Company Stories B-E

Stories that earlier appeared in Nelson's News

Bandgap (Columbia, SC)

Bandgap Technologies (Columbia, SC), a maker of SiC substrates, will be bought up by another private bandgap company INTRINSIC Semiconductor (Sterling VA) . Bangap was founded in 2000 and has had at least three Phase 2 SBIRs all funded by BMDO. Intrinsic had one BMDO Phase 1 in 2003. Bangap materials was recently highlighted in a new MDA Technology Applications report Through the Forbidden Band in which it was obvious that BMDO's only route to revolutionary technology is the SBIR program that existed before 2002.

Ballard Power Systems

Fuel Cell Future Moves Further Off. Ballard Power Systems is chopping 400 employees, or nearly 30% of its work force, cutting development spending and seeking buyers for parts of its business. Even by Ballard's own reckoning, profitability is still five years off, which means it has to conserve cash, develop other revenue streams and persuade investors to stay the course until its engine technology becomes commercially viable. [TAMSIN CARLISLE, Wall Street Journal, Dec 27] SBIR hopefuls with a commercialization story, take note. Your projections of commercial success are probably fantasy. The good news for getting the government money is that the government neither knows nor cares whether you are right or wrong. They get the technology whatever happens to you.

Barrier Therapeutics (Princeton, NJ)

The purchase of a New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company that currently outsources all of its manufacturing could be good news for the Stiefel Laboratories (Coral Gables, FL) plant here in Greene County. Stiefel said Monday it is offering [$148 million] for Barrier Therapeutics (Princeton, NJ; no SBIR). [Eric Anderson, Albany Times-Union, Jun 24]

Bastion Technologies

Policy and job turmoil. Workers at Bastion Technologies (no SBIR) and elsewhere are caught in a growing conflict between Congress, which has banned NASA from canceling any part of Constellation, and agency leaders who have directed program managers to scale back their work while preserving the parts that would fit into the new space policy proposed by President Obama. [Kenneth Chang, New York Times, Jun 26] The usual Congressional response: cut the deficit somewhere else. NASA SBIR junkies could feel the pinch also. Somewhere, somehow, lots of folks have to lose jobs if the deficit finance is to be fixed without raising revenue (not on our watch, say the Republicans).

Baxano (San Jose, CA)

Medical device company Baxano (San Jose, CA, no SBIR) said it closed a third round of funding with $30 million.... focuses on products to restore spine function and preserve healthy tissue. It makes a system for decompression during spinal surgery. [Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal, Jun 22, 10]

Beacon Power (Tyngsboro, MA)

Beacon Power is going to put its 20-megawatt flywheel plant in Stephentown up for sale after reaching an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy, which has provided the bankrupt company with $39 million through its loan program. [Larry Rulison, Albany Times Union, Nov 20, 11]

one of the firms Uncle Sam has allowed to lose. Beacon Power filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, .... makes flywheel-based energy-storage devices designed to help regulate the flow of power into the electric grid from inconsistent alternative energy sources like solar power and wind power. The firm has received at least $67 million in grants and loan guarantees from the federal government [Galen Moore, Boston Business Journal, Nov 1, 11]

Beacon Power which provides "flywheel" technology that helps prevent power surges on the electrical grid, said in June it will need to raise more capital to continue operations into next year.. [Yuliva Chernova, Wall Street Journal, Oct 27]

Beacon Power up 30% [Feb 28, 11]

Beacon Power said it began operation of its flywheel energy storage plant in New York state this week, marking the start of commercial revenue for the company. [Mass High Tech, Jan 25, 11]

Beacon Power (Tyngsboro, MA; $1M SBIR) expects to raise gross proceeds of up to $15 million from a public offering of a newly-designated Series B convertible preferred stock, the company said ... maker of flywheel power storage technology [Mass High Tech, Dec 22, 10]

Beacon Power has been turned down for a loan guarantee to build a second energy storage plant in New York state, the company said. [Mass High Tech, Oct 11, 10]

Beacon Power saw its cash position slip by 53 percent in the second quarter but has closed on a $43 million loan for its energy storage plant in Stephentown, N.Y., the company said in two announcements ... said the plant will begin operating at 20 percent capacity by the end of the year and will be fully operational by the end of the first quarter of 2011. The plant will be the first of its kind in the world and will help stabilize and enhance the performance of the New York power grid, according to Beacon. [Kyle Alspach, Mass High Tech, Aug 9, 10]

New England energy stimulus money for small biz: $2.2 million for an energy storage project at Beacon Power .... $2.1M for Proton Energy (Wallingford, CT; $1.7M SBIR) and Penn State University aim to develop an advanced energy storage device that incorporates a regenerative fuel cell .... General Compression, (Newton , MA; no SBIR) $750K for a novel compressed air energy storage process [Kyle Alspach, Mass High Tech, Jul 13, 10]

Beacon Power said it had reached a deal to sell up to $25 million worth of its shares to a Chicago-based investment fund over the next 26 months. ... Founded in 1997, Beacon Power spun out of SatCon Technology [Mass High Tech, Jul 6, 10]

Beacon Power hopes to raise $20.7 million in a stock offering priced today. .... from a shelf registration [Mass High Tech, Dec 4, 09]

Beacon Power plans to begin construction of its 20-megawatt energy storage plant planned for rural Rensselaer County, N.Y. The $69 million plant would operate with 10 pods of 20 flywheels each and store energy from the electric grid. ... awaiting approval of a $43 million guaranteed loan through the Department of Energy for the project. [The Business Review, (Albany), Nov 10, 09]

Iberdrola SA, the Spanish wind-power giant, was awarded $294 million for five projects. ... as The U.S. government handed out $502 million in grants for a dozen wind- and solar-power projects from Maine to South Texas, the first round in a new subsidy program designed to spur renewable-energy investment. ... The program has no cap and government officials pledged to award grants to all qualified applicants through 2011 [Wall Street Journal, Sep 2] Beacon Power said it has applied to the US Department of Energy for grants totaling $46.7 million to support funding of the its next two flywheel energy storage plants. [Chris Reidy, Boston Globe, Sep 2, 09]

Beacon Power said it has signed a contract with American Electric Power to build a 1-megawatt smart energy matrix regulation facility at an AEP site in Groveport, Ohio [Boston Globe, Feb 23, 09]

Beacon Power received a commitment for the sale of $4.4 million worth of company warrants through a previously filed shelf registration statement. [Mass High Tech, Dec 22, 08] down 19%

Beacon Power received a commitment from an unnamed investor to raise $7.9 million through a private placement of stock and warrants under a previously filed a shelf registration. [Mass High Tech, Oct 10]

Beacon Power has been around for 10 years and has invested $150 million in the [flywheel] concept, with hardly any revenue to show for it so far. Now, the company is building its first large-scale commercial system, capable of storing and releasing 5 million watts of power. [Boston Globe, Sep 15]

Beacon Power wants to build a unique array of 200 flywheel batteries over several acres to store spare power from New York's electrical grid and zap it back as needed. ... to connect the 20-megawatt, short-term energy storage unit to New York's power grid in Stephentown, a rural community near the Massachusetts border. The company claims the matrix of batteries would make the grid more efficient and conserve energy, though they have some final hurdles to clear. [Boston Globe, Jun 14]

...the nation's first flywheel frequency regulation plant, in which an array of massive flywheels spinning at up to 16,000 revolutions per minute will help smooth the electrical grid. .... the $50 million flywheel plant by Beacon Power -- will regulate the grid without burning any fuel. Instead, 200 flywheels -- each a rotating disk standing 7 feet tall and 3 feet wide -- will spin using motors that draw excess energy from the grid when it is not needed. ... A 20-megawatt flywheel plant should prevent the release of up to 12,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year, [says Beacon]. [Brian Nearing, Albany Times-Union, May 13, 08]

Beacon Power (Wilmington MA) got a commitment for $25M in new funding from three of the company's previous investors [Mass High Tech, Oct 26]

Beacon Power up 12% on news of completed tests of a key product.

Fuel from Soybeans. A Chicago-area company with visions of becoming a biodiesel producer plans to build its first plant near Seymour, based on a new technology from India.

Beeco

A spinoff from RTI International that aims to make circuit boards obsolete has raised $5 million.... Beeco's challenge is convincing the market to adopt a game-changing technology. .... A reconfigurable computer, [CEO John ]Goehrke said, is one "that changes its configuration to maximize performance based on the application it is addressing." They're used in applications where "intense computing power is needed," such as gene sequencing. Beeco's computer is expected to cost $70,000 to $75,000 and is planned to hit the market in the third quarter of 2009. ... Goehrke is the former chief operating officer of Luna Innovations, a publicly traded company based in Blacksburg, Va [David Ranii, Raleigh News & Observer, Jun 10, 08]

Bellicum Pharmaceuticals (Houston, TX)

Bellicum Pharmaceuticals (Houston, TX; no SBIR) received a $5.7 million Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas award. ...a biotherapeutics company founded in 2004 to commercialize products aimed at late-stage cancer patients.[Houston Business Journal, Mar 25, 11]

BeneChill (San Diego, CA)

BeneChill, (San Diego, CA; no SBIR) founded in 2004 to develop a portable, battery-powered device for lowering the temperature of heart attack victims, has raised about $600,000 of a planned $1.2 million in debt,... designed for use by emergency medical technicians so hypothermic therapy can begin even before a patient reaches the emergency room. The company raised $13.5 million in a Series C venture round in mid-2009 [Bruce Bigelow, signonsandiego.com, Nov 16, 10]

Benefuel

Construction of the 10 million-gallon-a-year plant, which will cost under $20 million to build, could begin this year or early next, said Rob Tripp, chief executive of Benefuel, (Mt. Prospect, IL) which was formed last year. [Jeff Swiatek, Indianapolis Star, Oct 10] Benefuel's website claims the worlds most advanced, solid catalyst biodiesel refining platform ... and a business model of locating multiple, small refineries near the source of inputs and consumption. An economic note: the worldwide demand for fuel and food is driving up the price of both petroleum and crops. Eventually, the feedstock for such bio-source fuel plants will rise to make them unprofitable and a market shake-out will ensue. The tipping point is still unknown as the rush to produce ethanol and bio-diesel is still in full swing.

BetaBatt (Rochester, NY)

Start with a little tritium. The University of Rochester (NY) and a startup, BetaBatt< have cooked up a betavoltaics-based "nuclear" battery that can run for over a decade on the electrons generated by the natural decay of the radioactive isotope tritium. ... They've actually been tested in labs for 50 years -- but they generate so little power that a larger commercial role for them has yet to be found. So far, tritium-powered betavoltaics, which require minimal shielding and are unable to penetrate human skin, have been used to light exit signs and glow-in-the-dark watches. ... The fabrication techniques may be affordable, but the tritium itself -- a byproduct of nuclear power production -- is still more expensive than the lithium in your cell-phone battery. [Eric Brown, MIT Tech Review, Jun 16] Sounds straightforward until the question of where to get commercial tritium comes up. The quickest source would the nation's hydrogen bombs being destroyed. The Energy Department studies estimate the cost of a new tritium production for bombs would be several billions. But even if a commercially reasonable cost source could be found, the tritium is environmentally dangerous in groundwater, and the "no-more bomb" critics note that Using commercial reactors to produce tritium is unproven technology and thus poses unknown dangers.

BG Medicine (Waltham, MA)

On the cusp of going public, BG Medicine has pulled its IPO (for the second time) ... still in the development phase with its BGM Galectin-3 test, which measures levels of galectin-3, a protein related to heart failure, in the blood. BG projects continued losses into the coming years, [Mass High Tech, Dec 17, 10]

BG Medicine (Waltham, MA; no SBIR) is expected to announce an initial public offering of up to $71.2 million next week, according to IPO tracker Renaissance Capital. .... developer of biomarker-based diagnostic tools ... expects to use up to $25 million of the net proceeds from the offering to fund the commercial launch of its lead product, BGM Galectin-3 ... founded in 2000, first filed for an $80 million IPO on Euronext in August 2007, before abandoning it just a few months later [Mass High Tech, Dec 10, 10]

BG Medicine (Waltham, MA; no SBIR) garnered $40 million in fourth-round funding for use in commercialization of its first two biomarker-based diagnostic tools. [Mass High Tech, Jul 17, 08]

BG Medicine (Waltham, MA; no SBIR) raised $40 million in its latest round of venture capital, in addition to $52 million it had previously raised. The company had originally tried to raise money through an initial public offering, but yanked the IPO filing in January citing market turmoil. No venture-backed companies have been able to go public so far this year in Massachusetts. BG, which has 39 employees, is trying to develop novel medical tests for congestive heart failure and other maladies based on proteins and other molecules found in the body. [Boston Globe, Jul 18]

Bind Biosciences (Cambridge MA)

According to a pair of releases, the [Russian] firm RUSNANO participated in separate but identical $47.25 million investments to both Selecta [Biosciences] (no SBIR) and Bind [Biosciences] (one SBIR). Since both companies are involved in nanotechnology for drug delivery – Selecta makes nanoparticle immunomodulatory drugs to treat human disease, and Bind makes nanoparticle technology that concentrates a drug at the intended site of action while minimizing exposure to the rest of the system – it makes sense that they are getting the funds from a firm that describes itself as an open joint-stock company created “through reorganization of state corporation Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies.” [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Oct 27, 11

Bind Biosciences (Cambridge, MA; one SBIR) a nanoparticle-based drug developer, has raised $4.75 million in a new financing round, federal documents show. ... develops nanoparticle technology that concentrates a drug at the intended site of action while minimizing exposure to the rest of the system, improving efficacy and reducing side effects. The company was co-founded in 2006 by Langer and Farokhzad [Rodney Brown, [Mass High Tech, Oct 13, 11]

Thirty Massachusetts life sciences companies have been awarded a total of $23.9 million in tax incentives by the state in an effort to spur job creation. The awards range from as much as $5.85 million to as little as $55,000. The companies receiving the awards have committed to creating nearly 1,000 new jobs in the Commonwealth over the coming year. ... Last year, the program's first, the state awarded $24.5 million to 26 companies that pledged to create 800 jobs in the state. As of June 30th, those companies had created around 400 jobs, according to the state's Life Sciences Center. [DC Dennison, Boston Globe, Dec 22] That's $24000 per job created IFF the recipients create the 1000 jobs. Last year's cost per actual job was about $70000. What do you think should be the state's limit on amount spent per job created? Or is it all sound-bite politics anyway and that real economics don't matter? And if so, how many federal programs do the same thing, only bigger? SBIR firms taking the money are: BIND Biosciences, Cytonome, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Organogenesis, Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

BIND Biosciences, (Cambridge, MA; one SBIR) biopharmaceutical company that looks to use a proprietary medicinal nanoengineering platform to develop new drugs, said it has secured a $12.4 million Series C-1 financing. [Boston Globe, Jun 29, 10]

Companies to Watch in personalized medicine. Affymetrix, Life Tech, Illumina, Helicos Biosciences, Metabolon. Among the fifty most innovative: A123 Systems, American Superconductor, Alnylam, Illumina, iRobot, Novomer, BIND Biosciences. [MIT Tech Review, M/A10]

Bind Biosciences, (Cambridge, MA; one SBIR) nanoparticle-based drug developer co-founded by MITs Robert Langer and Harvard Medical School’s Omid Farokhzad, has raised $11 million in a third round of financing [Julie Donnelly, Mass High Tech, Jan 12, 10]

Bind Bioscience (Cambridge MA; no prior SBIR) got a $150K NIH Phase 1 SBIR to advance a treatment for hormone refractory prostate cancer. ... was co-founded by MIT professor Robert Langer, has raised more than $2.5 million in VC seed capital [Mass High Tech, Oct 8, 07]

BiO2 Medical (San Antonio, TX)

BiO2 Medical (San Antonio, TX; no SBIR) has received $500,000 in venture capital funding that the company will use to further commercialize a technology that will help prevent blood clods from reaching the lung. ... received its initial $1 million in funding from angel investors in 2007. The company was awarded an additional $1 million from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund late last year. [San Antonio Business Journal, Oct 7, 09]

BiO2 Technologies (Woburn, MA)

Bio2 Technologies (Woburn, MA; no SBIR) has taken in $1.1 million in equity financing, according to [SEC] filing. ..... makes tissue engineering scaffolds, intended for orthopedic use, based on its cross-linked microstructure (CLM) that Bio2 licenses from Geo2 Technologies (no SBIR). [Mass High Tech, Jul 7, 10]

BioAdvanTek (Angola, IN)

BioAdvanTek (Angola, IN; founded in 2006) has developed an antimicrobial technology that can be incorporated into almost anything -- from grocery-cart handles to hospital supplies to children's toys. ... while not the first to tackle antimicrobial issues -- is the first that doesn't leach out of products and into the environment. ... not yet recorded any sales, but is working with a large manufacturer of an industrial-strength shrink- wrap-type product, as well as a "significant" orthopedic specialist. [Chuck Bowen, Indianapolis Star, Nov 20]

BioAmber (Plymouth, MN)

BioAmber (Plymouth, MN; no SBIR), a next-generation agricultural chemical start-up, said it plans to raise $150 million in an initial public offering, which would be one the biggest IPOs in Minnesota since 2009. T... has already attracted a $45 million venture capital investment this year. BioAmber is drawing a lot of investor interest because it specializes in the renewable chemistry sector. ... manufacturers bio-succinic acid by fermenting sugar from agricultural crops. [Wendy Lee and Patrick Kennedy, Minneapolis Star Tribunr, Nov 14, 11]

BioAmber, (Plymouth, MN; no SBIR) renewable chemistry business, said it will partner with Japanese trading firm Mitsui & Co. to build a manufacturing facility in Canada. ... BioAmber broke a national record for the most venture capital raised for a U.S.-based biotech chemical products business earlier this year. The company raised $45 million in venture capital in the second quarter, according to the MoneyTree Report, [Wendy Lee, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Nov 8, 11]

BioAmber (Plymouth, MN; no SBIR, formerly known as DNP Green Technology) renewable chemistry company said it secured $45 million in venture capital financing. The company said part of the money will go toward building a large-scale plant in North America and speeding the commercialization of some of its products. It will also help fund research and development in other areas, BioAmber said. ... core business is the production of renewable succinic acid using agricultural feedstocks [Wendy Lee, Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 5, 11] [In 2010] acquired a controlling stake in Sinoven Biopolymers [which] is backed by a ten-year development collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beijing Industry & Commerce University [BioAmber website] Investors are mostly international, France and Japan.

Bioanalytical Systems

Bioanalytical Systems up 33% [Dec 20, 10]

Bioanalytical doubled [Nov 25, 08]

Bioanalytical Systems down 11% [Sep 26, 08]

Bioanalytical Systems up 11% [Sep 23, 08]

Bioanalytical Systems down 11% [Sep 9, 08]

Bioanalytical Systems down 10% [Jun 30, 08]

Bioanalytical Systems up 13% [Jun 27, 08]

Bioanalytical Systems up 27% [Jun 10, 08]

Bioanalytical Systems down 10% [Jan 14, 08]

BioBehavioral Diagnostics (Westford,MA)

BioBehavioral Diagnostics (Westport, MA; no SBIR) a medical device maker for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has taken in almost $3.1 million of a planned $5.5 million debt funding round ... markets the Quotient ADHD System, a tool that aids in the assessment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms. The test, which takes 15 minutes, measures hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattentiveness. The measurements are compared to an age and gender database. [Mass High Tech, Sep 23, 11]

Tax Before Profit. BioBehavioral Diagnostics (no SBIR) raised millions of dollars in venture capital and invested heavily in its technology to get its medical device to market. Now, with revenues just beginning to roll in, the six-year-old start-up faces another hurdle as it reaches for success: a new federal tax that will take a cut of every sale it makes. ... developed a system that tests for attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, is an example of why Massachusetts business and political leaders worry about the medical device tax, recently enacted as part of federal health care reform. The 2.3 percent excise tax, which takes effect in 2013 to help finance the expansion of coverage, will be levied on sales, not profits, [Boston Globe, Apr 14, 10]

BioBehavioral Diagnostics (Westford, MA; no SBIR) developer of a diagnostic tool for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, has closed a $10 million Series B funding round.... Founded in 2006, first landed a $8.5 million Series A round in 2007 [Mass High Tech, Feb 1, 10]

Biocept (San Diego, CA)

Biocept (San Diego, CA; one SBIR, founded 1997) developer of cancer diagnostics, has raised $2.3 million of a planned $7.1 million round of equity financing [Ryan McBride, signonsandiego, Aug 16, 10]

Biocept (San Diego, CA; one 1998 SBIR) working on cell separation technology, has raised $3.6 million of a planned $4.05 million equity offering, according to an SEC filing. ... developing diagnostic assays for detecting and monitoring cancer. [Erin Kutz, signonsandiego.com, Apr 15, 10]

BioCritica (Indianapolis, IN)

BioCritica (Indianapolis, IN; no SBIR) small biotech company springing up has already signed a licensing agreement with Eli Lilly for the rights to sell the pharmaceutical giant's medicine for severe sepsis, Xigris. The new company will create up to 70 jobs by 2015, according to an announcement Monday from the Indiana Economic Development Corp. ... up to $2.9 million in performance-based tax credits and up to $175,000 in training grants. [Indianapolis Star, May 24, 11]

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (Birmingham, AL)

BioCryst Pharma up 13% [Jun 13, 11]

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals closed on a $30 million financing transaction that monetizes future royalty and milestone payments made by its Japanese partner Shionogi & Co., Ltd on BioCryst’s influenza drug peramivir. [Triangle Business Journal, Mar 10, 11]

BioCryst Pharma up 14% [Apr 28, 10]

BioCryst Pharma up 18% [Feb 10, 10]

BioCryst Pharma up 10% [Dec 24, 09]

BioCryst Pharma up 13% [Oct 26, 09] after the FDA issued a so-called emergency-use authorization late Friday that allows doctors to use the Birmingham, Ala., biopharmaceutical firm's peramivir drug in certain hospitalized adult and pediatric patients with confirmed or suspected H1N1 influenza. [Wall Street Journal, Oct 27]

In a tale of biotech snapback, Forbes [Matthew Herper, Oct 16, 09] notes that BioCryst Pharma is up 1014% from its 52-week low. Antigenics (Woburn, MA; $700K SBIR) is up 1032%.

Biocryst Pharma up 15% [Jul 27, 09]

Biocryst Pharma up 11% [Jul 24, 09]

Biocryst Pharma up 22% [Jul 21, 09] after the company announced positive results from its Phase III flu vaccine study. [tickerspy.com, Jul 21]

Biocryst Pharma up 41% [Jul 17, 09] announced positive results on two late-stage studies for influenza treatment peramivir [Wall Street Journal, Jul 18]

BioCryst Pharma up 10% [Jun 26, 09]

BioCryst Pharma up 11% [Jun 11, 09]

BioCryst Pharma up 19% [May 18, 09]

BioCryst Pharma up 32% [May 15, 09]

BioCryst down 18% [May 4, 09]

BioCryst Pharma down 10% [Apr 29, 09]

BioCryst Pharma up 76% [Apr 27, 09]

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals up 12% [Jul 28, 08] after the company said an injectible version of its experimental seasonal flu drug met a midstage study goal of alleviating symptoms. [AP]

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals up 14% [Mar 31, 08]

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals up 11% [Mar 26, 08]

BioCryst Pharma down 12% [Mar 10, 08]

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals up 11% [Feb 4, 08]

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (Birmingham AL; $1M SBIR) down 32%, after an injectable formulation of a flu treatment failed to exhibit statistically significant improvement on placebo in a midstage clinical trial for the biopharmaceutical concern., Inc. is a biotechnology company that designs, optimizes and develops novel drugs that block key enzymes involved in cancer, cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases and viral infections. [Wall Street Journal, Sep 21]

BioDelivery Sciences International (Newark, NJ)

BioDelivery Sciences down 59% [Sep 29, 11] by announcing its improvement over an existing drug doesn’t actually work. ... The company also says it’s not giving up on the drug. In fact, it plans to conduct another study in the near future -- a trial that will take another nine months to complete. So certain are company execs, they’re reiterating their sales prediction and seem confident they’ll find a development partner. [Brett Chase, minyanville.com, Sep 29]

Biodelivery Sciences up 15% [Dec 30, 10]

Biodelivery Sciences down 12% [Nov 10, 10]

BioDelivery Services down 14% [Apr 20, 10] after the company announced plans to raise $10 million through the sale of additional shares. [Triangle Business Journal, Apr 20]

BioDelivery Sciences up 13% [Sep 28, 09]

BioDelivery Sciences International (Newark, NJ; $1.7M SBIR) is shutting down its New Jersey laboratory and consolidating its operations in Raleigh, a move that will save nearly $1 million a year. ... [said] it no longer needs its Newark research facility now that the experimental drug Bioral Amphotericin B, an anti-fungal treatment, is in clinical trials. [David Ranii, Raleigh News & Observer, Sep 2, 09]

BioDelivery Sciences International (Raleigh, NC; $1.7M SBIR) finally won regulatory approval for their first product, an oral pain patch for cancer patients. ... will get millions in milestone payments from a Swedish partner, money it will use to develop other products. [Raleigh News & Observer, Jul 17, 09]

BioDelivery Sciences International (Raleigh, NC; $1.7M SBIR) is apparently on the verge of winning approval for its first drug, the culmination of a regulatory process that began more than 18 months ago. .... founded in 1997 in New Jersey. In 2004, it moved its headquarters to the Triangle shortly after it acquired Arius Pharmaceuticals, a Research Triangle Park startup. ... Shares have more than tripled since August. [Raleigh News & Observer, Jun 25, 09]

BioDelivery Sciences up 21% [Apr 21, 09]

BioDelivery Sciences down 12%% [Apr 3, 09]

BioDelivery Sciences up 10% [Mar 17, 09]

Biodelivery Sciences down 12% [Mar 2, 09]

Biodelivery Sciences up 13% [Dec 31, 08]

Biodelivery Sciences up 21% [Sep 19, 08]

BioDelivery Sciences International up 33% [Aug 29, 08]

Up 26% as U.S. regulators have laid the groundwork for approval of BioDelivery Sciences International’s first drug, the company said Thursday, though approval will take longer than the company would have liked. [Triangle Business Journal, Aug 28]

BioDelivery Sciences International up 17% [Jul 31, 08]

BioDelivery Science (Raleigh, NC; $1.5M SBIR) announced that its marketing partner has taken the first official step toward obtaining European Union approval of Bema Fentanyl, BioDelivery's experimental cancer pain drug. [Raleigh News&Observer, Apr, 3, 08]

BioDelivery Sciences up 24% [Dec 7, 07]

BioDelivery Sciences International lost 12% [Apr 18, 07]

BioDelivery Sciences International up 21% [Feb 22, 07] despite no news.

BioDelivery Sciences International rose 27% on report that the FDA approved human clinical testing of its Bioral drug delivery system.

BioE (Vadnais Heights, MN)

BioE (Vadnais Heights, MN; no SBIR) is being sued on behalf of More than 470 angel investors, the majority of them from Minnesota, invested more than $30 million in the company. ... The suit alleges that a "fraudulent" financing maneuver left the investors empty-handed and seeks class action status on behalf of "hundreds" of investors. [Janet Moore, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Feb 7, 11]

Moving for Subsidy. Lured by the state's tax credits for investments in high-growth companies, a biotech start-up said it was moving to Wisconsin. VitalMedix (Minneapolis, MN; no SBIR) is developing a drug that first responders, trauma center surgeons and military medics could use. The drug, Tamiasyn, has the potential to allow humans to endure severe blood loss and inhibit organ damage during resuscitation. .... Minnesota legislators tried to create a similar program but failed. .... The credits had lured another biotech company. Rapid Diagnostek (no SBIR) moved to Hudson last year from St. Paul to take advantage of the credits. The top executive at BioE (no apparent SBIR) a Twin Cities tech company, praised Wisconsin's embrace of tech companies and didn't rule out a move. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jul 10, 09)

BioE (Vadnais Heights, MN; no SBIR) said it has won clearance from federal regulators to sell its signature product, a system that processes umbilical cord blood for use in treating a variety of diseases. ... the privately held company, which has been working with the [FDA] for more than seven years so it could sell the system in the USA. [Minneapolis Star Tribune, Jan 14, 09]

Bioheart (Sunrise FL)

Bioheart (Sunrise, FL; no SBIR) that has tried to sell shares for more than four months made a surprise debut on the Nasdaq .. raised $5.8M by selling 1.1 million shares for $5.25 a share -- far below the $57M it had hoped to raise by selling 3.6 million shares [Wall Street Journal, Feb 20, 08]

Bioheart and Elixir Biopharm going public this week. Neither used SBIR. [Jan 08]

Bioheart, (Sunrise FL: no SBIR) an“adult” stem-cell company has slashed its IPO price range — essentially halving the company’s expected market value. David Hamilton, over at VentureBeat Life Sciences, says: "I told you so: Eat your Bioheart out." The company's treatment is supposed to reverse damage caused by heart attacks. However, none of Bioheart’s data so far seems to suggest the treat does what it is supposed to do, and the company can’t even offer a plausible theory as to why it should work. [Matt Marshall, Venture Beat, Oct 12] The company's website says Our lead product candidate is MyoCell, an innovative clinical therapy designed to populate regions of scar tissue within a patient’s heart with autologous muscle cells, or cells from the patient’s body, for the purpose of improving cardiac function in chronic heart failure patients. The core technology used in MyoCell has been the subject of human clinical trials conducted over the last six years involving 84 enrollees and 70 treated patients In 2007 it reported Although not statistically significant due, in part, to the limited number of patients treated, the lead investigator indicated in his presentation that the safety of MyoCell is strongly suggested and the preliminary efficacy data demonstrates a trend towards an improvement in scores for six-minute walk distance, or Six-Minute Walk Distance, and an improvement in quality of life, or Quality of Life. If Hamilton's criticism is true, or even just credible, both the FDA and all but the most dreamy-eyed IPO investors should be able to see the problem. It does have a large and varied Scientific Advisory Board and several VCs on its board of directors.

