Philly Tech People News 9/18/2011
Scala Names Tom Nix as New CEO (PR Web)
Voxware Appoints Keith Phillips as CEO (Business Wire)
Canoe Names GMs For Interactive And VOD, Hires Marketing VP
Bokor Heading ITV Solutions; Pizzurro Upped to GM of VOD; Patel In Charge of Marketing Efforts (Multichannel News)
Dish Taps Comcast's Schlichting To Head Media Sales
Exec to Be Responsible for All Ad Sales and Set-Top Data Initiatives (Multichannel News)
LifeShield Security Hires Interactive Expert Evan Kramer to Drive Online Marketing Efforts (PR Newswire)
AdvantEdge Healthcare Solutions Adds to Executive Team with the Addition of Jay Roberts and Mike Youmans
Roberts named as Chief Financial Officer, while Youmans will head sales and marketing (Business Wire)
Polycom’s Steve Pattison Joins ProtonMedia’s Executive Advisory Board (Business Wire)
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LUMA Partners maps Digital Capital universe
LUMA Partners, a New York/San Francisco-based boutique investment bank which gives strategic advice to media technologies companies, provides what is calls "LUMAscapes"- market maps for different segments of the Digital Media universe.
One LUMAscape released last week maps investment firms that provide capital to digital companies, by type and geography. It shows 316 firms on one page (click on image to enlarge). See how many you can spot that have Philly connections. LUMA welcomes feedback and suggested additions.
You can access other LUMAscapes here.
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Daily Links 9/16/2011: Pennsylvania joins DOJ suite against AT&T/T-Mobile merger
About 20% Of U.S. Consumers Prone To Dropping Pay-TV: Analysts
High Cost Of Services Most-Cited Reason for Not Subscribing, Credit Suisse Survey Finds (Multichannel News)
Time Warner Cable's Stern: We Have to Move Away from Monolithic TV Packages (Multichannel News)
Microsoft Sees Xmas Debut for Xbox TV (Light Reading Cable)
GOP lawmakers scrutinize LightSquared (Washington Post)
AT&T, T-Mobile merger faces new obstacle as seven states join DOJ lawsuit (Washington Post: Post Tech)
Pennsylvania is one of them.
New York Startup Warby Parker Raising A Big Round At ~ $100 Million Valuation (Silicon Alley Insider)
The New York-based online eyeglass vendor was co-founded by four Wharton students; First Round Capital has been one of its investors.
The Hottest Trends in HR Technology (Human Resources Executive Online)
SAP TechEd: SAP BW to Run on HANA Database by November (ASUG News)
4.0 Releases of Business Intelligence and Enterprise Information Management Solutions from the SAP BusinessObjects Portfolio Now Generally Available (PR Newswire)
A long awaited release.
Infosys May Buy Thomson Reuters’ Health-Care Unit, Business Standard Says (Bloomberg)
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Daily Links 9/15/2011: Google said to be spending hundreds of mllions on video content
September 2011 Business Outlook Survey (Philly Fed)
"Responses to the Business Outlook Survey this month suggest that regional manufacturing activity is continuing to contract, but declines are less widespread than in August."
Manufacturing in Philadelphia-area Contracted in September
(Bloomberg)
Netflix Cuts Its Guidance By 1 Million Subscribers (All Things Digital)
Netflix ended the day down 19%.
Big cable is facing an ‘affordability crisis’ (Gigaom)
Google Is Secretly Spending Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars Turning YouTube Into A Cable Alternative (Silicon Alley Insider)
NBCU's conference highlights the growing buzz of social media (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Bentley Invests in Philadelphia-based TEEC, Developer of SpecWave Software to Intelligently Manage AEC Project Specifications (Business Wire)
ISGN Stresses Smartphone/Tablet-Access (National Mortgage News)
Growing Greenphire: KOP clinical research firm doubling staff (Flying Kite)
Integromics Announces New Version Of SeqSolve™ NGS Analysis Software (Integromics Press Release)
SAP's HANA Is Hot, but Still in Early Days (PC World)
Philly's Startup Scene: A New Underdog Story? (Keystone Edge)
Health IT: Is the U.S. in the middle of a bubble? (MedCity News)
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Daily Links 9/14/2011: NBCU sees big retrans fees; Double-edged issue for Comcast
SAP pleads guilty, will pay fine of $20 million in Oracle copyright case (San Jose Mercury News)
Qlik shares slide after Morgan Stanley cuts rating (AP via CBS MoneyWatch)
NBCUniversal's Steve Burke anticipates big bucks in retrans fees (LA Times: Company Town)
NBC could be next to lock down TV content online (Gigaom)
Time Warner Cable Net Customer Additions Stronger Than Expected, CEO Says (Bloomberg)
Philly newspapers cuts about 20 jobs; cite ad drop (AP via CanadianBusiness.com)
Sound Familiar? Philadelphia Newspapers Subsidize A Tablet To Sell You A Subscription (Wired: Epicenter)
Google Didn't Want All of Motorola Mobility (Light Reading Cable)
Motorola CEO Jha Getting $66M in Google Deal (AP via ABC News)
President and Motorola Home head Daniel Moloney will get $15.7 million when deal closes.
