ByAllAccounts uses its patented technology to access retail account information from custodian and broker websites, automating a process that many financial advisors are still doing manually - namely entering data from paper statements or downloading data from an online account. Advent will now make data from ByAllAccounts available to Advent OnDemand® users via Advent Custodial Data (ACD). As a result, Advent OnDemand® users will be able to augment their managed data with some additional retail account information.

 “We are always looking for ways to expand access to custodial data for our clients,” said George McLaughlin, senior director, Advent Software. “By working with ByAllAccounts we are now able to offer retail account information to Advent OnDemand clients, making it easier for them to report on their clients’ assets.”

 In a ByAllAccounts’ survey, almost 75 percent of financial professionals said they provide advice on all of their clients’ assets, including those assets held outside their firm’s primary custodian. “We know how important it is for advisors to be able to provide exceptional service to clients,” said ByAllAccounts President and CEO James Carney. “Being able to get held-away assets data smoothly integrated into a solution like Advent OnDemand® is an enormous advantage for advisors.”

By leveraging unambiguous real-world relationships—such as existing contacts and Facebook friends, calendar appointments, and physical proximity—the Kibits App is the fastest way to create and connect with groups on-the-fly. Each Kibits group serves as a micro-social network, enabling focused conversations with real-time sharing of photos, videos, links, locations, notes, even documents from iCloud and Dropbox, along with built-in chat, comments, and ratings. All with a single app that automatically organizes the conversation.

"Today, consumers and professionals alike are increasingly taking a 'mobile-first' approach to personal connectivity, communications, and computing," said Matt Cutler, co-founder and CEO of Kibits. "We built Kibits specifically for these users: by tapping in to nearly all of the capabilities of iOS, the app offers an intuitive, powerful new way to connect and collaborate in real-time and in the real world. Now people can avoid juggling dozens of single-purpose apps in order to share different types of media with their friends and co-workers."

As a micro-social network, Kibits spans social and professional contexts. For example:

• Share with different groups of friends. Use Kibits to have one conversation with a local circle about local news, another to plan a get-together with best friends, and yet another to commiserate with fellow parents about toddler temper tantrums.
• Simplify family communications: Create a single place to stay in the loop about schedules, dinner plans, activities, and the quick changes in plans that inevitably make up the day.
• Coordinate with colleagues. At work, Kibits provides unified, real-time spaces for sharing and discussing project-specific information, from quick photos of whiteboard notes to documents related to critical client deliverables.
• Hold on-the-fly discussions at an event. Kibits allows users to temporarily see if other Kibits users are nearby, and invite them to join a group. These unique proximity-based social features are useful for connecting with people at a conference or the PTA meeting or quickly adding your co-workers to a discussion.

The Kibits App is available for free from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore.

The company also announced that it has secured $17 million in growth capital funding to further boost sales, fuel marketing programs and accelerate its product development roadmap as it expands its global presence.

The latest round of funding is led by Commonwealth Capital Ventures, with participation from Pyxis Mobile’s existing investors, including Ascent Venture Partners and Egan-Managed Capital. 

Read the full press release here

The funding will be used primarily to strengthen Seniortouch™, Seniorlink’s web-based care management system, and to develop other information technology assets that improve Seniorlink’s ability to manage care on behalf of frail elders and people with disabilities.

“We are pleased to find an investor who shares our commitment to helping frail elders and people with disabilities live with dignity and independence,” said E. Byron Hensley, Chairman and CEO of Seniorlink. “We look forward to working with Elliot and the Commonwealth Capital team to grow our business and accelerate our ability to innovate in this very exciting market.”

“By providing a solution that reduces the total cost of elder care with improved outcomes, Seniorlink has created a very exciting company in the fast-growing health care market,” said Elliot Katzman, General Partner, Commonwealth Capital Ventures. “We’re delighted to work with Byron, Tom and the Seniorlink team, all of whom are passionate about serving this very important and rapidly expanding market.”

About Seniorlink

Seniorlink offers expertise in managing care for frail elders and people with disabilities, and an innovative service model, Structured Family Caregiving (SFC), for those who need care coordination and significant help with activities of daily living.

Verizon plans to combine CloudSwitch, a privately held company based in Burlington, Mass., with its Terremark IT services subsidiary, further accelerating the company’s global cloud strategy by enhancing Verizon’s hybrid cloud and cloud-to-cloud capabilities.

CloudSwitch brings Verizon breakthrough software that enables enterprises to more easily and securely move applications, or workloads, between company data centers and the cloud without changing the application or the infrastructure layer – eliminating a key barrier to widespread cloud adoption.

With CloudSwitch’s technology, enterprises gain new flexibility and greater control in moving to and from the cloud, while extending security over applications and data. In addition, enterprise applications remain tightly integrated and can be managed as if they are running locally. When combined with Terremark’s advanced IT and security capabilities, this technology further enables total enterprise-class cloud solutions (private-to-public, public-to-public and hybrid) across the globe.

“The cloud market is a rapidly growing opportunity, with very real benefits both for our business customers and the consumers they serve,” said Bob Toohey, president of Verizon’s global enterprise unit. “With the acquisition of CloudSwitch, Verizon has taken another step forward in defining the enterprise cloud.”

John McEleney, CEO of CloudSwitch, said: “By joining Verizon, we will be able to deliver a solution that combines our software with the market-leading infrastructure cloud play. Our founding vision has always been to create a seamless and secure federation of cloud environments across enterprise data centers and global cloud services. Together, we will be able to provide enterprises with an unmatched level of flexibility, scalability and control in the cloud with point-and-click simplicity. This will go a long way in helping achieve widespread adoption of the cloud especially when managing complex workloads.”

Verizon, through its Terremark subsidiary, offers advanced enterprise-class IT, cloud and security services on a global scale. Terremark provides customers with the ability to improve IT infrastructure and boost application performance in today’s complex and dynamic business environment. Visit the Verizon IT Solutions & Hosting website for more information.

Read the full press release here

1. MoneyGuidePro (PIE Technologies Inc.)

2. Money Tree

3. Junxure (CRM Software Inc.) 1

4. Portfolio Center (Schwab Performance Technologies)

5. Redtail Technology

6. Albridge Solutions

7. ByAllAccounts Inc.

8. Advisor Workstation (Morningstar Inc.)

9. eMoney360 (eMoney Advisor)

10. Advisor Workstation (Morningstar Inc.)

See the full list here

Envestnet|Vantage’s™ performance reporting solutions make it possible for advisors to eliminate manual data entry and to advise on held-away assets. By easily incorporating client portfolio data with wealth management and performance reporting tools, the solution reduces time spent on administrative tasks and improves efficiency, transparency and the ability for advisors to present holistic views of their client’s wealth, including assets that are held away.

Advisors have already started to weigh in on the benefits of the new strategic partnership. “Before the Envestnet|ByAllAccounts relationship, there was no eloquent way to get access to accounts not in the Envestnet feeds, such as held-away assets,” said Kent Fitzpatrick, managing director of Asset Strategy Consultants – Boston. “The ByAllAccounts’ data aggregation technology automatically delivers the needed positions, transaction details and balances. Now we can view and monitor these assets daily as well as do performance analytics and this has changed the game completely. Where we have actively solicited clients’ held-away assets we have increased our AUM by 40 to 50 percent.”

“Advisors today are given a plethora of tools that enable them to deliver better customer service, increase productivity and focus on critical business needs. But without the flexibility to incorporate these tools into their systems advisors face unnecessary complications,” said James Carney, ByAllAccounts president and CEO. “Our strategic partnership with Envestnet® gives financial advisors the freedom to use our service within a familiar workflow that they already know, trust and use. They stay in control and don’t have to change a thing.”

“Envestnet® is committed to delivering industry leading reporting solutions that create value for advisors and their clients. Our relationship with ByAllAccounts further serves our mission by giving financial advisors robust tools to report, bill and provide advice on held-away assets,” said James Lumberg, Envestnet’s managing director for reporting solutions. “Our goal is to make it easier for advisors to provide holistic views of their client’s wealth and enhance the value of their advice while increasing assets under management. The level of access and insight that Envestnet|Vantage™ delivers gives advisors a competitive edge in an increasingly crowded field. ”

Read the full article here. (Subscription required)

Visible Assets just boosted its visibility. The tracking-technology company just added Richard A. Clarke to its board of directors...The addition of the former senior White House homeland security and counter-terrorism advisor and chairman and CEO of Good Harbor Consulting may help the New Hampshire-based real-time security tracking device company procure more federal contracts.

But Visible Assets’ tracking products — specifically, its RuBee wireless device — have applications beyond the military, such as protecting oil and gas companies’ drilling operations, says John K. Stevens, chairman and CEO of the company.

Read the full article here

Red Herring's Top 100 North America list has become a mark of distinction for identifying companies and entrepreneurs that will shape the technology landscape and change the way people live and work. Red Herring editors were among the first to recognize the game-changing potential of companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Skype, Salesforce.com, YouTube and eBay for their innovation and undeniable impact on business and society.

"Choosing the companies with the strongest potential was by no means a small feat," said Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red Herring. "After rigorous contemplation and discussion, we narrowed our list down from hundreds of candidates from across North America to the Top 100 Winners. We believe Antenna embodies the vision, drive and innovation that define a successful entrepreneurial venture. Antenna should be proud of its accomplishment, as the competition was very strong."

