Daily Links 9/28/2010: Venmo introduces Gifi

The Wall Street Journal today has a story on the difficulties SAP has faced in getting Business byDesign off the ground (subscription required).
Also, the SAP acquisition rumor de jour centers on British-based Sage Group, which provides Financial and CRM software to the SME market.
MARKET REPORT: Sage chief looks to a future fight
(Mail Online)


Gifi lets you hide money for your friends to encourage Foursquare check-ins (VentureBeat)
Venmo's new app introduced at TechCrunch Disrupt.

TechCrunch Scooped Up By AOL
(Wired Blogs: Epicenter)

NBC Universal-Comcast prep Olympic bid (Hollywood Reporter via Reuters)

FCC denies delays in Comcast-NBC Uni review
Tells THR: 'We have not announced a timetable' (Hollywood Reporter)

Comcast Shakes Up Speed Tiers
16 Mbps users get 20 Mbps upgrade, 22 Mbps tier goes away (Broadband Reports)

Canoe's Verklin: National ITV Ads Are Here Now
MSO Ad Venture Targeting 25 Million Households By End Of 2010 (Multichannel News)

HDNET Coming To New Comcast Markets This Week? (Zatz Not Funny!)

The Long Goodbye: Xmarks Tried to Sell Twice, Before Closing Down With Class (All Things Digital: BoomTown)
Xmarks had been backed by Mitch Kapor; First Round Capital was also an early seed investor.

Evidently IBM bought Cast Iron Systems for $190 million (DBMS2)
I wonder what this implies for the valuation of Cast Iron competitor Boomi of Berwyn.

SDI plans on high job growth over time (Philadelphia Business Journal)


Connectify Releases Version 2.1 - Extends Wi-Fi Sharing to Major Gaming Systems (PR Newswire)




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Meet Steve Burke: NBCU's Prudent Risk-Taker, Zucker Antidote (The Wrap)

Vivendi sells $2 bln NBC stake to GE (Reuters)

Sony, Warner, Disney Planning $30 Home Film-Viewing Option
(Bloomberg)

Will These Guys Kill The Next Google? (Knowledge@Wharton via
Forbes)

Boomi is making some noise with its move to the cloud
Internet software service simplifies applications integration (Philadelphia Business Journal)
39 employees, according to the article, which is less than I would have thought at this point (though that is not necessarily a bad thing).




Unilever SAP integration looming with £2.3bn Alberto Culver acquisition (Computerworld UK)

Infosys to develop a SAP Business ByDesign practice (ZDNet Blogs)



Novell Launches SUSE Linux for SAP (eWeek)

Answering Our Own Questions About Oracle's Social Acquisition Plans (Read Write Cloud)

Burke to head NBC Universal following merger

Burke Will Head NBC Universal Following Comcast Merger (paidContent)

Vanguard CEO Bill McNabb's top challenge is complacency (USA Today)

Philly Tech People News 9/26/2010

Philip Emond Named as CIGNA’s Chief Information Officer (Business Wire)

Bentley Appoints Norbert Young, Jim Porter, and Patrick McCrory to New
Bentley Infrastructure Ambassadors Council (Bentley Systems Press Release)

Monetate Welcomes Dell Veteran and Bazaarvoice CMO Sam Decker to Board of Directors (PR Newswire)

Ben Franklin (NE) names Beste new chairman (Allentown Morning Call)

Executive Anna M. Seal Elected to CDI Corp. Board of Directors (PR Newswire)

Supply Chain Consultants Announces the Retirement of Dr. Bibi Singh, President and Co-Founder of the Corporation
Dr. Singh Has Been Appointed Chair of the Board of Directors (Business Wire)

Razorfish Health Hires 4 Executives (Press Release via PharmaLive)

tierney Announces New Hires; Evolves Digital Focus (Philly Ad Club)

RDC Appoints Technology Leader (Business Wire)


Acurian Announces Kim Basciani as Director of eRecruitment (Business Wire)



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Daily Links 9/24/2010: Clearwire in discussions with T-Mobile; Zucker to leave NBCU

Official: Jeff Zucker leaving NBC Universal
Says he'll step down once Comcast deal is finalized (Hollywood Reporter)

Did Comcast Boot the Best Guy To Run Its Cable Networks? (GigaOM: NewTeeVee)

Comcast’s Burke: NBC Title Contender or Behind the Scenes Power? (Wall Street Journal: Deal Journal)

Clearwire open to funding from T-Mobile USA (FierceWireless)

Hackers who disrupted Comcast.net site sentenced (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Kenexa: Piper Upgrades (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)

Oracle Wants a Chip Company? Which One? (All Things Digital: Digital Daily)

MLB Beefs up At Bat App With New Ballpark Features (PC World)

ETC’ 293% boost in gov’t sales boosts 2Q (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Holy Redeemer Partners with MobileMD to Deliver Health Information Exchange Services to Care Community
(PR Newswire)




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myYearbook on Silicon Alley Insider's Digital 100

Social Networking site myYearbook of New Hope is the only company from the Philadelphia area (though some think of New Hope as a distant New York suburb) that I see on Silicon Alley Insider's Digital 100: The World's Most Valuable Startups. myYearbook is ranked 68th with estimated market value of $185 miliion, which may seem a little high, but perhaps not with some people talking about Facebook being worth $25 to $30 bilion. myYearbook's backers include First Round Capital and Northwest Venture Partners.