SAP Former Unit ‘Expected’ to Plead Guilty Today to Oracle Downloads (Bloomberg)
McKool Smith Secures $391 Million Judgment for Versata (PR Newswire)
Does this mean the judgement against SAP is final?
Apacheta Introduces Software-as-a-Service Offering for Direct-Store-Delivery, Merchandising, Transportation, Field Service (Business Wire)
OpenDesks Launches Interactive Map for Finding and Booking Workspace
OpenDesks Positions Itself as Go-To Workspace Solution (Business Wire)
Philly-based Education investor Renovus closes $100m debut fund (AltAssets)
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A natural fit: ImpactRX acquires TargetRX
ImpactRX of Mount Laurel has acquired TargetRX of Horsham, combining two companies that provide information to help Pharma companies better understand physicians' perscribing behavior. Terms were not disclosed. The new company will be known as ImpactRX.
Symphony Technology Group acquired a majority stake in ImpactRX in April (Merck Capital Ventures retains a minority stake). Late last month, ImpactRX appointed Gregory Ellis, who had been a Senior Partner with Rosetta Marketing, as President & CEO. TargetRX, founded in 1999, had raised at least $37 million; investors have included New Enterprise Asociates, Domain Associates, and Quaker BioVentures.
Press Release:
ImpactRx Acquires TargetRx
- Combined company to provide unparalleled insight into biopharma's sales and marketing effectiveness -
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J., Sept. 13, 2011 - ImpactRx, a Symphony Technology Group (STG) company and the pioneer in measuring the impact of promotion on physician prescribing behavior, announced today that it has acquired 100% of TargetRx, Inc., a leading provider of insight into the drivers of physician behavior for pharmaceutical companies, in order to combine the highly complementary capabilities of the two companies into a stronger solution offering for customers. The new company will be known as ImpactRx and new ImpactRx President and CEO, Gregory Ellis, will lead the combined company. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"We are very excited to join forces with TargetRx," declared Ellis. "In the years we spent in the marketplace together, and from the feedback we received from customers, it's clear that the capabilities of these two companies are very complementary," Ellis stated. "ImpactRx specializes in helping clients understand the actual behavior of physicians in response to promotion, while TargetRx helps clients understand the underlying drivers of that behavior as they relate to physicians' attitudes, perceptions and beliefs," said Ellis. "Together, we will provide our clients with an unprecedented level of insight into what physicians do and why they do it," Ellis concluded.
Since its founding in 1999, TargetRx has served a majority of the top thirty pharmaceutical and biotech companies providing them insight into the drivers of product choice and the adoption of their brands. Powered by its unique AdvantageBuilder™ normative database and validated predictive models, TargetRx has developed proprietary analytical methodologies to provide clients critical insight into launch forecasting and positioning, physician segmentation and targeting for personal and non-personal promotion, professional marketing and message optimization, and sales and marketing execution and effectiveness.
"When we acquired ImpactRx earlier this year, our strategic intent was to build a differentiated solutions company in life sciences capable of delivering compelling value to clients through insights informed by data," said J.T. Treadwell, Managing Director with STG. "STG has a strong history of partnering with our companies to deliver innovation and growth, and we believe the addition of the TargetRx capabilities allows us to combine unique assets and complementary approaches, analytical talent, and a strong history of joint innovation as the foundation of a world-class solutions provider," Treadwell stated.
