HP names former SAP CEO Apotheker as its CEO

This is strange (I've used that word twice today). Gets booted (pretty much) at SAP, goes on to a bigger job.

HP Names Former SAP CEO Léo Apotheker As Their New CEO And President (TechCrunch)

Surprise! HP names Leo Apotheker CEO; Can he rewrite his legacy? (ZDNet Blogs)


Edison Venture sells two stakes

Edison Venture Fund of Lawrenceville, NJ, announced yesterday that they have sold their stake in CambridgeSoft, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based provider of software for the life sciences industry, back to the company. Edison says it received $40 million on a $5 million investment; 11x its initial investment and 3x a follow-on investment in CambridgeSoft. The Wall Street Journal's Venture Capital Dispatch dicusses Edison's exit strategy.

This follows an announcement earlier this week that Edison portfolio company TrueCommerce of Cranberry Township PA (near Pittsburgh), a supply chain software firm, had been acquired by HighJump Software of Eden Prairie, Minnesota. In that deal, the terms were not disclosed, but Edison said it received (pdf) a 4X return on investment and achieved a 30% IRR, which in VC terms is OK but not outstanding.




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Daily Links 9/30/2010: Sprint Execs quit Clearwire board

Plosser Opposes More Fed Bond Buying, Sees Small Deflation Risk (Bloomberg)
Plosser goes to Vineland (of all places).

The John Malone-Barry Diller throwdown (Hollywood Reporter)

Sprint Leaders Quit Clearwire Board (IDG via New York
Times)
Apparently due to Clearwire's antitrust concerns, though strange since Sprint owns a majority of Clearwire. One possible explanation of what's really going on from Light Reading Mobile.

Comcast: We will meet our IPv6 deadline
ISP to release more open source code, begin test of standard this fall
(Network World)

Comcast takes free anti-botnet service nationwide (CNET News)

Comcast Interactive Shifts Fandango’s Budkofsky To Run Mobile Ads (paidContent)

Snarls in labor talks with key unions at papers (Philadelphia Inquirer)
The Inquirer's latest update sounds more optimistic.

Nicusa Capital Calls for Leadership Changes at BioClinica
(PR Newswire)
BioClinica's response

SAP Torn Between the Old World and the New (CIO.com)

Global CIO: Tibco Surges And CEO Flips Off IBM, Oracle, And SAP (Information Week)


Announcing the Winners of the $10,000 Grant!
(Gigabit Genius Grant)




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Daily Links 9/29/2010: SunGard Higher Ed getting into course management software

Course-Management Software Deal Marks a First for SunGard (Chronicle of Higher Education)

Software firm seeks to close road in Upper Uwchlan corporate park (Daily Local News)
Bentley Systems looks to expand.

Cisco to Unveil an Affordable Home TelePresence Product for Consumers Next Week (All Things Digital: BoomTown)
May start rollout with Comcast, Verizon.

NBC Universal's Jeff Zucker on Content, Convergence, Comcast -- and Conan (Knowledge@Wharton)

Motorists on N.J. Turnpike, Garden State Parkway to get high-tech traffic 'forecasts' (Newark Star-Ledger)

Clearwire throttling at-home WiMAX users? (Engadget)
Clearwire Unclear About Customer Throttling
Many users still confused about Clear's definitions of "unlimited," "excessive"
(Broadband Reports)

SAP to buy Sage? (AccMan)

TruePosition talks up commercial proposition for mission-critical LBS (Total Telecom)

Off-Site Options for Mission-Critical Data (Signal Scape)
On the opening of the Philadelphia Technology Park.

PAETEC’s risky business (Inorganic Growth)

Oracle, Sun Labs Form Health Sciences Institute (eWeek)




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Daily Links 9/28/2010: Venmo introduces Gifi

The Wall Street Journal today has a story on the difficulties SAP has faced in getting Business byDesign off the ground (subscription required).
Also, the SAP acquisition rumor de jour centers on British-based Sage Group, which provides Financial and CRM software to the SME market.
MARKET REPORT: Sage chief looks to a future fight
(Mail Online)


Gifi lets you hide money for your friends to encourage Foursquare check-ins (VentureBeat)
Venmo's new app introduced at TechCrunch Disrupt.