Red Herring's editorial staff evaluated the companies on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, management quality, strategy, and market penetration. This assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the track record and standing of companies relative to their sector peers, allowing Red Herring to see past the "buzz" and make the list a valuable instrument of discovery and advocacy for the most promising new business models in North America.

Read the full press release

According to ABI Research, the U.S. market for mobile marketing and advertising is growing at a 23 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) with 2011 spending estimated at $1.6 billion.

“A comprehensive mobile customer communications strategy has become an absolute ‘must have’ for today’s consumer-facing organizations,” said Jim Milton, President and CEO of SoundBite Communications. “While the Mobile Collect acquisition provided us with a market-leading mobile collections solution, today’s SmartReply acquisition provides SoundBite with a leadership position in both mobile marketing and retail. We are firmly committed to accelerating the build out of our mobile offering, via organic investment and future acquisitions, to enable our clients to proactively communicate across the full customer lifecycle.”

“SmartReply has been a great partner and I am excited about the acquisition,” commented Tim White the Senior Vice President of Marketing for Fashion Bug, a 700 store women's apparel retailer. “Fashion Bug chose SmartReply for their retail and mobile expertise, and now with the stability of a public company like SoundBite and the additional technology solutions they can provide, this is a definite positive for partners like us.”

“SoundBite’s deep technology portfolio, including its interactive, multi-channel communications and intelligent preference management platforms, immediately expands the solutions that can be offered to the client base previously served by SmartReply,” said David Savage, former CEO of SmartReply. “I believe SoundBite is now the ‘one to watch’.”

Acquisition Creates a Disruptive Force in Mobile Marketing In addition to domain expertise, the SmartReply acquisition brings to SoundBite a roster of highly-regarded retail brands which complement the existing client base for SoundBite’s broad cloud-based product portfolio.

The combination of SoundBite and the key assets of SmartReply results in:

• Mobile Marketing Expertise: Companies in retail, financial services, telecommunications and media, and energy and utilities will benefit from SoundBite’s intimate knowledge of the mobile marketing industry and the complex requirements, global market trends and best practices associated with mobile marketing campaigns.
• Deep Technology Portfolio: Leveraging SoundBite Engage, a multi-channel communications platform, and SoundBite Insight, a preference management platform, clients can develop, deploy and optimize interactive mobile marketing strategies. These campaigns can leverage knowledge of consumer stated preferences and observed behaviors to drive more intelligent communications and improve business results.
• Express Consent Expertise: Following the asset acquisition, SoundBite will obtain the services of several former SmartReply employees who have developed expertise in obtaining and leveraging express consent from consumers for mobile marketing as well as voice messaging. As a result, SoundBite will be positioned to manage express consent for millions of consumers across more than ten retail brands.

To accelerate its growth in the mobile marketplace, SoundBite has established a Mobile Services business. Mike Romano, a co-founder and the former EVP of Sales of SmartReply, joins the business as Senior Vice President of Mobile Sales and Services and reports to Mark Friedman, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at SoundBite.

Read the full press release here

During the several months leading up to the announcement, hundreds of
companies in the telecommunications, security, Web 2.0, software,
hardware, biotech, mobile and other industries completed their
submissions to qualify for the award. Finalists for the 2011 edition of
the Red Herring 100 North America award are selected based upon their
technological innovation, management strength, market size, investor
record, customer acquisition and financial health. This unique assessment
of potential is complemented by a review of the actual track record and
standing of a company, which allows Red Herring to see past the "buzz"
and make the list a valuable instrument for discovering and advocating
the greatest business opportunities in the industry.

"This year was very rewarding," said Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red
Herring. "The global economic situation has abated and there are many
great companies producing really innovative and amazing products. We had
a very difficult time narrowing the pool and selecting the finalists.
Antenna shows great promise and therefore deserves to be among the
Finalists. Now we're faced with the difficult task of selecting the Top
100 winners of Red Herring North America. We know that the 2011 crop will
grow into some amazing companies that are sure to make an impact."

Antenna is committed to simplifying and managing the inherent
complexities of mobility, creating apps that people love to use. The
company provides a single platform that spans B2E and B2C mobile
offerings and supports the latest and best in standards-based and
emerging technologies and devices. With the Antenna Mobility Platform
(AMP), businesses can build, manage, publish and consume native apps and
mobile Web content on any device, anywhere in the world. Leading
companies the world over are deploying mobile apps and mobile Web content
from Antenna for a better way to manage their teams, engage with their
customers, elevate their brand and transform their business.

"As the mobility market has exploded, so too has our commitment to
providing innovative solutions backed by a proven mobile infrastructure
that satisfy the complex, varied and evolving needs of the enterprise,"
said Jim Hemmer, President and CEO of Antenna. "Being named as a finalist
to the Red Herring 100 is a testament to Antenna's dedication to our
customers' and partners' success and our culture of excellence. We are
honored to be in the same company of such industry-defining companies and
past Red Herring 100 award winners as Google, Salesforce.com and Yahoo!"

The finalists are invited to present their winning strategies at the Red
Herring North America Forum in Hollywood, Calif., June 13-15, 2011. The
Top 100 winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony the
evening of June 15 at the event.

Grooming the Next Generation of Startup CEOs

TIE’s Startup Leadership Program (SLP) is an initiative to groom the next generation of startup CEOs Selected to be a Fellow in TiE-Boston’s SLP, Casey draws upon his experience working with Commonwealth partners on software as a service (SaaS), Internet, and digital media investments as well as his background as co-founder of NextPlay, a SaaS provider of applications for high school athletes and college coaches engaged in the recruiting process, to mentor SLP entrepreneurs.
The program employs classes, workshops, and other professional development opportunities to educate and assist entrepreneurs, many of whom are working on their first venture. Several ventures have already received funding and others are seeking funding. As one of the few investors in the class, Casey lends an investor’s perspective to the activities and lessons, providing insights into the basics of raising capital and “what investors are looking for.” He also has offered entrepreneurs who are more focused and experienced in product development advice on formulating better business models and go-to-market strategies.

Casey has found it beneficial and rewarding to help fellow entrepreneurs with the challenges they face at the early stages of building a business:

“TiE’s SLP fosters a sincere culture of cooperation between entrepreneurs. All of the Fellows are deeply committed to helping each other out as they attempt to build meaningful businesses that will have a positive impact on the world. I have found that this is the same dynamic that is a key driver of success and source of enthusiasm at Commonwealth; it is deeply rewarding to work alongside entrepreneurs and help them in whatever ways possible to create successful long-term businesses that positively affect the world around us.”

Teaching and Inspiring New Entrepreneurs

TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TyE) is a business plan competition developed to educate and inspire high school students to be entrepreneurs through mentor-based programs. Taught by experienced industry leaders, the program is designed to foster innovation, leadership skills, creativity and self-confidence.

Through TyE, Casey mentors a team of high school students, offering guidance and advice as they build a business plan in order to compete in the TyE Business Plan Competition. As this is the students’ first exposure to entrepreneurship, Casey helps them with the fundamentals, including identifying a problem, creating a product or service that will solve it, understanding the market opportunity, acquiring customers, financial fundamentals, developing a business plan, and building an investor presentation.

Casey has found mentoring new, young entrepreneurs to be deeply rewarding. He found his experience co-founding NextPlay in his senior year of college a powerful and inspirational experience, and has found the opportunity to guide students through their own initial experiences with entrepreneurship extremely satisfying:

“It’s great to see the students develop and get excited about entrepreneurship. This happens in pretty much every class when they learn something new that fits into the bigger picture of their business plan and vision,” said Casey.

“TyE is all about teaching and inspiring young entrepreneurs who will go on to change the world,” he continued. “This is a mission that is critical for everyone engaged in the entrepreneurial ecosystem to support. It is a tenet that Commonwealth cares deeply about.”

Tungle.me offers a free web-based application that lets users share calendars across companies and platforms, schedule meetings with individuals or groups inside or outside their company, and propose multiple meeting times in invitations. The service currently syncs with a number of calendar applications, including Outlook, Google Calendar, and Apple iCal.

Since Tungle’s launch in 2009, the company’s scheduling offering was being used at 800 Universities around the world, by 40% of Fortune 1000 companies, and users from over 150 countries.

The entire Tungle team will be joining RIM immediately.

IBM
404 Wyman Street
North Entrance
Waltham, MA 02451

When: Thursday, April 7, 2011 from 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM

For more information or to register, please visit http://saasseries1.eventbrite.com/

youDevise and First Coverage market online services that enable institutional investors to receive short- and long-term trade ideas from their brokerage firms, making it easier for money managers to identify ideas with real value. Trade ideas are time sensitive, client specific long/short recommendations, based on all information likely to affect a stock’s price near term.

The combined company, which will operate under the youDevise name, serves more than 150 institutional investors, including major hedge funds, traditional money managers, and specialist alpha capture funds, and more than 560 sell side firms, from the largest bulge brackets to smaller boutiques. Together, the two platforms transmit more than 2,000 ideas a day on stocks, up 60% from a year ago, primarily traded on markets in the US, UK, Europe and Asia.

youDevise launched its Trade Idea Monitor (the TIM) in 2005 and First Coverage debuted its eponymous service in 2006. Integration of the platforms is expected to be completed in 2011, with the best features of First Coverage becoming part of the TIM. Until then, users will have continuous access to their service of choice and will be updated when new enhancements are released.

