Philly Tech News Weekly Highlights 9/22 to 9/28/2013

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AllThingsD is cutting its ties with Dow Jones at year's end, and Comcast's NBCU is reported to be one possible investor in its next life.

Comcast petitioned to have a bankruptcy court oversee a reorganization of troubled Comcast
Sportsnet Houston (complicated story).

Supply Chain planning and optimization software firm Quintiq, with dual headquarters in Radnor and The Netherlands, opened an impressive new tower in The Netherlands as its new EMEA headquarters, and produced a video to give people a visual tour.

EBay's PayPal acquired payment processing platform Braintree for $800 million in cash. Mobile payments app Venmo, which started up in Philly, moved to New York and was acquired last year by Braintree for $26.2 million, was cited as a key component of the deal. I pondered whether Venmo's founders, who started the business while undergrads as Penn, got their fair share of the payout.

Saturday's highlighted links include Dan Shipper's post on what he learned from bootstrapping startup Firefly while a student at Penn.

And Rick Nucci was named the new President of Philly Startup Leaders, succeeding former Boomi mate Bob Moul, who definitely raised the organization's visibility and effectiveness.

Links 9/29/2013: Hasso Plattner responds to Oracle's barbs at HANA; QVC launches Pinterest-like offering

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Cable shopping channel QVC launches toGather, a Pinterest-like social network (Gigaom)

Oracle Debuts New Cloud Services (CRM Magazine)
One early adopter is CardConnect, which is based in King of Prussia.

SAP BW on HANA trial at Amazon – will they come? (Diginomica)


Haaso Plattner on HANA and Oracle (Hasso Plattner Blog)

Sceptical markets snub Violin Memory: Can the flashy biz bounce back? (The Register)

Shake Up: Salesforce Taps New CMO as Two Presidents Head for Exits (All Things D)


Monetate Adds "Open time" Personalized Email and Display Advertising Products to its Cloud Offering
(PR Newswire)

Glen Mills' Versify Solutions get a jolt with new contract, venture capital (Keystone Edge)

His business is to enhance your social business (Philly.com)
On PeopleLinx's Nathan Egan.

Penn Engineering's GRASP Lab and Wharton's Mack Institute Take the Y-Prize Global (PR Web)

Philly Tech People News 9/28/2013

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Behind NBCU's latest shuffle at the top (Fortune)

SAP names former Apple exec, retired admiral to National Security Services team (Washington Technology)

SAP Names Mark White General Manager of Global Public Services and Healthcare Industries (SAP Newsroom)

Pavlou appointed Associate Dean for Research, Doctoral Programs and Strategic Initiatives (Fox School at Temple)

iPipeline UK Announces Ian Teague, COO/CFO, Appointed UK Managing Director (Business Wire)

Elemica Names Ed Rusch Vice President, Corporate Marketing (Marketwire)

Cadient Group Expands Strategy Team (Philly Ad Club News)

EXTOL International Names Jeffrey Inns Vice President, Product Infrastructure (PR Newswire)

Comcast wants bankruptcy court to oversee restructuring of Comcast SportsNet Houston

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Comcast SportsNet Houston Files for Chapter 11 Protection (Multichannel News)

CSN Houston faces ‘total gridlock;’ Comcast/NBC wants bankruptcy trustee to oversee troubled network (Houston Chronicle Blog)

Jim Crane: Astros will fight bankruptcy case against ComcastSportsNet Houston (Houston Chronicle Blog)


Forbes offers another view on Astros profits (Houston Chronicle Blog)

Saturday highlights 9/28/2013: Firefly's Dan Shipper on what he's learned from bootstrapping

What I learned bootstrapping a 6-figure business from school (Dan Shipper/Distilled Thinking)
Penn student and founder of mostly bootstrapped and Dorm Room Fund-backed Firefly looks back on what he's learned. Definitely worth the read.

Box moves toward IPO destiny (San Jose Mercury News)
The very successful side of the cloud storage business.


It’s Official, The Nirvanix Cloud Storage Service Is Shutting Down
(TechCrunch)
A less successful side of the cloud storage business.

Mobile app dev for enterprises just got easier with new Node.js service (CITEworld)
Also discusses Philly-based CloudMine.

Did Venmo founders get payout they deserve?

Tom Paine

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The announcement yesterday that EBay's PayPal was acquiring payment processing platform Braintree for $800 million in cash, combined with the fact that so much attention was being lavished on Braintree's Venmo mobile payment unit (as I discussed yesterday and PayPal President David Marcus also emphasized to TechCrunch) left me pondering why Venmo only sold for $26.2 million when Braintree acquired it just 15 months ago (the deal was done by June 2012 though it didn't become public knowledge until August) if it was such a valuable part of an $800 million deal now. And did the co-founders, Andrew Kortina and Iqram Magdon-Ismail, who started Venmo as undergrads at Penn, get a good deal from Braintree?

