Living Social To Be DC’s Next Big Startup IPO
As I was driving to get a cup of coffee in San Francisco this morning I had the radio on and heard yet another radio ad for LivingSocial. The offer they were talking up was 50% off something that sounded like fun. In hearing the ad I could not help but think that there is [...]
DC’s Blackboard Acquired for $1.64 Billion
Washington, DC based Blackboard, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB) announced today that the company has entered into an agreement to be acquired by an investor group led by affiliates of Providence Equity Partners in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $1.64 billion, plus the assumption of approximately $130 million in net debt. The transaction is subject [...]
Why Do Washington Area Startup Incubators Keep Falling Short?
A few weeks back I interviewed Mike Sublesky, the co-founder of Baltimore Startup City which is an incubator concept. Read that interview here. He talked about how he and co-founder Monica Beeman were going to launch a YCombinator or TechStars like startup incubator in Baltimore this summer and that things were going really [...]
Maryland Manages To Make Historic Startup Funding Bill Happen, But Somehow Managed To Forget Software Startup Companies
Yesterday, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signed into law InvestMaryland (HB173), a historic initiative designed to pump $70 million+ into “promising start-up and early stage companies in Maryland, creating the largest venture capital investment in the State’s history”. In the press release, here, the only thing left out (they nearly threw in the kitchen sink) was [...]
Editor’s Notes and Thoughts On Washington’s Startup Community’s Continued Evolution and Growth
As a Washington area startup founder if they are thinking about making a move to the bay area and they will probably tell you that they are or have in recent months. This is natural. This is not, however, the point that we need to be focused in on as a community in in 2011. [...]
*Clearspring Raises $20 Million In Series D Round
This morning Northern Virginia based startup *Clearspring, McLean, VA, announced their Series D raise of $20 million in new funding. The round was spearheaded by Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), but also involved existing investors. IPV is a later-stage venture capital and growth equity firm that has also kicked in funds to companies like Twitter and [...]
Skype Acquired by Micrsoft for $8.5 Billion
Even though it isn’t a local exit, the fact that Skype is being acquired by Microsoft for a cold hard cash figure of $8.5 Billion dollars is a big deal. This is potentially the biggest acquisition deal in Microsoft’s history, and one that could make the Windows Mobile OS and software community more relevent. Apple [...]
