Philly Enterprise Tech News

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noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Fri, 12 Jul 2019 17:41:00 +0000

You can see new posts at the WordPress site, PhillyEnterpriseTech

Or visit the archives, some of which is quite recent, here.

Veeva Soars on Earnings Release

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 04:33:00 +0000

California-based Veeva Systems (NYSE: VEEV), the Life Sciences Cloud company with east coast operations based in Radnor, announced 1st quarter 2020 results on May 29 . it was a blowout quarter in which revenue reached a billion dollar annual run rate at $245 million, up 25% year over year. First quarter operating income was $71.2 million, compared to $44.0 million one year ago, an increase of 62% year-over-year. Net Income grew 66% year-over-year.

Veeva also has offices in Fort Washington and Princeton.

Veeva highlighted the continued success of ongoing product development, including the release of Veeva Andi, an AI application that delivers
insights and suggestions from within Veeva CRM, and the adoption of its relatively new Veeva Vault CDMS offering by a Top Twenty Pharma. Also, Veeva recently introduced Veeva Claims, for non-pharma clients to help them with end-to-end claims management.

Veeva raised its revenue guidance for FY2020 to revenues between $1,045 and $1,050 million, a $20 million upward adjustment. Its shares broke through to a new high after the earnings release and now trade at $162.20, giving Veeva a market value of just under $24 billion, and a remarkable price to sales (not price to earnings) ratio of 24.

The intense pressure resulting from being a "momentum stock" now plagues Veeva, a nice problem to have. Investor expectations become more and more demanding, and even a slight negative surprise could cause a dramatic decline in the share price.

Philly EnterpriseTech Highlights Week of June 3

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Sat, 08 Jun 2019 23:36:00 +0000

Dish open to merging satellite TV business with AT&T's DirecTV: report | Article [AMP] | Reuters https://t.co/D9ZiMDvn96
— June 8, 2019

Worth the read: John Stankey's challenge: Making AT&T's $100 billion bet on Time Warner pay off https://t.co/J2sDnl7bjV
— June 8, 2019

IBM is laying off about 2,000 employees this week https://t.co/UO3JYyMus2
— Bloomberg (@business) June 7, 2019

I remember pitching a potential https://t.co/ogftriK0eG partnership to B&N senior execs in 2000 - it didn't go well. "We'll sell a used book on the same page as a new book over my dead body." https://t.co/UGmlCk62OC
— Chris Fralic (@chrisfralic) June 7, 2019

First Round Capital was an early investor https://t.co/TpGWRr4NmR
— June 6, 2019

Forrester's Evelson called the acquisition "a big deal." "We've been wondering how long it's going to take before Google enters the enterprise business intelligence-analytics space to compete with AWS, IBM, Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, SAS, Tableau & Qlik,"https://t.co/xThv0LDzSY
— June 7, 2019

Former GSK facility in Upper Merion becomes world's largest co-working space https://t.co/6CyUrupDZ3 via @thephillyvoice
— June 7, 2019

Comcast, Independence Blue Cross' joint venture wants to support patients through their TVs https://t.co/6IzFJJu65q via @MobiHealthNews
— June 7, 2019

Comcast fined $9.1M for consumer protection violations in high-profile Washington state case https://t.co/c2ozixr2eu via @GeekWire
— June 7, 2019

Comcast doesn't care for unions - though that may not matter at this point https://t.co/x7wIr8gJ7N
— June 8, 2019

Barclays bringing 500 jobs to Whippany campus from Delaware https://t.co/oQVXARoxKB #philly #feedly
— June 6, 2019

Zoom trading at 40x revenue

Companies that never traded at even 30x revenue

Amazon
Google
Apple
Microsoft
Priceline
Salesforce
Facebook
— Sean D. Emory (@_SeanDavid) June 6, 2019

SAP and Elliott - 12 open questions and 4 action plan items https://t.co/FeZHZN9eIy
— June 6, 2019

The race to become a trillion dollar company.
via @WSJ @larrykim #Innovation #EmergingTech #Strategy #smm #FF: @StephaneNappo @Patrick_Henz @evankirstel @kashthefuturist @SpirosMargaris @dianakelley14 @DrInfoSec @ChuckDBrooks @vg_fco
🎥 pic.twitter.com/1XU5YHUMiA

TY, @FrRonconi
— Technology Trends & CyberSecurity News (@TopCyberNews) June 7, 2019

Sashi Reddi's Philly-based SRI Capital raises $45.2 mm towards $100mm
targeted fund . https://t.co/rwUS3eknJi
— June 6, 2019

Lemongrass USA is based in Ewing

Lemongrass Consulting, the Global SAP on AWS Specialist, Achieves AWS Premier Status https://t.co/5yXYBWst4N
— June 6, 2019

Microsoft and Oracle to Interconnect Azure and Oracle Cloud - bringing together applications such as JD Edwards Enterprise One, E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, Oracle Retail and Hyperion, with Oracle and Microsoft databases running on Azure and/or OCI. https://t.co/gUEyl1NIfp
— Cindy Jutras (@ERP_cindyjutras) June 5, 2019

Comcast says it won't buy spectrum from T-Mobile and Sprint if merger goes through https://t.co/U3G2bAd7hJ
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) June 2, 2019

Philly EnterpriseTech Highlights 3/7: New Philly buyout firm; Digital Pharma data companies get bigger; LLR sells cybersecurity firm to Comcast

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 03:18:00 +0000

New PE firm Seminal Capital Partners, led by former Actua execs, seeking to raise up to $150million

New: Seminal Capital Partners: Lets get the (Actua) band back together again https://t.co/egHlLrNCpP pic.twitter.com/b7NsaDDFCo
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 7, 2019

Digital Pharma data companies get bigger

Tabula Rasa HealthCare Announces $150mm Acquisition of PrescribeWellness Expanding its Medication Risk Mitigation Offering (Press Release) https://t.co/egHlLrNCpP pic.twitter.com/VMkM4ZmE7i
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 7, 2019

New: Philly's IntegriChain and daVIZta Merge, Creating Best-in-Class Payer Data and Analytics Solutions for the Life Sciences Industryhttps://t.co/bVs2Wbl2A9
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 8, 2019

LLR sells cybersecurity firm to Comcast

Comcast Buys AI-Powered Cybersecurity Services Company from LLR Partners | Light Reading https://t.co/3QUiGORMJa via @Light_Reading
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 8, 2019

This is why huge software firms struggle with growth

SAP’s restructuring – Hunger Games, Game of Thrones or both? https://t.co/NDSJBVxrqt via @diginomica
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 7, 2019

A visionary?

Thank you ⁦@BarackObama⁩ for showing the 11,000 attendees an amazing experience. Experience management is everywhere. #QualtricsX4 pic.twitter.com/QndhptNuVC
— Ryan Smith (@RyanQualtrics) March 6, 2019

SAP Taps Partner Organization COO Fahrbach As Its New Channel Chief https://t.co/jzN1qTYVoU
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 7, 2019

Comcast’s FreeWheel: AT&T’s Xandr Isn’t ‘Breathing Down Our Neck’ https://t.co/n2AvEmVtaO #prime #feedly
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 7, 2019

Ice Cube Is Said to Woo Centerbridge for Sports Networks Bid https://t.co/0JJwDkjLNp
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 6, 2019

https://t.co/driaG44gTY
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 6, 2019

IntegriChain and daVIZta Merge, Creating Best-in-Class Payer Data and Analytics Solutions for the Life Sciences Industry

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 02:13:00 +0000

Philly pharmaceutical supply chain tracker Integrichain is merging with daVIZta, an NJ and India-based company that appears to supplement what Integrichain does.

March 6, 2019

IntegriChain and daVIZta Merge, Creating Best-in-Class Payer Data and Analytics Solutions for the Life Sciences Industry
Addresses the Industry’s Gross-to-Net Rationalization and Predictability Challenges

Strengthens IntegriChain’s Comprehensive Life Sciences Commercial Data and Analytics Platform for Payer, Patient, and Distribution

Expands IntegriChain’s Team of World-Class Data Science and Life Science Experts to 220

