NY Times on how Comcast is trying to change corporate healthcare (& update on Accolade)

You’ll Never Guess Which Company Is Reinventing Health Benefits (NY Times)

"It’s hard to think of a company that seems less likely to transform health care.

It isn’t headquartered in Silicon Valley, with all the venture-backed start-ups. It’s not among the corporate giants — Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase — that recently announced, with much fanfare, a plan to overhaul the medical-industrial complex for their employees."


After slow start, health services firm to double workforce in Scottsdale (Phoenix Business Journal)

Technology fuels growth at Accolade health venture, 3 years after Concur founders took helm (GeekWire)


Curious if Comcast might some day acquire Accolade and sell its services to others. Long shot, outside of Network & Programming model, but its looking for new niches.

Geekwire article says Accolade currently at 900 employees, including 100 at co-headquarters in Seattle. Also adding to third base in Phoenix.
Surprisingly, headcount has not grown much since the Concur guys invested in it - maybe 30%.

Edison Partners names ex-Comcast IoT guy Daniel Herscovici Partner

Edison Partners (Princeton,) has appointed Daniel Herscovici Partner .

Previously, Herscovici served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Xfinity Home, the Comcast Home Security, Smart Home and IoT business unit. I haven't seen anything from Comcast about who will serve as his replacement.


But the move, which might be a big winner for Edison I suppose, will set off a round of speculation in the IoT world. Comcast has made several product announcements indicative of its direction recently.

PhillyTechNews Daily Page 8/21/18: SAP pilots blockchain-based supply chain tracker; Turkey tries using jailed US pastor's release to force return to Turkey of Pennsylvania-exiled Turkish cleric

8/30ptn - Curated tweets by phillytechnews

Others

Some interesting Philly-related software deals; Vista Equity invests in iCIMs next round; Curalate downsizing in HQ move

Tom Paine


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These deals occurred in the past few weeks:

Vista Equity Partners invests in North Jersey lead giant ICIMS; Susquehanna Growth retains a stake

Curalate downsizing in HQ move to 8 Penn Center

Old City tech: WebLinc borrows $6M, will hire sales, marketing pros

PowerSpike, an eSports Influencer Marketing Platform, Closes Seed Round From Philadelphia 76ers, Techstars via @hypepotamus

Inc. Magazine Recognizes Medical Guardian in Its 37th Annual List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies—the Inc. 5000"

FanDuel’s founder didn’t make a dime when his company was acquired. Now he’s suing for millions.

Frankly surprised that FanDuel was allowed by its owners, which include Paul Martino's Bullpen Capital, Comcast and NBC, and Sashi Reddi's SRI Capital, to end up in this position, since the iron was hot at the time. But nonetheless, this is an interesting case.

New: Evoke Makes A Bold Statement with Giant Acquisition Acquiring Largest Healthcare Agency on The West Coast, Evoke Adds Depth in Professional Advertising, Multichannel Marketing and Analytics (Press Release: August 3)

Evoke Makes A Bold Statement with Giant Acquisition
Acquiring Largest Healthcare Agency on The West Coast, Evoke Adds Depth in Professional Advertising, Multichannel Marketing and Analytics

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Evoke Group
Jul 17, 2018, 06:08 ET

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NEW YORK, July 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Huntsworth plc (HNT: LSE) today announces the acquisition of San Francisco-based Giant Creative Strategy from Shamrock Capital, a Los Angeles-based investment firm, adding to its collection of leading health and wellness marketing companies under Evoke Group (www.evokegroup.com). Giant is a full-service creative healthcare agency focused on healthcare professional and multi-channel marketing, backed by a robust data and analytics offering.

"Clients continue to look for opportunities to work with fewer agency partners on larger remits—consolidating business to those with proven and differentiated credentials and expertise in all key brand areas," said Reid Connolly, CEO of Evoke Group. "Evoke has built our offering to accommodate this market shift and the addition of Giant adds an even more robust and differentiated HCP marketing offering to the group, as well as expanded geographic reach."

Founded in 2002, Giant is led by CEO Steven Gold and President Adam Gelling – both of whom will remain with the business and join the Evoke Group Executive Leadership team, reporting to Connolly.

"With 150 expert staff and a roster of premier biotech, pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostic clients, Giant brings with them the reputation of one of the most progressive and trusted healthcare agencies in the market today," said Connolly. "Everything about the market is more complex today—the science, the commercialization process, the contracting and selling relationships. Not every agency is prepared to guide clients through these challenges. Steven, Adam and the team at Giant are one of the groups out there that truly understand what it takes to be successful in today's ever-changing healthcare landscape and we're excited to have them be a part of the Evoke team."