Biohelix (Beverly, MA)

A spinoff of New England BioLabs (Beverly, MA; $5M SBIR), Biohelix (Beverly, MA; also $5M SBIR) is leaving the nest and establishing its own headquarters after five years under its parent’s wing. ... developing diagnostics for infectious and sexually transmitted diseases. [Mass High Tech, Aug 28, 09]

Bio-Imaging Technologies

Bio-Imaging Technologies said it is selling its CapMed Division to Metavante Technologies (no SBIR) for $500,000 plus future payments over a two-year period. [Philadelphia Business Journal, Jan 7, 09]

Biolex Therapeutics

Biolex Therapeutics (Pittsboro, NC; no SBIR) has withdrawn its IPO plans. [Raleigh News&Observer, Feb 4, 08]

Biolex Therapeutics (Pittsboro, NC; no SBIR) with plans for a Wall Street debut could soon face financial straits that would force it to slash spending or look for other sources of cash. Biolex and its Dutch partner, OctoPlus, planned to raise money from public and private investors to pay for operations and to continue testing of Locteron, the Hepatitis C treatment the two companies are working on. [Sabine Vollmer, Raleigh News& Observer, Dec 13, 07]

The hosiery mill is gone now, along with much of the Carolina textile industry ... But the old brick building ... is occupied by a biotechnology company, Biolex Therapeutics (no SBIR) ... the retooling of this old brick building on Credle Street underscores how, despite its oft-pronounced demise, American manufacturing is in many regards stronger than ever. ... The United States makes more manufactured goods today than at any time in history, as measured by the dollar value of production adjusted for inflation -- three times as much as in the mid-1950s, the supposed heyday of American industry.. [Peter Goodman, Washington Post, Sep 3]

BioLink Life Sciences (Cary,NC)

Pharmaceutical developer BioLink Life Sciences (Cary, NC; $200K SBIR) was awarded three patents for four novel drugs for the treatment of epilepsy, bipolar disorder and migraine headaches. [Raleigh News & Observer, Sep 24, 08]

Biologics (Raleigh NC)

Private investment continues to boost young Triangle companies. Biologics (Raleigh NC; no SBIR) oncology pharmacy, $20M; . Aldagen (Durham NC; no SBIR) biotech company, $9 M; HyperBranch Medical Technologies (Durham NC; one SBIR) medical device startup, $1.5M. [Sabine Vollmer, Raleigh News & Observer, Sep 15] Those who can, do; those who can't or won't depend on government handouts.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical

BioMarin Pharmaceutical started a late-stage trial of an experimental drug to treat a rare autoimmune disease called Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome, or LEMS. [Ron Leuty, San Francisco Business Times, Jun 7, 11]

BioMarin (Novato, CA; $300K SBIR) will buy ZyStor Therapeutics (Milwaukee, WI; no SBIR) and a possible treatment for a rare degenerative muscle disease in a deal that could be worth up to $115 million. It is the fourth major deal in less than a year for Novato [Ron Leuty, San Francisco Business Times, Aug 20, 10]

Zystor Therapeutics (Wauwatosa. WI; no SBIR) has been acquired by BioMarin Pharmaceutical (Novato, CA; $300K SBIR), a deal that could attract investors for other Midwestern companies and venture funds. ... agreed to pay $22 million initially for privately held Zystor, based in Wauwatosa. BioMarin will pay as much as $93 million more if certain development, regulatory and commercial milestones are achieved, the company said. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Aug 17, 10]

BioMarin Pharmaceutical (Novato, CA; $200K SBIR) agreed to buy Lead Therapeutics (San Bruno, CA; no SBIR) which has a cancer drug in early development, for $18 million. [SEF Brown, San Francisco Business Times, Feb 4, 10]

Biomarin Pharma up 11% [Jul 31, 09]

BioMarin Pharma up 12% [Feb 24, 09]

BioMarin Pharma down 32% [Feb 19, 09]

BioMarin Pharma down 10% [Jan 20, 09]

BioMarin Pharma down 14% [Dec 1, 08] On a stock bloodbath day

Biomarin Pharma down 13% [Oct 27, 08]

BioMarin Pharma down 12% [Oct 23, 08]

BioMarin Pharma up 14% [Oct 13, 08]

Biomarin Pharma down 12% [Oct 10, 08]

Biomarin Pharma down 12% [Jun 23, 08]

BioMarin Pharmaceutical up 22% [Dec 14, 07] on news that the government approved its Kuvan treatment for use in slowing progression of an inherited disease called phenylketonuria. ... expects $35 -$70 M in revenue in 2008 from Kuvan

BioMarck Pharmaceuticals (Durham, NC)

BioMarck Pharmaceuticals (Durham, NC; $3M SBIR), which is working on new medicines for pulmonary diseases, has received $6.3 million from investors to complete a clinical trial of an experimental treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Portions of a $3 million [NIH SBIR] grant is also helping to finance the trial. ... a spinoff of N.C. State University, is developing an experimental treatment that promises to control the mucus buildup and inflammation that accompany respiratory diseases such as COPD, asthma, chronic bronchitis and cystic fibrosis. If the drug receives regulatory approval, BioMarck plans to market it with the help of a large pharmaceutical partner. [Sabine Vollmer, Raleigh News & Observer, Apr 20, 09]

Biomatrica (San Diego, CA)

Biomatrica (San Diego, CA; one SBIR), a 22-person biotech that has begun to revolutionize a $63 billion industry: the storage and transportation of the world’s biological specimens, from DNA to blood. ... By mimicking nature with synthetic chemistry, Biomatrica can now store plastic file cases of DNA at room temperature like DVDs in an entertainment cabinet. And reactivate the samples with water, at will. [Steve Chapple, signonsandiego, Dec 4, 11]

BioMedical Enterprises (San Antonio, TX)

Medical device company BioMedical Enterprises (San Antonio, TX, $0.5M SBIR). said that the company has launched a new implant on the market that is designed to approximate soft tissue that is anchored to bone. [San Antonio Business Journal, Jun 2]

Biomedical Structures (Warwick, RI)

Biomedical Structures (Warwick, RI; no SBIR) said it has received an equity financing ... founded in 2003, supplies custom-designed biomaterials and textiles to medical device manufacturers for applications such as orthopedics, reconstructive surgery and tissue engineering. [Mass High Tech, May 24, 10]

Biometric Signature (Dallas, TX)

Biometric Signature ID (Dallas, TX; no SBIR) won $550,000 from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund [Austin American Statesman, Feb 10, 11]

BioMimetic Therapeutics

BioMimetic Thera up 11% [Oct 27, 11]

BioMimetic Thera up 121% [Jul 12, 11]

BioMimetic Thera down 12% [May 13, 11]

BioMimetic Therapeutics up 21% after company announced positive results from a late-stage trial comparing its synthetic bone growth product to a procedure typically used in foot and ankle fusion surgery [Wall Street Journal, Oct 15, 09]

Biomimetic Thera up 12% [Oct 6, 09]

BioMimetic Thera down 10% [Jun 29, 09]

Confidence. A director of BioMimetic Thera bought $8M worth of shares. [Wall Street Journal, Apr 11, 09]

BioMimetic up 10% [Apr 8, 09]

BioMimetic Thera up 11% [Mar 3, 09]

BioMimetic up 11% [Feb 26, 09]

BioMimetic Thera up 10% [Jan 15, 09]

Biomimetic Thera down 10% [Jan 9, 09]

BioMimetic Tech up 25% [Nov 24, 08]

Biomimetic Thera up 13% [Nov 13, 08]

Biomimetic Thera up 10% [Nov 4, 08]

Biomimetic Thera up 12% [Oct 31, 08] and up 50% for the week.

Biomimetic Thera up 15% [Oct 30, 08]

Biomimetic Thera down 18% [Oct 15, 08]

BioMimetic Therapeutics down 10% [Oct 6, 08]

Biomimetic Thera down 14% [Oct 9, 08]

BioMimetic Therapeutics up 12% [Apr 3, 08]

BioMimetic Therapeutics up 30% [Mar 28, 08] as Wall Street brushed off anxiety over Food and Drug Administration concerns linking a competitor's diabetic foot ulcer treatment to higher cancer risk. [AP]

BioMimetic Therapeutics down 56% [Mar 27, 08]

BioMimetic Therapeutics up 11 % after announcing a 30% earnings increase in the fourth quarter

BioMimetic Therapeutics announced a 30% earnings increase in the fourth quarter over a year ago ... "This past year has been an extraordinary one for BioMimetic; we advanced our lead orthopedic product candidate into pivotal clinical trials in the U.S., EU and Canada while efficiently raising capital, giving us nearly $100 million in cash," says Dr. Samuel Lynch, president and CEO [Nashville Business Journal, Mar 20, 08] but still fell 11%.

BioMimetic Therapeutics up 10% after the company said its system for fusing damaged bones had a 90% success rate

BioNano Genomics (Philadelphia, PA)

Four months after relocating to San Diego from Philadelphia, BioNanomatrix ($3M SBIR) changed its name to BBioNano Genomics. ... as it prepares to begin selling its first commercial product, the nanoAnalyzer System. ... technology revolves around a silicon chip that contains enough microscopic channels to hold an entire, stretched-out length of a human DNA strand. [Keith Darce, signonsandiego.com, Oct 12, 11]

BioNanomatrix (Philadelphia, PA)

Four months after relocating to San Diego from Philadelphia, BioNanomatrix ($3M SBIR) changed its name to BioNano Genomics. ... as it prepares to begin selling its first commercial product, the nanoAnalyzer System. ... technology revolves around a silicon chip that contains enough microscopic channels to hold an entire, stretched-out length of a human DNA strand. [Keith Darce, signonsandiego.com, Oct 12, 11]

In the corner of the small lab is a locked door with a colorful sign taped to the front: "$100 Genome Room--Authorized Persons Only." BioNanomatrix (Philadelphia, PA $800K SBIR), the startup that runs the lab, is pursuing what many believe to be the key to personalized medicine: sequencing technology so fast and cheap that an entire human genome can be read in eight hours for $100 or less. [Lauren Gravitz, MIT Tech Review, M/A09] One of MIT's nominees for hot technologies of 2009.

Biophan Technologies

Biophan Technologies (West Henrietta, NY; one SBIR) said a prepayment agreement would eliminate $2.3 million in senior debt, leaving the company with cash available for a year. .... calls itself a technology development and holding company focused on the creation and sale of novel patent-protected technologies and medical devices. [Rochester Business Journal, Sep 24, 08]

Biophan Technologies (West Henrietta, NY; one SBIR) said it has acquired the patent portfolio (more than 15 issued patents) of Nanoset LLC (no SBIR), a private company. ... Biophan’s stock was trading slightly above 3 cents a share, up nearly 3 percent. [Rochester Business Journal, May 13,08]

BioProcessors (Woburn, MA)

Seahorse Bioscience’s (no SBIR) local expansion has been so successful, the company made a second in-state acquisition, of BioProcessors (Woburn, MA; $500K SBIR) in March 2009. The Woburn company creates an instrument that helps biologic makers decide how to design their manufacturing process to maximize cell yield.... Founded in 2001, [Seahorse] has grown from around 60 employees two years ago to about 100 now, through hiring and acquisitions.... acquisition of Innovative Microplate (Chicopee, MA; no SBIR). five years ago has led to continued hiring through the recession and an expansion of the manufacturing facility there, to 25,000 square feet from 14,000 square feet. Seahorse’s lead product is a bench-top scientific instrument that measures the energy production activity of cells. [Julie Donnelly, Mass High Tech, Jun 23, 10]

Biotech materials company Seahorse Bioscience (no SBIR). has taken in $6 million in a Series D round of funding, to help it purchase BioProcessors .(Woburn, MA; $600K SBIR) maker of systems for improving biologic drug manufacturing. [Mass High Tech, Mar 10, 09]

BioPulping International (Madison,WI)

BioPulping International, (Madison,WI; $900K SBIR) developing a commercial application for pretreating wood chips and other biomass material for pulping, has received a $400,000 federal grant [from USDA] ... co-founded by CEO Masood Akhtar in 1996 to commercialize biopulping. Akhtar was biopulping project leader at the U of Wisconsin Biotechnology Center/USDA Forest Products Laboratory from 1989 to 1996. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jun 11, 10]

Biopure

At least five Massachusetts biotechs — Dynogen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Epix Pharmaceuticals, Oscient Pharmaceuticals, Biopure Corp. and Altus — have more or less ceased operations since the stock market meltdown in September 2008. [Julie Donnelly, Mass High Tech, Mar 5, 10]

Biopure, that was working on developing a human blood substitute, has run out of time and money. The company said it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection [Boston Globe, Jul 18, 09]

Biopure a developer of blood-replacement technologies, has received — and will not challenge — a delisting notice from NASDAQ for falling below the exchange’s minimum equity-value requirement. [Craig Douglas, Boston Business Journal, Jun 30, 09]

Biopure reports that it has signed an agreement for a private placement of a package of common stock and warrants for up to $2.3 M, which the Cambridge-based maker of oxygen therapeutic blood replacement products says it will use for working capital and general corporate purposes. [Mass High Tech, Jul 3, 08]

Biopure lays off 50, needs cash to stay open past fall [Boston Globe, Jun 21]

Biopure, a developer of blood-replacement therapies, reports it has succeeded in defending its European patent for a purification process [Mass High Tech, May 19, 08]

Biopure reports the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) has landed $3.4 million from the DOD to develop its Hemopure product. [Mass High Tech, May 8] Even though it is all government money for government purposes, it still qualifies for commercialization because it is creating economic activity downstream of the SBIR.

Biopure regained its nominal stock price range by a 1:5 reverse split. [Oct 2, 07]

Biopure says that an FDA committee has recommended denial of the Navy's proposal to conduct a Phase 2b/3 clinical trial of the company's blood replacement product, Hemopure. The committee did recommend continuation of small scale experiments on the project to extract the goodies from cows' blood. [Mass High Tech, Dec 15] The stock took another 24% dive but is already below the buck and a far, far reach from its 2000 bubble high near 300 (adjusted for the 1:6 reverse split in 2005).

Biopure will raise $14M in stock and warrants. [Dec 06]

An independent safety board has cleared Biopure to continue a Phase 2 trial of its Hemopure blood-oxygen treatment after reviewing preliminary results from the study, according to company officials. [Mass High Tech, Nov 7, 06] The stock traders were not impressed.

Biopure says that NASDAQ is on the verge of delisting the stock for failng to maintain a buck price for 30 days. Days ago, the company said it was selling another $55M of securities. Biopure had a trickle of SBIR in the 1990s.

BioRelix (New Haven, CT)

BioRelix (New Haven, CT; no SBIR) has taken in $3.6 million of a planned $5.3 million equity offering. ... makes treatments for infectious diseases, using RNA targets called RiboSwitches found in bacteria and fungi. The developments are based on scientific research by Ronald Breaker, who discovered RiboSwitches in his lab at Yale University. [Mass High Tech, Sep 6, 11]

BioRelix (New Haven, CT; no SBIR) has taken in $2.4 million of a planned $4.8 million debt and warrants financing, ... develops infectious disease treatments using RNA targets called RiboSwitches, which are found in bacteria and fungi, the BioRelix website explains. It was founded upon scientific research by Ronald Breaker, who discovered RiboSwitches in his lab at Yale University. ... made news in October, announcing a research collaboration with a Merck & Co. Inc. subsidiary to discover new antibacterial drug targets [Michelle Lang, Mass High Tech, Dec 23, 10]

BioResource International (Morrisville, NC)

BioResource International, (Morrisville, NC; $360K SBIR) that makes additives for animal feed, is building a second manufacturing facility in China to capitalize on the growing demand for its products in emerging markets. The company said last week that it has partnered with two Taiwanese companies, Yung Zip Chemical Industrial Co. and Yung Shin Pharmaceutical Co., on the plant. It is expected to cost less than $10 million and be completed by the end of 2012. ... 15 employees, will own 40 percent of the venture. ... One product, Valkerase, breaks down the tightly woven protein that makes up chicken feathers and allows those feathers to be used as feed. The other, Versazyme (now sold in more than 80 countries) [$300K USDA SBIR in 2003 for commercialization], is a supplement to animal feed that helps chickens, hogs and turkeys absorb more of the protein in soybeans. [David Bracken, Raleigh News & Observer, Apr 18, 11] A small SBIR for late-stage commercialization followed by international sales

BioSante Pharmaceuticals (Lincolnshire,IL)

BioSante Pharma (one SBIR) Shares are now down 76.1% in afterhours trading, following the company's disclosure of negative trial results for its LibiGel drug. [seeking alpha.com, Dec 14]

Biosante Pharma up 13% [Jul 8, 11]

BioSante Pharmaceuticals (Lincolnshire, IL; $200K SBIR) fell 2% despite receiving an "orphan drug" designation for its vaccine for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia, giving the Lincolnshire, Ill., company another set of tax breaks and seven years of exclusivity. [Wall Street Journal, Jun 8,10]

BioSante Pharmaceuticals (Lincolnshire, IL; $200K SBIR) will buy troubled South San Francisco business Cell Genesys for $38 million in stock. ... already cut about 95 percent of its staff, from 290 persons to 16, by eliminating all research and development, manufacturing, clinical and regulatory activities. [Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, Jun 30, 09]

BioScale (Cambridge, MA)

BioScale (Cambridge, MA; $4.5M SBIR) biological analytics firm brought in $15.7 million in an equity and warrants offering that is expected to net $25 million total, according to [SEC] filing ... makes life science tools including its BioMEMS-based Acoustic Membrane and Microparticle (AMMP) technology, which enables biomolecular detection at a picogram level. [Michelle Lang, Mass High Tech, Jun 11, 10]

BioSense Technologies (Woburn, MA)

BioSense Technologies, (Woburn, MA; $2.2M SBIR) five-person biotech company to get just under $2 million in [stimulus] funding from the NIH ... developing a technology that will help detect bacteria in blood platelets, reducing the incidence of bacterial infections and sepsis in patients who have blood transfusions. [Julie Donnelly, Mass High Tech, Jun 21, 10] too late for any political gain since the stimulus opponents long ago claimed it a failure when unemployment didn't immediately drop dramatically.

BioSentinel Pharmaceuticals (Madison, WI)

BioSentinel Pharmaceuticals (Madison, WI; no SBIR) said Tuesday it has released a new test to detect the most deadly strains of botulinum toxin. The BoTest offers a nearly 300-fold increase in sensitivity compared to other tests on the market for detecting botulinum neurotoxin, one of the most deadly toxins in the world, the Madison company said. BoTest is the start-up company's first commercial product. "BioSentinel's groundbreaking assay will help protect our citizens at home and our troops in the field, and the expanded research opportunities hold much promise for future health care benefits," U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said in a statement. Baldwin helped secure federal funds for BioSentinel's research. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Apr 29, 09]

BioSphere Medical

BioSphere Medical (Rockland, MA; no SBIR) has agreed to be acquired by Merit Medical Systems Inc. of Utah, for $96 million in cash. ... has developed bioengineered microspheres to treat uterine fibroids, hypervascularized tumors and vascular malformations. [Mass High Tech, May 14, 10]

BioSystem

BioSystem Development (Madison, WI; no SBIR, founded 2002) that raised nearly $1 million from angel investors a year ago will be acquired by Agilent Technologies .... creates and manufactures products to improve protein analysis methods for drug development. Agilent said it hopes to complete the acquisition by the end of the year. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dec 1,11]

BioSystem Development (Madison WI, no SBIR) pulled in $600,000 in a second financing round ... George Mosher, a Silicon Pastures member and BioSystem investor. Mosher says he has put money into over 40 young companies since he sold Milwaukee-based National Business Furniture in 2006 to K+K America for $82 million. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Nov 2, 07]

"BioSystem has a very committed founder who is committed to making the company a success, has an incredible Rolodex and knows how to get his foot in the door at pharmaceutical companies. And he has a lot of credibility because he's worked in start-ups previously," said Teresa Esser, managing director of Silicon Pastures. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jan 9] BioSystem got a $700K angel investment after a top prize in the Governor's Business Plan Contest in 2004.

Biotectix (Ann Arbor, MI)

Biotectix (Ann Arbor, MI; no SBIR) is putting some of its new financial firepower to work. ... a spinoff from the University of Michigan, said that it acquired the intellectual property portfolio of Chameleon BioSurfaces in Cambridge, England ... developing polymer materials designed to improve how implantable medical devices interact with the body and tissues, over time, such as by enhancing stability and preventing foreign body reactions to the devices. [Thomas Lee, xconomy.com, Mar 28, 11]

Biotel (Eagen, MN)

Med-tech firm Biotel’s (Eagen, MN; no SBIR, 45 employees) deal to be sold to a Pennsylvania company is on again, more than a year after a previous acquisition agreement between the businesses fell apart. This time, the purchase price is set at $11 million, about $3 million less than the buyer CardioNet (Conshohocken, PA; no SBIR) had agreed to pay for Biotel in 2009. [Sam Black, Minneapolis St Paul Business Journal, Nov 8, 10]

Biothera (Eagan, MN)

Biothera (Eagan, MN; one SBIR) developing immune-system treatments, has raised $3.5 million in financing, according to [SEC] ... has two divisions: One is focused on pharmaceuticals for treating diseases, the other markets ingredients used in food products and nutritional supplements. ... goal is to raise $25 million [Kathryn Grayson, Minneapolis St Paul Business Journal, Apr 15, 10]

Bio Time (Berkeley, CA)

BioTime (Alameda, CA; $300K SBIR) raised $9.2 million as investors exercised warrants [Ron Leuty, San Francisco Business Times, Aug 20, 10]

BioTime (Alameda, CA; NYSE; $300K SBIR) up 28%... a biotechnology company focused on regenerative medicine, published a scientific paper with collaborators that appears to strengthen the case for an emerging field in that area. [Wall Street Journal, Mar 17]

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state stem cell agency, has awarded $1B so far in research money. SBIR companies got $10M of it. Bio Time (Berkeley, CA; $300K SBIR) $4.7M; Vistagen Therapeutics (Burlingame, CA; $600K SBIR) $970K; Gamma Medica Ideas (Northridge, CA; $2.8M SBIR) $950K; Vala Sciences (San Diego, CA; $3M SBIR) $900K; Invitrogen (Carlsbad, CA; $4M SBIR) $870K SBIR; Fluidigm (South San Francisco, CA: $1.2M SBIR) [CIRM press release, Oct 28]

Biotix (San Diego, CA)

Biotix (San Diego, CA; no SBIR) that supplies pipette tips, reagent reservoirs, and other laboratory consumables, has raised $2 million of a planned $4 million Series B equity round, ... plans to use the proceeds “to help with the growth" ... founded in 2005 to develop high-end and heavily engineered pipette tips solely for robotic equipment used in life sciences and research laboratories [Bruce Bigelow, xconomy.com, Apr 5, 11]

BioTrove (Woburn, MA)

BioTrove (Waltham, MA; noSBIR) elected to withdraw its registration for a $75 million IPO. [Mass High Tech, Dec 18, 08]

BioTrove (Woburn, MA; no SBIR) which makes systems used to analyze genetic information and chemical compounds, plans an initial public offering of common stock, [Boston Globe, Apr 1, 08]

BioVex (Woburn, MA)

BioVex (Woburn, MA; no SBIR) biotechnology company that raised $40 million in venture capital in March to develop a novel cancer-fighting treatment, today will disclose it has raised another $30 million. ... to complete an ongoing late-stage clinical study of its drug, OncoVex, to treat recurrent and metastatic melanoma, [Boston Globe, Nov 10, 09]

Bitstream

Bitstream (no SBIR) fell 31% after reporting lower profits. It makes Internet browsers and special fonts for wireless devices

Black-I Robotics (Tyngsborough, MA)

a robotic vehicle designed to disarm car and truck bombs ... be used by the State Police Logan bomb squad to fight domestic terrorism ... LandShark Series D robot, manufactured by Black-I Robotics (Tyngsborough, MA; no SBIR) was funded by a congressional earmark sponsored by US Representative Niki Tsongas [Boston Globe, Jan 12, 10] founded in 2005

Black Sand (Austin TX)

Two chip-design startups from Austin will be sending marketing teams to Barcelona, Spain, next week to talk to the titans of the cell phone business ... [Black Sand Technologies and Javelin Semiconductor, neither had SBIR] are developing innovative chips that serve as signal amplifiers for advanced 3G cell phones. [Austin American Statesman, Feb 11, 10]

Austin Ventures figures that Black Sand (Austin TX; no SBIR) will be one of those rare chip companies that doesn't need a huge infusion of money or people to achieve its first product design. Typically, it takes $20 M or more to develop a chip prototype. Black Sand just completed raising $8.2 M in its first investment round ... That's expected to be long enough for designs to be completed for chips that will change the way cell phones and other wireless devices amplify the signals for voice and data transmissions. Experts in the field call it one of the toughest design challenges in the wireless business. [Kirk Ladendorf, Austin American-Statesman, Oct 1]

Black Sand has its own tight team of brilliant engineers, most of whom formerly worked for Silicon Labs (no SBIR) ... another genius bet by Austin Ventures in 1996 when three brilliant chip engineers bolted from Cirrus Logic to start their own company. That startup turned out to be Silicon Laboratories ... the most successful home-grown chip company in Austin and one of the biggest investment payoffs for Austin Ventures. [Kirk Ladendorf, Austin American-Statesman, Oct 1]

BladeLogic

Automation-software firm BladeLogic Inc. outshined three other new stocks yesterday [Jul 25, 07] continuing the strong showing of IPOs from the technology sector. BladeLogic soared 47% on its first day of trading. [Wall Street Journal, Jul 26]

Battery Ventures, Waltham MA VC firm, has two IPOs in the next two weeks: Netezza (Framingham, MA) and BladeLogic (Waltham, MA). [Boston Globe, Jul 13] Neither did SBIR.

BL Healthcare (Foxborough, MA)

BL Healthcare (Foxboro, MA; two SBIRs) a provider of telemedicine products has bumped its Series A funding round up to $4.9 million, with another $2 million in equity-, debt-, and rights-based financing, an SEC filing showed. [Erin Kutz, xconomy.com, Apr 1, 11]

BL Healthcare (Foxborough, MA; $200K SBIR) developer of electronic technology for health care, has bumped up a previous funding round from $5 million to $6 million, and boosted the amount of that round it has received from $3 million to $5 million, according to federal documents. [Mass High Tech, Mar 25, 11]

Block Engineering (Marlborough, MA)

Spectrometry technology-maker Block Engineering (Marlborough, MA; one SBIR long ago) reports it has landed $4.4 million from the U.S. government to develop a handheld infrared spectrometer to detect explosive materials. [Mass High Tech, Nov 5, 09]

Bloom Energy (Sunnyvale, CA)

Bloom Energy (Sunnyvale, CA; no SBIR) , has raised about $400 million from investors and spent nearly a decade developing a new variety of solid oxide fuel cell, ... generating electricity at a cost of 8 to 10 cents a kilowatt hour, using natural gas. [Todd Woody, New York Times, Feb 24]

Blue Belt Technologies (Pittsburgh, PA)

Blue Belt Technologies (Pittsburgh, PA; $1M SBIR) A medical device start-up company in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood has closed on $2.4 million in private investor-led series A financing. ... a Carnegie Mellon University spin-off, makes surgical instruments for orthopedic and neurosurgery procedures [Pittsburgh Business Journal, Sep 30, 09]

Bluebird bio (Cambridge, MA)

gene-therapy company bluebird bio (Cambridge, MA; $550K SBIR as Genetix Pharma) has added Arch Venture Partners to its roster of backers for its latest round that brought in $30 million in financing ... raised a total of approximately $75 million, the latest being a $35 million round in 2010 ... In March, bluebird bio entered into a deal, worth up to $4.2 million, with the French Muscular Dystrophy Association (AFM). The agreement focused on the development of LentiGlobin, a treatment intended for beta-thalassemia and sickle cell anemia. [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Apr 20, 11]

Bluebird bio, (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) genetics-focused biotech firm, has entered into a deal, worth up to $4.2 million, with the French Muscular Dystrophy Association (AFM). The agreement focuses on the development of LentiGlobin, a treatment intended for beta-thalassemia and sickle cell anemia. [Michelle Lang, Mass High Tech, Mar 16, 11]

Bluefin Robotics (Cambridge MA)

Bluefin Robotics (Cambridge, MA; $2M SBIR) has won a $30 million contract modification to exercise the third option under its deal with the U.S. Navy for an underwater bomb-finding robot. [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Mar 3, 11]

Bluefin Robotics (Cambridge, MA; $2M SBIR) reports it has reeled in a contract for its spray glider autonomous underwater vehicle from Horizon Marine (Marion, MA; one 1991 SBIR). ... In February, the Navy exercised an option on a previously awarded contract, worth a potential $29 million, with Bluefin for its Bluefin-9 mine-detecting AUV. [Jul 08]

Bluefin Robotics (Cambridge MA; $2M SBIR) reports it has established worldwide distribution agreements for sales and support of its autonomous underwater vehicles, pressure-tolerant subsea lithium polymer batteries and related technologies [Mass High Tech, Nov 15]

Blueprint Medicines (Cambridge, MA)

Blueprint Medicines, (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) early-stage cancer therapeutics firm, has scored a $40 million Series A funding round ... use the funds and its own compound library and Insights-to-Validation platform to develop personalized treatments based on targeted molecular aberrations of cancer. ... co-founded in 2011 by Nick Lydon, Brian Druker, Chris Varma and David Armistead. Lydon and Druker, both scientific advisory board members, co-developed Gleevec, a drug approved for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia. [Michelle Lang, Mass High Tech. Apr 11,11]

BlueSky Batteries (Laramie, WY)

Blue Sky Batteries, A Nice Life

Blue Sky BatteriesBlue Sky Batteries was formed in 1998 with the close support of friend and mentor Professor Dan Buttry, at the University of Wyoming. I am a 1995 graduate in Chemistry and spent 1996 and 1997 working as assistant professor at the Tokyo University (a "see the world" and "eat interesting things" post). While BSBI was started in order to do contract research for a specific customer, intellectual property conflicts became a serious issue, so BSBI chose instead to shift to independent, product-oriented R&D . A BSBI SBIR proposal to NIH on rechargeable energy storage devices for circulatory support devices. Other technical activities at BSBI also have evolved, including catalyst work for electric vehicle fuel cells, materials work directed at Navy propulsion systems, and phosphor development for flat panel and other high-end display markets. It's starting to look like we need a more general name! The tools which BSBI uses to pursue those opportunities includes nano-engineering of materials to produce desired properties/behaviors, coupled in some cases with combinatorial (that is, very fast) materials development techniques. Also, BSBI is in ongoing negotiations with a Silicon Valley mezzanine-level company to acquire their unique technology. The financing strategy for BSBI has involved, first, pursuit of government funding sources followed by private sources. At the same time, BSBI plans to leverage available resources and minimize its burn rate, in order to avoid high capitalization requirements and consequent dilution of ownership. We think that these strategies will lead BSBI to success, and retain high ownership of the company in Wyoming. To date, BSBI has submitted 8 proposals for $739K for research on our unique innovations with $133K earmarked for subcontracts to UW. Financing disadvantages that BSBI has experienced due to being located in Wyoming have been offset somewhat by the national funding opportunities detailed and by $5,000 by the Wyoming Business Council. We think that program is a crucial tool for encouraging Wyoming participation in SBIR competitions, especially for boot-strap companies such as ours. However, BSBI's most important resource is its people and their diverse but complementary skills. For instance, a team approach (establishing lead writers, using weekly follow-up meetings, and having substantial Interaction and cooperation between team members) was crucial to achieving our December and January proposal submission goals. BSBI's team now includes John Ackerman, Dan Buttry, Linda Cahill (a San Francisco-based finance and business strategist), Kevin Gaw (a materials engineer recently relocated to Laramie to support BSBI, now living in my laundry room). Scott Paulson (an inorganic chemist based in Calgary) is also a key member of our team, as well as the Laramie High-Technology Incubator (LINC), UW (especially Bill Gern), and the WBC (especially Mike Petera), through their support efforts. Imminent additions to the team include the Western Research Institute and a public relations expert. Strong sponsors of our efforts so far include Keith Carron (supplied substantial SBIR and business advice, spotted BSBI rent money at LINC for over six months, and loaned a computer), Dean Roddick (donated an old modem), and Gene Watson (supplied free but valuable business advice). The principals of BSBI choose to be located in Wyoming, if at all possible. High-quality people, business and technology resources, transportation and information infrastructure, and start-up experience are all available here at very low cost, and the Rocky Mountain quality-of-life is unmatched in the U.S. Dr. John Pope, President Blue Sky Batteries, Inc. Laramie, WY, 307-755-6490/307-766-3041 FAX: 307-766-2807 Email: j1@csi.com

OK, it's a a heartwarming all-American story told in the pages of Wyoming Newsletter. Nice people in a nice place doing nice things. But, where is there a federal interest in handing them federal tax money for enjoy their life-style? Are you merely lowering your cost of capital at public expense? What is it about your "research" that warrants government intrusion into the competition for capital? Having an interesting tech idea is not enough. Good ideas with market potential find capital; bad ideas appeal for government support. There are some criteria for government intervention; which do you meet? Being a small company with smart scientists is not enough by itself. Thousands of such companies are out there without government support and doing just fine. Etc, etc. What are the SBIR promoters offering as the excuse for government support in Wyoming? In California? Soft squishy stuff about the virtue of small business without any hard economics to back the claims. As soon as the Congress dispenses with the impeachment diversion, it can start to consider SBIR reauthorization required before this Congress ends in Oct 2000. If Wyoming wants to gamble its money on attracting federal funds for life-style companies, that's Wyoming's business. But the federal government cannot be a party to it. Or at least federal fairness would demand so; actual federal politics will guarantee some less than fair approach encouraged by the free-market Republicans from the mythical rough-and-tumble West of federally supported ranchers.

