Edison Partners raises 9th fund, its largest at $365 million

Tom Paine


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Princeton-based Growth investment firm Edison Partners has raised $365 million in its ninth fund – the largest in the firm’s 32-year history, CrunchBase reports .

Edison VIII, closed after raising $275 million in 2016, was previously Edison's largest fund.

LPs include a “diverse mix” of investment vehicles, including New Mexico Educational Retirement Board, Rutgers University, Hirtle Callaghan, American Family Insurance, and Renaissance Venture Capital Fund, according to Chris Sugden, Managing Partner.

Part of Edison's strategy is to continue to limit the size of its funds, to avoid the 'too much money facing too few deals' syndrome if things get rocky.


Edison has 12 partners now. Currently, Edison Partners manages more than $1.4 billion in assets throughout the eastern United States. Though still a regional firm, I see some indication that its establishing a broader footprint.

Edison Ventures will remain focused on three segments: Enterprise Solutions, Financial Technology, and Healthcare IT.

Philly's getting a new, high tech company; Livent falls 3.6 percent in market debut

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Opening Bell, October 11, 2018 from CNBC.

Update 10/12: Reuters: "Lithium producer Livent Corp (LTHM.N) fell 3.6 percent in its market debut on Thursday after being priced at the lower end of its expected range, as investors worried about the recent declines in prices of lithium in China".

The general view seems to be  that the lithium market will continue to experience price weakness in the near term before tightening a  few years out.

"We think demand is going to grow almost five times larger in 2025 than it was in 2017,” Livent chief executive officer Paul Graves said in an interview Thursday in New York at the IPO event. .

Livent's welcome on Wall Street may have also been depressed by the market rout on Wednesday.

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Livent, a lithium compound producer that's being spun off from FMC Corp., set terms for its IPO on Monday. It plans to raise $380 million by offering 20 million shares at a range of $18 to $20. Priced at the midpoint, Livent would have a market cap of $2.7 billion.

Livent will remain based in Philadelphia. It will trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "LTHM".

Livent is targeting production of lithium hydroxide, the type of lithium used in Tesla batteries. Buying into its offering is considered a big bet on the future of electric cars. Demand for lithium is expected to remain strong throughout the next decade, although there has been some recent price weakness.

A competitor and the world's largest lithium producer, Albemarle Corp (ALB.N), has been reported by Reuters as having an interest in acquiring Livent if its post-IPO stock performance isn't strong .

Ring CEO on how he kept going after ‘Shark Tank’ rejection and how he feels returning to show (GeekWire)

What will Amazon's new pay policy do to labor markets?

The announcement by Amazon that it is raising its minimum wage for all US employees to $15 per hour will probably shake up labor markets, but my guess is it will have more effect in other parts of the country, as tightness in the Philly/NJ/DE region has already put considerable pressure on employers to up wages, particularly for less skilled labor, as there are only so many bodies to go around. During the Holiday season it will be difficult for many to reach hiring goals in the Northeast.

Looking at the map (from a year ago) of Amazon fulfillment centers in the country, there is a large concentration around eastern PA, Delaware, and New Jersey. But the market is already headed upwards there in terms of wages. I know some other regions where a difference of $2-4 dollars per hour can have a real impact upon workers.

Comcast owns a small stake in an MLB franchise (no, its not what you think, though the Cable giant has considerable influence over the Phils due to its broadcast rights). Comcast is trying to sell its stake but not finding many takers yet, since its a run down franchise controlled by owners who gave money generously to Madoff.

Now that Comcast has won the battle for Sky, what does Roberts do with Europe’s biggest satellite pay-TV company?

Wayne-based specialty managed care provider Genex reached a merger agreement with San Diego-based Mitchell International. Its a bigger deal than you might think .


Don't let success make you vulnerable to this 'disease,' says SAP CEO Bill McDermott . And he reflects upon how his eye injury changed - improved his life.

Salesforce singles out gaps in Microsoft and Oracle’s services in its road map for growth, but sees little in common with SAP.


And Alibaba and SAP deepened their Global Partnership to Accelerate Intelligent Enterprises in China.

PhillyTechNews is now PhillyEnterpriseTech News

Tom Paine


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PhillyTechNews has changed domain names, to PhillyEnterpriseTech.com . This is a reflection of where I want to take the website; Its a big, dynamic sector and where I believe my greatest knowledge is. Enterprise software is not just ERP anymore.

My website may have been hard to find in past months, so this is to let you know where its at. I've appreciated all who have been with me in the past and hope some who lost me will return. My product has continued to evolve and hopefully improve.

The name change is not huge from a practical point of view. I'll continue to cover most companies and subjects that I've been doing before, and Comcast will remain a key. I'm also going to double down on healthcare technology because a true revolution is occurring here, and there are more high potential new startups in Philly than you can shake a stick at. While I'm not a clinical professional, I've learned much more from personal experience about healthcare and know when to ask the tough questions.

