Links 3/8: Amazon launching live QVC-Type Show; Salesforce launches new Financial Services Cloud - LiquidHub has new app fot it





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Modular Data Center Startup Keystone NAP Raises $15M (Dsts Center Knowledge)

Amazon Is Launching a Live QVC-Type Show as Part of Push Into Fashion (Re/code)

Amid Impasse, YES Tells Comcast Customers to Switch Providers (New York Times)

SCTE says its headquarters has cut $18K off its electrical bill, wants to set industry example (FierceCsble)


Another day, another cloud (Denis Pombriant/Enterprise Irregulars)
Salesforce's new Financial Services Cloud launched with key partners, including an app from Wayne's LiquidHub.



at 2:18 PM 0 comments

Report: Philly-based PCI Pharma Services exploring sale:



Tom Paine



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PCI Pharma Services is exploring s $1 billion sale according to sources, Reuters reports.

PCI Pharma Services, which is bssed in Northeast Philly, wss formed through the acquisition of Catalent Pharma Solutions Inc by PE firm Frazier Healthcare Partners in 2012, and the acquisition of the contract packaging business of AmerisourceBergen Corp a yaer later. The business is expected to fetch a $1 billion valuation, including its debt.

Reuters also reports other activity in the Pharma outsourcing patch. Pharmaceutical Product Development LLC, InVentiv Health Inc and Philsdelphia's eResearch Technology Inc have all explored either sales or initial public offerings, according to Reuters.



at 11:57 AM 0 comments

Links 3/7: Comcast buys OneTwoSee; CardConnect acquired by blank check company, will trade pubicly







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Comcast buys sports data specialist OneTwoSee (Telecompaper)

Comcast Buys X1 Sports App Partner (Multichannel News)

CardConnect® and FinTech Acquisition Corp. Announce Merger Agreement Combining Businesses (Business Wire)
`
ComScore Shares Plunge After Co. Delays Filing Annual Report (Vsriety)

Wells Fargo sued by SEC in connection with ex-Phillies star's startup failure (Philadelphia Business Journal)

How mature is Salesforce Wave as a business? How far has Wave analytics come? (CBR Online)

Get ready for BI/Analytics vendor landscape reshuffle (Forrester Blog)
And doesn't even mention Singer's move on Qlik.


at 7:05 AM 0 comments

Philly Tech People News 3/6/2016: Judge Group, West, Swift Capital




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Charter clips Comcast's Klippel for advanced advertising post (FierceCable)

Comcast Names Wilson-Scott SVP Community Investment (Multichannel News)

Jefferson, IBC reveal collaboration's first entrepreneurs-in-residence (Philadelphia Business Journal)

The Judge Group Promotes Mick Angelichio to President of Judge Healthcare

Swift Capital Expands Executive Team to Support Exceptional Growth (PR Web)

West Appoints Eric Resnick to Chief Technology Officer (PR Newswire)

David M. Erdman named Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of Morning Call (Morning Call)


at 10:11 PM 0 comments

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Saturday Highlights: Workday's prospects in financials: AWS Marketplace reported major seller of CRM







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Salesforce is facing competition from an unexpected place: Amazon (Business Insider)

Workday's prospects in financials: Parabolic or trouble ahead? (ZDNet)


Industrial IoT still needs humans -- and user interfaces (PCWorld)

There's a serious brain drain going at VMware that no one's talking about (Business Insider)


at 3:06 PM 0 comments

Friday Highlights: DOCSIS 3.1 vs FTTH; Phenom People raises more VC





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Jet.com paid $90 million for Omaha-based Hayneedle (Omaha.com)

Sports Authority, falling behind in stores and e-commerce, files for bankruptcy (LA Times via Seattle Times)
Are they happy with (still-named) EBay Enterprise?
EBay Enterprise is being combined with Georgia-based Innotrac, and a rebranding was due after the Christmas rush, the Inquirer reported in December.


DOCSIS 3.1 vs FTTH (CableFax)
This is an extremely interesting question (seriously) which I've wondered about alot. Will the old cable plant even be necessary for long?

Sigma Prime backs Phenom People, leads additional $2.7M Series A round (Business Wire)

Want to compete with Salesforce? Buy Marketo (TechCrunch)




at 8:51 PM 0 comments

Investor Singer takes position, looks for changes at Radnor's Qlik


Tom Paine



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Elliott Associates, led by Paul Singer, and its affiliates have acquired a combined
8.9% position in Radnor-based business intelligence software vendor Qlik Technologies, it said in a filing.

Elliott Associates said in the filing that it believed the company's shares are "significantly undervalued." It also said it has initiated talks with Qlik's management and board about strategic and operational opportunities.

Singer can take relatively passive positions (Elliott took a small position in Comcast last year), but in other cases can be very aggressive in forcing changes in enterprise structure or ownership. Recent examples include Tibco Software and PetSmart.

