Startup Grind comes to town // Betamore looking for applicants // Md. VC funding drops off [Startup Roundup]

This is the Startup Roundup. Every Wednesday morning, Technically Baltimore will put together the smaller pieces that make up our startup ecosystem.

Startup Grind, the startup begun in 2010 by which entrepreneurs and company founders came together to “network with the smartest startup minds,” is coming to Baltimore in September. Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Wasabi Ventures, co-founded by Loyola University Maryland graduate Thomas Kuegler, will serve as the director of the Baltimore chapter, which kicks off September 18 at 6 p.m. at Loyola University Maryland. Techies, entrepreneurs, startup supports and students are invited to attend. The inaugural event will feature Brian Razzaque, founder of SocialToaster.  Reserve your tickets for Startup Grind.

Betamore, what co-founder Mike Brenner calls a ‘gym for nerds,’ is scheduled to open in late September. Brenner, along with cofounders Sean Lane and Greg Cangialosi, are in the process of sorting through membership applications. According to a post by Brenner on the Baltimore Tech Facebook Group, “We will be doing our selection/recommendation process in batches, not as a first-come-first-served response.” To apply for membership at Betamore, head to the website and fill out the form at the bottom.
According to the Baltimore Business Journal, venture capital funding in Maryland is down 74 percent in the second quarter from the previous one:

Eight Maryland companies received a total of $25.4 million in venture capital funding in the second quarter. That was down 74 percent from the $98.7 million that 25 companies in the state received in second quarter 2011, according to the National Venture Capital Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers’ MoneyTree report. [more]

Ashton Newhall, a co-founder of Owings Mills-based Greenspring Associates venture capital firm, has some strong words for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which recently published a report suggesting that investing in the venture capital asset class is misguided. Says Newhall:

Venture capital is not broken. It is thriving — albeit in a smaller, more concentrated ecosystem of fund managers who are largely closed off to new investors. [more]