And lastly, as always I welcome ideas, suggestions and support. I will be responsive to them.

Wayne-based managed care provider Genex in merger agreement with Mitchell International

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San Diego-based Mitchell International, a leading provider of technology, connectivity and information solutions to the Property & Casualty (P&C) insurance and Collision Repair industries, has reached an agreement to merge with Genex Services, a Wayne-based provider of clinical solutions to the workers’ compensation, auto and disability insurance markets. The agreement was announced this week. Terms were not disclosed.

Mitchell is primarily a technology provider, while Genex is a managed care provider which uses technology extensively.

Genex,  which will continue to be led by its CEO Peter Madeja, will guide  its delivery of clinical outcomes, and will continue to be headquartered in Wayne, PA.

"Both Mitchell and Genex remain intensely committed to our clients and existing lines of business across auto physical damage, auto casualty, workers’ compensation, pharmacy, disability and healthcare,” said Alex Sun, CEO of Mitchell. “Client focus remains our number one priority and we continue to increase our level of investment across the board. I look forward to working with our new Genex teammates to better serve our valued client partners.”

 Genex has more than 2,900 employees and 41 service locations throughout North America.

n 2013, the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts bought Mitchell from Aurora Capital for $1.1 billion.

Stone Point Capital, a PE firm which sold Genex 1n 2014, reacquired the company in February of this year . That's a quick turnaround (or actually two).

UPMC Liver Transplant commercial shows stark choices healthcare consumers face

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This commercial from cross-state healthcare giant UPMC bluntly puts its message on the line: you'll be able to get a liver transplant there sooner than most places. No mincing of words.

The tag line:  Don't die waiting.

Reassuring, and likely to be increasing popular future pitch line as government controls limit supply and the fight for organic body parts intensifies.

Constellation Research's take on the "Business Transformation 150 2019"; Local mentions include John Collier of Wawa, Campbell's Francisco Fraga (perfect name), and David Hayne of Urban Outfitters

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Constellation Research has published its Business Transformation 150 2019 , its take on the 150 top corporate executives in achieving digital business transformation. I never know exactly how these "best of" are selected, but Constellation is well-connected to innovative digital companies and has a good read on them.

These are mostly corporate people, with less emphasis on early stage, though some of the companies represented have increased their venture activities in the recent past.

Below are the people named to Constellation's "Business Transformation 150" either from Philly-based companies or others closely related to Philly:





John Collier
Chief Information Officer
Wawa, Inc.

Michele D'Alessandro
VP & CIO, Manufacturing IT
Merck & Co., Inc.

Cris De Luca
Global Director, Digital Innovation
Johnson & Johnson

Francisco Fraga
Chief Information Officer
Campbell Soup Company

Melanie Kalmar
Corporate Vice President, CIO & CDO
The Dow Chemical Company

David Hayne
Chief Digital Officer
Urban Outfitters

Melinda Richter
Global Head of Johnson and Johnson Innovation Labs
Johnson and Johnson

Karenann Terrell
Chief Digital and Technology Officer
GSK

Scott Sandschafer
CIO and Head of NBS IT
Novartis

Company Roundup: Billtrust, Synchronoss and Princeton Identity

Company Roundup: Billtrust, Synchronoss and Princeton Identity


Esther Surden
Publisher & Editor, NJTechWeekly.com

Brian Hughes, Mercer County Executive; Senator Shirley Turner; Christopher Bobbitt, Mayor of Lawrence Twp.; Flint Lane, Billtrust Founder and CEO; Edward Jordan, Billtrust CFO cut the ribbon on the new Billtrust HQ. | Courtesy Billtrust

Billtrust: Billtrust, a business to business company that provides accounts receivable automation, celebrated the official opening of its new corporate headquarters in Lawrenceville on September 24. The company had previously been located in Hamilton.

The search for a new HQ location was necessitated by the company’s rapid growth. Billtrust chose to remain in New Jersey partly thanks to a Grow NJ grant it received from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

The new 87,000-square-foot headquarters provides the Billtrust team with state-of-the-art technology, over 50 meeting and collaboration spaces, indoor and outdoor fitness facilities, three coffee bars, ergonomic desks and white noise canceling technology.

“We’re excited to have a new home in Lawrenceville for our corporate headquarters and continue our commitment [to] job creation in New Jersey,” said Billtrust founder and CEO, Flint A. Lane. “The Billtrust culture is unique and this space reflects that with more collaborative spaces and state of the art technology which will allow our teammates to thrive.”

The new corporate headquarters houses all of the Billtrust New Jersey corporate offices under one roof for the first time since March 2015. The company operates five additional facilities, and is actively growing its teams in Denver and Chicago.