Investors in the merger include a syndicate of venture capital firms comprised of Commonwealth Capital Ventures of Boston, GrandBanks Capital of Boston, and JLA Ventures of Toronto. All three were original investors in First Coverage.
The merger will give money mangers access to brokers with specialties in all developed and emerging markets. The merger will eliminate the need for brokers to use multiple systems and help reach a greater number of clients. For both, the merger will increase 24/7 sales and support through youDevise offices in London, New York, Boston, Toronto, and Hong Kong.

“youDevise is pleased to join forces with the First Coverage team because we are both passionate about the future of trade ideas,” said Colin Berthoud, Founding Partner of youDevise. “The merger makes tremendous sense for our clients who can use the combined network to access knowledgeable counterparts on any scale of stock in any sector anywhere in the world, while providing brokers with new ways to monetize their intellectual property.”

"Our shared ‘customer first’ commitment, to help the buy and sell side create value from trade ideas, will be significantly enhanced," said Roland Beaulieu, CEO of First Coverage. "Given the alignment of our visions, technologies and strategies, the combination of youDevise and First Coverage creates the premier alpha capture platform in the world."

“The continued financial support from institutional investors underscores their confidence in the rapidly growing alpha capture market,” said Jeff Hurst, a General Partner and Co-founder of Commonwealth Capital Ventures. “Its strengthened position enhances youDevise’s ability to meet the increasing global market demand for what has become a highly dynamic new front in institutional investing.”

The combined company is headed by Rich Koppel and Colin Berthoud, founding partners of youDevise. First Coverage’s Roland Beaulieu and Commonwealth Capital Ventures’ Jeff Hurst, have joined the youDevise Board of Directors.

In addition to the TIM, youDevise markets the Hedge Fund Information Provider (HIP), the leading online platform used by Funds of Hedge Funds directly or through large administrators, such as Northern Trust (NASDAQ: NTRS) for front, middle and back office management information and decision making.

For VC investors, startups that take advantage of market opportunity are always the best bets. And in making decisions on whether or not to invest, VCs not only must have the foresight to predict areas that will be hot several years into the future, but also a thorough understanding of market timing, development and return potential.

It is important that early stage venture capitalists fully understand the status of market development so that they do not invest expensive capital too far ahead of the market. And it is best when CEOs have the right vision and timing for the company and when the company’s products are superior. It is rare, however, for all the pieces of the puzzle to come together in this way. Small companies can only play a limited roll in driving new markets, and if the vision and products are too far ahead of the market, the risk is that investors will be spending too much capital on opportunities that do not have enough near term potential. This can reduce, or even eliminate, their returns.

VCs who correctly anticipate the rate of market development and the return potential will be able to judge the right rate of investment. With a good knowledge of how fast the market will develop, the company’s place in it and ability to execute – VCs should have good handle on how much to invest at what rate, what kind of market return to expect, and how hard to push each company they invest in.

The venture market frequently will relay market knowledge to companies looking to raise additional capital. While startups often had exits in three years or less in the pre-bubble market, it can take seven or more years today. For this reason, it is sometimes better to substitute time for capital.

The key to successful investing is patience and taking the long view. Sometimes companies are simply ahead of their markets and it is necessary for them to adjust their perspectives to achieve neutral operating cash flow sooner rather than later. VCs can have much more patience with companies that are not burning cash. In order to reach cash flow neutrality, companies should size their operations to fit the likely potential revenue stream. Impatient VCs and CEOs will spend too much chasing markets that are not ready. But if they are realistic, they will distribute funds more slowly or use other people’s capital, or venture debt, or work to become cash flow neutral. The important thing is to minimize the burn rate when the company’s market prospects are uncertain.

There is a catch, however, in that competitive activity may drive the company’s need to spend. This is why a thorough understanding of the competitive landscape in any given market is essential to recognizing the potential for development. Companies that know what competitors are doing can set up their pricing, promotion, placement, and products accordingly, and will be better able to participate in market growth. Should competitors begin to spend aggressively though, companies may be forced to spend to keep up.

This competitive issue notwithstanding, one of the venture industry’s big sins is investors spending too much money pushing companies too hard before their time or before they have products or business processes in place. This can result in VCs putting in too much money and driving down the ultimate return. Even worse, a negative syndicate psychology can poison the outlook for the company, causing an early shutdown or sale, long before the market has a chance to develop. The process of assessing the rate of market development and opportunity holds many ambiguities. Companies that have experienced investor and syndicate partners who share their philosophy regarding how to build and how to gauge proper timing will be able to address these issues more effectively.

Clearly, there are numerous factors are involved in successful investing. Picking a winner is never a sure thing. Forward thinking VCs who carefully consider where companies fit in terms of market timing and development, and who are willing to substitute time for capital will greatly increase their chances of success.

While venture funding is a big factor in making entrepreneurial ideas reality, VCs who operate primarily as financier "owners," buying startups as if the startups work for them, are unlikely to build a track record of good returns. VC investment is about entrepreneurs, not VCs. By thinking and acting, first and foremost, as service providers to their entrepreneurs and management teams, VCs are more likely to achieve long term, ongoing success across their portfolios.

VCs who act as service providers are better able to fulfill the critical role of constructive partners dedicated to helping portfolio companies succeed. They emphasize collaboration over individual partner interests, and patience rather than keeping score on short term company performance (while disregarding the negative impact that can have in the long term). Partners at such firms work together as collaborative teams, leveraging their combined experience, expertise, and network of resources to benefit portfolio companies. Their activities focus on services supporting company performance and are appreciated by management and board members alike.

This approach is in direct contrast to “financier/owner” oriented VCs who often only get actively involved with companies during financing activities, give precedence to short term results over long term strategy and direction, and treat management team members as subordinates. Such approaches provide no basis for establishing collaborative, team-based relationships with portfolio companies. With service provider approaches, however, VCs can enhance valuable, long term relationships with management teams and co-investors, thus positioning themselves to be truly effective.

Service orientated approaches start at the due diligence stage, when there should be a focus on establishing collaborative partnerships and achieving mutual wins. VCs should begin by aligning the interests of all the parties involved -- starting with the term sheet. It is not always easy to get everyone on the same team, but VCs can help by taking the lead on it from the outset. With true collaboration and common goals, rather than individual interests, VCs will be better able to have a large influence on critical business decisions.

As team players, VCs can provide a broad range of supportive services that will help them build productive relationships with management and board members. For instance, VCs might help CEOs identify, recruit, hire and retain executive management teams and outside board members. VCs also might introduce CEOs (and other management team members) to peers at other portfolio companies, enabling them to share past experiences that can lead to better outcomes. VCs can provide other valuable professional contacts as well including commercial bankers, lawyers, accountants, and PR firms, among others. And they can introduce portfolio companies to investment bankers who potentially can help them in selling the company or taking it public when the time comes.

Service provider VCs also can facilitate partnership discussions between portfolio companies (or between portfolio and non-portfolio companies) for early product development or co-marketing and sales relationships. VCs can act as sounding boards for CEOs thinking through issues confronting the business or lining up new equity investors for future rounds of financing, and they can help management think through and accept the reasonable terms and conditions of the financing. VCs can lead co-investor discussions and help management gain consensus within their investor base for important company decisions. VCs also can help with discussions on the tactical and strategic benefits and issues of the current business model, or of alternative business models. They can build credibility for their portfolio companies within the VC and business communities and also can provide access to VC facilities and resources companies can use for sensitive/top secret off-site meetings. VCs often are able to provide perks as well -- such as Red Sox tickets -- that CEOs can use to reward key employees for a job well done. Perhaps most significantly, service provider VCs can introduce companies to potential early customers.

In contrast, VC firms who push their own agendas to excess can create an atmosphere of distrust, and in some cases even animosity, in the board room. Since individual VCs generally are minority, rather than controlling, owners of portfolio companies, the more productive course of action is working to gain the trust and respect of the management team.

By nature, service provider approaches are patient and steady, with VCs committing whatever time is necessary to convey the benefits of the experience and expertise they have gained from guiding numerous companies through the process. These benefits include valuable perspectives on what works, what doesn’t, how to recognize opportunities, and how to avoid mistakes and missteps. VCs willing to put in the time to work with their portfolio companies can become integral members of the team. But while it is beneficial for VCs to play a close, hands-on role, ultimately, the responsibility for running the business and making it successful lies with the portfolio company management team.

Much of the ability of VCs to act as service providers depends on geographic proximity. By making it easier for VCs to spend the time to fully understand their companies, build relationships, and function as supportive members of the team, close proximity can lead to better business decisions. Spontaneous meetings can and do happen and discussions about difficult issues can take place face-to-face in a few hours rather than a day or two later. VCs can easily bring all of their partners together to work on issues, so portfolio companies get the benefit of the entire firm, not just the proponent partner.

Financial backing will always be important for new companies – but cash alone will not spell success. By investing time and sharing the benefits of their experience, counsel, expertise, and networks, service-oriented VCs are more likely to build market leading companies and to achieve excellent investment returns.

