Venturefizz VC Funding and M&A Activity

128 Technology Raises $20M in Funding

Keith Cline — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 14:16:00 +0000

Date:

12/09/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

As reported by Xconomy, 128 Technology in Burlington, MA has raised $20M in funding. 128 Technology is a stealth startup led by Andy Ory and other Acme Packet veterans. READ MORE

Location:

Burlington, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1XW0jfP

Company Website:

http://www.128technology.com

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Ve Interactive Acquires eBay Enterprise Marketing Solutions Display Retargeting Business

Keith Cline — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 01:31:58 +0000

Date:

12/07/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Ve Interactive, a world-leading technology company that provides an integrated digital advertising and onsite conversion platform, has acquired the Display Retargeting business from eBay Enterprise Marketing Solutions. eBay Enterprise Marketing Solutions recently launched as an independent company backed by Banneker Partners and the Permira Funds.

The acquisition marks a major milestone in Ve’s ongoing expansion as a global eCommerce technology company, increasing Ve’s client base to more than 10,000 online businesses. All employees from the eBay Enterprise Display Retargeting business will be retained, bringing Ve’s total staff to over 850 across 34 offices worldwide, and Ve will continue to manage all client accounts...READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1NH0XTk

Company Profile Link:

Ve Interactive

Company Website:

http://www.veinteractive.com

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Twine Health Closes $6.75M Series A Financing

Keith Cline — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 20:44:38 +0000

Date:

12/07/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Twine Health today closed its series A financing totaling $6.75M, propelling the company's mission to make its health coaching platform the linchpin of value-based care. Twine is coming off a foundational 2015 having engineered its platform for large-scale commercial deployment, performed clinical pilots with unprecedented outcomes and made key management hires in marketing and sales. Going into 2016, Twine is poised to achieve rapid adoption of its health coaching platform by care delivery organizations that are assuming financial risk for the health of their population. This bold mission comes at a time when industry analysts are singling out health coaches (or "practice extenders") as the key to transforming patient care over the next five years...READ MORE

Location:

Cambridge, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1NBY7Dt

Company Website:

http://www.twinehealth.com/

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Masabi Raises $12M in Funding

Keith Cline — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 20:39:20 +0000

Date:

12/07/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Masabi is a UK based company with North American headquarters based in Boston.

Masabi, the global leader in mobile ticketing and innovative fare collection for transportation, today announced a $12 million funding round with investment from leading international public transport operator Keolis, Lepe Partners, MasterCard, and existing investor MMC Ventures. This latest round, including corporate partners for the first time, marks a step change in Masabi’s growth and speed to market.

Masabi’s JustRide platform is a cloud-based, end-to-end mobile ticketing and fare collection system, in use in cities worldwide. It comprises award-winning apps for ticket purchase, display and inspection, together with back-end infrastructure for secure payments, ticket management, ticket inspection, customer service, reporting and real-time analytics. Masabi works with more than 22 transport operators and agencies around the world, including: Virgin Trains, Abellio, Thames Clippers, New Orleans RTA, Boston’s MBTA... READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1N7pbcg

Company Website:

http://www.masabi.com

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Silverlink Acquired by Welltok

Keith Cline — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 04:25:53 +0000

Date:

12/03/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Welltok, a leading consumer health enterprise Platform as a Service company, continues its rapid growth with the strategic acquisition of Silverlink, a leading healthcare consumer communications company. To support part of the acquisition, ongoing product development and market expansion, Welltok secured $45 million in funding from venture firms Georgian Partners, EDBI* and Flare Capital Partners, as well as a number of existing institutional and strategic investors.

Welltok’s CaféWell Health Optimization Platform™, combined with Silverlink’s proactive engagement technology platform and services, will enable population health managers, including health plans, at-risk providers, government programs (Medicare and Medicaid) and large employers, to reach and influence all types of consumers on an individual level. More so, it creates multi-channel Personal Health Itineraries™ for every user and enables communication through the consumers’ preferred modalities, including wearables, email, web, mobile, SMS text, phone or direct mail...READ MORE

Location:

Burlington, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1Q4noIo

Company Profile Link:

Silverlink Communications

Company Website:

http://www.silverlink.com

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Codeship Raises $1.5M in Funding

Keith Cline — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 03:09:09 +0000

Date:

12/03/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Boston, Mass. (December 03, 2015) – Codeship, a web-based continuous delivery service for testing and deploying code, today announced a funding round of $1.5 million from new and existing investors. This latest investment, mostly from existing investors like Sigma Prime Ventures, Boston Seed Capital and F-Prime Capital, brings the total funding raised till date to $4.4 million. Codeship was created to automate and simplify the process of release engineering, and this latest round will further accelerate the company’s growth and momentum.

Codeship has seen significant growth in the past four years, having supported more than 8 million builds. Companies in over 70 countries have taken advantage of the speed in which Codeship’s continuous delivery and continuous integration solutions enable deployment; Codeship has supported millions of technology builds...READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1Q4gW4g

Company Profile Link:

Codeship

Company Website:

https://codeship.com/

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Bevi Raises $6.5M Series A Round of Funding

Keith Cline — Thu, 03 Dec 2015 03:15:09 +0000

Date:

12/02/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Bevi (www.bevi.co), the Boston-based start-up that develops smart beverage machines, has announced a $6.5M Series A led by Horizons Ventures, the Hong Kong based private investment fund of Mr. Li Ka-shing.

Bevi was founded in 2013 by graduates of MIT and RISD with the environmental mission of making every beverage available without a plastic bottle. Bevi's first product is a water cooler for offices that lets users create a variety of still, sparkling, and naturally flavored drinks, all based on filtered tap water. The company has developed a cloud-based system to remotely monitor and control its beverage machines...READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://prn.to/1RokNIN

Company Website:

http://www.bevi.co

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LovePop Raises $2.6M in Funding

Keith Cline — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 14:50:44 +0000

Date:

12/01/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

As per SEC filings, LovePop in Boston has raised $2.6M towards a round of funding that could reach $3.4M. LovePop sells exquisite 3D pop-up greeting cards and they are a Harvard Innovation Lab spinout and Techstars' grad... READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://1.usa.gov/1MTZZWA

Company Website:

http://www.lovepopcards.com/

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Jibo Raises Funding From Fenox Venture Capital

Keith Cline — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 14:45:49 +0000

Date:

12/01/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Fenox Venture Capital announces its investment in Jibo – the World’s First Social Robot. With this investment, Jibo plans to expand its global reach and further develop Jibo’s skills.

Fenox VC’s strategic investment will help Jibo bring its “social robot” to more households across the globe. Through Fenox VC, Jibo Inc. has partnered with SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS, and CAC Holdings – who will help the company expand its sales and marketing to key regions globally.

“These partnerships will bring great innovation not only to Japan but also around the world,” said Anis Uzzaman, General Partner at Fenox Venture Capital. “Fenox VC will continue to partner with innovative startups and bridge the gap between Japan and Silicon Valley, and eventually the world...READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1Oturt0

Company Profile Link:

Jibo

Company Website:

https://www.jibo.com/

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Datadog Raises $15M

jackmulvaney — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 17:14:21 +0000

Date:

02/05/2014 (All day)

Teaser:

Boston-based OpenView Ventures announced yesterday that they led a Series B round of funding for Datadog, a monitoring and data analytics platform with offices in Boston & NYC.

In all, the company raised $15M with Index Ventures, RTP Ventures, Amplify Partners, IA Ventures, and Contour Ventures joining the round as well.

In addition to the funding announcement, the press release stated that OpenView’s Managing Director Dev Ittycheria will join Datadog’s board of directors. Ittycheria was previously the founder and CEO of BladeLogic.

The company plans to use the latest financing to develop “the next-generation monitoring platform for highly scalable cloud infrastructure.”

Additionally, Datadog will also be adding new members to the team, especially in its engineering department. The company also plans to grow its sales and marketing teams in New York and Boston.

As Ittycheria said in the press release, “Increasingly organizations are shifting their computing workloads from static on-premise infrastructure to elastically scaling clouds.”

“Easily adding and changing compute capacity is a major benefit of the cloud, but also introduces a level of dynamism that overwhelms legacy monitoring systems,” he added. “Datadog has created a monitoring platform that has been explicitly designed to monitor highly elastic compute environments on public or private clouds as well as to support traditional computing infrastructure.”

The new funding kicks off a new year that hopes to match a very successful 2013. Last year, Datadog added hundreds of new customers and brought over 30,000 servers onto its monitoring service.

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://venturefizz.com/blog/datadog-raises-15m-monitoring-data-analytics-platfor...

Company Profile Link:

Datadog

Company Website:

http://datadoghq.com/

Logo:

Paradigm4 Raises Funding

Keith Cline — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 17:00:43 +0000

Date:

11/30/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Today Paradigm4 announced that Golden Seeds, one of the nation’s most-active, early-stage investment companies, has participated in the company’s Series A funding. Golden Seeds joins Sigma Partners and Kepha Partners who have backed Paradigm4 since its inception.

Golden Seeds focuses on investing in women-led companies. Paradigm4’s CEO is Marilyn Matz, She co-founded Paradigm4 with MIT Professor Michael Stonebraker, Turing Award winner, leading database researcher, and serial entrepreneur. Prior to Paradigm4, Marilyn co-founded the publicly traded Cognex Corporation.

Traction in Life Sciences attracts investment

Paradigm4 has shown traction in its two primary industry verticals: Life Sciences Informatics and Financial Markets. Paradigm4 counts among...READ MORE

Location:

Waltham, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1TgkNsJ

Company Website:

http://www.paradigm4.com

Logo:

Placester Announces $20M Series C

joshboyle — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 14:11:11 +0000

Date:

11/24/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Placester announced its Series C today - a $20M round led by NEA, which also led the Series B. This round brings the company's total capital to over $50M. Placester enables the professionals who power residential real estate - real estate agents and brokers - to leverage the power of technology for the benefit of their businesses. With this round, we are truly the best-positioned company (capital and customers) to fulfill this mission at scale. Our partnerships this year with Keller Williams and Remax - the 2 largest real estate brands - are a testament to how the real estate industry (which is the largest industry in every city and state in this country) has embraced us. SOURCE

RELATED:
Placester: Making Real Estate Marketing Easy. Boston Startup Shows Exciting Growth

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1lfKXkg

Company Profile Link:

Placester

Company Website:

https://placester.com

Logo:

Mimecast Goes Public

Keith Cline — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 12:50:44 +0000

Date:

11/19/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Nasdaq, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) announced that trading of Mimecast Ltd (Nasdaq:MIME) commenced on The Nasdaq Stock Market on November 19, 2015.

Mimecast is a leading provider of next generation cloud-based security and risk management services that make business email safer. Mimecast protects over 15,000 customers in more than 100 countries and has offices in the U.S., the UK, South Africa and Australia. The company's proprietary cloud services for email and data security, continuity and archiving give customers comprehensive protection in a single subscription service.

"With email and data security a growing concern for businesses, Mimecast's sophisticated, integrated cloud services provide a valuable risk management tool for companies of all sizes," said Nelson Griggs, Executive Vice President, Listing Services, Nasdaq. "We at Nasdaq are excited to welcome Mimecast to our family, and we look forward to supporting the company as it continues to innovate... READ MORE

Location:

Watertown, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1T9Mxjl

Company Profile Link:

Mimecast

Company Website:

http://mimecast.com

Logo:

Freebird Raises $3.5M

joshboyle — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 17:54:11 +0000

Date:

11/20/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Per Sara Castellanos at BBJ Freebird iraised $3.5 million in funding from General Catalyst, Accomplice, Slow Ventures and angel investors. READ MORE from BBJ

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1O7R99F

Company Profile Link:

Freebird

Company Website:

https://www.getfreebird.com

Logo:

WEX Acquires Benaissance

joshboyle — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 15:20:00 +0000

Date:

11/19/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

WEX Inc. (NYSE: WEX), a leading provider of corporate payment solutions, today announced the completion of its acquisition of Benaissance, a leading provider of integrated software-as-a-service (SaaS) technologies and services for healthcare premium billing, payment and workflow management. Benaissance is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of WEX and will be part of the Evolution1 business unit.

“The close of this transaction advances our strategy to grow our reach and enhance our offering in the healthcare space,” said Melissa Smith, WEX’s president and chief executive officer. “The addition of Benaissance builds on the success we have already had in this industry, by enhancing our addressable market opportunity while enabling us to provide an expanded and differentiated solution to our partners. We are pleased to be welcoming Benaissance’s team to WEX and look forward to the opportunities this transaction will bring for the combined business.”

On October 15, 2015, WEX announced plans to acquire Benaissance.

About WEX Inc.

WEX Inc. (NYSE: WEX) is a leading provider of corporate payment solutions. From its roots in fleet card payments beginning in 1983, WEX has expanded the scope of its business into a multi-channel provider of corporate payment solutions representing more than 9 million vehicles and offering exceptional payment security and control across a wide spectrum of business sectors. WEX serves a global set of customers and partners through its operations around the world, with offices in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany, Norway, and Singapore. WEX and its subsidiaries employ more than 2,000 associates. The Company has been publicly traded since 2005, and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “WEX.” For more information, visit www.wexinc.com and follow WEX on Twitter at @WEXIncNews.

Location:

Maine

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1SHQiMb

Company Website:

http://www.wexinc.com

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Jibo Acquires CloudKid

joshboyle — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 21:35:34 +0000

Date:

11/18/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

In 2009 when we started CloudKid, we set out to create an artist-driven studio that took risks, collaborated with top talent, and found the sweet spot where technology meets creative. Above all, we wanted freedom to work on internal projects that inspired us and challenged us to grow, even in the thick of client productions. Our initial team was small, dedicated and very passionate about children’s media.

READ MORE from CloudKid....

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1WZBeQE

Company Profile Link:

Jibo

Company Website:

https://www.jibo.com

Logo:

Cogito Raises $5.5 Million Series A

joshboyle — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 13:49:44 +0000

Date:

11/17/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Cogito Corporation – an innovator in real-time behavioral analytics for customer engagement, today announced the company has raised $5.5 million in Series A funding to expand its sales, marketing and customer success teams. Romulus Capital led the funding round, with participation from Salesforce Ventures.

“Cogito’s behavioral analytics technology is grounded in research from the MIT Media Lab, has been validated through DARPA and has been proven effective through commercial deployments. The solution helps customer care organizations increase customer satisfaction, decrease agent churn and improve productivity through more empathetic and caring conversations,” noted Krishna K. Gupta, Managing Partner of Romulus Capital. “Our experience has shown there is high demand for companies that can process complex data and produce real-time, actionable insights. We are all very excited about this partnership.”

“Our core mission is to improve quality of life for the millions of phone professionals and the billions of customers they serve. The investments from Romulus Capital and Salesforce Ventures will help us realize that ambition,” said Cogito CEO and Founder, Joshua Feast. “Our technology uncovers behavioral signals within the human voice and provides insight into the quality of conversations for agents and management.”

Cogito provides real-time behavioral guidance to customer service representatives, enabling them to improve their communication style, while building a more trusting relationship with their customers. Cogito software delivers instant and objective insights into customers’ levels of engagement for every phone-based interaction. This empowers phone professionals to deliver a more engaging and caring customer experience, which ultimately improves both quality of service and sales performance.

About Cogito Corporation:

Cogito enhances customer relationships through caring and empathetic conversations. Our lead application Cogito Dialog improves customer service agent performance by presenting them with real-time behavioral guidance. The Cogito Engagement Score provides an objective and reliable measure of quality on 100% of selected phone interactions a company has with its customers. Cogito is increasing customer engagement and improving productivity in the world’s leading organizations.

For more information visit www.cogitocorp.com

About Romulus Capital

Romulus Capital is a venture capital firm focused on building, rather than betting on, the next big technology and science-enabled companies. The firm partners with entrepreneurs looking to become industry leaders and works with them to build world-class teams, win major customers, iterate on product, and think strategically about building a strong foundation. The firm was founded out of MIT in 2008. More information is available at http://www.romuluscap.com.

About Salesforce Ventures

Salesforce Ventures — Salesforce’s corporate investment group — invests in the next generation of enterprise technology to help companies connect with their customers in entirely new ways. Portfolio companies receive funding as well as access to the world’s largest cloud ecosystem and the guidance of Salesforce’s innovators and executives. With Salesforce Ventures, portfolio companies can also leverage the expertise of the Salesforce Foundation to incorporate its 1-1-1 model of integrated philanthropy to make giving back part of their business model. Salesforce has invested in more than 150 enterprise cloud startups since 2009. For more information, please visit www.salesforce.com/ventures

Location:

Boston, MA

Company Profile Link:

Cogito Corporation

Company Website:

http://www.cogitocorp.com

Logo:

Datto Closes $75 Million Series B Round

joshboyle — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 13:01:38 +0000

Date:

11/17/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Datto, an innovative provider of comprehensive data backup, recovery and business continuity solutions, today announced it has raised $75 million in a Series B investment round led by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), a leading provider of capital to growth-stage private and public companies in the technology industry. The company will use the proceeds from the investment round to continue to invest in its global expansion and to accelerate product innovation to support its thousands of partners worldwide. The Series B brings total investments in Datto to just over $100 million.

“Today is a great day for our managed service provider partners and customers,” said Datto founder and CEO Austin McChord. “Datto is proud to be adding TCV as an investment partner. TCV brings a wealth of experience and expertise to help us continue to grow, innovate and expand globally.”

“Since we are cash flow positive, Datto isn’t raising capital to fund operations, but instead, to enter new markets and build new products and technology,” McChord continued. “With this new investment, Datto is excited to be pushing ahead to build new technology and improve the experience for our MSPs and end users around the world.”

The financing comes as Datto is achieving record year-over-year revenue growth, rapidly expanding into EMEA and APAC, and launching additional solutions for its extensive partner network and customer base. Datto manages more than 160 petabytes of data and more than one million backups a week for its customers. Datto’s Total Data Protection Platform protects customers’ business data no matter where it lives - on premises, in virtual or physical servers, or in cloud-based SaaS applications.

“From our first meeting with Datto, we were impressed with the company’s innovation and leadership team, and we knew we wanted to play a role in moving this company forward,” said Ted Coons, general partner at TCV and new Datto board member. “Cloud-based data protection holds great promise in ensuring information is always accessible and recoverable as more organizations conduct business in the cloud, and Datto has a tremendous opportunity to grow internationally in meeting this need.”

In addition to Coons joining Datto’s board of directors, Datto also added two board additional members: Patrick Gray, a board director of Civitas Solutions, Inc.; and Ursula Burns, Chairman and CEO of Xerox Corporation. They are joining a board that includes McChord; non-executive Chairman Paul Sagan, the former CEO of Akamai Technologies; and Steve Herrod, former CTO of VMware and currently a Managing Director of General Catalyst Partners, which led Datto’s Series A financing.

Coons has nearly two decades of experience investing in multiple technology sectors, with a deep focus on IT infrastructure. Gray has served on the board of Sancilio Pharmaceuticals since February 2012, and on the board of Civitas since September 2014, after nearly four decades with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Burns has served as Xerox’s CEO since 2009, following her success in other prominent leadership positions for the company. Burns is also a member of the board of directors of American Express Company and Exxon Mobil Corporation.

About Technology Crossover Ventures

Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), founded in 1995, is a leading provider of capital to growth-stage private and public companies in the technology industry. With nearly $10 billion in capital raised, TCV has invested in more than 200 technology companies over the last 20 years. Selected investments include Altiris, C|NET, ExactTarget, Expedia, Facebook, Fandango, FX Alliance, GoDaddy, Genesys Software, Groupon, HomeAway, Netflix, RealNetworks, Redback Networks, Rent the Runway, RiskMetrics Group, Sitecore, Splunk, Spotify, Thinkorswim, VICE Media, and Zillow. TCV is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with offices in New York and London. For more information about TCV, including a complete list of TCV investments, please visit www.tcv.com.

About Datto

Datto is an innovative provider of comprehensive backup, recovery and business continuity solutions used by thousands of managed service providers worldwide. Datto’s 160+ PB private cloud and family of software and hardware devices provide Total Data Protection everywhere business data lives. Whether your data is on-premises in a physical or virtual server, or in the cloud via SaaS applications, only Datto offers end-to-end recoverability and single-vendor accountability. Founded in 2007 by Austin McChord, Datto is privately held and profitable, with venture backing by General Catalyst Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures. In 2015 McChord was named to the Forbes “30 under 30” ranking of top young entrepreneurs.

Location:

Boston, MA

Company Website:

http://datto.com

Logo:

ThinkingPhones Acquires Leading Cloud Video Conferencing Company Fuze

Keith Cline — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 16:26:12 +0000

Date:

11/16/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

ThinkingPhones, an innovator in developing mobile-enabled, analytics-driven business communications and the fastest growing unified communications as a service (UCaaS) company globally, announced today that it has acquired Fuze, the leading cloud-based video conferencing company. With Fuze, ThinkingPhones expands its platform to enable the modern, mobile workforce to conduct business anytime, anywhere.

Based in San Francisco with additional offices in Palo Alto and Seattle, Fuze helps distributed teams work across distances through HD-quality voice and video conferencing and content sharing across devices, desktops, and meeting rooms. More than 100,000 companies use Fuze to make meetings more meaningful, including Groupon, Starbucks, Macys.com, and Thoughtworks... READ MORE

Location:

Cambridge, MA

Source URL:

https://thinkingphones.com/resource-post/thinkingphones-acquires-leading-cloud-v...

Company Profile Link:

ThinkingPhones

Company Website:

https://thinkingphones.com

Logo:

PatientPing Raises $9.6M in Funding

Keith Cline — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 16:20:20 +0000

Date:

11/16/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

As reported by MedCity News:

A group of entrepreneurs developing a network so that different healthcare facilities can more easily share patient information has completed $9.6 million fundraise in a two part Series A round led by Google Ventures and FPrime Capital. PatientPing will use the funding to increase the number of states where it has a presence and to add staff.

Other investors that contributed to the round include First Round Capital and SV Angel.

Providers receive “Pings,” real-time notifications, whenever their patients receive care at any facility that is a part of the national PatientPing network. At the facility where patients are getting care, providers receive guidelines that include contact information for others on the patient’s care team, helpful instructions from the care team, and patient visit histories. The idea is that by sharing this information when it is needed, providers will seamlessly coordinate their patient’s care... READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://medcitynews.com/2015/11/sharing-patient-data-care-coordination

Company Profile Link:

PatientPing

Company Website:

http://www.patientping.com

Logo:

MAVRCK Closes $5 Million

joshboyle — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 01:47:54 +0000

Date:

11/13/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Fueled By a Year of Rapid Growth, Micro-Influencer Marketing Company to Use Funding to Change the Way Brands Engage on Social

MAVRCK, the micro-influencer marketing platform for premier brands, today announced that it has raised $5 million in venture funding from Kepha Partners and GrandBanks Capital. The company, which powers brands to both identify and activate their most influential consumers at scale across multiple social networks, will use the funding to accelerate its growth as it continues to change the way brands engage consumers on social.

“MAVRCK is transforming digital marketing and advertising through its ability to drive measureable conversions on social and deliver authentic, targeted audience engagement independent of ad-blocking software and changes to social networks’ algorithms,”said Jo Tango, founder and partner, Kepha Partners. “As consumers’ use of social media continues to grow and mature, thecompany’s white-label micro-influencer marketing platform is one of the most effective ways to help brands reach their target customers and drive real business results.”

This funding, which brings the company’s total amount raised to $8.3 million, is just the latest milestone in a year filled with significant achievements. Along with opening its new headquarters and nearly tripling its team in size, MAVRCK officially launched its free Fan Grader analysis tool for brands to identify influential Facebook fans. The Company was awarded U.S. Patent 9026594 for the algorithm driving the company’s influencer activation engine, and unveiled its Instagram integration to its platform, analyzing more than one million posts in just the first two weeks of launching.

“Over the last year, we’ve focused on validating the micro-influencer model at scale with a number of leading brands and strategic industries,” said Lyle Stevens, CEO and co-founder, MAVRCK. “Now that we’ve proven one micro-influencer can get three friends to convert around a brand’s marketing objective, we’ve raised additional funding to grow our team in order to expand aggressively within target industries.”

Since December 2014, MAVRCK has grown its impressive customer roster to include more than 30 premier brands such as Gillette, Hershey’s, Bota Box, Hydro Flask and major agency partnerships with Mullen Lowe and GroupM, among others. MAVRCK has also activated more than 1 million micro-influencers to help companies to drive word-of-mouth at scale across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

“Working with MAVRCK, we’ve been able to engage 600% more consumers than the Tom’s of Maine official Facebook page and Instagram accounts combined,” said Bridget M. Burns, social media strategist, Tom’s of Maine, a leader in natural personal care. “This has helped us outperform paid social media engagement, while collecting valuable feedback on our products and company from our most influential customers. We continue to use MAVRCK’s platform as an always-on strategy that enables us to regularly engage and interact with our micro-influencers, who are helping us spread our passion for goodness.”

For more information on MAVRCK’s micro-influencer marketing platform, which was recently recognized as MassTLC’s 2015 Innovative Technology of the Year in the Sales & Marketing category, please visit: www.mavrck.co.

About MAVRCK

MAVRCK’s micro-influencer marketing platform powers premier consumer brands to drive word-of-mouth at scale on social media. The company’s proprietary influencer activation engine is trusted by premier brands to identify and activate their most influential customers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For more information, please visit www.mavrck.co or email founders@mavrck.co.

Location:

Boston, MA

Company Website:

http://www.mavrck.co

Logo:

Appcast Raises $5 Million

joshboyle — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 18:49:50 +0000

Date:

11/12/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Lebanon, New Hampshire-based Appcast, a pay-per-applicant job ad exchange, has raised $5 million in funding. Point Judith Capital led the round with participation from IrishAngels and Baird Capital. In conjunction with the funding, Sean Marsh, co-founder and general partner of Point Judith Capital, has been added to Appcast’s board of directors.

READ MORE

Location:

New Hampshire

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1iXwQyN

Company Profile Link:

Appcast

Company Website:

http://www.appcast.io

Logo:

CrowdComfort Raises $1.4M

jackmulvaney — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 17:54:17 +0000

Date:

11/06/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

A startup that may have solved the problem of keeping the temperature comfortable for everyone at work (at last!) has raised $1.4 million to expand its approach to more places.

The company, Somerville’s CrowdComfort, has developed a messaging app that lets employees convey when they’ve encountered a problem in the office to the right person. Importantly, the startup has also come up with an indoor mapping approach that relays the precise location where the issue is taking place.

READ MORE from BostInno

Location:

Somerville, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1SvzBUR

Company Profile Link:

CrowdComfort

Company Website:

http://crowdcomfort.com/

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Perfecto Raises $35 Million

joshboyle — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 18:00:00 +0000

Date:

11/11/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Perfecto Mobile, the leader in enabling high-quality digital and mobile experiences for enterprises, today announced it has raised a $35 million investment from new investor Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), with continued participation from existing investors FTV Capital, Carmel Ventures, Globespan Capital Partners and Vertex Ventures. The latest capital infusion will fuel the expansion of Perfecto’s product offerings, which address the need for enterprises to continuously test and monitor their mobile and digital user experiences on real devices under real end-user conditions.

Along with a new round of investment, Perfecto has expanded its executive leadership team with the appointments of Rainer Gawlick as President and Ofer Karp as Senior Vice President of Engineering. Perfecto is also expanding its geographical reach, opening new offices and data centers in Australia, China, Japan and Toronto, Canada.

In today’s connected world, consumer expectations rise as innovation evolves, making a digital engagement strategy critical to enterprise business success. Perfecto is solving a major pain point in the digital and mobile quality markets with the ability to continuously improve the quality of such interactions. Uniquely, Perfecto’s offering, the Continuous Quality Lab™, gives users access to a cloud-based test lab, complete with automated test scenarios that account for real user conditions across real devices. In fact, the company is currently working with nine of the 10 most valuable brands, as listed in the 2015 BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands, released by WPP and Millward Brown.

“Increasingly, digital engagement is the way brands directly interact with customers, and as a result, those interactions are having a significantly greater impact on business success. As the pressure to meet customer expectations rises, so does ensuring the quality of each digital experience, especially across mobile channels,” said John Doran, Principal at TCV. ;“With Perfecto’s strong leadership, cloud-based technology, and market vision for superior digital and mobile engagement, we believe the company will achieve breakout growth in the quality market.”

“Customers now expect and depend on high-quality digital experiences when interacting with brands via the Web, mobile apps and IoT devices,” said Eran Yaniv, CEO of Perfecto. “Perfecto has developed leading solutions that help enterprises deliver high-quality digital experiences via our Continuous Quality Lab. I am excited about the partnership with TCV and look forward to working together in growing Perfecto’s global presence, expanding our quality offerings and positioning Perfecto for continued growth and innovation.”

In the past year, Perfecto has rapidly grown and reached a number of milestones. From a product perspective, Perfecto recently launched the Wind Tunnel™, enabling automated testing against real user conditions, and reports that over 1.2 million tests run monthly in its Continuous Quality Lab™. The company has doubled its workforce this year with high growth projections for next year. Its customer base has rapidly grown in the past year to include leading brands like Discover, Weather.com and Sky and is seeing record expansion within existing customers.

READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1iUzWU0

Company Profile Link:

Perfecto Mobile

Company Website:

http://www.perfectomobile.com

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QD Vision Closes New Funding Round

joshboyle — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 19:31:00 +0000

Date:

11/10/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

-QD Vision, the leader in quantum dot technology for QLED displays, today announced a new round of investment led by Tsing Capital and BASF Venture Capital, prominent venture capital entities in Europe and China focused on innovative cleantech companies. This new round of QD Vision financing – totaling approximately $22 million from both existing investors and new investors – will be used to invest in further development of intellectual property inventions and to support the company’s accelerating growth.

READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1WPQFFA

Company Profile Link:

QD Vision

Company Website:

http://coloriq.com

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Cybric Closes $1.3 Million Investment

joshboyle — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 15:14:38 +0000

Date:

11/09/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Cybric, the provider of continuous security delivery fabric for today’s modern enterprise infrastructure, today announced it has closed $1.3 million in seed funding led by Petrillo Capital and accompanied by angel and strategic investors. Cybric is pioneering the next-generation of cyber-automation and threat remediation and will use this seed funding round to accelerate research and product development.

READ MORE from the Company's Announcement

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1MGZBHI

Company Profile Link:

Cybric

Company Website:

https://cybric.io/

Logo:

Blade Travel acquires hopOn

joshboyle — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 15:10:05 +0000

Date:

11/09/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Per, Paul English and Bill O’Donnell, Blade recently acquired hopOn, a San Francisco-based travel startup founded by Doug Morgan and Jade Van Doren. Read More from the Blade Travel Blog

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/20GXL40

Company Website:

http://blade.net

Logo:

Eager Raises $1M

joshboyle — Fri, 06 Nov 2015 14:18:39 +0000

Date:

11/06/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Per Sara Castellanos of BBJ, Eager, a Cambridge-based software startup that was inspired by the Apple App Store and founded by former employees of HubSpot, has landed $1 million in investor funding.

READ MORE from BBJ

Location:

Cambridge, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1S2zcYV

Company Profile Link:

Eager

Company Website:

https://eager.io

Logo:

Gazelle Acquired by Outerwall Inc.

joshboyle — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 15:10:58 +0000

Date:

11/04/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Outerwall Inc. entered into an asset purchase agreement (the "Agreement") with Gazelle, Inc., a Delaware corporation ("Gazelle") that provides consumers an on-line solution for the sale and purchase of used mobile phones, computers and tablets. Under the Agreement, we will buy certain assets and liabilities of Gazelle. The total purchase price is approximately $18.0 million subject to certain adjustments including for net inventory at the closing date. The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter and is subject to customary closing conditions. Upon closing, the transaction will be accounted for as a business combination.

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://on.mktw.net/1PcF5Fp

Company Profile Link:

Gazelle

Company Website:

https://www.gazelle.com

Logo:

Akamai Acquires Bloxx

joshboyle — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 15:03:43 +0000

Date:

11/05/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) announced today that it has acquired Bloxx, a provider of Secure Web Gateway (SWG) technology for protecting enterprises and their employees from Internet threats, in a cash transaction. The acquisition is expected to complement Akamai’s cloud security strategy for protecting businesses against Internet vulnerabilities.

As enterprises and their employees increasingly leverage the Internet and adopt SaaS and cloud-based applications to run their business, a growing percentage of corporate network traffic and transactions are now outside of the traditional enterprise zone of control. Faced with this transformation, enterprises must remain responsible for the security and compliance of their employees’ expanding reliance on the Internet.

To help address this challenge, Akamai plans to extend its portfolio of cloud-based security services to focus on the enterprise. With the goal of detecting and blocking threats to enterprise users, wherever they are located, Akamai’s enterprise security offerings are designed to help protect against phishing, malware, and data exfiltration attacks targeted at corporate networks. These solutions are expected to go beyond traditional blacklisting by providing real-time risk assessment and enabling customers to specify the actions Akamai will take based on the detected threat level. The company believes that Bloxx’s SWG technology will be instrumental to Akamai’s goal of bringing this new suite of offerings to market in 2016

“Akamai’s traditional business has been about making the Internet fast, reliable and secure for web sites and applications,” said Willie M. Tejada, senior vice president & general manager, Cloud Networking division at Akamai. “As we look to the future, our strategy includes doing the same for the enterprise, helping to protect corporate end users from the exposure to unsuitable content, viruses, malware, and data leakage. By adding Bloxx’s SWG technologies to our solutions, coupled with the security intelligence that we obtain from our global platform, we believe we are well-positioned to help protect enterprises and their employees from a growing threat landscape.”

Bloxx, headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland and established in 1999, is a privately-funded company with 55 employees. The acquisition is not material to Akamai's financials.

About Akamai

As the global leader in Content Delivery Network (CDN) services, Akamai makes the Internet fast, reliable and secure for its customers. The company's advanced web performance, mobile performance, cloud security and media delivery solutions are revolutionizing how businesses optimize consumer, enterprise and entertainment experiences for any device, anywhere. To learn how Akamai solutions and its team of Internet experts are helping businesses move faster forward, please visit www.akamai.com or blogs.akamai.com, and follow @Akamai on Twitter.

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://akamai.me/1NfyO5M

Company Profile Link:

Akamai

Company Website:

https://www.akamai.com

Logo:

Tego Secures $6 Million

joshboyle — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 15:01:29 +0000

Date:

11/05/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Tego, Inc., a developer of smart asset solutions for managing digital data in the Internet of Things, announced today that it has secured $6 million in funding from a group of individual investors in order to accelerate the delivery of Tego's patented solutions to the health sciences industry.

With this funding, Tego will further extend its passive RF-enabled technology to health sciences organizations, which are under increasing pressure to deliver quality products more quickly and with more manageable total costs of fulfillment than ever before. Meeting this demand requires innovative solutions for managing digital data on physical assets—in "smart factory" manufacturing settings and unforgiving ebeam and gamma sterilization processes.

Tego's RF solutions survive sterilization while managing critical product, packaging, and even transport data and information from the initial point of manufacturing through to clinical use. The technology enables key benefits to support product safety, security, and lifecycle management, including:

Encrypted or password-protected information for controlling read-write capabilities
Digital certificates as proof of authentication
Chain of custody information for epedigree
Compliance with the FDA's UDI mandate for medical devices
Real-time visibility of product condition
Automatic updates of events such as product recalls or replacements
Authentication to avoid counterfeit parts usage

Tego already has more than 50 customers in the aerospace industry, where customers use Tego's products on components installed on Airbus and Boeing aircraft. Tego provides rugged, high-memory semiconductor chips and tags that can be attached to or manufactured into the component, allowing continuous lifecycle data storage and updating at the point of use. Airlines have demonstrated that standard maintenance checks can be completed with 90% less labor time.

