Generac Holdings Inc., a Waukesha, Wis.-based maker of standby and portable generators, has filed for a $300 million IPO. It plans to trade on the NYSE under ticker symbol GNRC, with J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs serving as co-lead underwriters. CCMP Capital and Unitas Capital bought Generac for approximately $2 billion in late 2006. www.generac.com
A joint ProPublica/CBS News investigation found that at least two dozen current lobbyists used to be federal officials who helped design the last major change to American health care.
“Four years ago, a group of lawmakers and aides crafted Medicare Part D, the prescription drug program for seniors that has produced billions of dollars of profits for pharmaceutical companies,” ProPublica reports. “Today, at least 25 of those key players are back, but this time they’re lobbyists, trying to persuade their former colleagues to protect the lucrative system during the health care reform negotiations.” Those “foot soldiers” include former Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., Former Sen. John Breaux, D-La., Former Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., and former Medicare chief Thomas Scully.
“Industry’s interests prevailed when Part D was created in 2003,” and “the prices the government pays for drugs through Part D are about 30 percent higher on average than the prices it pays for drugs for Medicaid recipients, according to a 2008 report by the House Committee on Oversight.” The pharmaceutical industry is now trying to preserve those benefits and “fighting for its bottom line again. Its lobbyists are working against the House version of the health care reform bill, which would require drug companies to give up some of the windfall they gained as low-income seniors were transferred from Medicaid to Medicare during the Part D launch.” During such negotiations, “[t]he skills of government workers turned lobbyists are invaluable to the pharmaceutical industry” (Pierce, 10/20).
CBS News reports that “[t]he so-called ‘revolving door’ is perfectly legal,” but it “leads critics to ask whether some who are supposed to be watching out for taxpayers have other interests… One Congressional staffer who made the leap to the pharmaceutical industry after Medicare Part D told CBS News: ‘every time a major bill passes, there is an exodus of Hill staffers. … As long as … ethics laws and rules are followed, why shouldn’t they have that opportunity?’” The arrangement has benefited the pharmaceutical industry, which has “spent at least $18 million lobbying Congress on health care reform and, so far, has fought off two proposals that would cost it billions: allowing cheaper drugs to be imported from Canada, and lowering drug prices for some Medicare patients” (Attkisson, 10/20).
Meanwhile, The Washington Post reports: “The August recess did little to slow the Washington lobbying frenzy over health-care reform, as insurers, drugmakers and hospitals continued to spend millions to attempt to sway the emerging legislation, according to new disclosure reports filed with Congress. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the drugmakers’ main trade group, shattered records again by spending nearly $7 million on lobbying from July through September, the quarterly disclosure records show. The outlay brings PhRMA’s total so far this year to nearly $20 million, just shy of the group’s entire lobbying budget for 2008” (Eggen, 10/21).
Roll Call: “America’s Health Insurance Plans disclosed Tuesday that it spent $2.4 million in the third quarter of this year, up from $1.9 million in the second quarter and $2 million in the first quarter. In total, AHIP has spent $6.3 million in federal lobbying this year, according to its Lobbying Disclosure Act filings” (Ackley, 10/21).
In a second story, Roll Call reports that “despite the weak economy and President Barack Obama’s barring of lobbyists from working in the executive branch, many of the nation’s key industries and other interests continue to open their wallets in an effort to shape major and minor legislation. Driving much of the activity is the ambitious Congressional agenda that includes potential reforms of the health care system, proposed regulation of financial companies, union organizing and climate change legislation as well as traditional fights over lucrative defense projects” (Roth, 10/21).
(Reuters) – Gun maker Freedom Group Inc, controlled by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, filed with U.S. regulators on Wednesday to raise up to $200 million in an initial public offering of common stock.
The Madison, North Carolina-based company told the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission in a preliminary prospectus that its predecessor company was formed by Cerberus to acquire Bushmaster Firearms.
Firearms and ammunitions makers including Remington Arms, DPMS Firearms and Marlin Firearms were later acquired to form Freedom Group. The company posted net sales of $427.3 million for the six months ended June 30.
The filing did not reveal how many shares the company planned to sell or under which symbol the company plans to list its stock.
Freedom Group designs, manufactures and markets firearms under brands including Remington, Marlin, Bushmaster, Parker and Nesika. (Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Anne Pallivathuckal)
HealthGuru Media, a New York-based health website for 18-40 year-olds, has raised $3.2 million in Series C funding. Castile Ventures led the round, and was joined by return backer Village Ventures.
PRESS RELEASE
HealthGuru Media, the leading health website for 18 to 40 year olds and the largest provider of health videos online, announced that Castile Ventures led a $3.2 million Series C financing with participation from existing investor Village Ventures. In conjunction with the funding, HealthGuru announced the appointment of Skip Besthoff, General Partner at Castile Ventures, to the Board of Directors.
“HealthGuru.com provides differentiated health information for an underserved but highly active demographic,” stated CEO Joshua Silberstein. “We do this by focusing on conditions like pregnancy, sexual health, and college health that are of interest to our audience, and by offering genuinely engaging content – which is critical if you want to be able to communicate complex health information effectively.”
The company’s innovative approach and breadth of information provide users with a unique experience when it comes to learning about themselves and their health. Building on its current base of two million unique visitors per month, the funding will help the company expand its channels for traffic acquisition and ramp its revenue generating capabilities.
“The online health category remains one of the most attractive segments with respect to advertising on the web and the company has done a great job of identifying how to address this large and emerging segment. They have several unique capabilities in regards to content development and traffic generation” stated Skip Besthoff. “We are very impressed with Josh’s leadership and ability to achieve critical milestones in a very capital efficient manner.”