Today’s downturn is driving home the lesson that while big risks may yield big returns in boom times, sizing investments appropriately is the only real route to long-term success. Many technology startups are learning this lesson the hard way. Having taken advantage of the overabundance of VC funding during the last upswing by spending too much, too fast – they now find themselves without the means to keep going. Had these companies considered how much to raise at the outset and sought to work with VCs committed to sizing investments carefully, they might be better positioned to ride out today’s tough times.

Appropriate sizing encourages companies to use cash judiciously -- which is the best foundation for staying on course regardless of economic conditions. Properly sized investments always ensure that companies have the right amount of cash to follow through on their business plans. This is especially critical today. If the current recession persists, early stage companies simply will not survive unless they are more cautious about spending and wait for evidence that their sales models are workable before going to market.

The story of Constant Contact, a leading provider of e-marketing tools for small businesses provides a good example of the rewards of using cash cautiously. The company had a highly successful IPO in 2007 – a full eight years after its 1998 launch. There were many ups and downs along the way, including slower than expected adoption of SaaS and unprofitable operations post 9/11. But the company was able to meet the challenges by working to more modest expectations so that it could subsist on a very small amount of venture capital (about $5M) from 2001 to 2002, when it reached break even. The company used that capital to iron out kinks in the marketing and sales model and, by 2005, had excellent market traction and momentum. By the first half of 2007, revenue was up 78 percent.

In order to size investments appropriately, VCs and entrepreneurs must exercise patience by committing enough time to get to know each other. This will enable them to determine if there is a unity of vision and goals, and whether the relationship and the funding will be a good fit. Every investment must be dealt with individually because cookie-cutter approaches don’t work. And, because most companies raise multiple rounds, they must use the funding wisely to reach important milestones that subsequent investors will recognize.

In determining the size of funding rounds, investors and entrepreneurs must realistically assess the ultimate worth of the company and the likely size of the exit. The total investment paid in should be made accordingly. For instance, good exits for software companies typically range from $150M to $250M. While the number of exits will most likely be a lot lower until the economy recovers, companies and investors still need to keep their eyes on the long view and aim to realize exits in this range. To do this, such software companies should strive to consume no more than $25M to $30M in total capital.

Over-funding companies at the outset is not a good approach. For example, rather than investing heavily in sales and marketing early on, companies should first determine if the market is receptive to their products and which sales channels are best. Also, instead of over-investing in product development too soon, companies should concentrate on getting first versions out quickly and getting market feedback.

While such approaches increase the odds of success by using capital more constructively and efficiently, just the opposite is true of companies that have too much capital too soon and no plan for deploying it effectively. In times when there is a surfeit of venture capital available, some VCs can be too anxious to put funds to work sooner and can offer entrepreneurs more cash than necessary to execute on their business plans. As a result, entrepreneurs can believe that their opportunity has so much merit they can spend whatever they want – so they burn through capital too quickly. In addition, companies that raise too much money without making sufficient business progress can have difficulty obtaining subsequent funding rounds from new VC investors. Without funding to move forward, entrepreneurs may see their stake in the company dwindle. To avoid these pitfalls, entrepreneurs must broaden the focus beyond money by getting to know their VCs investors well, and, most importantly, trusting their own instincts, because they know their businesses best.

While having too much cash, too early can cause serious problems – today’s problem of too little capital is not a good thing either. For example, in an attempt to retain more of the company for themselves, some first time entrepreneurs can try to make do with less. A miserly approach like this can leave the company without the funds necessary to follow through on the business plan.

Clearly, sizing investments properly is a major success factor for startups. But it takes time, patience, and work up front, to ensure that each investment provides just the right amount of capital to stay on course and follow through successfully on the business plan. The bottom line on the bottom line is this -- sufficient funding, used efficiently is always the most reliable route to the best exits with the highest returns over the long term.

Since 1996 the Global Mobile Awards, sponsored by the GSMA, have recognized companies for their outstanding contributions toward driving the growth of the worldwide mobile communications industry. Antenna was selected as a finalist from hundreds of entrants for its portfolio of mobile applications enabled by the Antenna Mobility Platform™ (AMP), before receiving the ultimate nod as winner for best mobile enterprise product or solution.

AMP is an enterprise-class mobile applications platform that accommodates both business to consumer (B2C) mobile applications and employee-facing applications for leading companies in a variety of industries including financial services, retail, consumer packaged goods, life sciences and manufacturing. AMP was built from the ground up to mobilize any data source, over any wireless network worldwide, and to any smartphone or tablet device. Utilizing the latest and best in standards-based and emerging technologies, AMP allows organizations to not only build an application once and deploy it across any combination of devices, but also centrally deploy, manage, and secure these apps across all devices.

“It has been a milestone year for Antenna marked by record-breaking growth, product innovation and industry accolades, culminating in this great honor,” said Jim Hemmer, President and CEO, Antenna. “The Global Mobile Award validates our technical offering and underscores Antenna’s business philosophy – that intelligently designed business apps make users happy and empower organizations to create more meaningful and more profitable relationships with their customers. We thank our customers and partners around the world for choosing Antenna as their trusted mobility partner.”

As smartphone and tablet adoption accelerates and mobile Web and apps usage increases, Antenna is well positioned to help companies navigate the complexities of mobility and drive strategic growth initiatives now and into the future. AMP enables companies to create order out of chaos in the fragmented mobile ecosystem and keep pace with emerging technologies and devices. With Antenna’s mobile technology as the foundation, organizations are empowered to deliver compelling, smooth mobile experiences that satisfy customer demand for both information and purchasing power all from their mobile device.

The Global Mobile Awards judges commented: “Bringing consumer type apps to work for enterprise users and their customers is an important new area of development. This forward thinking capability really enhances the effectiveness of enterprise users and their transactions with customers and suppliers.”

The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry. Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world's mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organizations. For 16 years, the GSMA Global Mobile Awards have showcased cutting-edge mobile products, services and initiatives around the world.

“This year’s awards attracted more than 600 entrants, with many high caliber entries across all categories," said Rob Conway, CEO and Member of the Board, GSMA. “The GSMA congratulates the award winners and commends all finalists for their innovation, ingenuity and important contributions to the success of the mobile industry.”

"According to a recent IDC forecast, in 2011 half of all web users are going to be mobile web users, and by 2014 we estimate they will have downloaded 76.9 billion apps," said Nick McQuire, IDC's Research Director for EMEA Enterprise Mobility. "It's clear that no company can afford to have just a mobile website strategy or just a mobile apps strategy. As such, the combined experience and capabilities of Antenna and Volantis make them well positioned to take advantage of the way in which the mobile Internet is developing on a global scale."

Operating under the Antenna brand, the combined company will continue to provide full support of Volantis' products to its current customers, prospects and partners through its existing teams in the Volantis offices in Guildford, Seattle, Krakow, Pune and Hong Kong – strengthening Antenna's global presence, particularly across Europe and Asia-Pacific.

The addition of Volantis' complementary technology allows Antenna to immediately offer its customers a significantly broader range of mobile web solutions, including the underlying architecture for mobile commerce and enterprise app stores. This adds to Antenna's already robust on-demand (SaaS) Antenna Mobility Platform (AMP) offering, which powers the company's suite of mobile business and consumer applications.

"This is truly a watershed moment for Antenna that takes us closer to our vision of being the mobile platform for the Global 1000," said Jim Hemmer, President and CEO of Antenna. "With Volantis as part of the Antenna family, our customers can go to a single provider for all their mobility needs. Our mobile solutions not only manage the complex requirements of the workforce but also the mobile demands of millions of consumers who want to interact with a brand on the go across myriad devices. In a highly fragmented channel, Antenna creates order out of chaos and delivers a consistent and compelling mobile experience to all."

Volantis brings to Antenna a wealth of carrier and enterprise customers, including T-Mobile, Hutchinson 3G, Telenor, Garanti Bank and Reliance Capital. The Volantis customer portfolio deepens Antenna's already robust carrier portfolio and extends the company's vertical offerings across the financial services, retail, travel, transport, media and entertainment industry sectors.

"Volantis has spent the past decade developing a best-of-breed solution for the mobile Internet," said Mark Watson, former CEO and Co-Founder of Volantis. "Our goal has always been to make the mobile web as accessible as possible to enterprises and consumers, with the most robust technology to support the solution. Joining with Antenna will allow us to continue to invest in the development of our technology while co-innovating as part of the Antenna team to help drive success for the combined company going forward."

“Everything we do at Qvidian is focused on helping sales and proposal teams gain a competitive edge and win more often,” said Lewis Miller, president of Qvidian. “We’re excited to reinforce this message through our new brand and position Qvidian as ‘The Sales Gamechanger’.”

Qvidian offers a complementary suite of cloud computing solutions that enable sales teams to work smarter, faster, and with greater success. The Qvidian sales effectiveness platform is comprised of three modules:

1. Sales Playbooks & Analytics – Situational best practices, or ‘plays’, enabling sales teams to engage prospects and win more often.
2. Proposal Automation – Powerful and intuitive tools allowing sales teams and proposal professionals to easily produce winning proposals, RFP responses, and presentations.
3. Content Library – Fast access to content and expertise to move deals forward.

“Our company name is new, but our commitment to provide outstanding products, services, and support to our 1,200 customers worldwide remains the same,” said Miller.

