UNC-Chapel Hill has created a $5 million fund to help startups commercialize technology developed at the university.

The new Carolina Research Venture Fund, an initiative of the university’s board of trustees, aims to address the dearth of seed funding available to startups. A long-standing maxim in the startup world is that the first infusion of cash is the toughest to raise.

U.S. venture capital investment hit $48.3 billion in 2014, its highest level since 2000, according to data from the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Investments jumped 61 percent over the previous year in terms of dollars. Deals were up as well, but by a more modest 4 percent to 4,356 deals in 2014, indicating the growth of deal size and the presence of a number of “megadeals.” NVCA also noted that investments were dispersed throughout the country, with 160 U.S. metros receiving some venture capital.

With the surge in digital health tech, entrepreneurs who dream of developing the next killer healthcare app have plenty of reason to be optimistic. 2014 was a record-breaking year with over $4.1B in venture funding for digital health companies, more than the previous three years combined, according to Mercom Capital Group. The future of healthcare technology includes wearables that monitor vitals, apps that facilitate outpatient care, CRM systems that allow physicians to forge better relationships with patients, and more.

The Federal Trade Commission has finally approved the joint venture of Novartis AG (ADR) (NYSE:NVS) and GlaxoSmithKline Plc (ADR) (NYSE:GSK) in consumer health products, and Novartis has agreed to divest its Habitrol line of nicotine patches.

District-based biotech company Regenxbio has raised a $30 million funding round to move its drugs into clinical trials. T

he Washington Post reports the company's gene therapy technology, which introduces healthy genes into patients suffering from genetic disorders, will initially focus on treating diseases affecting the central nervous system and eyes. However, executives tell the Post the treatment could be used on as many as 50 different diseases.

MedImmune has formed a partnership with the National Cancer Institute to develop cancer therapies that use the immune system or attack tumor cells to fight the disease.

BioCity, the incubation specialist with locations in the East Midlands, North West and Scotland has announced a new investment fund, created following a significant contribution by AstraZeneca.

The £5 million fund, to be managed by BioCity will make equity investments, typically between £50,000 and £250,000, in life science companies based at Alderley Park, Cheshire. BioCity Chairman, Dr Louis Nisbet explains: “We are very pleased that AstraZeneca has chosen BioCity to manage these funds, not only to support the growth of a new generation of life science businesses at Alderley Park but also to make sound investment decisions that aim to replenish and grow this evergreen fund over time."

CDVCA is organizing its 20th anniversary Annual Conference in Washington, DC on March 18-20, 2015 in Washington, DC. CDVCA’s Annual Conference is the premier training and networking event for anyone interested in developmental venture capital, including social VC fund managers, emerging fund managers, investors, economic development professionals, foundations representatives, policy makers, government officials and aspiring students.

Startup Maryland's first entrepreneur-in-residence is an old hand at helping startups create leadership dream teams.

Shahab Kaviani, co-founder and CEO of CoFoundersLab in Rockville, will work with Startup Maryland members to tackle business development issues such as branding, community outreach and raising money.

BioIT Solutions, a provider of enterprise systems built on the 1Platform4™ product suite, today announced that CIO Review has chosen BioIT Solutions as one of its 20 Most Promising Biotechnology Solution providers.

BioIT Solutions was selected for its expertise in providing data management solutions for biotech research, drug development, and diagnostics. The annual list of companies is selected by a panel of experts and members of CIO Review’s editorial board to recognize and promote technology entrepreneurship.

Germantown-based Intrexon Corp. a synthetic biology company, plans to raise up to $150 million though a secondary offering of common stock, the company said late Tuesday.

Intrexon (NYSE: XON) was trading at around $29 a share Wednesday.

Washington, D.C.-based REGENXBIO Inc., announced today that it had completed a $30 million Series C financing. The round was led by Enrick and Brookside Capital. Also participating were Deerfield Management and an unnamed new investor.

Following AstraZeneca's December announcement that it is taking steps to reintroduce the EGFR-targeted non-small cell lung cancer drug Iressa (gefitinib) in the US, Qiagen said last week that it would develop a tissue-based molecular diagnostic test to accompany the drug's launch.

