Pinterest analytics platform Curalate raises $750,000 in seed round [Startup Roundup]

Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup parses out the small pieces that make our greater Startup ecosystem thrive. We want to keep you in touch with the innovations that we can’t quite get to covering, but that deserve highlight. Follow along with a weekly email newsletter by clicking here and selecting the Startup Roundup button or follow Startup Roundup’s RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

Startup Roundup has had some technical difficulties for the past couple weeks, so we’re playing catch-up this morning. Consider things officially back on track.

MUST READS

Curalate, a marketing and analytics platform for Pinterest, has announced that it has received $750,000 in seed funding, TechCrunch reports. The round is backed by NEA, First Round Capital and MentorTech. The company features former leadership of storage space startup Storably, as we reported last month.

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First Round Capital closes $135 million fund, Audience Partners and Agilence raise private equity rounds [VC Roundup]

Welcome to the VC Roundup, where we’ll parse through venture capital news related to Philadelphia-based private equity firms and the companies they fund. Subscribe to the roundup as an email newsletter. If you have any VC-related news to pass along to us, please drop us a line.

MUST READS

First Round Capital managing director Josh Kopelman officially announced that the firm closed on a new $135 million fund, First Round Capital IV. The fund is mostly the same as previous funds: the size, partners and strategy will stay consistent, building on previous rounds of success. The firm also announced that Kent Goldman and Phineas Barnes are new partners on the fund. TechCrunch notes the significance of the round in relation to early-stage investment. We first reported on the firm’s commitment to stay on target in February and on its SEC filings a month ago.

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More details on the $1.5m appRenaissance seed investment [Startup Roundup]

Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup parses out the small pieces that make our greater Startup ecosystem thrive. We want to keep you in touch with the innovations that we can’t quite get to covering, but that deserve highlight. Follow along with a weekly email newsletter by clicking here and selecting the Startup Roundup button or follow Startup Roundup’s RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

Startup Roundup has had some technical difficulties for the past couple weeks, so we’re playing catch-up this morning. Consider things officially back on track.

MUST READS

FirstMark Capital managing director Amish Jani writes on BusinessInsider why the investment firm decided to back Bob Moul a second time with a $1.5 million seed round in appRenaissance. It’s a great look behind-the-scenes at why proven entrepreneurs get money.

Our own Yael Borofsky writes about a very public courting of Airtime’s Dan Shipper by San Francisco startup 42Floors. Shipper declined. In related news, Airtime now features seamless Outlook integration. We particularly enjoyed this comment: “The early history of Silicon Valley has already been written. But the early days of the Philly startup community are being written right now.”

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Ben Franklin Technology Partners invests $675k in six early-stage companies [VC Roundup]

Welcome to the VC Roundup, where we’ll parse through venture capital news related to Philadelphia-based private equity firms and the companies they fund. Subscribe to the roundup as an email newsletter. If you have any VC-related news to pass along to us, please drop us a line.

MUST READS

Ben Franklin Technology Partners announced $675,000 in funding for six early-stage companies yesterday, according to a press release. Among those that received funding, with a mix of models ranging from business services, to healthcare, to social web, include Cross X Platform, GroupAppz, PeopleLinx, SnipSnap, Syandus and Zonoff. It’s not posted yet, but look for the release at BFTP’s website for details.

MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME

As we reported on Friday, local venture capitalists Josh Kopelman (First Round Capital) and Adele Oliva (Quaker Partners) were recognized by Forbes in the publication’s top 100 VCs list. [h/t CityBizList]

GIVE A GLANCE

A new report says that more angels are investing more money across the country, according to an article by ReadWriteWeb. The 2011 Angel Market Analysis says that angel deals reached $22.5 billion in 2011, a 12.1 percent increase year-over-year, and the number of companies invested in climbed 7.3 percent.

Those angels are an important part of the forces disrupting venture capital, according to a cursory glance at the market by TechCrunch contributor Semil Shah, worth the read if you’ve not been following along.

Perhaps a lesson for Philadelphia coming out of Portland: a small startup market that, with a new initiative called Techlandia (note the play on words), hopes to grow 100 companies to a $100 million liquidity event or $100 million in sales.

Philly arts bloggers talk roots, reasons and JFDI at PhilaMOCA

Local arts coverage in mainstream outlets is struggling to adapt to changes in a new media landscape.

It’s estimated that since 2006, half of 5,000 arts beats have been cut from American newspapers, according to study by the Knight Foundation. Just last week, the grant-maker announced that the Philadelphia Daily News, in partnership with Drexel University, was awarded one of three arts journalism grants for its “Art Attack” project.

