Saturday Highlights 1/131: NBC spikes Super Bowl ad sales; DreamIt Athena kicks off



New FCC definition of high-speed Internet may affect Comcast-TWC deal (LA Times)

Google: Strong net neutrality rules won’t hurt the future rollout of Google Fiber (Washington Post)

NBC scores a record haul from Super Bowl ad sales (LA Times)


DreamIt Ventures Kicks Off Its Program for Women (TechCocktail)

NEC aims at Big Data 'sweet spot' with new SAP Hana tool (PCWorld)

Video Of The Week: Gabriel Weinberg on Search and Privacy (A VC)


NJ Company Roundup: Marketsmith, Heartland Payment, Universal Display, Datapipe and SITO Mobile


Esther Surden
Publisher & Editor, NJTechWeekly.com


Marketsmith founder Monica C.  Smith | Courtesy NJTC

Marketsmith: The direct response and technology-based marketing company Marketsmith, which was #135 on the “Inc. 500” list for 2014, acquired 48-year-old marketing communications agency Brushfire. The agency will become a unit of Marketsmith, but will continue to operate under its own name.

According to NJ Biz, Marketsmith, which was located in Parsippany, is moving into Brushfire’s Cedar Knolls-based headquarters. The firms will offer clients marketing services, including analytic and creative capabilities.

Brushfire, an established  integrated marketing communications agency founded in 1966, has extensive experience in advertising; public relations; social media and experiential marketing; and digital, interactive and in-store merchandising.

Heartland Payment Systems: Heartland Payment Systems, a large payment processor based in Princeton, says it is the first payment processor to offer a comprehensive merchant security breach warranty. The warranty, called “Heartland Secure,” available for no charge initially and for a monthly fee after a year, protects businesses against loss if they install and implement EMV, Heartland's end-to-end encryption technology and tokenization product.

According to Michael English, executive director of product development at Heartland, "By combining EMV, encryption and tokenization, Heartland eliminates clear text-card data from the merchant’s point-of-sale system and network. As we have seen in recent breaches at major retailers and restaurants, it is difficult to maintain a secure network. Through encryption and tokenization, a merchant eliminates clear text-card data, so if their network is breached, there is no card data to steal and monetize."

Universal Display: Universal Display Corporation (Ewing) and LG Display (Seoul, Republic of Korea), said they had signed an OLED technology license agreement and supplemental material purchase agreement that run through Dec. 31, 2022.

Under the license agreement, Universal Display granted LG Display nonexclusive license rights under various patents owned or controlled by Universal Display to manufacture and sell OLED display products. LG Display agreed to pay Universal Display license fees and running royalties on its sales of these licensed products over the term of the agreement. Additionally, Universal Display will supply phosphorescent materials to LG Display for use in its licensed products.

Datapipe: Datapipe (Jersey City), a company specializing in managed hybrid IT solutions for businesses, announced that it has acquired GoGrid (San Francisco and Amsterdam, Netherlands), a company specializing in multi-cloud solutions for big-data deployments. In a release, Datapipe said that GoGrid’s proprietary orchestration and automation technologies are unique in the market, providing one-button deployment for big-data solutions that speed the creation and realization of new cloud projects.

Robb Allen, CEO of Datapipe, noted that “Datapipe customers will achieve significant value from the speed at which we can now create new big data projects in the cloud. This acquisition advances Datapipe’s strategy to help our enterprise clients architect, deploy and manage multi-cloud hybrid IT solutions. ”

New Jersey Fiber Exchange: The New Jersey Fiber Exchange (Montville), a data-center consulting and colocation company, announced that it was building a new data facility  to provide direct connectivity to international submarine cable systems. NJFX is partnering in this project with Tata Communications to provide colocation and other data-center services to global enterprises and carriers.

The highly secure, Tier III data center in Wall Township is expected to go live in 2016, and will be open to carriers, enterprises, carrier-neutral operators and cable companies. Carriers and enterprises using the NJFX location will also have access to Tata Communications’ global connectivity, which operates on an advanced global subsea cable network, enabling them to connect to various locations around the world.