TechCrunch Scooped Up By AOL
(Wired Blogs: Epicenter)

NBC Universal-Comcast prep Olympic bid (Hollywood Reporter via Reuters)

FCC denies delays in Comcast-NBC Uni review
Tells THR: 'We have not announced a timetable'
(Hollywood Reporter)

Comcast Shakes Up Speed Tiers
16 Mbps users get 20 Mbps upgrade, 22 Mbps tier goes away
(Broadband Reports)

Canoe's Verklin: National ITV Ads Are Here Now
MSO Ad Venture Targeting 25 Million Households By End Of 2010
(Multichannel News)

HDNET Coming To New Comcast Markets This Week? (Zatz Not Funny!)

The Long Goodbye: Xmarks Tried to Sell Twice, Before Closing Down With Class (All Things Digital: BoomTown)
Xmarks had been backed by Mitch Kapor; First Round Capital was also an early seed investor.

Evidently IBM bought Cast Iron Systems for $190 million (DBMS2)
I wonder what this implies for the valuation of Cast Iron competitor Boomi of Berwyn.

SDI plans on high job growth over time (Philadelphia Business Journal)


Connectify Releases Version 2.1 - Extends Wi-Fi Sharing to Major Gaming Systems (PR Newswire)




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Meet Steve Burke: NBCU's Prudent Risk-Taker, Zucker Antidote (The Wrap)

Vivendi sells $2 bln NBC stake to GE (Reuters)

Sony, Warner, Disney Planning $30 Home Film-Viewing Option
(Bloomberg)

Will These Guys Kill The Next Google? (Knowledge@Wharton via
Forbes)

Boomi is making some noise with its move to the cloud
Internet software service simplifies applications integration
(Philadelphia Business Journal)
39 employees, according to the article, which is less than I would have thought at this point (though that is not necessarily a bad thing).




Unilever SAP integration looming with £2.3bn Alberto Culver acquisition (Computerworld UK)

Infosys to develop a SAP Business ByDesign practice (ZDNet Blogs)



Novell Launches SUSE Linux for SAP (eWeek)

Answering Our Own Questions About Oracle's Social Acquisition Plans (Read Write Cloud)


Burke to head NBC Universal following merger

Burke Will Head NBC Universal Following Comcast Merger (paidContent)

Vanguard CEO Bill McNabb's top challenge is complacency (USA Today)


myYearbook on Silicon Alley Insider's Digital 100

Social Networking site myYearbook of New Hope is the only company from the Philadelphia area (though some think of New Hope as a distant New York suburb) that I see on Silicon Alley Insider's Digital 100: The World's Most Valuable Startups. myYearbook is ranked 68th with estimated market value of $185 miliion, which may seem a little high, but perhaps not with some people talking about Facebook being worth $25 to $30 bilion. myYearbook's backers include First Round Capital and Northwest Venture Partners.

Recyclebank, which started in Philadelphia before moving its HQ to New York and still has significant operations here, has an estimated market value of $100 million, SAI says. Recyclebank has recieved investments of over $70 miliion, according to CrunchBase, so $100 million would be a marginal return. I've always had some questions about the long-term economic viability of Recyclebank's business model.

A relatively small fund, PENN-related MentorTech Ventures, has two of its portfolio companies in the top 100: Jersey City's Diapers.com and New York's Yodle, which I think actually started out in Philly.

Who else from the Philly area might belong on this list? Four possibilities that come to mind are Cloud software integrator Boomi of Berwyn, corporate meeting management site StarCite of Philadelphia (an ICG portfolio company), and two Healthcare IT firms: Portico Systems of Blue Bell (Safeguard Scientifics) and Octagon Research Solutions of Wayne. The SAI rankings are very consumer-centric, though, and don't pay much attention to enterprise-oriented applications.




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Kopelman cancels on TechCrunch (Wonder Why)

“Ask A VC” Guest Swap: Kopelman Out; Hirshland In (TechCrunch)
Didn't know First Round Capital was raising a new fund. But perhaps this has something to do with it:

After Quiet Dinner, Angels Get Indigestion (New York Times: DealBoook)
Collusion in Silicon Valley Investing? (New York Times: DealBook)
Angel investors fire back at Arrington.