Venture capital investment soared in 2014, hitting a high that hasn’t been seen since 2000. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, $52.12 billion was invested in private companies last year by venture and private equity firms, as well as corporations, hedge funds and mutual funds, according to Dow Jones VentureSource.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has 3 targeted funding opportunities with deadlines in February. It’s also not too early to start preparing for the April 5 Omnibus solicitation deadline. Check your registrations (SAM must be renewed annually!) and reach out to discuss your project.

For questions about the NHLBI SBIR/STTR programs, contact Small Business Coordinator Jennifer Shieh, PhD at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Human Cellular Models for Predicting Individual Responses to CFTR-Directed Therapeutics— Due February 9

For the development and validation of novel in vitro human cell-based tools for predicting the responses of individual patients to cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR)-directed therapeutics for cystic fibrosis lung disease.

SBIR: RFA-HL-15-027 STTR: RFA-HL-15-026

For questions about these funding opportunities, contact:
Robert Smith, PhD, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Program Director, Division of Lung Diseases

Development of a Microfluidic Platform for Blood Testing in Neonatal & Pediatric Patients— Due February 10 (Phase II only)

For the development of microfluidic devices to analyze blood for factors related to the thrombotic, transfusion, and/or hemostatic status of pediatric/neonatal patients.

SBIR—Phase II only: RFA-HL-14-026
This application must be based on an awarded SBIR or STTR-funded Phase I project.

For questions about this funding opportunity, contact:
Ronald Warren, PhD, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Program Director, Division of Blood Diseases and Resources

Stem Cell-Derived Blood Products for Therapeutic Use: Technology Improvement— Due February 20

For tools and technologies that enable further advances in the manufacturing process to produce safe and functional blood and platelet products at reduced costs.

SBIR: RFA-HL-15-030 STTR: RFA-HL-15-029

Slides from the January 8 webinar are available—please send a request to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

For questions about these funding opportunities, contact:
Shimian Zou, PhD, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Program Director, Division of Blood Diseases and Resources

John Thomas, PhD, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Program Director, Division of Blood Diseases and Resources

Startup Maryland (www.startupmd.org) today announced appointment of serial entrepreneur Shahab Kaviani as Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EiR).

A recognized leader of startup communities globally, Kaviani brings over a decade of first-hand entrepreneurial expertise and leadership experience most-recently as co-founder and CEO of Rockville, MD based CoFoundersLab (now Onevest). Previously, Kaviani served on the executive management team growing another Maryland company, HyperOffice, into a cloud-collaboration software leader.

PharmAthene Inc. now knows how much money it stands to get in its long-running lawsuit with Siga Technologies Inc.: A judge Thursday said Siga must pay PharmAthene $195 million and $30,663 per day in interest if Siga loses its appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court.

The case dates to 2006, when Annapolis-based PharmAthene sued New York-based Siga after the companies' planned merger fell apart. PharmAthene claimed it was entitled to some of the profits from Tecovirimat, Siga's smallpox antiviral.

Nick Culbertson was a Green Beret. Robert Lord worked at a hedge fund in Connecticut. Then after a career change, both found themselves in medical school at Johns Hopkins University. But while there, the pair met and discovered a much greater need.

The most significant announcement that Apple made in 2014 wasn’t a larger-sized iPhone. It was that Apple is entering the health-care industry. With HealthKit, it is building an iTunes-like platform for health; Apple Watch is its first medical device. Apple is, however, two steps behind Google, IBM, and hundreds of startups. They realized much earlier that medicine is becoming an information technology and that the trillion-dollar health-care market is ripe for disruption.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, the largest owner and developer of real estate for the life-sciences industry in the nation wants to raise up to $20 million to build digital health startups in San Francisco, SFGate reports. Last year, the real estate developer announced that it would start three new accelerators nationwide to focused on agriculture, biotech and digital health. The biotech space is already up and running in New York City and has attracted giant pharma companies such as Pfizer Inc. and Eli Lily & Co with $51 million in funding. The agriculture space is scheduled to open later this year in North Carolina. 