Bluewater Bio International

DANIEL ISHAG, an entrepreneur who made tens of millions by selling his online advertising business, is to float a biological company with technology that can cleanse waste water. Bluewater Bio International is aiming to float on the Alternative Investment Market in the next few weeks, valuing the business at about £25m. ... Its technology uses bacteria found naturally in soil to cleanse waste water. It claims to remove 99% of biological contamination in waste water and to be more effective than other nitrogen and phosphate systems. [The Sunday Times, Nov 25]

Boston Biochem (Cambridge MA)

Techne Corp (Minneapolis, MN; no SBIR) announced it acquired Boston Biochem (Cambridge, MA; $900K SBIR), a developer of products related to regulatory protein ubiquitin, and its European markets distributor. The deal closed last Friday and the assets were purchased in cash. [Wendy Lee, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Apr 4]

The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center said it has awarded $500,000 grants to three Bay State life sciences companies. "The companies receiving grants are Boston Biochem (Cambridge, MA; $900K SBIR)) Tetragenetics (Cambridge, MA and Ithaca, NY; $1.1M SBIR), and Thermedical (Somerville, MA; no SBIR) the center said in a press release. "Each company will receive $500,000 from the center to match federal small business grant funding that the companies had previously been awarded.... The three companies that are receiving awards have committed to collectively creating 40 new jobs in the Commonwealth by the end of 2011, including six jobs to be relocated from New York." The center is a quasi-public agency with the mission of helping to create jobs in the state's life sciences industry. [Boston Globe, Jun 1, 10]

Boston Biomedical (Norwood, MA)

Boston Biomedical (Norwood, MA; $900K SBIR) signed a license agreement with Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. Ltd. of Osaka, Japan, for BBI's BBI608 candidate compound for all oncology indications. ... BBI will get a $15 million upfront payment and clinical trial support ... During the option agreement period, Dainippon will pay a maximum of $55 million for part of the development costs of BBI608 and to continue the option. If it exercises the option for Japan, upon successful clinical development and commercialization of BBI608 in Japan, BBI could receive a total maximum of about $100 million, including milestone payments, in addition to running royalties. ... BBI was created in 2007 when Woburn-based ArQule Inc. gave former chief scientific officer and current BBI CEO Li a $5 million research contract to start the spinout company. [Lon Valigra, Mass High Tech, Apr 12, 11]

Boston Dynamics (Cambridge MA)

Boston Dynamics (Waltham, MA; $2.4M SBIR) reports it has landed $32 million from [DARPA] to develop a Big Dog-like robot to carry supplies for U.S. Marines. [Mass High Tech, Feb 2, 10]

The BigDog four-legged robot made by Boston Dynamics (Waltham, MA; $2.5M SBIR) set a new autonomous distance record for legged robots last year by traveling 12.8 miles without human intervention. And the Defense Department-funded robot recently spent some time undergoing tests at Ft. Benning, Ga., according to a video from the Ft. Benning news site the Benning Report. [Mass High Tech, Feb 27, 09]

Boston Dynamics (Cambridge MA; $2.5M SBIR) got a $10M DARPA contract for the development of a dog-like robot - run, maneuver and jump to avoid obstacles- with a shot at $40M in follow-on Navy contracts. [Mass High Tech, Aug 3] The company calls itself the leading provider of human simulation software, tools, and solutions

Boston Engineering (Waltham, MA)

Boston Engineering (Waltham, MA; four Phase 1 SBIRs) landed [yet another Phase 1 SBIR] to develop a robotic platform to catch, service, refuel and relaunch unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. The Waltham engineering services company and researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology plan to design the “Unmanned Recovery, Service and Launch Automation” system (URSALA) [Mass High Tech, Jul 31, 09]

Boston Micromachines (Watertown, MA)

Boston Micromachines (Watertown, MA; $3M SBIR) reports it has landed [another] $200,000 NASA [SBIR] to develop optics technology .. to develop a driver with a minimum hundred-fold reduction in power consumption and a tenfold reduction in size, while maintaining a high level of precision and decreasing costs. [Mass High Tech, Jan 7, 10]

Boston Micromachines ($2M SBIR) has paired with California-based Thorlabs (no SBIR) to develop a new Adaptive Optics (AO) toolkit aimed at making such technologies easier and cheaper for researchers, according to executives [Mass High Tech, Jan 21]

Boston Micromachines (Watertown MA) got a $600,000 Phase 2 SBIR from NASA. No record of prior SBIRs. [Mass High Tech, Nov 1, 06]

Boston-Power

Boston Power redeploying. announcing today that it has raised $125 million. The deal, which brings Boston-Power’s total funding pot to more than $316 million, has some serious implications for the company’s place in Massachusetts ... What’s staying in Massachusetts, in addition to [Chair] Lampe-Onnerud, are the R&D, designing, and fine-tuning of the company’s battery cells. All of these operations will take place in the Westborough office, while China-based teams will focus on developing the battery technology for customer applications. Boston-Power will be reducing its roughly 80-person workforce in the Bay State by about 35 percent, as those functions shift abroad, says Lampe-Onnerud. [Erin Kutz, xconomy.com, Sep 19, 11]

Boston-Power has added $6.4 million to its previously announced Series E round of $60 million, according to a regulatory filing. [Mass High Tech, Aug 4, 10]

Boston-Power won a new round of venture capital worth $60 million, which will help the company to grow its operations in Massachusetts [Kyle Alspach, Mass High Tech, Jun 25, 10]

Boston-Power has joined a coalition of Swedish automotive and technology organizations to commercialize high performance electric cars based on Saab Automobile AB designs. The group has received the equivalent of $12 million in funding from the Swedish Energy Agency to advance the development of the ZE Saab 9-3, an electric version of the carmaker’s sedan [Jackie Noblett, Mass High Tech, Dec 15, 09]

Boston-Power said that its Sonata battery will ship with the new HP Pavilion dv8 Entertainment Notebook PC. [Boston Globe, Oct 15, 09]

Money Talks. A post on Scott Kirsner's Innovation Economy blog on Boston.com notes that A123Systems spent far more [$500K] on lobbying than Boston-Powerdid [$30K]. [Boston Globe, Aug, 7, 09] Boston-Power apparently still could win future federal funding. It is in the running for a $100 million grant from the Department of Defense, to be announced later this year. [Innovation Economy blog]

Boston-Power reports it has raised $55 million in new funding, which the Westborough-based company says it will use to ramp up manufacturing, sales, marketing, and research and development efforts for its Sonata Lithium-ion batteries. ... This Series D round brings Boston-Power’s total funding to $125 million since it was founded in 2005 [Mass High Tech, Jan 14, 09]

next-generation lithium-ion battery [company website] Boston-Power (Westborough, MA; no SBIR) raised an additional $45M in funding from VC firms ... previously raised $24.7M. [Wall Street Journal, Jan 3] Frost & Sullivan 2007 technology innovation of the year award

Boundless (Boulder, CO)

NASA will test energized structures devised by Boundless ( Boulder, CO) wherein part of the spacecraft structure is a battery. At least some of the development came from MDA Phase 2 SBIR. Read the story from . Why, do you suppose, did NASA never fund an SBIR for the technology? Too much risk? If not to take technical risks, what does NASA do with its SBIR? Add incremental bricks to its temple of knowledge?

BrainCells (San Diego, CA)

BrainCells (San Diego, CA; no SBIR) said it will acquire an experimental drug that failed as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease but has shown promise for treating depression and other disorders that affect mental cognition. London-based Proximagen Group will receive up to $51 million if BrainCells reaches certain milestones in the development of sabcomeline. ... employs about 30 people, uses technology developed by its founders to test experimental compounds and molecules for their ability to trigger the growth of neural stem cells that improve psychiatric and neurological disorders. [Keith Darce, signonsandiego, Aug 6, 10]

Brain Tunnelgenix Technologies (Hamden, CT)

Brain Tunnelgenix Technologies (Hamden, CT; no SBIR) that has developed a non-invasive way to measure body temperature, has raised $250,000 of a planned $6 million funding round, according to federal documents. [Mass High Tech, Apr 19, 10]

Brashear

Brashear, a big old little company with at least two recent MDA Phase 2 SBIRs is being bought by biggie L-3 Communications for $36M hard cash. The abstracts for the two MDA awards suggests the $1.4M went for relatively advanced engineering of militarily useful mirrors. The press release describes Brashear as a leading developer and supplier of complex electro-optical systems for military and international customers, as well as prime aerospace contractors. In operation for over 120 years, the company designs and manufactures electro optical systems including, laser ranging and tracking systems, test range instrumentation, telescope systems, naval fire control systems and laser beam directors. Hardly the struggling entrepreneur that needs a nursery stage boost to jump start a new technology.

Breathe Technologies (San Ramon, CA)

Breathe Technologies (San Ramon, CA; no SBIR) raised $23 million in venture funding and got Food and Drug Administration clearance for a mobile system to help people with respiratory disorders breathe. [SEF Brown and Ron Leuty, San Francisco Business Times, May 18]

Breonics (Otisville, NY)

Breonics (Otisville, NY; $500K SBIR) received a $2.9 million NIH grant ... working on technology designed to increase the number of viable kidneys for transplantation ... founded in 1996. It designs products to improve the system for organ transplants. The firm has patents for methods it has has developed for storing organs prior to transplantation that could increase the donor pool [Business Review (Albany), Sep 1, 10]

Brewer Science (Rolla, MO)

Brewer Science (Rolla, MO) won an ATP grant to develop Contact Planarization for IC manufacturers to flatten the layers produced in making an integrated circuit chip. Brewer says the dominant method to achieve such planarization in use today is chemical mechanical planarization (CMP), expensive, but also wasteful of materials, energy and environmental resources. Contact Planarization will facilitate true independence from feature size and density effects. also a reduction in cost of ownership as well as environmental impact, a smaller clean room footprint, improved throughput and planarization performance. .. it will cost one half what CMP costs to process a wafer. If trends in wafer production continue, at an annual growth rate of 10%, the savings could reach nearly half a billion dollars ($470M) per year by the end of 2003 and close in on $1B shortly thereafter. The CPT has been licensed from Agere Systems. Brewer has had about $5M in SBIR Phase 2s from BMDO, AF, and NSF, although the chances of BMDO's getting any more BMDO funding for such indirect technology will have to wait for another BMDO change of attitude toward innovation.

Bridgelux (Livermore, CA)

Bridgelux (Livermore, CA; no SBIR) which raised $60 million this summer and then cut 53 jobs in the fall, raised $15 million more. ... seeks ways to make more efficient lights using LEDs. It hopes to have a product on sale in 2013. [Steven EF Brown, San Francisco Business Times, Oct 25, 11]

Brightsource Energy

Private companies to watch on electricity as picked by MIT Tech Review (Sep/Oct09): Nanosolar ($1.7M SBIR) founded 2002, raised $400M; A123 Systems IPO Sep 24; Brightsource Energy; Tendril; 1366 Technologies; Deepwater Wind; Solyndra; Silver Spring Networks; AltaRock; Stirling Energy Systems.

Bright View (Morrisville, NC)

Bright View Technologies (Morrisville, NC; no SBIR) has raised $4 million to boost the manufacturing and marketing of its first products.The -based company, founded in 2003 using technology licensed from Duke University, began shipping its first product -- a component for LED lighting fixtures -- at the end of last year. .... 45-employee company ... has raised $34 million in financing. [David Ranii, Raleigh News & Observer, Apr 23, 09]

Bright View (Morrisville, NC; no SBIR) that has devoted five years to developing a line of components used in TV screens and computer monitors has raised $11 to launch its first products. ... co-founded in 2003 by Ed Fadel and David Reed, based on technology licensed from Duke University. ... To date the company has raised $30 million in financing. [David Ranii, Raleigh News & Observer, Jun 15, 08]

Brimrose Corp of America (Baltimore, MD)

Australia, Canada, Germany. Korea, Japan, UK, Israel, Italy, Poland. Not a world tour: the places where Brimrose Corp of America has reps for its acousto-optic products that started with a BMDO SBIR in 1986. Add Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, Malaysia, Holland, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, and Taiwan for the spectroscopic products. With that lineup, founder Ron Rosemeier must know a lot about airplanes.

New and Improved Bleaches With the Luminar 2000 by Brimrose Corp of America bleach makers can (and at least one is) control hypochlorite concentration during manufacture. Hypochlorite carries the oxygen that does the bleaching. The 2000 derived from Acousto-Optic Tunable Filters developed for SDIO (remember?) as anti-missile discriminators in the nose of interceptors. The AOTFs though have made a nice commercial living for both fast-exploiting Brimrose and Ciencia (East Hartford, CT). For hypochlorite inspection, see the Application Note by Brimrose.

Brock Rogers Surgical (Waltham, MA)

Fast Track Surgery Funded by grant money from DARPA's telemedicine program, closed a first-round private placement in July 97 from private investors and Seaflower Associates. Total capital raised $1.1M. Prerevenue. Says The Red Herring about Brock Rogers Surgical (Waltham, MA). The DARPA money was a Fast Track SBIR for a two-armed robot for surgery with lots of fancy software. Wonderful story for seven-employee firm? Did the government just substitute for market financing and do nothing more than lower the cost of capital (not a legitimate government function)? Don't expect any SBIR advocate or beneficiary to admit it even if it's true. They think any government money is good. One competitor is MicroDexterity Systems which got NASA and NIH funding. A third competitor Intuitive Surgical Systems had to go to bed without a government bone.

Brooks Automation (Chelmsford, MA)

Brooks Automation (Chelmsford, MA; no SBIR) has closed on a purchase of Nexus Biosystems (Poway, CA; no SBIR) in a cash deal worth $79 million. ... Nexus makes automated compound and sample management solutions for life sciences companies [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Jul 26, 11]

Bruker Daltonics

DHS gave Bruker Daltonics (no DHS SBIRs), a subsidiary of Bruker BioSciences ($436M in 2006 revenue) a $1.3 M a Phase 3, three-year research contract for its chemical detection technology. [Mass High Tech, Sep 14]

C12 Energy

About 5 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions come from manufacturing cement. Kurt Zenz House, a research fellow at MIT and cofounder of a startup C12 Energy (no SBIR), hopes to turn the problem into a solution ... The key to his approach is that alkaline solutions react with carbon dioxide and trap it in various compounds. For example, lye reacts with carbon dioxide to form baking soda. Combining the baking soda with seawater creates a type of cement, the glue that holds concrete together. [Kevin Bullis, MIT Tech Review, Sep/Oct09]

C3Nano (Palo Alto, CA)

In its first round of venture funding, C3Nano (Hayward, CA) raised $3.2 million. The startup is working on a new electrode material for use in flexible displays, touch screens, solar cells and smart windows. C3Nano was spun out of Stanford University in early 2010, from the chemical engineering laboratory of Prof. Zhenan Bao. [Stephen EF Broan, San Francisco Business Times, Feb 17, 11]

C3Nano (Palo Alto, CA; no SBIR) was awarded the $200,000 first prize [in the 2010 MIT Clean Energy Prize] for a venture plan intended to help the students grow a solar cell company.

C8 Sciences (New Haven, CT)

Connecticut Innovations announced today that it has committed $450,000 from its Pre-Seed Fund to three startups in the life sciences sector. The quasi-public agency, which is focused on technology and innovation, said the funds are going to Arcantatura (Groton, CT; no SBIR), C8 Sciences (New Haven, CT; no SBIR), and Medical Device Logistics (Stonington, CT; no SBIR). According to Connecticut Innovations, each of the companies has secured matching funds from private investors. [James Connolly, Mass High Tech, Aug 25, 11]

C9 (Saratoga NY)

C9 will make a new generation of silicon carbide chips at the Saratoga (NY) Technology & Energy Park. .... with help from the state's $1.75M ... C9's products now are made at the facilities of FALA and Nanodynamics (New York City; $6M SBIR) and the firms already have invested $11M into silicon carbide research. [Alan Wechsler, Albany Times-Union, Jul 28]

Calando Pharmaceuticals (Pasadena, CA)

Calando Pharmaceuticals (Pasadena, CA; one SBIR) is also packing nanoparticles with a substance previously too dangerous to use. In this case the drug is called camptothecin, and the nanoparticle is made from a strand of sugar molecules. As the camptothecin is attached to the sugar molecules, the strand folds up into a sphere, hiding the drug inside as a clenched fist might hide a pea. [The Economist, Nov 8, 08]

Calera

Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc. has closed loan commitments of $52 million to three new portfolio companies -- Althea Technologies (San Diego, CA; $400K SBIR), Calera (no SBIR) (CEO Brent Constantz picked by CNBC as one of fifteen leading innovators), and an unnamed company. [San Francisco Business Times, Aug 5, 10]

Calibra Medical (Redwood City, CA)

Calibra Medical (Redwood City, CA; no SBIR) developer of a needle-free insulin patch-pen, raised $8.1 million in financing. [Ron Leuty, San Francisco Business Times, Apr 14, 11]

Calient (San Jose, CA)

CALIENT READY FOR MONSTER FUNDING Calient Networks (San Jose, CA), a startup that makes all-optical switches based on MEMS technology, is several days away from closing on a third round of financing in excess of $150 million. It's a monster round.After asking for a $1.5B pre-money, the company settled for a $750M pre-money. MEMS technology, which uses a compact array of tiny mirrors to switch beams of light, is one of several possible approaches to building large, all-optical switches. Calient officials claim its product,expected to enter customer trials in the next few weeks, can pack a complete 1,000 by 1,000 port optical switch into a box the size of a kitchen drawer. After asking for a $1.5B pre-money, the company settled for a $750M pre-money. MEMS technology, which uses a compact array of tiny mirrors to switch beams of light, is one of several possible approaches to building large, all-optical switches. Calient officials claim its product, expected to enter customer trials in the next few weeks, can pack a complete 1,000 by 1,000 port optical switch into a box the size of a kitchen drawer. [R. Scott Raynovich, Light Reading, rayno@lightreading.com] See the full story . How much SBIR did Calient need to get started? Hah!

Caliper Life Sciences

Caliper Life Sciences (Hopkinton, MA; one SBIR) which makes software used for drug development, today said it will cross-license technology with AntiCancer (San Diego, CA; no SBIR) in order to settle a patent lawsuit. Caliper gains the rights to sublicense AntiCancer’s protein optical imaging patents to third parties. San Diego-based AntiCancer obtains rights to license Caliper’s fluorescent protein imaging patents to a specified number of third parties. That figure was not disclosed. [Boston Globe, Feb 28]

CaliSolar (Sunnyvale, CA)

solar-power startups in particular have seen a three-year surge, from a low of no venture investment in the third quarter of 2005 to a high of more than half a billion dollars in the second quarter of this year. CaliSolar (Sunnyvale, CA; no SBIR) $13M; Wakonda Technologies (Fairport, NY; $200K SBIR) $9M; Prism Solar Technologies (Lake Katrine, NY; no SBIR) $9M. [Dean Takahashi, MIT Tech Review, S/O 08]

Calistoga Pharmaceuticals (Seattle, WA)

Calistoga Pharmaceuticals (Seattle, WA; no SBIR) has landed $40 million in fresh venture capital to fund its drugs' advance through clinical trials. ... has raised nearly $100 million since it was founded in 2006. [Jason Bacaj, Seattle Times, Jun 30, 10]Cancer and inflammatory disease company

Calistoga Pharmaceuticals (Seattle, WA; no SBIR) said it’s raised $30 million in a second round of financing. ... formed two years ago after being spun off from former local biotech Icos Corp (no SBIR). In 2007, it raised $26 million in its first round of financing. [Puget Sound Business Journal, May 5, 09]

Caltech Metals (San Diego CA)

Caltech Metals (San Diego CA; no SBIR) is making more durable sheet metal that resembles corrugated cardboard. On the outside are thin steel layers. Sandwiched in between is a rippled layer created by crinkling steel into waves. The resulting product is the same thickness as sheet metal, but half the weight and more than three times as strong. It could be cheaper and better than aluminum in automobile hoods, fenders, and other parts, says CellTech CEO Doug Cox. [Business Week, Oct 22, 07]

Cambridge Endoscopic Devices (Framingham, MA)

Cambridge Endoscopic Devices (Framingham, MA; no SBIR) which is developing single-incision technology for endoscopic surgeries, has reported a $7.5 million equity funding. .... founded 2004 by president Woojin Lee [who] co-founded endoVia Medical (no SBIR), where he helped develop surgical robotic systems for laparoscopic and endoluminal surgery. [James Connolly, Mass High Tech, May 18, 10]

Cambridge Heart (Bedford, MA)

Cambridge Heart (Tewksbury, MA; no SBIR) has raised $2.9 million in a private placement, the company reported ... developer of diagnostic heart tests for cardiac disease ... will provide the capital necessary to fund operations as we execute on the next phase of commercialization for our MTWA module and continue clinical work related to the application of MTWA to identify patients with ischemia,” Cambridge Heart President and CEO Ali Haghighi-Mood said. [Julie Donnelly, Mass High Tech, Dec 21, 10]

Cambridge Heart (Bedford, MA; no SBIR) got bad news that a diagnostic test intended to identify patients who should receive heart defibrillators did not produce conclusive data [Boston Globe, Nov 7, 07]

Cambridge Research & Instrumentation (Woburn, MA)

Caliper Life Sciences (no SBIR) is paying $20 million to acquire Cambridge Research & Instrumentation (Woburn, MA; $14M SBIR), a developer of optical imaging systems, according to a news release from the two companies today. The buyout deal calls for Caliper to issue $10.5 million in a common stock offering, pay $7.5 million in cash and take in CRi’s $2 million in debt. [Mass High Tech, Dec 9, 10]

Candela

Candela up 17% [Sep 21, 09]

Syneron Medical Ltd. of Israel said it has agreed to buy Candela in an all stock transaction. [Chris Reidy, Boston Globe, Sep 09, 09] Candela up 43%

Candela up 10% [Feb 25, 08]

Candela down 15% [Jan 30, 08]

Candela up 10% [Jan 29, 08]

Candela Laser jumped 26% after announcing a big profit gain. [Oct 26, 06]

Candela Laser was down 29% for the week after reporting lower profits. [Aug, 06]

Candela Laser took a 32% whack when it reported earnings below expectations. CEO Puorro laid much of the blame on "aggressive pricing" of a new product and forecast healthier revenue for the next quarter.. [spring 04]

Candela paid the price for a poor profit report as traders knocked a third of the price in a day. Make bigger profit or get your PE knocked down to low numbers, Candela now trading at nine times earnings. Just two weeks ago a pundit opined that "Candela's revenues and earnings are growing at a fantastic pace. The growth Candela is experiencing may be sustainable," said Jack Ellis, founder of The Savvy Analyst, an interactive, online equities research firm.

Candela, a user of SBIR a decade ago, bought the assets of Applied Optronics, a subsidiary of Schwartz Electro-Optics, a long-time and continuing beneficiary of SBIR, for $1.2M. [Mass High Tech, Jan 9.03]

Capnia (Palo Alto, CA)

Capnia (Palo Alto, CA), which delivers carbon dioxide through a patient's nose to treat maladies like migraines and rhinitis, has raised $16 M of a potential $19 M round of funding. [Venture Beat: San Jose Mercury News, Apr 30]

Cara Therapeutics (Shelton, CT)

Cara Therapeutics (Shelton, CT; no SBIR, founded 2004) Cara has so far raised at least $43 million nbsp; said it has started a first-in-man, Phase 1 clinical trial of an oral form of its CR845 pain compound. ... An intravenous formulation of the drug is already in Phase 2 trials to treat acute post-operative pain, with data expected in the first quarter of 2012. [Lori Valigra, Mass High Tech, Nov 23, 11]

Cara Therapeutics (Shelton, CT; no SBIR) that develops therapeutics to treat pain, received $3 million [VC in the quarter] [Janice Posada, Hartford Courant, Jul 20, 11]

Cara Therapeutics (Shelton, CT; no SBIR) has closed on $15 million in a Series D financing [which] will mostly go toward further development of its painkiller CR845 ... has raised more than $43 million since it was launched in 2004 in Tarrytown, N.Y. It moved to Shelton in 2007 after receiving a a $4 million loan from Connecticut Innovations’ BioScience Facilities Fund to fund the relocation [Mass High Tech, Jul 21, 10]

Cara Therapeutics (Shelton, CT; no SBIR) received the largest single investment, $12 million in fourth-round financing. [Hartford Courant, Oct 18,08]

Cara Therapeutics (Shelton, CT; no SBIR) closed on $12.3 million of additional funding to a Series C financing. ...received a US patent for CR845, which is being developed as a treatment for acute and chronic pain of visceral, inflammatory and neuropathic origin, and treatment for itching associated with several diseases and conditions. [Mass High Tech, Jul 25, 08]

Carbon Design Systems (Waltham, MA)

Carbon Design Systems (Waltham, MA; no SBIR) reports closing a $6M Series E round of funding, increasing the total amount of venture capital raised by the company to $34M , officials said. ... develops tools to create virtual hardware models [Mass High Tech, Jan 11, 08]

Cardiac Concepts

Medical devices start-ups powered Minnesota to the best quarterly VC performance in eight years just as a sagging economy curbed venture spending across the country. ... Seven medical device firms captured $130 million, led by CVRx (Brooklyn Park, MN; no SBIR) that makes a device that treats high blood pressure, raised $84 million on top of the $200 million investors have already poured into the company. Cardiac Concepts (no SBIR) first-round financing totaled a hefty $21 million. ... Other notable deals: Proto Labs (Maple Plain, MN; no SBIR) -based maker of injection molded products, attracted $67.2 million. Sage Electrochromics (Faribault, MN; $2M SBIR) raised $13.3 million, which makes glass that influences building temperatures, previously won $16 million in venture financing. [Minneapolis Star Tribune, Oct 26, 08]

Cardiac Dimensions (Kirkland, WA)

Cardiac Dimensions (Kirkland, WA; no SBIR), developer of a device to treat a common form of heart failure, said it won European Union regulatory clearance to start selling its device. The company, which has raised more than $65 million in its 10-year history, will now look to compete against a rival technology which Abbott Laboratories sells for about 20,000 Euros a patient, said CEO Rick Stewart. [Luke Timmerman, xconomy.com, Oct 6, 11]

ardiac Dimensions (Kirkland, WA; no SBIR) raised $35.5 M VC ... builds devices designed for treating heart-related conditions [Seattle Times, Dec 19, 07]

CardiAQ Valve Technologies (Winchester, MA)

CardiAQ Valve Technologies (Winchester, MA; no SBIR) has closed on a $6.5 million Series A round led by private investors including board member Rob Michiels [who] served until April 2009 as president and COO at CoreValve, which was bought by Medtronic for $700 million, plus milestone payments. [Mass High Tech, Jan 12, 10]

startup CardiAQ Valve Technologies (Winchester, MA; no SBIR; founded 2007) has raised an additional $109,000 for an existing recent financing round, according to officials at the company. CardiAQ is developing a new medical approach to allow doctors to use a special catheter to implant a mitral valve in a beating heart. This permits the patient to avoid undergoing open heart surgery, thus reducing the risk and cost to both the patient and the health-care provider, claimed the company. Earlier this month, the firm announced it had been awarded $750,000 in [private] translational funding [Marc Songini, Mass High Tech, May 21]

CardiAQ Valve Technologies (Winchester, MA; no SBIR) received $750,000 in seed cash from Broadview Ventures Inc. .... developing a new approach that allows doctors, using a special catheter, to implant a mitral valve in a beating heart. This permits the patient to avoid undergoing open heart surgery, and reduces the risk and cost to both the patient and the health-care provider, claimed the company. [Mass High Tech, May 13]

Cardica (Redwood City, CA)

Cardica down 14% [Jan 28, 11]

Cardica up 12% [Dec 28, 10]

Cardica said in a [SEC] filing that it received a delist warning from Nasdaq... because it doesn't meet the minimum market value of $50 million [Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal, Jun 25, 10]

Cardica completed a $10.2 million private placement. [San Francisco Business Journal, Oct 1, 09]

Cardica said it received a delist warning from Nasdaq because it doesn't meet the minimum $10 million stockholders' equity requirement. [San Francisco Business Times, Sep 4, 09]

Cardica down 11% [May 6, 09]

Cardica up 14% [May 4, 09]

Cardica up 10% [Apr 24, 09]

Cardica down 11% [Feb 20, 09]

Cardica up 22% [Jan 28, 09]

Cardica up 31% [Nov 26, 08]

Cardica down 15% [Nov 25, 08]

Cardica up 28% [Nov 24, 08]

Cardica down 11% [Nov 17, 08]

Cardica up 13% [Nov 4, 08]

Cardica up 17% [Oct 16, 08]

Cardica down 15% [Oct 6, 08]

Cardica up 26% [Sep 9, 08] after the FDA approved the surgical system maker's PAS-Port system for use in cardiac bypass surgery [AP]

Cardica up 14% [Jul 23, 08] . Motley Fool's group grope - CAPS investor intelligence database - called it ready to roar after a 20% rise in the second quarter.

