For some reason, I think it is pretty cool that Spark Capital has invested in Twitter. Twitter's new funding round
On one hand it is a bummer that a local VC has to go to San Francisco for yet another Web investment, but somehow this one feels good. And yes, Spark has only invested in two Boston based companies out of a portfolio of twenty. Or maybe only one, as it looks like Buzzwire is now mostly based in the Denver Co. area.
On the other hand it is good that a Boston firm is supporting a high risk darling of the web set with growing traction, scaling problems and no defined business model. I like that Spark is countering the perception of the stodgy and conservative modus operandi of the traditional Boston area VCs. They have demonstrated this via the Twitter investment as well as their initiative to curtail the use of non-compete agreements by Massachusetts companies.
I had mentioned before that Boston has another loose association with Twitter in a past post. Certainly we have some very active Twitterati such as @pistachio and @chrisbrogan to name only the tip of the iceberg.
So Kudos to Spark Capital. We can only hope that they find a Boston/Cambridge startup worthy of their attention. Who knows, they might be the first VC to snag a Y Combinator summer session company and keep it here rather than forcing a move to San Francisco or SV.
Check out Scott Kirshners post for more detailed analysis.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Youcastr
Genotrope Record: Youcastr
Citation URL: http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2008/02/youcastr_empowe.html
Formation Date: 2007
Funding Status: Seed Round
Investors: Founders
Founders or Execs past companies: Mercator Partners, Intrepid Learning Solutions, Fletcher Spaght, Inc.
Industry: Consumer Web, Entertainment
Offering Description: YouCastr is a personalized, interactive and entertaining Sports Network
YouCastr is creating an interactive sports network where fans interact with each other before, during and after a game, making the experience of following their favorite sports more fun and social.
Citation URL: http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2008/02/youcastr_empowe.html
Formation Date: 2007
Funding Status: Seed Round
Investors: Founders
Founders or Execs past companies: Mercator Partners, Intrepid Learning Solutions, Fletcher Spaght, Inc.
Industry: Consumer Web, Entertainment
Offering Description: YouCastr is a personalized, interactive and entertaining Sports Network
YouCastr is creating an interactive sports network where fans interact with each other before, during and after a game, making the experience of following their favorite sports more fun and social.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Wistia
Genotrope Record: Wistia
Formation Date: 2006
Funding Status: Private, Self Funded?
Investors: Founders?
Founders or Execs past companies: TopTenSources, Blogniscient, AgencyPort, Brainshark
Industry: B2B Video
Offering Description: Wistia allows you to easily and securely share video with your team around the office and around the world.
Formation Date: 2006
Funding Status: Private, Self Funded?
Investors: Founders?
Founders or Execs past companies: TopTenSources, Blogniscient, AgencyPort, Brainshark
Industry: B2B Video
Offering Description: Wistia allows you to easily and securely share video with your team around the office and around the world.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Vitruva
Genotrope Record: Vitruva
Formation Date: 2006
Funding Status: Seed?
Investors: ?
Founders or Execs past companies: Iconics, Fidelity
Industry: Consumer web
Offering Description: Vitruva is a second generation career website powered by an artificial intelligence job matching engine. We connect talented professionals with highly qualified job opportunities instantly - in real-time. Our patent-pending engine searches around the clock and nationwide.
Formation Date: 2006
Funding Status: Seed?
Investors: ?
Founders or Execs past companies: Iconics, Fidelity
Industry: Consumer web
Offering Description: Vitruva is a second generation career website powered by an artificial intelligence job matching engine. We connect talented professionals with highly qualified job opportunities instantly - in real-time. Our patent-pending engine searches around the clock and nationwide.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
TownConnect
Genotrope Record: TownConnect
Citation URL: TownConnect News
Formation Date: 2006
Funding Status: Seed Round
Investors: Angels & Founders
Founders or Execs past companies: Mike Ford: Computer.com, Quigo Technologies, Did-it Search Marketing
Industry: Consumer Web, Internet - Media
Offering Description: TownConnect organizes and connects families, friends and neighbors in their local community by uniting sport teams, school groups and others online. TownConnect powers local, family social networking sites for newspapers including GateHouse Media’s www.wickedlocal.com
Citation URL: TownConnect News
Formation Date: 2006
Funding Status: Seed Round
Investors: Angels & Founders
Founders or Execs past companies: Mike Ford: Computer.com, Quigo Technologies, Did-it Search Marketing
Industry: Consumer Web, Internet - Media
Offering Description: TownConnect organizes and connects families, friends and neighbors in their local community by uniting sport teams, school groups and others online. TownConnect powers local, family social networking sites for newspapers including GateHouse Media’s www.wickedlocal.com
Bandsintown
Genotrope Record: Bandsintown
Citation URL: http://mashable.com/2007/06/08/bandsintown/
Formation Date: Jun 07
Funding Status: Self funded
Investors: Founders
Founders or Execs : Todd Cronin Phil Sergi
Industry: Consumer web covering Music, Concerts, Events
Offering Description: Bandsintown.com is an online community whose users can track their
favorite artists, connect with other live music fans, and discover new shows based on their musical tastes. Bandsintown consolidates ticket prices, concert information, and live concert media all in one place.
