Links 11/13/2013: IBM to acquire Blue Bell-based Fiberlink Communications; NBC buys out Sprout partners








 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email



IBM to Acquire Fiberlink Communications, Transforming the Mobile Management and Security Market (PR Newswire)

IBM buys Fiberlink (Philly Deals)

With Fiberlink acquisition, IBM gets serious about mobile device management (VentureBeat)


RightCare Solutions Raises $5.0M in Series B Round Led By Domain Associates and Compass Partners (Business Wire)

NBCU Buys Full Ownership Of Sprout (Multichannel News)
Sprout is based in Fort Washington. NBC bought out partners PBS and HIT Television Ventures to get 100% control.



Clearleap Raises Additional $20 Million to Accelerate TV Everywhere Deployments (Videonuze)
Bala Cynwyd-based Susquehanna Growth Equity leads round in Atlanta company.


Hulu in talks with Time Warner, Comcast, and others about possible cable bundling deals: WSJ (The Verge)

Netflix Gives Most, but Not All, of Its TV Viewers a New Look (All Things D)


Verizon Cloud Video Unit Snaps Up Multiscreen Startup
(Multichannel News)

Brand.com launches a program for deleting false Web pages on Google, Yahoo and Bing (The Next Web)
Brand.com is based in Philadelphia.

Veeva Systems Introduces Mobile CRM and CLM Solution for Windows 8 (Business Wire)



Alteva Reports Third Quarter 2013 Financial Results (Marketwire)

Companion Property & Casualty Plugs in Acrometis’ CLAIMExpert to Drive Down Claim Costs (Business Wire)
Acrometis is based in Chesterbrook.



Amazon Launches WorkSpaces, A Virtual Desktop Service On AWS
(TechCrunch)

HP Chromebook 11 disappears from retailers everywhere without explanation (GeekWire)
The withdrawal was apparently due to overheating chargers.





Begin the IPO watch for Monetate


Tom Paine



 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email




David Brussin / Monetate 
No one who has followed Conshohocken-based Monetate, the SaaS vendor whose products help retailers and other brands customize their websites to the needs of individual users, and its progress would be surprised to hear that they are thinking about going public. But timing is a key issue. A company has to demonstrate the revenue base, size of market opportunity and credibility (not necessarily immediate profits) to gain investor confidence.

Now CEO David Brussin has said something more definitive about the subject than I've heard him say before. In an interview with the Daily News appearing yesterday, Brussin said, "in a couple of years, we'll be a public company and a lot larger. We want to be here. I can't even imagine this company not being in Philadelphia."

If Monetate is going public within two years (assuming there are no drastic setbacks, or market turbulence, or someone makes an offer they can't refuse) that probably means the thought process and preliminary planning must be moving along.

Brussin also provided another useful piece of information in the Daily News story (credit
Daily News staff writer Michael Hinkelman with getting the story). He said, "a small [Monetate] client might be $75,000 a year. A large client - millions of customers - might be more than $1 million in fees annually". I'm not going to get into a guessing game about Monetate's revenues based on that information, although I am somewhat surprised to learn that it may have million dollar plus clients. Monetate said in a press release early
this year that it more than doubled its client base in 2012 and added over 100 brands
This would imply that it had somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 distinct accounts.
I asked a Monetate representative for an update on this but have yet to receive a response.

At mid-year 2013, Monetate said revenue for the first half of the year increased 127%
over the prior year. It expects to finish 2013 with at least 225 employees, and is offering generous bounties for successful referrals.



permalink