Cardica up 35% [Jun 10, 08]

Cardica up 11% [Apr 21, 08] on results from a six-month economic analysis comparing the cost of off-pump, "beating heart" coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedures, which were performed using the C-Port® Distal Anastomosis Systems, with the cost of traditional on-pump CABG surgery. The study showed that beating heart CABG saved $1,684 per procedure, inclusive of the cost of the C-Port systems in the beating heart cases, compared to traditional bypass surgery. [company press release]

Cardica down 12% [Apr 14, 08]

Cardica up 14% [Mar 24, 08]

Cardica up 17% [Mar 11, 08]

Cardica down 10% [Mar 10, 08]

Cardica down 11% [Mar 7, 08]

Cardica down 12% [Jan 25, 08]

Cardica down 15% [Dec 11, 07]

Cardica down 13% [Nov 12, 07]

Cardica down 10% [Nov 9, 07] after pricing a secondary at just over half its 12-month high.

Cardica down 14% [Oct 26, 07]

Cardica up 11% [Oct 8, 07]

Cardica up 16% as European regulators approved a new variation of a device used in heart surgery.

Cardica (Redwood City, CA; one Phase 1 SBIR) tumbled 15% after a broker cut its rating on shares of the developer of technological surgery aids to sell, saying exuberance about closed-chest heart-bypass surgery products was premature. [Wall Street Journal, Sep 11]

CardioDx (Palo Alto, CA)

GE Healthcare has entered into an alliance with CardioDx (Palo Alto, CA; no SBIR, founded 2004) to develop diagnostic tools for cardiovascular disease. As part of the alliance, the GE Healthymagination Fund directed $5 million to CardioDx as part of a Series D round. ... part of GE’s $6 billion Healthymagination initiative [Michelle Lang, Mass High Tech, May 13, 10]

CardioFocus (Marlborough, MA)

CardioFocus (Marlborough, MA; one SBIR a decade ago) has raised $13.64 million of a planned $15.64 million equity round, the laser ablation device company said ... previously raised $9 million in a Series C round in June 2008 [Mass High Tech, Feb 25, 11

CardioFocus (Marlborough, MA; one Phase 1 SBIR) raised $9 million in a Series C round, and appears to still be in development of a product to treat a common cardiac arrhythmia. [Mass High Tech,Jun 20,08]

CardioMag (Schenectady, NY)

A Little Short. CardioMag Imaging (Schenectady, NY; $700K SBIR) preliminary results, due June 25, will show it lost $5 million last year and has just $600,000 in cash ... Carl Rosner, CardioMag's president and chief executive officer, is providing $2M in bridge financing in a loan to the company that carries 8% interest and is convertible to common stock. The company, meanwhile, plans a replacement for Rosner. [Eric Anderson, Albany Times-Union, Jun 19] The stock dove 90% on the London Exchange.

CardioMag Imaging (Schnenectady NY) says there's nothing else in the world like its heart-health scanner. But until insurance companies recognize the value of its early detection of heart problems, hospitals and other potential customers have been hesitant to purchase the machines, which can cost $550,000 ... CardioMag got a boost earlier this month when the machine was a runner-up in the medical devices category of The Wall Street Journal's annual technology innovation awards competition. [Eric Anderson, Albany Times Union, Oct 17] CardioMag has had at least one Phase 2 SBIR for its magento wonder machine.

Cardiorobotics (Newport, RI)

Cardiorobotics (Newport, RI (originally founded in 2005 as Innovention Technologies, Pittsburgh, PA); no SBIR) has landed $5 million in venture capital ... makes the cardioARM, a snake-like, remote-controlled robotic probe intended to minimize incisions necessary for surgical procedures. ... In June, raised a Series A round of $11.6 million [Mass High Tech, Jan 21, 10]

Cardiorobotics (Newport, RI; no SBIR) has taken in $11.6 million in a Series A venture capital funding round ... to move Cardiorobotics’ main robotic surgery product toward the commercial market by establishing a clinical feasibility trial on humans, and gaining regulatory approval in the United States and the European Union. [Mass High Tech, Aug 3, 09]

Cardiosolutions (Stoughton, MA)

Medical device company Cardiosolutions (West Bridgewater, MA; no SBIR) has raised $3.3 million of what it plans as a $6.5 million funding round, the first funding the company has taken in since late 2009. ... developing a catheter-based approach to repair mitral valves without open-heart surgery, officials said. The catheters are designed to reach the heart through blood vessels in the inner thigh. [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Sep 6, 11]

Cardiosolutions (Stoughton, MA) raised $7M in VC. It is one of a family of start-ups by STD Med Inc., a developer and manufacturer of medical devices. Other firms so founded are Agiolink, Arthrosurface, and Spirus Medical. None have a record of SBIR. [Mass High Tech, Sep 26, 07]

CardioSpectra (San Antonio, TX)

CardioSpectra (San Antonio, TX; no SBIR) one of the first companies to receive money from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, has become the first to be acquired. ... $1.35M from the state fund in mid-2006, part of the approximately $5 million in investment it has received. ...to be acquired for $25M in cash by Volcano (Rancho Cordova, CA; no SBIR), a medical devices company. [Austin American-Statesman, Dec 12]

CardioTech (Wilmington, MA)

CardioTech (Woburn, MA; $1M+ SBIR) sold its Catheter and Disposables Technology Inc. subsidiary in Minnesota to Tacpro Inc. for $1.2 million in cash. [Mass High Tech, Apr 1, 08]

CardioTech (Wilmington, MA; $1.2M SBIR) hired an investment banker that will help it evaluate strategic alternatives for its Catheter and Disposables Technology (CDT) business, which is based in Plymouth, Minn. CDT designs and provides contract manufacturing services for medical devices. [Mass High Tech, Feb 22, 08]

CardiOx (Columbus, OH)

CardiOx (Columbus, OH; no SBIR) has landed $8 million in venture capital to fund the launch of its first product, a minimally invasive detector of holes in the heart. The medical device company raised $2.7 million last year in venture capital and government grants, [Columbus Business First, Sep 2, 11]

Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals (Chapel Hill, NC)

Cardiovascular drug development company Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals [Chapel Hill, NC; no SBIR] has raised $15 million in equity financing, the company said. ... the same day the company announced positive phase I results from its lead drug candidate, CXL-1020, which is being developed for the treatment of patients with acute decompensated heart failure, or ADHF. ... founded in 2005 .... Including the latest round, the company has raised $38.5 million in three rounds of funding [Frank Vinluan, Triangle Business Journal, Aug 2, 10]

Carigent Therapeutics (New Haven, CT)

Carigent Therapeutics (New Haven, CT; no SBIR) reports it has closed on the second tranche of a $2 M ... from Saint Simeon Marketing and Investments Lda of Portugal ... Carigent's products are based on nanotechnology that was licensed in 2006 from Yale University . [Mass High Tech, Dec 11]

Carnegie Speech (Pittsburgh, PA)

Carnegie Speech (Pittsburgh, PA; $300K SBIR) said it has raised $2.2 million. ... provides software for assessing and teaching spoken languages to non-native speakers, ... also announced a new a partnership and technology development agreement with In-Q-Tel, an independent strategic investment firm that identifies innovative technology solutions to support the CIA. It is the third such agreement between Carnegie Speech and In-Q-Tel. [Pittsburgh Business Journal, Oct 6, 09]

Carticept Medical (Alpharetta)

Carticept Medical (Alpharetta, GA; no SBIR) medical device maker has raised $20 million to commercialize new technology and move forward on a separate clinical trial. ... develops products that repair damaged cartilage or provide pain relief for patients with cartilage damage. ... raised $20 million in 2007, is led by Tim Patrick — a serial entrepreneur. Patrick founded Proxima Therapeutics (no SBIR) in 1996, which was acquired by Cytec Industries (no SBIR) in 2005. [Urvaksh Karkaria, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Mar 29. 10]

Cascade Designs (Seattle, WA)

A hand-carried ultrasound device helps doctors in Haiti perform emergency surgery on earthquake survivors. A battery-powered chlorinator helps residents of a Kenyan slum make their water safe for drinking. ... SonoSite (Bothell, WA; no SBIR) which makes rugged, hand-carried ultrasound devices, applying its technology in countries without adequate health systems seemed a natural step. It already had a successful commercial product for the developed world, used by the military in the field. ... Another product, by Cascade Designs (Seattle, WA; $1M SBIR) and PATH, is designed as a simple solution to purify water. The "smart electrochlorinator" takes salt, water and a small amount of electricity generated by a battery to produce a chlorine solution that makes water safe for drinking. PATH has been testing the device, which costs about $100, in the Korogocho slum of Nairobi and will soon begin field tests at a half-dozen other locations in Kenya and Zimbabwe. [Kristi Heim, Seattle Times, Mar 21, 10]

Cascade Microtech (Beaverton, OR)

Cascade Microtech up 18% [Jan 12, 11]

Cascade Microtech up 12% [Nov 17, 10]

Cascade Microtech up 10% [Sep 30, 10]

Cascade Microtech up 11% [Jul 17, 09]

Cascade Microtech up 10% [Jul 8, 09]

Cascade Microtech up 17% [Jul 1, 09]

Cascade Microtech up 12% [Jun 19, 09]

Cascade Microtech up 16% [May 29, 09]

Cascade Microtech up 19% [Apr 8, 09]

Cascade Microtech down 13% [Apr 6, 09]

Cascade Microtech up 10%% [Apr 2, 09]

Cascade Microtech up 26% [Mar 27, 09]

Cascade Microtech down 23% [Mar 9, 09]

Cascade Microtech down 10% [Jan 26, 09]

Cascade Microtech up 10% [Jan 23, 09]

Cascade Microtech up 41% [Jan 6, 09]

Cascade Micotech up 13% [Oct 29, 08]

Cascade Microtech down 20% [Oct 24, 08]

Cascade Microtech up 20% [Oct 20, 08]

Cascade Microtech up 13% [Oct 15, 08]

Cascade Microtech up 10% [Oct 13, 08]

Cascade Microtech down 22% [Oct 10, 08]

Cascade Microtech down 13% [Sep 29, 08]

Cascade Microtech down 21% [Sep 22, 08]

Cascade Microtech up 23% [Sep 19, 08]

Cascade Microtech up 12% [Jun 13, 08]

Cascade Microtech (Beaverton, OR; $800K SBIR) unveiled two new Pyramid parametric probe cards that allow single-pass high performance DC and RF measurements and reduce the cost of parametric production test for semiconductors with advanced processes nodes at 65 nm, 45 nm and beyond [Erin McCarty, The Oregonian, Feb 8]

Catabasis Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA )

Catabasis Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; one SBIR). has added $8 million to a Series A round of venture financing, bringing the firm’s Series A round to $47.6 million, according to a news release ... founded three years ago by veterans of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc. and researchers from Harvard Medical School and the Joslin Diabetes Center, plans to use the dollars to speed up development of CAT-2003, its potential treatment for severe hypertriglyceridemia, a condition that stems from an excess of fat in the blood that affects an estimated 3 million to 4 million U.S. patients. High blood fat levels can increase the risk of acute pancreatitis. [Galen Moore, Boston Business Journal, Dec 13, 11]

Catabasis Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) biopharmaceutical company focused on inflammatory and metabolic diseases, has raised $14.5 million in a second tranche of a Series A funding round ... development milestones reached, in leading to human clinical trials, for its drug candidate to treat type 2 diabetes. [Michelle Lang, Mass High Tech, Dec 8, 10]

Catabasis Pharmaceuticals focused on inflammatory and metabolic diseases, has closed a $39.6 million Series A funding round [Mass High Tech, Apr 21, 10]

Catabasis Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) raised $7.7 million in financing, according to [SEC] filing ... part of a $39.7 million funding round that the company notes in its regulatory filing as planning to raise. ...developing therapeutics for inflammatory and metabolic diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. [Mass High Tech, Apr 15, 10]

Catabasis Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) has raised about $2 million in an amendment to a filing with the SEC [Mass High Tech, Jan 18, 10]

Catabasis Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) raised some $1 million in a financing round, according to official documents. According to the company’s website, it’s working on a new class of drugs that treat inflammatory diseases. Catabasis’ platform relies on small molecules that target the pathways related to the inflammatory response. [Mass High Tech, May 13]

Catadon Systems (Carlsbad,CA)

February under-the-radar deals. Catadon Systems (Carlsbad, CA; no SBIR) A maker of towers for elevating wind turbines Equity $689,500; Aethlon Medical (San Diego, CA; no SBIR) A developer of a medical device to treat infectious diseases Debt* $600,000 ; Ampla Pharmaceuticals (La Jolla, CA; no SBIR) A stealthy biotech company Equity $295,271; Cibus Global (San Diego, CA; no SBIR) A developer of environmentally friendly technology for producing crop traits Equity* $201,132 *includes some options and warrants [Erin Kutz, signonsandiego.com, Apr 6, 10]

Catalyst Biosciences (South San Francisco, CA)

Catalyst Biosciences (South San Francisco, CA; one Phase 1 SBIR) licensed its technology to MedImmune for research into autoimmune and inflammatory diseases in a deal worth up to $195 million.[San Francisco Business Times, Jul 7, 09]

Catalyst Biosciences (South San Francisco, CA; one Phase 1 SBIR) will be paid $21 million upfront in a deal with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. [San Francisco Business Times, Jun 30, 09]

Catelectric (Storrs, CT)

Six start-up technology firms have received grants as part of the state's small-business incubator program, ... administered by the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology ... $32,000 to $50,000 went to: AllerQuest LLC of West Hartford, Catelectric Corp. of Storrs, Hydrogen Safety of East Hartford, Quadra-Aerrow International of Glastonbury, Revegen Inc. of Farmington and the Center for Network Centric Product Support Research of East Hartford. [Hartford Courant, Dec 12, 08] no SBIR for any

Celadon

Peers Not Always Your Friend. Celadon won a GAO protest that NIH used evaluators with conflicts of interest and denied a Phase 1 award. Then, when NIH said that all the SBIR funds for the year had been used up, GAO recommended that NIH reimburse Celadon for all its costs, including the proposal preparation. What a sad evasion of responsibility by NIH. If the proposal was unfairly denied, NIH should have had it reviewed by a fair panel and award it if the panel rates it in the range of proposals accepted that year. There is no such thing as NIH is out of money. NIH is the USG which would have gained complete and unrestricted use of Celadon's technology if it had won the contract. The whole USG, not just NIH. At SDIO/BMDO in the few cases where a company could show me that it had not been evaluated fairly (usually because the evaluators didn't understand the proposal's argument(s)), I got a new evaluation and then, if I would have given them the award with the resulting new evaluation, I gave them the Phase 1 without regard to year of the money. Fairness first. I had plenty of money for the really good stuff and no regrets about rejected proposals at the margin of competitiveness. And all the agencies have the same plenty of money for the really good projects, and a boatload of marginal proposals from which they use up the mandated money.

Celator Pharmaceuticals (Princeton, NJ)

charities, increasingly frustrated with the slow emergence of new disease treatments, are pouring millions of dollars into pharmaceutical start-ups to bring new drugs to market. Starting with a $76 million partnership between Vertex Pharmaceuticals and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the practice has become an important new source of capital for small drug companies. ... Last month, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, a blood-cancer charity, announced a $3.7 investment in closely held Celator Pharmaceuticals (Princeton, NJ; no SBIR) The charity will fund a midstage clinical trial on a drug to fight acute myeloid leukemia, a blood cancer that kills about 9,000 people a year in the U.S. ... All told, about a dozen disease-based charities recently have started funding early-stage drug research at start-up companies -- usually in exchange for royalties or stock options. Most of the charities say they were inspired by the success of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation [Keith Winstein, Wall Street Journal, Feb 10, 09]

CellCyte Genetics

CellCyte Genetics, whose market value briefly put it among the region's biggest biotech firms last year, has shut down — and hasn't been able to pay rent on its Bothell headquarters. [Seattle Times, Dec 24, 08]

The SEC has upgraded its probe of CellCyte to a formal investigation ... The Seattle Times reported in December that the stock was being promoted by a wave of brochures and unsolicited faxes paid for by a major company shareholder who has been sanctioned by regulatory authorities in Canada. [Seattle Times, May 16, 08]

CellCyte Genetics, briefly one of the Seattle area's most valuable biotechs by market capitalization, is running short of cash for its ongoing operations, according to regulatory documents filed Monday. [Angel Gonzalez, Seattle Times, Apr 15, 08]

The SEC initiated an inquiry into CellCyte Genetics, the Bothell biotech whose stock has fallen 93% since December, according to a letter written by a lawyer representing the company. ... German securities regulators are also investigating recent stock-promotion efforts related to the company, The Seattle Times has learned. CellCyte's market value soared to $440 million last fall as it was hyped by anonymous faxes and colorful brochures paid for by third parties with links to a well-known British Columbia stock promoter. [Angel Gonzalez, Seattle Times, Apr 5]

a shareholder lawsuit against CellCyte Genetics, accusing the biotech company and its officers of artificially inflating its stock price and defrauding investors with misleading claims. The lawsuit seeks class-action status. The lead plaintiff is a San Diego-area stockholder who bought and sold several thousand CellCyte shares in the past three months, [Seattle Times, Jan 16]

Who Is He? fledgling biotechnology company CellCyte Genetics (no SBIR), whose market value soared to more than $400M last fall after being hyped by offshore shareholders, plunged 55% Monday and Tuesday in heavy selling. The sharp drop coincided with changes made on the company's Web site after The Seattle Times inquired late last week about the accuracy of statements in the biography of CellCyte chief executive and co-founder Gary Reys. [Angel Gonzales, Seattle Times, Jan 9]

Celldex Therapeutics

Celldex Therapeutics (Needham, MA; no SBIR) company developing a brain cancer vaccine, has priced a $31M public offering. ... to support clinical trials of its products and to add to its working capital. ... has created a “Precision Targeted Immunotherapy Platform” that is focused on antibodies to create combination immunotherapeutic drug candidates [Mass High Tech, May 18, 11]

Celldex Therapeutics (no SBIR) said it has agreed to buy CuraGen in a transaction that values CuraGen at $94.5 million. [Boston Globe, May 29, 09]

AVANT Immunotherapeutics, announced that, pursuant to a previously announced shareholder vote, the company will change its name to Celldex Therapeutics effective October 1, 2008. [Boston Globe, Sep 30]

Cellectar (Madison, WI)

Cellectar (Madison WI; no SBIR) working on cancer-fighting drugs, has merged with a publicly traded firm, Novelos Therapeutics (Newton MA; one SBIR) The transaction essentially grafts Cellectar's research onto the upper management of Novelos. With the merger, Novelos will shift its official headquarters to Madison. ... In February 2010 - well before the transaction with Cellectar - Novelos announced that a cancer-treating drug it was working on had failed clinical trials. [Rick Romell, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Apr 11, 11]

Cellectar (Madison, WI; no SBIR) testing a radioactive drug with potential to identify and treat tumors has raised $2.7 million of funding, according to [SEC] filing ... already raised $22 million prior [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Feb 22, 10]

Cellerant Therapeutics (San Carlos, CA)

Cellerant Therapeutics (San Carlos, CA; $3.8M SBIR) won a contract valued at up to $153 million over five years with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, the company said [San Francisco Business Times, Sep 1, 10] developing a novel, cell-based medicine (Myeloid Progenitors / CLT-008) as a treatment for chemotherapy- and radiation-induced neutropenia as well as for Acute Radiation Syndrome. [company website]

Cell Genesys (South San Francisco, CA)

Cell Genesys, a 20-year-old Bay Area biotechnology company that has yet to win its first drug approval, said that it is firing most of its employees and considering a sale or merger after canceling work on its lead product. ... halting a second late-stage clinical trial of its experimental therapy GVAX in prostate cancer because an independent committee of experts concluded it was unlikely to deliver positive results. .... among a long line of companies that have tried in vain to produce successful cancer immunotherapies, which are also called cancer vaccines. [San Francisco Chronicle, Oct 17, 08]

Cell Genesys (South San Francisco, CA; no SBIR) developer of an immune-system booster tested against prostate cancer, lost nearly three-fourths of its value in Nasdaq trading Wednesday after reporting that more people died on combination therapy that included the drug. [San Jose Mercury News, Aug 27]

Shares in Cell Genesys (South San Francisco, CA; no SBIR) shot up 20% [Feb 15, 08] after the company released a favorable analysis of its experimental prostate cancer vaccine GVAX. [SF Chronicle, Feb 16]

Cell>Point (Centennial, CO)

Cell>Point (Centennial, CO; no SBIR) has yet to release a product to market, but it is not your typical startup. ... formed 10 years ago and says it has raised nearly $46 million, including $3 million over the past three months. .. developing an agent for cancer detection, quantification and monitoring ... "We've spent over $32 million refining the agent," said Colip, who previously worked in health care investment banking. "We're in licensing discussions on worldwide rights with about 15 major pharmaceutical companies." [Andy Vuong, Denver Post, Jan 24, 11]

Cell Signaling Technology (Danvers, MA)

Biomedical research products supplier Cell Signaling Technology (Danvers, MA; $5.4M SBIR) has bought the assets of the company’s Dutch distributor BIOKÉ BV. The acquisition opens up CST market coverage to Europe. ... began its global expansion in 2008 when it established a wholly owned subsidiary in Tokyo, which now supplies products to its Japanese customer base. ... In March 2007, the company formed an alliance with drug giant Merck & Co. Inc., providing its proteomics technology for biomarker discovery and related expertise to aid Merck’s efforts to develop cancer-fighting drugs. Established in 1999, reports about 300 employees. [Mass High Tech, Jul 10,09]

Cell Signaling Technology (Danvers, MA; $3M SBIR) announced the continuation of a research agreement with drug company Bristol-Myers Squibb for kinase inhibitor profiling. [Chris Reidy, Boston Globe, Feb 5]

Cell Therapeutics (Seattle, WA)

Cell Therapeutics said it's settled a lawsuit with the former reimbursement expert of its Trisenox anti-cancer prescription drug for $11 million [Puget Sound Business Journal, Aug 11,11]

Cell Therapeutics said it's raised $25 million by selling stock to a single, unnamed investor. [Puget Sound Business Journal, Jan 13, 11]

Cell Therapeutics said it's sold $21 million of its preferred stock and warrants to investors. [Puget Sound Business Journal, Oct 20, 10]

Cell Therapeutics said it’s signed a five-year deal with NerPharMa DS that will have the Nerviano, Italy, pharmaceutical company manufacture the Seattle biotech’s Pixantrone drug. [Puget Sound Business Journal, Jul 14, 10]

Cell Therapeutics said it made a deposit [$39.3 million in cash] to cover the costs of all of its convertible debt coming due in 2010.[AP, Jul 1, 10]

Cell Therapeutics said it sold $21 million of its preferred stock to three institutional investors, who have warrants to purchase up to $13 million more. ... Shares slumped 23% to 34 cents [Puget Sound Business Journal, May 24, 10]

Cell Therapeutics laid off 36 employees to conserve cash after its only drug with completed clinical trials was turned down for approval by the Food and Drug Administration. [Seattle Times, Apr 15, 10]

The FDA rejected Seattle-based Cell Therapeutics‘ application to sell a new drug for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, pixantrone. This was the obvious outcome, since the FDA’s cancer boss, Richard Pazdur, gave the company a public dressing down at an advisory committee hearing last month, and the panel of cancer experts voted 9-0 against it. ... If you really want to follow this in more depth, read a blistering opinion piece from TheStreet.com’s Adam Feuerstein. [Luke Timmerman, Seattle Times, Apr 15, 10]

Cell Therapeutics' new lymphoma drug failed to win a recommendation from a panel of cancer experts who advise the FDA, Xconomy.com reported. Shares of the company fell by more than 50 percent on the news. [Seattle Times, Mar 22, 10]

Cell Therapeutics sank 40% after the FDA said that there was limited clinical evidence on the Seattle company's proposed drug to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. [Wall Street Journal, Feb 9, 10]

Cell Therapeutics has survived more than one near-death experience in the past, .... pretty much the whole farm is riding on this [next week's] panel vote. ... ran down to less than a couple of weeks of cash at one point last year, doesn’t have any marketed products generating cash at the moment and nothing besides pixantrone with a legitimate shot at imminent FDA approval. Amazingly, it has burned through more than $1.4 billion of capital since its founding in 1991 without ever becoming profitable. Yet the company has been so prodigious at convincing investors to keep writing checks, and so popular with the fast-money crowd, that it now has an astonishing 574 million shares outstanding. [Luke Timmerman, xconomy.com/seattle, Feb 3, 10]

Cell Therapeutics has raised $28.5 million through a sale of preferred stock, the Seattle biotechnology company said Thursday in a regulatory filing. [Seattle Times, Jan 15, 10]

Cell Therapeutics has dropped efforts to win European marketing approval for its Opaxio drug to treat non-small cell lung cancer, dealing a setback to one of the Seattle biotech company's two key drug programs. [Seattle Times, Sep 23, 09]

Cell Therapeutics said today that an institutional investor has purchased $20 million in shares and warrants. [Seattle Times, May 11, 09]

Cell Therapeutics said it has raised $15 million in cash from an investor. The company said the investor, who received shares of preferred stock, has the right to purchase an additional $5 million worth of preferred stock within 60 days. ..... Shares of Cell Therapeutics were down more than 19% trading to 31 cents a share. [Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle), Apr 13, 09]

Cell Therapeutics said it will lay off the 62 employees at its Italian research center and shutter the facility. [Seattle Times, Feb 28, 09]

Cell Therapeutics has partnered with a California pharmaceutical company to sell its only commercial drug, Zevalin. The Seattle-based biotech and Spectrum Pharmaceuticals of Irvine will split the costs and the profits, the companies said Wednesday. Spectrum will pay Cell Therapeutics $15 million in the near term, and up to $15 million in milestone payments upon hitting certain sales targets. [Angel Gonzalez, Seattle Times, Nov 27, 08]

Cell Therapeutics (Seattle, WA; one SBIR) said its net quarterly loss decreased to $46 million from $48 million in the same period last year.... revenues had risen to $2.6 million from $20,000, mainly due to sales of Zevalin, a radio-immunotherapy to treat cancer. Operating expenses were down to $20 million from $49 million in the same period last year. ... it will need to raise additional financing this year and is exploring alternatives to do so. [Seattle Times, Nov 8, 08]

Cell Therapeutics said it will need to raise money soon because its available cash won't last beyond September. [Seattle Times, Aug 19, 08]

Cell Therapeutics said in a regulatory filing that without a capital infusion "we will have insufficient funds to continue operations through the end of the current fiscal quarter." [Seattle Times, Jul 21, 08] After $800M invested over 16 years, including one SBIR after $70M and its IPO. Stock price down 99.7% from its Y2K high.

In a bid to once again become a biotech company with marketed products, Cell Therapeutics said it completed its purchase of U.S. rights to the cancer drug Zevalin for $10M. ... Cell Therapeutics has had no commercial products since it sold off Trisenox in 2005. [Angel Gonzalez, Seattle Times, Dec 28, 07]

Cell Therapeutics (Seattle, WA; one SBIR) up 10% as it announced it would file an application to sell its cancer-fighting therapy Xyotax in the European Union ahead of schedule. [Seattle Times, Dec 19, 07]

Finger Pointing Back. The government now contends that a whistle-blower within Cell Therapeutics (Seattle WA; one SBIR) was the mastermind of a much bigger scheme than the ones on which he reported. ... In April, the company agreed to pay $10.5 million to the government to settle the charges. ... But the Justice Department has had a change of heart about Mr. Marchese and is asking a federal judge to award him nothing. [Barry Meier, New York Times, Oct 25, 07]

Cell Therapeutics (Seattle, WA; one SBIR) agreed to acquire cancer-therapy developer Systems Medicine (Tucson, AZ; no SBIR) for $20M in stock. ... Earlier this year, Miami-based Dor BioPharma rebuffed an unsolicited bid from Cell Therapeutics ... Cell Therapeutics, which hasn't turned a profit since it was founded in 1991, doesn't have any drugs on the market. It sold off Trisenox, a leukemia treatment, in 2005. Its flagship drug, Xyotax, has failed several major trials, but the company still hopes to get it on the market. [Angel Gonzalez, Seattle Times, Jul 26]

Cell Therapeutics executives will do a whirlwind tour of Milan where tits research is based in the suburb of Bresso since it acquired local biotech Novuspharma in 2003. ... Italian-speaking shareholders can check the company's Web site in Dante's language. [Seattle Times, Jul 3, 07]

Cell Therapeutics (Seattle, WA; one SBIR) wooed physicians with expensive dinners, cocktail parties at resort facilities and payments of up to $1,500 to get them to prescribe its cancer drug for unapproved uses, according to a lawsuit unsealed yesterday by the U.S. Attorney's Office. The company, without admitting any wrongdoing, has agreed to pay $10.5M to settle the government's claims.[Seattle Times, Apr 18]

CellTraffix (Pittsford, NY)

CellTraffix (Pittsford, NY, no SBIR) is commercializing a technology by Michael King, a chemical engineer at the University of Rochester who's developing the cell-capture devices wherein bioengineers have developed an implantable device that captures very pure samples of stem cells circulating in the blood. The device, a length of plastic tubing coated with proteins, could lead to better bone-marrow transplants and stem-cell therapies, and it also shows promise as a way to capture and reprogram cancer cells roaming the bloodstream. [Katherine Bourzac, MIT Tech Review, Feb 13]

Cellular Bioengineering

Grab Your Politician for Plus-Up. Smaller and more transparent earmarks of federal funds for favored domestic projects are returning after a one-year moratorium on the controversial practice. ... a bit less than 1% of total R&D appropriations (3% for DOD) ... The Senate Top 10, are mostly smaller states with senators in key committee chairmanships—Mississippi, New Mexico and Tennessee are at the top. ... search AAAS's new database of 2008 earmarks [AAAS Newsletter, Sep 07] But for small business, even 1% is a big honey pot. In the list (August version): Electro Energy (CT; SBIR), Ocean Power Technologies (OR, SBIR in NJ), DBS Energy CT, Eikos (MA; $8M+ SBIR), Cellular Bioengineering HI, Cerematec (UT; SBIR), Ramgen WA, Advanced Radar Technologies WY, Compact Membrane Systems (DE; $20M SBIR), SD Catalyst Group SD. Your story is that high-tech small business will create jobs, and they don't know whether your claim is valid or just wishful thinking. Like the federal mission agencies who then have to award and supervise the contract, they don't seem much to care.

