Seed/Series A
Gene data analysis is a hot sector for investment this week. Artis Ventures has led a $6.8 million Series A round for Omicia, a company that researches and interprets genetic information. Further insight into human genomes develop markets like personalized medicine, which PwC predicted in 2009 could grow to a $452 billion opportunity.
Mid-Series
Blueprint Medicines, an oncology company, gains $25 million in a Series B round led by Nextech Invest, Ltd. Third Rock Ventures, Fidelity Biosciences, Biotech Value Fund, L.P., Casdin Capital, LLC and others contributed to the financing. The company previously raised a $40 million Series A round led by Third Rock Ventures in 2011, bringing total investment to $65 million today. The company leverages molecular and genomic information in the fight against cancer.
Embattled TV-anywhere startup Aereo gains $34 million Series C, despite the company being embroiled in a litigious mire. Funding came from IAC, Himalaya Capital, Gordon Crawford, FirstMark Capital, and Highland Capital Partners. The Supreme Court may deliver its verdict on the legality of Aereo’s operations this month. Today’s round brings total funding for the New York-based company, founded in 2012, to nearly $100 million.
Proterra, which produces cleantech buses, continued to receive funding as it realized the $10 million-plus tranche of its Series C round, now valued at upwards of $34 million. The secondary capital influx was led by Nick and Joby Pritzker through the Pritzker’s investment arm, Tao Invest, and shareholders. While cleantech investment has decreased, interest in the sector (especially as it converges with transportation) remains high, with companies like Terra Motors and Tesla advocating for more efficient vehicles.
Shareholder communication company Mediant raised $7 million in growth equity from shareholders, First Analysis, Argentum Capital Partners III, L.P. (which led the round) and some of ACP III’s Limited Partners. The company most lately disclosed a $3.4 million financing to the SEC in September, through which they also recorded revenues of at least $5 million (and less than $25 million).
Late stage
Auspex Pharmaceuticals raises $20 million Series E in equity funding and $15 million from an Oxford Finance, LLC, 4-year venture loan, for a financing totaled at $35 million. Deerfield Management Company led the round, while Panorama Capital, Costa Verde Capital, BioMed Ventures, and Thomas, McNerney and Partners contributed. Auspex’s aim is to advance and sell medicines combatting rare diseases. A Research and Markets report on pharmaceutical and and healthcare investment trends stated 2012 deals for this sector amounted to $312.6 billion.
Undisclosed
Watkins Hire, which provides heating and cooling product rentals for major events such as the London Olympics, has received $16.6 million from Baird Capital. As part of the deal, Baird Capital backs a new executive leader, CEO Paul O’Kelly. The Lydney, Gloucestershire-based company sits underneath the umbrella of WELCO Group and is still linked to the Watkins family.
Blue-chip investors Kleiner Perkins and Jafco Ventures have invested $15 million in analytics provider Zephyr Health. The company’s platform converges on big data, analytics, healthcare and life sciences as it draws insights from massive data sets to impact the lives of patients. IDC recently reported that in 2017, the Big Data technology and services market would swell to $32.4 billion, with growth rates in the intervening years at 27 percent CAGR.
M&A
Facebook has bought its first Indian company, Little Eye Labs. With a non-technical, no-code approach, the company evaluates and troubleshoots issues with Android applications. Facebook’s recent acquisitions, notably Onavo and SportStream, have leveraged analytics with a focus on mobile — important as nearly half of all users interact with the social media behemoth via mobile on a day-to-day basis.
API guru Apigee purchased InsightsOne, which helps predict how consumers will act using analytics and data. The company most recently announced more than 200 percent growth and with InsightsOne heads deeper into cloud.
Microsoft spent $100 million on Parature to strengthen CRM solutions in the cloud. Like other legacy vendors (i.e. Oracle), Microsoft taps acquisitions for agility and customer bases — 70 million global users, in Parature’s case.
Palo Alto Networks made its first acquisition: venture-backed startup Morta Security. Investors in the company include Greylock Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz. Palo Alto Networks picks up Morta for its defense capabilities, as the company battles advanced persistent threats, those attacks perhaps ordered by other governments. Cyber attacks are on the rise, with institutions such as The New York Times and the U.S. healthcare web site the targets of hacks.