About ImpactRx
ImpactRx is the leading provider of consultative and analytically-based promotional effectiveness solutions to the healthcare industry. Powered by the ImpactData™ generated by its longitudinal panels of more than 4,000 targeted, iPhone-connected physicians (who through its proprietary technology are the exclusive source of continuously-captured promotion and treatment data) and combined with its industry-leading analytics and custom research capabilities, ImpactRx provides clients with unprecedented insight into the drivers of physician brand choice within a complete competitive context. These insights enable clients to improve brand performance by making more effective decisions around marketing strategy, field and channel execution and pre-launch and launch planning. ImpactRx is a Symphony Technology Group company. For more information, visit: www.impactrx.com.
About Symphony Technology Group
Symphony Technology Group (STG) is a strategic private equity firm with the mission of investing in and building great software and services companies. In addition to capital, STG provides transformation expertise to enable its portfolio companies to deliver maximum value to clients, to retain and attract the best talent, to drive growth through innovation, and to achieve best-in-class business performance. STG's current portfolio consists of fourteen global companies with combined revenue of $2.5 billion and 15,000 employees spread across North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit: www.symphonytg.com.
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CSC acquires Philly/Hyderabad-based AppLabs
Tom Paine
The Indian press is reporting (with confirmation from the companies) that CSC has acquired AppLabs, the software testing business based in Philadelphia and Hyderabad, India, for a price some report to be in excess of $300 million.
CSC had been competing with Capgemini in recent days to acquire the company, according to reports.
AppLabs was founded in 2001 by Sashi Reddi, a serial entrepreneur who received his PHD from Wharton. It says it is ranked as the largest independent testing company in the world with 2,500 test professionals worldwide. A very small percentage of its employees are based in Philadelphia.
The deal represents an exit for private equity firm Westbridge Capital, which held a 50% stake in AppLabs, Reddi told the Indian press.
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TicketLeap hits Inc. 500, introduces new mobile app; Plans for future growth
Tom Paine
Center City-based startup TicketLeap, which was just named to the
Inc. 500 (ranked #397), has positioned itself as a disruptive competitor to the large, entrenched players that have dominated pricing, distribution and technology in the event ticketing industry. Offering web-based technology that event hosts can easily configure themselves and services that are inexpensive (and sometimes free) for small events, the company hopes to gradually move up the chain to compete for larger events.
TicketLeap was founded in 2003 by South Jersey native Chris Stanchak while he was still an undergrad at Wharton. After spending time at GSI Commerce helping manage its eCommerce programs for major sports leagues like the NHL, Chris started focusing on TicketLeap full time in 2007 and has raised over $4.5 million in venture capital from MentorTech Ventures, Seneca Advisors, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, NextStage Capital and several prominent angel investors. TicketLeap had one period during which it may have ramped up too quickly, and had to cut back a little. It now has about 24 employees, according its website. Last year, $20 million in ticket sales were generated through TicketLeap and it had net revenue of $2.1 million; this year, Stanchak told me in a phone conversation, ticket sales should be in the $35 million range and TicketLeap's net revenue will be around $3 million. Stanchak expects the company to achieve positive cash flow in this year's 4th quarter.
TicketLeap had a learning experience on scaling up to handle larger events. Last winter it managed ticketing for Comic-Con 2011, the immensely popular event among the Geek crowd, and its servers failed to handle all the traffic for several hours after ticketing went live, causing considerable commotion since Comic-Con had turned to TicketLeap after having just experienced two previous ticketing failures with other vendors. The problem was not so much a failure on TicketLeap's part to anticipate and scale to demand properly, but a gliche due to a MySQL feature it was trying to use to speed transaction processing that Amazon Web Services' Relational Database Service did not support at the time. (See Vice President of Engineering Keith Fitzgerald's post on the TicketLeap Blog). TicketLeap was very responsive and straightforward, I believe, in explaining the problem publicly and rectifying it.
That specific issue has since been resolved, and Stanchak says TicketLeap remains very happy with AWS's services and its scalability, which enables it to adapt elastically to events of varying sizes without requiring a large IT infrastructure. TicketLeap was not impacted at all by the major AWS outage problems that occurred in April. It is also planning to deploy AWS's recently released in-memory Amazon ElastiCache, which can greatly reduce the number of disk lookups and also helps TicketLeap to rapidly increase or decrease its cache footprint in response to demand.