“An important gauge of success is the monthly comScore rankings that compare the traffic of every substantial site in each vertical,” stated Bo Peabody, Village Ventures partner, Board Chairman and HealthGuru co-founder. “HealthGuru has improved its comScore rankings each month since its founding 16 months ago and is now ranked fifteenth among all sites in the Health Information vertical. This dramatic growth demonstrates that HealthGuru is providing valued content to its users which is the critical driver of its business model.”
About HealthGuru Media
HealthGuru Media (http://www.HealthGuru.com) is the leading health website for 18 to 40 year olds and the largest provider of health video online. The Health Guru content library has over 1,000 videos covering 75+ health conditions, and is the most watched health content on both YouTube and MySpace TV.
About Castile Ventures
Castile Ventures is a top-performing early-stage venture capital firm that provides financial backing and strategic guidance to help exceptional entrepreneurs build successful businesses. Distinguished by the deep business and technology experience of its partners, Castile brings a unique blend of sector expertise, investment know-how, operational insights, and connections to IT decision makers. Since our founding in 1998, the companies we have invested in have brought to market a broad range of products and services to serve the technology needs for enterprises, service providers and the mass market. These have ranged from disruptive enabling technologies through next-generation service infrastructure and delivery platforms to leading edge security solutions and innovation-enabled Internet services. More information is available at www.castileventures.com.
About Village Ventures
Village Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm investing in exceptional entrepreneurs building information technology and life sciences companies in emerging domestic geographies. Village Ventures identifies promising investment opportunities in partnership with its nationwide network of 13 early stage venture capital funds that are focused on these emerging domestic geographic markets. By combining local Partner Fund capital and hands-on investment practices with Village Ventures’ centralized services and national network, Village Ventures helps create compelling and innovative companies. More information at www.villageventures.com.
Insurance company “age rating” is likely to continue under proposed health care legislation.
“The older you are, the more you usually pay for health coverage, and that’s a difference likely to persist under the sweeping health care legislation that Congress is now considering,” McClatchy reports. “The House of Representatives would permit insurers to charge older Americans twice what younger people pay. The bill that passed the Senate Finance Committee would allow premiums four times as high.”
The major House and Senate measures, however, “would end what many consider another long-standing, discriminatory practice: basing rates on gender, which is now allowed in most states.” Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., says “[a]llowing insurers to charge older Americans vastly higher premiums simply because of their age is discrimination, pure and simple.” Some wonder why gender rating is being eliminated while age rating is not. “Senate staffers explained one reason for the difference this way: Age-based premiums can be justified by consumers’ experience, while gender-based differentials relying somewhat on potential pregnancy has the look of being blatantly discriminatory” (Lightman, 10/20).
NPR reports that “small companies’ rates are dictated by the demographics of their work force — and when the work force is small, it can spell complications, higher prices or both.” A reporter from NPR member-station KQED takes a look at her own unusually high premiums and determines that the rates are largely caused by the older age of employees at the station (Varney, 10/21).
Related KHN story: Health Insurance: How Much More Should Older People Pay? (Appleby, 8/31)
56 year old German entrepreneur Klaus Richter is selling ready-for-use condom factories, meaning you can order a complete manufacturing facility from him, and he ships practically everywhere. What may sound as a joke at first is serious business: Richter has so far sold over 100 factories worldwide.
The factories are being put together and shipped from Penang, a port city in Malaysia. Richter says he already sold his product through his own firm, “Richter Rubber”, to places like India, Mexico and Thailand. Two containers with 26sqm. of space are enough. Once the containers are at the hands of the new owners, it takes another 10 days of work to get the factory ready to roll out the first condoms.
One factory costs about $500,000, but for that money, Richter Rubber staff will set up the factories themselves, grant various warranties and instruct the new owners on all standard operating procedures.
Richter says he produces the factories in Malaysia since labor costs are low, and high-quality natural rubber is virtually around the corner.
Via Technology Review – German Edition [GER]
Chango, a Toronto-based online advertising solution, has raised C$750,000 in Series A funding. iNovia Capital led the round, and was joined by Extreme Venture Partners.
PRESS RELEASE
Chango, the web’s most powerful search targeted ad solution has completed a $750,000 series A financing round. The investment was led by iNovia Capital with participation from Extreme Venture Partners, both leading venture capital fund managers.
Chango has developed an innovative advertising solution that provides a valuable service to website visitors arriving from search engines by displaying ads that are highly relevant to their past search queries. In contrast to other solutions, loyal readers arriving at the website directly are shown only the high quality content they have come to expect from the publisher. The financing was timed to support an expansion of publisher reach and further development of the Chango platform.
“Chango has a fresh approach to the “behavioral advertising” space that is publisher friendly while at the same time leveraging unique technology to provide better results for advertisers.” said John Elton, partner with iNovia Capital. “We are excited to work with Chris Sukornyk, Chango’s CEO, a dynamic and successful repeat entrepreneur.”
With website revenues under pressure and the challenge of engaging readers, publishers need help growing their business. Chango worked with dozens of web publishers during the development of the service, ensuring it meets publisher revenue goals with relevant advertising.
“Advertising works best when it provides a service to the reader”, said Chris Sukornyk, founder and CEO of Chango. “If a reader is searching for something, we help them find it and make money for the publisher.”
Currently in limited production, Chango is working with select publishers to increase their revenue without risk to reader loyalty. Publishers can contact the Company and apply directly at http://chango.com. Chango is planning a full launch in November, 2009.
About Chango
Chango is the web’s most reader-friendly advertising solution. Chango’s innovative solution ensures the right ads are shown to the right visitors at the right time. The result is significant incremental revenue for web-publishers without imposing on loyal readers. For more information, visit http://chango.com and follow Chango at http://twitter.com/changoinc.