Of course, valuations are always a bit tricky when the same party is on both sides. Accel Partners had led Venmo's largest round, and was also a lead investor in Braintree. I'm just mentioning that fact, not inferring in any way that Accel did not take proper steps too see that the interests of both companies were fully represented in the transaction.

But I do hope Kortina and Magdon-Ismail had some kind of earnout provision or equity kicker from Braintree that will give them the type of return they deserve for their efforts.

Links 9/27/2013: FCC tells Comcast to put Bloomberg TV in its news hood; Speculation that Intel may pull plug on Web TV project

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Intel Looking for Help from Amazon or Samsung to Keep Its Web TV Project Alive (All Things D)

FCC Tells Comcast to Put Bloomberg TV Among News Channels
(Bloomberg)

Top NBCU Digital Exec Lauren Zalaznick to Depart Company (All Things D)

Bill Seeks To End 'Unnecessary and Costly' Set-Top Security Ban
But Proposed Bill From Reps. Robert Latta and Gene Green Would Preserve FCC’s Ability To Regulate Set-Top Boxes In The Future (Multichannel News)


RingCentral, Violin Memory IPOs Price, Debut Friday (Investor's Business Daily)

Violin Memory's price craters after $162 million IPO (San Jose Mercury News)
SAP Ventures was a major investor in Violin Memory, as advancements in flash memory technology is deemed critical to the future of SAP's in-memory HANA platform.


Oracle CFO Says Cloud Computing Will Lift Profit Margins
(Bloomberg)


Can we refocus on SAP customer needs? (Vinnie Mirchandani/Enterprise Irregulars)

USA Technologies Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2013 Results (Business Wire)
Long struggling Malvern company post 24% year over year revenue growth, small GAAP profit.


Localytics: SF and LA love the iPhone 5S. Philly OK with the 5C. (Fortune Tech)

How Massachusetts Tried To Fleece Its Technology Sector With "Tech Tax" (ReadWrite)


Schilling's 38 Studios video game headed to auction block (AP via
Philadelphia Inquirer)

Philadelphia-born Venmo considered prize in Ebay's Braintree acquisition

Tom Paine

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Ebay announced today it was acquiring Chicago-based Braintree, a web and mobile payments processor, for $800 million in cash. It will become part of Ebay's PayPal unit.

Speculation about Braintree being a target has been heavy for a least a month. Much of the talk has focused on Venmo, the Philadelphia-born mobile payments startup that later moved to New York. Braintree's growth in mobile payments has been said to have been phenomenal paricularly since it acquired Venmo last year for $26.2 million; mobile payments now account for about one-third of Braintree's total payments processing of about $12 billion annually, PandoDaily reported recently. Venmo provides an easy to use tool to send payments via mobile; many are excited about the potential of its new Venmo Touch app.


Venmo's co-founders, Andrew Kortina and Iqram Magdon-Ismail, both attended Penn, where the two were originally randomly paired as freshman roommates. Venmo was founded in 2009; it received a round of funding led by Accel Partners in 2011 and relocated to New York.

See also PayPal’s David Marcus: Braintree Keeps Its Brand And Ops Intact; Venmo Will Be Used For Big P2P Push from TechCrunch.


Also this week, King of Prussia-based Ebay Enterprise (formerly GSI Commerce) made several
significant announcements at its Client Summit in New York.

Links 9/26/2013: Nucci to succeed Moul as PSL head; Air Products looks for new CEO

Ackman strikes again? Air Products looks for new CEO (CNBC)

Exclusive: SunGard in talks to sell data unit to Apax - sources
(Reuters)

Rick Nucci Selected as Next President of Philly Startup Leaders (Philly Startup Leaders)

Corbett launches fund for high-tech startups (Pittsburgh Business Times)

Will Verizon Go Wireless-Only And Spinoff FiOS? (Investor's Business Daily)



U.S. cable company turns to a three-year-old startup to solve its Netflix problems (Gigaom)

FCC Votes Comcast/Bloomberg Complaint Appeal
Decision in Restricted Proceeding Won't Become Public Until Order is Released (Multichannel News)

FCC Orders Comcast to Place Bloomberg Channel in News ‘Neighborhood’ (Variety)



Cable-TV Bundles Work Great, Say Bundlers of Cable TV (Business Week)

Comcast pulls plug on MyTV Choice offer for new subscribers
(FierceCable)



Igniting a new network: Meet our Tech Hub partners (Google Official Blog)
Why not in Philly?

LevelUp reports raising $7.5M (Boston Business Journal)
Some concerns about early DreamIt Ventures alum; relationship with Princeton-based Heartland Payments Systems one area of emphasis.

hybris Tapped by Airgas to Drive its Expanding B2B Commerce Channel (Globe Newswire)
Airgas, based in Radnor, is already an SAP Businsss Suite customer.

Quintiq's new EMEA headquarters

Tom Paine

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Quintiq, the rapidly growing supply chain planning and optimization software firm with co-headquarters in Radnor and The Netherlands, recently opened its new European headquarters in 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands.

