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Pacific Biosciences of California

[The Who's Who of ]Investors are pumping $100 million into a start-up developing technology to propel DNA sequencing into mainstream medicine. The infusion is expected to enable Pacific Biosciences of California (no SBIR) to introduce in 2010 its high-speed system for reading the chemical "letters" of DNA. The technology is designed to expand the use of sequencing to develop treatments tailored to patients' genetic makeup. [Wall Street Journal, Jul 14]

Pain Therapeutics

 Pain Thera  up 11% [Oct 16, 08]

Pain Therapeutics up 12% [Sep 18, 08]

Panacos Pharmaceuticals

Paradigm Sensors (Milwaukee, WI)

Paradigm Sensors (Milwaukee, WI; no SBIR) will begin production of biodiesel testing devices this year from a new home inside a business incubator ... start-up firm hopes to hire more than 25 people in the coming year as it starts manufacturing handheld devices that analyze biodiesel to ensure product quality ...  will soon close its first round of venture-capital funding after a $200,000 investment announced Tuesday by the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority.  [Thomas Content, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Apr 3, 08]

Paratek Pharmaceuticals (Boston, MA)

Paratek Pharmaceuticals (Boston, MA; $3.8M SBIR) closed the $22M first tranche of a $40M private financing to be used to push development of its broad-spectrum antibiotics.  [Mass High Tech, Oct 25]

Parion Sciences (Durham, NC)

Parion Sciences (Durham, NC; $1.8M SBIR)  has signed a $25 million deal with a Korean company to test an experimental medicine. [Raleigh News & Observer, Oct 29, 08] 

Patton Medical Devices (Austin TX)

Patton Medical Devices (Austin TX; no SBIR) raised $15M to step up the national launch of its first product, a "port" through which diabetics inject insulin. ... the company's first [money]  from institutional investors ... has raised about $12M from other investors since its founding in 2004 [Austin American-Statesman, Oct 18]

Pavilion Technologies (Austin TX)

Pavilion Technologies (Austin   TX; $1.5M SBIR), independent software development, has agreed to be acquired by Rockwell Automation  [Austin American-Statesman, Oct 31]  SBIR advocates often plead that SBIR should help companies remain independent. Nonsense, that is just using taxpayer funds to support companies in the life-style to which they would like to be accustomed.

PDL BioPharma

PDL BioPharma (no SBIR) fell 32% [Mar 5, 08]. The biotechnology company abandoned plans to sell itself and said it will cut an additional 250 jobs in an effort to reduce costs. [Wall Street Journal, Mar 6]

Pearl Therapeutics

[VC] firm Clarus Venures has invested in $18 M dollar financing of Pearl Therapeutics (no SBIR), a California-based biopharmaceutical company developing products for major respiratory diseases. ..... Pearl, founded in 2006, has raised $36 M of VC and other funding to date.  Nektar Therapeutics (no SBIR) has licensed advanced particle technology to Pearl, and the company it is using to develop technology that will give patients and their health care providers a choice of formulations and dosage strengths of respiratory treatments.  [Mass High Tech, Jul 7, 08]

Peptimmune (Cambridge, MA)

Peptimmune (Cambridge, MA; one SBIR a decade ago) closed on an $8.2 M first tranche of a Series D funding ... to advance clinical development of Peptimmune's multiple sclerosis treatment, PI-2301 [Mass High Tech, Jan 17]

Perceptive Sciences (Austin, TX)

They're trained to know when you're fooling yourself, and by identifying that in their subjects they can help clients get better feedback to develop better products..... Perceptive Sciences (Austin, TX; one SBIR)  with an academic approach to product testing, market research and user experience. ... About a third of Perceptive's work focuses on Web sites, a third on software and a third on gadgets. [Dan Zehr, Austin American Statesman, Mar 3]

PercipEnz Technologies (Madison WI)

Three [Wisconsin] angel investment groups have banded together to put more than $1 M into a Madison software company [PercipEnz Technologies; $1.6M SBIR]  aiming to dramatically expand its clinical data management business. This is the first time several of the groups involved did their due diligence and negotiated terms together, "and that bodes well for bigger deals in Wisconsin," said Charles Goff, general partner of Appleton-based NEW Capital Fund.  [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Aug 22]

Perscitus Biosciences (Madison WI)

The Wisconsin Department of Commerce has qualified two biotech companies to receive investor tax credits, the agency said Thursday. Perscitus Biosciences LLC, Madison, is developing a molecule that has shown an ability to protect healthy human cells against the harmful effects of chemotherapy and radiation. HTSS LLC, Milwaukee, is developing a technology that analyzes muscle activity to help reduce injuries during exercise regimens. Certain investors in both companies are now eligible to claim tax credits under legislation known as Act 255. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Jun 27]  No SBIR.

PersonalBee

Technorati agreed to acquire fledgling startup Personal Bee [which] developed a service for people to collect and publish news, information, and entertainment. [RedHerring.com, Apr 13]

Pervasis Therapeutics (Cambridge, MA)

Pervasis Therapeutics (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) secured $9.75M in additional financing. ...focuses on regenerative cell-based therapies and devices [Boston Globe, Jan 16]

Pervasis Therapeutics (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR), developer of cell-based therapies and devices, reports it has nabbed a $9.8M tranche of Series B financing. .. founded 2004 [Mass High Tech, Jan 15]

Pharmacyclics

Pharmacyclics up 14% after announcing data from two preclinical studies. [Apr 18, 07]

Hope for FDA reconsideration of Pharmacyclics case had a bad day as the stock dropped 11%.[Apr 10, 07]

Pharmacyclics up 15% after asking the FDA  that its new drug application for a cancer treatment be filed over protest. [Apr 5, 07]

Pharmacyclics dropped 37% after announcing that the FDA rejected a marketing application for the company's drug to treat lung cancer that has spread to the brain. [Feb 21, 07]

Pharmasset

Pharmasset up 15% [Oct 16, 08]

Pharmasset up 15% [Oct 14, 08]

Pharmasset up 26% [Oct 13, 08]

Pharmasset  down 12% [Oct 10, 08]

Pharmasset up 10% [Mar 13, 08]

Pharmasset  up 17% [Jan 16, 08]

Pharmasset up 12%. [Jan 15, 08]

Pharmasset up 33% [Jan 8, 08] after the company announced positive data from a short-term early stage study on its hepatitis C candidate, R7128

Pharmasset rose 14% after saying it will receive a $7.5M payment from Roche for a collaboration on hepatitis C treatment research

Pharmasset which IPO'd Apr 27,07 is holding its price. 14 HHS SBIR Phase 1s over $100K.

Phase Bioscience (Durham NC)

Phase Bioscience (Durham NC: $200K SBIR) raised $6.6M in its most recent round of financing. [Raleigh News&Observer, Oct 25]

Phoenix Science (Chelmsford, MA)

Phoenix Science & Technology (Chelmsford MA) got a $15M Phase III Navy SBIR for more development of pulsed light and acoustic devices for for ultraviolet water treatment and for paint stripping of naval vessels. [Mass High Tech, Aug 26]  Navy mainline takes advantage of sole-source rules for SBIR awardees to ease its contract administration. It means juicy contracts for the good (Navy likes them) companies. The one downside to that policy is that Navy will favor companies ready for large contracts for Phase 1 and 2.  Phoenix has at at least $3.5M of Navy SBIR since 1995.

