Saturday Highlights: Williams taking leave from NBC Nightly News-for now



Brian Williams pulls himself off ‘NBC Nightly News’—for now (Capitol New York)

IPO Calendar: Health Data Firm Inovalon Among 11 IPOs (Investor's Business Daily)

Motorola Solutions to Explore Sale of 87-Year-Old Company (Bloomberg)

Game Thinking at Comcast (ATD Blog)


Toms River Startup Yashi Exits to the Tune of $33 Million; Staying in NJ


Esther Surden
Publisher & Editor, NJTechWeekly.com



Jay Gould, now president of Yashi, a division of Nexstar./
 Courtesy Yashi
If you want to know how a husband and wife team figured out how to monetize video through advertising, and turned their startup into one of the fastest-growing companies in New Jersey, just watch this video: youtu.be/pVynn7fUgCs.

You’ll see the couple, Yashi founders Jay and Caitlin Gould, who began with a great idea and gave up steady jobs to start a company out of their house. They grew that startup it into a thriving powerhouse in an unlikely spot: Toms River, on the Jersey shore.

This week Yashi announced its exit. The company said that 100 percent of its stock has been acquired by Nexstar Broadcasting Group (Irving, Texas) for $33 million.

“At Yashi, we now have the opportunity to leverage the national scale of a major local media company to accelerate the momentum of our high-growth company,” Jay Gould, now president of Yashi, told NJTechWeekly.com.

“The main office for the company will continue to be Toms River and we look forward to growing our revenues and our team. The team that built Yashi is staying with the company, and will continue to be the vision and the leadership that help Yashi continue its rapid growth.”

Nexstar said that Yashi will continue to operate its growing business as a division of Nexstar’s digital media portfolio.

Yashi has a proprietary technology platform that delivers a one-stop digital advertising solution, integrating geographic, demographic, and other data-driven targeting tools with real-time bidding, allowing advertisers to plan, buy, measure and optimize their ad campaigns in real time.

It’s obvious that Yashi has been strategically thinking about an exit for a while. In 2014, Aaron Cohen, then chief operating officer at Yashi, wrote a stern blog post called 6 Rules for Building a Tech Company on the Jersey Shore.

The post underscored Yashi’s commitment to growth, but clearly foreshadowed the company’s exit.

“Make sure people understand what a major exit can do for a region that seeks economic development,” wrote Cohen.  “All over America communities need to be reinvented and technology sector jobs must be created.   If Yashi produces $100mm exit [ed. note: it did not], that could lead to several offspring.   Before you know it, an entrepreneurial ecosystem will be born.  When you’re the only scalable tech company down the shore, you can’t afford to fail.  Stakes are higher than any one employee’s ability to buy a house or car.  We can create hundreds of jobs for a region that must transform in order to thrive.”

In a statement Jay Gould said, “Nexstar’s growing scale and broad array of digital media assets will help Yashi fulfill its vision to bring online video advertising to local businesses throughout the United States.  We are excited about working with the digital media teams at Nexstar as we continue to cement our place as leaders in location-focused online video advertising for national and local brands utilizing our real-time programmatic technology.”

During its startup stage, Yashi went through four rounds of funding totaling $7.3 million, according to the company’s CrunchBase profile. Silicon Valley Bank and PNC Bank participated in the company’s 2014 $4 million debt financing round.



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 2/6/2015: Williams' problems deepen; PeopleLinx announces social selling app on Salesforce AppExchange






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Fidelity Sees ‘Robo-Advice’ at Its Heels, and in its Future (Retirement Income Journal)

Verizon sells three-state territory, including 1.6 million FiOS users (Ars Technica)

Charter Stock Soars
Shares Up 8% on Strong Q4, M&A Prospects
(Multichannel News)

Brian Williams faces internal investigation at NBC for lying about helicopter attack in Iraq: sources (New York Daily News)

McAdam: LTE will drive pay TV, broadband for Verizon (Donohue Report)

SAP's S4/HANA master plan: The lingering questions (ZDNet)

What’s the future of pureplay cloud IT services firms? (Diginomica)

PeopleLinx Announces Social Selling App on Salesforce AppExchange, the World's Leading Enterprise Apps Marketplace

More than 30 local Radio Shack stores set for closure after bankruptcy filing (Philadelphia Business Journal)

FDA makes official its hands-off approach to regulating health apps and medical software (VentureBeat)


Links 2/5/2015: First Round Capital leads Series A in medical device startup; LLR-backed Message Systems buys rival






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Velano Vascular Raises $5 Million Series A Financing Led by First Round Capital, Two Hospitals and Notable Healthcare Industry Veterans (Business Wire)
First Round Capital leads investment in medical device business, joined by Safeguard Scientifics and CHOP, among others. Initial funding for the company was provided by a series of angel investors in 2012, followed by an investment from Startup PHL. Velano has offices in Philadelphia and San Francisco.

LLR Partners portfolio company Message Systems Buys Rival Port25 Solutions To Create Email Infrastructure Giant (TechCrunch)


Apple Is Talking to TV Programmers About Its Own Web TV Service (Re/code)

D-Link, Sequans building eMBMS TV stick for Verizon (The Donahue Report)

Verizon to sell assets worth $10 billion to Frontier: source (Reuters)

Verizon Sells Landlines, Towers in 2 Deals for $15.6 Billion


Tableau Software finished 2014 on a high note with solid Q4 earnings (ZDNet)
Revenue grew 75%.