SITO Mobile: SITO Mobile, (Jersey City), formerly called “Single Touch,” a mobile engagement platform provider, said it had entered into an asset purchase agreement with Hipcricket, a mobile engagement and analytics company, for $4.5 million in cash, to acquire almost all its assets.

Hipcricket reported revenues of $26.7 million for the fiscal year ended February 28, 2014, and currently holds 21 U.S. patents for technology inventions. To facilitate the sale, Hipcricket filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, along with a motion seeking authorization to approve bid procedures under Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

"As a result of this transaction, if approved, SITO Mobile will become one of the largest pure-play, publicly traded companies in the mobile marketing and advertising space," said Jerry Hug, CEO of SITO Mobile. The agreement provides that SITO Mobile will offer employment to all of Hipcricket's employees.


Esther Surden is Publisher and Editor of NJTechWeekly, and a contributor to Philly Tech News. This article originally appeared in NJTechWeekly, and is republished here with her permission.


Links 1/30: CHOP spinoff Spark Therapeutics' shares up 117% after IPO; McCord to plead guilty to federal campaign finance charges (video)



Today's huge IPO news (no, not Shake Shack)
(Fortune)
CHOP spinoff Spark Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ONCE) up 117% in first day of trading. Spark uses gene therapy to seek solutions for "orphan drugs" for rare diseases.

PA Treasurer Rob McCord to plead guilty to federal campaign finance charges (Allentown Morning Call)

McCord bio from official website for gubernatorial campaign.

SAP Looks to Xerox for R&D Inspiration (Bloomberg)

NetSuite passes halfway stage to $1 billion run rate (Diginomica)

Comcast now has more than half of all US broadband customers (Ars Technica)

Comcast apologizes after man’s name changed to profanity on billing statement (Philadelphia Inquirer)

eBay Enterprise Expands Magento Infrastructure with IBM Cloud (Data Center Knowledge)



Links 1/29/2015: SnipSnap snapped up for $6.5 million; McCord resigning as PA Treasurer, reported under federal investigation



Slyce Snatches Up Mobile Couponing App SnipSnap For $6.5 Million (TechCrunch)

Comcast/TWC Extend Merger End Date to August (Multichannel News)

RESPECTING OUR CUSTOMERS (Comcast Voices/Comcast Corporate Blog)

FCC redefines advanced broadband as 25 Mbps; Republicans blow a gasket (PCWorld)


Pa. Turnpike claims software fraud, wants $45M (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Hewlett-Packard will refund N.J. $7.5 million but will not deliver on social services contract (NJ.com)
Report from earlier this month.


Pa. Treasurer Rob McCord resigning from post (PennLive)
Returning to private sector.
Perhaps not so straightforward:



Here's the story:
PA STATE TREASURER ROB MCCORD UNDER FEDERAL INVESTIGATION (ABC6)



Performant Financial Corporation to Acquire Premier Healthcare Exchange, Inc. (CNN Money)
Based in Bedminster, New Jersey, Premier Healthcare Exchange had funding from Edison Partners. It will be acquired by Performant for $130 million; $108 million in cash and $22 million in stock.

Sarah Cannon and Syapse Launch Precision Oncology Clinical Service to Expand Targeted Treatment Options for Patients (Business Wire)
Syapse has backing from Safeguard Scientifics and has a Philadelphia office.

An informal conversation with Luka Mucic, CFO SAP (Denn Howlett/Diginomica)

The SAP Fort Knox ( Vinnie Mirchandani / Enterprise Irregulars)

Amazon to Break Out Web Services as Separate Category This Year (Bloomberg)

Uber gains PUC approval to operate in most of Pa. (except Philly) for 2 years (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)


Uber taps Metromile to let UberX drivers pay-per-mile on their car insurance (VentureBeat)
Two First Round Capital portfolio companies team up.

Auditor finds no pay-to-play conflict in N.J. pension investment (Philadelphia Inquirer)





Who are New Jersey's real business leaders?