Photobit (Pasadena, CA)

Photobit Acquired. Photobit (Pasadena, CA) was quietly acquired by Micron Technology in Micron's run at the emerging CMOS image sensor market. No price reported. eNews says at least 20 chipmakers are believed to be producing or developing CMOS image sensors, though no single supplier is considered entrenched.. Photobit, a JPL spinoff acquired key patents to the JPL technology and some government contracts, especially SBIR from (then) BMDO , Then it needed deep pockets volume manufacturing capacity, and the know-how to optimize a process technology for cost and performance. Enter Micron, which claims that combining Photobit's IP with its process expertise will enable high resolution in a small pixel size to significantly reduce chip size, cost, and power consumption, Frost & Sullivan estimated the 2001 image sensor market, including CCDs, at about $1 billion.

PhotoThera (Carlsbad, CA)

Dr. Jackson Streeter once held the ultimate cool job. In the mid-1990s he was the first medical doctor to be a pilot in the elite U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School, more commonly known as TOPGUN ... he gave it all up in May, 1997, to start a company, PhotoThera (Carlsbad CA; no SBIR), built around an unlikely laser therapy he learned about from an obscure Hungarian medical journal.  ... His device, called NeuroThera, is still in clinical trials, but it is gaining respect from stroke specialists and once-skeptical venture capitalists. ...managed to drum up $750,000 in financing from Hamilton BioVentures and California Technology Ventures in 2001, in part by crashing a Goldman Sachs investment meeting in San Diego. Positive data in animals helped him raise an additional $4.35 M, then $19 M more, and finally in 2006, $30.5 M. [Catherine Arnst, Business Week, Nov 19] 

Phurnace Software

Phurnace Software (Austin, TX; no SBIR),18-month-old company, which sells software that accelerates the deployment of Java applications, completed its $5 million first round of venture backing. [Austin American-Statesman, Jul 21]

Two Austin startups,30 Second Software Inc. and Phurnace Software Inc., have received venture capital infusions. 30 Second Software, founded by Austin entrepreneur Dave Sikora, has raised $2.9 million from two corporate investors, to develop mobile commerce technology and services. Phurnace, which won the 2006 University of Texas MOOT Corp business-plan competition, received $1.3 million [from] a Texas-based venture fund affiliated with Draper Fisher Jurvetson.  [Austin American-Statesman, Sep 3]

Phylonix

A Fish for All Seasons. Phylonix Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA; $8M HHS zebrafish SBIR) got a two-year EPA contract for up to $4.3M to explore the use of zebrafish as a screening tool.

Doing Its Thing.  NSF handed Phylonix a $500K Phase 2 SBIR  to assess possible toxic effects of chemicals on the development of human organs and tissues using tests performed in zebrafish. The company calls itself a Contract Research Organization providing in vivo zebrafish assays.

Physical Optics (Torrance, CA)

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

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

Physical Optics (Torrance, CA), still a private firm after 15 years of SBIR and 322 Phase 1s through 1998 (if the SBA database is current) spun off its fourth subsidiary to focus on commercial products" But SBIR cheerleaders should ask why POC hasn't had a BMDO Phase 2 since 1994 alongside its tons of military service awards. It did have three Phase 2s from DOE last year.

POC's website claims POC’s rapid growth has been achieved through a successful commercialization strategy based on in-house manufacturing, corporate alliances, licensing and joint ventures. POC also has a long and successful history of converting technologies developed under Federal SBIR programs into commercial products. This conversion has been accomplished using multimillion dollar venture capital investments, and strong banking relationships and allows us to capitalize on both commercial & government growth opportunities. With our unique expertise, $10 million in assets, and a strong growth record, POC is well positioned to become a major player in the rapidly growing optoelectronic markets.  You may notice that the website has little useful data (it's a private corporation) by which anyone could evaluate whether SBIR was getting its money's worth. POC has managed over the years of SBIR to never go public despite being in a hot industry.

PhytoTech (Monmouth Junction, NJ)

Picolight (Boulder, CO)

Picolight Boulder, CO) did a cross-licensing deal with Honeywell for its “oxide confined” VCSELs.  Picolight started life in 1996 with an BMDO SBIR, got seven Phase 2 SBIRs 1997-2000 and now employs 100 people. Companies like Picolight, with entrepreneurs like Jack Jewell, and products like the next generation VCSELs make the perfect SBIR start-up situation.

Picolight's 100 employees testify that the company has made exemplar use of a little SBIR money and a wad of venture capital sine starting up in 1995. Its latest news is that it made the first 1310nm transceivers out of its signature product - VCSELs. Six Phase 2 SBIRs in the late nineties was all the government R&D help he needed. It is actually founder Jack Jewell's second such rise to success, having pulled the same trick after starting Vixel in 1991.If there was ever a poster child for SBIR, Jack makes the ideal candidate on the basis of getting somewhere with an infant technology an only a little bit of government money. $5M of SBIR attracted $80M of private investment which by its nature expects a high ROI which in turn requires really large sales volume. If the technology really works in the marketplace - no small trick - the return to the government in corporate income taxes alone will be among the largest ROI government ever gets from intruding in the marketplace. The stories that the federal agencies tell of sales volume by SBIR companies is small potatoes to ROIs like Jack Jewell's. But Jack will have to get his reward from the private market because the government is disinterested in adjusting its SBIR to bet on more Jack Jewells.

Picolight (Boulder, CO) raised another $27M of venture capital to keep its 120 employees developing transceiver subsystems for short-reach (1-meter to 20-kilometer) optical-networking connections. That makes $80M raised since 1996. Picolight’s specialty is the Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) deriving from Jack Jewell's work first at Bell Labs, then at his co-founded Vixel before he founded Picolight. Both Vixel and Picolight got their funding starts from SDIO/BMDO's SBIR, back when BMDO cared about co-investment and entrepreneurs.

Picolight (Boulder, CO) says it part of a 14 company initiative for a next generation 10GB pluggable fiberoptic transceiver. And as soon as Nortel and Lucent and Corning pick themselves out of the overbuilding cellar, .... [fact from Laser Focus World, Jun01]

Picolight (Boulder, CO) took down $10.8M in VC funding in the fall of 1999, says Photonics Spectra Apr00. Picolight is the second child of Jack Jewell who first co-founded Vixel.. He got both started with SBIR from BMDO, Vixel in 1991 and Picolight in 1996. PS calls it a manufacturer of VCSEL devices. Vixel went public in 1999 but is presently languishing well below its first trading range.

