Showing posts with label Viridity Energy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Viridity Energy. Show all posts

Links 1/3: Megyn Kelly to NBC; Viridity Energy sold to Ormat for $35M + possible future earnout



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Megyn Kelly Is Said to Be Leaving Fox News for NBC (NY Times)

Megyn Kelly to leave Fox News for NBC (Politico)


Comcast Acquires Watchwith (Multichannel News)

Charter, Verizon Among Group to Trial New ‘Open Caching’ Platform (Multichannel News)


Viridity Energy Sold to Ormat for $35M—Plus Possible Future Payoff (GreenTech Media)

Busted Oracle finance cloud leaves Rutgers Uni unable to foot bills (The Register)


Vanguard weighs in: Is active mutual fund management dead? (CBS News)

Digital-sign proposal for 1900 Market St. building draws neighborhood ire (Philly.com)

Parts of S. Jersey closer to expanded high-speed internet (NJ.com)




Philly Tech VentureWatch 5/29/2016: Viridity Energy, HudlHealth, VerbalizeIt, LoanStar



Tom Paine



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Philly-based Viridity Energy has raised $8.5 million in what it terms a "growth round." The company, which develops software which helps companies and institutions optimize their individual energy grids, has now raised $39 million in VC funding since its 2008 founding, according to CrunchBase. This round was led by its longtime investor AltEnergy, LLC; past investors have included Intel and Matsui.

Viridity provides demand response and demand management software technology and services, along with battery storage solutions, to high energy industrial and services users. Greentech Media does a much better job of describing what Viridity is currently up to than I ever could.

The company is working on construction of an 8.75 MW regenerative braking project with the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA), Constellation, ABB and Saft. The original management team was composed mostly of veterans of Norristown-based PJM InterConnection, which manages the mid-Atlantic grid.

When I first covered Viridity, I wondered about the complexity of the software it was developing. The Greentech Media article mentioned that it had to simplify its stack a couple of years ago because of scaling issues. Viridity's attempt at real time management of some elements of a facility's energy usage could be particularly demanding from a software engineering point of view.

Audrey Zibelman / NY PSC
Website
Audrey Zibelman, Viridity's founding CEO, had previously been EVP & COO of PJM. An attorney, Zibelman left in 2012 to become the chair of New York State's Public Service Commission,  a fact I first became aware of when the PSC was planning to hold hearings into the Comcast/Time Warner Cable deal.  Zibelman was criticized last year for still having ties to Viridity (some equity, which she promptly disposed of) while having potential conflicts. For example, Con Edison, the state's largest electric utility,  was probably Viridity's most important client.

Currently,  there is an ongoing federal investigation into the Public Service office, which Politco in an article published Thursday seems to imply involves issues from Zibelman's tenure and could reach the Governor's office. No one has been accused of wrongdoing, Politico notes.
 








Malvern-based startup HudlHealth announced it is beginning operations.

HudlHealth also announced it had acquired Seratis, a graduate of DreamIt's healthcare incubator, and its "healthcare technology platform for secure messaging and care team transparency."    

The primary aim of HudlHealth's platform is to reduce the miscommunication and wasted time prevalent in the healthcare system.  From experiences both as a caregiver and patient, I concur that tremendous waste occurs due to lack of schedule coordination, and if HudlHealth can reduce a small portion of that its a worthy goal.

HudlHealth was founded by Robert Burg, who  previously helped establish the life sciences business side of online sentiment analyzer Behavior Matrix (Blue Bell). Hudl, by the way, stands for "Healthcare Unified Digital Lifeline."




New York-based Smartling acquired New York-based VerbalizeIt to "expand its multimedia translation capabilities." VerbalizeIt was founded at Wharton, incubated at TechStars, and made an appearance on Shark Tank. Smartling CEO Jack Welde has a computer engineering degree fron Penn. First Round Capital has been an investor in Smartling since its first round. Terms weren't disclosed.



Smartling has raised over $60 million in VC funding.




Conshohocken-based LoanStar, who's President, Craig Haynes, is a TD Bank veteran, is offering a platform which enables banks to expand merchant lending progams, which have suffered since the bank crisis. LoanStar provides a mobile app which merchants can use onsite at the point of sale to seek approval.




