Friday Q&A: Dan McKinney of NextStage Capital

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.

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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.

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VC Roundup: PACT emerges from ETC and MAC, Outplay wins Baiada

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.

Update: corrected ETC’s name, corrected Precision item.

DEFINITE READS

Remember when Eastern Technology Council and Mid-Atlantic Capital fund merged? We’ll the new entity has finally decided on its new name and branding. Last Wednesday the new group announced at its awards dinner that it will be called PACT, short for Greater Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies. Dean Miller of Novitas Capital will serve as the group’s CEO.

Outplay Technologies took first place at Drexel’s Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship Incubator Competition. According to the Inquirer’s Mike Armstrong, the company develops alternative video game controls  such as button-filled gloves. No comment, however, from the NES powerglove guy.

MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME

Radnor-based QR Pharma has raised $2.4 Million in seed money, including $500,000 from Ben Franklin Technology Partners.

NextStage Capital portfolio company Moda technolgies sold to Swiss-based Lonza Group for $10 Million according to our good friend Joe Destefano. The group planned a party at a local steakhouse to celebrate. For the record, fellas, Technically Philly is offended we weren’t invited. You should see Chris Wink sing karaoke.

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VC Roundup: Is VC ready for its turnaround?

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 the VCs assembled in New Jersey for the New Jersey Technology Council conference, VC activity is primed to heat up in the coming months. Bala Cynwyd-based Osage Partners was among the local firms in attendance. “If you can survive the last three years, then you have something,” said one attendee.

Ben Franklin Technology Partner has anounced nearly $600,000 in investment, including $50,000 going to Viddler. If you remember, Viddler told us in October: “We’re done funding.”

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Shop Talk: Philadelphia’s venture capital community on Twitter

Image courtesy of millionclues.com

If you have ever shown a friend or relative Twitter, you were probably met with a response along the lines of, “Why would I ever want to use this?”

Mostly, it’s hard to quantify the usefulness of a tool such as Twitter, but the startup and venture capital research Web site Chubbybrain has given it their best shot by asking the question: Do VCs who use Twitter invest in more startups?

The report is an interesting look at how venture capital firms use Twitter while judging its effectiveness. But, as expected, the report focuses mostly on VCs in California, Boston and New York. That got us thinking, what local VC’s are on Twitter?
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