Companies K-O

Kala Pharmaceuticals (Waltham, MA)

Kala Pharmaceuticals (Waltham, MA; no SBIR), a stealthy biotech startup with MIT chemical engineering professor Robert Langer on its board of directors, has taken in $3 million in new funding [Mass High Tech, Nov 11, 10]

Karyopharm Therapeutics (Newton, MA)

Karyopharm Therapeutics (Newton, MA; no SBIR), a biotech startup, has bumped up its Series A round with an A2 tranche worth $10 million ... to expand its planned Phase 1 trial program of its oral selective inhibitors of nuclear export (SINE) platform for potential use against various cancers. [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Nov 2, 11]

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]

Stealthy pharmaceutical startup Karyopharm Therapeutics (Newton, MA; no SBIR) born out of the ashes of Epix Pharmaceuticals, has raised a $20 million Series A financing round [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Nov 3, 10]

KaZaK (Woburn, MA)

Plasan (Bennington, VT; no SBIR) ) that manufactures products for the auto and defense industries has bought a Massachusetts design company..... announced a deal to buy KaZaK (Woburn, MA; $40+M SBIR over 15 years). Plasan describes KaZaK as a leader in composite structures and low-cost, automated composite manufacturing. The Bennington Banner reports that Plasan CEO Dan Ziv says KaZaK will help Plasan boost its manufacturing capability. Plasan North America in Bennington produces armor for military vehicles. Plasan Carbon Composites makes auto parts. [AP, Jul 1, 11]

KC BioMediX (DeSoto, KS)

The Kansas Bioscience Authority announced four grants totaling $4.85 million to help companies in the state. KC BioMediX of De Soto, VasoGenix Pharmaceuticals of Lenexa , Ventria Bioscience of Junction City ($500K SBIR), MGP Ingredients (public) of Atchison. [Kansas City Business Journal, Jul 15, 08]

KDH Defense Systems (Johnstown PA)

KDH Defense Systems (Johnstown PA; no SBIR) makes Navy body armor and Army elbow pads in a converted bra factory, and Mr. Murtha asked for a $2 million earmark to help the company improve its bulletproof vests. Another earmark would provide $3 million for KDH to develop a “waterways threat detection system.” The company’s lobbying firm is KSA Consulting, which employed Mr. Murtha’s younger brother, Kit, until 2006. The firm has contributed $4,000 to Mr. Murtha’s campaign since 2005. [Marilyn Thompson and Ron Nixon, New York Times, Nov 4]

Keithley Instruments

Keithley Instruments fell 16%. The Cleveland maker of measurement technology for electronics manufacturers warned of a fiscal second-quarter sales shortfall, citing a reluctance among customers to spend on capital equipment. [Wall Street Journal, Apr 14]

Kensey-Nash

Kensey Nash down 15% [Feb 5, 10]

Kensey-Nash down 10% [Mar 5, 09]

Kent Displays (Kent, OH)

NIST TIP winners $22 million in funding for nine research projects targeting innovative manufacturing technologies in fields ranging from biopharmaceuticals and electronics to renewable energy sources and energy storage: Isogenis (Aurora, CO; $4.8M SBIR); ActaCell, (Austin, TX; no SBIR); Engineered BioPharmaceuticals (Manchester, CT; no SBIR); Arsenal Medical (Watertown, MA; no SBIR); Kent Displays (Kent, OH; $2.6M SBIR); Precision BioSciences (Research Triangle Park, NC; $340K SBIR); Ginkgo BioWorks (Boston, MA; one SBIR); Sinmat (Gainesville, FL; $4.4M SBIR); Polyera (Skokie, IL; no SBIR). http://www.nist.gov/tip/tip_121510.cfm

Kilawatt Technologies (Shelburne, VT)

TheVermont Center for Emerging Technologies has added $1.8 million in new federal stimulus funds, boosting to $5 million the fund the quasi-public technology incubator has at its disposal ... Returns from investments will be paid back into the 10-year fund and reinvested, [fund manager David Bradbury] said. ... has already made a handful of investments out of miscellaneous funds, including Hearforward, (Colchester, VT; no SBIR) social media analytics software company; Kilawatt Technologies (Shelburne, VT; no SBIR) energy efficiency analytics company; and SemiProbe (Colchester, VT; no SBIR) semiconductor equipment company. [Mass High Tech, Apr 21, 10]

Kineta (Seattle, WA)

Kineta (Seattle, WA; $1.2M SBIR), the developer of drugs for immune disorders, said it received a $2.8 million [NIH] grant. .. will support Kineta’s work on a new class of antiviral drugs that trigger the innate immune system to fight various viruses like hepatitis C, influenza, and West Nile. The company said it expects to pick a lead drug candidate in 2012. [Luke Timmerman, xconomy.com, Aug 16, 11]

Biotechnology company Kineta (Seattle, WA,founded in 2007 ; $1.2M SBIR). said it received a $2.8 million [NIH] grant to develop new antiviral drugs aimed at hepatitis, flu and the common cold. ... , said the grant will help researchers improve drugs that target deadly RNA viruses. Hepatitis C, influenza, West Nile virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and the common cold are among the RNA viruses that the company plans to treat.[Mwiza Kalisa, Puget Sound Business Journal, Aug 11,11]

Kineta (Seattle, WA; no SBIR) is trying a new approach. ... plans to fund its research step by step, relying on revenue-generating deals to undertake the next step in research. ... started the company last December but unveiled it publicly only this month. Their new venture quickly came after the $9 million sale of their previous company, Illumigen Biosciences ($2M SBIR)... If Illumigen's research and commercial potential fully pans out, its shareholders could get up to $330 million in additional payments from Cubist. ... Kineta has so far partnered with Cubist for early-stage work on a hepatitis C drug, and has received funding from the National Institutes of Health. But it is also pitching itself to investors. [Angel Gonzalez, Seattle Times, Dec 23, 08]

Kitware (Clifton Park, NY)

Kitware (Clifton Park, NY; $11M SBIR) that builds open source platforms and develops advanced research software, has received a $13.8 million [DARPA] contract .... will develop software that will be used to detect potential threats and perform forensic analysis. [The Business Review (Albany), Jul 19, 10]

Kiva Systems (Woburn MA)

Walgreen's installed Kiva Systems (Woburn MA; no SBIR) robots in its warehouse. Kiva got $10M VC in 2005. [Mass High Tech, Nov 7, 07]

KLD Energy Technologies (Austin, TX)

KLD Energy (Austin, TX; no SBIR, founded 2007, 50 employees) electric engines powering two-wheeled bikes through the streets of cities in China, Malaysia and other Asian countries.... The use of electric motorcycles and electric scooters in the Asia-Pacific market is expected to increase dramatically in the next five years, potentially reaching 22 million by 2017, according to a report by industry research company Pike Research. The affordability of these vehicles — combined with a ban on combustion engine two-wheeled vehicles in 90 cities across China — have made them a promising market for KLD, company officials say. .... complete system design of a battery, controller and motor. That allows the engineers at KLD to better optimize the performance of the vehicles, [Austin Kurth, Austin American Statesman, Dec 11, 11]

Less than a week after winning [a $2.8 million grant from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund], KLD Energy Technologies (Austin, TX; no SBIR) said it has expanded its Austin operations to accommodate a growing work force. The company, which is developing an electric drive system for electric vehicles, said its work force has grown from 5 to 55 employees this year, including more than 20 engineers and research and development experts. ... It also has expanded its Morgan Hill, Calif., propulsion research facility and opened sales and service offices in China, Malaysia and Vietnam. [Austin American Statesman, Jan 4, 11]

$2.8 million to KLD Energy Technologies (Austin, TX; no SBIR) to commercialize its motor system for electric vehicles. The company is working with UT's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. [Austin American Statesman, Dec 30, 10]

Knome (Cambridge, MA)

Knome (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR, founded 2007) received a $5 million equity stake and a strategic partnership from French diagnostics firm bioMerieux. The agreement will see bioMerieux using Cambridge-based Knome’s genome analysis platform under an exclusive license deal to develop next-generation, sequence-based in vitro diagnostics. [Mass High Tech, Apr 21, 10]

Knopp Neurosciences

Innovation Works, Hazelwood (PA) VC fund, in 2007 invested $6.1 M in technology companies, including its 100th investment. The specializes in giving a leg up to young technology companies cites three [no SBIR] success stories: Knopp Neurosciences, which is working on a drug therapy to slow the advance ALS ("Lou Gehrig's disease"). ... granted "orphan drug" status by the FDA ; Printed electronics manufacturer Plextronics, which attracted more than $20 M in new investment last year and set an efficiency record with its solar cells; Thorley Industries signed a $215 M deal with Hasbro for that company to manufacture and sell a new line of Thorley products [Elwin Greene, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 2].

Kolltan Pharmaceuticals (New Haven, CT)

Kolltan Pharmaceuticals (New Haven, CT; no SBIR) raised $2.5 million in new funding, according to federal documents. The company is focused on developing therapies to fight tumor growth based on a particular enzyme mechanism in cells. [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Jan 5, 10]

Kolltan Pharmaceuticals (New Haven, CT; no SBIR) oncology therapeutics company, has announced the closing of a $40 million Series A funding round [Mass High Tech, Aug 18, 09]

Kolltan Pharmaceuticals (New Haven, CT; no SBIR) oncology therapeutics company, has raised more than $35 million in Series A round of preferred stock funding. [Mass High Tech, Jan 9, 09]

Komoku (College Park, MD)

A startup funded by [DARPA] is ready to emerge from stealth mode with hardware- and software-based technologies to fight therapid spread of malicious rootkits. Komoku, of College Park, Md., plans to ship a beta of Gamma, a new rootkit detection tool that builds on a prototype used by several sensitive U.S. government departments to find operating system abnormalities that may be linked to malicious rootkit activity. [Ryan Naraine, eWeek, Apr 24, 06]

Konarka Technologies (Lowell, MA)

Low efficiency, lower price. In early April, Mitsubishi Chemical reportedly set a new efficiency record, producing organic solar cells with a 9.2% conversion efficiency, according to The Nikkei, a Japanese business daily. Meanwhile, three other companies—Konarka Technologies in Lowell, Massachusetts; Solarmer Energy (El Monte, CA no SBIR) and Heliatek in Dresden (now beautifully restored), Germany—are now reporting cells with efficiencies greater than 8%. Many researchers in the field are confident that the figure could soon top 10% and possibly reach 15%. [Robert Service, Science, Apr 15]

Konarka Technologies has taken in a $20 million investment from Japanese giant Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. in a deal that will have the two companies collaborate on organic thin-film photovoltaics. [Mass High Tech, Mar 2, 10]

Konarka Technologies raised $23.8 million in a Series G round of funding as well as a warrant sale, according to regulatory filings. [Mass High Tech, Jan 8, 10]

“You may be able to go out of state and get a workforce at 20 to 30 percent less, but you’re not going to get the same quality,’’ said David Theriault, president of Elite Envelope, ... After spending years developing plastic solar energy cells, Konarka Technologies was ready to begin full-scale production of flexible films that could be incorporated into purses and backpacks to create solar chargers for electronic devices. ... chose New Bedford, MA, where it found a former Polaroid plant with equipment suited to rolling out its thin films. But more important, said Konarka chief executive Rick Hess, the company was able to hire former Polaroid workers who had the skills to do it. [Robert Gavin, Boston Globe, Nov 21, 09] Our porking politicians should note that investing public money in "innovation" won't produce big returns unless the resulting product can be produced in volume. Cheap labor in isolated areas just cannot do the job.

Photovoltaic cells made from organic polymers, rather than crystalline silicon, could make solar power much cheaper. Last year Konarka opened a factory for such solar panels, which are flexible and produced in a process akin to printing (see "Mass Production of Plastic Solar Cells"). The first application of Konarka's potentially transformative technology? Umbrellas. SkyShades, based in Orlando, FL, is incorporating the panels into umbrellas designed for outdoor seating areas in places like restaurants and bars. Patrons can recharge mobile devices such as laptops and cell phones from outlets built into the stem of the umbrella. The four-meter-wide Powerbrella can generate up to 128 watts of electricity, which charges a bank of batteries located in its base. [MIT Tech Review, Sep/Oct09]

Konarka Technologies landed $5 million in new state funding from the Emerging Technology Fund of Massachusetts Development Finance Agency and the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust’s Business Expansion Initiative. [Mass High Tech, Feb 18, 09]

Plastic Power. CEO Rick Hess unfurls a roll of brown plastic film attached to a small electric meter. "Three volts," he says, smiling. "And that's just from the light in this room. Imagine what this reads when we're outside." Hess, who runs solar upstart Konarka (Lowell, MA; $1M SBIR) , is showing off Power Plastic, a new lightweight, flexible, and cheap material that converts indoor and outdoor light into electricity. Think of it as a solar panel that rolls up like camera film. "Soon you may not even need batteries," Hess says, holding a prototype of a portable device that will recharge your cellphone in an hour. "We can put this stuff anywhere." ... impressed investors, have put $145 million into the closely held venture, including a recent $45 million in funding from French oil giant Total. [Barney Gimbel, Fortune, Feb 2, 09] technology is based on the work of the late Dr. Sukant Tripathy, an internationally known materials scientist and professor at UMASS Lowell, and Dr. Alan Heeger, a 2000 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. By 2006 it had partners in at least four Euro countries and first shipments to Army and AF. [company website] If the Navy's 2003 Phase 2 SBIR provided the previously lacking technical credibility for Hess's idea, SBIR did its intended job in launching an infant technology.

Konarka Technologies launched a new $45 million R&D deal with Total Gas & Power Ltd., a UK-based oil and gas company. With the deal, Total will become the leading stakeholder in Konarka, with a slightly less than 20 percent share. ... Konarka’s thin-film technology allows for the colored printing and application of a polymer material that can convert light into energy. The technology, originally developed by the late Sukant Tripathy, a materials scientist and professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and Alan Heeger, a 2000 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, has attracted a lot of attention since the company was founded in 2001, as well as more than $100 million in private funding from a number of investors. [Mass High Tech, Dec 15] Heeger did the chemistry of conductive plastics that became the bedrock of UNIAX that Heeger co-founded and got SBIR from BMDO in 1992.

Konarka Technologies opened its first commercial scale, roll-to-roll solar manufacturing facility at the former home of the advanced printing technology division of Polaroid Corp. in New Bedford. [Mass High Tech, Oct 7, 08]

Konarka claims the first-ever demonstration of inkjet printing manufacturing of solar cells of Power Plastic®, a material that converts light to energy. [press release, Mar 4, 08]

Konarka Technologies (Lowell MA) got a $4.7M ATP award with Air Products and Chemicals ($21B market cap with $150M R&D) for R&D on transparent, flexible solar modules for windows and other building-related applications. Earlier this month, the company closed a $45M round of funding, bringing its total capital investment to more than $105M .[Mass High Tech, Oct 9] Where is the line between technology nurturing and corporate welfare? When is too much government? But we let our politicians use the same tired lines to get our votes when we and they know they have no hope of actually doing what they promise. The Arizona senator promised to rein in runaway federal spending, simplify the tax code, help U.S. industries become more competitive and control spiraling health care costs.... "I will not let the Democrats roll back the Bush tax cuts," while he offers no way to pay for the war he applauds. Another candidate Robin Hood offered: Every citizen could get a 401(k) retirement account and up to $1,000 in annual matching funds from the government. At least that candidate had a plan to pay for it - taxing rich estates. Have we learned anything in the last six years about free lunches and government getting out of control?

Konarka entered into a development agreement with Tokyo-based Toppan Forms Co. Ltd., a maker of printable electronics and digital information technologies. [Mass High Tech, Sep 11]

Konarka Technologies which has developed an organic plastic film that converts light into low levels of energy and can be used to power electronic devices, plans to raise another $40 million to add to the $80 million of venture capital it already has. The Lowell, Mass., firm is putting the finishing touches on commercial prototypes and expects to be in broader production by 2008. [J Schieber and Y Chernova, Wall Street Journal, Aug 27]

Konarka and its flexible plastic solar cell strips are expecting a visit from Energy Secretary Bodman who will announce a grand award from Bush's Solar America Initiative. The six-year-old private company has attracted nearly $60M in venture capital funding. and nearly $10M in grant money from U.S. and European governments. [Mark Jewell, AP, Mar 8]

Michael Grätzel, [Swiss] chemistry professor is most famous for inventing a new type of solar cell that could cost much less than conventional photovoltaics. Now, 15 years after the first prototypes, (the Grätzel cell) is in limited production by Konarka, a company based in Lowell, MA, and will soon be more widely available. [Kevin Bullis, MIT Tech Review, Sep 12] Still private Konarka had one Navy SBIR Phase II but apparently missed the Energy Dept train last year for a second.

Konarka Technologies (Lowell, MA), a developer of Power Plastic photovoltaic products, got another $20M of VC which pushes total VC over $60M since 2001. [Mass High Tech]

Konarka got a $1.6M Army contract light-activated power plastic. [Apr 05]

The cheap nanomaterial photovoltaic by Konarka Technologies (Lowell, MA) raised $18M and expects to introduce its first products by New Year's before it even finishes its Navy Phase 2 SBIR. The Navy liked enough to invite the company for a show-and-tell at a recent big Navy conference “Naval Research in the 21st Century: Dilemmas and Solutions.” Konarka which has subsidiaries in Austria and Switzerland has as its technical leader Alan Heeger, Nobel laureate who was connected to SBIR at his earlier California company - UNIAX.

Koning (Rochester, NY)

NIH Commercialization Assistance Program participant Koning's (Rochester, NY; $2.7M SBIR) technology platform, Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) affords accurate 3-D imaging of breast tissue with an innovative cone beam X-ray source, a detector that captures high resolution data as it circles the breast, and patented software that generates 3-D images of the tissue. The potential of the technology has been recognized by the scientific and business communities. Currently, funding for the development of CBCT has reached nearly $11 million dollars, including a $2.5 million SBIR grant from NIH awarded in 2005. [LARTA Vox Oct 16]

Kopin Corp (Taunton, MA)

Kopin down 10% [Nov 9, 11]

Kopin up 22% [Oct 4, 11]

Kopin down 10% [Oct 3, 11]

Kopin said that it has been awarded $23.2 million in follow-on production orders for display systems in support of US Army’s Thermal Weapon Sight Bridge program [Boston Globe, Jun 16, 11]

Kopin, maker of heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) wafers used in mobile devices, has been given approval from its board of directors for a buyback of $15 million in company common stock. [Mass High Tech, Dec 10, 10] Its latest SBA-listed SBIR was in 2009 which seems out of order for an infant technology program. If a company has enough spare capital to pay dividends or buy back stock, it doesn't need a government handout of capital infusion for its R&D. I wonder if any federal agencies even look at such information when assessing a company's need for subsidy. DOD, in particular, only asks whether the company can perform the R&D for the product wanted by the service and whether it is eligible for SBIR.

Kopin down 13% [Aug 3, 10]

Kopin said it has received a $16 million follow-on production order of display modules for the U.S. Army's Thermal Weapon Sight program.[Boston Globe, Jun 9, 10]

With a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.3 and shares at around $4.30, Kopin looks unproven, but the two analysts who cover it have price targets above $5. The company, with a market capitalization of $287.5 million, expects sales of $90 million to $110 million this year—a slight drop from 2008, but analysts forecast a rebound in 2010. .. Kopin's technology offers an investment opportunity in smart-phone growth, and analysts say its military business is strong, even if the company's high reliance on customers keeps it risky. [David Benoit, Wall Street Journal, Dec 16, 09]

Kopin up 11% [Aug 19,09] after Wedbush Morgan initiated coverage on the Taunton, Mass., semiconductor company with an "outperform" rating [Wall Street Journal, Aug 20]

Kopin has renewed a nearly 62,000-square-foot lease for its corporate headquarters in Taunton [Boston Globe, Jul 15, 09]

Kopin up 12% [Dec 16, 08]

Kopin up 12% [Dec 12, 08]

Kopin won a $600,000 NASA contract for nanostructured solar cells made of indium gallium phosphide (InGaP) materials. [Mass High Tech, Dec 10] .... the second NASA contract awarded to Kopin in 2008 for the development of nanostructured solar cell technology, the company noted; in May, Kopin received a two-year, $600,000 award for the development of indium nitride-based solar cells. [Boston Globe, Dec 10] Let NASA and the SBIR advocates explain why a company with $92M cash, which just announced plans to buy $15 M worth of the company’s common stock, should get a government subsidy from a seed program for R&D with commercial prospects. Because the government disdains the seed mission of SBIR, and uses it only for the R&D it would have bought anyway if SBIR never existed. And if it had real commercial prospects, the company would not be handing over the patent rights to the government for a mere $600K when it has $92M available cash for investment. And also the SBIR advocates only want a piece of the government spending pie for their member companies. If the SBTC and the other pleaders had any care about SBIR's mission, it would be advocating some way to steer the handouts to companies and ideas that have technically risky high-potential ideas and no other way to raise the capital to start their development. Note that stock buybacks are purely financial engineering with no potential for any economic growth. As in all government handout programs, there's no interest like a vested interest. Kopin has initiated a stock repurchase program, aimed at retrieving $15 million worth of the company’s common stock. ... boasts $92 million in cash and equivalents on hand. [Mass High Tech, Dec 9, 08]

Kopin reports it has landed $3.1 million from the U.S. military for displays used in weapon sights. ... In 2007, Kopin reported a $6.6 million net loss on $98 million in revenue. [Mass High Tech, Dec 3]

Kopin up 17% [Sep 18, 08]

Kopin down 10% [Sep 17, 08]

Kopin up 10% [Sep 16, 08]

Kopin down 10% [Jul 14, 08]

Kopin got a $600K NASA contract to participate in a solar-cell development program for future space exploration missions. [Boston Globe, May 2, 08] If you can't make a big profit in the real marketplace, you can make a small profit and cover some overhead with government R&D contracts.

Still SBIRing. Public for nearly two decades with a large cumulative net loss, Kopin won a NASA STTR Phase 2 InN-Based Quantum Dot Solar Cells with VaTech. Hey, it's riskless and free revenue, even though it comes from an investor with no concern for the company's fortunes.

Kopin up 24% [Mar 28, 08]

Kopin up 18% [Mar 18, 08]

Kopin said that Fujifilm will put Kopin's electronic viewfinder in a new ultra high-zoom digital camera [Nov 07]

Kopin reports it will supply [maybe 150,000 of] its CyberDisplay liquid crystal display to the U.S. Army's new thermal weapon sight program, the TWS Bridge. [Mass High Tech, Nov 6, 07]

Kopin got a delisting warning from NASDAQ. [Aug 3, 07]

More, More, the Army Wants More of Kopin's display system hardware, the war-time demand for which contributed nicely to Kopin's $12M profit for 2005.

Kopin got hit 14% when it reported a little less revenue and a huge percent dip in profit, although big profit never has been a Kopin hallmark. [May06]

Kopin got a production sub-contract from ITT Industries Night Vision (ITT) which wants Kopin's micro-displays for its potential $560M contract to supply the Army’s Enhanced Night Vision Goggles. [Mass High Tech, Nov 29, 05]

Kopin cut two deals at the ElectronicAsia Show in Hong Kong: a HK semiconductor company will sell Kopin’s plug-and-play Binocular Display Module for mobile video eyewear in China , and a Taiwan company is putting Kopin’s BDM into a Theatre system it has just started shipping worldwide. [Mass High Tech, Oct 13]

Kopin rose 12% for reporting a profit, any profit. [Aug 05]

Kopin got a $3.2M contract to develop ultra-high resolution color postage-stamp size head mounted microdisplays for the Army's Future Force Warrior. It will be an enhanced full-color version of Kopin's monochrome CyberDisplay 1280 AMLCD. [Mass High Tech, Mar 3, 04] Now if Kopin could also make a profit. In its decade of being public, it has lost a big pile. Still CEO John Fan keeps smiling in public, We begin the new year well-positioned with compelling technologies, differentiable products, tier-one customers and solid financial resources.

Bright ideas. [Scott Kirsner, Boston Globe, 8/25/03] Kopin (among many) wants to replace all these crazy light bulbs with LEDs. .Kopin has been poaching engineers from other local chip companies, and investing heavily in a new production line in Taunton to produce LEDs. The company shipped 20 million LEDs in the second quarter, most of which will be used to illuminate the displays and keypads of cellphones. John Fan, Kopin founder-CEO, has had such dreams in the past about GaAs and teeny TVs but has never been able to turn any idea into a cash and profit cow.

Kopin now is talking about being an LED company, having already been a GaAs company and then a mini-display company. What it has never been is a consistent money-making company as reflected in its stock price being about 8% of its Y2K bubble price. Kopin "spokesman" Tim Monroe told the Wall Street Journal (Dec 19) about how much energy would be saved for the nation. Companies should stop talking such nonsense since consumer behavior in the face of a lower cost per unit of energy may actually use more energy. SBIR companies know nothing about the complex markets where consumers operate. But then talking up your product is part of capitalism. SBIR proposers probably needn't worry about talking nonsense since all the evidence points to the government's wanting to hear the nonsense so they can repeat it in self-serving tech transfer stories. [Jan 03]

Although the quarterly profit was as flat as the Kopin's flat panel mini-displays, the traders pounded the stock price down 29% Friday when the company issued a gloomy forecast of a 25% cut in revenue (which is typically optimistic). For a decade now Koipn has been a consumer of capital without any return of profit From a peak of $50 a share back to its 1992 IPO price. Kopin of course is not alone as all the semiconductor companies suffer the present down-cycle in their boom-bust industry. (Oct 28, 02)

Announce an advance; lose 10%. Kopin lost 10% on a day that it announced milestone performance results for GaAs-based GaInAsN (GAIN) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT). With an operating voltage more than 150 mV lower than conventional GaAs-based HBTs. Could it be that the market wants to see profits more than it wants more technical advances?

Kopin reported soggy earnings. Quarterly revenue down 25% and a net loss of $6.8M, compared with $2.3M profit last year's quarter.Kopin's market cap slipped below $500M (which ain't terrible for an SBIR stock) from its highs a year ago in the $3B range.

Kopin fell 26% when it reported a fourth-quarter loss because of restructuring costs and said it would post a loss in the first quarter, too, due to a softer consumer electronics market and other issues. The company press release highlighted the 81% growth in revenue. The market didn't think that the verbiage about re-structuring sufficiently explained the failure to be a high profit growth company after a decade of capital consumption as dream company.Kopin's stock price is down 80% from its high a year ago. Benchmarking Not Much Help. Even though Kopin was named to the S&P Small Cap 600 Index, it has fallen 80% from its spring high after another 7% cut yesterday. Kopin claims to be the leading provider of gallium arsenide (GaAs) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT) for advanced telecommunications, and miniature flat panel displays for digital imaging applications.

Kopin, the leading U.S. manufacturer of miniature flat-panel displays for the consumer electronics market, has shipped its one-millionth CyberDisplay(TM) 320. CyberDisplay is an integrated system that uses Kopin's proprietary single-crystal silicon on glass display technology to offer superior image quality and low-power consumption in an ultra-compact size. Kopin sold its one-millionth display slightly more than one year after launching the product. The first CyberDisplay was introduced in Victor Company of Japan (JVC) camcorders in July 1999. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Inc. (Panasonic) and Samsung Electronics followed JVC with the introduction of CyberDisplay-enabled camcorders earlier this year.

Kopin got a $2.3M engineering contract from the Army to develop the production model of its CyberDsiplay1280. Normally, such a contract precedes a good size production run (if the Army can get the big money from the fractious Congress.) Still Kopin's stock is down by half from its spring high but 500 times its negligible earnings.

Kopin starts shipping
(Jan 27) Kopin (Taunton. MA) says it began volume shipment of its CyberDisplay to Matsushita, the world's largest consumer electronics company. The displays are incorporated into Panasonic camcorders that Matsushita is launching in Europe this week.The NASDAQ traders liked that development and bid Kopin up 25% in the early going to a $2.4B market cap. Pretty good for a company that has been public since the early 90s without making a profit. What's the innovation? Kopin says, CyberDisplay is a 0.24-inch diagonal transmissive active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD) that displays information at a pixel resolution of 320 x 240. At 1,700 lines per inch, it is the world's densest AMLCD. Along with displaying standard text and graphics, the CyberDisplay operates at video speeds and consumes less than 20mW of power, including the backlight.

Kopin caps a killer quarter with wonderful wafer deal. A lot can happen in three months. For Kopin Corp quite a lot did. The Taunton company announced the multi-million dollar sale of its transistor wafers to Mitsubishi Electric Corp; demand for its products outstripped the rate at which Kopin could manufacture its technology. And Kopin’s share price on NASDAQ rose about 162 percent, settling around $78 a share last week and spiking the company’s market valuation to $1.2B. This all occurred despite Kopin reporting a net loss of $354K in the third quarter. For a company created by visionaries from MIT’s Lincoln Lab, which has been long on technology and short on commercial application and sales, things are looking up. Analysts who thought the company was on the brink of an upturn several times during the past few years say that this time, it’s for real. Sales in 1998 increased 64% to $27M. The consensus of brokers surveyed by Zacks Investors rate Kopin a strong buy, driving up its share price. [Kate Munro Mass High Tech, 27 Dec 99]

Kopin RisingQuiet Kopin's technology set to make noise at last, say Steven Syre and Charles Stein in the Boston Globe Nov 16]. Kopin is a small technology company with no profits and a stock that has tripled in price since June. An Internet company, right? Wrong. Internet companies are born hot. Kopin, which is based in Taunton, has been plugging away for 15 years, mostly in obscurity. It has taken that long for the company's scientists to find real-world applications for their Buck Rogers technology. ''I think our technology was ahead of the market,'' says John Fan, Kopin's patient founder and chief executive. Fan and a handful of others left MIT's Lincoln Laboratories in 1984 to start Kopin. Their goal was to make semiconductors using a technique with parallels to genetic engineering. Like their counterparts in biotechnology, they found the task more difficult than they imagined. The company went public in 1992 and didn't come out with its first product until 1995; its second product debuted in 1997. Kopin has never had a profitable year. But that may be about to change. The small group of analysts who follow Kopin's fortunes predict the firm will mark the millennium with its first-ever profit.