Quintiq website

Quintiq has some 700 employees in offices around the globe, but obviously has more in the country in which it was born than in Radnor, where it had about 70 as of earlier this year.

Quintiq had to choose a site that would allow for future growth, said Francois Eijgelshoven, vice president of EMEA at Quintiq in the video introducing its new facility below. With all twelves floors in the tower available to Quintiq, "we will be ok for a few years" , he says.

Links 9/25/2013: Ellison skips out on own keynote for America's Cup race, but in the end Team Oracle USA wins out

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City office that lobbies for jobs defends record (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Pennsylvania state Treasurer Rob McCord tweaks Gov. Tom Corbett in announcing run for governor (Allentown Morning Call)

Ascensus Enters into Agreement to Acquire 529 Plan Administration Business from Sallie Mae (Business Wire)
Ascensus is based in Dresher.



EBay Partners With Mercent to Improve Google Results (Wall Street Journal: Digits)

eBay Enterprise Unveils New Suite of Commerce Technologies to Enable Retailers and Brands to Win With Today's Omnichannel Consumer (Business Wire)
Formerly GSI Commerce, Ebay Enterprise laid out new strategy and tools at its annual Client Summit yesterday in New York.

QlikTech Unveils Roadmap to Next Generation Business Discovery Platform to Replace Traditional Business Intelligence (Business Wire)

Oracle OpenWorld attendees fume over Ellison keynote (PC World)
Perhaps justified by Team Oracle USA's remarkable comeback to win the America's Cup.


Oracle's cloud strategy: Does it trump Fusion? (ZDNet)


X1 Expands To 85% of Comcast's Footprint (Multichannel News)

John Malone Says Time Warner Cable Deal Still Makes Sense
(Bloomberg)

Can Intel Handle HBO, TBS? Time Warner’s Bewkes Has Doubts
(Variety)


Insurers Blame Tech for Clogging Health Exchange Implementation: PwC (Insurance & Technology)

T-Mobile CFO makes case for U.S. consolidation, Sprint deal (Reuters)

Links 9/24/2013: Staples teams with Zonoff for connected home; URBN's new app strategy

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SAP HANA isn't 'even comparable' to Oracle's in-memory technology, Hurd says (Computerworld)

Oracle takes the fight to Amazon, Salesforce.com with new cloud services (PC World)


Engine Yard loads Oracle tech into cloud platform (The Register)

Can Salesforce and Workday’s hook-up genuinely hurt the SAP and Oracle empire? (Enterprise Irregulars)


Bill Gates On Returning To Be Microsoft CEO: 'No ... I Won't Be Full-Time Doing That' (Business Insider)

Violin Memory, RingCentral Lead IPOs On Tap This Week (Investor's Business Daily)


Urban Outfitters' New App Strategy: Be Cool (Bloomberg)
Curalate helping to implement Urban Outfitters' new social media program.

Move over Best Buy: Staples wants to be your shop for the connected home (Gigaom)
Teams with Malvern's Zonoff.



The Deal That Could Dim Netflix’s Emmy Afterglow (Variety)
21st Century Fox and Comcast are said to be close to deal.

Comcast CFO Talks NBCUniversal's 'Monetization Gap,' Universal's Changes (Hollywood Reporter)


Time Warner Cable Is Willing to Take on More Debt for Right Deal (Bloomberg)


AT&T will build an LTE-Broadcast network tailor-made for video (Gigaom)

McAdam: FiOS Media Server will 'eliminate the need for coax' and speed installs (FierceCable)


Sarnoff Collection to debut at TCNJ next month
(Times of Trenton via Cherry Hill Courier-Post)

Yuengling ice cream back after 30 years (Republic Herald.com)

AllThingsD cutting ties with Dow Jones; Will Comcast's NBCU take stake in successor?

Tom Paine

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AllThingsD is cutting its ties with Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones (News Corp) and is setting out on a new course and seeking new partners.

Dow Jones confirmed on Thursday that AllThingsD principals Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg were not renewing their contract with Dow Jones after this year. The AllThingsD brand remains property of Dow Jones, presumably unless it is acquired through some type of transaction.

Fortune (which broke the story) reported that Swisher and Mossberg were talking to potential investors about taking minority stakes in their new venture, and Comcast's NBCU was the primary one mentioned, although others are said to be interested as well.

In spite of its prominence in tech circles, the franchise itself is valued at between $30 and $40 million, and AllThingsD generates about $12 million in annual revenue, according to reports. The bulk of revenue and profits comes from its conferences. So an investment in Swisher & Mossberg's new venture would not be a big deal for NBCU financially. Another investor could concievably be a more traditional news website (somehow the Washington Post under its new owner comes to mind), or a financial investor. The ownership of the existing conference formats remains somewhat up in the air.

The AllThingsD team could be a nice brand extension for NBCU's CNBC business channel. Also I would suppose the possibility exits for a dedicated digital channel for tech news, more likely Over The Top rather than as part of a cable package. Of course, Comcast once owned TechTV before turning it into G4 (which just barely escaped being turned into the Esquire Network), though my fleeting memories of TechTV were that it was more focused on personal technology users than tech business news.