"Reid and the Evoke team have built one of the most formidable agencies and agency groups in the marketing and communications sector," said Steven Gold. "They've been on the forefront of digital since pharma embraced it. They've established one of the most successful DTC practices in the market today, a rapidly growing market access group, and an HCP portfolio that combined with our own is really one of the more impressive in the space. I could not be happier to work closely with Evoke, to grow our business both in the US and globally and also provide our clients with new and expanded offerings."

Evoke is one of the fastest, organically grown agencies in the industry with 5 locations across the United States and Europe. This acquisition adds a new level of growth to the group.

About Evoke Group and Huntsworth:

Evoke Group (www.evokegroup.com) is a collection of leading health marketing, media and communications companies bound by a common purpose: Health More Human™. With offices in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and London the group includes Evoke Health, FIRSTHAND, Fabric, Traverse HealthStrategy, nitrogen health, Tonic Life Communications and AboveNation Media. Evoke Group is a member of the Huntsworth Health (www.hhealth.com) global group of best-in-class companies serving the health and wellbeing industry through marketing communications, medical education and experiential events.

Huntsworth plc (HNT: LSE) (www.huntsworth.com) is an international healthcare and communications group. The Group's principal area of focus is Health, which provides marketing and medical communications services to healthcare clients, which are primarily large and mid-size pharmaceutical and biotech companies. It also has a smaller Communications group, which provides a wide range of communications and advisory services including strategic communications, public affairs, investor relations and consumer marketing.

Theresa Dolge

Chief Media Relations Officer

Tonic Life Communications

Office: 215-928-2748

Theresa.dolge@toniclc.com

SOURCE Evoke Group




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— Brett Berson (@brettberson) August 3, 2018

PhilllyTechNews Daily Page 7/21-7/22: Genstar Capital to Acquire CRF Health from Vitruvian Partners and Combine with Bracket; 76ers co-owner Rubin to pay record price for downtown Manhattan penthouse ;

lasttwoweeks - Curated tweets by phillytechnews

PhillyTechNews Daily Page 7/16 - 7/17: Genstar Capital to Acquire CRF Health from Vitruvian Partners and Combine with Bracket; Netflix registered more than a million fewer subscribers than it expected in the second quarter

ptn 7/16-7/17 - Curated tweets by phillytechnews

Genstar Capital to Acquire CRF Health from Vitruvian Partners and Combine with Bracket

Genstar Capital to Acquire CRF Health from Vitruvian Partners and Combine with Bracket English
NEWS PROVIDED BY
CRF Health
15:56 ET
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LONDON and WAYNE, Pennsylvania, July 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/genstar-capital-to-acquire-crf-health-from-vitruvian-partners-and-combine-with-bracket-839745719.html



Combined organization will bring together complementary strengths with a shared focus on accelerated customer value through patient-centric clinical technology solutions

Genstar Capital, a leading investor in healthcare technology and services companies, is pleased to announce the acquisition of CRF Health, a global provider of eCOA and eConsent solutions for the life sciences industry. As part of the transaction, CRF will be combined with Bracket, a provider of software and technology-enabled solutions utilized in clinical trials. Bracket is a portfolio company of Genstar.

CRF Health has been majority-owned by Vitruvian Partners, a leading growth-and technology-focused investment firm, since 2015.

The newly combined organization will drive accelerated value for pharmaceutical companies and CRO customers, providing patient-centric solutions, combined with deep and broad therapeutic area expertise, across a strong and efficient global footprint.

"CRF Health earned an outstanding reputation with 20 years of experience providing eCOA and now eConsent solutions to the biopharma industry around the world," said Mike Nolte, who will lead the combined organization as CEO. "CRF's technology and therapeutic experience dovetail well with our solutions, and they expand our ability to support increasingly complex clinical research. I am excited to bring two outstanding teams together to provide a reliable and scalable platform that accelerates the development of life changing medicines for our families and communities across the globe."

The combined company will have over 1,500 employees worldwide, and will be in a position to accelerate the penetration of user-friendly technologies across the clinical trial spectrum - driving the transfer from manual, paper based services to electronic while improving service quality and data integrity.

"This is an exciting step forward for patients, clients, and our new combined team," said Rachel Wyllie, CEO of CRF Health, who will become the Executive Chairman of the combined company. "The complementary nature of the two businesses provides us with the platform and scale for future growth in our dynamic markets, while ensuring our customers have more access to the latest patient-centric innovations in clinical research."