Kopin Wins in Japan Kopin Wins in Japan
(Jul 19) The viewfinder in Victor's new JVC video camera will come from Kopin (Taunton, MA), a company helped in its early days of gallium arsenide by SBIR. The display technology was almost exclusively an massive private sector venture although apparently $20M came from the government which, of course, could not invest that sum fast enough in SBIR. SBIR wasn't designed to take those size gambles. Competition? About 30 companies working on mini-displays for the tons of tourists walking around talking into their cameras. Profits? After a decade of losses (capital consumption) Kopin reported a quarterly profit which helps explain the recent stock rise. [facts from Wall Street Journal, July 19]

Kopin Expands Again
(Apr 15) Kopin (Taunton, MA) announced its third major expansion of manufacturing capacity for its GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) device wafers, following the doubling of capacity just announced in January 1999. Kopin's investment in increased capacity is driven by growing customer demand for its four inch and six inch HBT device wafers. Kopin builds a high performance transistor device in their wafers, which are then used to produce power amplifier circuits for digital GSM, TDMA and CDMA cellular phone handsets. The market liked it, pushing Kopin stock up 20% yesterday.

Profit or Loss for Kopin?
(Feb 22) Kopin (Taunton, MA) says it either made or lost money for 1998 depending on how you see a non-recurring charge of $3.5M associated with the write-down of inventory, equipment and intangible assets resulting from the refinement of certain processes in the production of CyberDisplay products that will allow Kopin to improve manufacturing flexibility and meet customer requirements. The good news of a 70% revenue increase comes from the technology Kopin started with - gallium arsenide. CyberDisplay, the dream of most of the investment is mired in consumer acceptance problems as would be expected from any consumer product. Even though Kopin is proud being incorporated in British Telecom's fountain pen sized computer "SmartQuill" and IBM's prototype clip-on computer, those are gizmos that win more beauty contests than profit streams. (OK, SBIR advocates love gizmo beauty contests that furnish a convenient diversion from the central problem of SBIR companies - making a profit on a commercial item. Someday, all that investment in Kopin over the past decade will demand a either a return or a new management. So far, John Fan, an MIT spinout with an optimistic $10M, has been able to keep the reins. Kopin wnet public in 1992, about the first SBIR user to do so. (Nichols Research (Huntsville, AL), a 90% government contract house IPO'd in 1987 but can hardly be used as an SBIR example since it never had any intent to be anything but a government captive.)

Sound Vision today announced an agreement to develop production-ready digital camera designs that incorporate Kopin's color CyberDisplay. The first design resulting from this partnership, the 1301 Reference Design, is for digital imaging manufacturers that desire to build a low power VGA camera at the most competitive cost possible. CyberDisplay will function as the camera's viewfinder and as the display used to review previously stored photographs. The CyberDisplay will also allow OEMs to build very small, lightweight cameras and other imaging devices for entirely new markets. The 1301 Reference Design, now being made available to camera OEMs, combinesSound Vision's new Clarity 2.0 digital imaging technology with the color CyberDisplay. [Business Wire, Dec 17]

Kopin Sliding If you bought the secondary issue of Kopin at 19 a few weeks ago, you would be minus 25% while the Dow-Jones is making new highs. The problem probably runs deeper than the Chinese reference to peace in Kopin's name. Kopin has bled capital since its beginning in the 80s, but always with optimistic investors ever to be found anew.

Kopin-POC combine technologies. Kopin's world's smallest active-matrix LCD was helped by SBIR-junkie (oops, expert) Physical Optics Corp (Torrance, CA), says December Photonics Spectra. POC contributed a holographic light shaping diffuser. Making a going concern of the product, though, depends on consumer acceptance - a chancy proposition especially for small companies. For when the acceptance is purely economic, both sides can estimate the chances of success. But when consumer psychology enters, anything could happen. What, for example, is the economic value of the ability to view your e-mail in your cellular phone? If you are proposing such technology to SBIR, you will have a problem convincing any government skeptic of the market value of something that does not exist today. If Kopin is lucky, the market will accept the product before the capital finally runs out. Eventually, all that capital poured into Kopin will end and Kopin may be forced back to SBIR on a much smaller scale that its past five years of burning capital. Meanwhile, Kopin plans to sell another $2M shares to the public half of which goes to Kopin and the other half to cash-out of earlier investors.

Quarter-Inch Screen Quarter-Inch Screen
(Sep 5) Kopin Corp (Taunton, MA) cut a multi-million deal to supply quarter-inch TV screens for cellular phones. The CyberDisplay is a 0.24-inch diagonal transmissive active matrix liquid crystal display imaging device which displays information at 320 by 240 pixel resolution. [Dow Jones Newswire] Kopin's stock price jumped 17%.

Kopin Rolls Out Wafer Kopin Rolls Out Wafer
(Aug 26) Kopin Corp (Taunton, MA) rolled out a higher grade telco wafer while Sharp Corp and Nortel smiled. Its indium gallium phosphide wafer, which upgrades its AlGaAs wafer for cellular phone circuits, withstood testing by Sharp. The press release did not mention either the price nor the ton of money that Kopin has lost (invested) since its founding in the 80s. Some of Kopin's earlier development of its wafer technology got SBIR support.

Kopin-Siemens Deal Kopin Corp (Taunton, MA) saw its stock jump up when it announced a licensing deal with Siemens.

The tiny camera of Kopin Corp (Apr 8 story) made Business Week, Apr 21.

Tiny Video Display Buy for $60 a CyberDisplay, a monochrome 20-inch computer display from Kopin (Taunton, MA). Color version to be priced later. It's Kopin's newest product with which it hopes to reverse the annual losses, $21.6M last year, that are eating the capital and the capitalists' convictions. Still, the stock price reflects a lot more confidence than does the price of SI Diamond Technology, a competitor for future displays.

Up Capacity for GaAs Kopin Corp (Taunton, MA) will triple its capacity for GaAs wafers to meet skyrocketing demand for semiconductors for wireless and fiber optics. Kopin claims to supply 90% of the market for heterojunction bipolar transistor GaAs wafers. The capital was obviously available for the purchase despite Kopin's losing money in big hunks in its quest for the flat panel display market. Kopin used SBIR for some of its early R&D in GaAs but survived on private capital for flat panel displays.

Kopin Takes a Bath Kopin Corp (Taunton, MA) got soaked in a $6.2M quarterly loss leading to a $21.6M loss for the year. $8.9M was a write-down which in principle happens only once. Revenues were down for the quarter but up for the year. The flat panel display industry has a lot of wounded soldiers.

Kopin's Results: Growth 23%
Headline readers see growth; fine print readers see more losses. Kopin Corp (Taunton, MA) lost another $3.9M in the 2d quarter on a 23% growth in revenues. (The investors must be asking how much growth they can afford.) Kopin had several SBIR awards from SDIO in its early years during which it shifted its emphasis to the display market where SBIR could not provide anywhere near enough quick capital for market-pace competitive R&D. CEO and entrepreneur John Fan opted for the big gamble in which he must turn growth to profit before the capital runs out. The market doesn't seem too worried as the market cap hovers around $100M.

Koronis Pharmaceuticals (Redmond, WA)

Koronis Pharmaceuticals (Redmond, WA, one SBIR) got $20M VC. [Seattle Times, Jun 29] No apparent connection to SBIR winner Koronis Biomedical in Minnesota.

Kosan Biosciences

Kosan Biosciences more than tripled in Nasdaq trading after Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. agreed to buy the company for $235 M. Bristol-Myers, bracing for the loss of $3 billion when its top-selling blood thinner Plavix faces generic competition in four years, is slashing costs and searching for new products. The purchase gives it Kosan's anti-cancer compounds, now in human testing. [San Jose Mercury News, May 29, 08]

Kosan Biosciences down 10% [Feb 14, 08]

Kosan Biosciences up 13% [Feb 13, 08]

Kosan Biosciences up 11% [Feb 11, 08]

Kosan Biosciences up 12% [Jan 24, 08]

Kosan Biosciences up 15% [Jan 23, 08]

Kosan Biosciences down 11% [Jan 17, 08]

Kosan Biosciences up 12% [Dec 19, 07]

Kosan Biosciences down 43% [Dec 10, 07] on bad news from its blood-cancer patients.

Kosan Biosciences up 11% [Nov 13, 07]

Kosan Biosciences up 10% [Sep 18, 07]

Kosan Biosciences up 14% [Aug 16,07]

Kosan Biosciences up 11% after broker's upgrade. [Feb 07]

Kovio

Printing Chips on the Cheap. Silicon Valley startup Kovio (Sunnyvale, CA; no SBIR) says it has refined a process that uses regular printing-press technology to create low-power chips [which] could represent a step forward in developing cheap, mass-produced radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. ... will use a process that could drop the price of the tiny radio chips, which help companies keep track of products they ship, from 15 cents per tag to 5 cents by late 2008. ... uses long-established graphics printing techniques, but instead of color inks it sprays what it calls "silicon ink"--consisting of silicon electronics and thin-film transistors--onto stainless steel foil that is paired with a tiny radio antenna. Silicon ink devices can be made using cheaper equipment than that used to make regular chips. [Cliff Edwards , Business Week, Dec 10]

Kovio, a Sunnyvale developer of semiconductor products using thin-film technologies, or "printed electronics," has raised $19.5 million in the first part of a fourth (series D) round; Sunnyvale-based [Matt Marshall, Venture Beat, Sep 5]

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (San Diego, CA)

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (San Diego, CA; no SBIR) will Digital Fusion (Huntsville, AL; $600K SBIR) in an all-stock $38M deal. [San Diego Union Tribune, Nov 25]

Kronos Advanced Technologies (Belmont, MA)

Kronos Advanced Technologies (Belmont, MA; no SBIR), a maker of air movement and purification technologies, has “curtailed operations and reduced its workforce to the fullest extent,” in response to the receipt of a notice of default by investor AirWorks Funding LLLP. .... The company was initially founded in 2000 and funded by the U.S. military to develop electrostatic air movers. Eventually the company moved into the consumer air purification business. [Mass High Tech, Oct 10]

KSE (Amherst, MA)

KSE (Amherst, MA; $10M SBIR) received $3 million for a project to reduce the reliance on distillation for water removal from biomass-derived ethanol ... part of a nationwide award of $57 million aimed at accelerating the commercialization of clean technologies, and comes from the the DOE’s Small Business Phase 3 “Xlerator” program [Kyle Alspach, Mass High Tech, Sep 16, 10]

KVH Industries (Middletown, RI)

KVH up 10% [Oct 12, 11]

KVH up 11% [Aug 29, 11]

KVH down 11% [Aug 8, 11]

KVH down 12% [Aug 4, 11]

KVH down 13% [Jul 29, 11]

KVH down 17% [Apr 29, 11]

KVH up 15% [Sep 30, 10]

KVH up 12% [Jun 25, 10]

KVH up 11% [Nov 17, 09]

KVH Industries reports it has landed new orders from two unnamed major defense contractors worth $10.2 million for its precision fiber optic gyros (FOGs) for use in remote stabilized weapon stations. [Mass High Tech, Oct 30, 09]

KVH Industries reports it has received $2 million from multiple undisclosed customers for its navigational systems. [Mass High Tech, Oct 2, 09]

KVH up 11% [Sep 17, 09]

KVH Industries landed $2.5 million for precision fiber-optic gyros used in remote weapon systems. Under the subcontract deal, .... will supply the unnamed defense contractor with its DSP-3100 fiber optic gyros. ... reported $82 million in revenue in 2008, with $3 million in net income. [Mass High Tech, Jul 15, 09]

KVH up 12% [May 5, 09]

KVH Industries $3.8 million in new orders for its precision fiber-optic gyro system. The bulk of the orders -- $2.9 million -- comes from an unnamed remote weapons station manufacturer [Mass High Tech, Apr 7, 09]

KVH down 10% [Mar 2, 09]

KVH up 10% [Jan 21, 09]

KVH up 12% [Jan 2, 09]

KVH Industries up 10% [Dec 19, 08]

KVH up 13% [Nov 25, 08]

KVH down 16% [Nov 24, 08]

KVH up 61% [Nov 21, 08]

KVH up 12% [Nov 3, 08]

KVH down 13% [Oct 10, 08]

KVH down 11% [Oct 3, 08]

KVH Industries reports it has landed $1.3 million to deliver military navigation systems from an unnamed southeast Asian customer. [Mass High Tech, Sep 17, 08]

KVH Industries down 15% [Jul 22, 08]

KVH Industries up 11% [Jul 21, 08]

KVH Industries, a maker of in-motion satellite TV and communications systems, has landed a new contract with an undisclosed in-flight entertainment provider valued at $20M [Mass High Tech, Feb 22, 08]

KVH Industries received two orders from a US defense contractor for the purchase of components and upgrades for KVH's TACNAV vehicle navigation systems for use on U.S. military combat vehicles.

KVH up 10% [Jan 16, 08]

KVH Industries got an up-to-$6M new contract from a European defense contractor for the purchase of KVH's TACNAV® II fiber optic gyro (FOG)-based vehicle navigation systems and displays for use on new infantry fighting vehicles. [Business Wire, Apr 17, 07]

KVH down 11% on news of lower profit. (Oct 19,06) even though revenue was up 15% and that Business Week named two of KVH's live mobile media solutions among its eight "Coolest Car Gadgets for 2007." [Providence Business News, Oct 20, 06]

KVH made #20 on the NASDAQ short interest ratio list at 29 days to cover. [Oct05]

Doubters. KVH ranked #11 on the NASDAQ short interest ratio at 43 days. SatCon ranked # 5 on percentage increase in sextupling the short interest. {sep05]

“Sandstorm” and “H1ghlander” by Carnegie Mellon will have fiber optic gyros (FOGs) by KVH for the $2M winner-take-all DARPA robot vehicle race across the Mojave. Out of 118 applicants, 20 finalists will race. Last year nobody even got far from the start point.

KVH Industries leapt into 37th place on NASDAQ short-interest ratios with 3.3M shares, 22 days worth of average daily trading volume. ViaSat was on the list of largest (58%) percent increase, as was Emcore. [spring 05]

Now Cellphones, ThenTV. KVH got. a U.S. patent for a key component in the hybrid phased-array antenna used in KVH’s in-motion TracVision A5 satellite TV system for automobiles. ... A report by industry analyst Frost & Sullivan projects that by 2011 more than 36 million automobiles in the United States will be equipped with video systems and of these, more than 3 million will receive mobile satellite TV programming. [Mass High-Tech, Mar 8]

KVH Industries reports a $2.8M order from an unnamed foreign defense client through an equally unnamed US defense contractor for its TacNav vehicle navigation systems and the smarts to install and operate them. [Mass High Tech, Dec 28, 04]

.KVH took home $48M from a public offering at $18.75 per share after all the hands in the pockets got their piece of the action.

Prep Ended Too Soon. KVH Industries took a two-day hit of 17% as it reported 20% higher revenues leading to a big loss. Said the CEO, While both the fourth quarter and full-year revenues were record highs, they were lower than we had expected primarily as a result of the absence of an anticipated large order from an existing U.S. military customer. Seems the 2002 profits, although not all that big, came from the military buying spree before the Iraq invasion. Live by the sword, ...

KVH Industries navigation system to be standard for German army vehicles. KVH Industries Inc., of Middletown, R.I., announced today that the German Army has named the KVH M100 Ground Mobility Enhanced Navigation System (GMENS) a standard product in the German Army procurement system. [Mass High Tech, Nov7]

After quadrupling from its low of last autumn, KVH stock took a breather yesterday with a 14% drop (that would have been 50% of that low).

Gene Marcial's Business Week column (Jun 16) touted KVH Industries as a big winner in the Iraq war sales derby to Defense and predicts KVH will introduce a satellite dish for cars. Unlike most SBIR firms' stock, KVH has tripled since last fall. TV in every car? So the driver can peek while talking on a cell phone? What better argument for smart highways?

KVH Rides Defense Wave. KVH won a $3.6M Army contract as part of a multi-year $10M deal its TACNAV vehicle navigation system. The company claims our revenues grew 9% over 2000 to $32.7 million, driven by the fifth consecutive year of growth in our satellite communications business.def Navigation is 20% of KVH's business. KVH was founded in 1982 and went public in 1996, has a market cap of $67.1M, and has lost about $4M over five years on steadily rising sales. Its nine 9 Phase 2 SBIR were mostly Navy for engineering of well-controlled development projects.

Kylin Therapeutics (West Lafayette, IN)

Kylin Therapeutics (West Lafayette, IN; no SBIR), a small life-sciences firm based in Purdue Research Park, has received a $1.2 million state grant to develop a technology it says could allow physicians to target drug delivery for treatment of diseases. The company, with seven employees, said it is in the preclinical stage of commercializing a technology to directly target and turn off disease-causing genes. The company said the research shows promise in treating prostate cancer, ovarian cancer and other diseases. The company received a $250,000 grant from the state in 2007. [Indianapolis Star, Jan 9, 09]

Kylin Therapeutics (West Lafayette, IN; no SBIR) , a six-employee developer of cancer and disease-fighting biotechnology, has doubled its work force and outside investment in its operations at Purdue's Research Park in West Lafayette, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. said. The company used a $250,000 grant to help commercialize Purdue technology that allows doctors to target drug delivery for treatment of diseases that include AIDS and cancer. [Indianapolis Star, Feb 22]

Kyma Technologies (Raleigh, NC)

Thirteen NC companies will split $1 M from a new state fund intended to help businesses create environmentally friendly technologies. In the Triangle area: Ecocurrent of Raleigh received $100,000 to convert hog manure into electric power; Kyma Technologies of Raleigh received $60,000 to work with N.C. State University on a more efficient, cheaper electric switch.; 3F LLC of Raleigh received $100,000 to develop a natural fiber-reinforced concrete formula.; Piedmont Biofuels of Pittsboro received $75,000 to work on a reactor that more efficiently creates biodiesel.; Nextreme Thermal Solutions of Durham received $57,319 to manufacture a generator that converts waste heat into electricity.; Rain Water Solutions of Raleigh received $18,000 to develop a new rain barrel manufacturing process. [Raleigh News & Observer, Jul 1]

Kyma Technologies (Raleigh, NC) $2.6M VC money in a first round and says it plans a second round next year to begin production of semiconductor substrates of GaN and AlN. Kyma was co-founded by Jerry Cuomo, a research professor in NCSU, and Mark Williams, a former graduate student of Cuomo. As for Cuomo, he worked at IBM for 30 years before joining NCSU and is the holder of 115 patents. With technology licensed from NCSU, the firm started in 1998 with about $550K from angel investors and more than $2M in federal grants. Spell that SBIR [facts from Lee Weisbecker, Raleigh Business Journal, Sep 24]

Kyron Clinical Imaging (Wauwatosa WI)

Kyron Clinical Imaging (Wauwatosa WI; one SBIR) got a $200K NIH SBIR. Kyron has a software application that allows doctors to look at different kinds of magnetic resonance images to better diagnose, treat and manage brain tumors and other neurological disorders. ... founded in 2004 by three Medical College of Wisconsin radiology professors. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Oct 17] It got FDA clearance in December for its BrainViewRx Viewer and a 2006 $1.5M investment from a local hospital. [company website]

LAAMScience (RTP, NC)

LaamScience (Raleigh, NC; no SBIR, founded in 2006) raised about $5 million from wealthy individuals to continue developing its first products, including surgical masks that can kill viruses on contact. [David Ranii, Raleigh News & Observer, Jun 10, 09]

About a decade ago, Steve Michielsen was like a lot of inventors. He had a great idea, no money and only a vague plan for how to unleash his genius on the world. This week, a specially treated fabric is rolling off machines that will be used to make face masks that Michielsen thinks will kill virtually any human or animal virus on contact. ... lofty goals for LAAMScience (RTP, NC; no SBIR) ... He is eager to send the research and test runs to the FDA this spring and hopes to have approval as soon as this fall -- just in time for the flu season. [Tim Simmons, Raleigh News & Observer, Apr 19]

LabNow

LabNow (Austin, TX; no SBIR, founded 2004, six employees) has received $605,000 of a planned $850,000 round of financing. ... develops devices that test the white blood cell count of HIV patients ... had raised to $34 million [by 2007] [Austin Business Journal, May 13, 10]

LabNow (Austin TX) (Austin TX; no SBIR) biotech company that has developed a portable device that will help treat AIDS patients in Africa and Asia, has secured an investment of $20M. ... on a shoestring budget only seven months ago after spending its initial $14M investment, now has a "chance to do everything we had hoped with this money," CEO Rick Hawkins said. [Lily Rockwell, Austin American-Statesman, Nov 12]

Laborie Medical Technologies (Williston, VT)

Laborie Medical Technologies (Williston, VT, no SBIR, founded 1967) reports it has garnered [FDA] market clearance for its diagnostic system for urological disorders ... The -based firm's "Tetra" near infrared spectroscopy system uses non-invasive lasers to analyze bladder obstruction and other urinary functions, company officials say. Studies are under way to find further uses of the technology. Laborie develops and markets diagnostics for urology, computerized and physical modeling tools for the bladder, as well as educational products. The privately held company employs more than 150 workers, [Mass High Tech, Mar 10, 08]

La Jolla Pharmaceutical (LaJolla, CA)

La Jolla Pharmaceutical (LaJolla, CA; no SBIR) announced a merger deal with another small biotechnology company. The deal between La Jolla Pharmaceutical and Adamis Pharmaceuticals (DelMar, CA; no SBIR) will give La Jolla shareholders as much as 30 percent ownership of the combined company, while Adamis gets $2.5 million to $3 million in cash expected to be left over from La Jolla’s operations. [Thomas Kupper, San Diego Union Tribune, Dec 8, 09]

Landec

Landec up 10% [Oct 4, 11]

Landec up 15% [Mar 6, 09]

Landec up 10% [Jan 21, 09]

Landec down 20% [Jan 7, 09]

Landec down 13% [Dec 1, 08] On a stock bloodbath day

Landec up 10% [Nov 13, 08]

Landecup 11% [Oct 10, 08]

Landec down 11% [Oct 9, 08]

Landec down 16% [Jan 4, 08]

Landec jumped 11% after announcing two deals with Monsanto that could be worth $70 million. [Dec 4, 06] Landec makes polymers used in food and agricultural products. It had about $1.5M SBIR 1987-2003.

Lantos Technologies

Lantos Technologies (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) a health-focused 3-D scanning technology startup, has raised the expected $1.6 million in it Series A round of funding ... developing 3-D imaging technology that provides minimally invasive digital mapping of the human ear canal, so manufacturers can make more comfortable, custom fit audio devices such as hearing aids, earphones and noise-canceling devices ... co-founded by MIT mechanical engineering professor Douglas Hart. In 2006, Hart sold his previous startup, Brontes Technologies (no SBIR) for $95 million to 3M Company. Brontes had focused on 3-D scanning for oral applications. [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Sep 16, 10]

Dems at commercialization, again. DOUGLAS P. HART, a [MIT] professor of mechanical engineering who sold his last start-up for a tidy $95 million, is already on to his next big thing. On Tuesday, he expects to lock up $1.5 million in funding for his new start-up, Lantos Technologies. ... developed a 3-D scanner that it hopes will streamline the current generation of earphones and hearing aids by precisely fitting them to the dimensions of the ear canal, right up to the eardrum.... able to bring his hearing aid concept closer to reality with $50,000 in backing last year from the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, an M.I.T. entity originally funded by two private investors, Jaishree Deshpande and her husband, Gururaj. ... A proposal from the Obama administration would experiment with all of this by allocating $12 million among several institutions next year in what proponents hope will be a continuing effort to support and study proof-of-concept centers. If successful, supporters say, universities could spread the model faster. But the idea represents a shift in thinking about the federal government’s role in stewarding the more than $50 billion it gives to university researchers annually. Until now, that money has been for the discovery, not commercialization, of scientific breakthroughs. [Bob Tedeschi, New York Times, Jun 27, 10] Can the federal government do commercialization decently? Probably not! Where is any evidence that it ever succeeded with its host of programs? After nearly three decades of SBIR, for example, where's the economic evidence of success? Government understands science and technology, but not business, and has no incentive for agencies to succeed at business. The political cycle also works against any long-term plan as whenever the Republicans own the White House, the commercialization programs get canned. Then when the Democrats regain and re-start them, the cycle repeats.

LaserMotive (Kent, WA)

LaserMotive (Kent, WA; no SBIR) is going after a $2 million prize in the power-beaming challenge of the NASA-sponsored Space Elevator Games. .... Six partners and 10 employees .... "We don't have a lot of competition," he said, then perhaps obviously adding, "there are not a lot of companies that have this type of background and experience." [Charles Berman, Seattle Times, Jul 28]

Laser Tissue Welding (Houston, TX)

Laser Tissue Welding (Houston, TX; one SBIR) Using a laser to fuse tissue and stop bleeding without stitches.... founder Yasmin Wadia has invested $500,000 in cash and received $160,000 from the state’s Emerging Technology Fund. ... also received $1.3 million in federal grants. [Purva Patel, Houston Chronicle, Aug 28, 10]

Lawrie Technology (Girard, PA)

Lawrie Technology (Girard, PA), has embedded fibers within an elastomeric matrix, creating a new material whose properties differ wildly from "normal" isotropic materials. Founder/boss Duncan Lawrie says his process runs from $40 to $80 per pound while competing processes cost as much as $400 per pound. The curse of all new materials is their cost. Two Phase 2 SBIRs in the mid-1990s. story from MDA Update http://www.mdatechnology.net/update_article.asp?id=5102 Lawrie has no apparent website, not a healthy sign of commercial success.

Lead Therapeutics (San Bruno, CA)

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]

LeCroy (Chestnut Ridge, NY)

LeCroy up 10% [Nov 28, 11]

LeCroy up 15% [Oct 26, 11]

LeCroy up 11% [Oct 4, 11]

LeCroy up 11% [Aug 23, 11]

LeCroy down 10% [Aug 18, 11]

Lecroy down 10% [Aug 8, 11]

LeCroy up 11% [Jun 21, 11]

LeCroy up 16% [Jan 3, 11]

LeCroy up 11% [Sep 30, 10]

LeCroy down 10% [Sep 23, 10]

LeCroy up 14% [Jun 21, 10]

LeCroy up 12% [Aug 11, 09]

LeCroy down 10% [Aug 10, 09]

LeCroy up 11% [May 29, 09]

LeCroy up 24% [May 6, 09]

LeCroy up 16% [Apr 16, 09]

LeCroy up 16% [Apr 9, 09]

LeCroy up 23% [Mar 23, 09]

LeCroy down 18% [Jan 26, 09]

LeCroy up 12% [Dec 29, 08]

LeCroy up 10% [Dec 26, 08]

LeCroy down 12% [Dec 22, 08]

LeCroy up 11% [Dec 12, 08]

LeCroy down 11% [Dec 11, 08]

LeCroy up 10% [Dec 10, 08]

LeCroy down 13% [Dec 3, 08]

LeCroy up 13% [Nov 28, 08]

LeCroy up 12% [Nov 17, 08]

Lecroy up 12% [Nov 13, 08]

Lecroy up 11% [Oct 30, 08]

Lecroy down 13% [Oct 15, 08]

Lecroy up 11% [Mar 18, 08]

LeCroy (Chestnut Ridge, NY; one Phase 2 SBIR a decade ago) up 19% on good profit news. [Oct 17, 07]

LED Lighting Fixtures [Morrisville, NC]

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]

LED Lighting Fixtures (Morrisville NC) claims a technology breakthrough that will dramatically lower the cost of lighting homes and offices with LEDs ... uses 5.8 watts of power, compared with 60 watts for an equally bright incandescent bulb [Frank Norton, Raleigh News& Observer, Nov 28]

LED Lighting Fixtures (Morrisville NC; no SBIR) raised $16.5M in private equity to expand its line of power-efficient lighting products and accelerate research and development. LLF is among the first companies in the world to design and manufacture general-purpose fixtures that hold light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. ...The cash infusion is the company's second since being co-founded in 2005 by current chairman Neil Hunter, one of the founders of Cree. LLF, which raised $6.5 million last year, uses Cree LEDs in some of its products. [Frank Norton, Raleigh News&Observer, Nov 3, 07]

LED Lighting Fixtures [Morrisville, NC] signed the first customer for its energy-efficient light fixtures. The startup, led by Cree co-founder Neal Hunter, will supply recessed light fixtures to Loyd Builders, a custom home builder. [Raleigh News and Observer, Mar 21]

Lexicon Genetics

Lexicon Genetics up 10%. [Apr 13, 07]

Lexicon Genetics up 11% [Feb 22, 07] after a broker's upgrade.

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals

Two financing infusions [$200-500M] announced this week will help Lexicon Pharmaceuticals complete its shift from a genetic research company to a biopharmaceutical firm on its own terms, analysts said. [Purva Patel, Houston Chronicle, Jun 19]

Leyden Energy (Fremont, CA)

Leyden Energy (Fremont, CA; one SBIR) which is developing longer-lasting lithium ion batteries for consumer mobile devices, electric vehicles, and energy storage, said that it has raised $20 million in Series B financing [xconomy.com, Aug 3, 11]

Libra BioSciences

venture capital firm PureTech Ventures is launching a new company Vedanta Biosciences ... a spin-off from PureTech’s Libra BioSciences (no SBIR), a stealthy entity set up to explore commercialization opportunities in the biogenome field. Incubated in PureTech’s Boston offices, ... aims to commercialize research newly published today in the academic journal Science that indicates beneficial, gut-dwelling bacteria may also be useful for combating allergies and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). [Galen Moore, Mass High Tech, Dec 23, 10]

LifeCell (Branchburg,NJ)

LifeCell (Branchburg, NJ; $4M SBIR) up 17% after agreeing to be bought by Kinetic Concepts for $1.7 B cash. [company press release]

LifeGen Technologies (Madison, WI)

LifeGen Technologies (Madison, WI; one SBIR) has agreed to be acquired for $11.7 million by a Utah company that sells anti-aging products. Nu Skin Enterprises (no SBIR) said Thursday it will acquire all of LifeGen's assets .... started in 2000 by two professors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Richard Weindruch and Thomas A. Prolla. It has had a collaboration with Nu Skin since 2009 and uses the company's genetic science to support an anti-aging nutritional supplement and other products. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Oct 27, 11]

Life Image (Newton, MA)

LifeImage (Newton, MA; no SBIR) maker of medical imaging storage and sharing technology, has closed out its Series B funding round at $12 million ... co-founded by CEO Hamid Tabatabaie, a serial entrepreneur who has spent 12 years in health care information technology operating startup companies in the diagnostic imaging market [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Jan 5, 11]

Life Image (Newton, MA; no SBIR) pulled in $2 million in financing, according to a filing with the SEC. ... develops web-based applications and services to ease access to patients’ medical-imaging history. [Mass High Tech, Jan 15, 10]

Life Technologies (Carlsbad, CA)

Layoffs began at Life Technologies on Thursday, three weeks after executives revealed plans to cut expenses by as much as $20 million to offset sluggish demand for the Carlsbad company's research laboratory products and the fumbled launch of a new sales strategy in China. [Keith Darce, signonsandiego.com, Aug 18, 11]

Scientists at two laboratories in Germany and one in China used the [Ion Torrent, Guilford, CT; no SBIR] company's new Ion Personal Genome Machine to sequence the genome of the [e-coli] bacterium in a matter of hours. Prior to the development of the sequencing technology, it would have taken days to decode the DNA. ... [Founder Jonathan] Rothberg has long been a major figure in DNA research. He founded the biotech company CuraGen in 1991 while a graduate student at Yale University. He later founded 454 Life Sciences, (Branford , CT; no SBIR) that was sold to Roche Diagnostics in 2007 for $155 million. Shortly after that, he started Ion Torrent, which is now a division of Life Technologies. [William Weir, Hartford Courant, Jun 2, 11]

Life Technologies is using [crowd sourcing] to improve it’s (sic) desktop genetic sequencing device, the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine, making it the first crowd sourcing campaign focused on a biological research and medical laboratory. [Keith Darce, signonsandiago.com, May 3, 11] Life is competing with Illumina for sales of new cheaper sequencers that are cutting the machine cost by 80-90%.

