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 the Startup Roundup’s dedicated newsletter or RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.
MUST READS
Lots of news from what appears to have been a rather successful Startup Weekend, a report on which Technically Philly is expecting soon from our own reporters. A few thoughts from Melih Onvural: it was inspiring, energetic and fun. The startups stretched from art apps to parking spot finders, and much more, Onvural wrote. PhillyInc’s Mike Armstrong also made an appearance, noting that MealTik, LaunchRock, WishGenius, GitHacking, all demonstrated business models on Sunday. There were even Phillies tickets for a prize. Don’t miss our coverage, here.
Over at IndyHall, a game development-specific hackathon went on, the second annual Global Game Jam. Geekadelphia has the scoop.
Viridity Energy, which is working on a pilot project with SEPTA to store regenerative energy from train brake systems, raised $14 million in a series B investment earlier this month, TechCrunch reports.
And Aria Systems, based in Media, has raised a $20 million fund with InterWest Partners, Hummer-Winblad and Venrock, bringing its total funding to $34 million, TechCrunch reports.
GIVE A GLANCE
Laan Labs, who has made it on this roundup for a number of incremental iOS and Mac apps has launched what seems to be their most noteworthy and comprehensive yet: TapDJ, an iPhone app that allows folks to mix two songs from their music library and mix them using a traditional DJ interface.
Former DreamIT Ventures startup Parse.ly, now based in New York City, has raised $800,000 from a group of investors that includes Blumberg Capital and former co-founder and CTO of Invite Media Scott Becker.
In related news, DreamIt gets press on TechCrunch for its launch announcement for Manhattan. Don’t worry folks, it appears they will still be providing a Philadelphia program, though it’s being pushed back to fall 2011.
Venmo got a mention in New York Magazine, except, oops, they’re listed as a New York-based startup. Venmo, is there something you guys aren’t telling us?
WizeHive got a mention in the Business Journal about its $1.0 million to $1.5 million investment from Robin Hood Ventures, Mid-Atlantic Group, and Ben Franklin Technology Partners. Peter Keys also reported last week that TicketLeap will soon start offering metrics for social media conversions. The company also announced yesterday that it will be the ticket provider for Comic-Con, the world’s largest comic book convention.
Local online social shopping tool Snipi got a bump from BFTP, too, ChubbyBrain reports. Details are sparse.
MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME
For all you folks interested in launching your own startup, the Corzo Center has put together an event this Thursday featuring Alex Hillman, sponsored by Good Company Ventures, to talk about doing just that.
USA Technologies, which provides electronic vending machine payment system had a great second quarter, spokesman Gunter Beyer says. Revenue was up 60 percent year-over-year to $6 million.
Breinigsville’s Liquid Interactive, based just outside Emmaus, took home a 2010 Leader Award in the Summit Emerging Media Award competition for work with Aria Health, the company reports.
New branding agency Letter27 is offering nonprofits the chance to win $10,000 in client services. Nominations accepted until March 1.
RailBandit, makers of transit scheduling applications, is offering a 10-day free trial for its Android software.
Finally, Ruby on Rails developer Chris Conley is once again tracking his musings on chasing startupdom. Cheer him on at startuporbust.com.
Startup Roundup will post weekly on Wednesdays until there’s not a Philly startup story left to link to on the Internet. See others here, or sign-up for its email newsletter.
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