In August, TicketLeap introduced TicketLeap Mobile, what it calls "the first mobile ticketing platform that enables smartphone users to easily search and purchase event tickets, engage in social conversations, and check-in with their phones" in a single place. Each mobile ticket comes with a confirmation number and QR code, enabling faster entry into venues. (Back in March, it released an Android scanning application for event organizers to scan QR codes of printed etickets.) TicketLeap Mobile also emphasizes the social nature of events; users can post messages to Facebook or Twitter and communicate with other attendees. TicketLeap Mobile, now available on Android devices, is optimized for mobile devices, and works automatically when you access Ticketleap or any events from a mobile phone. TicketLeap plans to launch a universal iOS application for event organizers to scan and sell tickets via an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad this fall.
The market for event ticketing is huge and has many different competitors and segments. TicketLeap doesn't compete with Ticketmaster (or Ticketmonster as some might call it) that much directly right now, but more with the heavily funded Eventbrite and a number of other smaller firms like Pittsburgh-based ShowClix. Eventbrite has raised about $80 million in venture capital, according to Crunchbase. Its gross ticket sales were $200 million in 2010 and could reach $400 million in 2011, according to TicketNews. (Stanchak points out that comparing Eventbrite to TicketLeap based on gross billings is not quite apples to apples since Eventbrite's average ticket price point is much higher due to its focus on expensive professional conferences).
While TicketLeap is doing well at this stage, achieving more scale and broader distribution remain key issues. Barclays Bank/MBNA veteran Holly Flanagan was brought on recently as Vice President of Brand and Association Sales to help build strategic partnerships. Raising more funding could also be a possibility at some point in the future.
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Daily Links 9/13/2011: SAP to pay $20 million in Oracle criminal case
SAP will pay $20 million in Oracle criminal case (Reuters)
Rating the Comcast-NBCU Merger: The New Culture Settles In (The Wrap)
Comcast reacts to policy fights with big hires (Politico)
FCC's Internet rules clear a review hurdle (Reuters)
NBC Sports Network the favorite here to win new NFL package (Sports Business Journal)
QlikTech and Deloitte Join Forces to Bring QlikView Business Discovery Solutions to the U.S. (Business Wire)
Motorola Mobility Invests In Video Publishing Platform Ooyala (TechCrunch)
What to expect from SAP TechEd 2011 + Sybase TechWave (Computer Weekly)
SAP HARNESSES THE POWER OF SAP HANA™ PLATFORM TO DELIVER NEW REAL-TIME APPLICATIONS (SAP Press Release)
SAP's Sikka preaches HANA-led 'renewal'
In-memory computing will transform SAP's portfolio, according to executive board member Vishal Sikka (Computerworld)
Turntable.fm Closes That $7 Million Round, Fred Wilson Joins Board (TechCrunch)
First Round Capital was an early investor in what was then called Stickybits.
Tremor Video Lands $37 Million to Fuel Acquisitions (Ad Age)
Previous investor SAP Ventures participated again in this round. A First Round Capital portfolio company named SanScout merged with Tremor Video last year, although it is not known whether First Round currently has an equity stake in Tremor.
RCN not seeing strong demand for 60 Mbps service (Fierce Cable)
Philadelphia groups get federal money to aid startups (Philadelphia Business Journal)
In Newtown, U.S. Senator Casey pushes for GPS program to support national security and jobs at Lockheed Martin (Bucks Local News)
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Daily Links 9/12/2011: Philadelphia Media Network introduces Android Tablets
Internet Entrepreneur Michael G. Rubin Launches Kynetic
Company Includes Leading Online Commerce Brands Fanatics, Rue La La & ShopRunner (PR Newswire)
GSI Commerce founder launches a new e-retail company (Internet Retailer)
New Details on Philly Papers' Bold Tablet Plan Android tablets to spur digital content adoption (Adweek)
Philadelphia Media Network's press release.
Comcast names VP for public policy, adds to growing high-profile D.C. roster (Washington Post: Post Tech)
Vishay Intertechnology Reduces Guidance for the Third Quarter 2011 (Business Wire)
Sizeable reduction for this late in the quarter; could be related to resignation of its CFO late last month.
Update: Vishay is off less than 2% on the day, so this is something people who follow the company closely must of pretty much taken into account already.
The Other Google/Motorola Story (ABI Research)
Early SAP Business ByDesign adopters experience rocky upgrade to 2.6 (SearchSAP.com)
Philadelphia-Based Document Depository Corporation (DDC) Rebrands as DocDep (PR Web)
Online ad deal for GOP digital agent CampaignGrid (Philly.com: Philly Deals)
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