"Tego's mission has always been focused on bringing digital intelligence to physical assets in order to help customers reduce costs, increase operational efficiencies, and mitigate risks" said Timothy Butler, CEO of Tego. "With this additional funding, we will further accelerate our delivery of RF-enabled smart asset solutions to help more customers realize unforeseen value in every industry we serve."

Tego's solution uses proprietary semiconductor chips to provide RF connectivity, data management and storage, sensor functionality, and security of data stored. The solution does not require external power or Internet connectivity, because it efficiently harvests power when it is interrogated by an RF reader. It also incorporates a data bus that allows it to provide power to and read data from a variety of off the shelf sensors. The company's semiconductor and software products are based on an extensive intellectual property portfolio that includes 27 issued patents and dozens of pending patents.

About Tego, Inc.
Tego makes the world smarter. With an RF-based platform that helps its customers manage digital data on physical assets, run analytics at the point of need, and deliver insights for better business decisions—because better decisions reduce risks, increase safety, and improve the reliability of products we use every day, all over the world. For more information, visit us on the web www.tegoinc.com and connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://prn.to/1OqO7yo

Company Profile Link:

Tego

Company Website:

http://tegoinc.com

Logo:

M.Gemi Raises $18 Million

joshboyle — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 20:03:47 +0000

Date:

11/04/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Per Scott Kirsner of BetaBoston, M.Gemi has raised $18 Million.

Only seven months after announcing a $14 million funding round, Boston footwear merchant M. Gemi has deposited another $18 million to its bank account. The new funding comes from the London office of Accel Partners, along with earlier investors including Cambridge-based General Catalyst Partners, Forerunner Ventures in San Francisco, and Boston-based Breakaway.
M. Gemi markets limited-run women’s shoes, all made in Italy, and all bearing the M. Gemi brand. Founder and CEO Ben Fischman previously ran the “flash sale” site Rue La La and hat retailer Lids; president Cheryl Kaplan worked with Fischman at Rue La La. Fischman says that M. Gemi is approaching 60 employees at offices in Boston, New York, and Florence, Italy. READ MORE from Kirsner

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1WwBTc1

Company Profile Link:

M Gemi

Company Website:

http://mgemi.com

Logo:

SnapApp Raises $12M Series A

joshboyle — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 15:52:07 +0000

Date:

11/03/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

SnapApp, the leading SaaS platform used by B2B marketers to create, publish, manage, and measure interactive content, has received $12 million in Series A funding from Providence Equity Partners.

“Buyers are increasingly demanding visual and interactive content that educates and guides them in evaluating solutions to their business challenges,” says Seth Lieberman, CEO of SnapApp. “Historically building these kinds of experiences has been slow, expensive, and hard to scale. Marketers need solutions to quickly and easily build interactive experiences that deliver more value for their audiences and more value for themselves.”

SnapApp’s “marketers-first” platform delivers the industry’s widest range of interactive content types – including calculators, assessments, quizzes, interactive infographics, and even interactive videos – in a single place. “At CEB, we’re always trying to challenge our customers – and we needed a solution that empowered our marketing team to build experiences that not only conveyed the value of CEB but also drove marketing results for the sales team,” says Rob Chen, CMO of CEB. “With SnapApp, the creation process has been shortened from months to minutes while giving us a holistic and analytical view into what’s working and why.”

With this round of funding, SnapApp will make creating these kinds of engaging experiences more accessible than ever to B2B marketers – without the time and expense of custom development or agency outsourcing. SnapApp’s partnerships and integrations with leading players in the MarTech stack, including Oracle, Salesforce, Marketo, HubSpot, and more, enables marketers to create experiences and content that drives more revenue, faster.

“The SnapApp team has invested deeply in understanding and meeting the needs of B2B marketers focused on delivering ROI,” says Mark Hastings, partner at Providence Equity. “The platform is a key addition to the marketing technology stack, serving as a bridge between content creation activities and business metrics. We believe that experiences will increasingly be front and center for marketers of all shapes and sizes, and SnapApp’s impressive traction is proving that out.”

About SnapApp

SnapApp is an interactive content creation platform that enables marketers to boost results by 2-3x across all their existing marketing programs. SnapApp empowers marketers to create, deploy, manage, and measure a wide range of interactive content across multiple channels, with full customization and design control to ensure content looks great on any device. SnapApp customers include Oracle, Cisco, EMC, CEB, Blackbaud, PTC, and Equifax.

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1RTkTWz

Company Profile Link:

SnapApp

Company Website:

http://www.snapapp.com

Logo:

Litmus Takes $49M Investment from Spectrum Equity

joshboyle — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 21:12:05 +0000

Date:

10/31/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

From Litmus Founder & CEO, Paul Farnell:
Today, I’m excited to announce that we’re setting ourselves up for even bigger success in the next 10 years. We’ve taken a $49 million investment from Spectrum Equity. READ MORE

Location:

Cambridge, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1Phq6s6

Company Profile Link:

Litmus

Company Website:

https://litmus.com

Logo:

ClearSky Data Raises $27 Million Series B Funding

joshboyle — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 15:06:01 +0000

Date:

11/02/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

ClearSky Data, provider of a global storage network that manages the entire enterprise data lifecycle, today announced it has raised $27 million in a Series B investment round led by Polaris Partners, with a strategic investment from Akamai Technologies. Previous investors General Catalyst and Highland Capital Partners also participated in the funding, which ClearSky will use to grow its sales, marketing and operations organizations, and add new points of presence (PoPs) in major metro areas. The round brings total investment in the company to $39 million.

The investment in ClearSky comes as the company breaks new ground with its managed service delivery model for enterprise storage, which combines the performance and availability of primary storage with the economics and scalability of the cloud. Polaris Partners recognizes this on-demand model represents the future of enterprise infrastructure and has a track record in building large, successful companies that transform industries. Akamai’s strategic investment in ClearSky reflects its belief in the company’s innovative approach to primary storage, which will help enterprise IT become more agile and take advantage of hybrid cloud adoption.

“Managing primary storage is a huge and poorly served challenge in the enterprise infrastructure market. Legacy systems have failed to address customer needs and no one has figured out how to leverage the economics and agility of the cloud – until now.
ClearSky has addressed this challenge head-on, creating a breakthrough software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering for primary storage,” said Dave Barrett, managing partner of Polaris Partners. “We’ve entered the next generation of the enterprise and ClearSky has a great opportunity to build the next major infrastructure company.”

The storage market is being transformed by the growth of cloud computing and the availability of new on-demand services. ClearSky leverages these elements to solve the challenges of traditional storage systems, which are costly, complex remnants of legacy infrastructure unable to support today’s huge and growing data footprints. Because status quo data storage infrastructure limits business flexibility, storage has become not only an IT priority, but also a boardroom priority. ClearSky’s fully managed service automatically caches data across a network of geographically distributed layers, making data available to enterprise users where and when it’s needed.

Andy Champagne, vice president and chief technology officer, Akamai Labs at Akamai Technologies said, “ClearSky’s global storage network is the way for enterprises to move their data to the cloud—with the security, performance and availability they need to succeed. At Akamai, we know firsthand how to build a global network that meets the stringent requirements of enterprise customers, and we look forward to working with the ClearSky team to help customers worldwide as they adopt this new approach to enterprise storage.”

Dave Barrett will join the ClearSky board of directors and Andy Champagne will join as a board observer. ClearSky board members also include Sean Dalton, general partner at Highland Capital Partners; David Orfao, partner at General Catalyst Partners; and market leaders Paula Long and Jit Saxena.

The ClearSky global storage network combines primary storage, backup and disaster recovery with on-demand scaling and agility. It automatically caches data – moving cold data to the cloud, keeping warm data in metro-based PoPs within 120 miles of customers, and storing a small portion of hot data on-premises. Customers retain the performance and availability of a local storage array with the comprehensive security, low latency and high availability required for enterprise applications.

“Polaris Partners and Akamai Technologies deeply understand what it means to create a breakthrough model for enterprise infrastructure,” said Ellen Rubin, CEO and co-founder of ClearSky Data. “We value their expertise as we focus on fast growth and market expansion during this next phase of our company’s development, and are excited to deliver a global service that will change enterprise storage forever.”

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1kmg1OV

Company Website:

http://www.clearskydata.com

Logo:

Endurance International Group to Acquire Constant Contact

joshboyle — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 14:01:43 +0000

Date:

11/02/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Endurance International Group Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGI), and Constant Contact, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTCT) today announced that the two companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which Endurance International will acquire all of Constant Contact's outstanding shares of common stock for $32.00 per share in cash, valuing Constant Contact at approximately $1.1 billion. The value represents a multiple of 12x 2015 estimated adjusted EBITDA, including cash on its balance sheet. Including expected synergies, this represents a multiple of 7x 2015 estimated adjusted EBITDA. The offer represents a premium of approximately 23 percent over Constant Contact's closing price of $26.10 on October 30, 2015. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

Benefits of the proposed transaction include:

Expansion of Endurance's position as a leader in the small business marketing space from web presence to online marketing services;
Extension of the company's product portfolio of solutions and integrated products for its millions of subscribers through the addition of Constant Contact's suite of online marketing tools such as email marketing, events management, social media integration, and contact management systems;
Strengthening of Endurance's core capabilities by combining with Constant Contact's competencies as a trusted and distinct brand focused on product and subscriber engagement; and
Enhanced operational and financial scale.

Importantly, the transaction brings together two long-standing Massachusetts companies, aligning the shared foundation built on the technology and talent of both.

"We couldn't be more pleased to welcome Constant Contact to our team and our family of brands. We have long admired Constant Contact and its strong management team, and all that it has accomplished in building a great product set, as well as building an influential culture and team. Their focus on the customer and product development complements our offerings for small business services, and expands our ability to address the needs of SMBs. We know that once small businesses have a web presence, they look for other products and services that will help them to grow their business. We see an opportunity to help our growing subscriber base meet their goals through an integrated suite of solutions, and we are excited to add this talented team to our roster," said Hari Ravichandran, president and chief executive officer of Endurance.

"Our team has always been passionate about helping small businesses do more business. Joining the Endurance family of brands will allow us to extend our reach and be a better partner to small businesses across the globe. We have long shared a parallel path—from our focus on SMBs, to technology, to talent—and we believe this transaction will build continued value for all constituents," said Gail Goodman, chief executive officer of Constant Contact.

Financial & operational impacts:

This transaction, combined with Endurance's recent purchase of its largest co-located data center from ACE Data Centers, is expected to result in:

Fiscal 2015 combined pro forma adjusted revenue of approximately $1.1 billion
Fiscal 2015 combined pro forma adjusted EBITDA of approximately $350 million
Fiscal 2016 combined pro forma adjusted revenue growth of approximately 10 percent to 12 percent
Fiscal 2016 combined pro forma adjusted EBITDA of approximately $400 million
Acceleration of the delivery of long-term financial targets
Subscriber base of over 5 million paying subscribers

The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2016, and is subject to Constant Contact shareholder approval, and other customary closing conditions, including clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. Constant Contact shareholders will be asked to vote on the proposed transaction at a special meeting of shareholders that will be held on a date to be announced. Endurance expects to finance the transaction with fully committed debt financing of $1.085 billion. The purchase price will be paid entirely in cash to Constant Contact shareholders.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP acted as legal advisor, Goldman, Sachs & Co. acted as lead financial advisor, and Allen & Company LLC and Credit Suisse also acted as financial advisors for Endurance International Group. Latham & Watkins LLP acted as legal advisor for Constant Contact. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as lead financial advisor, and Raymond James and Associates acted as a financial advisor for Constant Contact.

For further information regarding the terms and conditions contained in the definitive merger agreement, please refer to Endurance's and Constant Contact's Current Reports on Form 8-K, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with this transaction.

Endurance International Group management will discuss this transaction on the company's previously scheduled third quarter 2015 financial results conference call and webcast, scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. EST on Monday, November 2, 2015. To participate on the live call, analysts and investors should dial (888) 734-0328 at least ten minutes prior to the call. Endurance International Group will also offer a live and archived webcast of the conference call, accessible from the Investor Relations section of the company's website at http://ir.endurance.com.

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1P5QLtr

Company Profile Link:

Constant Contact

Company Website:

http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp

Logo:

Confer Raises $17 Million in Series B Financing

joshboyle — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 13:54:56 +0000

Date:

11/02/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Confer, a leader in endpoint detection and response (EDR), today announced it has secured $17 million in Series B financing led by Foundation Capital with participation from existing investors, Matrix Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners. The investment allows Confer to continue its rapid expansion within the enterprise security market.

Since 2014, Confer has achieved a 1,300 percent growth in sales and a 2,400 percent growth in revenue, with production deployments across a wide number of verticals, including technology, retail, finance, pharmaceuticals, energy and communications. Confer outperforms competitors in detection and prevention as proven in independent trials and head-to-head comparisons.

“Confer’s exceptional detection and prevention capabilities against sophisticated malware, combined with our lightweight footprint and simplicity, have made our solution ideal for the largest and most demanding enterprises in the world as well as small and medium-sized companies. This strategy has really paid off in 2015,” said Mark Quinlivan, chief executive officer for Confer. “Our customers now range in size from 100 to well over 100,000 endpoints and servers protected.”

Unlike competitive products, Confer allows customers to proactively detect, prevent and investigate attacks on the endpoint with a simple-to-use, integrated solution. Confer’s lightweight sensor monitors the host for the specific tactics, techniques and procedures that attackers use and feeds those behaviors to Confer’s cloud-based “dynamic behavioral analysis” engine. The behavioral analytics engine catches over 99 percent of attacks against the endpoint. In contrast with many EDR solutions that are detect-only, Confer can block specific behaviors, disrupting the attack before information is lost or damaged.

“After researching the endpoint security space extensively, I’m convinced that customers are looking for an easy, lightweight, but comprehensive solution—one that prevents attacks and enables incident response—for protecting employees on all their devices,” said Aditya Singh, partner with Foundation Capital. “The other EDR vendors we looked at were too narrow. Confer is the only company we have seen that has the breadth of features combined with proven traction within large-scale production environments. Confer is changing how customers think about endpoint security, providing endpoint security without tradeoffs.”

Confer’s headcount is also growing fast, having doubled the number of employees since 2014. Key hires in 2015 have included Chief Financial Officer Dave Gamache, who joined Confer from Airvana Network Solutions (now part of Ericsson). Confer has also made a number of key hires in sales and marketing.

“It’s time to prepare for a new endpoint strategy. Security and risk professionals should consider new endpoint security solutions that are better prepared to address today’s overwhelming threat landscape,” said Chris Sherman, analyst with Forrester Research in his recent report Prepare for the Post-AV Era Part 1. “In the past, endpoint security products that were focused on providing deep visibility lacked the ability to actually block malicious code execution or behaviors. This is changing: a handful of vendors are combining varying levels of analytics with control to identify and block malicious activities as they occur.”

This Series B funding round brings the total venture capital investment in Confer to $25 million. Confer secured $8 million in Series A financing from Matrix Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners in January 2014. For more information about Confer, please visit www.confer.net or contact info@confer.net.

About Confer
Confer provides advanced threat prevention and incident response for laptops, servers and mobile devices. Built on an open, cloud-based platform, Confer enables enterprises to leverage the “power of the crowd”, without a steep learning curve or investment in additional security staff. For more information, visit www.confer.net.

About Foundation Capital

Foundation Capital is a venture capital firm dedicated to the proposition that one entrepreneur's idea, with the right support, can become a business that changes the world. The company is made up of former entrepreneurs who set out to create the firm they wanted as founders. This forward-thinking team of VCs has helped companies like Lending Club change the way money is lent and borrowed, Sunrun reinvent the residential clean energy market, and Netflix revolutionize media distribution and consumption, among many others.

Foundation Capital is currently invested in more than 60 high-growth ventures in the areas of consumer, information technology, software, digital energy, financial technology and marketing technology. These investments include AdRoll, Beepi, Bolt Threads, DogVacay, Kik, ForgeRock, Lending Home, Localytics and Visier. The firm's twenty-six IPOs include Lending Club, OnDeck, Chegg, Sunrun, MobileIron, Control4, TubeMogul, Envestnet, Financial Engines, Netflix, NetZero, Responsys and Silver Spring Networks. Read more at http://www.foundationcapital.com.

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1GHL6XT

Company Website:

http://www.confer.net/index.php

Logo:

Cengage Learning Acquires Pathbrite’s Best-In-Class ePortfolio Solution

joshboyle — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 13:37:17 +0000

Date:

10/28/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Continuing the expansion of its institutional offerings, Cengage Learning today announced the acquisition of Pathbrite’s best-in-class ePortfolio solution. Pathbrite enables students to collect, track and showcase their work to demonstrate completion of assignments for graduation, accreditation and job placement. Pathbrite has users at 900 K20 institutions.

The announcement was made at EDUCAUSE 2015, the annual gathering of leaders in education technology.

“Last month, we announced the acquisition of Learning Objects, which offers a customizable learning environment and services for online programs. Now, adding Pathbrite’s Portfolio Learning Platform to Learning Objects’ suite of tools extends our student-centric, competency-based learning capabilities,” said Michael Hansen, Chief Executive Officer, Cengage Learning. “We’re also very pleased that most of Pathbrite’s talented employees will join us in our quest to provide the highest quality digital learning solutions available.”

Hansen added, “This acquisition builds upon the success of our current partnership with Pathbrite to integrate their ePortfolio into our MindTap digital course solution – now at more than 650 MindTap courses. Bringing together MindTap, Learning Objects and Pathbrite strengthens Cengage Learning’s position as the only provider of a truly comprehensive, student-centric learning platform.”

“We are excited to extend the Pathbrite offering to an even larger network of schools, colleges and universities, as we know that portfolios improve all major indicators of student success,” said Heather Hiles, CEO, Pathbrite. “Cengage Learning is an ideal match for Pathbrite culturally as we are both committed to improving learning and career outcomes for all students.”

Pathbrite’s ePortfolio solution allows students to tag, save and report on their work throughout the semester. When the course concludes, students can maintain their work and continue building an inventory of learning achievements. In addition, a similar portfolio for administrators and faculty allows institutions to easily report on students’ performance against accreditation standards.

The combination of Pathbrite and MindTap, which offers a student-centric, personalized approach to learning along with Learning Objects, which offers a customizable, scalable framework that leverages publisher content and Open Educational Resources, allows Cengage Learning to offer a comprehensive set of offerings to support students, instructors and administrators across many adoption models.

READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/20a3izR

Company Profile Link:

Cengage Learning

Company Website:

http://www.cengage.com/us/

Logo:

Desktop Metal Raises $14M

joshboyle — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 12:27:58 +0000

Date:

10/28/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Per Scott Kirsner at BetaBoston, Desktop Metal, a 3D printing startup, said it had raised $14 million from a group of investors including NEA, Kleiner Perkins, Founder Collective, Lux Capital, and Bolt. READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1S9dwLs

Logo:

ArtLifting Raises $1.1 Million

joshboyle — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 12:22:24 +0000

Date:

10/28/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Per TechCrunch, ArtLifting, an online art marketplace for homeless, disabled and other disadvantaged people to sell their artwork, recently raised a $1.1 million seed round from Toms Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie, angel investor Joanne Wilson, author and entrepreneur Eric Ries, social impact accelerator Tumml and others. READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://tcrn.ch/1NAlT18

Company Profile Link:

ArtLifting

Company Website:

http://www.artlifting.com

Logo:

Intercontinental Exchange To Acquire Interactive Data Corporation

joshboyle — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 15:21:05 +0000

Date:

10/26/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE), the leading global network of exchanges and clearing houses, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Interactive Data Corporation (“IDC”), a leading provider of financial market data, analytics and related trading solutions, from Silver Lake, the global leader in technology investing, and Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing. The acquisition is valued at approximately $5.2 billion, including $3.65 billion in cash and $1.55 billion in ICE common stock, and builds on ICE’s global market data growth strategy by expanding the markets served, adding technology platforms and increasing new data and valuation services. An investor call to review third quarter 2015 results and the transaction details will be held on Wednesday, October 28 at 8:30am ET. Details for the call are included at the end of this announcement.

IDC, based in Bedford, MA, is one of the world’s leading providers of financial data, serving the mutual fund, bank, asset management, hedge fund, securities and financial instrument processing and administration sectors. ICE’s data business currently spans nine asset classes across the eleven exchanges and seven clearing houses it operates, including the NYSE Group and ICE Futures exchanges. ICE also offers benchmark and valuation services for Libor, exchange traded funds, a range of financial derivatives, and clearing house positions. The combined company will offer customers efficiencies in accessing data on an integrated platform while serving the growing demand for data, analysis, valuation and connectivity globally.

READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1WdRcAZ

Company Website:

http://www.idc.com

Logo:

Outlearn Raises $2M

joshboyle — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 14:00:03 +0000

Date:

10/22/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Outlearn today unveiled its cloud publishing platform and curated content catalog for professional developer learning. Now developers can use Outlearn to discover and share the best learning content from across the web, publish original content publicly or privately, and assemble custom learning paths for trackable team learning in the enterprise. The company also announced that it has received $2 million in seed financing from General Catalyst Partners with participation from Paul Sagan, former CEO of Akamai Technologies.

New Vision for Professional Developer Learning

According to IDC, the world’s 29 million professional technology workers say their most vexing challenge is keeping current with new technologies. Chronic talent shortages are forcing managers to hire less-qualified candidates who then have to climb an even steeper learning curve, often with little help beyond self-directed web searches and asking busy colleagues for assistance. Technical books and online video tutorials categorically fail to address the crucial last mile of “this is how we do it here” knowledge that developers need in order to become a fully productive member of a specific team.

“It’s time to stop forcing talented engineers to fend for themselves and start a revolution in technical upskilling,” said Jeff Whatcott, Outlearn co-founder and CEO. “We’re giving pro developers and their managers the tools the need to efficiently organize, discover, and consume the great technical content from across web and the essential tribal knowledge tucked away on corporate wikis and in the minds of experienced engineers.”

The Outlearn Platform

The Outlearn technical publishing platform allows domain experts to publish original training articles, recommend helpful web links, and organize learning content from many sources into online learning paths that carefully guide learners from concept to concept, tracking progress as they go. Unlike traditional learning systems, Outlearn combines a free learning publishing platform, a fast-growing catalog of free developer learning content, and a community of expert curators and contributors.

Outlearn users can assemble custom online learning paths to train themselves, their team, or their whole organization. Expert curators maintain the Outlearn Catalog, a continuously updated aggregation of the best technical learning content, organized into Topic Streams that cover specific technologies. Outlearn today rolled out Topic Streams for the Go language, Docker, AngularJS, Node.js, and Pro JavaScript, with more to come soon.

$2M Seed Financing

Outlearn is backed by a $2 million seed investment led by General Catalyst Partners with participation from Paul Sagan, former CEO of Akamai Technologies. Proceeds from the investment are being deployed to develop the Outlearn service and content catalog.

“Technical training and education is one of the last domains to be significantly disrupted and reimagined by modern technology,” said Donald Fischer, Venture Partner at General Catalyst Partners. “We are excited to back a team that has a compelling vision for positively transforming the way professionals learn, and we look forward to working with Jeff and Will as they realize their vision.”

Pricing & Availability

Outlearn is free today for individuals to both publish and consume public learning content. Premium services include team learning experiences, private learning, and organization-level content publishing starting as low as $15 per person per month.

About Outlearn

Outlearn is a publishing platform for developer learning content. Domain experts and platform providers use Outlearn to create and publish modular learning content. Development teams use Outlearn to assemble and deliver custom learning paths from public content and/or self-published private content. Unlike traditional learning systems, Outlearn offers an open content format, an open content catalog, and a modern learner experience.

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://mwne.ws/1LHPtia

Company Profile Link:

Outlearn

Company Website:

http://www.outlearn.com

Logo:

Squadle Raises 1M

joshboyle — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 18:07:47 +0000

Date:

10/21/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Cambridge, MA-based Squadle announced today that it has secured one million in seed funding for their back-of-house data platform for the fast food industry. Since its launch in January of 2014 Squadle has been steadily growing as they bring new and impressive clients into their platform.

“Squadle replaced my antiquated paper systems in minutes. It saves me time and my managers love it. It’s a no-brainer.”

— Darren Chu, Sonic Franchisee

This new round of funding will serve to hire more enterprise sales staff, support staff, and developers, as well as product development of new features.

What is Squadle?

There is one thing managers in the 250 billion dollar fast food industry have in common: They spend a huge amount of time and effort recording and managing mandatory back-of the-house compliance data for their restaurant locations.

See Video Demo Here

Since the beginning of time, back-of-house resturant data has been collected in what looks like giant phone books that are written and recorded in by hand. Once the data is in the book, it then has to be manually typed into a computer to have any actionable data that makes it useful. For years this system has not changed at all. Sounds like fun? It’s not.

Squadle takes the book out of the picture and has replaced it with its platform of sensors and cloud-based tech. Squadle pulls this data into its platform and makes it accessible for its users from anywhere, giving managers the ability to make quick actionable decisions and see this data in a beautiful and meaningful way.

Who is using it?

Right now Squadle is being used by brands like Sonic Drive-In, Dunkin’ Donuts, Chick-fil-A as well as many other national and international brands. It’s even used in hotel chains like Hyatt and some of the largest food delivery companies in the world. Any business that needs to manage their back-of-house activities can use Squadle.

“We originally built Squadle to solve our own problems. We soon realized that most companies were still collecting data on paper books as well, and they wanted a modern, turnkey solution like what we had built.”

— Le Zhang, Founder and CEO

Actionable Data for Managers & Restaurant Owners

In the end, the most important thing to restaurant owners is giving their customers an amazing experience with great food and service. Squadle gives restaurant owners and managers detailed, clean and actionable data, allowing them to focus on what matters most---their customers. Squadle is simple, intuitive, and extremely powerful. It can be scaled from one location to thousands.

About the Company
Headquartered next to MIT in historic Cambridge, MA, Squadle, Inc. is the leading pioneer in automated accountability and compliance products for the restaurant industry.

With over 20 years of leadership experience in hospitality, software, and hardware, we focus on our customer’s needs and how to solve them quickly and effectively. We understand the importance of great support, so our products are always backed by first-class customer service. We’re proud to have the highest response-times of any vendor in the industry, as voted on by our customers.

Our goal is simple: to improve operations, compliance, and communication for your company through cloud technology and automation.

Location:

Cambridge, MA

Source URL:

http://www.squadle.com

Company Website:

http://www.squadle.com

Logo:

Ourglass Announces $1.6 Million in Seed Funding

joshboyle — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 15:47:09 +0000

Date:

10/21/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Today, iOS app Ourglass announces $1.6 million in seed funding led by General Catalyst Partners and other investors. Ourglass is all about privacy, as users create an intimate social network for their 12 closest friends to share what they are doing on a daily basis. The app is now available exclusively in the Apple App store for download.

As social networks have grown, they have invariably turned into "interest feeds" that harness users' ever-expanding interest graphs to show relevant posts. While this has revolutionized how we engage with media content, it has lagged in one vital area: strengthening relationships with close friends and family.

Ourglass co-founder and CEO, Eric Adams, explains, "Ourglass is about privacy. Our vision is to connect people to their inner-circle, giving them an intimate space to share their lives with the people they're closest to. Social media began by connecting the world, and successfully formed broad webs of acquaintances. Our lives are now semi-public theater, as every detail is shared to our massive friend or followers list. As a result, people have become increasingly cautious about how much of their lives they are willing to share. Ourglass brings us back to basics, focusing our attention on our 12 closest friends."

Ourglass offers relief from an increasingly public world, letting users privately share HD pictures with a group of up to 12 friends. "The app gives users the freedom to post stories of their day, free from prying eyes and competition for likes. We provide an intimate space for people to share their life, in an authentic way, with those they're closest to," explains Adams. Ourglass designer, Thomas Krueger, adds, "It's all about letting you post what's really going on in your day without making it a popularity contest. It's a place you can turn to answer 'what's my sister up to?' or 'how's my buddy's trip going?'"

Ourglass ensures privacy by only sharing a users' posts with their approved inner-circle. By limiting users to 12 trusted friends, the app provides a uniquely intimate space that quells patterns of social land-grab prevalent on other social platforms. The app also saves stories so users can go back in time and relive memories. "Ephemeral content is great if you want to send funny pictures that you want to disappear, but there are a lot of memories that we want to save and relive with friends," explains Krueger.

Instead of a traditional feed that aggregates content, Ourglass introduces an innovative silo interface. There are 12 silos in the interface – one for each member of a users' inner circle. Users can tap on each silo and explore that friend's day. This eliminates having to browse through a feed to find interesting content – if one is interested in seeing what someone is up to, tap on their image and browse. With this approach, users feel encouraged to create as much content as they please without the fear of generating spam.

In the coming months, the company plans on rolling out additional features, including video, and an option for users to create additional circles of friends.

Download Ourglass in the Apple Store. (In-app purchases available)

To learn more about Ourglass, visit http://app.ourglass.co/. For additional updates from Ourglass, follow @appOurglass on Twitter and visit https://www.facebook.com/ourglassapp.

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://prn.to/1MTpxVm

Company Profile Link:

Ourglass

Company Website:

http://app.ourglass.co

Logo:

Clavis Insight Receives $20 Million Growth Equity Investment

joshboyle — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 15:03:58 +0000

Date:

10/20/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Clavis Insight, the world’s leading provider of eCommerce store analytics to consumer goods companies, announced today it has received a US$20 million growth equity investment from Accel-KKR, a technology-focused private equity investment firm and existing investors.

The investment will be used to support the Clavis’ strategic growth initiatives including the expansion of sales and customer support efforts in United States, Europe and China and the continued innovation in its eCommerce Intelligence platform that is used by the world’s top 10 consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and half of the next 100 CPG or fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies. For a video with more information on Clavis Insight’s solution, please visit: http://clavisinsight.com/?s=video

“We have built Clavis into the industry standard in eCommerce analytics for CPG brands by delivering a functionally rich and technologically robust platform that can be used globally. Today, Clavis monitors online retailers across more than 20 countries for our customers,” said Garry Moroney, chief executive officer, Clavis Insight. “The investment partnership with Accel-KKR allows Clavis to effectively capitalize on the growth opportunities ahead of the business, significantly broaden its leadership position in the industry and better support our consumer goods customer base.”

Clavis is poised to take advantage of the continued growth in online shoppers and the significant increases in online shopping in developed and emerging markets. According to a 2015 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report, approximately 1.7 billion consumers will shop online by 2018, representing close to 20% of the world’s population.

“Clavis has created a leadership position in the market by uniquely tackling the most complex challenges global CPG brands face in measuring, monitoring and optimizing brand performance in the eCommerce channel. Accel-KKR is excited to partner with the team at Clavis to drive its expansion globally, which in turn will allow the company to further support its customers,” said Greg Williams, managing director, Accel-KKR.

About Clavis Insight
Clavis Insight is the Industry leader for online store analytics delivering actionable data, analysis and insights to enable consumer goods brands to track and optimize their online channel presence and performance. The eCommerce intelligence platform analyses everything consumers see in online retailer stores to quickly identify the actions brand owners and manufacturers need to take to drive profitable eCommerce growth, protect their brands and beat the competition online. For more information: www.clavisinsight.com.

About Accel-KKR
Accel-KKR is a technology-focused investment firm with $4.0 billion in capital commitments to its current funds. The firm invests primarily in software and IT-enabled businesses well-positioned for topline 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 from minority-growth investments to buyouts, recapitalizations, divisional carve-outs and going-private transactions. The firm has offices in Menlo Park, Atlanta and London. For more information, please visit www.accel-kkr.com.

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1NlNJ0R

Company Profile Link:

Clavas Insight

Company Website:

http://clavisinsight.com

Logo:

Unbound Commerce announces the acquisition of Apptive

joshboyle — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 14:11:48 +0000

Date:

10/20/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Boston-based Unbound Commerce announces the acquisition of Apptive, an Austin-based company specializing in mobile commerce apps. The Apptive® platform will help meet growing demand for mobile solutions among mid-market retailers & B2B merchants, with compelling benefits for merchants and their customers:

Richest, most convenient shopping experience
Push notifications for timely engagement
Simplified ordering via Apple Pay, Android Pay, and other digital wallets
Improved customer service & repeat ordering
Integration with loyalty, CRM and in-store systems

The Apptive acquisition complements Unbound's Mobile Presence® platform, used by hundreds of merchants for mobile and tablet sites and digital pop-up stores. Unbound's growth has been dramatic: adding more than 100 customers every year, Unbound Commerce solutions are now used by more than 600 merchants. Customers include major brands such as Finish Line, Sears and Rockport.

Through the Mobile Presence and Apptive platforms, high-end, custom mobile solutions previously available only to large retailers are now available to mid-market clients. "Our customers are companies who want to get the most from mobile," affirmed Keith Lietzke, co-founder and VP Marketing & Bus Dev. "We like creating customized solutions for our clients, while making them cost effective by leveraging our technology investments and experience in serving hundreds of merchants."

Concurrent with the acquisition, Unbound has doubled its size and moved into new headquarters in Newton Upper Falls, MA. Originally built in 1889 and home of the Gamewell Alarm Company for almost a century, the historic building at 88 Oak Street now houses the Chestnut Street Business Center – home to high tech, engineering and healthcare providers. Unbound has also expanded its software development and sales staff to meet new demand and Apptive team members have moved to Boston to join the team.

"Through our new app-build capabilities, more merchants can take advantage of delivering deeper mobile commerce engagement," said Srinivasarao Nandiwada (NSR), co-founder and CEO of Unbound Commerce. "Mobile sites are great for expanding reach and acquiring new customers. Mobile apps, by contrast, deliver richer, more satisfying interactions to the retailer's best customers."

Out-of-the-box integration is provided for Shopify, Demandware, Magento, Big Commerce, Yahoo, Volusion, 3dCart and other popular e-commerce platforms, making commerce-enabled app development fast, affordable and effective for retailers of all sizes. Unbound also offers full custom app development for enterprise clients seeking a totally custom app experience for their customers.

According to Internet Retailer, sales via mobile apps are on the rise, growing 69% to $59.86 billion in 2015 from $35.48 billion in 2014. A recent survey by Adobe showed that 57% of consumers preferred to use apps when completing a purchase compared to 43 percent for the mobile web.

"We are truly excited to become a part of Unbound Commerce." says Chris Belew, CEO of Apptive. "This is one of those situations where the combined company is greater than the sum of its parts. The Unbound platform together with the Apptive platform creates a powerful and unique solution in the eCommerce industry. The combination will enable us to build on our market leadership and to enable even more brands and retailers to succeed in the age of smartphones and tablets."

About Unbound Commerce

With more mobile and tablet commerce deployments than any other solution provider, Unbound Commerce is the industry’s #1 provider of mobile solutions for mid-market online retailers. Unbound’s unique approach combines pre-built, out-of-the-box functionality with custom enhancements to deliver the best mobile solutions cost effectively. Unbound Commerce is pre-integrated with all major e-commerce platforms. Unbound has built and deployed dedicated mobile commerce sites and apps for Finish Line, Sears, Equippers, Crescent Electric, Rockport, Mattress Firm, Bedding Style, Patrick James, Shoe Carnival, FLOR, Cavenders, and over 600 other retailers. For additional information, please visit http://www.UnboundCommerce.com.