Philadelphia, PA, March 6, 2019 – IntegriChain, a leading life sciences commercial data and analytics company that helps patients start therapy faster and stay on therapy longer, today announced that it will merge with daVIZta Inc. daVIZta is a leading provider of revenue analytics software, including gross-to-net (G2N) automation and government pricing solutions — key challenges for commercial-stage life sciences companies to ensure access to new and existing therapies — and serves as a trusted partner to large, mid-tier, and emerging life sciences manufacturers. IntegriChain will integrate daVIZta’s G2N and government pricing offerings into its ICyte Platform, strengthening its best-in-class Payer solutions.
“This strategic merger solidifies our position as an access data and analytics leader through the expansion of our solutions platform and our team of data scientists and industry experts,” said IntegriChain Co-Founder and CEO Kevin Leininger. “Gross-to-net is a key industry obstacle for life sciences, with continuous headlines and regulatory uncertainty placing immense pressure on financial modeling and forecasting. We consider G2N a challenge on par with pharma’s patient initiation and adherence challenges, and we are serious about investing in and solving all three. The addition of daVIZta’s payer technology and expertise uniquely positions us to partner with industry to solve the G2N and pricing challenges of today and tomorrow.”
“We are excited to join forces with IntegriChain to overcome the access barriers that manufacturers face in today’s increasingly complex and evolving regulatory environment,” said Shekhar Yerramilli, Chairman and CEO of daVIZta. “IntegriChain offers our customers an extensive access solution platform, delivering unrivaled reporting, analytics, and on-demand data accessibility for all of the data inputs that are central to the G2N challenges we are passionate about solving. On behalf of my Co-Founder Krishnan Padmanabhan and myself, we look forward to working with IntegriChain’s customers on their G2N accrual management, forecasting, and government pricing requirements.”
This transaction is IntegriChain’s third expansion since entering its strategic partnership with Accel-KKR, a leading technology-focused private equity firm, in 2016. This merger creates a team of more than 220 data scientists and life sciences experts, including more than 20 government pricing, commercial contracting, and G2N domain experts focused on the critical dimensions of market access launch readiness, as well as government pricing compliance and G2N execution post-launch.
About IntegriChain
IntegriChain is a life sciences commercial data and analytics company that helps innovative bio/pharma manufacturers identify and remove barriers to patient therapy initiation and adherence. Our mission is to help all stakeholders in pharmaceutical access save as many patient days of therapy as possible. Our ICyte Platform and solutions uniquely focus on access challenges after the patient and provider commit to therapy. More than 160 life science manufacturers rely on insights delivered from IntegriChain’s data, analytics, and managed services to drive strategic decision-making and on-going business management across their payers, specialty pharmacies, patient services, and distribution channel partners. IntegriChain is backed by Accel-KKR, a leading Silicon Valley technology private equity firm. The company is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, and the company’s Access Management Operations center is in Ambler, PA. For more information, visit www.integrichain.com and our blog, or follow us on Twitter @IntegriChain and LinkedIn.
About daVIZta
daVIZta is a provider of Enterprise Revenue Analytics solutions and services to the life sciences industry. Our d-Rive suite of software applications caters to all aspects of the commercial continuum from Deal Modeling and Claims Processing to Government Pricing and G2N automation. Our subject matter experts in these areas provide managed services and advisory services to help our life sciences customers address their critical needs by relying on our deep domain knowledge. daVIZta sponsors the Revenue Analytics Collaborative, a unique and powerful community of industry insiders who share best practices and address each other’s concerns and day-to-day challenges. More information on daVIZta is available on www.davizta.com.
About Accel-KKR
Accel-KKR is a technology-focused investment firm with over $5 billion in capital commitments. The firm focuses on software and IT-enabled businesses well-positioned for top line and bottom-line growth. At the core of Accel-KKR’s investment strategy is a commitment to developing strong partnerships with the management teams of its portfolio companies and a focus on building value through significant resources available through the Accel-KKR network. Accel-KKR focuses on middle-market companies and provides a broad range of capital solutions including buyout capital, minority-growth investments, and credit alternatives. Accel-KKR also invests across a wide range of transaction types including private company recapitalizations, divisional carve-outs and going-private transactions. Accel-KKR is headquartered in Menlo Park with additional offices in Atlanta and London.
Contact
Jennifer Guinan | Sage Strategic Marketing | 610.410.8111 | Jennifer@sagestrat.com

Seminal Capital Partners: Lets get the band back together again

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 05:05:00 +0000

Tom Paine

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Seminal Capital Partners is raising up to $150 million for its first fund, according to a regulatory filing. The Radnor-based buyout firm will focus on lower and mid-market cloud software and services companies, and is led by former Actua execs Walter Buckley, John Loftus and Vince Menichelli.

Actua, originally Internet Capital Group (ICG), became defunct last year after disposing of all assets. It had a market capitalization of more than $50 billion before the Internet bubble collapsed. Verticalnet was a major holding. It was a part of an interrelated group of companies ("keiretsu" model ) related to Safeguard Scientifics. Comcast was also an investor. But it slimmed down in the 2000s to a small group of niche Cloud companies, some of which were quite successful.

One important distinction between Actua and Seminal: Actua ((NASDAQ: ACTA) was publicly traded, while Seminal is starting life as a privately held company.

From Seminal's website:

WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR IN OUR INVESTMENTS
TARGET TRANSACTION TYPES

Majority investments with capital for liquidity and/or growth including recapitalizations, buyouts, spin-offs and divestitures

Initial equity investment size of $10 - $50 million

TARGET COMPANY CHARACTERISTICS

Business Type: Cloud-based software and services businesses with highly recurring revenue models

Management: Experienced management team with a desire to continue to build the business over the long-term

Revenue Size: Approaching or exceeding $7 million of revenue

Company Growth: Double-digit growth rate

Profitability: Cash flow breakeven or better

Competitive Moat: Differentiated business with significant barriers to entry

Tabula Rasa HealthCare Announces Acquisition of PrescribeWellness Expanding its Medication Risk Mitigation Offering

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 21:42:00 +0000

Tabula Rasa HealthCare Announces Acquisition of PrescribeWellness Expanding its Medication Risk Mitigation Offering

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March 05, 2019 16:05 ET | Source: Tabula Rasa HealthCare, Inc.
MOORESTOWN, N.J., March 05, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tabula Rasa HealthCare, Inc. (“TRHC”) (NASDAQ: TRHC), a healthcare technology company advancing the field of medication safety, today announced that it has acquired PrescribeWellness (“PW”), a leading cloud-based patient relationship management solutions company that facilitates collaboration between more than 10,000 pharmacies with patients, payers, providers and pharmaceutical companies.

This acquisition supports TRHC’s goals of expanding medication risk mitigation programs in community pharmacies and providing community pharmacists with clinical revenue opportunities beyond dispensing. It also enables TRHC to further participate in Medicare Part D Medication Therapy Management programs, and other similar programs, which require or can benefit from the involvement of community pharmacies. Participation in these programs will allow TRHC to generate revenue from channels that were not previously accessible to TRHC. PW generated revenue of $29.0 million in 2018 and ended the year with annual recurring revenue of $32.0 million.

“The mission of PrescribeWellness, to deliver technology-enabled services solutions to help community pharmacies improve patient care and thrive economically, is very much aligned with TRHC’s mission. We welcome the PrescribeWellness team of over 150 employees and congratulate them on what they have accomplished,” said TRHC Chairman and CEO, Calvin H. Knowlton, PhD. “TRHC has successfully initiated our MedWise™ Medication Risk Identification and Mitigation platform with 400 pharmacists in 300 pharmacies through our participation in Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation’s Enhanced Medication Therapy Management Model Test. PrescribeWellness now catapults our reach to an additional 10,000 pharmacies and more than 15,000 pharmacists. We are excited to begin integrating PrescribeWellness’ talented team, proprietary platform, and network of community pharmacies as part of TRHC’s comprehensive suite of client offerings.”

PW CEO, Al Babbington, who will continue to lead PW following the acquisition noted, “PrescribeWellness was founded in 2010 with the goal to inspire collaboration for better health. We built a nationwide network of pharmacies that are expanding their role to provide preventive healthcare services. The network is within 5 miles of approximately 275 million people, which represents approximately 85% of the United States population. We believe that the opportunity to bring the PrescribeWellness pharmacies the clinical insights and tools that TRHC has created will accelerate the improvement of health in America and drive significantly reduced costs for government programs, health plans and consumers. I am immensely pleased to be a part of TRHC and to continue to expand the footprint and service offerings of PrescribeWellness in concert with TRHC.”

Piper Jaffray & Co. served as exclusive financial advisor to TRHC in connection with the transaction. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP served as legal counsel to TRHC. First Analysis Securities Corporation served as exclusive financial advisor to PW in connection with the transaction. Cooley LLP served as legal counsel to PW.

Management Conference Call

TRHC’s management will provide additional details on the PW acquisition during a conference call today, March 5, 2019 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Stockholders and interested participants may listen to a live broadcast of the conference call by dialing 844-413-0947 or 216-562-0423 for international callers, and referencing participant code 7069577 approximately 15 minutes prior to the call. A live webcast of the conference call will be available on the investor relations section of TRHC’s website (ir.trhc.com) and an audio file of the call will also be archived and available for replay approximately two hours after the live event for a period of 90 days thereafter at ir.trhc.com. After the conference call, a replay will be available until March 13, 2019 and can be accessed by dialing 855-859-2056 or 404-537-3406 for international callers, and referencing participant code 7069577.

About Tabula Rasa HealthCare

TRHC (NASDAQ:TRHC) is a leader in providing patient-specific, data-driven technology and solutions that enable healthcare organizations to optimize medication regimens to improve patient outcomes, reduce hospitalizations, lower healthcare costs and manage risk. TRHC provides solutions for a range of payers, providers and other healthcare organizations. For more information, visit TRHC.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

This press release includes forward-looking statements that we believe to be reasonable as of today’s date. Such statements are identified by use of the words “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “should,” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and assumptions as of the date of this press release. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, our goals and expectations regarding the combined company and the integration of PW into TRHC, the expected synergies from the combined company and the expected financial and operating performance of TRHC following the completion of the acquisition. Actual results might differ materially from those explicit or implicit in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: the risk that we may not be able to achieve our expectations for the combined companies due to challenges in integration and inability to retain key employees; fluctuations in our financial results; the acceptance and use of our products and services by PACE organizations and pharmacies; the need to innovate and provide useful products and services; risks related to changing healthcare and other applicable regulations; our ability to maintain relationships with a specified drug wholesaler; increasing consolidation in the healthcare industry; managing our growth effectively; our ability to adequately protect our intellectual property; the requirements of being a public company; our ability to recognize the expected benefits from acquisitions on a timely basis or at all; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including those factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on March 1, 2019, and in subsequent reports filed with or furnished to the SEC, copies of which are available free of charge within the Investor Relations section of the TRHC website http://ir.trhc.com or upon request from our Investor Relations Department. TRHC assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law, to reflect events or circumstances occurring after today’s date.

Media Contact
Dianne Semingson
dsemingson@trhc.com
T: (415) 547-7099 Investors

Philly EnterpriseTech Highlights 3/5: eMoney Advisor, ERT, ACG Philly, J&J

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 03:23:00 +0000

Much of the creation of Fidelity Go was done at its Radnor-based eMoney Advisor unit

Fidelity Go Takes Top Spot In Rankings Of Robo Advisors via @forbes https://t.co/Z1EFxaQEVW
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 6, 2019

ERT, which collects cardiology data, could sell for $2.5 billion, one source said.