Picolight $3.5M  Jack Jewell closed a $3.5M investment in two-year old Picolight (Boulder, CO) to develop the next generation of VCSELs. That funding on the top of three BMDO Phase 2 SBIRs brings his capital influx to about $8M. Jack tells how he got the first $250K to match the Fast Track $1M: One night a stranger knocked at his door up a long track from the road in the mountains above Boulder looking for Jack's wife who had published a scientific article on x-ray lithography. Her address was on the paper byline. He was interested in investing in it until Tanya said that it was really long term stuff but "by the way have you heard about Jack's new company?"

Picolight's VCSELs Light Up. Having won a BMDO Fast Track as a deserved reward for attracting private capital to a BMDO technology - next generation VCSELs - Picolight (Boulder, CO) also won two regular-way Phase 2 awards, also with rewards for new capital. Of course, from BMDO they are not just a handout of an R&D contract. They require an escalating match rate by private capital as both the technology and the company mature. BMDO did the same thing for the first company Jack Jewell founded - now Vixel Corp - which has raised tens of millions to go into full scale production. From the FT which had 4:1 (BMDO to private), the second has 2.5:1, and the third 0.7:1. BMDO also holds out the idea of expanding the amount if Picolight finds investors. BMDO's message: if you can't find investors </b>in your technology as it technically matures, you're kidding yourself about its potential in which case we will cut our losses.

Jack's dreams can also be inferred from his November 1991 Scientific American article Microlasers in which Vixel is called by its first name, Photonics Research Inc. Jon Baron, DOD's Fast Track champion says that 75% of all Fast Track awards have gone to 4:1 matches that can only be had by first time Phase 2 winners under 10 employees.

Picometrix (Ann Arbor, MI)

Advanced Photonix up 10% [Oct 23, 07] after announcing that its subsidiary, Picometrix, has received a follow-on $750K AF Phase II SBIR for further non-destructive testing (NDT) application development involving the testing of radomes for defects such as delaminations and water intrusion utilizing the T-Ray 4000 terahertz system platform. [company press release]  Picometrix started life in 1992 with an SDIO SBIR when Steve Williamson got fed up with his university's handling of patenting his work.

Picometrix (Ann Arbor MI) got some national press [Business Week, Apr 11] for trying to develop a terahertz people scanner. Pico started life (as Picotronix) with 1992 SBIR from SDIO for Steve Williamson's launch from the cozy but bureaucratic university lab situation, and has had six Phase 2s to help along its commercial ventures in super-fast lasers. I didn't have to talk too hard to Steve to convince him that he was great SBIR material of the mettle I was looking for in the high-tech days of Star Wars.  It calls itself a leading supplier of high-speed optical receivers and ultrafast instrumentation since 1992.  Recently it said it was being bought for $12M by Advanced Photonix, another 1980s SDIO-SBIR winner.   Co-founder Rob Risser said the firm has been profitable every year of its existence except the IT crash years of 2002 and 2003. Half a million profit in 2004 on $7.5M revenue.  [facts from Scott Anderson, The Ann Arbor News, Mar 25, 05]

Piedmont Biofuels (Pittsboro, 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]

Pinger

 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]

Pinnacle Technology

Kansas Grappling Also. Kansas bioscience leaders took steps toward stimulating collaboration between companies and university researchers pursuing new drug technology, biomaterials and plant genetics. The Kansas Bioscience Authority signed off on three planning grants totaling $580,000 for the potential creation of new bioscience centers of innovation. That initiative, investments in companies such as XenoTech (no SBIR) and Pinnacle Technology (Lawrence KS; $2M+ SBIR) and providing up to $7M toward the recruitment of two renowned scientists are the latest examples of how Kansas is attempting to bolster its bioscience economy, said Sandra Lawrence, chairwoman of the authority’s board. [Jason Gertzen, Kansas City Star, Jan 17]

Pixel Optics

Seeing Only the Forest. Almost everybody (93%) on the planet over the age of 45 suffer from presbyopia, says PixelOptics http://www.gravitysedge.com/pixeloptics/home.htm , where people have trouble picking the bones out of the fish plate Pixel just got a DOD contract for goggles that would correct a warrior's vision "We're aiming for 20/8," says company R&D chief Dwight Duston. Eileen Zimmerman [Wired, Jun 06] stuck a knife in the claim by noting that Duston was also former head of research for Star Wars, so improved ability to actually hit anything is not guaranteed.  He was also the grand poobah of Star Wars SBIR which got a lot of interesting innovations their first serious money. He comes to Pixel by way of the VC operation The Egg Factory.  In his ten plus years at Star Wars, he ran the office that put the earliest money into anything new, although as the project matured from a pure exploration into a development, the ratio of pure science to SBIR kept shrinking.  For SBIR he provided the shield from internal politics that undercuts every other agency program and steers money into immediate tasks and away from disruptive innovation. I picked the winners and losers and he kept the hyenas from the food supply.

Pixim (Mountain View, CA)

In-Q-Tel's strategic investment funding will be used to accelerate Pixim (Mountain View, CA; no SBIR)'s new product development and for general working capital purposes to meet the strong growth arising from demand for Pixim chipsets. ...  known for its award-winning, patented Digital Pixel System® (DPS) technology and for setting the industry standard for wide dynamic range image capture in the security camera market [In-Q-Tel press release]

Planar Systems

Planar Systems up 10% [Jul 22, 08]

Planar Systems up 12% [Jul 16, 08]

Planar Systems down 14% [Apr 29, 08] on earnings disappointment.

Planar Systems up 10% [Feb 26, 08]

Platypus (Madison, WI)

Two Wisconsin businesses will receive state funding for technology development:  NovaScan (Milwaukee) $50K for technology to measure the electrical properties of materials used to identify tissue types in the body, and Platypus Technologies (Madison) $50K for nanotechnologies for the life sciences. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Oct 17]  Platypus has hauled in about $7M in SBIR.

Plextronics

 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].

Plextronics, a Pittsburgh start-up developing organic photovoltaic technology for solar power, said it has raised $20.6M in a second round  [Matt MarshallVenture Beat, Sep 5]

Plug Power

Plug Power's two billionaire Russian shareholders are unwinding their partnership investment in the Latham [NY] fuel-cell company. ... The two men partnered in a company called Smart Hydrogen Inc. that invested $217M in Plug in 2006, a move that allowed the company to acquire two Canadian fuel-cell companies last year. [Larry Rulison, Albany Times-Union, Apr 26]

Polychromix (Wilmington MA)

Polychromix (Wilmington, MA; $600K SBIR) an innovative developer of material analysis and chemical sensing technologies, announced a strategic investment and development agreement with In-Q-Tel [company press release, Oct 1, 07] 

Polychromix (Wilmington MA; $600K SBIR) which employs 20 people, develops a handheld device designed to analyze various materials for the U.S. military and intelligence agencies, got an investment from In-Q-Tel (CIA's VC) which also plans to help Polychromix commercialize its technology for a range of government security agencies.  [Mass High Tech, Oct 1, 07]

PolyMedica (Wakefield, MA

 PolyMedica (Wakefield, MA; 2 Phase 1 SBIRs), provider of products for diabetics, has agreed to be acquired by a giant pharmacy benefits manager,  Medco Health Solutions for about $1.5 B cash.