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1ZTPgSK

Company Profile Link:

Unbound Commerce

Company Website:

http://www.unboundcommerce.com

Logo:

Ecova Acquires Retroficiency

joshboyle — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:10:24 +0000

Date:

10/15/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Ecova, the total energy and sustainability management company, announced that it has acquired Retroficiency, the leading building efficiency intelligence company. Ecova will leverage Retroficiency’s deep expertise and innovative patent-pending technology in building analytics to drive energy savings and engagement for commercial and industrial customers, both through utilities and directly. Retroficiency analyzes meter data and available building information to rapidly create energy models of buildings that accurately identify energy efficiency and demand savings opportunities at an unmatched speed and scale.

“This acquisition strengthens Ecova’s ability to combine data and technology, with people and insight, to drive powerful results for utility customers, commercial clients and the environment,” said Jana Schmidt, president and CEO of Ecova. “It also emphasizes Ecova’s commitment to analytics-driven customer engagement for utilities; and enhances Ecova’s dedication to help commercial clients reduce energy consumption across their portfolio of sites.”

The utility industry is more dynamic than ever before. Utilities must significantly enhance customer satisfaction and engagement efforts in order to meet increasing energy savings expectations while also successfully navigating a changing landscape, as renewables and distributed energy resources provide the real possibility of market disruption.

“We truly value what both Ecova and Retroficiency bring to Puget Sound Energy,” said Ryan Lambert, manager of business energy management at Puget Sound Energy. “Retroficiency’s platform gives us the ability to perform tailored energy assessments of commercial customers remotely, and Ecova has proven its comprehensive program delivery capabilities by successfully supporting our demand side management portfolio since 2002.”

In order for utilities to achieve their savings goals and increase customer loyalty, they need targeted, simple, personalized and cost-effective programs that deliver value and make it easy for their customers to use energy more efficiently. Retroficiency’s platform has demonstrated the ability to improve customer engagement by 4x versus traditional program marketing efforts, helping to quickly lead to customer project commitments.

“Retroficiency’s leading building analytics capabilities, combined with Ecova’s vertical market expertise and energy efficiency program delivery, will enable customers to quickly identify and implement energy efficiency opportunities within their buildings,” said Bennett Fisher, CEO and co-founder of Retroficiency. “We’re very excited for this union between our two companies and know the market will be too.”

As a leading utility energy efficiency program implementer, Ecova serves nearly 50 utilities across the U.S. and has delivered more than 108 terawatt-hours of energy savings over the past 11 years. For Ecova’s broad base of commercial and industrial clients, this acquisition enables remote analytics for buildings in Ecova’s energy and sustainability management portfolio of over 700,000 sites.

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1LvI5tF

Company Website:

http://www.retroficiency.com

Logo:

Rapid7 Acquires Logentries

joshboyle — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 18:08:01 +0000

Date:

10/14/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Rapid7, Inc. (NASDAQ: RPD), a leading provider of security data and analytics solutions, today announced it has acquired RevelOps, Inc. d/b/a Logentries (Logentries), a leading provider of machine data search technology. With the addition of Logentries’ world class, cloud-based log management and search, Rapid7 will enable information security teams to solve a full range of security challenges, deeply investigate incidents, and more efficiently achieve their compliance requirements. Rapid7 acquired Logentries for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $68 million, consisting of approximately $36 million in cash and $32 million in Rapid7 equity.

“We’re thrilled to add Logentries’ technology and team to Rapid7. The disruptive combination of Rapid7’s industry-leading data collection and security analytics and Logentries’ compelling machine data search technology, enables customers to better understand and quickly respond to risk in their IT environment,” said Corey Thomas, president and chief executive officer of Rapid7. “This is a natural progression of our security data and analytics platform, complementing our value proposition and accelerating our time to market.”

Customers need solutions that can quickly cut through the noise to deliver valuable information about activity in their IT environment. Today, Rapid7 offers one of the broadest and deepest collections of data, from the endpoint to the cloud. With this robust data collection and packaged analytics, Rapid7 enables security teams to quickly and accurately assess and act to reduce risk, identify and respond to threat actors on the network, and consistently improve their security posture.

Logentries’ innovative technology provides a powerful cloud-based solution for searching, visualizing, and analyzing machine data and logs. Built-in tagging, alerting, and reporting make it easy for customers to maintain a proactive view of their environment and identify anomalous events. Logentries’ scalable, cost-effective architecture enables users to store and search structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data in real time – in some cases five-to-ten times faster than competing solutions – and at a lower cost.

The acquisition of Logentries accelerates Rapid7’s product roadmap, adding machine data search, forensics, and compliance capabilities that complement and build upon Rapid7’s core technology leadership and market strengths around threat exposure management, and incident detection, investigation, and analytics.

Andrew Burton, chief executive officer of Logentries commented, “Rapid7’s leading position in the security data and analytics market gives us the opportunity to reach an evolving and expanding market that is looking for lower cost access to machine data, along with advanced security data collection and analytics.”

Logentries is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with a talented research and development team based in Dublin, Ireland. Logentries serves more than 3,000 customers in over 65 countries across a diverse set of industries. Logentries has approximately 70 employees, nearly all of whom joined Rapid7, including all of the engineering and development professionals in Dublin. Rapid7 will continue to build this team and invest in its presence in Ireland.

Acquisition Details and Financial Impact

The acquisition of Logentries was completed on October 13, 2015 for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $68 million, consisting of approximately $36 million in cash from Rapid7’s balance sheet, the issuance of approximately 1.3 million unregistered shares of Rapid7 common stock, and the assumption of vested options, which became exercisable for approximately 0.2 million shares of Rapid7 common stock.

READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1hEwYCH

Company Profile Link:

Rapid7

Company Website:

http://logentries.com

Logo:

CyPhy Works Closes $22 Million Series B

joshboyle — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 14:55:53 +0000

Date:

10/13/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

CyPhy Works, the fast-growing drone startup launched by iRobot co-Founder Helen Greiner, today announces the close of a $22 million Series B investment round. The new financing was led by Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), and includes participation from strategic partners Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund, and Draper Nexus. Existing investors Lux Capital and General Catalyst Partners also participated in the round. In September 2013, CyPhy Works announced $7M funding led by Lux Capital.

“We are proud to add a successful global entrepreneur like Felda Hardymon and world-renowned VC firm like Bessemer Venture Partners to our existing team of high caliber partners,” said Helen Greiner, CyPhy Works Founder and CEO. “We are also looking forward to working closely with our new strategic investors to accelerate adoption of drones into public safety, construction, agriculture, journalism, mining, defense, and other fields.”

“I’m also very excited to announce that this investment will fuel the commercial launch of our teth-ered Persistent Aerial Reconnaissance and Communications (PARC) vehicle system,” said Greiner. PARC is powered from the ground through a microfilament tether allowing 24/7 flight — a “near-earth satellite system”. The tether also provides secure command and control and video transmission, precluding spoofing or hacking. PARC’s extended flying time enables companies to make infor-mation-driven decisions using continuous real-time access to data and analytics.

“CyPhy Works has produced the first truly differentiated drone and as we see more industries lever-age this technology, we expect they will capture significant market share,” says Felda Hardymon, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, who as part of the investment, has joined CyPhy Works Board of Directors. “Bessemer’s mission is to back the world’s most talented entrepreneurs, and we’re very excited to partner with Helen and the experienced team of roboticists at CyPhy Works.”

In addition to the launch of PARC, the new investment will fund hiring in the engineering, sales, mar-keting, and customer support functions.

About CyPhy Works

CyPhy Works is a leading robotics company developing robots for large industries such as defense, oil and gas, agriculture, entertainment, law enforcement, and mining. CyPhy (pronounced: Sci-Fi) is a contraction of Cyber and Physical both essential elements to a robot. Our mission statement de-scribes our philosophy: Our community inspires; Our team creates; Our robots empower. For more information please follow us on Twitter HelenGreiner, CyPhyWorksInc and visit http://www.cyphyworks.com

About Bessemer Venture Partners

Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) invests in early-stage and hyper-growth startups, partnering closely with entrepreneurs to build durable businesses. BVP is a global firm with offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, Cambridge, New York, Bangalore and Herzliya. With $4 billion under man-agement, BVP invests anywhere from $100,000 to $75 million in innovative companies like Pinter-est, Twilio, Box, LinkedIn, Shopify, Yelp, Skype and CornerstoneOnDemand. Over 100 BVP com-panies have gone public – in the last three years alone, BVP has had 46 exits (IPO and M&A) and made new investments in more than 85 companies. Learn more at www.bvp.com and follow us on Twitter @BessemerVP.

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1LtUaiW

Company Profile Link:

CyPhy Works

Company Website:

http://cyphyworks.com

Logo:

Bit9 + Carbon Black Raises $54.5M

joshboyle — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 14:39:09 +0000

Date:

10/14/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Bit9® + Carbon Black®, the market leader in Next-Generation Endpoint Security (NGES), today announced it recently closed $54.5 million in Series F funding. The company will use investment to fuel its accelerating growth, product innovation and international expansion.

The round, the largest in the company’s history, was led by current investor Accomplice’s new EarlyAccess program. All of the company’s other existing investors—.406 Ventures, Blackstone, Highland Capital Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Sequoia Capital—also participated. New investors were Evolution Equity and Founders Circle.

The funding comes as the company expects to end 2015 with record results, including:

$70M+ in revenue
70 percent annual growth
7 million+ software licenses sold
Approaching 2,000 customers worldwide
60+ managed security service provider (MSSP) and incident response (IR) partners

Bit9 + Carbon Black started with a government cyber-security grant and has dozens of security experts, many of them trained by the NSA, CIA and FBI.

“Protecting the endpoint is the number-one issue in cyber security today as organizations have realized that the network is not the target of advanced threats; it’s their endpoints—where a company’s digital information lives,” said Patrick Morley, president and CEO of Bit9 + Carbon Black. “Many vendors are trying to get into this space, including network security vendors, IT operations companies, and small startups. We invented the NGES market, and we have more success and experience in it than anyone.

“We’ve grown into the largest pure-play NGES company. Our business model is solid because we’re driven by predictable recurring subscription revenue. We were voted Best Endpoint Protection by security professionals in the SANS Institute’s Best of 2014 Awards, and a 2015 SANS survey found that 68 percent of incident response professionals are using or evaluating Carbon Black,” Morley said.

“The endpoint is the next great wave in cyber security, and that’s why we increased our investment in Bit9 + Carbon Black to fuel the company’s ongoing leadership in this vital sector,” said Jeff Fagnan, founder of Accomplice, formerly known as Atlas Ventures. “The need for effective endpoint security has never been greater, and no company meets that critical need the way Bit9 + Carbon Black does.”

About Bit9 + Carbon Black
Bit9 + Carbon Black is the market leader in Next-Generation Endpoint Security. We have sold more licenses, have more experience, and more customers than any other NGES company because our solution is the most effective way to prevent, detect and respond to advanced threats that target users, servers, and fixed-function devices. That’s why more than 60 MSSP and IR leaders, including Dell SecureWorks, EY, Optiv and Solutionary, have chosen our technology as a key component of their security offerings, and 25 of the Fortune 100 rely on us as a critical element of their advanced threat defense and compliance strategies. By the end of 2015, we expect to achieve $70M+ in annual revenue, 70 percent growth, 7 million+ software licenses sold, and almost 2,000 customers worldwide. We were voted Best Endpoint Protection by security professionals in the SANS Institute’s Best of 2014 Awards, and a 2015 SANS survey found that 68 percent of IR professionals are using or evaluating Carbon Black.

Bit9 and Carbon Black are registered trademarks of Bit9, Inc. All other company or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1G5smRL

Company Profile Link:

Bit9 + Carbon Black

Company Website:

https://www.bit9.com

Logo:

Sonian Secures $7.5 Million

joshboyle — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 14:04:38 +0000

Date:

10/14/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Sonian, a pioneer in cloud-based archiving, today announced that it has secured $7.5 million in venture debt from Ares Capital Corporation. This financing follows rapid corporate momentum marked by a record quarter in sales and profitability, and will be used to fuel product development and staffing efforts as the company continues to expand.

In the past year, Sonian has made huge strides by garnering more than 2,500 new customers to bring its total client count to more than 20,000. These customers see tremendous value in Sonian’s solution to store and manage data in the cloud while ensuring optimal security and ease. To accommodate the company’s rapid growth, Sonian has added 13 employees in the past 12 months, including strategic new hires such as the appointment of Tim McKinnon as Chief Executive Officer.

“As evidenced by our record sales performance and continued growth, our solution is filling a major market need among all types of B2B and B2C organizations and in every industry,” said Tim McKinnon, CEO, Sonian. “We’re seeing dramatic need for line-of-business big data visibility within the enterprise. We are committed to continuing our history of innovation in support of this through investment in new technologies delivered through new products.”

About Sonian

An early innovator in cloud-based archiving, Sonian preserves, protects and presents the world’s information. More than 20,000 customers in 40 countries trust Sonian’s secure platform and fast and accurate search to retain and retrieve valuable data and to protect the intellectual property in business email. Sonian manages more than 20 billion objects in the cloud; every day, 17 million new documents are uploaded to Sonian’s cloud archives, which can run on any of the world’s five largest public clouds. Boasting strong partnerships with the world’s leading technology companies, Sonian combines innovative technology with deep archiving expertise to satisfy customers of all sizes and industries. For more information, please visit www.sonian.com.

Location:

Boston, MA

Company Profile Link:

Sonian

Company Website:

http://sonian.com

Logo:

Cybereason Closes $59 Million Series C Funding Round

joshboyle — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 15:32:32 +0000

Date:

10/13/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Cybereason today announced the close of $59 million in Series C funding, led by a new investor, SoftBank Corp.(“SoftBank”), a subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp. (TOKYO: 9984) along with existing investors CRV and Spark Capital. In conjunction with this investment, SoftBank will be the leading distributor of Cybereason’s cyber-security platform in the Japanese market. Per the terms of their agreement, Softbank and Cybereason will also join forces to build a joint offering that enables Japanese organizations to defend themselves against advanced persistent threats and other sophisticated cyber attacks.

“SoftBank works to obtain cutting edge technology and outstanding business models to lead the Information Revolution. Our deployment of the Cybereason platform internally gave us firsthand knowledge of the value it provides, and led to our decision to invest. I’m confident Cybereason and SoftBank’s new product offering will bring a new level of security to Japanese organizations,” said Ken Miyauchi, President & CEO of SoftBank Corp.

“Over the past year Cybereason has proven its ability to defend the world’s largest, most prestigious and most highly targeted enterprises against ultra-sophisticated cyber attacks,” said Lior Div, CEO and Co-founder of Cybereason. “We built our relationship with SoftBank to mirror the success we achieved with Lockheed Martin, which also invested in and built a joint go-to-market plan with us. This model enables us to maintain our agility and focus on innovation while leveraging the credibility, resources and experience that only industry giants bring to the table.”

Amane Kito, Chief Information Officer of SoftBank Corp., added, “Cybereason super-charges the ability of security teams to defend against cyber threats and significantly reduce security costs. What makes Cybereason stand out above hundreds of security start-ups is its transformational approach to cyber-security, which leverages machine learning and behavioral analytics to detect and thwart even the most advanced cyber threats.”

Cybereason’s Series C funding round will further accelerate the exceptional growth it has experienced since launching its platform in February 2014, as reflected in the many awards and accolades it has received. Most recently, CRN named Cybereason an “Emerging Vendor” and one of the “10 Coolest Security Companies of 2015 (so far)”. Earlier this year it was named “Best Emerging Technology” by SC Magazine UK, one of the 10 Most Innovative Companies at RSA Conference 2015, one of “Nine Israeli companies to watch” by Inc. Magazine, one of “12 hot security startups you need to know” by Network World and in 2014 Gartner, Inc. selected it as Cool Vendor in Application and Endpoint Security. Additionally, Cybereason’s research arm – Cybereason Labs, has published numerous reports on attack trends, from DGA based malware to the discovery of a new Ransomware-as-a-Service operation to the discovery of a new APT targeting Microsoft OWA, published earlier this month.

“We seek to partner with the biggest and brightest players that can offer a unique platform for market expansion and the development of new product offerings. We are excited to work with the excellent team at SoftBank to launch an advanced security solution in Japan, a region that values great technology,” continues Div.

About SoftBank:

SoftBank Corp., a subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp. (TOKYO: 9984), provides mobile communication, fixed-line communication and Internet connection services to customers in Japan. Leveraging synergies with other companies in the SoftBank Group,
SoftBank Corp. aims to transform lifestyles through ICT and expand into other business areas including IoT, robotics and energy.

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1Lsn2Ik

Company Profile Link:

Cybereason

Company Website:

http://www.cybereason.com

Logo:

PTC to Acquire Vuforia

joshboyle — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 15:18:10 +0000

Date:

10/13/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

PTC (NASDAQ: PTC) today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Vuforia business from Qualcomm Connected Experiences, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), for $65 million. Vuforia is the industry’s most advanced and widely adopted augmented reality (AR) technology platform, and will enrich PTC’s technology portfolio and accelerate PTC’s strategy as a leading provider of technologies and solutions that blend the digital and physical worlds.

Under terms of the agreement, PTC will acquire the award-winning Vuforia business, including the developer ecosystem. PTC is committed to continued investment in the Vuforia platform and to the ongoing support and growth of the Vuforia ecosystem.

Vuforia is a mobile vision platform that enables applications (“apps”) to see and connect the physical world with digital experiences that demand attention, drive engagement, and deliver value. Today, Vuforia is supported by a global ecosystem of developers in 130 countries, and has powered more than 20,000 apps with more than 200 million app installs worldwide.

The combination of Vuforia and PTC leverages two transformational technology trends – Internet of Things (IoT) and augmented reality (AR) – to deliver a new class of products that merge the digital and physical worlds. When coupled with PTC’s IoT and analytics platforms, Vuforia unlocks a world of possibilities for creating new ways to design products, to monitor and control products, and to instruct operators and technicians in the appropriate methods of use and service.

“PTC continues to pursue a strategy of providing an incredibly innovative technology platform that customers can use to capitalize on the emerging Internet of Things (IoT),” said PTC CEO Jim Heppelmann. “Because of what IoT is enabling, more and more products are now a mixture of digital and part physical content. So, naturally, the ways in which we interact with these products will evolve toward a mixed-reality model that blends physical and digital interactions. “

“By delivering powerful computer vision functionality through a simple API, the Vuforia platform has enabled developers and leading brands to deliver award-winning experiences to consumers around the globe,” said Jay Wright, Vice President of Vuforia, Qualcomm Connected Experiences, Inc. “Vuforia has also captured the attention of industry leaders who envision the potential for augmented reality to transform work. As part of PTC, Vuforia will allow developers to realize this potential through integration with PTC’s industry leading applications and ThingWorx IoT platform.”

Vuforia has wide adoption from leading companies including 37 of the Interbrand 100 and has consistently been awarded for its performance, robustness, and ease of use, including “Best Tool” at Augmented World Expo in each of the last three years. Vuforia supports multiple developer tools, including Eclipse, xCode, and Unity and runs on multiple operating systems and devices, including iOS and Android phones, tablets, and selected mobile eyewear.

“We are pleased with the prospect of adding the market-leading AR technology platform, together with its large developer community, to our technology portfolio. Vuforia will accelerate our leadership position helping companies to fundamentally change the way their products are created, operated, and serviced,” added Heppelmann. “We are excited about leveraging Vuforia’s technology leadership in the consumer market while unleashing the Vuforia capabilities into the enterprise. We look forward to welcoming the Vuforia team to PTC.”

Vuforia annual revenue is currently not material to PTC financial results. As a result of cost synergies and investment plans, PTC does not expect Vuforia to impact its FY’16 non-GAAP EPS. The transaction is expected to close by the end of calendar year 2015, subject to customary closing conditions.

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1R973yY

Company Profile Link:

PTC - Parametric Technology Corporation

Company Website:

http://www.ptc.com

Logo:

Dell Acquires EMC

joshboyle — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 14:27:15 +0000

Date:

10/12/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Per Fortune, "The second-largest tech merger of all time is now official."

Dell Inc. this morning formally announced that it has agreed to acquire network storage giant EMC Corp. EMC -1.87% for approximately $67 billion.

Under terms of the complex deal, EMC stockholders would approximately $33.15 per share. This includes $24.05 per share in cash and $9.10 worth of a tracking stock for VMWare VMW -10.35% , an EMC-owned cloud and virtualization software company that already has around a 20% equity “stub” trading on the public markets. READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://for.tn/1jkfTzF

Company Profile Link:

EMC

Company Website:

http://www.emc.com/en-us/index.htm

Logo:

LogMeIn Acquires LastPass for $125 million

joshboyle — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 15:59:23 +0000

Date:

10/09/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

LogMeIn, Inc. (Nasdaq:LOGM) today announced that it has agreed to acquire LastPass (incorporated as Marvasol, Inc.), the popular single-sign-on (SSO) and password management service. A high growth business with millions of loyal users and an award winning product line, LastPass will immediately bolster LogMeIn’s position in the multi-billion dollar identity and access management (IAM) market, while accelerating one of the company’s key strategic growth initiatives. The deal is expected to close in the coming weeks.

The future identity market is being shaped by realities that come from end-user driven adoption of cloud, web and mobile apps – the bring-your-own-app (BYOA) trend -- and increasingly decentralized approaches to managing identity in the workplace(1). Seventy (70) percent of companies report using employee-introduced applications (as opposed to IT introduced and company procured applications) in the workplace. This is especially relevant to IT professionals and businesses since eighty (80) percent of cloud applications and services contain sensitive regulated or company confidential data (2). Meanwhile, approximately two-thirds (64 percent) of internet users use the same passwords for most or all websites (3).

LogMeIn is building a product and go-to-market strategy that embraces this BYOA reality and introduces new ways to help individuals and businesses secure access to sensitive information. The LastPass acquisition is expected to play a key role in this effort, is highly complementary to LogMeIn’s existing identity portfolio, and offers a natural extension to LogMeIn’s leadership position in the access market.

“LastPass has a great business, a beloved and award winning product, millions of loyal users, and thousands of great business customers – they are synonymous with the category,” said Michael Simon, LogMeIn’s Chairman and CEO. “We believe this transaction instantly gives us a market leading position in password management, while also providing a highly favorable foundation for delivering the next generation of identity and access management solutions to individuals, teams and companies.”

Following the close of the deal, LogMeIn plans to bring complementary capabilities of its early identity management investments, including those of Meldium, which it acquired in September 2014, into LastPass. In the near-term, both the Meldium and LastPass product lines will continue to be supported, with longer-term plans to center around a singular identity management offering based on the LastPass service and brand.

“LogMeIn and LastPass share a great common vision on reshaping identity and access management in ways that not only increase productivity but also improve security for individuals and companies, alike,” said Joe Siegrist, CEO of LastPass. “The striking commonality between our businesses, our products, and cultural DNA make this a great fit for both teams, and we believe a great win for our customers.”

Transaction Details

Under the terms of the transaction, LogMeIn will pay $110 million in cash upon close for all outstanding equity interests in LastPass, with up to an additional $15 million in cash payable in contingent payments which are expected to be paid to equity holders and key employees of LastPass upon the achievement of certain milestone and retention targets over the two-year period following the closing of the transaction.

Location:

Boston, MA

Company Profile Link:

LogMeIn

Company Website:

http://www.logmeininc.com

Logo:

RightHand Robotics Raises $3.3M

joshboyle — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 14:11:56 +0000

Date:

10/09/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

As reported by Xconomy, RightHand Robotics has raised $3.3 million in fundung.

READ MORE from Xconomy

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1LDCtzq

Company Profile Link:

RightHand Robotics

Company Website:

http://www.righthandrobotics.com/main:home

Logo:

CyberArk to Acquire Viewfinity

joshboyle — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 14:32:19 +0000

Date:

10/08/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

CyberArk (NASDAQ: CYBR), the company that protects organizations from cyber attacks that have made their way inside the network perimeter, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Viewfinity, Inc., a Waltham, Mass.-based provider of Windows least privilege management and application control software for $30.5 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Acquiring Viewfinity enables CyberArk to remove administrative privileges from business users, and limit the privileges available to users and applications to only what is needed, allowing only trusted applications to run. This enables organizations to stop the progression of most malware-based attacks at the endpoint, limiting the attacker’s ability to move beyond their initial point of entry.

With the acquisition of Viewfinity, CyberArk will offer protection against privileged-based attacks targeting both business and IT users. Viewfinity’s integrated least privilege and application control solution, combined with CyberArk’s credential vaulting will provide a comprehensive endpoint privilege management solution from the established leader in privileged account security.

The Viewfinity offering is available as either an on-premise or SaaS-based solution.

READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1JUThuj

Company Profile Link:

Cyber-Ark Software

Company Website:

http://www.cyberark.com

Logo:

Aquto Raises $8 Million

joshboyle — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 14:29:41 +0000

Date:

10/08/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

BOSTON, October 7, 2015 – Aquto, a leader in sponsored data monetization, today announced the close of an $8 million Series B funding round led by Iris Capital. The round also included participation from STC Ventures and existing investors Matrix Partners and Northbridge Venture Partners. The company has raised over $16 million to date. Aquto plans to use the funding to expand its global footprint, making mobile data accessible for consumers around the world.

"As we move into the next phase of our business, we are excited to partner with investors that have global experience and unique capabilities that will accelerate our growth," said Susie Riley, Aquto CEO. "The new capital gives us fuel and flexibility to forge partnerships and collaborations with operators, brands and app developers who will help shape the future of the mobile experience."

The explosion of smartphones, social media and content has transformed the lives of billions globally. Recognizing the critical need for connectivity, Aquto is advancing the mobile internet in order to make data easily accessible to consumers. Aquto’s sponsored data approach includes:

"Zero Rating" – allows mobile customers to engage with online content free of data charges
"Data Rewards" – allows mobile customers to receive free data from third party sponsors that they can use to browse and stream content on their mobile device

"Sponsored data is the next major step in the evolution of mobile connectivity," said Alexander Wiedmer, Iris Capital Partner. "Aquto's strategic vision brings value to the telecom, publisher and advertising ecosystems and thus aligns well with Iris' own strategic partnerships with Publicis, Orange and STC, global leaders in advertising and mobile."

About Aquto
Aquto is the leader in sponsored data and data rewards with tier one operator deployments in the US, Europe and Asia. Founded in 2012 with headquarters in Boston, provides a frictionless way for app developers, advertisers and marketers to engage with users over mobile through zero rated content/apps and data rewards, and a new way for operators to monetize their data and network assets. For more information, visit www.aquto.com or follow @aquto on Twitter.

About Iris Capital
Iris Capital is a European venture capital fund manager specializing in the digital economy. Since its inception in 1986, the Iris Capital team has invested more than €1 billion in more than 250 companies. Iris has a strategic partnership with Orange and Publicis. It provides active support to its portfolio companies on the basis of its strong sector specialization and experience, and has offices in Paris, Cologne, Berlin, San Francisco, Montreal, Riyadh, Dubai, Beijing and Tokyo. For more information: www.iriscapital.com

About STC Ventures
STC Ventures is a venture capital fund, independently managed by Iris Capital, whose anchor investor is the Saudi Telecom Company. STC Ventures is focused on equity investments in the information technology, telecommunications, and digital media/entertainment sectors; seeking to support the development of innovative technology companies in Saudi Arabia, the GCC, Levant, North Africa and Turkey, in addition to funding globally minded international companies seeking capital and access to the MENA region. STC Group is the largest telecommunications company in MENA, ranked in the top 20 mobile networks in the world, and serving more than 160 million subscribers. www.stcventures.com

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1jcuY5I

Company Profile Link:

Aquto

Company Website:

http://aquto.com

Logo:

Digital Guardian Acquires Code Green Networks

joshboyle — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 15:36:57 +0000

Date:

10/06/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Digital Guardian, the only endpoint security platform purpose- built to stop data theft, has acquired Code Green Networks, a provider of Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions for the network, cloud and mobile devices.

Code Green Networks’ TrueDLP™ solution is comprised of Network DLP, Discovery DLP and Cloud DLP, and locates sensitive data resting on databases and network servers, including data in the cloud. Founded in 2004 in Sunnyvale, Calif., privately held Code Green Networks helps enterprises protect and manage regulated and other sensitive digital information. TrueDLP is an all-in-one, appliance-based solution that has been heralded by industry analysts for its simplicity and affordability. The latest Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content-Aware Data Loss Prevention found “solution cost, ease of use, available features and time to implement are key buying considerations for Code Green Networks.”1

Code Green Networks has also developed a strong strategic partnership program by offering tightly integrated solutions with other IT security leaders, including Blue Coat Systems®, which enables organizations to address their data security compliance requirements more efficiently and effectively.

With this acquisition, Digital Guardian becomes the only security company exclusively focused on protecting customers’ most valuable data at the endpoint, on the network and in the cloud from both insider threats and outside hackers. The combination of Digital Guardian and Code Green Networks will ultimately provide organizations with one data protection policy administered by a single management console and enforced regardless of where the data is located or how it is accessed. The combined solution will also provide:

Comprehensive data protection for the network, endpoint, cloud and mobile devices
Advanced data protection from threats originating inside or outside an organization
Data discovery for endpoints, network, servers and in the cloud
Context and fingerprint-based data classification for structured and unstructured data

TrueDLP is generally available today, and will continue to be sold as a separate solution until it is fully integrated into the Digital Guardian Data Protection Platform.

In addition, the acquisition provides Digital Guardian with enhanced threat intelligence, deep packet inspection and wider visibility across the network, significantly strengthening its Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) and Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) capabilities.

Executive Perspective

Ken Levine, president and chief executive officer, Digital Guardian

“Our mission is to provide ubiquitous data protection. Data that is safeguarded regardless of the threat actor, data type and the system, application, or device used to access it. Our acquisition of Code Green Networks represents a significant advancement in that mission, and following on the heels of our Armor5 and Savant Protection acquisitions, it better positions us to meet the wider data protection and cybersecurity needs of enterprises. Code Green Networks has a long tradition of innovation, and its TrueDLP network and cloud solution is the ideal complement to our own endpoint DLP and threat detection and response offerings.”

Mark Menke, chief technology officer and principal architect, Code Green Networks

“Since its inception, Code Green Networks has sought to make data loss prevention easy to use and affordable. The current solution fits a clear market need; however, we see where the future of data protection is headed. We now work in borderless environments which has changed the threats to sensitive data dramatically. Digital Guardian recognized early that the next generation DLP solution has to protect sensitive data from all threats. We believe in Ken’s mission and we’re pleased to now be part of the team that will make ubiquitous data protection a reality.”

Garrett Bekker, senior analyst, enterprise security at 451 Research

“With the rapid pace of data theft incidents showing no signs of slowing, it’s becoming imperative that companies have a sound data security strategy in place. With the acquisition of Code Green Networks, Digital Guardian has taken another big step forward. The combination of Digital Guardian’s proven endpoint security solution with Code Green Networks’ network-based DLP and advanced discovery capabilities for both on-premise and cloud-based resources will enable Digital Guardian to provide one of the most comprehensive system and data protection solutions on the market.”

About Digital Guardian
Digital Guardian is the only data-aware security platform designed to stop data theft. The Digital Guardian platform performs across traditional endpoints, mobile devices and cloud applications to make it easier to see and stop all threats to sensitive data. For more than 10 years, it has enabled data-rich organizations to protect their most valuable assets with an on premise deployment or an outsourced managed security program (MSP). Digital Guardian’s unique data awareness and transformative endpoint visibility, combined with behavioral threat detection and response, let you protect data without slowing the pace of your business. To learn more please visit https://digitalguardian.com.

1 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content-Aware Data Loss Prevention, Eric Ouellet, December 12, 2013

SOURCE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1OY7L4o

Company Profile Link:

Digital Guardian

Company Website:

https://digitalguardian.com

Logo:

Kurt Salmon Acquires Mobispoke

joshboyle — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 15:21:22 +0000

Date:

10/07/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Global management consultancy Kurt Salmon announced today the acquisition of digital retail technology agency Mobispoke LLC, the innovation engine behind such technologies as smart fitting rooms, integrated mobile apps and other leading-edge, interactive shopping experience technologies.

The acquisition evolved from a longstanding relationship during which Kurt Salmon and Mobispoke have provided leading national retailers the strategic guidance and tools necessary to bring 1:1 Retailing to life in an omnichannel world. The combination of technology and strategy has allowed top retailers, including Bloomingdale’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Puma, to integrate and personalize consumers’ physical and digital customer experiences across the Web, mobile, social channels, and brick-and-mortar locations.

Following the acquisition, Mobispoke will rebrand as Kurt Salmon Digital and will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Kurt Salmon. The transaction is expected to complete within the next few weeks.

“Bringing Mobispoke’s cutting-edge digital capabilities in-house under the Kurt Salmon brand continues our drive to help clients best implement the innovative technologies that are the future of omnichannel retail,” said Brooks Kitchel, managing partner for North America and the Global Retail and Consumer Group at Kurt Salmon. “This strategic acquisition opens up some really exciting avenues to push the envelope and develop new technologies and transformative strategies that will help us secure success for what’s next for our clients.”

Under the Kurt Salmon Digital brand, Mobispoke will continue to work with its existing market-leading retail clientele while augmenting the suite of services that is offered under the Kurt Salmon brand more broadly. As Kurt Salmon Digital, Rob Howard will lead the organization, while Eric Shea and Andrew Wong will remain on board to continue driving digital innovation and client services.

“We’re thrilled to be joining the Kurt Salmon team and to bring our digital development and deployment knowledge to their client base,” remarked Andrew Wong, co-founder and VP of Client Services at Mobispoke. “We’ve been working so closely with the team on the 1:1 Retailing concept over the past year that this really feels like the natural evolution of our partnership together.”

Location:

Boston, MA

Company Website:

http://www.kurtsalmondigital.com

Logo:

Skyworks to Acquire PMC-Sierra for $2 Billion in Cash

joshboyle — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 15:18:11 +0000

Date:

10/07/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS), an innovator of high performance analog semiconductors connecting people, places and things, and PMC-Sierra, Inc. (PMC) (NASDAQ: PMCS), a semiconductor and software solutions leader in storage, optical and mobile networks, today announced a definitive agreement under which Skyworks will acquire PMC for $10.50 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $2 billion. This acquisition solidifies Skyworks' position as a highly diversified analog, RF and mixed signal semiconductor leader by significantly expanding its product portfolio, customer base and end market applications. Upon completion of the acquisition, Skyworks expects annual revenues of more than $4 billion with gross margin in the 55 percent range and operating margin exceeding 40 percent.

READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1j860EC

Company Profile Link:

Skyworks Solutions

Company Website:

http://www.skyworksinc.com

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ezCater Closes $28M Funding Round

joshboyle — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 15:57:44 +0000

Date:

10/06/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

ezCater Closes $28M Funding Round to Further its Leadership Position as the Only Nationwide Marketplace for Business Catering

Insight Venture Partners Leads Series C Round Supporting the Dominant Player in the Rapidly Growing $19.6 Billion Business Catering Market

BOSTON, Mass. – October 6, 2015 – ezCater, the only nationwide marketplace for business catering, today announced that it has closed a $28 million Series C round of venture funding led by Insight Venture Partners with participation from existing investors. The round, which brings ezCater’s total funding to $35 million, will help the company scale to meet increasing demand from businesses of all sizes across the U.S., while accelerating the development of new features and functionality for its business catering marketplace.

ezCater, with more than 43,000 caterer and restaurant partners, helps business people easily find and order food online for meetings or events in every city and town in the United States. Today’s funding strengthens ezCater’s leadership position to further capitalize on the massive market for business catering – a market worth $19.6 billion in the U.S., according to the foodservice research firm Technomic.