Nordic Capital mulls options for Phlily-based ERT including sale https://t.co/KBr0TU4FkQ via @technology
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 5, 2019

This conference is trying to establish itself as a leader in its field on the east coast.

New: Philly ACG SaaS & Tech Enabled Services Conference on March 12 in Philly; Big opportunity for area. https://t.co/kr85rOPRSK pic.twitter.com/xT8hcZiuoh
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 6, 2019

J&J developed the new drug

Regulators just approved the first new depression drug since the 1980s, and some see blockbuster potential https://t.co/nChpQTmwLm via @businessinsider
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 6, 2019

MuleSoft, a Dell Boomi competitor

The $6.5 billion acquisition that everyone hated a year ago was the only thing everyone loved about Salesforce's latest quarter https://t.co/2rWNOjs6BM via @businessinsider
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 6, 2019

Wallach, an area native, has been instrumental in Veeva's success

New: Veeva beats guidance; Announces President Matt Wallach will retire from Management; join board in 2020 https://t.co/P8b32buQ2M #VEEV pic.twitter.com/hOcAPGCf3f
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 6, 2019

Philly-area’s TechGirlz acquired in deal to build a bigger pipeline of women wanting tech careers https://t.co/qHMrfmP9xE via @phillydotcom
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 6, 2019

Here are all the wild things, from wave pools to turmeric coffee creamer, that WeWork's surfing founder has invested in https://t.co/OwY4j6Pwg2 via @businessinsider
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 6, 2019

Pilots likely lost control of the plane carrying Amazon cargo before the crash killed all 3 onboard, according to an initial review of the cockpit recordings https://t.co/KakH36DAIw via @businessinsider
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 6, 2019

Trump to staff on AT&T/Time Warner merger: “I want that deal blocked!” https://t.co/1JTtQtnqGd
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 5, 2019

QuotaPath Raises $3.5 Million Seed Round led by ATX Seed Ventures to Help Salespeople Calculate and Track Their Co... https://t.co/sOmmwCTx3i
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 4, 2019

Philly ACG SaaS & Tech Enabled Services Conference on March 12 in Philly

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Tom Paine

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ACG Boston, ACG New York and ACG Philadelphia are teaming up for the 2nd Annual ACG (Association for Corporate Growth) Northeast Industry Tour.

Philly is hosting the first leg, the SaaS & Tech Enabled Services Conference at the Union League on March 12.

Stephanie P. McAlaine, Executive Director of ACG Philadelphia, explained to me in a phone interview that ACG, long a generalist organization, was seeing increased demand among its membership for specialty programs, in this case SaaS and the huge increase in non-tech companies that have come to rely on technology, because that's where many deals are coming from.

Last year the inaugural event drew more than 250 people.

McAlaine sees the opportunity to establish the ACG Philly Conference as the most prominent of its kind on the east coast, where no event dominates. That would have many benefits for the Philly private equity and SaaS communities.

Christian Bullit of Raymond James New York, formerly of LLR Partners, is a lead organizer of the event along with Dan Ryan of Milestone Partners & Peak Equity Partners. Bullett emphasized that the event will draw not only from up and down the east coast, but nationwide. He also made it clear that this is a PE event, not a VC event.

Although this conference has more bankers than company operators, leaders of three exceptional SaaS companies will present: Anaplan, with a recent IPO success, represented by Philly native Paul Melchiorre; Exton's iPipeline, and iCIMS, a big NJ-based SaaS HR venture back originally by Susquehana Growth Equity. Not to omit Malvern's Frontline Education.

Speakers named to date include:

David Badler, Portfolio Operations & Growth, Susquehanna Growth Equity
Robert L. Berstein, Managing Director - Technology Investment Banking, Piper Jaffray & Co.
Christian Bullitt, Managing Director, Raymond James
Jim Catalino, Chief Client Success Officer, Frontline Education
Tony Diodato, AVP, iPipeline
Pete Elkes, CFO, Occasion Brands
Adam Feigenbaum, Chief Customer Officer, iCIMS
Ryan Hays, Director, Lazard
Jerry Huskins, CEO, Fonteva
Reid Jackson, President & CEO, Unison
Paul Melchiorre, Global Customer Officer, Anaplan
Justin Nadile, Vice President, NewSpring
Ian O'Neal, Managing Director, Raymond James
Ken Wasick, Managing Director, Stephens
Don Yount, CEO, Critical Mention

There will also be five roundtable discussion panels, on subjects ranging from eCommerce platform evolution to scaling inside sales groups.

The Conference will take place on Tuesday, March 12 from 10am to 6pm, at the Union League. Members (any ACG Chapter): $195
Non-members: $275

Veeva beats guidance; Announces President Matt Wallach will retire

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 04:01:00 +0000

Tom Paine

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Veeva Systems, the California-based life sciences cloud company with significant roots in the Philly area, ended another quarter and fiscal year by beating guidance. Fiscal Year 2019 (ending 1/31) total revenues were $862.2M, up 25% Year-over-year; Q4 total revenues was $232.3M, up 25% Year-over-year.

For FY 2019, fully diluted net income per share was $1.47, compared to $0.98 one year ago, while non-GAAP fully diluted net income per share was $1.63, compared to $0.96 one year ago.

Looking to expand beyond life sciences, Veeva says it nearly doubled the base of Veeva QualityOne customers, deepened relationships with early adopters and expanded within its enterprise accounts. So that appears to be a go to market for Veeva.

Veeva (NYSE: VEEV) now has a $17.5 billion market cap. That means its Price / Revenue ratio is about 20x current earnings, which is rather high. (. See how Veeva compares to others in the Bessemer Emerging Cloud Index.)

Saying one is a fan of a company is one thing; saying one is a fan of its stock at any price is another. At this price, I would probably lay off for a while (but I do not have or ever had any holdings in VEEV). Of course, if a serious acquirer came along, It would probably pay more. And to an extent, Veeva's current share price may reflect some acquisition expectations.

Founder and CEO Peter Gassner says Veeva is an anomaly that's never had a "natural acquirer." But there are others who aim to get in the digital health care game in a big way. Mega vendors Google, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft are possibilities. A life sciences giantor major insurer / heath plan combination could also have interest. Oracle (a Veeva competitor in certain areas) and Salesforce would be long shots. A major motivation for launching Veeva was to build something that wasn't Oracle. Gassner was with People Soft (now Oracle) and Salesforce prior to Veeva.

While Veeva has to do what's best for itself, its shareholders and customers, it would be great to see the Veeva story continue to develop under one roof.

Matt Wallach

Another Veeva announcement also made on Friday was the planned retirement of its President and co-founder, Matt Wallach . Walllach will stay on till mid-year and return in 2020 as a board member.

From what I could tell, while Gassner is a visionary leader and database technology expert, Wallach was the guy who made sure Veeva's product / market fit was properly aligned. Wallach, who grew up in the Swarthmore area before attending Yale and Harvard Business School, was able to do much of his work for Veeva from an east coast office in Radnor. I think the story that Wallach, after 12 years, is going to shift gears in life while returning soon to Veeva's board, makes sense.

Gassner said in a release, "Matt has built a very strong leadership team, who will assume his day-to-day responsibilities".

Veeva Announces Transition of Its President Matt Wallach to transition from President to Board of Directors

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 21:53:00 +0000

24.178.145.127
Veeva Announces Transition of Its President
Matt Wallach to transition from President to Board of Directors

February 26, 2019 04:05 PM Eastern Standard Time
PLEASANTON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Veeva Systems (NYSE:VEEV) today announced that Matt Wallach will retire from his role as president as of June 2019 and join the company’s board of directors effective January 2020.

“I’m honored to join the Veeva board which will allow me to further contribute to Veeva and the industry while spending additional time with my family.”
Tweet this
“The opportunity to work with the incredible Veeva team and our customers has been the highlight of my career. Together, we're building the industry cloud for life sciences,” said Matt Wallach, Veeva president. “I’m honored to join the Veeva board which will allow me to further contribute to Veeva and the industry while spending additional time with my family."

“I am grateful for Matt’s leadership over the past 12 years. He has been a great partner to the life sciences industry and to me personally,” said Veeva CEO, Peter Gassner. “I look forward to his continued leadership as a member of the Veeva board.”

As a Veeva board member, Wallach will advise on corporate strategy and remain active in the life sciences industry. Wallach’s operational responsibilities will be assumed by his senior leadership team.

About Veeva Systems

Veeva Systems Inc. is a leader in cloud-based software for the global life sciences industry. Committed to innovation, product excellence, and customer success, Veeva has more than 700 customers, ranging from the world's largest pharmaceutical companies to emerging biotechs. Veeva is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. For more information, visit veeva.com.

Forward-looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements, including the quotations from management and other statements regarding Mr. Wallach’s transition from President to a member of Veeva’s Board of Directors. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon Veeva’s current plans, estimates and expectations and are not a representation that such plans, estimates, or expectations will be achieved. These forward-looking statements represent Veeva’s expectations as of the date of this press announcement. Subsequent events may cause these expectations to change, and Veeva disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking statements in the future. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including unexpected events related to Mr. Wallach’s transition from President to a member of Veeva’s Board of Directors, including the timing of such transition.

Additional risks and uncertainties that could affect Veeva’s forward-looking statements are included under the captions, “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in the company’s filing on Form 10-Q for the period ended October 31, 2018. This is available on the company’s website at veeva.com under the Investors section and on the SEC’s website at sec.gov. Further information on potential risks that could affect actual results will be included in other filings Veeva makes with the SEC from time to time.