Daily Links 9/21/2010: Oracle, SAP, SunGard advance Cloud strategies

Exclusive: Comcast Reshuffles Its Digital Deck Before NBC Comes Aboard (All Things Digital: MediaMemo)



CableLabs Eyes a Super-Sized Upstream
(Light Reading Cable)

Oracle, HP Settle Hurd Lawsuit (Information Week)

Hasso Plattner Ventures Invests $6 Million in Panaya
New Investor will be Instrumental in SAP Upgrade Automation Leader's Expansion Plans
(Business Wire)

When Group Buying Met Check-In: SCVNGR Hooks Up With BuyWithMe On Local Deals (TechCrunch)

Loan Quality Firms Merge to Form Aklero Risk Analytics (Aklero Press Release)

USA Technologies Reports Results for Fiscal Year 2010 Highlighted by Record Gross Profit for Its Fiscal Fourth Quarter (Business Wire)


MetroPCS Launches First LTE Network in U.S. (PC Magazine)

Oracle Unveils Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management 8 (Marketwire)
I didn't realize Primavera founder Joel Koppelman was still with Oracle. Bala Cynwyd-based Primavera was acquired by Oracle in 2008.

Exalogic: Larry Gets the Cloud Now & He Wants It All (GigaOM)

Exclusive: Sungard to launch public cloud services (Computer Business Review)

SAP Moves an OnDemand Service to Amazon (PC World)






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First Round-backed Solve Media (formerly AdCopy) officially launches

Two months ago I wrote about First Round Capital's investment in a startup called AdCopy, which was seeking to monetize CAPTCHAs (those letters you type in on many websites to verify you are not a bot) as an advertising vehicle. AdCopy had offices in New York and Philly, according to its website. There hasn't been much news about them since then.

But today the company, now renamed Solve Media, officially launched. It has reportedly raised about $6 million, from First Round, AOL, New Atlantic Ventures, and individual angel investors. CEO Ari Jacoby was previously a founder of VoiceStar, the Philadelphia pay per call advertising service sold to Marchex in 2007. VoiceStar was also a First Round portfolio company.


Daily Links 9/20/2010: Rosetta buys digital agency Level Studios

I.B.M. to Buy Analytics Firm for $1.7 Billion (New York Times: DealBook)
Right in the middle of Oracle's big party.
Global CIO: Will Larry Ellison Launch Bidding War With IBM For Netezza? (Information Week)

Digital Agency Rosetta Bulks Up, Acquires Mobile Firm Level Studios
N.J.-Based Shop Adds 215 Employees, $45 Million in Revenue
(Ad Age)
Rosetta is based in Hamilton, NJ.

Who Will Run NBC? (The Daily Beast)

John Malone Heaps Praise on Roberts (Multichannel News)

Verizon Lines Up Seidenberg's Successor (Light Reading)


Philly Tech Tidbits 9/20/2010: SCVNGR, IDEA2010, Tedx Philly

The New York Times on Saturday had an indepth article on the psychology of entrepreneurs, focused on SCVNGR founder Seth Priebatsch. SCVNGR started as a project at Princeton, went through Philly's DreamIt Ventures incubator in 20008, before being backed by Highland Capital Partners and eventually, Google Ventures. The company is now based in Cambridge.

IDEA2010 is coming to Philadelphia September 30
through October 2. The annual conference of the Information Architecture Institute, which serves User Interface Design professionals, will be held at the Independence Seaport Museum.

Philly finally gets its own TEDx. TEDx Philly will be held on November 18 at the Kimmel Center.

Philly area entrepreneur Gabriel Weinberg (search engine Duck Duck Go) is part of an informal group of angel investors called Hacker Angels, who describe themselves as hackers "in the good sense." The group's website says "we may provide feedback, advice, mentorship, hacking, investment and/or serve as advisors or independent board members, on an individual basis". Other members include AOL executive Roy Rodenstein, Delicious founder Joshua Schachter, Hotornot's Jim Young, and Punchfork founder Jeff Miller. Four of the five members recently participated in a funding of Boston-based Locately, which provides consumer location analytics using GPS data.

Microsoft Windows Phone 7 is supposedly going to be launched on October 11, and it faces a difficult challenge getting developer mindshare away from Google's Android and Apple. To get things going in Philadelphia, Microsoft has scheduled two events: a Windows Phone 7 Firestarter event this Wednesday the 22nd at Penn's Houston Hall (there is also an evening workshop that night), and a Windows Phone 7 Developer Launch on October 6 at the Park Hyatt Philadelphia.

Chattersource, a new website created by two Wharton students, Amy Cooper and Kristina Anderson, is intended to be a sort of Yelp targeted initially at Philadelphia-area college students. A school email address is required for each account.