“What makes ezCater unique comes down to three things – guaranteed reliability, nationwide coverage, and 5-star service,” said Stefania Mallett, co-founder and CEO of ezCater. “Our caterers are rated for on-time delivery and accuracy, so you can be confident you won’t be embarrassed waiting for food at your meeting. We have caterers everywhere, and you can call if you don’t see what you want online. If anything comes up with an order, a call, email or text to our customer service ninjas is all it takes. We’ll handle it while you get back to business. Those are the reasons we’ve been growing exponentially. With the new funding, we’ll grow even faster.”

ezCater’s customers include organizations of all sizes, in all industries – from Fortune 500 companies to local startups, in markets as diverse as construction, finance, and pharmaceuticals. Business people use ezCater to place orders 24 hours a day and up to 365 days in advance of any sales call, training, or other business meeting or event. They have access to nearly 300,000 reviews and on-time delivery ratings to help guide their choices. ezCater’s 5-star-rated customer service team provides users a backstop in case they need any assistance at all.

ezCater also appeals to finance, accounting, and procurement groups in larger organizations by offering enterprise-class visibility and controls. Companies with a large salesforce or offices nationwide can centralize payment and gain deeper insights into their spending on food for meetings. In addition, individual users can connect ezCater to their expense reporting system to centralize e-receipts and make expense management easier.

“Food is becoming an increasingly important part of business culture. In many industries, it’s harder and harder to drag decision-makers out to lunch; it’s easier to get them to listen to you for a few minutes if you feed them and their team. In addition, there’s a crop of younger workers who expect to be fed in the office,” said Jeff Lieberman, managing director at Insight Venture Partners. “ezCater is in a unique position to capitalize on these social trends and the expectations of the on-demand economy. They’re the only player that can address the entire $19.6 billion market for business catering in the U.S., and this funding will help them extend an already impressive service.”

About ezCater

ezCater is the only nationwide marketplace for business catering. ezCater’s online ordering, on-time ratings and reviews, and 5-star customer service connect businesspeople to reliable catering for any meeting, anywhere in the United States. For more information or to place an order, visit www.ezcater.com.

Location:

Boston, MA

Company Profile Link:

ezCater

Company Website:

https://www.ezcater.com

Logo:

Censio Closes $10 Million Series A Financing

joshboyle — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 15:39:40 +0000

Date:

10/06/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Censio Announces Close of $10 Million Series A Financing
From General Catalyst Partners, Bain Capital Ventures and Lakestar Funds will be used to hire additional talent in engineering and data science to expand the company’s big data platform to make driving safer and more affordable

BOSTON (October 6, 2016) Censio, a technology company that uses proprietary software and big data to make driving safer and more affordable, today announced it has closed on a $10 million Series A round of funding. The round, which was led by General Catalyst Partners and included funding from Bain Capital Ventures and Lakestar brings total equity capital raised to more than $13 million. The funding will enable Censio to continue developing its leading Usage Based Insurance (UBI) applications and services for the world’s largest insurance carriers in the U.S. and in Europe.

“New cars are safer than they’ve ever been, but drivers face an increasing array of distractions behind the wheel. As a result, distracted driving is becoming a leading cause of car accidents,” said Scott Griffith, former Chairman and CEO of Zipcar and a co-founder of Censio. “At Censio, we’re using technology and big data to turn the mobile phone into a force for good by helping drivers see, understand and change risky driving behavior. At the same time, our insurance company partners are better enabled to offer new pricing and product alternatives based on actual driving behavior.”

Driving accidents are a leading cause of death for people under the age of 34, with distracted driving accounting for 80 percent of all accidents. The prevalence of distracted driving is upending the traditional mechanisms insurance companies have used to measure risk. Censio was founded on the notion that technology can help people become better drivers and to help insurance companies understand and manage new risks that come with the increased use of technology while driving.

Censio offers a turnkey UBI platform for the insurance industry. Its solution includes a downloadable mobile app that captures and helps improve driver behavior; a big data platform that provides clean, comprehensive driving records, driver scores and analytics; and a management and analytics dashboard that allows an insurance company UBI team and customer service representatives to deploy, manage and track a UBI program.

“We’ve already built an incredible team with some of the most talented and driven data scientists, engineers and product developers. In the coming year, we expect to double in size as we scale both the company and platform to meet customer demand, and help insurers grow their business and realize the full potential of the Usage Based Insurance opportunity,” said Kevin Farrell, Censio’s President.

Censio offers its solution to insurance companies seeking to reduce costs, develop new insurance products and/or improve their risk assessment capabilities. By distinguishing between safe and risky drivers and rewarding safe drivers with discounts on their premiums, insurance companies reduce claims costs, attract new and retain existing customers. Because Censio’s primary data source is a driver’s phone and not hardware installed in the car, implementation and administration costs for the insurer are cut by more than 50 percent compared to hardware-based UBI solutions, further increasing the financial performance while improving the consumer attractiveness of the UBI program.

In September 2015, after an 18-month competition among 11 companies, Progressive Insurance announced it had selected Censio as the sole provider to power its mobile UBI program. Censio and Progressive are currently rolling out the technology to a select number of Progressive customers.

About Censio

Censio uses big data to make driving safer and more affordable. Headquartered in Boston, Mass., its technology platform enables insurance companies to distinguish between safe and risky drivers, reward safe drivers with discounts on their insurance, and revolutionize the industry by enabling pricing based on actual driving behavior. Censio delivers its Software as a Service (SaaS) solution through leading insurers, saving lives and making roads safer for millions of users around the world. The company’s lead investor is General Catalyst Partners, where Censio co-founder Scott Griffith is an Executive in Residence. More information is available at www.cens.io.

#####

Location:

Boston, MA

Company Profile Link:

Censio

Company Website:

http://cens.io

Logo:

OnCorps Closes $2.3 Million

joshboyle — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 15:26:41 +0000

Date:

10/05/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

OnCorps Combines Behavioral Science and Machine Learning to Give Users Real-Time Benchmarking and Performance Data on Individual Decisions; Closes $2.3 Million in Private Investment

CAMBRIDGE, MASS—October 5, 2015—OnCorps today unveiled its Adaptive Decision Analytics platform that intelligently engages users and nudges them to make better decisions. The company also announced the close of $2.3M in private investment from Andreessen Horowitz and business leaders including former top executives from Accenture, Bridgewater, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs and Fidelity Investments.

OnCorps combines behavioral science, machine learning and Sabermetrics to identify, create and apply the data an organization needs to dramatically increase desired results. OnCorps mobile and online applications are rapidly tailored to each client’s unique requirements, providing real-time individual diagnostic visualizations, benchmarking, data correlation and personalized smart nudging capabilities.

“Though data and analytics tools are powerful, the challenge is making data relevant and actionable,” said Bob Suh, founder and CEO of OnCorps. “Organizations spend too much time and capital collecting and charting data. Not enough time is spent turning data into better decisions. We created OnCorps to usher in the next generation of analytics, applying technology that enables users to track and measure their decisions and nudges them to make choices that improve their odds of success.”

Organizations have traditionally supported decision making by analyzing existing data, supplemented with traditional surveys, and communicating findings in a top-down fashion to distributed decision-makers. This method yields static data that fails to provide personalized insight into how decision-making can be improved at the individual level. Business decision-makers need relevant and real-time adaptive insight into the decision factors that matter most to achieving results.

OnCorps applications enable individual users to compare their decisions and performance to the real-time benchmark data of various peer performance groups, gaining insight on key differences. Users then track their decisions over time to see how different decisions impact their performance and build a personalized “decision diary” to capture and improve their decision rules. Finally, applications deliver smart “nudge” messages, personalized and adapted over time for each user, that prompt the changes in behaviors that correlate to the best outcomes. In this way, OnCorps applications accomplish large-scale behavior change through individualized decision tuning and nudging.

OnCorps applications result in two to three times higher user engagement rates and higher quality data. The platform allows configuration of custom applications and reporting very rapidly and iteratively.

OnCorps also announced the addition of Jack Klinck, former Management Committee member and Executive Vice President at State Street; Nicholas Christakis, Sol Goldman Family Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University and Dan Petrozzo, former partner and CIO of Goldman Sachs, to its Board of Advisors. Klinck, Christakis, and Petrozzo join the OnCorps Board alongside top business, technology and finance executives and researchers from Accenture, Capital Group, Credit Suisse, DuPont, EMC, Fidelity Investments, Google, Bain Capital, Harvard Business School, McGraw Hill Education, Merck, NYSE and ON Search Partners.

“OnCorps has a profound opportunity to change the way business decisions are made, helping organizations achieve break-through performance and stay ahead of the rapid changes that occur in dynamic markets,” said Karl-Heinz Flöther, Supervisory Board member for Deutsche Boerse and Commerzbank, and former international chairman of Accenture. “OnCorps has the right leadership and technology in place to successfully address this enormous market opportunity.”

For more information about OnCorps, or to schedule a platform demo, visit http://www.oncorps.org or email info@oncorps.org.

About OnCorps

OnCorps is the adaptive decision analytics company that intelligently engages users and nudges them to make better decisions. The OnCorps platform adapts to each user’s performance and decision style by applying a unique combination of behavioral science, machine learning and Sabermetrics, allowing users to see real-time diagnostics while building a personal decision diary. OnCorps is headquartered in Boston and part of the Andreessen Horowitz portfolio of companies. For more information, visit http://www.oncorps.org.

Location:

Cambridge, MA

Company Profile Link:

OnCorps

Company Website:

http://www.oncorps.org

Logo:

Cengage Learning Acquires Learning Objects

joshboyle — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 17:56:54 +0000

Date:

10/02/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Cengage Learning, a leading global education company, today announced the acquisition of Learning Objects, a Washington, D.C.-based education technology company. Learning Objects powers innovative, customized and adaptive online learning programs and courses to higher education institutions through its state-of-the-art learning platform and instructional design services. With Learning Objects, institutions are able to quickly create both competency-based and traditional online programs and courses integrating publisher content, open educational resources, faculty content and other ed tech vendors’ tools.

“Over the last few years, we have successfully established MindTap as the leading course-level digital solution in the market. At this stage, we were looking for a partner that accelerates our strategy of broadening our offering from course solutions to a full-service online program experience, which many institutions are asking for,” said Michael Hansen, Chief Executive Officer, Cengage Learning. “We found that partner in Learning Objects, whose team shares our vision of how the market is evolving. Their expertise in working with institutional customers to deliver a customized solution that meets their unique needs helps us continue to enrich the relationship between educators and students to advance the way students learn.”

“This next chapter in our company’s growth allows us to accelerate our efforts to transform and improve student learning. By combining Learning Objects’ technology and learning services expertise with Cengage Learning’s extensive faculty and student relationships, market-leading content, and unique MindTap platform, we can provide a transformational offering,” said Derek Hamner, Chief Executive Officer, Learning Objects.

Hansen added, “Students will have more educational choices. Our MindTap customers will gain new functionality. In short, with this acquisition, we will better serve institutions looking to grow the impact and reach of their programs.”

Learning Objects complements Cengage Learning’s existing portfolio of award-winning course solutions and enables the company to take advantage of the momentum toward competency-based learning, adaptive learning and open educational resources. In addition, Cengage Learning will be able to offer instructors and institutions a content-agnostic platform with flexible program-level curriculum development and delivery models and a unified learner experience. Cengage Learning will also be able to serve as a preferred technology partner for other publishers seeking new and innovative content delivery solutions.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. For media questions, please contact Kristina Massari at kristina.massari@cengage.com orSusan Aspey at susan.aspey@cengage.com.

About Cengage Learning

Cengage Learning is a leading educational content, technology and services company for the higher education and K-12, professional and library markets worldwide. The company provides superior content, personalized services and course-driven digital solutions that accelerate student engagement and transform the learning experience. Cengage Learning is headquartered in Boston, MA with an office hub located in San Francisco, CA. Cengage Learning employees reside in nearly 40 different countries with company sales in more than 125 countries around the world. www.cengage.com.

About Learning Objects

Learning Objects is a learning innovation partner with higher education and learning science expertise. We design and build innovative programs, courses and learning experiences. Using Difference Engine®, our next generation learning environment and tools, we collaborate with institutions and other education providers to deliver competency-based, personalized and adaptive learning at scale.

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Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1GoJJI3

Company Profile Link:

Cengage Learning

Company Website:

http://www.cengage.com/us/

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Workable Raises $27M

joshboyle — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 13:51:04 +0000

Date:

10/01/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Workable, the startup that’s changing the way small businesses hire, raised $27 million in a Series B round led by Balderton Capital with the participation of Notion Capital and existing investors 83North (formerly Greylock IL). An emerging member of Boston’s B2B software scene, Workable grew five-fold in the last year.

Workable delivers a simple but powerful cloud-based solution for employers who need to post jobs, track candidates and hire as a team. It will use the funding to seal its place as America’s favourite hiring software. More than 3,000 businesses in 52 countries actively use the service today, a customer list that’s growing by 15% every month.

“The need to recruit great people and to do it quickly and efficiently affects businesses of all sizes. Workable have done an extremely impressive job of building a solution for SMBs that leapfrogs the cumbersome methods that came before it,” said Daniel Waterhouse, General Partner at Balderton Capital. “We are incredibly excited to be backing two terrific European entrepreneurs and their amazing team, as Workable take the next step on their journey”.

As well as companies changing up from clunky and outdated HR systems, hundreds of ambitious businesses are joining Workable every month, many of which have never used hiring software before.

“Big companies have been using heavyweight applicant tracking systems for decades”, said Workable CEO, Nikos Moraitakis. “But the majority of America’s 22 million small businesses have not yet tried hiring software. With no solution made for their needs, they were disadvantaged in a function that’s critical for every business”.

“Workable is levelling the playing field for them, giving ambitious companies the chance to compete for talent”.

Tim Sackett, the recruiting tech expert, popular HR blogger and president of $40 million staffing agency HRU Technical Resources, said: “I’ve used a lot of recruiting solutions in my career, but Workable may be the most intuitive and easy to use right out of the box”.

“Workable gets recruiting and keeps it to what it is, or what it should be, which is simple. This is why it works so well for SMBs”.

All kinds of businesses, from creative agencies and tech startups to small hotels and hair salons, are finding they can save time and hire better with Workable.

Typical of these first-time users is Alexander Meeks from the New York-based engineering firm, Armand Corporation: “Before Workable, our firm used a combination of email and Excel,” he said. “Workable did everything we needed at a reasonable, scalable price and with a superior, simple user interface. We will never go back.”

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Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1OcxyWD

Company Profile Link:

Workable

Company Website:

http://workable.com

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Flywire Acquires Uni-Pay

joshboyle — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 15:19:53 +0000

Date:

10/01/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Flywire (formerly peerTransfer), the leading provider of global payment solutions for the education industry, today announced it has acquired UK tuition processor Uni-Pay. Uni-Pay offers tuition payment services to students attending 60 educational institutions in the UK, the second leading destination for foreign students studying abroad.

Uni-Pay clients include University of Durham, University of Leeds, Manchester Metropolitan University, Liverpool John Moores University, Kings Education, Bell Educational Services and University of Liverpool. The company’s six Warrington-based employees will join Flywire, which began operating in the UK two years ago.

With the acquisition, Flywire will now serve over 120 UK-based educational clients, making it the clear market leader in the UK. Worldwide, the company now provides payment processing of international tuition, room and board payments, on an exclusive basis, for over 800 schools across 12 countries. The company, which raised $22M in early 2015 to accelerate its international growth, is on-track to process $2 billion in tuition payments this academic year. The company recently announced it was changing its name from peerTransfer to Flywire, as it seeks to become the global standard for important, large-sum payments that cross borders. In July, the company announced its expansion into China, the world’s largest market for students studying abroad.

Flywire provides an easy-to-use, cost-effective and secure way for international students to pay their tuition and other expenses at educational institutions located primarily in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Its cloud-based solution and growing payment volumes enable the firm to provide discounted currency conversion rates that can result in significant savings vs. the rates offered by banks in students’ home countries. Educational providers can offer a range of multi-currency payment options including bank transfers, credit/debit cards, and online banking.

“We are delighted to have Uni-Pay’s outstanding slate of educational clients join the Flywire community, and to be able to offer the industry’s #1 international payment platform to them,” said Mike Massaro, CEO of Flywire. “We’ve worked hard to earn our reputation for providing outstanding customer service and industry-leading technology to students and educational institutions around the world. The considerable experience and talents of the Uni-Pay employees joining our team will add greatly to our capabilities and further solidify that reputation.”

“This is truly a win-win-win situation for international students, educational institutions and the Uni-Pay/Flywire teams,” said Paul Kennedy, acting CEO of Uni-Pay. “Our clients and their students gain access to Flywire’s best-in-class foreign exchange rates, 24/7 multi-lingual servicing capabilities and broad choice of payment options. And the joint team is uniquely positioned to expand the success of Flywire here in the UK and across Europe.”

Uni-Pay has previously been operating as a subsidiary of Collective Enterprises Ltd. (CEL), owner of business services companies based in Warrington, UK.

About Flywire

Flywire, formerly peerTransfer, is the leading provider of global payment solutions for the education industry, providing processing, tracking and reconciliation services for over 800 educational institutions worldwide. The company offers an easy-to-use, economical payment experience for international students from over 200 countries and territories. Using local bank transfers, online payments, and credit and debit cards denominated in local currencies, students can more easily and confidently pay for their international tuition, room and board at educational institutions around the world. Flywire’s discounted currency conversion rates can offer significant savings compared to home-market banks and credit card providers and the company offers outstanding customer service and payment monitoring for both students and universities. Brown University, Cornell, MIT, University of Miami, University of Massachusetts–Amherst and University of Western Australia are just some of the schools offering the service to their international students.

Flywire is headquartered in Boston and has operations in Europe, Asia and Australia. For more information, visit www.peerTransfer.com (soon to become www.flywire.com).

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Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1PPYYPt

Company Profile Link:

peerTransfer

Company Website:

http://www.flywire.com

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NewStore Has Raised $38 Million

joshboyle — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 14:40:01 +0000

Date:

09/30/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Boston, MA – September 30, 2015 – NewStore, Inc. establishes the definitive Mobile Retail Platform. As the future of retail shifts to mobile, brands struggle to maintain a profitable omnichannel presence. NewStore solves this issue by introducing a groundbreaking, high-conversion mobile commerce solution that unifies offline and online buying experiences. The company was founded by Stephan Schambach, an early ecommerce pioneer and founder of Demandware and Intershop. Including investments from Schambach and the NewStore management team, NewStore has raised $38 million, with General Catalyst Partners as the lead investor.

Brick-and-mortar retailers and brands face fundamental challenges as the rapidly growing mobile commerce market evolves: (1) Mobile conversion is only a fourth of desktop web browsing, (2) offline and online commerce are still fundamentally at odds, (3) Amazon has a virtual monopoly on convenience, and (4) mobile offers new forms of engagement that retailers have yet to leverage. Rather than retrofit legacy systems to address these issues, NewStore has built a commerce platform from the ground up, focused on mobile first.

The NewStore Mobile Retail Platform creates a cloud- and mobile-based innovation layer that elegantly integrates stores' existing ecommerce platforms such as Demandware, as well as ERP systems, without requiring major retooling at the backend. NewStore helps brands create closer, more profitable relationships with consumers through its platform that allows brands to provide unrivaled mobile convenience, foster deep consumer engagement, and boost sales.

“Retailers have seen an increase in mobile traffic, yet conversion rates remain low. This means mobile has untapped potential for retailers, and that’s where NewStore comes in,” said Stephan Schambach, Founder and CEO, NewStore. “As a serial entrepreneur who has capitalized on the major turning points in ecommerce, it’s clear to me that mobile represents the next major inflection point. What’s more, mobile is the only way to truly master omnichannel. The combination of mobile and omnichannel into a single, powerful, and customizable retail platform will shatter expectations for mobile commerce, making mobile shopping apps more popular than traditional ecommerce websites.”

LLX Global Business Services SA, part of JAB Holding S.a.r.l. and provider of business services to JAB brands Jimmy Choo, Bally, and Belstaff, is the first NewStore customer. “As part of larger efforts to enhance the consumer experience, we’re adopting the NewStore ‘mobile-first’ approach,” said Mark West, CEO of LLX Global Business Services SA “The NewStore Mobile Retail Platform helps us focus on accelerating revenue growth through brand desirability and unparalleled consumer convenience. It addresses the most substantial issue facing luxury retailers today: meeting the needs of demanding mobile consumers.”

Mobile consumers expect the ability to purchase anything, anywhere and at any time. NewStore is helping brands get their apps into the consumer’s pocket and break the boundaries of offline and online. By transforming today’s linear commerce experience, the NewStore platform reimagines the buyer’s journey as borderless, in which personalized, instant gratification is possible with one single touch.

“Looking at the NewStore model and its Mobile Retail Platform, there is no direct competition in the market. There are piece-players making attempts to address the mobile paradigm shift for retail, but no one has yet tied it all together as Stephan has done with NewStore,” said Larry Bohn, General Partner at General Catalyst Partners and Board Member, NewStore. “We’ve worked closely with Stephan as he brought his vision to life at Demandware, and from our unique vantage point, he is ready to reinvent an industry once again with NewStore.”

“The share of purchases initiated or influenced by mobile devices is growing in tandem with skyrocketing usage. Yet, the majority of mobile browsers fail to convert on the spot, due to a dearth of seamless mobile checkout solutions,” said Scott Galloway, Founder and Chairman, L2 and Board Member, NewStore. “NewStore eases the last part of that shopping journey and unifies it with the rest, fostering brand engagement and loyalty.”

Join Stephan Schambach for a webinar on October 27 where he will share how to future proof your brand against disrupting retail trends. Register here. Meet Schambach at the Shop.org conference – NewStore will be in booth #863.

About NewStore

NewStore provides the only mobile retail platform that promotes conversion, boosts engagement, unifies offline and online, and modernizes fulfillment. Working as a Demandware Link Partner and in conjunction with existing ecommerce platforms, NewStore allows brands to deliver a mobile-first retail experience designed around how consumers want to buy today — anywhere, anytime, with single touch simplicity. Founded by Stephan Schambach, creator of Intershop and Demandware, NewStore is headquartered in Boston. For more information, visit www.newstore.com.

See Original

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1MGasEG

Company Profile Link:

NewStore

Company Website:

http://www.newstore.com

Logo:

Intronis, Inc. Acquired by Barracuda

joshboyle — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 00:10:34 +0000

Date:

09/29/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Barracuda Networks, Inc. (NYSE: CUDA) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Intronis, Inc. (Intronis), a leader in providing data protection solutions to managed service providers (MSPs), a fast-growing channel delivering IT services to small and medium-sized businesses.This acquisition is expected to greatly expand Barracuda’s channel reach with the addition of nearly 2,000 MSPs and a purpose-built platform designed to streamline how MSPs service the data protection needs of their customers. The transaction is expected to close in Barracuda’s fiscal third quarter.

“The Intronis team has built a strong reputation for delivering a platform that was designed to meet the evolving needs of MSPs. Barracuda and Intronis share a commitment to simplicity, customer experience, and the channel. We believe a larger opportunity exists to add Barracuda’s award-winning security and data protection solutions to the Intronis platform to expand its offerings. This will allow Intronis’ MSP partners to address the broader needs of their customers,” said BJ Jenkins, CEO and President of Barracuda. "Barracuda has a rich history of innovation – with our subscription services, SaaS offerings, and public cloud focus, and this transaction builds on those successes. It also allows us to expand our market reach, and to offer compelling IT solutions no matter how customers want to consume them.”

Organizations continue to explore ways to increase efficiencies in their IT infrastructure.

In fact, according to CompTIA’s 4^th Annual Managed Services Trends Survey¹, there is a growing number of customers looking to MSPs to procure, deploy, and manage their IT initiatives. Specifically, 72% of respondents use an MSP for backup/disaster recovery initiatives, while 68% rely on their MSP for their security initiatives.

At the same time, a growing number of traditional VAR partners are embracing the MSP model as a platform to better address the requirements of their customers. With the addition of Intronis, Barracuda will be better positioned to address these requirements with its simplified pricing, delivery and support platform that makes it easier for MSPs to manage their customers’ network, security and data protection needs.

Additional highlights include:

Purpose-Built MSP Platform – Intronis’ growth in the MSP market is driven by its Intronis ECHOplatform, which many of its MSP partners use as the foundation of their managed services business, and traditional VARs have used to accelerate their transition into becoming managed service providers. Closely integrated with the major Professional Services Automation (PSA) and Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) providers, the Intronis ECHOplatform enables MSPs to easily deploy and manage data protection services for their end customers with comprehensive reporting, centralized account management, and consolidated billing.
Expanded Customer Opportunity – Research from Markets and Markets² finds that the annual growth rate of the SMB managed services market will exceed 20% over the next five years. Intronis’ technology and processes deliver an efficient way to better reach those customers, providing the ability for Barracuda to accelerate growth in this market.
Extended Channel Reach – Intronis’ MSP experience and award-winning infrastructure expand Barracuda’s channel reach in the newer, fast-growing MSP partner segment. This includes the nearly 2,000 MSPs that partner with Intronis today, of which less than 10% overlap with existing active Barracuda partners. Further, many key elements of the managed services market are forecast to grow at double-digit rates according to Gartner³, representing significant opportunities for MSPs to support their clients’ cloud migration plans and their IT service deployment, management and security needs. Barracuda’s award-winning security and data protection products, including Barracuda’s Office 365 offerings, can be adapted over time to take advantage of the current Intronis channel, as well as enable international expansion of the current Intronis offerings.

“We’ve invested heavily in developing and maintaining strong relationships with our MSP channel, which is reinforced by our platform designed to simplify how our partners manage their offerings,” said Rick Faulk, CEO of Intronis. “We are looking forward to working with the Barracuda team as part of the dedicated MSP business to further drive Intronis to the next phase of our growth as we begin to expand our MSP footprint internationally and increase our ability to bring a broader suite of technology products and services to our MSP partners.”

With its focus on the MSP channel since 2009, Intronis has grown to service the needs of nearly 2,000 MSP partners who manage the IT requirements for more than 36,000 customers. Intronis partners rely on the combination of its centralized management portal, PSA and RMM integrations, simplified pricing structure, as well as its award-winning partner support to simplify their data protection and management infrastructure.

"As a long-standing partner of Intronis and Barracuda, we have always appreciated both companies' commitment to our success,” said Eric Janson, President of Parallel Edge. “Intronis’ focus on simplifying how I deliver solutions ensures that I am efficiently providing high quality services to my customers, and Barracuda’s comprehensive, easy-to-use portfolio allows me to address a broad set of customer challenges, efficiently and cost effectively. I believe this combination will further help partners like us create new opportunities to serve the IT needs of our customers even more effectively as we expand our business."

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Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1FC7gKz

Company Profile Link:

Intronis

Company Website:

http://www.intronis.com

Logo:

IBM Plans to Acquire Meteorix

joshboyle — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 21:11:20 +0000

Date:

09/29/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced plans to acquire Meteorix LLC, a premier Workday (NYSE: WDAY) services partner, to help companies gain new competitive advantage by aligning people with financial performance and redefine work with the speed and simplicity of cloud-delivered finance and HR services.

Executives are under increased pressure to make the best possible decisions faster and with more predictable outcomes to drive growth and competitive advantage. Companies are looking for new ways to attract, engage, develop and support employees amidst the fierce global competition for top talent. Advancements in cloud, mobile, analytics and cognitive computing allow both finance and HR executives to operate with a more complete, real-time picture of their organization.

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Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://ibm.co/1iZFygL

Company Website:

https://www.meteorix.com

Logo:

Verndale Acquires Dustland

joshboyle — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 14:13:14 +0000

Date:

09/29/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Verndale Acquires Dustland to Create One of the Largest Independent Marketing Technology Agencies in the Industry

Acquisition expands Verndale’s global presence and their ability to offer unmatched strategic, creative and technical services.

Verndale, the marketing technology agency that is pioneering the way people and brands connect, today announced that it has acquired Dustland, one of the fastest growing digital agencies in Los Angeles. With the acquisition, Verndale expands on its already robust capabilities and service offerings, deepening its ability to design, implement and manage virtually any branded customer experience on any channel, device or technology platform. Verndale also increases its headcount by 20 percent, making it one of the largest independent marketing technology agencies in the U.S., with almost 200 full-time employees in six offices across the country and two internationally.

“We are committed to tirelessly evolving and expanding Verndale's capabilities so that our clients can stay ahead of the wants and needs of their own customers,” said Chris Pisapia, co-founder and managing partner of Verndale. “Being the first call for brands who want to more meaningfully engage with their customers is a testament to Verndale’s ability to deliver user-centric experiences that cross channel, device and geography. At the same time, the technology backbone must be in place to tightly manage these experiences. With the addition of Dustland's exceptionally talented team, we provide our clients with all this and more. Brands who want to evolve and transform faster than their competitors need to look no further than Verndale.”

Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Boston, Verndale has a successful track record designing, building and evolving customer experiences for global brands like Stanley Black and Decker, SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment and Carnival Cruise Lines. Dustland has implemented digital experiences for marketing trailblazers like HBO, Volkswagen, Visa and Taco Bell. From Dustland, Verndale gains leading creative and mobile application development talent, and expands its geographical footprint to both the western region of the United States and Quito, Ecuador. The combined company will have strong capabilities in marketing strategy, creative design services and back-end development and implementation, strongly positioning it to compete with other top digital marketing agencies. Growing rapidly, Verndale expects to double revenue in 2015 as compared to 2014.

According to Gartner, by 2020 the customer is expected to manage 85 percent of its relationship with an enterprise, bypassing human interaction. This makes the quality and reliability of the customer experience paramount to the success of a business. A long-time Sitecore platinum partner and one of the first EPiServer partners in the United States, Verndale offers unparalleled strategy, experience design, technology and post-launch managed services. Further, it understands the operational, organizational and technological demands an enterprise faces when it extends and manages sophisticated customer experiences. Verndale can work across both centralized and siloed business units to create a cohesive backend strategy that both technology and marketing departments can champion.

“The marketing technology agency space is extremely crowded as marketers race to take advantage of the newest digital and mobile innovations that will help them engage and retain their coveted audiences, but few agencies set up brands to do this well. Verndale stood out to me because it blends strategic, creative and technological expertise in a way that is unmatched,” said Minh Le, CEO of Dustland. “I’m thrilled to combine our all-star team with theirs and have full confidence that our teams will together change the way people and brands connect for the better.”

Dustland and its employees are now part of Verndale and will continue to operate from its Los Angeles office. Le will join Verndale’s leadership team as a managing partner running the west coast operations. He is an industry veteran who before founding Dustland, worked at Razorfish and has experience leading large scale projects for clients such as Singapore Airlines, Ingram Micro, Intermec, Sony, DaVita and Viking River Cruises.

About Verndale

Verndale is the marketing technology agency that brands call when they want to connect with their customers in a more meaningful way. It designs, builds and evolves digital experiences that mid-sized and Fortune 500 companies use to bring their products and services to life for their always-on customers. Offering unparalleled strategy, experience design, technology and post-launch managed services, Verndale works across departments and platforms to create and sustain cohesive experiences that both marketing and technology leaders love. One of the largest independent agencies in the industry, Verndale is headquartered in Boston with five additional offices across the U.S. It counts some of the most recognizable brands in the world as customers including Stanley Black and Decker, The Ohio State University and Carnival Cruise Lines. For more information, visit www.verndale.com

About Dustland

Dustland is a Los Angeles based digital agency with a rare combination of creative and technology talents that enable the company to deliver compelling brand experiences that build equity and maximize the effectiveness of the digital channel. As a certified Sitecore Partner, Dustland focuses on the successful planning and implementation of customer experience solutions. Our clients include Great Clips, Honda, VW, Cisco, UCLA, USC and The Ohio State University.

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1LZm1nk

Company Profile Link:

Verndale

Company Website:

http://www.verndale.com

Logo:

Renoviso Raises $1.4M Seed Round

joshboyle — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 22:17:17 +0000

Date:

09/28/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Boston, MA -- Renoviso, a service that aims to completely transform the way consumers complete home renovation projects with a transparent ecommerce shopping experience, today announced it has closed a $1.4 million seed round. The round is led by NextView Ventures with RRE Ventures, Accomplice's BOSS Syndicate, NextGen Angels, Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah, Fabrice Grinda, and other well-known local angels participating.

Renoviso enables homeowners to easily buy professionally installed home renovation products, starting with window replacements. Homeowners can get real-time customized pricing online in minutes for their project including premium quality products, professional measurement and installation, and a modern stress-free experience -- all at a great value. Unlike online alternatives, this solution handles the entire process for the homeowner rather than just directing consumers to service providers.

“Completing any home renovation project can be painful and frustrating but it doesn’t have to be. Starting with replacing your windows, we aim to create a much simpler and more transparent experience that homeowners will love. We’re excited to have the support of such highly regarded investors who believe in our ambitious vision,” said Eric Horndahl, CEO & Co-Founder. “This funding will allow us to build a world-class team, expand our core offering into new product categories and geographies, and continue to innovate on the customer experience.”

Horndahl and co-founder Brian Waldman started the company to address the antiquated, time-consuming, and stressful process of completing home renovation projects, which was inspired by the very frustrating experience that Horndahl went through to upgrade his windows. The two co-founders have a long track record of building high-growth online businesses including BuyerZone, Cayan, eBay, and FlipKey (TripAdvisor).

“At NextView, we’ve long-held the view that an increasing number of high-ticket, enduring goods are being purchased on the web”, said David Beisel of NextView Ventures. “Renoviso fits perfectly into that thesis and seamlessly solves a very real problem for the large number of homeowners who are upgrading their homes.”

For more information on Renoviso, please visit www.renoviso.com.

Location:

Boston, MA

Company Profile Link:

Renoviso

Company Website:

https://www.renoviso.com

Logo:

Acquia Closes $55 Million Financing Round

joshboyle — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 13:34:22 +0000

Date:

09/28/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Acquia has closed a $55 million equity financing round. New investor Centerview Capital Technology led the round, with support from existing investors includingNew Enterprise Associates (NEA) andSplit Rock Partners. This funding will help Acquia scale its sales and marketing and the development of its solutions for building, delivering, and optimizing digital experiences.

“At Acquia, we pride ourselves on guiding today’s leading organizations as they digitalize their business,” said Acquia CEO Tom Erickson. “The phrase, ‘If you’re not thinking ahead, you’re falling behind,’ rings ever so true for us, and we strive each day to help our customers stay ahead of the curve and provide amazing digital experiences. This investment in Acquia will enable our team to focus on doing what we do best, helping our customers achieve maximum business impact by delivering digital experiences that are flexible, agile, and open.”

Acquia is a leading provider of web content management solutions, most recently recognized in Gartner’s 2015 Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management. Delivering the best digital experience is no longer optional; it’s the new mandate. Global organizations turn to Acquia to provide technical expertise and strategic insight to build, deliver, and optimize digital experiences that build brand engagement and ultimately drive the bottom line.

“We are delighted to partner with Acquia, the industry leading web-content management solutions company” said Ned Hooper, managing partner at Centerview Capital Technology. “We are strong believers in the massive opportunity in digital transformation for the enterprise, and believe that Acquia, with its technology leadership and strong management team, is uniquely positioned to lead this transformation.”