Jean-Pierre Conte, Chairman and Managing Director at Genstar Capital, added, "Bringing CRF and Bracket together will create a world-class healthcare technology company supporting clinical trials and will accelerate adoption and growth in eCOA, eConsent, patient engagement, rater training and trial supply management solutions. We look forward to working with the outstanding leaders at both organizations. This notable event in pharmaceutical services is another example of Genstar's private equity strategy of driving change at our portfolio companies to create high-growth and extremely valuable companies. Healthcare is an important sector for Genstar and we continue to identify great opportunities to apply our growth model to build great companies."

Philip Russmeyer, Partner at Vitruvian Partners, commented, "We are delighted to support the combination of Bracket and CRF to further accelerate, and build upon, the excellent advances that our partnership with the strong management team at CRF has produced over the past years."

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2018 and is subject to customary closing and regulatory approvals.

Jefferies International Limited served as exclusive financial adviser and Dickson Minto as legal adviser to CRF. Ropes & Gray LLP served as legal adviser to Genstar Capital.

About Bracket

Bracket (http://www.bracketglobal.com) is a technology company that accelerates clinical research and improves the experience of patients accessing potentially life-changing therapies. Our solutions, combined with deep scientific and clinical insight, link engaged patients to researchers, provide faster, more reliable decision making, and help provide longer, healthier and more productive lives for our families and communities around the globe. Bracket has over 800 employees and delivers services in more than 90 countries to a diverse base of global customers, including 15 of the top 20 biopharma companies.

About CRF Health

CRF Health is the leading provider of patient-centered eSource technology solutions for the life sciences industry. With experience in more than 800 clinical trials, over 100 languages and across 74 countries, CRF Health's TrialMax® platform consistently demonstrates the industry's highest data accuracy, patient and site compliance, and patient retention. The integrated TrialMax platform includes eCOA solutions for collecting PROs (Patient Reported Outcomes), ObsROs (Observer Reported Outcomes), ClinROs (Clinician or Rater Reported Outcomes), and PerfOs (Performance Outcomes), and features TrialConsent®, an electronic solution for collecting and managing informed consent in clinical trials. CRF Health's eSource solutions improve trial engagement by making the patient the center of the clinical trial process.

About Genstar Capital

Genstar Capital (http://www.gencap.com) is a leading private equity firm that has been actively investing in high quality companies for more than 25 years. Based in San Francisco, Genstar works in partnership with its management teams and its network of strategic advisors to transform its portfolio companies into industry-leading businesses. Genstar manages funds with total capital commitments of approximately $10 billion and targets investments focussed on targeted segments of the healthcare, financial services, software, and industrial technology industries.

About Vitruvian Partners

Vitruvian is a European growth-focused investment firm specialised in 'dynamic situations', where companies undergo growth and change typically driven by technology. Vitruvian helps portfolio companies scale their operations by providing an operational support system and assistance with strategic initiatives including acquisitions. Other notable investments to date include global market leaders in their field such as Just Eat, FarFetch, Skyscanner, EasyPark, Snow Software, Trustpilot, Voxbone, Callcredit, Ebury and others. The €2.4bn Vitruvian Investment Partnership III ("VIP III") is among the largest pools of capital in Europe supporting innovative and higher growth companies. Vitruvian has backed 30 companies in its first two funds and has assets under management of c. €5 billion, operating out of offices in London, Munich, Stockholm, Luxembourg and San Francisco. More information can be found at: http://www.vitruvianpartners.com

PhillyTechNews Daily Page 7/12: Accolade has big plans; Guru announces new AI and Sync features

PTN7/13 - Curated tweets by phillytechnews

Safeguard Scientifics Announces Sale Of Partial Stake In MediaMath

Safeguard Scientifics Announces Sale Of Partial Stake In MediaMath
REPRESENTS CASH-ON-CASH RETURN OF 4.5X

NEWS PROVIDED BY
Safeguard Scientifics, Inc.
Jul 09, 2018, 16:15 ET
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RADNOR, Pa., July 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. (NYSE:SFE) today announced that it has completed the sale of 39.1% of Safeguard's ownership position in MediaMath Holdings. Inc. ("MediaMath") to MediaMath for $45.0 million in cash. The repurchase represents the equivalent of an implied cash-on-cash return of 4.5x on Safeguard's 39.1% ownership position in MediaMath, a global advertising and marketing technology leader. In connection with the sale, MediaMath has the right to repurchase an additional 10.9% of Safeguard's ownership position on or before the 180 day anniversary of the initial repurchase for $12.5 million in cash.

"This transaction is a 'win' for both parties," said Brian J. Sisko, Safeguard's President and Chief Executive Officer. "MediaMath has emerged as a leader in the digital marketing category and we're excited to continue our partnership as they continue to build value for their stakeholders. Meanwhile, the sale of a portion of Safeguard's MediaMath position is consistent with Safeguard's new business strategy of pursuing monetization opportunities, produces a significant cash-on-cash return, strengthens our balance sheet, enhances Safeguard's financial flexibility going forward and allows us to continue to participate in the future growth of MediaMath in a significant way. If MediaMath exercises the option to repurchase the additional 10.9% of Safeguard's ownership stake, we will have realized $57.5 million for 50% of our ownership stake in MediaMath," Sisko said.

