Raises $30M for Rare Disease Therapies

    Prosensa, a biopharmaceutical company in Leiden, the Netherlands, says it has raised €23 million ($30 million) in new equity financing. The company develops therapeutics using ribonucleic acid (RNA) modulation to address rare diseases, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy, myotonic dystrophy, and Huntington’s disease. The funding round is led by New Enterprise Associates in Menlo Park, California,…

  • U.S. VC Investments Up for 2011, Flat for Science Companies

    Venture capital (VC) investors in the U.S. increased in 2011 compared to 2010, both in terms of numbers of deals and amount of money invested. However, the fourth quarter of the year was an unusually slow period, according to Dow Jones VentureSource that compiled the data, and consumer Web companies appeared to benefit from the…

  • Biofuels Developer Secures $17M Investment Round

    SG Biofuels Inc., a bioenergy crop company in San Diego, has completed a $17 million financing round to expand its R&D and commercialization programs. The series B funding — the second round of financing after start-up — was lead by life sciences venture capital company Thomas, McNerney & Partners, with participation from Finistere Ventures and…

  • Sanofi, VCs Back Start-Up Deriving Natural Product Drugs

    The French drug maker Sanofi, with American venture capital (VC) companies Third Rock Ventures and Greylock Partners, are investing up to $125 million in Warp Drive Bio a new biotechnology company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Warp Drive Bio, being incubated at Third Rock Ventures, specializes in using genomics to derive drug candidates from natural sources, such…

  • $600M Venture Fund Targets Technology, Health Care Sectors

    Canaan Partners, a venture capital company in Menlo Park, California says it has closed contributions to a new fund to finance start-ups in the technology and health care fields. The company says the $600 million fund, the ninth such fund in its series, will support new technology and health care entrepreneurs. Canaan Partners says two-thirds…

  • Diagnostics Company Out-Licenses Cancer Testing Technology

    Health Discovery Corporation in Savannah, Georgia says it has licensed its diagnostics technology to NeoGenomics Inc. in Fort Myers, Florida to develop lab tests for blood and solid tumor cancers. The license excludes tests for breast and retina cancers, for which other companies have already acquired Health Discovery’s technology. NeoGenomics will pay Health Discovery Corporation…