Vanguard Group #1 on 2010 Information Week 500

The new Information Week 500 is out, and although it often tends to read pretty much the same from year to year, one interesting move is that the Vanguard Group of Malvern, the giant mutual fund, now has the top ranking (though it has been highly ranked in previous years). See detailed profile here. I'll do a rundown of the other area companies included soon.





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NBC's fall guys
Comcast assembling exec army for autumn run
(New York Post)

Nemours Tops in the Nation for Health Information Technology (PR Newswire)

Motorola 'eager' to get into tablet market, but won't do so until next year (Engadget)

Oracle posts strong first quarter: Hurd makes debut; Exadata the focus (ZDNet Blogs)
Also, Oracle's Larry Ellison suggests his company is way ahead of SAP in developing in-memory database technology.

Apple, Google and Others: Vying for Prime Time in the Digital Living Room (Knowledge@Wharton)



Potential buyer gives WPCS International ultimatum
(Philadelphia Business Journal)


Daily Links 9/16/2010: Comcast sees huge opportunity in business services

Angelakis: Big Opportunities in Commercial
NBCU On Track for Year-End Close
(Multichannel News)

Coalition Seeks Another Comcast/NBCU Hearing
Argues deal deserves another vetting because it will 'set the benchmark' for future consolidation
(Broadcasting & Cable)

Netflix. Meet Hulu. Now, How About Merging Together? (Fast Company)

Sprint CFO: Clearwire buyout too expensive for now (Reuters)

Motorola Mobility: Westward, Ha! (Light Reading Mobile)
Not sure what this is going to mean for Horsham-based Motorola Home, which is to be spun off as part of Motorola Mobility.

Philly Fed Index Shows Contracting Manufacturing in Mid-Atlantic Region (Wall Street Journal: Real Times Economics Blog)
Philly Fed Business Outlook Survey

Oracle FY Q1 Revs, Profits Exceed Street Estimates (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)
Oracle Earnings Top Estimates on Software, Sun Sales (Bloomberg)


Philly's Newspapers Are Going Back on the Block
(Daily Finance)

Checkpoint Systems Creates RFID-centric 'Visibility' Division (RFID Journal)

Alteva helps channel partners with no money down UC rental plan (FierceVoIP)
Alteva is based in Philadelphia.

Taleo Powers Talent Exchange With Aria Billing and Subscription Management Platform (Marketwire)
Aria is based in Media.




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Daily Links 9/15/2010: InstaMed raises $6 million

New auction set for Philadelphia newspapers (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Air Products Nominees Win Three Seats on Airgas Board (Bloomberg Business Week)

InstaMed Raises $6 Million in Growth Capital
Capital will support InstaMed’s triple digit growth and enhance its bi-coastal data centers
(Business Wire)


The World According to Dick Ebersol
The 2010 Broadcaster of the Year reflects on his accomplishments, a successful 2010 and what lies ahead
(Broadcasting & Cable)

Comcast CFO warns that programming costs will continue to go up (LA Times: Company Town)

Canoe CTO: 'T-Commerce' Coming in 2011 (Light Reading Cable)

Main Line tech stock keeps rising (Philly.com: Philly Deals)
On QlikTech.

Microsoft Questions Salesforce.com Cloud Computing Growth Prospects (Intelligent Enterprise)

The making of the Technology Park deal (Philadelphia Business Journal: Real Estate Blog)

Google Health--Rumors of its death have been somewhat exaggerated (The Health Care Blog)

WPCS Reports FY2011 First Quarter Financial Results (PR Newswire)

C&D Technologies Reaches Agreement in Principle with Group of Major Noteholders on Financial Restructuring Plan (PR Newswire)



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Daily Links 9/14/2010: Philadelphia Technology Park Opens in The Navy Yard

SCVNGR Launches Rewards in Philadelphia (Marketwire)

Newspaper buyers have until noon to reach deal with drivers (Philadelphia Daily News)
Philadelphia Inquirer Buyer Said to Cancel Purchase, Forcing New Auction (Bloomberg)

Philadelphia Technology Park Opens in The Navy Yard
Philadelphia Technology Park Debuts $25 Million Data Center to House Computer System IT Infrastructure for Philadelphia Area Organizations
(Business Wire)

Evolve IP Completes Financing of $8.7 Million in Growth Capital
(Business Wire)

GSI Commerce Appoints Deann Harvey Chief Sales Officer for Global Marketing Services Division
Harvey to lead global sales to extend reach and drive revenue for clients
(Business Wire)
Yesterday's post about PointRoll and GSI by Jim Hopkins on his Gannett Blog seems prescient now.