About iNovia Capital
iNovia provides venture capital to entrepreneurs who transform innovations into successful companies. The team is comprised of sector experts in information technology, life sciences, and clean tech. In addition, iNovia’s extensive network of industry and academic partners provides portfolio companies with unique access to intellectual property. iNovia has $165M under management across two seed and early stage funds. For more information, visit www.inoviacapital.com or follow iNovia on Twitter at http://twitter.com/iNovia
About Extreme Venture Partners
Extreme Venture Partners (EVP) is focused on providing early stage venture capital and management expertise to help propel start-ups into the big-leagues. We work with smart people who have great ideas for disruptive businesses, and the energy and ability to deliver. For more information, visit www.extremevp.com.
GlycoMimetics, a Gaithersburg, Md.-based developer of glycobiology-based therapies, has raised $38 million in third-round funding. Genzyme Ventures was joined by return backers New Enterprise Associates, The Novartis Venture Fund, Anthem Capital and Alliance Technology Ventures. The company previously raised around $25 million.
PRESS RELEASE
GlycoMimetics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a new class of glycobiology-based therapies for a broad range of indications, today announced the company has raised $38 million in its latest round of venture financing. New investor Genzyme Ventures joined returning investors New Enterprise Associates, The Novartis Venture Fund, Anthem Capital and Alliance Technology Ventures in the round.
“We’re delighted to add Genzyme Ventures to our top-tier syndicate of returning investors,” said Rachel King, CEO of GlycoMimetics. “Genzyme’s participation represents a strong vote of confidence in our pipeline of novel therapeutics, and we stand to benefit from their expertise in orphan and hematologic drug development as we advance our sickle cell program.”
The new investment will be used to fund a Phase 2 trial of GlycoMimetics’ lead drug candidate GMI-1070 in vaso-occlusive crisis of sickle cell disease. The company also intends to use proceeds to fund a Phase 2 study of GMI-1070 in a second clinical indication.
“GlycoMimetics has made excellent progress in the discovery and development of new glycobiology-based medicines. We’re very excited about GlycoMimetics’ sickle cell program, as well as other pipeline opportunities, and we’re pleased to be participating in this financing,” said Alan Walts, Managing Director of Genzyme Ventures.
“GlycoMimetics is a lean, focused company, and we’re very encouraged by their progress,” said Jim Barrett, General Partner of New Enterprise Associates, which has led each of the Company’s investment rounds. “We remain confident in both the management team and the scientific programs.”
About GMI-1070
Glycomimetics’ lead compound, GMI-1070, is a rationally-designed glycomimetic inhibitor of E-, P- and L-selectins, and inhibits a key early step in the inflammatory process leading to leukocyte adhesion and recruitment to inflamed tissue. GMI-1070 has been shown to be active in several models of diseases in which leukocyte adhesion and activation play a key role, including vaso-occlusive crisis of sickle cell disease. By inhibiting selectin interactions, GMI-1070 may be able to decrease the enhanced cell adhesion that results in vaso-occlusive crisis. In preclinical studies, GMI-1070 restored blood flow to affected vessels of sickle cell animals experiencing vaso-occlusive crisis. GMI-1070 is also being evaluated in preclinical studies for the treatment of certain hematologic cancers, where selectin-mediated cell adhesion and migration is known to play a key role in the disease process. Initiation of Phase 2 clinical trials of GMI-1070 in sickle cell disease is planned in early 2010.
About Sickle Cell Disease and Vaso-Occlusive Crisis
Vaso-occlusive crisis is the main clinical feature of sickle cell disease, often resulting in significant patient complications, and sometimes death. Currently, there are no mechanism-based therapies for treatment of vaso-occlusive crisis. Treatment consists primarily of supportive therapy in the form of hydration and pain control, typically requiring hospitalization for five to six days. There are over 75,000 hospitalizations per year associated with vaso-occlusive crisis in the U.S.
About GlycoMimetics, Inc.
GlycoMimetics is a privately held biotechnology company that capitalizes on advances in the field of glycobiology. The company uses rational design of small molecule drugs that mimic the functions of bioactive carbohydrates to develop new drug candidates. The company’s initial focus is on therapeutics to treat inflammation, cancer, and infectious diseases. For additional information, please visit the company’s web site: http://www.glycomimetics.com.
RiseSmart, a San Jose, Calif.-based provider of online outplacement and job search services, has raised $4.6 million in new Series A funding. Storm Ventures led the round, and was joined by Norwest Venture Partners. The company previously raised $4.25 million from Norwest and individual angels.
PRESS RELEASE
RiseSmart, a provider of Web-enabled outplacement and job search services, today announced that it has secured $4.6 million in additional Series A financing, including $2.8 million from Storm Ventures and $1.8 million from Norwest Venture Partners (NVP). The company announced $3 million in Series A financing from NVP last year and has raised a total of $8.85 million in angel and institutional investment.
RiseSmart also announced that Sanjay Subhedar, managing director of Storm Ventures, will join NVP general partner Venkat Mohan and RiseSmart founder and CEO Sanjay Sathe on the company’s board of directors.
“RiseSmart has created a business model that promises to be a game changer in the $3 billion plus outplacement industry,” Subhedar said. “RiseSmart’s Transition Concierge is disrupting the cost structure for corporate outplacement providers, while leveraging technology to deliver superior value to a growing roster of Fortune 500 clients. “
Said Mohan: “RiseSmart has grown rapidly since NVP made its initial investment in June 2008. The company has gone the extra mile to provide an excellent customer experience to both corporate clients and transitioning workers – and that has paid off in word of mouth and new business referrals.”
“We are delighted to begin working with Storm Ventures and to extend our existing relationship with NVP,” Sathe said. “This infusion of capital will enable us to aggressively expand our sales efforts and enhance our product and service offerings.”