Roche said today it will acquire Trophos for up to €470 million (about $543 million), in a deal that will expand the pharma giant’s portfolio in neuromuscular disease with high medical need, anchored by the Phase II/III-completed spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) compound olesoxime (TRO19622).

AOL founder Steve Case predicted last January that the region east of the Mississippi River would raise more venture capital than Silicon Valley in 2014.

And the winner is … Silicon Valley. By a friggin' landslide.

Please join us in wishing her well as she embarks on retirement and new adventures.

When:

January 20, 2015 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. (Remarks at 5:15 p.m.) La Tasca - Baltimore - 201 East Pratt St. (Parking validated at 100 Pratt St.- $5) Cash bar; light horse d'euvres

and/or

January 28, 2015 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. (Remarks at 4:15 p.m.; BioBuzz networking 'til 7:30 p.m.) Growlers - Gaithersburg - 227 West Diamond St. Cash bar; light horse d'euvres

Venture capital funding hit its highest annual mark since 2001 as venture investors participated in $47.3 billion across 3,617 deals. Even versus 2013, the past year was huge as venture capital skyrocketed 62% YoY due to multiple $500M+ mega-rounds while deal growth was more modest, climbing 8%. Of note, two quarters each – Q2’14 and Q4’14 – notched over $13B in funding.

All that venture capital money so famously "sitting on the sideline" finally made it into company coffers in 2014.

Mark McCaffrey, a partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, called 2014 an "exciting year" for venture capital investing, where two deals exceeded $1 billion and 40 "megadeals" exceeded $100 million.

All of us here at Startup Maryland are very excited to invite you to Collaborate, an innovation conference we're participating in January 23rd & 24th in Washington DC.

"Startup Maryland is delighted to be in the Resource Expo showcasing our initiatives around Celebration, Connections, Coaching and Capital.," stated Michael Binko, founder and president of Startup Maryland. "We'll be highlighting the results of the third-annual Pitch Across Maryland, our upcoming Raise Your Game bootcamp for entrepreneurs and our plans to engage side-line angel investors across the region," added Binko.

January 30th, 2015 8:00 AM-10:00 AM

Learn from Eitan Yudilevich, Ph.D. Director of U.S. - Israel Binational R & D Foundation (BIRD) about grants available to collaborate new high tech product development with Israeli companies. Grants up to $1 million are available to engage innovative companies from The Start Up Nation to kick start your company’s product development to a new level.While there is no fee, RSVPs are required.

New Jersey's first private medical school in 50 years is planned for part of the 110-acre Hoffmann-La Roche property. Roche plans to vacate the land in 2015 after an 80-year history in Clifton and Nutley.

Novartis India has agreed to transfer its over-the-counter division (OTC Division) to GlaxoSmithKline Consumer (GSK CPL), a consumer healthcare joint venture (JV) between Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis and GSK, for about INR1.097bn ($17.6m)

The cash just keeps flowing in health IT, as does M&A activity.

According to Mercom Capital Group, venture capital in the health IT space reached $4.7 billion in 2014, up from $2.2 billion the year prior. Rock Health recently put the figure at $4 billion, although it’s count does not include deals under $2 million.

FierceBiotech on Wednesday delivered the first big verdict on the “mood” of the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference – based largely on its executive breakfast held this week in San Francisco. The verdict: Real confidence well above and beyond the typical happy face you’d get, regardless, at JP Morgan.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Laurel, Maryland, has received $4 million in funding from the Mann Fund to develop a next-generation retinal prosthesis system. The Mann Fund was created by philanthropist Alfred E. Mann 15 years ago to support the development of biomedical technologies.

In the summer of 2013, Pamela Shavaun Scott started having "24/7 severe headaches" — so severe that she couldn't sleep. It wasn't before December that she heard for sure that it was a brain tumor.

Harvard University has long played an outsized role in spurring the growth of the Boston area’s life sciences industry, but the school’s contributions have largely unfolded behind the scenes.

Unlike the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge’s Kendall Square — the beating heart of biotech — Harvard has been known less for spinning off startups than for licensing cutting-edge research and grooming the industry’s business leaders.