SAP Finds A Message And Messenger (Forbes Blogs: Upside Potential)

DEMO: SAP Co-CEO Bill McDermott says ‘The device changes everything’ (VentureBeat)
SAP Press Release

IBM CEO Shreds HP, Mark Hurd (Silicon Alley Insider)

Airgas's McCausland Takes `Pugnacious' Tack in His $5 Billion Proxy Fight (Bloomberg)

Cox, Time Warner Cable in Swap Talks?
(Light Reading Cable)

UniTek Global Services Announces Public Offering of 6,250,000 Shares of Common Stock (PR Newswire)

Journal Register Company Expands Advertising Partnership With Yahoo! Into Philadelphia Market (Marketwire)

Ben Franklin Technology Partners (NE) lists new investments (Allentown Morning Call)




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Daily Links 9/13/2010: Post-Saridakis, pointed questions about PointRoll

Post-Saridakis, pointed questions about PointRoll (Gannett Blog)
PointRoll, based in Conshohocken, is owned by Gannett.

Drivers vote down latest contract offer from Philadelphia newspapers (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Paetec buying rival telecom Cavalier for $460M (AP via Google News)
Both Paetec and Cavalier have operations in the Philadelphia area.

Cable’s Fall Agenda in D.C.
Industry Thrust Into ‘Vortex’ of Broadband Policy Issues
(Multichannel News)

Will Oracle Buy Informatica Next? (IDG via New York Times)

SAP New-Product Blitz Tomorrow (Information Week: Global CIO Blog)

Ojo Video Phone Lives! Er, Again! (Zatz Not Funny!)

Chattanooga, TN beats Google to 1Gbps—for $350 a month (Ars Technica)

Cable-TV slowly steps into stereo 3-D (EE Times)

Ex-Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz Launches Health IT Firm
Picture of Health is recruiting staff for a firm that aims to "leverage technology in pursuit of better health."
(Information Week)


TiVo down but not out; turnaround could be coming (San Jose Mercury News)

Clearwire 'Finally in New York City' (Light Reading Mobile)


Daily Links 9/8/2010: RIGHTNETWORK launches

Network for conservative entertainment launches (AP via Google News)
RIGHTNETWORK Launches Nationwide
Multi-Platform Entertainment Network for Right-Minded Americans Delivers New VOD Programming, Online Portal and Mobile Content
(PR Newswire)
No, Comcast is not behind this, though Comcast-Spectacor Chairman Ed Snider is as an individual investor. And Philly's Red Tettemer has handled the launch campaign.
(Update: A RIGHTNETWORK media representative confirms that it will be based in Philadelphia.)

Careerminds Receives Venture Capital Funding (PR Newswire)

SAP To Deploy Up To 17,000 iPads In 12 Months (ZDNet Blogs)

SAP partner launches cloud-based mobile app service
Leapfactor announces several free App Store enterprise apps
(Computerworld)

Comcast Gets Texty
Operator Launches COMCAST4U SMS Text Messaging Service
(Multichannel News)

Court allows warrantless cell location tracking (CNET News)
Decision of a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit in Philadelphia.

Federal Reserve Board Beige Book: Third District--Philadelphia, September 8, 2010 (Federal Reserve Board)

Knowledge Rules Implements Innovative Cloud Computing Solution to Refactor Legacy Applications for BNP Paribas Global Banking Network (PR Newswire)




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Former H.P. Exec Hurd joins Oracle

Former H.P. Chief Joins Oracle as Co-President (New York Times)


Philly Tech Tidbits 9/6/2010

SAP has already distributed over 1,000 iPads to its employees, according to a tweet by SAP CIO Oliver Bussmann, who
promises "more to come". ZDNet talks about what they are doing with them.

Scott McNulty, who joined Comcast last year as Chief Blogger to help the corporation get its Comcast Voices blog started, announced last week he is leaving to join Wharton Computing at Penn.

The anonymous publisher of the well-read Healthcare IT blog HIStalk remarked in one recent post that "I keep hearing that Comcast will make some big healthcare moves soon", though he is not specific as to what they might be.

