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.
MUST READS
Safeguard Scientifics led an $8.7 million Series B round for New York City-based AppFirst, which focuses on “enterprise application monitoring and big data platform,” according to a release.
Josh Kopelman wrote on his blog about why First Round Capital funded a lawsuit against Best Buy from one of its portfolio companies, Techforward. “We needed to send a message to Best Buy – and every other large company – that they can’t blatantly violate agreements and steal ideas from startups,” Kopelman wrote. And hey, Techforward won a settlement of $27 million. Read the whole post here.
On a pretty much unrelated note, check out First Round Capital partner Rob Hayes in an apron, showing off his chicken and kale stew, as part of a Daily Beast story about a new startup cookbook.
In other First Round news, the firm led a $3 million round for SmartThings, the Washington, D.C.-based startup geared toward creating technology that will allow you to control objects, VentureBeat reported.
The firm’s Dorm Room Fund also made its first investment: $20,000 in Penn undergrad startup Firefly, we reported last week. Check the news out on the San Francisco Chronicle, which calls Firefly cofounder Dan Shipper “the next Mark Zuckerberg,” and Keystone Edge. The Daily Pennsylvanian also spoke to a few of the investment team members.
GIVE A GLANCE
In a recent CB Insights report on the Tech IPO Pipeline, in which CB Insights looks at 472 companies “with valuations, real or rumored, of greater than $100 million,” Pennsylvania ranks toward the bottom of the list with 22 of the total companies based in the state. California leads the pack with 222 of the total companies, followed by New York and Massachusetts with roughly 40 companies each.
Malvern, Pa.-based life sciences company Tela Bio raised $16 million, according to an SEC filing. The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that it’s from a stock sale.
Ambler, Pa.-based biotech company BioConnect Systems raised nearly $1.5 million, according to an SEC filing.
Don’t miss our recap of DreamIt Ventures‘ Demo Day for its fall Philly cycle. Also read about it on VentureBeat and TechCocktail. In the Philadelphia Inquirer, columnist Larry Platt references the DreamIt entrepreneurs as the polar opposite of the Pennsylvania Society. DreamIt Ventures also announced a new health-focused accelerator called DreamIt Health, in partnership with coworking space Venturef0rth, Penn Medicine and Independence Blue Cross, we reported last week.
MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME
Wayne-based Business Intelligence International raised $475,000, according to an SEC filing. The firm owns Alignalytics, a company that advises on topics like IT management and risk and performance management.
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