60% of venture-backed companies have more than one investor [VC Roundup]

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

Robert Moore of Center City business analytics shop RJMetrics took to Crunchbase to investigate a hunch: that venture funding is a “‘clubby’ game,” as Moore writes on RJMetrics’ blog.

The data seemed to support his theory. He writes, “Well-known firms like Kleiner Perkins, First Round Capital, and Accel Partners appear to keep it in the family, investing in the highest number of companies with the smallest number of distinct co-investors.” Read the rest of his findings here. And hey, the post was picked up by the Wall Street Journal.

First Round Capital invested in two companies this past week. It participated in a $1.75 million round for Upstart, the San Francisco-based startup founded by former Google exec Dave Girouard. Upstart offers crowdfunding and mentorship services for college grads, TechCrunch reports. Here’s First Round managing partner Josh Kopelman’s blog post introducing Upstart to the company’s portfolio.

First Round also participated in a $3.75 million round for Toronto-based Influitive, a B2B marketing platform, the Financial Post reported.

MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME

DreamIt Ventures hosted its NYC Demo Day last week. Here are five DreamIt startups that caught GigaOM’s eye. Also check out Genacast Ventures founder Gil Beyda talking to the Business Journal blog Upstart about what he’s looking for on a demo day.

Beyda was also featured on Bloomberg News talking about Genacast Ventures’ investment strategy. Check out the video on Philly Tech News.

The Philadelphia Business Journal’s Peter Key has a short profile on Terrence Hicks, vice president of Benjamin Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania’s Investment Group.

GIVE A GLANCE

A Collingswood, N.J.-based company called Gridless Power Corp., which has no online presence yet, raised $465,000, according to an SEC filing.

Philly-based Viridity Energy, the company that last fall moved from Conshohocken to Center City and helped get SEPTA national attention for its regenerative braking program, received a $15 million equity investment from Mitsui & Co. Ltd., a Japanese conglomerate, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.