Daily Links 11/26/2012: First Round Capital launches new holiday e-commerce website for portfolio companies





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First Round Capital Rounds Up E-Commerce Deals From Its Portfolio Companies On New Website (TechCrunch)

NBCUniversal and DirecTV near new distribution deal
(LA Times: Company Town)

NBC, Verizon Strike TV Everywhere Deal
Deal covers TV stations, cable nets and the Internet
(Broadcasting & Cable)

Why the Cost of Sales Gap is Shrinking between SaaS and Legacy Software Vendors (Sandhill.com)

Michael Hinkelman: Green and powerful (Philadelphia Daily News)
Viridity Energy's Audrey Zibelman.

SAP Moves Upstream (IDC Insights: Intelligent Oil & Gas)

NextGen Healthcare and Microsoft Corp. Join to Deliver Consumer-Based Healthcare Information Technology Solution
New Mobile Application Designed for Windows 8 Platform
(Business Wire)


Will Surescripts Become De facto NwHIN? (Chilmark Research)
NextGen Healthcare partners with Surescripts for its open HIE solution.

Bright House Buys Telovations (Multichannel News)

Sprint launches 11 new LTE markets; maintains small-city focus
(Gigaom)
Philly said to be on the list to launch in a few months.

IBM and Google to Discuss the Future of the Cloud at Wharton BizTech Technology Conference (PR Web)



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Daily Links 1/20/2012: Verizon, Comcast Send Marketing Deals to FCC in Spectrum Review



Verizon, Comcast Send Marketing Deals to FCC in Airwaves Review (Bloomberg)
FCC Docket: Verizon Wireless and SpectrumCo, Verizon Wireless and Cox

Comcast Challenges FCC's Program Carriage Ruling That Landed in Tennis Channel's Court (Multichannel News)


Audrey Zibelman's Energy-Saving Software
Her startup Viridity Energy makes software used by buildings and factories to manage their power use. It also lets them sell energy back to the grid
(Bloomberg Business Week)

Philadelphia-based online ticketing service TicketLeap’s beginnings couldn’t have been more humble (Ben Franklin Technology Partners SEP: KEYnotes)

After Laying Off 60 People, RueLaLa Raises $22 Million (TechCrunch)
Boston-based RueLaLa is part of Michael Rubin's Kynetic LLC holding company.

Update: RueLaLa says filing is about options, not new funding (Mass High Tech)

Salesforce's happy workforce
(Fortune Tech)

SAP Acquires Datango's Software, Entering Enterprise Training Race
Now SAP faces the huge task of convincing the jaded enterprise training market to invest in training.
(Information Week)

ING Direct deal should close soon, Capital One says (Wilmington News Journal: Delaware Inc.)



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Daily Links 11/21/2011: Will SAP buy Jive?



John Malone's Liberty Interactive Keeps Options Open on HSN (Hollywood Reporter)
Liberty Interactive owns QVC, and 34% of HSN.

DirecTV Plans to Cut Back on Spending, Hiring to Prepare for Any Slowdown (Bloomberg)

Comcast goes full-footprint with Dory gateway (CED Magazine)

NBC News announces changes to technology, social media staff
(Poynter)

OVER 635,000 ADD BROADBAND IN THE THIRD QUARTER OF 2011
77.8 Million Get Broadband from Top Cable and Telephone Companies
(Leichtman Research Group Press Release)

SAP to buy social networking company Jive? (Computerworld UK)

On the Move, in a Thriving Tech Sector (New York Times)

AT&T developing a home energy service (Gigaom)

The Smart Grid: What's our next move? (Boston Globe)
Discusses Viridity Energy of Philadelphia.


Philly Tech News VentureWatch: 11/16/2011: G2Link, AboutOne, Sidecar and more






Ed Sullivan, the Delaware County native and serial entrepreneur who founded rapidly growing SaaS billing company Aria Systems and previously internet service provider LaserLink, has a new startup, Drexel Hill-based G2Link. It appears, from what I can see at this point, to use both third-party information sources and peer reviews (crowdsourcing) to provide ratings on businesses, including customers, vendors, and prospects, for credit and risk/reputation assessment. If G2Link can really incorporate the kind of information it talks about, it could be a very interesting concept. G2Link is just launching, and will compete in Philly Startup Leaders' Founder Factory Beta Bowl tomorrow.

Malvern-based AboutOne founder Joanne Lang is featured in Microsoft's new documentary, CTRL+ALT+COMPETE. The film follows Lang as she works to make AboutOne a reality, with comments and analysis from outside experts. The film debuted at the Napa Valley Film Festival on November 11. Lang had worked at SAP Labs, where she became knowledgeable about Cloud computing and realized from her own family situation the need to keep all kinds of family records online in one place. Also see this post on Joanne in Women 2.0.

