Change in direction at Novotorium; Mike Krupit leaving

Tom Paine

Langhorne, Bucks County-based incubator Novotorium is changing its direction, and losing the person who was the driving force behind its creation - General Manager Mike Krupit - it was announced yesterday.

Gary Baron, Chairman of Baron Innovation Group, which owns and funds Novotorium, will become the interim Managing Director, while the incubator shifts its focus to supporting wellness and healthy lifestyle businesses. This includes Baron's own startup, Healthy Food Now. Baron will be searching for "a seasoned senior executive from the health, wellness and nutrition community" to run the incubator on a permanent basis, the company said in a statement. Novotorium will continue to support the existing startups at the facility, Zuppler and TravelCare; and Baron’s core business, Voice Systems Engineering. The other members of the Novotorium team, Maria Collins, Alberto Janza and Chuck Hall will continue to be involved.

In an email sent to Novotorium supporters in which he announced his decision to leave, Krupit said, "After spending a lot of time and passion over the past year to get Novotorium off the ground, a series of events (dare I say “perfect storm”) has led me to consider my path and and redirect my focus".

Mike Krupit

Krupit described the Philadelphia region as "a pretty challenging startup environment". "Our model looked for bootstrapping companies at the launch and post-launch stage - and we struggled to find enough of them here. We ran into a lot of fences - geographic, institutional, financial. The startup communities in Philly, Princeton, and Lehigh have great spirit and camaraderie, but there is still a fair amount of insulation between entrepreneurs and the region’s big companies, universities, government, and capital".

Krupit also says he plans to continue working with startup businesses and "am now beginning such explorations". His LinkedIn profile shows him to be an advisor to Real Food Works, former Infonautics colleague Lucinda Duncalfe's new startup focused on plant based diets, an interest he personally shares.

Krupit, a New York City native with a computer science background, was an early member of the executive team at Josh Kopelman's first startup, Infonautics, and ended up running another renown area startup, CDNow, after it had been acquired by Bertelsmann.



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Daily Links 8/16/2012: Verizon-Cable Agreement Wins DOJ Approval Today (With Some Restrictions)

Verizon, Comcast Airwaves Accord Wins Antitrust Approval (Bloomberg)

Comcast Statement Regarding U.S. Department of Justice Verizon Wireless-SpectrumCo Commercial Agreements Consent Decree (Comcast Voices/Official Comcast Blog)

Critics Slam SpectrumCo Approval
Say Conditions Not Enough to Protect Consumers (Multichannel News)


NBCUniversal can count its sprawling, multi-platform Olympics coverage as a win (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Is Apple's iTV television plan in trouble? (Computerworld Blogs)

Philly Fed factory activity shrinks for fourth month in August (Reuters)
But slightly improved from last month.
Philly Fed Press Release

Braintree expands mobile payment ambitions; acquires Venmo (Gigaom)
Venmo started in Philly, received backing from Accel Ventures, and moved to New York last year. Braintree is paying $26.2 million for it. Accel is also an investor in Braintree.

IMS Health Acquires Philly-based TTC, Strengthening Pharma R&D Services Capabilities
Delivers Industry-Leading Clinical Trial Cost Benchmarking Solutions (Business Wire)
This is the second deal IMS Health has announced this week, the first being UK-based PharmaVentures Ltd, which maintains a database of Pharma industry transactions. While IMS Health's global headquarters are in Parsippany NJ, its US unit is based in Collegeville.

A New Day at Quewey (Quewey Blog)
Philly-based Q&A site pivots.

Peco suspends smart-meter installations after Bucks fire (Philadelphia Inquirer)



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phillytechnews twitterfeed 8/15/2012

phillytechnews: RT @seattletimes: Felix Hernandez has taken his place in the halls of baseball immortality after pitching a perfect game against the Tam ... Posted: 15 Aug 2012 03:39 PM PDT phillytechnews: RT @seattletimes: Felix Hernandez has taken his place in the halls of baseball immortality after pitching a perfect game against the Tam ...

phillytechnews: New PTN Post: MoneyTree VC report: Which startups really are based in Philly area? http://t.co/GfLOKR2A Posted: 15 Aug 2012 03:33 PM PDT phillytechnews: New PTN Post: MoneyTree VC report: Which startups really are based in Philly area? http://t.co/GfLOKR2A

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MoneyTree VC report: Which startups really are based in Philly area?

Tom Paine

In sorting through the Q2 2012 PricewaterhouseCoopers/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree Venture Capital report (free registration) based on ThomsonReuters data, you can often come across some confusing information.

