TripAdvisor becomes a public company: What it means for Mass. Expedia is spinning off TripAdvisor as an independent public company. After seven years in the hands of others, Newton-based travel site TripAdvisor goes independent this week. Bellevue, Wash. -based Expedia is spinning the company off as a public company, in a move that aims to give each business a single focus and boost value for shareholders. TripAdvisor will trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol TRIPV and is expected to join the S&P 500 Index on Tuesday. A few thoughts on why this matters for Massachusetts (I’m no expert, so there are probably ones I’m missing): • More independence can be a good thing. . • Speaking of jobs — TripAdvisor had 660 of them in the U.S. as of the middle of the year, according to the Expedia filing with the SEC. . • The move could raise the profile of the Bay State’s expertise in travel tech.
. • The Boston Business Journal’s Book of Lists, which ships today, is now inaccurate. Technology. Vistaprint to acquire Webs.com for $118 million. Rodney H. Brown, Masshightech.com Vistaprint NV (Nasdaq: VPRT), co-headquartered in Lexington and the Netherlands, plans to buy do-it-yourself website company Webs Inc., operator of the site webs.com, for $117.5 million in cash and stock. According to a news release from Vistaprint, buying Maryland-based Webs Inc. is “in line with Vistaprint’s recently announced strategy to be more proactive in its evaluation of acquisition opportunities that will help lay foundations for future growth.” The purchase comes on the heels of the November acquisition by Vistaprint of Dutch photo book and photo product company Albumprinter for approximately $82 million. Webs Inc. has approximately 50 full-timers, the release noted, and is projected to close out 2011 with approximately $9 million in revenue. Vistaprint will keep the Webs brand, and all management and employees of Webs Inc. will become Vistaprint employees once the sale closes, which is expected to be within a month.
Robots on the march. W. Marc Bernsau Bench test technician Ferry Lamarre prepares a unit at Kiva Systems in North Reading. Don Seiffert, Special to the Journal Robots might not yet have taken over the world, but at least in the Boston area, there’s been a quiet uprising. Even before iRobot launched the Roomba vacuum in 2002, the Boston area has been a leader in robotic innovation. Local robotics range from military to medical to interior design, and from big companies — like iRobot in Bedford, QinetiQ in Waltham and Kiva Systems Inc. of North Reading — to dozens of small startups.
But finding out specifics about robot startups is another matter. Indeed, several companies — including CyPhy Works in Danvers, Heartland Robotics in Boston, CasePick in Wilmington and Harvest Automation in Billerica — declined to be interviewed, saying they’re in various states of design and testing. Big IPO week could include Woburn's FusionStorm Global. It could be one of the busiest IPO weeks in years, and the Massachusetts technology community shouldn’t be left out, according to IPO tracker Renaissance Capital.
FusionStorm Global, a Woburn-based IT services firm, is expected to price its shares this week as one of a dozen companies slated to go public. Others include social games developer Zynga (which has a Cambridge office) and business software firm Jive Software. FusionStorm Global expects 13.4 million shares to price in the range of $12 to $14 a share, which could raise $188.4 million if the offering prices at the high end of the range. The company plans to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol “FSTM.” The sudden IPO rush is a big turnaround from recent months, when market volatility made IPOs pretty rare. FusionStorm Global says it would use the IPO proceeds to complete a three-way merger that would, in effect, give life to the currently non-operational company.
Technology. Actifio moves out of startup phase with $33M VC round. Waltham’s Actifio, provider of a business data backup service that aims to be simpler than current methods, has added Andreessen Horowitz to its list of prominent venture capital firm backers, with the firm leading Actifio’s $33 million Series C round. Actifio joins Facebook, Zynga and Twitter in the portfolio of the Menlo Park, Calif. -based VC firm, headed by Marc Andreessen (Netscape co-founder) and Ben Horowitz (co-founder of Opsware). In a statement, Andreessen Horowitz general partner Peter Levine said he’s watched Actifio grow rapidly since its founding in 2009 by CEO Ash Ashutosh.