Now a Philly tradition, (the 4th annual) PodCamp Philly 2010 is
scheduled for October 2-3 at Temple U. Its website describes it as a "Barcamp-style community unconference for anyone interested in podcasting, blogging, video-casting and social media". I know it was very helpful to me when I was just starting to blog, and the price is right also.

UpNext, a 3D mapping startup out of New York, has added a
version of its iPad app for Philadelphia (its also available on the iPhone). UpNext lets you navigate through a city interactively and do things like tapping on a building to see which businesses are located inside of it. The app is free (see demo).

Temple University was one of five schools this year to test out RoomBug, a Facebook app from a company named U-Match LLC
that helps students find compatible roommates.

The mortgage business is tough right now, but one unnamed Philadelphia mortgage banker was working so hard to keep up that she reportedly came down with what's called "BlackBerry Thumb" from texting clients 12 hours per day, though she was using an iPhone. She needed surgery on her thumb to remove inflamed tendons.

The Philadelphia Metro Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication is seeking entries for its annual Technical Communication Competition. The deadline for submissions is October 4. All english language entries are acceptable, regardless of geographical origin.




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Philly Tech People News 9/6/2010

Comcast-Spectacor taps Comcast Cable for new CFO (Philadelphia Business Journal)

SL Industries Names Louis J. Belardi Chief Financial Office
(PR Newswire)

Rajant Adds Two Software Engineers (Business Wire)


Mark Hurd in Discussions to Join Oracle as a `Top Executive,' WSJ Reports (Bloomberg)

Virtual Public Art Comes to Philadelphia (Arts, Culture and Creative Economy)


The Struggle for What We Already Have (New York Times)
On Net neutrality.


VC Profile: Radnor's Cross Atlantic Capital Partners

Cross Atlantic Capital Partners has been a relatively quiet venture capital firm compared to some others located in the Philadelphia area. But the Radnor-based firm (also known for short as XACP), with more than $500 million in assets under management, has had its share of major success stories.

Cross Atlantic truly spans the Atlantic, with offices in Ireland and Scotland, and portfolio companies based over there as well. A significant portion of its capital base comes from two co-investment funds it manages for the the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS). It focuses on the commercialization of patented or specialty know-how in early to mid-stage technology companies. The firm was founded by Chairman and CEO Donald Caldwell, who had previously served as President & COO of Safeguard Scientifics. It raised its first fund in 1999.

Significant exits have included leading software as a service (SaaS) provider Netsuite (IPO), Rubicon Technology, which manufactures materials for light-emitting diodes (IPO), Kanbay International, a technology consulting firm (sold to Capgemini), and Ecount, a provider of internet-based payment systems(sold to Citi). It also recently sold a small stake in ICG Commerce of King of Prussia, a once struggling but now successful procurement outsourcing provider, back to its founder Internet Capital Group.

Cross Atlantic recently lead a $6.1 million Series B funding round in King of Prussia's Health Market Science (HMS), which provides an extensive database on healthcare providers. Cross Atlantic invested $4 million, and was joined by return investor Edison Venture Fund of Lawrenceville, New Jersey and other institutional investors. This was XACP's first investment in HMS; Edison has invested a cumulative total of $18.5 million in the company. XACP Managing Director Richard Fox joined the HMS Board of Directors.


Although HMS has traditionally focused on serving the marketing function in the healthcare industry, Cross Atlantic sees opportunities for significant growth due to changes in the healthcare regulatory environment, the Healthcare Reform Act and the HITECH Act. One example is real-time prescriber eligibility validation services, which helps prescibers meet federal, state, Medicaid and scope of practice eligibility attributes. A major area of potential growth is Master Data Management, in which HMS uses proprietary tools to help match and integrate various sources of data for the customer, and maintain the database on an ongoing basis, either on the customers's premise or via a cloud-type service.

Health Market Science reported revenue of $22.1 million in 2009, compared with $28.7 million in 2008,according to Inc. Magazine's Inc. 5000 issue. (These figures are presumably correct as they are self-reported by the company.) This followed several prior years of strong growth. In a telephone interview, Fox declined to discuss HMS' current financial position except to say that they expected growth of 15 to 20% this year (and have recently posted several open positions).

Another recent XACP investment that Fox is enthusiastic about is Interactions Corporation, a Massachusetts-based provider of interactive voice response (IVR) systems for call center management.