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]

Six months after salmonella forced the recall of 550 million eggs in the United States and sickened more than 2,000 people, [Life Technologies (Carlsbad, CA)] has introduced a genetic test that could make it easier to detect contaminated eggs. [Keith Darce, signonsandiego.com, Jan 13, 11]

Illumina and Life Technologies [make the machines that separate DNA from samples of saliva, blood, skin and other tissue for genetic analysis. ] both cut their genomics teeth on DNA testing products and sequencing machines designed mainly for human medical research. However, agriculture-related business has become increasingly important to the companies in recent years, executives said. Crop and livestock customers generated $100 million in sales for Illumina in 2009, or 12 percent of total revenue, said Tristan Orpin, a senior vice president and chief commercial officer .... Illumina now offers separate commercial chips for testing cows, dogs, pigs, sheep, horses and corn. Each chip sells for between $195 and $295, and the largest one (for cows) tests for 500,000 markers. In November, Life Technologies began selling a genetic testing kit for quicker detection of viral diarrhea in cows, a costly disease that can spread rapidly in a herd and reduce the body weight, and value, of sick animals. [Keith Darce, signonsandiego.com, Dec 21, 10]

Life Technologiestook a step toward lowering the cost of genetic sequencing and expanding the availability of the revolutionary technology by launching its new Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine. ... acquired the machine in August when it purchased the device’s creator, Ion Torrent (Guilford, CT, no SBIR), in a $725 million deal. ..... among several, including Illumina of San Diego, that are racing to introduce new ways of sequencing genes that expand the use of the technology [signonsandiego.com, Dec 17, 10]

Life Technologies was 402d on the new Deloitte Fast 500 list of fastest-growing technology companies [Mike Freeman, signonsandiego, Oct 21, 10]

Life Technologies (San Diego, CA) said it will acquire Ion Torrent, (Guilford, CT; no SBIR, founded 2007) that has developed a new way of sequencing genes, in a deal worth as much as $725 million. [Keith Darcé, San Diego Union Tribune, Aug 17, 10]

Life Technologies said it has acquired a 74% ownership stake in Germany-based Geneart through a tender offer to the smaller company’s shareholders. Geneart is one of five small companies around the world that specialize in synthesizing custom-ordered genes for use in biomedical research. [Luke Timmerman, signonsandiego, Jun 11, 10]

Life Technologies has invested $10 million out of an equity financing that could be worth as much as $50 million for Synthetic Genomics (San Diego, CA; no SBIR), the startup co-founded by genomics pioneer J. Craig Venter, according to a regulatory filing. Synthetic Genomics, uses synthetic biology techniques to create or modify cells or genomes of different organisms. The startup is seeking to apply its technology to clean energy, clean water, food production, and vaccines [Luke Timmerman, signonsandiego.com, Jun 8]

Around 100 employees at the Carlsbad headquarters of Life Technologies gathered in their main conference room to hear a mother from New Mexico thank them for creating the DNA kits police used to find the killer of her 22-year-old daughter.... rising demand for DNA evidence has helped bolster the company’s genetic-systems division, which produces DNA kits as well as tests for food safety and pharmaceutical quality. In the past year, the division generated $906.5 million in sales [Dean Calbreath, signonsandiego.com, May 28, 10]

Life Technologies (Carlsbad, CA) announced a partnership with the Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg under which the Carlsbad company will sequence the biobank’s collection of biospecimen samples. The bank collects and stores a wide range of samples, with an initial focus on cancer, and can combine genetic and molecular information with medical records and environmental factors related to the donor. [Thomas Kupper, San Diego Union Tribune, Mar 24, 10]

Life Technologies reported higher-than-expected profit for the fourth quarter yesterday, as sales of the Carlsbad company’s products for scientific research continued to grow.... born of the 2008 merger of Carlsbad’s Invitrogen and instrument maker Applied Biosystems [Thomas Kupper, San Diego Union Tribune, Jan 29, 10]

Life Technologies said it acquired the Bay Area company AcroMetrix (Benicia, CA; one SBIR) for an undisclosed amount. AcroMetrix makes diagnostic quality control products for laboratories, blood screening centers and diagnostic manufacturers. [Thomas Kupper, San Diego Union Tribune, Jan 13, 10]

Life Technologies (Carlsbad, CA; formed last year by the merger of Invitrogen and Applied Biosystems) reported second-quarter results yesterday that easily beat Wall Street forecasts, as sales of the company's instruments and other tools for biotechnology research continued to grow. .... got a boost from $15 million in sales related to work on the H1N1 (swine) flu. [Thomas Kupper, San Diego Union Tribune, Jul 29, 09]

Two San Diego-area biotechnology companies yesterday were among six commercial operations to receive grants from the state's taxpayer-funded stem cell institute. The funding included 23 grants ranging from $700,000 to $1.1 million. ... Life Technologies, formerly known as Invitrogen, which makes tools for drug discovery, and Novocell, (San Diego, CA; no SBIR) $827,000, which is using human embryonic stem cells to develop a therapy for diabetes. [Terri Somers, San Diego Union Tribune, Dec 11]

VisiGen Biotechnologies (Houston, TX; $200K SBIR), a company created by University of Houston researchers, was acquired for $20 million by Invitrogen Corp., which recently merged with Applied Biosystems to form Life Technologies. The company is working on a new process to sequence individual human genomes. [Houston Chronicle, Dec 11, 08]

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (San Diego, CA)

Ligand Pharma up 13% [Nov 11, 11]

Ligand Pharma down 23% [Nov 8, 11]

Ligand Pharma up 14% [Sep 7, 11]

Ligand Pharma up 13% [Feb 16, 11]

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (San Diego, CA; one SBIR in 1994) said that its partner, GlaxoSmithKline, has won clearance to start marketing a new drug for a platelet deficiency in Europe. The treatment, eltrombopag (Revolade), is for patients for idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura (ITP), a rare bleeding disorder in which the immune system attacks platelet cells that help people form clots. The drug, discovered by Ligand and developed by GSK, was approved in the U.S. in November 2008, and is marketed under the brand name Promact [signonsandiego.com, Mar 12, 10]

Ligand Pharmaceuticals said it received a $1 million milestone payment from Merck subsidiary N.V. Organon under a collaboration that ended Dec. 31. [Thomas Kupper, San Diego Union Tribune, Jan 8, 10]

Neurogen (Branford, CT; two SBIRs) will be sold to Ligand Pharmaceuticals for $11M plus a possible $7M to shareholders later. [Mass High Tech, Aug 24, 09]

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (one small SBIR 1994) is another early-stage drug company with a new drug application pending before the FDA. Ligand technology was used in the development of Fablyn, which can treat osteoporosis, and was developed in collaboration with Pfizer. An FDA panel gave the chances for approval a boost in early September 2008, when it said the drug might prove more beneficial to patients given the risks. Ligand had only $9.7 million in revenues the first six months of 2008. The company is not solely dependent on Fablyn, as it has collaborations with other large drug companies including Wyeth and GlaxoSmithKline. A decision is expected sometime before the end of 2008 and if approved Ligand will receive royalty payments and cash. [Eric Fox, Investopedia, Oct 16]

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (San Diego, CA; one SBIR) fell 36% after the FDA said Promacta, a treatment Ligand is developing for patients affected by chronic thrombocytopenic purpura, or ITP, in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline, was unable to significantly reduce bleeding when compared with a placebo. [Wall St Journal, May 29]

Lightpointe

LightPointe,which started life on an MDA SBIR in 1999, got another $17M VC money. That was after one Phase 2 SBIR and $45M earlier rounds. The optical telecom bubble did not collapse for everyone; the company claims 2,000-plus installations in more than 60 countries. That's the kind of ROI that SBIR should seek in all the agencies. Thanks to MDA's tech commercialization page for the info. Those WO guys do a great job of tracking the good things that happen outside MDA from MDA's tech spending. They don't spend their energy in "success stories" with minor league, economically empty success.

Light Sciences Oncology

Light Sciences Oncology (Bellevue, WA; no SBIR), developing a novel drug/device combination treatment for cancer, stumbled in its pivotal clinical trial and is now preparing to make major cuts including layoffs. The company, founded in 1995, received more than $50 million alone from former Microsoft treasurer Craig Watjen, and well over $130 million its history from investors [Luke Timmerman, xconomy.com, Oct 6, 11]

things are looking better: the research-oriented startups seem poised to survive the downturn, and long-awaited clinical results could propel larger companies like Dendreon to stardom. ... despite the financial crisis, the Accelerator, a local incubator based in Seattle's Eastlake neighborhood, created three firms last year - Recodagen, GPC-Rx and Mirina (none had SBIR) ... "Seattle is really a town of development-stage biotechs," Miller said. ... Light Sciences Oncology (no SBIR), a firm that canceled its initial public offering last February, managed to raise $10 million from venture capitalists in July. Private investors provided Redmond-based Healionics (no SBIR) — which manufactures material for implants — with a $2.6 million boost in December. In a deal that could yield big results, Bothell-based Acucela (no SBIR), which is developing therapies to treat blindness, signed a partnership deal in September with Japanese firm Otsuka Pharmaceutical that could potentially bring it $258 million. [Angel Gonzalez, Seattle Times, Jan 25, 09]

Ligon Discovery (Cambridge, MA)

startup Ligon Discovery (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) reports it has landed $1 million in funding ... using proprietary small molecule microarray technology to identify drug candidates. [Mass High Tech, Nov 19, 09]

Lilliputian Systems (Wilmington, MA)

Lilliputian Systems (Wilmington, MA; no SBIR), a secretive company that has been developing tiny fuel cells aimed at powering small consumer devices, has secured $28 million in new funding from new and existing investors. ... has raised approximately $90 million since its inception in 2001. ... plan eventually to offer a suite of products revolving around the butane-powered fuel cell technology [Mass High Tech, Apr 2, 09]

Linares Management Associates (Medfield, MA)

The face staring through a porthole on page 100 is Bob Linares, one of many CVD diamond dreamers in the late 80s and early 90s. Josh Davis Wired (Sep 2003) tells the story of two competing companies developing mass-produced diamonds. The DOD database shows eight Phase 1 and two Phase 2 SBIRs in the 90s - all from SDIO/BMDO (the original names of MDA) for Linares Management. The Wired story tells how Linares made a bundle selling a gallium arsenide company and building a "secret diamond research lab" to probe for the "sweet spot" of making single crystal diamond. In that quest he was one of many that SDIO/BMDO funded in what turned out, at least so far, to be a too elegant and expensive process. Crystallume and SI Diamond were two companies that went public and then broke with diamond. Linares present company, Apollo Diamond, run by his son, is competing with Gemesis. Diamond would be in great demand as a heat conductor as electronic chips shrink into pure heaters. Cheap diamond would, however, ruin the diamond jewelry industry that for centuries relied on scarcity. If the commerce works out, BMDO can claim another nurturing of a really innovative idea that did what SBIR is supposed to do - get real innovators going.

Single Crystal Diamond. Photonics Spectra (Mar 98) reports a proprietary CVD process for single crystal diamond by Linares Management Associates (Medfield, MA). Nice. Who will make money from it? Two companies had a lot of SBIR, went public and then bust trying - Crystallume and SI Diamond. Linares has had SBIR from BMDO for both diamond and GaN. If you want to try, government is a sucker for nice science with the dreamy promise of a huge future market. Emphasize your science with lots of references to the literature, impressive credentials of investigators, lots of chemistry-speak, and an estimate of at least $2B market (no, you don't have to prove it).

Lingotek (Draper, UT)

In-Q-Tel, CIA's venture-capital investment arm, has put more money into Lingotek (Draper, UT; no SBIR) which develops Web-based collaborative translation software for corporations and government intelligence services. Still secret: how much In-Q-Tel invested in 20-employee Lingotek. [Paul Beebe, Salt Lake Tribune, Jul 29]

LipoScience (Raleigh, NC)

LipoScience (Raleigh, NC; no SBIR) company that sells a blood test to measure patients' risk for heart disease is reviving plans for an initial public offering of stock... wants to raise $86.25 million, the company disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.The company first filed IPO plans in 2002, but scrapped them after failing to attract enough interest on Wall Street. This time, LipoScience officials are hoping that having a few more years of steady revenue growth will help sell their story to investors. They're also counting on renewed interest in IPOs. [Alan Wolf, Raleigh News & Observer, Jun 24, 11]

Liquidia Technologies (Durham, NC)

the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested $10 million to acquire a stake in Liquidia Technologies (RTP, NC; one SBIR), a biotechnology company working on new ways to deliver vaccines. ... an investment that can be counted toward federal requirements that it pay out 5 percent of its assets each year. ... to connect with profit-making ventures that advance their missions. [Stephanie Strom, New York Times, Nov 24,11]

Liquidia Technologies (Durham, NC; one SBIR) developing vaccines using nanotechnology developed by renowned chemist Joseph DeSimone will announce today that it has attracted a $10 million investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. .... is testing a flu vaccine that uses tiny, engineered particles to deliver the medicine in patients. The company hopes to develop vaccines for other diseases, including malaria. ... The Gates foundation, started by the Microsoft co-founder and his wife, a Duke University alumna, has given nearly $24 billion in grants since 1994. [Alan Wolf, Raleigh News & Observer, Mar 4, 11]

Nanotechnology company Liquidia Technologies (Morrisville, NC; one SBIR) has tapped the purse strings and the expertise of a North Carolina clinical research organization to close its $25 million third round of financing, the company announced [Frank Vinluan, Triangle Business Journal, Apr 20, 10]

Liquidia Technologies (Durham, NC; one SBIR) raised $20 million in venture capital financing... to continue clinical testing of its experimental flu vaccine based on nanotechnology. ... employs 46, previously raised more than $30 million in venture financing ... In addition, Liquidia and its founder, N.C. State and UNC-Chapel Hill chemist Joseph DeSimone, won a $3 million federal grant [NIST-TIP] in December. [Alan Wolf, Raleigh News & Observer, Jan 19, 10]

Liquidia Technologies (RTP, NC; one SBIR) will receive about $3million from the U.S. Commerce Department to further develop a process of making vaccines and other products from tiny [nano] particles. The grant follows more than $30 million in venture capital financing that Liquidia has attracted. ... co-founded in 2004 by Joseph DeSimone, a chemist at UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University. [Alan Wolf, Raleigh News & Observer, Dec 18, 09]

Liquidia Technologies (Durham, NC; one SBIR) scored $7 million in venture capital to continue developing chemotherapy and other treatments that won't attack healthy tissue. [John Murowski, Raleigh News & Observer, Aug 1, 09]

Liquidia (Durham, NC; no SBIR), co-founded in 2004 by Triangle scientist Joseph DeSimone, will work with Abbott on a new type of cancer treatment known as short interfering RNA, or siRNA. [Sabine Vollmer, Raleigh News & Observer, Jan 8]

Optimism. Neal Fowler quit his job as head of a multibillion-dollar Johnson & Johnson subsidiary based on the big promise of a young Durham nanotechnology company. For the past 20 years, Fowler worked for large pharmaceutical companies ... he took a pay cut to join Liquidia Technologies (no SBIR), which employs 35 ... The object of everybody's desire is a clear, nonstick material, called Fluorocur. Developed by UNC-CH chemistry professors Joe DeSimone and Ed Samulski and three of their students, Fluorocur is liquid at room temperature and hardens when exposed to ultraviolet light. What makes Liquidia's technology attractive is its scale. Fluorocur creeps into crevices so small they can only be seen with the most powerful microscopes. [Sabine Vollmer, Raleigh News&Observer, Mar 14] Since it won't be going back and back to SBIR for endless externally funded R&D, it must find a profitable app, one is enough when capital and patience are limited, on which to base a growing enterprise.

Liquid Metal Battery (Cambridge, MA)

Liquid Metal Battery (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) said today that it has secured the rights to key patent technology from MIT and that it has received financing from a French energy company and from Bill Gates of Microsoft fame.... specializes in developing new forms of electric storage batteries that work in large, grid-scale applications ... Patents for the technology to develop such batteries were licensed from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The core technology was invented by Donald Sadoway and David Bradwell, two of Liquid Metal Battery’s cofounders. [Chris Reidy, Boston Globe, Jul 7, 11]

LiquidPiston (West Hartford, CT)

LiquidPiston (Bloomfield, CT; one SBIR) has landed $5 million in a Series B round of financing, bringing the total equity financing in the Bloomfield company to $6.25 million. [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Jan 26, 11]

LiquidPiston (Bloomfield, CT; a little SBIR) which develops specialized internal combustion engines, received $700,000 in second-round financing. [Hartford Courant, Oct 18,08]

LiquidPiston (West Hartford, CT; one SBIR), a recent runner-up in MIT's $100K business plan competition, has secured its first round of venture funding, adding $1.25M.

LiQuifix (Stamford, CT)

Connecticut announced that it planned to invest $700,000 to help keep specialized lubricant maker LiQuifix (Stamford, CT; no SBIR) in the state, with the possibility of adding more than 50 jobs over the next three years. ... makes what it calls a non-toxic, environmentally friendly spray lubricant that is used on industrial equipment. Its customers include Ford Motor Co. and U.S. military agencies. [Mass High Tech, Mar 23, 10] Note: SBIR is a national competition that should not fund any project nor company for the purpose of keeping it anywhere except within the USA.

Lithium Technology (Plymouth Meeting, PA)

Lithium-ion battery maker Lithium Technology (Plymouth Meeting, PA; three SBIRs) is discontinuing flat cell production at the company's headquarters in . "This step is necessary to allow the company to focus all its efforts on cylindrical cells that are its core competency," Lithium said. "The company will expand its present manufacturing capability in Germany." [Philadelphia Business Journal, Jun 27, 08]

LiveData (Cambridge, MA)

LiveData (Cambridge, MA; $800K SBIR) made a research and development partnership with Idaho National Laboratory . to test the security of LiveData's ICCP Protocol Server for the electric power industry. [Mass High Tech, Apr 4]

Logical Therapeutics (Waltham , MA)

Logical Therapeutics (Waltham, MA; no SBIR) has closed a $16.9 million Series C equity funding .... development of its Bio-activated Technology, a platform designed to alter the chemical composition of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, taken for osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, for the sake of lowering the drugs’ gastrointestinal side effects. Its lead compound, LT-NS001, an anti-inflammatory drug candidate, is currently in a Phase 2b/3 clinical study, which is expected to close later this year. [Mass High Tech, May 28, 10]

Logical Therapeutics (Waltham , MA; no SBIR) expanded its Series B round by $2.7 million from inside investors to increase its manufacturing operations and add a new product. In 2007, the developer of anti-inflammatory therapies raised about $30 million for its Series B round. [Mass High Tech, Dec 8, 08]

Logos Tech (Arlington, VA)

ARPA-E Awards. The administration announced $106M in ARPA-E stimulus awards. Small biz winners: Ginkgo BioWorks (Boston, MA; one SBIR) $6M primary; OPX Biotech (no SBIR) $6M primary; Logos Tech (Arlington, VA; $2M SBIR) secondary; Sion Power (Tucson, AZ; $250K SBIR) $5M primary; ReVolt Tech (no SBIR) $5M primary; PolyPlus Battery (Berkeley, CA; one SBIR) $5M; Pellion Tech (no SBIR) $3.2M primary; A123 Systems secondary, twice; Planar Energy Devices (no SBIR) $4M; Maxpower (Harleysville, PA; $9M SBIR) secondary; NanoLab (Newton, MA; $5M SBIR) secondary; Codexis (no SBIR) $4.6M; Nexant (no SBIR) secondary.

Lotus Tissue Repair (Cambridge, MA)

Lotus Tissue Repair (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) said it has closed on a $26 million Series A financing ... is developing a proprietary recombinant collagen technology as a treatment for skin conditions. ... to advance this technology as a protein replacement therapy for the treatment of dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, a disease that causes devastating skin blisters and early mortality, the company said. [Chris Reidy, Boston Globe, Jun 30, 11]

LS9 (San Carlos, CA)

Sunlight companies. Joule Unlimited (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) said it was the first company to patent an organism that secretes hydrocarbon fuel made continuously, directly from sunlight. Other companies, including Amyris Biotechnologies (Emeryville, CA; $700K SBIR), and LS9 (San Carlos, CA; no SBIR), are working on organisms that will make fuel if fed sugar from corn or cellulosic sources, but Joule’s bacterium does not require any sugar. Another company, Aurora Algae (Alameda, CA; no SBIR), said that it had developed an algae-based platform for production of fuel, pharmaceuticals and other valuable chemicals. [Matthew Wald, New York Times, Sep 14, 10]

Biofuel Valley. More than fifteen hundred miles away from the Midwest's corn belt, several California-based, venture-backed startups founded by pioneers in the fledging field of synthetic biology are creating new microörganisms designed to make biofuels other than ethanol. .... planning to produce novel hydrocarbons ... At LS9 in San Carlos, CA, researchers are turning E. coli into a hydrocarbon producer by reëngineering its fatty-acid metabolism (see "Better Biofuels," Forward, July/August 2007) [David Rotman, MIT Tech Review, Dec 20] Ethanol is an expensive fuel that requires special handling; only government subsidy keeps it alive.

While much of the focus is on ethanol, LS9 (San Carlos, CA; no SBIR) is using relatively new "synthetic biology" techniques to engineer bacteria that can make - secrete - hydrocarbons for gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. ... Overall, LS9 says, its process would consume 65% less energy than ethanol production. The company hopes to bring hydrocarbon biofuels to market in four or five years. [Neil Savage, MIT Tech Review, J/A07]

Luca Technologies (Golden, CO)

Luca Technologies (Golden, CO; no SBIR) has raised $76 million to scale up a process that uses coal-digesting microorganisms to convert coal into methane. The process is designed to operate underground, inside coal mines. ... Scott, working at the University of Texas in the mid-1990s, helped show that a significant fraction of natural gas is constantly being produced by microorganisms that feed on coal. First, one type of microbe breaks the long hydrocarbon molecules found in coal into shorter molecules. Other microbes convert these molecules into organic acids and alcohols. Finally, microbes called methanogens feed on these and produce methane. [Kevin Bullis, MIT Tech Review, Jan 8]

Lucigen (Middleton,WI)

Lucigen (Middleton, WI; $9M SBIR) said it has been awarded $350,000 in grants from the National Institutes of Health to fund additional research and development. The two grants will be used to develop genetic sequencing tools, and to create an affordable tool to help researchers study data from genes and proteins within individual cells. [Kathleen Gallagher, Oct 12, 11]

Lucigen (Middleton, WI; $6.2M SBIR) in partnership with Auburn University, has been awarded a $500,000 [NSF SBIR] grant to develop tools for improving the health of farm-raised fish. .... is trying to come up with inexpensive ways to detect and control Edwardsiella ictaluri, the most common pathogen in farmed catfish. Farmers suffer substantial economic losses when fish are infected with this pathogen, the company said. .... Founded in 1998, Lucigen develops life science research products and technologies for gene cloning, genomics and protein expression. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Feb 16,11]

Lucigen (Middleton, WI; $6.2M SBIR) said it has been awarded a $1.46 million [NIH SBIR] ... to develop research tools with the potential to improve human health. Lucigen develops life science research products and technologies for gene cloning, genomics and protein expression. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jan 17, 11]

Lucigen (Middleton, WI; $6M SBIR) will receive a $200,000 low-interest loan from the state Commerce Department to develop a DNA sequencing technology [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 13]

Lucigen (Madison, WI; $5M SBIR) said it has been awarded more than $1.7 million in federal innovation grants (SBIR) . $400,000 for development of a virus detection system; $165,000 to advance its existing cloning methods; and $1.2 million to enhance a system for gene expression. ... offers a range of products and technologies that help scientists find new enzymes, clone genes and perform other research. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Apr 21, 10]

Lucigen (Madison, WI; $4.5M SBIR) said it has received a $750,000 grant to develop enzymes that help sequence DNA faster. The company said it will use the money over the next two years to help figure out how to determine patients' genetic makeup more quickly and inexpensively. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sep 16, 09]

Lucigen (Madison, WI; $5M SBIR) has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop ways to control disease in farmed catfish. The Madison biotech company will work with collaborators at Auburn University to develop molecular diagnostic tests and treatments to help eliminate the spread of disease in farm-raised channel catfish, an important food crop, Lucigen said Tuesday. ... With the grant, Lucigen said it has received more than $700,000 of funding during the past 12 months and more than $4.2 million in total. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jul 8, 09] ... founded in 1998 to develop novel, useful products and technologies for advancing life science research [company website]

Lucigen (Middleton,WI; $5M SBIR), that has discovered new heat-stable enzymes in boiling hot springs, said Tuesday it has won two new federal grants.... $100,000 to further develop the enzyme, which it says has properties that might be useful in cancer diagnosis and infectious disease detection. ... also will share in an award of $300,000 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to work with Abhay Vats at the University of Pittsburgh on tests they are developing for respiratory viruses. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 5, 09] founded in 1998, is a privately held company manufacturing and selling products worldwide for gene cloning and genomics. [company website]

Lumencor (Beaverton, OR)

Lumencor (Beaverton, OR) Formed December 2006 . The product: Specialized high-performance lights for biotechnology, called light engines. They are used for basic and applied research in life sciences, including drug research, blood analysis and DNA sequencing. Prototypes are being tested; the plan is to have units for sale in six months. The founders: Steven Jaffe, 46, president and chief executive, is a physicist who has developed optical displays. He founded Quantum Vision (one Phase 2 SBIR), a California startup that folded in 2006. ... Arlie Conner, 53, vice president for engineering, is an inventor, optical engineer and mathematician who has designed projectors and LED lighting systems and worked at InFocus, a Wilsonville maker of digital projectors. He started Lightware (Beaverton, OR; no SBIR) which was purchased by 3M. [The Oregonian, Mar 8,08]

Lumicell Diagnostics (Waltham,MA)

Lumicell Diagnostics (Waltham, MA; no SBIR) has raised $2.7 of a planned $3.9 million financing round, according to federal documents. ... developing a handheld device that, when used in conjunction with a dye that radiates fluorescent light when in contact with a cancer enzyme, can detect minute amounts of cancer cells left behind after a cancer surgery. [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Jun 2, 11]

Lumera

Lumera which is merging with GigOptix of California, reported that it trimmed its third-quarter loss to $1.5 million, [Puget Sound Business Journal, Oct 21, 08]

Light Over Life. Lumera, (Bothell, WA; one SBIR) optic-communications company, scrapped its life-science-tools subsidiary and announced a merger agreement with GigOptix. Lumera's board determined that it does not have enough cash to continue running Plexera Bioscience and is focusing instead on its optics business. [Ben Romano, Seattle Times, Mar 28]

Lumera down 14% [Feb 21, 08]

Lumera up 10% [Feb 20, 08]

Lumera up 38% [Jan 29, 08]

Lumera up 12% [Oct 15, 07] after announcing the release of its 40 Gbps electro-optic polymer modulator for optical transmission systems. [press release]

Lumera up 29%. [Aug 8, 07]

Lumera up 13% [May 18, 07]

Lumera up 24% [Mar 12, 07] on a Lockheed purchase order for polymer materials with the possibility of a licensing deal.

Lumera lost 20% after reporting a bigger loss. [Mar 9, 07]

Lumera still rolling, up another 18% [Nov 6, 06]

Lumera up 10% on no more news; that's up about 25% for the week. [Nov 3, 06]

Lumera, which once had a Phase 1 SBIR, rocketed 38% after it said that Harvard Medical School researchers are building discovery and diagnostics methods with Lumera's ProteomicProcessor biosensor. [Wall Street Journal, Nov 1]

Luminary Micro (Austin TX)

Startup Luminary Micro (Austin, TX; no SBIR) is beginning to hit its stride, expecting this year to sell millions of microcontrollers, which are tiny low-cost brains that run everything from industrial equipment to household appliances. The company has raised $44 million in venture backing, expects to become profitable next year and, if all goes well, will shoot for a public stock offering in 2010. Not bad for a company that was conceived less than four years ago over fish, chips and beers at Mother Egan's Irish Pub. .... 62 employees, many of them highly skilled veteran chip designers, and has launched 132 new chips. Some indeed sell for a buck apiece, while others go for several dollars more. [Austin American-Statesman, Jul 28, 08]

Luminary Micro a three-year-old Austin chip startup (no SBIR) , raised another $25 M in venture capital, the company's third venture round since it was started. [Austin American-Statesman, Aug 23]

Luminex (Austin TX)

Luminex (Austin, TX; $800K SBIR) ) has agreed to acquire a Wisconsin diagnostic testing company for $34 million in cash. .... Luminex, which makes testing systems for biotechnology companies, said EraGen Biosciences (Madison, WI; $4.7M SBIR) ) provides it with access to a highly complementary portfolio of molecular diagnostics. Founded in 1999, EraGen generated $8 million in product revenue in 2010. Luminex said it expects the acquisition to add between $5 million and $7 million to its 2011 revenue. EraGen has 70 employees. Luminex said operations are expected to remain in Wisconsin. [Austin American Statesman, Jun 22, 11]

Luminex (Austin, TX; $370K SBIR) which develops biological testing systems, was No. 291 .... on the new Deloitte Fast 500 list of fastest-growing technology companies. ... Its 2009 revenue of $120.6 million was up 185 percent from 2005. [Austin American Statesman, Oct 20, 10]

Luminex (Austin, TX; $300K SBIR in 2003) was listed as 42nd fastest growing company by Fortune magazine. The testing equipment manufacturer was founded in 1995 and employs about 471 workers. [Austin Business Journal, Aug 20, 10]

Luminex (Austin, TX; one SBIR) posts 4th-quarter revenue of $38.2 million, up 35% from 2008 .... makes biological testing systems for medical and life sciences customers [Austin American Statesman, Feb 6, 10]

Luminex (Austin TX; no SBIR, 300 employees), the worldwide leader in multiplexed solutions, today announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its xTAG(TM) Respiratory Viral Panel (RVP). xTAG RVP is the first FDA-cleared assay to simultaneously detect and identify 12 viruses and viral subtypes that together are responsible for more than 85 percent of respiratory viral infections. [company press release]

Luminus Devices (Billerica, MA)

Luminus Devices (Billerica,MA; no SBIR) designer, developer and manufacturer of LEDs, announced the closing of its round of funding totaling $19 million. [Boston Globe, Feb 23, 10]

LED maker Luminus Devices (Billerica, MA; no SBIR) closed $72M in new funding, bringing the company's total raised to nearly $140M since its photonic lattice technology was spun out of MIT in 2002 [Mass High Tech, Mar 17]

Lumitex (Strongsville,OH)

Faster than SBIR. the Air Force Research Lab [was] approached in 2004 and asked to develop such a system. Working with Lumitex (Strongsville,OH; no SBIR) the effort was part of a rapid-reaction program where researchers were given up to $100,000 and one year to come up with a product. ... The group produced 108 prototypes in six months [James Hannah, AP, Feb 20 reprint by Albany Times-Union] The product is a LED - fiber-optic strip that emits in the IR to mark friendly forces on the ground.