RiseSmart’s Transition Concierge solution uses Web technology supported by a global team of HR professionals to provide corporate clients a tech-savvy, cost-effective alternative to existing outplacement services. The solution dispenses with “soft services” like grief counseling and office space to focus on the services that displaced workers need most: help with marketing themselves through a rewrite of their resumes and cover letters; guidance from a transition specialist, including assistance in using online social networks; and — most importantly –actionable job leads from across the Web based on their specific criteria, for a period of up to six months.
An independent 2009 survey of 355 U.S. employers by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) showed that the average employer paid more than $5,000 per executive or manager for three to six months of external outplacement services — more than twice the cost of RiseSmart Transition Concierge.
“Enterprises and displaced workers are looking for something they can’t find in traditional firms — a singular focus on finding employees jobs. That’s what RiseSmart delivers,” Sathe said. “Overpriced services like group counseling and the use of Grade A office space are increasingly viewed as obsolete. CFOs and HR executives should begin demanding more — for less.”
About RiseSmart
RiseSmart, based in Silicon Valley, is transforming the way companies provide outplacement services and individuals use the Web to find jobs. The San Jose Mercury News says, “RiseSmart typifies the valley’s knack for using technology to disrupt standard business practices.” RiseSmart combines sophisticated technology with one-on-one support to help displaced employees and other jobseekers find new jobs — fast. For more information about RiseSmart, visit the company’s Web site at www.RiseSmart.com.
About Storm Ventures
Storm Ventures was founded in 2000 by a seasoned group of industry veterans with the common vision of sharing their collective experience, passion and energy to help talented and driven entrepreneurs build great companies of enduring value. Storm Ventures focuses on seed and early stage information technology companies which best leverages the team’s operational perspective and experience and enables Storm to add value in the critical early stages of a company’s development. For more information, please visit www.stormventures.com.
About Norwest Venture Partners
Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) is a global, multi-stage investment firm that manages more than $2.5 billion in capital out of its offices in Palo Alto, California, Mumbai and Bangalore, India and Herzelia, Israel. NVP makes early to late stage venture and growth equity investments in U.S. and global companies across a wide range of sectors including: information technology, business services, financial services and consumer. NVP has actively partnered with entrepreneurs to build great businesses for more than 48 years and has funded over 450 companies since inception. For more information, please visit www.nvp.com.
Today is an exciting day, my friends. Yes, today’s the day I can say with 100% certainty that I have now officially seen it all. Chinavasion is selling not an entire Festivus pole, but merely an LED lighting kit FOR YOUR EXISITING FESTIVUS POLE. A Festivus accessory, if you will.
It’s really nothing more than an LED rope light consisting of four different colors and a handful of blinking sequences. It can be yours for $17.28 plus shipping from China.
A dumb product though it may be, you have to hand it to Chinavasion for taking the time to whip up some truly insane marketing photos for the sole purpose of trying to push some cheap LED rope lighting at almost $20. Examples:
Apparently Cao San Tsa is the Chinese equivalent of Frank Costanza. Unreal.
Festivus Pole LED Color Light Kit [Chinavasion]
And for the uninformed, here is the story of Festivus:
How often have you said to yourself “If only there was some way I could use a small stylus to create odd rap beats using samples from known beatboxers along with with the sounds of drum and bass?” If you’re like me, every day. Thankfully, there’s the Stylophone Beatbox.
First, a sample of what you can really do with this thing if you try.
Now that your mind has been well and fully blown, let’s talk about the product itself. Invented in 1967 by Brian Jarvis, the original Stylophone was an early analog electronic keyboard. You could slide a stylus over a set of metallic leads therby creating the sounds you may have heard on “Space Oddity” by David Bowie and “Pocket Calculator” by Kraftwerk. So far so good.
Well, the Beatbox is slightly different. This $25 device has a circular pad and black plastic stylus. You tap individiual spots on the pad to trigger sounds and there are three voices – one a set of beatboxes by MC Zani and then a drum voice and a bass note voice. You can change the pitch with a dial on the bottom and there is an MP3-line-in and a headphone/line out. You can record and play back beats by tapping one of the two spots on the device.
The Beatbox has an internal speaker but it sounds much better through the line out. Sadly, I didn’t have the wherewithal to record it directly so here’s my out attempts at making some hot beatz.
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Bottom Line
You obviously need to know how to hold a beat to make this thing do anything at all, so that’s one consideration. Otherwise it’s a fun little toy for budding hip hop producers and those who which to cause a huge racket in their homes or offices.
“President Obama’s overhaul hinges on six crucial individuals and their skill at negotiating behind closed doors,” The Los Angeles Times reports. “The core group consists of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, legislative affairs director Phil Schiliro, communications expert Dan Pfeiffer, (Peter) Orszag, (Jim) Messina and Nancy-Ann DeParle. Each brings particular experience and skills to the task. Each is first and foremost an inside player, comfortable operating behind the scenes.” Obama designed this team “for the inside game unfolding now in House and Senate offices. Their job includes gathering intelligence, assessing what lawmakers want and devising compromises to win over balky members without alienating others. But their paramount goal has been — and remains — to keep the process moving irrepressibly forward and on a practicable track.”
As the health care debate moves from Congressional committees onto the House and Senate Floor, their mission is changing. “Now, Obama’s crew will be at the table with lawmakers behind closed doors, crafting compromises to meet attacks from a determined Republican minority and well-financed industry groups” (Nicholas, 10/21).
