The Launch Factory announced their first startup venture. Unlike a typical accelerator, the Launch Factory is sort of a “reverse” accelerator in that they come up with the startup idea and then search for entrepreneurs to execute the vision. It’s not a great model for most entrepreneurs, but it could be attractive for some. I...
Procopio has a nice article warning startup founders and investors about changes that are coming to SAFEs, the popular convertible investment device developed by Y-Combinator. While the standard terms of convertible notes have remained fairly constant over the years, Y-Combinator has recently made significant changes to their standard form of SAFE, recasting it as a...
I'm running a quick poll to gauge the sequencing community's opinion about Illumina's proposed acquisition of PacBio. Just two simple questions. For the record, my answers are "yes" and "yes" (but I'm less confident about the second question). Check out my previous post to see my reasoning.
About five minutes after Illumina announced their intention to acquire PacBio, my phone started ringing with market analysts, fund managers, and journalists all looking for the answer to one question: Will this merger pass anti-trust review? While I can’t say whether it WILL, I can emphatically say that it SHOULD. Read on to see why...
If you’re currently starting up your own company here in San Diego, or even just thinking about it, San Diego Startup Week, organized by Startup San Diego, should be high on your list. The annual non-profit startup meeting/workshop/networking event promises to be bigger and better than ever this year: San Diego...
San Diego startups have a new potential source for raising VC capital, as Anzu Partners is looking to raise $150M for local investments. Their focus isn’t strictly on the life sciences, but many of their investments are in this area. Anzu’s managing partner David Michael said their areas of interest include life sciences tools, microfluidics,...
In part four of the SanDiegOmics “Blockchain Genomics” series I interview Shivom COO Dr. Natalie Pankova. Shawn Baker (SanDiegOmics.com): Please explain what Shivom is doing. What problem are you trying to solve and how are you solving it?
This is part 2 of my interview with Ross Bundy, CEO of Nanomedical Diagnostics, in which the focus is on the challenges and advantages of building a startup in San Diego. Be sure to catch part 1 of the interview if you’d like to hear more about the technology that Nanomedical is building. Shawn...
In entry three of the SanDiegOmics “Blockchain Genomics” series I interview Alex Gorbachev, the founder of Zenome. Alex explains Zenome’s goal, details of how their genome database will work, and what sets it apart from others in this field. Shawn (SanDiegOmics): Please explain what Zenome is doing (what problem is it solving and how is...
One of the nice things about being in San Diego is the diverse community of startups we have in the life sciences. One such startup I’ve been following for a while is Nanomedical Diagnostics. They’re developing a graphene-based label-free detection platform with many potential applications in the life sciences and diagnostics markets. I recently sat...