Luna Innovations

Luna Innovations up 12% [Feb 19, 10]gained ground after plunging almost 70% the day before when it said that the FDA had decided not to approve Horizant, also known as gabapentin enacarbil, for the treatment of restless-legs syndrome, citing concerns that early animal studies had indicated the product might trigger pancreatic tumors. [marketwatch.com, Feb 20, 10]

Luna Innovations up 20% [Feb 17, 10]

Luna Innovations up 10% [Feb 1, 10]

Luna Innovations down 11% [Jan 13, 10]

Luna Innovations up 21% [Jan 12, 10]

Luna Innovations down 19% [Jan 11, 10]

Luna Innovations zoomed 72% [Jan 8, 10]

Luna Innovations announced today that it will be extending its development and supply agreement with Intuitive Surgical to continue integrating Luna’s shape sensing technology into Intuitive’s products. [Luna press release]

Luna Innovations up 12% [Jan 6, 10] which puts it at 10x its low point for 52 weeks but still 75% below its 100 week high.

Luna Innovations up 19% [Sep 28, 09]

Luna Innovations doubled, up 95% [Sep 25, 09]

Luna Innovations up 13% [Nov 4, 08]

Luna Innovations down 11% [Oct 6, 08]

Luna Innovations down 17% [Oct 3, 08]

Luna Innovations down 18% [Sep 29, 08]

Luna Innovations down 11% [Sep 8, 08]

Luna Innovations up 10% [Jul 18, 08]

Luna Innovations rebounded 20% [Jun 30, 08]

Luna Innovations down 21% [Jun 27, 08]

Luna Innovations down 18% [Jun 26, 08]

Luna Innovations up 16% [Mar 27, 08]

Luna Innovations up 16% [Mar 25, 08]

Luna Innovations down 17% [Mar 6, 08]

Luna Innovations up 11% [Feb 13, 08]

Luna Innovations down 14% [Jan 9, 08]

Luna Innovations up 10% [Dec 28, 07]

Luna Innovations up 13% [Nov 14, 07] on near doubling of profit.

Luna Innovations down 15% after reporting another loss. [Nov 9, 07]

Luna Innovations up 11% [Oct 30, 07]

Luna Innovations up 14% [Oct 24, 07]

Luna Innovations up 24% on news of a deal with Intuitive Surgical (the global technology leader in robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery) wherein Luna will develop and supply fiber optic-based shape sensing and position tracking system. [Jun 14, 07]

Luna Innovations gave back 14% which is about 20 of the 68 percentage point gain the day before.

Luna Innovations rocketed 68% on news that its company's blood circuit monitor used in cardiac surgery won clearance from U.S. health regulators. [Reuters, May 21] But still below its post-IPO trading price.

Luna Innovations took a 27% tumble and an inverstment downgrade after forecasting lower revenue for next quarter. [Sep 06]

Luna Innovations went public at $6 a share, half its week-ago target of $12. There it closed its short first trading day. Luna's technologies got a big helping hand from the government with $25M of SBIR in the last five years, plus another $10M before that as Fiber & Sensor Technologies. It claims to be a researcher and developer (and commercializer) of molecular technology and sensing solutions. Its home is Roanoke VA, the same home as Pixel Optics. Parts of the company had already been bought by bigger companies: Luna Energy was acquired in December 2004 by Baker Hughes, a leader in oil field services, and Luna i-Monitoring by IHS Energy in October 2003. [Jun 3,06] Even if $35M SBIR seems a lot of kerosene to start a fire, SBIR can claim at least some kind of ROI for a company attracting public capital. And something is better than the nothing that almost all other SBIR spending shows as a return.

Luna Technologies

Luna Technologies' Optical Backscatter Reflectometer (OBR(TM)) with distributed sensing has received a 2007 R&D 100 Award from the editors of R&D Magazine as one of the 100 most technologically significant new products introduced into the marketplace in the last year. [Business Wire, Jul 12] But will it be profitable? Who knows. The market seems skeptical since the stock is a third below its starting price a year ago. But that is better than being down the half it was last month.

Luxtera (Carlsbad,CA)

Luxtera, a startup based in Carlsbad, CA, that spun out of the California Institute of Technology, has announced the first optical cable based on the same silicon technology used to make microprocessors. The company says that the cable, called Blazar, can send 40 gigabits of data per second through its fiber but will cost as little as today's 20-gigabit-per-second optical cables. [Kate Green, MIT Tech Review, Aug 16]

Intel isn't alone in the silicon-laser race. Luxtera, a start-up (Carlsbad, CA; two Phase 1 SBIRs), is planning to enter the market in the fourth quarter with chips that include the equivalent of four lasers, each of them able to send 10 gigabits of data a second. Alex Dickinson, Luxtera's chief executive, said Intel's development is interesting from a scientific point of view. But he argues that Luxtera's approach can bring practical benefits sooner, for applications such as connecting together servers to create a supercomputer. From a practical point of view, Mr. Dickinson said he doesn't think Intel's announcement "moves the ball forward." [Don Clark, Wall Street Journal, Jul 25, 07]

Lycera (Cambridge, MA)

Lycera (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) has received a second tranche of its Series A financing worth $11 million. The total amount of the Series A round was $36 million ... developing oral medicines to treat autoimmune diseases as an alternative to injectable therapies [Mass High Tech, Apr 28, 10]

Small molecule pharmaceutical developer Lycera (no SBIR), formerly based in Ann Arbor, Mich., has moved its headquarters to Cambridge ... develops drugs to treat autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. Founded in 2006, the company maintains a research and development facility in Michigan. In April, Lycera raised $36 million in a Series A round [Mass High Tech, Jan 7, 10] a spin-out of the University of Michigan ... benefiting from the State of Michigan’s commitment to strengthening the presence of emerging life science companies in the region. [company website, 2006]

Lynntech (College Station, TX)

SBIR Love Fest. When asked what time it is, he explained how the clock works. In testimony before the House SB Committee, DOD's SBIR manager/coordinator said next to nothing about what DOD has achieved toward SBIR goals in more than two decades. The NIH coordinator hinted that VC participation (codeword=flexibility) is important for health related innovation to get to market. The big difference is that DOD doesn't care about post-SBIR economic success. The DOEnergy manager said he didn't have money to explore program payoff. SBA reported "success" that would get any VC fired. Lynntech (College Station, TX; 400+ SBIR Projects) said it is the largest SBIR contractor in the State and one of the largest in the country. It is fair to say that we have found the program to be beneficial for our company. Having taken down zillions in free capital, Lynntech further says: Government is not well-organized to assist in the transition effort. That is: a new government handout program to help us pretend that the $100+M poured into our company has long term economic payoff. All of which would trigger a revitalization of the SBIR program and continue to improve an already stellar level of performance. The whole show avoided any hard questions about what SBIR is supposed to do and why it is even needed.

Multi-SBIR winner Lynntech's full page ad in Wired for its Ozone Generator says we need more ozone. True, for the upper atmosphere. On earth, though, ozone is a hazard, especially in smog and inside jet airplanes. Still, advertising never went wrong insulting the intelligence of the consumer. Many times SBIR proposers insult government SBIR reviewers in analyzing their technology's economic future. It does not follow that since you know the technical details of your science that you also know, or can ignore, the economics of its use.

Mako Surgical

Dr. Frederic H. Moll, 56, is a soft-spoken man who can look uncomfortable on stage. Yet his role in founding Intuitive Surgical ($2.5M SBIR), the company that now dominates the field, and his current involvement with three other robotics companies, has kept him in the sights of investors, health care providers and fellow entrepreneurs. ... He took the idea to his employer, Guidant, a medical device company. Guidant decided that robotic surgery was too futuristic and too risky, so Dr. Moll rounded up backers, resigned, and in 1995, founded Intuitive Surgical. [which] earned $144M last year on sales of $600M .... He’s now best known as chief executive of Hansen Medical (no SBIR), a publicly traded robotics company focused on minimally invasive cardiac care. But he’s also an investor in and a board member of Mako Surgical (no SBIR), an orthopedics robotics company that recently went public, and he is a co-founder and chairman of Restoration Robotics (no SBIR), a start-up company focused on cosmetic surgery. [Barnaby Feder, New York Times, May 4]

MabVax Therapeutics (San Diego, CA)

MabVax Therapeutics (San Diego, CA; $400K SBIR) clinical stage biotechnology company developing vaccine and antibody-based therapies as a way to prevent recurrent cancer, says it has received a follow-on [STTR] grant of $1.1 million from the National Cancer Institute. [Bruce Bigelow, signonsandiego,com, Aug 20, 10]

Macrochem (Woburh, MA)

MacroChem (Wellesley Hills MA; three SBIRs) reports it has closed on a private placement of $3.5M targeted at moving the company's EcoNail nail fungus treatment through its Phase 2 clinical program and developing its newly acquired product, pexiganan. [Mass High Tech, Oct 10]

MacroChem (Wellesley Hills, MA; three SBIRs) has purchased the license to a treatment for diabetic foot infection. MacroChem executives report the company has exercised an option to acquire exclusive worldwide license rights for pexiganan, a novel, small peptide anti-infective, from New York City-based Genaera Corp (three SBIRs). [Mass High Tech, Oct 4, 07]

Micro-HHS-SBIR user Macrochem (Woburn, MA) is closing the door and auctioning off the assets. [Mass High Tech, Sep 2]

Macrogenics (Rockville, MD)

MacroGenics (Rockville, MD; $2.7M SBIR) plans to announce today that it has raised $25 million in financing [Washington Post, Sep 25, 08]

Charities Investing. Fed up with breakthroughs that fill journals rather than medicine chests, private foundations and charities that have traditionally funded academic scientists have started doing the once-unthinkable: writing checks for millions of dollars to for-profit companies. ... Earlier this month, JDRF announced that it was giving $2 million to MacroGenics Inc., a Rockville, Md., biotech, for a phase-2/3 clinical trial of an antibody that might slow progression of type-1 diabetes. [Sharon Begley, Wall Street Journal, Jan 26] MacroGenics has had $2+M in SBIR. JDRF has also funded Sangamo BioSciences (Richmond, CA) $3M, Transition Therapeutics (Toronto) , and TolerRx (Cambridge, MA). Sangamo has also had $2+M SBIR.

MagneMotion (Sudbury, MA)

Magnemotion (Sudbury, MA; $700K SBIR) is building a new headquarters in Devens and hopes to add 100 new jobs.... The state Economic Assistance Coordinating Council approved state and local tax incentives for 10 companies that have pledged to add jobs in the state. [Boston Globe, Nov 25, 08]

MagneMotion (Sudbury, MA; one Phase 2 SBIR) landed $6.3M from the U.S. Federal Transit Administration to develop a magnetic levitation (maglev) transportation system for use in cities, according to officials. ... received a patent for its maglev technology in July 2006. The following September, it closed $3M from Massachusetts Capital Resource Co. [Mass High Tech, Jan 15]

Magnetek (Menomonee Falls, WI)

Magnetek (Menomonee Falls, WI; no SBIR) got orders for fuel cell power inverters worth $1.3M from United Technologies. The 380-employee firm with a market cap of $144M makes and sells digital power control systems. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Sep 27, 07] Unfortunately, for the last three years it has lost a total of about $80M.

Magnolia Optical Technologies

Magnolia Optical Technologies (Woburn, MA; $3M SBIR) announced that it is collaborating with Kopin in developing indium nitride-based, or InN-based, quantum dot solar cells for NASA and defense applications. [Boston Globe, Jul 11, 08]

Magnolia Optical Technologies (Woburn, MA; $3M SBIR) reports it is working with Kopin on a solar cell development [STTR] contract Kopin won from NASA. [Mass High Tech, May 9, 08]

Magnolia Solar (Woburn, MA and Albany, NY)

Magnolia Solar (Woburn, MA and Albany, NY; $200K SBIR), landed a $750,000 Phase 2 award from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to make light, flexible, high-efficiency multi-junction solar cells for space power use. [Michelle Lang, Mass High Tech, Dec 1, 11]

Mainstream Engineering (Rockledge, FL)

A QwikBoost(TM), claims the AF, of an allegedly SBIR product from Mainstream Engineering (Rockledge, FL) for refrigeration systems. The DOD database says Mainstream has had 35 Phase 1 SBIRs and 9 Phase 2s. CEO Bob Scaringe two years ago in an SBIR conference boasted 150 SBIRs. It has 30 employees, up from 6 in 1987. If the ratio of four Phase 1s for every Phase 2 had held over those years for the other SBIR agencies, Mainstream would have collected about $33M which is about enough to explain all the employee compensation for 13 years.

MapInfo (Troy, NY)

Prosperity can be done. Our vision is to enable every business and government - worldwide - to harness the power of location. MapInfo is the leading provider of location intelligence solutions.[company website] In the face of higher slaes and lower profits for the latest quarter, the company is hopeful about the future with the hiring of former Microsoft Corp. executive John O'Hara as its new executive vice president of international operations [Albany Times-Union, Nov 3] Headquarters: One Global View, Troy NY. 900 employees, no SBIRs since 1986 founding. Acquired ten businesses in the US, UK, and Australia. Another measure of the coming of the modern age of the Capital District after being stuck by the Great Depression and the collapse of its 19th century industries by the end of World War II. Its 19th century starter was being the eastern terminus of the Erie Canal. The technological intellectual stimulus came from the growth and re-vitalization of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute after I graduated. It can be done.

MAP Pharmaceuticals (Mountain View, CA)

MAP Pharmaceuticals (Mountain View, CA; no SBIR) will be paid $20 million by partner Allergen for filing a drug application with the Food and Drug Administration.[San Francisco Times, Aug 2, 11]

Marcadia Biotech (Carmel, IN)

Marcadia Biotech (Carmel IN) got a $15M infusion is developing an innovative and novel solution for hypoglycemia: glucagon that is stable in solution, enabling delivery via an injector pen. Founded in 2005 by Richard DiMarchi chair and professor of IU Bloomington department of chemistry, and former executives from Eli Lilly focuses its research on the discovery and development of synthetic peptide-based drugs with a license from IU. Marcadia was a recent recipient of a $2M 21st Century Research and Technology Award from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. [facts from company website] No known SBIR.

Marina Biotech (Bothell, WA)

Marina Biotech (Bothell, WA; no SBIR) said it's raising $5.1 million in a public offering. The news caused the stock to nosedive .... toward the clinical development of CEQ508, which is currently in a Phase 1b/2a clinical trial for the treatment of Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP)." [Puget Sound Business Journal, Feb 10, 11]

Marinus Pharmaceuticals (Branford, CT)

Marinus Pharmaceuticals (Branford, CT; no SBIR; founded 2004) has closed a $20 million Series B financing to help fund the development of epilepsy treatment. ... In total, Marinus has raised a total of $50 million in private funds to date. [Marc Songini, Mass High Tech, Apr 10, 09]

Martek Biosciences

Dutch life and materials-sciences group Royal DSM NV said it will offer $1.09 billion in cash for U.S. nutrition company Martek Biosciences (Columbia, MD; $1.5M SBIR) as it seeks to expand its product offering in the infant nutrition, food and beverage and dietary supplements markets. The bid is a 35% premium to Martek's closing share price. [M Korn and R VanDaalen, Wall Street Journal, Dec 22, 10]

Martek Biosciences down 11% [Dec 9, 10]

Martek Biosciences up 16% [Jun 4, 10]

Martek Biosciences up 13% [Mar 26, 09]

Martek Biosciences down 12% [Mar 5, 09]

Martek Biosciences up 10% [Nov 13, 08]

Martek Bioscience up 21% [Oct 13, 08]

Martek Biosciences (Columbia, MD; $7M SBIR 1985-2001) has touted the progress of its vegetarian form of a good-for-the-brain food additive, announcing scores of deals with food companies over the past few years. But some industry watchers say the product's growth does not seem to be keeping pace with the steady flow of announcements. [Kejai Vijas, Dow Jones Newswires, Jul 27] After trading in a downtrend for three years, the stock broke out in mid-2007 and has been moving higher ever since. What the company does also differentiates it from other biotech companies. It develops nutritional oils from microalgae and fungi that are then used in everything from vitamins to baby formula. In June, the company reported an 89% increase in second-quarter profit, but also warned the third quarter will see a slowdown. [Matthew McCall, Investopedia, Jul 11, 08] Current market cap $1.2B, fifteen years public. If the government had taken a proportional equity share for its SBIR capital, SBIR would have something quantitative to offer as a rationale for funding, at least the Martek kind of company. But if it did such accounting for Martek, it would have to apply the method to all the other SBIR investments which would almost certainly show what a capital losing proposition SBIR is. Which, in turn, is why the almost all government disdains such accounting. Only MDA did it, and only for about five years in the 1990s.

Martek Biosciences up 14% [Jan 7, 08]

Martek Biosciences up 20% agreed to supply infant-formula supplements to South Korea's IlDong Pharmaceutical Co. [AP, Dec 13, 07]

Mascoma (Cambridge MA)

Mascoma (Lebanon, NH, no SBIR) said it plans to raise up to $100 million in an [IPO] ... has developed a technology that employs genetically modified yeast and other microorganisms to cut costs and improve production of renewable fuels and chemicals. It plans to begin selling this technology for the first time next year, focusing on corn ethanol producers. [AP, Sep 19, 11]

Mascoma (Lebanon, NH; no SBIR) a cellulosic biofuels company, reports significant advances in its goal of simplifying the cellulosic ethanol process by skipping the use of costly enzymes, which could potentially reduce cellulosic ethanol's production costs by 20 to 30 percent. [Jennifer Chew, MIT Tech Review, May 12] But none of the process efficiency improvements can fill the hole in food production displaced for the fuel biomass.

biofuels developer Mascoma (Cambridge MA; no SBIR) says it has acquired -based Celsys BioFuels (Indianapolis IN; no SBIR) a maker of cellulosic ethanol production technology that was spun out of Purdue University last year. ... Mascoma was founded in 2005 by [two] Dartmouth professors ... [it] emerged from stealth mode in 2006 and has since raised two rounds of private financing totaling $34M. [Mass High Tech, Nov 7, 07]

Mashery

Ten Startups to Watch: Instant Voicing by Pinger Founded 2005, Funding $11 million; Sharing, Privately by Pownce founded 2007 funding undisclosed; Cell-phone Streaming by Qik founded 2006 funding $4M; Traffic Master by Dash Navigation founded 2003 $71M; Crisis Sourcing by Ushahidi founded 2008 funding undisclosed; Partial Recall by QTech founded 2004 $5M; Are You ... Influential? by 33Across founded 2007, $1M; Semantic Ads by Peer 39, 2006, $11M; Mashups Made Easy by Mashery, 2006, $5M; Video Packet-Switching by Anagran, 2004, $40M. [MIT Tech Review, J/A08]

Mason Box (North Attleboro,MA)

Mason Box (North Attleboro, MA) is among several local companies that have been selected to participate in the "Next Generation Manufacturing Initiative, or NGMI, an effort to foster best-in-class manufacturing processes. Other participants in the initiative include Hoppe Tool (Chicopee, MA), Matouk Textiles (Fall River, MA), Munksjo Paper (Fitchburg, MA), and Spectro Coating (Leominster, MA). The initiative is a partnership of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, a nonprofit group representing Bay State employers; MassDevelopment, the commonwealth's finance and development authority; and the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a group dedicated to helping local manufacturers remain competitive in a global marketplace. [Chris Reidy, Boston Globe, Jun 19] No SBIR.

Masten Space Systems (Mojave, CA)

coondoggie writes "NASA said it will this week award $1.65 million in prize money to a pair of aerospace companies that successfully simulated landing a spacecraft on the moon and lifting off again. NASA's Centennial Challenges program, which was managed by the X Prize Foundation, will give a $1 million first prize to Masten Space Systems (Mojave, CA; no SBIR) and a $500,000 second prize to Armadillo Aerospace (Mesquite, TX; one SBIR) for successfully completing the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge." [slashdot.org, Nov 3, 09]

Material Technologies (LA, CA

Material Technologies (Los Angeles, CA; no SBIR) whose stock trades around six cents has a full page add in USA Today (Mar 21) touting $8.3M in already completed government contracts and a new $286B law [the regular roads pork bill] allocating funds to states for [some unspecified share] nondestructive inspection of bridges. The company message: To own shares, call your broker, or DOWNLOAD a FREE Investor Packet. Note: such full page ads are not cheap for a company with three full-time employees, one of whom is Chairman, Chief Exec. Officer, Pres, Chief Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer [Yahoo Finance]. Note that by the same logic, if you have DOD SBIRs you can tout the $500B defense budget as a rich source of business for you. Just don't expect the DOD SBIR reviewers to be impressed by such a claim in your Commercialization section.

Hear the Bridge Talk. Companies such as Material Technologies (LA, CA; no SBIR) and Physical Acoustics (Princeton NJ; $5M SBIR) are commercializing wireless sensors an inspector can slap on a bridge to diagnose cracks and stresses long before they become dangerous. ... For fees starting at about $35,000, [Physical Acoustics] will install a sensor to listen to creaks from fissures or the popping of steel-cable fibers, sounds that could be heard months before any flaws are visible to the man with the binoculars. [Business Week, Aug 20]

Material Sciences Corp

A few miles west of Chicago stands a brand new steel-processing plant. It cost $30M and is squeaky clean. There are almost no people. The only real sound comes from Robert Mataya, [of Material Sciences Corp] who is keen to show visitors that the wallet-sized piece of steel in his hand does not "ding" when someone flicks it. This is "quiet steel" [sold] to Singapore to make housings for computer disk-drives. America's once-rusty manufacturing heartland has restructured, retooled, and reinvented itself as the country's economic powerhouse. The Economist Apr 19, 1997. The biggest problem in the mid-West? Finding enough new workers to maintain the growth rate.

MathStar (Minnetonka, MN)

MathStar (Minnetonka, MN) will try an IPO to raise more development money for its new class of semiconductor integrated circuits called "field programmable object arrays" (FPOAs). MathStar is betting that its FPOA chips will meet the holy trinity of chip design: smaller, faster, and easier to build. But, the company noted in its filing, there is no commercial market for the company's technology yet. [Patrick Kennedy, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Aug 4] No apparent SBIRs.

Matouk Textiles (Fall River, MA)

Matritech (Newton, MA)

MZT Holdings Inc., formerly known as Matritech (Newton, MA; $5500K SBIR) ., reports that the former maker of bladder cancer tests has filed papers with state and federal regulators to dissolve its business and discontinue trading of its common stock [Mass High Tech, Jan 21]

Matritech (Newton, MA; 5 SBIR Phase 1s), maker of tests for bladder cancer, reports it plans to sell its assets to a Massachusetts diagnostics firm [Inverness Medical Innovations for $36M] and wind down its operations [Mass High Tech, Aug 28]

Matritech (Newton, MA) raised $4.36M in a private placement. [Jan 22, 07]. Five Phase 1 SBIRs in the mid 1990s. The stock p rice is down more than 90% from its highs of the last decade.

Matrix Sensors (Los Angeles, CA)

Matrix Sensors (Los Angeles, CA; no SBIR) UCLA has opened its new technology incubation space within the California NanoSystems Institute to Matrix Sensors (Los Angeles, CA; no SBIR) a startup company in the process of developing multichannel gas and biological sensor systems based on technology developed jointly by UCLA and Stanford University researchers. ... a seed-stage company founded in March 2006 by UCLA chemistry and biochemistry professor James Gimzewski and Stanford electrical engineering professors Butrus (Pierre) T. Khuri-Yakub and Calvin F. Quate, the key researchers and inventors in the area of developing CMUT (capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer) technology for chemical and biological sensors. ... As part of this arrangement, Matrix Sensors has obtained an exclusive license for this technology that will provide the University of California with an equity position in the company. [UCLA press release, May 7, 09] Miramar Venture Partners of San Diego, which has put in $1 million. [James Flanigan, New York Times, Jul 16, 09]

Maxdem (San Dimas, CA)

Another $6M for the world's stiffest, hardest, strongest polymer. Mississippi Polymer Technology got a $6M DOD Title III production contract for Parmax, its signature polymer than derives from an SBIR contract to a SoCal company. MPT is a production spin-off company of MaxDem which was nurtured by SDIO/BMDO first for polyquinilines and then for the self-reinforced thermoplastic polymer that became Parmax. Founder Bob Gagne took advantage of a BMDO offer to extend his Phase 2 SBIR if he found co-investment money to help move the material to the next stage of maturity. Gagne says he had never heard of government's making such offers but it was the time when BMDO was regularly moving the best new technology along a growth path. No, there's no sign that MDA will ever do that again with its present management attitude.

Hello, Mississippi!
(Apr 25). extraordinary support from US Senators Lott and Cochran led Maxdem home of the world's strongest and hardest polymers to open a new company in Port Bienville, MS. Who's supporting it? Maxdem in San Dimas, CA - far from the Mississippi mud - has been getting a steady feed of $1.5M a year in SBIR, enough to keep the 20 people regularly employed. The military, which does not usually compare notes on SBIR awards, has funded various applications of the rigid-rod concept - body armor, optical components, rocket components. What there is no sign of, even for a private company, is any commercial takers that would make the long government investment pay off. The company website touts properties but has no press releases nor other signs of economic life. A Wiley Technical Insight alert in 1998 said the elastic modulus of Poly-X materials range from 1 to 2.5 million psi which compares favorably to the elastic modulus of conventional resin materials, which reach a maximum value at roughly 600,000-psi. Maxdem said it is using the BMDO SBIR to scale up production from the current 22-pound batches and expects that the materials will cost between $10 and $12 per pound when annual production reaches 5M pounds. A Air Force Dec 1999 tech transfer report said that Maxdem achieved major success in a Phase 1 SBIR How much longer will the government support an uneconomic technology? Could be along time as SBIR is being re-authorized with no teeth to apply economic discipline to funded projects. The otherwise inexplicable move to Mississippi smells of a political deal whereby the Ole Miss delegation will steer STTR money to Maxdem and the partner University of Southern Mississippi.We shall watch the STTR awards.

Maxpower (Harleysville, PA)

Maxygen

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]

Maxygen up 10% [Mar 29, 10]

Maxygen ($2.8M SBIR) plans to buy back 6.6 million shares for something above $30M. [Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, Nov 13] I hope that the SBIR agencies use a rule that any company that pays a dividend or buys back shares does not need government support for its R&D investment.

Maxygen up 15% [Nov 13, 09]

Maxygen down 10% [Oct 20, 09]

Maxygen up 12% [May 12, 09]

Maxygen down 10% [May 6, 09]

Maxygen up 12% [Dec 8, 08]

Maxygen up 11% [Dec 5, 08]

Maxygen down 15% [Dec 1, 08] On a stock bloodbath day

Maxygen down 10% [Nov 14, 08]

Maxygen up 10% [Nov 13, 08]

Maxygen up 10% [Oct 23, 08]

Maxygen down 10% [Oct 22, 08]

Maxygen down 11% [Oct 15, 08]

Maxygen up 13% [Oct 14, 08]

Maxygen up 15% [Oct 10, 08]

The Wall Street Journal's Patent Scorecard in Biotechnology ranks Invitrogen and Maxygen #2 and 3 in Science Strength (13-week rolling average). Sequenom was #6; Affymetrix #11 of 28 listed. Only Sequenom had an impressive stock price record, up 170% over 52 weeks.

Maxygen up 14% [Sep 25, 08]

Maxygen down 14% [Sep 22, 08]

Maxygen up 13% [Sep 16, 08]

Maxygen up 12% [Aug 8, 08]

Maxygen up 12% [Aug 1, 08]

Maxygen up 28% ...it is selling its hemophilia treatment program to Bayer's health care division for $90 million, plus up to $30 million in future milestone payments. [AP, Jul 2, 08]

Maxygen down 28% [Jun 13, 08] after the company said it may be open to patent infringement litigation from rival Amgen.

Maxygen up 11% [Nov 6, 07]

MaxyGen down 12% on soggy earnings [Nov 1, 07]

Maxygen up 10% [Oct 1, 07]

Maxygen up 12% [Nov 16, 06]

MC10 (Cambridge, MA)

MC10 (Cambridge, MA; one SBIR) which is developing a form of silicon for circuity that can be stretched, bent and twisted, has bumped up its Series A funding from $5.7 million to $6 million, according to new federal documents. [Mass High Tech, Jul 7, 10]

MDSolarSciences (Norwalk, CT)

MDSolarSciences (Norwalk, CT; no SBIR) that is working on primary skin cancer prevention and protection, today reported a $4 million Series A funding round [Mass High Tech, Apr 20, 10]

Mechanical Technology

Mechanical Technology (Colonie, NY) got a five-year $6.5 million contract to repair and service vibration and balancing systems for the USAF. [The Business Review (Albany), Sep 30, 09]

Mechanical Tech up 71% [Sep 19, 08] after its third generation Mobion® Chip has improved power performance by approximately 25% [pres release]

Fuel cell developer MTI MicroFuel Cells received a $2.2 million bridge loan from its parent company and other investors to remain on track for commercialization. [Albany Times-Union, Sep 19]

Mechanical Technology is eliminating 29 positions (third of the work force) -- including its CFO -- as a way to cut expenses and hold on to its cash. [Albany Times-Union, Sep 5]

Mechanical Tech down 23% [Jul 23, 08]

Mechanical Technology up 63% [Jul 22, 08], doubled in two days, after recent press release that it has achieved 2,700 hours of continuous operation with a Mobion laboratory cell the building block of the Company’s Mobion chip and systems.

