Vistar Media raises $1.5M // SnipSnap wins an Appy Award [Startup Roundup]

Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup parses out the small pieces that make our greater Startup ecosystem thrive. We want to keep you in touch with the innovations that we can’t quite get to covering, but that deserve highlight. Follow along with a weekly email newsletter by clicking here and selecting the Startup Roundup button or follow Startup Roundup’s RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

WHO’S GETTING FUNDED

Vistar Media, led by Invite Media alums, raised $1.5 million round, according to TechCrunch (though its SEC filing only reported $1.2 million). The round was led by Valhalla Partners with participation from Ben Franklin Technology Partners and Mercury Fund. The startup, focused on digital out-of-home advertising, has both a Philly (Center City) and a New York City office.

Edison Ventures, the Central Jersey-based fund, invested an undisclosed amount in Lincor Solutions, a health tech company based in Ireland, VentureBeat reported. Its website appears to be down at the moment.

First Round Capital participated in a $1.7 million round for San Francisco-based home cleaning startup Pathjoy, TechCrunch reported. It also participated in a $2 million round for Santa Cruz-based business intelligence startup Looker, TechCrunch reported. And, one more: First Round Capital participated in a $3.6 million Series A round for Austin-based customer engagement startup Handshakez, AllThingsD reported.

In case you missed it, read about First Round Capital managing partner Josh Kopelman‘s recent speaking engagement at Wharton, where he told students: “Entrepreneurship is a mindset, not a profession.”

Benjamin Franklin Technology Partners announced that it would offer up to $400,000 for building retrofit/renovation projects that would improve energy efficiency in buildings smaller than 250,000 sq.ft. The deadline to enter is April 15 but BFTP wants to hear from you by March 15 (this Friday) if you’re interested in applying. More details here [pdf]. This project is in partnership with the Energy Efficient Buildings (EEB) Hub (read more about the Hub here) and part of a building tech/retrofit movement that’s growing at the Navy Yard, where the EEB Hub and BFTP are located.

BFTP also announced $375,000 in funding for five nanotechnology commercialization projects. The projects are based out of Penn, Drexel and Jefferson University. Read about the projects here.

WHO’S GETTING BUZZ

Congrats to SnipSnap, who won Best Finance App at the SXSW Appy Awards, according to the couponing app’s blog.

Kwelia, the real estate data science startup located at Benjamin’s Desk, and its multi-family rental rate visualization was featured on CRE (Commercial Real Estate) Apps this month.

SideTour, the New York City events marketplace startup, launched in Philly this week, as we reported.

Even a startup that’s steadily growing like Leadnomics has a hard time recruiting talent, cofounder Stephen Gill told the Daily News.

AND SOME PARTING WORDS…

“I wish I’d hooked up with a mentor the first time around,” said DuckDuckGo founder Gabriel Weinberg, when asked about his biggest regret as a first-time founder of an educational software company out of college.

Read more about Weinberg’s founder story, as well as WizeHive founder Mike Levinson’s story, in our piece about a recent information session for The Founder Institute, a global accelerator that has plans to launch in Philly.