Tom Paine



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I was looking over NJBIZ.com's "The NJBIZ Power 100: The most powerful people in New Jersey business" for 2015. I wonder if this is an actual reflection of the state of business in The Garden State, and if so perhaps its a reason why its not in the greatest shape.

The majority of people named are various public officials, attorneys, and lobbyists. Most of the business executives run regulated utilities or other organizations with state ties. Besides a sprinkling of major Pharma execs and a few Jersey mainstays such as Campbells, I see little evidence of business leadership being represented. I only count perhaps four tech execs and two who I would call successful tech entrepreneurs. Nobody directly from the VC or PE communities I can spot.

There is no Marc Lore (ex-Quidsi, now Jet.com), Chris Sugden (Edison Partners), Jim Preuninger (Amber Road), Stephen Waldis (Synchronoss), N. Robert Hammer (CommVault) and Thai Lee (SHI), just to name a few. Nor are any of the brilliant researchers at the universities and research labs working on breakthroughs in areas such as photonics and quantum computing represented.

Follow up: NJ ranks at bottom of job growth list (The Daily Journal)


Links 1/28/2015: Spark Therapeutics increases proposed IPO deal size by 48%; LiquidHub Accelerates Growth with Acquisition of Two Salesforce Partners



It's electric: [CHOP spinout] Spark Therapeutics increases proposed IPO deal size by 48% to $130 million (Renaissance Capital)

CommScope to Buy TE Connectivity Unit for $3 Billion (New York Times: DealBook)
Though legally domiciled in Switzerland, TE Connectivity's corporate offices are in Berwyn.

LiquidHub Accelerates Growth with Acquisition of Two Salesforce Partners (Business Wire)

Behind the deal: how ClosedWon went from tech tidbit to takeover target (Albuquerque Business First)




Tons of AT&T and Verizon customers may no longer have “broadband” tomorrow
(Ars Technica)

Activist Elliott Said to Plan Push for Informatica LBO, Sale (Bloomberg)
What Informatica does around Master Data Management (MDM) is important to several other software and SaaS vendors.


Cloud ERP: 9 Emerging Options (Information Week)

IBM may be preparing for a round of job cuts (Computerworld)


Links 1/27/2015: Google Fiber set to announce expansion to four major Southeastern markets; McDermott to Fortune: "We’re going to win this thing"



Google Fiber Nears Expansion Announcements (Multichannel News)
Could mean more competition for Comcast in Nashville and Atlanta, as well as Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham if the TWC merger goes through.

These four lucky cities are now officially getting Google Fiber (Washington Post)
Announcement on Google Fiber's blog.


Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger is no longer viewed as inevitable (LA Times)

Wireless biz should look past Freewheel's limitations and into Dolan's beady eyes (FierceCable)

Q&A: Bill McDermott, CEO, SAP (Fortune)


SAP On Cloud HR: Q&A With Mike Ettling (Information Week)

New SAP Hana tool aims to put Big Data insights within closer reach (PC World)


CloudBees Raises $23.5M Funding Round Led By Lightspeed Venture Partners (TechCrunch)
South Jersey entrepreneur and investor Bob Bickel was an early advisor to and investor in CloudBees.

The Real Deal: Bruce Richardson on Why Salesforce Nation is very different (Deal Architect)

A defiant Lyft to launch in Philly Friday (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Apple Pay Is Coming To Nearly 200,000 Vending Machines And Parking Meters [via Malvern's USA Technologies] (Business Insider)


Big News from Brick Startup CardCash: $6m Additional Funding and an Alliance with Walmart


Esther Surden
Publisher & Editor, NJTechWeekly.com



CardCash founders Elliot Bohm, CEO, and Marc Ackerman, COO. |
 Courtesy CardCash


CardCash, the Brick Township-based startup that operates as a gift-card exchange, has recently secured an additional $6 million in debt financing from Sterling National Bank (Montebello, N.Y.), and has entered into a partnership with Walmart.