For instance, be wary of startups shown as being based in Delaware. Often they have nothing more to do with the state other than being registered there. For instance, Speaktoit, a Siri-like app for Android, is shown in the report as being based in Newark, DE, but CEO Ilya Gelfenbeyn told me by email when the funding was first announced in May that "we are in DC and now opening an office in Sunnyvale, CA", and only has a registration office in Delaware. Speaktoit recieved funding from Intel Capital. Another example is Roqbot, a social music service for businesses, which is shown as being based in Dover, DE, but is actually based in California. Google Ventures is among its backers.

Also, there are a number of startups listed as being located in Conshohocken. which happens to be the current location of First Round Capital's office until it moves to Philadelphia (as Josh Kopelman announced today). So it is no surprise that First Round is an early stage investor in each of them, although they won't be located there or in the Philly area at all in some cases. One, crowdfunding VC site FundersClub, lists three UPenn alumni as its top principals, although I haven't been able to determine yet where it is they call home. Another crowdfunding startup, Upstart, which lets investors back individuals rather than companies, is located in Palo Alto according to FormDs.com. Grokker looks like it is a reincanation of a visual search engine of the same name that shut down in 2009. which was also located in the Bay area. Another, Perceptual Networks, may have bi-coastal roots in terms of its founders, but Kopelman confirmed in his post today that it will have a Philly presence in that it will have space in FRC's new offices. I have no information on what Perceptual Networks is out to do yet.

Another interesting investment is that of Norwest Venture Partners in Media-based Alarm Capital Alliance, which provides home security systems through a network of third party dealers. The size of the investment wasn't disclosed. I know little about ACA, but I do know that Norwest usually invests in fairly sizable amounts of a few million or more. If I understand correctly, part of what ACA does is to provide dealer financing, so the Norwest investment could be related to that.

In all, it was a weak quarter for IT and digital-related investments in the Philly area. The total of all investment was less than $58 million, according to MoneyTree, but a quick glance indicates at least $44 million of that was in Pharma ventures and even some of remainder included the report was for companies not actually located in the area.

Philly Tech News' own database tracking Philly area (IT-related) VC investments doesn't exactly match the MoneyTree data, often because of timing differences. Some partial rounds often appear in different quarters. For example, MoneyTree shows a $3 million investment in InstaMed for the quarter, while my report includes the entire $14 million round the company announced in May.

Philly Tech News Philly VC Investments Database (Updated 8/15/2012)



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Daily Links 8/15/2012: First Round Capital moving from Conshy to Philly

Hello Philly! (Redeye VC)
First Round Capital moving from Conshohocken to Philadelphia.

SevOne P2P Sharing and Big Data Clusters For Monitoring On A Massive Scale (TechCrunch)
SevOne is based in Newark, DE.

Verizon, Comcast Agree to U.S. Demands on Airwaves (Bloomberg)

Here's Comcast's Coming Speed, Pricing Lineup
Competitive (FiOS) Areas to See Changes First (Broadband Reports)

Best Buy, Target, Walmart, and others team up to create new mobile wallet solution (The Verge)

OLED displays to hit sales of $44B by 2019, with growth in TVs and mobile devices (VentureBeat)
If accurate, would be promising news for Ewing-based Universal Display.

Astea Reports Profitable Second Quarter 2012 Results (PR Newswire)
Horsham-based provider of field service management solutions grows revenue 32% and swings to net income of $885,000 from a loss of $839,000 a year ago.

USA Technologies Enters Mobile Acceptance Market
ePort Mobile Brings Turn-key ePort Connect Service Platform to Smart Phones and Tablets for Business Customers (Business Wire)



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Highlights last week on Philly Tech News (8/6/2012 to 8/12/2012)

I looked at how HostMySite, the Newark, Delaware-based small business-oriented web hosting service that was folded into the more enterprise-oriented Hosting.com, has been broken out as a separate division and given increased emphasis.

Liberty Interactive reported that revenue at its QVC unit grew 4% in the 2nd quarter, and that QVC's joint venture in China had been approved by Chinese officials.

SAP expert watcher Dennis Howlett discovered that there were some significant accounting issues at SuccessFactors prior to its acquisition by SAP.

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania announced it had invested $1.375 million in seven early stage ventures.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts discussed his vision for the company in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek.

The latest Philly newspapers ownership group, Interstate Media General, told staff in a memo that the papers are still losing millions and it wants more cuts. Apparently, its capital may not be as "patient" as thought.

The city of Philadelphia named its first chief data officer, Mark Headd.


