NextDocs raises $10.3 Million Series A from OpenView Venture Partners

King of Prussia’s NextDocs, which helps life science companies though the compliance processes, has raised a hefty $10.3 Million Series A round, according to a press release. We spoke with NextDocs CEO Zikria Syed last week about the companies rapid growth, which includes being recently named Best Life Sciences partner by Microsoft.

From the release:

NextDocs will use the financing to accelerate their current rapid growth, including investments in broadening product lines, customer service and support, and expansion into new markets.

OpenView Venture Partners, based in Boston, is the same firm behind Conshohocken-based Monetate’s $15 million investment round.

Philly Geek Awards 2011: first annual black-tie celebration of creative class rocks Academy of Natural Sciences [VIDEO]

The Geekadelphia crew, including founders Eric Smith and Tim Quirino. Photo provided by Geekadelphia hearth throb Mikey Il.

As we first told you back in June, Geekadelphia held the first ever Philly Geek Awards at the Academy of Natural Sciences Friday night.

We’re also proud to announce that Philly Tech Week was named Best Annual Event. (Remember that we’re already planning Philly Tech Week 2012!)

Below, find a roundup of all the media coverage.

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Bashpole Group: Center City invention house launches first product, the Pocket Grill [VIDEO]

Ben Ashpole has a technology company, and its first product is the infomercial-ready Pocket Grill, boasted to be “the first full-sized grill that fits in your pocket.”

And with a Kickstarter campaign, he’s aiming to push the first round of the grills into the market.

After leaving a job working on software for “a certain large defense contractor with offices in the region” in 2006 and earning a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania, Ashpole starting growing a list of software clients for what would become Bashpole Inc. in 2008. But all along, he had hobby projects, tinkering and tweaking existing products and dreaming up new ones.

By spring 2009, Ashpole’s hobbyist tinkering had grown enough that he thought there might be another business there. He posted an ad on Penn’s student job listings and on craigslist: “something like ‘entrepreneur has backlog of projects, seeks assistance,” he said. One of those projects on his mind was a pocket-sized grill that could actually withhold a hearty slew of meat and vegetables.

Ashpole, 30, took on three engineer masters students, one of whom helped develop the application that led to the company’s first patent, which covers the grill’s particular flexible folding joint, something that could be used in other products, Ashpole said. By the end of 2009, he found Jay Olman, his first full-time employee who helped push forward the design, manufacturing and implementation of the product and that new company, the Bashpole Group.

Not, of course, to be confused with Bashpole Inc., the software company that now has four programmers in a narrow Center City office — “the two companies are named so similar because I’m that creative,” Ashpole said with a laugh.

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Event Highlights: Philly.rb, Android Alliance and Philly Tech Meetup

Welcome to the dog days of Summer, Philadelphia. When the news is slow and our events calendar is sparse.

Philly tech seems to be on vacation this week. However, there are still a small group of Philly faithful holding awesome events.

This week: hack with Ruby, get your tech meetup on and Android strikes back.

Also, don’t forget that you can get these event highlights delivered to your inbox every Monday at noon by signing up for this and other Technically Philly email newsletters.

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Friday Q&A: Lance Bachmann on Philly’s SEO community and being on a billboard.

If you’ve driven up 95 lately, you’ve already met Lance Bachmann.

The founder of 1SEO has stood cross-armed on a billboard preaching the value of SEO for months over Philadelphia’s eastern arterial road. At first glance the billboard appears like a marketing campaign from a national company, but the Northeast Philadelphia native is helming a rapidly expanding business right here in the Philadelphia area, counting local companies such as Sweat Fitness, Center City restaurant Ladder15 and Holt’s Cigar among its clients.

Founded in 2010, the company has 15 employees in its Southhampton offices and 96 in India.

“We’re jammed in here like sardines right now,” says Bachmann adding that the company is planning on a big move this month.