Walt Mossberg will discontinue his personal technology column in the Journal, which he was writing long before AllThingsD got started. Mossberg and Swisher are said to be principal owners of the ongoing corporation, with AllThingsD staffers under contract to that corporation, not the Journal. Swisher and Mossberg are eager to add more resources that they felt constrained from doing under the Dow Jones relationship, and expanding video production. Dow Jones also says it has plans to significantly boost its technology coverage.

Links 9/23/2013: Oracle shows off in-memory database; SAP responds

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PhillyDeals: Apps a Phila. growth industry (Philly.com)

Comcast taps 'Internet guy' to think outside the cable box
(Philadelphia Inquirer)

Oracle's Ellison talks up 'ungodly speeds' of in-memory database. SAP: *Cough* Hana (The Register)

SAP responds to Oracle's in-memory debut: 'Welcome to the party'
(ZDNet)


Oracle's Mark Hurd on the cloud, competition, and costs (Fortune Tech)


Siemens moves to Oracle for cloud HCM, not SAP SuccessFactors? (Diginomica)

BlackBerry Reaches $4.7 Billion Deal to Go Private (New York Times: DealBook)


IBM Calls Amazon Unprepared to Secure Intelligence Data (Mashable)


Almac Launches SupplyTraQ™ Technology Solution to Streamline Clinical Trial Supply Administration (Business
Wire)

Philly Tech People News 9/22/2103: Siemens Appoints SAP Co-Chief Snabe to Supervisory Board; Billtrust adds new CFO & CRO

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Comcast's Dooner Takes Post With NBC Hispanic Unit
Named executive VP and reports to chairman Joe Uva (Broadcasting & Cable)
Anyone who has followed Comcast earnings conference calls is very familiar with Dooner's voice.

NBC's Bob Greenblatt Renews Contract Through 2017 (Hollywood Reporter)


SAP Supervisory Board Extends Contract With Gerhard Oswald (SAP Press Release)

Siemens Appoints SAP Co-Chief Snabe to Supervisory Board
(Bloomberg)

MAGGIE FOX JOINS SAP (Marketing Magazine)
As senior vice-president of marketing, reporting to Jonathan Becher.


Ram Sarma Joins Rosetta as Partner, Technology
Will Serve on Healthcare Leadership Team and Lead East Coast Team in Technology Discipline
(PR Newswire)

Billtrust Hires Veteran CFO And CRO To Further Accelerate Company Success (PR Newswire)

Fanatics fills out its e-commerce coaching staff with a hire
Hailing from the NFL, Gary Gertzog becomes executive vice president (Internet Retailer)

Rue La La Hires Robin Domeniconi As Chief Marketing Officer (PR Newswire)

ERT Further Expands Executive Management Team
Chief Commercial Officer to focus on Meeting Customer Needs (PR Web)


Princeton Power Appoints Ken McCauley CEO and Marshall Cohen Chairman (Business Wire)

Billtrust CFO Hints at Sale or IPO (Wall Street Journal: CFO Report)
Billtrust is based in Hamilton, NJ.

Look at This Impressive List of Startups Headed by Salesforce.com Alumni (All Things D)

Cloud BI – getting real for the enterprise (Diginomica)

Oracle’s Next Cloud Moves (New York Times: Bits)

New Jersey towns boast some of the fastest internet speeds: See how fast your town is (Newark Star-Ledger)

Links 9/20/2013: BlackBerry to cut 4500 jobs; Sprint will cut 75% of Clearwire workforce

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iPhone 5s gold rush begins, as crowds line up for new phone (Macworld)
Includes photos and coverage from Philly.


Nirvanix Shutdown: Small File Users May Fare Worst (Information Week)
San Diego-based cloud storage provider has apparently told its customers they have two weeks to get their data out.

Sprint cuts staff at Clearwire: 75% of workforce to lose jobs (GeekWire)

BlackBerry Plans to Cut 4,500 Jobs (New York Times)



The future of 'demo days' in an era of general solicitation (Fortune Term Sheet)
Startups should take note of the implications of this.


Sources: Flyers finalists for 2015 Winter Classic (Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia)
Game would be played in Washington.

Verizon adds out-of-home viewing to FiOS Mobile apps (FierceCable)

DreamIt Health accelerator expands to Baltimore with Johns Hopkins partnership (Med City News)

CHOP teams up with venture capital fund (Philadelphia Business Journal)

The Predictive Analytics Hole that SAP Wants KXEN to Fill (ASUG News)

Links 9/19/2013: All Things D splitting with Dow Jones; Still talking to NBCU

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AllThingsD parting ways with Dow Jones (Fortune Term Sheet)
AllThingsD still talking with NBCU, Fortune reports.

