IMPACT Venture Summit Mid-Atlantic 2012 this week (Nov 7th & 8th)

Tom Paine

Follow @phillytechnews

Philly PACT's IMPACT Venture Summit Mid-Atlantic 2012 is set to take place on this Wednesday and Thursday (the 7th & 8th), mostly at the Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia. Since I wrote about it in September, the full agenda and roster of presenters has been fleshed out. The featured presenting companies, 46 by my rough count in Healthcare, Technology, Clean Tech and Early Stage are listed here. Keynoter Steve Case, Ed Rendell, QlikTech CEO Lars Bjork, Heartland Payments Chairman & CEO Robert Carr, iPipeline CEO Tim Wallace, Genacast Ventures Managing Partner Gil Beyda, and Philly Startup Leaders President and appRenaissance CEO Bob Moul are among those who will appear.

A key objective for this year was to make it less of an intramural event among Philly investors and attract more out of town VCs. It is an important event for showing off the Philly startup scene to other parts of the country.


permalink

Highlights: Last week on Philly Tech News (2/27/2012 to 3/4/2012)

I profiled the objectives, agenda and participants for the upcoming Phorum 2012 Cloud Computing Conference to be held on March 28 at World Cafe Live.

King of Prussia-based BuySide Partners (formerly A-Frame Technology Assurance) separated from A-Frame Technology Services to focus primarily on its opportunities in helping the Department of Defense improve the efficiency of its massive IT operations. I discussed BuySide Partners' plans with Managing Partner Chris Panaro.

New Jersey Tech Weekly's Esther Surden contributed an article to Philly Tech News about TechLaunch, New Jersey's first tech accelerator.

Lawrenceville, NJ-based Edison Ventures' newest fund, Edison VII, closed with $249 million raised, and as usual it hopes to invest a good portion of that in the Philly area, the Inquirer's Mike Armstrong reported.

Online advertising platform OpenX (a First Round Capital portfolio company) acquired King of Prussia-based startup LiftDNA; there is some talk that Pasadena, CA-based OpenX might be thinking about an IPO.

Philly's 3D printing and prototyping lab NextFab Studio, headed by Evan Malone, is planning a second, much larger facility on Washington Ave. in South Philadelphia, the Inquirer's Joe DiStefano reported.

A Politico reporter at a media event ran into Ed Rendell, and asked about the status of his bid for Philadelphia Media Network. He is reported to have replied that "the bids went in today" (this past Friday). Whether that quote is completely accurate or that it means there are multiple bidders is not entirely clear. As you may know, impromptu Rendell quotes may sometimes later be disavowed.



permalink

Daily Links 3/2/2012: Report: Rendell says PMN bid is in

It’s baaaack. Net neutrality to get its day in court (Gigaom)

Ed Rendell: Philly Inquirer bid in today (Politico)
Although you must remember, Rendell is sometimes quoted as saying things he really didn't intend to say.

NextFab plans larger studio, cafe on Washington Ave. (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

East Coast venture capital firm sets sights on SaaS investments (Med City News)
On Edison Ventures.

Pa. Insurance Dept. gets $33M for health insurance exchange (Central Penn Business Journal)

MetaLayer launches community to make better infographics (exclusive) (VentureBeat)
metaLayer, currently based in DC, was in last Fall's DreamIt Ventures class in Philadelphia. It will participate in the Demo Pit at the Phorum 2012 Cloud Computing Conference in Philly on March 28.

Broadcasters don't like "tiny antennas," sue TV streaming startup (Ars Technica)
First Round Capital was an early backer of Aereo.




permalink

Daily Links 2/21/2012: Comcast intros Netflix-like service: available to Comcast video subscribers only

Rendell's silence lasts all of 2 days (Philadelphia Daily News)

Comcast launching new subscription VOD service
Streampix in the mold of Netflix business (Variety)

Comcast launching Netflix-like streaming service (LA Times: Company Town)

Magic Johnson, P. Diddy To Gain Comcast Channel Berths
Aspire, Revolt Are First Two New Multicultural Nets to be Offered by MSO under NBCU Merger Mandate (Multichannel News)

Verizon expands its push for younger, tech-oriented FiOS subscribers (FierceIPTV)

Cisco: Downplays Rumors It Will Sell Set-Top Box Unit (Eric Savitz/Forbes)


QlikTech Reveals Pricing for its QlikView Business Discovery Platform (Business Wire)

Is The Cloud Finally Catching Up With Mighty Oracle? (Victoria Barrett/Forbes)

Massive Air Force ERP Software Project Still Struggling (PC World)

Transcend United Technologies Continues to Scale Rapidly Growing Footprint by Acquiring Platinum Avaya Partner Relational Technology Solutions (PR Newswire)

Alteva Partners With Parallels to Provide Hosted VoIP Services to Cloud Services Customers (Marketwire)

ING and Capital One: Is a Culture Clash Inevitable (Time: Moneyland)



permalink

Highlights: Last week on Philly Tech News (1/30/2012 to 2/5/2012)

Reports that surfaced in the New York Post a week ago that Philadelphia Media Network, owner of the Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com, was for sale again turned out to be true, with a group led by Ed Rendell and Ed Snider and another led by members of the Perelman family mentioned to be among the candidates to acquire it.

Exton-based SaaS insurance provider iPipeline"s latest funding round, announced in January, turned to be for $71.4 million, according to its SEC filing.

Scrutiny of the proposed spectrum sale and reseller agreement between Verizon Wireless and Comcast and other cable companies intensified, with a Senate committee planning hearings for later this month. Meanwhile, the joint marketing arrangement continued to roll out, expanding into the Bay area.

The closing of SAP AG's $3.4 billion acquisition of SuccessFactors could be delayed for weeks, possibly even months, as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) investigates it, for some reason.

Philly-based ad agency Red Tettemer & Partners (Century 21) and local crowdsourcing site Poptent (Dannon) both had ads they produced run during the Super Bowl, which ad people say is two more than Philly's ever had before. And Nielsen said NBC's 2012 Super Bowl broadcast was the most watched program in TV history.

And Comcast may invest, through its partial ownership of the SNY cable network, $40 million to help bail out the New York Mets. Traitors.



permalink

Daily Links 12/7/2010: Salesforce introduces Database.com, Chatter.com

Voxware Completes Transition to Private Company
Privatization Enables Investment for Growth and Reduces Cost (Business Wire)

II-VI acquires another optics firm (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Acquires Philadelphia-based Max Levy Autograph Inc.

Flextronics, Siemens Lead 'Big Shift' to Cloud Computing
After years of experimenting with the cloud, companies are turning over ever larger tasks to outside providers that deliver software and computing over the Internet (Bloomberg Business Week)

Salesforce.com unveils Database.com (Computerworld)

Salesforce launching Chatter.com, an enterprise-style Facebook, early next year (VentureBeat)

Aria Systems Announces Enhanced Integration With Salesforce CRM for Cloud Billing (Marketwire)

Comcast merger helps consumers (Politico)
Opinion piece by Ed Rendell.

Verizon eyes more flexible FiOS data options (Reuters)

Verizon Exec: LTE Possible Cable Replacement (Wireless Week)

Comcast Xfinity App Launches for Android, Control Your DVR Remotely and More (Phandroid)

AT&T Acquires Xanboo, Developer of Home Automation Platform (CE Pro)
Follows on heels of last week's Motorola acquisition, recent Verizon and Comcast activity.





permalink