Other Philly-area companies in the XACP portfolio include Voxware, a Hamilton, New Jersey provider of voice-directed systems for warehouse picking applications, and NTERA, a Radnor-based producer of printable electrochromic materials for display and color-changing applications used in Smart Cards, Smart Packaging, and Smart Objects. MobileAware, which is based in Ireland, has its US offices in South Jersey.

Another interesting fact about XACP is that it has an outstanding patent lawsuit against Facebook. The suit, Cross Atlantic Capital Partners Inc. v. Facebook Inc, was filed in 2007 on the basis of a patent XACP owns via a former startup entitled "System for creating a community for users with common interests to interact in" that was filed and issued before Facebook was launched. In September 2009, the Patent & Trademark Office examiners issued a decision that reaffirmed the validity of XACP's patent; Facebook is currently challenging that decision before the Patent Office Board of Patent Appeals (though even if Cross Atlantic's patent claim is upheld, the process will be far from over).




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SCVNGR to launch rewards program for Philly September 14

SCVNGR, the Cambridge, Massachusets-based startup that originated as a project at Princeton and went through the first DreamIt Ventures program in 2008, will launch its SCVNGR Rewards program for Philadelphia on September 14 at Social Media Day Philadelphia, according to the event's website.

SCVNGR Rewards, which was just rolled out in Boston this past Tuesday, enables local businesses advertising with SCVNGR to offer freebies or discounts to people who have earned points using SCVNGR's mobile apps.

SCVNGR is backed by Google Ventures, among others, and reportedly employs more than 60 people.


Daily Links 9/2/2010: King of Prussia's GreenLink Launches Local Group Buying Product for Television

GSI to shed sporting goods inventory in a deal with Sports Authority
GSI will sell most of its remaining sporting goods inventory to Sports Authority.
(Internet Retailer)

GreenLink Launches Local Group Buying Product for Television (Business Wire)

Five predictions to watch when a new Comcast/NBC emerges (Sports Business Journal)

Is Charles Phillips Leaving Oracle? (IDG via New York Times)

SAP's Sybase deal requires customers to update their mobile CRM strategy (SearchCRM.com)

New, Interactive Website CommonSpace Launched to Connect Philadelphia Friends to Social Fun, Seeks Consumer Input (PR Newswire)

University of Pennsylvania Awarded $7.5 Million From NSF to Contribute "Nebula" to Next Internet Architecture (Media Newswire)

FCC net neutrality proposal delayed (Washington Post: Post Tech)

Verizon officially announces prepaid smartphone data packages (Engadget)

Thomson Reuters buys health care data company (AP via Business Week)
Acquires Healthcare Data Management Inc. of King of Prussia.

How to Solve the TV Guide Problem (Media Experiences 2 Go: Motorola Home Blog)




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Daily Links 9/1/2010: Sprint ponders possible T-Mobile investment in Clearwire

Kenexa To Acquire Salary.com In $80 Million Deal (TechCrunch)

Three Things Investors May or May Not Like About Kenexa Buying Salary.com (Seeking Alpha)

Philly union says Tierney-could-return rumor is false (Poynter Online: Romenesko)

Startup Incubator TechStars Invades New York City (TechCrunch)

Report: Apple TV to launch with Netflix (CNET News)

Tiny New Apple TV Costs $99, 99-Cent TV Rentals Confirmed (GigaOM)

Sprint debates rival Clearwire investor: report (Reuters)

Clearwire, Sprint, Comcast break Boston's 4G floodgate (Mass High Tech)

Comcast Takes 100-Meg Internet Down Jersey Shore
Business Service Based on DOCSIS 3.0 Priced at $369.95 Per Month
(Multichannel News)
Great for surfing.

FCC Asks for More Feedback on Net Neutrality
(IDG via New York Times)


Complex SAP project expected to succeed
Airgas expects many millions in annual benefits, in contrast to recent SAP failures in Marin County and elsewhere
(Network World)

Viridity Energy and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) Awarded $900,000 from the State of Pennsylvania for Innovative Project to Recycle Energy Produced by Electric Public Transit (Business Wire)

A Smart House at Drexel University in Philadelphia Is a Living Laboratory of Sustainability (Forbes: The CSR Blog)

Motorola Unit to Be Spun Off With $3.5 Billion (Bloomberg)

Healthfirst to Use Portico Systems Solutions to Transform Contracting Process (Insurance & Technology)




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