In a separate piece, The Los Angeles Times has mini-profiles of the six people. Emanuel is “the quarterback of the White House campaign,” while Messina’s “almost familial relationship with Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.)” is an important asset. Schiliro’s experience as former chief of staff to Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., “has helped him determine which lawmakers need presidential hand-holding.” An expert on health policy, DeParle “has met one-on-one with 135 members of Congress.” Pfeiffer is “the media fireman of the health campaign,” and Orszag’s experience at the CBO helps him “determine the costs and savings of various policy ideas” (10/21).
Drug companies use coupons to get patients to choose name-brand products — which are often more expensive — by subsidizing a patient’s high copay. The practice hides a drug’s true costs from consumers. NPR reports on consumers’ drug choices and notes a Wall Street Journal investigation that “found that in the past year, drug manufacturers have broadly expanded their subsidy programs as copays and drug costs have risen. The Journal notes that copays do affect consumer behavior. Every 10 percent rise in copays seems to lead to a 6 percent decrease in spending on drugs.”
Coupons also lead to rising premiums and puts consumers in a difficult position between huge insurance companies and drug companies. NPR notes: “Obama talks about choosing the blue pill over the red one, but the coupon cards make it hard to know which is which. It’s uncomfortably clear that these cards are not the biggest weapons in this war. Drug consumers are” (Joffe-Walt, 10/20).
The BlackBerry Bold 9700 has finally been announced. Details have been leaking in about the “Onyx” for months and most of the seem to be true in hindsight. The BlackBerry Bold 9000 successor rocks a Tour-like keyboard but ditches the trackball in favor of a little trackpad like in the Curve 8520. The camera has been upped to 3.2MP and the screen is now a 480 x 320 display. Just like the Storm 2, the 9700 runs BlackBerry OS 5.0 and all the goodies are included like threaded messaging, updated BB Messenger, and BlackBerry Maps.
Best of all RIM is launching the phone to nearly every GSM carrier in North America and Europe in November although International carrier-specific pricing is hard to come by right now. That will probably change in a day or two though.
AT&T has announced that it will sell the phone for $199 after a $100 mail-in rebate, and T-Mobile is expected to follow suit although it’s press release doesn’t mention a price. What it does mention however is that the phone will be able to make unlimited calls off of WiFi for $10 per month, which is something AT&T is slowly accepting too although it seems that AT&T’s flavor will lack that ability.
Copanion Inc., an Andover-based provider of, has raised $10.2 million in Series B funding co-led by return backers Commonwealth Capital Ventures and Pilot House Ventures. The company previously raised $9 million.
PRESS RELEASE
Copanion, Inc., an innovator in tax document automation, today announced it has closed a $10.2 million round of venture capital funding, co-lead by Commonwealth Capital Ventures and Pilot House Ventures Group. This round will further fuel Copanion’s momentum in the tax and accounting profession and fund expansion into new market segments for its SaaS-based document automation solution.
As part of the financing round, Edward Jennings, Copanion’s former SVP of marketing and sales, has assumed the role of CEO. Founder Steven Ladd has stepped down as CEO and moved into an advisory role—responsible for new market development.
“Moving forward, we have aggressive plans to expand our sales and marketing efforts,” stated Jennings. “With development of the core technology largely complete, we will now focus on expanding our go-to-market initiatives to increase revenue in the tax market and explore several other markets.”
“We are excited about the in-roads Copanion has made in the accounting market and the broad applicability of their technology beyond tax document automation. We are committed to supporting their evolution from an early stage R&D organization to a high growth SaaS solution provider across multiple vertical markets,” stated Jeffrey M. Hurst, General Partner and a Co-founder of Commonwealth Capital Ventures.
This latest funding round closed in October 2009.
About Copanion
Copanion is a leading innovator in tax document automation. The company saves tax professionals hundreds of hours during tax season with accurate and secure web-based applications for automating client tax document organization, data entry and review. For more information about Copanion, visit Copanion.com.
The Copanion and GruntWorx names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Copanion in the United States and in other countries. All other companies and products referenced herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Update: Peter Kafka at All Things Digital says Google is partnering with iLike and Lala on the music service, which is being called "OneBox." He writes:
The search giant is working on a new service that will provide searchers with streaming music, which sounds a whole lot like a content play at first blush. But Google will only be offering limited bits of music, and it will be using other companies to actually provide the tunes.
Sources describe the service, which will be called “One Box,” as a refined set of answers for music queries. The idea: Punch in, say, “Madonna,” and you’ll be presented with one or more songs, which may be partial clips or full-length versions, then guided to other sites where you can purchase the music.
Original Article: Google is reportedly working with an unknown smartphone manufacturer to launch a Google-branded phone that would be available through retailers rather than telcos. This information comes from an analyst who claims to have spoken with Google’s design partners.
"The move would fulfill Google’s pledge to bring a new generation of open-standard mobile Internet devices to consumers," reports Scott Moritz with TheStreet.com. "By bypassing the carriers, who keep tight controls over the features and applications that are allowed on phones, Google will presumably offer a device that lets users determine the functions."
The company also allegedly has a new music service on the way. Mike Arrington at TechCrunch (which has been known to miss the mark a time or two in the past), claims that he has has "heard from multiple sources" that Google has been securing content from major labels for a service called Google Audio. According to Arrington, the service would be available for at least U.S. users.
If the phone and music service both come to fruition, Google is set to have a huge year for new products. The world is still anticipating the release of the Chrome OS, which the company announced back in July. And Google Wave is "making waves" throughout the tech industry. Some have deemed it "the next big thing" in online communication, while others remain skeptical of this notion.
Either way, it’s safe to say that Google has a lot going on (as usual), and if even one of these products lives up to what it could be, those impressive numbers Google released last week are bound to be indicative of an ongoing trend with the company. Ok, even if none of these products work, the trend may still continue.