Polystor

Wha'ppen Polystor? The story is simple and heart-warming for government R&D types. Polystor started life with a DARPA contract that allowed the founder to skip out of Livermore Labs (which was looking for ways to de-populate). A BMDO Phase 2 SBIR followed which induced a British company to toss in money which led to a mass production Army contract in 1999 plus $9.5M from the Advanced Battery Consortium and an ATP grant. PolyStor was the first Li-ion battery producer in the United States and the first to use a nickel cobalt oxide cathode that delivers the highest capacity and energy density in the industry, says Branscom et al. In winter 2001 the firm employed roughly 150 people, with a staff of 35 in research and development. In 2002, Polystor ceased operations. Sweet story ends. Which suggests several hard questions for the government advocates:  1) Why did all that government money not produce a sustainable economic winner? ; 2) Is the battery powered vehicle still a government pipe-dream?; 3) Did the government ever ask whether that technology at that price could survive in a competitive market place especially in a company nurtured by government handout?; 4) How much government money is too much?

Polymer Technology Systems (Indianapolis, IN)

Polymer Technology Systems (Indianapolis, IN; no SBIR),  a diagnostic medical device maker, won Innovation of the Year for a line of products to rapidly determine cholesterol rates and other levels in blood.  The Mira Awards are sponsored by Techpoint. The private company founded in 1992 has sales representatives and/or distributors worldwide.[Indianapolis Star, May 19]

Possis Medical

Possis Medical (Minneapolis; $250K SBIR) up 35% [Feb 11, 08] as it sold itself to Bayer for $344M.

PowerGenix (San Diego, CA)

Zinc Power. PowerGenix (San Diego, CA) landed a $17M round of financing in November ... For the past few years, PowerGenix has been developing a battery that it says is as much as 75% lighter, 30% smaller and 10 times as powerful as existing nickel-cadmium or nickel-metal hydride batteries. [Wall Street Journal, Jan 29, 07] No SBIRs yet.

Powerlight (Berkeley CA)

Powerlight, of Berkeley, CA, a large venture-backed solar installer, ..just won a contract to help build the world's largest solar photovoltaic power project: a 11-megawatt solar power plant in Serpa, Portugal. [http://www.siliconbeat.com/, Apr 29, 06]

Power Precise Solutions

The Army is about to start using technology that measures the remaining power in batteries, developed by Herndon, Va.-based PowerPrecise Solutions, which received an investment from [Army VC] OnPoint in March 2004. The Army expects to save $65 million a year with the new product. It has put $61.8 million into the fund since Congress mandated its creation in the fiscal 2002 Defense Appropriations Act. .. The other Army "VC" investments: higher power density fuel cell system based on generating hydrogen from highly concentrated methanol for use in portable electronics (UltraCell); advanced rechargeable batteries based on silver zinc (Zinc Matrix Power); thin-film solar technology (Nanosolar).   [Kimberly Palmer, GovExec, May 15]

Pozen (Chapel Hill, NC)

A small Chapel Hill (NC) drug maker is teaming up with one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies to create a painkiller that would neutralize a nagging side effect: stomach ulcers.  As part of the deal, Pozen would receive up to $375M in payments and bonuses from AstraZeneca, which is based in London. If the drug wins U.S. regulatory approval for patient use, Pozen also stands to earn even more in sales royalties through 2023. The company's stock jumped nearly 40% on Wednesday's news.  Pozen, a 10-year-old company with 35 employees, is demonstrating a talent coveted by many drug startups in the Triangle: attracting major corporate firepower to back experimental medicines. [Raleigh News and Observer, Aug 3]  No SBIR record.

Precision Biopsy

Allied Minds, a Boston-based investment firm specializing in early-stage university ventures, has partnered with the University of Colorado to establish Precision Biopsy LLC, which is developing an optical biopsy needle to be used in diagnosis of prostate cancer.  [Denver Post, Jul 16, 08]

Precision Optics

Precision Optics (Gardner, MA; $500K SBIR) sold its optical filter line to a New Jersey company for $250,000 and a three-year royalty agreement  [Mass High Tech, Jan 22, 08]

Precision Optics which had a sliver of HHS SBIR money in the late 80s is in danger of de-listing for lack of $1 stock price for 30 days. 

Precision Optics, a bit HHS SBIR played in the late 80s, raised another $5M in a rights offering to buy the $1.30 stock at $1.

Predictive Biosciences (Lexington, MA)

Predictive Biosciences (Lexington, MA; no SBIR) closed on a $21.75 million Series B financing to fund clinical trials for its oncology testing assays. The -based firm stated it would use the capital to develop its urine-based test that can detect the presence of cancer. The firm plans to launch a multi-center clinical trial for patients with recurring bladder cancer in 2009. A portion of the money will also be used to establish a new independent laboratory. [Mass High Tech, Oct 16, 08]

Primera Biosystems

Molecular diagnostics company Primera Biosystems (Mansfield, MA; no SBIR) closed on a $21M Series B financing led by a British investment firm ... has operated quietly since it closed an $11M Series A financing in 2005. [Mass High Tech, Jan 8, 08]

Primorigen Biosciences

Primorigen Biosciences LLC got a Phase I SBIR grant of $362,714 from NIH. The grant allows the Madison biotech company to compete for an additional $1.6 million grant in the future, company executives said. Primorigen is developing new antibodies and other products for cell therapy research. ... will accelerate Primorigen’s development of a new protein detection test to support cell research on Type I diabetes, the company said.  [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Sep 4, 08]

Prism Solar Technologies (Lake Katrine, NY)

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

Progenics Pharmaceuticals

Progenix Pharma down 10% [Oct 22, 08]

Progenics Pharma up 11% [Oct 13, 08]

Progenics Pharmaceuticals which dropped more than 60% when its lead drug, Relistor, failed a phase 3 trial last month for postoperative ileus, a constipation-like condition that follows abdominal surgery.  Then the stock jumped more than 30% in the other direction yesterday after the drug was recommended for approval in the European Union for treating opioid-induced constipation (OIC), and is trading up another 26% today after the FDA approved it last night. In fact Progenics has roughly tripled since I said investors had overreacted to the failed drug study. [motleyfool.com, Apr 25, 08]

Progenics Pharmaceuticals up 22%, topped the list of Biggest Percentage Price Gainers on the Nasdaq. Wall Street Journal, Apr 22]

Progenics Pharmaceutical up 19% after the company said its Relistor constipation drug was approved for sale in Canada.  [AP, Apr 1, 08]

Progenics Pharmaceuticals down 63% after the company and its partner Wyeth said their constipation drug failed a late-stage clinical trial. [AP, Mar 12, 08]

Progenics Pharmaceuticals up 10% [Jan 8, 08]

Prologic

Efficient Ears. On average, companies generated roughly $28 in earmark revenue for every dollar they spent lobbying. By any standard, that's a hefty ratio: The companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index brought in just $17.52 in revenues for every dollar of capital expenditure in 2006. ... Says Keith Ashdown, chief investigator for the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense: "The lion's share of these projects is about politics and jobs, rather than real needs." [Business Week, Sep 17]  The earmark efficiency champ is an SBIR company, Scientific Research (Atlanta GA and others; about $15M SBIR), that got $344 in earmarked funds per dollar of political "investment".Other SBIR investors: Isothermal Systems (KY and WA; $2M SBIR) at $221 per lobbying dollar; Prologic (Fairmont WV; $2M SBIR) at $133 per dollar; Trex Enterprises (San Diego CA; $7M SBIR) at $116 per dollar. From an efficiency viewpoint, politicians make a good investment. You just have to learn how to kiss frogs.

