Edison Ventures <3′s New England + 5 other stories

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

Edison Ventures continues its push in New England with a $5.5 million investment in NetProspex a company based in Waltham, Mass. that helps businesses track sales and marketing clients. Mass High Tech has more about the firm’s sudden infatuation with New England.

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Does the VC industry need document standards?: Guest Post

This is a guest post by Christopher McDemus of MCD Law Partners a law firm specializing in startups and technology businesses, as part of our Guest Contributor Week. Want to have an op-ed or feature you’ve written to appear on TP, now or in the future? Drop us a line.

Disclosure: MCD Law Partners was a sponsor of our last Switch tech demo event.

The topic of standardized angel or venture financing documents is is an old topic, for sure.  Most recently, Brad Feld weighed in on this issue back in March 2010 by valiantly offering to take on the task of drafting standardized financing documents, but following a post by his partner Jason Mendelson (along with probably millions of emails from the disparate groups wanting to help), Brad decided to set aside the idea.

I am not sure how much another opinion adds to this discussion, but it’s a topic I still view worthy of debate as I think it will re-surface again and again in the future.

People in the start-up community have long called for a set of standard financing documents – a set of financing documents whose structure and substance were widely viewed as acceptable to both the entrepreneur as well as the financier (e.g., angel, super-angel, early stage venture fund) and that fulfilled each side’s legal/business needs.  Why standardize financing documents versus any other corporate set of documents?

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VC Roundup: First Round raises $126 mil, Philly VC investment is up

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.

Edit: Corrected the amount of Seatgeek’s round.

DEFINITE READS

While Q3 VC investment was down nationally, it was all rosey here in Philadelphia. According to the PricewaterhouseCoopers Money Tree report, there were 31 deals totaling $136.3 million involving companies in the area.

It looks like First Round Capital is finished raising its third fund. Astute SEC watchers have noticed that First Round Capital III is estimated to be somewhere around $126 million. The firm has had several nine-figure exits, and has backed nearly 100 startups, according to PE Hub. The firm celebrated the new fund the only way it knows how: by investing in FREEjit and UberCab.

MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME

DreamIt grads SeatGeek have raised a round of $550,000 from a handful of out-of-town VCs. If you remember, the founders of SeatGeek started out as Scribnia before selling the site midway through their time at DreamIt. We interviewed the then-Scribnia founders last year. The company, now based in the 67th Ward, is a ticket search engine and price forecaster that helps its users find the cheapest tickets.

Comcast Interactive Capital is among the investors in CarWoo, a Lending Tree-like service for automobile purchases. The San Francisco-based company raised a $4.5 million round and is a Y Combinator grad.

GIVE A GLANCE

Burrill & Company, a San Francisco-based life sciences company that dabbles in VC, is opening up a new “Alternative Equities Group” here in Philly. It appears we’ve finally reversed the flow of money from Philly to San Francisco. Good job, everyone.

Nutter, Street to Young Involved Philadelphia: cheerlead, be more aggressive

Young Involved Philadelphia Chair Claire Robertson-Kraft introducing Mayor Nutter at the State of Young Philly showcase event on Fri. Oct. 1, 2010 held at WHYY. Photo by Sean Blanda.

Philadelphia’s young and involved cohort need to take greater hold of the future of the city for it to outperform even the region’s highest expectations, according to a slew of speakers hosted Friday by Young Involved Philadelphia.

The role of the region’s investment community in that future was also called into question during the night.

The social and speaking event was the showcase event of the State of Young Philly series, a first-time, tw0-week crush of conversations, workshops and discussions that brought together the 20-and-30-something sect of Philadelphians, who make up the membership of 10-year-old YIP.

In addition to other events, the week featured a Technically Philly co-sponsored panel discussion on the city’s business future.