We sat down with the guy on the billboard about what’s its like to, um, be on a billboard and why he’s inviting you to play arcade games in his company’s new office in Bristol. Bachmann also discusses Philadelphia’s SEO community and why he didn’t relocate to 4th and Bainbridge.

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Hydros Bottle: what is social entrepreneurship? [VIDEO]

Hydros Bottle, a University City-based startup that develops a cost-effective reusable water bottle with a portable filtration system to increase access to potable water internationally.

The company donates portions of its profits to potable water programs in developing countries.

Below, watch the Empowerment Group speak to co-founders Aakash Mathur and Jay Parekh.

The startup is a member of the Sustainable Business Network of Philadelphia. It recently filed $550,000 in funding.

Road Map for the Digital City: NYC unveils plan for digital future

Read more and download the report here. The Business Insider graded the report here.

Tonight is the Philly Geek Awards: Links

• Philly Geek Awards: The Sponsors [Geekadelphia] — Tonight is the SOLD OUT event. Read the Metro story here.
• GSI Commerce’s Rubin has a new company … and it’s hiring [Philadelphia Business Journal]
• Councilman Bill Green: At-Large 
and in Charge [Philly Weekly] — Despite the unfortunate headline, the Q&A features flash mobs, Arlene Ackerman and more. Another portion of the interview focusing on paperless government and open data made its way onto GovintheLab.com.
• NRG boss: Why I’m paying $190M for W. Phila marketer [Philly Deals: Inquirer]
• Build Your Own Open Source 3D Printer [Hive76]
• International arts fest pumped $60M into economy [Business Journal] — Philadelphia International Fine Arts
• Penn robots taking over the (athletic) world [Penn Gazette]

Thanks to our weekly sponsors

Technically Philly is made possible by advertisers and sponsors that are important to Philadelphia’s technology community. This week we’d like to thank:

The University City Science Center — The Science Center has officially opened Quorum, a central gathering space to enable the entrepreneurship and innovation communities to meet, share and learn.

Splat Productions — Splat Productions provides smart, brand-centric website design and internet marketing services to privileged clients in the Philadelphia region and beyond.

Your Local Security — Providing affordable home security systems in Philadelphia. Top of the line equipment and monitoring services from ADT keep your home and family safe.

Caffeine Fish — Caffeine Fish develops iOS apps including Trainboard and PhillySubway and offers consulting in the Philadelphia area.

MOGO Media — MOGO Media provides best-of-class training for designers and developers through world-wide conferences and seminars. The organization will host a CSS seminar on August 11 in Philadelphia.

Newsworks — NewsWorks is the online home of WHYY News and its growing network of journalism partners. This public media service covers the Philadelphia region, Delaware and South Jersey, with a focus on regional issues, neighborhoods, health and science, and arts.

Morgan Lewis — Morgan Lewis provides comprehensive transactional, litigation, labor and employment, regulatory, and intellectual property legal services to clients of all sizes—from global Fortune 100 companies to just-conceived startups—across all major industries.

Alteva — Reduce your total cost of telecom ownership and improve employee efficiency and customer satisfaction with Alteva’s cloud-based Voice over IP phone systems and services.

Reed Technology — Reed Technology’s Web Archiving Service is a litigation protection, web compliance and e-discovery solution for all your online assets.

Interested in joining these organizations and individuals in supporting Technically Philly? Check out our ad packages and contact our Ad Sales Manager. Can’t find something that fits? We’ll customize a package for you.

PlanPhilly, Inquirer: 1 in 5 Philly properties is tax delinquent [MAP]

In a partnership with the Inquirer, development news site PlanPhilly and reporter Patrick Kerkstra land an important look at tax delinquent properties in Philadelphia, finding that some 1110,000 or roughly one if five have back taxes associated.

The package includes a dizzying online map detailing the locations. Find the map here, made by Inquirer staff, and the entire package here.

Fox29 reporter Jeff Cole used the package to find that Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers owed roughly $1,500.00 on two properties he owned, a sum that was promptly paid.