Roundup, deals, Life Sciences Bruce V. Bigelow wrote: It’s hard for any company to raise capital in this recession, but several San Diego life sciences startups disclosed last week they had done just that. A few bright spots also appeared during a local seminar on mergers and acquisitionsR...

Network Security, IT, Software Bruce V. Bigelow wrote: When Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) announced a couple of weeks ago it had acquired Defensio, a Canadian spam filtering Web service, I realized the San Diego software developer had morphed into something bigger and more robust than I remembered. ̶...

people, Richard A. Muller, energy Bruce V. Bigelow wrote: The President of the United States is supposed to know the differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims. But somehow, as Richard Muller points out, nobody expects America’s commander in chief to know the differences between uranium and pl...

deals, Life Sciences, VC Bruce V. Bigelow wrote: During a recent discussion on the outlook in San Diego for venture funding in biotech, Sofinnova Ventures’ David Kabakoff noted that one way VCs are coping with the downturn is by broadening the syndication of their deals. That’s apparent...

VC, NVCA, Economy Bruce V. Bigelow wrote: The venture capital model might not be completely broken, but the chairman of the National Venture Capital Association says it needs to be fixed. With only six venture-backed IPOs in 2008—the worst showing since 1976—NVCA chairman Dixon Doll says...

energy, people, Unmanned Systems Bruce V. Bigelow wrote: San Diego defense contractor SAIC has been described as “the largest company nobody’s ever heard of,” but it’s been hard to make that stick since the company’s IPO in 2006. No matter. Another San Diego government ...

Roundup, deals, VC Bruce V. Bigelow wrote:   Before the economic downturn deepened last September, many venture capital firms maintained that their operations were unaffected by the overall economy. They’re not saying that anymore. VCs are reacting to hard times in different ways—and so...

VC, Life Sciences, Economy Bruce V. Bigelow wrote: A new wave of pragmatism has settled over the biotech industry, judging from the comments yesterday by three San Diego-based venture capitalists. Venture capital firms that specialize in biomedical investments still expect to do deals despite the do...

Roundup, deals, Life Sciences Bruce V. Bigelow wrote: The best part about last week’s deals and biztech news was that so much of it amounted to the first act in a continuing drama. Will the deal go through? Will that drug get approved? Stay tuned… Who needs TV soaps when a corporate buyo...

funding, Private Equity, Fund-Raising Bruce V. Bigelow wrote: Fund-raising by private equity firms slowed dramatically during the last three months of 2008, so much so, in fact, that an analysis shows an 18 percent overall decline among fund-raising by U.S. firms compared to 2007—all of it due...