The company’s new website is www.Qvidian.com. In addition to company and product information, site visitors can access eBooks, guides, white papers, videos, and other resources to improve sales effectiveness.

“Reval has acquired a very talented team of development and treasury experts that has focused on engineering a robust cash and treasury management system and on providing a highly responsive customer support system to over 100 clients,” says Reval CEO and Co-founder Jiro Okochi. “As we continue to work with clients to evaluate their cash, treasury, and risk needs, these qualities will prove ecofinance a perfect match for Reval. We will take our time to evaluate and integrate the best functionality to deliver the single, full solution that the industry wants.”

Established over 25 years ago, ecofinance has built strong development partnerships with clients and regional universities to deliver quality solutions. Its software is currently installed in listed companies and is used in treasury centers on four continents. Serving corporates since 1984, the company is now headquartered in Graz, Austria.

“We are excited to become part of Reval to support the needs of the evolving global corporate treasury community,” says ecofinance Managing Director Dr. Karlheinz Schlögl. “With our combined resources we will continue to deliver the best solutions in treasury and risk management and remain 100 percent client focused on a 24/7 basis.”

With the acquisition, Reval now has approximately 275 employees globally, supporting over 500 companies and financial institutions. ecofinance will continue to do business as “ecofinance – A Reval Company” and will operate from its headquarters in Graz, Austria.

Madison Park Group served as financial advisor to Reval in this transaction. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Given the risks inherent in early stage investment, a quality management team is essential to attracting investors. Every position is vital to the success of the company. A management team that understands what must be done to make the company successful is the primary factor in all parties achieving their goals.

Elliot Katzman has had the opportunity to work with high performance management teams from all sides of the desk: as a hired executive in four startup companies, a founder in another, and as a venture capitalist. For the past twelve years, Elliot has worked predominantly with first time CEOs. He will share the management team characteristics that attract outside investment from his unique perspective.

For more information or to register, please visit http://128icg.org/events.htm

Where:

IBM Innovation Center –Waltham
404 Wyman Street
Waltham, MA 02451-1280

When:

Thursday, November 11, 2010 from 7:30 AM - 10 AM. The doors open at 7:15 AM for registration, continental breakfast and informal networking.

VISIBLE has developed a family of shot counter tags for a variety of weapons. These tags include highly secure two way wireless RuBee data links, as well as custom sensors and high gain, dynamic amplification CMOS technology. The tags are based on several custom integrated circuits designed by VISIBLE. These unique chip designs help reduce power consumption so the tags have a minimum five year battery life to a maximum fifteen year battery life in normal field use, with conventional coin size Li batteries. Long battery life wireless tags make it possible to permanently seal tags into a MIL-STD-810G rugged package. The advanced state machine CPU contained in the tags is capable of providing complex real-time signal processing, waveform analysis, round interval statistics, and a programmable predictor of barrel wear based on barrel temperature histograms. Independent tests of the VISIBLE shot counter have consistently shown a 99% or better accuracy in basic shot counting mode.

John K. Stevens, CEO of Visible Assets, Inc. said “This award represents an important milestone for our company. We have made a major investment in this technology and have worked hard over last several years to meet the high standards set by the US military for a combat based weapon shot counter. We are excited to have the opportunity to work with the experts at Crane as a result of the award. This award will help optimize our current weapon shot counting tag with many additional battlefield features so we can improve safety, reliability and performance of mission critical weapons used by our troops.”

The same shot counting tags also support full weapon visibility networks within any armory. Armory 20/20™, the VISIBLE automated armory system, provides real-time secure, fully automated weapons inventory, weapons issuance checkin/out with full exit/entry management and weapons pedigree. RuBee armory networks provide high security with no significant eavesdropping, tempest, or target risk. RuBee is the only wireless technology that has been approved for use in secure areas within the US. VISIBLE offers a number of automated armory visibility products and systems (www.rubee.com/Armory), including Smart Storage Racks, GateGuard™ DoorGuard™ and Oracle based software application modules to manage multiple site armories. Armory 20/20 RuBee wireless networks have been installed and are in routine us in many US armories for over two years.

For further information on RuBee and Visible Assets, visit www.rubee.com

The Echo Nest's music intelligence platform, created by two MIT Media Lab PhDs, powers smarter music applications for a wide range of stakeholders in digital music – from independent application developers to the largest media companies in the world. These stakeholders all face a huge data problem: understanding music content (10 million songs online, 3,000 new songs and 15,000 music reviews added online daily) and understanding music consumers (700,000 unique users accessing music online every minute). (1)

The Echo Nest's machine learning platform actually reads about music and listens to music everywhere on the web, delivering an unprecedented understanding of music content and consumers. The company's suite of APIs and developer tools enable a wide array of smarter music applications, including music discovery, interactive music games, remix apps and analytics-driven music marketing applications.

"With its music intelligence platform, The Echo Nest has developed a remarkably novel and unique algorithm-based technology to enable new music discovery and consumption experiences in a world that is filled with manual one-off approximations," said Antonio Rodriguez, general partner at Matrix Partners and Echo Nest board member. "What is more, The Echo Nest enables developers to leverage this work for a wide range of new mobile and social experiences."

"We are very pleased with the strong progress The Echo Nest has made with its product and market development since our initial investment," said Elliot Katzman, General Partner at Commonwealth Capital Ventures. "We are excited to work with Antonio and Matrix, together with the company's management, to build a significant business."

"Data drives the online music economy," said Jim Lucchese, CEO of The Echo Nest. "With the strategic and financial support of Matrix and Commonwealth, The Echo Nest is in a great position to secure our position as the data engine for the music app economy."

(1) Source: Akamai Net Usage Index

“Given our highly focused coverage and informed readership, presenting content that is contextually accurate to users is primary to our publishing goals,” said David Warren, Director of Product Management at Pennwell. “RAMP’s Content Optimization solutions enable us to automate a large part of our publishing process and deliver the right content to the right user at the right time.”

RAMP will enable Pennwell to optimize its content through integration with Pennwell’s publishing platform across its five industry verticals that represent the publisher’s more than 75 print and online magazines and newsletters.

As a result of this integration, Pennwell’s website content will become highly searchable across all media types. Topic pages utilizing universal content – video, audio, text and images – will be created in response to users’ search and browsing behavior, and allow thousands of relevant pages to be published dynamically on these sites.

“Pennwell’s publications represent the unique requirements that separate RAMP from others in optimizing search and engagement experiences delivered within dynamic publishing workflows,” said Tom Wilde, CEO of RAMP. “Delivering highly industry-specific content to professional readers across such a large publishing platform has been possible because of our core platform and also new products that were introduced in 2010 for dynamically creating metadata driven publishing applications.”

The report cites that SoundBite is both highly recognized and highly regarded by clients as a provider of hosted proactive customer communications. The company achieved industry-leading results in both end-user sentiment scores and in technological assessment scores, including strategy, features and functionality, data integration, and reliability and scalability.

“SoundBite often sent out as many proactive communications in a day as (its) competitors did in a year,” wrote Ryan Joe, associate analyst at Ovum and the report’s lead author. “Client survey participants had the option of commenting on each vendor, and many were effusive when discussing SoundBite’s solution.”

Ovum’s Decision Matrix Report explores the competitive dynamics within the industry and helps enterprises searching for proactive communications and vendors looking for partners select a provider based on technological strength, client reputation and impact in the market. Ovum provides a view of vendor capabilities and advises on those that should be explored, considered and shortlisted. Only one other company was listed on the shortlist with SoundBite in this report.

“We’re honored to receive Ovum’s recognition. SoundBite’s passion for excellence and innovation contributes to our position as the market leader in product strategy, functionality, quality, scalability and security,” said Mark Friedman, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer, SoundBite Communications. “Add our deep commitment for a client-centric and collaborative approach, and the outcome is clear leadership in the only metric that matters: SoundBite is #1 in client sentiment.”

Proactive customer communications help business-to-consumer companies foster trusted, lifelong and profitable relationships with their customers. Notably, consumers’ increased use of mobile devices, coupled with their increasing interest in communicating over multiple channels, present an opportunity for organizations to build customer loyalty while streamlining contact center operations. Through the SoundBite Engage™ platform and complementary solutions and services, SoundBite helps companies take full advantage of voice, text, and email channels to optimize their communications across the entire customer lifecycle — from marketing to customer care to payments, collections and fraud management.

A complimentary version of the report is available for download at www.SoundBite.com

"Business has changed. The social web, cloud delivery models, and an increased use of mobile in the enterprise are all impacting businesses and the enterprise application software needed to facilitate business change," said Michael Fauscette, group vice president, Software Business Solutions. "Contributing to much needed innovation in enterprise software is a group of small companies with the vision and technology to help businesses deal more effectively with the new business environment."

To identify the 2010 Innovative Application Companies Under $100M to Watch, IDC solicited entries from applications vendors with annual revenues of less than $100 million who exemplified one or more of three key trends in applications today. These trends were:

• Social Business Solutions: Enterprise social solutions that support the transformation to a social business. Solutions could be social platforms that enable communities, blogs, microblogs, wiki's or other social collaboration and business functions, socialytic software platforms and applications, or other innovative social business software tools. 

• Enterprise Application Vendors Go-to-Market Strategies: Enterprise software application companies with innovative go to market strategies and/or unique business models including unique channel partner models, cloudsourcing models, and software within a service offerings.

