Source: OptoIQ

Rankweil, Austria – Two-photon polymerization (2PP) has recently gained interest as an additive manufacturing  technology capable of fabricating complex three-dimensional submicron structures using a femtosecond-pulsed near-infrared laser, the “femtoTRAIN™, from High Q Laser Innovation GmbH.

Researchers at the Technical University of Vienna used this method to produce feature resolution down to approximately 100 nm, a level about one order of magnitude better than other methods such as µ-stereolithography. Because of the nonlinear absorption process, it is possible to directly write inside a given volume (a transparent cube, for example) since the polymerization only takes place inside the focus of the laser beam.

The image shows a scaffold generated by two-photon polymerization with the femtoTRAIN™ TiSa with structure sizes in the sub-micron range (Image Courtesy: Dr. Jürgen Stampfl, TU Wien).

Complex 3D structures can be inscribed into a suitable matrix material and/or a resin (such as one that is acrylic based), which is selectively cured. These advantages fulfill the demands for various future applications requiring 3D structures with resolutions in the (sub)micrometer range, such as different mechanical, electronic and optical micro-devices and polymer-based optical waveguides onintegrated circuit boards or bio-inspired architectures. Read more here. 

Source: Xconomy

There have been 108 IPO filings nationwide so far this year, which is more than seven times the paltry 15 filings that were made by this time last year, according to IPO data from Renaissance Capital. The big local story so far has been Carlsbad, CA-based MaxLinear (NYSE: MSL), a wireless chip design company founded by CEO Kishore Seendripu, which raised almost $90 million in its IPO in March. (About $50 million of that was intended for the company’s capital needs, and the rest largely for investors). San Diego’s Trius Therapeutics, which registered for a $78 million IPO in November, postponed its plans in March to conform its Phase 3 protocol for its antibiotic drug candidate, torezolid phosphate, to accomodate new guidance issued by the FDA. Read more here

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek

May 18 (Bloomberg) -- The euro rose from near its lowest level versus the dollar in four years amid speculation the currency’s four consecutive weekly declines were too fast to sustain.The shared European currency gained for a second day as European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said the region would avoid a “very restrictive” fiscal stance to prevent growth from slowing. Australia’s dollar fell to almost a three-month low after minutes of the central bank’s May 4 meeting reduced speculation that interest rates will rise further as policy makers warned about the effects of Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis. Read more here

Source: TechCrunch

Venture capital firms are having their own problems raising new money from limited partners. Capital inflows in the first quarter were down 31 percent annually to $3.6 billion in the U.S., according to the National Venture Capital Association. Venture funds were also down 11 percent from the fourth quarter.

Only 32 funds were able to raise money in the first quarter, down from 44 last quarter and 57 a year ago. Only 5 new funds were launched, with the vast majority of the money going to established funds, including Battery Ventures and Oak Investment Partners. Both raised new $750 million funds. Read more here

Source: Altassets

Cleantech venture investments tallied up a new record for the first quarter of this year, with 180 deals edging past the previous record high of 165 deals for Q4 2009, according to new data from Deloitte & Touche.  Read more here. 

Source: Techdirt.com

When the startup visa was first put forth by Paul Graham, I was a big supporter. When Brad Feld took the idea and got political support for it, I was still a big supporter. But when the bill was actually introduced, I expressed some serious worries about it -- specifically over the fact that it was entirely focused on enterpreneurs who could raise a certain amount of money. As I noted, there were some potentially serious unintended consequences of requiring enterpreneurs to raise a specific amount of money just to stay in the country.  Read more here.  

Source: The New York Times

Maples Investments, whose founder Mike Maples, Jr. has backed high-profile web startups like Twitter and Digg, announced today that it’s renaming itself Floodgate and transforming itself from an angel investment firm into a “Super Angel.”  Read more here. 

Source: Xconomy

There was a lot of turmoil in the Bay State last month: tumultuous weather, seasonal lethargy, and school vacations, not to mention the ongoing discussion/celebration/lamentation surrounding newly elected senator Scott Brown, who arrived in Washington to create even more confusion around health care reform. But investors sure kept their focus, as the venture deals kept coming at a reasonably strong pace.

In total, investors put up $203 million across 26 equity deals in what's perhaps the most dreary month of the year for Bay Staters. The deal figures (not the weather analysis) come thanks to data provided by our partner, private company intelligence platform CB Insights. The Feb funding tally was well down from the $355.2 million and 28 equity deals in January. But it falls flatly in the middle of the pack since we began tracking monthly deals last June. Four months have been higher and four have been lower. And the February totals aren't too far below September ($228 million, 25 deals), which was the second-best month in terms of dollars invested since our tracking began. With all the VCs fleeing to Maui and similar locales for their spring breaks, for them to say aloha to that much money speaks pretty well for local entrepreneurs. To read more, click here.

Source: MHT

Angel investment needs to become much more active in seeding startups in the Boston area. That was one of the strong conclusions to come out of an occasionally heated panel discussion at the MIT Stata Center last night.

CEO and founder of Oneforty Inc. Laura Fitton was one of the CEOs presenting who had received help in launching a company from angel investors or incubators. Fitton indicted the Boston angel community, stating she had to go to the West Coast just to raise her seed funding.

"I literally moved to California for three months to raise my angel money," Fitton told the sold-out crowd. "Only $15,000 of that $150,000 came from Boston and everything else was California. So Boston's got to wake up and start putting its money where its mouth is. And I had introductions from, like Dan Hessen, Bill Warner and Dan Bricklin, and they couldn't get me a single interview out here." To know more, click here.

Source: The Wall Street Journal.

For start-ups that harness the energy of the sun, 2010 looks to be a promising year.

In The Wall Street Journal's first survey of venture-backed clean technology companies, three makers of solar cells came out on top: Solyndra Inc. of Fremont, Calif.; Suniva Inc. of Norcross, Ga.; and eSolar Inc. of Pasadena, Calif. The rankings, announced Thursday at the Journal's ECO:Nomics Executive Conference in Santa Barbara, Calif., seek to identify those green companies that have the capital, executive experience and investor know-how to succeed in an increasingly crowded field. Read more here.