Protein Sciences (Meriden,CT)

Protein Sciences claimed breach of contract in cancelling its sale to Emergent BioSolutions which counter-claimed that Protein Sciences had no legal right to end the deal on its own, calling the claims "baseless.".  [Wash Post, Jul 30, 08]

Protein Sciences (Meriden, CT; $900K SBIR) came out slugging, saying a lawsuit by its merger partner was an attempt to cripple the maker of a next-generation flu vaccine, forcing it into bankruptcy so it could be bought more cheaply. Emergent BioSolutions is backing out on millions of dollars in loans that it agreed to make as part of a merger agreement in May, Protein Sciences said in a press release. The loans are critical to keeping the cash-strapped company afloat while it pursues licensing and further work on its FluBlok vaccine.  [Kenneth Gosselin, Hartford Courant, Jul 11, 08]

Emergent BioSolutions, in a push to diversify beyond its biodefense business, plans to announce today that it is buying Protein Sciences (Meriden, CT; $900K SBIR), a maker of a next-generation flu vaccine that federal regulators have put on a fast track to approval. for $75M [Kendra Marr, Washington Post, May 27]

Proteon Therapeutics (Waltham, MA)

Proteon Therapeutics (Waltham, MA and KC, MO; 2 SBIRs)  reports it has been awarded a patent by the European Patent Office covering the use of a class of proteins known as elastase, for dilating arteries and veins in humans.

Biopharmaceutical company Proteon Therapeutics (Waltham, MA; two Phase 1SBIRs) has locked up $12M financing following last year's $19M. ... to advance its first product candidate, PRT-201, into human clinical studies in both hemodialysis vascular access and peripheral arterial disease [Mass High Tech, Sep 6, 07]

Proteostasis Therapeutics

David Pendergast, the former CEO who led Transkaryotic Therapies through its sale to Shire Pharmaceutical Group, has helped new startup Proteostasis Therapeutics (no SBIR) raise $45 M in its first round, the company said.  Proteostasis was founded on the research of Jeffrey Kelley of the Scripps Research Institute in California and Susan Lindquist of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT.  [Mass High Tech, Aug 25]

Proteus Biomedical (Redwood City, CA)

A system that monitors pill taking and its effects is being engineered by a Silicon Valley startup. The technology consists of pills that report when they've been taken, and sensors that monitor the body's responses. The company behind the technology, Proteus Biomedical, (Redwood City, CA; no SBIR), calls its technology the Raisin system. George Savage, Proteus's cofounder and a former ER physician, says that the company was motivated by the fact that so many medical problems stem from drug compliance problems. According to Savage, 40 percent of hospital readmissions for heart failure happen because patients fail to take their medications properly. [Michael Chorost, MIT Tech Review, Mar 20]

Protez Pharmaceuticals (Malvern, PA)

Novartis AG purchased Protez Pharmaceuticals (Malvern, PA; no SBIR) a.developer of antibiotics, this week for $400 M cash. [Pittsburgh Business Times, Jun 6]

ProThera Biologics (Providence, RI)

ProThera Biologics (East Providence, RI; $3M SBIR) received a $500,000 financing commitment from the Slater Technology Fund, according to Slater. Slater reports that the $500,000 commitment follows its initial $100,000 grant to ProThera in 2001. [Mass High Tech, Jun 25]

Proto Labs (Maple Plain,MN)

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

Proton Energy Systems (Wallingford, CT)

Fuel Your Senators.  Proton Energy Systems (Wallingford, CT; $1.3M SBIR), a renewable hydrogen technology developer, has received a $2.62 million Army contract fto develop a regenerative fuel cell system, company officials said.... The two US Senators helped secure funding for the project. ...  In August, Proton announced being bought from its parent company Distributed Energy Systems Corp. by F9 Investments LLC for $10.2 million. [Mass High Tech, Oct 16, 08]

Proton Energy Systems (Wallingford, CT)  got a $2.3 million contract for a hydrogen technology-oriented follow-on research project for the development of fuel cell technologies [Nov 06]

High Flying Hydrogen. MDA gave Proton Energy Systems (Wallingford CT) got a $1.25M SBIR Phase 3 for continued development of regenerative fuel cell technology for high altitude airships. Proton is a a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems.  [Mass High Tech, Oct 12]  Phase 3, which isn't SBIR money, lets the government hand out a contract to the Phase 2 winner without further competition. The company is also in the middle of a three-year, $3.8 M project with the Department of Energy to develop methods to reduce the cost of high-pressure hydrogen generation from proton exchange membrane electrolysis.

Protonex

Protonex Technology won a $400,000 contract from the Army's ARO for further development of the use of high-performance liquid fuels in its solid-oxide fuel cell power systems.  .... In April, Protonex received a $3.65 million contract from ARO to develop the next generation of the firm’s Pulse M250 military power system. [Mass High Tech, Sep 9, 08]

Protonex Technology landed its second military contract in two weeks, receiving a $3.65 million contract from the Army. [Mass High Tech, Apr 28]

Protonex Technology (Southborough, MA) got a $1.62 M contract with the NRL for advanced development of high power fuel cell systems for small UAVs.  ... makes fuel cells for commercial use. It began working with Cummins on applications in the trucking industry last September. ... shares debuted on the London Stock Exchange last July  [Mass High Tech, Apr 23, 08]

Protonex reports a new subcontract from Cummins to supply solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) power systems for integration into a demonstration system for commercial mobile applications. [Mass High Tech, Sep 24, 07]

Protonex reports Raytheon has agreed to participate in the development of Protonex' portable fuel cell power system for the Army. ... Since going public last July on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), Protonex has doubled its head count from about 40 employees last year to 85 employees. [Mass High Tech, Sep 12]

Protonex was up 20%, back to the 90s after a drop and a day off from trading. [Jul 6, 07]

Protonex took an 18% swan dive despite announcing an $800K AF contract extension. [Jul 3, 07]

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.

They Still Speak English. Ross Kerber [Boston Globe, Jan 28] notes that four Boston area companies have gone public recently by listing on the London AIM exchange. Of the four, fuel cell developer Protonex Technology had about $1M in SBIR, and fish farmer Aqua Bounty had just one Phase 1. 