• Mobile Enterprise Applications: Mobile is the new enterprise desktop for many employees. With touch UI's, WiFi capabilities, and mobile applications, smart phones are rapidly gaining market share. A new class of mobile enterprise software applications and platforms are emerging to take advantage of the new mobile hardware platforms and provide access to enterprise systems and processes beyond email.

Companies were judged on these criteria as a measure of their driving innovation in applications software. The companies selected in the applications category are (in alphabetical order):

• Antenna Software
• Appirio
• CloudShare
• CyberShift
• INgage Networks
• InsideView
• Lithium Technologies
• Mobisoft Corporation
• Private Social Networks
• Zuora

Click here for the full press release.

ByAllAccounts will use the funding to build on its momentum among registered investment advisors and fuel growth with asset managers, wealth management firms, broker dealers and compliance monitoring firms. ByAllAccounts is the only company dedicated to financial account aggregation for professional use. Its patented technology retrieves financial information from any custodian to deliver the most reliable, accurate, reconciliation-ready financial account data available. ByAllAccounts' data services are currently integrated with more than three dozen wealth management platforms -- portfolio management systems, CRM, reconciliation, personal trading surveillance, trust accounting and other platforms.

"We've witnessed growth in advisor demand for intelligently automating the exchange of financial account data to increase assets under advisement," said James Carney, president and CEO of ByAllAccounts. "Account aggregation technology has become an indispensible part of the typical advisory firm's workflow. This funding will support our effort to continue our rapid expansion into thousands of firms that can benefit from rapidly, cost-effectively and efficiently putting comprehensive account information on professionals' desktops."

ByAllAccounts expanded its customer base more than 40 percent in 2009. It services more than 600 advisory firms and thousands of advisors through its subscription delivery model. With services focused purely on advisors' need for data that is more consistent and complete than what other services can provide, the company has become the standard for financial account data aggregation.

"Today, more and more investment management professionals recognize the benefits that account aggregation offers, both for themselves and for their clients," stated Besthoff, general partner, Castile Ventures. "ByAllAccounts has established itself as a clear leader in the field, and the team has demonstrated the experience and passion to keep the company at the forefront of this rapidly growing market."

"We are delighted with the tremendous progress the ByAllAccounts team has made since our initial investment," said Justin Perreault, general partner at Commonwealth Capital Ventures. "We look forward to working with ByAllAccounts as they continue to capitalize on the leadership position they have established in the rapidly-growing data aggregation market."

Coming off of a record-breaking first half of 2010, this latest round of funding positions Vela to expand and address rapidly-growing customer demand. Vela will use a portion of the investment to help support and expand the Autodesk partnership especially as it relates to bringing Building Information Models (BIM) to the point-of-construction.

“A year ago we announced our collaboration with Vela Systems to integrate Vela Systems’ construction field management software with Autodesk Navisworks Manage,” said Jim Lynch, vice president, BIM Product Group, Autodesk AEC Solutions. “Today’s investment announcement marks the next significant step in our growing relationship aimed at helping general contractors, construction managers and design-build firms streamline the BIM process from design through construction and into handover.”

Founded in 2005, Vela Systems provides Field Management software for construction. Vela combines mobile technologies at the point of construction with reporting for management, eliminating the need to carry pads of paper and tubes of drawings on the jobsite. Field teams work with Vela software on mobile devices like the iPad and Tablet-PCs to access construction documents and to complete QA/QC inspections, worklists, punchlists, commissioning, update the BIM model, and more. Home office teams and management use Vela software via the internet to oversee Quality and Safety programs, coordinate among trades, and connect field information to BIM models for handover and facility management.

“Our current investors showed their continued support for Vela, and this strategic investment from Autodesk indicates its strong commitment to our company, product and strategy,” said Vela Systems CEO Tim Curran. “We are looking forward to building on our partnership with Autodesk to further enhance both companies’ product offerings and distribution."

Vela Systems’ mobile construction field management software suite is fully integrated with Autodesk Navisworks Manage software, which enables design and construction professionals to unite project contributions into a synchronized model for whole-project review, simulation and analysis. This technology integration extends the BIM process to the job site by making it possible for Navisworks Manage models to reflect field-gathered data within the design.

”We are very excited about the progress Vela has made capturing important information at the point-of-construction,” said Elliot Katzman, General Partner at Commonwealth Capital Ventures. “In addition, we believe Vela’s partnership with Autodesk will be even further strengthened as the result of this investment.”

"Vela Systems has had great success attracting marquee customers, partners and strategic investors,” said GrandBanks Capital General Partner Ryan Moore. “We are impressed with Vela’s excellent track record and are happy to provide continued support." 

“Check Point and Crossbeam have raised the stakes at the high end of the security market,” said Jon Crotty, senior research analyst for Security Products & Services, IDC. “The two companies have enjoyed significant success over the years in large-enterprise and service-provider environments. But now that they are going to market together in a structured way, they will become a far more formidable force than they were as separate best-of-breed vendors.”

The combination of Check Point’s market-leading firewall solution running on the X-Series has been documented to deliver the performance levels required in real-world, heavy-traffic environments to meet the needs of mobile operators and high-performance enterprises. The expanded partnership ensures a single vendor for companies, addressing the cost and complexity of deploying security in high-performance environments.

“Check Point and Crossbeam have long delivered security solutions to the very large-scale businesses of the world,” said Amnon Bar-Lev, vice president of global field operations at Check Point. “This agreement is a natural evolution in our relationship, and it will enable us to better serve customers and expand the market opportunities for both companies.”

Customers can now purchase integrated solutions from Check Point, complete with maintenance and support delivered by Check Point’s award-winning global service organization. Check Point will provide support for both its software products and Crossbeam’s X-Series platform. This simplifies the ordering process and promotes closer product, sales and technical collaboration between Crossbeam and Check Point to support customer needs.

“This agreement significantly improves the position of both companies at the high end of the market,” said Jim Vedda, vice president of worldwide sales at Crossbeam. “Through a deeper level of collaboration with Crossbeam, Check Point has strengthened its ability to deliver complete security solutions to customers in the most demanding network environments. And, with Check Point’s support and strong global channel behind Crossbeam, we expect to significantly expand our market footprint.”

Crossbeam’s X-Series platform virtualizes the delivery of best-in-class security applications. It delivers high-performance, low-latency security at the industry’s lowest total cost to operate—up to 70 percent lower than competitors—and provides the scalability, adaptability and built-in redundancy to reliably manage traffic as security and network demands change.

As a result of this expanded agreement, the FSIM web sites will integrate the enhanced user experiences that RAMP’s Content Optimization delivers, including improved search engine discovery, dynamic topic pages adapted to users’ search and browsing behavior, and granular transcript based navigation within audio and video files. All such usability is provided within RAMP’s universal publishing approach with audio, video, text and images integrated towards a complete end-user experience.

“Competing on the Web today requires that content be searched and discovered easily across the major search engines and social networks, and also on publisher and partner sites,” said Matt Calos, Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer for FSIM. “RAMP’s Content Optimization solutions have enabled us to address these challenges at scale, allowing us to focus on creating great content and improving the overall experience for our users.”

With RAMP’s award-winning platform, FSIM is able to deliver search and engagement experiences across all types of content – audio, video, images and text, including:

• Comprehensive site search, including access to 100% of the text, image, audio, and video content across the sites, indexed in real time as new content is published;
• Time stamped video search, allowing users to locate and “jump-to” the precise point in videos where relevant search terms are mentioned;
• Universal topic index pages, allowing users to follow topics of interest such as teams, players, tournaments and more;
• Automated cross-site linking, promoting topics to users contextually within articles, as well as maximizing search engine optimization efforts.

“We are thrilled to be expanding our relationship with FOX Sports Interactive Media,” said Tom Wilde, RAMP CEO. “Sports is a highly competitive vertical on the Web, and RAMP enables FOX Sports Interactive Media to deliver the best possible user experience and ensure its high quality content can be easily found and consumed.”

CloudSwitch delivers the enterprise gateway to the cloud. CloudSwitch’s innovative software appliance enables enterprises to run their existing applications in the right cloud computing environment—securely, simply and without changes. With CloudSwitch, applications remain tightly integrated with enterprise data center tools and policies, and can be moved easily between different cloud environments and back into the data center based on the requirements of the business. Backed by Matrix Partners, Atlas Ventures and Commonwealth Capital Ventures, CloudSwitch is based in Burlington, MA and is led by seasoned entrepreneurs from BMC, EMC, Netezza, RSA, SolidWorks and Sun Microsystems. For more information about CloudSwitch, please visit www.cloudswitch.com.

Commenting on their win, CloudSwitch co-founder Ellen Rubin said, “We are delighted to be named as winners of the Cloud Security Challenge. Following the successful launch of the commercial version of our CloudSwitch Enterprise software, we’re working closely with enterprise customers and partners to make the cloud a secure extension of the data center.”

Commenting on the competition, Richard Wilson Director of the GSC added, “I applaud all the entrants in the Cloud Security Challenge. The standard and sheer number of entries was overwhelming and made judging this growing sector very hard. After long deliberation the judges were unanimous in their verdict however and CloudSwitch were the worthy winners.”

CloudSwitch will be presented their trophy at the GSC Summit in London later this year where the 5th Annual Global Security Challenge will take place.