Mechanical Technology up 28% [Jul 21, 08]

Mechanical Technology is hoping to raise $12 million to market its newest Mobion portable fuel cell. [Albany Business Journal, Jul 8, 08]

MTI MicroFuel Cells, developer of Mobion portable power technology, announced today it will open an office in China. Parent Mechanical Technology said it has regained compliance with the Nasdaq's listing requirements (after an one for eight reverse split).[The Business Review (Albany), Jun 5, 08]

MTI MicroFuel Cells is unveiling a new methanol-powered fuel cell for GPS navigation systems. ... Although GPS devices, or global positioning systems, are popular in cars, MTI Micro's fuel cell is embedded in a hand-held GPS used by hikers and campers. The prototype is the latest fuel-cell product MTI Micro has shown to the public. [Larry Rulison, Albany Times-Union, May 2, 08]

Mechanical Technology got a NASDAQ warning of potential delisting for being under a buck. [Jan 08]

MTI MicroFuel Cells (Colonie, NY; one SBIR) developing a small fuel cell designed to power consumer electronics, has set up a pilot manufacturing line. [Albany Times-Union, Jan 9, 08] a subsidiary of Mechanical Technology (Latham, NY; three SBIRs)Mechanical Technology has decided to exit the military market for fuel cells and will lay off roughly 25 people as it focuses exclusively on consumer electronics. One reason is Army budget cuts, especially cancellation of the Army's billion-dollar Land Warrior program. [Larry Rulison, Albany Times-Union, Mar 15]

Foreign Interest. Mechanical Technology sold $11M worth of stock to three investors, one of which is investment fund registered to the Cayman Islands The company says it will use the money to fund its fuel-cell subsidiary, MTI MicroFuel Cells, which is developing fuel cells for the military and consumer electronics markets. [Albany Times-Union, Dec 22] Four Phase 1 SBIRs over a decade.

Development Costs. the parent company of MTI MicroFuel Cells Inc. [Mechanical Technology] must raise additional capital to keep funding development of its Mobion fuel cell device, Wall Street analysts say, to fuel the company's cash burn is about $3M per quarter [Albany Times-Union, Nov 11] And it lost $3.7M in the most recent quarter.

Mechanology (Attleboro, MA)

Mechanology (Attleboro, MA; no SBIR) landed $5.7 million in equity funding, according to federal documents. The company plans mainly to use the new funds to pay back loans made to Mechanology by company officers. Mechanology was founded in 1989 by researcher Stephen Chomyszak to take advantage of patented technology he developed while at Stanford University that improves on the compressors and expanders found in engines and industrial systems. [Mass High Tech, Sep 28, 10]

Medafor (Brooklyn Center, MN)

CryoLife (Kennesaw, GA; $2.5M SBIR) may engage in a proxy fight to take over medtech Medafor (Brooklyn Center, MN; no SBIR) after Medafor rejected CryoLife’s initial $40 million offer for company. [Minneapolis/St Paul Business Journal, Feb 18, 10]

Medarex (Princeton, NJ)

Medarex up 89% [Jul 23, 09] and Investors bid up shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (no SBIR) and Seattle Genetics ($1.3M SBIR) after Medarex agreed to be acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb [Reuters, Jul 23, 09]

Bristol-Myers Squibb said it will pay $2.4 billion to acquire Medarex ... that has been helping it develop a promising treatment for melanoma since 2005. [Reuters, Jul 23, 09]

Medarex up 13% [Jun 22, 09] after the Mayo Clinic said three patients taking the company's prostate cancer treatment are now cancer-free [Wall St Journal, Jun 23]

Medarex up 10% [Apr 22, 09]

Medarex up 17% [Mar 12, 09]

Medarex up 10% [Mar 10, 09]

Medarex down 11% [Mar 5, 09]

Medarex down 13% [Mar 2, 09]

Medarex down 13% [Dec 1, 08] On a stock bloodbath day

Medarex down 12% [Nov 14, 08]

Medarex down 10% [Nov 12, 08]

Medarex up 10% [Nov 3, 08] and the Massachusetts Biologics Laboratories said today that their two drug candidates reduced diarrhea in a clinical trial compared with a placebo. [Boston Globe, Nov 4, 08]

Medarex up 11% [Oct 30, 08]

Medarex up 10% [Oct 28, 08]

Medarex up 10% [Oct 16, 08]

Medarex up 31% [Oct 13, 08]

Medarex (Princeton, NJ; $2M SBIR) plunged 18% after Pfizer's melanoma drug failed a clinical trial. The , biotechnology company was a partner with Pfizer on the development program and has a similar drug in late-stage trials with Bristol-Myers Squibb. [Wall Street Journal, Apr 3, 08]

Medical Device Logistics (Stonington, 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]

MedicaMetrix (Wayland, MA)

Startup MedicaMetrix (Wayland, MA; no SBIR) is looking to raise $3 million to get its urology technology to market. The company has invented a special sensor-equipped glove that can be used to examine a patient’s prostate gland and get an accurate recording of the gland’s size. [Mass High Tech, Dec 12, 08]

The Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center reported providing “fast-lane” funding last week to two early-stage companies, MedicaMetrix (Wayland, MA; no SBIR) and VeinAid LLC (Fairfield, CT; no SBIR). MedicaMatrix, founded by Christopher LaFarge, makes the “ProstaGlove,” a disposable glove, with an embedded sensor, used to measure quantitative prostate volume. In addition to funding, the company received clinical trial help and materials development from M2D2. VeinAid, launched by Thomas Kottler, helps relieve varicose vein-associated pain and circulatory issues with its medical device applied externally. The M2D2 funds will aid marketing efforts of the device and assist with venture capital access and mold development. [Mass High Tech, Nov 26, 08]

MedImmune

MedImmune said it is willing to consider takeover offers, reversing its stand against a sale because of interest from big pharmaceutical companies and investor unhappiness with the company's performance. The company has a market capitalization of nearly $9B and posted $1.28B revenue last year, mostly from its childhood respiratory drug Synagis. MedImmune also makes the inhaled influenza vaccine FluMist.[AP, Apr 13] $4M SBIR in the 1990s.

Medis (New York NY)

Medis Technologies, a small firm based in New York, plans to distribute hundreds of its new Power Pack portable fuel cells to a select group of business people, politicians and opinion formers. Each fuel cell is about the size of a cigarette packet, weighs 150 grams, and generates electricity by combining oxygen from the air with an internal fuel. It can be plugged into a hand-held device (such as a mobile phone, music player or portable games console) to power or recharge it, and has sufficient capacity to provide around 30 hours of talk-time on a mobile phone, or 60-80 hours of playback time for an iPod music-player. [The Economist, Jun 10] No SBIRs of record.

Medivation (San Francisco, CA)

Medivation sank 67% after reporting that its experimental Alzheimer's disease treatment Dimebon, in development with large-cap Pfizer, failed to show effectiveness in late-stage trials. [Wall Street Journal, Mar 4, 10]

Medivation(San Francisco, CA; no SBIR) will net about $54 million by selling 2.75 million shares ... The 76-employee San Francisco drug developer will use the cash to fund research, development and commercialization of Alzheimer’s Disease and Huntington’s Disease treatment Dimebon and its late-stage prostate cancer drug, MDV-3100. [Ron Leuty, San Francisco Business Times, May 28, 09]

MELA Sciences (formerly Electro-Optical Sciences)

MELA Sciences up 14% [Nov 7, 11]

MELA Sciences down 13% [Nov 4, 11]

[FDA] approved a first-of-its-kind [Mela Sciences] device, called MelaFind, that makes detailed, digital images of skin growths and uses a computer to analyze them for signs of cancer, offering a sort of second opinion to doctors. ... underwent a contentious, years-long review by the Food and Drug Administration, which initially rejected the device and concluded it could "potentially cause more harm than good."Regulators worried that the device could give physicians a false sense of certainty, ... company plans a limited rollout next year of just 200 dermatologists on the East coast, all of whom must undergo company training before they can begin using the device. Doctors will pay a one-time fee of $7,500 to lease and receive training on the device. Patients will pay $150 out of pocket ... originally developed the technology to guide military weapons systems. But the company changed course in the mid-90s after consulting with dermatologists, adapting its technology for melanoma detection. [Matthew Perrone, AP, Nov 2,11]

Mela Sciences up 28% [Oct 4, 11]

the [FDA] reversed its earlier decision and said the MelaFind device was "approvable," pending some final negotiations. in a letter it sent to Mela Sciences. .... A special camera captures an image of a lesion, and a computer then analyzes it using an algorithm developed on thousands of patients. [Thomas Burton, , Wall Street Journal, Sep 24, 11]

MELA Sciences up 15% [Sep 16, 11]

Mela Sciences up 56% [Sep 7, 11]

Mela Sciences up 20% [Mar 2, 11]

Mela Sciences says the FDA recently raised new concerns about the patients included in a trial for its early-stage melanoma-detection device, even though the agency had signed an agreement on the trial's design. "FDA is telling the market that the rules can change for any reason and at any time," says Mela Chief Executive Joseph Gulfo. The FDA says the trial wasn't conducted according to the terms of the protocol and didn't provide data needed to assess the device's accuracy, points that the company disputes. [Jonathan Rockoff, Wall Street Journal, Feb 18, 11]

MELA Sciences doubled [Nov 19, 10]

More Harm than Good. The FDA advisory panel convening Thursday to assess MELA Sciences' skin cancer detection device will be a disaster for the company and its dwindling number of shareholders. ... because the FDA has already made it very clear that the noninvasive computerized imaging device, as studied, doesn't work and may actually harm patients ... MELA shares fell more than 50% Tuesday but were up 2% Wednesday to $3 as analysts who have long backed company tried to reassure investors that MELAFind still had a chance for a positive vote Thursday. [Adam Feuerstein, thestreet.com, Nov 17]

MELA Sciences up 14% [Nov 15, 10]

MELA Sciences down 13% [Nov 11, 10]

MELA Sciences down 11% [Nov 1, 10]

MELA Sciences up 10% [Aug 20, 10]

MELA Sciences down 10% [Jun 30, 10]

MELA Sciences (formerly Electro-Optical Sciences) up 15% [Jun 21, 10] said the FDA's General and Plastic Surgery Devices Panel will review its MelaFind device, aimed at detecting melanoma, on Aug. 26 [AP, May 26, 10]

Memjet

HP will be forced to pay attention, says Steve Hoffenberg, director of consumer imaging research for Lyra Research, which monitors the digital imaging industry. "What Memjet is offering blows away anything else out there," Hoffenberg said. [Ken Dey, Seattle Times, May 21] No SBIR, market-driven innovators don't need SBIR and its robotic procedures. SBIR is for firms and technologies where time does not matter. CEO Bill McGlynn spent twenty years in HP's printing world.

Memry (Bethel, CT)

Memry (Bethel, CT; $1.6M SBIR) up 65% reports it will be acquired by Italian firm SAES Getters SpA, Italian Group in a deal worth about $77.7 million. [Mass High Tech, Jun 24]

Memsic (Andover, MA)

Memsic (Andover, MA; no SBIR, IPO 2007) maker of micro-electromechanical (MEMS) devices, has acquired certain assets of smart sensor developer Crossbow Technology (San Jose, CA; no SBIR) for $18 million in cash. [Mass High Tech, Jan 22, 10]

Memsic (Andover, MA; no SBIR) raised $60M by IPO. Its website says it designs, manufactures and markets CMOS Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) IC products that have on-chip mixed signal processing. One director, Paul Zavracky, was once COO of Kopin. The founder CEO Yang Zhao is also Vice Chairman of the Board of Beijing University, School of Engineering. It has a wholly owned subsidiary, MEMSIC Semiconductor (Wuxi), LTD., in Wuxi, China to effectively manage the product quality, engineering, manufacturing yield, as well as the critical relationship with our foundries.

MEMS Optical (Huntsville, AL)

SBIR company advertises price competition. Unlike almost all advertisers in journals like Laser Focus World who tout technology gee-whiz. MEMS Optical a walled-off subsidiary of SY Technology (Huntsville, AL) advertises 50 assorted diffusers and splitters for under $5 each.

Mirror, Mirror On the Wall
(Apr 10), Who Is the Fairest One of All? Whoever has adaptive optics. Snow White's author knew only fixed mirrors. Rodney Clark could have prevented the witch's desperation by at least making the answer relative. Clark's Photonics Spectra (Apr 97) article waves a wand for his company MEMS Optical (Huntsville, AL) specialty: rubber mirrors. MEMS Optical is a recent spinoff from a Huntsville defense contractor SY Technology that got a BMDO SBIR for the rubber mirror and decided that the opticians would do better at commercializing if they had a separate home. Clark credits BMDO with a nudge in that direction at a Business Focus Workshop for new Phase 1 winners. The judgment seemed confirmed when Clark partnered with Coherent at the big Photonics West show in San Jose.

MER (Tucson, AZ)

Last year The Red Herring (June 15, 01) reported that MER (Tucson, AZ) owned a third of a enterprise to mass produce fullerienes and that they were cutting prices fast. (if the government won't put in SBIR money, you need some market move like price cutting to move product.) MER says the big customer is Toyota. MER has had about $1.2M of DOD SBIR for fullerene, all but one in Phase 1 contracts. The one Phase 2 was in the mid-90s.

Mercator Therapeutics (Wellesley, MA)

Biotech startup Mercator Therapeutics (Wellesley, MA; no SBIR) has raised $2 million in its first round of equity funding, according to federal documents. ... founded in 2009, is very stealthy. has no website [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Aug 10, 10]

Merkatum

The Texas Emerging Technology Fund is pumping more money into Central Texas technology startups. Six more Austin companies have won grants totaling $5.3 million. Among the six new grant winners is year-old NanoMedical Systems (no SBIR) which will use its $3.5 million to develop a tiny implantable capsule that delivers drugs a few molecules at a time, with the dosage controlled precisely for each patient. The company is completing a prototype using $4 million from a private investor, said co-founder and chief executive Randy Goodall. The grant will help fund it through the complex and time-consuming process of seeking Food and Drug Administration approval, Goodall said. ...... Farodox Energy Storage (no SBIR), which has developed a new fabrication process for high-performance electrical capacitors, $250,000; ... Ironbridge Technologies (no SBIR), which is developing self-heating food packaging technology, $250,000; ... Merkatum (no SBIR), which is developing fingerprint and facial recognition identity technologies, $250,000; ..... Stellarray (no SBIR), which is commercializing flat-panel radiation source technology, $750,000; ... Sunrise Ridge Algae (no SBIR), which is commercializing technology to turn algae into a renewable energy source. [Lori Hawkins, Austin American-Statesman, Nov 17, 08]

Merge Technologies (Milwaukee, WI)

Merge Technologies's (Milwaukee, WI; no SBIR) woes have reached the point where the company is letting go workers in India hired to replace workers let go in West Allis and elsewhere in North America. The company (dba Merge Healthcare} , which develops software for medical imaging, said Thursday it plans to eliminate 160 jobs, including those of 115 people in Pune, a city in west-central India. [Guy Boulton, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Feb 15,08]

Meridian Bioscience (Cincinnati, OH)

Meridian Science up 10% [Oct 4, 11]

Meridian Bioscience down 17% [Jul 20, 11]

Forbes's 2009 list of best 200 small companies includes Aerovironment, American Science and Engineering (paying a dividend and with nearly $600M market cap), Argon ST, Hittite Microwave, II-IV, Meridian Bioscience, Neogen, NVE, and Synaptics.

Meridian BioScience down 15% [Apr 27, 09]

Meridian BioScience down 11% [Apr 16, 09] after the Cincinnati maker of medical diagnostic kits reported fiscal second-quarter earnings below analysts' estimates and cut its 2009 earnings and revenue guidance. [Wall Street Journal, Apr 17]

Meridian Bioscience down 10% [Oct 15, 08]

Meridian Bioscience up 10% [Oct 13, 08]

Meridian Bioscience down 16% [Jul 17, 08] on a hint of softer sales.

Meridian Bioscience (Newton, OH; one SBIR) isonce again one of the nation's fastest-growing small public companies, according to Fortune Small Business magazine. The Newtown-based maker of diagnostic test kits and biotechnology products was No. 65 on the list this year. The companies were ranked based on percentage growth in earnings, revenue and stock performance over the past three years, according to a news release. [Business Courier of Cincinnati, Jun 27, 08]

Meridian Bioscience (Cincinnati, OH; one SBIR) down 19%, after posting fiscal-second-quarter net income and sales that were less than Wall Street's guidance. [Wall Street Journal, Apr 18]

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA)

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; $1M SBIR) will pay Taiwanese drug maker PharmaEngine up to $220 million in up-front and milestone payments in return for the Asian and European rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize a potential treatment for pancreatic and gastric cancers. The deal excludes Taiwan. [Julie Donnelly, Boston Business Journal, May 9, 11]

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; $1M SBIR) a developer of novel cancer treatments, announced that it has raised $77 million in a Series G financing round. ... will be used to advanced its proprietary pipeline of cancer treatments. One treatment is currently in Phase 2 trials while two others are in Phase 1/2 trials. Another two treatments are expected to enter Phase 1 development this year. Partnering on one of the Phase 1/2 trial treatments is Sanofi-aventis, the French drug giant that earlier this month completed its $20.1 billion acquisition of Genzyme. When announced, that deal was expected to be worth up to $530 million to Merrimack. [Kyle Alspach, Mass High Tech, Apr 14, 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.

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; $1M SBIR), which is developing treatments for cancer and autoimmune disease, said it bought Hermes Biosciences (South San Francisco, CA; $600K SBIR) for an undisclosed sum. [Robert Wesiman, Boston Globe, Dec 8, 09]

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; $1M SBIR) and sanofi-aventis, of France, have signed a worldwide licensing deal related to the former’s human monoclonal antibody, MM-121. With sanofi-aventis licensed to develop and co-commercialize MM-121, Merrimack stands to receive up to $530 million stemming from a $60 upfront payment and $470 million from milestone payments and royalties [Mass High Tech, Oct 2, 09]

Mersana Therapeutics (formerly Nanopharma, Cambridge, MA)

Nanotech-focused drug company Mersana Therapeutics (formerly Nanopharma; Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) has raised $4 million in new funding from a convertible note placement, ... With the new funding, Mersana has raised approximately $36 million in private investment [since 2005]... proprietary nanotechnology platform to transform existing and experimental anti-cancer agents into new, patentable drugs with better pharmaceutical properties. [Mass High Tech, Oct 24, 08]

Mesocopic Devices (Broomfield, CO)

Protonex Technology (Southborough, MA; $1M SBIR) which makes high-performance proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells will pay $12M for Mesoscopic Devices (Broomfield, CO; $5M+ SBIR) which makes a range of fuel cells.

Metabasis

Metabasis Therapeutics (San Diego, CA; $2;5M SBIR) said that its second generation diabetes drug, which aims to curb the overproduction of blood sugar in the liver, successfully met efficacy and safety goals in a mid-stage human trial. [Terri Somers, San Diego Union-Tribune, Apr 29, 08]

Metabasis Therapeutics up 11% [Dec 28, 07]

Metabasis Therapeutics up 11% [Dec 26, 07]

Metabasis Therapeutics up 13% [Aug 9, 07]

Metabasis Therapeutics plunged 54% after announcing that biggie Schering-Plough is ditching the deal to commercialize the experimental hepatitis B treatment pradefovir after tests showed a heightened cancer risk.

Metabolic Solutions Development (Kalamzoo, MI)

Metabolic Solutions Development (Kalamzoo, MI; $300K SBIR) a developer of drugs to treat Type 2 diabetes, raised another $6.8 million in equity-based financing, according to [SEC filing] [Sarah Schmid, xconomy.com, Aug 15, 11]

Metabolix

Metabolix down 11% [Dec 8, 11]

Metabolix up 19% [Nov 30, 11]

Metabolix down 12% [Nov 11, 11]

Metabolix up 13% [Nov 10, 11]

Metabolix up 10% [Oct 18, 11]

Metabolix up 12% [Oct 12, 11]

Metabolix up 18% [Oct 4, 11]

Metabolix down 19% [Oct 3, 11]

Metabolix up 15% [Jul 28, 11]

Metabolix up 10% [May 20, 11]

Metabolix priced a public offering of common stock that could bring the company about $45 million in gross proceeds [Mass High Tech, May 19, 11]

Metabolix will receive a $6 million federal grant for a research and development project on producing bio-based products and fuels from switchgrass. [Mass High Tech, May 6, 11]

Metabolix down 10% [Jan 4, 11]

Metabolix down 20% [Nov 9, 10]

Metabolix up 13% [Sep 30, 10]

Metabolix down 13% [Jul 29, 10]

Metabolix has set up a $300m facility in Iowa with Archer Daniels Midland, an agribusiness giant. .... Industrial biotech seems to have been relatively unscathed by the financial crisis. ... Another reason industrial biotech is taking off, after several false starts, is that the technologies involved are now mature enough to be scaled up from laboratory curiosities to full commercialisation. [The Economist, Jul 3]

Metabolix down 11% [Jun 4, 10]

Metabolix up 28% [May 12, 10]

Metabolix up 11% [Apr 22, 10]

Metabolix up 14% [Mar 11, 10]

Metabolix up 11% [Dec 14, 09]

Metabolix has announced a public offering that could bring in about $27 million for the company. Expected to close Nov. 16 [Mass High Tech, Nov 12, 09]

Metabolix down 16% [Oct 30, 09]

Metabolix up 11% [Oct 29, 09]

Metabolix has been awarded a $350,000 grant for research into how to make biobased and biodegradable resins suitable for the plastic beverage bottles and other containers. [Mass High Tech, Oct 8, 09]

Metabolix up 13% [Aug 3, 09]

Metabolix up 15% [Jul 23, 09]

Metabolix up 14% [Jun 25, 09]

Metabolix up 10% [Apr 29, 09]

Metabolix down 10% [Apr 20, 09]

Metabolix up 13% [Mar 17, 09]

Metabolix down 12% [Mar 16, 09]

Metabolix up 17% [Mar 10, 09]

Metabolix down 13% [Mar 9, 09]

Metabolix down 12% [Feb 9, 09]

Metabolix down 14% [Jan 20, 09]

Metabolix down 10% [Jan 9, 09]

Metabolix up 16% [Dec 23, 08]

Metabolix up 10% [Dec 17, 08]

Metabolix up 14% [Dec 16, 08]>

Metabolix up 10% [Dec 12, 08]

Metabolix up 15% [Dec 8, 08]

Metabolix up 14% [Dec 3, 08]

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

Metabolix up 15% [Nov 13, 08]

Metabolix down 15% [Nov 12, 08]

Metabolix up 11% [Oct 30, 08]

Metabolix up 10% [Oct 28, 08]

Metabolix down 15% [Oct 24, 08]

Metabolix up 10% [Oct 13, 08]

Metabolix up 24% [Oct 10, 08]

Metabolix down 12% [Oct 9, 08]

Metabolix down 12% [Oct 7, 08]

Metabolix down 11% [Oct 6, 08]

Metabolix down 10% [Sep 29, 08]

Metabolix up 16% [Sep 19, 08]

Metabolix up 12% [Sep 18, 08]

Metabolix down 10% [Jul 25, 08]

Metabolix up 11% [Jul 10, 08]

Metabolix up 18% [Jul 8, 08]

Metabolix down 11% [Jul 7, 08]

Bioplastics. Metabolix has harnessed the complex genetics of plant-cell metabolism and collected hundreds of patents on a process for manufacturing "bioplastics" in large vats of microbes. A $200 M factory is under construction and could start producing Metabolix's bioplastic, called Mirel, early next year. .... while rival bioplastics must be incinerated or composted at high temperatures, Mirel will decompose if it is simply tossed in a home compost heap or dumped at sea [Mara Del Hovanesian, Business Week, Jun 30] Unfortunately, it now relies on food crops such as corn for which it must compete with a lot of other organic dreamers. Of course, he's trying to bioengineer switchgrass and other plants to produce the plastic in their leaves. If he can pull it off, Metabolix could grow bioplastics without corn. But that's the same purely wishful If that Washington politicians keep mouthing for the magic of ethanol.

Metabolix up 15% [Jun 5, 08]

Metabolix down 18% [Mar 17, 08]

Metabolix down 13% [Mar 10, 08]

Metabolix up 14% [Feb 13, 08]

Metabolix initiated a program to develop an advanced industrial oilseed crop to produce bioplastics. [Boston Globe, Feb 8, 08]

Metabolix down 10% [Jan 4, 08]

Metabolix up 21% after announcing another way to use corn as its joint venture with Archer Daniels Midland released the findings of an independent life cycle assessment (LCA) for Mirel(TM) bioplastic resin. ... production of Mirel reduces the use of nonrenewable energy by more than 95% and provides a 200% reduction in greenhouse gases (GHG) compared to production of conventional petroleum-based plastics. [press release Oct 12, 07] Another log on the fire under food prices. It also biodegrades in a wide range of environments: soil, home compost, industrial compost and both fresh and salt water.

Metabolix got a $2M ATP award to develop a commercially viable process for producing bio-based chemicals from renewable agricultural products, rather than the typical from fossil hydrocarbons such as oil or coal. [Mass High Tech, Sep 28]

Metabolix Up12% [Aug 7, 07]

Metabolix up 10% after the company said discount chain Target is using its Mirel biobased plastic in gift cards. [Aug 6, 07]

genetically engineered bacteria that consume corn sugar and produce a polyester that can be used to make biodegradable plastics, including the types used in shopping bags. ... almost ready for use on the commercial scale. In a joint venture with Metabolix of Cambridge, MA, which makes the microbes, Archer Daniels Midland is building a plant adjacent to its corn mill in Clinton, IA, that will use them to generate 110 million pounds of PHA annually. [Peter Fairley, MIT Tech Review, J/A07]

Metabolix, a little-known company that uses bioengineered microorganisms to ferment sugar in the making of biodegradable plastic and chemicals, streaked from 17 on Apr. 20, to 24.92 on Apr. 25. ... On Apr. 23, Archer Daniels Midland, which owns about 6%, announced a joint venture with Metabolix to produce high-performance, all-natural plastics. "It is the only bioplastic that can be biodegraded at sea, soil, or sewer without industrial composting or incineration," says [Pamela] Bassett [of Cantor Fitzgerald]. [Gene Marcial, Business Week, May 7]

Metabolix up 11% after naming new CEO. [May 4, 07]

Recent IPO Metabolix up 14%. [Nov 16, 06]

Metabolix, which had six Phase 1 SBIRs in the mid-1990s, will get $95M from its IPO. Its forte is developing and commercializing Natural Plastic as an alternative to petroleum-based plastics. In addition, the company is working on platform technology for producing with nonfood plant crops such as switchgrass its Natural Plastic and biomass for biofuels such as ethanol and for chemical products. [Mass High-Tech, Nov 10] Closed first day trading up 10%

Metabolon (Durham, NC)

Metabolon (Durham, NC; two SBIRs) that helps test medicines and other products for pharmaceutical companies, universities and other customers has raised $13.1 million in venture financing. ... will use the money to hire additional workers and to expand its business. The company is developing its own tests, including one to detect insulin resistance, which can lead to type 2 diabetes. Founded in 2000, Metabolon expects 2011 revenue to rise to about $20 million. [Raleigh News & Observer, Aug 30, 11]

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]

Metabolon closed on $6 million in equity financing, ending its series C round .... developing technology that identifies biochemical reactions called biomarkers in the field of metabolomics. [Triangle Business Journal, Oct 27, 09]

Metabolon has raised another $1 million in equity financing toward an $11 million fundraising target, according to documents filed with the SEC [Triangle Business Journal, Jul 3, 09]

Biotechnology company Metabolon (Durham, NC; $400K SBIR) plans to use a new round of funding to complete the development of its first product. ... announced that it recently raised $5.3 million. In addition, it expects to bring in $5.7 million more before closing the books on this round of funding within 90 days. ... expects to have its first product -- a diagnostic tool for prostate cancer -- on the market within 12 months, CEO John Ryals said. ... has raised $25.3 million in venture capital to date. [David Ranii, Raleigh News & Observer, May 9, 09]

Now, instead of seeking government grants, Metabolon gives grants of its own, in Apr 09 it announced the launch of the Metabolomics Research Grant program. one of the first Metabolon grant recipients, Bhanu Chandra Mulukutla, with the University of Minnesota [company website] How many DOD and NASA SBIR companies with over, say, $25M of SBIR would have accumulated enough capital to give grants?

Metabolon (Durham, NC; $250K SBIR) is a step closer to bringing to market a test that identifies how aggressive a prostate cancer is, which would help doctors decide how to treat the disease. ]Raleigh News & Observer, Feb 25, 09]

MetaCarta (Cambridge, MA)

The world's leading cell phone company is buying a small CIA-funded company. Nokia of Finland will acquire MetaCarta (Cambridge, MA; one SBIR) for an undisclosed amount. .... makes software that can analyze and map the geographical information embedded in text files, such as newspaper articles and government documents. ...founded in 2001 by John Frank, a graduate student at [MIT]. The company received some of its early funding from In-Q-Tel, a venture capital arm of the US Central Intelligence Agency. [Mass High Tech, Apr 9, 10] Stand by for politics of nationalism.