Provagen

Two spinoff companies from N.C. State University and N.C. A&T State University are the first to receive loans and legal help from a new set of programs designed by the N.C. Biotechnology Center in Research Triangle Park. The programs offer companies $50,000 in startup loans as well as free legal help from area law firms. ... NCSU's company, Sirga Advanced Biopharma, uses the technology of biochemistry professor Paul F. Agris to identify therapies for drug-resistant diseases ... A&T's spinoff company, Provagen, was formed to commercialize protein technology developed by John Allen, a molecular biologist.  [Raleigh News & Observer, Jun 22]

Proventys

A Durham medical research company co-founded by Ralph Snyderman, former CEO of the Duke University Health System, has attracted interest from several health-care heavy hitters and enough cash to introduce its first product this year. Proventys (no SBIR) is working on software that promises to help prevent complications from chemotherapy by identifying at-risk cancer patients. The company plans to use part of its $5.65 million in private financing to test the technology, and it might target other therapeutic areas.  [Raleigh News & Observer, May 15, 08]

PTC Therapeutics

Genzyme will pay PTC Therapeutics (Plainfield, NJ; $5M SBIR)  $100 million, as well as milestone and royalty payments, to commercialize its drug, PTC124, outside the U.S. and Canada, where PTC will commercialize the drug. [Mass High Tech, Jul 17, 08]

Quadraspec

Quadraspec (Purdue Research Park - West Lafayette, IN; no SBIR) received $2.5 million from venture capital firms led by Clarian Health Ventures of Indianapolis. ... makes a machine to diagnose diseases from a blood test. The technology can detect cancer, cardiovascular disease and other serious illnesses in their early, most treatable stages. [Indianapolis Star, SEp 13, 08]

QD Vision

Following its recently announced funding from In-Q-Tel, the CIA venture arm, Watertown-based QD Vision (Watertown, MA; one SBIR) has also landed $9 M of an expected $16 M round of Series C funding from private investors, according to [SEC] documents [Mass High Tech, Apr 11]

QualityMetric (Lincoln, RI)

QualityMetric (Lincoln, RI; $1.5M SBIR)  got a $2M NIH SBIR Phase 2 to develop tools to measure the health of people with asthma [Mass High Tech, Oct 16, 07]

QualityMetric (Lincoln, RI) got two NIH SBIRs totaling $1.1M to develop uses for its computerized adaptive testing technology.  ... QualityMetric executives say the company uses proprietary analytic methodologies to capture, benchmark, interpret and report on patient-based health information to use in the development of new treatments. [Mass High Tech, Nov 1,06]  QM has had several Phase 1s and one prior Phase 2.

Quanterix (Cambridge, MA)

Drug discovery services company Quanterix (Cambridge, MA; no SBIR) closed a $10 million second tranche of a Series A funding round, according to online reports.  Quanterix’s providers systems to analyze molecules and cells to find new drugs and make tests for diseases. It was spun off from Tufts University with technology developed by a chemistry professor-turned-entrepreneur, David Walt. [Mass High Tech, Aug 25]

Quantum Epitaxial Designs (Bethelehem, PA)

Quantum Going Public. The DOD SBIR isn't completely dead. One firm with only $1.7M of SBIR 1991-1996, including 5 Phase 1s from BMDO, will go public this week. Quantum (Bethlehem, PA), which has only $7M in sales, up 35% from last year from several industrial customers for its compound semiconductors, is priced to raise $20M for 40% of the company

Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide (Irvine CA)

Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide (Irvine, CA; one SBIR) down 10% after it filed to sell as much as $75 M of stock, preferred stock and warrants. [Wall Street Journal, Jul 8, 08]

A new contract helped Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies  (Irvine, CA; one SBIR)  gain 16% ... propulsion-systems company said its German solar partner Advanced & Automotive Solar Systems GmbH received a $17 million contract from Sunworx GmbH for silicon photovoltaic-solar modules. [Wall Street Journal, May 28, 08]

Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide (Irvine CA; one SBIR) intends to have its first car, a four-door plug-in hybrid vehicle, on the market in the U.S. by 2009  [Wall Street Journal, Oct 29]

Quantum Logic Devices

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.

Quark Biotech (Fremont, CA)

Quark Biotech (Fremont, CA; one Phase 1 SBIR) filed for IPO.

Quintessence Biosciences (Madison, WI)

Rising Star.  When Laura Strong set out in 2000 to forge a licensing agreement and raise money for a young Madison biotech company, there were no programs or networks set up to help. Strong and her colleagues at Quintessence Biosciences (no SBIR) managed to get the license and raise angel capital, ... accomplishments earned Strong one of five Rising Star awards at the Wisconsin Biotechnology and Medical Device Association.... Speakers came from state companies such as Cellectar (no SBIR), Platypus Technologies ($6M SBIR), Third Wave Technologies ($6M SBIR), and TomoTherapy ($1M SBIR)  [Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Oct 19]  The other companies prove that there was indeed help available for Quintessence, SBIR and the state had an active program in helping companies pursue federal funding. HHS, the natural source of SBIR for bio work, seems to have a good track record of helping young companies with markets in their eyes.

Quorum Systems (San Diego, CA)

What China can do is trade its dollars for US business capacity: Quorum Systems (San Diego, CA; no SBIR), maker of radio-frequency chips for mobile phones, has agreed to be acquired by China-based Spreadtrum Communications for $70M in cash and stock. [Mike Freeman, San Diego Union Tribune, Nov 20] Just as worried about Japan Inc in the 1980s, we can worry about China Inc now. The long term solution is to restore America's financial strength, which unfortunately requires biting too many bullets for the politicians to ask for. No, we have to tell our politicians that we want sensible management, not pandering to our illusions.

QPixel

Qpixel Technology, a Cupertino chip company, is the latest to benefit from excitement surrounding video sharing. It specializes in low-power digital video and audio compression, and has just raised $25 M in its second round of funding. ... One True Media is a new Silicon Valley start-up (Redwood City) that is offering video creation tools, and wants to be the next video-sharing company. There are dozens of competitors, so this is a long shot. [siliconbeat.com, Jun 16]

Radant Technologies

Radant Technologies (Stow, MA; $1.5M SBIR)  landed a $14 M deal from the U.S. Navy for submarine communication antenna radomes and related engineering services  [Mass High Tech, Jan 21]

Radiant Photonics (Austin, TX)

Radiant Going for Broke (Nov 14) Radiant Photonics (Austin, TX) is going into bankruptcy when its second round of financing fell into the hole created by the WTC collapse. Or at least something spooked the four investors who were discussing a term sheet CEO Markwardt says that major changes to its business strategies in the works, and they are discussing its options with about seven companies and investment groups. [Austin Business Journal, Nov 12, and Fred Patterson for reporting it] Radiant was/is the spin-off of Radiant Research, a creation of Ray Chen and a winner of a fistful of BMDO Phase 2 SBIRs, all premised on the market potential. Indeed, the first round of finance proved that BMDO had done the right thing in seeding the technology at Radiant. Alas, the collapse of a second round coupled with the collapse of BMDO's market philosophy means a dark day for photonics entrepreneurs.