Synageva BioPharma Corp., a Waltham, Mass.-based developer of protein therapeutics, has raised $12 million in new six-thround funding, bringing the round total to $45 million. New Leaf Venture Partners joined existing backers Hunt BioVentures, Yasuda Enterprise Development, Baker Brothers Investments, Tullis Dickerson and Four Partners. The company has now raised around $95 million.
PRESS RELEASE
Synageva BioPharma Corp., a privately held biopharmaceutical company, announced today that it has completed the final closing on a $45 million financing that began earlier this year. This final closing, which adds $12 million to the $33 million investment announced in May, includes existing investors as well as new investor New Leaf Venture Partners (NLV), based in New York City and Menlo Park, CA. As part of the financing, Srini Akkaraju, M.D., Ph.D., Managing Director at NLV, will join Synageva’s Board of Directors. Synageva also announced the expansion of its senior leadership team with several key appointments.
“This $45 million financing helps Synageva realize its vision of developing a portfolio of innovative medicines for patients with rare diseases and high unmet medical need,” stated Sanj K. Patel, Synageva’s President and CEO. “Synageva’s technology has advanced tremendously and allows us to develop therapies for conditions that afflict small patient populations who are frequently overlooked and often have no existing therapies. This development focus, along with partnering interest we have received for our cytokine and high potency monoclonal antibody programs, positions Synageva to generate tremendous value. I am pleased that New Leaf Ventures has joined our other premier investors, and I am convinced that together we will fulfill our vision to provide these therapies to patients.”
Srini Akkaraju, M.D., Ph.D., of New Leaf Venture Partners, stated, “Having followed the company’s progress closely, I am delighted to see how Synageva has established its technology platform as having critical advantages in developing many types of protein therapeutics. With the addition of a team that has substantial experience in rare disease product development, the company is poised to execute on this new corporate vision that will help patients that are often overlooked.”
New Management Appointments
Anthony Quinn, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, is responsible for developing and overseeing the clinical strategy for Synageva’s portfolio. He is also responsible for advancing Synageva’s clinical research and development capabilities, and expanding its translational medicine activities focused on areas of high unmet medical need. Dr. Quinn joins Synageva from Roche, where he was Vice President and Global Head of Clinical Research and Exploratory Development for Inflammation. Dr. Quinn is an experienced R&D leader with more than 20 years of clinical, translational medicine and contemporary drug development experience across a broad range of disease areas.
Eric Grinstead, Senior Vice President, Government and Business Affairs, is responsible for business strategy for Synageva. Most recently Eric served as Vice President of Government Affairs and Market Access for Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Eric has over 20 years of experience in commercial strategy, operations, government affairs, and reimbursement at companies such as Genzyme and Amgen.
AJ Joshi, M.D., Senior Vice President, Strategic Development and Corporate Operations, is responsible for Synageva’s corporate strategy and operations, as well as life cycle and alliance management. Most recently, Dr. Joshi was Vice President of US Medical Affairs and Operations at Genzyme Corporation.
Brian Conner, Vice President Quality and Regulatory Affairs/ General Manager – Atlanta Office, is responsible for quality, regulatory affairs management, and general operations at Synageva’s Atlanta area office and production facilities. Brian most recently served as the Corporate Compliance Officer for Stiefel Laboratories.
John Taylor, Vice President, Business Development, is responsible for Synageva’s product and technology licensing and its business development functions. John joins Synageva from Javelin Pharmaceuticals, where he was Vice President, Business Development.
“Collectively, these new appointments bring a powerful combination of deep drug development, rare disease market, and overall biotech industry expertise to the Synageva leadership team,” stated Patel. “They share the passion, values, and absolute commitment that will be required to rapidly execute on our vision, successfully develop the therapies we are targeting, and ultimately earn the privilege of providing them to patients.”
About Synageva BioPharma Corp.
Synageva BioPharma Corp., is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing and commercializing novel, next-generation, and follow-on protein therapeutics that leverage the unique competitive advantages of its proprietary Synageva Expression Platform (SEP™). Synageva’s development programs address specific unmet medical or market needs in several therapeutic areas, including oncology and rare disorders. The Company has generated a diverse pipeline of product candidates, including high-potency monoclonal antibodies with up to 100-fold increased killing activity for cancer targets, novel proteins for rare diseases, and next-generation and follow-on cytokines.
SEP™ by Synageva is a novel, integrated platform of proprietary vectors and protein production, processing and purification systems. It provides a number of sustainable advantages over current expression systems for developing and commercializing protein therapeutics, including: high expression levels, more efficient purification processes, rapid scalability, consistency of end product, substantially reduced costs, and the ability to produce certain proteins with the potential for improved activity and/or safety profiles. Synageva has leveraged these attributes to develop its pipeline of biopharmaceuticals, including monoclonal antibodies with significant potency and potential efficacy advantages. Further information regarding Synageva BioPharma Corp. is available at www.synageva.com.
About NLV Partners
NLV Partners is a life science-dedicated venture capital firm with offices in Menlo Park and New York. Founded by an experienced team of venture capitalists with deep healthcare industry experience, NLV Partners invests primarily in companies focused on clinical-stage biopharmaceutical products, early-stage medical devices and molecular diagnostics. NLV Partners manages over $1.3 billion of assets, including NLV-I, NLV-II and the healthcare technology portfolio of Sprout Group. For further information, visit the NLV Partners website at www.nlvpartners.com.
Vertos Medical Inc., an Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based developer of minimally-invasive devices for lumbar spine decompression, has raised $15.5 million in Series D funding. Onset Ventures led the round, and was joined by return backers CHL Medical Partners, Foundation Medical Partners, Aweida Venture Partners and DFJ Mercury. The company previously raised around $17 million.
