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

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.

DEFINITE READS

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.

Read more

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

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.

DEFINITE READS

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.

Read more

VC Roundup: NuPathe IPO, no more DreamIt Ventures

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.

DEFINITE READS

Later today, look out for the emerging details about Philly Mag’s story on Guggenheim Ventures.

Technically Philly wasn’t the only publication to write about DreamIt Demo Day, a handful of other publications also weighed in. In a guest post by DreamIt partner Mike Levinson, TechCrunch takes a very black and white approach offering short paragraphs about every company. PhillyInc looks at DreamIt in perspective of the larger economic climate and the Philadelphia Business Journal focuses more on Startl’s relationship with DreamIt. Of course, you can always look at our three-post Demo Day preview series, our awards post for Demo Day and our collection of videos and pictures from the big day. The DreamIt companies are packing up a leaving the Science Center this week.

Read more

VC Roundup: Massachusetts edition

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.

DEFINITE READS

Reuters has a profile (complete with video) on First Round Capital’s Phineas “Phin” Barnes. Barnes plaed basketball in college and started his career at AND1, the basketball shoe company that was formally based in Paoli. Since then he has worked at MTV before becoming a principal at First Round.

Safeguard partner company NuPath, the Conshohocken-based specialty pharmaceutical company, has dialed back expectations for its IPO, exactly as Joe Destefeno predicted.

Read more

Friday Q&A: Gil Beyda of Genacast Ventures

Genacast Ventures Managing Partner Gil Beyda

Gil Beyda, originally from Los Angeles, has Dave Morgan to thank for bringing him to Philadelphia.

When Beyda and Morgan founded Real Media in 1995, they chose to locate the online ad serving company in Fort Washington because of the cheap office space available there.

After selling the company to 24 /7 Media, the duo teamed up again in 2001 to create Tacoda, a behavorial advertising company that they then sold to AOL in 2007. With two exits under his belt, Beyda was ready to try something new.

“I was not a corporate AOL guy, so I set off to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up… again,” says Beyda.

Eventually, he settled on a second career as an investor, teaming with Comcast to create Genecast Ventures. In its short existence, the new fund already has four portfolio companies and a successful exit in Invite Media and Beyda says that he looks to be more active in the months to come.

We chatted with Beyda about what companies he likes to invest in and why Philadelphia’s investor ecosystem is just fine, thank you. Oh, and we critique his LinkedIn profile.

Read more

Event Highlights: July 19 – July 24, 2010

Summer is in full swing, Philadelphia. In the whirlwind of carnivals, neighborhood barbecues and family vacations, don’t forget about this week’s events calendar. It’s chock-full of events you won’t want to miss and deciding which one to attend is tricky, so let us help.

We have your busy summer schedule in mind, dear reader, and we’ve chosen this week’s top three events to ensure you’re always in the loop. Kick your week off right with a summer bash hosted by Philly Startup Leaders. Then, chat about social networking and get all your health insurance questions answered.

Read more

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

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

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.

Read more

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

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

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.

Read more

Guest Post: Josh Kopelman advises DreamIt companies to fail early and often

Editor’s Note: Technically Phily is often unable to make it to local events, so we’ve begun reaching out to readers who would like to write a guest post about an event they attended to ensure that, despite our schedules, more events can receive the coverage they deserve. This the first of such posts. If you’d like to write about an event you are attending, drop us a line.

This is a guest event post by Chris DiFonzo.   Chris is actively involved with multiple startups, as CRO of newly formed VidaView Technology Group and Co-Founder and CEO of OpenDesks.com. He is friendly with the folks at First Round.

Tuesday night’s DreamIt 2010 Speaker Series event at the University City Science Center featured an engaging, Powerpoint-free conversation with Josh Kopelman of First Round Capital.

The 90-minute discussion revolved around gathering feedback, making adjustments, and approaching startup challenges deliberately. Kopelman set the tone early: “One thing I know about all of your business plans, is they’re all wrong.”

Read more

Invite Media’s Philly roots run deep

Earlier this month, the tech world’s eyes were set squarely on Invite Media.

The small company, headquartered in Rittenhouse, made big news when it was purchased by Google. Industry analysts were mostly concerned with how the purchase of Invite’s real-time display advertising bidding software played into Google’s long-term strategy.

But here in Philly, we’d guess that there were likely a handful of celebrations taking place from West Conshohocken down to University City as Invite Media’s Philadelphia ties run deep.

Read more