Levine said the company has transformed itself from an innovative startup to a “well-established market leader” in the area of turning data management into a virtualized service. The new funding round also included Actifio’s three big-name previous investors — North Bridge Venture Partners, Greylock Partners and Advanced Technology Ventures. Technology. UTest taps backers for $17M Series D round.
Southborough software testing company uTest Inc. has raised $17 million in a Series D round of funding led by QuestMark Partners of Baltimore. In a release put out by uTest, the company noted that previous backers Scale Venture Partners, Longworth Venture Partners, Egan-Managed Capital and Mesco Ltd. participated in the new funding round, which brings the crowdsourced testing company’s total equity funding to $37 million since it was founded in 2007.
Among the recent accomplishments the company touted in its release is a doubling of employee count since 2008, along with an increase in revenue of 250 percent since that year. The new funds from the Series D round will be used to open new offices in areas that uTest has identified as being “app creation hotspots” like Seattle, Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago, the release stated. As part of the new financing deal, QuestMark partner Tim Krongard will join the uTest board of directors. Slide show: Which Boston companies are seeking IPOs? Exa Corp. image Exa Corp. This Burlington firm is a maker of software for simulating fluid flows (such as aerodynamic streamlines around a moving car, shown in this image). Founded in 1991, Exa quietly filed for an $86 million IPO in August — no press release went out, far as I can tell. Exa's VC backers include Volition and Boston Capital Ventures, and the company says it turned a $2 million profit in the first half of the year.
Woburn IT services firm FusionStorm Global appears on the verge of going public, but 11 other Massachusetts companies are also IPO-dreamin'. Some recently registered with the SEC, a few have been on file for nearly two years, and at least one is rumored to be on hold. To learn about the 12 Bay State companies now looking to go public, click on the photo on the right. In our Friday paper, meanwhile, I covered some of the local companies that've halted IPO attempts in recent years. Technology. Waiting for the IPO window: A dozen companies remain in registration, hoping to avoid a withdrawal. Stuart Garfield Pete Manca and his company, Egenera Inc., are waiting for the right time to go public. The volatile market for initial public stock offerings is causing many industry watchers to wonder: Will the companies in registration ever go public?
But for some companies that may now be realizing the time isn’t right, the question is likely shifting: If not now, then when? If we withdraw, will we ever make it back? It all depends, of course. Some companies do succeed the second time around, such as Waltham-based BG Medicine Inc. The venture-backed developer of cardiac-diagnostic tests completed its IPO in March, after first filing to go public in 2007 and later pulling the registration. As of earlier this week, 12 Massachusetts-based companies were in registration with the U.S. Nine of the companies are backed by venture capital firms, and two have been in registration for more than a year.
Today, Egenera is still holding on and waiting for its chance to go public. Technology. Atlas Venture lures ed startup FlashNotes to Cambridge. Drawn by Cambridge's Atlas Venture and the concentration of universities, education startup FlashNotes is re-locating to Cambridge from Cleveland. FlashNotes, an online marketplace for college students to buy and sell their course notes, is moving from Ohio to Cambridge as it finalizes its first major funding round, led by Atlas Venture.
The startup is based in Cleveland and expects to re-locate into the Atlas offices in the next two weeks, said co-founder and chief operating officer Dave Petruziello. Along with the Atlas backing, Boston’s density of colleges is a big draw, he said. “We were at Fenway for college day, and we signed up over 2,000 students from universities in Greater Boston,” Petruziello said.
The funding round should close within the week, and will consist of convertible debt, he said. FlashNotes works by allowing students to upload their notes, often in PDF format, and set their own prices. Technology. IPO or IBM? Boston tech firms weigh 2 top exit options. Waltham's Q1 Labs was all set to file for an initial public stock offering as soon as next April. But as volatility shook the stock markets, IBM showed up with an offer-you-can't-refuse type of offer: We'll make you the centerpiece of an entire division. Q1, which in October was acquired by IBM, was almost certainly not the first Boston area tech firm to find itself choosing between acquisition by Big Blue or pursuing an IPO. Armonk, N.Y. -based IBM has bought 19 Massachusetts companies since 2003 — more than the company bought in California during that timespan, and easily the largest number of any acquirer in Massachusetts (according to my research).