Cellular Dynamics International (Madison, WI)

Cellular Dynamics International (Madison, WI; $500K SBIR) raised $30 million [VC in the quarter]. ... from mostly Midwestern investors in a deal that hinted at the possibility of an initial public offering. The latest round brought to $100 million the total amount raised by the six-year-old, privately-held company. CDI was founded by stem cell pioneer James Thomson and others. It said it would use the $30 million to launch new stem cell lines and increase production capacity. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jul 19, 11]

Cellular Dynamics International (Madison, WI; $500K SBIR) said it has forged an agreement with a Japanese company to distribute its stem-cell derived heart cells. ... CDI calls itself the world's first industrial maker of human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells and tissue cells. Like embryonic stem cells, these powerful cells can be grown into any of the more than 200 cells in the body. ... in April raised $30 million of funding from mostly Midwestern investors [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jun 8, 11]

Cellular Dynamics International (Madison, WI; $500K SBIR) has raised $30 million of funding from mostly Midwestern investors in a deal that hints at the possibility of an initial public offering. The round brings to $100 million the total amount raised ... has more than 100 employees, was named last year to the MIT Technology Review's 2011 list of the 50 most innovative companies. ... The company is the realization of stem cell pioneer James Thomson's vision for making large quantities of high-quality, pure stem cells and tissue cells grown from them widely available to researchers around the world. Thomson's vision was based on his understanding that this was an industrial problem academia couldn't solve, Palay said. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Apr 7, 11]

Cellular Dynamics International (Madison, WI; $500K SBIR) said it will make a presentation at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference .... founded in 2004 by stem cell pioneer James Thomson and others. It bills itself as the world's largest producer of human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell lines and tissue cells for drug discovery and safety. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jan 6, 11]

Cellular Dynamics International (Madison, WI; $500K SBIR) has raised $40.6 million, according to [SEC] filing ... sells stem cell-derived heart cells to Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche and others to help them test the toxicity of drugs. ... previously raised $18 million in late 2008 from mostly Wisconsin-based investors. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Feb 18, 10]

Cellular Dynamics International's (Madison, WI; $500K SBIR) disclosure Wednesday that its researchers have generated stem cells from ordinary human blood samples holds enormous promise in the emerging field of personalized medicine ... the first company to say it can make stem cells from something as readily available, and so representative of human diversity, as blood, Palay said. ... formed in 2004 by stem cell pioneer James Thomson and three other UW researchers. The company has 65 employees ... raised $18 million from mostly Wisconsin-based investors late last year [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jul 9, 09]

Thump, thump. Thump, thump Heart muscle cells in a cluster beat with the same rhythm as a human heart. Scientists at Cellular Dynamics International (Madison, WI; at least $1M SBIR) company aiming to put itself at the center of a new industry, grew the cells from human tissue. Scientists engineered the tissue cells to be pluripotent, which means they could turn into the beating heart cells under the microscope, or liver cells or any other cells in the human body. These cells, the scientists said, are just the beginning of the coming revolution in medicine. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Nov 29, 08] ... co-founded by stem cell pioneer and University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher James Thomson, has absorbed a pair of sister companies and raised $18 million in financing, the firm said. [Business Journal of Milwaukee, Nov 24, 08]

CellzDirect (Pittsboro, NC)

CellzDirect, (Pittsboro, NC; no SBIR) a biotechnology company, has agreed to be bought for $57M cash by [Invitrogen (Carlsbad, CA; $4M SBIR), 4,700 worldwide employees with annual revenue over $1B] that supplies nearly every drug research laboratory worldwide. [Sabine Vollmer, Raleigh News&Observer, Jan 12]

Celsion (Columbia,MD)

Celsion (Columbia, MD; one SBIR) raised $8.5 million in a recent stock sale to investors, the Columbia developer of cancer drugs said in a June 14 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. ... develops and commercializes oncology drugs that include using heat energy to fight tumors. The company has partnerships with hospitals and research organizations including Duke University Medical Center, the Mayo Clinic and the National Institutes of Health. [Gary Haber, Baltimore Business Journal, Jun 13, 11]

Celula (San Diego, CA)

Celula (San Diego, CA; one SBIR) a molecular diagnostic startup founded five years ago, has raised $15 million in a secondary round of venture funding ... develops innovative instruments for personalized diagnostics that use advanced micro-fluidics and other technologies [Bruce Bigelow, signonsandiego,com, May 28, 10]

Celunol

Diversa (San Diego, CA) and Celunol (Cambridge, MA, aka BC International; 3 SBIRs) completed their merger to form Verenium. [Mass High-Tech, Jun 21]

Cempra Pharmaceuticals (Chapel Hill, NC)

Cempra Pharmaceuticals, (Chapel Hill, NC; no SBIR) developing treatments for drug-resistant skin infections and pneumonia, plans to raise as much as $86.3 million in an [IPO] ...has two antibiotics in clinical trials. [David Bracken, Raleigh News & Observer, Oct 12, 11]

Cempra Pharmaceuticals, (Chapel Hill, NC; no SBIR) tiny company developing new antibiotics, has raised $46 million in venture capital financing. It's one of the largest venture hauls by a Triangle company in the past year. [Alan Wolf, Raleigh News &Observer, May 14, 09]

Cempra Pharmaceuticals (Chapel Hill, NC; no SBIR) raised [another] $10M in new financing, ... previously raised $22M VC. [Raleigh News&Observer, Jan 11, 08] founded in January 2006 to develop medicines to meet the increasing need for treating drug-resistant bacterial infections in the community and hospital. .. focused on capturing near-term value from market opportunities in anti-infectives [company website]

CeNeRx BioPharma (Cary, NC)

CeNeRx BioPharma (Cary, NC; no SBIR) completed a $13 million series C round of fundraising, the drug developer announced. ... to pay for phase II human trials of its lead product candidate, depression drug TriRima. [Jeff Drew, Triangle Business Journal, Aug 13, 10]

CeNeRx BioPharma (Cary, NC; no SBIR) developing a new type of antidepressant and other experimental medicines has raised $9 million to continue research on its products. also used some of the money to buy the rights to an early stage compound that could be developed into treatments for degenerative nerve diseases such as Alzheimer’s. ... a small work force and hires out much of its research and clinical testing. The company, founded in 2005, has raised about $42 million to date. [Raleigh News & Observer, Jun 16, 09]

Centice

Centice (Morrisville, NC) that has raised about $20 million in venture capital, is betting a retooled version of its flagship product will catch on with pharmacies looking for ways to avoid serious errors. [Raleigh News & Observer, Apr 24, 10]

Centice (Morrisville, NC; $3.7M SBIR) medical technology company, has raised $6.1 million in a Series C round of fundraising. ... founded in 2004. The company employs 22. Centice has raised more than $22 million in venture financing. [Triangle Business Journal, Oct 27, 09]

Centice (Morrisville, NC; $3.5M SBIR), a startup that has developed a tabletop device to detect prescription drug errors, has received another $4 million to bolster sales to retail pharmacies. Existing investors provided the cash, bringing the total amount raised to $20 million since 2004. [Sabine Vollmer, Raleigh News & Observer, Apr 7, 09]

Centice (Morrisville NC; one SBIR) is within one year of marketing its first major product, company officials said, after raising $11.3M in private financing [Raleigh News&Observer, Nov 16]

Three Triangle technology firms raised $10.5M last month to hire workers, invest in research and market new products Medical-implants maker Sicel Technologies raised $7M; Biotech startup Entegrion raised $2M (first VC); Centice Corp. raised $1.5M. [Raleigh News and Observer, Nov 10] Sicel and Centice have had SBIRs.

Centritec Seals (East Hartford, CT)

'Boy there's a lot of friction getting this thing going,'" said Douglas Rode, an engineer who bought the inventor's solution to the slow-going wheel for $1. The product is an encasement for rail car wheels that circulates grease and prevents the need for new ball bearings.The new invention is the main product for sale by Centritec Seals (East Hartford, CT; no SBIR) LLC though the concept could be applied to other wheels ... Centritec Seals was one of six companies to win a 2011 Innovation Pipeline Award at a gathering Thursday, organized by the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology and other groups. [Matthew Sturdivant, Hartford Courant, Oct 27, 11]

Centrose (Madison, WI)

Centrose LLC (Madison, WI; $700K SBIR) said Thursday it has opened a new biological testing facility and is adding jobs. Centrose, which uses sugar chemistry to improve existing drugs, said its new facility nearly doubles the company's research and development space. [Paul Gores, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Aug 13, 09]

Centrose LLC (Madison, WI; $800K federal with some SBIR) raised $2.1 million of funding from undisclosed, out-of-state angel investors .... to use its sugar chemistry to improve existing drugs ... hopes to have the drug, which it says is very potent against non-small cell lung cancer, ready for clinical trials in humans within two years, he said. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Feb 11, 09]

A revolutionary drug development engine that enhances drugs by specifically adding novel sugars will now benefit from [another] $150K. Centrose (Madison WI; maybe SBIR) and the University of Wisconsin received notice that the NSF will fund a joint effort aimed at optimizing a proprietary drug discovery method. Specifically, Centrose will use the funds to expand the sugar chemistry while the University will use their share to optimize the biochemistry behind the sugar attachment process. ... Earlier this year, Centrose exclusively licensed a set of drug enhancement technologies from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) that use sugars to lower toxic effects and increase drug potency. Since then, the Company has raised over $1 M in private funding and received another $500K in federal funding [company press release, Nov 20]

Three Madison technology companies have been qualified to receive investor tax credits under the state's angel investor and venture fund tax credit programs. The companies are: Windlift LLC, which is developing a wind-powered pump that has a patent pending; Centrose LLC, which is trying to use sugar chemistry to make a variety of existing and failed drugs less toxic and more effective; and Symbiont Web Inc., which is developing software to create a relationship between network, Web and mobile space to promote faster data flows and more stable Internet connections. The tax credit program provides a dollar-for-dollar reduction for state income taxes owed to investors in qualified companies. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Nov 3, 07] No SBIR for the firms.

Centrose (Madison WI; no SBIR) wants to raise $3M ,the biotech start-up has already gotten commitments for $875,000 ... headed by James Prudent, who was previously chief scientific officer and a board member at EraGen Biosciences in Madison. The company has exclusive rights to 12 patents from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation for what it says is a proprietary technology that uses sugar molecules to make drugs less toxic and more effective. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Sep 21]

Sweet Hope. Centrose LLC (Madison, WI) is hoping to build a drug discovery franchise that leverages its chemistry expertise and its proprietary technology that uses sugar molecules to make drugs less toxic and more effective. It has exclusive rights to 12 patents from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and is getting a $200K SBIR NIH grant. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 23]

Cephalon (Fraser, PA)

Cephalon (Fraser, PA; $500K SBIR) said it signed an option agreement to acquire Ception Therapeutics (Malvern, PA; no SBIR), which is developing a drug to treat esophagus inflammation in children and asthma in adults. ... will pay Ception a $100 million upfront option payment and another $250 million if it exercises its option to purchase all of the company’s outstanding stock. ... Ception is conducting late-stage testing of it lead product, Reslizumab, as a treatment of pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis and midstage testing of the same drug as a treatment of eosinophilic asthma in adults. [Philadelphia Business Journal, Jan 14, 09]

Alkermes said that it has regained from Cephalon full commercialization rights to Vivitrol, once-monthly, extended-release injectable medication for the treatment of alcohol dependence. [Boston Globe, Dec 1, 08]

Cephalon (Fraser, PA, $0.5M SBIR) and its wholly owned subsidiary Cima Labs Inc. filed a patent infringement lawsuit Tuesday against Watson Laboratories , which wants to make a generic version of Cephalon's Fentora drug for cancer pain. [Philadelphia Business Journal, Jun 3, 08]

Cepheid (Sunnyvale, CA)

Cepheid down 10% [Aug 8, 11]

Cepheid up 29% [Jul 22, 11]

Cepheid up 10% [Sep 2, 10]

Cepheid up 12% [Jul 23, 10]

Shorts. Synaptics was eighth in rank of short interest as a percentage of float. Alnylam Pharma and Cepheid were seventh and eight in days of average trading volume to cover the short interest. [Wall Street Journal, Mar 10, 10]

Cepheid up 13% after preannounced third-quarter revenue of $41 million, in line with analysts' estimates. [Wall Street Journal, Oct 15, 09]

Cepheid up 22% [Apr 24, 09]

Cepheid up 17% [Mar 23, 09]

Cepheid down 16% [Mar 2, 09]

Cepheid down 11% [Jan 20, 09]

Cepheid down 16% [Jan 13, 09] posted fourth-quarter revenue short of analysts' expectations and cut its full-year revenue forecast on slowing customer demand. [Wall Street Journal, Jan 14]

Cepheid down 14% [Dec 1, 08] On a stock bloodbath day

Cepheid up 13% [Nov 24, 08]

Cepheid up 11% [Nov 13, 08]

Cepheid up 17% [Nov 4, 08]

Cepheid up 10% [Nov 3, 08]

Cepheid down 10% [Oct 15, 08]

Cepheid up 22% [Oct 13, 08]

Cepheid down 35% after the company reported a widened second quarter loss. [San Jose Mercury, Jul 25, 08]

Cepheid up 12% [Mar 3, 08]

Cepheid up 10% [Jan 10, 08]

Cepheid up 11% [Dec 5, 07]

Cepheid up 10% [Oct 30, 07]

Cepheid (Sunnyvale, CA; $3M SBIR) first made its name with anthrax-detection tests to guard the nation's post offices from bioterrorism attacks back in 2001. Now, [its] gene-based testing system is becoming part of an escalating nationwide defense against the deadly "superbug" called MRSA, which is often innocently spread by well-meaning health care workers. Cepheid won FDA approval in April for its test for a life-threatening, antibiotic-resistant form of the common staph bacterium, a strain that now kills more people in the United States each year than the AIDS virus. [Bernadette Tansey, San Francisco Chronicle, Oct 28]

Ception Therapeutics (Malvern, PA)

Cequent Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA)

Cequent Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) raised $3.4 million of a planned $15 million financing round. ... tapping research developed at the Institut Pasteur in Paris and at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School to develop therapeutics using RNA interference technology to prevent and treat a wide range of human diseases, from inflammatory diseases to cancer. [Mass High Tech, Nov 2, 09]

Ceradyne

Ceradyne up 13% [Sep 26, 11]

Ceradyne up 19% [Mar 9, 11] after anticipating much higher profits than expected

Ceradyne said it’s buying specialty glass company Viox (Seattle, WA; no SBIR) for $27 million in cash. ... Viox is 40 years old and markets, develops and manufactures specialty glass products for the electronic, industrial and health care industries. [Puget Sound Business Journal, Jan 5, 11]

Ceradyne tumbled 14% after the ceramics products maker slashed its 2009 earnings guidance by more than half on expectations of lower armor shipments and further weakened demand for industrial ceramics. The company also said it agreed to buy almost all of the business and assets and some technology and intellectual property of Diaphorm Technologies (no SBIR) for $9.5 million in cash. [AP, Jun 9, 09]

Ceradyne down 16% [Feb 10, 09]

Ceradyne down 22% [Dec 19, 08]

Ceradyne up 11% [Dec 16, 08]

Ceradyne down 12% [Dec 1, 08] On a stock bloodbath day

Ceradyne down 11% [Nov 14, 08]

Ceradyne up 18% [Nov 13, 08]

Ceradyne down 26% [Oct 28, 08] as its third-quarter net income decreased 41% on charges and losses from auction-rate securities. The armor maker further cut its 2008 earnings and revenue outlooks. [WSJ, Oct 29]

Ceradyne up 10% [Oct 16, 08]

Ceradyne down 13% [Oct 15, 08]

Ceradyne up 10% [Oct 13, 08]

Ceradyne up 13% [Sep 18, 08]

SemEquip (Billerica, MA; no SBIR) has been acquired by Ceradyne (Costa Mesa, CA; $4M SBIR) for about $25 M cash. [Mass High Tech, Jul 9]

One Wall Street (Hough) wag finds contrarian value in Ceradyne which he says is down 60% over the past six months and has a forward PE ration of only 6 with good growth prospects.

After Ceradyne cut its 2008 outlook for revenue and earnings and 11% of its workforce, the market cut its stock price 24% [Feb 26, 08] On the bright side, Ceradyne is expanding its solar business and plans to add 200,000 square feet of manufacturing capacity near its existing plant in China. The company sees shipments of its ceramic crucibles, which are used to melt silicon for use in solar panels, increasing. [David Bogoslaw, Business Week, Feb 26]

Ceradyne is Forbes's third fastest growing high tech company with a 75% compounded sales growth rate for three years, thanks to IEDs in Iraq.

Jack Hough touts Ceradyne as a capital efficient company with low PE ratio and high sales growth. [Wall Street Journal, Jan 10] What Hough didn't say was that Ceradyne was a great beneficiary of IEDs and Army demand for the best cost-irrelevant defense - NOW. Not a repeatable market.

Ceradyne up 10% [AP, Nov 28, 07] after the company said it will receive additional funding to produce bulletproof vests, and is likely to receive a $400 million body armor contract.

Ceradyne got $436M in government contracts in 2006, says fedspending.org's database. Physical Optics $21M.

Forbes's annual list of the best 200 small companies had several SBIR awardees: Ceradyne #12, Flir Systems 37, II-IV 58, ATMI 69, ViaSat 90, Surmodics 105, Micrel 149, OPNET Tech 167.

War Was Great for Business. Ceradyne lost 6% and at least one broker said that demand for body armor will fall as the US shrinks the number of US military bodies in Iraq. [Jan 07]

Armored Profits. The market loved the war business at Ceradyne which reported nearly tripled profits. Stock up 14% [Nov 1, 06]

Motley Fool notes that bulls outnumber bears 191-3 for Ceradyne in what it admits is an unscientific survey. Contrarian note: If everybody is bullish, few must be buying. [Oct 06]

Ceradyne has been winning contracts as a result of the government's strong demand for the firm's ceramic body armor. Higher revenue combined with Ceradyne's relatively efficient manufacturing has allowed for significant profit margin improvement [Reuter's, Sep 11]

Ceradyne got a five-year open end contract for potentially $600+M to supply armor shields for Army vehicles as the Army finds there is no good substitute for a shield, even though it adds a lot of weight, in an ambush world. Here is one great ROI story for SBIR where tons of profits flowed from four Phase 2 SBIRs. Unfortunately, it would not have happened without a war of nasty surprises. But one formula for business success is to be in position to exploit a sudden market opening.

Among Business Week's 100 hot growth companies were Ceradyne and II-VI. [Jun06]

Ceradyne has been in a strong uptrend since the summer, and this rally has taken its shares from $20 to its current price of about $47. More recently, though, the stock dropped amid an offering of more shares. Despite the recent fall, CRDN continues to appear to be a solid company. Its superior profit margins helped it land recently on the Reuters Select Quality-category screen for Strong Operating Margins. [Reuters, Dec 8, 05]

War Profits Someone. Reuters also likes Ceradyne which has posted impressive Operating Profit Margins for the last five-year ... Over the last five years, the company's revenue expanded at an average annual rate of 47.98%, easily outpacing the Industry's 8.63% .. Demand for the company's body armor has also remained strong, and the company has worked to meet that demand. As a result, its market share has climbed significantly. The US government continues to spend in this area, [Mar 05]

Ceradyne took a 9% hit after it announced the opening of a new armor plant (in DOD-speak: vehicle armor design and armored vehicle prototype facility).

Ceradyne jumped 18% on news that it got a $461M Army contract for ceramic body armor. With the press's continual harping on lack of armor for bodies and Humvees in Iraq, the Army is moving as fast as its bureaucratic legs allow to buy more, more, more. Especially to have a decent story by the fall election. Earlier this year Ceradyne said it was buying Germany's ESK Ceramics for $136M. The success grows it right out of future SBIR competition. Unfortunately, war is good for business as long as the war in some other country.

Armored Jeeps. Ceradyne got some useful press [R Cheng, Wall Street Journal, Mar 17] for its attempts to sell the Army even more armor for Humvees beyond the hard seats. Perhaps the handful of Phase 2 SBIRs will help Ceradyne take on the gorilla in the armor business - Armor Holdings. On the SBIR scale Ceradyne is a publicly-traded giant at 430 employees and which was already big when it got its first SBIR in 1998. Maybe Irvine Sensors a few blocks away could learn a few lessons on making a profit and having SBIR.

Ceramatec (Salt Lake, UT)

Ceramitron (St. Louis, MO)

A one-man St. Louis startup called Ceramitron LLC has landed a $99,000 [SBIR] contract with NASA to build a miniature sensor for weather balloons, land rovers and submarines. ... drastically reducing the size, weight and cost of a mass spectrometer — normally a laboratory instrument — to a disposable device the size of a tennis ball,” he said. [St Louis Business Journal, Dec 1, 08]

Cerealus Holdings (Waterville, ME)

Maine Technology Institute today announced four new Development Awards — conditional loans — totaling $761,348 for four Maine technology companies. The awards by MTI, a publicly financed non-profit, were matched with combined contributions over $890,047 by the recipients: Wizbe Innovations (Manchester, ME) $64,000 to develop parachute fabric for the U.S. Army with controllable and adjustable permeability. Wizbe initially began their work with a U.S. Army SBIR to develop a prototype fabric. ... Pika Energy (Gorham, ME; no SBIR) $274,291 to develop a wind turbine system that offers lower upfront costs to make it easier and less expensive for families and businesses to produce clean renewable electricity. Early stage development was supported with an MTI Seed Grant. ... Cerealus Holdings(Waterville, ME; no SBIR) $261,849 to commercialize their Cerecarb, which is designed to enable paper mills to reduce costs by substituting ash filler for expensive pulp fiber. ... RainStorm(Orono, ME; no SBIR) $161,208 to expand access to affordable education opportunities nationally by providing local adult education programs with a simple, affordable course catalog and online registration website. [Mass High Tech, Jun 27, 11

Ceregene (San Diego, CA)

Ceregene (San Diego, CA; $1M SBIR) drug developer, said it raised $11.5 million from four venture capital firms [for] a phase 2 clinical study of CERE-120, an experimental gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease that is surgically implanted in the brain. [Keith Darce, San Diego Union Tribune, Nov 12, 10]

Ceregene (San Diego, CA; $1.1M SBIR) which is developing gene therapy treatments for Parkinson’s and other ailments, says it is getting $2.5 million from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. [Bruce Bigelow, signonsandiego.com, Jul 3, 10]

An experimental therapy for Parkinson's disease being developed by Ceregene (San Diego, CA; $1M SBIR) failed to show effectiveness in an important clinical trial, the company said yesterday. [San Diego Union Tribune, Nov 27, 08]

Cerion Enterprises (Rochester, NY)

Cerion Enterprises (Rochester, NY; no SBIR) gets $200,000 to help develop materials for next-generation lithium-ion batteries, which are used in automotive applications and in consumer electronics . [Andrea Deckert, Rochester Business Journal, Mar 10, 10]

Cermet (Atlanta, GA)

BMDO SBIR company Cermet (Atlanta, GA) says it has got Wafer Technology,UK. to market Cermet's bulk semiconductor substrates (including ZnO, GaN and AlN) to key customers in Europe. Cermet president Jeff Nause said Cermet is very pleased ... Cermet's products include ZnO substrates for blue LEDs, blue laser diodes, and high frequency microwave devices. Interestingly, Cermet's advisory board includes Dr. Ian Ferguson, Director of Research for EMCORE, another BMDO SBIR winner although BMDO does not claim much of EMCORE's public market success. Some of Cermet's story can be read in last spring's Atlanta Business Chronicle.

A Bright Blue Laser Company (Dec 16). Cermet (Atlanta, GA) got a BMDO Phase 2 STTR to develop GaN crystals that could eventually make digital video disc (DVD) more affordable and commercially viable. ... The company is also developing crystals for a number of corporate clients, who asked not to be identified. ... The company is focused on a patent-pending process of growing crystals synthesizing gallium nitride (GaN) powder which in turn is used to grow high-purity single crystals of GaN from a liquid. The idea came from president Jeff Nause in 1993 while still a Georgia Tech student. Nause hopes to begin selling the crystals within six months. .. Potential customers include Hewlett-Packard which would develop the laser to sell to Sony or Hitachi. SDL, Xerox, CREE Research, Northrop Grumman, and Dow Chemical have also showed interest This puts Cermet at the beginning of the DVD development chain, and it is one of the few companies to be doing such sophisticated crystal research and development outside of Boston or California. It has seven employees, three Tech graduates and four co-op students. Cermet (cermetinc@juno.com) was incorporated by a Tech professor in 1991, but began focusing on crystal growth when Nause joined the company in 1995. Nause hopes to add between four and eight employees next year to do research and marketing. The basic skull melting process had a BMDO Phase 1 in 1994 for a different nitride. [facts from Evelina Shmukler, Atlanta Business Journal, Dec 14, and the public SBIR databases] Why BMDO? Why not? Who else takes chances on new technology in a one-man company with no PhD? And who else would reject a go-nowhere Phase 2 proposal for over-fantasizing about commercialization and battle GAO to preserve the idea that SBIR without aggressive after-market action is a waste of taxpayer's money?

Cerulean Pharma (Cambridge, MA)

Cerulean Pharma (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) said that it has closed a $10 million Series B-1 financing. [Boston Globe, Jul 28, 09]

Cerus

Cerus up 13% [Jan 14, 11]

Cerus down 21% [Nov 10, 10]

Cerus up 13% [Sep 8, 10]

Cerus down 13% [Apr 30, 10]

Cerus up 15% [Apr 5, 10]

Cerus down 23% [Jul 28, 09]

Cerus up 17% [Oct 20, 08]

Cerus up 17% [Oct 17, 08]

Cerus down 26% [Oct 10, 08]

Cerus down 10% [Oct 6, 08]

Cerus up 14% [Sep 18, 08]

Cerus down 10% [Jul 29, 08]

Cerus down 12% [May 2, 08]

Cerus up 11% [Apr 1, 08]

Cerus up 11% [Mar 26, 08]

CFX Battery (Azusa, CA)

CFX Battery (Azusa, CA; no SBIR), which makes lithium ion batteries that can power electric cars, medical devices, mobile phones and computers. The technology transfer office at Caltech invested in CFX and helped raise $15 million to get the company started. [James Flanigan, New York Times, Jul 16, 09]

CGI Pharmaceuticals (Branford, CT)

CGI Pharmaceuticals (Branford, CT; no SBIR) a small-molecule-focused biotech has signed a deal to be acquired by Gilead Sciences for up to $120 million. [Michelle Lang, Mass High Tech, Jun 25, 10]

Chapman Innovations (Salt Lake City, UT)

Chapman Innovations (Salt Lake City, UT; no SBIR) has developed a heat- and fire-resistant fabric, CarbonX, that will be featured tonight on the Discovery Channel's "Smash Lab" show. The program examines new technologies in experimental applications. The fabric was developed by company founder Mike Chapman, who previously worked in motorsports and wanted to create a fabric that would protect race-car drivers from fire-related injuries. The result was a fabric made of oxidized polyacrylonitrile, a nonconductive carbon-based material and a strengthening fiber. The company says the product can withstand temperatures of more than 3,000 degrees. [Brianna Lange, Salt Lake Tribune, Feb 19]

ChaCha

Most folks in the Indianapolis suburb of Carmel know Scott Jones as "the guy who invented voicemail." In the early '90s Jones made about $50 M on his company, which created the predominate form of voicemail, and he "retired" at age 31. Over the past two decades this driven inventor has been generating ideas for new products and companies - some were successful, others hit the scrap heap - at a pace that would make Thomas Edison's head spin. Jones's latest company, ChaCha, is developing a potential rival to Google - a search engine assisted by human experts who will help you find your answer. [CNNmoney.com, Nov 5]

Charles River Lab

Charles River Labs down 10% [Aug 8, 11]

Charles River Lab down 21% [Nov 6, 08] after the life sciences company slashed its earnings forecast. [Boston Globe]

Charles River Lab down 18% [Oct 23, 08]

Chemat

Chemat Technology Named a Top Ten Nano-Firm Considered survivors of government-funded research and development, Chemat became a profitable business in 2000 (half of that attributed to customer sales), a decade since the sol-gel solution company was founded. Prior to that, Chemat's R&D Division was successful in completing nearly one hundred contracts for government agencies and industry clients. Its mission is the creation and commercialization of sol-gel based advanced materials and technologies, for its own use and to provide its clients with technologies they can use to create leading-edge products using advanced materials. [LARTA, Jul 16]

ChemImage (Pittsburgh, PA)

ChemImage (Pittsburgh, PA; $2.5M SBIR) has landed a $17 million defense contract based on real-time sensor technology [it] developed ... Last year, the company was named a partner in the [SBIR] Commercialization Pilot Program ... will be working with General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products as a subcontractor [Malia Spencer, Pittsburgh Business Times, Mar 1,11] Want a big military contract? Get a big military contractor as a partner for contacts you couldn't begin to copy.

Chemir Analytical Services

Star Entrepreneur. For the ninth year in a row, Chemir Analytical Services has been awarded recognition for rapid growth and contributions to the greater St. Louis area. [company website] This year it was chosen by Ernst & Young as “entrepreneur of the year” in technology for the central Midwest. [St Louis Post Dispatch] CEO Shri Thanedar started as an 18-year-old Bachelor’s chemist in India, and has grown the firm to $24M/yr in revenues. No SBIR.

ChemoCentryx (Mountain View, CA)

ChemoCentryx (Mountain View, CA; one SBIR) has refiled plans for an initial public offering to raise $69 million, ... develops oral drugs for autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases and oncology. [Silicon Valley/ San Jose Business Journal, Oct 17, 11]

Chemtura (Middlebury, CT)

Chemtura (Middlebury, CT; no SBIR), debtor-in-possession [under Chapter 11], will receive $1.45 million [from DOE stimulus funds] to develop, test and market new synthetic lubricants for energy-efficient refrigeration and cooling systems. [AP, Jun 19, 10] a global specialty chemicals company with leading positions in diversified markets ... formed in 2005 with the merger of Crompton Corporation and Great Lakes Chemical Corp ... 4000 employees worldwide [company website]

Chesapeake Sciences (Millersville, MD)

Defense contractor L-3 Communications is acquiring Chesapeake Sciences (Millersville, MD; $6.5M SBIR) for a yet-to-be disclosed sum. ... CSC had 20 contracts with DOD in 2006 worth $45.5 million [Baltimore Business Journal, Nov 26, 08]

Chesson Labs (Durham, NC)

Chesson Labs (Durham, NC; no SBIR) now holds bragging rights that only a handful of Triangle medical companies can claim: It won regulatory approval for its first product. The four-employee company announced Wednesday that it won approval from the Food and Drug Administration to market its Nuvaderm liquid bandage. ... founded in 2006 and last year raised $3.3million in financing [Raleigh News & Observer, Aug 6, 09] Another innovative small high tech firm that succeeds without government succor, and makes bilge of the argument that small high tech will suffer if SBIR isn't re-approved. The medical world seems particularly good at purely private economic success. Maybe, just maybe, SBIR actually slows down economic progress as companies focus on getting free money at a price they cannot afford.