Those newsroom losses are also actively being supplemented by independent media locally, if the active community at last night’s Philly Tech Week event on arts blogging has a say in the matter.

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Wednesday: Free PlanPhilly and Philadelphia Inquirer tax delinquency demo and discussion

Tax delinquency is an issue in Philadelphia many of us are witness to nearly every day, yet we may not even know it.

Inquirer columnist and PlanPhilly freelance reporter Patrick Kerkstra has been closer to the issue than any of us can claim: he’s covered the issue in-depth for some time, most notably in his award-winning Deluge of Deatbeats series, a partnership between the two above news organizations.

Philadelphia’s delinquency issue is an epidemic, he wrote in the series, with nearly 111,000 delinquent properties, or about 19 percent of all parcels. To put it in Kerkstra’s words, vacant property is “an old problem with serious consequences for the City of Philadelphia.”

At 12pm on Wednesday, April 25, at WHYY as part of Philly Tech Week’s ongoing FREE lunchtime series, Kerkstra will demo a public tool created in partnership between PlanPhilly and the Inquirer to help shed light on the issue.

He’ll also join a panel of delinquency and news technology experts to discuss the issue, how the tool came to be, how it was used in Kerkstra’s reporting and what’s next.

RSVP for the free event HERE.

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Philly Robotics Expo hosts more than 700 students, teachers at second annual Tech Week event

On Monday afternoon, more than 700 students and teachers attended Central High School’s Philly Robotics Expo at Drexel University’s College of Engineering hub, the Bossone Center.

At the event, focused on programming related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (known as STEM) and Philadelphia’s rich public education robotics community, students attended workshops across all skill levels, competed in mini-tournaments, and in general, had a chance to play with a variety of autonomous robots made by Philly teams.

The event was organized on conjunction with Philly Tech Week 2012 Presented by AT&T and the Philadelphia Science Festival.

WATCH VIDEO OF THE EVENT FROM NEWSWORKS

The event was keynoted by Penn Engineering professor Daniel Lee, who spoke about the history and future of robotics.

For more on local STEM education issues, see our ongoing coverage.

Flip through the Philly Tech Week 2012 Program & Magazine to plan the week ahead

Philly Tech Week 2012 presented by AT&T officially launches tonight with a weekend full of events followed by a blow-out calendar lasting from now until Saturday, April 28. See all of the events here.

If you haven’t already grabbed a copy, you can view the official Program & Magazine online in full resolution by clicking on the image above or by clicking here. You can download a copy here.

You can also find the magazines at 100 retail locations around the city, or pick them up at any PTW event next week.

We can’t wait to see you!

Mobile Monday opens registration for Demo Night during Philly Tech Week [Startup Roundup]

Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup parses out the small pieces that make our greater Startup ecosystem thrive. We want to keep you in touch with the innovations that we can’t quite get to covering, but that deserve highlight. Follow along with a weekly email newsletter by clicking here and selecting the Startup Roundup button or follow Startup Roundup’s RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

MUST READS

Mobile Monday has announced more details and opened up registration for its annual mobile startup Demo Night on April 23 during Philly Tech Week. The winning startup of the event will have the opportunity to present at Switch Philly, with Mayor Michael Nutter, First Round Capital’s Josh Kopelman and Robin Hood Ventures’ Ellen Webber. That winner will receive an impressive prize pack. Tickets are moving fast, so register for Switch soon.

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Pick up your copy of the Philly Tech Week 2012 Program & Magazine at 100 retail locations today

We’re pleased to announce that our Philly Tech Week 2012 presented by AT&T Program & Magazine is now available at more than 100 retail locations in Philadelphia.

You can view the magazine online in full resolution by clicking on the image above or by clicking here. You can download a copy here.

The beautiful 32-page magazine (double last year’s magazine size) features nearly all of the more than 75 events currently featured at PhillyTechWeek.com, and a slew of new stories not yet debuted at Technically Philly. Our fantastic sponsors and organizers are also featured.

Hey, it could be the first time you actually look at the ads in a magazine: they’re all relevant locally and they look great. Don’t miss the coupons for a free coffee at Saxbys Rittenhouse and 15% off iPod, iPad and iPhone accessories at Springboard Media.

A big shout out to Red Flag Media, publishers of Grid Magazine, for helping us create and distribute the magazines. You should be able to find a copy of the magazine next to copies of Grid, or ask a manager. If you’re having trouble finding ‘em, let us know.

After the jump, find a map and a full list of the participating locations.

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