Contacts
Media Contact:
Lisa Barbadora
Veeva Systems Inc.
610-420-3413
pr@veeva.com

Open Letter to Amazon Chief Executive Jeﬀ Bezos

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 15:32:00 +0000

Open Letter to Amazon Chief Executive Jeﬀ Bezos
Dear Mr. Bezos:New Yorkers do not want to give up on the 25,000 permanent jobs, 11,000 union construction and maintenance jobs, and $28 billion in new tax revenues that Amazon was prepared to bring to our state. A clear majority of New Yorkers support this project and were disappointed by your decision not to proceed. We understand that becoming home to the world’s industry leader in e-commerce, logistics and web services would be a tremendous boost for our state’s technology industry, which is our fastest growing generator of new jobs. As representatives of a wide range of government, business, labor and community interests, we urge you to reconsider, so that we can move forward together. We know the public debate that followed the announcement of the Long Island City project was rough and not very welcoming. Opinions are strong in New York—sometimes strident. We consider it part of the New York charm! But when we commit to a project as important as this, we ﬁgure out how to get it done in a way that works for everyone. Governor Cuomo will take personal responsibility for the project’s state approval and Mayor de Blasio will work together with the governor to manage the community development process, including the workforce development and infrastructure investments that are necessary to ensure that the Amazon campus will be a tremendous beneﬁt to residents and small businesses in the surrounding communities. New York attracts the best, most diverse talent from across the globe. We are a dynamic new center of the country’s most inclusive tech economy. We all hope you reconsider and join us in building the exciting future of New York.Sincerely,
Plinio Ayala
President & CEO, Per Scholas, Inc.
Ajay Banga
President & CEO, Mastercard
Rob Basch
President, Hunters Point Parks Conservancy
Eric Benaim
CEO, ModernSpaces
Neil Blumenthal
Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Warby Parker
Seth Bornstein
Executive Director, Queens Economic Development Corporation
Josh Bowen
Owner, John Brown Smokehouse
Charles Boyce
President and CEO, Boyce Technologies, Inc.
Mary Cunningham Boyce
Dean of Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia University
Gianna P. Cerbone
Owner & Chef, Manducatis Rustica VIG; President, Queens Council on the Arts and Board Member, LIC YMCA
Kenneth I. Chenault
Chairman & Managing Director, General Catalyst Partners
Mark A. Christie
President, Hunters Point Community Development Corporation
Mario Cilento
President, NYS, AFL-CIO
Claudia Coger
Tenant Association President, Astoria Houses
Michael L. Corbat
Chief Executive Oﬃcer, Citigroup Inc.
Hon. David Dinkins
Former Mayor, City of New York
Danny Donahue
President, Civil Service Employees Association
Donna Drimer
President, Matted LIC
Hazel Dukes
President, NAACP New York State Conference
Catherine Engelbert
Chief Executive Oﬃcer, Deloitte
Hector J. Figueroa
President, 32BJ SEIU
William E. Ford
Chief Executive Oﬃcer, General Atlantic LLC
James P. Gorman
Chairman & CEO, Morgan Stanley
Thomas Grech
President & CEO, Queens Chamber of Commerce
Rev. Dr. Johnnie Green
Mount Neboh Baptist Church & President of MPAC (Mobilizing Pastors & Communities)
George Gresham
President, 1199 SEIU
Andrew Hamilton
President, New York University
Christopher Hanway
Executive Director, Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement
Robin Hayes
President & CEO, JetBlue Airways Corporation
Jukay Hsu
Founder & CEO, Pursuit
Hon. Hakeem Jeﬀries
Congressman, U.S. House of Representatives
Marion Jeﬀries
President , NAACP Astoria/ LIC Branch
Kristina Johnson
Chancellor, State University of New York
Jelena Kovacevic
Dean, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University
Gary LaBarbera
President, Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York
Mary Beth Labate
President, Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities
Kevin S. Law
President & CEO, Long Island Association
Joey Levin
Chief Executive Oﬃcer, IAC
Anthony Lopez
Executive Director, Zone 126
Elizabeth Lusskin
President, Long Island City Partnership
Hon. Carolyn Maloney
Congresswoman, U.S. House of Representative
Rev. Corwin Mason
Community Church of Astoria CAC
Felix Matos Rodriguez
Chancellor Designee, The City University of New York
Bill McDermott
Chief Executive Oﬃcer, SAP
Hon. Gregory Meeks
Congressman, U.S. House of Representatives
Gail Mellow
President, LaGuardia Community College
Heidi Messer
Co-Founder & Chairman, Collective[i]
Marc Morial
Chief Executive Oﬃcer, National Urban League
Anne Cotton Morris
Citywide President and Tenant Association President, Woodside Houses
Michael Mulgrew
President, United Federation of Teachers
Deanna M. Mulligan
President & CEO, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
Hon. Catherine Nolan
Assemblywoman, New York State Assembly
Jon Oringer
Founder & CEO, Shutterstock, Inc.
Charles E. Phillips, Jr.
Chief Executive Oﬃcer, Infor
Rev. Gilbert Pickett
Mount Horeb Baptist Church
Martha Pollack
President, Cornell University
Miriam Porto
Owner, Madera Cuban Grill & Steakhouse and R40 Argentinian Restaurant
Frank “Turtle” Raﬀaele
Founder, COFFEED
Hon. Max Rose
Congressman, U.S. House of Representatives
Steven Rubenstein
Chairman, Association for a Better New York
Robert Rubin
Former Secretary, U.S. Treasury
William C. Rudin
Co-Chairman & CEO, Rudin Management Company, Inc.
Kevin P. Ryan
Chairman & Founder, Zola, Workframe, Nomad Health, MongoDB, Inc.
Kris Schrey
President, Long Island City Parents Group
Carlo Scissura
President & CEO, New York Building Congress
April Simpson
Tenant Association President, Queensbridge Houses
David M. Solomon
Chairman & CEO, Goldman Sachs & Co.
Rob Speyer
President & CEO, Tishman Speyer
Douglas C. Steiner
Chairman, Steiner Studios
Alan Suna
Chief Executive Oﬃcer, Silvercup Studios
Steven R. Swartz
President & CEO, Hearst
Bishop Mitchell Taylor
Senior Pastor, Center of Hope International & Co-Founder, Urban Upbound
Dennis Walcott
President & CEO, Queens Library
George H. Walker
Chairman & CEO, Neuberger Berman Group LLC
Peter T. Ward
President, New York Hotel Trades Council
Carol Wilkins
Tenant Association President, Ravenswood Houses
Fred Wilson
Managing Partner & Chairman, CSNYC; Co-Chair, Tech:NYC; & Partner, Union Square Ventures
Tom Wright
President, Regional Plan Association
Kathryn S. Wylde
President & CEO, Partnership for New York City
Rev. Patrick Henry Young
First Baptist Church of East Elmhurst CAC
Paid for by the Partnership for New York City. For further information, contact us at One Battery Park Plaza, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10004, pfnyc.org
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Foxconn, a tale of slashed salaries, disappearing benefits and mass resignations as iPhone orders dry up

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 05:03:00 +0000

Foxconn, a tale of slashed salaries, disappearing benefits and mass resignations as iPhone orders dry up https://t.co/o39EhDv9rS #mustreadblogs #feedly
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) March 1, 2019

Spark Therapeutics Enters into Definitive Merger Agreement with Roche (Prees Release)

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 08:55:00 +0000

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Spark Therapeutics Enters into Definitive Merger Agreement with Roche
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February 25, 2019 01:00 ET | Source: Spark Therapeutics, Inc.
Roche to acquire Spark Therapeutics for $114.50 per share representing a total equity value of $4.8 billion

Spark Therapeutics will continue its operations in Philadelphia as an independent company within the Roche Group

Transaction expected to close in Q2, 2019

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Spark Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ONCE), a fully integrated, commercial gene therapy company dedicated to challenging the inevitability of genetic disease, announced today that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement for Roche to fully acquire Spark Therapeutics at a price of $114.50 per share in an all-cash transaction. This corresponds to a total equity value of approximately $4.8 billion on a fully diluted basis, inclusive of approximately $500 million of projected net cash expected at close. The per share price represents a premium of 122 percent to Spark’s closing price on Feb. 22, 2019. The merger agreement has been unanimously approved by the boards of both Spark and Roche.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, Roche will promptly commence a tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Spark’s common stock, and Spark will file a recommendation statement containing the unanimous recommendation of the Spark board that Spark shareholders tender their shares to Roche.

“As the only biotechnology company that has successfully commercialized a gene therapy for a genetic disease in the U.S., we have built unmatched competencies in the discovery, development and delivery of genetic medicines. But the needs of patients and families living with genetic diseases are immediate and vast,” said Jeffrey D. Marrazzo, chief executive officer of Spark Therapeutics. “With its worldwide reach and extensive resources, Roche will help us accelerate the development of more gene therapies for more patients for more diseases and further expedite our vision of a world where no life is limited by genetic disease.”

“Spark Therapeutics’ proven expertise in the entire gene therapy value chain may offer important new opportunities for the treatment of serious diseases,” said Severin Schwan, chief executive officer of Roche. “In particular, Spark’s hemophilia A program could become a new therapeutic option for people living with this disease. We are also excited to continue the investments in Spark’s broad product portfolio and commitment to Philadelphia as a center of excellence.”

Spark Therapeutics will continue its operations in Philadelphia as an independent company within the Roche Group.

Terms of the Agreement
Under the terms of the merger agreement, Roche will promptly commence a tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Spark Therapeutics’ common stock at a price of $114.50 per share in cash. The closing of the tender offer will be subject to a majority of Spark Therapeutics’ outstanding shares being tendered. In addition, the transaction is subject to the expiration or termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 and other customary conditions.

Following completion of the tender offer, Roche will acquire all remaining shares at the same price of $114.50 per share through a second step merger. The closing of the transaction is expected to take place in the second quarter of 2019.

Centerview Partners is acting as financial advisor to Spark Therapeutics and Goodwin Procter LLP is acting as legal counsel to Spark Therapeutics. Cowen also acted as a financial advisor in this transaction to Spark Therapeutics. Citi is acting as financial advisor to Roche and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is acting as legal counsel to Roche.

