VC Roundup: The city invests in green tech, Zecozi raises funds

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.

Number of deals by local VC’s (and the city): 4
Number of investments in local companies: 2

DEFINITE READS
When a company enters into DreamIt Ventures, they get a small amount of seed money and a small amount of cash for living expenses. Parse.ly co-founder Andrew Montalenti writes how his company stretched those bills while losing 15 pounds. How? By using the ubiquitous University City food trucks and beans. Lots and lots of beans.
The Inky’s Joe D, who is way smarter than us on such matters, says that big companies have the edge when it comes to raising money. DiStefano details the regions investment picture, referencing First Round Capital’s latest fund as an example of growth and a healthy local investing ecosystem.

MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME
The Philadelphia Business Journal reports the city has awarded three grants to sustainability-focused companies. The companies – BuLogics, NovaThermal and Niche Recycling Inc were given the awards as part of the Greenworks Pilot Energy Technology Program.
According to SEC filings, Haverford-based loyalty card company ProfitPoint has raised $1.25 million from NewSpring Capital.
We missed this last week, but Fishtown-based sustainability e-commerce company Zecozi has raised $250,000. Zecozi, a presenter at Switch, also raised $120,000 last year.
GIVE A GLANCE
Lots of analysts are bullish on Safeguard Scientifics shares after the company sold Clarient Inc. for $587 million last week. However, Clarient’s investors are none-too-happy about the deal.