Daily Links 9/8/2011: DreamIt Ventures launches Fall 2011 Philadelphia Class

DreamIt Ventures Launches Its Fall 2011 Philadelphia Class (TechCrunch)

CSC ‘in last leg' of AppLabs buy-out talks (Hindu Business Line)

Rick Sherlund Is Back! Analyst Likes MSFT, ORCL, CRM, SAP (Forbes: The Tech Trade)

IT pros heading to SAP TechEd 2011 packing questions for vendor (SearchSAP.com)

Dell’s golden opportunity isn’t in servers (Gigaom)

Infonetics Research: Pace overtakes Motorola in pay-TV set-top box (STB) market in 2Q11; STB market to peak in 2011 (Marketwire)

Comcast's thePlatform notches TV Everywhere deal with Liberty Global (CED Magazine)

TruePosition Acquires Intellectual Property from Rosum (Business Wire)
Buying for product development, or just adding to patent portfolio?

Philly tech, U-City to Old City (Philly.com: Philly Deals)
On Vuzit's Christopher Cera.

"It was a dumb idea": newspaper chain fires copyright troll Righthaven
(Ars Technica)
John Paton, on taking over as MediaNews CEO, makes decision.




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Philly Tech TidBits 9/8/2011: InstaMed raises another $5.5 million

InstaMed, the Philadelpia-based provider of healthcare payment systems, has raised an additional $5.5 million, according to an SEC Filing. Headed by Founder, President and CEO Bill Marvin, InstaMed raised $6 million in debt and equity one year ago and had prior funding rounds in 2009 ($6 million) and 2007 ($5 milion), so it has now raised at least $22.5 million. Investors have included Osage Partners, NJTC Venture Fund, US Bancorp, and Ashby Point Capital. Josh Kopelman was an early investor through his personal Midas Capital fund.
InstaMed has several Penn/Wharton connections among its management team, board and advisors; Marvin played on the varsity squash team at Penn (as did Comcast's Brian Roberts). Bill was an executive with Accenture’s Health and Life Sciences practice and founded a software company that was acquired by a Microsoft/ Pfizer joint venture.
I don't have any information about InstaMed's financial performance. It describes itself as a healthcare payments network connecting providers, payers and patients, and says it serves over 200,000 providers nationally with tens of billions of dollars in healthcare payments processed.


Speaking of Osage, they have raised $47 million for what appears to be a new private equity fund, Osage Venture Partners III, LP.


UPenn-related MentorTech Ventures has raised $10.75 million towards a $40 million offering for a new fund, MentorTech Ventures III L.P., according to an SEC filing. Though not large, MentorTech, managed by Michael B. Aronson and Boris Kalandar, takes small, usually early stage stakes in Penn-associated ventures; major successes have included Diaper.com (sold to Amazon), PayQuik (sold to Citi), Yodle, and Neat Company. With all of the entrepreneurial activity going on within Penn/Wharton, it should have plenty of opportunities ahead.


Penn Mezzanine LP of Wayne has raised $34.2 million in an offering, according to an SEC filing. Its not clear whether this is related to or completely separate from Safefuard Scientifics' announced acquisition of a 36% interest in Penn Mezzanine in July.
Penn Mezzanine, which was founded in 2010, is headed by Managing Partners Donald K. Rice and Darl A. Petty. It provides mezzanine financing to middle market companies using combinations of structured equity and debt.


Square One Bank has provided a a $2.5 million credit facility to ProfitPoint, Inc., a Clifton Heights-based provider of stored value and loyalty program solutions. NewSpring Ventures was an early investor in ProfitPoint.


Oaks, PA-based asset manager and investment processor SEI Investments teamed up with Greenwich Associates on a survey of institutional investors, consultants and fund managers globally. The first report (out of three installments) from the survey indicated that Private Equity exits were way up in the 2nd quarter, and that fund allocations to that area may increase. But SEI says that many of those exits represent “low hanging fruit” and the average holding period for a portfolio company has lengthened to five years.


Silicon Valley Research Group says it has opened a practice in Philadelphia, its fourth location. Marc Pitcher, the company’s Director of Client Services, is based in Philly. He also manages the firm's New York City practice. "Philadelphia has a burgeoning technology and venture capital scene, and the presence of the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel, Temple and other highly respected centers of innovation make the city a natural fit for our company”, Pitcher said in a statement.



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