About Spark Therapeutics
At Spark Therapeutics, a fully integrated, commercial company committed to discovering, developing and delivering gene therapies, we challenge the inevitability of genetic diseases, including blindness, hemophilia, lysosomal storage disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. We have successfully applied our technology in the first gene therapy approved in both the U.S. and EU for a genetic disease, and currently have four programs in clinical trials, including product candidates that have shown promising early results in patients with hemophilia. At Spark, we see the path to a world where no life is limited by genetic disease. For more information, visit www.sparktx.com, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Roche
Roche is a global pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics focused on advancing science to improve people’s lives. The combined strengths of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics under one roof have made Roche the leader in personalised healthcare – a strategy that aims to fit the right treatment to each patient in the best way possible.

Roche is the world’s largest biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and diseases of the central nervous system. Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management.

Founded in 1896, Roche continues to search for better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases and make a sustainable contribution to society. The company also aims to improve patient access to medical innovations by working with all relevant stakeholders. Thirty medicines developed by Roche are included in the World Health Organization Model Lists of Essential Medicines, among them life-saving antibiotics, antimalarials and cancer medicines. Moreover, for the tenth consecutive year, Roche has been recognised as the most sustainable company in the Pharmaceuticals Industry by the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI).

The Roche Group, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, is active in over 100 countries and in 2018 employed about 94,000 people worldwide. In 2018, Roche invested CHF 11 billion in R&D and posted sales of CHF 56.8 billion. Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information, please visit www.roche.com.

All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected by law.

IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND WHERE TO FIND IT
THE TENDER OFFER FOR THE OUTSTANDING COMMON STOCK OF SPARK THERAPEUTICS HAS NOT BEEN COMMENCED. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO PURCHASE OR A SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO SELL SPARK THERAPEUTICS COMMON STOCK. THE SOLICITATION AND OFFER TO BUY SPARK THERAPEUTICS COMMON STOCK WILL ONLY BE MADE PURSUANT TO AN OFFER TO PURCHASE AND RELATED MATERIALS. AT THE TIME THE OFFER IS COMMENCED, ROCHE AND ITS ACQUISITION SUBSIDIARY WILL FILE A TENDER OFFER STATEMENT ON SCHEDULE TO WITH THE SEC AND THEREAFTER, SPARK THERAPEUTICS WILL FILE A SOLICITATION/RECOMMENDATION STATEMENT ON SCHEDULE 14D-9 WITH RESPECT TO THE OFFER. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THESE MATERIALS (INCLUDING AN OFFER TO PURCHASE, A RELATED LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL AND CERTAIN OTHER TENDER OFFER DOCUMENTS) CAREFULLY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE SINCE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION, INCLUDING THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE OFFER. THE OFFER TO PURCHASE, SOLICITATION/RECOMMENDATION STATEMENT AND RELATED MATERIALS WILL BE FILED WITH THE SEC, AND INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS MAY OBTAIN A FREE COPY OF THESE MATERIALS (WHEN AVAILABLE) AND OTHER DOCUMENTS FILED BY ROCHE AND SPARK THERAPEUTICS WITH THE SEC AT THE WEBSITE MAINTAINED BY THE SEC AT WWW.SEC.GOV. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS MAY ALSO OBTAIN FREE COPIES OF THE SOLICITATION/RECOMMENDATION STATEMENT AND OTHER DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC BY SPARK THERAPEUTICS AT www.sparktx.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
SOME OF THE STATEMENTS CONTAINED IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT ARE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS, INCLUDING STATEMENTS REGARDING, AMONG OTHER THINGS, THE EXPECTED CONSUMMATION OF THE TRANSACTION, WHICH INVOLVES A NUMBER OF RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES, INCLUDING THE SATISFACTION OF CLOSING CONDITIONS FOR THE TRANSACTION, INCLUDING REGULATORY APPROVAL, THE TENDER OF A MAJORITY OF THE OUTSTANDING SHARES OF COMMON STOCK OF SPARK THERAPEUTICS, THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE TRANSACTION WILL NOT BE COMPLETED, AND OTHER RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES DISCUSSED IN SPARK THERAPEUTICS’ PUBLIC FILINGS WITH THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION (THE “SEC”), INCLUDING THE “RISK FACTORS” SECTIONS OF SPARK THERAPEUTICS’ ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2017 AND SUBSEQUENT QUARTERLY REPORTS ON FORM 10-Q, AS WELL AS THE TENDER OFFER DOCUMENTS TO BE FILED BY ROCHE AND ITS ACQUISITION SUBSIDIARY AND THE SOLICITATION/RECOMMENDATION TO BE FILED BY SPARK THERAPEUTICS. THESE STATEMENTS ARE BASED ON CURRENT EXPECTATIONS, ASSUMPTIONS, ESTIMATES AND PROJECTIONS, AND INVOLVE KNOWN AND UNKNOWN RISKS, UNCERTAINTIES AND OTHER FACTORS THAT MAY CAUSE RESULTS, LEVELS OF ACTIVITY, PERFORMANCE OR ACHIEVEMENTS TO BE MATERIALLY DIFFERENT FROM ANY FUTURE STATEMENTS. THESE STATEMENTS ARE GENERALLY IDENTIFIED BY WORDS OR PHRASES SUCH AS “BELIEVE”, “ANTICIPATE”, “EXPECT”, “INTEND”, “PLAN”, “WILL”, “MAY”, “SHOULD”, “ESTIMATE”, “PREDICT”, “POTENTIAL”, “CONTINUE” OR THE NEGATIVE OF SUCH TERMS OR OTHER SIMILAR EXPRESSIONS. IF UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS PROVE INACCURATE OR UNKNOWN RISKS OR UNCERTAINTIES MATERIALIZE, ACTUAL RESULTS AND THE TIMING OF EVENTS MAY DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM THE RESULTS AND/OR TIMING DISCUSSED IN THE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS, AND YOU SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE RELIANCE ON THESE STATEMENTS. ROCHE AND SPARK THERAPEUTICS DISCLAIM ANY INTENT OR OBLIGATION TO UPDATE ANY FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AS A RESULT OF DEVELOPMENTS OCCURRING AFTER THE PERIOD COVERED BY THIS REPORT OR OTHERWISE.

Investor Contact:
Ryan Asay
Ryan.asay@sparktx.com
(215) 239-6424
Media Contact:
Monique da Silva
Monique.dasilva@sparktx.com
(215) 282-7470

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Top News 2/22: Qlik acquisition; Allied Universal investment; SAP Executive Board Member departs

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 19:16:00 +0000

Philly's InstaMed is seeking a buyer, PE Hub's Buyouts reported . It is said to be seeking $500 to $600 million. Founded in 2004, InstaMed was an early all-cloud entrant that manages a payment portal primarily for healthcare consumers. As health plans have changed, consumers directly pay a higher percentage of all medical bills.

InstaMed has raised $134.2M in funding to date, according to CrunchBase. Local investors include Osage Venture Partners, Ben Franklin, NJTC,and Josh Kopelman's former investment vehicle Midas Ventures. It has several UPenn alum in key positions.

The Register reports that Oracle is being sued for $4.5m by a Bucks County firm after its ERP system delivery date '"moved from 2015 to 2016, then 2017, then... er, never." Worth & Company, a Pipersville mechanical contractor, is the plaintiff.

"Despite Oracle’s representations that its integrated software system, i-cloud (sic) services, and technical support system was a functioning workable product fully capable of fulfilling Worth’s needs, Oracle failed to provide a collectively suitable and operable software system," the complaint states. "Worth paid in excess of $4.5m to purchase and implement the ultimately non-functioning Oracle ERP product."

King of Prussia-based Qlik said on Thursday it will buy software services provider Attunity Ltd for about $560 million in an all-cash deal. Massachusetts-based Attunity focuses on Change Data Capture (CDC) technology to facilitate data ingest, replication and integration of streaming and conventional data. That means more data to feed Qlik's analytical engine.

A Quebec-based fund, CDPQ, invested $400 million in Allied Universal , the huge security company that has co-headquarters in California and Conshohocken. The investment values Allied Universal at around $7 billion.

Bernd Leukert, SAP Executive Board Member , "mutually agreed with the Supervisory Board that he will depart the company, effective immediately," the company said.

Leukert had been named to co-lead the company's Digital Business Services division.

CardConnect founder Brian Shanahan is back in the business with a new Pittsburgh startup, Pineapple Payments, which says its "powered by CardConnect". Pineapple raised $35 million in equity in late 2017.

This week in Philly Tech History 2004: Comcast makes surprise $66 billion bid for Disney

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 05:30:00 +0000

Tom Paine

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On February 11, 2004, Comcast launched a surprise, unsolicited $66 billion bid (including debt) for Walt Disney Corp., coming in a period in which Disney CEO Michael Eisner was under mounting criticism for his management of the fabled company. Many observers felt that Comcast CEO Brian Roberts' primary motivation was to get control of Disney's ESPN, which was becoming an increasingly important but costly source of programming for cable operators (a trend that has continued up to this day).

Comcast dropped its bid in late April after the value of Comcast's shares (and thus the value of its bid) fell in the interim and Disney's board declined to respond to the offer. In the mean time, though, Disney removed Eisner from the Chairman's post.

Comcast finally got its multimedia giant a few years later on January 29, 2011, when it completed its $30 billion merger with GE's NBCU.

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PE Hub Buyouts: Reports: InstaMed seeking buyer

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 02:48:00 +0000

Tom Paine

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A snippet from PE Hub Buyouts website:

InstaMed, the venture capital-backed healthcare payments company, is exploring a sale, according to three sources. The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania company has tapped FT Partners for financial advice, they said. InstaMed is seeking $500 million to $600 million, according to one of ...