Synchronoss: Synchronoss (Bridgewater), which has had its share of financial problems recently, announced some good news. The company participated in a successful Proof of Concept (PoC) for a new cross-carrier mobile payment service based on the Rich Communications Services (RCS) global messaging standard and on TBCASoft’s cross-carrier blockchain platform. Synchronoss’ partners in this payments solution were SoftBank Corp., a Tokyo-based telecom carrier, and TBCASoft (Sunnyvale, Calif.), an “innovator” in cross-carrier blockchain platform technology.

Synchronoss President and CEO Glenn Lurie said: “Our PoC demonstrates how SoftBank is at the forefront in bringing to market new cutting edge technology through the use of blockchain as well as new RCS-based mobile services, which will disrupt the current messaging and payments market, creating new opportunities for customers, brands, and businesses.” He noted that this will drive incremental revenue for operators from messaging.

“RCS messaging will become the foundation for a new, feature-rich marketplace for brands and merchants, both large and small, to interact with subscribers,” he added. “With our expertise and global reach across multiple messaging platforms – not only RCS, but also email, IM, MMS and SMS, Synchronoss is ideally positioned to take advantage of this important new trend in mobile.”

Princeton Identity: Princeton Identity (Hamilton), a company that provides a biometric security system featuring iris identification, has received three new patents:

Patent 10042994 for Validation of the Right to Access an Object.
Patent 10025982 for Collecting and Targeting Marketing Data and Information Based upon Iris Identification.
Patent 10038691 for Authorization of a Financial Transaction.
The new patents represent applications of Princeton Identity’s unique approach to iris authentication in three very important areas: access, marketing and financial transactions. Using the techniques described in these patents, Princeton Identity advances the application of iris identification and personnel authentication beyond the domain of physical security; it anticipates the adoption of these technologies in the broader marketplace.

The company also announced that its iris-scanning technology was being used in the Samsung Galaxy Note9. Building on the successful integration of the technology into both the Galaxy S8 and S9 devices, Galaxy Note9 enables users to easily unlock their phones with a quick glance at the device, maximizing both security and convenience. The Samsung Galaxy Note9 was officially launched on August 9 at an event held in Brooklyn, N.Y.


Esther Surden is Publisher and Editor of NJTechWeekly, and a contributor to Philly Tech News. This article originally appeared in NJTechWeekly, and is republished here with her permission.

InstaMed Expands Philadelphia Headquarters Newly-created InstaMed Collaboration Center established to spark innovation through collaboration (Press Release)

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InstaMed Expands Philadelphia Headquarters
Newly-created InstaMed Collaboration Center established to spark innovation through collaboration



September 20, 2018 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--InstaMed, healthcare’s most trusted payments network, announced today that it has expanded its Philadelphia headquarters, adding a third floor at 18th and JFK Boulevard. The new space will be anchored by the InstaMed Collaboration Center, a 3,200 square foot space to be used by payers, providers, consumers and healthcare IT vendors for innovation, demonstrations, training sessions and company meetings all intended to foster continued innovation that powers better healthcare payments experiences. Additionally, InstaMed will open its Collaboration Center to other creators and innovators in the Philadelphia business community with the belief that great achievements and innovations can be ignited and realized through collaboration.

“InstaMed is exclusively focused on healthcare payments and is committed to building a single network that simplifies the healthcare payments experience for all providers, payers and consumers. Collaboration has always been a key factor in our journey towards accomplishing this complex mission”
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InstaMed has grown to become the largest privately held Fintech and Healthcare IT company headquartered in Philadelphia with more than 275 employees. InstaMed’s growth has been fueled by building innovative, scalable solutions for healthcare providers and payers to address the rise in consumer healthcare expenses along with the need for the healthcare industry to move from legacy paper based transactions to electronic transactions. The InstaMed Network will process over $70 billion in healthcare payments in 2018 while connecting providers, payers and consumers for a better healthcare payments experience.

“InstaMed is exclusively focused on healthcare payments and is committed to building a single network that simplifies the healthcare payments experience for all providers, payers and consumers. Collaboration has always been a key factor in our journey towards accomplishing this complex mission,” explained Bill Marvin, President and CEO of InstaMed. “This new space will help us advance this important mission, and it will allow us to open up and share our assets and collaborative approach with other entrepreneurs and business leaders in the Philadelphia community.”

About InstaMed

InstaMed powers a better healthcare payments experience on one platform that connects consumers, providers and payers for every healthcare payment transaction. InstaMed’s patented, private cloud-based technology securely transforms healthcare payments by driving electronic transactions, moving money and healthcare data seamlessly and improving consumer satisfaction. Everyone benefits from InstaMed’s exclusive focus on healthcare, integration into any healthcare IT system, robust analytics and proven scale.

Contacts
Broadpath PR
Kevin Jurrens, 215-644-6504
kjurrens@broadpathpr.com


INSTAMED

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Contacts
Broadpath PR
Kevin Jurrens, 215-644-6504
kjurrens@broadpathpr.com