Metal Oxygen Separation Technologies (Natick, MA)

Metal Oxygen Separation Technologies (Natick, MA; one SBIR, founded 2008) working to produce a light magnesium metal that can be used to replace heavier metals in automobiles. If the project succeeds, an improvement of 1.5 miles per gallon to 2 mpg will be achievable in vehicles through the company’s technology, he said. ... has received $1.1 million in DOE grants this year [Kyle Alspach, Mass High Tech, May 13, 10]

Metamark Genetics (Cambridge, MA)

Metamark Genetics (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR, founded 2007), a molecular diagnostics firm, has taken in a $22 million Series B round of financing, which it intends to direct toward research, development and clinical testing, as well as its commercial establishment. [Michelle Lang, Mass High Tech, Jul 14, 10]

MetroLaser (Irvine, CA)

After gallons of kerosene, smoke. MetroLaser (Irvine, CA) showed the viability of a moving hologram that can broadcast moving 3D images. NASA's SHIVA, the Spaceflight Holography Investigation in a Virtual Apparatus, started in 1999 for research in space. MetroLaser's founder, James Trolinger, [The Economist, Nov 13] have been pounding away at holographs for 30 years. For the last 15 years it has had over 100 SBIR projects with half going to Phase 2 which sums to over $30 from mostly DOD and NASA. Before '89 he got various funding from DOD R&D agencies to explore holographic applications as lasers began to be noticed as a research tool. The SBIR problem is that SBIR was not invented to be just the small business portion of what the agency would do otherwise. Although the SBIR political advocates have not complained about the diversion as long as they get an assured share of the money pie. If an agency wants to work long term on holography with its mainstream funds, go ahead. But the main effect of SBIR has been to simply shunt small firms from the mainstream funding into SBIR with no change in approach.

Micell Technologies (Raleigh, NC)

Micell Technologies, (Raleigh, NC; $300K SBIR) in the early stages of developing a new type of drug-coated stent to treat heart disease, has raised $5 million in financing. Founded in 1996, Micell originally focused on environmentally friendly dry-cleaning technology developed by Joseph DeSimone, a chemistry professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University. The company built the Hangers dry-cleaning chain and then sold it in 2002. Micell then shifted to semiconductor technology and began developing new coatings for medical products in 2006 [Alan Wolf, Raleigh News & Observer, Aug 8, 09]

Micracor Inc (Acton, MA)

The Coherent View of Micracor
(Mar 6). What did Coherent think it was doing when it acquired Micracor (Acton, MA) with 15 worldwide patents? Coherent's CEO told Photonics Spectra (Feb97) that Micracor's "diode-pumped microchip laser will address the low power market up to 100 mW and should lend itself to high-volume, low-cost manufacturing. The high power optically pumped semiconductor tech would help would help [Coherent's unstated strategic goal] in telecommunications and scientific applications.

The Story of a Sale
As soon as the technology worked, the major investors had an internal strategic squabble about whether they really wanted to be so deeply in that business when the next round of financing beckoned for production. They decided not and exited the business by selling Micracor (Acton, MA) to Coherent. The founder paid the price that capitalism demands for investment - who has the gold makes the rules. Both founder Aram Mooradian and Coherent expect considerable profitable sales. SBIR (at least BMDO's) intended companies to attract investors with all the attendant risks to the founders' dreams. If and when Coherent profits from it, the founder will reap his financial reward and SBIR can claim a smart investment that generated the new economic activity that Congress intended. But before that comes true, someone will have to invest in production, which is beyond the role of government, even SBIR.

Coherent Buys Micracor
Laser vendorCoherent says it has bought the assets of Micracor (Acton, MA), an SBIR-supported spinoff of Lincoln Labs. Price not announced. The press release does say Coherent expects the diode-pumped microchip lasers and optically pumped semiconductor lasers to feed a $60M market in inspection, printing, data storage, and bio-instrumentation. Micracor founder Aram Mooradian says he will find something useful to do in the technology. BMDO SBIR provided a nice piece of the development capital with a contribution that required increasing private capital match as the SBIR amount rose.

Diffraction Limited Semiconductor Laser
"500 mW of circularly symmetric, diffraction limited output directly from a semiconductor laser in wavelengths 980 nm to 1010 nm with over 20% electrical to optical conversion efficiency. The low divergence (10 mradian) output needed only a simple, small focusing lens to couple the output into a single mode fiber with 90% efficiency. Such power levels could be used to pump fiber optical amplifiers to boost long-distance signals. This concept could also make high power, tunable devices in the wavelength range from 450 nm to over 2000 nm. Micracor Inc. (Acton, MA), a venture backed spin-off from MIT Lincoln Lab, plans production for several markets. The BMDO SBIR supplemented founder Aram Mooradian's starting capital with some cost-matching from prospective customers for a commercially convincing demo. When, like many early R&D projects, it overran its cost estimates, BMDO put in more money subject to even more free-market matching. Otherwise, it would be just internal government competition among market-free technologists and an incentive for company narrative. Money talks.

Micrel

Micrel down 11% [Dec 1, 08] On a stock bloodbath day

Micrel up 11% [Oct 16, 08]

Micrel up 11% [Oct 13, 08]

Micrel dives 20% [Jan 4, 08] after cutting its outlook for the fourth quarter due to lower-than-expected orders mainly from China and Korea

Micrel up 12% [Nov 19, 07] on a multimillion-dollar, long-term contract with a solar company to supply commercial solar cells. [thestreet.com, Nov 19]

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.

Micrel down 22% after reporting soggy second-quarter profits. [Jul 26, 07]

Jennifer Dooley (Forbes, Aug 21) sees Micrel as a cheap stock as judged by its PE-Growth ratio of 1.0 even though it is down 40% from its high a few months ago. Of course that estimate depends on a 20% profit growth which is usually easier to pronounce than to achieve.

Microfluidics International (fomerly Microbia) (Cambridge MA)

Microfluidics International (Newton, MA; no SBIR; founded in 1999 as Microbia) is a micro-cap equipment company that is running out of money, but it hopes pandemic flu will help turn that around. As demand for seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccine skyrockets, the company is aiming to cash in as one of a relatively few companies experienced in mixing vaccines with adjuvants — substances that may be added to the vaccines to make them work better. “Microfluidics was founded 26 years ago, and it’s never really grown or made money,” said CEO Mike Ferrara. [Mass High Tech, Sep 4, 09]

Microbia (no SBIR), a 10-year-old Cambridge MA biotech company has changed its name to Ironwood Pharmaceuticals. The privately held company has raised $231 M in private equity financing and is developing several drugs, including linaclotide to treat irritable bowel syndrome and other gastrointestinal disorders. [Todd Wallack, Boston Globe, Apr 8]

Microbia (Cambridge MA; no SBIR) reports a new partnership with a multibillion-dollar drug company (Forest Laboratories) will yield up to $330M in fees and milestone payment for the right to market Microbia's experimental drug for gastrointestinal disorders, called linaclotide, in the United States, according to the companies. ... Microbia has raised a total of $231M in private capital [Mass High Tech, Sep 17]

MicroCoating (Chamblee,GA)

Valued at $223M. Since 1994, beginning with initial funding from SBIR, MicroCoating Technologies has grown from two to more than 100 employees, and now occupies some 100,000 square feet. Revenues have climbed at least 50% every year since 1994. And the concern, backed by an initial $4M from Atlanta-based Noro-Moseley Partners and additional capital from individuals, in May 2001 received a $7M equity infusion from Ballard Power Systems Inc. that valued the company at $233M. Ballard's investment is part of an exclusive agreement to develop MCT's proprietary Combustion Chemical Vapor Deposition process (CCVD) for use in making BALLARD® fuel cells. ... CCVD technology - an innovative open atmosphere technique for depositing high quality thin films of advanced materials such as ceramics, metals and composites on base material, either metal, ceramic, glass, or plastic. CCVD thin films provide the base material with such desired surface properties as corrosion resistance, oxidation resistance and catalytic properties. Hunt developed the technology, which dramatically reduces costs and enhances product applications, while a materials science and engineering graduate student at Georgia Tech. He then obtained an exclusive worldwide license from the Georgia Tech Research Corp. to commercialize this process and launched his company in 1993, concurrent with setting up shop in the institution's Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). [ATDC Companies]

Pssst! Coatings!, says Phyllis Berman in Forbes (online Mar21) about Andrew Hunt's Atlanta company Microcoating. Andrew got his start in the back yard as a Ga Tech grad student on a credit card, came to the SBIR National Conference where he looked to me like the perfect case for an SBIR. He talked the right talk of innovation and investment. His smile didn't hurt either. Berman speculates a $200M valuation of what is still a private company. Andrew's first VC money (he wangled customer finance for much of his business with companies like Rohm&Haas and International Paper) brought in $4M for 4% of the company. He got some business help from another SBIR entrepreneur from the San Diego area, Al Capote, founder of SBIR users Toranaga Technologies and Aguila when Al needed some coatings for an advanced process Toranaga was working on.

Better than Chrome. A test coupon by MicroCoating Technologies (Chamblee, GA) withstood the dreaded salt-fog test and let no corrosion onto an aluminum coated steel panel in 1344 hours. MCT uses a new flame-assisted film deposition CCVD, which was the company's first name by Andrew Hunt alone with a 1994 BMDO SBIR (and only Phase 2 so far) and a license from Georgia Tech (where he invented the process for his PhD). Even though the MCT press release cited the usual technology niceties and focusing on commercialization of the novel technology that would deep-six chromium as a protective coating, rumors have it that big fish are being fried in MCT as those 18 people must be doing something profitable with the $1.7M revenue from customers like GM Delphi, Engelhard, 3M, Pilkington, Alcoa, Allied Signal, and Caterpillar. Another company for which SBIR was invented.

MicroGreen Polymers (Seattle, WA)

MicroGreen Polymers (Seattle, WA; one SBIR) a plastics company that adds air to plastics to reduce weight and costs, said it’s raised $6.9 million in funding. [Puget Sound Business Journal, May 19, 10]

MicroIslet (San Diego, CA)

Biotechnology companies in the United States are raising less cash than they have in a decade, in part because of the global economic crisis. The reductions have led to bankruptcies and threaten development of drugs based on biomedical breakthroughs. ... Twenty-five percent of the 370 public U.S. biotechnology companies have less than six months of cash, according to data compiled by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, a trade group in Washington. .... Among others, Peptimmune (Cambridge, MA; one SBIR), a 6-year-old firm, said it is struggling to pay for clinical trials of its multiple sclerosis drug. ... cut its staff more than half, to 22 people; moved to smaller offices to conserve the $6.5 million it has on hand; and is delaying research on drugs for Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, chief executive Thomas Mathers said. .... On Nov. 10, MicroIslet (San Diego, CA; $1.8M SBIR) developer of diabetes treatments, and Accentia BioPharmaceuticals (Tampa, FL; no SBIR) sought bankruptcy protection to reorganize, each citing an inability to raise money. [David Olmos and Rob Waters, Bloomberg News, Dec 1, 08]

MicroMask (Sunnyvale, CA)

Micro-Mask Dissed.
A decade ago, struggling Micro Mask Inc. of Sunnyvale combed the country for money. It was turned away at 68 doorsteps. So President Joe Ross did what many other makers of essential chip-making equipment and supplies did in the latter half of the 1980s -- he sold the company to a cash-rich corporation from Japan.... the two largest Japanese photomask makers, dwarfed any U.S. makers. Their 1988 mask revenues, representing just a small piece of the multibillion-dollar corporations' total sales, were an estimated $170 million and $150 million, respectively. Even the largest U.S. mask maker's revenue was less than $50 million. Robert Noyce, Intel Corp. co-founder and co-inventor of the integrated circuit, said of America's industrial competitiveness: ``We're into a death spiral now.'' ........ ...... Today, Micro Mask is back in U.S. hands. U.S. semiconductor companies are back at the forefront. The turnabout in one critical slice of the business -- making ``photomasks'' -- is among the most dramatic. Japanese firms not only retreated from manufacturing photomasks in the U.S. but also saw their worldwide leadership neutralized by fast-moving American mask makers..... The biggest changes in the U.S. market were sparked by two U.S. mask makers - Photronics and a unit of DuPont. [who} in the mid-1980s embarked on a shopping spree. One by one, the two aggressors snapped up in-house mask shops and small independents. DuPont bought 17 smaller mask makers. Photronics, started 27 years ago in a Danbury, Conn. garage, picked up about 10 shops. The purchases gave the two U.S. firms an instant advantage -- presence around the country near key chip-making customers, especially those producing complex or custom-designed chips.

Evelyn Richards, San Jose Mercury News Jan 11, 97

Micronics (Redmond, WA)

Micronics (Redmond, WA; $1M SBIR) said it’s completed its third round of financing, which, when coupled with a second round completed earlier this year, totals $9 million. [Puget Sound Business Journal, Oct 16, 08]

MicroOptical (Westwood, MA, NM)

Video and text on the back of your eyelids, or more practically in or on a pair of glasses. MicroOptical (Westwood, MA) claims to have developed a wearable computing technology and has attracted $8M funding plus a DARPA SBIR. MicroOptical's founder, Mark Spitzer, was once chief scientist at Kopin which is also marketing a tiny display, but not that tiny. The company claims four products after six years of R&D. The showcase products are a monocular viewer that attaches to the temple of the user’s eyeglasses, a binocular viewer that is similar to a pair eyeglasses and a set of eyeglasses that has the display integrated into them. To market the products, no they don't market themselves, MicroOptical made a strategic deal with Essilor, a multibillion-dollar French business in France, one of the world’s largest providers of ophthalmic optical products. [facts from Patricia Resende, Mass High Tech, Sep 16]

MicroOptical (Albuquerque, NM)

Micro-Optical-Emcore Merger (Dec 9) MicroOptical Devices (Albuquerque, NM) has been acquired by EMCORE (Somerset, NJ) in a $30M deal. The acquisition will enable MicroOptical to nearly triple its employees, said Robert Bryan, president. "We will have close to 50 people by the end of 1998," said Bryan who founded the company in late 1995. EMCORE is a 13-year-old company and a leading provider of integrated semiconductor solutions. MicroOptical is a leading producer of Vertical Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser components, arrays and optical sub-assemblies. For the past two years, MicroOptical Devices has been the poster child for laboratory spinoffs and high-tech start-ups. Two years ago, the company employed one person. Last year the company had six employees. It now has about 18. It was the star of Technology Ventures Corp.'s 1996 venture-capital symposium, receiving more offers to fund its product than it needed. The firm also stirred the interests of potential suitors and investors in the fall when it began looking for financing to fund another expansion. "We have achieved many of the milestones we set for ourselves when we first had equity financing in July," said Bryan. "We saw we were on a fast track to rapidly grow the company and we needed additional capital." Their financing efforts resulted in inquiries from many corporations interested in combining MicroOptical's operations with their own. EMCORE's offer was the best fit, said Bryan. [Sherri Chunn, Albuquerque Journal, Dec 8]
Some background.. Co-founder Rob Bryan was a 1991 co-founder of Vixel Corp, with Greg Olbright and Jack Jewell. A BMDO SBIR got them started in VCSEL development. With two more Phase 2s and $20M of private money, Vixel's capitalization kept growing as the technology matured to production grade. As Vixel shifted to a more vertically integrated approach, Jewell and Bryan split to form new companies in Boulder and Albuquerque. Vixel started in Albuquerque (as Photonics Research) from where it soon moved to Colorado and has since moved to Washington (state). Emcore went public in 1996 after years of developing a commercially viable MOCVD business with the help of about $5.5M of DOD SBIR 1988-95 (it looked for a while like Emcore would never get rolling and would be just another nice materials house whose product was too expensive for real people).

MicroPower Technologies (San Diego, CA)

MicroPower Technologies (no SBIR), a two-year-old startup incubating in San Diego’s EvoNexus program, says it has raised $2.2 million from a variety of investors that completes its Series B round of venture funding. The company is developing power-efficient wireless video surveillance cameras for use by public safety, government, commercial, and small-to-medium business customers. [Bruce Bigelow, signonsandiego.com, Dec 2, 10]

San Diego’s free high-tech incubator, announced that it has enrolled three more startup companies: TetraVue is developing a high-resolution 3D camera and video recording system; MicroPower Technologies is developing ultra-low-power wireless video surveillance camera technologies; EcoATM plans to install self-serve kiosks for recycling mobile phones and other consumer electronics. None has SBIR.

Microstaq (Austin, TX)

Austin-based Microstaq which develops high-tech control valves for air-conditioning systems and other equipment, has secured another $12.5 million in venture backing, the company plans to announce today. [Austin American-Statesman, Sep 22, 08]

environmentally focused young tech companies some of the hottest properties around. ... Microstaq (Austin, TX; no SBIR) says the silicon-based fluid control chips that it unveiled at a tech conference this week can save 20 to 30 percent in electricity costs over traditional metal valves found in air conditioners and other equipment. ... has attracted more than $22 million in venture capital [Bob Keefe, Austin American-Statesman, Sep 13, 08] Why take slow and rigid and free and disinterested SBIR when real money will have a vested interest in your success and a path to more money when you need it? Would you prefer 100% ownership in a company that will go nowhere?

Microvision

MicroVision said it’s signed a deal with Pioneer [Japan] to put MicroVision’s head-up display technology into Pioneer’s consumer, after-market and automotive products. [Puget Sound Business Journal, Dec 8, 10]

Microvision down 10% [May 6, 10]

Microvision up 19% [Apr 5, 10]

Microvision down 14% [Jan 12, 10]

Microvision down 12% [Jan 7, 10]

Microvision said it would sell 3.3 million shares to an existing institutional investor for $3 apiece. The company expects to net $9.3 million from the offering ... On Wednesday, Microvision said it closed on an earlier public offer of 7.7 million shares for net proceeds of about $21.5 million. [AP, Nov 28, 09]

Microvision down 20% [Nov 19, 09] said it will sell 6.7 million shares of stock at $3 each [Puget Sound Business Journal, Nov 19, 09]

Microvision up 13% [Sep 21, 09]

Microvision up 16% [Sep 18, 09]

Microvision said it’s been awarded a $1 million contract by Lockheed Martin Corp. to develop a wearable eyewear display system for soldiers. ... The deal comes two weeks after Walsin Lihwa Corp. of China agreed to invest approximately $15 million in Microvision. [Puget Sound Business Journal, Jul 7, 09]

Microvision (Redmond, WA; $2.5M SBIR) , a display and scanner technology company, is getting a $15 million investment from Walsin Lihwa, a wire and cable manufacturer based in Taiwan. [Sharon Pian Chan, Seattle Times, Jun 26, 09]

Microvision (Redmond, WA; $2.5M SBIR) which makes display technology, announced its fourth-quarter loss grew to $9.9 million, from a loss of $6 million a year earlier. [Puget Sound Business Journal, Mar 5, 09]

FORGET MONITORS--NOMAD PUTS TEXT AND GRAPHICS RIGHT ONTO THE RETINA Matt Nichols, of Microvision, has just arrived from his crosstown walk. He's hurried from New York City's upcoming Museum of Sex, where he showed off the same equipment that he wants to demonstrate now. No, please--it's called Nomad, a retinal scanning device that can beam words and graphics directly into the viewer's eye. The Army is also interested in Nomad, for a less titillating function: equipping its helicopter pilots. When coupled with the proper software, the headset can display altitude, heading, speed, course and weapons status, all presented in a nice monochrome light beam that doesn't hamper the pilot's view at optical infinity,... could replace head-up displays on windscreens and virtual-reality helmets--a goal of the U.S. Air Force for decades. ...In late June the company conducted Nomad's first flight tests; eventually, ... Microvision intends to sell a commercial version as early as this fall for between $8,000 and $10,000. ... The heart of the Nomad technology lies in a MEMS light-beam scanner, which has a tiny mirror 1.5mm wide. A red laser diode bounces a pulsed beam off the MEMS mirror, which uses an electromagnetic system to move in two directions, creating a scanning pattern similar to those on television screens. An optical combiner modifies the beam to create an image 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels long. [Phil Scott,Scientific American, Sep 01]

Microvision and Cree Win.
(Jun 13)Microvision, claiming to be the leader in retinal scanning display technology, said it has demonstrated a breakthrough miniature display that uses just three microminiature LEDs to create a full-color high-resolution video image. General Electric Pension Trust and Cree recently invested $25 million in Microvision to accelerate development of low-cost versions of the company's Retinal-Scanning Display technology to target a potentially huge market for wireless Internet devices. Microvision will immediately begin demonstrations of the micro display prototype to potential customers and partners. [facts from Microvision press release] Microvision shot up 20% on the news; Cree is already riding atop the waves at a 200 PE although down 25% from its high. Microvision had $2M fron the AF in SBIR in 1998. It went puiblic in 1996 at $5 and shot up to $60 in this year's spring bubble. Today's rise gives it a $400M market cap.

Microvision (Bothell, WA) got an investment of $25M from Cree and the GE Pension Trust to speed development of its head mounted display. Cree laready had a deal with Microvision to integrate blue and green LEDs in the displays. Earlier Microvision had invested $10M in Cree's LEDs. Microvision had three Air Force SBIRs recently basically all the same thing - Head Mounted Display - from three different AF agencies (who may or may not have collaborated in the funding). Such oddities as three separate SBIR happen becasue bureaus like the AF set themselves limits on SBIR awards and then have to finagle to invest the right amount in any company. By contrast, BMDO would have funded the whole $2M in 2-3 increments depending on technical maturation and co-investment criteria. BMDO probably woiulkd not have funded this work anyway because the abstracts show it to be quite mature by BMDO standards.

Mid Valley Industries (Kaukauna, WI

machine shop Mid Valley Industries (Kaukauna,WI; no SBIR) will receive $437,000 in enterprise development zone tax credits from the state Department of Commerce. Founded in 1996 by Kevin Schmid and Doug Pribyl, Mid Valley Industries focuses on precision specialty custom manufacturing, general job shop machining and complete machine assembly, according to the department. Its $4 million expansion is expected to create 75 jobs. The company now has 82 full-time employees. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Jul 11]

Minerva Biotechnologies (Newton, MA)

Minerva Biotechnologies (Waltham, MA; $2M SBIR) has raised about $4.6 million of planned $5.9 million equity offering, ... focuses on both nanotechnology and stem cell therapeutics. In 2008, the company, alongside the University of California at Santa Barbara, announced they may have found a “pivotal switch” in stem cell differrentiation. [Mass High Tech, Nov 17, 10]

Nanotechnology-focused biotech firm Minerva Biotechnologies (Newton, MA; $1.4M SBIR) has fired its CEO and brought suit against him in Massachusetts Superior Court, according to company officials. [Mass High Tech, Feb 1]

Mirador Biomedical (Seattle, WA)

Mirador Biomedical (Seattle, WA; no SBIR) was able to win FDA approval of its first medical device on a shoestring budget of a shade over $1 million, and now investors are rewarding it with some more cash to see what it can do in the marketplace. ... pulled in another $1.5 million in its Series B financing round ... FDA clearance in October for a couple different product iterations of its digital pressure sensor. ... founders include CEO Karl Schmidt and chief science officer Justin Hulvershorn, who worked together at Northstar Neurscience (no SBIR) [Luke Timmerman, xconomy.com, Apr 13, 11]

Mira Dx (New Haven, CT)

Mira Dx (New Haven, CT; no SBIR) startup that is making gene-based lab tests for disease susceptibility and response to various therapies, has taken in $1 million from Connecticut Innovations, as part of a $4 million Series A round. ... using discoveries licensed from Yale University in the field of microRNA (miRNA) to develop their tests, which will provide individualized information on the likelihood of disease occurrence and response to certain types of therapy. [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Jul 2, 10]

Mirina (Seattle, WA)

things are looking better: the research-oriented startups seem poised to survive the downturn, and long-awaited clinical results could propel larger companies like Dendreon to stardom. ... despite the financial crisis, the Accelerator, a local incubator based in Seattle's Eastlake neighborhood, created three firms last year - Recodagen, GPC-Rx and Mirina (none had SBIR) ... "Seattle is really a town of development-stage biotechs," Miller said. ... Light Sciences Oncology (no SBIR), a firm that canceled its initial public offering last February, managed to raise $10 million from venture capitalists in July. Private investors provided Redmond-based Healionics (no SBIR) — which manufactures material for implants — with a $2.6 million boost in December. In a deal that could yield big results, Bothell-based Acucela (no SBIR), which is developing therapies to treat blindness, signed a partnership deal in September with Japanese firm Otsuka Pharmaceutical that could potentially bring it $258 million. [Angel Gonzalez, Seattle Times, Jan 25]

Mirna Therapeutics (Austin, TX)

Mirna Therapeutics (Austin, TX; one SBIR) received a $5 million award from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund to continue its development of cancer-fighting treatments. ... a spinoff of Asuragen (no SBIR), which develops molecular diagnostic tests for cancer and other diseases. Both companies were founded by Austin biotech veteran Matt Winkler, who sold his first company, Ambion ($8M SBIR), for $273 million to Applied Biosystems (no SBIR) in 2006. [Lori Hawkins, Austin American-Statesman, Dec 11, 09]

Asuragen (Austin, TX; no SBIR) launched a company to develop and commercialize medical treatments based on microRNA, which has been shown to play critical regulatory roles in normal and diseased cells. The new company, Mirna Therapeutics, will be launched with $3 million in capital. Asuragen is transferring its intellectual capital on microRNA therapeutics to the new company. [Austin American-Statesman, Apr 4, 08]

Miromatrix Medical

Biotech startup Miromatrix Medical (no SBIR) has lined up a $250,000 loan from the state of Minnesota. ... commercializing technology developed at the University of Minnesota by Dr. Doris Taylor. Two years ago, Taylor successfully grew a beating rat heart in a jar [Katharine Grayson, Minneapolis/St Paul Business Journal, Jun 3, 10]

Mirus Bio (Madison, WI)

Mirus Bio (Madison, WI; $500K SBIR) said it has developed a technique to switch off liver cells' ability to produce "bad" cholesterol. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Jul 28]

Mission Research

Mission Research will exit SBIR into the maw of Alliant Techsystems which will pay $230M for the ownership. Mission is a $180M a year business in things government loves - surveillance and remote targeting involving specialized sensors, antennas, composite materials and various imaging hardware and software. In 2002 it claimed 415 employees in the latest of its 269 DOD SBIRs. Back in 1986 when SBIR was still young, it had 400 employees. Do you think SBIR was a seed program for explosive growth or just another route for government contracts?

Mithridion (Madison, WI)

Mithridion (Madison, WI; $300K SBIR) drug developer will announce Tuesday it has secured $1.25 million of funding that it will use to explore additional uses for its lead drug candidate.... developing drugs to improve brain function in patients with Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia, and perhaps even halting the progression of Alzheimer's. The company's lead drug candidate, which it calls MCD-386, has completed the first phase of clinical trials that included 55 volunteers, said Trevor M. Twose, Mithridion's chief executive. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jan 10, 11]

Mithridion (Madison, WI; $300K SBIR) said that results of an initial Phase I clinical trial has shown its lead Alzheimer's disease drug candidate has "first-in-class" potential for improving memory and cognition symptoms. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Apr 8, 09]

Mithridion (Madison, WI; $300K SBIR) that is developing a drug aimed at improving brain function, and maybe even halting the progression of Alzheimer's disease, will announce today that it has raised another $2.9 million of funding. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Jan 12, 09]

Mithridion (Madison, WI; $300K SBIR) that last month raised $2.3 million and acquired an Ohio drug development company is starting a clinical trial for a drug aimed at improving brain function and maybe even halting the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.It probably won’t be clear for three or more years [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Jul 10, 08]

Mobile Robots (Amherst, NH)

MobileRobots (Amherst, NH, one SBIR) has been acquired by California industrial robotics firm Adept Technology (no SBIR) for an undisclosed amount. ... annual revenue of approximately $5 million ... MobileRobots specializes in making core robotics systems that can be used in an unstructured environment by having the robots learn their environments and respond to obstacles in their path. ... company had for years after its founding in 1995 been selling mainly to research institutions that would use its core technology as the basis for their own research robots. [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Jun 15, 10]

A Luxury Robot. Visit the offices of Mobile Robots (Amherst, NH; no SBIR) and you're met at the door by a robot toting two champagne glasses and a bottle of bubbly. "My name is Jeeves," it says. "Forgive my lack of a British accent. I haven't downloaded it yet." ... [CEO Jeanne] Ditch has little use for [main competitor] robot's cheap and simple technology. "They're doing it at a hundredth of the price, and you're getting a hundredth of the quality," . ... the camera on her company's robots is of far higher quality and capable of a greater range of motion. [Hiawatha Bray, Boston Globe (re-designed business page), Nov 12]

Molecular Biometrics (Chester, NJ)

Molecular Biometrics (Norwood, MA; no SBIR) diagnostic tool developer, has completed a $12.5 million Series B round of funding [Mass High Tech, Jan 12, 10]

a $12 million, first-round venture-capital financing of Molecular Biometrics (Chester, NJ; no SBIR) ... to support research and development on ViaMetrics-E, which it plans to launch in Europe, Japan and Australia next year. ViaMetrics-E is a diagnostic procedure designed to help identify the most viable embryos with the greatest reproductive potential for in vitro fertilization. [Philadelphia Business Journal, Nov 10, 08]

Hoping for a short infancy, Molecular Biometrics (Chester, NJ; no SBIR), an in vitro fertilization diagnostics company, is working on a $12 million Series A financing ... has developed a technique, using near-infrared spectroscopy, to detect biomarkers that can determine the viability of fertilized eggs within minutes, before reimplantation. The process increases the chances of successful implantation by 10 percent per cycle, the company said. Treatments run an average of three cycles at a cost of about $15,000 each. [Mass High Tech, Aug 22]

Molecular Detection (Wayne, PA)

Molecular Detection (Wayne, PA; no SBIR) said that it has completed a $3.3 million Series C venture financing and that it has hired a CEO. ... also said it is about to launch Detect-Ready, a test for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). [Philadelphia Business Journal, Oct 1, 09]

Molecular Imprints (Austin, TX)

Molecular Imprints (Austin TX; one Phase 1 SBIR), a nanotechnology company that makes advanced equipment used in producing computer chips, disk drives and other products, has raised $8.5M, bringing its investment backing to $80.5 M. It's a loan from a unit of a British hedge fund. [Austin Statesman-American, Apr 4]

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA)

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals is set to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as a restructured company [Mass High Tech, May 9, 11]

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals said today that it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as part of an agreement with an investor that will buy 90 percent of its stock. [Boston Globe, Dec 11, 10]

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals reported positive results from a clinical trial of a treatment that detects prostate cancer, setting off a 65 percent gain in its share price. ... a week after Nasdaq told Molecular Insight that it was in danger of being delisted because the company’s stock had remained below $1 a share for 30 consecutive business days [New York Times, Oct 16, 10]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 129% [Apr 13, 10] announced the results from a mid-stage clinical trial for its potential cancer treatment. .... said on Monday 90 patients treated with Onalta showed an easing of symptoms associated with malignant metastatic carcinoid tumors. [AP, Apr 13, 10]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 16% [Dec 30, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 16% [Dec 28, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 16% [Dec 8, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 10% [Nov 27, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals said it has inked two 10-year licensing and production deals for its cancer-therapy target Onalta. [Mass High Tech, Oct 23, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 11% [Oct 16, 09]

Running short on financing options, [Molecular Insight] received two [NIH SBIR] grants totaling $1.2 million to develop a drug target that otherwise would be sitting on the shelf. Now the potential diagnostic for neuroblastoma, a pediatric cancer, is the company’s lead compound. The small public company has since won another two SBIR grants for drug programs targeting prostate cancer and melanoma and plans to apply for more so-called SBIR grants. [Mass High Tech, Oct 9, 09] Whaddya think? Is it a good use of SBIR to string along ideas that sound better than they value? Should SBIR feed the tired or power the infant ideas that haven't yet run into bad business evaluations? If politics provides the answer, it will always hand money to present companies with present jobs regardless of their relative economic potential.