From my recent post, Any Philly Tech IPO candidates this year? Maybe

InstaMed: This Philly-based medical payments firm has done an outstanding job in developing its niche, and has an army of venture capitalists behind it. Its last public statement on revenue was $31 million in 2015, and it has grown considerably since then. The company told me a couple of years ago that its investors were not pressuring it to go in any particular direction. Though the VCs must be feed sooner or later.

But InstaMed must balance a complicated web of industry relationships which may define its options. Epic Systems, which bought some iconic artwork from a closing Madison, Wisconsin deli last year, rarely buys anything. But it does have a "unique" relationship with InstaMed . Perhaps one of these years.

InstaMed has raised $134.2M in funding to date, per CrunchBase.

Qlik to Acquire Attunity to Expand Enterprise Data Management and Enable Real-time Analytics (Press Release)

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Thu, 21 Feb 2019 16:12:00 +0000

Send a Release
Qlik to Acquire Attunity to Expand Enterprise Data Management and Enable Real-time Analytics English
Attunity's market-leading data integration and data management solutions combined with Qlik's market-leading analytics platform unlocks the value of data

NEWS PROVIDED BY
Attunity Ltd. and Qlik
Feb 21, 2019, 08:51 ET
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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania and BURLINGTON, Massachusetts, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Qlik® a leader in data analytics, and Attunity Ltd. (NasdaqCM: ATTU), a leading provider of data integration and big data management software solutions, today announced that the two companies signed a definitive agreement under which Qlik will acquire Attunity. Under the terms of the agreement, Qlik will acquire all outstanding ordinary shares of Attunity for a total value of approximately $560 million. Attunity shareholders will receive $23.50 in cash per share, representing a 18% premium to Attunity's last closing price of $19.93 per share on February 20, 2019. The agreement was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of Qlik and Attunity.

Building on Qlik's recent acquisition of Podium Data and the introduction of Qlik Data Catalyst, Attunity provides cross-platform data streaming capabilities to support a shift to cloud and real-time analytics. This acquisition further differentiates Qlik by providing an expanded breadth of enterprise data management capabilities and adds an experienced team of data professionals.

Consistent with Qlik's vision for 3rd generation business intelligence, a strong data management strategy creates the foundation for an enterprise analytics strategy that drives insights and transforms organizations.

"Attunity's strength in real-time data delivery across complex cloud environments will uniquely position Qlik to help customers lead with data and align their enterprise analytics strategy," said Mike Capone, Qlik CEO. "Attunity has demonstrated strong growth in a large market and together we're better positioned to serve our enterprise customers along with our partner ecosystem to solve the most challenging data problems."

"We are excited to be joining Qlik, combining our data integration and big data management capabilities with the analytics leader to accelerate our success," said Shimon Alon, Chairman and CEO of Attunity. "We believe the transaction is in the best interest of Attunity's stakeholders and provides Attunity with additional awareness and scale to execute our strategic plans as we continue to provide our customers with the premier products and services they have come to expect."

In a world increasingly reliant on predictive analytics and artificial intelligence, seamlessly moving data in real-time across multiple cloud environments and data lakes has become a business-critical issue. With Attunity, Qlik will provide customers with an expanded enterprise data management solution to transform their raw data into a governed, analytics-aware information resource.

Building on Qlik's extensive partner ecosystem, this acquisition will pull in Attunity's partner network, further expanding Qlik's go-to-market reach and strengthening its data lake management and cloud infrastructure partnerships, including Microsoft, Amazon AWS, Cloudera and Snowflake.

To learn more about Qlik's expanded data management capabilities with Attunity, register for the Qlik Qonnections conference taking place May 13-16 in Dallas, TX.

Timing and Approvals
Closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of Attunity shareholders and clearance from relevant regulatory authorities. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter.

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is serving as exclusive financial advisor to Attunity and Goldfarb Seligman & Co. and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP are serving as its legal advisors. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to Qlik. Financing for the transaction is being provided by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

About Attunity
Attunity is a leading provider of data integration and big data management software solutions that enable availability, delivery and management of data across heterogeneous enterprise platforms, organizations and the cloud. Attunity's software solutions include data replication and distribution, test data management, change data capture (CDC), data connectivity, enterprise file replication (EFR), managed file transfer (MFT), data warehouse automation, data usage analytics and cloud data delivery.

Attunity has supplied innovative software solutions to its enterprise-class customers for over 20 years and has successful deployments at thousands of organizations worldwide. Attunity provides software directly and indirectly through various partners such as Microsoft, Oracle, IBM and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Headquartered in Boston, Attunity serves its customers via offices in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific and through a network of local partners. For more information, visit www.attunity.com or our blog and join our community on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and YouTube.

About Qlik
Qlik's vision is a data-literate world, one where everyone can use data to solve their most challenging problems. Only Qlik's end-to-end data management and analytics platform brings together all of an organization's data from any source, enabling people at any skill level to use their curiosity to uncover new insights. Companies use Qlik to see more deeply into customer behavior, reinvent business processes, discover new revenue streams, and balance risk and reward. Qlik does business in more than 100 countries and serves over 48,000 customers around the world.

Additional Important Information and Where to Find It
In connection with the proposed transaction, Attunity will prepare a proxy statement to be delivered to its shareholders. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT WHEN IT BECOMES AVAILABLE, BECAUSE IT WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. The proxy statement and other documents may be obtained for free from the company's web site or by directing such request to Attunity Investor Relations below.

Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other applicable securities laws. Statements preceded by, followed by, or that otherwise include the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "plans", and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will", "should", "would", "may" and "could" are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts. For example, when we discuss Attunity's strength in real-time data delivery that will uniquely position Qlik to help customers lead with data and align their enterprise analytics strategy, or when we say that with Attunity, Qlik will provide customers with an expanded enterprise data management solution, we are using a forward-looking statement. Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties and actual results, expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, could differ materially from Attunity's current expectations. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties relating to: risks associated with uncertainty as to whether the merger transaction will be completed; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement; costs and potential litigation associated with the merger transaction; the failure to obtain the necessary shareholder approval or regulatory clearances or to satisfy the other closing conditions set forth in the merger agreement; risks that the proposed merger transaction disrupts current plans and operations and the potential difficulties in employee retention as a result of the proposed transaction; the distraction of management of Attunity resulting from the proposed transaction; and the other risk factors discussed from time to time by Attunity in reports filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. Except as otherwise required by law, Attunity undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

The contents of any website or hyperlinks mentioned in this press release are for informational purposes and the contents thereof are not part of this press release.

© Attunity 2019. All Rights Reserved. Attunity is a registered trademark of Attunity Inc. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

© 2019 QlikTech International AB. All rights reserved. All company and/or product names may be trade names, trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated.

The information provided herein is subject to change without notice. In addition, the development, release and timing of any product or functionality described herein remain at the sole discretion of Qlik and should not be relied upon in making a purchasing decision, nor as a representation, warranty or commitment to deliver specific products or functionality in the future.

For more information, please contact:

Media Contact:
Kelly Hall
+44 7983 298193
kelly.hall@qlik.com

Investor Contact:
Allison Soss
KCSA Strategic Communications
+1-212-896-1267
Attunity@kcsa.com

Company Contact:
Dror Harel-Elkayam, CFO
Attunity Ltd.
+972-9-899-3000
Dror.elkayam@attunity.com

SOURCE Attunity Ltd. and Qlik

Related Links

http://www.attunity.com

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Qlik to Acquire Attunity to Expand Enterprise Data Management and Enable Real-time Analytics

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Feb 21, 2019, 08:51 ET

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Fiserv / First Data Preposed Merger: Philly-area involvement

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Thu, 21 Feb 2019 05:14:00 +0000

Tom Paine

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The proposed Fiserv / First Data merger is a big deal in the fintech / payments processing world:

Number of Employees: Fiserv: 24,000 First Data: 22,000
Annual Sales: Fiserv: $5.7 billion (2017) First Data: $12.1 billion (2017)
Price Per Share: Fiserv: $84.73 (Nasdaq 2/20) First Data: $25.24 (NYSE 2/20)
Market Cap: Fiserv: $33.1 billion First Data: $23.6 billion

Its interesting that while Atlanta-based First Data has twice the revenue of Milwaukee-based Fiserv, its market capitalization is much less.

Its a big deal in the Philly area as well. Fiserv has 400+ employees here, per LinkedIn. First Data has 464.

Some of these positions are regional in nature, others are the result of M&A.

Early last year, Warburg Pincus LLC agreed to acquire a 55 percent stake in Fiserv's King of Prussia-based lending solutions business while Fiserv retained a 45 percent stake. As a result of the transaction, Fiserv received about $395 million. Later that year, it was rebranded as Sagent Lending Technologies.

In 2017, First Data agreed to buy King of Prussia -based CardConnect for $750 million.

Another Atlanta-based competitor, Global Payments, entered the fray in 2016 by acquiring formerly Princeton-based Heartland Payment Systems for $4.3 billion. Last year, it bought Langhorne-based quick service restaurant software vendor SICOM for

$415 million.

Atlanta, which has numerous employees on both sides of the deal, expects some

significant cuts after the merger is completed but more growth longer-term.

FIS (Fidelity National) , which acquired the former SunGard Financial business, is another player in this market.

Fiserv specializes in technology for electronic payments and debit and credit card transactions. First Data owns the cloud-based point-of-sale system Clover.

The deal is expected to close in the 3rd quarter. I haven't seen signs of significant regulatory barriers at this point.

Philly Enterprise Tech Highlights 2/18-19

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 20:02:00 +0000

Josh Kopelman has the VC pole position in hot California stsrtup Notion, and founder Ivan Zhao isn't looking for other investors right now.

Apple looked no place other than Microsoft to find an exec to lead its smart home business, playing catch up with Amazon and Google.

Malvern-based clinical trial tech startup YPrime announced a "significant investment" from Flexpoint Ford.

At Penn, a gene therapy pioneer finds a renewed calling as the field advances.

