Flush with nearly $20 million in new capital, nanotechnology firm Arrowhead Research Corp. will increase its investments in several universities and look to add partners.
Pasadena-based Arrowhead works with universities to fund promising technologies in exchange for the exclusive rights to spin them into commercially viable companies. Caltech, Duke University and Stanford University are among the schools the firm is currently working with.
Arrowhead received $19.6 million from two private equity firms. Knott Partners, based in Syosset, N.Y. and an existing shareholder of Arrowhead, increased its stake from 9.5 percent to 12.5 percent. New York-based hedge fund York Capital Management invested $14.6 million, receiving almost 4.2 million shares in the company.
With assets of about $2 billion, York is described as an “event-driven hedge fund” and is likely looking to capitalize on heightened interest in the nanotech space. Last year about $480 million in venture capital flowed into nanotech start-ups, and momentum has intensified over the last few months.
Arrowhead stock had been trading in the $3 range for most of last year. Both York and Knott also received warrants to purchase an additional 1.4 million shares at $5.04 per share.
Video Tag
Social networking upstart TagWorld Inc., claiming 500,000 members since its December launch, has added video capabilities to its Web site. Aiming squarely at MySpace.com, now a division of News Corp., L.A.-based TagWorld is tapping into the Web-based video frenzy that has companies like Yahoo Inc., Google Inc. and others searching for a way in.
TagWorld allows users to design their own Web pages with drag-and-drop windows no HTML or programming experience required.
“We’re trying to get people to migrate from MySpace,” chief executive Evan Rifkin said. The company launched its music site last month with more than 1,000 artists, including indie rock favorites Death Cab for Cutie and the Postal Service.
TagWorld’s crown jewel is its reporting capabilities. Rifkin said that within two hours of a song being played, the site reports demographic data including whether the listener was male or female, their location and what other music they’re playing. “It can help a band decide where they should tour,” Rifkin said. “Should you tour in Phoenix, or should you tour in San Diego?” TagWorld is privately funded by Rifkin and earns revenue by selling advertising on the site.
Bionic Eyes
Pasadena-based Evolution Robotics, an Idealab company, won a contract with South Korea’s Yujin Robotics to design a household robot for the Korean Ministry of Information and Communication. The company makes vision technology that allows robots to “see” and recognize objects and obstacles. Though still a part of the Idealab incubator, the company is expected to break even this year, according to President and Chief Executive Paolo Pirjanian. “We basically make the brains of these robots,” Pirjanian said. The company also counts Sony Corp. as an early customer. Evolution licensed technology for visual pattern recognition for the next-generation of the Aibo, Sony’s pet dog-like robot. The company just announced a spin-off, Evolution Robotics Retail, which will focus on selling the optical technology to the retail industry. Its LaneHawk product can recognize products laying in a customer’s grocery cart, automatically ringing them up at the cash register.
*Staff reporter Hilary Potkewitz can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 226, or by e-mail at
[email protected]
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