VC Roundup: GoodCompany goes to NYC, ETF changes name

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

GoodCompany Ventures is kicking off a handful of events up and down the east coast to discuss the social good of entrepreneurship and to raise awareness about the fund’s 2010 incubator. First up: The 67th Ward. The panel will be moderated by Fred Wilson, founder of Union Square Ventures and well-read VC blogger. The fund promises Technically Philly that a Philly event is in the works, but for now we’ll be at the NYC edition. So if you managed to snag tickets, be sure to say hello.

Tengion, a Quaker BioVentures backed company is raising money for an IPO.

ETF Ventures has changed its name to SeventySix Capital. Presumably because of the company’s West Conshohocken location right off of the Schuylkill Expressway. Or, as another theory suggests, they’re big basketball fans.

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Technically Not Tech: Midtown Lunch invades Philadelphia

Update: Added blogger interview.

Let the record show that Technically Philly has two immediate reactions to MidtownLunch.com, the blog that aims to showcase cool places to eat during your lunch break for under 10 bucks:

1. Wonderful idea, a man can only go to Wawa so many times for lunch.
2. “Midtown?” C’mon now.

The site, originating from The 67th Ward, first expanded to downtown Manhatten and on January 13th expanded to Philly. The site is popular among Manhatten-ites, even landing coverage in The New York Times . According to Compete.com data, Midtown Lunch’s traffic (which is presumably is mostly due to its NYC content) is more than most of its new Philly competition, even the ones with an established presence in The 67th Ward.

The site author, Jamie (she prefers not to give her last name) is from Flushing and has taken the trip down the turnpike to go to law school (though she won’t disclose which one).

“I just really dislike going to generic [lunch] places,” she said in a phone interview with Technically Philly.

Jamie did her undergrad in the state and said she was always visiting friends in the city while at college. She maintained her own food blog and was profiled by Midtown Lunch before becoming the site’s Philly writer. She said hopes to make Midtown Lunch an outlet where people can find a “more fun lunch for people that work in the city for under ten dollars.”

But will the site’s Philadelphia section catch on here, where food blogs are as abundant as Phillies hats?

We explore using the same +/- rating system that the site uses in reviewing restaurants:

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VC Roundup: 2009 slightly less depressing than 2008, Google invests in DreamIt grad

Welcome to our brand new weekly 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 or corner us at our next meetup.

DEFINITE READS

The National Venture Capital Association has published its yearly “exit poll” tracking VC-funded company exits. IPOs were higher in 2009 in year-over-year numbers, but M&A activity declined slightly. Both metrics are still lower than pre-recession numbers.

Boston-based DreamIt Ventures grad SCVNGR has just received $4 million from Google Ventures. The company, makers of location-based gaming platforms, is profitable with over $1 million in revenue in its first year.

After the jump, the passing of a local VC leader and the firm that is touring New York City incubator spaces as if it were on a pub crawl.

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Avencia’s Walkshed hits NYC BigApps Contest, asks for public vote

It’s a long walk from Callowhill to the 67th ward.

But Avencia, the geographic analysis and software development firm, is bringing Walkshed, its web application that uses advanced technology to calculate and map walkability, to New York City.

Avencia’s Aaron Ogle first developed the application for Philadelphia, as we previously reported, but now, using open government data from New York, the company has developed a version for the five boroughs and submitted it into the much publicized BigApps Contest, a municipally-sponsored initiative asking for software applicants that use the city’s NYC Data Mine.

Winners can receive $20,000 in cash prizes and a strategic lunch meeting with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

BigApps winners will be determined by a panel of judges, in addition to a public vote that runs until Jan. 7. Vote for Avencia’s Walkshed NYC, which may be the only Philadelphia applicant, here. A free registration is required. Currently Walkshed is in the running for first place.

Below, video from the October event in Manhattan that kicked off the competition.

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Would First Round Capital move to New York City?

West Conshohocken and San Fransisco-based First Round Capital has announced it will be opening a new office in the 67th Ward.

Managing Director Josh Kopelman has made no secret about the firm’s affinity for the Big Apple, citing the success of First Round’s “Office Hours” events held in the city’s Silicon Alley. First Round has funded more than 10 NYC startups, launched a NYC mentoring program and are often seen attending meetups throughout the city.

So, does this new office mean the West Conshohocken office’s days are numbered?

“No, not at all,” said Kopelman, “the West Conshohocken office has more partners than any of the other offices.”

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Technically Not Tech: McJawn magazine’s quest to take over the world

The scholars at Urban Dictionary define “jawn” as “a word used by Philly cats to describe anything and everything.”

It’s almost as Philadelphian as the cheesesteak. Example: “Hey, hand me that jawn.” Or, “Later this month I’m going to the Geekadelphia and Technically Philly jawn.”

Which makes the word more than fitting for the namesake of the up-start Philadelphia arts and culture magazine McJawn.

Founded by Wen Vo and Yis Goodwin in the Summer of 2008, McJawn’s content ranges from the art on local bathroom stalls to what its like to spend time in a Philadelphia jail, and its blog has become a barometer of the Philly arts and music subculture.

Oh, and did we mention they are hatching plans to take over the 67th ward?
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Verizon takes steps to adding new local channel

Hold on to your clunky digital cable boxes Philadelphia, because a good old-fashioned capitalist throwdown is brewing between local cable giant Comcast and its feisty competitor Verizon.

You may remember that Verizon received approval from City Council earlier this year to build a $1 billion FiOS network in the city. According to the company’s franchise agreement with the city, it will fully cover the city in FiOS within seven years with initial service offerings beginning by the end of 2009.

If recent moves by Verizon in the 67th ward are a sign of things to come, Verizon may be challenging the cable giant’s Comcast Network news channel as well.
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