About Acquia

Acquia is the digital experience company. Intuit, Warner Music Group and Stanford University are among the more than 4,000 organizations that are transforming their digital businesses with Acquia’s open cloud platform. Global 2000 enterprises, government agencies and NGOs rely on Acquia to create new revenue streams, lower costs, and engage audiences more deeply through content, community, commerce and context.

Location:

Boston, MA

Company Profile Link:

Acquia

Company Website:

https://www.acquia.com

Logo:

Amino Raises $6.5M

joshboyle — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 12:02:35 +0000

Date:

09/27/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Per TechCrunch, Amino, a startup that’s built 41 different mobile community apps (so far), is announcing that it has raised $6.5 million in Series A funding. READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://tcrn.ch/1LgBWmY

Company Profile Link:

Amino

Company Website:

http://aminoapps.com

Logo:

Onshape Raises $80 Million Led By Andreessen Horowitz

jackmulvaney — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 16:20:22 +0000

Date:

09/24/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

VCs strive to find passionate founders. Well, it’s hard to find someone as passionate about computer-aided design (CAD) software as Jon Hirschtick, the cofounder and CEO of three-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based Onshape. It was back in 1993 that Hirschtick founded his first 3D modeling software company, SolidWorks, selling it four years later for $316 million to the multinational 3D design company Dassault Systemes. READ MORE

Location:

Cambridge, MA

Source URL:

http://tcrn.ch/1KT9y8r

Company Website:

https://www.onshape.com/

Logo:

SevOne Announces $50 Million Financing Round

joshboyle — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 15:08:40 +0000

Date:

09/24/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

World’s largest network and data center operators rely upon SevOne to manage virtualization, cloud, IoT, and mobile Internet initiatives

Boston, MA – September 23, 2015 – SevOne, the leading global provider of digital infrastructure management solutions, today announced a $50 million Series C financing round led by Westfield Capital Management and Bain Capital Ventures. Brookside
Capital, HarbourVest, VT Technology Ventures, and Osage Venture Partners also participated in this round. SevOne will use the financing to accelerate its growth through new technologies and markets, meeting the growing demands of organizations transforming their business for the always-on mobile economy and the Internet of Things (IoT).

The funding comes at a time when mobility sits at the heart of a new and vibrant ecosystem that is uniting the digital and physical worlds. New mobile and broadband connectivity, coupled with ever-expanding virtualized cloud services, are driving the mobile economy and creating a flood of data. Organizations are continually under pressure to interpret this data to unlock real-time business opportunities, reveal competitive differentiators, or optimize everyday operations. Legacy management solutions weren’t built for the mobile economy, and simply can’t provide the power required to deliver real-time insight and business value. The patented SevOne Cluster™ architecture solves this fundamental problem, arming the world’s top carriers and enterprises with solutions to harness the power of their digital infrastructure and deliver on the promise of the mobile economy.

“We are thrilled to invest in SevOne and help them continue on their rapid growth trajectory,” said Will Muggia, CEO of Westfield Capital Management. “We believe their massively scalable data aggregation platform, which is being used by the world’s largest enterprises and service providers, is highly differentiated and disruptive to the digital infrastructure management market.”

Bain Capital Ventures originally invested in SevOne in 2012. The funding fueled the expansion of the company’s alliance network and product ecosystem to support the customer journey to new mobile technologies (4G LTE) and the rapid adoption of virtualization technologies such as software-defined networks (SDN), network functions virtualization (NFV), and software-defined data centers (SDDC). Since that time, SevOne has matured its global leadership position in several key markets, including:

40% of the top technology companies
50% of the top fixed and mobile broadband carriers
60% of the top investment services firms

“SevOne’s patented architecture is transforming the way the world’s largest enterprises and service providers are managing their digital infrastructure,” said Ben Nye, Managing Director at Bain Capital Ventures. “The company’s rapid growth is driven by forward-thinking companies needing to collect all the data across their end-to-end digital infrastructure in support of mission-critical services.”

SevOne is poised for another year of rapid growth. The company continues to invest in its Delaware roots, constructing a 48,000 square foot, state-of-the-art research and development center on the University of Delaware's Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus in Newark, Delaware. The STAR campus facility opens in October, and will build upon the company’s vision of developing next-generation technologies and pushing the boundaries of digital infrastructure management for SevOne customers.

“The opportunities and challenges of managing digital infrastructures have never been greater,” said Jack Sweeney, SevOne CEO. “SevOne is uniquely positioned to capitalize upon this demand, allowing the world’s largest datacenter and network operators to unlock the true business potential of their digital infrastructure.”

READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1VbayLV

Company Profile Link:

SevOne, Inc.

Company Website:

https://www.sevone.com

Logo:

WHOOP Closes $12M

joshboyle — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 13:08:26 +0000

Date:

09/23/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

WHOOP today announced the availability of its performance optimization system developed exclusively for elite athletes and teams to help them win more. In conjunction with the launch, the company also announced that it raised $12 million in Series B funding led by Two Sigma Ventures with participation from Mousse Partners, Accomplice, Promus Ventures, Valley Oak Investments, and NextView Ventures. The capital will be used to scale its business targeting professional and collegiate teams and to continue the development of next generation technology.

WHOOP continuously measures every athlete's strain and recovery, which helps balance training plans, prevent injury, and increase team performance. It is currently being used by athletes on teams across all major U.S. professional sports leagues and college conferences. Numerous Olympians are also using WHOOP to train for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

The WHOOP system includes a sleek wrist-worn strap that measures key strain and recovery variables more than 100 times per second, 24 hours a day. WHOOP’s proprietary algorithms then process this data to provide athletes an Intensity score, which informs them about the level of strain on their body and what it means; a Recovery score, which measures the body’s preparedness for strain or exertion; and a Sleep Performance score, which evaluates the hours of quality sleep an athlete got in relationship to the sleep he or she needed. The WHOOP system presents a team dashboard to coaches and trainers to help inform training and game day decisions.

“At the elite level, it’s no longer just about outworking your opponents to get an edge,” said Mike Mancias, the long-time athletic trainer for LeBron James, and now a WHOOP advisor. “In fact, research shows that 30 percent of athletes are overtrained, which can lead to injury and poor performance. It’s only by balancing intensity with recovery that athletes can optimize performance. WHOOP’s system and the data it provides helps me gain a better understanding of each of my individual athlete’s bodies, their capabilities, and their limitations, leading to better and safer athletic performance.”

How WHOOP Works

The WHOOP Strap is a device designed to be always on – worn by athletes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It collects more than 150 MB of physiological data per day based on five metrics:

Heart Rate (HR) – Tracking and accurately reporting instantaneous heart rate.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) – Automatically analyzing, while an athlete is asleep, the tiniest variations in time between beats of his or her resting heart rate, providing detailed insights into the complex relationship of stresses on the body, cardiovascular health, and recovery.
Skin Conductivity – Monitoring an athlete’s skin moisture, helping understand activity and sleep latency.
Ambient Temperature – Combining observation of the environment in which an athlete is active with other sensor data to better understand his or her body’s response.
Accelerometery & Motion – Knowing when and how an athlete is moving to understand not only his or her activity level but also refining the heart rate signal during exercise and providing insights into sleep quality.

That data is streamed via Bluetooth to a sophisticated analytics platform that analyzes Intensity, Recovery, and Sleep Performance. Coaches and trainers can view each athlete’s data on an easy-to-use team dashboard to determine what activities they have engaged in, how much strain they have placed on themselves, and how they have recovered. Coaches and trainers then can easily see which athletes are undertraining or which are overtraining and putting themselves at risk of an injury, resulting in improved individual and team performance. Sophisticated privacy settings allow teams to customize how data is shared between coaches and athletes as well as athletes with one another.

“Elite athletes require the highest level of body awareness,” said WHOOP CEO and founder Will Ahmed. “Given the slim margin between success and failure, it’s surprising that most athletes don’t really understand what they’re doing to their bodies. Even the fittest athletes are susceptible to overtraining, misinterpreting fitness peaks, and misconceptions around recovery and sleep. Coaches and trainers face the challenge of evaluating the status and training plans for 10, 20, or 50 athletes at a time.

“We built a system that is always on: continuously measuring the nuances of an athlete’s strain and recovery throughout the day,” continued Ahmed. “Our athletes and coaches know that they are making more informed decisions thanks to WHOOP; and with highly-tuned, well-established routines, they are loyal to products that service their discrete needs and help them reach the next level. These are the principles of our system’s design. From its comfortable, lightweight form factor to its privacy and security to its presentation of data, WHOOP was built from the ground up to empower elite athletes who need peak performance.”

WHOOP is working with teams across the NFL, NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, and the English Premier League, along with several Olympic teams and trainers for some of the world’s most elite athletes, such as LeBron James and Michael Phelps. At the collegiate level, WHOOP is being used in all major conferences, including the SEC, Big 10, Pac 10, ACC, Big 12, and the Ivy League.

The WHOOP Strap is the first on the market that users can charge either on-the-go or during a night’s rest without having to be removed.

WHOOP is backed by an Advisory Board featuring some of the most influential names in health and technology.

“WHOOP is the first performance optimization system targeted exclusively at elite athletes, teams, coaches, and trainers,” said David Joerg, Managing Director at Two Sigma Ventures. "As a technology-driven investment manager, Two Sigma shares the WHOOP appreciation for the power of data. We’re excited to see the promise of advanced technology and analytics brought to the highest level of athletic competition.”

WHOOP is available immediately for professional, collegiate, and Olympic teams and athletes. For more information, please visit http://www.whoop.com.

About WHOOP

WHOOP is the performance optimization system that helps elite athletes and teams win. WHOOP provides athletes, their coaches, and trainers with a continuous understanding of strain and recovery to balance training, reduce injuries, and predict performance. The system is currently being used by professional and collegiate athletes, Olympians, and the United States military. For more information, please visit http://www.whoop.com.

*Learn more about WHOOP and their Job Opportunities on their VentureFizz BIZZpage*

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1MpLNny

Company Profile Link:

WHOOP

Company Website:

http://whoop.com

Logo:

Chef Nightly Raises $1.5M

joshboyle — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 13:04:44 +0000

Date:

09/23/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Per Xconomy, Chef Nightly has raised $1.5 million in seed funding. The round was led by Accomplice with participation by Fullstack Ventures, Kayak and Blade co-founder Paul English, DraftKings co-founder and CEO Jason Robins, and Bridge Boys. READ MORE from Xconomy

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1iwmsy6

Company Profile Link:

Chef Nightly

Company Website:

http://chefnightly.com

Logo:

Alignable Raises $8M

joshboyle — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 14:29:34 +0000

Date:

09/21/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Today, we’re thrilled to announce Alignable received an $8M investment led by Mayfield, a top silicon valley-based venture firm and existing investors Saturn Partners, NextView Ventures and Lead Edge Capital. They are committed to our mission of helping small businesses connect locally and grow together and with their support, we will grow our team and continue developing Alignable into the gathering place for small business owners like you.

Since launching 18 months ago, we’ve seen a half million small business connections made in 7 thousand communities nationwide on Alignable. And that is only the beginning! Our mission is to help all the communities in our network become thriving networks of small businesses helping each other reach more customers, share knowledge and overcome challenges together.

READ MORE from Alignable

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1L0Go9c

Company Profile Link:

Alignable

Company Website:

http://site.alignable.com

Logo:

ChoiceStream Raises $14 Million

joshboyle — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 14:07:46 +0000

Date:

09/18/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

ChoiceStream, a provider of programmatic advertising for brands and agencies, today finalized a $14 million Series C funding round. This round is led by a new investor, North Atlantic Capital, and includes follow on investments from previous investors. ChoiceStream will use the investment to further develop its successful managed services offering, launch an expanded self-service product to bring the power of programmatic into the hands of brands and agencies and boost the Company’s international expansion efforts.

“Over the last year we have taken a number of bold steps to establish ChoiceStream as a genuine technology leader in the hypercompetitive programmatic advertising industry,” said Eric Bosco, CEO, ChoiceStream. “As a company we have developed much of our foundational technology in house, which has been a significant advantage for our clients as well as the company. Our tremendous success that we’ve had with our clients, thanks to the effectiveness of our proprietary technology, has compelled our investment partners both new and old to double down on their investment in the company. We are excited to continue to execute on the plan that we started in 2011.”

The Series C investment marks ChoiceStream’s third financing round since the company’s 2011 transformation into a pure-play advertising technology company. ChoiceStream runs programmatic advertising campaigns for brand and agency clients, managing each phase of a campaign, from pre-launch planning to completion. Through the collection of poll-based, proprietary data specific to each client’s campaign, via Pollshare, ChoiceStream creates custom, targetable audiences, optimizes results in real-time and provides unique audience insight throughout each engagement. Leveraging world-class machine-learning algorithms, via the company’s Thunderdome programmatic optimization platform, in combination with a team of in-house industry experts, ChoiceStream boasts a client retention rate – well above the industry average.

“ChoiceStream’s singular approach to creating targeted branding and performance campaigns that both reach and move consumers makes them a disruptive force in the competitive advertising technology industry,” said David Coit, managing director, North Atlantic Capital. “We are strong believers in the leadership of ChoiceStream’s executive team, and combined with their impressive Pollshare and Thunderdome platforms, we fully believe that our partnership will be a successful one.”

About ChoiceStream
ChoiceStream is a digital advertising partner that manages and optimizes targeted branding and performance campaigns to reach and move audiences that are easy to describe but hard to find. By qualifying audiences before a campaign begins and continuously refining targeting in real-time, this partner exceeds metrics and drives brand awareness. ChoiceStream streamlines complicated programmatic campaigns with a combination of its proprietary polling platform, optimization technology, dynamic creative, and dedicated team of industry experts. For more information, visit www.choicestream.com.

About North Atlantic Capital
North Atlantic Capital is a later stage venture capital firm based in Portland, Maine, investing in enterprise technology companies. North Atlantic provides creative financing structures to high growth companies with differentiated technologies that address large market opportunities. Established in 1986, North Atlantic is currently investing its fifth fund, raised in 2014. Past and current investments include iContact, IDEXX Laboratories, Tangoe, VideoBlocks, Vivisimo, Voxeo, and WEX. For more information on North Atlantic Capital and their current investment activities, visit www.northatlanticcapital.com.

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1iBSyZT

Company Profile Link:

ChoiceStream

Company Website:

http://www.choicestream.com

Logo:

Kyruus Raises $25 Million

joshboyle — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 18:49:00 +0000

Date:

09/17/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

SaaS-Based Referral Coordination Platform Addresses Unmet Patient Access Needs

Kyruus, a leading enterprise software company that helps hospitals optimize patient access and referral management, has raised $25 million in funding to further build its commercial team and support the rapid adoption of its ProviderMatch technology. The new funding round was led by New Leaf Venture Partners, with participation from Providence Health & Services, Leerink Capital Partners, and McKesson Ventures. They were joined by return investors Venrock, Highland Capital Partners, Lux Capital, and Fidelity Biosciences.

“In the past few years, we have watched patient access and provider matching rapidly become a ‘Top Three’ issue for health executives,” explains Sam Brasch, Venture Partner at New Leaf and the newest addition to the Kyruus Board. “Kyruus’ approach, which effectively focuses across both internal and consumer facing access points, has been used by some of the nation’s leading health systems to increase capacity utilization, reduce network leakage, and ultimately drive improved clinical outcomes by matching patients with the providers that best meet their individual needs.”

“Patient access has to be a top priority for any health system looking to engage consumers in their care,” noted Dr. Rod Hochman, president and CEO of Providence Health & Services – one of Kyruus’ leading enterprise customers. “Kyruus has been an excellent partner over the past year working with us to help patients find the right physician for their needs from our team of nearly 16,000 employed and affiliated physicians. Providence Venture’s investment in Kyruus fits our model of validating, piloting, collaborating, and investing with great technology partners to solve big problems in health care.”

In recent months, Kyruus has seen accelerated adoption and expansion of its solution at several leading health systems, including Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC), Mercy Health in Ohio, Community Health Network in Indiana, and Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. Deployed throughout call centers, referring physician offices, and hospital websites, the company’s software now helps manage scheduling and referral management for more than 20,000 providers. Many of these health systems have seen productivity increases of 5-10% of their entire provider base while simultaneously ensuring that their patients get to the right provider the first time. Kyruus will use the financing to expand the size of its client development and implementation teams that work closely with these organizations to ensure that their patient access goals are met. Kyruus will also invest in expanding the surface area of its product platform, including its patient-facing search and online scheduling, network analytics, and patient CRM capabilities.

“By taking the ambiguity and hassle out of making the right referral and scheduling the right appointment, Kyruus’ platform helps ensure that patients get the right care at the right time and that health systems are utilizing resources efficiently,” says Tom Rodgers, SVP and Managing Director, McKesson Ventures. “Kyruus taps into a health system’s rich composite of data – including patient preferences, provider specialties, outcomes and availability – and optimizes its referral streams and scheduling activities, letting providers focus on delivering patient care.”

“Our vision is to help human beings better care for other human beings,” said Dr. Graham Gardner, CEO and Co-Founder of Kyruus. “Too often today, patients fail to get matched to the right provider for their healthcare needs. By taking a data-driven approach to understanding each provider’s unique set of skills, we can help make sure that patients are referred to the provider best qualified to care for their condition. When this match is made, patients, providers, and the health network all win.”

See Original

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1KTXWUr

Company Website:

http://www.kyruus.com

Logo:

Onapsis Raises $17M

joshboyle — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 19:01:27 +0000

Date:

09/15/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Onapsis Raises $17M Round Led by Evolution Equity Partners to Boost Cyber Security of SAP and Oracle Enterprise Applications

Sharp rise in demand for emerging enterprise application security market drives new funding for cybersecurity firm; supports sales efforts, marketing and research & development

Onapsis, the global experts in SAP and Oracle enterprise application security, today announced it has closed a $17 million Series B funding round led by Evolution Equity Partners, with full participation of existing investor .406 Ventures as well as new investor Arsenal Venture Partners. This round brings the total investment in Onapsis to $30 million since the inception of the company. J.R. Smith, partner at Evolution and former CEO at AVG Technologies (NYSE: AVG), will join the company’s board of directors.

This news comes in the wake of a new breed of breaches that are stealthy and targeted on corporate espionage, estimated to cost an annual $445 billion for companies globally. The first widely and publicly reported breach affecting SAP enterprise applications involved USIS, which provided security clearance services for Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This recent attack involved exploiting the company’s vulnerable SAP ERP systems and put a public spotlight on why hard to find vulnerabilities in complex SAP enterprise applications are the perfect target for cyber attackers. The oversubscribed investment in Onapsis reflects the sharp rise in demand for specialized, scalable and comprehensive solutions from Global 2000 organizations to secure their critical SAP and Oracle enterprise applications as well as a rapidly maturing market.

Enterprise applications running on SAP and Oracle such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), human capital management (HCM), business intelligence (BI) and supply chain management (SCM) house an organization’s most valuable data and support mission-critical business processes. They are also major targets at risk to nation-state attacks, intellectual property theft, financial fraud and sabotage. However, today’s traditional security vendors do not offer detection and response capabilities necessary for fully securing the SAP and Oracle enterprise application layer from attacks. With SAP and Oracle releasing hundreds of security patches annually, security and IT teams are finding it a challenge to keep up. As these applications are increasingly moving to a hybrid cloud model, with mobile and IoT environments, their attack surface is expanding exponentially.

“It’s critical that, as an industry, we get SAP and Oracle enterprise application security right. The economic and legal risk is too high for businesses to continue operating with their critical data exposed,” said J.R. Smith, partner, Evolution Equity Partners. “Onapsis has established itself as the leading global experts in this field. Our commitment to enter one of the fastest growing market segments in security is attributed to Onapsis’ patented technology, a strong research and development team and the quality of execution from their leadership team,” continued Smith.

As estimated by Onapsis, the SAP and Oracle enterprise application security market will grow to approximately $3.3B by 2018 with the majority of the Global 2000 using these applications in traditional as well as cloud and mobile platforms across on-premise, hybrid and public cloud solutions.

“The need to better secure enterprise business application platforms has become increasingly evident, as suggested by recent high-profile breaches that directly targeted vulnerabilities in ERP systems. With the expansion of the attack surface to IoT, mobile and cloud, the potential for unauthorized or malicious access to these high-value assets – and the business risks such exposures entail – will increase along with it," said Scott Crawford, Research Director, Information Security, 451 Research.

With the influx of capital, Onapsis plans to scale research and development efforts and support the rapid adoption and delivery of its platform for the Global 2000 through expansion of sales, marketing and customer success teams.

“Leading CISOs of Global 2000 organizations are realizing that traditional security products and methods are not designed to protect their SAP and Oracle enterprise applications from cyber attacks, leaving their crown jewels exposed,” said Mariano Nunez, CEO and co-founder, Onapsis. “Having been the first company to identify this emerging threat and deliver the advanced technology and research required to address it, we have always been and remain fully committed to enable SAP and Oracle customers to run their business’ securely. This new round of funding, led by firms with an unmatched cybersecurity pedigree, further validates the demand for our solutions and our undisputed leadership in the enterprise application security market.”

“Onapsis has exceeded our expectations on both execution and earnings," says Maria Cirino, Managing Director, .406 Ventures. "It has definitely joined the ranks of the Boston-based cybersecurity elite. We are extremely fortunate to have one of the strongest VC cyber security portfolios and Onapsis is exceptionally well positioned as a first, best and only provider of SAP and Oracle cyber security to enjoy continued rapid growth as it dominates its market segment.”

In 2014, Onapsis achieved over 130 percent year-over-year revenue growth, launched the Onapsis Security Platform, secured a global patent, identified and helped SAP and Oracle solve more than 50 security vulnerabilities, and expanded its presence in Europe. For the year ending 2015, Onapsis is on track to achieve a consistent rate of growth with a strong pipeline, market awareness and an industry-leading solution, as well as a notable board of advisors and directors.

About Onapsis

Onapsis provides the most comprehensive solutions for securing SAP and Oracle enterprise applications. As the leading experts in SAP and Oracle cyber-security, Onapsis’ enables security and audit teams to have visibility, confidence and control of advanced threats, cyber-risks and compliance gaps affecting their enterprise applications.

Headquartered in Boston, Onapsis serves over 180 Global 2000 customers, including 10 top retailers, 20 top energy firms and 20 top manufacturers. Onapsis’ solutions are also the de-facto standard for leading consulting and audit firms such as Accenture, IBM, Deloitte, E&Y, KPMG and PwC.

Onapsis solutions include the Onapsis Security Platform, which is the most widely-used SAP-certified cyber-security solution in the market. Unlike generic security products, Onapsis’ context-aware solutions deliver both preventative vulnerability and compliance controls, as well as real-time detection and incident response capabilities to reduce risks affecting critical business processes and data. Through open interfaces, the platform can be integrated with leading SIEM, GRC and network security products, seamlessly incorporating enterprise applications into existing vulnerability, risk and incident response management programs.

These solutions are powered by the Onapsis Research Labs which continuously provide leading intelligence on security threats affecting SAP and Oracle enterprise applications. Experts of the Onapsis Research Labs were the first to lecture on SAP cyber-attacks and have uncovered and helped fix hundreds of security vulnerabilities to-date affecting SAP Business Suite, SAP HANA, SAP Cloud and SAP Mobile applications, as well as Oracle JD Edwards and Oracle E-Business Suite platforms.

For more information, please visit www.onapsis.com, or connect with us on Twitter, Google+, or LinkedIn.

About Evolution Equity Partners

Evolution Equity Partners, based in New York City and Zurich, Switzerland, is an international growth stage technology investor helping exceptional entrepreneurs develop market leading companies with global reach. The firm has a focus on Information Security, Enterprise Software and Consumer/Enterprise crossover opportunities. Current and past portfolio companies include: AVG Technologies (NYSE: AVG), Cognitive Security (NASDAQ: CSCO), OpenDNS (NASDAQ: CSCO), 60K, Onapsis, NejTV, SecurityScorecard and others.
www.evolutionequity.com

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1QDAv0q

Company Profile Link:

Onapsis

Company Website:

http://www.onapsis.com

Logo:

Plexxi Raises $35 Million

joshboyle — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 12:38:48 +0000

Date:

09/14/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Plexxi, a pioneering next-generation converged networking company and SDN market leader, today announced that it has raised a $35 million round of financing to continue the company’s rapid growth in the software-defined agile datacenter market. The round was led by a new investor with participation from existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matrix Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners.

The investment in Plexxi is recognition of the company’s groundbreaking approach and market adoption in building a new generation of software-defined data centers that deliver a flexible, agile architecture for new scale-out application and cloud services offerings.

“We are experiencing a generational shift to a new era of IT in which applications and data are rapidly increasing demand for a new agile and scale-out networking architecture,” said Rich Napolitano, CEO of Plexxi. “Plexxi represents a transformative converged networking and application-centric approach to traditional legacy networking. 2015 has been a record-breaking year for Plexxi as we gain a foothold in federal, financial services, education and service providers markets here in the United States and around the world.”

According to a recently published report by Dell’Oro Group, the layer 2-3 Ethernet switch market is expected to exceed $25 billion in 2019. “Datacenter switching will evolve rapidly through the rest of the decade and will drive most of the growth in the Ethernet switch market,” said Alan Weckel, Vice President of Ethernet Switch market research at Dell’Oro Group. “The cloud will help spur the adoption of software defined networking (SDN) that is another key driver in the evolution from an enterprise-driven to a cloud-dominated Ethernet switching market. The cloud’s need to scale, be flexible, and differentiate are ultimately all governed by what can be achieved in software.”

The latest financing round brings Plexxi’s total funding to $83 million. The infusion of capital will help fuel the rapid expansion of Plexxi’s sales, marketing, customer support, and research and development efforts as it accelerates the company’s vision of a software-defined architecture in datacenters and service provider networks.

“We continue to be very excited about Plexxi and the significant market opportunity in front of them,” said Tim Barrows, General Partner at Matrix Partners. “Their single-tier network architecture is uniquely well suited for next-generation datacenters and provides unprecedented control, intelligence and scale.”

Plexxi announced Napolitano as CEO in November 2014 as it readied the company for commercialization. Since his introduction, Plexxi has been focused on gaining customers across three rapidly growing markets: agile datacenters, scale-out application infrastructure and distributed cloud co-location service providers.

Plexxi’s agile datacenter solutions create an automated, intelligently managed datacenter network leveraging a flat, scale-out architecture ideal for enterprise applications and their growth.
Plexxi’s scale-out application solutions deliver a purpose-built network for horizontally scaled, distributed applications like Big Data, clustered compute and clustered storage.
Plexxi’s distributed cloud solutions create a high-capacity network for distributing resources across multiple sites regardless of distance.

About Plexxi Inc.

Plexxi is a pioneer of next-generation networking products and solutions for agile data centers, scale-out applications and distributed cloud environments. Plexxi’s products – Plexxi Control and the Plexxi Switch – and market solutions create an optimized network that dynamically helps applications perform better and operate at the speed of business. Headquartered in Nashua, N.H., Plexxi has raised $83 million in financing from investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matrix Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners. For more information, visit www.plexxi.com or follow us on Twitter @PlexxiInc.

SOURCE

Location:

New Hampshire

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1glUtQ7

Company Profile Link:

Plexxi

Company Website:

http://www.plexxi.com

Logo:

CommScope to Acquire Airvana

joshboyle — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 12:38:35 +0000

Date:

09/11/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: COMM), a global provider of connectivity and essential infrastructure solutions for communications networks, has agreed to acquire Airvana LP, a privately-held leader in small cell solutions for wireless networks.

Airvana, headquartered in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, provides award-winning 4G LTE and 3G small cell solutions that enable people to access communications, information and entertainment in the most challenging and high-value environments—offices, public venues and homes. Since its founding in 2000, Airvana has played a key role in enabling the use of mobile devices for data access. Airvana began small cell development to complement its macro cell mobile broadband infrastructure products and today focuses exclusively on small cells. Airvana has shipped 1.5 million small cells and supports one of the largest small cell networks in the world.

This acquisition will expand CommScope’s leadership and capabilities in providing indoor wireless capacity and coverage, an increasingly important market opportunity that is growing due to consumers’ and businesses’ insatiable demand for wireless data. The combination of Airvana’s innovative small cell offerings and CommScope’s industry-leading distributed antenna systems (DAS) portfolio will enable CommScope to provide a broader range of solutions, addressing single-operator, single-band, low capacity
environments all the way through multi-carrier, multi-technology, multi-band, high capacity environments.

“Airvana has differentiated itself in the emerging indoor small cell market through its unique product architecture and innovation,” said Morgan Kurk, senior vice president and Wireless segment leader, CommScope. “With a 15-year track record of delivering mobile broadband infrastructure products that meet the requirements of Tier 1 operators, Airvana’s carrier-grade embedded software development capabilities are impressive and complementary to CommScope.

“As the wireless industry evolves toward Cloud RAN, we believe that CommScope’s ION-E® solution and Airvana’s OneCell™ Cloud RAN small cell system together will comprise a full range of highly flexible, cost-effective solutions that address all the indoor wireless challenges customers face. I look forward to welcoming Airvana to CommScope and working with its talented team to provide the wireless solutions needed for today and into the future.”

Richard Lowe, Airvana’s president and chief executive officer; Vedat Eyuboglu, Airvana’s co-founder and chief technology officer; and Airvana’s existing employees, most of whom are in Chelmsford, Mass. and Bangalore, India, will join CommScope. The acquired business will continue to be headquartered in Chelmsford and will operate within CommScope’s Wireless segment upon completion of the acquisition.

“Our breakthrough Cloud RAN small cell architecture represents a dramatic advance in wireless performance, capacity and deployment economics,” said Eyuboglu. “With CommScope, we will be perfectly positioned to realize its full potential.”

“We look forward to pairing our expertise in small cells with CommScope’s broad portfolio and global presence,” said Lowe. “Combining our capabilities will create an extensive set of indoor wireless solutions to meet the evolving needs of our customers. Moreover, we believe CommScope’s global marketing, distribution and support capabilities will enable us to rapidly grow the business for our small cell products. CommScope's intent to remain a leader in small cells through technology innovation and their commitment to their workforce makes it an excellent home for the Airvana business.”

Airvana’s 4G small cell product portfolio includes OneCell, the world’s first Cloud RAN small cell system, targeted for enterprise and public venue LTE deployments. OneCell has won multiple technology awards, including the Outstanding Overall Mobile Technology award at Mobile World Congress 2015. Airvana also introduced recently the S1000 Small Cell for small and medium businesses, and is a finalist for the Emerging Technology Award at CTIA Super Mobility 2015 September 9-11 in Las Vegas. Both small cell solutions are managed via the Airvana Device Management System, a comprehensive, highly scalable small cell management system that enables plug-and-play provisioning of small cells, self-organizing networks (SON) and performance monitoring.

The acquisition, which is structured as a purchase of substantially all of Airvana’s assets, is expected to be completed within the next 60 days. CommScope intends to fund the acquisition with cash on hand. Additional terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A. is serving as legal advisor to CommScope. Pacific Crest Securities is serving as financial advisor to Airvana and Sidley Austin LLP is serving as its legal advisor.

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1LnG7az

Company Profile Link:

Airvana

Company Website:

http://www.airvana.com

Logo:

netBlazr Closes $1 Million Funding Round

joshboyle — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 12:32:26 +0000

Date:

09/11/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

netBlazr, the fastest, most affordable Internet access for home and business in Boston, today announced that it has completed a $1 million funding round with an additional investment of $300,000 from Jeffrey P. Parker, co-founder of CCBN and well-known Boston-area angel. netBlazr is making significant new infrastructure investments and expanding coverage to more communities in Metro Boston.

Parker has invested in properties as diverse as Streetwise Media, FLYP, KnowledgeVision and Bison, and frequently collaborates with netBlazr board member and investor David Friend, chairman of Carbonite. Earlier this year, netBlazr announced $675,000 in funding from a group of investors including Friend.

Parker co-founded CCBN.com and served as the chairman and chief executive officer. Prior to this, Parker co-founded 38 Newbury Ventures, Technical Data Corporation, and FirstCall Corporation. Parker also served as the chairman and chief executive officer at Thomson Financial. Parker will serve as an advisor to netBlazr, focusing on the growth of the company's subscriber base and the ability to replicate its growth in other markets.

"I like to work with companies where it is easy to understand the benefits -- netBlazr offers better Internet access for less," said Parker. "I'm also impressed by the netBlazr team and their ability to execute and grow the business. Their network's growth isn't just adding more customers, it's strengthening that network. New nodes create additional redundancies and make the network stronger and more reliable."

"Jeff knows what it takes to build a successful company, and he's done it over and over again," said Jim Hanley, netBlazr's co-founder and CEO. "We're looking forward to working with him and leveraging his expertise to grow netBlazr and create a repeatable process for entering a market and winning subscribers."

netBlazr is the only Boston broadband provider with a 5 star Yelp rating. netBlazr's Concierge service delivers speeds above 300 Mbps and is available for less than $60 a month to residents of select apartment and condo buildings. There is no charge for owners of qualifying buildings with 100 or more units to add netBlazr as a choice for their residents.

About netBlazr
netBlazr provides affordable, high-speed Internet to Boston residences and businesses as an alternative to the "big guys" who force people into high-cost service bundles that they don't want. netBlazr is a locally-owned business that offers "nothing but net", an Internet connection that is reliable and affordable and nothing else. No gimmicks, games, or tricks. Just broadband. Learn more at http://www.netblazr.com/

----- RELATED: Q&A with netBlazr Co-Founder & CEO Jim Hanley -----

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://mwne.ws/1ES5PaG

Company Profile Link:

netBlazr

Company Website:

http://www.netblazr.com

Logo:

Apperian Closes $12 Million In Series C Funding

joshboyle — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 14:34:19 +0000

Date:

09/10/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Company Growth Accelerates as App-Centric Security and Management Take Center Stage and MDM Alone is Deemed Insufficient

Apperian® Inc., the mobile application management and security company, today announced it has completed a $12 million Series C funding round. New investor First Floor Capital joins Bessemer Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, North Bridge Venture Partners, Intel Capital and CommonAngels Ventures in backing Apperian. The funding will be used to fuel growth and platform innovation as CIOs and line-of-business leaders increasingly need to secure and manage the proliferation of apps and data in the enterprise. READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1Me2wNm

Company Profile Link:

Apperian

Company Website:

https://www.apperian.com

Logo:

Harmonix Raises $15M

joshboyle — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 12:41:30 +0000

Date:

09/08/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Per SEC Filing, Harmonix has raised $15 million. Harmonix is one of the world’s leading independent game development studios, best known for creating blockbuster franchises like Rock Band and Dance Central.

See Filing

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://1.usa.gov/1QlOoAj

Company Profile Link:

Harmonix Music Systems

Company Website:

http://www.harmonixmusic.com

Logo:

Databox Raises $3.3M Seed Round

joshboyle — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 12:45:32 +0000

Date:

09/04/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Data startup Databox has raised $3.3 million in seed funding to help marketers and managers recognize and take action on the metrics that matter most for their business.

The funding round was led by Founder Collective, and joined by Accomplice and other investors.

Databox, an alum of Techstars Boston, helps marketers and managers at web-based businesses focus on their most important key performance indicators. The app integrates with popular online services such as Hubspot, Google Analytics, Intercom and more to pull key metrics from a variety of sources. Marketers can then set up custom alerts and personalized “scorecards” to track their metrics in real-time through an intuitive mobile app.

The company was founded by serial entrepreneurs Davorin Gabrovec and Vlada Petrovic. “We’re not trying to give people more data, or simply more ways to view their data.” Gabrovec said. “We’re helping them pay attention to the data they already have, at the time that it needs their attention.”