Molecular Insight Pharma down 11% [Aug 13, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 14% [Jul 23, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 10% [Jun 24, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 42% [Jun 16, 09] said clinical data showed its Trofex drug has the potential to both detect and to treat metastatic prostate cancer [Wall St Journal, Jun 18]

Molecular Insight up 11% [May 8, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 21% [Apr 15, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 21% [Apr 8, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 16% [Apr 7, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 23% [Mar 23, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 19% [Mar 20, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 19% [Mar 17, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 19% [Feb 25, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 28% [Feb 24, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 16% [Feb 3, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 12% [Jan 26, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 13% [Jan 16, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 16% [Jan 9, 09]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 17% [Dec 16, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 19% [Dec 1, 08] On a stock bloodbath day

Molecular Insight Pharma up 14% [Nov 24, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 14% [Nov 17, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 10% [Nov 14, 08]

Molecular Insight up 10% [Nov 13, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharma up11% [Nov 11, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 12% [Nov 5, 08]

Molecular Insight up 11% [Oct 30, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 13% [Oct 28, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 10% [Oct 24, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 20% [Oct 21, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 34% [Oct 16, 08]

Molecular Insight down 19% [Oct 15, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 17% [Oct 13, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharma up 14% [Oct 10, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 15% [Oct 9, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharma down 10% [Oct 8, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals up 20% [Sep 18, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals down 15% [Sep 17, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals down 10% [Sep 4, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals down 11% [Aug 25, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals reported a larger second-quarter loss today, as it spent more money to develop its drug candidates. Molecular Insight lost $21 million, compared with a loss of $11.5 million, a year earlier [Boston Globe, Aug 13,08]

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals up 14% [Jul 22, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals up 10% [Jul 2, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals up 15% [May 12, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals down 11% [May 9, 08]

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge MA; $2.5M SBIR) said that it has priced $150M in bonds, the proceeds of which should help the company through its first product launch. [Boston Globe, Nov 14, 07] Its stock price is down to half of its starting value last winter.

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; $2M+ SBIR) announced positive results of analysis from a Phase 2b study of its imaging agent Zemiva to detect heart conditions, the company reports. Zemiva is under evaluation for use in emergency departments to diagnose acute coronary syndrome and evaluate cardiac ischemia [Mass High Tech, Sep 11]

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA) went public to raise $70M. $3M in SBIR. [Feb 2, 07]

Molecular Templates ((Georgetown, TX) Molecular Templates (Georgetown, TX; no SBIR) has signed a deal with ImClone Systems Inc., a subsidiary of Eli Lilly & Co., to collaborate on researching and developing cancer drugs. .. received $2.5 million in venture funding last year in a round led by Sante Ventures in Austin. The company was founded in Canada but moved its headquarters last year to the Texas Life-Sciences Collaboration Center in Georgetown, which provides wet-lab space for biotech startups [Austin American Statesman, Jul 7, 10]

Molten Metal

Molten Metal Leads the Plunge
(Jan 5) The biggest NASDAQ of 1997 was Molten Metal (Waltham, MA) which lost 99.2% of its value to $.09 per share. Forbes Jan 12, Politics)also carries a unflattering story on Maurice Strong, a MM founder and board member, who has been involved in some other enterprises that didn't do well. MM exemplifies a big government bet on a new technology, unlike the little bets placed with SBIR. Government's track record is a lot better with the little bets. Big bets get entangled in politics because so much money and so many reputations and careers are at stake.

Molten Metal Finds $7M
(Dec 24) Molten Metal (Waltham, MA) found $7M secured by all its assets, with an interest in another $20M (secured by more than its assets?). The lender must be an optimist.

Molten Metal Melts (Dec 5) In contrast, Molten Metal (Waltham, MA) melted when it declared bankruptcy on Dec 3. The stock which had traded as high as $28 in 1996 melted to 25 cents. Molten Metal has a big idea with a large social payoff, which would survive only in the ideal world of zero-pollution environmentalists. Still, the idea could be widely adopted if it could be economic. But only government would put in the big money required to develop it since it soon looked too expensive for today's environmental economics. When government stopped pouring in the money, the company's prospects collapsed. Whether government should have continued to prop up the technology is, of course, a political question as are many of DOE's better things for better living through subsidy.

Haney Quits, SBIR Writ Large
(Nov 19) Haney Quits. The resignation of founder Bill Haney highlights the problems at Molten Metal coming from an innovative technology that is too expensive and too dependent on government support. Yesterday's Boston Globe said that MM which was dogged by financial woes and a Congressional investigation into its political activities, appeared headed for a meltdown yesterday as its top executive resigned and the company acknowledged it was running out of cash .. and ... may have to cease ''normal operations'' after this month. ... John Preston, a founding director of was named chairman. Two directors also resigned. It is SBIR writ large, with all the trauma that comes from large government involvement, even though Molten Metal is not an SBIR dependent (the $33M was beyond SBIR's scope.) It is now proved to be a technology that can exist only on subsidy, like solar power, from subsidy-wonks in the Energy Department and politicians likely to claim local jobs wherever a "demonstration" plant operates. US Steel which declined to exploit the technology when it was invented in its own labs, no doubt feels like it dodged a bullet.

Converting Trash and Skeptics Converting Trash and Skeptics
(Aug 13) Molten Metal has several problems, or rather like the welfare recipient - one big problem which is finding enough to eat. The stock has been hit 50% this year atop 64% last year (the magic of percentages keeps 50+64 < 100) because the magic process isnt converting skeptics as well as it converts trash. Why not? The same problem all the SBIR beneficiaries have in commercializing their magic technology - cost. While most government technical experts care little about cost, the private market focuses on the cost-effectiveness margin. But MM having burned $33M of government subsidy now expects that well to have dried up before the market accepts the results. Perhaps most critical, Molten Metal is scheduled to begin operations in the fall at a Texas plant that will recycle hazardous waste generated by Celanese Corp. into resalable synthetic gas and acid products. Celanese will buy the gas and other companies will purchase the acid.[story Boston Globe, Aug 12]

Molten Metal Fires R&D
(May 16) Molten Metal, the dream machine that US Steel didn't want, fired 77 R&D people to cut its staff to under 100 and said that its earnings will be less than the Street expects. Lots of action in the stock recently.

Molten Metal Hit by Strike Suit
(Feb 14) Shareholders sued because they were hurt by Molten Metal's failure to tell them that the federal funding was in jeopardy and misrepresented its commercial viability. What do they want? Guaranteed weather prediction, too. All federal funding is always in jeopardy as are commercial prospects always mere speculation. Ask any SBIR company. At least California's Prop 211 lost which if enacted would have made all corporate predictions a thing of history.

Molten Metal Meltdown
Lost $800M, half its market value, in a day did Molten Metal when it reported that the government wouldn't bless it with so much money and that two insiders had sold 85,000 shares. Once again, energy companies show how dependent they are on DOE funding since energy programs came to life in the 1970s. The politicians and the Energy-crats forever blather the commercial potential of what they subsidize as though they expect the market to believe that what's good for re-election in New Mexico and Tennessee is good enough for stocks. Until the music stops or even misses a beat. Someone once noted that not a kilowatt of solar energy was ever generated in the US without a subsidy. And Bob Dole thinks he can shut the Energy Department!

MoMelan Technologies

Medical device company MoMelan Technologies (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) got more money in its previously reported funding round, almost reaching the planned top end of $5 million, federal documents show. ... making a device designed to stretch skin to improve the cost, time and patient experience of skin graft procedures [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Jul 20, 11]

The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, a quasi-public agency, awarded $3.75 million in loans to five early-stage life sciences companies. AesRX (Newton, MA; no SBIR) biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of sickle cell disease and other orphan drugs; MoMelan Technologies (MA; no SBIR) medical device company; Myomo (Cambridge,MA; one SBIR) focused on helping people move again after a neuro-muscular impairment; ECI Biotech (Worcester, MA $1.6M SBIR) developer and manufacturer of affordable diagnostic sensors that can be incorporated into any consumer product or medical device; and Grove Instruments (Worcester, MA; $400K SBIR) developing a painless, noninvasive technology that accurately measures blood sugar. [Boston Globe, Mar 23, 11]

Momenta Pharmaceuticals

Momenta Pharma up 13% [Nov 28, 11]

Momenta Pharma up 23% [Oct 31, 11]

Momenta Pharma down 14% [Oct 25, 11]

Momenta Pharma down 31% [Sep 16, 11]

Momenta Pharma up 10% [May 9, 11]

Momenta Pharma down 21% [Jan 25, 11] on concerns that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is readying to launch a generic version of the blockbuster blood-thinner Lovenox. [Market Watch, Jan 25]

Momenta Pharmaceuticals said that it could raise as much as $66 million in gross proceeds through a stock offering. [Boston Globe, Dec 8, 10]

Momenta Pharma said it is suing rival Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. in a patent dispute over generic versions of the anti-clotting drug Lovenox. .... [Israeli] Teva is the world's largest maker of generic drugs [Boston Globe, Dec 3, 10]

Momenta Pharma down 16% [Aug 5, 10]

Momenta Pharma down 12% [Jul 27, 10]

Momenta Pharma up 20% [Jul 26, 10]

Momenta Pharma up 82% [Jul 23, 10] after FDA approved its generic version of Sanofi-Aventis SA's Lovenox, an injected drug for preventing life-threatening blood clots. [AP, Jul 23]

Momenta Pharma up 11% [May 12, 10]

Momenta Pharma down 12% [May 7, 10]

Momenta Pharma down 10% [May 6, 10]

Momenta Pharma up 13% [Jan 22, 10]

Momenta Pharma up 10% [Dec 23, 09]

Momenta Pharmaceuticals said it priced an underwritten offering of 4 million shares .... to receive $40.6 million in proceeds. All of the shares are being sold by Momenta. [Boston Globe, Sep 24, 09]

While most biotechs want data exclusivity for as long as possible, Momenta Pharmaceuticals is writing to Congress and calling on biotech industry associations to advocate for shorter protections for biologics. That’s because the company has a technology platform it says can help make generic versions of the drugs. [Mass High Tech, Jul 24, 09]

Momenta Pharma up 11% [Mar 23, 09]

Momenta Pharma down 10% [Mar 20, 09]

Momenta Pharma up 11% [Mar 18, 09]

Momenta Pharma down 12% [Mar 5, 09]

Momenta Pharma down 21% [Mar 2, 09]

Momenta Pharma down 10% [Jan 23, 09]

Momenta Pharmaceuticals said that it will raise $24.1 million through a registered direct offering. [Boston Globe, Dec 12]

Momenta Pharma up 10% [Dec 9, 08]

Momenta Pharma up 10% [Dec 5, 08]

Momenta Pharma up 10% [Nov 26, 08]

Momemta Pharma down 14% [Oct 9, 08]

Momenta Pharmaceuticals announced today that the FDA has agreed to review the abbreviated new drug application, or ANDA, for a generic version of Copaxone. [Boston Globe, Jul 11, 08]

Momemta Pharma up 13% [Apr 28, 08]

Momenta Pharmaceuticals up 18% [Apr 24, 08]

Momenta Pharmaceuticals up 12% [Mar 24, 08]

Momenta Pharma up 11% [Dec 14, 07]

Momenta Pharma up 13% [Dec 6, 07]

Momenta Pharmaceuticals down 58% after news that the Food and Drug Administration will not approve its application to market a generic version of Sanofi-Aventis' blood-thinner drug Lovenox unless it produces more supporting information. [Market Watch, Nov 6, 07]

Momenta Pharmaceuticals up 10% despite news of more loss. [Aug 8, 07]

Momenta Pharmaceuticals dropped 20% [Feb 9, 07] on news that Sanofi-Aventis lost a patent case over its top selling blood-thinning drug Lovenox. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals and Teva Pharmaceuticals won the patent decision over whether Sanofi-Aventis filed properly for the patent. Those companies can launch generic versions when the patent expires in 2012 [AP, Feb 9]

Monebo (Austin, TX)

From the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, Image Trends (Austin, TX; no SBIR) which develops image correction and enhancement products for commercial and amateur photographers will receive $1 million, and RFMicron (Austin, TX; no SBIR) $250,000 to speed development of its microchip technology [Lori Hawkins, Austin American-Statesman, Jul 14, 08] Og ten central TX companies fed from the fund, only one has failed so far: Nanocoolers (no SBIR) Tried to create a thermoelectric cooling system that would help cool semiconductors. Closed in 2007. The others: Molecular Imprints Inc. Nanotechnology company that makes advanced equipment used in producing computer chips, disk drives and other products. Monebo Technologies (no SBIR) Heart monitoring device called CardioBelt that enables users to obtain their own electrocardiogram while at home. Quantum Logic Devices ($1+M SBIR, moved from NC) Developing a system that uses single-electron devices to analyze DNA, protein and other molecular interactions. Receptor Logic Ltd. (no SBIR) Developing antibodies to improve understanding of the immune system and lead to better drugs and vaccines. Xitronix (no SBIR) Developing advanced semiconductor testing technology. XTreme Power (no SBIR) Developing electrical storage systems that are used to cut energy bills for commercial and industrial plants.

More Texas Green. Monebo Technologies (Austin) got $500K for a heart monitoring device called CardioBelt, and Hanson Robotics (Dallas) $1.5M to commercialize its robotics technologies. The Texas Emerging Technology Fund has now passed out $44M toward its legislated goal of $200M. [Austin American-Statesman, and Dallas Morning News, Oct 25] Neither company shows any SBIR.

Monogram Biosciences (South San Francisco, CA)

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings will acquire Monogram Biosciences (South San Francisco, CA; $10M SBIR in only five projects) for about $155 million, the companies said [The Business Review (Albany), Jun 23, 09]

Morphormics (Chapel Hill, NC)

Morphormics (Chapel Hill, NC; no SBIR), spun out of UNC-Chapel Hill received a $2 M NIH grant to commercialize its 3-D mapping technology that improves radiation treatment of prostate cancer. .... will get its technology, which creates anatomical road maps of patients, ready for use in people [Raleigh News & Observer, Sep 6, 08]

Morphotek (Exton, PA)

Morphotek (Exton, PA, a subsidiary of Eisai Woodcliff Lake, N.J; one SBIR) biopharmaceutical company, said that it has been awarded a $2.5 million government contract to continue to develop defenses against potential bioweapons. [Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct 21, 10]

Morris Innovative Research (Bloomington IN)

Morris Innovative Research (Bloomington IN; no SBIR) received the highest classification of approval from the Food and Drug Administration for a device that helps stanch the flow of blood after catheterization. ...12 full-time employees, held successful clinical trials in 2004 for the device, which includes a sheath to help catheters and a plug of pig intestine used to stop the increased flow of blood and encourage clotting. A pilot launch is planned in a few weeks in the Indianapolis area. [Indianapolis Star, Sep 11]

Mortara Instrument (Milwaukee,WI)

Mortara Instrument (Milwaukee, WI; no SBIR)'s wireless heart-monitoring device scored a significant victory in Italy. Local government officials in Milan said they will put device in all 100 ambulances that serve the Milan area's 3.5 million people. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dec 11, 09]

Physicist David Mortara built his company Mortara Instrument (Milwaukee,WI; no SBIR) around a vision for practical, simple and affordable heart monitoring equipment systems. ... formed in 1982, tied for 75th on Deloitte's 2009 Wisconsin 75 list of the state's largest privately held companies. ... in 2004 beat out the big players for a contract to store the Food and Drug Administration's heart safety data from trials and provide tools for evaluating it, he said. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Oct 2, 09]

Motricity

Move and layoffs repeat a Motricity pattern. Until last week, Motricity was a symbol for entrepreneurial possibility and a shining corporate headquarters for the city of Durham. Then executives announced a restructuring last week at the behest of shareholders. They called for cutting hundreds of jobs and moving the headquarters to the West Coast. ... Venture capitalists, who have sunk more than $380 million into Motricity since 2001 and wield strong influence, backed the InfoSpace deal for its potential to more than double sales, slash overhead and drive up the value of their asset. [Frank Norton, Raleigh News&Observer, Mar 14]

Software company Motricity, one of the Triangle's most lauded technology companies [says]t it will slash 250 local workers and relocate its headquarters to the West Coast. [Raleigh News&Observer, Mar 5]

Motricity (Durham, NC; no SBIR) raised more venture capital than any other private company based in the [NC] Triangle -- about $200M since being founded in 2001. ... Now it wants to raise as much as $170 M to pay for an acquisition that could boost its chances of a Wall Street debut ... would expand its position in mobile infrastructure with a business whose revenue has been growing at about 50 percent annually [Frank Norton, Raleigh News&Observer, Sep 25]

Billionaire financier Carl Icahn has invested $50M in Motricity (Durham, NC; no SBIR) ... which boosts total investments in Motricity to a Triangle record of $216M and will allow the company to pursue acquisitions .. .provides technology that helps people buy and receive games, graphics, ring tones and music on their mobile phones, is one of the region's fastest-growing technology companies [Anne Krishnan, Raleigh News & Observer, Feb 27]

MPP Group (Wauwatosa, WI)

start-ups in the drug field within the Milwaukee 7 economic development region suggests another strategic direction for the regional economy. Those new ventures come as Concordia University of Wisconsin mounts an impressive campaign to build a new pharmacy school in southeastern Wisconsin, possibly in downtown Milwaukee. ... New ventures in the emerging drug-making concentration: MPP Group (no SBIR), a venture headed by serial entrepreneur Frank Langley that is building drugs aimed at alcoholism. James Cook, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee researcher, developed the compounds. Neuro Amp (no SBIR), a spin-off from PhysioGenix (Wauwatosa, WI; $3M SBIR) that is aiming at diseases of the central nervous system and Alzheimer's. Promentis (no SBIR), a collaboration between Marquette University's David Baker and UWM researchers and former Schwarz Pharma managers who are targeting schizophrenia and central nervous system disorders. Cytometix (no SBIR) , a 2004 start-up headed by Lane Brostrom that is developing drugs for the treatment of pain and asthma. Endece (no SBIR), a 2006 Mequon start-up headed by James Yarger that is developing compounds for treating cancer, sepsis, learning and memory. [John Torinus, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jan 31, 09]

MPP Group LLC (Wauwatosa, WI; no SBIR) pharmaceutical development company landed a $630,000 package from the state Department of Commerce .... a $250,000 low-interest loan and $380,000 in grants. ... Word must get out that the state is eager to help high-tech entrepreneurs, said Torinus and others who participated in the meeting sponsored by the Wisconsin Biotechnology and Medical Device Association. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Aug 28]

Mudawar Thermal Systems (West Lafayette, IN)

Mudawar Thermal Systems, (West Lafayette, IN; at least $1M SBIR) that focuses on creating cooling technologies for applications ranging from the space shuttle to nuclear reactors, has been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the Navy. The three-person company, founded by professor Issam Mudawar in 1992 at Purdue Research Park, is creating software to remove performance-robbing heat from electronics in devices such as avionics, X-ray machines and hybrid vehicle propulsion systems. [Indianapolis Star, Dec 5, 08]

Munksjo Paper (Fitchburg, MA)

Mx Orthopedics

Mx Orthopedics( no SBIR) has taken in $1 million in a seed round of funding, according to federal documents. .... founded in early 2008 ... patent issued to Mx Orthopedics in May for a self-locking bone prosthetic structure that uses a shape memory material to make for a better fit for the part of replacement hips that are driven into the open channel into the center of the femur. [Rodney Brown, Mass High Tech, Nov 1, 11]

Myocor (Maple Grove, MN)

Myocor (Maple Grove, MN, founded 1996; no SBIR) announced that its percutaneous iCoapsys device was successfully implanted by Dr. Wes Pedersen, an interventional cardiologist with the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation .... a clinical stage medical device company dedicated to developing less invasive therapeutic options for the treatment of mitral regurgitation and heart failure. [Minneapolis Star-Tribune, May 14,08]

Myomo (Boston, MA)

The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, a quasi-public agency, awarded $3.75 million in loans to five early-stage life sciences companies. AesRX (Newton, MA; no SBIR) biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of sickle cell disease and other orphan drugs; MoMelan Technologies (MA; no SBIR) medical device company; Myomo (Cambridge, MA; one SBIR) focused on helping people move again after a neuro-muscular impairment; ECI Biotech (Worcester, MA $1.6M SBIR) developer and manufacturer of affordable diagnostic sensors that can be incorporated into any consumer product or medical device; and Grove Instruments (Worcester, MA; $400K SBIR) developing a painless, noninvasive technology that accurately measures blood sugar. [Boston Globe, Mar 23, 11]

Myomo (Cambridge, MA; one SBIR) is making an expensive stroke therapy available directly to patients, an effort to encourage use of the novel device. The Myomo arm, based on technology developed at [MIT], is in many ways a natural extension of research that has shown repetitive-exercise therapy can help stroke patients regain movement. The lightweight prosthesis straps onto the arm and reads signals from the muscles to give a patient an assist when he or she moves the limb. [Boston Globe, Aug 9, 10]

Myomo (Boston, MA; no SBIR) raised $3.1M in a private financing to fund work needed to expand the use of its lead stroke-rehabilitation device ... founded in 2004, licensed its technology from MIT. The firm has raised a total of $4.2 million in private capital [Mass High Tech, Jan 31]

Myriad Genetics

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that an isolated human gene may be patented, setting the stage for a possible Supreme Court review on the line between natural elements and artificial creations. ..... the Federal Circuit sided with Myriad Genetics (Salt Lake City, UT; one SBIR), which holds patents for two genes whose mutations can indicate a heightened risk of breast or ovarian cancers. [ Wall Street Journal, Jul 28]

Myriad Genetics down 14% [Jan 28, 11]

Myriad Genetics down 10% [Jun 16, 10]

Myriad Genetics down 23% [May 5, 10]

Myriad Genetics reported that its first quarter net income was $30.4 million, or more than double the net income of a year earlier [Steve Oberbeck, Salt Lake Tribune, Nov 5, 09]

Myriad Genetics up 19% [Aug 26, 09] reported adjusted fiscal fourth-quarter earnings ahead of analysts' estimates. [Wall Street Journal, Aug 27]

Myriad Genetics down 27% [Jul 1, 09] said that fiscal 2009 revenue from its molecular diagnostics division, which accounts for most of the company's top-line, would come in around $326 million. The company previously forecast $330 million. [MarketWatch, Jul 1]

Patent and Civil Liberties. A decision by the government more than 10 years ago allowed a single company, Myriad Genetics (Salt Lake City, UT; one SBIR) to own the patent on two genes that are closely associated with increased risk for breast cancer and ovarian cancer, and on the testing that measures that risk. On Tuesday, [Texas patient] Girard, 39 filed a lawsuit against Myriad, the University of Utah Research Foundation and the U.S. Patent Office, challenging the decision to grant a patent on a gene to Myriad and companies like it. She was joined by four other cancer patients, by professional organizations of pathologists with more than 100,000 members and by several individual pathologists and genetic researchers. The lawsuit, believed to be the first of its kind, was organized by the American Civil Liberties Union and filed in federal court in New York. It blends patent law, medical science, breast cancer activism and an unusual civil liberties argument in ways that could make it a landmark case. [New York Times News Service (via Salt Lake Tribune), May 13]

Myriad Genetics down 11% [May 5, 09]

Myriad Genetics up 17% [Feb 3, 09]

Myriad Genetics up 13% [Nov 4, 08]

Myriad Genetics up 13% [Jul 1, 08]

Myriant Technologies (Quincy, MA)

Myriant Technologies (Quincy, MA; no SBIR) has pulled in a $60 million financing from Thailand-based petrochemical producer PTT Chemical Group. ... the two companies will form a joint venture for the sake of deploying Myriant technology in Southeast Asia. ... will support commercialization of Myriant’s succinic acid platform, building of its succinic acid plant in Louisiana and development of its bio-related chemicals technology. The plant, to be built in Lake Providence, La., is expected to be the world’s largest bio-based succinic acid production plant, at 30 million pounds, according to a news release from Myriant. ... company was spun out of BioEnergy International LLC, also of Quincy, in June of 2009. [Michelle Lang, Mass High Tech, Jan 24, 11]

Bio-based chemicals developer Myriant Technologies (Quincy, MA; no SBIR) has raised $5 million in new funding according to federal documents. ... ways to produce various acids from biomass ... In December, Myriant received an award of up to $50 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to help finance a renewable biochemicals facility in Louisiana [Mass High tech, Feb 24, 10]

Mystic Pharmaceuticals (Cedar Park, TX)

Mystic Pharmaceuticals (Cedar Park, TX; no SBIR) will receive a $1.6 million award from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund to commercialize its drug delivery technology. [Austin American Statesman, May 8, 09] founded 2003; 19 employees

N12 Technologies (Cambridge, MA)

Two area clean technology startups have won grants under a new local program, U-Launch, that aims to turn university research into commercial cleantech solutions.N12 Technologies (Cambridge, MA) and iBLogix (Waltham, MA) Dollar values for the awards were not disclosed. N12 is commercializing advanced materials technology at MIT ... iBLogix is developing building information software that employs data-aggregation and analysis technology, with the aim of commercializing a system developed to remotely profile the energy performance of buildings. ... U-Launch is partially funded by a three-year, $1.1 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Innovation Ecosystem Development Initiative. [Kyle Alspach, Mass High Tech, Mar 15, 11]

NABsys (Providence, RI)

NABsys (Providence, RI; one SBIR) has completed a $10 million round of venture capital financing ... working on electronic, solid-state DNA sequencing that, the company said, could ultimately be used in whole-genome sequencing [Michelle Lang, Mass High Tech, Sep 15, 11]

NABsys (Providence, RI; $500K SBIR), developer of DNA-sequencing technology, has closed a $4 million equity round that will be used to grow the company’s solid-state DNA sequencing platform. ... has won a $1.3 million federal grant, awarded by [NIH] in 2007 [Mass High Tech, May 5, 09]

NanOasis Technologies (Richmond,CA)

ARPA-E winners in San Francisco Bay area: Envia Systems (Hayward); NanOasis Technologies (Richmond); Pax Streamline, (San Rafael); and Stanford University. None had SBIR. official list of winners

NanoBio (Ann Arbor, MI)

NanoBio (Ann Arbor, MI; $300K SBIR) said it signed a licensing deal with the University of Michigan to help commercialize a vaccine against urinary tract infections (UTI). ... wants to use its NanoStat platform technology to deliver through the nose an antigen developed by U-M scientists designed to kill E. coli bacteria in the urinary tract. [Thomas Lee, xconomy.com, Apr 20, 11]

Nano-C (Westwood MA)

Nano-C (Westwood, MA; $600K SBIR) announced today that it has been issued US patents that cover the manufacturing of its core products. [Boston Globe, Sep 16, 08]

Nano-C (Westwood MA; one SBIR Phase 2) got a $2.9M ATP award to go with its $5.5M in VC since its 2001 birth. [press release, Oct 16, 07]

Nanobiosym (Medford, MA)

Nanobiosym (Medford, MA) got a $2M DOD contract to develop its genetic-detection technology to sense biological threats after multiple rounds of funding from AFOSR DARPA, and DOE SBIR Phase 2. Dr. Anita Goel, Founder, Chairman, & CEO was named in 2005 as one of the world's “Top 35 science and technology innovators under the age of 35 by MIT’s Tech Review. BS in Physics from Stanford, PhD in Physics from Harvard, MD from the Harvard-MIT Joint Division of Health Sciences and Technology [press release, Sep 26, 07]

Nanocomp Technologies (Concord, NH)

Nanocomp Technologies (Concord, NH; $600K SBIR) announced that it has been awarded a multi-million dollar [SBIR] contract to continue research into new materials for Air Force aircraft. .... makes sheets of tissue-thin, super-tough carbon nanotubes that can be used in things like lightweight vehicle bodies or flexible body armor. ... plans to move into a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility within the next year [Kyle Alspach, Mass High Tech, Aug 24, 10]

Nanocomp (Concord, NH; $1.5M SBIR) a maker of carbon-nanotube-based materials, has landed a government contract aimed at using its material in the aerospace industry. ... just weeks after Nanocomp announced two other (SBIR) government contracts with the USAF. ... Originally spun out of Lebanon, N.H., technology incubator Synergy Innovations Inc., the 30-person Nanocomp has made its way with small amounts of funding, while maintaining high expectations. The company first landed $2 million in funding from the U.S. Army’s Natick Soldier Systems Center in 2004 for the development of advanced armor products. [Mass High Tech, Jun 5, 09]

The EZ-IO device from Vidacare (San Antonio, TX; $1M SBIR), the company Dr. Larry Miller co-founded in 2001, is the Gold winner in The Wall Street Journal's eighth annual Innovation Awards competition. ... The Silver award went to Audience (no SBIR), a maker of voice processors, for a noise-suppression technology designed to block annoying background noise in mobile-phone calls. ... A team of scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory won the Bronze for their work in developing a microchip that, by analyzing DNA, is able to identify thousands of different varieties of bacteria that might be present in air, water, soil, blood or tissue samples. ...The PhyloChip [not currently available commercially. It is manufactured by Affymetrix], developed by staff scientist Gary Andersen and a team of researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., won in [environment] category. ...Nanocomp Technologies (Concord, NH, no SBIR), the winner in [materials and other base technologies] category, has developed a process to create large sheets of fabric and lengths of yarn using carbon nanotubes -- synthetic carbon molecules prized for their exceptional strength and conductivity. [Michael Totty, Wall Street Journal, Sep 29, 08]

NanoCoolers (Austin, TX)

Money Wasn't Enough. An Austin company that received $3M from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund to develop a high-tech cooling device has shut down. NanoCoolers Inc., founded in 2002, was working on a thermoelectric cooling system that would help cool semiconductors, which generate increasing heat as they become more powerful. "the technical challenges have proved to be substantial, and after many years of trying, we just have not been able to solve the problem," said Krishna Srinivasan, a partner with Austin Ventures, which was an investor in company. Before receiving money from the state fund in March, NanoCoolers raised about $19M [VC] [Lori Hawkins and Robert Elder, Austin American-Statesman, Dec 6]

Nanocopoeia (St.Paul, MN)

NanoReturn. Will any of this stuff translate into an economic windfall for Minnesota? So far, the U has licensed nanotechnology to three companies, two of them local, with mixed results. Nanocopoeia (St. Paul , MN; $1M SBIR) is trying to divest its original medical device coating business to focus on pharmaceuticals. Rushford Hypersonic (no SBIR) next month will open the world's first hypersonic plasma particle disposition plant in southeastern Minnesota. Innovalight, (Austin, TX to St. Paul, MN to Sunnyvale, CA; $900K SBIR in TX), which originally focused on light bulbs, is now making solar cells. ... The U's uneven experience with nanoscience mirrors corporate America's teasing and often frustrating flirtation with a technology that's failed, so far, to match hype with reality. Despite millions of dollars in government research money and venture capital, making big bucks off nanotechnology remains an elusive dream. [Thomas Lee, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Jun 28, 09] Nanostuff, GaAs, CVD diamond, SiC substrates, and such, are the kind of futures that SBIR should invest in until economic barriers show that it has only a long term possible future. Then it should be turned over to long term investors with long green, not slogged away in a small high tech nursery program. SBIR's goal should be economic visibility for a technology, not long term development a few bucks at a time in life-style companies.

