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: Xconomy

Boston isn’t Houston as far as energy industry hubs go. But here in New England, there is a lot of innovation with light-emitting diodes, these energy-conserving tools that can be found everywhere from homes to warehouses to urban skyscrapers, and embedded in products like TVs, projectors, medical devices, and software systems.

Light-emitting diodes, which are semiconductors that release energy when voltage is applied, are commonly referred to as LEDs for short. They’ve long been seen as energy-efficient lighting replacements, but the technologies sprouting up out of this city aren’t nearly so straightforward. Read more here

Source: MHT

As part of each week's Startup Report, Mass High Tech highlights five startup companies, and their business goals, that are profiled in the New England Tech Directory. With each week's Startup Watch, Mass High Tech will choose the weekly featured companies by soliciting nominations through a poll of 10 companies, with links to their profiles in the New England Tech Directory. Please choose five startups that you would like to know more about for the March 30 edition of Mass High Tech's weekly Startup Report e-mail by visiting www.masshightech.com/startup-watch.

For guest access to today's directory listings, visit the following companies:

Eolian Renewable Energy LLC: Portsmouth, N.H.-based Eolian develops commercial-scale wind and solar power generation technology. The company was founded in 2009.

Lattice Engines Inc.: Boston-based Lattice Engines makes predictive analytics software. The company was founded in 2006.

ThinkLite LLC: Wellesley-based Thinklite provides an energy efficiency service focused on lighting. The company was founded in 2009.

Virebo LLC: Cambridge-based Virebo makes software that tracks and analyzes office printing. The company was founded in 2009.

Zthere Corp.: Founded in 2009, Zthere is developing mobile communications applications for real-world environments. The company is based in Cambridge.

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 quincy cove

At today's event, attended by hundreds of entrepreneurs and business leaders, Governor Patrick declared February 23 "Massachusetts Entrepreneurship Day," and officially broke ground on the new Cambridge Innovation Center space which, thanks to new growth and high demand, will be nearly doubling its size by summer 2010. The Cambridge Innovation Center is the largest grouping of start-up companies under one roof on the East Coast with 240 tenants, most of them startup companies.

"Entrepreneurship and innovation are such vital components of the state's economy, and the administration's continued support of these areas is admirable," said Senator Karen Spilka, Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development. "Together with the Senate President, I have been focusing on ways to create a more business-friendly environment and foster entrepreneurship through our economic development proposal. With all of the state's leaders so focused on growing businesses and growing jobs, we are well poised to create a strong future for innovation and growth here." To read more, click here.

Source: Government Technologies

No amount of brainpower or world-class technology could save Silicon Valley last year from the wrath of the recession.

In the San Francisco Bay Area's high-tech hub, the economic downturn caused jobs, patents and venture capital investment to decline in 2009, according to a study released in February by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network and Silicon Valley Community Foundation. The survey, titled the "2010 Index of Silicon Valley," also shows office vacancy at its highest rate since 1998 as the focus has shifted from software to green energy, the media, biotech and medical devices.

With the loss of 90,000 jobs between the second quarters of 2008 and 2009, the cutting-edge innovators of Silicon Valley "could not insulate ourselves from the larger economic downturn," said Russell Hancock, Joint Venture president and CEO, and Silicon Valley Community Foundation CEO Emmett Carson, in a joint statement. To read more, click here.

Source: MHT

New England tech companies may be putting the recession in their rearview mirrors based on hiring and confidence data collected by Mass High Tech in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Almost one third of the regional tech companies responding to MHT's quarterly Pulse survey (30.8 percent) plan to grow their local head count by more than 10 percent in early 2010.

With 18.9 percent of the 567 respondents saying they will boost hiring by at least 20 percent, that marks the highest total for that hiring level in more than a year and a half. While biotech, medical and Internet companies were most likely to grow their staffs by at least 20 percent, growth was expected in all tech sectors.
To read more, click here.

Source: MHT

Atlas Venture is consolidating operations around a new Boston-area headquarters, bringing partner Fred Destin home from Europe, the company announced in a press release this morning. 

The firm also announced reductions in its London-based investment team. Partners Graham O'Keeffe and Regina Hodits, both based in London, will both take the title of venture partner. Partner Christopher Spray will continue to manage the firm's European portfolio from London.

A spokesman declined to specify the new office's location, beyond saying it will be in "the Boston area." Atlas currently keeps its headquarters in Waltham.
To read more, click here.

Source: Innovation Economy

Just two weeks after marking its 10th anniversary last month, the Cambridge Innovation Center signed a new 10-year lease with MIT that will see it almost double in size by this summer. Founder and CEO Tim Rowe says he's adding 57,000 square feet of new space, bringing his total footprint in the building at One Broadway in Kendall Square to 122,000 square feet.
Already, CIC is the largest collection of start-up companies under one roof on the East Coast, with 240 tenants. Rowe says nearly 20 companies are on a waiting list for space in the building: "We're bursting at the seams." To read more, click here.