SAP Clarifies S/4Hana Release Dates, Licensing Terms (Information Week)

Salesforce Makes Another Bet on E-Commerce (CMS Wire)


SHI International CEO Thai Lee: 'It's A Great Time To Be In IT' (CRN)
SHI International is based in Somerset, NJ.


Links 2/4/2015: FCC Chair proposes net neutrality regs; Ebay Enterprise shares in job cuts, but gains part of corporate innovation unit






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Taboola Gets $117M From Comcast, Other Strategics To Boost Its Content Recommendation Platform (TechCrunch)

The head of the FCC just proposed the strongest net neutrality rules ever (Washington Post)


Analyst: Why Comcast-TWC Won’t Get Approved (Multichannel News)

eBay’s Innovation and New Ventures Group Hit Hard by Layoffs in Restructuring (Re/code)
Some of it transferred to Ebay Enterprise.

Spurned data center sues college, seeks $200M (Philly.com: Philly Deals)


Phorum 2015 Announces Call for Demo Pit Participants (Business Wire)

Blackboard to acquire K-12 ed-tech company (Washington Business Journal)
Schoolwires is based in State College.

SAP's Plattner: How S/4Hana Simplifies ERP (Information Week)

SAP Co-Founder Plattner Bets the Company With a New Database (Re/code)



How SAP Missed An Opportunity (Esteban Kolsky / Enterprise Irregulars)

The 25 Year History of Lotus Notes (Alan Lepofsky / Constellation Research)

Cognizant's Big Bet On Health-Care Vertical Paying Off, Earnings Show (CRN)


Fidelity Investments to acquire Conshohocken wealth planning software company eMoney Advisor






Tom Paine



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Boston-based Fidelity Investments announced this morning it had agreed to acquire Conshohocken-based eMoney Advisor, a leading wealth planning software company. Terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 2000 by former financial advisor Edmond Walters, eMoney Advisor was owned for a few years by Commerce Bancorp before returning to private ownership under Walters' leadership. Today, eMoney Advisor's software is used to track more than $1.4 trillion in client assets managed by 25,000 financial professionals, the company says.

See my profile on eMoney Advisor from 2013.

In mid-2013, eMoney Advisors told me it had about 200 employees. There are now 281 employees on its LinkedIn site.

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, which held a majority stake in eMoney Advisor (if I understand the wording in the press release correctly), will retain a minority stake.

While it expects to expand its footprint under Fidelity, eMoney Advisor says it will also maintain its current offices in Pennsylvania and California.

The trade pub Investment News has more information on the deal.

Walters told Investment News that the firm had more than 40 potential suitors, but none stood a chance against Fidelity.

“Who can compare with Fidelity,” said Mr. Walters. “I didn't tell them at the time, but they were a clear winner.”

The Inquirer's Joe DiStefano cited two sources who indicated that Fidelity paid a "sum north of $250 million, which works out to more than 4 times the company's revenues."

Fidelity is the nation's No. 2 mutual fund company behind The Vanguard Group.


Links 2/2/2015: A reminder that Unisys still does mainframes; Who might have turned in McCord?






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Hey, Unisys does mainframes too! (ITWire)

New Unisys CEO Calls For Stronger Software Solutions, Vertical Focus (CRN)

Last-minute drama gives NBC Super Bowl ratings record (Boston Globe)

Investors Concern Mounting Over Time Warner Cable-Comcast Deal (Wall Street Journal: MoneyBeat)

FCC Chairman Hints at Re-Regulating Net Under Phone System Rules (Re/code)

Verizon close to deals to sell over $10 billion in assets: WSJ (Reuters)



Cerner completes $1.3 billion buy of Siemens (Kansas City Star)

Icon buys Yardley-based MediMedia Pharma Solutions for $120 million (PharmaTimes)



Who turned in Rob McCord? (Philly.com: Philly Deals)


Oracle, NetSuite Report Cloud ERP Progress (Information Week)
SAP set to announce next-generation ERP suite tomorrow.


Salesforce Ventures Leads $41M Apttus Investment (TechCrunch)
Salesforce rarely leads rounds.

Universal Display Jumps 5%: May Ride ‘iPhone 7,’ Wearables, 4K TVs, Says Cowen (Barron's Tech Trader Daily)

Edison Partners Leads $18M Investment in Tracx (Globe Newswire)


Sunday Highlights: Original @ComcastCares Eliason has some advice for former employer



Why, oh why, my dear Comcast? (Frank Eliason/LinkedIn)
The original @ComcastCares on Twitter has some advice for his former employer.

Comcast taking extra steps to ensure Super Bowl broadcast goes off without a hitch (MyNorthwest.com)


Philly Tech People News 2/1/2015: Laser inventor Townes dies; McCord resigns, will plead guilty








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Charles H. Townes, Who Paved Way for the Laser in Daily Life, Dies at 99
(New York Times)

McCord steps down, signals he will plead guilty (Philadelphia Inquirer)


CDI Corp. Names Michael S. Castleman Chief Financial Officer (Business Wire)

Eric Bruzek Joins IBB Consulting as Partner (Marketwire)


Acurian Announces Appointment of Roger Smith as Senior Vice President and General Manager (Business Wire)


SBA names new Eastern Pennsylvania director (Pennsylvania Business Daily)

Rite Aid Announces Key Appointments at Health Dialog (Business Wire via Yahoo News)

Diana Torralvo named Senior Account Executive of Bellevue Communications Group (Press Release)


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.