Two Minnesota startups are joining forces to debut what they claim is a faster and more effective way to test drug-coated stents at the nation's premier biotechnology conference this week. Nanocopoeia (St. Paul, MN; $0.9M SBIR) and the Integra Group (Brooklyn Park, MN; no SBIR) will announce today a new company called NanoInterventions whose core technology is a mouse-based testing system for drug-coated stents. [Minneapolis Star Tribune, Jun 17, 08]

NanoCor Therapeutics (Chapel Hill,NC)

NanoCor Therapeutics, (Chapel Hill, NC; no SBIR) secured a $2.5 million infusion from medical technology company Medtronic, the company announced [Frank Vinluan, Triangle Business Journal, Jul 1, 09]. spun off from Asklêpios BioPharmaceutical, Inc. in November 2005... to create the first viable intracellular genetic protein therapy for the treatment of Chronic Heart Failure (CHF). ... Medtronic invested $3.75 million in 2007 [company website]

NanoCor Therapeutics (Chapel Hill,NC; no SBIR) got a $3.75M investment from medical-device giant Medtronic to work on a gene-therapy-based treatment for congestive heart failure. [Raleigh News & Observer, Sep 8]

Nanodynamics (Buffalo, NY))

Nano IPOs. NANOTECHNOLOGY companies, nurtured on billions of dollars in government grants and venture investments through most of this decade, are getting ready to go public. ... NanoGram (Milpitas, CA; no SBIR), Unidym (Menlo Park, CA; no SBIR), NanoDynamics (Buffalo, NY; $1M SBIR). Unidym is a subsidiary of the Arrowhead Research Corporation, a public investment company that was founded in 2003 to back small companies engaged in nanotechnology research. [James Flanigan, New York Times, Dec 20]

Nanodynamics (New York City)

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]

Nanogen (San Diego, CA)

Nanogen that filed for bankruptcy protection in May, said it has completed the sale of nearly all its assets to the French company Elitech Group. The sale brought $25.7 million, but Nanogen said it did not think holders of common shares would receive anything in the bankruptcy. ... founded in 1993, was among San Diego's older biotech companies, with a stock that neared $100 in the biotech frenzy early this decade. [San Diego Union Tribune, Jul 13, 09]

Nanogen (San Diego, CA; $1M SBIR) said that it has filed for bankruptcy protection with plans to sell off nearly all its assets to the French company Elitech Group. The Chapter 11 filing culminates a scramble for survival at a company once considered one of the county's more promising biotechs, with technology focused on diagnostics. ... In the heat of the biotech frenzy early this decade, its stock neared $100 a share. [Thomas Kupper, San Diego Union Tribune, May 15, 009]

Sweet Technology, But. Molecular diagnostics maker Nanogen (San Diego, CA; $800K SBIR) will try to sell its 15-year-old founding technology, or close the money-losing program, as part of an aggressive plan to achieve profitability. [San Diego Union Tribune, Sep 18] Must be suitable for endless federal research contracts, but company has higher goals.

Nanogen Goes Public Nanogen (San Diego, CA) raised $42M in an IPO without the help of any SBIR. Nanogen combines microelectronics with molecular biology to identify and test samples containing charged molecules. Using semiconductor microchips, Nanogen's system allows molecules to be identified and analyzed as they move around designated sites on the chips, depending on their positive or negative charge. Nanogen believes its system will have uses in medical diagnostics, biomedical research, genomics, genetic testing, and drug discoveries. The company is establishing corporate alliances with biotechnology companies such as Becton Dickinson and Elan to commercialize products using its proprietary microchip technology.[Hoovers] It's certainly the type of R&D that SBIR is supposed to help. Why didn't Nanogen need it while a parade of beneficiaries troops before Congress pleading inability to get started with new technology?

NanoGram (Milpitas, CA)

NanoH2O (Los Angeles, CA)

NanoH2O (Los Angeles, CA; no SBIR) uses nano materials to improve the performance of reverse osmosis membranes in making dirty water clean or in desalination. Two years ago, the company licensed the membrane research of Eric Hoek, a professor of environmental engineering at U.C.L.A. Then it leased lab space in the NanoSystems Institute, which opened in 2007, because being at U.C.L.A. allowed the company to use expensive electron microscopes and other equipment. .... helped attract $20 million in venture capital [James Flanigan, New York Times, Jul 16, 09] Founded in 2005 by proven entrepreneurs and backed by leading venture investors, [company website]

Nanohmics (Austin, TX)

Nanohmics (Austin, TX; $16M SBIR) was among 44 companies nationwide recognized for success in commercializing science and technology innovations with the help of [SBIR] Nanohmics President and co-founder Mike Mayo was at the White House last week to receive the Tibbetts Award, which recognizes companies that have achieve excellence using SBIR. ... founded in 2002, created two new companies to commercialize unique technologies. ... The SBIR program "allowed three first-time entrepreneurs to take the risk of creating a new venture," Mayo said. So far, he said, that has led to the creation of 30 jobs in the Austin area. Faradox Energy Storage develops high-performance capacitors that can operate in high temperatures. GlideLine Systems develops parachute navigation systems for military special forces personnel. [Austin American Statesman, Feb 22, 11] Believe what you will about what the Tibbetts Award actually recognizes. Roland Tibbetts had an interesting idea of an SBIR for NSF which had never funded much small for profit business. But by the time the politicians and the federal agencies captured SBIR for their purposes, the idea had been mangled by self-serving federal management. Nearly thirty years later, it still cannot show any net economic gain over what would have happened if the federal agencies just spent their R&D unmolested by such social programs. Nevertheless, the SBIR advocates hold the principle that anecdote is the singular of data, and if you accept the anecdotes, the whole data must be a mere multiple of them.

NanoLab (Newton, MA)

NanoLite Systems (Austin, TX)

NanoLite Systems (Austin, TX; no SBIR) is the newest company to join the Austin Technology Incubator. The company licensed technology from the University of Texas last year to develop microimaging and sensing devices to diagnose cancer and assist doctors during cancer surgery. CEO and co-founder Dr. Ting Shen said his company "is at a critical point to capture the market opportunity and build our presence quickly." [Austin American Statesman, Apr 26, 11]

NanoLogix (Hubbard, OH)

NanoLogix (Hubbard, OH; no SBIR) will move its research and development operations from Cincinnati to its headquarters in Hubbard, Ohio. ... with the closing of BioStart, the high-tech business incubator in Avondale where NanoLogix operated a lab for five years [Cincinnati Business Courier, Sep 6, 11]

Nanomaterials Research (Tucson, AZ)

Eleven Awards. Nanomaterials Research Inc (Tucson, AZ) says it has won eleven awards - in addition to the three BMDO Phase 2 SBIRs. But the eleven are all for its Website. The Website does have a page that could help its competitors - it reports happenings in the nano-world. Meanwhile, in April, the top investor pulled out his 50%.

NanoMatrix (Baton Rouge, LA)

Organogenesis (Canton, MA; $200K SBIR) a life sciences firm focused on regenerative medicine, has acquired NanoMatrix (Baton Rouge, LA; $300K SBIR) , a maker of biologically compatible materials. [Mass High Tech, Feb 27, 08]

NanoMedical Systems

NanoMedex (Fitchburg, WI)

At least 14 [Wisconsin] biotech companies have received more than $3 million in grants ($240K each) from the Internal Revenue Service as part of a federal program to spur job growth at smaller firms and advance the country's life sciences prowess, according to a BioForward survey. .... More than 5,600 companies applied for the grants and at least 4,000 companies were expected to receive them, according to BIO, the national trade organization for the biotech industry. .... The Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project was part of health care reform legislation passed earlier this year. The program provides grants or tax credits to companies of fewer than 250 employees to help create and sustain high-paying jobs and to advance the nation's competitiveness in life sciences. [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Nov 2] Flex Biomed (Madison, WI; one SBIR) ; NanoMedex Pharmaceuticals (no SBIR); FluGen (no SBIR). BTW, BIO is the political champion of VC in SBIR awards, a barrier to House-Senate agreement on SBIR re-authorization, which will be up in the air again as the House committees change leadership.

NanoMedex Pharmaceuticals (Fitchburg, WI; no SBIR) is being awarded a $2.23 million [SBIR] grant from NIH to back the company's new anesthetic drug. .... focuses on the development of drug formulations that allow fat-soluble pharmaceutical products to be dissolved in water or saline-based solutions to allow for intravenous administration of drugs. In 2009 NanoMedex was seduced by WI grants and potential tax credits to move from FL. [Business Journal of Milwaukee, Dec 8, 09]

Aldevon (Fargo, ND; no SBIR), maker of DNA and protein products is putting a research and sales operation in [Wisconsin] .... founded by two ND State U graduates, has more than 70 employees, and provides products and services to pharmaceutical companies and diagnostic test-makers. ... also welcomed to Wisconsin: RJA Dispersions (no SBIR), VitalMedix (no SBIR) and Rapid Diagnostek (no SBIR), from Minnesota; Flex Biomedical (one SBIR) and Exact Sciences (no SBIR), from Massachusetts; NanoMedex ($1M SBIR), from Florida; and Inviragen ($2M SBIR) from Colorado. Biotechnology is the fastest-growing segment of the Wisconsin economy, with an annualized growth rate of nearly 7%, [Gov] Doyle said in a statement. The sector has 400 companies in the state with 34,000 employees.

Nanomix (Emeryville, CA)

Nanocompany Nanomix (Emeryville CA) collected an oversubscribed $16M funding .. The company is a spinoff from a venture founded in 2000 by two physics professors on the campus of the University of California-Berkeley. It develops nanotechnologies. Killer app? its sensors can detect subtle changes in the concentration of carbon-dioxide gas in a person's breath, revealing respiratory diseases in children and adults, and allowing anesthesiologists to monitor a patient's breathing during surgery. [San Jose Mercury News, Apr 2, 05]

Nanophase Technologies (Burr Ridge, IL)

Nanophase Tech down 14% [Jul 23, 08]

Nanophase Tech up 28% for the week ending Jul 11, 08

Nanophase Tech down 14% [Jun 26, 08]

Nanophase Tech down 12% [Feb 8, 08] 2007 was another solid year of revenue growth, gross margin expansion, and technical progress, said CEO Cross. Revenue was up a third and loss down a third for the fiscal year.

Nanophase down 11% [Jan 17, 08]

Nanophase Tech down 11%. [Dec 31, 07]

Nanophase Technologies up 17% [Dec 27, 07]

Nanophase Technologies up 10% [Dec 18, 07]

Nanophase Technologies down 13% [Dec 17, 07]

Nanophase Technologies down 14% after reporting a wider loss in the third quarter due to a weakness in the housing market, [AP, Oct 19]

Nanophase Technologies up 12%. [Jul 23, 07]

Nanophase Tech sold stock for $10M with which it will acquire and install equipment and expand the Company's Romeoville facility to support anticipated increases in nanomaterial product demand[ Jun 07]

Nanophase Technologies up 12% on reporting its highest quarterly revenue in company history. [Apr 13, 07]

Nanophase jumped 14% on record revenue and gross profit margin even though it is still losing money. [Oct 26. 06]

Nanophase jumped 18% [Jun 27, 06] and another 15% [June 29].

NanoPhase Sued
(June 8) The Litigious Investor. So, you like the startup company's prospects; the CEO makes the right optimistic noises and files an IPO registration. The stock goes public and then nowhere. Didn't make your expected bundle in a frothy market? Take the American way - sue 'em for false statements without which you would not have bought the stock. Thus stands Nanophase accused of deception for issuance of false and misleading statements concerning Nanophase's business and true financial condition. Most IPO registrations already say everything possible to alert the reader that the investment is an almost infinite risk with nothing being certain. But lawyers are one class of practitioner that can generate its own business. Doctors at least wait until you get sick.

A Nano-Profit (Mar 3) Nanophase Technologies made $230K for the quarter and a loss of only $3.1M for the year. The stock price hovers below its IPO price waiting for profits to appear regularly.

Incomprehensible The stock went from 8 [at IPO] to 15 based on I don't know what," said one analyst [Wall Street Journal, Jan 15] trying to explain the rise and fall (to 6) of Nanophase Technologies (Burr Ridge, IL). Any capitalist's concern, of course, is always a growing profit business, not the sweetness of "atom-sized, super tough ceramic particles" which itself is inaccurate in granting sub-micron particles atom-sized status. And the more an R&D company emphasizes what it bests understands - the technical details - the more it turns off investors as incomprehensible and the more dependent it becomes on government dole. So, practice your elevator speech for the day you meet a possible investor in a hurry. Investors are always in a hurry to bet on some company and if yours sounds incomprehensible, you lose. Actually, that rule would help SBIR proposals get through to the spirit of proposal judges.

Nanophase Goes Public
(Dec 5) Nanophase Technologies (Burr Ridge, IL) went public Nov 26 to raise $32M for a third of the company. IPO Central says, Nanophase develops and markets nanocrystalline materials -- ceramic and metallic materials with nanometer particle sizes. Its products are used as ingredients and components in electronics (semiconductor polishing and high-performance electrodes), structural ceramics and composites (ceramic mechanical seals and medical device housings), cosmetics and skin care (sunscreens and cosmetic colorants), and industrial catalysts. The company has collaborative relationships with Dow Chemical, DuPont, Medtronic, Philips Electronics, and Schering-Plough. From government subsidy programs it had little: three Phase 1 SBIRs (Army, Navy, and its first from BMDO in 1993) and one ATP award for $900K. Although its 50 employees average only $12K sales per employee, it nevertheless is valued at $100M. Compare that valuation with, for example, Spire which has had over $30M of SBIR, has 140 employees who average $100K sales per employee and over half of that from SBIR contracts, and still has a $50M valuation after 20 years, and 25% fewer employees than when it got its first SDIO SBIR in 1986. IF the government had any economic sense, it would put more of its SBIR into firms like Nanophase (instead of power company profit analysis). Hah!

Nanoptek (Maynard, MA)

Nanoptek (Maynard, MA; $400K SBIR) has developed a new way to make hydrogen from water using solar energy. The company says that its process is cheap enough to compete with the cheapest approaches used now, which strip hydrogen from natural gas, and it has the further advantage of releasing no carbon dioxide. ... recently completed its first venture-capital round, raising $4.7M [Kevin Bullis, MIT Tech Review, Jan 30, 08] The company claims a proprietary nano-engineered photocatalyst (patents pending).

Nanoscale Materials (Manhattan, KS)

Nanoscale Materials (Manhattan, KS; $3.7M SBIR) was awarded $375,000 [by the Kansas Bioscience Authority] as a partial match of a $1.5 million [DOD SBIR] to develop substances that can neutralize biological warfare agents. ..... also will receive $50,000 as a partial match of a $150,000 [NSF SBIR] to research the synthesis and delivery of nanoparticles. [Kansas City Business Journal, Nov 10, 09]

Nanosolar

Army's venture venture. The Army's VC (OnPoint Tech) current investment portfolio : A123 Systems (Boston, MA; $750K SBIR, IPO 2009) advanced Lithium-Ion based cells for rechargeable battery packs; Atraverda (UK) advanced bi-polar battery electrodes for rechargeable batteries; Integrated Fuel Cell Technologies (Burlington MA; no SBIR) next generation fuel cell systems for portable devices; Nanosolar (Palo Alto, CA; $1.7M SBIR) thin-film solar technology for roll-to-roll printing of solar cells on flexible substrates, PowerGenix (San Diego, CA; no SBIR) next-generation rechargeable batteries; Power Precise (Herndon, VA; no SBIR) a fabless semiconductor company specializing in battery management devices; Ultra Cell (Livermore, CA; no SBIR) integrated fuel cell systems; Zinc Matrix Power (Santa Barbara, CA; no SBIR) high-performance rechargeable alkaline battery technology for commercial and military markets; Akermin (St Louis, MO; no SBIR) portable fuel cells based on its proprietary “Stabilized Enzyme Biofuel Cell” SEBC™ technology; Superprotonic (Pasadena CA; $200K SBIR) solid acid fuel cell. [defense-ventures.com] No surprise that a VC, even one doing it for the government, sees tech opportunity much different than does Army SBIR. I note that the three outside trustees (of five trustees) of OnPoint are a DOD political appointee, and entrepreneur/attorney, and Paul Gompers from Harvard Business School who with Josh Lerner publish a lot of venture research. Lerner did a lot of SBIR study until, I presume, he gave up on SBIR's ever being anything but a political handout.

Nanosolar announced that it has raised $300 million to help it complete its production lines in Silicon Valley and in Germany. [San Jose Mercury News, Aug 27]

Thin Is In. from the Southwest to Silicon Valley to Germany. Everywhere you look, thin-film solar companies are opening new, more efficient factories. .... As First Solar scaled production up, it was able to bring its costs down. Solar producers measure their costs in terms of dollars per watt of energy produced, a formula that's a combination of the cost of producing a module and its power efficiency. Right now the best crystalline-silicon makers can sell modules at $3 to $4 a watt; First Solar can sell at around $2.40 a watt, a price the company expects to reduce steadily. ... Nanosolar announced it would begin profitably selling thin-film panels at $1 a watt. ... says he can achieve radical cost savings by directly applying photoactive chemicals with an ink composed of nanoparticles. ... [dubious] competitors pointing out that the cost of raw materials alone should make it impossible to produce $1-a-watt panels profitably. [Bryan Walsh, Time, Jun 23, 08]

Nanosolar (San Jose, CA; $1M SBIR) , whose backers include Google co-founders, said it has started to sell what it calls "the world's lowest cost solar panel." [for freefield deployment in Eastern Germany]...uses a thin-film technology that requires only a fraction of the amount of silicon needed in conventional solar cells. ... make panels profitably for less than $1 per watt. [Franklin Paul, Reuters, Dec 18] In June 2006 if said it had $100M to enter volume production.

Nanosolar will open one of the world's largest solar cell manufacturing facilities in South San Jose by spring, placing the city at the forefront of an emerging technology. [Katherine Conrad, San Jose Mercury News, Dec 12] Listen for the complaints from the "flyover states" that the government and the establishment are ignoring them.

Nanosolar (Palo Alto, CA) has decided to build the world's largest factory for making solar power cells in the Bay Area -- a move that would nearly triple the nation's solar manufacturing capacity and give a significant boost to a growing source of clean energy. ... founded in 2001 with seed money from Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin ... the planned annual production could power about 325,000 homes. The technology is thin, thin, thin CIGS. [Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury, Jun 21] SBIR - one 2004 Phase 1.

Nanosonic (Blacksburg, VA)

What substance can conduct electricity like a metal, yet also stretch like a rubber band? Earlier this year, NanoSonic (Blacksburg, VA) found the answer in Metal Rubber, a filmy brown material that can extend to three times its original length and conduct electricity as well as a bar of steel, says NanoSonic founder Dr. Rick Claus. ... Like many inventions, NanoSonic's team didn't so much set out to create this new material explicitly, but more stumbled across their big find while working on other projects for the U.S. Air Force. "No one would actually fund you to make Metal Rubber," Claus says. [Karen Hoffman, MIT Tech Review, Dec 20] Indeed, NanoSonic has had about $12M in SBIR, mostly DOD, in the past four years which was enough to support the entire company in a variety of projects on creating new materials through molecular self-assembly. So far, potential customers are still scratching their heads for a first application of such a surprise. If you make such a startling invention, you can help your case by also inventing applications that can make money for someone else.

Nanosphere (Northbrook IL)

Nanosphere up 17% [May 16, 08] although still down 44% over 52 weeks.

Nanosphere (Northbrook, IL; $4M SBIR) rose 25% [Mar 27, 08].

A week on, Nanosphere is up 41% from its IPO price. [Nov 7, 07]

Nanosphere (Northbrook IL; $4M SBIR) going public this week to raise $120M. [Oct 07]

NanoSteel (Providence, RI)

Nanotech-based coatings company NanoSteel (Providence, RI; no SBIR) has taken on $8 million of a planned $11 million funding round, federal documents note.... licensed its technology from the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Lab, moved to Providence from Florida in 2006 [Mass High Tech, Aug 21, 09]

Nanosys

Nanosys (Palo Alto, CA, $4.7M SBIR) has raised $25 million in new capital and will license its technology and co-develop products with Samsung [San Francisco Business Times, Aug 10, 10]

Nanosys (Palo Alto, CA; $4M SBIR) made a deal with In-Q-Tel (CIA's VC) to further expand collaboration ... to apply its novel electronics technology for innovative uses in the area of high-performance communications. [In-Q-Tel press release, Aug 22,07] Does that mean allowing W to talk even more directly to whatever the thinks "God" is?

Nanosys, a (self-proclaimed) leader in the development of nanotechnology based products utilizing inorganic nanostructures, got a DARPA contract for up to $14M for "flexible low cost" solar cells. The press release makes no mention of the growing concern that nano-particles will be a long term health problem as they bypass the body's defenses against foreign stuff. The military has already scattered a lot of dangerous stuff - depleted uranium, perchlorate, oils and solvents in ground waters, radionuclide fission products - in the pursuit of national security. [Sep 04]

Nanosys got a Phase 1 NIH SBIR to continue research and commercialization on semiconducting nanowires that could add up to $1.6M, says Jeff Miller [Mass High Tech, Sep 4].The company hopes to use nanowires, filaments that are one-ten-thousandth the width of a human hair, to create molecular electronic detection systems with a wide range of applications in the medical, environmental and defense industries. Nanosys has already got $17M million VC from a large syndicate. Charles Lieber, a Harvard professor and a luminary in nanotech research, founded the company last year along with Larry Bock, a serial entrepreneur who has founded 11 now-public companies.

NanoSystems (Oxford, CT)

A Senatorial Visit
(Aug 20) The potential success of NanoSystems Inc (Oxford, CT) attracted a politician. Surprise! Joe Lieberman went to see how Charlie Beetz's startup is using BMDO SBIR help to develop silicon wafers machined to include sieve-like microscopic opening and groves in the quest for ever smaller scale in chip details. The Hartford Courant story implies that NanoSystems got five Phase 1s since starting up last year. Beetz pursues the American dream - his own company. He left GM to join ATMI in its extreme youth, and now with three other pioneers has bet their savings and a little government money (so far) on what will be a risky high-impact strategy - just what SBIR was invented for. Lots of people out there, especially in Silicon Valley have similar dreams and a few will actually see them come true.

Nano-Terra

Pentair (NYSE) and Nano Terra (Cambridge, MA; two SBIRs) said they are forming a strategic alliance in water treatment. ... will "deploy its technology for functionalizing surfaces through chemistry and structuring to develop new solutions for the treatment of water." [Boston Globe, Mar 31, 09]

Nanotechnology firm Nano-Terra and German drug maker Merck KGaA have upgraded their product development partnership to a commercialization deal. Cambridge-based Nano-Terra helped co-develop Merck’s “printable electronics” using nanometer-sized materials and a soft lithography technique called micro-contact printing. [Mass High Tech, Oct 9]

NanoTune Technologies (Mountain View, CA)

NanoTune Technologies (Mountain View, CA; no SBIR) raised $3M VC ... claims a unique tailoring process based around silica nanomaterials, capable of modifying the surface chemistry and precisely controlling the porosity of nanomaterials, a technology that could potentially have applications in numerous fields. [Matt Marshall, San Jose Mercury News, Dec 19, 07]

Nanovation Technologies (Northville, MI)

Nanovation Technologies (Northville, MI), a maker of integrated optical components for the telecom market tossed in the towel and filed for Chapter 11 when it could not satisfy all the present investors for a new round of financing. One investor, a Canadian firm, blocked the deal long enough to discourage the others and then offered to infuse cash for control of the board. Nano said nano-thanks. [Laser Focus World] Maybe it could now try for a government handout from SBIR.

NanoViricides (West Haven, CT)

NanoViricides (West Haven, CT; no SBIR) has landed $2.5 million from a stock offering under another shelf registration with Seaside 88 LP. The offering follows a similar transaction in April. ... developing treatments for seasonal Influenza, H1N1 swine flu, oral and genital herpes and H5N1 bird flu. [Michelle Lang, Mass High Tech, Jul 27, 11]

NanoViricides (West Haven, CT; no SBIR) biopharmaceutical firm, has raised $2.5 million in a shelf offering .... focuses on discovering, developing, and commercializing nanotechnology-based targeted anti-viral therapeutics (nanoviricides) to advance the care of patients suffering from life-threatening viral infections. [Mass High Tech, Dec 22, 10]

Drug maker NanoViricides (West Haven, CT; no SBIR) has filed documents stating that it will look to raise up to $40 million through the occasional sale of company stock ... working on antiviral drugs for bird (avian) influenza, seasonal flu, HIV, Dengue fever and rabies [Mass High Tech, Mar 5, 10]

Nantero (Woburn, MA)

Nanotechnology company Nantero (Woburn, MA; $800K SBIR) sold its government and military business unit to Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp. for an undisclosed amount. [Mass High Tech, Aug 14, 08]

Nantero (Woburn, MA, one SBIR) and its partners Carbon Nanotechnologies (no SBIR) of Houston and the Roy Blunt Jordan Valley Innovation Center (JVIC) at Missouri State University (one politician) have been awarded a $6.2M (ONR) grant to develop carbon-based satellite components, ... Privately held Nantero has raised at least $31.5 million in funding. [Mass High-Tech, Feb 27] Sniff a pork project? In fiscal years 2005 and 2006, Blunt also helped secure more than $14M for defense-related research projects at the Center for Applied Science and Engineering (CASE), which will relocate much of its work to the new building. The Fiscal Year 2007 Department of Defense budget includes almost $8M in funding for CASE research projects. [Missouri State University news, Dec 15, 06] Didn't the Dem revolution of '06 stop such pork? Not for DOD whose appropriation was already law.

Napo Pharmaceuticals first named Shaman Pharmaceuticals (San Francisco, CA)

[Lisa Conte' s drug development] quest has spanned two decades, two initial public offerings, a stock delisting, a bankruptcy and an ultramarathon of fundraising to pay for rigorous testing required by the [FDA] ... Conte may be nearing the finish line. In November her company, Napo Pharmaceuticals (San Francisco, CA; first named Shaman Pharmaceuticals ; one SBIR) completed its first successful Phase III study of crofelemer--a compound derived from a red goo found in the Croton lechleri tree in the Amazon River Basin and formulated to combat debilitating diarrhea, a side effect of anti-HIV and AIDS drugs. [Helen Coster, Forbes, Jan 17, 11]

Nascentric (Austin TX)

Nascentric (Austin TX; no SBIR), which develops software for analyzing complex circuits designed at the nanometer level, raised another $7.2M of venture capital, especially from Intel Capital. [Austin American-Statesman, Sep 15]

Nastech Pharmaceutical

Nastech Pharmaceutical shares plummeted [Apr 25, 08] after the company announced it was raising $7.9 million through an equity offering to unidentified new and existing investors.

NaturalNano (Pittsford, NY)

NaturalNano (Pittsford, NY; no SBIR) has extended its patent licensing agreement with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory covering the commercialization of products based on five patents for extended-release technologies [Smriti Jacob, Rochester Business Journal, Feb 10, 11] the stock trades under a penny with one full time employee

NaturalNano (Pittsford, NY; no SBIR) said that Noble Polymers, a division of Michigan-based Cascade Engineering purchased its halloysite nanotubes material. .... Cascade Engineering is a manufacturer that markets to a mix of industries such as the estimated $40 billion polymer composites industry. [Rochester Business Journal, Jul 29, 08]

NaturalNano said it has entered an exclusive development and testing agreement with France-based cosmetics supplier Fiabila S.A. The deal will involve exploring the use of halloysite natural tubes in nail polish and other nail-care products. [Rochester Business Journal, Jun 20]

NaturalNano (Pittsford, NY, no SBIR) announced a partnership with Philadelphia’s Rohm and Haas Co. to explore the development of polymers with enhanced properties. ... another major milestone in NaturalNano’s drive toward sustained revenue and validating it investments and patents in halloysite natural tubes enabled materials [Smriti Jacob, Rochester Business Journal, Jun 9, 08] NaturalNano has used nanotechnology to develop a type of paint that stops cellphone signals. It's done by blending particles of copper that are inserted into nanotubes, and then mixing and suspending these tiny particles into a can of paint. [Gizmodo, Mar 06]

NaturalNano (Pittsford, NY; no SBIR) jumped nearly 28% [May 20, 08] following news the company has begun work with an undisclosed Fortune 50 chemical firm on two funded projects for uses of Pleximer and its halloysite nanotube technology. [Smriti Jacob, Rochester Business Journal, May 21] The stock reached six cents although the company's cash is barely enough to cover a fifth of its average annual loss for the past two years, and the company told the SEC that it might no longer be able to continue operations because of debt and growing losses.

Natus Medical

Natus down 12% [Jul 28, 11]

Natus Medical down