All local VCs should move to University City

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
Hidden in a recent Joe DiStefano column on Philly Deals, David Adelman of Franklin Square Capital Partners says he wants to make University City the hub of local venture capital in the area. We think this is one of the best ideas to emerge from the local venture capital community.
With Penn and Drexel nearby and the tax-friendly Cira Center (which is in a Keystone Opportunity Zone) around the corner, this idea is not as far-fetched as it may seem.
The wide disbursement of investors across the Philadelphia region ultimately stymies local entrepreneurial growth as investors and entrepreneurs are not running into to each other at the local coffee shop like they may in other markets. From DiStefano’s story:

As tenants, he’s trying to lure venture capitalists from West Conshohocken and the Main Line into University City, where the neighbors include Ira Lubert and his Independence funds group, which manage $12 billion for clients including Pennsylvania state pension funds from offices at Cira Center. “Penn should be like Cambridge or Palo Alto,” a lure to capital as well as academe, he told me.

We wish him the best.

MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME
The Chester County local paper Daily Local News wrote up a detailed profile about CEO Peter Boni and Safeguard Scientifics. We interviewed Boni last month about the company’s recent string of successful exits.
On a related note, Safeguard profiled its partner companies that have made the Inc 5000 list. We wrote about other local Inc 5000 companies here.
Closley has raised $3.6 million and Vator TV suspects that the lead investor is Comcast Ventures, the renamed Comcast Interactive Capital.
GIVE A GLANCE
DreamIt Ventures kicks off this Friday. We’ll have more coverage later this week.
P.E. Media Holdings, based in Blue Bell, has raised $40 million. We would tell you more, but information about the company is scant.
ProfitPoint has received a $2.5 million credit facility from Square 1 bank. ProfitPoint, which makes gift card and loyalty products for small businesses, is based in Clifton Heights.
First Round Capital portfolio company AppFirst has received follow on investment. First Round was not named in the nearly $4 million round.