Unlike earlier generations of data monitoring and analytics apps, configuring Databox is straightforward and requires no technical expertise or development work.

In addition to continuing to build the product, funding will also go toward growing the Databox team. Swami Kumaresan, previously a senior executive and member of the founding team at Carbonite (Nasdaq: CARB), recently joined as CEO.

“Businesses are swimming in data, but few businesspeople are able to regularly cut through the clutter and pay attention to the metrics that actually matter,” Kumaresan said. “With Databox, marketers can set up alerts to be proactively notified when an important KPI isn’t tracking to target, or when a campaign performs exceptionally well.”

Lead investor David Frankel of Founder Collective added: “Databox is doing something truly different: bubbling up important, actionable information — without asking businesses to undertake extensive integrations and long implementations.”

Databox has previously raised $400,000 in funding, bringing the total raised to $3.7 million.

About Databox
Databox is a data monitoring app that makes it easy for marketers and managers to pay attention to important metrics, right when they matter most. Users can track their KPIs by hooking up to popular services like Adobe Analytics, Hubspot, Google Analytics and more, with just a few clicks. Customizable alerts and proactive notifications delivered via a mobile app ensure marketers and managers can act on important data points quickly. Databox is a TechStars alum with offices in North America and Europe.

See More

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1ilvPku

Company Profile Link:

Databox

Company Website:

http://databox.com

Logo:

Ivenix Inc. Secures $42 Million in Funding

joshboyle — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 16:59:10 +0000

Date:

09/01/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Ivenix Inc., a medical technology company developing a next-generation infusion management system, closed on a $42M round of equity financing led by new investor WuXi Healthcare Ventures. Cardinal Partners, CICA, Inc., Easterly Capital, Fidelity Biosciences, and SCP Vitalife Partners also participated in the round. This financing will support the company's efforts to enter the $6B global infusion market. Leerink Partners LLC acted as the exclusive placement agent for the financing.

While drug therapies have become more complex and impactful, infusion pumps on the market today still rely on legacy technology. The outdated technology can cause medication errors that are estimated to cost the U.S. healthcare system more than $2 billionannually1 and can complicate and disrupt the flow of care. In response to multiple concerns in the marketplace, the FDA issued more stringent guidance for infusion systems in December 2014.

The Ivenix Infusion Management System is designed to improve patient safety and workflow efficiency, and has three unique differentiators designed to dramatically reduce errors:

A fundamentally new pump delivery system delivers medications at a steady and consistent rate under all clinical conditions, without requiring nurses to manually adjust the height of the bag or the pump settings to deliver fluids at the correct rate.
An intuitive, smartphone-like user interface guides the nurse through the setup of the prescribed medication, alerting the nurse to any potential medication complications along the way.
A powerful information technology system shares infusion data with the patient's electronic medical record (EMR), and gives nurses and clinicians mobile access to secure data. The system also includes built-in quality and analytics tools, giving providers the ability to understand and report quality metrics.

"The Ivenix Infusion Management System is designed to address all the major pain points that exist with older systems," said Jesse Ambrosina, co-CTO and Vice President of Infusion Systems. "Our team has completed hundreds of hours of testing, and we're on track to deliver a system that not only fully adheres to the current FDA guidelines, but is also cost-effective."

"Over the past few years Ivenix has assembled a world class development team that is passionate about saving lives and sees tremendous opportunity to increase safety, ease-of-use and help improve patient outcomes," said George Gray, co-CTO and Vice President of Information and Software Systems. "From the start, we worked closely with nurses and other key stakeholders to understand their workflow and priorities. Those conversations have allowed us to develop a completely fresh, fully-integrated infusion management system – designed to prevent the errors inherent in currently-available systems, and enable clinicians to spend more time on what really matters – patient care."

About Ivenix Inc.
Ivenix, Inc. is a venture-backed medical device company with a vision to transform infusion delivery in every care setting, globally. The company is focused on bringing its first product to market, a new and innovative infusion management system for hospitals. The system combines integrated state-of-the-art information technology and simplicity with an adaptive fluid delivery platform that continuously measures flow. The company is headquartered in Amesbury, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.ivenix.com. See Release

** Learn more about Ivenix on their VentureFizz BIZZpage **

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://prn.to/1igGgpr

Company Profile Link:

Ivenix

Company Website:

http://www.ivenix.com

Logo:

Profitero Raises $8M in funding

jackmulvaney — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 16:30:36 +0000

Date:

06/04/2014 (All day)

Teaser:

Profitero, a SaaS provider of online insights and e-commerce intelligence for retailers and brands, has raised $8 million from Polaris Partners. It will use the funds to double its 40-strong engineering team and expand its presence in North America and abroad. Profitero says it want so be the “Nielsen for online global retailers and brands.” It currently has Staples, Sam’s Club, Waitrose and Ocado as customers, monitoring over 220 million prices in near real-time. READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://tcrn.ch/1N4HJfi

Company Profile Link:

Profitero

Company Website:

http://www.profitero.com/

Logo:

Bit9 + Carbon Black Acquires VisiTrend

joshboyle — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 13:31:14 +0000

Date:

08/28/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Bit9® + Carbon Black®, the market leader in endpoint threat prevention, detection and response, today announced it has acquired Boston-based security analytics and visualization firm VisiTrend. The acquisition reflects Bit9 + Carbon Black's continuing investment in innovation that enables it to deliver the industry's number-one next-generation endpoint security solution to its growing global customer base.

VisiTrend co-founders John Langton, Ph.D., a data scientist, and Alex Baker, Ph.D., a data science engineer, are among the employees joining the Bit9 + Carbon Black research and development organization. The analytics and visualization expertise of the team—along with the VisiTrend IP—combined with Bit9 + Carbon Black's big data platform will help accelerate and expand the company's industry-leading capabilities. The combination of endpoint data and global threat intelligence with machine-learning algorithms will take endpoint threat prevention, detection and response to a new level.

"The war against advanced threats and targeted attacks will be won by the solution provider that does the best job of combining robust and innovative products with the very best analytics and machine learning," said Patrick Morley, Bit9 + Carbon Black chief executive officer. "That company will be Bit9 + Carbon Black. Since the merger of Bit9 and Carbon Black 18 months ago, we have been experiencing hyper growth, as the demand for next-generation endpoint security solutions continues to explode. Adding VisiTrend's expertise and IP will help us continue our amazing growth trajectory."

The VisiTrend team will be based in a soon-to-open Bit9 + Carbon Black technology development office in downtown Boston. That facility also will be home to the cloud software development team the company acquired in May of this year. "Having an office in such a convenient location will make us an even more attractive destination for technical talent who prefer to work in Boston," said Morley.

About Bit9 + Carbon Black

Bit9 + Carbon Black is the market leader in next-generation endpoint security. The company expects that by the end of 2015 it will achieve $70M+ in annual revenue, 70 percent growth, 7 million+ software licenses sold, almost 2,000 customers worldwide, partnerships with 60+ leading managed security service providers and incident response companies, and integrations with 30+ leading security technology providers. Bit9 + Carbon Black was voted Best Endpoint Protection by security professionals in the SANS Institute's Best of 2014 Awards, and a 2015 SANS survey found that Carbon Black is being used or evaluated by 68 percent of IR professionals. Companies of all sizes and industries, including more than 25 of the Fortune 100, use Bit9 + Carbon Black to increase security and compliance.

Bit9 and Carbon Black are registered trademarks of Bit9, Inc. All other company or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

See Original Release

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1LzZno0

Company Profile Link:

Bit9 + Carbon Black

Company Website:

http://www.bit9.com

Logo:

ikaSystems raises $120M in funding

jackmulvaney — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 17:20:45 +0000

Date:

01/19/2010 (All day)

Teaser:

IkaSystems, a Southborough, MA-based provider of software for the healthcare payer market, saidit has finalized an investment from New York City and Palo Alto, CA, private equity fund Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, a month afterreeling in capital from Providence Equity Partners. The terms of both deals were undisclosed, but Venture Wire reports that Providence and Essex Woodlands pumped a total of $120 million into the company. READ MORE

Location:

Southborough, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1UfmVR6

Company Profile Link:

ikaSystems

Company Website:

http://www.ikasystems.com/

Logo:

Klaviyo Raises $1.5M

joshboyle — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 14:05:06 +0000

Date:

08/27/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Klaviyo, the intelligent platform for ecommerce email campaigns, has raised $1.5M in funding from Accomplice and select angels, including David Cancel, Elias Torres and TJ Mahoney. Founded in 2012, Klaviyo has developed a system that analyzes disparate and often real-time data points, about individual customers and prospects, in order to automate personalized communications. The solution is being used at thousands of ecommerce companies to maximize return on email campaigns; and Klaviyo will use the new funding to accelerate growth in development and sales/marketing.

“Email campaigns have become synonymous with mass blasting giant lists of people with the same email, leading to a world where our inboxes are crowded, spam folders full, and we don’t engage with or like the emails we receive,” said Andrew Bialecki, co-founder and CEO of Klaviyo. “Klaviyo solves this problem. We plug into different data sources that companies already have and use that data to personalize communications to customers and prospects. We are excited that our investors share our vision for transforming ecommerce marketing.”

Almost a trillion emails are sent each month. Current email platforms are primarily focused on sending large quantities of messages that are the same for everyone, with very little personalization. Through its simple and intuitive API, Klaviyo integrates with an ecommerce company’s data sources to better understand their customer’s relationship with the brand (i.e. what they have or haven’t bought, website activity, engagement with previous communications, events attended, products returned and more). As a result, the Klaviyo platform understands the customer’s behavior and can target and/or trigger personalized communications at the optimal time.

“Klaviyo has created a powerful email marketing platform that is incredibly easy to use; being able to run small, hyper-targeted, personalized campaigns is the holy grail for marketers,” said Jon Karlen, a partner at Accomplice. “Andrew and Ed have already built a successful company and they are the perfect team to lead it through this rapid growth phase.”

Andrew Bialecki and Ed Hallen founded Klaviyo in 2012, after working together at Adaptive Predictive Technologies (APT) where they built big data-driven marketing solutions for Fortune 500 companies. “We started working with companies and realized what a frustrating, manually-intensive process it was to email someone who had bought a suit two months ago but not the perfect matching shirt and tie. That’s when the opportunity became clear,” said co-founder Ed Hallen. On average, Klaviyo’s customers earn ~$75 for every dollar spent.

About Klaviyo

Klaviyo helps brands build stronger relationships with their customers through communications that are personal and predictive. For more information, visit www.klaviyo.com.

See Blog from Klaviyo Founders

Location:

Boston, MA

Company Website:

https://www.klaviyo.com

Logo:

Zipcar Acquires Local Motion

joshboyle — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 16:43:52 +0000

Date:

08/25/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

We’re excited to let everyone know that as of August 13, 2015 Local Motion has been acquired by Zipcar, the world’s leading car sharing network. Zipcar and Local Motion have a lot in common: we share a commitment to provide an exceptional experience for our users and we see car sharing as the future of mobility.

Since Local Motion was founded nearly five years ago, we’ve learned a lot about helping people reserve, locate, access, and return shared vehicles. We’re excited to bring what we’ve learned to Zipcar where we’ll be working on a number of projects to drive the future of mobility further and faster.

The last five years have been truly amazing. We’ve had the chance to work with phenomenal people to found, fund, and now sell our company. We’re truly humbled by this experience.

We can’t wait to see what this combination of brilliant people can do. To learn more about Zipcar, please visit www.zipcar.com

See you on the road,
-John, Clement, and the Local Motion team

READ ORIGINAL

Location:

Cambridge, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1fE0PKq

Company Profile Link:

Zipcar

Company Website:

http://www.zipcar.com

Logo:

Mobee Closes $5M Series A Financing

joshboyle — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 16:38:31 +0000

Date:

08/25/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Mobee, the leader in Real-time Crowdsourced Data & Insights For Brands, Retail & Asset Management Firms, has closed on a $5M Series A financing. The financing was led by Flint Capital (www.flintcap.com) and Flint Capital's Partner, Sergey Gribov, will be joining Mobee's Board of Directors. Funds will be used to expand market reach and client engagement as well as continuing Mobee's rapid evolution of industry-leading technology for crowdsourced intelligence gathering. That real-time technology offers direct visibility to the retail store, aisles and shelves providing alerts and data and analysis tools for an immediate view into brand and retail execution, performance and competition. With a national reach, Mobee is poised to collect thousands of geo-located data points and photographs in a matter of hours, not months.

Existing investors Stage 1 Ventures, Atlas Venture, and InterWest Partners also participated in this round.

"I am thrilled to have Flint Capital on the Mobee team and to have Sergey join our Board of Directors. Flint brings a pragmatic and supportive approach to venture investing and have been a pleasure to work with through this financing," said Hal Charnley, Mobee's President/CEO.

"Mobee personifies the type of investment that we seek at Flint. A young, vibrant team with a firm grasp of their market and the ability to dominate their category. As a Boston-based firm, we're excited to have an investment in our own backyard," said Sergey Gribov, Flint's Partner.

About Mobee

Mobee was founded in 2011 with a vision to use mobile technology and the power of the crowd to collect the world's offline data. Mobee is the leader in real-time crowdsourced data & insight for brands, retail and asset management firms. Mobee provides direct visibility to the stores, aisles and shelves, real-time alerts and data and analysis tools, providing immediate view into retail execution, performance and competition. With a national reach, Mobee is poised to collect thousands of geo-located data points and photographs in a matter of hours, not months. Brands & retailers can now get real-time insights into the leading drivers, "the whys," of their retail sales across critical performance insights including; new product launch, competitive intelligence, seasonal program check, in-store promotions & displays, product availability & shelf positioning, product demonstrations, sales associate training & customer messaging. For more information visit us at http://www.getmobee.com

About Flint Capital

Flint Capital is a $100 million international investment fund with offices in USA (Boston and Palo Alto), Israel and Europe. It was founded in 2013 to support the best entrepreneurs, wherever they are. Flint is a multi-stage venture fund, which focuses on investments in mobile, SaaS, Advertisement, Financial as well as Security and Enterprise sectors of high technology. More information can be found at www.flintcap.com.

READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://prn.to/1WQqHoa

Company Profile Link:

Mobee

Company Website:

http://www.getmobee.com

Logo:

TechMedia Network Acquires BuyerZone, the Leading Online Service Connecting SMB Buyers & Sellers

jackmulvaney — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 15:42:01 +0000

Date:

01/22/2014 (All day)

Teaser:

TechMedia Network, Inc., one of the largest and most respected tech and science media companies, today announced the acquisition of BuyerZone, the leading online marketplace for buyers and sellers of SMB products and services. With this acquisition, TechMedia Network continues to expand its ability to both drive and simplify complex purchase decisions for end-users through an industry-unique combination of Content, Community, and Commerce. READ MORE

Location:

New York, NY

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1EFa4AF

Company Profile Link:

BuyerZone

Company Website:

http://www.buyerzone.com/

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SmackHigh Raises $1.65 Million in Seed Capital

joshboyle — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 15:06:46 +0000

Date:

08/20/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

SmackHigh, a social consumer start-up for teens, today announced that it has raised $1.65M in its seed round. The round was led by Flybridge Capital Partners, with major participation from an AngelList syndicate led by Wayne Chang, Head of Product Marketing, Mobile Platform at Twitter, and Boston Seed Capital. Also participating were Mike Baker of DataXu, and several prominent angel investors from the Boston area, including David Chang, formerly of PayPal. SmackHigh amplifies the teenage voice, specifically for high school students, by aggregating news-based submissions from high school students themselves via social media vehicles on Twitter and its own website, and then distributing them across thousands of high schools across the country. With hundreds of thousands of teens in communities currently operating in 26 states, SmackHigh plans to use the funding to broaden its nationwide community presence and continue to invest in its technology platform.

SmackHigh is a posting service for teens, organized by geography and based on common interests relevant to every day high school student life. The platform gives teens a way to connect and express themselves within the context of the school communities they care about, and more importantly, within the context of relevant topics and interest groups. By putting community first, SmackHigh empowers teens to define the identities of their communities and the affinity groups that exist within them, e.g. basketball players, freshmen only, etc. This adds context to the discussions and gives all high school students a way to relate and engage, be it with students within their own core affinity groups or those belonging to others. Teens post anonymously through the identity of their school community, thereby allowing full freedom of expression and fluid movement between social groups.

Facilitating the conversations are the SmackHigh reps, thousands of teens from the SmackHigh community who both provide gentle moderation, but also serve as a continued feedback loop between their respective high schools and SmackHigh. This mechanism has allowed the SmackHigh community to grow organically and authentically, yet safely using the voices of teens as the boundaries.

“The teen voice is powerful, but has often been overlooked or gone unheard because it’s been buried in communities that are either too disperse or too general,” said Giuseppe Stuto, CEO of SmackHigh. “SmackHigh gives teens an easy and fun way to build and control the evolution and tones of their own spaces in a very meaningful and relevant way, which is an essential need of our next wave of online community builders.”

This strategy has led to strong organic growth, with over 800,000 opt-in followers concentrated in tight geographic communities that span 26 states via Twitter and, more recently, Snapchat. The pace of growth has increased sharply over the last year; SmackHigh boasts more than 800% growth in monthly submissions from February to June, bringing total monthly timeline impressions to over 450 million.

“Teens are obsessed with group messaging and communicating via their mobile phones,” said Jeff Bussgang, Flybridge general partner. “SmackHigh is appealing to this obsession by providing an open, social networking platform that provides teens anonymity yet in the context of their core school community.”

SmackHigh will immediately invest in growing its platform, expanding its SmackHigh rep presence, and further marketing geography and channel expansion.

About Smack, Inc.

Smack, Inc.’s service, SmackHigh is a geographically centralized social consumer posting service for teens that leverages Twitter and Snapchat to allow teens from the same geography to connect and build community. SmackHigh was founded in 2013 as a casual place for teens to connect on Twitter; under the leadership of Giuseppe Stuto (CEO), Frank Iudiciani (CMO), and Kevin Flynn (CTO), the Company has to date amassed over 800,000 followers nationally, generating over 450 million monthly timeline impressions.

READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1Llbk0B

Company Profile Link:

Smack High

Company Website:

http://www.smackhigh.com

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Celect Raises $5M in Funding

Keith Cline — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 18:59:53 +0000

Date:

06/25/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Celect, a fully data-driven customer choice modeling suite, launched today with $5 million in Series A funding led by August Capital with participation from Activant Capital Group.

The Boston-based company, founded by MIT professors Vivek Farias and Devavrat Shah, uses a fundamental technological breakthrough in machine learning, which allows retailers to truly understand their customers’ buying patterns. This technology enables merchandisers, retail planners and inventory analysts to create optimized and localized product assortments, and in turn, increase inventory turnover and revenue while fostering a better customer experience. An early pilot of Celect’s technology in ten stores at The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc., a regional department store, operating 270 locations across the US, shows positive increases in in-store revenue over the control group...READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1E1cmzb

Company Profile Link:

Celect

Company Website:

http://www.celect.net/

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Toast Raises $3M in Funding

Keith Cline — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 21:51:05 +0000

Date:

08/10/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

As per SEC filings, Toast in Boston, Massachusetts has raised $3M in debt financing. Toast is an all-in-one POS and restaurant management solution with powerful tools to cut costs, drive revenue, and engage customers... READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://1.usa.gov/1HOidCO

Company Profile Link:

Toast

Company Website:

http://pos.toasttab.com

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Zuora Raises $115M

jackmulvaney — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 15:51:06 +0000

Date:

03/11/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Cloud billing and subscription vendor Zuora has long been seen as one of the leaders in the space – in part because its CEO, Salesforce-alum Tien Tzuo is a charismatic and powerful industry figure. He has been beating the “subscription economy” drum for years now and people are starting to get the message. The fundamental view that Tzuo holds is that increasingly organizations are moving to a subscription model and vendors have a corresponding need for billing solutions that give them the flexibility. READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://onforb.es/1C79oYr

Company Website:

https://www.zuora.com/

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DataDog Acquires Mortar Data

jackmulvaney — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 13:34:23 +0000

Date:

02/11/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Here’s an obvious acquisition and product enhancement story. Datadog is a monitoring service built for the distributed, cloudy world. Datadog aggregates data from servers, databases, applications, tools and services in order to generate a unified view of application performance. The idea being that in a highly distributed world, only through holistic monitoring will the root cause of any performance degradation be found.

Mortar Data, on the other hand, is a small startup that is focused on helping companies build and run big data applications and data pipelines. Their raison d’etre is to help companies capture large amounts of data and then derive some meaningful insights from that body of information. READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://onforb.es/1DG3QTg

Company Profile Link:

Datadog

Company Website:

http://www.datadoghq.com

Logo:

Datadog Raises $31M

jackmulvaney — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 13:31:33 +0000

Date:

01/28/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Datadog, a cloud service that helps customers monitor infrastructure and software, whether all in the cloud or a hybrid on-premises-cloud environment, announced $31M in Series C funding today.

The round was led by Index Ventures with help from RTP Ventures, OpenView Venture Partners and what they referred to as “other equity holders.” Index and OpenView helped fund the Series B round last February, and RTP has been involved since seed funding in April, 2011.

The $31M brings the total raised to $53.4M. READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://tcrn.ch/1Hl12Po

Company Profile Link:

Datadog

Company Website:

http://www.datadoghq.com

Logo:

Tesora Closes Addition Funding

joshboyle — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 16:06:40 +0000

Date:

08/13/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Red Hat Expands Collaboration with Tesora, OpenStack Database as a Service Company

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., August 13, 2015 – Tesora, the company bringing OpenStack Trove Database as a Service (DBaaS) to the enterprise, announces that Red Hat and others have invested in the company as a part of Tesora’s latest funding round.

The funding agreement expands on the ongoing collaboration between Tesora and Red Hat, which dates back to February 2014 when Tesora was re-launched with the mission to become the market leader in database as a service (DBaaS) and OpenStack Trove. Most recently, the Tesora DBaaS Platform Enterprise Edition added support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform 6.

Today, Tesora is the number one contributor to OpenStack Trove and ranks among the top 20 companies contributing to OpenStack overall as measured by Stackalytics, alongside Red Hat and other Tesora partners. This reflects the transformation of Tesora’s development team to focus on the OpenStack DBaaS project.

“We are pleased to have an open source pioneer like Red Hat as an investor and partner,” said Ken Rugg, founder and CEO of Tesora. “We look forward to collaborating more closely with Red Hat to provide customers with databases on demand on OpenStack clouds.”

“Red Hat’s participation in Tesora’s latest financing round expands on the technical and go-to-market collaboration between our companies,” said Radhesh Balakrishnan, general manager, OpenStack, Red Hat. “Community-powered innovation like OpenStack Trove and companies like Tesora driving this innovation forward are essential components to accelerate the adoption of OpenStack as the platform of choice for cloud infrastructure.”

In addition to the investment from Red Hat, the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, existing investors including LaunchCapital also participated. In June, Tesora announced investors in the initial phase of the funding round. Funds will be used to further scale Tesora sales, marketing and product development efforts. The closing of the most recent financing round brings Tesora’s total financing to $14.5 million.

About OpenStack Trove
OpenStack Trove database as a service is transforming the way databases are provisioned and managed, to make database capacity that can be consumed on-demand. Trove lets administrators and DevOps manage multiple instances of different database management systems (DBMS), both relational and NoSQL, using a common infrastructure. This makes it much easier and faster to select and operate a database – while retaining all its capabilities – in a secure private or public cloud. The result is that routine tasks like provisioning, and managing regular administrative tasks like clustering, replication, backup and restore are handled in a simple, unified way.

About Tesora

Tesora brings more than 200 years of cumulative database technology experience to the OpenStack community, helping organizations get the most from their OpenStack investment by making it easy to deliver database capacity on demand. The company is the leading contributor to the OpenStack Trove project and developer of Tesora DBaaS Platform Enterprise Edition, the first commercially-available product based on Trove. To learn more about Tesora visit www.tesora.com. READ MORE

Location:

Cambridge, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1hzJGmQ

Company Profile Link:

Tesora

Company Website:

http://www.tesora.com

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RIFT.io Raises $16 Million In Series A Funding

joshboyle — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 15:01:29 +0000

Date:

08/13/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

BURLINGTON, Mass. – August 13, 2015 – RIFT.io, today announced the completion of a $16 million series A round of funding, led by North Bridge Venture Partners with participation from other strategic investors. The funds raised will be used to continue the development of RIFT.ware, the company’s open source network virtualization platform, and expand its world-class product, design, and engineering teams, while growing its marketing and customer support capabilities.

RIFT.io was founded in 2014 by CEO Greg Alden, an industry veteran joined by fellow co-founders, CTO Tim Mortsolf and CDO Matt Harper. The company features a talented leadership team including CSO Tony Schoener; CFO Scott Bryce, and SVP, Business & Market Development Vincent Spinelli, who have decades of experience in networking and enterprise software and held senior management roles at Cisco, Starent Networks, Juniper, 3COM, Redback, EMC, Arrowpoint and Movik Networks. Headquartered in Burlington, MA with offices in San Jose, CA and Bangalore, India; RIFT.io specializes in open source, hyperscale network virtualization software that simplifies the development, deployment and management of virtual network services, applications and functions.

The RIFT.io founders believe that network services need to migrate from proprietary appliances to open, hyperscale networking software services in order for virtual network functions (VNFs) to be relevant in cloud networks that support Web, mobile, and IOT-centric applications. RIFT.io promises to fundamentally change the economics of the networking industry and help customers reduce complexity and accelerate service velocity.

“The walls between network product suppliers and network service consumers are disappearing. Our goal from day one was to build a platform that would provide everyone with the same capabilities and technology enjoyed by the largest networking technology companies,” said Greg Alden, chief executive officer of RIFT.io. “Robust Open Source components, high performance general purpose computing, and RIFT.ware make this a reality. Our software addresses the unique challenges and complexities of network applications and leverages the best of open source and hyperscale data center technology to bring innovation, lower cost and an emerging community of value-adding solution providers.”

Network applications and VNFs built with RIFT.ware combine the economics and scale of hyperscale data centers with the security and availability of carrier-grade network services. Companies can start with a single network application or service on a single virtual machine (VM) on any cloud platform and scale to any number applications, VMs, and locations on multiple clouds with no capacity constraints or distance limitations. This dramatically lowers the risks associated with rolling out new services, allowing providers and enterprises to easily trial and evolve services to determine what best meets the needs of customers.

“Benu Networks has been a leader in developing network solutions that embrace virtualization and cloud technologies,” said Dino Di Palma, CEO, Benu Networks. “ Partnering with RIFT.io has sped our development of solutions for the connected home, helped us build a more robust, scalable virtual network application and allows us to target any customer on any cloud infrastructure, at any scale.”

Network function virtualization promises the same transformation in network applications that virtualization delivered to Web-based applications. Virtualization is now foundational to over $3 trillion in annual IT spending. The transformation in network applications, driven by the Internet of Things and the growth in the number of connected devices, will have an even larger impact and the pace of change will be unprecedented. According to Beecham Research, the world will be host to more than fifty billion device connections by the year 2020, emphasizing the importance of scalability, security and efficient connectivity[1].

“At North Bridge we invest in great ideas and great teams. It is rare to find a team that can adapt so easily to the changing market and technology requirements, especially a team has worked together for many years.” said Ed Anderson, managing general partner of North Bridge. “Our most successful portfolio companies have been the disruptors with bold ideas and the capability to achieve their potential. The pace of software innovation is changing everything and we are thrilled to be working with RIFT.io as a true partner to accelerate the transformation.”

Rift.io recently joined the Intel® Network Builders program in July, an ecosystem dedicated to accelerating the transition to SDN and NFV solutions based on industry open standards.

“NFV service orchestration will require increasing intelligence that can best determine how to take advantage of the underlying hardware capabilities and apply them to the right workload.” said John Healy, General Manager, SDN Division, Intel Corp. “By joining the Intel Network Builders program, RIFT.io will help to accelerate the adoption of NFV and enable service providers and enterprises to take advantage of key capabilities such as enhanced platform awareness (EPA) on Intel architecture.”

RIFT.io will be showcasing their software August 18th – 20th at the Intel Developer Forum being held at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco, CA. Come visit the company in booth # 163.

About RIFT.io

RIFT.io makes it simple for network service developers, enterprises, and service providers to create, deploy, and manage Web-scale network applications and virtual network functions (VNFs). Network applications and services built with RIFT.io technology combine the economics and scale of hyperscale data centers with the security and availability of carrier-grade network services. RIFT.io is a privately held, global company with offices in the United States and India. For more information about RIFT.io, visit http://riftio.com/. Follow us at @RIFT_io.

About North Bridge

North Bridge Venture Partners and North Bridge Growth Equity are active partners with entrepreneurs providing seed-to-growth financing for innovative companies looking to disrupt big markets. With nearly $4 billion in capital currently under management, North Bridge partners, many founders themselves, work with entrepreneurs to apply their expertise in the creation, operation and scaling of market-leaders. The firm has funded more than 200 companies creating many billions in market value. The firm has offices in Boston, MA and Palo Alto, CA. To learn more about North Bridge go to www.northbridge.com. Follow us at @North_Bridge

[1] M2M World of Connected Services. 2009. Infographic. Beecham Research, Boston. Web. 22 Jul 2015.

READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1Nd8Fsa

Company Profile Link:

RIFT.io

Company Website:

http://riftio.com

Logo:

CrowdComfort Announces $273,000 Round of Seed Funding

jackmulvaney — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 16:40:02 +0000

Date:

12/04/2013 (All day)

Teaser:

CrowdComfort, a sustainable clean energy technology company that helps facilities managers make faster decisions by crowd-sourcing geo-located building maintenance and environmental compliance data in real time, has raised $273,000 seed round led by CrowdComfort’s founding team. Investors include several angel investors and one corporate investment. READ MORE

Location:

Beverly, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1Tg63P8

Company Profile Link:

CrowdComfort

Company Website:

http://crowdcomfort.com/

Logo:

Cleantech startup CrowdComfort raises $344,000

jackmulvaney — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 16:31:21 +0000

Date:

07/21/2014 (All day)

Teaser:

Cleantech startup CrowdComfort, a 2014 MassChallenge finalist, has raised $343,892 out of a planned $1.5 million round from undisclosed angel investors in the Northeast and the company's founders, said co-founder and CEO Eric Graham. The latest funding brings the startup's total investment to about $650,000 to date, Graham said. READ MORE

Location:

Somerville, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1trS8ot

Company Profile Link:

CrowdComfort

Company Website:

http://crowdcomfort.com/

Logo:

Ditto Labs Raises $4M

joshboyle — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 14:32:09 +0000

Date:

08/07/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Cambridge, MA, August 06, 2015 — Today we announced a global network of 100 advertising agencies and a roster of veteran ad-tech investors including, Stage 1 Ventures, MDC-Partners, Wavemaker Partners and The Whittemore Collection provided $4 million in new capital.

The additional financing supports the roll-out of thousands of object and scene classifiers to help innovative digital marketers detect what appears in every photo. This deep learning capability helps dog-food companies find pet-owners, diaper-makers discover new parents, outdoor sports retailers reach campers and beer makers target people feasting on nachos.

“Social media photos are a huge blind spot that prevents marketers from understanding the full conversation around their brands,” said David Rose, CEO of Ditto Labs. “For a decade marketers have solely relied on text analytics to detect intent or on-line conversations, but now Ditto offers access to an otherwise invisible population of consumers as revealed through their publicly shared photos.”

“The ubiquity of smartphone cameras, coupled with an insatiable desire to publically share everyday experiences on social media has made sharing photos the preferred form of communication,” said David Baum of Stage 1 Ventures. “Ditto is the only company with computer vision technology purpose-built to parse what appears in Instagram-filtered, poorly lit, and blurry low resolution photos. This photo cloud is essential for today’s marketer.” READ MORE

Location:

Cambridge, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1J1dfd4

Company Profile Link:

Ditto Labs

Company Website:

http://ditto.us.com/

Logo:

Attivio Raises $6.2 Million

jackmulvaney — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 20:48:11 +0000

Date:

08/06/2008 (All day)

Teaser:

Newton, MA-based Attivio, a startup founded by Ali Riaz, ex-COO of Fast Search & Transfer, has raised $6.2 million from unidentified VCs, reportsInfotoday. Fast Search & Transfer (FAST) is a Norway-based enterprise search firm that is selling to Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) for $1.23 billion. Attivio is also targeting the enterprise, with a service that can search and identify structured and unstructured content, such as e-mails, images and webpages, while integrating that data into business processes.

Location:

Newton, MA

Company Profile Link:

Attivio

Company Website:

http://attivio.com

Logo:

DrugDev acquires CFS Clinical (CFS)

jackmulvaney — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 13:41:51 +0000

Date:

10/21/2013 (All day)

Teaser:

DrugDev, an interactive network and data sharing platform for over 80,000 clinical trial doctors in 93 countries, announced today its acquisition of CFS Clinical (CFS), the leading specialty provider focused on the business and financial management activities for clinical trials. READ MORE

Location:

London & Princeton, NJ & Audubon, PA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1T6V314

Company Profile Link:

DrugDev

Company Website:

http://www.drugdev.com/

Logo:

DrugDev acquires TrialNetworks

jackmulvaney — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 12:37:23 +0000

Date:

08/21/2014 (All day)

Teaser:

In May, DrugDev acquired Newton, Mass.-based TrialNetworks, which provides a unified cloud-based platform of trial management apps and site-facing tools that was awarded Disruptive Technology of the Year by Partnerships in Clinical Trials 2014. Following the acquisition, TrialNetworks and DrugDev hosted a collaborative annual Summit for clinical operations leaders in Boston – featuring a keynote from Dr. Jorge Guerra and case study presentations from customers – to share best practices, site engagement strategies and creative solutions to challenges facing the industry. READ MORE

Location:

Loudon & Audubon, PA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1EaxmOz

Company Profile Link:

DrugDev

Company Website:

http://www.drugdev.com/

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CashStar Raises $15 Million in Growth Capital

joshboyle — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 23:05:37 +0000

Date:

08/05/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Additional Investment to Drive Continued Innovation in Prepaid Commerce

CashStar, the industry-leading provider of prepaid commerce solutions, today announced the closing of $15 million in growth capital. FTV Capital led the Series D round, joined by new investor Mosaik Partners and existing investors Passport Capital, Intel Capital, North Hill Ventures and others. This financing brings the total capital raised by CashStar to $50 million and will enable the company to continue investing in product innovation, sales and client success.

“Our firm invests in commerce-enabling technology companies with exceptional growth potential that transform the way consumers and businesses transact,” said Miles Kilburn, Mosaik’s founder and newly appointed CashStar board observer. “CashStar is reinventing the prepaid industry for retailers with innovative digital and mobile solutions that drive business growth, and we are excited to partner in their continued success.”

The funding round comes on the heels of several important corporate milestones. During its fifth annual conference, CashStar Innovate, CashStar highlighted its achievement in product development, client and partner successes, and employee investment. The company also recently announced the hiring of Martin Hood as vice president of channel partnerships and Matt Kerper as vice president of strategic business development.

“CashStar has incredible momentum and this growth round enables us to capitalize on a huge market opportunity by investing in innovation and client success,” said Ben Kaplan, CashStar’s president and CEO. “We are very much looking forward to working with Miles and the Mosaik team. His expertise in payments and experience as an operator will be invaluable moving forward.”

