Sneak Peek: An early look at some new ventures popping up around Philly (Yorn, Vita Poducts, Storably)

Tom Paine

Yorn is a West Conshohocken-based startup which provides a feedback loop from mobile devices that people can use to rate the experience they've had with whatever it is you want feedback on, resulting in a "Yorn Score". Yorn received an investment of $150,000 from Ben Franklin Technology Partners SE in the 2nd quarter. Its CEO is Rick Rasansky, who founded early Philly SaaS startup eCal and was one of individuals behind Network Acquisition Corp, which acquired the Philly Wi-Fi network from Earthlink and later sold it to the city.

Vita Products, a Philadelphia-based company about which I've written previously, has raised $687,000 of a $937,000 offering, according to an SEC filing. Its VITAband product, originally designed with joggers in mind, is a bracelet providing medical professionals with your identification, relevant medical history and emergency contacts, and also includes contactless payment technology you can use with a Visa Prepaid Card.

Storably is a new Philly startup that will help people make use of idle space they might have, such as empty basements and parking spaces, by creating an online marketplace where others can rent that space for their storage needs. Its website goes live tomorrow, the company says, and Storably will be doing a demo at tomorrow night's Philly Tech Meetup. Josh Kowitt and Apu Gupta are co-founders and Wharton graduates. Community Manager Brendan Lowry wrote in an email: "We are a team of Philadelphians who love tech and all things Philly". Its office is located at 2038 Locust Street, between 20th and 21st.

University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine student Dr. Jonathan L. Lustgarten (he had previously earned a PHD in Biomedical Informatics at Pitt) is working to develop a state-of-the-art, easily deployed, electronic veterinary health record system to help veterinarians and staff in caring for animals during disaster relief efforts. As the winner of the Penn Vet 2011 Student Inspiration Award, Dr. Lustgarten will receive a $100,000 unrestricted grant to continue work on his project, named the Rehabilitation and Emergency COmputerized VEterinary Records, or RECOVER.


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Daily Links 9/20/2011: Morning Call reports on Amazon warehouse conditions

Inside Amazon's warehouse
Lehigh Valley workers tell of brutal heat, dizzying pace at online retailer.
(Allentown Morning Call)
I wonder how GSI Commerce's warehouse operations compare to this.

Quidsi Co-Founder Marc Lore on What Happens After Amazon Buys Your Company and His New Site YoYo.com (Betabeat)

SAP to Acquire Business-to-Business Networking Provider Crossgate (PR Newswire)

Oracle's first quarter: Can the hardware deliver? (ZDNet Blogs)

Oracle's Q1 strong, but hardware sales lag; New SPARC chip on tap (ZDNet Blogs)

Internet of Things Comes to Life in Version 2.0 of ThingWorx Connected Application Platform (Business Wire)

Report tallies the growing vitality of U City (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Comcast's $9.99 Internet for low-income families goes nationwide (Ars Technica)

Comcast Sues British Telecommunications Over Network Patents
(Bloomberg)
Not sure what to make of this yet.

LMC Software Solutions Awarded Second Round of Ben Franklin Technology Partners Funding (PR Newswire)

SunGard to Acquire Syntesys to Expand SWIFT Connectivity and Professional Services over the AvantGard EcoSystem Communication Hub (Echos) (PR Newswire)

LCB turning off wine vending machines (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)



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Daily Links 9/19/2011: Netflix to split; Comcast in Xbox talks

Netflix DVD mailing service to split off and become Qwikster (Ars Technica)

Netflix Strategy Prompts Backlash (New York Times: Media Decoder)

Dish Said to Unveil Blockbuster Streaming Prices on Friday (Bloomberg)

Microsoft in talks with Comcast and Verizon for Xbox TV (Digiday)
Article says deals might be close. Verizon blog mentions Xbox report and certainly
doesn't deny it (Thanks to Dave Zatz for spotting).


Vail to consider Comcast deal (Vail Daily)
You've got to keep subscribers in places like Vail or Martha's Vineyard happy.

Adam Fogelson Re-Upped as Universal Pictures Chairman (Hollywood Reporter)

Reflecting upon SAP TechEd 2011 (Dennis Howlett/ZDNet Blogs)

SAP Relies on Software While Shunning Deals to Vie With Oracle (Bloomberg)

Fiberlink hiring 100 (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

AT&T makes desperate bid to save T-Mobile purchase with rivals’ help (VentureBeat)

Health Network Labs Chooses Altosoft's Insight to Enable Automated Reporting From Multiple Pathology Systems (PR Newswire)



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Hulu sale at risk even as new bids are due (Reuters)


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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