Hands On With the NeatConnect Scanner (PC Magazine)

Yorn Signs Agreement with Penn Medicine for Real-Time Mobile Feedback to Better Understand and Improve the Patient Experience (Business Wire)

Private equity firm LLR opens D.C. office (Washington Business Journal)

Oracle Forecast Trails Estimates as Cloud Rivals Hover (Bloomberg)

Understanding the Oracle, Salesforce.com and Workday equation (Dennis Howlett/Diginomica)

Dell wants to help companies manage the gathering storm of multiple clouds (Gigaom)
Interesting video of interview with Dell cloud chief.

'Burlington Coat Fact' is the Parody Twitter Account You've Been Waiting For (Mashable)

Manufacturing in Philadelphia Region Expands by Most Since 2011 (Bloomberg)

10 questions for Comcast Ventures' Amy Banse (Fortune Tech)

Links 9/18/2013: Saleforce, Workday tighten relationship

With Help, Teradata Speeds Up (New York Times: Bits)

Salesforce.com and Workday Team Up In the Cloud (All Things D)

Salesforce.com Announces Second 'Best' Friend: Workday (Information Week)

CRM: WDAY Integration A Benefit, Says Nomura: Will SAP Have to Play? (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)


Oracle’s Q1 Results Are Better Than Street Expected (All Things D)

Larry Ellison Is About To Reveal Oracle's Latest Weapon Against SAP (Business Insider)


Siemens Appoints SAP Co-Chief Snabe to Supervisory Board
(Bloomberg)

Recommind raises $15M from SAP for eDiscovery (Silicon Valley Business Journal)

Dell has just 12 months to matter in the cloud (David Linthicum/Infoworld)

Epic Systems spawns huge growth in lucrative consulting jobs (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)



Monetate Launches LiveAudience, Broadens Customer Segmentation Capabilities with the Integration of Over 20,000 Customer Segments (PR Newswire)

Meet Pennsylvania's newest billionaire (Allentown Morning Call)
Forbes says its Kynetic LLC's Michael Rubin.


Verizon’s TV Talk Chills Cable Relations (Zatz Not Funny!)

Rick Nucci's new gig: Venture partner at FirstMark Capital

Tom Paine

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Rick Nucci

Rick Nucci has joined New York-based FirstMark Capital as a venture partner, the firm announced on its blog today.

Nucci was the co-founder and CTO of Berwyn-based Boomi, and became GM after Boomi was acquired by Dell and Bob Moul departed. Nucci left Dell Boomi in May. FirstMark was the key investor in Boomi.

FirstMark later invested in Moul's latest startup, Philadelphia-based Artisan Mobile. It is also an investor in King of Pussia-based clinical trial payment startup Greenphire.

FirstMark managing director Amish Jani, speaking to TechCrunch, described Nucci as "a cloud product and technology visionary. He’ll be spending a lot of time thinking about new opportunities, and in the meanwhile, he’s a fantastic resource for our SaaS companies to tap into."



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Links 9/17/2013: Comcast Raises Top-End Residential Broadband Tier to 505 Mbps for some

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Ex-Soviet programmers take on India in $48 billion market (Bloomberg via Livemint)
Focuses on Newtown-based Epam Systems and its founder, Arkadiy Dobkin.

Basking In Success Has Its Limits At Epam Systems (Investor's Business Daily)


AT&T And SAP Simplify Mobile Application Development For Businesses (PR Newswire)

Oracle to put on its innovation game face at OpenWorld (PC World)

Violin Plans IPO With Losses Mounting as HP Business Dips
(Bloomberg)
Violin Memory began life in Iselin, NJ. SAP Ventures has been a major investor.


Salesforce.com funds Apttus, its profitable platform partner (VentureBeat)


Comcast Raises Top-End Residential Broadband Tier to 505 Mbps (Multichannel News)
Still trying to clarify how widespread this is; doubt Comcast is building fiber to the premise to individual residences.



IBM hopes to Power cloud, analytics with $1 billion Linux investment (PC World)


As Amazon Preps its Apple TV Killer, it Plays Nicely with Apple TV
(All Things D)

Marcus: CBS blackout 'definitely' had impact on Time Warner Cable subscriber count (FierceCable)

Local genetics firm up for IBM Entrepreneur of the Year award
(Philadelphia Business Journal)

Looking at Veeva Systems' S-1

Tom Paine

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Here is a followup to my post from a few days ago on Veeva Systems' IPO filing, taking a more detailed look at the company's
S-1 filing:

Revenue for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2013 was $129.5 million, more than double the prior year. Revenue for the 6 months ending July 31, 2013 was $92.4 million, up from $54 million for the same period in 2012, for growth of 71%.

Net Income was $18.8 million for the fiscal year ended 1/31/2013 and $10.8 million for the six months ended 7/31/2013. Veeva had $53 million in cash as of 7/31.

Veeva had 593 employees as of July 31, of which 190 were located outside of North America. The company says international revenue constituted one-third of total revenue in its last fiscal year.