Philadelphia-based Snipi, having just raised $2.52 million, has morphed into Sidecar, which is described in its press release as "the first-ever 100% automated online marketing platform for ecommerce companies". Not sure exactly what that means yet, though it sounds like an extension of Snipi"s original social recommendation platform. The Series-A round was led by Innovation Ventures, L.P., of Wilmington, with a long list of additional investors including e-commerce entrepreneur and GSI Commerce Founder Michael Rubin, NextStage Capital, Gabriel Investments, MAG Fund, and ARC Angel Fund. Sidecar says in the release that it has automated Paid Search, Comparison Shopping, On-site Personalization and Personalized Email for online retailers through a single platform. Founder Andre Golsorkhi continues as Sidecar CEO.

Bleacher League Entertainment of Upper Darby has raised $140,000 in debt-based financing, according to an SEC filing. Bleacher League provides an app, for baseball only now, that enables users to follow games and compete against friends by making virtual bets on the outcome of events during games. It is currently available for iOS and on Facebook, with an Android app coming, according to its website. Bleacher League started off with a board game.

CapTech, the expanding Richmond-based mobile app development firm that I posted last week was opening an office in the Philly area, has apparently opened it in King of Prussia.

Search Engine startup DuckDuckGo, which until now has been largely a one person operation run out of Gabriel Weinberg's home, will move into its new offices in Paoli next month. DuckDuckGo recently received about $3 million in VC funding lead by Union Square Ventures.

Philly-based Viridity Energy's CEO Audrey Zibelman was honored earlier this month along with others by the White House as a "Champion of Change".



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Daily Links 10/5/2011: Comcast, FiOS access for subscribers through Xbox 360 announced

Benioff Enjoys the Spotlight, Even When It Is Turned Off (New York Times: Bits)

Oracle Fusion Applications Are Finally Generally Available (PC World)

HP and SAP Accelerate Cloud Deployments for Clients (Business Wire)

Microsoft expected to team up with Comcast and Verizon on pay TV via Xbox Live (VentureBeat)

Verizon And Microsoft Partner Up For Live TV On The Xbox 360 (TechCrunch)
Nothing on Comcast yet.
Update: Here is the announcement which includes Comcast.
Welcome to the Xbox 360, Comcast! (Comcast Voices|Official Comcast Blog)
Microsoft TV is About Cable Testing IP (Zatz Not Funny!)

Controller calls Philadelphia's 311 call center "a glorified answering service" (Philadelphia Inquirer)

How not to launch a custom tablet (ZDNet Blogs)
Columnist describes his experience with Philadelphia Media Network's new Android tablet.

CEO's Corner: QVC's Mike George on the Shopping Channel's Big Plans (Daily Finance)

Web Host SunGard Expands Philadelphia Data Center (Web Host Industry Review)

ConEdison Solutions and Viridity Energy Join Forces to Expand Beyond Demand Response
'Energy Optimization' Empowers End-Users to Leverage Technology to Transform Themselves Into Energy Suppliers
(Marketwire)

Harleysville's IT Successes Will Benefit Nationwide - Harleysville CIO (Insurance & Technology)

Top-Level Companies Recruit Philadelphia Agency 20nine to Fuel Growth (PR Newswire)



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Daily Links 10/4/2011: Viridity Energy moves from Conshy to Philly

SAP and Oracle: the knives are out (Dennis Howlett/ZDNet Blogs)

ASUG News Radio Interviews: Bruce Richardson (ASUG News)
Close to 20 minutes long, but a definite listen for anybody who follows SAP or enterprise software.

Oracle does about-face on NoSQL
Oracle's Big Data appliance validates NoSQL market, vendors say
(Computerworld)

Comcast named as 'fastest Internet provider' nationwide (ZDNet Blogs)
Believe it or not.

Viridity Energy and 40 jobs moving from Conshohocken to Philadelphia (Philadelphia Business Journal)
Viridity says no government financial incentives were involved in its decision.
Viridity's press release.

$50M in US taxpayer funds didn't save Traffic.com (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

Quality Systems falls as analyst cuts rating (AP via CBS MoneyWatch)
Quality Systems' principal operating unit is Horsham-based NextGen Healthcare.


Philly.com Launches Hyperlocal Site for Main Line (Street Fight)

Revamped NBC Owned Station Sites Show Growth
HTML5, video hub and more news driving local web strategy
(Broadcasting & Cable)



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Daily Links 4/13/2011: Spielberg to attend Shoah Foundation Institute fund-raiser in Philadelphia honoring Roberts

Spielberg to attend Shoah institute fund-raiser in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Event will honor Brian Roberts.