Radiant Gets $18M. (Sep 26) Radiant Photonics (Austin, TX) got its first round of investment, $18M to expand its production capabilities for Optical Networking. The tranche was led by Adam Smith Investment Partners and KLM Capital with Intel Capital and Ridgewood Capital. Radiant is a venture of Ray Chen's Radiant Research, a semi-academic firm that Ray started and nourished with BMDO SBIR. BMDO no doubt forced the investment issue by continuously raising the co-investment requirement for further SBIR money, which is what SBIR should be doing. BMDO would say, &quot;either convert your past promises to real investment or stop predicting any future investment. Ray started SBIR life as the main PI at Physical Optics, a huge SBIR user. Optics is as hot as an investment topic can get, with Forbes ASAP devoting its whole August issue to it. The predictions of riches abound. With the right kind of luck, Radiant could fall into the enriching clutches of the fiber backbone competitors Lucent and Nortel as CoreTek did for $1.4B.

Radiation Monitoring Devices (Watertown, MA)

Radiation Monitoring Devices (Watertown, MA; $90M SBIR; and RMD Instruments, both photonics-related instruments companies have been acquired for $20 M by Dynasil, a photonics manufacturer for instruments, optical materials, coatings and components.  [Mass High Tech, Jul 3, 08]  Another SBIR mill bought for a small fraction of the SBIR "investment", and this is one company that was at least worth something after all those SBIRs. All the political bleating about how crucial small companies are to America is only half true; they are important but SBIR does nothing except shift government R&D for small companies from one list of winners to a different list of winners doing the same thing. And there is still no compelling evidence that SBIR has had any economic impact that wouldn't have happened anyway.

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

RainDance Technologies

RainDance Technologies (Lexington, MA; one SBIR), provider of droplet-based tools for life sciences research, reports it has formed a wholly owned subsidiary in France.  [Mass High Tech, Jul 10]

RainDance Technologies (Guilford, CT; $300K SBIR) will move to Lexington. The company said its new 28,000-square-foot facility in Lexington is double the size of its current location and will employ 65 people by the end of the year. The four-year-old firm's "microdroplet" technology is used to help sequence the human genome at greater speeds. [Todd Wallack, Boston Globe, May 20]

Rain Water Solutions (Raliegh, 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]

Range Fuels (Broomfield, CO)

The Range Fuels (Broomfield, CO) plant, to be located in southeast Georgia, could be producing ethanol as soon as next year. It's being funded [$76M to the company for the construction] by the DOE as part of the agency's effort to increase the use of biofuels. [Kevin Bullis, MIT Tech Review, Nov 15] Those logs streaming down I-16 to the Savannah port can be diverted to making cellulosic fuel that is eons away from market economics until a new killer chemistry appears. From an economy standpoint, investing in chemistry is a lot cheaper than production plants for known uneconomical chemistry. But then, they wouldn't be pouring millions of pork into Georgia.

Rapiscan (Torrance, CA)

Demand for Rapiscan (Torrance, CA; one SBIR in 1993) products, which include airport metal detectors and larger machines used to scan cargo containers and trucks, is growing as governments all over the world increase their security efforts.  Rapiscan's cargo scanning business has doubled annually for the past three years, said Peter Kant, the company's vice president of global government affairs. And the company has signed more contracts with government agencies. ... offices in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.  At the 30,600-square-foot Apex , NC facility, Rapiscan will build larger machines capable of checking for dangerous materials in cargo containers, trucks and other vehicles. ...  2007 revenue was $186.6 million, SEC filings from its parent company, OSI Systems, show. [Raleigh News&Observer, Mar 22] 

Raydiance

THE DISRUPTION: Lasers that cut without heating surrounding material. THE DISRUPTED: The entire laser industry - medicine, aerospace and beyond. [Barry Schuler, former CEO of AOL] two-year-old startup, Raydiance, is taking aim at the $3 billion medical laser market with a technology called USP, or ultrashort pulse.  Why? Because USP lasers are phenomenally accurate.... USP devices have been in the hands of researchers since 1989, but they've also been unmanageably large and notoriously difficult to operate. Schuler's company, funded to the tune of $35 M, has already shrunk its device to the size of a microwave oven. [Business 2.0]  Why would medical laser capital flow so readily to an AOL founder? Because capital seeks entrepreneurs who know how to use it. Sweetness of the technology is a second consideration after a real entrepreneur puts up some of his money. The SBIR [theoretical] idea that capital- inspired commercialization will follow from government buying what government likes contradicts the real world of investing. If SBIR wants substantial economic spinoff, it has to look for entrepreneurs with new ideas, not just smart technicians. Oh sure, if you spend enough money on technicians, something will come out, but not enough to justify the government spending.

Receptor Logic

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.

Two Austin companies will share $3.7 million in grants from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, which was created to spur commercialization of research in Texas. Receptor Logic Ltd. will receive $2 million to advance its work in the development of anti-bodies that can improve the understanding of the immune system and thus lead to better drugs and vaccines.  Terapio Inc. will receive $1.7 million to develop a cream to treat hand-foot syndrome, a painful swelling and numbness of the hands and feet that can occur as a side effect of several chemotherapy drugs.  Receptor was started in 2004 by Emergent Technologies Inc., an Austin-based life sciences venture capital firm, and Jon Weidanz, director of the Texas Tech University Center for Immunotherapeutic Research. The company, which has headquarters in Austin and a laboratory in Abilene, will use the investment to expand its commercialization efforts  [Lori Hawkins, Austin American-Statesman, Jun 19] Neither had SBIR.

Recodagen

Local biotech incubator Accelerator is hatching its seventh firm — Recodagen (no SBIR), which will research therapies to arrest the spread of cancerous tumors. The technology underpinning Recodagen was licensed out of the laboratory of J. Suzanne Lindsey at Washington State University in Pullman. ...  Accelerator's first technology-licensing deal with Washington State University, which in the past three years has been ramping up its efforts to get its research into the marketplace. [Angel Gonzalez, Seattle Times, Mar 14]

Regado Biosciences (Durham, NC)

Regado Biosciences (Durham, NC; one SBIR) raised $23M from VCs to continue testing a drug that promises to make heart surgery safer. [Raleigh News & Observer, Mar 27]

Renovis (S San Francisco, CA)

Renovis (S San Francisco, CA; one Phase 2 SBIR) up 20% on news that German pharmaceutical company Evotec AG will buy it for $150 M in stock to expand its research into treatments for inflammatory diseases.  [AP, Sep 19,07]

Rentech (Los Angeles, CA)

A Punter with Pounds. A British Virgin Islands-based investor offered $372M for Rentech (Los Angeles, CA; no SBIR) an alternative energy company building a $50M fuels plant in metro Denver, ... attempting to commercialize a process to make diesel and aviation fuel from coal, natural gas, petroleum byproducts and biomass such as wood chips. [Denver Post, Dec 19, 07]

Replidyne

Replidyne up 16% [Jan 16, 08]

Repligen

Repligen up 13% [Oct 16, 08]

Repligen down 16% [Oct 15, 08]

Repligen  up 18% [Oct 10, 08]