Wilmington-based student loan giant Navient rejects $3.2 billion takeover bid from Canyon Capital, Platinum Equity.

This enterprise software startup has VCs literally knocking on its doors to invest, but for now, it's not interested @joshk @firstround. https://t.co/IH6qvZeoIE via @businessinsider
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 16, 2019

Apple hires an ex-Microsoft exec to revamp its smart home business, and catch up to Google, Amazon https://t.co/seVsMGiLys
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 17, 2019

Malvern's #YPrime Announces Significant Investment from Flexpoint Ford. https://t.co/mm82roNRv4
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 17, 2019

Once a ‘refugee,’ a gene therapy pioneer finds a renewed calling as the field advances https://t.co/SlXelkp7ul via @statnews
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 18, 2019

New: Philly's Passage Bio, with relationship to Penn, raises $115.5 million in a Series A for rare diseases. https://t.co/M6geqD3bBF pic.twitter.com/N14yfMJwfg
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 19, 2019

Johnson & Johnson CEO on Apple Watch collaboration: 'Ultimately, we're going to save lives' https://t.co/DHiP2xJEUm
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 18, 2019

Navient rejects $3.2 billion takeover bid from Canyon Capital, Platinum Equity https://t.co/koGbpJEzt5 via @WSJ
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 19, 2019

Walmart's U.S. e-commerce sales up 43% in Q4, thanks to growing online grocery business https://t.co/ZFLMcsuW3T via @techcrunch
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 19, 2019

How healthcare is adjusting to a connected future https://t.co/V4b5u7R1s3 #mustreadblogs #feedly
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 19, 2019

Congrats to @Wharton alum @jackabraham, @AndrewDudum, @joespector and @wearehims for raising $100M in a round that now values the company at $1B. https://t.co/5c7JFyJvka
— Penn Wharton Entrepreneurship (@WhartonEntrep) February 19, 2019

Comcast Business TV Commercial, 'Beyond Fast: Seamless' - https://t.co/cA8GVRB1H7 #ispottv
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 17, 2019

Connotate Acquired By Calif.-based Import.io. Team Staying In New Jersey

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 16:48:00 +0000

CONNOTATE ACQUIRED BY CALIF.-BASED IMPORT.IO. TEAM STAYING IN NEW JERSEY
February 15, 2019

Esther Surden
Publisher & Editor, NJTechWeekly.com

Vincent Sgro, founder and CTO of Connotate | Courtesy Import.io

Connotate, the web-content-extraction startup in New Brunswick, has been acquired by Import.io, of Los Gatos, California. The two companies had been competitors.

According to Gina Cerami, who is now Import.io’s vice president of marketing, the “acquired team will continue to have an office in New Brunswick, New Jersey, although our headquarters will now be in California.” According to the Import.io website, the New Brunswick office will become Import.io’s East Coast center of operations.

The terms of the deal were not discussed.

Gina Cerami, now Import.io’s vice president of marketing, | Courtesy Import.io
Connotate describes itself as the market leader in massively scalable web content extraction. “Our combination of proven technology and real-world experience turns the web’s big data into a worldwide database for our customers,” the company says on its website.

“With Connotate, information service providers and other data-centric companies dramatically increase their content harvesting capacity, drive down their ongoing cost of content extraction, and radically reduce the complexity of their downstream data operations,” it continues.

Inport.io, a growth-stage startup, recently concluded a Series B funding round led by Talis Capital, a London-based venture capital firm. Connotate’s last round, in 2016, raised $11 million in follow-on funding led by Long River Ventures (Boston), with participation from existing shareholders .406 Ventures (Boston), Castile Ventures (Wellesley, Mass.), Fernwood Funding (Wilmington, Del.), Prism Venture Management (Westwood, Mass.) and other angels.

Almost all of Connotate’s team of 30 people are staying on with the new company. Kelley Scott, former director of software engineering at Connotate, will have the same position at Import.io, where she will be responsible for a significant portion of the expanded engineering team. Vincent Sgro, founder and CTO of Connotate, will join as chief scientist.

In a release, Import.io noted that Connotate would be contributing new technology, including eight patents. Import.io will consolidate this technology into a superset solution that will be available to all customers.

With the addition of more than 70 enterprise-class customers, including Dow Jones, Cox Automotive, Capital One Services and Moody’s Analytics Knowledge Services, Import.io’s customer base now exceeds 850 customers, including many of the largest companies in the world.

Gary Read, CEO of Import.io, stated that “external spend on web data extraction is growing 70 percent annually as organizations shift from internal engineering led projects to enterprise-class SaaS.

“This acquisition will help us to continue to rapidly scale to meet the exploding demand for our solution and, most importantly, will further enable us to help our customers achieve success and competitive advantage,” he added. “All customers, whether currently with Connotate or Import.io, will benefit.”

According to an Import.io FAQ page, Connotate customers will continue to use their Connotate solutions. Customer support will be provided by the combined Import.io team, but customers from Connotate will likely be dealing with the same individuals as before. In the longer term, Import.io will be developing a superset product so that all customers can take full advantage of the complete Import.io offering.

Esther Surden is Publisher and Editor of NJTechWeekly, and a contributor to Philly Tech News. This article originally appeared in NJTechWeekly , and is republished here with her permission.

Passage Bio Launches with $115.5 Million Series A to Develop AAV-Delivered Therapeutics to Treat Rare Monogenic CNS Diseases

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 14:03:00 +0000

Passage Bio Launches with $115.5 Million Series A to Develop AAV-Delivered Therapeutics to Treat Rare Monogenic CNS Diseases

Industry veterans Stephen Squinto, Ph.D. and Tachi Yamada, M.D. team up with gene therapy pioneer James Wilson, M.D., Ph.D. to launch new world-class CNS-focused gene therapy company

February 14, 2019 08:00 ET | Source: Passage Bio

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Passage Bio today debuted with a $115.5 million Series A financing led by OrbiMed Advisors and joined by Frazier Healthcare Partners, Versant Ventures, New Leaf Venture Partners, Vivo Capital and Lilly Asia Ventures. The funding will be used to develop a portfolio of five therapeutic candidates to treat rare monogenic CNS diseases. These programs are being developed under a research, collaboration and license agreement with the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and its Gene Therapy Program (GTP) together with the Penn Orphan Disease Center (ODC), with the support of co-founder James M. Wilson, M.D., Ph.D. Passage Bio also has an option to fund the preclinical development of up to seven additional rare monogenic CNS indication programs at the GTP and license new intellectual property arising from these programs from Penn.

Co-founder and interim Chief Executive Officer at Passage Bio, Stephen Squinto, Ph.D., is a Venture Partner at OrbiMed Advisors with more than 25 years of biotechnology industry experience. Dr. Squinto was a co-founder of Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. and recently served as its Executive Vice President and Chief Global Operations Officer. While at Alexion, Dr. Squinto was involved in the discovery, development and commercialization of Soliris, one of the world’s most successful orphan drug products for patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome and generalized myasthenia gravis.

“Passage Bio’s development portfolio presents an unparalleled opportunity to transform the lives of patients with rare monogenic CNS diseases,” said Dr. Squinto. “We look forward to continuing progress in this exciting field of therapeutics and advancing our lead programs in GM1 gangliosidosis and frontotemporal dementia into the clinic in early 2020.”

Co-founder and Chairman of the Board at Passage Bio, Tachi Yamada, M.D. is a Venture Partner at Frazier. Prior to joining Frazier he was Chief Medical and Scientific Officer at Takeda Pharmaceuticals and has served as Chairman of Research and Development at GlaxoSmithKline.

“We co-founded Passage Bio with a shared commitment to serving patients with high unmet needs. Both Dr. Wilson and I have been working in the gene therapy field for over 30 years, and this deep understanding will be instrumental as we grow and advance this new world-class gene therapy company,” said Dr. Yamada. “This financing will allow us to continue to build out our industry-leading team and advance our therapies into the clinic as rapidly as possible.”

Co-founder and Chief Scientific Advisor at Passage Bio, James M. Wilson, M.D., Ph.D., is Director, Gene Therapy Program; Rose H. Weiss Professor and Director, Orphan Disease Center; Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, Department of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Wilson’s laboratory has made seminal contributions to the technology of gene transfer and has paved the way for translation of these technologies into the clinic. He has published over 550 papers and is named on over 110 patents. After launching his faculty career in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Michigan, he moved to the University of Pennsylvania in 1993. Dr. Wilson completed his training in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Whitehead Institute, where he began his work in gene therapy.

“We believe this is a truly unique partnership, which gives Passage access to certain Penn AAV technologies developed at the GTP, our strong preclinical translational science capabilities and orphan drug development know-how,” said Dr. Wilson. “Our team at Penn is extremely experienced and has been on the cutting edge of AAV research for over 20 years. We are confident in this team’s ability to move new treatments for rare CNS monogenic diseases through clinical development in an effort to one day provide new treatment options for patients with chronic unmet needs with high mortality.”

Additional members of Passage Bio’s Board of Directors include Carl Gordon, managing partner of OrbiMed Advisors; Patrick Heron managing general partner at Frazier Healthcare Partners and Tom Woiwode, Ph.D., managing director at Versant Ventures.

Initial Indications: GM1 and FTD
GM1 gangliosidosis (GM1) is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder, caused by an inactivating mutation of the lysosomal enzyme β-galactosidase (GLB1), which is required for the degradation of GM1 ganglioside and keratan sulfate. The infantile type of GM1 is the most common and severe form of the disease, typically with gait abnormalities by four months of age and developmental regression by six months. Many infantile GM1 patients experience rapid regression with mortality by approximately two years of age. There are no disease modifying therapies for GM1.