Chlorogen (Creve Coeur, MO)

Chlorogen (Creve Coeur, MO, one Phase 1 SBIR), once one of the region's most promising plant science startups, has ceased research operations and is selling off its technology ... sold to Dow AgroSciences LLC exclusive rights to its biotech crop technology for use in developing animal vaccines. [Rachel Melcer, St Louis Post Dispatch, Sep 11]

Chiasma (Newton Center, MA)

Chiasma (Newton Center, MA; no SBIR). has added $3 million in new financing to a debt round it first reported raising last July, the Newton company reported in a regulatory filing. Chiasma is developing oral-delivery technology for protein- and peptide-based drugs that are currently administered via injection. [Galen Moore, Mass High Tech, Mar 11, 11]

Chiasma (Newton Center, MA; no SBIR) raised $2 million in debt financing, as part of a planned $4 million debt round, according to federal documents. .... developing technology that could enable oral delivery of protein- and peptide-based drugs that are available only by injection or intravenous methods .... In November of 2006, Chiasma closed on a $44 million Series C round [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Jul 23, 10]

Chimerix (Durham, NC)

Chimerix (Durham, NC; one SBIR in San Diego) won a federal contract to develop one of its antiviral drug candidates as a treatment for a smallpox outbreak – a deal that will bring the Durham-based company $24.8 million this year and could deliver a total of $81.1 million over the life of the agreement. [Triangle Business Journal, Feb 16, 11]

No longer small. Siga Tech and Chimerix were picked for a small biz set aside award of a contract worth up to $2.8 billion for a new antiviral therapy for smallpox. Chimerix cried foul to the SBA which ruled that Siga was effectively controlled by a big Ronald Perelman holding company. [Wall Street Journal, Nov 8, 10]

Chimerix, (Durham, NC; $600K SBIR in California) biopharmaceutical company, said Tuesday it raised $16.1 million to continue testing antiviral drugs for treating smallpox. The latest round of financing brings the seven-year-old company's total haul to $56 million, but Chimerix is still at least several years away from having a commercial product, said chief operating officer Kenneth Moch. (Raleigh News & Observer, Aug 12)

Chimerix (Durham, NC; $600K SBIR) has joined the Medicines for Malaria Venture and its public-private partnerships to come up with malaria treatments that work and are affordable in developing countries. Under the partnership with MMV, the company will open its chemical library. The company has also agreed to develop any potential drugs that show promise as malaria treatments with the help of iThemba Pharmaceuticals, a company in South Africa. Founded in 2002, Chimerix is working on oral treatments for smallpox, HIV/AIDS and cytomegalovirus, a virus common in organ-transplant recipients. [Raleigh News & Observer, Apr 2, 09]

Chondrogenics

Connecticut will award $9.8 million for 20 stem cell research projects. One award for $1.29M will go to a private company Chondrogenics (no SBIR) a start-up company based at UConn.... that is investigating stem cells' potential to treat osteoarthritic cartilage damage [William Weir, Hartford Courant, Jul 21, 11]

Choice Therapeutics (Wrentham, MA)

Choice Therapeutics (Wrentham, MA; no SBIR) sold $582,000 of a planned $3 million equity round, according to a filing with the [SEC]... provides medical devices and materials under the TheraBond name for burns, advanced wound care and surgical site infections, using technology designed to protect the wound while wicking excess fluids away from the wound site. [James Connolly, Mass High Tech, Jul 28, 11]

Chorum Technologies

Chorum Technologies announced a wide passband multiplexer capable of handling 40 Gbps at a broad 100 GHz spacing, thus filtering many fewer lambdas than is possible using the company’s current line of commercial multiplexers.Chorum has had one Phase 2 from DARPA and one from BMDO. NP Photonic has had 10 Phase 1s and two Phase 2s since 1998, all but one Phase 1 from BMDO. BMDO loves lively photonics entrepreneurs.

The Occasional IPO
Although the IPO market has taken a dive faster than you can say falling NASDAQ, and although the government doesn't back many such firms anyway with its SBIR, one has filed for IPO. Chorum Technologies , first known to the government as Macro-Vision Communications hopes to raise $140M on the basis of its first $3M sales last quarter and its prospects in various optical hardware - Mux & Demux, routers, switchers, and processors. Founder and CTO Jian-Yu Liu who founded the company in 1997, and went straight to the SBIR well, right after his PhD from U Colorado, still owns about 10%. Macro-Vis had two SBIRs from DARPA and BMDO for $2.3M ($1.9M from BMDO which gives bigger than normal money for bigger than normal market prospects).

Chronix Biomedical (San Jose, CA)

Chronix Biomedical (San Jose, CA; one SBIR) said it raised $1.8 million in new funding. ... developing disease-specific biomarkers based on DNA fragments that are released into the bloodstream by damaged and dying cells. [Silicon Valley/ San Jose Business Journal, Sep 20, 10]

Cibus Global (San Diego, CA)

Cibus Global (San Diego, CA; no SBIR) officially spun out of ValiGen (Newtown, PA; one SBIR)in late 2001, is marking the commercial introduction of its first enhanced crop—an herbicide-resistant strain of canola—in coming weeks. Cibus also plans to expand its workforce, from 52 to 60 employees by the start of 2011 [Bruce Bigelow, signonsandiego.com, Oct 27, 10]

Ciena (Landover, MD)

Ciena Bought for $7B (Jun 4) Ciena, the startup that didn't need SBIR, was bought for $7B. The highest market cap for companies for whom SBIR was a big help is fluctuating around $300M. That's ATMI whose cap has plummeted from $600M a few months ago. Also Cree Research just under $200M.

Ciencia (East Hartford, CT)

Jeff Bond tells me that Sal Fernandez died; Sal founded Ciencia (East Hartford CT). Nov 06

Why Pay $100K (Mar 19) Why pay $100K for a fluorescence lifetime sensor when Oriel Instruments will sell you the best for $18K? Oriel is displaying its new instrument at Pittcon '97, the annual conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy. (Anyone remember mechanical chemical balances and splashed nitric acid in wet analytical chemistry?) The instrument's heart comes from Ciencia (East Hartford, CT) who developed it with two SBIR awards from BMDO (one while the crew was still at Scientific Research Associates, a huge SBIR user with little commercialization to show for it). The instrument's proximate source is an ONR SBIR. I used to say in public that when you had finished a BMDO Phase 2, you were ready for a Navy Phase 1. Question for the anti-immigration ideologues: would Ciencia and Oriel have this advance on the market if Ciencia's founder-president Sal Fernandez had not been allowed to enter from Cuba?Return to Index

Cilion

ethanol company Cilion raising the largest venture round ever -- $200 million -- for an alternative energy company [VentureBeat.com, Sep 1]

Ciranova (Santa Clara, CA)

Intel Capital said it's investing more than $30 million in four technology startups... Adaptive Computing (Provo, UT) developer of software for data centers and cloud computing; Ciranova, (Santa Clara, CA) maker of chip design software; Joyent, (San Francisco, CA) provider of cloud-computing infrastructure; Nexant a (San Francisco, CA) developer of energy-efficiency software and clean-energy services. [FM Russell, San Jose Mercury News, Sep 15, 10] None had SBIR.

Civitas Therapeutics (Chelsea, MA)

Civitas Therapeutics (Chelsea, MA; $2.4M SBIR), which launched in January with a $20 million Series A funding round, has now bumped that up to $28 million, according to federal documents. ... The company received the spun-out inhaled drug delivery program at Alkermes, and will use the manufacturing facility in Chelsea that was idled when Eli Lilly pulled out of a deal with Alkermes in 2008. [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, May 3, 11]

Civitas Therapeutics (Chelsea, MA; no SBIR) has launched with $20 million in Series A funding, spun out of the inhaled drug delivery program at Alkermes Inc.. The new company will use the manufacturing facility in Chelsea that was idled when Eli Lilly pulled out of a deal with Alkermes in 2008. [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Jan 10, 11]

Clark-MXR (Ann Armor, MI)

Photonics Spectra Jan 2000 says Clark-MXR (Ann Arbor, MI) makes the mode-locked erbium-doped fiber ring laser that produces the femto-second pulses for Lucent's demonstration of zillion wavelengths on one fiber. Don't look for it yet in stores because it hasn't yet showed the commercial requirements for lifetime, temperature and vibration insensitivity. Clark-MXR is a combo of Clark Instruments (Rochester, NY) and start-up MXR that got going with a BMDO SBIR that the experts panned in reviewing the Phase 1 proposal.

Claros Diagnostics (Woburn, MA)

Claros Diagnostics (Woburn, MA; no SBIR) maker of in-vitro medical diagnostic tests, has been acquired by Miami biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company OPKO Health ...at least a $30 million payment of combined cash and stocks, with the potential for another $19 million paid to Claros, based on milestone achievements [Michelle Lang, Mass High Tech, Oct 14, 11]

Clean Diesel Technologies (Stamford, CT)

Clean Diesel Technologies (no SBIR). has taken its emissions technology to the water, landing as a client Burlington, Vermont-based ferry company Lake Champlain Transportation Co. [Mass High Tech, Feb 14,08]

Clean Diesel Technologies (Stamford, CT; 13 employees, no SBIR) may become a big player in emissions control. The tiny outfit, specializing in cutting nitrogen oxide and particles in the exhaust from diesel cars and trucks, has licensed its technology to two makers of emission-control products, Tenneco and Germany's Robert Bosch. [Gene Marcial, Business Week, Dec 3, 07]

ClearCount Medical Solutions (Ross Township, PA)

ClearCount Medical Solutions (Ross Township, PA; $1M SBIR) raised $5 million from investors, its largest capital infusion to date. ... developer of technology that prevents patients from leaving the operating table with a surgical sponge inside is using the money for commercialization ... plans to add a few employees to its current 23, [Patty Tescarella, Pittsburgh Business Times, Sep 8, 10]

Cleveland BioLabs

Cleveland BioLabs up 10% [Jun 2, 11]

Cleveland BioLabs up 10% [Mar 14, 11]

Cleveland BioLabs up 7% after The Pentagon awarded the Buffalo, N.Y., specialty pharmaceutical company a $45 million contract for medication that treats radiation poisoning, such as from a nuclear catastrophe. The contract gives the company funding to seek regulatory approval and $30 million in initial orders. [Wall Street Journal, Sep 18, 10]

Cleveland BioLabs up 13% [Jul 22, 10]

Cleveland BioLabs up 12% [Jun 16, 10]

Cleveland BioLabs up 13% [Feb 22, 10]

Cleveland BioLabs up 15% [Jan 6, 10]

Cleveland BioLabs down 22% [Aug 6, 09]

Cleveland BioLabs up 10% [Aug 5, 09]

Cleveland Biolabs up 17% [Jun 29, 09]

Cleveland BioLabs up 11% [May 29, 09]

Cleveland BioLabs up 11% [May 18, 09]

Cleveland BioLab up 13% [May 4, 09]

Cleveland BioLabs stock, which shot up to 6 a year ago only to crash to 1.32 this Mar. 6, is again on the rise, bouncing to 3.20. Why? BioLabs "expects to receive a purchase contract this year from the Health & Human Services Dept. for a protective agent against radiation damage," says Stephen Brozak of WBB Securities, who rates the stock a strong buy, with a 12-month target of 13. He says an HHS contract could be worth several hundred million dollars. BioLabs has teamed up with the Cleveland Clinic, the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, and Roswell Park Cancer Institute to develop the radiation treatment. [Business Week, May 11, 09]

Cleveland BioLabs up 12% [Apr 21, 09]

Cleveland BioLabs down 16% [Feb 17, 09]

Cleveland BioLabs down 11% [Feb 10, 09]

Cleveland BioLabs has begun its initial safety studies, the first step in the clinical trial process before applying for FDA approval for its radiation treatment drug. ... received two federal contracts totaling $22.2 million to develop the drug [Business First of Buffalo, Oct 15, 08]

Cleveland BioLabs down 13% [Oct 7, 08]

Cleveland BioLabs down 11% [Oct 6, 08]

Cleveland BioLabs down 11% [Sep 18, 08]

A new $13.3 million federal grant is helping push Cleveland BioLabs one step closer to FDA approval for its drug to treat the gastrointenstinal effects of acute radiation syndrome. [First Business of Buffalo, Sep 16, 08]

Cleveland BioLabs received approval for the first of 20 patents sought for Protectan CBLB502, a compound used in a drug to treat acute radiation syndrome. [Business First of Buffalo, Jul 8, 08]

Cleveland BioLabs up 23% [Apr 14, 08]

Cleveland BioLabs up 17% [Apr 11, 08]

Cleveland BioLabs up 12% [Mar 3, 08]

Cleveland BioLabs up 20% [Jan 25, 08]

Cleveland BioLabs up 13% [Jan 24, 08]

Cleveland BioLabs up 10% [Jan 23, 08]

Cleveland BioLabs down 59% [Jan 4, 08] as DOD picks Osiris, up 10%, for $225M contract for stem cell therapy.

Cleveland BioLabs down 12% [Dec 11, 07]

CleverSet

The Exit. Art Technology Group (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) plans to acquire CleverSet (Seattle, WA; $1.5M SBIR) for $10M [Boston Business Journal, Jan 22, 08] CleverSet, the leading provider of personalized recommendations for eCommerce companies, was named the winner in the "Most Innovative Company" category in the 2007 American Business Awards [eMedia Wire, Jun 12, 07] in Oct 07 in the Web 2.0 Summit Launch Pad competition, named "Best in Show" and "Most Likely to Exit First." ... its MDA SBIR promised to develop representations and algorithms for distributed inference and control over a network of heterogeneous sensors and weapons connected by a communication network. The approach will be evaluated within CleverSet Modeler, CleverSet's relational Bayesian modeling environment using CleverSet's patent-pending synthetic variable language.

Clinical Data

Biotechnology company Clinical Data (no SBIR) said Monday that it has agreed to sell its diagnostic business to Transgenomic (Omaha, NE; $200K SBIR) for at least $15.4 million. [Boston Globe, Nov 30, 10]

CloudMade (Menlo Park, CA)

Intel is investing about $26 million in six mobile technology startups ... CloudMade (Menlo Park, CA) startup that provides tools to developers of location-based applications. ... InVisage Technologies (Menlo Park, CA) startup that is developing a custom semiconductor material, replacing silicon, for image sensors ... Beijing-based Borqs, New York-based Kaltura, Toronto-based SecureKey Technologies and Reading, England-based VisionOSS Solutions [Frank Russell, San Jose Mercury News, Feb 14]

Cobalt Biofuels (Mountain View, CA)

Cobalt Technologies (Mountain View, CA; no SBIR) raised $20 million in its fourth round of venture funding. ... specializes in biobutanol [biofuel] made from bits of sugar cane or wood. [Steven Brown, San Francisco Business Times, May 2, 11]

Cobalt Biofuels a startup based in Mountain View, CA, has developed a cheap way to make butanol from biomass. Last week, the company announced that it had raised $25 million to expand from a small laboratory-scale production to a pilot-scale plant that can produce about 35,000 gallons of fuel per year. [MIT Tech Review, Oct 27, 08]

Cocrystal Discovery (Seattle, WA)

Cocrystal Discovery (Bothell, WA; no SBIR) drug discovery startup led by a couple of Icos veterans, has nailed down $7.5 million in new investment to develop a new kind of hepatitis C drug with Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical. ... led by chairman and CEO Gary Wilcox, who was previously executive vice president of operations at Bothell, WA-based Icos until that company was bought by Eli Lilly for $2.3 billion in January 2007. [Luke Timmerman, xconomy.com, Sep 15, 11]

Cocrystal Discovery (Seattle, WA: no SBIR) said it’s raised $10 million to help it develop new anti-viral drugs..... its focus is on the discovery and development of anti-viral compounds that target replication enzymes and will target hepatitis and influenza diseases. [Puget Sound Business Journal, Sep 19]

CoDa Therapeutics (San Diego, CA)

CoDa Therapeutics (San Diego, CA; no SBIR) said that it raised $19.2 million in a financing round to fund a large phase 2 clinical trial of its lead wound-care drug, Nexagon. ... a topical gel that inhibits the formation of so-called gap junction proteins that are created when tissue is damaged and damage surrounding healthy cells. By reducing protein production, the therapy helps to speed wound healing. [Keith Darce, signonsandiego.com, Apr 18, 11]

Codexis (Redwood City, CA)

Cleantech business Codexis (Redwood City, CA; no SBIR) bought some intellectual property from Maxygen for $20 million. .. won’t have to make royalty payments to Maxygen anymore ... Codexis licensed this technology from Maxygen when it was spun out of that company. Now Codexis can freely pursue biofuels and biocatalysts based on this technology, called “MolecularBreeding” by Maxygen. [SEF Brown, San Francisco Business Times, Oct 28, 10]

Codon Devices (Cambridge, MA

Another once-promising life sciences company has died. Codon Devices (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR), a five-year-old biotech working on ways to synthesize DNA and other genetic material, is quietly shutting down. ... after they failed to raise additional money .... Codon's failure is especially notable because it attracted so many big-name investors ..... In total, the company raised at least $31 million. Its founders included some star researchers [Todd Wallack, Boston Globe, Apr 3, 09]

Cognex

Cognex (no SBIR) up 19%, the maker of machine vision sensors that inspect factory product lines, posted third-quarter earnings that beat analysts' estimates.

Cognitive Code

A new company called Cognitive Code has built software that it believes will let everyday gadgets talk with humans. At the Techcrunch40 conference in San Francisco on Monday, the startup unveiled a developer's studio with a set of algorithms that convert strings of words into concepts and formulate a wordy response. [Kate Greene, MIT Tech Review, Sep 19]

Cohesive Technologies (Franklin, MA)

Thermo Fisher Scientific bought Cohesive Technologies (Franklin, MA) to boost its line of analysis products for science-related markets such as the pharmaceutical industry. One Phase 1 SBIR long ago.

ColdWatt (Austin, TX)

ColdWatt (Austin, TX) was created by a venture investment firm that struck an agreement with Rockwell Scientific to acquire some of its pioneering research on more efficient power supplies developed in a contract Rockwell had with the U.S. Navy. ... raised $31.5M in two rounds of venture capital. ...$6M in sales before its product is officially launched [Austin American-Statesman, Feb 26] It makes more efficient power supplies for servers.

Collagenex Pharmaceuticals

Galderma Laboratories, an affiliate of Suisse Galderma Pharma, acquired Collagenex Pharmaceuticals for $420M, 30% over its previous stock price. [Feb 26, 08]

Collegium Pharmaceutical (Cumberland, RI)

Collegium Pharmaceutical (Cumberland, RI; no SBIR) has taken in $1 million of a planned $2.5 million debt financing round, according to [SEC] filing ... develops and commercializes drug treatments of skin-related, respiratory and central nervous system disorders, according to the Collegium website. ... closed a $20 million Series D financing in July 2008 [Mass High Tech, Mar 9, 10]

Collegium Pharmaceutical (Cumberland, RI; no SBIR) reports that it has closed a $20 million Series D round of financing. ... founded in 2002, specializes in the development of proprietary, late-stage pharmaceutical products [Mass High Tech, Jul 15,08]

CoLucid Pharmaceuticals (Indianapolis, IN)

CoLucid Pharmaceuticals (Durham, NC; no SBIR) has raised $4 million in the third tranche of a $9.5 million targeted fundraising round, bringing the total raised so far to $7.5 million ...to fund Phase 3 trials of its main drug candidate, lasmiditan, a migraine treatment. [Monica Chen, TRIangle Business JournaL, Sep 1, 11]

CoLucid Pharmaceuticals (Indianapolis, IN; no SBIR) raised another $25 M in venture funding to help it develop a new migraine drug it licensed two years ago from Eli Lilly ... Series B financing that included all of its original venture firms -- a move that shows its backers believe the company is on the right track. [Indianapolis Star, Jul 1, 08]

CombiMatrix

CombiMatrix up 16% [May 26, 11]

CombiMatrix up 13% [Feb 28, 11]

CombiMatrix down 12% [Aug 13, 09]

CombiMatrix ($1M SBIR) Reinvents Itself From Lab Toolmaker to Cancer Diagnostics Player. tried for years to sell sophisticated genetic analysis instruments to laboratories, and essentially got overrun by big competitors like Santa Clara, CA-based Affymetrix and San Diego-based Illumina. ... after capturing a little more than 1 percent of the R&D market, decided to move on to the greener pastures. “We didn’t have the balance sheet to fight with them on price in the R&D market,” Kumar says. “But we have an advantage on diagnostics, and we’re establishing a beachhead before they turn their attention to the market.” [Luke Timmerman, xconomy.com, Jun 16, 09]

CombiMatrix down 15% [Mar 5, 09]

Combimatrix up 18% [Nov 28, 08]

Combimatrix up 20% [Oct 13, 08]

Combimatrix down 13% [Oct 9, 08]

Combimatrix down 27% [Oct 8, 08]

Combimatrix down 11% [Oct 6, 08]

CombiMatrix down 12% [Mar 10, 08]

CombiMatrix up 11% [Feb 13, 08] after winning $31M jury award.

Dirty bomb sniffer also from CombiMatrix, a winner of one Phase 2 SBIR in 2000 and a new $10M DOD contract (says Business Week, Mar 21, 05) for a computer chip product that sniffs 20 different threats (non-political). Delivery to the field by year's end (in the best of scenarios).

CombinatoRx (Cambridge, MA)

CombinatoRx (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) said it plans to layoff another 30 employees, just weeks after it said it was cutting 52 jobs. CombinatoRx said the combined cuts, amounting to 65 percent of its workforce, should enable the company to continue to operate for at least four more years without raising additional cash. [Boston Globe, Nov 20, 08]

Combinent BioMedical Systems (Lexington, MA)

Combinent BioMedical Systems (Lexington, MA; no SBIR) biopharmaceuticals company developing trans-vaginal drug-delivery technologies, reports it has raised $1 million of a planned $3 million round. [Galen Moore, Mass High Tech, Dec 30, 10]

Comfort Motion Technologies (Anderson,IN)

Comfort Motion Technologies (Anderson,IN; no SBIR), a software research and design company, said it has received a $1.085 million grant from the Indiana 21st Century Research and Technology Fund to develop software aimed at improving driver safety and comfort. [Indianapolis Star, Jan 17]

Commonwealth Biotechnologies

Commonwealth Biotechnologies up 31% [Apr 2, 08] after its unit Exelgen said it signed two drug discovery contracts with major pharmaceutical companies. [AP]

Compact Membrane Systems

Compellent Technologies (Eden Prairie, MN)

Who Needs Profits? An unprofitable network-storage company led a trio of initial public offerings of stock, with Compellent Technologies [Eden Prairie, MN; no SBIR] rising 79% on its first day. [Wall Street Journal, Oct 11]

Complete Genomics (Mountain View, CA)

a French scientist tells me he is moving his startup, Portable Genomics, to San Diego. ... based on the assumption that it will be possible in another year to completely sequence an individual human genome for less than $1,000—and within three years, for less than $300. This is the promise of the recent announcements coming out of Life Technologies, Illumina, and Complete Genomics, as the speed of genetic sequencing increases and costs plummet. [Bruce Bigelow, signonsandiego.com, Jan 14, 11]

Complete Genomics (Mountain View, CA; no SBIR) closed down 11%, from its IPO..... began operating in March 2006, provides outsourced genome sequencing services to labs and research centers. [Wall Street Journal, Nov 12, 10]

Computational Fluid Dynamics Research (Huntsville, AL)

CFD Research Growing A Growing Company Computational Fluid Dynamics Research (Huntsville, AL), a private graphic-simulation-technology business (with a decent website), is adding 25 employees by the end of the year and occupying 28,000 sqft of office space, says The Huntsville Times. An SBIR success story? Depends on your criteria. CFD has burned at least $12M of SBIR on projects that sound like what every university has dozens of professors doing, such as A UNIFIED CONSERVATIVE INTERFACE TREATMENT FOR ARBITRARILY OVERSET AND PATCHED MULTI-ZONE GRIDS IN COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS and AN INNOVATIVE AIR-TURBO ROCKER (ATR) SCRAMJET PROPULSION SYSTEM AND SUPPORTING DESIGN APPROACH. It has grown linearly from five employees in 1987 to 100 today, half with PhDs. If the average VC had invested $12M for half the company and got the average 42% return on $12M, the market cap of the company be something like $200M. Think CFD has such a value? Was it an efficient government investment in a capital venture program? If you are a simulation house, take heart - don't just read the words of the SBIR theory, study what government actually funds.

Conatus Pharmaceuticals (San Diego, CA)

Conatus Pharmaceuticals (San Diego, CA; no SBIR) said it raised $20 million from a group of venture capital funds to finance a Phase 2 clinical trial of the drug developer’s lead candidate, CTS-1027, which is being tested to treat hepatitis C. The effort increased the privately held company’s total fund raising to $53 million, ... a so-called virtual company, employing 11 workers and contracting with outside service providers for most of the activities involved in drug development. [Keith Darce, signonsandiego.com, Feb 11, 11]

Concert Pharmaceuticals (Lexington, MA)

Concert Pharmaceuticals (Lexington, MA; no SBIR) has quietly raised more than $95 M VC since its founding two years ago, ... trying to develop medicines for hot flashes for postmenopausal women and other conditions using a heavy version of hydrogen ... 40 employees [Boston Globe, Apr 30, 08]

Concordia Fibers (Coventry, RI)

Concordia Fibers (Coventry, RI; no SBIR) got another investment from the state-backed early-stage Slater Technology Fund. Founded in 1920 as a manufacturer of textiles, moved into the business of making synthetic materials for biomedical devices in 2003. [Mass High Tech, Aug 27]

Concurrent Technologies (Johnstown, PA)

It's Whom You Know. Concurrent Technologies began two decades ago doing metalworking research in Pennsylvania's struggling rust belt. In the years since, the Johnstown, Pa., company has become a federal contracting chameleon. It is an intelligence adviser, an environmental consultant and a software engineering specialist. It has trained mine-detecting dogs and managed religion-based initiatives. It oversees construction projects, organizes conferences and studies ways to use hydrogen for fuel in Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Missile-defense research is part of its portfolio. So is the development of special armor for combat vehicles in Iraq and "solid waste technology" in Florida. And it is a nonprofit charity. Behind the rise of Concurrent is Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee, [Robert O'Harrow, Washington Post, Nov 2]

Conductus (Sunnyvale, CA)

Cutting People Costs. Conductus says it is slicing salaries 15% for its remaining 66 employees.[Wall Street Journal, Oct 15] These are times when employees wish they worked for government R&D contractors where the government re-imburses the company for actual costs and salary cuts don't help company's finances. Conductus was once in that situation before casting its lot with the private markets. It had eight DOD Phase 2 SBIRs. mostly in the enthusiastic HTSC days of the early 90s.

Although it reported no news yesterday, Conductus shot up 36%. Last week it reported an $800K government contract extension, not the stuff of 36% rises.

The Shadow thinks Conductus is cloaked in overvaluation and should be considered a prime short candidate. Given Thursday's closing price of $17.13, the company has a market cap of about $197M. But over the last 12 months Conductus has only generated $6.8M in sales. That gives it a price/sales ratio of 29 times, which is not terrible, but underneath I smell trouble. Four quarters ago (June 1999), Conductus posted revenue of $5.6M, by far its greatest quarter ever, and a number the company has not come close to since then. Poring over the 10-Q for last year's June quarter, the surge in revenue came from a one-time licensing fee of $5 million from General Dynamics. ... In the March quarter, sales declined 74% year-over-year. Conductus blamed the sharp drop in sales on "decreases in revenues from government contracts and government product sales, which resulted from the completion of several contracts and delays in the anticipated start date of new contracts in 2000." .. Bottom Line: Conductus has had 25 straight quarters of losses. It will not make a dime this year. If the field trials go well, it could make some money in 2001, but that is sheer conjecture at this point. At $19, I think investors are giving Conductus too much credit. [Tom Byrne, Individual Investor, Jun 16

Superconductors Must Be Cool. Another 30% mover yesterday was Conductus ,a once hot prospect for high temp superconductors from the magic of 1987 scientific discoveries. At 24, though CDTS is 48 times its low of $0.50 last year. It is even now more than double its 1993 IPO price. The other SBIR supported HTSC companies did not follow the leader.

New Warmth in Cold Superconductor Stock(Dec 23) The morbid superconductor field came alive as Conductus shot up 35% on news that it has raised another $15M and said that its first urban TDMA field trials of its ClearSite® system expanded busy-hour capacity by 80% at a major cellular carrier's site in a highly-populated urban area. This improvement represents a potential revenue increase of $300,000 per year, resulting in a payback of the carrier's investment in its ClearSite system within approximately two months.

Conductus (SUNNYVALE, CA) got a $1.67M contract from Loral to develop low-loss tunable microwave devices for wireless and satellite communications. Conductus will use its specialty - thin-film tunable-dielectric materials and high-performance, high-temperature superconductor (HTS) filter technology. The idea is lower costs in manufacturing existing products and new wireless products with at least ten times today's performance. Who's really paying? DARPA's FAME (Frequency Agile Materials for Electronics) At least it's not SBIR, just the usual government R&D with the usual hype. [PRNewswire, Aug 18]

Conductus (Sunnyvale, CA) lost another $2.6M last quarter on revenues of only $1.1M. Superconducting is still a technology of the future; all three SC companies with SBIR support have done badly since going public in 1993. Which doesn't prevent DOD from continuously investing SBIR in it despite the theory that SBIR is for innovations with commercial potential, not just good science that may be useful someday. Then again, "commercial potential" has a flexible meaning in SBIR.

Conductus (Sunnyvale, CA) will close its Instrumentation and Systems Division in San Diego whose 20 people develop superconducting technologies for use in scientific instruments. Conductus President Shalvoy said the move was part of a strategic decision to focus on its markets in wireless communications and health care. It will sell some assets to Bruker Instruments where some workers will go. [San Diego Union Tribune, Aug 6] That SD unit started life with a BMDO SBIR as a spinoff of another bureauscience company and provided the product thrust that Sunnyvale lacked. It merged with Conductus just before Conductus went public at $10. Conductus is still losing a pile, $2.3M in the last quarter, while the stock languishes around $5.

ConforMIS (Burlington, MA)

A startup company is taking a customized approach to knee replacement surgery, creating knee implants on demand that exactly match a patient's anatomy. The company, ConforMIS (Burlington, MA; no SBIR) is bringing the technology of rapid prototyping, which converts a three-dimensional computer design into a physical object, into the field of orthopedics. [Courtney Humphries, MIT Tech Review, Jul 13] ... set to disclose today that it has raised $50 million from a consortium of private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds, one of the largest investments in a Massachusetts life sciences company this year. [Boston Globe, Jul 13, 09]

ConjuGon (Madison, WI)

ConjuGon (Madison, WI; $1.4M SBIR, founded 2002) developing products for treating stubborn bacterial infections has raised $1.9 million of equity funding, according to [SEC] filing ... attempting to raise a total of $4.75 million ... uses genetically modified bacteria to transfer DNA ecoded with killer genes into bacteria that cause infections in wounds. .... said in October it had been awarded a $2.4 million DOD grant [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 13]

ConjuGon (Madison WI; $1.5M SBIR) developing a unique anti-bacterial technology, has received a $1.2M grant from DOD to help fund development of its novel wound infection treatment product. ConjuGon's technology uses genetically modified, harmless bacteria to transfer DNA into the bacteria that are causing infection in a wound. It has been able to kill strains of bacteria, including E. coli and salmonella, that were resistant to all relevant antibiotics. The company is aiming to bring to market first a product for large wounds such as those caused by burns or traumatic injuries. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Dec 7] It has also raised at least $4M VC in the last two years.