Held at WHYY’s new Dorrance H. Hamilton Public Media Commons in Old City, Friday’s showcase featured a cocktail reception followed by a dozen speakers, half of whom were “more seasoned,” according to YIP Chair Claire Robertson-Kraft, and half were themselves young and involved.

Though there were expectations to the contrary, no fireworks shot off between Mayor Nutter and former Mayor John Street, who has recently taken to criticizing his successor on a number of issues. While both spoke at the event, the two men weren’t so much as in the same room at the same time, as their speaking was separated by state Treasurer Rob McCord. Councilman Bill Green was in attendance, welcomed by both Nutter and Street.

All had words for the city’s creative economies, which rely heavily on the young and involved, as did Philly Startup Leaders co-patriarch Blake Jennelle, who spoke during the less-seasoned half of the program.

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VC Roundup: Guggenheim’s weird year, DreamIt gets NYT shoutout

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.

This edition of the VC Roundup is sponsored by PACT. Check out their latest event “The Next Generation Architecture Summit: Cloud Computing on the Rise” on October 5th. For more details, including a speaker lineup, click here.

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VC Roundup: Get your Switch tickets, Safeguard invests $18 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
If you read this roundup, then we think you’ll really enjoy Switch, our latest event that has five companies demoing their products for 7 minutes each. So far, Packlate, Orpheus Media Research and P’unk Ave are set to show off their latest and greatest. Come see Philly’s next big thing and snag your tickets today.

First Round Capital has decided to follow on its initial investment of Backupify, a service that backs up cloud computing data. After contributing to the company’s original $900,000 angel round, First Round is one of four firms investing $4.5 million in the Series A.

MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME

Safeguard Scientifics is hosting InvestorDay, an event to help investors learn more about the company. There’s just one problem: the event is in New York. We know, as a publicly traded company, Safeguard must handle some of its business in the 67th Ward. But would it kill New Yorkers if they took a 90-minute Amtrak ride?

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeast Pennsylvania announced $480,000 in new funding today. Most of the companies receiving investment are in the environmental sector.

GIVE A GLANCE

GAIN Capital, portfolio company of Edison Ventures and Cross Atlantic Capital Partners has acquired the foreign exhcange business of MG Financial.

In other Safeguard news, the company recently closed an $18 million Series A round with Good Start Genetics. The Massachusetts-based company develops genetic tests for prospective parents.

It’s an oldie, but it just came across our inbox today. Last year, ChubbyBrain took a look at the business incubation community in Delaware. The most incubated sector? Healthcare.

The Wall Street Journal reports that despite the overall shrinking of the VC industry, many new firms are emerging. We’d guess that it’s because that investments are getting cheaper and cheaper these days.

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.”

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VC Roundup: BFTP and Fed start fund for green companies

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

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.

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VC Roundup: Diapers.com takes over the world, DreamIt’s largest class ever

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Updated: Clarified Osage Ventures partnerships.

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

PBJ reports that this year’s DreamIt Ventures class of 15 is its largest yet, thanks to a partnership with Brooklyn-based Startl. Five of the fifteen were from the New York fund. Last year Dreamit had 11 companies. Our buddy Peter Key also writes that Steve Barsh will be leaving the incubator to focus on Packlate.com. In a recent interview with Technically Philly, Barsh said he plans on “dedicating ten percent” to the incubator.

Diapers.com is having a hell of a month. The company just finished raising its Series E (!) round to help speed along its already-breakneck growth. The company, originally backed by MentorTech Ventures, is the largest online provider of baby care items in the country. The company has also recently received press in Forbes, TechCrunch and the Financial Times. Fellas, you can now add Technically Philly to your list. You’re welcome.

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VC Roundup: Joe Biden visits BFTP

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

Vice President Joe Biden visited the northeast branch of Ben Franklin Technology Partners last week. The Scranton native spoke at BFTP’s new clean tech campus in Bethlehem which received federal funds as part of the stimulus package. Be sure to read the Morning Call’s excellent write up.

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