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Daily Links 8/14/2012: Verizon Wireless spectrum deal near regulatory approval (WSJ)

Verizon Wireless spectrum deal near regulatory approval - WSJ (Reuters)

Talks Falter Between Stacey Snider, Comcast (Hollywood Reporter)

New York Surpasses Boston as Tech Hub says First Round Capital’s Howard Morgan (Startup Grind)

Conshohocken-based New Horizons Enters into Definitive Agreement to Be Acquired by an Investor Group Led by Camden Partners (Business Wire)

Salesforce’s Answer To Facebook? Communities: A Private Social Network For You And Your Customers (TechCrunch)

Considering mobile POS? How URBN (Urban Outfitters) leverages apps for a streamlined in-store checkout (National Retail Federation Blog)

Drexel law professor creates a virtual venue for getting real-world experience (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Uber Hit With Cease And Desist In Boston, Promises To Continue “Full Speed Ahead” (TechCrunch)

RevitasNOW™ Brings the Power of Enterprise Revenue Dynamics to the Cloud
Revitas introduces a powerful cloud solution for optimizing and managing complex contracts, pricing, and compliance scenarios (Business Wire)

S4 Worldwide Receives Investment from Ben Franklin Technology Partners (Business Wire)

phillytechnews twitter feed 8/12/ to 8/13/2012

phillytechnews: Daily Links 8/13/2012: Google cuts 4,000 at Motorola, but says impact at Horsham "minimal" http://t.co/rF9AdSIJ Posted: 13 Aug 2012 03:00 PM PDT phillytechnews: Daily Links 8/13/2012: Google cuts 4,000 at Motorola, but says impact at Horsham "minimal" http://t.co/rF9AdSIJ

phillytechnews: RT @ScottMAustin: Groupon's sequential revenue growth for past 6 quarters reads like this: 72%, 97%, 10%, 14%, 14%, 2%. Not exactly high ... Posted: 13 Aug 2012 02:14 PM PDT phillytechnews: RT @ScottMAustin: Groupon's sequential revenue growth for past 6 quarters reads like this: 72%, 97%, 10%, 14%, 14%, 2%. Not exactly high ...

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Daily Links 8/13/2012: Google cuts 4,000 at Motorola, but says impact at Horsham "minimal"

Motorola Set for Big Cuts as Google Reinvents It (New York Times)
It sounds as if this round might be mostly aimed at the handset business. Reports have suggested that Google may have decided to sell the Horsham-based home business, but this article doesn't clarify that.
Update: Some cuts at Motorola Home, but company says "the impact on Horsham is minimal", Light Reading Cable reports.

Google Faces a Big Set-Top Overhang With Expected Sale of Moto Home (Multichannel News)


Pay TV should be “afraid, very afraid” of Google Fiber, SNL Kagan says (paidContent)

Dish Network's Ergen predicts a pay TV provider will launch a sports-free service (FierceCable)


Study Examines “Clubby” World of Venture Capital (Wall Street Journal: Venture Capital Dispatch)
Study by RJMetrics' co-founder Robert Moore finds that some VCs such as First Round Capital often co-invest with certain firms, while others like Edison Ventures frequently go solo.

Stick a Fork In It: Dell Is Done (PandoDaily)

Dell Is Done? Just a Little Premature (PandoDaily)
An alternative view.

Salesforce.com Just Landed Its Biggest Deal Ever, But Can’t Brag About It (All Things D)

T-Mobile USA Said To Be Target Of Trujillo Buyout Attempt (Bloomberg)

Echo Therapeutics Announces $20 Million Financing with Platinum-Montaur Life Sciences (PR Newswire)


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Philly Tech People News 8/12/2012: Quintiq deepens finance management team

Quintiq Announces Four Key Additions to the Financial Team (Quintiq website)

Ad Executive Makes Leap to Comcast’s El Rey Network (New York Times: Media Decoder)

TAGSYS Expands Team for RFID Deployment in Retail, Apparel, Luxury Goods Sector (Business Wire)

WVT Communications Group Announces Brian H. Callahan as CFO (Marketwire)

QVC CFO Dan O'Connell Announces Retirement After 25 Years (PR Newswire)

QVC EVP John Hunter Retires After 20+ Years of
Driving World Class Customer Service (QVC Press Release)

Digital First Media Announces New Editorial Structure in Support of Project Thunderdome
James McClure Named Company's East Editor (Marketwire)
Journal Register parent.

Harte-Hanks, Inc. promotes Jeannine Falcone (Philly Ad Club News)

D4 Creative Group adds 5 new hires
(Philly Ad Club News)

Rajant Adds Two Key Directors to Sales Team (Business Wire)

COLDLIGHT NAMES NEW CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER (ColdLight Website)

Veris Associates, Inc. - New Team Member (PR Newswire)

FieldView Solutions Hires Marketing Veteran for DCIM Offering (Marketwire)




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The Friday WTF Awards – Oracle Not The Only One Who Deserves Calling Out (Alex Williams/TechCrunch)

Salesforce.com to debut Work.com at Dreamforce
Analysts expect an initial product launch will be followed by a broader strategy for HR software (Infoworld)

As Google Fiber rollouts begin, here’s what cable will watch most closely (Gigaom)