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Citation URL: http://mashable.com/2007/06/08/bandsintown/
Formation Date: Jun 07
Funding Status: Self funded
Investors: Founders
Founders or Execs : Todd Cronin Phil Sergi
Industry: Consumer web covering Music, Concerts, Events
Offering Description: Bandsintown.com is an online community whose users can track their
favorite artists, connect with other live music fans, and discover new shows based on their musical tastes. Bandsintown consolidates ticket prices, concert information, and live concert media all in one place.
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Boston's Tech Legacy: Cullinet, First Software Product Company IPO
Today we are kicking off a new feature; Boston's Tech Legacy. We will be pointing the spotlight back in time to a company that played a notable role in the history of emerging technology in Boston. Our first company was a pioneer in enterprise software.
The foundation for the software portfolio of the venerable Boston VC firm Greylock was built by an investment in Cullinet. Some of the legacies of Cullinet, the first IPO for a software company, the first software company listed on the NYSE, first software company to be a component of the S&P 500 and the spawning of many successful companies including Platinum, AICorp, Ingres. Many executives from the ranks of the Cullinet management became influential as well.
Follow the link if you are interested in the complete story chronicled on wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullinet
The foundation for the software portfolio of the venerable Boston VC firm Greylock was built by an investment in Cullinet. Some of the legacies of Cullinet, the first IPO for a software company, the first software company listed on the NYSE, first software company to be a component of the S&P 500 and the spawning of many successful companies including Platinum, AICorp, Ingres. Many executives from the ranks of the Cullinet management became influential as well.
Follow the link if you are interested in the complete story chronicled on wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullinet
Friday, June 6, 2008
VendorCity Inc.
JC Cameron one of the founders gave me a heads up on the launch of Vendor City. Sign up for their beta and check it out. They have an experienced team, and you gotta love self funded ventures.
Genotrope Record: VendorCity Inc.
Formation Date: January 2008
Funding Status: Self-funded
Investors: The three founders
Founders or Execs past companies:Revenution, WebEvent
Industry: B2B Networking, Vendor Search
Offering Description: VendorCity is a business-to-business recommendation engine that provides companies with 24-7 access to word-of-mouth vendors referrals. Our community shares stories of successful vendor relationships and ranks each vendor across several categories. Clients can then search our peer-reviewed directory of trusted vendors 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, and have immediate access to the short list of top-ranked vendors in their city.
Genotrope Record: VendorCity Inc.
Formation Date: January 2008
Funding Status: Self-funded
Investors: The three founders
Founders or Execs past companies:Revenution, WebEvent
Industry: B2B Networking, Vendor Search
Offering Description: VendorCity is a business-to-business recommendation engine that provides companies with 24-7 access to word-of-mouth vendors referrals. Our community shares stories of successful vendor relationships and ranks each vendor across several categories. Clients can then search our peer-reviewed directory of trusted vendors 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, and have immediate access to the short list of top-ranked vendors in their city.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Largest Boston Venture Firms don't invest in Boston
The local business paper, Mass High Tech* published a list of the Largest Venture Capital & private equity firms ranked by the amount invested in 2007. I found a few data points pretty interesting.
1. the top two firms with $23 Billion under management, had a total of 1 investment in NE for 2007. Granted, these firms are later stage investors and not what we may typically think of as Venture Firms.
2. The VC that invested the most in the Boston area, half again as much as their closest rival, was North Bridge Venture Partners, with 41 deals for $142,000,000.
It should also be noted that NBVP is leading the way for the "old school" Boston VC firms by expanding into more consumer oriented investments in both mobile applications and web properties.
3. Next was Polaris Venture Partners with 30 deals for $91,300,000.
Some top firms were missing from the list, Charles River Ventures, General Catalyst, Matrix Partners, Sigma Partners, I assume due to not responding to the survey.
thanks to MHT for the work to compile this list.
* I could not find this List in the online Mass High Tech. If anyone comes across the link, please send me and I will update the post.
1. the top two firms with $23 Billion under management, had a total of 1 investment in NE for 2007. Granted, these firms are later stage investors and not what we may typically think of as Venture Firms.
2. The VC that invested the most in the Boston area, half again as much as their closest rival, was North Bridge Venture Partners, with 41 deals for $142,000,000.
It should also be noted that NBVP is leading the way for the "old school" Boston VC firms by expanding into more consumer oriented investments in both mobile applications and web properties.
3. Next was Polaris Venture Partners with 30 deals for $91,300,000.
Some top firms were missing from the list, Charles River Ventures, General Catalyst, Matrix Partners, Sigma Partners, I assume due to not responding to the survey.
thanks to MHT for the work to compile this list.
* I could not find this List in the online Mass High Tech. If anyone comes across the link, please send me and I will update the post.
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