Consonus Technologies (Cary NC)

Consonus Technologies,(Cary NC; no SBIR) formerly Strategic Technologies, filed an IPO; the 18-year-old business will use the $57M to accelerate its evolution from a consultant to a hands-on technology manager. [Raleigh News & Observer, May 9, 07]

Constellation Pharmaceuticals

Constellation Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) raised $15 million in a Series B extension financing, bringing its total second round of fund raising to $37 million, the company announced .... focused on discovering and developing drugs to treat cancer and inflammatory/immunologic disorders. [Julie Donnelly, Boston Business Journal, Jun 6, 11] To be focused is great, but anybody can be focused. Raising $37M takes more than the usual claims of focus in SBIR proposals. If Congress wants SBIR to hand money to companies that do more than just focus, it needs to get serious about its incentives to the agencies. Otherwise, SBIR is just another fair-share program in the political competition for government money.

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) today announced that it has awarded $1 million to each of three Boston-area biotech companies through its 2010 Biotech Investment Awards program: Constellation Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) Epizyme (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) and Karyopharm Therapeutics (Natick, MA; no SBIR) Since the inception of this MMRF program in 2006, $11 million has been committed to 11 biotech companies in multi-year, results-driven funding for the development of innovative treatments for patients with multiple myeloma. [press release, Jan 6, 11]

Genome-focused drug developer Constellation Pharmaceuticals (no SBIR). has closed on a $22 million Series B funding round ... pulled in $32 million in its Series A financing round, which closed in August [Mass High Tech, Jun 2, 10]

Convergen (Austin,TX)

Convergen LifeSciences (Austin, TX) announced a second new patent in as many months, but company officials say the latest discovery would broaden the applications for their experimental treatment for lung cancer. ... the resurrection of Introgen Therapeutics ($1.9M SBIR), a publicly traded company that went bankrupt in 2008 and is now operating on a $4.5 million state grant while it searches for private investors. [Laylan Copelin, Austin American Statesman, Jul 14, 11]

Public money, private secrets. Convergen LifeSciences led by a major campaign donor to Gov. Rick Perry has filed another lawsuit against Attorney General Greg Abbott over rulings that ordered the release of public records. The lawsuit filed Tuesday is the third that Convergen has filed since late January in state District Court in Travis County. The lawsuits involve requests by the Austin American-Statesman and The Dallas Morning News to obtain documents related to a $4.5 million state grant awarded to Convergen, which was created by David Nance. [Austin American Statesman, Mar 8, 11]

The ETF’s Regional Center of Innovation and Commercialization, which typically reviews grant applications as the initial step of the process, was reportedly skipped over in August before a 17-person statewide board approved a $4.5 million grant for Convergen (Austin, TX; no SBIR) Lifesciences Inc. Information about Convergen is scarce, and the company doesn’t operate a website. It was reportedly founded by biotech entrepreneur David Nance, who — along with his now-bankrupt company Introgen Therapeutics (Houston, TX; $1.6M SBIR). — contributed $80,000 to Perry’s camp in the past decade. [Austin Business Journal, Oct 22, 2010]

Convio (Austin,TX)

Convio (Austin,TX) an unprofitable software company that has racked up $46M in losses in its eight-year history, filed for an [IPO] ... sells software and services to help nonprofit organizations raise more money [Austin American-Statesman, Sep 2]

Cool Earth Solar (Livermore, CA)

Cool Earth Solar (Livermore, CA; no SBIR) insight was that if you coat only one half of a balloon, leaving the other transparent, the inner surface of the coated half will act as a concave mirror. Put a solar cell at the focus of that mirror and you have an inexpensive solar-energy collector.... the fuel (sunlight) is free. ... Mr Lamkin reckons his company will be able to sell electricity to California’s grid for 11 cents a kilowatt-hour, the state’s target price for renewable energy, while still turning a tidy profit. ... plans to open a 1-megawatt facility this summer. [The Economist, Mar 7, 09]

Cooligy

Cooligy claims a cooling method, out of Stanford's ME department, with common materials for a noiseless closed-loop active cooling system for CPUs, ASICS, graphics chips, and the large programmable gate arrays. The method was prototyped in cooperation with DARPA, but does not show as an SBIR project. The inventor professors sold the idea and went back to academia. Which brings up one of the false assumptions behind SBIR - that small companies are better at inventing technology. They are NOT better at inventing, but the good ones can do what academics and other inventors cannot do - be an agile entrepreneur in getting the thing into a market. SBIR agencies do just the opposite - they fund companies with average technical competence and and put little value on entrepreneuring. Oh sure, the companies all think they are hot stuff.

Corcept Therapeutics

Under congressional pressure, Stanford University is temporarily pulling a faculty member off a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant involving a company in which he owns millions of dollars in stock. The company, Corcept Therapeutics (no SBIR), is testing the drug mifepristone as a treatment for depression, and Alan Schatzberg is principal investigator on a multipart NIH grant that includes a mifepristone depression study. Although Stanford says Schatzberg had reported his stock and was not involved with the trial, university officials last week told NIH that they "can see how" the situation "may create an appearance of conflict of interest." [Science, Aug 8]

CoreStreet (Cambridge, MA)

CoreStreet Ltd. (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) got an investment from the CIA's venture arm, In-Q-Tel, to support the development of smart-card security technology, including electronic locks [Mass High Tech, Mar 25]

Coretek (Burlington, MA)

the Boston loyalists are being dispersed, and with them, what most compound semi industry insiders regard as the best tunable VCSEL technology in the field. ... The CoreTek VCSEL had also scored several design wins based on its full Telecordia qualification, fortified with multiple tens of thousands of hours of lifetime testing. Thus the formal excuse from Nortel that CoreTek's tunable VCSEL was "too advanced for the market" simply doesn't make sense, [the full story of the suspected conspiracy]

From $1.5B to an empty factory. Nortel Networks is closing its CoreTek unit that it bought for a nominal $1.5B in inflated stock. At the time it was a dream story for SBIR of a shoe-string start-up. But even the best best new technology goes at least into hibernation when the market over-expands. About 160 employees in the Boston area will need a new home.

While CoreTek folds, Picolight expands to 140 employees and gets another round of venture finance. Picolight is the creation of Jack Jewell, who was the technical founder of Vixel, and an early user of BMDO SBIR to get started. In those 1990s, BMDO believed in the power of starting innovation. For some stories of what happened to those lucky companies, stay tuned to BMDO's Technology Update where they at least still talk about the successes from earlier investments.

Tunable lasers trip the light fantastic A year ago, Nortel Networks spent $1.4B to buy a little-known company called CoreTek which planned to make an even more obscure product: tunable lasers. Since its brief emergence from obscurity to telecom start-up jackpot of the week, CoreTek has been growing from 100 to 340 people. It has developed a fantastically complex 14-step robotic assembly line in nearby Billerica to begin mass production of a device that promises to slash the already plunging costs of optical bandwidth, which in turn will make phone calls and Internet access steadily cheaper. ... CoreTek and Nortel are optimistic that they are in one of the bright spots of the optical world today. ''In this business, we are still growing,'' said Parviz Tayebati, the founder of CoreTek. ... CoreTek has developed a laser transmitting device that can be ''tuned'' to any of 60 to 80 different channels, so a single device can be used to replace dozens of different ones in the optical switches made by Nortel, Lucent Technologies, Sycamore Networks and other companies. ... In CoreTek's case, the tuning is accomplished inside each package by microscopic machinery that can slide a lens smaller than the letter `O' by increments of 1 millionth of a centimeter and lock it in place - roughly comparable to turning a prism to change the color of sunlight coming out. .... Their new 300,000-ft2 production site features a robotic assembly line that builds the laser packages in 14 steps that take about 60 minutes from beginning to end, a time CoreTek hopes to cut dramatically as it smooths out production processes. Down the road, Nortel has plans of spinning off CoreTek and three other component and microelectronic units in Canada and England as a separate company. [Peter Howe, Boston Globe, Mar 30] BMDO SBIR can take a lot of credit for getting CoreTek into business when Tayebati left Foster-Miller to make technology that sells.

Nortel to Expand CoreTek
(Jul 26) Having bought CoreTek for $1.4B, Nortel will now expand the plant as part of a nearly $2B expansion in Massachusetts. The world leader in the red-hot optical networking market will build two major facilities in Wilmington and Billerica and hire about 1,800 workers to staff them. The plants are part of a massive worldwide expansion by Nortel, aimed at locking down its lead in the market for systems that use pulses of light to transmit information much faster than traditional copper wires. Chahram Bolouri, president of global operations for Nortel, said the company will build a 100,000-square-foot addition at the CoreTek plant, which will employ 775 people. CoreTek manufactures tunable lasers capable of sending multiple frequencies along the same fiber. [Boston Globe, Jul 25] BMDO SBIR got CoreTek started.

CoreTek Bought for $1.4B
(Mar 22) CoreTek (Wilmington, MA) agreed to be bought by Nortel Networks for up to US$1.43B in Nortel Networks common shares if and when CoreTek meets certain milestones. Nortel says that CoreTek's tunable lasers and other next-generation tunable optical components will further strengthen Nortel Networks first-mover advantage in delivering aflexible, high-performance all-optical Internet CoreTek got started with a Phase 2 SBIR from BMDO in 1995 after founder Parviz Tayebati bounded out of SBIR-Champ Foster-Miller. It now has 120 employees and still without sales. The VCs who put in $26M last year will be rejoicing at an exit strategy that does not include the rigors of going public. SBIR economic nationalists can moan over the purchase of an SBIR firm by a foreign company. An Iranian got USG money to start a company that he sold to a Canadian firm. Grrrr! On the other hand if the USG had taken a proportional equity for those first SBIR's, say 20%, the Treasury would have $300M (to pay BMDO to run more anti-missile tests before the big political wrangle starts later this year). What does Parviz get out of it for the loss of his control of HIS company, his dream machine, as many SBIR proposers moan that they need government succor to avoid? Since he did only two rounds of financing, he probably has at least 20% left which would be a cool $300M.

If YOU want to follow Parviz's track to fame and fortune, start with a BMDO SBIR in your company's infancy. Bring an idea for a disruptive innovation. Round up some real capitalists for Phase 2 so you look like an entrepreneur instead of just another scientist. Tell a story of building an explosive business if you can just prove that the idea really works. Show a growing private investment as the technical uncertainties melt away within, say, $1-2M. A bunch have done it, and more keep coming through BMDO's door every week. Not one, though, is without scars of battle over what is a real business prospect and what is just wishful thinking.

Need a role model? Try CoreTek (Wilmington, MA). Parviz Tayebati leaped out of doing SBIRs for SBIR gathering champ Foster-Miller to start his own company in photonics. He got a Phase 2 SBIR from BMDO to get started in 1995. Last year he closed two rounds of VC finance, $6M early and then $20M in October to go into the goal of high-tech companies - manufacturing. His product? That optical correlator he got the first Phase 2 for? Oh no, too busy to tinker with that any more. MEMS for WDM is in demand as fibercom markets blossom. Need a commercialization strategy model for a decent SBIR proposal - no, not the usual blather - try Parviz's market opportunities page.

CoreTek Prints a Future (Oct 9) CoreTek's CEO Parviz Tayebati says that the new optical correlator funded by BMDO as CoreTek's first SBIR is working like a charm, recognizing all the fingerprints fed it with no errors at 16000 prints/sec. After two trade shows CoreTek has three significant customers ($$, $$$, and $$$$) and has started pursuing "the big boys who provide systems to the FBI etc". (Maybe someday Parviz can mimic Roger Little's saying how talk at trade shows leads to a 10% stock price increase.) The fingerprint reading idea gets more credence from Ken Gosselin's Hartford Courant story (Oct 8) on Connecticut's preventing $9M in potential welfare fraud in the last year using digital fingerprint scanners, and on MasterCard's testing fingerprint scanning, to cut 80% of fraudulent charges. One such system by Identicator Technology Corp (San Bruno, CA) assigns a secure numerical code to a person's fingerprint describing features such as the location of ends of selected fingerprint ridges. The code is loaded onto a computer chip embedded in a credit card. Since such business expansion can often conflict with far-out innovation R&D, Parviz has spun off QuantaImage Corp which, under a small private investment and licenses from CoreTek, will focus only on imaging applications. Thus investors can have a clearer picture of CoreTek's businesses.
CoreTek got a big step up with BMDO's SBIR. BUT, Parviz would have made it anyway. His success should be grabbed by the SBIR advocates to promote their agenda of keeping the program alive. The few stories like CoreTek may provide just enough success as cover story for most of the money producing little quantifiable return on investment.

CoreTek's New SLM
(Sep 18) The two new spatial light modulators of CoreTek (Burlington, MA) will cost $1500-3000 and compete directly with Hughes Danbury, says Laser Focus World, Sep97] Founder Parviz Tayebati says the gadgets recognize Coretek's employees by their fingerprints (and probably their enthusiasm) and will be publicly shown next week at Technology 2007. The gadgets arose from CoreTek's first SBIR, from BMDO. Parviz jumped out of the SBIR champ Foster-Miller and is having the problem that all successful growing start-ups are having these days - hiring the right people.

Corgenix Medical (Broomfield, CO)

Corgenix Medical (Broomfield, CO; no SBIR) developer and marketer of diagnostic test kits, has announced an expansion of the collaborative effort for developing test kits for viral hemorrhagic fever detection. The products are being produced under a grant awarded by NIH and were developed by Corgenix in collaboration with Tulane University, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, BioFactura (Rockville, MD; $800K SBIR), Autoimmune Technologies (New Orleans, LA; $1M SBIR), and various partners in West Africa. [Denver Post, Jul 16, 08]

Corindus (Natick, MA)

Vascular robotic systems developer Corindus (Natick, MA; no SBIR) pulled in $4.68 million of a planned $10 million equity financing. ... designs, develops and markets remote control systems for cardiology operations. [Mass High Tech, Nov 20, 09]

Corixa (Seattle, WA)

Pfizer, the world's largest drug company, has agreed to pay up to $632 million to Theraclone Sciences (Seattle, WA; no SBIR) in a research collaboration on antibody drugs for cancer and infectious disease, the companies said ... The company is led by Steven Gillis, a scientist and venture capitalist who previously co-founded Seattle biotechnology companies Immunex (Seattle, WA; three Phase I SBIRs) and Corixa (Seattle, WA; $4M SBIR). Amgen bought Immunex for about $16 billion in 2002; GlaxoSmithKline bought Corixa for about $300 million in 2005. [Duff Wilson, New York Times, Jan 19, 11] SBIR advocates should calculate the ROI to the government, and the economy, if the government had taken an appropriate equity share for its capital investment. And then insist that future SBIR be managed in such a way to push the investments to such entrepreneurs instead of the life-style companies with no taste for ROI.

Cornerstone Research (Dayton, OH)

Cornerstone Therapeutics (Cary, NC; no SBIR) is expanding its portfolio of drugs and strengthening its balance sheet with a deal that gives an Italian pharmaceutical company a majority ownership stake. ... will receive $15.5 million in cash and the exclusive U.S. rights to Curosurf, a treatment for respiratory distress syndrome, a lung ailment that afflicts premature infants. ... formed in October when Critical Therapeutics (no SBIR) and Cornerstone BioPharma (no SBIR) merged. [Raleigh News & Observer, May 8, 09] not to be confused with Cornerstone Research (Dayton OH; 60 SBIR projects for something like $25M)

Cornerstone Therapeutics (Cary, NC)

A bankruptcy court judge has approved a deal for Cornerstone Therapeutics to acquire the commercial rights to the antibiotic Factive from bankrupt Oscient Pharmaceuticals for $5M cash. [Mass High Tech, Sep 4, 09]

Coronado Biosciences (Seattle, WA)

Coronado Biosciences (Seattle, WA; no SBIR) developer of cancer drugs, has raised $7 million in equity and options, according to [SEC] filing [Luke Timmerman, xconomy.com/seattle, May 10, 10]

Correx (Waltham, MA)

Correx (Waltham, MA; no SBIR) has landed $2.8 million of a planned $4 million financing round ... first raised $4.5 million in 2008 ... makes a device for aortic valve bypass, which enables surgeons to access the heart through a small cut between the ribs and attach a prosthetic valve between the left ventricle of the heart and the aorta [Mass High Tech, Feb 22, 11]

Corridor Pharmaceuticals

Immune Control (West Conshohocken, PA; no SBIR) and Arginetix (Baltimore, MD; no SBIR) said they are merging to form Corridor Pharmaceuticals Inc., which will develop novel treatments for vascular diseases with an initial focus on pulmonary arterial hypertension. In conjunction with the merger, Corridor Pharmaceuticals completed a $15 million Series A financing involving previous investors in the two companies. [John George, Philadelphia Business Journal, Jun 17, 10]

Cougar Biotechnology

Some 60% of new cancer drugs are developed in the labs of biotech firms, many of them startups. But this has been a year of living miserably for the biotech industry, and hundreds of these cancer-focused companies are close to folding as investors flee, stock prices sink to near-nothing, and operating cash dwindles. ... Cougar Biotechnology (no SBIR) no longer needs to worry—Johnson & Johnson announced on May 21 that it would pay close to $1 billion for the six-year-old Los Angeles company. The biotech is in the final stages of testing a drug, Abiraterone, that has shown promise against late-stage prostate cancer. OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals (no SBIR) stock hit new highs five days in a row in late May, going from $4 a share in April to $14, in anticipation of the ASCO presentation on its own prostate cancer drug, OGX-11. In early trials the drug appeared to help patients live longer, but OncoGenex had only $9.4 million in cash at the end of March, not enough to fund the next round of clinical trials. Biotech analysts say ASCO gives the company a good chance to find a financing deal. [Business Week, Jun 8]

Coulbourn Instruments (Whitehall, PA)

Medical instruments maker Harvard Bioscience (Holliston, MA; $800K SBIR) said it has acquired Coulbourn Instruments (Whitehall, PA; no SBIR) , a private company that makes lab equipment for assessing learning and memory. Harvard Bioscience estimates the total market for the instruments Coulbourn produces is between $40 million and $50 million. And it expects the company to add about $4 million in annual revenue. [AP, Aug 23, 10]

Creare (Hanover, NH)

Loving Experience. Scientific Systems (Woburn,MA; $50M+ SBIR) won a NASA JPL Phase 2 SBIR for Distributed Formation State Estimation Algorithms Under Resource and Multi-Tasking Constraints. Creare (Hanover NH; $120M SBIR) won four NASA JPL Phase 2 SBIRs. Intelligent Automation (Rockville MD; $100M SBIR) won three NASA JPL Phase 2 SBIRs. Physical Optics (Torrance, CA; $200M SBIR) won one NASA JPL Phase 2 SBIR. Radiation Monitoring Devices (Watertown, MA; $90M SBIR) won one NASA JPL Phase 2 SBIR. Etc, etc, etc. A zillion start-ups all over America got letters saying there was not enough money to nurture their ideas.

Creare (Hanover, NH) has blossomed from its SBIR days to a company of 1100 people. Says its website, Creare began with five people in 1961, and the family of companies tracing their origins to Creare now employs over 1100. Our original roots were in fluid dynamics. We served the turbomachinery and nuclear industries heavily during the 1960s and 1970s. The 1980s saw a branching into the energy, aerospace, cryogenics, and materials processing industries, among others. The 1990s brought growth in software, controls, and biomedical applications. Today, Creare remains an employee-owned engineering services company, committed to solving problems for our clients and commercializing our own technologies through licensing or the creation of independent product companies. The growth and vitality of Creare and the family of companies that trace their origins to us is compelling evidence of our success. Current members of the Creare family include:
Hypertherm manufactures plasma arc cutting equipment. Founded 1968.
Creonics (now a part of the Allen-Bradley division of Rockwell International) manufactures motion control systems for a wide variety of industrial processes. Founded 1982.
Spectra manufactures components and systems for ink jet computer printers. Founded 1984.
Fluent develops, markets, and licenses CFD software. Founded 1988.
Mikros provides precision micromachining services. Founded in 1991.
SBA reports 197 SBIR projects over 15 years with about half going into Phase 2. From rough calculations, that would make a government contribution (for which the government presumably got its intended R&D value) of $70M.

Creative Hybrid Solutions (Somewhere, NC)

Creative Hybrid Solutions (Somewhere, NC; no SBIR) say the magnets can improve auto fuel performance by more than 30%. ... a bold claim for a technology dismissed for years as snake oil. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission in 2004 sued another magnet marketer for making "bogus claims" on fuel performance. After testing magnets with similar claims, Popular Mechanics magazine also dismissed them as duds. [Raleigh News & Observer, Oct 18, 08] Quick, think of a credible mechanism. A systematic road test, beyond unverifiable anecdotes supplied by the company, will at least come from Raleigh and Wake schools tests to evaluate the potential for installing magnets on 963 fleet vehicles in their town.

Cree (born Cree Research) (Durham, NC)

Cree is deepening its commitment to its new outpost in Wisconsin, where it plans to invest $24.5 million and add 469 full-time jobs over the next four years. ... expanding its Ruud Lighting manufacturing plant in Sturtevant, Wisc. In August Cree acquired Ruud, which gets a majority of its revenue from outdoor LED lights, in a deal valued at $525 million. [Raleigh News & Observer, Nov 16, 11]

Cree up 10% [Nov 4, 11]

Cree down 12% [Oct 19, 11] in the wake of projections that disappointed analysts. .... Cree employs about 5,800 people worldwide [Raleigh News & Observer, Oct 20]

Cree down 10% [Oct 17, 11]

Cree down 10% [Oct 3, 11]

The government wished to display LED lighting on a grand scale for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. ... Cree dug in to the complex project and worked diligently with the team to light up the [Water Cube] in very short order. Then, the minister responsible for the Bird's Nest saw the Water Cube's light. Now he wanted his venue to use LEDs, providing Cree yet another monumental opportunity to shine. In the end, Cree's LEDs were also used in the building used by journalists covering the Olympics and the opening ceremony. Every manufacturer that Cree cared about knew about Cree before the Olympics were over. From once-negligible revenues in China, Cree now has 36 percent of its total revenue from China. [Grace Wei-Tze Ueng, Raleigh News & Observer, Oct 2, 11]

Cree down 10% [Aug 18, 11]

Cree made a $525 million acquisition of Ruud Lighting ... gives Cree outdoor LED lighting fixtures to complement its own indoor lights [Raleigh News & Observer, Aug 18, 11]

Cree up 15% [Aug 10, 11] on a big down-market day

Cree has launched its first products that are competitively priced with their fluorescent counterparts. ... Until now Cree's LED lights were cheaper in the long run because they lasted longer and were more energy-efficient, but their initial price was higher. [David Ranii, Raleigh News & Observer, Apr 27, 11]

Cree down 12% [Mar 23, 11] second consecutive quarter at less than Wall Street expectations [Raleigh News & Observer]

Cree down 14% [Jan 19, 11]

Now even the lights are cheaper. Cree’s energy-efficient LED lights soon will illuminate all dining rooms and restrooms at restaurant chain Denny’s Corp.’s new and renovated locations. [Triangle Business Journal, Jan 10, 11]

Cree up 10% [Nov 24, 10]

Cree's booming LED lighting business is just gaining momentum, [said CEO Swoboda] ... LED lights control about 4 percent of the $108 billion annual market for lights and lighting fixtures worldwide ... "That means 96 percent of the opportunity is still in front of us," he said. "We have to continue to innovate, drive adoption and lead the market." [Alan Wolf, Raleigh News & Observer, Oct 27, 10]

Cree fell as much as 10% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company reported disappointing quarterly results. Investors were dismayed even though the Durham company's revenue jumped 59 percent in the quarter [Raleigh News & Observer, Oct 20, 10]

Cree whose rapid growth has made it a darling of politicians, is expanding for the second time in a year. After flirting with China and Malaysia, Cree executives said Monday that the company plans a $135 million expansion that would create an estimated 244 local jobs over the next two years. The company will receive more than $4 million in state and local incentives if it meets hiring and investment goals. [David Bracken, Raleigh News & Observer, Sep 21, 10]

Cree employees are building a showcase for the company's LED lights with a philanthropic twist: It's a Habitat for Humanity house. All the light fixtures in the house they're helping to construct in Durham will feature Cree light-emitting diodes. [David Ranii, Raleigh News & Observer, Aug 28, 10]

Cree down 13% [Aug 11, 10]

Cree continues to post results that are beyond the reach of most companies. ... Net income totaled $52.8 million, five times the $9.7 million of a year ago. Not good enough! Cree shares fell as much as 10 percent in after-hours trading. [David Ranii, Raleigh News & Observer, Aug 11, 10]

Cree and ABB, the Cary-based heavy electrical equipment maker, won $7.9 million in [Energy stimulus] grants to develop miniature components and to advance energy-storage technology. Cree employs 4,500 people worldwide [John Murawski, Raleigh News & Observer, Jul 13, 10] Cree should be the poster child for SBIR. Four guys spun out of NC State U and got about 20% of their starting capital from SBIR (BMDO and ONR). If the government had taken equity, its ROI would be fantastic. If and when Congress ever takes an interest in SBIR as an economic growth program, instead of a political handout program, it might look at some variation of ROI calculation as a figure-of-merit for program evaluation overall and in individual agencies.

Two rivals in the rapidly expanding LED lighting sector -- Cree [up 8%] and electronics giant Philips -- announced that they have agreed to an intellectual property deal that they say will accelerate the market's growth. The two companies have agreed to cross-license a broad range of patents related to their LED businesses. [David Ranii, Raleigh News & Observer, Jul 7, 10]

Cree scored a coup close to home this week. The City of Durham announced it will join Cree's LED City program and add 573 LED lighting fixtures in three parking garages. Cree started the program in early 2007 with Raleigh as the first participant. The program has expanded to cities across the country and around the world. [Alan Wolf, Raleigh News & Observer, May 21]

Add the hallowed halls of Congress to places where Cree's LED lights are being installed. ... the cafeteria in Washington's Rayburn House Office Building. ....U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a North Carolina Democrat, took partial credit for the news [Raleigh News & Observer, Apr 22, 10]

Cree up 10% [Apr 5, 10]

Vice President Joe Biden arrived in the Triangle on Thursday and headed straight for the headquarters of a Durham company that has become a symbol of the Obama administration's economic hopes. ... Biden praised LED maker Cree's energy-efficient lights as exactly the kind of products that the country needs to design, manufacture and export. [Raleigh News & Ombserver, Mar 19, 10]

Cree up 17% [Jan 20, 10]

Cree rose as much as 10% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company posted quarterly results that left analysts' expectations in the dust. [David Ranii, Raleigh News & Observer, Jan 20, 10]

Cree qualified for a $39 million federal tax credit under an Obama administration program for green energy manufacturing. [Raleigh News & Observer, Jan 9, 10]

This is the year that Cree's LED lights lit up a wing of the Pentagon, a new exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum -- and Wall Street. Shares of the Durham company, which makes LEDs and light fixtures that are becoming increasingly popular for energy-efficient interior and exterior lighting, more than tripled this year [David Ranii, Raleigh News & Observer, Dec 31, 09] Cree is a rare bright star in DOD's SBIR that provided Cree roughly 20% of its initial capital in 1990 and a total of $10M SBIR in the 1990s mostly for low-defect silicon carbide. Its year-end market cap $5.8B.

Cree which last month announced it plans to hire hundreds of workers at its Durham manufacturing plant - on Monday said that it is expanding in China to make more LEDs, increasingly used in energy-efficient lights. [Raleigh News & Observer, Nov 10, 09]

behemoth Walmart ... plans to install Cree's energy-efficient LED lamps in 650 stores. ... [Cree says its]TrueWhite technology makes "food and merchandise attractive." [Raleigh News & Observer, Nov 5, 09]

Cree up 11% [Oct 21, 09] company's fiscal first-quarter profit more than tripled on higher margins and revenue. The company also projected fiscal second-quarter earnings above analysts' expectations. [Wall Street Journal, Oct 22, 09]

High Five for Cree. Cree's shares jumped Friday [to] the highest price in five years. Cree, which makes light-emitting diodes, will benefit from the fast adoption of the tiny chips in televisions and lights, Blansett wrote in a report to investors. [Raleigh News & Observer, Oct 9, 09]

China's hunger for energy-efficient lights is so intense that Cree is boosting its local payroll by 575 workers. [Raleigh News & Observer, Oct 9, 09]

Cree intends to raise hundreds of millions of dollars by issuing 11 million shares of stock, according to a filing made Tuesday with the SEC. [Raleigh News & Observer,Sep 09, 09]

Much of that progress [in white LEDs] is coming from the current generation of white LEDs that use a blue LED in combination with a yellow phosphor to produce white light. In April, Cree reported that its latest commercial white LED bulb puts out an impressive 132 lumens of light per watt of electricity. [Robert Service, Science, Aug 14]

Cree fiscal fourth-quarter profit rose 15% on higher margins and sales for the semiconductor and light-emitting-diode, or LED, lighting company. [Wall Street Journal, Aug 13, 09]

Chuck Swoboda, CEO of Cree, visited the White House on Thursday and shared his company's success story with President Obama. [Raleigh News & Observer, Jul 3, 09]

Cree now expects revenue of $143 million to $150 million for the quarter ending June 28, above analysts' expectations and more than the company's earlier prediction [Raleigh News 7 Observer, May 27, 09]

Two of the Triangle's most successful home-grown technology companies -- Cree and Red Hat -- are the subject of takeover speculation. No wonder. Both are tantalizing targets because they are performing strongly in the recession. More important, they appear to have bright futures. Larger companies seeking new growth engines see dollar signs ... Takeover speculation about both companies has surfaced many times in the past without coming to fruition. [David Ranii, Raleigh News & Observer, Apr 3, 09]

Cree up 10% [Mar 18, 09]

Cree made a deal to supply chips to one of the world's largest makers of liquid-crystal displays. LG Display Co. agreed to buy the chips to make backlights used in flat-panel screens. [Raleigh News & Observer, Jan 29, 08]

Cree up 14% [Jan 21, 09] fiscal second-quarter net income jumped 62% on strong sales of light-emitting diode products, helping results beat the company's forecast. [Wall Street Journal, Jan 22]

Cree up 10% [Jan 6, 09]

Cree up 11% [Dec 8, 08]

Cree down 11% [Dec 4, 08]

Cree up 10% [Oct 28, 08]

Cree down 11% [Oct 21, 08]

Cree down 15% [Sep 29, 08]

Cree up 11% [Sep 19, 08]

Cree up 14% [Sep 18, 08]

Cree up 16% [Aug 13, 08] on healthy profits.