Biopharmaceutical Repligen got $1.125 million in research grants to develop tools to help create new treatments for the rare neurodegenerative disease Friedreich’s ataxia. The Muscular Dystrophy Association awarded Waltham-based Repligen (Nasdaq: RGEN) $1 million and the Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Foundation and the National Ataxia Foundation combined to give $125,000, according to Repligen officials. Repligen will use the funds to develop and prepare drug candidates for clinical trials and also develop biomarkers to monitor the effect of the drugs.  [Mass High Tech, Sep 4, 08]

Repligen up 14% after it reached a settlement in its lawsuit alleging patent infringement against large-cap Bristol-Myers Squibb's rheumatoid-arthritis treatment Orencia.  [Wall Street Journal, Apr 9, 08]

Repligen up 11% [Apr 4, 08]

Repligen said it has started a Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate an imaging agent that would help MRI tests better detect abnormalities in the ducts of the pancreas. ... about 150,000 pancreatic MRI's are conducted in the United States each year. [Boston Globe, Mar 27, 08]

Repligen down 12% [Feb 25, 08]

Repligen down 12% [Jan 4, 08]

Repligen got a $65 M settlement from ImClone Systems on a patent infringement lawsuit . [Mass High Tech, Sep 11]

Repligen jumped 25% on a favorable patent-suit ruling. [Jul 31, 06]

Repligen took a huge dive (42%) when it announced that its experimental treatment for autism flunked late-stage clinical trial, second-quarter revenue of $1.4 million, sells several drugs which it did not develop itself.

Research Frontiers (Woodbury, NJ)

Smart Glass  One company seems to have solved the problem of making smart windows that shut out sunlight on command. DOD has poured a lot of SBIR money into small companies who always seem to need another award. Research Frontiers Inc (Woodbury, NY) seems to have succeeded without any SBIR help.  A Wall Street Journal story (Sep 19) tells how. It went public in 1986 to raise the money (investors will speculate) for the suspended particle technology. Says CEO Robert Saxe, it wasn't an overnight technology . Which should partially explain why SBIR wasn't the route. SBIR was not intended for such long slogs (although no Congressman would object to a long slog by a company in his district and all Congress would like to avoid answering such questions). Oh, the technology seemed to work but on closer examination of the economics, it was unstable, the crystals clumped, and the windows bulged. One materialist estimates that it would cost $15/sqft more than drapes and curtains which translates to a ten-year recovery period. How many landlords accept ten-year payback periods? (Actually, the lower the prevailing interest rate, the longer the max acceptable payback period.) So, government agencies, keep believing in smart window technology, but don't blindly believe the company's story about commercialization.

Resolvyx Pharmaceuticals (Bedford, MA)

Resolvyx Pharmaceuticals (Bedford, MA; no SBIR) hopes to use recent scientific research on how omega-3 fatty acids work to develop a powerful new class of drugs to treat inflammatory diseases, ranging from asthma to cardiovascular problems. ... is expected to say it has raised $25 M in a second round of venture capital ..in addition to an earlier round of $17M.  [Todd Wallack, Boston Globe, Apr 22]

Restoration Robotics

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]

Restore Medical

Medtronic agreed to acquire Restore Medical (Roseville,MN; one SBIR) for $29 million, a deal that rescues the cash-starved company from possible insolvency from cash management problems. [Minneapolis Star Tribune, Apr 23, 08]

Restore Medical took a 12% sleeping aid [Mar 1, 07] as it reported a big loss and got a brokerage downgrade.

RF Code (Austin, TX)

RF Code (Austin, TX; no SBIR) got $13M VC part of which pays for moving from AZ to TX where it will make RFID devices to track people and stuff. [Austin American-Statesman, Jul 19] The Navy had an SBIR RFID poster child a decade ago in Savi Technology which Lockheed-Martin bought for $400M.

RFMicron (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. 

Rhenium Alloys (Elyria, OH)

Balls - An 11th Form of Rhenium. Rhenium Alloys (Elyria, OH) which sells ten forms of rhenium got a BMDO Phase 2 SBIR for an 11th form: micro-spheres. The immediate use for BMDO is coating small rocket nozzles that have to pass really hot gas. There may be a little puffery going on as the company invites present orders for the balls that BMDO says it is only nursing into existence as a prototype. It's the company's first Phase 2. Neither the abstract nor  Rhenium's website hint at the economic value of the spheres beyond cost-insensitive military rockets.

Rhevision

Ben Choi, one of the In-Q-Tel guys, told us yesterday he's just made an investment into Rhevision Technology, which is making a miniature zoom lens for cameras. Its Website is still under construction, but the company says modestly that the lens module is "going to rock the entire camera-phone industry."  [Siliconbeat.com, May 5]

Rho (Chapel Hill, NC)

Rho (Chapel Hill, NC; $2M SBIR) a drug research company, received a $38.9 million contract from  NIH ...  provide biostatistical, data management and safety services to the Immune Tolerance Network ... founded in 1984 by two UNC-Chapel Hill researchers. The company now employs about 350 [Raleigh News & Observer, Sep 5, 08]

RipCode (Austin TX)

RipCode (Austin TX; no SBIR) unveils today a powerful but compact box that takes up a small slot in a computer data center but does the video processing work of 10 to 20 servers. [Kirk Ladendorf, Austin American-Statesman, Sep 17]

R.L. Phillips (Carlsbad, CA)

Information security firm R.L. Phillips (Carlsbad, CA; no SBIR) is being bought by a Michigan firm for $2.2M.  Phillips, founded in 1998 by James Pietrocini and Rebecca Phillips, generated about $5.3 M in annual revenue. It has about 30 employees and serves customers that include the Navy, the Marine Corps and the NSA. [San Diego Union Tribune, Sep 6]

Robotic FX

Robotic FX will be dissolved and certain of its residual assets will be retained by iRobot, according to the company. [Founder and ex-iRobot employee] Ahed has been prohibited from participating in competitive activities in the robotics industry for five years.  [Mass High Tech, Dec 24]

A federal judge in Boston has issued an injunction against a Chicago-area robot maker accused of stealing trade secrets from iRobot [Boston Globe, Nov 3, 07]   Defendant Robotic FX was not reported as railing against "activist un-elected judges."

Rocky Research (Boulder City, NV)

Rocky's Cooler. A refrigerator with no compressor would come from the sorption system of Rocky Research (Boulder City, NV), says Design News, (Nov 4, 96). BMDO SBIR's support was matched in part by investment from Igloo Products during which the technology was the basis for a new FMC Corp factory in Arkansas. Look for ever more portable coolers with the Igloo label if and when Rocky can raise the ever rising capital needed by a maturing technology. BMDO's invitation of matching the early capital brought in Igloo's first investment but government's role ends there (unless you believe in programs like ATP which let companies avoid the discipline of the marketplace and appeal, instead, to the technology preferences of government experts).

Rules-Based Medicine (Austin TX)

Rules-Based Medicine (Austin TX; one SBIR) got a $1.1M Phase I/Phase II "Fast-Track" SBIR from the National Cancer Institute for the development of 50 new quantitative, multiplexed immunoassays for cancer-related proteins . It calls itself the world’s leading multiplexed biomarker testing company [company press release]