Recyclebank, which started in Philadelphia before moving its HQ to New York and still has significant operations here, has an estimated market value of $100 million, SAI says. Recyclebank has recieved investments of over $70 miliion, according to CrunchBase, so $100 million would be a marginal return. I've always had some questions about the long-term economic viability of Recyclebank's business model.

A relatively small fund, PENN-related MentorTech Ventures, has two of its portfolio companies in the top 100: Jersey City's Diapers.com and New York's Yodle, which I think actually started out in Philly.

Who else from the Philly area might belong on this list? Four possibilities that come to mind are Cloud software integrator Boomi of Berwyn, corporate meeting management site StarCite of Philadelphia (an ICG portfolio company), and two Healthcare IT firms: Portico Systems of Blue Bell (Safeguard Scientifics) and Octagon Research Solutions of Wayne. The SAI rankings are very consumer-centric, though, and don't pay much attention to enterprise-oriented applications.




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Daily Links 9/23/2010: QlikTech says its launching aggressive Global Recruitment Initiative

QlikTech Launches Aggressive Global Recruitment Initiative (Business Wire via MarketWatch)

Hey Cable Guys! Cord Cutting is Real, and It’s a Problem, Says Verizon CEO (All Things Digital: MediaMemo)

Comcast Tees Up TV Everywhere Relaunch (Light Reading)

Zucker: Comcast Integration Top Priority
Says NBC Turnaround Has Begun (Multichannel News)

Perelman Bids $85 Million for Philadelphia Inquirer and Sister Newspaper (Bloomberg)
Lenders again win auction of Philadelphia newpapers (Reuters)

Ellison jabs at Salesforce, recaps Exalogic before finally previewing Fusion in closing keynote (ZDNet Blogs)

Hara: 40 Customers, New Software and Growing Fast
The city of Philadelphia is the company’s latest customer. (Greentech Media)

Kopelman cancels on TechCrunch (Wonder Why)

“Ask A VC” Guest Swap: Kopelman Out; Hirshland In (TechCrunch)
Didn't know First Round Capital was raising a new fund. But perhaps this has something to do with it:

After Quiet Dinner, Angels Get Indigestion (New York Times: DealBoook)
Collusion in Silicon Valley Investing? (New York Times: DealBook)
Angel investors fire back at Arrington.

Daily Links 9/22/2010: Comcast Not Likely to Boost Investment in Clearwire

QlikTech Succeeds By Keeping It Simple (TheStreet)

Oracle Growth Plans Worry Rivals and Customers (New York Times)

Java Creator James Gosling: Why I Quit Oracle (eWeek)

SAP Rolls out Wave of 'rapid Deployment' Apps (PC World)

SAP Analytics - Part One (ZDNet Blogs)

Siemens to Take Health-Care Unit Charge as Growth Misses Targets (Bloomberg)

Comcast Unlikely to Boost Investment in Clearwire (Wall Street Journal: Digits)

Beyond NBC Universal: Comcast Talks Growth (CNNBC)

2 bids received for Phila. newspapers (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Philadelphia Reporters Want Scoop on Auction (Wall Street Journal: Bankruptcy Beat)


Motorola exec struts Medios TV guide platform capabilities in IBC video (Engadget)




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Daily Links 9/21/2010: Oracle, SAP, SunGard advance Cloud strategies

Exclusive: Comcast Reshuffles Its Digital Deck Before NBC Comes Aboard (All Things Digital: MediaMemo)



CableLabs Eyes a Super-Sized Upstream (Light Reading Cable)

Oracle, HP Settle Hurd Lawsuit (Information Week)

Hasso Plattner Ventures Invests $6 Million in Panaya
New Investor will be Instrumental in SAP Upgrade Automation Leader's Expansion Plans (Business Wire)

When Group Buying Met Check-In: SCVNGR Hooks Up With BuyWithMe On Local Deals (TechCrunch)

Loan Quality Firms Merge to Form Aklero Risk Analytics (Aklero Press Release)

USA Technologies Reports Results for Fiscal Year 2010 Highlighted by Record Gross Profit for Its Fiscal Fourth Quarter (Business Wire)


MetroPCS Launches First LTE Network in U.S. (PC Magazine)

Oracle Unveils Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management 8 (Marketwire)
I didn't realize Primavera founder Joel Koppelman was still with Oracle. Bala Cynwyd-based Primavera was acquired by Oracle in 2008.

Exalogic: Larry Gets the Cloud Now & He Wants It All (GigaOM)

Exclusive: Sungard to launch public cloud services (Computer Business Review)

SAP Moves an OnDemand Service to Amazon (PC World)






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First Round-backed Solve Media (formerly AdCopy) officially launches

Two months ago I wrote about First Round Capital's investment in a startup called AdCopy, which was seeking to monetize CAPTCHAs (those letters you type in on many websites to verify you are not a bot) as an advertising vehicle. AdCopy had offices in New York and Philly, according to its website. There hasn't been much news about them since then.

But today the company, now renamed Solve Media, officially launched. It has reportedly raised about $6 million, from First Round, AOL, New Atlantic Ventures, and individual angel investors. CEO Ari Jacoby was previously a founder of VoiceStar, the Philadelphia pay per call advertising service sold to Marchex in 2007. VoiceStar was also a First Round portfolio company.