More than 75 music applications have been built over the course of the last year using music recommendation, remixing and playlisting tools from the Echo Nest developer platform. The company is now adding licensed music to its range of services through a deal with Dada Entertainment’s Play.ME service. 

The partnership basically allows developers to access the Play.ME catalog when creating apps using the Echo Nest’s technology. Previously, developers would have to separately seek out music licenses after building their apps, the complexity of which Echo Nest CEO Jim Lucchese says results in many useful apps never seeing the light of day.

“The power of third-party developer communities have been locked out of music largely because of the rights issues,” he says. “They don’t know what mechanical rights are. They don’t want to know. They just want to build a great music app and put it in front of the world. We’re now giving developers access to licensed content and an ability to make money on these apps.”

Click here to read the full article.

“Marketing budgets need to be set in advance for a $25,000 video production, but a Brainshark can take literally a few minutes and little or no cost with JAZD and myBrainshark,” said Viki Zabala, Vice President of Marketing, JAZD Markets.

MaaS, Marketing as a Service, was coined by Jamie Bedard as a concept to provide B2B companies with a turnkey offering of marketing services engaging buyers and sellers. As a MaaS partner, Brainshark’s capabilities will allow businesspeople to combine their own voice with slides, images, video, documents and more to create highly visual, interactive content. “Our partnership with Brainshark empowers B2B companies with a powerful video medium to showcase product and company overviews, case studies, testimonials, tips and tricks, interviews and more,” said Jamie Bedard, Founder and CEO at JAZD.

JAZD will offer the myBrainshark service to all marketplace customers to further product demand generation and additional creation services to those who are in need of a hands-off approach. “Together we can help save on marketers’ most precious resources – time and money. In fact, about 88% of B2B companies do not have online videos, yet it is one of the most preferred ways buyers consume information during the product discovery phase of selecting a B2B solution,” said Bedard.

“JAZD gives our users – especially our large contingent of sales and marketing professionals and entrepreneurs – a distribution platform for thousands of B2B product oriented videos,” said Andy Zimmerman, VP & GM of myBrainshark.com at Brainshark, Inc. “We’re pleased to be working with JAZD as part of their valuable network of resources for B2B marketers.”

“I’ve saved a ton of time scheduling meetings since discovering Tungle.me,” said Scott Stratten, President of Un-Marketing and opening keynote speaker at BlogWorld 2010. “I’m psyched that I can add the Tungle.me plug in and publish my availability directly through my site, and accept or reject meeting requests without a time-wasting email exchange.”

WordPress and TypePad users with a Tungle.me account can now add the Tungle.me widget to their blogs. The widget embeds a mini Tungle.me page into the user’s blog or website, allowing visitors to click-to-expand and see availability, suggest times to meet, and send a meeting request—without leaving the site.

“With over 350,000 posts daily and 250 million plus blog visitors monthly; corporate and personal blogs are at the heart of business communication,” stated Marc Gingras, CEO and founder of Tungle. “The Tungle.me widget closes the asynchronous communication gap between bloggers and their audience to make meetings happen. Now bloggers can share their availability and book meetings, right alongside their Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social widgets.”

As part of its initiative to support bloggers, Tungle has formed a partnership with BlogWorld. Through this partnership, conference attendees, speakers and exhibitors can select a personalized Tungle.me URL upon registration for the event. They can then customize their Tungle.me page and synchronize it with online calendars. Attendees can also choose to be added to the BlogWorld group in the Tungle.me directory, making it easier for them to schedule meetings with other attendees.

“At BlogWorld, it is as much about who you meet and the connections you make as it is about the content,” said Rick Calvert, CEO at BlogWorld & New Media Expo. “By partnering with Tungle, we are able to offer our attendees better service, enabling them to easily schedule meetings with each other onsite, as well as before and after the show.”

Global customers of the combined company will benefit from access to Kadient and Sant’s robust sales enablement platform that arms sales professionals to:

• Access situation-specific coaching, content, and tools proven to close deals, using CRM-based sales playbooks
• Quickly and easily locate, personalize, and deliver their company’s best sales and marketing content
• Automate the creation of client-focused proposals, RFP responses, and presentations
• Leverage analytics to uncover unique and actionable insights from content usage, sales activities, and deal status

Sant’s president, Lewis Miller, will serve as president and CEO of the combined company. “This powerful combination of Sant and Kadient allows us to deliver the broadest set of sales enablement solutions in the marketplace,” said Miller. “This merger transforms the Sales Enablement industry, combining best-in-class document automation with situation-specific sales playbooks and analytics.”

Kadient’s CEO, Brian Zanghi, will join the Board of Directors of the combined company. “Today is a great day for customers of Sant and Kadient,” said Zanghi, “Given the alignment of our visions, technologies, and overall strategies, the combination of our two companies will provide customers with a powerful platform that supports every point of their sales cycle, as well as a greater depth of expertise in sales enablement.”

"Sales enablement has risen to the forefront as a critical lever in driving sales productivity," said Joe Galvin of SiriusDecisions, a business-to-business sales and marketing analyst firm. "The combined experience, expertise and resources of Sant and Kadient will result in a potent suite of best practice capabilities that will satisfy the diverse needs of today’s business-to-business sales professionals."

Kadient and Sant will operate under their existing names until a rebranding project is completed later this year. For additional information on the merger, visit www.sant-kadient.com.

The 2010 SD Times 100 is awarded to leaders and innovators in the software development industry that set industry agenda and advance the software development art. "The software development industry is led by innovative companies like AccuRev," said Alan Zeichick, Editorial Director of BZ Media's SD Times. "When choosing the 2010 SD Times 100, we carefully considered each organization's products and services, reputation with software development managers, and the new ideas and thought leadership that it has brought to the industry. Thanks to companies like AccuRev, named to this year’s list, the art and science of software development continues to advance at a rapid pace."

As a SD Times 100 multi-year award winner, AccuRev has expanded its leadership position in software development and SCM. AccuRev is continually finding new and innovative ways to educate the software development community on Agile and SCM best practices and challenges. AccuRev also works closely with industry leaders, analysts and its customers to improve and evolve software configuration management solutions.

Highlights of AccuRev innovation over the last year include:

- Partnering with technology leaders such as Rally Software, AnthillPro, Hewlett Packard, and top Agile consulting organization BigVisible.
- Headlining a national “Agile Comes to You” seminar tour focused on educating developers and CTO’s on how tools can help optimize Agile software processes.
- Launching AgileCycle, a best-of-breed tools suite developed to increase project speed, quality and value while supporting multiple development methodologies.
- Evangelizing Agile methods with Damon Poole, AccuRev CTO, as featured speaker at Agile 2009, Agile 2010, Agile Open Boston, Agile and Beyond, Boston Software Process Improvement Network, Agile Bazaar, eSDc (Enterprise Software Development Conference) and other Agile and software development conferences and events.

“AccuRev is proud to be recognized by the 2010 SD Times 100 as a leader in SCM and in software development” said Lorne Cooper, CEO of AccuRev. “AccuRev is always improving and engaging with the software development community, and is constantly looking for new ways to raise the bar of SCM innovation.”

In addition to providing a world-class alpha-capture platform, First Coverage offers filtered mainstream news, blogs, research and other communications based on the individual interests of buy-side users. The First Coverage Market Sentiment Index, a proprietary indicator derived from actionable sell-side trade ideas sent by the sell-side to their buy-side clients over the First Coverage platform, is syndicated in Barron’s weekly and available live on Bloomberg terminals.

In 2009, data flowing through First Coverage more than doubled, following a year when content grew by more than 400 percent. Last fall, the firm announced its strategic alliance with Integrity Research Associates, LLC, an information and solutions provider specializing in the investment research industry.

ByAllAccounts is a recognised leader in account aggregation to buy-side firms, with more than $170 billion in assets flowing through its aggregation engine daily. Traditional solutions for aggregating data for reconciliation are time consuming and costly, requiring significant and ongoing investment in people and infrastructure. ByAllAccounts’ patented technology delivers standardized data from thousands of sources and bridges the gap between the online account information available to investment managers and the accurate, consolidated, reconciliation-ready data they need.

Dayle Scher, Research Director, Securities & Investments at TowerGroup, commented, “Mid tier and smaller buy-side firms struggle with improving efficiency in reconciliation operations due to the number of external sources housing portfolio and account data. Improvements in data aggregation can drive down costs as well as support operational controls provided by reconciliation applications.”

The partnership will deliver a turnkey data and reconciliation solution to help buy-side firms, custodians, wealth managers and private banks build stronger operational controls in a more cost effective manner. The combined, ready-to-use solution will be available through TLM OnDemand, SmartStream’s Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery model, providing a lower Total Cost of Ownership and rapid deployment to buy-side firms. For those firms with on premise reconciliations, ByAllAccounts will also be available as an integrated service within SmartStream’s TLM Reconciliations solution.

Philippe Chambadal, CEO, SmartStream Technologies, said, “This is a significant announcement for SmartStream, our clients, and the market in general. The old approach of manual processes and multiple feeds into reconciliation solutions acts as a significant barrier to transaction processing automation, increasing both operational risk and cost. In today’s market and regulatory conditions, asset managers, wealth management firms, private banks and hedge funds are looking for a combined data and reconciliation solution to help them build strong operational controls and do so in a more cost effective manner. That is precisely what the ByAllAccounts and SmartStream partnership provides, combining two leaders in their respective fields to offer a single solution that drives down transaction processing costs and delivers new levels of operational efficiency.”