Hard to tell how many employees are located in the Philadelphia area. President Matt Wallach told me back in March that at least 50 were located around here, and that number may have grown by now. I'm not sure how many employees the acquisition of Fort Washington- based AdvantageMS in June added; its Linkedin Page says it has 51-200 employees, and some of those are based elsewhere. The purchase price for AdvantageMS was $12.3 million, according to the S-1.

Veeva's second major product line, Veeva Vault, was launched last year, but Veeva CRM has generated more than 95% of the revenue in its history, the company says.

Veeva clearly states its intent to go beyond the sales and marketing functions and reach an "expanded set of customers" within the R&D departments of life sciences organizations using Veeva Vault.

Veeva CRM runs on the Force.com platform out of a Salesforce data center. The company does not reveal the third-party host of its Vault product, which Veeva built on its own platform. Veeva's agreement with Salesforce expires in September 2015 and does not renew automatically; furthermore, Veeva's license agreement with Salesforce allows it to sell products based on that platform only to pharma and biotech drugmakers - not to medical device makers or non-drug departments of pharma or biotech companies.

Emergence Capital Partners (Gordon Ritter), which holds a stake of more than 30% resulting from its $4 million investment in Veeva, stands to make a remarkable return on its investment if the offering goes as hoped.

Co-founder Matt Wallach, who had been Chief Strategy Officer, became President in August. Wallach, who has been based in Philly area, is a native of Wallingford and also served as Chief Marketing Officer of King of Prussia-based Health Market Science. Co-founder Peter Gassner is CEO.

Links 9/16: Wolters Kluwer adding more than 100 jobs in Center City

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LinkedIn’s Market Cap Passes Salesforce, Long The Bellwether Symbol Of Cloud Services (TechCrunch)

Straddling the chasm at Workday Rising (Diginomica)

Is Tableau the New Leader in BI? (BI Scorecard Blog)

Big questions ahead of Violin Memory's IPO (Fortune Term Sheet)

Wolters Kluwer Health adds more than 100 jobs in Center City (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Wharton School to Create Call-In Business Channel for Sirius XM (Bloomberg)


Big Comcast fundraiser for Kathleen Kane Sept. 30 (Philadelphia
Inquirer)

Retailers Are Increasingly Using Real People's Social Pics (Ad Week)
Testing new platform from Curalate.

Mutual fund firm moves bosses to Main Line from New England (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Box Becomes Document Creation Platform (Information Week)

Philly Tech People News 9/15/2013

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SAP Channel Chief Eric Duffaut Exits Company
(The VAR Guy)

RDK Management Names Comcast’s Steve Heeb President & GM
(Multichannel News)

Behind NBCU’s Dramatic Week: Steve Burke’s Drive For Cash
(Variety)

Comcast Ups 3 Execs, Hires DirecTV Senior VP (Variety)


NBCUniversal Taps Cesar Conde As EVP (Multichannel News)

Matt Wallach was elevated to President of Veeva Systems, a California-based cloud software
company with offices in the Philly area, according to Veeva's recently filed Form S-1. Wallach, a co-founder who has been based in Radnor, has been Chief Strategy Officer.


TiVo Appoints Daniel M. Moloney to Its Board of Directors (Marketwire)

The Judge Group Promotes Jared Rakes to Executive Vice President (Business Wire)

Comcast gets a lot of things right with its Xfinity connected home products (Gigaom)

Links 9/13/2013: Will Comcast build another tower?; Josh Kopelman on his Twitter decision

Buzz builds on another Comcast tower (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Moffett predicts Charter could roll up smaller operators to 'retool' for run at Time Warner Cable (FierceCable)


Twitter IPO: VC Josh Kopelman Missed Out — Why He’s OK With It (Wall Street Journal: Venture Capital Dispatch)


Why Philly Tech Rocks (PeopleLinx Blog)

Uh oh. Amazon U.S. East is in trouble again (Gigaom)

Amazon Web Services Hit By Slowdown (Information Week)


Amazon Web Services opens new Herndon office (Washington
Business Journal)
Sounds like a major expansion of IT/Engineering staff near Virginia data center.

Workday's CEO Owns a Fake Town and a Piece of Every Customer (Business Week)


Tangoe Delivers Edison 10X Return
Edison Ventures proudly announces that it has exited Tangoe, Inc. of Orange, CT. (PR Web)

Links 9/12/2013: Report: Verizon may be considering providing nationwide broadband TV serviceWould leverage FiOS progamming

Twitter files papers to go public (Gigaom)
S-1 still under wraps.

Verizon wants a national TV audience (New York Post)

Workday's big data play: The gateway drug to financials? (ZDNet)

How will we integrate all these enterprise cloud apps? (PandoDaily)
Discusses Dell Boomi, among others.

Dell to invest more on PCs, tablets after $25 billion buyout win (Reuters)

Comcast Names Brassel SVP Business Intelligence, Promotes Other Senior Execs (Multichannel News)



Firm developing power technology gets $550k investment (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Life sciences SaaS vendor Veeva Systems, with significant Philly area presence, files for IPO of up to $150 million

Tom Paine

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Veeva Systems, the Pleasanton, CA-based life sciences software firm with a significant presence in the Philadelphia area, has filed for an IPO to raise up to $150 million.