About CashStar
CashStar, the industry-leading provider of prepaid commerce solutions, enables the world’s top retailers and restaurants to grow and innovate in the rapidly evolving retail environment. CashStar provides best-in-class capabilities, revenue-optimizing risk management and a client success model based on aligned growth, to optimize digital gifting and prepaid commerce experiences. CashStar powers more than 300 leading brands worldwide including Best Buy, Brookstone, Coach, Crate & Barrel, Dell, Dunkin’ Donuts, Gap, lululemon athletica, Nine West, Office Depot, Petco, Pottery Barn, QVC, Sephora, Staples, Starbucks, The Cheesecake Factory, The Home Depot and Williams-Sonoma. To learn more, please visit www.cashstar.com, follow @CashStar or e-mail info@cashstar.com.

SEE ORIGINAL RELEASE

Location:

Maine

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1P7fwlR

Company Profile Link:

CashStar

Company Website:

http://www.cashstar.com

Logo:

Jibo, Inc., Raises $11M in Series A Extension Financing

joshboyle — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 22:49:46 +0000

Date:

08/05/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Leading Asia-Pacific Investors Acer, Dentsu, KDDI, LG Uplus and NetPosa Validate Jibo's International Appeal

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Aug 5, 2015) - Jibo, Inc., the company behind Jibo -- the first Social Robot for the home -- has closed $11M in a Series A extension round with strategic investors from Taiwan, Japan, Korea and China. Participating investors include:

Acer (Taiwan) - Established in 1976, Acer is a hardware + software + services company dedicated to creating innovative products that enhance people's lives.
Dentsu Ventures (Japan) - Dentsu Ventures invests in technology startups, with a focus on marketing, media, social, devices and others.
KDDI (Japan) - KDDI is one of Asia's top telecommunications carriers.
LG Uplus (Korea) - LG Uplus is a telecommunications and mobile phone operator in South Korea.
NetPosa (China) - NetPosa Technologies Ltd. delivers comprehensive video monitoring and storage solutions.

In January of this year, Jibo, Inc. raised $25.3M in Series A financing. Monies invested in this extension round will be used to accelerate Jibo operations, product enhancements, partner content integrations and Jibo's market introduction. Prior to this strategic investment, Jibo's combined Indiegogo and InDemand campaigns raised approximately $4M with more than 6,500 Jibos sold.

"This round of strategic investment, centered in the target markets of Taiwan, Japan, Korea and China, will be a cornerstone of Jibo's further expansion into international markets," said Steve Chambers, CEO of Jibo, Inc. "We believe these investments in Jibo highlight the appeal of consumer social robots, and of Jibo himself, in the growing Asia-Pacific market."

Jibo helps the family stay connected and improves family communication -- anything from lending a hand in managing your busy life to providing companionship and entertainment. Jibo transforms existing, flat content and application experiences so you can interact with technology in a way never before possible.

"The social/interpersonal exchange inherent to social robotics like Jibo brings a new experience to in-home connected technologies -- one reflective of the intimacy of the home. It will be particularly interesting to watch Jibo evolve for cultural appropriateness across the globe," said Jessica Groopman, an industry analyst with the Altimeter Group covering the Internet of Things. "The vision here is compelling as Jibo will strive to establish a strong personalized relationship between the connected home and the family members living in it. Intelligent interaction design with tightly choreographed and culturally-specific movement, graphics and voice will be critical to successfully localizing Jibo to AsiaPac markets, and beyond."

About Jibo, Inc.:

Jibo, Inc., creator of the world's first Social Robot and Developers' Platform, is a design-driven company dedicated to creating unforgettable experiences through advanced social robotics technology. The Company was founded by Cynthia Breazeal, a pioneer of social robotics and human robot interaction from the MIT Media Lab. Jibo is a capable and engaging Family Companion. He is able to get to know his family, learn from them and adapt to their preferences overtime. With the Jibo SDK, developers have the tools to create and build a wide range of Jibo Skills (robot applications), extending Jibo's personality and capabilities in the home. Jibo was brought here to provide fun, help and companionship to everyone in the home. Get to know Jibo today at www.jibo.com.

SEE ORIGINAL RELEASE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://mwne.ws/1NaSIQW

Company Profile Link:

Jibo

Company Website:

https://www.jibo.com

Logo:

Panorama Education Raises $12M Series A Round of Funding

Keith Cline — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 13:09:38 +0000

Date:

08/04/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Panorama Education (www.panoramaed.com), used by schools and districts for educators' professional growth and strategic planning, announced today that it has raised a $12M Series A funding round with participation from Owl Ventures and Spark Capital. Jed Smith, Co-Founder and Partner at Owl Ventures, and Andrew Parker, General Partner at Spark Capital, have joined Panorama's board.

Panorama currently serves more than three million students across 40 states. Schools and districts use Panorama to collect feedback through surveys and to analyze their data. Panorama helps teachers, principals, and district leaders understand and take action on key issues, including student engagement, family involvement, school culture, and teacher recruiting and retention. Of America's Top 100 largest school districts, 14 have already adopted Panorama -- unprecedented for a startup -- along with most major charter networks and hundreds of smaller districts across the country...

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://mwne.ws/1ON8CBr

Company Profile Link:

Panorama Education

Company Website:

https://www.panoramaed.com

Logo:

Smartvid.io Raises $3.4M

joshboyle — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 17:14:54 +0000

Date:

08/03/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Cambridge, MA based software company developing enterprise platform for video and photo content from mobile devices, GoProTM cameras and drones

Cambridge, MA – August 3, 2015 – Smartvid.io, Inc. has raised an initial round of capital to expand beyond its initial five charter customers and launch a broader private Beta program in the fall. The company is developing a platform for industrial video and photo content from mobile devices, GoProTM cameras, and drones.

“We’re very fortunate to have partnered with leading AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) companies to define our first generation product,” said Josh Kanner, Founder and CEO. “This funding will enable us to further accelerate our product development process and open up access to an even broader audience this Fall.”

“We are generating more and more high-quality video and photography content from our project sites through the use of mobile devices, drones, and GoPro cameras,” said Corren Collura, Chief Information Officer of Suffolk Construction, one of the largest building contractors in the country. “By leveraging Smartvid.io, we can handle the massive amounts of data we are generating, but most importantly we can save significant time in the field, collaborate in new ways with our partners, and provide a superior experience for our clients.”

CommonAngels Ventures led the $3.4M financing with participation from Launchpad Venture Group and other individual investors. “We are excited to invest in Smartvid.io as Josh and his team build a much-needed solution for the AEC industry to smartly collect and mine the data assets of industrial video,” said Maia Heymann, the Senior Managing Director of CommonAngels Ventures.

“We are committed to delivering on our ‘build smart’ promise in everything we do,” added Christopher Mayer, Suffolk’s Chief Innovation Officer. “We see tremendous value in using Smartvid.io as an innovative tool that will allow us to communicate and share important information about our projects more effectively with our internal and external audiences.”

About Smartvid.io, Inc.

Smartvid.io is building an enterprise-class SaaS platform for managing, collaborating, and analyzing industrial videos and photos wherever they come from - mobile devices, GoProTM cameras, or drones (UAVs). Starting in the AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) industry, the company has five Alpha customers and is launching a private Beta in the Fall of 2015. Members of Smartvid.io’s founding team previously worked together to build Field Software provider Vela Systems, now known as BIM 360 Field, Autodesk’s “fastest growing product”, and also includes the Chief Creative Officer of enterprise mobility consultancy Mobiquity. Visit us at www.smartvid.io to sign up for our Fall Beta release.

SEE ORIGINAL RELEASE

Location:

Cambridge, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1eO5Yz0

Company Profile Link:

Smartvid.io

Company Website:

http://www.smartvid.io

Logo:

Seismic Raises $20 Million

jackmulvaney — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 21:44:01 +0000

Date:

01/08/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Seismic, the leading sales enablement solution, today announced the completion of a $20 million Series B funding round led by JMI Equity, a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software and services companies. Following rapid company expansion and customer growth and the best year in its history, Seismic plans to invest heavily to bolster its product innovation and expand its sales, marketing and customer experience teams. READ MORE

Location:

San Diego, CA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1SPFDxW

Company Profile Link:

Seismic

Company Website:

http://www.seismic.com/

Logo:

GSN Games Acquires Idle Gaming

jackmulvaney — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 02:35:33 +0000

Date:

03/30/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

GSN Games, a leading provider of social casino games and cash tournaments, has acquired social casino game developer Idle Gaming, whose titles include Fresh Deck Poker, Slots of Fun and Video Poker Tour. The acquisition adds both high-quality talent and mobile platform technologies that support GSN Games’ long-term strategic growth. READ MORE

Location:

San Francisco, CA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1xPCpWZ

Company Profile Link:

GSN Games

Company Website:

http://gsngames.com/

Logo:

DraftKings Secures $300M In Funding

joshboyle — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 18:32:36 +0000

Date:

07/27/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

DraftKings, Inc., a leading daily fantasy sports destination, today announced it has secured a $300 Million Series D round of funding led by FOX Sports. Also participating in the round were major North American sports leagues Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer; leading sports organizations The Madison Square Garden Company and Legends; as well as existing investors Atlas Venture, DST Global, GGV Capital, The Kraft Group, The Raine Group and Wellington Management Company LLP. DraftKings will use the additional funding to continue building out its industry-leading web and mobile products, launch its product internationally, and explore new opportunities for vertical expansion.

DraftKings has become the fastest-growing company in DFS since its launch in 2012, having just registered its 100 millionth contest entry this month. The company is expected to award well over $1 Billion in prizes in 2015, up from approximately $300 Million in 2014.

"To receive this type of support from such an outstanding group of organizations, including three major sports leagues, is an incredible milestone for us and reaffirms our leadership position in Daily Fantasy Sports," said Jason Robins, CEO of DraftKings. "We intend to leverage these resources to develop even more innovative daily fantasy sports contests and provide new exclusive once-in-a-lifetime experiences for our players."

"Partnering with DraftKings, a clear leader in this field, is a great opportunity for us to capitalize on the growth of daily fantasy sports for the benefit of our viewers," said Eric Shanks, President and COO, FOX Sports. "We'll work with DraftKings to develop ideas and create content to drive deeper engagement with sports fans across multiple platforms, including our national, local, and digital properties."

Fresh off a recently announced exclusive multi-year partnership with ESPN, under which DraftKings will become the official daily fantasy partner of the media network across broadcast and digital platforms, today's announcement builds upon the company's leadership role in the DFS industry and its commitment to player satisfaction over a broad range of platforms. A recent research study by independent firm Eilers, confirmed DraftKings is the favorite daily fantasy sports site among players and has over 10 times the net promoter score (a measure of customer satisfaction and advocacy) of its next significant competitor.

As the first company to take DFS into the mainstream through its original partnership with MLB three years ago, DraftKings now has five major league deals (MLB, NHL, NASCAR, UFC, MLS). Additionally, DraftKings holds relationships with teams across all major sports, branding at marquee facilities like Madison Square Garden and STAPLES Center, and integrated sponsorships with top sporting events, including this year's Triple Crown win at the Belmont Stakes.

The Raine Group worked as exclusive advisor to DraftKings on the transaction.

About DraftKings
DraftKings, Inc. is a leading skill-based Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) gaming destination for fans in North America to compete in single-day online games for cash and prizes across the largest variety of professional and collegiate sports. DraftKings is the exclusive DFS partner of Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, NASCAR, Ultimate Fighting Championship and Major League Soccer. Founded in 2012 by CEO Jason Robins, CRO Matt Kalish and COO Paul Liberman, DraftKings is headquartered in Boston, Mass. For more information about DraftKings, Inc., visit www.draftkings.com.

About FOX Sports
FOX Sports is the umbrella entity representing 21st Century FOX's wide array of multi-platform US-based sports assets. Built with brands capable of reaching more than 100 million viewers in a single weekend, FOX Sports includes ownership and interests in linear television networks, digital and mobile programming, broadband platforms, multiple web sites, joint-venture businesses and several licensing partnerships. FOX Sports includes the sports television arm of the FOX Broadcasting Company; FOX Sports 1; FOX Sports 2; Fox's 22 regional sports networks, their affiliated regional web sites and FSN national programming; FOX Soccer Plus and FOX Soccer 2Go; FOX Deportes and FOX College Sports. In addition, FOX Sports also encompasses FOX Sports Digital, which includes FOXSports.com, FOX Sports GO, Whatifsports.com and Yardbarker.com. Also included in the Group are FOX's interests in joint-venture businesses Big Ten Network and BTN 2Go, as well as licensing agreements that establish the FOX Sports Radio Network.

See Origial Release

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://prn.to/1ICApGm

Company Profile Link:

DraftKings

Company Website:

https://www.draftkings.com

Logo:

SilverRail Acquires Sweden’s Linkon To Further Mission To Consolidate Rail Ticketing And Search

jackmulvaney — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 17:09:55 +0000

Date:

01/13/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

SilverRail Technologies, the UK company that’s building a tech platform to consolidate passenger rail ticket booking and search across Europe and further afield (including the U.S.) and provide it as a service to travel retailers and sites, has gone a step further on its mission by means of an acquisition.

Location:

Stockholm

Source URL:

http://tcrn.ch/1IpKogk

Company Profile Link:

SilverRail Technologies

Company Website:

http://silverrailtech.com/

Logo:

Ecovent Closes $6.9 Million in Funding

joshboyle — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 14:10:45 +0000

Date:

07/27/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Emerson Climate Technologies Leads Series A Round Amid Pre-Order Success of the CES 2015 Automation Product of the Year

Ecovent (ecoventsystems.com), the maker of the only intelligent home zoning system that delivers complete room-by-room climate control, today announced that it has closed a $6.9 million Series A funding round led by Emerson Climate Technologies, a business segment of Emerson (NYSE:EMR). The round includes participation from Tamarisc and Blue Fog Capital.

Ecovent started the year being named Automation Product of the Year at CES 2015, and has struck a chord with consumers, bringing in more than $1 million in pre-orders. Ecovent is transforming the home by giving consumers control over their comfort in every room. Ecovent’s advanced system of wireless vents and sensors intelligently diagnose the factors impacting room temperature and automatically adjust airflow into each room to achieve the perfectly desired temperature. With Ecovent, homeowners have the ability to control the temperature of each room individually through an app, saving energy and money by heating and cooling only the rooms that need conditioning instead of the entire home.

“Today’s cars allow passengers and drivers to set individual temperatures, yet most homes have only one adjustable zone, and it’s time to change that,” said Dipul Patel, CEO and co-founder of Ecovent. “We developed the Ecovent system to give people room-by-room temperature control in any home – automatically. It’s incredibly exciting to have the support of an industry titan like Emerson to help us bring Ecovent to a larger audience as we change the way homeowners experience comfort in their homes.”

For HVAC contractors and other industry professionals looking to deliver home climate control to their customers, Ecovent provides a complete, wireless zoning system that is more cost effective, less invasive and far easier to install than traditional zoning systems.

“With Ecovent, we see the potential to fix an issue that has gone unsolved in the residential HVAC industry for decades,” said Bob Sharp, Emerson executive vice president and climate technologies business leader. “Ecovent’s ability to function seamlessly in tandem with Emerson’s solutions for home comfort and energy efficiency makes them a natural fit as an investment and strategic partner.”

To learn more or reserve your Ecovent system, visit www.getecovent.com.

About Emerson Climate Technologies
Emerson Climate Technologies, a business segment of Emerson, is the world’s leading provider of heating, air conditioning and refrigeration solutions for residential, industrial and commercial applications. The group combines best-in-class technology with proven engineering, design, distribution, educational and monitoring services to provide customized, integrated climate-control solutions for customers worldwide. The innovative solutions of Emerson Climate Technologies, which include industry-leading brands such as Copeland Scroll™ and White-Rodgers™, improve human comfort, safeguard food and protect the environment. For more information, visit EmersonClimate.com.

About Ecovent
Designed for comfort-focused homeowners, Ecovent is the only intelligent home zoning system that delivers complete room-by-room climate control through easy-to-install, self-configuring sensors and vents. Based in Boston, Mass., Ecovent brings smart HVAC technology to the residential marketplace through an advanced system of vents and sensors that intelligently diagnose the factors impacting room temperature and adjusts airflow going into each room to achieve the preferred temperature. For more information, please visit www.ecoventsystems.com or follow Ecovent on Twitter at @ecoventsystems.

SEE ORIGINAL RELEASE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1I4J3rB

Company Website:

https://www.ecoventsystems.com

Logo:

BevSpot raises $5.25 million

jackmulvaney — Sun, 26 Jul 2015 21:45:28 +0000

Date:

07/08/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Talk about seizing an opportunity: when Rory Crawford was a graduate student at Harvard Business School last spring, he set up a 30-minute videoconference with one of the school’s entrepreneurs-in-residence, Ajay Agarwal. Crawford wanted to discuss a startup idea with Agarwal, an investor at Boston-based Bain Capital Ventures who splits his time between Massachusetts and California. READ MORE

Location:

Boston

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1NVDIXR

Company Profile Link:

BevSpot

Company Website:

https://www.bevspot.com/home/

Logo:

BevSpot raises $720,000

jackmulvaney — Sun, 26 Jul 2015 21:42:14 +0000

Date:

09/17/2014 (All day)

Teaser:

2014 has been a pretty action-packed year thus far for BevSpot: founded in March by Harvard Business School and MIT students…raised $20,000 in early funding shortly after by the student-run Dorm Room Fund…product launch in August…and now, a $700,000 seed funding round. The startup, currently working out of Harvard’s Innovation Lab, has visions of becoming a web-based intermediary between liquor distributors and bars and restaurants. “We make it easier for bar and restaurant managers to find product, manage their inventory, and replenish it when they need to,” says co-founder and CEO Rory Crawford. “It streamlines what today is a pen-and-paper process.” By doing ordering and inventory management digitally, Crawford says, managers can get a better handle on what they’re spending, and the distributors may be able to take orders and make sales more efficiently. READ MORE

Location:

Boston

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1U1bGh9

Company Profile Link:

BevSpot

Company Website:

https://www.bevspot.com/home/

Logo:

ACT.md Raises $8.4M in Series A Funding

Keith Cline — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 18:51:03 +0000

Date:

07/21/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

ACT.md, the provider of a team-based care coordination platform for the management of complex patients, announced today a $8.4 Million Series A funding agreement led by Rose Park Advisors, a specialized investment firm that utilizes Clayton Christensen's research to make intelligent and successful investment decisions. ACT.md will leverage this investment to accelerate product development and help manage the company's rapid growth.

National leaders in healthcare informatics and operations - Dr. Isaac Kohane, Dr. Kenneth Mandl, and Ted Quinn - founded ACT.md. "We were inspired to launch ACT.md after observing for decades the constant dropped handoffs across the various providers caring for patients. So we created ACT.md as an operating system for team-based care that drives action toward improved outcomes and reduced costs," said Dr. Kenneth Mandl, Professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Boston Children's Hospital Computational Health Informatics Program...READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://prn.to/1LClmwX

Company Profile Link:

ACT.md

Company Website:

http://act.md

Logo:

Voxel8 Raises $12M in Series A Funding

Keith Cline — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 18:47:04 +0000

Date:

07/24/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Voxel8, creator of the world’s first multi-material 3D electronics printer, today announced it has closed a $12 million Series A round of financing. Braemar Energy Ventures and ARCH Venture Partners led the round and were joined by Autodesk through its Spark Investment Fund and In-Q-Tel. Voxel8 will use the capital to expand its world-class team and advance its core technology for the mass customization of electronics and other finished products.

Co-founded by Harvard professor Dr. Jennifer Lewis, Voxel8 leverages more than a decade of patented research on printing functional materials. The company is commercializing a disruptive 3D printing platform capable of printing embedded electronics and other novel devices. As a result, Voxel8 makes it possible to rapidly print functional electronics on a broad scale...READ MORE

Location:

Somerville, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1fsrfiu

Company Profile Link:

Voxel8

Company Website:

http://www.voxel8.co

Logo:

AdAgility Raises $1.6M in Seed Funding

Keith Cline — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 16:32:39 +0000

Date:

07/24/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

AdAgility, a leading provider of personalized, on-site and mobile, cross-selling solutions, announced that it has raised $1.6M to further accelerate its already impressive growth. Tim & Todd McSweeney led the investment with participation from existing investor Boston Seed Capital.

AdAgility has been working closely with Boston Seed Capital who brings years of specialized experience in backing profitable consumer and B2B marketplace companies. Peter Blacklow, a Senior Partner at Boston Seed Capital, will continue to advise the company...READ MORE

Location:

Waltham, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1OCsSpZ

Company Profile Link:

AdAgility

Company Website:

http://www.adagility.com

Logo:

VoltDB Raises $9.8M in Funding

Keith Cline — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 16:28:59 +0000

Date:

07/24/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

VoltDB today announced that it has raised a $9.8 million round of funding to extend its SQL in-memory database to power the next wave of real-time, fast data-driven applications. The round was led by strategic investors with participation from existing investors Kepha Partners and Sigma Prime Ventures.

Innovations in today’s enterprises are occurring at the intersection of fast data and Big Data through in-memory computing, streaming analytics and operational database technology. The rapid growth of mobility and the Internet of Things (IoT) drives the need for real-time data analysis and solutions that capture and process fast data to produce faster insight and action...READ MORE

Location:

Bedford, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1LHPt4M

Company Profile Link:

VoltDB

Company Website:

http://voltdb.com

Logo:

Beacon Raises $7.5M in Funding

Keith Cline — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 12:51:45 +0000

Date:

07/24/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Beacon, the premier all-you-can-fly membership for frequent fliers in the Northeast, today announced that it has completed $7.5 million in Series A and other financing led by Romulus Capital with participation from MiVentures, Western Technologies Investment, and several other early stage investors.

Beacon is bringing an innovative, convenient and sleek travel experience to the Northeast, with plans to launch in late summer 2015. For as little as $2,000 a month, Beacon offers unlimited access to regularly scheduled flights, with reservations, changes and cancellations made as little as 20 minutes before departure at no additional cost, via the Beacon app. Beacon’s service will provide efficient travel between New York and Boston, as well as the seasonal destinations of Nantucket and the Hamptons... READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1JCzFM0

Company Website:

https://flybeacon.com

Logo:

Ginkgo Bioworks Raises $45M in Funding

Keith Cline — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 13:59:10 +0000

Date:

07/23/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Ginkgo Bioworks, an organism design company, today announced that it has raised $45 million in an oversubscribed Series B round. Viking Global, a firm managing more than $30 billion in capital, led the round along with previous investors including OS Fund, Y Combinator and Felicis Ventures. The new funds will be used to expand into new categories such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and probiotics, as well as hire additional employees and build out Bioworks 2, the next generation of Ginkgo’s robotic Foundry.

“Ginkgo Bioworks was our first ever biotech investment and was part of the Y Combinator class of 2014,” said Sam Altman, President at Y Combinator. “Synthetic biology is one of the fastest growing areas of tech right now and Ginkgo is leading the category. We're excited to invest again in the company." READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1MKjvU1

Company Profile Link:

Ginkgo Bioworks

Company Website:

http://ginkgobioworks.com

Logo:

Gameface Media Raises $4M in Funding

Keith Cline — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 21:00:38 +0000

Date:

07/20/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

As reported by the Boston Business Journal, Gameface Media has raised $4M in new funding. Gameface Media has created a marketplace for the most compelling digital content in the world - professionally shot photos of an amateur athlete pursuing their passion... READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1CVAId2

Company Profile Link:

Gameface Media

Company Website:

http://www.gamefacemedia.com

Logo:

Cazena Raises $20M in Series B Funding

Keith Cline — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 20:32:48 +0000

Date:

07/22/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Cazena today announced its emergence from stealth mode by launching an enterprise Big Data-as-a-Service that can securely move and optimize big data processing in the cloud in just three clicks. Cazena also announced it has raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Formation 8, with participation from current investors Andreessen Horowitz and North Bridge Venture Partners.

“Cloud is the next frontier for big data processing, yet complexity and security concerns hold most large enterprises back,” said Prat Moghe, founder and CEO of Cazena. “Cazena’s Big Data-as-a-Service is the first managed cloud service for big data processing that securely and seamlessly extends the enterprise datacenter with trusted cloud infrastructure and multiple, best-of-breed big data technologies. This assures the best price and performance for any big data workload, so enterprises can focus their efforts on delivering value, not managing technology... READ MORE

Location:

Waltham, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1fmSAm7

Company Website:

https://www.cazena.com

Logo:

.406 Ventures Closes Third Fund

joshboyle — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 17:56:32 +0000

Date:

07/21/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

.406 Ventures, a Boston-based venture capital firm investing in early-stage innovative enterprise technology companies, announced today that earlier this month, the firm closed its third fund at $217M and that Payal Agrawal Divakaran has joined the firm as a Senior Associate.

Maria Cirino, Co-Founder and Managing Partner commented, “We are delighted to add Payal to the .406 investing team. She has exceptional experience as both an entrepreneur and a technology investor and shares our passion for helping entrepreneurs build world-changing companies.”

Liam Donohue, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at .406 Ventures added, “We are equally thrilled to have closed our third fund, which was significantly oversubscribed, with our growing base of world-class Limited Partners, many of whom have been with us since our first fund.

“.406 Ventures is a leading venture capital firm with a strong culture and a passionate team committed to helping entrepreneurs build great companies,” said Payal. “The firm has deep expertise in its core sectors, and the Partners bring tremendous experience to the table. I look forward to learning from the team and having this opportunity to partner with and help entrepreneurs.”

Prior to joining .406, Payal was at Harvard Business School (HBS), where she co-founded a company called SpotRocket to help job-seeking students discover high potential startups. She previously worked in Corporate Development at Eventbrite.

Prior to HBS, Payal was an Associate at Spectrum Equity, a technology growth equity investor in Boston with $5.7B under management. She sourced and executed deals in the software, information services, data/analytics, cybersecurity, and Internet segments. Payal started her career in technology investment banking at J.P. Morgan in NYC.

Payal received her MBA, with Distinction, from Harvard Business School and her BS in Electrical Engineering and minor in Management from MIT. Payal resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband.

About .406 Ventures
.406 Ventures is an early stage technology venture capital firm investing in enterprise technology companies founded by visionary entrepreneurs. .406 Ventures was founded in 2005 and has ~$600M under management. The .406 Ventures team is comprised of entrepreneurs and operators who became investors to apply real world experience and strong company-building skills to create value for entrepreneurs and LPs. The firm leads, or co-leads, first institutional investment rounds in market-changing Enterprise IT companies and world-class operators, who move quickly and embody successful entrepreneurial DNA with their passion, creativity and endurance.

Learn more about: .406 Ventures

READ ORIGINAL RELEASE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1RNk7yR

Company Website:

http://www.406ventures.com

Logo:

Rapid7 Announces Pricing of IPO

joshboyle — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 13:17:44 +0000

Date:

07/17/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Rapid7, Inc a leading provider of security data and analytics solutions, announced today the pricing of its initial public offering of 6,450,000 shares of common stock at a price to the public of $16.00 per share. All of the shares are being offered by Rapid7. The shares are expected to begin trading on The Nasdaq Global Market on July 17, 2015 under the ticker symbol "RPD". The offering is expected to close on July 22, 2015, subject to customary closing conditions.

In addition, Rapid7 has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 967,500 shares to cover over-allotments, if any.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Barclays Capital Inc. are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Pacific Crest Securities, a division of KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., William Blair & Company, L.L.C., Raymond James & Associates, Inc., and Cowen and Company, LLC are acting as co-managers. The offering was made only by means of a prospectus. A copy of the final prospectus related to the offering may be obtained, when available, from Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 180 Varick Street, Second Floor, New York, New York 10014; or Barclays Capital Inc., c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717, telephone: (888) 603-5847, email: Barclaysprospectus@broadridge.com.

A registration statement related to these securities has been filed with, and declared effective by, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of the registration statement can also be accessed by visiting the Securities and Exchange Commission website at www.sec.gov. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About Rapid7

Rapid7 is a leading provider of security data and analytics solutions that enable organizations to implement an active, analytics-driven approach to cyber security. We combine our extensive experience in security data and analytics and deep insight into attacker behaviors and techniques to make sense of the wealth of data available to organizations about their IT environments and users. Our solutions empower organizations to prevent attacks by providing visibility into vulnerabilities and to rapidly detect compromises, respond to breaches, and correct the underlying causes of attacks. Rapid7 is trusted by more than 3,900 organizations across 90 countries, including 30% of the Fortune 1000.

See Release

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1fPSrbM

Company Profile Link:

Rapid7

Company Website:

http://www.rapid7.com

Logo:

DataCamp Raises $1M Seed Round

joshboyle — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 18:23:59 +0000

Date:

07/15/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Per TechCrunch, Cambridge-based DataCamp has raised a $1 million seed round.

DataCamp wants to teach data science skills to a generation of people, and it got a million in seed money to continue developing its online data-science learning platform.

The round was led by Chris Lynch at Accomplice, an early stage venture capital firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company had raised $300,000 in seed money previously.

DataCamp is not unlike coding bootcamps such as General Assembly and Codeacademy, but instead of focusing on general coding skills, it concentrates on data science skills. READ MORE from TechCrunch

Location:

Cambridge, MA

Source URL:

http://tcrn.ch/1HxZyfB

Company Profile Link:

DataCamp

Company Website:

https://www.datacamp.com

Logo:

CallMiner Raises $12M

joshboyle — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 14:15:31 +0000

Date:

07/15/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

NewSpring Capital, a family of private equity funds, announced today that NewSpring Growth Capital (“NewSpring”), the firm’s dedicated technology and business services growth equity fund, led a preferred financing in CallMiner, Inc. (“CallMiner”) with a $12 million investment as part of a larger round which included existing investors. The proceeds from the transaction are being used to fund growth initiatives including sales and marketing.

Based in Waltham, MA and founded in 2002, CallMiner provides speech and interaction analytic solutions to clients across a variety of industries including financial services, utilities and energy, manufacturing, government, communications, fulfillment and performance, marketing and travel and hospitality. CallMiner specializes in improving contact center performance and gathering key business intelligence by automatically analyzing contacts across all communication channels.

“We believe CallMiner is the industry leader in speech analytics for contact centers with a ‘best in breed’ differentiated technology to provide customers with agent insights, analytics and compliance–all with speed, scalability and ease of use,” said Glenn Rieger, NewSpring General Partner and newly added Member of the CallMiner Board of Directors. “The Company is experiencing market tailwinds with traction building in sales productivity. When combined with the experienced management team, we have the right combination to execute on this investment opportunity.”

“NewSpring Capital is an ideal partner for CallMiner at this stage of our evolution,” said Terry Leahy, CallMiner President and CEO. “They have been very active in our space, have consistently followed the market as the adoption cycle has accelerated, and demonstrated keen insight into the dynamics of big customer data and interaction analytics. We are delighted to gain their support as CallMiner enters a new phase of strategic expansion and growth.”

About CallMiner
CallMiner helps businesses and organizations improve contact center performance and gather key business intelligence by automating their ability to listen to every customer interaction. CallMiner’s market leading cloud-based voice of the customer analytics solution automatically analyzes contacts across all communication channels: calls, chat, email, and social. CallMiner offers both real-time monitoring and post-call analytics, delivering actionable insights to contact center staff, business analysts, and executives. The results include improved agent performance, sales, operational efficiency, customer experience, and regulatory compliance. With over 10 years of industry leadership and over 2 billion hours of conversations analyzed, CallMiner serves some of the world’s largest call centers, delivering highly effective, usable and scalable speech analytics solutions.

READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1Hxoeoq

Company Profile Link:

CallMiner

Company Website:

http://callminer.com

Logo:

CounterTack Acquires ManTech Cyber Solutions International

Keith Cline — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 12:17:25 +0000

Date:

07/15/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

CounterTack, the leader in Big Data Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), today announced it has acquired ManTech Cyber Solutions International (MCSI), a commercial software division of ManTech International Corporation (Nasdaq:MANT). The acquisition enhances CounterTack’s leadership position in the EDR market, and will enable CounterTack to deliver truly unprecedented value to its market-leading 200+ customers, by combining real-time operating system-level behavioral threat detection with in-memory threat analysis that maps to the entire cyber kill chain and scales enterprise-wide. ManTech will become an equity investor in CounterTack as well as a global distribution partner...READ MORE

Location:

Waltham, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1LidqPT

Company Profile Link:

CounterTack

Company Website:

http://www.countertack.com/

Logo:

Scratch Announces $3.6M in Funding

joshboyle — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 15:51:44 +0000

Date:

07/14/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Today, Scratch launched its invite-only service and announced $3.6 million in funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, NextView Ventures, Red Swan Ventures and Matt Salzberg, Founder and CEO of Blue Apron.

“We invested in Scratch because the endless selection presented by eCommerce today is a huge problem. Consumers only know exactly what they want a tiny fraction of the time, and the tools available to help filter and discover products are limited. We loved the completely different approach that scratch is taking by combining human curation and algorithmic personalization to provide a simple but incredibly powerful way to shop. Matt has faced this problem first hand within CustomMade, and has built a world-class early stage team with veterans from Tripadvisor, Wayfair, and Gemvara to tackle this massive opportunity.” - Rob Go, NextView Ventures... READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1CBIWa7

Company Profile Link:

Scratch Technology Corp.

Company Website:

https://www.tryscratch.com

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Tablelist Announces $2.5 Million in Funding

joshboyle — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 13:02:40 +0000

Date:

07/09/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Per Dennis Keohane at Pando, Tablelist, who allows users to reserve VIP club experiences -- private tables, bottle service, and even access to prominent DJs, has announced $2.5 million in funding from a range of investors with experience in the hospitality and entertainment industry, and also from Wayne Chang, Twitter’s head of product marketing for its mobile platform. READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1KXbkVt

Company Profile Link:

Tablelist

Company Website:

https://www.tablelist.com

Logo:

EMC Sells Syncplicity

joshboyle — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 15:39:42 +0000

Date:

07/08/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Per TechCrunch, EMC has sold cloud sync and share product, Syncplicity, to private equity Firm.

When EMC bought cloud sync and share company, Syncplicity in 2012, it seemed the company was trying to change the way it does business, but three years later it’s selling out to private equity firm, Skyview Capital, perhaps ready to concede that a freemium cloud model doesn’t fit the company culture. READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://tcrn.ch/1CoC2oz

Company Profile Link:

EMC

Company Website:

http://www.emc.com/index.htm?fromGlobalSelector

Logo:

Adored Raises $2.3M

joshboyle — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 13:53:02 +0000

Date:

07/08/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Adored Raises $2.3mm from Kepha Partners, Boston Seed Capital, Matrix Partners, Borealis Ventures, Blade, and Prominent Metro Boston Angels to Build iBeacon Loyalty Experience Platform

Manchester, NH (July 8, 2015) – Nearly two-thirds of retailers say their loyalty rewards program is the best way to connect with consumers, according to Forrester, yet more than half of all loyalty programs are not actively used. The reason: Loyalty points alone don’t influence consumer behavior. The only way to do that is to usher in the era of the loyalty experience.

Adored is leading the charge. The Manchester, New Hampshire-based mobile app startup utilizes iBeacon technology allowing brands to offer a tailored experience for each individual customer in a way that is easy for both the consumer and the merchant. Today the company announced it received a $2.3 million round of funding from some of Boston's most prominent investors, including Kepha Partners, Boston Seed Capital and Matrix Partners, to further accelerate its rapid adoption by both consumers and merchants in the northeast.

“Brand loyalty can’t be taken for granted,” said Cory von Wallenstein, CEO and co-founder of Adored. “It needs to be earned by offering each customer the best experience possible every time they interact with your brand.”