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) typically presents in the sixth or seventh decade with progressive impairment of executive function, language and social interaction. These symptoms are associated with a characteristic pattern of neurodegeneration affecting the frontal and temporal cortices. In 5-10% of FTD patients, pathogenic loss-of-function mutations can be identified in the gene encoding progranulin, a ubiquitous lysosomal protein. Patients universally exhibit a progressive course, with an average survival of eight years from symptom onset. There are currently no disease modifying therapies for FTD.

About Passage Bio
Passage Bio is a fully integrated gene therapy company with a mission to develop a portfolio of five life-transforming AAV-delivered therapeutics for the treatment of rare monogenic central nervous system diseases. The company is based in Philadelphia, PA and has a research, collaboration and license agreement with the University of Pennsylvania and its Gene Therapy Program (GTP) as well as the Orphan Disease Center (ODC). Pursuant to the research collaboration, GTP conducts IND-enabling preclinical work, and Passage Bio is responsible for clinical development, regulatory, manufacturing and commercialization of all product candidates. The ODC is responsible for natural history studies, KOL engagement, and patient advocacy outreach. The company recently completed a $115.5 million Series A financing with investments from OrbiMed, Frazier Healthcare Partners, Versant Ventures, New Leaf Venture Partners, Vivo Capital and Lilly Asia Ventures.

Penn’s Financial Disclaimer
Dr. Wilson, the Wilson Family Trust, Julie Johnston, and Monique Molloy, all from Penn, hold founder shares in Passage Bio. Penn and GTP will receive sponsored research funding from Passage Bio, and as an inventor of the licensed technology Dr. Wilson and Penn may receive additional financial benefits under the license in the future. Penn also holds an equity interest in Passage Bio, and Dr. Wilson is compensated for his scientific advisory position.

For further information, please contact:

Sarah McCabe
Stern Investor Relations, Inc.
212-362-1200
sarah@sternir.com

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Philly's Passage Bio, with relationship to Penn, raises $115.5 million in a Series A for rare diseases

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 03:16:00 +0000

Tom Paine

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James M. Wison / Penn Today

Philadelphia-based Passage Bio has raised $115.5 million in a Series A to develop cures for rare diseases , led by OrbiMed Advisors.

The funding will bd used to develop five therapeutic compounds to treat rare monogenic diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). Passage Bio has a license agreement with the University of Pennsylvania and its Gene Therapy Program along with the Penn Orphan Disease Center (ODC). James M. Wilson, a professor of Medicine at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine, is the company's co-founder and chief scientific advisor. Wilson is a pioneer in the gene therapy field.

Under the terms of their agreement, UPenn conducts the preclinical research, while Passage is responsible for clinical testing and eventual commercialization.

Last year’s approval US approval of the first viral-based gene therapy, Spark Therapeutics’ Luxturna, opened the door to others in the field.

“We believe this is a truly unique partnership, which gives Passage access to certain Penn AAV technologies developed at the GTP, our strong preclinical translational science capabilities and orphan drug development know-how,” said Dr. Wilson in a statement. “Our team at Penn is extremely experienced and has been on the cutting edge of AAV research for over 20 years. We are confident in this team’s ability to move new treatments for rare CNS monogenic diseases through clinical development in an effort to one day provide new treatment options for patients with chronic unmet needs with high mortality.”

Philly EnterpriseTech People News 2/17/2019: From Dorm Room Fund to Bessemer Partner; NBC/ Telemundo exec on Walmart board

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Sun, 17 Feb 2019 16:28:00 +0000

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Talia Goldberg just became the newest partner at Bessemer Venture Partners https://t.co/J9gOCdWwJf via @techcrunch
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 11, 2019

Talia Goldberg started @FirstRound DormRoomFund founding partner at Penn.

Walmart Board of Directors Adds Cesar Conde, Chairman of NBCUniversal International Group and NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises
https://t.co/E80hqM3v3z
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 17, 2019

Petplan fetches new CEO https://t.co/PInDEPIG66 via @PHLBizJournal
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) January 24, 2019

CNN on Richard Vague's possible Presidential run.

New CEO for Teaneck’s Cognizant; Humphries to Replace D’Souza Who Cofounded Company https://t.co/TtInvLrS3d
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 18, 2019

Apple hires an ex-Microsoft exec to revamp its smart home business, and catch up to Google, Amazon https://t.co/seVsMGiLys
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 17, 2019

Mark Dzuban: A Decade at the Helm of SCTE | Light Reading https://t.co/0s1jAp2wzp via @Light_Reading
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) January 26, 2019

IPR Secure Announces Management Promotions https://t.co/cB88z9hrdB
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 18, 2019

As our goals continue to grow, so does our team. We're excited to welcome @RobScottJohnson to N3rd Street Gamers!

The former Vice President and Head of Business at Jackbox Games, Rob will join us as our Chief Marketing Officer
More about Rob here: https://t.co/X4ZXJopoMT

pic.twitter.com/CJTj1OH1Wk
— N3rd Street Gamers (@N3rdStGamers) January 29, 2019

AlphaPoint Nabs R3’s Grayson for Enterprise Sales https://t.co/RDQsxN82gu
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 18, 2019

Commvault announces Mirchandani, a leading IT executive, will replace retiring CEO Hammer https://t.co/OiM2IobdvA
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 5, 2019

FIDATO PARTNERS EXPANDS LEADERSHIP TEAM WITH NEW PROMOTIONS https://t.co/hm98dF9TLj
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 18, 2019

— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 17, 2019

USA Technologies Names Glen Goold Interim CFO https://t.co/Wg47FyS4U6 via @rttnews @Nasdaq
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 18, 2019

Agilence names Katz its new CFO https://t.co/lCQqBgs509
— Tom Paine (@phillytechnews) February 18, 2019

Google Blog: Investing across the U.S. in 2019

noreply@blogger.com (philly tech) — Sat, 16 Feb 2019 20:39:00 +0000

Investing across the U.S. in 2019

Origin: https://www.blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/investing-13-billion-2019/

One year ago this week, I was in Montgomery County, Tennessee to break ground for a new data center in Clarksville. It was clear from the excitement at the event that the jobs and economic investment meant a great deal to the community. I’ve seen that same optimism in communities around the country that are helping to power our digital economy. And I’m proud to say that our U.S. footprint is growing rapidly: In the last year, we’ve hired more than 10,000 people in the U.S. and made over $9 billion in investments. Our expansion across the U.S. has been crucial to finding great new talent, improving the services that people use every day, and investing in our business.

Today we’re announcing over $13 billion in investments throughout 2019 in data centers and offices across the U.S., with major expansions in 14 states. These new investments will give us the capacity to hire tens of thousands of employees, and enable the creation of more than 10,000 new construction jobs in Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia. With this new investment, Google will now have a home in 24 total states, including data centers in 13 communities. 2019 marks the second year in a row we’ll be growing faster outside of the Bay Area than in it.

This growth will allow us to invest in the communities where we operate, while we improve the products and services that help billions of people and businesses globally. Our new data center investments, in particular, will enhance our ability to provide the fastest and most reliable services for all our users and customers. As part of our commitment to our 100 percent renewable energy purchasing, we’re also making significant renewable energy investments in the U.S. as we grow. Our data centers make a significant economic contribution to local communities, as do the associated $5 billion in energy investments that our energy purchasing supports.

Here’s a closer look at the investments we’re making state by state:

Midwest
We’re continuing to expand our presence in Chicago and are developing new data centers in Ohio and Nebraska. The Wisconsin office is set to move into a larger space in the next few months—and last November we opened a Detroit office in Little Caesars Arena, where you can see into the space where the Detroit Red Wings play.

detroit office opening
Googlers and partners at our office opening in Detroit last November

South
With new office and data center development, our workforce in Virginia will double. And with a new office in Georgia, our workforce will double there as well. Data centers in Oklahoma and South Carolina will expand, and we’re developing a new office and data center in Texas.

ribbon cutting
Opening one of our data centers last year.

Northeast
Massachusetts has one of our largest sales and engineering communities outside of the Bay Area, and we’re building new office space there. In New York, the Google Hudson Square campus—a major product, engineering and business hub—will come to life over the next couple of years.
West
We’ll open our first data center in Nevada and will expand our Washington office, a key product and engineering hub. In addition to investments in the Bay Area, our investments in California continue with the redevelopment of the Westside Pavillion, and the Spruce Goose Hangar in the Los Angeles area.

googlers
Googlers at work. Our investments this year will go toward expansions in data centers and offices across the U.S.

All of this growth is only possible with our local partners. Thank you for welcoming Google into your communities—we look forward to working together to grow our economy and support jobs in the U.S.

POSTED IN: COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENTS PUBLIC POLICY

Philly Enterprise Tech News

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Spark Therapeutics Enters into Definitive Merger Agreement with Roche (Prees Release)

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This week in Philly Tech History 2004: Comcast makes surprise $66 billion bid for Disney

PE Hub Buyouts: Reports: InstaMed seeking buyer

Qlik to Acquire Attunity to Expand Enterprise Data Management and Enable Real-time Analytics (Press Release)

Fiserv / First Data Preposed Merger: Philly-area involvement

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Connotate Acquired By Calif.-based Import.io. Team Staying In New Jersey

Passage Bio Launches with $115.5 Million Series A to Develop AAV-Delivered Therapeutics to Treat Rare Monogenic CNS Diseases

Passage Bio Launches with $115.5 Million Series A to Develop AAV-Delivered Therapeutics to Treat Rare Monogenic CNS Diseases

Industry veterans Stephen Squinto, Ph.D. and Tachi Yamada, M.D. team up with gene therapy pioneer James Wilson, M.D., Ph.D. to launch new world-class CNS-focused gene therapy company

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Philly's Passage Bio, with relationship to Penn, raises $115.5 million in a Series A for rare diseases

Philly EnterpriseTech People News 2/17/2019: From Dorm Room Fund to Bessemer Partner; NBC/ Telemundo exec on Walmart board

Google Blog: Investing across the U.S. in 2019