The current round of funding comes on the heels of $6 million in equity financing from Guggenheim Partners, a global financial services firm, and a partnership with InComm, a provider of connectivity and integrated point-of-sale technology solutions to retailers.

Counting the funding from Sterling National Bank, CardCash has secured close to $15 million in financing over the past year.

Since Christmas day, users have been able to visit the Walmart CardCash website to exchange gift cards from more than 200 retailers, airlines, and restaurants for a Walmart card.

Recipients who exchange their unwanted gift cards through the CardCash website can receive a Walmart card worth up to 97% of the value of the original gift card. Walmart cards are one of the most sought-after cards in the CardCash gift-card exchange marketplace, according to a CardCash spokesman. And Walmart cards never expire.

Elliot Bohm, who cofounded CardCash in 2008 with Marc Ackerman, spoke to NJTechWeekly.com about both developments.

“The debt financing came in perfect timing for the holiday season. There is an influx of gift cards that are going to be coming through our doors post-holiday. We just needed to finance our inventory of gift cards.” And Sterling National Bank stepped up, he said.

It was no small feat “to get a national bank comfortable to lend against an inventory of gift cards,” he added.

Once they were able to get a national bank onboard, it was a “no-brainer” to take the money as debt financing, Bohm told NJTechWeekly.com. “We didn’t want to give away any more equity in our company.”

Walmart seemed like a perfect fit for the CardCash model, Bohm said. While it took several months of discussions to develop the alliance, “we saw ourselves as offering a product that they would go for.”

Walmart and CardCash will each derive advantages from the partnership. “In customer’s eyes, Walmart has almost a cash equivalent. You can buy almost anything at Walmart, from basic necessities to luxury items to gifts,”  Bohm said. At the same time, “CardCash has much experience offering cash for gift cards.”

“When we wanted to power the exchange for a brand, Walmart seemed like a perfect fit.” Walmart, he explained, has a very large footprint and allows customers to use the gift cards both online and in stores.

The Walmart payout is higher than the cash payout at CardCash, he noted. For customers who want to receive cash, the company urges them to continue using CardCash’s website. “But customers who shop at Walmart, and that’s most of America, can take advantage of the higher payout.”

“We expected many customers to be very interested in this, and…I can tell you, it was received very, very positively.” The alliance has generated a great deal of traffic to the website, but the website is been able to handle the increased number of hits, Bohm told us.

The Walmart alliance has also created a big marketing wave in the media, he said. “The way the media is talking about it is definitely something very unique for us.”

Bohm talked a bit about the company’s growth in Brick Township, noting that the startup has more than 100 employees there and expects to grow further in 2015. “It’s a great place to work and we are definitely hiring,” he said. He added that the company has opened a small Silicon Valley office for business development.

In July, CardCash completed the acquisition of Plastic Jungle (San Mateo, Calif.), a company backed by more than $25 million in venture capital (investors included First Round Capital). As part of the deal, CardCash.com acquired Plastic Jungle's technology infrastructure, business partnerships and domain name, “PlasticJungle.com.”


Esther Surden is Publisher and Editor of NJTechWeekly, and a contributor to Philly Tech News. This article (with one small addition) originally appeared in NJTechWeekly, and is republished here with her permission.


Philly Tech People News 1/25/2015: Oracle names Panetta to board







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Oracle names former CIA director Leon Panetta to its board (Gigaom)

BALAN NAIR NAMED CO-CHAIR OF SCTE ‘ENERGY 2020’ PROGRAM
Liberty Global Exec Joins Comcast’s John Schanz at Helm; Brings Global Reach to Program
(SCTE)

Dataram Announces Appointment of Dave Moylan as Interim CEO (Business Wire)

Certara Appoints Gavin Nichols as President of Technology and Head of its Software Business Unit (Business Wire)

Craig Warznak Named Director of Corporate Development for Day & Zimmermann (Marketwire)

Mike Rowbotham Appointed Vice President of Strategy & Innovation for AmeriQuest Business Services (PR Web)

Mike LaJoie Appointed Chairman Of Guavus (Multichannel News)