Veeva, which competes with Oracle and others in providing SaaS solutions to pharmaceutical and life sciences sales & marketing functions, has its US sales, marketing and customer service functions based out of Radnor. In June, it acquired Fort Washington-based healthcare provider data firm AdvantageMS. Veeva co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Matt Wallach, a Wallingford native, is based here. (Update: Wallach was named President of
Veeva Systems last month, reporting to CEO Peter Gassner.)

Veeva reported revenue of $129.5 million for the fiscal year ending January 31, 2012, more than double the previous year. Income was $18.8 million.

Looking at the recent Bessemer Ventures Partners data on the valuations of publicly traded SaaS companies relative to their revenues, one can speculate at what Veeva's market capitalization could be, particularly considering that Veeva has been profitable while many listed in the BVP data are still not.

Veeva, founded in 2007, has reached this point with only $4 million in venture funding from Emergence Capital Partners and $3 million in angel funding. Emergence Capital has a stake of more than 30%.

I first wrote about Veeva's possible IPO plans in March.

Veeva would list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "VEEV".

Links 9/11/2013: Cloudamize gets $1.2 million in seed funding

IPad-Toting Doctors Fuel Publisher Profits as Paper Fades
(Bloomberg)

Apu Gupta: Why Not Philly? (Wall Street Journal Blogs)

Cloudamize Announces $1.2 Million in Seed Funding Led by MissionOG and Gabriel Investments
Funding Accelerates the Growth of the Cloud Optimization Platform (PR Newswire)


That Apple TV Refresh is Coming Next Week (All Things D)

Jeff Shell's promotion to run Universal Pictures surprises Hollywood (LA Times)

Steve Burke: NBC's Ratings Woes Hurting Revenues (Hollywood Reporter)

SAP looks to boost 'big data' position with Hadoop deals, new apps (Computer World)

A look back at the infamous Enron "Metal Man" ad

Tom Paine

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Part of the purpose of the 2012 Jobs Act was to make capital more accessable to early stage companies, and make it easier for qualiified individuals to invest, while still providing reasonable investor protections.

However, there is concern in the angel investor community that final rules for implementation of the Jobs Act recently adopted by the SEC and due to go into effect later this month will in fact discourage, rather than encourage, angels from investing. Others are still concerned that, even with these constraints, the JOBS Act will still encourage more fraud.

But thinking back in history a bit, there were huge some huge NYSE-traded corporations that, in spite of all of regulations that listing came with, were capable of carrying out massive fraud on investors.

A reminder of this was the remarkable (and nonsensical) Enron advertisement called "Metal Man" that ran not too long before the Enron scandal blew up in late 2001. The epitome of corporate narcissism, the ad tried to portray the notion that somehow Enron had better ideas than anyone else. In fact, the company's value was mostly built on a house of cards. The "Why?" mantra of the ad probably later haunted many investors who asked themselves why they invested in this wayward Houston outfit.

Links 9/10/2013: NextDocs receives $13.5 million in funding; Shake-up at NBCUniversal

Shake-up at NBCUniversal reflects foreign focus
NBCUniversal names Jeff Shell its top film exec as Meyer moves to an advisory role..
(LA Times: Company Town)

Comcast V.C. Arm Joins Benu Networks’ $26.6 Million ‘B’ Round (Multichannel News)

NextDocs Receives $13.5 Million in Funding to Fuel Expansion (PR Newswire)


SAP Extends the Power of Predictive Analytics to Unlock Big Data With Acquisition of KXEN (PR Newswire)

SAP Buying KXEN For Predictive Analytics Tools (Information Week)



SAP pumps $40m into Virtustream to boost cloud delivery (ZDNet)

Workday aims anew at Oracle with planned software for higher ed (PC World)

Cisco enters data storage market with purchase of Whippany, NJ-based Whiptail (Reuters)
Pays steep price/revenue ratio to enter flash storage market.

PTC Expands Technology Deployment Options with Acquisition of Hosting Provider NetIDEAS
Deal Strengthens Long-Time, Successful Relationship Delivering Hosted PLM Software to Customers Worldwide (Business Wire)
NetIDEAS is based in Marlton.

Penn Medicine Streamlines Data Sharing With Startups (Information Week)

Active Data Exchange Acquires WebEvent Solution From Asure Software (Business Wire)

Artisan Launches Industry-First Partner Program for Mobile App Conversion Rate Optimization (Business Wire)

Links 9/9/2013: Drexel forming new College of Computing and Informatics

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DREXEL ANNOUNCES NEW COLLEGE OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATICS (Drexel Now)

Deloitte gobbles enterprise software specialists
(ZDNet)

SAP focuses on stability, data source support with Business Objects update (PC World)


Why SunGard AS Chose CloudStack (Data Center Knowledge)

Unisys takes on the big names in x86 servers with mainframe technologies (IT World)

Quality Systems, Inc. Acquires Mirth Corporation (Business Wire)
Quality says acquisition will "accelerate {Healthcare Transformation Strategies of QSI’s [Horsham-based]NextGen Healthcare Subsidiary and Mirth".