Cree LEDs are stars of show .... Tiny chips made in Durham NC will light up the Beijing Olympics. ...an estimated 4 billion people worldwide will watch dazzling, computerized light shows centered partly around the iconic Bird's Nest and Water Cube buildings.... lights were built using more than 750,000 red, blue and green LED chips made at Cree's factory in Durham In addition, Cree LEDs will illuminate massive video boards in Beijing and TV kiosks throughout the Olympics complex. ... It could aid a broader push by Cree, founded by N.C. State alumni 21 years ago, to capture more of the market for energy efficient lighting. Five years ago, Cree's light-emitting diodes were mostly used to illuminate cell phones, signs, car dashboards and other electronics. Now the company's LEDs can be found in parking-garage lights in Raleigh, high-end homes in Durham, streetlights in Anchorage and office lights across Asia. ... The Olympics gig started for Cree when a Chinese contractor bidding to build the National Aquatics Center asked for Cree's help. Once the company won that contract last year, other contractors started calling....About half of the company's 2,600 worldwide work force is in Durham, where Cree builds chips 24 hours a day, seven days a week....Cree last year bought a Chinese lighting company to expand its foothold in that country. While Cree has sales, marketing and research staff in China, it still makes its chips only in Durham. ... Even as sales of its lighting products climb, demand for LEDs used in cell phones and other electronics has slowed, hurting Cree's profit. The company's stock is down about 30% in the past year. [Alan Wolf, Raleigh News&Observer, Aug 8, 08] The premium SBIR story if you measure the economic impact obtained from a couple of million dollars as about 20% of Cree's starting capital. The same ROI calculation that a real VC would make. If the cheerleaders want to make an economic argument for SBIR, they have to use some realistic ROI criteria. Otherwise, it's just jobs for the boys.

Cree down 10% [Aug 1, 08]

Cree down 17% [Apr 22, 08] on disappointing outlook.

Cree reported surging sales [Apr 22, 08] that beat Wall Street expectations but failed to brighten the bottom line. [Raleigh News & Observer]

Of the 15 game-changing startups likely to upend existing industries - and spawn new entrepreneurial opportunities, two used SBIR - Cree and A123 Systems. Business 2.0 also named One Laptop Per Child, Desktop Factory, Renewable Energy Group, Zink, Vanu, Bloom Energy, PatientstLikeMe, Virgin Charter, MFG.com, Zipcar, Expensr, Raydiance, and Blinkx.

Cree is increasing its bet on the burgeoning market for energy-efficient lights [saying] it will buy LED Lighting Fixtures (Morrisville NC) for up to $100M+. LED Lighting is run by F. Neal Hunter, who 20 years ago co-founded Cree. ... Buying LED Lighting will add $1 M to Cree's revenue for the current quarter and $30M in revenue during the fiscal year that starts in June. Cree reported $394M in revenue in its last fiscal year. [Alan Wolf and David Ranii, Raleigh News&Observer, Feb 9, 08]

Austin is the latest city to endorse Cree's LED lighting movement. The Texas technology hub follows Raleigh, Toronto and Ann Arbor, Mich., in joining LED Cities, a partnership started by Cree to promote the use of energy-efficient light-emitting diodes by municipalities worldwide. [Raleigh News&Observer, Jan 31, 08]

Cree up 11% [Jan 23, 08] reported a surge in second-quarter sales Tuesday and raised its third-quarter forecast above analysts' estimates. With uses for its products multiplying, the Durham company said manufacturing investments made last year in Asia enabled it to meet rising demand. [Frank Norton, Raleigh News&Observer, Jan 23] US company, started with lots of help from SBIR, follows economic imperative to move its manufacturing to the lowest cost point.

Cree up 14% [Jan 16, 08] Motley Fool Jan 14, 08 sees Cree as a future monster stock. Its $2.3B market cap makes it one of the few SBIR's monster stocks where SBIR would have a large piece of a large equity if its investment had acquired a proportionate percent of the early venture capital.

Cree up 11% [Dec 26, 07]

Cree up 15% [Nov 26, 07] on the news that Genlyte, a large manufacturer of lighting fixtures, has agreed to be purchased by Philips for $2.7 B.

Cree is converting all the lights in its Durham headquarters and manufacturing plant to the energy-efficient LEDs that it designs and manufactures. [Raleigh News&Observer, Nov 2. 07]

Electric utility giant Duke Energy and Cree launched a project that evaluates the use of light-emitting diodes in widespread commercial purposes [bizjournals.com, Oct 15,07]

Cree announced release of a new 8-amp, Zero Recovery(r) rectifier that significantly increases power-supply efficiency in computer servers. The new CSD08060 Schottky diode extends Cree's leadership in rectifiers that save energy while boosting power-supply performance. [company press release Oct 12, 07]

Cree down 11% [Oct 3, 07] after an analyst said the company is likely to miss earnings estimates and that rumors of a buyout aren't true. [bizjournals.com]

Cree is trading at its 52-week high, a sign that rumors about the sale of the company continue to circulate Wall Street despite no deal being in place. [bizjournals.com, Sep 20, 07]

Cree surged on rumors ... could get bought by General Electric. ... Analysts have long speculated GE may try to gobble up Cree to get ahead in one fell swoop, rather than invest years in research and distribution partnering. ... up 54% so far this year. [Raleigh News & Observer, Sep 2]

Cree co-founder named one of '50 Who Matter Now' Lifelong problem solver John Edmond is close to meeting his greatest challenge: making clean, energy-efficient lights affordable to the masses. It's a problem Edmond has been working on for nearly 20 years, and one that is bringing the co-founder of Cree national attention. [Raleigh News & Observer, Jul 6]

Blue is Golden. Longtime [Cree] investors are no better off than they were in 2000. ... But, Andrew Huang, an analyst with American Technology Research in California, wrote in a recent report. "We believe in the coming years, Cree will return to its old highs." ... founded by N.C. State University engineers in 1987, has grown into a global corporation with annual sales approaching half a billion dollars. It employs 1,300 locally, about half its worldwide work force. It's in the midst of a $300 M manufacturing expansion at its Durham campus, aided by state incentives worth as much as $5.1 M. It's profitable, with little debt. [Frank Norton, Raleigh News & Observer, Jun 12, 07] Cree started with silicon carbide technology which was good for blue diodes and lasers. It became one of the best investments SBIR ever made by any honest economic standard for ROI. Would that the rest of SBIR could also stand an economic evaluation instead of the political blather coming from the advocates for yet another re-authorization without any reform. Whether pep talk about the stock price has any import? Who knows?

In bubbleland, Cree up 10% after an analyst said it could double in year. [June 1, 07]

Raleigh [NC] city officials said today they will expand a partnership with Cree to install possibly thousands of energy-efficient lights citywide ... The initiative, in which Cree deployed 141 light-emitting diodes, has shown to use 40% less energy than a standard lighting system [Raleigh News and Observer, Feb 12]

Cree will buy a Hong Kong company- COTCO Luminant Device - for about $200M. Cree also made a deal to supply LEDs to a Chinese light-fixture maker. Cree makes a superb example of just what SBIR was supposed to be designed to do. and should be doing, an early substantial boost from SBIR by SDIO and ONR. But Cree- quality start-ups are hard to find and SBIR money far exceeds the opportunities to invest in such start-ups. So, the SBIR advocates pretend that the nation actually doesn't invest enough in start-ups and the federal agencies go along with the game by putting the excess money into their favorite R&D efforts with little regard to any investment criteria. Cree fell 13% after lowering its estimates of sales. [Dec 7, 06] Cree makes one of the top SBIR stories since the ROI would be fantastic under any investment calculation.

Cree opened a new 230,000-square-foot plant that should help end the manufacturing logjam that recently has left Cree unable to meet customer demand for its light-emitting diode products, slicing sales and Cree's stock price (down by half since April). [Anne Krishnan, Raleigh News and Observer, Aug 9]

Cree took a 22% hit (7/13/06) after it cut its quarterly profit guess.

Cree agreed to acquire INTRINSIC Semiconductor Corp. for $46M. [Jun 06]

[LED] technology remained on the fringes of industry for decades. Nichia and Cree changed that in the 1990s by broadening the LED color palette, which previously had been limited to red, yellow and green. The breakthrough came in 1993, when Nichia, Toyoda Gosei (part-owned by Toyota Motor Co.) and, soon afterward, Cree conquered blue, marking the final step to creating combinations that would fill out the color spectrum, including white. Major manufacturers took notice. In 1999, GE formed GELcore, a venture with chip maker Emcore Corp., to get back into the LED business. [Evan Ramstad and Kathryn Kranhold, Wall Street Journal, Jun 8 Cree is one of SBIR's few great successes where early support of infant technology launched a revolution. White 60-watt incandescent light sources is the target color for Color Kinetics part of a $7 M round of DOE funding for the development of new LED-based solid-state lighting technologies. Other partners: GE, Osram, Kodak, and SRI. [Mass High Tech, Jun 8] DOE apparently doesn't believe in markets that know how to develop and sell lights once the technical hurdles are o'erleapt and the question is reduced to market economics. But then if you are a government guy, you can accept the idea that everything good can be done by government.

Cree rose15% after first-quarter earnings came in 20% above street consensus.

Cree says it will invest $100M in capital equipment in its FY06.

Cree got a five-year $20M cost share/technology investment government contract. to establish a domestic source to develop a manufacturing capability for Silicon Carbide Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit Devices for commercial applications and next generation military radar systems. [Sep 05]

Hit the Numbers or Dive. Cree got nailed 26% when it said that second quarter profit doubled and revenue rose 34%; BUT revenue still missed expectations.

Cree jumped (up) 12% when it reported record revenue and profits for the year. Revenue up 34% to $306M and profits up 66% to $58M..Its core product: ever brighter blue light that started with late-80s SBIR funding from SDIO and ONR when the founders exploited their SiC knowledge from their NC State grad schooling. A few million SBIR dollars later (SDIO would give bigger contracts for potentially explosive technology) they were launched into a 1993 IPO.

As long as its customers want LEDs, Sumitomo will buy $160M worth of them from Cree. CEO Chuck Swoboda, called it the largest purchase commitment in Cree’s history. Cree is one of those rare SBIR economic success stories where a little nursery money went a long way. In a separate development, Cree announced three more LED products for mobile appliances. [Thanks to MDA's Tech App folks for the stories.]

Two of the best SBIR companies, ever, made a deal. Cree will buy ATMI's gallium nitride business - intellectual property, fixed assets, and inventory - for some unspecified quantum of cash. Both companies got started in the 80s in the semiconductor business with a helpful dose of SBIR when Cree was a bunch of NC State grads and ATMI was four guys in a garage. Both went on the graduate to publicly held companies making healthy profits in a world where most SBIR companies can't (or won't) go nowhere. Both focused their SBIR requests on businesses they could turn into profit makers. They didn't apply for SBIR just because they could win; they knew about opportunity cost. [Mar 04]

Love the Markets? Learn to Compete. Nichia just reduced prices by 40% for white LEDs for wireless handsets ... although Cree's March quarter "may be tracking well, industry trends are unfavorable. [Michelle Rama, Dow Jones News Wire, Mar 4] Cree's stock price took a hit when international competition lowered the offered price on LEDs, the cream of Cree's market. Cree makes the chip portion of the LED for cell phones and then sells it to packagers that add the coatings and sell the finished product. If your wonderful technology makes a handsome profit and has any competitor, your pricing power is only as good as your monopoly position.

National Medal for Carter. Cal Carter was one of the 16 Presidential awardees of the National Medals of Science and Technology - an unheard of honor for an SBIR company. Cal helped found Cree which soon got about 20% of its starting capital (according to Cal) from SBIR (SDIO of course). Cree is one of the rare SBIR companies that has returned a decent profit for its venture investors after having gone public in 1993 and risen to a market cap of 1.5B even after its market cap peak five times that in 2000 when the dotcom bubble burst for infotech companies.

Making Money . Cree reported another doubled profit but some of it came from selling second-quality chips to low quality users. Although sales increased 36%, some analysts questioned the need to lower prices by about 10% to induce buyers for phones, car dashboards and other electronic devices. That was due to increased competition from rivals overseas and a new sales strategy. The company sold chips that didn't meet manufacturing standards at steep discounts to customers who wanted them anyway. It pulled down the average selling price. [Raleigh News and Observer, Oct 17]

Cree says it will sell 500M LED chips to OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH over the next 21 months. Of the many SBIR companies with actually new technology, Cree is one of the few making real money to support a PE ratio of 40. Still, it is down (and up) to a sixth of its bubble high.

Blood Feud at Cree. Spencer Ante (Business Week, Aug 11) describes the feud between the Hunter brothers over control and doings at Cree. The saga of Cree and the Hunter brothers is a cautionary tale of how family feuds can dim a company's promise. Since the lawsuit was filed, Cree's stock has tumbled by 39%, to around $14 a share, slicing $700 million off its market capitalization. Short-sellers are swarming: With 33% of its shares sold short, Cree has the second-largest short-interest ratio on the NASDAQ. At least 15 class actions have been filed against Cree, echoing many of the charges outlined in Eric's complaints. Even though, Cree could have a bright future. The LED market is soaring, and Cree is one of the leading players, along with Nichia, Toyoda Gosei, and Osram. Because LEDs generally use less power and last longer, many scientists believe that as costs come down over the next 10 to 20 years they could replace Thomas Edison's lightbulb and reinvent the $40B illumination market.

Sue Thy Brother. The Hunter brothers are having a family feud over Cree's business practices. Co-founder Eric Hunter is suing his brother Neal and Cree for $3 BILLION for securities violations, defamations, and personal threats. What's more the suit charges that third brother Jeff conspired to accept unlimited deliveries of Cree product to inflate sales. The company says that Eric has been whispering allegations for years. Whatta mess, and the news hit Cree stock 19% on Friday the 13th, and down 27% for the week. .

How disappointing - only a $10M profit for the quarter - and the source of a 13% drop in stock price for Cree. Turns out that although bottom-line profit was good, the top line was down. Kopin alos took a 15% hit but not for making only $10M.

Cree signed a $100M deal with Sumitomo for Cree's blue spectrum LED chip, the largest contract in Cree's history. Compound Semiconductor News April 7 also reports that CoreTek is back under the name Ahura in Wilmington, MA,, and that Picolight and IBM showed a new VCSEL-based standard in bandwidth density.

Cree's stock price has doubled in the last month on drumbeat of positive news (or at least non-negative). It settled a GaN dispute with Nichia by cross-licensing and in line with a general rise in semi-conductor stocks. Even Cypress was the top percentage gainer one day. It reported a $3.8M quarterly profit (subject to the usual accounting gyrations). Meanwhile ATMI, which is not reporting profits, gained about 50%. [Dec 02]

The Black Art of Digital Light . At Cree researchers made two breakthroughs last year that tripled the brightness of their LEDs, leapfrogging their main rival, Nichia of Japan. Just one thing: They don't really know how they did it. ..says CEO Charles Swoboda "There are theories, that's all. We know what works, but not how it works." Cree makes the LEDs that Color Kinetics and others use in lighting applications. .. The economic slowdown is behind Cree's latest breakthroughs. As orders fell off, Cree converted production lines into R&D lines and tripled its experimental batches. In nine months the brightness of Cree's chips leaped from 5 to 15 milliwatts--not bad, considering it took two years to go from 3 milliwatts to 5 milliwatts. Cree got a big break in 1997, when Volkswagen started using its LEDs in their dashboards. ... Cree's sales for fiscal 2002 (ended June 30) exceeded $150M, [Daniel Lyons, Forbes, Oct 14]

Cree won the biggest government contract in its history, a total of $26M from Air Force and Navy research organizations - a huge amount for such organizations which normally award small exploratory contracts. Cree is being awarded an $8.1 million cost-share contract to develop 4H-Silicon Carbide substrates with reduced micropipe density, develop a multi-water, horizontal hot-wall chemical vapor deposition susceptor and process for SiC epitaxial growth, and advance the state of the arts in 3" and 4" thick epiwafers suitable for microwave power device applications, develop processing technology and fabricate vertical Diffused Metal Oxide Semi-Conductor Field Effect Transitor devices and develop SiC pin devices. This contract contains options which, if exercised, will bring the total cumulative value of this contract to $10.76 million. Work will be performed in Durham, N.C., and is expected to be completed by December 2003. [Wall Street Journal, July 2]

Cree says its 405 nm, 3 mW blue laser diodes project a lifetime over 10,000 hours at room temperature. From sampling tests going back to December and customer evaluations, the company believes its blue laser diodes will satsify the new uniform standards for the next-generation optical disc format designed to succeed the DVD (digital versatile disc).CEO Swoboda said, ``This is one of the most significant achievements in the history of the company. Recently, Cree also trotted out XBright(TM) 505 nm and 525 nm green light-emitting diode (LED) devices.

Despite an economic slowdown and a slumping stock price, new product announcements have emerged from each of Cree's four primary divisions in recent months. New devices include a brighter light-emitting diode, or LED; a much-awaited blue laser that would allow DVDs to contain four times the data as today's discs; and a new radio-frequency transistor that will allow for more services on cell phones. "These are huge new markets," said Chuck Swoboda, Cree's president and chief executive. "It could really change the game." Started in 1987 by brothers Neil and Eric Hunter and three scientists from N.C. State University in one building in Durham, Cree has grown to a 12-building campus complete with bunker-like security, about 1,000 employees nationwide and a worldwide reputation within the semiconductor industry. [Carlene Hempel, Raleigh News & Observer, Jan 16]

Make Growing Profit, or Take Pain. Cree shares took a 23% hit when the company reported sharply lower earnings and gave a poor forecast for growth in the next two years. Profit was 8 cents a share, down from 18 cents, in the year-earlier period, but the street expected 9 cents a share.

Sell Cree, says Individual Investor because Iffy deal-making plus questionable growth prospects add up to a sell for the LED maker. Meanwhile, Cree rolled out a new MegaBright(TM) blue LED with triple brightness (increased two times), 10mW, of Cree's existing UltraBright(TM) LEDs and equal to the max brightness of competing sapphire-based LEds. Whom do you believe?

Even Cree, a money-making firm, gets pounded by lagging profits. Cree down 31% after poor earnings growth and resultant downgrades by three brokerages. Cree cit3ed slower demand from a softening economy - time for a tax break for LED buyers according the political talk. Forbes called Cree Dog of the Day. White-LED competitor Emcore was up 12% on a report that its order book was filling nicely.

Cree: During the last five years, this North Carolina firm has increased its earnings by an average of 100 percent annually. Cree makes semiconductor devices based on its silicon carbide technology. What does that mean? Well, Cree is a leader in the manufacture of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which illuminate the tiny screen on your cell phone, for example. Short-sellers have pounded this stock on the theory that Cree's products are becoming "commoditized," but that's still a theory. Meanwhile, it's easy to see the shining numbers on Cree's balance sheet. [James Glassman, "Time To Buy Small Caps? Consider These Five Great Techs", Tech Central Station, Mar 5]

Cree says it has demonstrated a near-UV/violet InGaN LED with a 32% quantum efficiency. This is the highest known external quantum efficiency publicly reported for an LED in the UV-to-blue and exceeds previous results demonstrated by Cree Lighting in July 2000 by 20%. The LED demonstrated emits at 390 nm and has a power output of 21 mW operating at 20 mA. LEDs in the UV and near UV spectrum are essential for making efficient solid state white light sources. The market is less impressed as Cree sells at 30% of its year-ago price although still at 50 times earnings which have been growing nicely.

High Tech to Commodity. dropped 12% when one Wall Street analyst recommended shorting the stock because Cree would have to drop the selling price of its main line of products. SBIR companies typically claim they will commercialize by grabbing the high-end momopoly markets and saying nothing about the inevitable fall in price as the market matures and competitors appear. The government pretends to believe the company's stories.

Cree justified its PE of 60 with a 125% increase in earnings per share for the quarter of $13.8M. That's 18 consecutive quarters of profit which let Cree pay back all its SBIR with $7M in income taxes for the quarter. Cree is one of the handful of companies that pay a return to the governmment for SBIR investment. For those interested in such economic measures of government investment, it's hard to come by since governmment doesn't much care about return. BMDO has about the only quantitative estimates of return which was a hypothetical 46% IRR for the companies that went public. Government could actually do some useful estimates by using just corporate taxes paid as the metric of return.

Cree teamed up with a leading Japanese company - Rohm to make and sell blueLEDs and semiconductor lasers by mid-2001. Rohm calims to be Japan's biggest specialised manufacturer of large-scale integration chips and aims for 20-30% market share of LEDs worth $400M.

A Blue Professor's Chair. Cree pledged $1.2M to the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) to endow the Cree Chair in Solid State Lighting and Displays whose occupant would do research in the field of gallium nitride-based materials and devices. Cree will not formally get any technology rights from any research done.

Brain Gain
(Oct 30) In a surprise move, Shuji Nakamura, the pioneer for Nichia Chemical Industries of the blue semiconductor laser based on gallium nitride technology, has joined the Japanese company’s arch rival Cree. The news comes at the same time as Cree announced that it had filed a lawsuit against Nakamura's former employer for patent infringement covering the growth of GaN structures. [Optics.org, Oct 27] Stand by for the usual lawsuits.

Meanwhile the announcement that the Republican show in Philadelphia is using Cree blue and green LEDs for its glitz coincided with a 13% drop in stock price. Less than compassionate conservatism on Wall Street?

Cree took a 10% dive when a mutual fund manager said, Its innovative technology essentially provided a solution in search of a problem.. That fund's biggest holding is SDL says worldlyinvestor.com .It is an earnings oriented growth fund with the sell idea that This fund's sell discipline is tough - the ``cockroach'' theory of earnings. just as where you see one cockroach you can bet there are thousands more you haven't seen. If a company posts even one quarter of disappointing earnings, the managers will sell off at least one-half of the fund's position and possibly sell the entire holding. Ant SBIR company yammering about IPO should have to discuss such philosophies of people likely to own their stock.

Cree Buys Nitres
(Apr 12) Since GaN goes well with SiC to make blue light, Cree bought an SBIR firm that specializaes in GaN, Nitres (Westlake Village, CA) for $2.1M worth of Cree shares at Cree's fluctuating share price. Standing by as proud parent of boith companies is BMDO's SBIR which was a big infant supporter of Cree in the late 80s and a four-time Phase 2 awarder to Nitres in the late-90s. The Cree press release sounds like Cree wants to compete with Emcore's white LED for solid-state lighting that has GE in its marketing corner. Over the past decade, Cree has had lots of chances to buy any of the many GaN firms that got lots of DOD SBIR money. Cree has had the soaring stock price for easy acquisitions. Picking Nitres may say that Cree has finally decided that GaN has reached the point of serious commercialization and out of the dreamy claims of the past decade by scientists wanting to work on GaN with government money.

Five years ago, you could have picked up Cree for $1.50 a share, adjusted for splits. A month ago, you could have bought Cree for about $80. Since then, the ride has been straight up. Cree shares closed at $160 Friday. ...Cree is extracting real profits from its products, which are based on the company's ever-improving silicon-carbide manufacturing processes. In the six months ended in December, Cree earned $10.4 million on revenue of nearly $44 million. That represented a 67 percent increase in sales over the same period in 1998, and a 100 percent increase in profit. When profits grow faster than revenue, that's a big deal. [Raleigh News & Pbserver, Feb 13] Wanna write a convincing SBIR proposal for an agency who cares about commercialization? Say, like BMDO. Study the Cree story and find parallels in your vision about how your market will develop? Don't just wave your hands with "a better noustrap" claim. Everybody does that.

CrazyFor Cree
(Feb 7) The big three: Cree, RedHat, and the power company. Investors are going crazy for Cree, boosting the stock price 47% since Monday and transforming the business into the Triangle's third-most-valuable public company with headquarters in the Triangle. Cree closed at $139 per share Thursday, a $19 jump from Wednesday. And that was after a $15 pop the previous day. At this time last year, the stock sold for about $23. The current stock price gives the company a market capitalization of $4.6B. Among Triangle public companies, only Carolina Power & Light and Red Hat are worth more. (And Red Hat is even newer and more speculative than Cree.).. . What's going on? It's no big secret, analysts say. Mostly, investors are beginning to see the potential of Cree products -- in particular the company's super-efficient silicon-carbide chip, which will make traffic lights, dashboards and cell-phone lights shine much longer than conventional lighting. The demand for Cree's stock spiked after Banc of America Securities predicted Tuesday that the company's share price would rise as high as $200 before the end of this year. [Karin Schill, Raleigh News & Obsewrver, Feb 4] What's also going on is a huge momentum in info-tech stocks of all sizes.

Meanwhile, Cree's blue LED competitor - Nichia - sued to stop Sumitomo from selling Cree LEDs in Japan. On patent grounds.

The seemingly bottomless demandfor the company's LEDs fuels its rapid expansion. Cree Research extended its expansion binge by announcing that it plans to spend $8 million to buy a new building across the street from its existing complex. The purchase plans come on top of last week's groundbreaking for a 125,000-square-foot expansion at its headquarters and manufacturing complex on Silicon Drive and Chin Page Road in Durham. Moreover, the semiconductor maker recently finished a 42,000-square-foot expansion of its manufacturing plant. The growth is being fueled by soaring demand for the company's light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, which has created a 12-month order backlog. Among the uses for LEDs are lighting car dashboards and serving as backlights for cellular phones. [Raleigh News & Observer, Dec 22]

Cree's New Wafer
(Oct 13) Cree Research gave Wall Street news it loves to hear - a way to boost production, allowing the company to trim costs and compete in new markets. Cree said it has spent nearly a year developing a new 4-inch wafer used to make single-crystal, silicon-carbide chips. ... Analysts said the wafer will allow Cree to enter more mainstream markets for electronics. "This basically quadruples the number of chips they can produce," said Terry O'Brien, of Cabell, Branch. "It substantially reduces the cost of wafers." And as costs go down, Cree will be able to compete with companies that use different technologies to make wafers. The news sent Cree's traditionally volatile stock up $2.50 to $39.50 a share. During the summer, Cree's stock price doubled in value, mostly because of good news and a higher profile on Wall Street after Cree raised $55.8 million in a secondary stock offering in February. Touted as a breakthrough, the new 4-inch wafer won't be available for commercial use anytime soon, said Fran Barsky, Cree's investor relations manager. ...Cree is the only company that can produce commercial quantities of silicon-carbide wafers, although giant companies such as Motorola, Westinghouse and Philips are experimenting with silicon-carbide transistors and chips made by Cree. [Raleigh News & Observer, Oct 12]

Cree Research (Durham, NC) announced that it is selling significantly less expensive silicon-carbide wafers in an effort to spur greater demand from scientific researchers. Cree said its new 2-inch wafers will sell for $495 apiece, compared with about $1,000 for what had been its least expensive wafers. Scientists are working with silicon-carbide wafers to develop new optoelectronic devices such as lasers. [Raleigh News & Observer, Oct 8]

Number 15 on Fortune's list
(Aug 26) #15 of 100 fastest growing companies is Cree Research. With 123% rise in earnings per share, 56% in revenue, and 72% in total return. That's per year for the past three years. Not bad for five guys from NC State in the late 80s who got some SBIR from SDIO (now BMDO) and ONR to supplement private capital (like the SBIR 1982 legislation said) to start a company to exploit a new idea in electronic grade silicon carbide. Note that even today, the Navy's foresight will not let it give Cree more than the standard SBIR amount per contract. BMDO will give the right amount, although BMDO gets to designate what is "right". Cree went public in 1993.

Sunny Results and a Cloud.
(Jul 30) Record revenue and earnings put Cree Research down in stock price as Herb Greenberg questioned C3's concept in TheStreet.com. Quarterly record revenue was $17.7M, a 53% gain over the previous year's quarter. Profit was $4.1M. For the fiscal year, Cree saw both record revenue of $60,050,000, up 41%and profit of $12.7M, nearly double. New SiC high brightness blue and green LEDs and the increased demand for standard brightness LEDs for general backlighting and other uses lit the way. Return to Index

Cree Splitting Again Cree Splitting Again
(Jul 15) Cree Research said it will split its stock two for one on July 26, the second such split since its 1993 IPO. The stock at $79 is 15 times its IPO price and didn't even budge when two Wall Street houses downgraded it from Strong Buy and a mere Buy presumably after its big recent runup to eight times its September 1998 price. The SBIR investors of 1988 sure look like they picked a winner. If BMDO had taken a proportional equity position at the time (which the government does not do) it would have about a $200M value, 200 times its investment. And the Republicans could plump for another tax cut while the Democrats look for another handout to the voting elderly.

Bright Blue-Cree Jump Bright Blue-Cree Jump
(May 19) Cree Research (Durham, NC) stock jumped 17% on news that that it has jacked up production of its brightest lighting products. That puts Cree 50% above its May 4 price and at a $700M market cap. The bright LEDs in blue and green are 300% brighter than earlier products. One customer, the new Audi TT sports coupe, uses Cree LEDs to illuminate its instrument cluster with white light. [facts from Raleigh News & Observer, May 19] Cree is the type of SBIR that government should focus on. Ten years ago Cree got started with $1M of BMDO/Navy SBIR to SUPPLEMENT its private capital. It knew then what it wanted to do and how to do it.

Cree Earnings Boom
(Apr 19) Cree Research, (Durham, NC) reported record revenue of $16M for the third, half again the same quarter last year. $14M was products Profit grew 92% to $3.4M from $1.8M. In February, the company sold 1.5M shares of common stock. For the nine month period, the company reported record revenue of $42M, a 37% rise. Cree's stock at 47 is almost five times its low last September. Return to Index

Land, Buy Land Flush with $55M from the secondary offering, Cree Research (Durham, NC) bought 80 acres near its plant and headquarters for future expansion. The Durham-based semiconductor maker paid about $19,000 an acre. Cree, which already has a 145K Sqft factory and a 35K sqft office building, says it plans to use the $55M to reduce debt, expand its facility and pay for research and development. Cree is developing a blue-light laser and producing silicone-carbide crystals that C3 uses to make its diamond-like moissanite gems. Note that IF the government had taken an equity position in Cree for its early SBIR, the taxpayer would today have about $150M worth of Cree stock for under $3M of SBIR. Even though the government doesn't do equity, such a hypothetical measure could be used to value the investment efficiency of SBIR. No, of course, neither the government managers nor the winningest companies want to see such a measure even considered.

Cree Raises $55M Cree Raises $55M
(Feb 22) Cree Research (Durham, NC) sold 1.5M shares for $60M for expansion of facilities, debt repayment, research and development and other general corporate purposes. The price to the public was $39.375 per share which is about 9 times the 1993 IPO price. Cree got a big starting boost from SDIO and Navy SBIRs in 1988 and should be the poster child for SBIR with its $600M market cap.

Cree Makes and Raises Money Cree Makes and Raises Money
(Jan 22) Cree Research (Durham, NC) filed to sell 1.3M shares which would raise $150M at today's stock price. The proceeds would go into the company for expansion of facilities, debt repayment, and R&D. Maybe it can share the development cost of more new technology with forward-looking government bureaus like BMDO. Cree also reported $2.9M profit for the quarter, up 94% on last year's quarter.

Cree Keeps Climbing Cree Kee