PRESS RELEASE
Medical device company Vertos Medical, Inc., developer of the mild® procedure for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS), today announced it has completed a $15.5 million Series D financing. New investor, ONSET Ventures, led the round with additional participation from existing Vertos investors CHL Medical Partners, Foundation Medical Partners, Aweida Venture Partners and DFJ Mercury. The funding will be used to continue U.S. commercialization of the company’s mild technology, the least invasive surgical procedure for treating LSS, with no implants left behind.*
“Vertos’ mild procedure represents a breakthrough treatment option for a huge and underserved market of LSS sufferers: those who are no longer responding to medical management, but who are not yet candidates for traditional invasive surgeries,” said ONSET Ventures Partner and new Vertos board member, John Ryan. “Behind this procedure are proprietary technology and a top notch management team with a strategic approach for driving market adoption. We believe this combination uniquely positions Vertos for significant growth and will provide a healthy return on our investment.”
Approximately 900,000 Americans are in some form of treatment for LSS every year.(1) Many address their LSS symptoms with pain medications or steroid injections, but these treatments tend to wear off or lose effectiveness over time. Furthermore, these patients may not be appropriate candidates for traditional invasive back surgery. mild offers an alternative image-guided procedure, performed through a portal that is smaller than the diameter of a pencil.
“This sizeable financing is an important milestone for Vertos and demonstrates recognition of the market potential of our mild procedure,” said James M. Corbett, president and chief executive officer of Vertos. “We are grateful to have the backing of high-caliber venture partners, including ONSET Ventures, as we endeavor to bring the mild solution to physicians and patients across the country.”
About mild
mild is the first minimally invasive surgical treatment to provide immediate and lasting relief for patients by addressing a primary cause of LSS. Using proprietary mild devices, the physician removes the bone or tissue that is causing pressure on the lower spinal canal nerves. Based on initial clinical use, mild patients experience an average 75 percent reduction in pain and greater than 70 percent increase in mobility.(2) Treating LSS earlier and least invasively, which mild allows for, reduces overall health care costs.
About Vertos Medical Inc.
Vertos Medical was founded in 2005 to develop a minimally invasive method for lumbar spine decompression to treat patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS), a degenerative, age-related narrowing of the lower spinal canal. Its first proprietary platform technology, called mild® (Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression), is the least invasive surgical procedure for treating LSS, with no implants left behind.( * )For more information, visit www.vertosmed.com.
Tarsa Therapeutics Inc. has raised $24 million in Series A funding. MVM Life Science Partners led the round, and was joined by Quaker BioVentures and Novo AS. In related news, Unigene Laboratories Inc. (OTCBB: UGNE) has licensed its Phase III oral calcitonin program to Tarsa, in exchange for a 25% ownership position.
PRESS RELEASE
Unigene Laboratories, Inc. (OTCBB: UGNE) and Tarsa Therapeutics, Inc. today announced that Unigene has licensed its Phase III oral calcitonin program to Tarsa, a new company formed by a syndicate of three venture capital funds specializing in the life sciences: MVM Life Science Partners, Quaker BioVentures and Novo A/S. Simultaneously, Tarsa announced the closing of a $24 million Series A financing from the investor syndicate.
As part of the agreement, Unigene will own 25% of Tarsa on a fully diluted basis and will be eligible to receive milestone payments based on the achievement of certain sales benchmarks, as well as royalties on product sales. Tarsa will be solely responsible for the costs of the global Phase III clinical program that has recently been initiated and also has reimbursed Unigene for its Phase III expenditures to date.
Calcitonin is approved for the treatment of osteoporosis, but its use has been limited as it is currently available only in intranasal and injectable forms. The oral formulation that Unigene has licensed to Tarsa has been shown in prior clinical studies to deliver the desired blood levels of calcitonin and reduce levels of plasma CTx-1, an established marker of bone resorption. It has the potential to offer a new therapeutic option for osteoporosis patients as the first FDA-approved and commercially available oral formulation of calcitonin.
Tarsa also announced that David Brand has joined the company as President, CEO and Director. He brings over 30 years of global pharmaceutical experience in product development, acquisitions, marketing and operational management with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), its predecessor companies, and most recently served as President and CEO of Cardiokine Inc.
Mr. Brand stated, “Calcitonin has been proven safe and effective in the treatment of osteoporosis in large numbers of patients over many years, and current worldwide sales are estimated at about half a billion dollars. The broader use of calcitonin, however, has been limited by its availability solely in injectable and intranasal forms. Tarsa’s unique, once-daily oral calcitonin tablet has the potential to offer patients the proven safety and efficacy of calcitonin, with the significant advantage of easier administration and enhanced long-term compliance.”
While at GSK, Mr. Brand held senior management positions in marketing, business development and international operations. He led the launch activities for the blockbuster products Paxil(®) and Kytril(®) and subsequently was responsible for pre-launch commercial development plans for Coreg(®), Hycamtin(®) and Requip(®). He also led the business units that launched Requip and Avandia(®). As CEO of Cardiokine Mr. Brand assembled a management and development team that closed a $50 million financing round and completed a worldwide development and marketing agreement for lead product lixivaptan with Biogen Idec.
“The new company assembled by this investor syndicate includes an outstanding group of professionals who have the knowledge and experience to ensure that the value of this asset is fully realized,” noted Dr. Ronald S. Levy, Executive Vice President of Unigene. “We have always believed that this program has substantial commercial potential. Accordingly, it was important for us to retain a significant portion of that value for Unigene’s shareholders, and this structure enables us to accomplish that. The oral calcitonin program will be Tarsa’s number one priority, and they intend to commit their substantial resources and considerable expertise to successfully advancing the Phase III program in the shortest possible time frame.”