That ideal experience is going to be different for everybody. For example, a ski resort would make a different offer to an advanced skier than they would a beginner, while a restaurant would highlight different daily specials to a regular than they would to a suburban customer who only visits on Friday nights. This type of real-time, real-world experiential marketing has never before been possible.

With Adored, however, merchants, consumers and brands can create entirely new and mutually beneficial relationships. The app collects robust analytics and does all the segmentation and consumer behavior profiling in the background. As a result, brands are able to offer the content their consumers actually want. Customers get the VIP treatment they deserve thereby creating more engaged customers.

A more engaged customer is the goal of any business because it increases the:

Lifetime value of the customer
Spend per visit
Likelihood that the customer will become a repeat customer, which is huge because returning customers spend on average 67% more than first-time customers, according to Bain.
Engagement, thereby creating more brand advocates - an area ripe for opportunity given that 78% of consumers are not yet loyal to a particular brand, according to Nielsen.

“These days, making great beer just gets you a seat at the table,” said Peter Egelston, founder of Smuttynose Brewing Company. “To compete, we need to create great experiences for consumers and at every level of the distribution chain. That is why we use Adored to help build stronger relationships and more remarkable experiences.” Adored allows locations, like restaurants, bars, ski resorts, hotels, etc., to increase the lifetime value of their customers. All a customer needs to do is enter one of these establishments and Adored is activated offering rewards, exclusive real-time content and cross promotions.

For brands, Adored gives them the opportunity to cut across the noise of social media and have a direct conversation with customers interested in their products and services, which is unlike any tool currently available.

One of Adored’s key differentiators is that unlike other iBeacon companies, while providing tremendous value for the vendors, Adored respects the consumer.

“iBeacons are a marketer’s dream but a consumer’s nightmare,” said von Wallenstein. “Consumers must be treated as first class citizens in both value and respect for their privacy. Since the app is entirely anonymous, with no consumer account creation required, consumer privacy is 100% preserved.”

But that anonymous data - from robust analytics to track foot traffic to peaks and valley's in activity and visits per week - is gold for vendors. Merchants get those analytics sent directly to their phone so they can be easily digested and used to make decisions that drive revenue and decrease costs.

Adored, which has seven full-time employees, knows that just deploying beacons is only one side. The right strategy is the right combination of value to consumers, locations and brands scaled in proportion from a starting point of high density (locale by locale).

They have validated this approach in the Northeast where they have launched in four metropolitan areas and been downloaded by more than 10,000 consumers. Vendors who use the app in more than 60 locations are already seeing extraordinary results, like Cafe la Reine in Manchester, which has seen a 20% increase in visits per week.

“Our customers really love Adored,” said Alex Puglisi, owner of Cafe la Reine. “...Overall my relationship with my customers has gotten better from using Adored because we can engage in new and exciting ways and they can be more attune with what is happening at the cafe and the different offers they can get.”

This new funding round, which will be used to expand the Adored product and go to market teams, includes investment from Kepha Partners, Boston Seed Capital, Matrix Partners and Borealis Ventures as well as prominent metro Boston angel investors:

Paul English and Bill O’Donnell from Blade, leading the charge on building great consumer-facing companies in Boston
Jeremy Hitchcock, Kyle York, Matt Larson, Josh Delisle, and Gray Chynoweth, all past or present executives at Dyn in Manchester, NH, where Adored CEO Cory von Wallenstein was formerly CTO
Wayne Chang, Ron Martin, Laura Fitton, Joe Caruso, Michael Skok, John Pearce, all prominent figures in the metro Boston ecosystem

"There are dozens if not hundreds of companies trying to do something similar - because it is such a great idea - but the reason we're backing Adored is that Cory is assembling the team that is actually going to make this work,” said Paul English, CEO of Blade, and co-founder of Kayak.com. “We're very excited about what they have done in Manchester and we know this is going to work in other places."

For more information on Adored or to download the app visit www.adored.com.
READ MORE

Location:

New Hampshire

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1gnNAi5

Company Profile Link:

Adored

Company Website:

http://www.adored.com

Logo:

Francisco Partners Acquires HealthcareSource

jackmulvaney — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 15:44:07 +0000

Date:

05/27/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Francisco Partners, a global technology-focused private equity firm, announced it has completed its acquisition of HealthcareSource, the leading provider of talent management solutions for healthcare. Peter Segall and the existing executive team will continue to lead the company.

“The potential of this partnership became even more evident during our work with the Francisco Partners team in the last few weeks as the transaction closed,” said Peter Segall, president and CEO of HealthcareSource. “I am confident that the firm’s resources and expertise will advance HealthcareSource’s growth.” READ MORE

Location:

Woburn, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1NP7kpY

Company Profile Link:

HealthcareSource

Company Website:

http://www.healthcaresource.com/

Logo:

ZeroTurnaround Secures $5M in Series B Financing

joshboyle — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 15:22:39 +0000

Date:

07/07/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

New Capital Fuels Global Hiring and Accelerates Development of Award-Winning Productivity Tools, JRebel and XRebel

BOSTON – July 7, 2015 – ZeroTurnaround, the maker of revolutionary developer tools for creating quality software nearly 20 percent faster, today announced that it has raised $5 million in Series B financing led by Bain Capital Ventures with participation from Western Technology Investment, both existing investors. This brings the total amount of funding since the company’s founding in 2007 to $15 million.

The company will use the capital to hire exceptional software development talent worldwide and continue to innovate its JRebel and XRebel products, used by more than 65,000 active customers in 80 countries. ZeroTurnaround will also expand its platform support with this new capital.

ZeroTurnaround’s award-winning developer productivity tools transformed how software is created, enabling development teams to build, inspect and error-proof software with considerably less downtime. JRebel, the company’s flagship product, enables developers to make changes to class structures and resource and framework configuration files without the need to restart or redeploy the application. The ability to immediately see code changes speeds the development process by an average of 17 percent, saving developers five full work weeks a year. With the addition of the lightweight Java profiler XRebel to the ZeroTurnaround product suite, developers can improve the quality of the code they write by finding and fixing issues along the way. Today, more than 4,000 enterprise teams and 36 of the Fortune 100 companies use products from ZeroTurnaround to bring quality software to market faster.

“Java is the programming language of choice for 9 million developers, and it drives many of the world’s business systems, as well as more than 7 billion devices,” said Ben Holzman, Managing Director and Co-Head of the software practice of Bain Capital Ventures. “ZeroTurnaround has built a tremendously successful business by solving some of the biggest challenges in the daily lives of developers. As the usage of Java continues to expand, ZeroTurnaround will continue to innovate and usher in the next 20 years of enterprise adoption.”

ZeroTurnaround’s commitment to the betterment of software development led to the recently announced integration with leading cloud infrastructure providers IBM, Red Hat, SAP and AWS to simplify development and testing in the cloud. In coming months, the ZeroTurnaround will bring the same productivity improvements and rapid feedback cycle to new platforms, including Android, making the testing of mobile applications a pleasure instead of a pain.

“We are passionate about taking away the frustrations and time draining activities that impede developer productivity and performance each and every day,” said Jevgeni Kabanov, Founder and CEO of ZeroTurnaround. “We want to be the undisputed market leader for end-to-end productivity, quality, performance enablement and management in the software development process. Our proven track record and support from investors like Bain Capital Ventures will ensure we reach our goals. ”

About ZeroTurnaround

ZeroTurnaround makes revolutionary developer tools for creating quality software faster. With its award-winning JRebel and XRebel products, ZeroTurnaround is transforming how software is created, enabling development teams to build, inspect and error-proof quality software with considerably less downtime. Founded in 2007, today ZeroTurnaround’s technologies are used by more than 5,200 enterprise teams, including 36 of the Fortune 100, representing more than 65,000 active users in more than 80 countries. For more information, visit zeroturnaround.com or follow @zeroturnaround on Twitter.

About Bain Capital Ventures

Bain Capital Ventures (BCV) provides seed through growth capital for companies focused on technology and technology-enabled services primarily for enterprise customers. BCV invests across sectors including infrastructure software, application software, FinTech and healthcare. Select BCV investments include ABILITY Network, BloomReach, Docusign, Gainsight, Infusionsoft, Kiva Systems, Liazon, LinkedIn, Optimizely, Rapid7, SolarWinds, SurveyMonkey. TellApart and VMTurbo. As the venture capital affiliate of Bain Capital, a leading global alternative assets firm, BCV has partnered with more than 200 companies since 1984 to start, build, commercialize and grow their businesses. BCV has approximately $3 billion of assets under management and has offices in the Bay Area, New York City and Boston. Follow BCV at @BainCapVC

###

Read Original Release

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1JM8ALN

Company Profile Link:

ZeroTurnaround

Company Website:

http://zeroturnaround.com

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Salsify Secures $16.6M in Series B Funding

joshboyle — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 15:30:55 +0000

Date:

07/06/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Venrock, Matrix Partners and North Bridge invest in Omni-channel technology that transforms relationships between retailers and brand manufacturers

Boston, MA (July 6, 2015) —Salsify, the leading SaaS platform that powers the seamless creation and exchange of unique, rich product content between brand manufacturers and their retail partners for over four million products, today announced $16.6M in Series B funding, bringing Salsify’s total funding to date to $24.6M. The round is led by Venrock, and also includes existing investors, Matrix Partners and North Bridge, as well as Michael Skok. The funding will be used to further product development, invest in corporate growth and drive continued value with its customer base.

With Omni-channel commerce evolving to meet the needs of today’s discerning consumers, it is becoming more crucial than ever for retailers to offer the rich product content consumers demand when shopping online. Using Salsify’s SaaS platform, this detailed product information is easily created and delivered on an accelerated timeline, transforming it into a driver for increased product discoverability, revenues and ultimately, customer loyalty that will translate across all buying channels.

“With a roster of brands such as Newell Rubbermaid, 9 West Holdings and Bosch, as well as retail and technology partners like Walmart and Google, companies in the Salsify network can collaborate much more effectively to remain competitive in today’s e-commerce marketplace, simply by using rich product content to their advantage,” said Jason Purcell, co-founder and CEO of Salsify. “We are thrilled that Venrock, Matrix and North Bridge also see our vision for a digital supply chain, and are enabling us to continue transforming the way retailers and suppliers communicate and collaborate.”

“Having worked with the Salsify team at Endeca, I know they have the capacity to do amazing things and I look forward to working alongside the team to build another great company,” said Mike Tyrrell, partner at Venrock. “Salsify is changing the way retailers and suppliers share key information, dramatically improving data quality and transforming the consumer’s online shopping experience. They are going to have a meaningful impact on the marketplace.”

About Salsify

Based in Boston, Salsify is the leading SaaS platform that powers the seamless creation and exchange of rich product content from brands to retailers. Today, Salsify transforms product content management from an administrative burden into a driver of new revenue and amplified brand value for over four million products from top brand manufacturers. For more information, please visit: http://www.salsify.com and follow us on Twitter @salsify.

About Venrock

Originally established as the venture capital arm of the Rockefeller family in 1969, Venrock continues a tradition of partnering with entrepreneurs to establish successful, enduring companies. With a primary focus on technology and healthcare, portfolio companies have included Adify, Apple Computer, Athenahealth, Centocor, Check Point Software, DoubleClick, Endeca, Gilead Sciences, Idec Pharma, Imperva, Illumina, Intel, Millennium Pharma, SlideShare and Tudou. For more information, please visit Venrock’s website at http://www.venrock.com and follow the firm on Twitter at @venrock. About Matrix Partners Matrix Partners backs bold entrepreneurs who have the vision and unstoppable drive to make a difference in the world. We combine our knowledge with a personal approach to help start-ups do more, be better, and achieve greater success. From our beginnings with Apple, Sycamore Networks and Veritas, to recent investments in Oculus VR, Zendesk, Hubspot, JustFab, Namely, Meteor and more, we've earned the trust of each founder we've supported. Find us in Palo Alto, Cambridge, Shanghai, Beijing, and Mumbai, at matrixpartners.com or @MatrixPartners.

About North Bridge

North Bridge actively partners with founders and entrepreneurs of market-leading companies, who are using technology to disrupt and reinvent big markets. With $3.8 billion of capital under management, the firm has funded more than 170 companies creating tens of billions in market value. Recent investments include Acquia, Actifio, Dyn, Demandware, Onshape, Proto Labs, Quora and Starent Networks. The firm has offices in Waltham, MA and Palo Alto, CA.
To learn more about North Bridge go to www.northbridge.com and follow the firm @North_Bridge.

About Michael Skok

Michael is a serial entrepreneur and investor with more than three decades of experience. As a VC, he initiated ventures with innovators, as well as seeded and invested in many great entrepreneurs who went on to build billions of dollars of value focusing on large market opportunities such as eCommerce, and Big Data. Michael focuses on game changing technologies such as Machine Learning and disruptive business models such as Open Source and platform shifts such as Cloud computing and Mobile. He is also an active mentor and teacher. He created and facilitates the Startup Secrets course at Harvard iLab. The course teaches practical tools, frameworks and real practical examples that empower entrepreneurs. Some of Michael’s work in this regard can be found online at www.startupsecrets.com. Follow him on Twitter @mjskok.

Read Original Release from Salsify

* Learn more about Salsify on their BIZZpage!

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1M7EEr2

Company Profile Link:

Salsify

Company Website:

http://www.salsify.com

Logo:

Zagster Raises $3.5 Million

joshboyle — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 14:16:30 +0000

Date:

07/02/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Exponential Growth & Strong Demand Drives Funding From Investors Including LaunchCapital, Fontinalis Partners, Clean Energy Venture Group, LaunchPad Venture Group and Other Boston-Area Angel Investors

CAMBRIDGE, MA--(Marketwired - Jul 2, 2015) - Zagster, the leading provider of private and public-private bike sharing systems, today announced it has raised $3.5 million in a Series A round of funding to support its rapidly expanding national footprint of bike sharing programs. The company received funding from existing investors, including LaunchCapital; Fontinalis Partners (a strategic investment firm co-founded by Bill Ford); Clean Energy Venture Group; LaunchPad Venture Group; and several leading Boston-area angel investors, as well as a new investor, Otter Consulting.

"With more than 75 programs in 50 cities in 28 states, Zagster is the fastest growing bike sharing company in the country," said Timothy Ericson, co-founder and CEO of Zagster. "There's incredible demand for bike sharing in places that simply can't be served by the large, city-wide programs, and we're the only company capable of meeting that demand with our low-cost, scalable, turnkey model."

In the past year alone, Zagster has increased the number of bikes in its program by more than 300 percent, and projects to increase it by another 300 percent in 2015. In addition, the total number of members is up nearly 250 percent. In expanding from eight states to 28 states, it has doubled the number of employees and recently doubled its office space.

The company counts among its customers leading employers (including General Motors, Samsung, Workday, Quicken Loans and others); several of the top 10 national real estate developers (including Kayne Anderson, Related Management and Irvine Company); several top universities (including The Ohio State University, Duke University, Yale University and Princeton University); and leading hotel brands like Hyatt and The Four Seasons.

Increasingly, Zagster's model of public-private sponsorship is enabling expansion into cities, like Cleveland and Canton (Ohio), Albuquerque (New Mexico), Carmel (Indiana) and Montgomery County (Pennsylvania), that would otherwise not have bike sharing programs.

"Zagster has shown that it can apply the elements of a high growth, tech-enabled business into what has been a capital intensive industry," said Bill McCullen, Chief Investment Officer of LaunchCapital. "As a result, they are growing faster and serving more customers and partners -- the type of trajectory that we like to see in our investments."

Unlike large, city-wide programs that are costly, lock sponsors into long-term contracts and require expensive and complex infrastructure that is hard to upgrade, Zagster's agile, flexible and easy-to-upgrade technology make it possible to be deployed nearly anywhere.

"We see a lot of opportunities in the next-generation mobility space, including bike sharing, and we were attracted to Zagster's long-term, financially viable business model that helps open up bike sharing to previously underserved segments of the market," said Chris Cheever, Founder & Partner at Fontinalis Partners. "Zagster has been able to do what no one else in the bike sharing space has done -- be able to show a return on investment and a pathway to long-term sustainability of bike share programs. It's a major step forward for the industry."

Zagster members use their mobile phone to receive a code to unlock the bike at the time of the trip. The same lock that locks the bike to the host location can be used to lock the bike during the trip, something that most city-wide programs do not allow because their bikes must be locked at official docking stations. At the end of the trip, the member returns the bike to a Zagster location, locks it and ends the reservation via the Zagster mobile app or via a simple text message to Zagster.

About Zagster
Founded in Philadelphia in 2007 as CityRyde and now headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Zagster is the leading provider of private and public-private bike sharing systems. Zagster is uniquely focused on contracting with property managers, hotels, businesses, universities and smaller cities across North America to make bike sharing programs available to tenants, employees, guests, students and residents. This highly efficient and unique model allows Zagster to offer services in areas that traditional city-wide bike sharing systems can't reach. More information about Zagster is available at www.Zagster.com.

About LaunchCapital
LaunchCapital was founded in January 2008 with a mission to help entrepreneurs gain quick access to seed capital and mentorship. With investments in over 100 companies, LaunchCapital has a core focus in technology, consumer and medical businesses. The nine-person team has syndicated investments with over 50 venture firms and 1000 angel investors. They currently have offices in Cambridge, MA, New Haven, New York City and Palo Alto. More information about LaunchCapital is available at www.launch-capital.com.

About Otter Consulting
Otter represents the interest of a single-family office in South Florida. Otter's Investment Manager, Mike Wohl, has led Otter's private investment effort since mid-2013, participating in 18 venture deals that span seven major US cities. Working on behalf of a single limited partner, Otter possesses the flexibility to be sector and stage agnostic.

About Fontinalis Partners
Fontinalis Partners, with offices in Detroit and Boston, is a venture capital firm strategically focused on next-generation mobility. The firm was founded by Bill Ford, Ralph Booth, Chris Cheever, Chris Thomas, and Mark Schulz. Fontinalis' mission is to leverage the firm's considerable management experience, market access, strategic relationships, international expertise, and background in transportation innovation to scale companies providing next-generation mobility solutions. Fontinalis invests across all facets of the world's transportation infrastructure on a stage-, structure- and size-agnostic basis. Fontinalis is not affiliated with Ford Motor Company. More information about Fontinalis is available at www.fontinalis.com.

About Clean Energy Venture Group
Clean Energy Venture Group is an investment group that provides seed capital and management expertise to early stage clean energy companies. Its mission is to invest in and support early stage clean energy companies that have the potential to mitigate climate change and achieve attractive financial returns. The group is comprised of seasoned operating executives with strong capabilities in the energy and environmental sectors. With each investment, it brings not only capital, but also the value of its team's experience and network to help companies achieve their goals. More information is available at www.cevg.com.

Location:

Cambridge, MA

Source URL:

http://mwne.ws/1RTP2El

Company Profile Link:

Zagster

Company Website:

http://www.zagster.com/

Logo:

VENTUREAPP Raises $2M

joshboyle — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 14:05:59 +0000

Date:

07/01/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Per BostInno, VENTUREAPP, an invite-only concierge service that provides on-demand solutions for a startup’s most pressing challenges, has raised $2 million from Accomplice and Boston Seed.

VENTUREAPP was founded by Chase Garbarino, Kevin McCarthy and Gregory Gomer of Streetwise Media and Boris Revsin and Jared Stenquist of DailyBreak. READ MORE

Location:

Cambridge, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1Nz9idJ

Company Profile Link:

VentureApp

Company Website:

http://www.ventureapp.com

Logo:

Pneuron Corp. Announces $5 Million Series B-1 Funding

joshboyle — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 13:55:24 +0000

Date:

07/01/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Safeguard Scientifics, Osage Partners and Scott Group LLC Invest into Distributed Analytics Company’s Accelerating Growth

WOBURN, Mass.—July 1, 2015--Pneuron Corporation, the pioneer of the distributed solutions category, today announced a $5 million Series B-1 funding round, led by Safeguard Scientifics and joined by Osage Partners and Scott Group LLC. With this additional investment, Pneuron raised $13.25 million in funding and has seen revenue grow at a CAGR of 173 percent (or comparative revenue growth of 639 percent) since the last funding round in March 2013.

“This new financing round will allow us to focus on hiring key scale-up resources in sales, sales engineering, and implementation to deliver on the significant growth over the last two years across the Distributed Analytics space and the new category of Analytics on the Edge,” said Simon Moss, CEO of Pneuron. “What we built helps companies realize the time-to-value and agility advantages of a distributed data and analytics approach. With Pneuron, businesses no longer need to invest large and burdensome time and costs to solve business problems that have been so poorly serviced by traditional data and systems integration models."

Pneuron’s strategy is to step investment, based on success and growth achievement, ensuring minimal dilution for staff, effective and measurable ROI for investors. Combining strong cash management with effective and disciplined organizational growth enables focused use of funds to help scale operations and support accelerating market success. This approach continues to advance the messaging of its innovative platform and paradigm into the market, and reinforces a corporate culture focused on EBITDA, revenue growth and cash effectiveness.

A growing number of customers see Pneuron’s Distributed Platform as a new and unique way to quickly and dramatically change their solution strategy for problems that are traditionally too expensive, manual or risky to solve. This new round of funding will support Pneuron’s ability to deliver on the promise of solving traditional problems composed of disparate and distributed data, systems, business processes and analytics across an organization with dramatic improvements in time to value and cost.

“We are well-positioned to deliver a strong second half of the year, with aggressive projected growth for 2016,” said Elizabeth Elkins, COO of Pneuron. “Our current client base has found significant success in Pneuron’s approach to solving distributed data, process and system challenges in the enterprise and we are planning for the additional resources needed to service our increasing customer base.”

Analytics on the Edge

Analytics on the Edge represents a fundamental shift in the way firms solve business problems where the requisite solution components are highly disparate and distributed. Pneuron offers the ability to manage distributed processing wherever companies need it and dramatically simplifies the effort required to build such solutions. With the Internet of Things, problem solving is going further out to the edge, and Pneuron offers next generation technology that can distribute and manage solution components that work with the diverse elements in this expanding environment in the most efficient manner - from applications to machines, devices and sensors.

This funding round comes on the heels of another 200 percent revenue and bookings growth year in 2014, Pneuron being named a 2015 Gartner “Cool Vendor”, a global alliance with HP and a new patent for Pneuron’s “distributed analytics method for creating, modifying and deploying software pneurons to acquire, review, and analyze targeted data.”

About Pneuron

Pneuron enables organizations to rapidly solve business problems through a groundbreaking, distributed approach that cuts across data, applications and processes. By targeting the right information at the data source, companies are no longer faced with the complex integration and infrastructure requirements of traditional approaches. Pneuron’s innovative Distributed Solutions Platform enables the acceleration of business value and develops reports, products and applications in half the time and cost of traditional methods. Pneuron’s distributed approach is non-invasive, technology-agnostic and leverages an organization’s existing infrastructure, avoiding the deployment risks and IT concerns that are prevalent in today’s centralized data projects. For more information, visit us online at: Pneuron.com, on Twitter or LinkedIn.

###

Location:

Boston, MA

Company Profile Link:

Pneuron

Company Website:

http://pneuron.com/

Logo:

Drafted Announces $2.5M Seed Funding

joshboyle — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 15:55:23 +0000

Date:

06/30/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Drafted Announces $2.5M Seed Funding from Accel, General Catalyst, and Lightspeed

Drafted, a mobile app focused on hiring through referrals, has raised a total of $2.5M to date in seed financing from VC firms Accel, General Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and others. The funding will be used to accelerate Drafted’s growth and continue building the team.

Drafted launched in beta exclusively in the Boston tech community in May 2015, with plans to expand to other cities and verticals later this year. In less than two months, more than 50 Boston employers joined the platform, including companies like Hubspot, M.Gemi, and Drizly. Almost $500,000 in rewards are up for grabs, with some individual rewards as high as $15,000.

“Referrals work because of the people that make them. We are making it super easy and rewarding for people to do what they already do - helping their friends. And unlike many other aspects of the process, Drafted is actually fun to use,” said founder and CEO, Vinayak Ranade.

The mobile-first platform enables hiring managers to enter the vital details of the job they are trying to fill in a matter of minutes. They can then set a reward for filling the position and share it with their colleagues through social networks, text and email. Those who receive a job notification on Drafted can either apply themselves, or simply forward the job along to a friend. A job can be forwarded many times, creating chains of referrers that connect the hiring manager to prospective hires. When someone is hired, everyone in the successful chain of referrers splits the reward, including the new hire.

“It’s probably the easiest fun way in the world to make a few grand. It takes two minutes. Plus you are helping somebody get a job.” said Paul English, KAYAK co-founder and Drafted investor.

About Drafted

Drafted makes referral-based hiring fast, fun, and rewarding. The free Drafted mobile app is available in both the iOS and Android app stores. Designed and built in Boston by alumni of KAYAK and MIT, Drafted is the easiest way to help your friends find jobs while being appreciated by the companies that hire them.

READ ORIGINAL RELEASE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1GMuVmq

Company Profile Link:

Drafted

Company Website:

https://www.drafted.us

Logo:

ezCater Raises $11.7M in Funding

Keith Cline — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 17:52:31 +0000

Date:

03/23/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

As reported by the Boston Business Journal, ezCater in Boston has raised $11.7M in funding. The round of funding was led by NY based Insight Venture Partners and it also included participation from Breton Capital Management, Launchpad Venture Group, and other current investors. ezCater is an online marketplace for catering services aimed at businesses... Read More

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1KpsMDi

Company Profile Link:

ezCater

Company Website:

https://www.ezcater.com

Logo:

Interactions Buys AT&T Speech Recognition Platform to Improve Interface Technology

jackmulvaney — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 17:01:09 +0000

Date:

11/07/2014 (All day)

Teaser:

AT&T has found a home for Watson — and it's not in the AT&T Labs. The speech recognition platform and some related patents were sold this week to Franklin, Mass.-based customer care company Interactions Corporation for an undisclosed amount of equity.

Interactions, which develops and markets natural language understanding technology, used by companies the likes of Hyatt, Best Western and Humana, will use the technology to improve its customer service system and create an "Interface of Things," Interactions CEO Mike Iacobucci said in a statement. READ MORE

Location:

Franklin, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1z6oeZz

Company Profile Link:

Interactions LLC

Company Website:

http://www.interactions.net/

Logo:

Tesora Announces $4.5 Million New Funding

joshboyle — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 13:56:36 +0000

Date:

06/25/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Funds will further scale Tesora sales, marketing and product development efforts

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 24, 2015 – Tesora, the company bringing OpenStack Trove Database as a Service (DBaaS) to the enterprise, has closed $4.5 million in venture financing. This is the first new investment in the firm since its successful re-launch as Tesora to become the market leader in database as a service and OpenStack Trove, which was done in February 2014.

The round includes new investors, Rho Canada Ventures, along with existing investors General Catalyst Partners, CommonAngels Ventures, Point Judith Capital and angel investors. This brings Tesora’s total financing to $13.2 million.

The OpenStack Trove database as a service project is transforming the way databases are provisioned and managed, to make database capacity that can be consumed on-demand like electricity. Tesora is the leading contributor to the Trove project, alongside other contributing companies like HP, Rackspace, eBay, and Red Hat.

“In early 2014, we made a significant business model change. This new investment further validates our belief in the potential of database as a service and the OpenStack Trove project,” said Ken Rugg, founder and CEO of Tesora. “Many enterprises are adopting OpenStack for private cloud infrastructure and we expect Trove and database as a service to be an important part of this.”

OpenStack Trove provides a scalable framework for operating a variety of different database management systems (DBMS) – relational and non-relational – through a single, common management infrastructure. This makes it much easier and faster to select and operate databases – while retaining all its capabilities – in a secure private or public cloud.

“We are excited about the continued growth in the OpenStack market,” said Sean Brownlee, partner, Rho Canada Ventures and newest member of Tesora’s board of directors. “As organizations continue to move workloads to OpenStack, we believe that Tesora will be uniquely positioned to deliver on the promise of open, enterprise database as a service in the cloud.”

About OpenStack Trove

Trove is the database as a service component of OpenStack that lets administrators and DevOps manage multiple instances of different database management systems (DBMS) using a common infrastructure. The result is that routine tasks like provisioning, and managing regular administrative tasks like clustering, replication, backup and restore are handled in a simple, unified way.

About Tesora

# # #

* See release on Tesora.com here

Location:

Cambridge, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1Rz99HF

Company Profile Link:

Tesora

Company Website:

http://www.tesora.com

Logo:

BitSight Closes a $23 Million Round of Series B Financing

joshboyle — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 13:50:00 +0000

Date:

06/25/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

BitSight Technologies, the standard in Security Ratings, today announced that it has closed a $23 million round of Series B financing. Comcast Ventures joins as a new investor together with current investors Globespan Capital Partners, Menlo Ventures, Commonwealth Capital Ventures, Shaun McConnon and Flybridge Capital Partners, all participating in the round of funding. Managing Director David Zilberman led the investment for Comcast Ventures. New funding will be used to extend sales and marketing into Europe and APAC, expand engineering and data science teams to accelerate the company’s new data analytics products, and fund potential acquisitions of key data source partners. BitSight has raised $49 million to date.

BitSight Security Ratings are used by global enterprises to continuously monitor the risk posed by vendors in their supply chain, report to board members about their own security performance benchmarks within a peer group, and support underwriting decisions for cyber insurance. The BitSight platform uses publicly available data to rate the security performance of an organization on a daily basis. Observed security events and configurations, such as communication with a botnet, malware distribution, and email server configuration, are assessed for severity, frequency and duration and used to generate objective Security Ratings. BitSight Security Ratings range from 250 to 900, with higher ratings equating to higher security performance.

“The transition of information security to a business discussion at the board level highlights the market need for objective, evidence-based measures of performance. BitSight Security Ratings provide data that can be used to understand risk in a variety of different scenarios, from the boardroom to conversations with strategic vendors or in underwriting decisions,” said Shaun McConnon, CEO of BitSight. “We are delighted that our existing investors have re-upped their commitment to our success, and I am particularly pleased that an organization with such Internet service reach as Comcast has chosen us as a key part of their investment portfolio.”

“BitSight has all the right ingredients for success, including a seasoned leadership team, innovative technology and a growing customer base,” said David Zilberman, managing director of Comcast Ventures. “Given the necessity for continuous vendor management, it’s important for us to invest in a company that has the potential to truly change the way all organizations measure risk and rate cyber security performance. BitSight is on an impressive trajectory.”

Since closing Series A financing in June 2013, BitSight hit several key milestones, including:

Securing 150+ enterprise customers
Tripling revenue from 2014 in only the first two quarters of 2015
Bringing four Security Ratings use cases to market
- BitSight Security Ratings for Vendor Risk Management, whose users include two of the top five investment banks in the world
- BitSight Security Ratings for Benchmarking, which is used by 25 Fortune 500 companies
- BitSight Security Ratings for Cyber Insurance, which is used by three of the top five cyber insurance underwriters in the world
- BitSight Security Ratings for Mergers & Acquisitions, which is used by four of the top five private equity companies in the world
The acquisition of security intelligence company AnubisNetworks
Selection as a Gartner "Cool Vendor" in Vendor Management for 2015

About BitSight Technologies 

BitSight Technologies is transforming how companies manage information security risk with objective, evidence-based security ratings. The company's Security Rating Platform continuously analyzes vast amounts of external data on security behaviors in order to help organizations manage third party risk, benchmark performance, and assess and negotiate cyber insurance premiums. Based in Cambridge, MA, BitSight is backed by the National Science Foundation, Comcast Ventures, Commonwealth Capital Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners, Globespan Capital Partners, and Menlo Ventures. For more information, please visit www.bitsighttech.com or follow @BitSight on Twitter.

READ MORE

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1NjXFaA

Company Profile Link:

BitSight Technologies

Company Website:

http://www.bitsighttech.com

Logo:

Barkly Closes $12.5 Million Series A

joshboyle — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 18:11:19 +0000

Date:

06/24/2015 (All day)

Teaser:

Boston-based startup identifies and stops endpoint attacks in real-time; Creates enterprise class protection for the mid-market

BOSTON - June 24, 2015 – Boston-based endpoint security startup, Barkly, today announced that it has closed a $12.5 million Series A financing round, led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and including Sigma Prime Ventures. Barkly has now raised a total of $17 million since the company was co-founded in 2013 by Mike Duffy and Jack Danahy, longtime colleagues, information security industry veterans and serial entrepreneurs. The funding will be used to expedite the company’s recruiting, product development, and go-to-market initiatives in the healthcare and financial services industries.

"We've built Barkly to bring advanced protection to the endpoint systems of the thousands of organizations that find themselves unprotected from modern sophisticated attacks, and who cannot afford to hire teams of experts to manage complex, expensive solutions,” said Duffy, Barkly’s co-founder and CEO.

Redefining the expectations of endpoint security

Barkly enters the information security market at a time when 62 percent of successful cyber attacks breach small and mid-sized companies. These statistics confirm that existing endpoint security solutions for these markets do not provide the protections necessary, nor the simplicity required for universal adoption and use.

By contrast, IT administrators with little or no security background can easily install Barkly on any number of devices using existing systems management tools. Attacks are automatically stopped in real-time without administrator interaction, and messages can be sent to end users to educate them about their mistake. For example, if an employee inadvertently clicks on a malicious link in his/her email, which subsequently attempts to install malware on the user’s machine, Barkly will immediately interrupt the installation, notify the IT administrator and educate the user. Notifications happen in real-time and are delivered on both desktop and mobile devices, so administrators can take action anytime, anywhere.

“The endpoint is the most common attack entry point in any organization,” said Danahy, Barkly’s co-founder and CTO. “Even so, security has not evolved meet the challenge there. Large companies invest in massive data gathering and analytics, while smaller companies suffer with insufficient protection. We purposefully designed Barkly so that any IT administrator, at any company, could implement advanced security and be confident in the safety and productivity of their workforce, with minimal oversight. That’s the beauty of Barkly.”

Breakthrough technology making stronger security simple

Barkly combines a proprietary, high performance, local protection agent with SaaS based reporting and management to provide real time defense against modern malware, including zero-day and polymorphic attacks. Powered by advanced behavioral analytics, the Barkly agent is invisible to both end users and attackers, and is unique in its speed and simplicity.

"We’ve seen countless endpoint security solutions that are focused on the Fortune 1000s but are too complicated for most other companies to consume. We’re excited to back Barkly’s leaders as they deliver a new form of endpoint security that’s simple to deploy and manage,” said Harry Weller General Partner at NEA. “Both end users, and IT administrators want to be protected, but they also want to get back to work. Barkly lets them do both – quickly and simply."

Barkly anticipates general availability in Q1 2016. For more information on Barkly or to request a demo, visit www.barklyprotects.com and follow them on Twitter @barklyprotects.

About Barkly

Barkly is re-inventing endpoint security. Based in Boston, Barkly identifies and stops modern sophisticated attacks on endpoint devices without sacrificing employee performance or productivity. Its speed and simplicity allows IT administrators to install, monitor, and customize reporting with efficiency and ease. Barkly was co-founded in 2013 by Mike Duffy and Jack Danahy, longtime colleagues, information security industry veterans, and serial entrepreneurs and is backed by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Sigma Prime Ventures. For more information on Barkly or to sign up for its early access program, visit www.barklyprotects.com and follow @barklyprotects on Twitter.

Location:

Boston, MA

Source URL:

http://bit.ly/1FBxwxv

Company Profile Link:

Barkly

Company Website:

http://www.barklyprotects.com

Logo: