Technically Philly » Ben Franklin Technology Partners

VC Roundup: Mid-Atlantic Angel Group raises nearly $5 million

Sean Blanda — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:00:36 +0000

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.

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Mid-Atlantic Angel Group has raised $4.8 million for its second fund. The sneaky angel fund based in the Navy Yard said that it doesn’t have as many investors, but each individual investor has thrown in more cash this time. MAG primarily only invests alongside other companies and rarely leads a round.

The Inky’s Joe Destefano tells us what regular readers of the VC roundup probably already know: That First Round Capital averages a deal a week, ranking third-most among all VC firms. We’d give you more numbers, but we don’t want to steal Joe D’s thunder. Read his piece which includes other active Philly firms.

Friday Q&A: Dan McKinney of NextStage Capital

Sean Blanda — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:30:36 +0000

Forget the latest investment trends, NextStage Capital will do what it wants, thank you very much.

The firm was founded by Rob Adams and Dan McKinney -two ex-Safeguard Scientifics employees – and Terry Williams, a former recruiter during the post-dotcom boom year of 2003. Then, most investors were running away from early stage technology investment.

“There can be opportunity when people are fleeing markets,” says McKinney, a managing partner.

It firm has invested in 12 companies with four exits, mostly in the mid-atlantic region going as far west as to Pittsburgh. However, since its founding the firm has taken pride in being the contrarian, and has not made any new investments in 2010, choosing instead to reinvest its dollars in current portfolio companies.

After the jump, McKinney promises us that we will be hearing a lot from NextStage in the coming months and gives his take on the age-old debate about whether Philly needs more investment dollars.

VC Roundup: The ECI gets press, First Round “likes” last week

Sean Blanda — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:30:59 +0000

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Google has purchased First Round portfolio company Like.com for “upwards of $100 million.” If memory serves us correctly, that means that the Like.com, a visual search engine, is First Round’s biggest exit since Mint.com.

The Inky has a write up on the Energy Commercialization Institute, a joint effort between Ben Franklin Technology Partners and local universities. So far, the group has handed out just over $500,000 to local alternative energy companies. Peter Key over at the Business Journal also has a feature about the group.

While its not specific to local, all entrepreneurs should check out two posts from the national technology community. First, the “F@#% You Money” spreadsheet compiled by Tony Wright, who asserts that selling a startup to a large company is no guarantee of riches. Second, Mike Arrington’s assertion that the VC market is changing echoes what many VCs and entrepreneurs have told us privately and is a must-read.

VC Roundup: DreamIt in Forbes Magazine

Sean Blanda — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:00:19 +0000

Welcome to the VC Round-up, 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.

DEFINITE READS

Edit: Kerry Rupp clears up a few facts in the comments below.

DreamIt Ventures gets a feature in this month’s Forbes focusing on managing partners Steven Welch, Kerry Rupp, Michael Levinson and David Book. The story provides a digestible overview for those not familiar with the University City Science Center-based business incubator and provides lots of numbers and personal backstory for those more knowledgeable about the program. The most surprising fact uncovered by Forbes: none of the companies incubated by DreamIt have turned a profit. Look out for our Demo Day preview on Wednesday to get a sneak peak at some of the companies in this year’s class.

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VC Roundup: BFTP named to federal board, local angels get coverage from the NYT

Sean Blanda — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:30:03 +0000

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Philly Tech News is reporting that First Round Capital has invested in locally-based advertising company AdCopy, the company that inserts advertising into CAPTCHAs. Though we can’t verify it anywhere else, our friends at PTN are typically on point, so keep an eye out.

We’re a bit late on this, but Safeguard Scientifics’ Kevin Kemmerer extrapolates on one of the questions asked by Technically Philly during his Q&A earlier this month. Kemmerer, EVP and managing director of Safeguard technology group, explains why Safeguard, a publicly traded company, is different than other VC firms.

Ben Franklin Technology Partners has invested nearly $1.8 million in nine local companies. Read our complete coverage here.

First Round receives praise for thinking ahead in this Silicon Alley Insider piece about the current and future state of venture capital. If you’re new to private equity, we highly suggest you give it a read.

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VC Roundup: Comcast spreads the wealth, BFTP fights for cash

Sean Blanda — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:30:30 +0000

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According to Thomson Reuters, 38 venture capital firms raised nearly $2 billion in the second quarter of this year, a 49 percent decline from 2009′s numbers. The amount raised is the lowest since 2003. The uncertain economy has made it hard for firms to fundraise, said the report.

Comcast says it will be setting aside $20 million to invest in minority-owned businesses that are developing new media products. The company included the new fund, to be part of Comcast Interactive Capital, in its NBCU merger paperwork. A post on the Comcast’s blog says more news will come this fall.

VC Roundup: It’s a little too quiet.

Sean Blanda — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:30:48 +0000

Looks like VCs take the Fourth of July off too, who would have known? We’ll skip ranking our two stories this time and hope that the cash starts flowing this week for next week’s roundup.

According to SEC filings Accolade has raised nearly $17 million from Comcast Interactive Capital and other firms. The Plymouth Meeting-based healthcare services company isn’t in Comcast’s typical investing wheelhouse, so this one has us stumped. Any ideas, dear reader? Drop us a line.

Ben Franklin Technology Partners has partnered with World Trade Club to give the organization space in its Lehigh offices. The World Trade Club is a group created by by Air Products, Mack Trucks and Bethlehem Steel to exchange business information and network, according to the Allentown Morning Call.

The VC Roundup will deliver Philadelphia private equity news hot and fresh every Tuesday morning.

VC Roundup: BFTP brags and Neat Co. raises cash

Sean Blanda — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:30:30 +0000

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Just in case you had any doubt that Ben Franklin Technology Partners is one of the shinning stars in a city mostly devoid of pro-business entities, the state-funded organization went ahead and made a list of all the states that are trying to imitate BFTP. Ohio even went ahead and named its BFTP clone the “Thomas Edison” program.

Speaking of ol’ Tommy E, Edison Venture Fund and MentorTech Ventures have invested $2.75 million in the Neat Company, maker of Neat Receipts, a paperless receipt product. Though, if you read our startup roundup, you all ready knew that.

VC Roundup: Gencast to invest in five startups this year, Lifeshield goes local

Sean Blanda — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:30:51 +0000

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Yardley-based secutiry company Lifeshield has raised $11 million from a handful of local sources, including Novitas Capital, First Round Capital, NewSpring Ventures and Nutrisystem’s (based in Horsham) former CEO Michael Hagan. The funds will be used to relaunch the brand after it changed its name from InGrid Home Security.

Gil Beyda has a fantastic interview with adxchanger.com about the sale of Invite Media (our coverage here). Beyda’s company, Gencast Ventures, was one of Invite’s investors and the company’s sale to Google gave Gencast its first exit. Beyada also says that he is looking to invest in four to five new startups this year, so get that pitch ready.

VC Roundup: BFTP and Fed start fund for green companies

Sean Blanda — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:30:44 +0000

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The city is using stimulus money to create The Greenworks Pilot Energy Technology Program, a new accelerator fund designed to house green startups. The companies will be vetted by Ben Franklin Technology Partners and the grants will range from $50,000 to $150,000. The deadline to apply for the funds is July 31st.