"Safeguard has been a strong partner to MediaMath," said Franklin Rios, Global Head of Corporate Development for MediaMath. "They share our vision and have believed that MediaMath would rise to the top of the digital marketing category, showing commitment through multiple financing events."

In connection with the transaction, MediaMath and Safeguard have agreed that an independent industry expert to be approved by Safeguard will hold Safeguard's seat on the MediaMath Board of Directors to bolster MediaMath's strong Board of Directors that includes a number of industry leaders. Safeguard will hold a board observer right as well.

Safeguard first deployed capital in MediaMath in 2007. Measured by annual revenue, the business is the largest of Safeguard's portfolio of early-stage companies.

In January 2018, Safeguard began to implement a new business strategy designed to increase shareholder value. Under the new strategy, Safeguard has ceased to deploy capital into new partner companies. Safeguard remains focused on managing and financially supporting existing partner companies, with the goal of pursuing monetization opportunities and maximizing net proceeds distributable to shareholders. Safeguard will consider the sale of individual partner companies, the sale of certain partner company interests in secondary market transactions, or a combination thereof, as well as other opportunities to maximize shareholder value.

About Safeguard Scientifics

Historically, Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE) has provided capital and relevant expertise to fuel the growth of technology-driven businesses. Safeguard has a distinguished track record of fostering innovation and building market leaders that spans more than six decades. For more information, please visit www.safeguard.com or follow us on Twitter @safeguard.

Forward-looking Statements

Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements contained in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Safeguard's initiatives taken or contemplated to enhance and unlock value for all of its stockholders, Safeguard's efforts to execute on and implement its strategy to streamline its organizational structure, reduce its operating costs, pursue monetization opportunities for Partner Companies and maximize the net proceeds distributable to its shareholders, Safeguard's ability to create, unlock, enhance and maximize shareholder value, Safeguard's ability to have a smooth transition to a new management team, the timing of Safeguard's management succession plan and its effect on driving increased organizational effectiveness and efficiencies, the ability of the new management team to execute Safeguard's strategy, the availability of, the timing of, and the proceeds that may ultimately be derived from the monetization of Partner Companies, Safeguard's projections regarding the reduction in its ongoing operating expenses, Safeguard's projections regarding annualized operating expenses and expected severance expenses, monetization opportunities for Partner Company Interests, and the amount of net proceeds from the monetization of Partner Company Interests that are ultimately distributable to Safeguard shareholders after satisfying Safeguard's debt obligations and working capital needs and the timing of such distributions. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future operational or financial performance and are based on current expectations that involve a number of uncertainties, risks and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and/or results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially include, among others, our ability to make good decisions about the monetization of our Partner Companies for maximum value or at all and distributions to our shareholders, our ability to successfully execute on our strategy to streamline our organizational structure and align our cost structure to increase shareholder value, whether our strategy will better position us to focus our resources on the highest-return opportunities and deliver enhanced shareholder value, the ongoing support of our existing Partner Companies, the fact that our Partner Companies may vary from period to period, challenges to achieving liquidity from our partner company holdings, fluctuations in the market prices of our publicly traded partner company holdings, competition, our inability to obtain maximum value for our partner company holdings, our ability to attract and retain qualified employees, market valuations in sectors in which our Partner Companies operate, our inability to control our Partner Companies, our need to manage our assets to avoid registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, risks, disruption, costs and uncertainty caused by or related to the actions of activist shareholders, including that if individuals are elected to our Board with a specific agenda, it may adversely affect our ability to effectively implement our business strategy and create value for our shareholders and perceived uncertainties as to our future direction as a result of potential changes to the composition of our Board may lead to the perception of a change in the direction of our business, instability or a lack of continuity that may adversely affect our business, and risks associated with our Partner Companies, including the fact that most of our Partner Companies have a limited operating history and a history of operating losses, face intense competition and may never be profitable, the effect of economic conditions in the business sectors in which Safeguard's Partner Companies operate, and other uncertainties described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Many of these factors are beyond the Company's ability to predict or control. As a result of these and other factors, the Company's past operational and financial performance should not be relied on as an indication of future performance. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements or other information contained in this press release.

SAFEGUARD CONTACT:

John E. Shave III

Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications

(610) 975-4952

jshave@safeguard.com

SOURCE Safeguard Scientifics, Inc.