They say software is eating the world, but hardware seems to be heating up on both coasts. MIT startup FINsix is developing a power adapter for laptops that’s smaller and more efficient than the brick you probably lug around. The company has moved headquarters to the San Francisco Bay Area, but is keeping a local team. It also changed its name from OnChip Power to something that feels a little more West Coast. FINsix recently raised half a million dollars on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter — that’s another trend in consumer hardware, which is often about building something people didn’t even know they needed.
In other innovation news:
— Cambridge-based Infinity Pharmaceuticals has landed a $275 million partnership with pharma giant AbbVie. The companies will run clinical trials of a blood cancer drug in a hotly contested sector.
— Our deal of the week is a $90 million private-equity round for Savant Systems, a Hyannis company developing home-automation technology. The 200-person firm seems to be positioning itself for a connected-device war between Apple and Google.
— And lastly, which local company loves that dirty water? That would be Oasys Water, which has been moving into industrial wastewater treatment. The Boston startup has landed the first of what it hopes will be many deals in China helping purify water at coal power plants. Maybe not pretty for the environment, but you’ve got to start somewhere.