“We view Tarsa as a creative partnership between the management team, Unigene and this investor group, committed to completing the Phase III program and enabling registration and commercialization of a compelling new therapy in a focused and efficient manner,” added Dr. Eric Bednarski of MVM Life Science Partners.
Dr. James P. Gilligan, Unigene’s Vice President of Product Development, will become Tarsa’s Chief Scientific Officer while retaining certain responsibilities at Unigene.
The Board of Directors of Tarsa will be headed by Chairman Dr. Bednarski and includes Unigene’s Dr. Levy, Tarsa CEO Mr. Brand, Dr. Matthew Rieke, Partner at Quaker BioVentures and Dr. Martin Edwards, Senior Partner at Novo A/S.
Tarsa will be based in Philadelphia, PA.
About Unigene
Unigene Laboratories, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the oral and nasal delivery of large-market peptide drugs. Due to the size of the worldwide osteoporosis market, Unigene is targeting its initial efforts on developing calcitonin and PTH-based therapies. Fortical(®), Unigene’s nasal calcitonin product for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis, received FDA approval and was launched in 2005. Unigene has licensed the U.S. rights for Fortical(®) to Upsher-Smith Laboratories, worldwide rights for its oral PTH technology to GlaxoSmithKline and worldwide rights for its calcitonin manufacturing technology to Novartis. Unigene’s patented oral delivery technology has successfully delivered, in preclinical and/or clinical trials, various peptides including calcitonin, PTH and insulin. Unigene’s patented manufacturing technology is designed to cost-effectively produce peptides in quantities sufficient to support their worldwide commercialization as oral or nasal therapeutics. For more information about Unigene, call (973) 265-1100 or visit www.unigene.com. For information about Fortical, visit www.fortical.com.
About Tarsa Therapeutics
Newly formed Tarsa Therapeutics is developing an oral formulation of calcitonin, a peptide hormone for the treatment of osteoporosis that slows the rate of bone destruction. Availability of an oral formulation is expected to generate wider use of this established osteoporosis treatment, which currently is available only in injectable and intranasal formulations. Tarsa’s oral calcitonin has generated promising data in Phase II studies and the global Phase III clinical program is now underway. Tarsa will be based in Philadelphia, PA.
About MVM Life Science Partners LLP
MVM Life Science Partners LLP is a venture capital firm, founded in 1997, which manages three funds totaling more than $500 million and invests in companies that discover, develop and commercialize innovations in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical devices for the life science and healthcare markets. MVM has offices in both London and Boston, making investments predominantly in Western Europe and the Eastern US, and has a growing team with wide-ranging experience across the life science and private equity markets (www.mvmlifescience.com).
About Quaker BioVentures
Quaker BioVentures is dedicated to investing in life science companies in the Mid-Atlantic region and contiguous states. The firm leads investments in companies across the spectrum of the life science industry, including biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, human diagnostics, specialty pharmaceuticals, and healthcare services. Quaker BioVentures invests in companies at all stages of development from early stage businesses to public companies. Founded in 2003, the firm manages over $700 million in committed capital and is currently investing Quaker BioVentures II, a $420 million fund formed in 2007. Please visit Quaker BioVentures’ website at www.quakerbio.com.
About Novo A/S
Novo A/S is an active and independent company in its support of biotech ventures. The aspiration is to bring together the best of both worlds: industry insight and network from our pharma/biotech inheritance combined with a venture capital mindset that focuses on results and value creation. Novo has invested in more that 50 portfolio companies. There is considerable diversity in the portfolio across technologies, products and financial stages. The portfolio is international, currently with more than half the invested capital in North American companies and the rest in Denmark and Europe.
Tower Cloud Inc., a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based provider of backhaul services to wireless carriers, has raised $20 million in new VC funding. Return backers El Dorado Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures were joined by a new investor group led by telecom entrepreneur Cam Lanier.
PRESS RELEASE
Tower Cloud, Inc., a provider of backhaul services to wireless carriers, announced today it closed a $20 million equity round to fund expansion into Atlanta, GA and other growth opportunities. The round included funding from the company’s current investors, including Sutter Hill Ventures and El Dorado Ventures, and from a new investor group led by Cam Lanier, a very successful telecom entrepreneur and investor. The new investor group includes Ballast Point Ventures, Kinetic Ventures, Knology, Inc., ITC Partners Fund, Noro-Moseley Partners, and The Burton Partnership.
“Wireless backhaul is one of the fastest growing areas in telecom. We are very excited to be in business with Tower Cloud and feel the company is strongly positioned to serve the exploding bandwidth needs of wireless carriers.” said Cam Lanier, Chairman of ITC Holding Company, LLC. Demand for wireless broadband service on cellular networks is expanding rapidly, driven by growing popularity of cellular smartphones and other advanced mobile wireless devices. As wireless carriers upgrade their cellular networks to provide 4G wireless data and Internet services their need for broadband backhaul service will continue to accelerate.
“We are very pleased to have the new group of equity partners join our existing investors to form a very strong syndicate”, said Ron Mudry, CEO of Tower Cloud. “Given the challenging economy and financial markets, it is a strong vote of confidence in our company and business model to attract such a high quality group of investors.”
About Tower Cloud Tower Cloud provides telecom backhaul services to wireless carriers. The company builds and operates fiber optic and wireless networks to connect cellular towers to the wireless carriers’ mobile switching centers. Wireless carriers utilize Ethernet and Sonet T-1 broadband capacity provided by Tower Cloud to manage the exploding volume of voice and data traffic on their cellular networks. Tower Cloud currently operates backhaul networks in the greater Orlando, FL and Miami, FL markets and is in the process of constructing a new network in Atlanta, GA. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in St. Petersburg, FL.