James Carney, President and CEO of ByAllAccounts, commented: “A recent survey by Thompson Reuters and Lepus Research revealed that 77 percent of participants from buy-side and sell-side firms intend to increase spending on projects that address data quality and consistency issues. Our joint solution gives investment managers a proven way to address those issues today, positioning our offering - and the firms who use it - for immediate success in this market.”

Since the company launched in May 2008, expressor’s unique semantic metadata approach to data integration has proven a competitive differentiator in the Global 2000 and small-to-medium size business (SMB) markets. The company’s current customers include leading healthcare, telecommunications, financial services and database marketing organizations such as American Tower, Integrated DNA Technologies, Moffitt Cancer Center, Sybron Dental Specialties and Viverae. expressor software was named a “Cool Vendor in Data Management and Integration” by Gartner in 2009: “Semantic integration techniques are enabling greater efficiency and reusability for services deployed for data migration, synchronization and access. They are also improving the management of business rules in data warehouses,” said Mark A. Beyer, co-author and vice president, Gartner.”

In addition to funding ongoing operations, expressor will use its new financing to advance four strategic initiatives:

• extending its sales and marketing reach into mid-market accounts, with a focus on healthcare informatics, 
• completing the development of expressor 3.0, designed to deliver game-changing usability by the end of 2010,
• building out a vibrant and growing developer and business user community, and
• continuing to grow its global partner network required to support the company’s low-touch business model.

Click here to read the full release.

As part of the funding, Stephen McCormack, a general partner with Commonwealth Capital Ventures, will join David Aronoff, a general partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, and Hemant Taneja, a general partner at General Catalyst Partners, on the company’s Board of Directors.

Sand 9 is dedicated to the design of components that will dramatically improve the performance and increase the capabilities of electronic devices. The company is introducing a disruptive MEMS technology, the Temperature Compensated MEMS Oscillator (TCMOTM), to replace quartz crystal frequency sources in high performance applications such as 3G cellular, GPS and other communications. The company’s proprietary technology offers significant improvement over existing solutions and aims to dramatically impact the wireless components market.

“Steve had been tracking the company closely for a long time and was very impressed with our progress. His proposal to lead a series B round was compelling because we knew the investment would allow us to better meet the huge initial customer demand we expect once we launch,” said Sand 9 CEO Vince Graziani. “We are thrilled to welcome Steve and the Commonwealth Capital Ventures team to our investor family and look forward to working with them as we bring our game-changing technology to market later in the year.”

”Commonwealth has been following Sand 9 closely for over two years. Over this time we have become more and more excited about the company’s top-notch team, its disruptive and defensible proprietary technology, and its large market opportunity,” said Commonwealth General Partner Steve McCormack. “We look forward to working with the management team and our strong investment partners to continue to build a market-leading company.”

About Sand 9 Founded in 2007, Sand 9 is based in Cambridge, Mass. with a design center in Chandler, AZ. The company is a venture funded startup, dedicated to the design of components that will dramatically increase the capabilities of electronic devices. Sand 9’s investors include Commonwealth Capital Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners, General Catalyst, and Khosla Ventures. For more information, visit www.sand9.com

“Alex has been working with entrepreneurs and as an entrepreneur for a number of years. He has successfully developed many businesses, often from scratch, so he will immediately become a valuable member of the investment team at Commonwealth,” said Michael Fitzgerald, a founder and managing general partner at Commonwealth Capital Ventures. “We have backed him twice and won each time. He knows what it takes to build companies from the early stages, and we're delighted that he'll be using this expertise to develop opportunities for the Commonwealth investment team.”

Laats comes to Commonwealth from BBN Technologies, a Commonwealth-funded company that was purchased by Raytheon in 2009. Most recently, Alex was president of BBN's Delta division, where he led the creation of the division, successfully turning the intellectual property and technical know-how of the R&D organization into a source of revenue and profit for the company. Laats led the growth of BBN’s Boomerang and AVOKE businesses, and co-founded RAMP, a BBN spin-out. In addition to the organic growth, he conceived and led the acquisition of Digital Force Technologies, bolstering BBN's position in the critical and growing special forces market.

Prior to joining BBN, Alex was a Venture Partner at Commonwealth, where he specialized in the areas of enterprise information technology and communications infrastructure. Previous to that position, Alex was president, CEO and co-founder of Informio, Inc., a provider of VoiceXML services for large enterprises. Prior to founding Informio, Alex was the chairman, COO and co-founder of NBX Corporation, a Commonwealth-backed manufacturer of VoIP-based business communications systems. NBX Corporation was successfully acquired by 3Com Corporation.

Previous to NBX, Alex was a technology licensing officer at MIT, where he was involved with multiple start-up businesses based on MIT technology. Alex started his career working with the entrepreneurial community as a corporate attorney at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault in Boston. Alex has a J.D. from Harvard and physics and math degrees from MIT.

Through the acquisition, Antenna will significantly accelerate its ability to offer consumer-facing enterprise applications, with zero product integration required. Because the companies’ respective mobile platforms offer fully complementary technologies, Antenna and its new subsidiary will continue growing global business with absolutely no interruptions to customers or partners.

Antenna will set a new standard for delivering enterprise-class mobility that fully embraces the power of User Interface (UI)-rich mobile applications on any device. Enterprises will be able to empower the entire top-to-bottom workforce with highly functional role-based mobile applications, and engage enterprise consumers to interact with their brands to deliver new avenues of strategic top-line revenue growth. Antenna is now fully positioned as the only global mobile technology vendor that provides consumer-friendly enterprise application usability and enterprise-class functionality on any mobile device – today.

Founded in 2000 and born out of MIT, Vaultus is based in Boston and will maintain its location after the acquisition. The company brings to Antenna a broad range of Global 2000 customers that include, among many others, E*TRADE Financial, Merrill Lynch, Wachovia, ING, State Street, Prudential, and Genzyme. Vaultus’ customer portfolio expands Antenna’s already large base of more than 200 enterprise customers, and strategically aligns Antenna with the financial services and retail vertical markets, both of which are driving major growth in mobile use.

“CIOs and CMOs are now clear in their mandate to engage consumers through innovative new mobile applications,” said Gene Signorini, vice president of Yankee Group’s Anywhere Enterprise research group. “At the same time enterprise employees are now demanding that mobile applications for business deliver the same types of UI-rich experiences that they are accustomed to getting from their personal life. With the acquisition of Vaultus, Antenna has positioned itself to tap directly into these mobile market dynamics and to provide leadership on how organizations can get this new level of enterprise mobility done.”

Vaultus’ financial services customers have deployed mobile applications to millions of users, resulting in significant revenue growth. Their real-time consumer-facing applications deliver new ways to create affinity and customer loyalty, and create limitless up-sell opportunities. Likewise, Antenna’s state-of-the-art AMP 3.0 mobile platform delivers the same types of UI-rich applications for enterprises to deploy to their workforces, partners, and business customers for greater competitive advantage.

“Mobile’s time has clearly arrived,” said Jim Hemmer, president and CEO of Antenna Software. “The addition of Vaultus’ team and technology to the Antenna family brings together all of the necessary elements that enterprises require to drive mobility to their workforces and to millions of their consumers as well.”

David Birnbach, Vaultus’ former CEO, said, “With Antenna’s strong financial and market position behind us, we will now be able to remain laser-focused on delivering sophisticated mobile solutions. We are excited to co-innovate as part of the Antenna team and to help drive success for the combined company going forward.”

Added Hemmer, “With Vaultus and our AMP platform, Antenna is now uniquely positioned as the only independent global-scale mobile company to lead on enterprise- and consumer-facing mobility, and to serve as the trusted strategic enterprise mobility partner to the Global 2000.”

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

For more information about the acquisition and Antenna Software, please visit www.antennasoftware.com/vaultus.aspx.

"Diane's proven track record of successfully growing and sustaining key client and partner relationships as well as driving market growth will be instrumental as we continue to offer our innovative solutions and consultative services to organizations around the world," said Jim Milton, president and CEO of SoundBite Communications. "This demonstrated success, coupled with her vast industry experience defining and executing a global sales strategy, will be instrumental in building demand for our proactive customer communications solutions."

"I'm excited to join SoundBite and believe there is tremendous opportunity for us to continue to expand our market leadership," said Albano. "Through our sales and client management organization we will deliver incremental value through proactive customer communications solutions which help our clients solve business challenges and address new market opportunities." 

Albano joins SoundBite with more than 25 years of experience in enterprise sales and services to global organizations, including leading financial institutions and telecommunications providers. Albano began her career working for technology giants Burroughs and Xerox, after which she joined Digital Equipment Corporation. While there, she served in various sales management, global account management, and executive leadership positions. After Digital, Albano managed Genuity's 900-person sales and marketing organization and grew enterprise sales to $1.1 billion. She also has held senior-level sales roles at Aspen Technology, FAST (acquired by Microsoft), Honeywell Corporation, Progress Software, Thomson NETG, and Workscape. 

Albano earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Massachusetts. She also attended the Executive Management program at Harvard Business School.