Comcast Widens Premium Tech Support Rollout
Xfinity Signature Support Launches in Michigan, Philly, N.J., Delaware and Houston
(Multichannel News)


Comcast offers tech aid 24/7
Round-the-clock service for Michigan customers will provide Internet device support for a fee
(Detroit News)

IAB: Internet Advertising Reached $26 Billion In 2010, Display Grew Twice As Fast As Search (TechCrunch)

QlikTech Unveils User-Driven Business Intelligence For iPad
(Business Wire)

QlikTech CEO Galvanizes Team, Delivers 50% Growth (Forbes)

Microsoft apps: the road ahead (ZDNet Blogs)

Is Tibco’s Buyout Rejection a Cloud Setback for HP? (Gigaom)

If Schneider can't swing it, others may court Tyco (Reuters)

FCC chief hints at lack of competition in AT&T merger bid (Washington Post: Post Tech)

Pulse Electronics Files Investor Presentation (Business Wire)

Viridity Energy Developing Unique Program Using Energy Storage to Optimize Wind Energy at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospitals (Business Wire)

U.S. Federal Reserve Beige Book: Philadelphia District (Text)
(Bloomberg)



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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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Daily Links 4/13/2010: Philly Daily News to launch weekend edition in October

Twitter Starts Advertising Service in Bid to Boost Revenue (Bloomberg via Business Week)

Philly Daily News to launch weekend edition in October (Poynter Online: Romenesko)

Policy Watch: Will the FCC Declare War? (Light Reading Cable)

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski delivers tough love to broadcasters (LA Times: Company Blog)

Opinion: Eshoo: FCC already has the power to regulate free, open Internet (San Jose Mercury News)

An Internet for Everybody (New York Times Op-Ed: Susan Crawford)

Lockheed Martin Completes First Live Tracking Exercise With New Multi-Mission, Open Architecture Aegis Signal Processor (PR Newswire)

SAP Shuffles Management Board Responsibilities, FTD Reports (Bloomberg)

Ex-SAP CEO Apotheker joins U.S. software firm (Reuters)

EDSA, Viridity Energy Announce Ground-Breaking Collaborative Technology Effort for UC San Diego Microgrid Effort (Business
Wire)

WorkSmart Acquires 2 Firms in 12 Months (PR Newswire)

Communications firm to set up shop in Lower Makefield (PhillyBurbs.com)

iPad in Healthcare: A Roundup (Medgadget)

Allscripts and dbMotion Selected by Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson University Physicians to Provide HIE for Advancing Patient Centered Medical Home (PR Newswire)

Neurobiology and Video Compression (Media Experiences 2 Go)




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Daily Links 4/8/2010: GoodCompany Ventures accepting applications

Mistras Achieves Strong Revenue Growth and Increased Profitability in Third Quarter of Fiscal 2010
(Globe Newswire via CNN Money)

Wounds of layoff remain fresh for Bentley Systems' CEO (Philly.com: Philly Inc)

Is QlikTech a Billion-Dollar Baby? (Seeking Alpha)

AMETEK Acquires Imago Scientific Instruments
Acquisition Adds to AMETEK's High-End Elemental Analysis Capabilities
(PR Newswire)

Verizon CEO: Studies be damned, US is tops in broadband (Ars Technica)

GoodCompany Ventures: Call for Applications
GoodCompany Ventures is now accepting applications for the Summer 2010 program
(CSRwire.com)

Podcast session with Boomi (ebizQ: Cloud Computing Insights)

NetSuite rolling out 'codeless' customization tool
The vendor is making a run at SAP's Business ByDesign with a new business-process tweaking kit
(Network World)

Oracle: Janney Launches Coverage With Buy Rating, $32 Target
(Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)

Appeals Court: Let the Auction of Philly Newspapers Begin
(Editor & Publisher)

Insider Tells Us Comcast Will Shake Up Speed Tiers This Year
Xfinity rebranding means a market gets 12/2, 20/4, 50/10, 100/25 Mbps tiers
(Broadband Reports)

FiOS TV Adds Comcast Network In Philly, N.J. Regions
Network Presents Selects Phillies, Flyers, Sixers Contests
(Multichannel News)

Drexel University Advanced Energy Leadership Conference Spotlights Future of Smart Grid, Energy Management and Sustainability in Mid-Atlantic Region (Business Wire)




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