A Barron's columnist panned Qlik's financial performance in January . Though still
growing, Qlik has been hurt by competition (Tableau, probably Microsoft) and lately the stronger dollar, since considerable revenue comes from overseas. It has excellent technology and some analysts have sensed signs of a turnaround, but that hasn't shown up much in financial results yet.

Qlik (NASDAQ: QLIK) is up about 9% on the day. It has a market value of $2.5 billion.

Update: No comment I've seen from Qlik so fsr as of late Thursdsy.


at 4:00 PM 0 comments

Links 3/3: MentorTech Ventures investor in Brooklyn's goTenna; SAP buys shrinking business in Roambi





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Elliott Associates, affiliates take 8.88 percent stake in Qlik (Reuters)

Roambi CEO Says SAP Purchase a Good Fit for Data Visualization App (Xconomy)
Roambi has been so successful, its cut headcount from 140 to just 50 since end of 2012.

Amazon Prime Subscriptions Reach New Record, Cowen Estimates (Barron's Tech Trader Daily)
Wonder how ShopRunner is doing?

Safeguard Scientifics Announces Fourth Quarter And Full-Year 2015 Financial Results (PR Newswire)

How IT Needs to Change As Enterprise Tech Goes Consumer-Grade (ASUG News)

Google's master plan for pushing the FCC set-top agenda: Get pay-TV's programmatic dollars (FierceCsble)

Meet goTenna, a Gadget That Lets You Text Without a Cell Signal (Fortune)
MentorTech Ventures one of investors in new round, so I assume there's a Penn connection.
Answer: One of the two sibling founders, Jorge Perdomo, attended Penn. goTenna, though, is based in Brooklyn.



at 12:16 PM 0 comments

Big money in branding; PE firm acquires majority stake in 160Over90


Tom Paine



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Who says there's no big money in branding?

A New York PE firm, Searchlight Capital Partners, has purchased a majority stake in national branding and creative services agency 160Over90. AgencySpy cites sources as saying the deal was valued at around $175 million, presumably referring to the value of the entire agency.

It was founded by Shannon Price Slusher and Darryl Cilli, who both reside in the Philadelphia area, in 2001. 160Over90 has offices in California and Florida as well as Philadelphia, and employs about 150, most of whom are based in Philly.

160Over90's client portfolio seems weighted, though by no means exclusively, towards sports brands, both pro (the Eagles are one) and college, and academic institutions themselves.

Branding means much more than slapping a new name on something. One example of 160Over90's clout is a recent $1.6 million contract with the University of Vermont. It will produce videos for its website, a glossy hard-copy "view book" for prospective students, and other marketing materials with a consistent theme defining the school.

Slusher and  Cilli will continue to manage the business.



at 3:40 PM 0 comments

Links 3/2: South Jersey's Checkpoint Systems to be sold to Canadian firm; A peak at SevOne's & Vanguard's development plans





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Canada's CCL to buy anti-theft tag maker Checkpoint for $422 million (Reuters)
A little side story: Checkpoint briefly moved its headquarters from South Jersey to Philadelphia a few years ago, but the shrink management expert experienced its own prolonged shrinkage period and moved HQ back to Thorofare.
Checkpoint has a lot of good technology, and its shares were up 29% to $10.23 today in post-acquisition bid trading. But it traded at over $29 prior to the recession.

SevOne’s 2016 Product Roadmap Vision (SevOne)
From a month ago, but still relevant.

From client labs to big data: How Vanguard has evolved customer experience (John T. Marcante/The Enterprise Project)
John T. Marcante is Vanguard’s chief information officer and managing director of Vanguard’s Information Technology Division.
Doesn't give away trade secrets, I'm sure, but still an interesting look at some of the
technologies Vanguard is incorporating.

Workday Rises on Demand for Business Cloud-Based Software (Bloomberg)

FCC Complaint Filed Against Comcast's Stream TV (Broadcasting & Cable)

Roberts: Tensions Could Rise On Programming Costs (Multichannel News)

The first ever Google Car crash has a dirty little secret (Computerworld)


at 9:19 AM 0 comments

Links 3/1: Accolade opens "co-HQ" in Seattle, pulls in nearly $39M from investors



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Concur founders open Accolade HQ in Seattle, plan to grow team exponentially (Puget Sound Business Journal)
Says it will be co-headquarters with Berwyn, but I wonder how long.


Workday says it's displacing Oracle software, as it hits first-ever $1 billion annual sales (Business Insider)
I wonder why they emphasize Oracle?

Veeva Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2016 Results
(Business Wire)


T-Mobile Sale On Back Burner Until Auction, Presidential Election (Investor's Business Daily)

Charter CEO Expects Time Warner Cable Deal to Close After California Decision in May (Hollywood Reporter)

AT&T will start selling you cable TV over the Internet (CNN Money)


Philadelphia health tech firm sets up Charlestown innovation lab (Boston Business Journal)

E-Learning Platform - Zoomi - Delivers Real-Time Adaptive Content to Help Corporations Increase Learning Comprehension and Improve Outcomes (PR Newswire)



at 11:52 AM 0 comments

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