Aramark files plans to go public again (AP via Boston Globe)

OLED CEO Lists Blue Material, Lighting, Thin-Films, Vapor Printing Among Goals (Barron's: Tech Trader
Daily)

NBC spreads its wings on Sixth Avenue (New York Post)
Should pretty much rebut ridiculous rumors about Comcast relocating NBC stuff to Philly.



Comcast Begins EA Games Pilot (Light Reading)

NBCU Switch-Up: Esquire Network to Take Over Style, Not G4 (Exclusive) (Hollywood Reporter)

Live From Tokyo? NBC Faces a Time Shift for the 2020 Olympics (Business Week)



PACT Announces IMPACT 2013 Venture Summit Full Conference Lineup (Business Wire)

How Infor CEO Charles Phillips Is Quietly Becoming The 'Steve Jobs' Of Business Software
(Business Insider)

Verizon’s bid to kill network neutrality law goes to court Monday (Ars Technica)

Philly Tech News TidBits 9/8/2013: Novotorium, Recovery Networks, Async Interview

Tom Paine

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Novotorium, the Langhorne-based business incubator, will hold a program featuring classes and individual guidance for health, wellness and nutrition startups on Monday, September 16, through Friday, September 20. The program will be followed by a business plan competition on Monday, September 23 with a prize of $2,500 in cash and $3,000 in services to the top business in the competition. Companies may apply to participate in the program at the Novotorium website; there is no cost to participate.

Recovery Networks, the cloud backup and recovery solutions provider based in the Philadelphia Naval Yard industrial park, was recently named to the 2013 CRN Next-Gen 250, which CRN says "identifies solution providers that are on the cutting edge of technology and business model shifts". Recovery Networks' primary data center is located within the Philadelphia Technology Park. It provides backup and recovery solutions for both hybrid and private clouds.

Philadelphia-based Async Interview,an online video interviewing platform provider, announced last week the integration of its product with iCIMS, a New Jersey-based leader in SaaS talent management solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Philly Tech People News 9/8/2013

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Gretchen Roede Starts Broadpath Strategic Communications
Full Service Public Relations Firm Addresses the Particular Demands of Technology Companies (Business Wire)

Constellation Names Bridgette Chambers as New CEO – Founder Ray Wang Will Continue to Drive Market-Leading Research Strategy as Chairman and Lead Analyst (Business Wire)

Dennis M. Wint, Esteemed Franklin Institute President and CEO, to Conclude His Nearly 20-Year Tenure (PR Newswire)

SAP Names Ross Wainwright Global Head of Financial Services Industries (PR Newswire)

Cisco recruits former Motorola exec Cozzolino in reorganization of cable division (Fierce Cable)

HealthCore Hires Leading Industry Consultant to Head Big Data, Real-World Evidence, Payor and Provider Solutions (Business Wire)

Vizant Technologies Expands Global Sales Operations with New UK Office
Jasmine Raja will lead Vizant’s new office to expand service to European market (Business Wire)

Pet360 EVP & CMO Named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2013 Women in the Pet Industry Awards (Marketwire)

LevLane adds Courtney Mullen as digital media supervisor (Philly Ad Club News)

Saturday Highlights 9/7/2013: Wilmington ranks #12 on Kauffman Foundation list of top startup hubs; Philly didn't make it

The 'Perfect Storm' For Fiberlink Partner Program (CRN)
Some interesting bits of information on Blue Bell-based Fiberlink.

How Bill Gates and Google are linked via O3B’s satellite broadband deal with Kymeta (GeekWire)
Bala Cynwd-based Osage University Partners recently joined with Gates and others in a $50 million round in Kymeta.

The 20 Hottest Startup Hubs In America (Business Insider)
Wilmington ranks #12, but Philadelphia is not on it. But I've never had much confidence in
the data sources The Kauffman Foundation uses to compile these ranking.

Hamilton technology company changes the way college and professional sports are broadcast (Times of Trenton)

Philadelphia-based insurance SaaS vendor Unirisx raises $11.5 million

Tom Paine

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Philadelphia-based property & casualty insurance SaaS provider Unirisx has raised $11.5 million in equity, according to an SEC Form D filed in late August and reported by FormDs.com.

Unirisx raised $7.5 million in equity in 2009. It had also apparently raised about $3 to $4 million in debt, according to other Form D filings.

I haven't heard too much news out of Unirisx recently, though there is this press release from earlier this year announcing a new hosting capability in Tokyo. It also has a significant presence in the UK, where its roots are.

Unirisx began its existence in 2004 as a spinout from Unisys. Its CEO is former Harleysville Group CIO Akhil Tripath.