By comparison, Cisco has bought five Bay State companies since 2003 and EMC has bought three. Former Q1 CEO Shaun McConnon and other executives at the network security firm had been outspoken about their plans for an IPO — far more public about their wishes than the typical pre-S-1 company. Technology. Verastem, with IPO planned, raises $20M in funding. Roughly a week after announcing its plans for an initial public offering, Verastem Inc. has raised $20 million through a Series C equity placement, according to a federal document. A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shows that there are 34 unnamed backers in this round of funding for Cambridge-based Verastem.
This new $20 million round is only the second one the company has filed data on with the SEC, although its most recent round, a $32 million funding in July, was described by the company as a Series B. That round was led by Advanced Technology Ventures and Astellas Venture Management, with participation from return backers Longwood Founders Fund, Bessemer Venture Partners, Cardinal Partners and MPM Capital. According to Verastem, in the release associated with the planned IPO, the company raised $16 million in a Series A round, which brings the total invested in the company to approximately $68 million.
Boston Medical doc tackles mobile app problems with startup. Courtesy | AppGuppy Dr. Ash Nadkarni says she thought up the idea for her mobile startup, Appguppy, after finding the app creation process a hassle. As a Boston Medical Center physician in her last year of residency, Ash Nadkarni isn’t the most likely candidate for founding a mobile startup. But she had a good reason to start the venture, Appguppy — she wanted to create an app for herself that could help her connect with her patients. “What I noticed about my patients at BMC was that even in cases where they’re facing enormous social struggles, they always had their phones on them,” she said. Nadkarni looked at working with a developer to create the app, and found it to be expensive, and a hassle.
Then it dawned on her: Wouldn’t it be great if something like WordPress existed for mobile app creation? That idea turned out to be more doable. But Nadkarni said the application of her idea isn't what she thought it would be. Technology. Ex-Netezza CEO Jim Baum lands at robotics startup. Jim Baum has taken the CEO's job at robotics startup CasePick Systems after leaving the chief executive job at Netezza. Jim Baum, who recently left Netezza Corp. as CEO, has moved to the CEO job at a stealthy robotics startup in Wilmington. Baum has joined up with CasePick Systems, a CasePick staff member confirmed Monday.
Baum wasn’t immediately available for comment. The move was first reported Monday by Scott Kirsner of Boston.com. Baum left Marlborough-based Netezza in September, roughly a year after the data warehouse appliance company was bought by IBM Corp. The website for CasePick says it was founded in 2007 and employs more than 100. Technology. IPO-bound Rapid7 raises $50M round. Rapid7, which makes IT security software, has taken in $50 million of venture funding as it progresses toward an expected filing for an initial public offering of stock. The funding for the Boston-based company dwarfed its two prior rounds, of $7 million and $2 million. Rapid7 said the Series C funding was led by Palo Alto, Calif. -based Technology Crossover Ventures, which joins existing backer Bain Capital Ventures of Boston on the round.
Company chairman and co-founder Alan Matthews said last month he expects the company will seek an IPO as its exit strategy, though he had no prediction of a timeline. Rapid7 last year saw revenue surge 71 percent, to $19.2 million, and expects to roughly double that amount this year. Top customer sectors for the company's IT vulnerability assessment software include financial services (Blackstone Group), energy (Anadarko Petroleum), government (state of Massachusetts) and retail (Revlon, Trader Joe’s.) Technology. Harvard Innovation Lab opens to foster entrepreneurs. A ribbon-cutting ceremony planned for today marks the official opening of the new Harvard Innovation Lab, which is expected to serve as a focal point for entrepreneurial activity in the Boston area. The i-lab, as it’s been referred to, will play host today to the likes of Boston Mayor Tom Menino, Harvard University President Drew Faust and Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria. The Allston center, located on Western Ave. in the former WGBH-TV headquarters, includes classrooms, conference rooms, offices and 5,000 square feet of open space that will support not only informal meetings but community events.
The lab is part of a broader push to attract startup-minded students at Harvard Business School. To start, the i-lab has recruited SCORE, the Small Business Administration, the Center for Women & Enterprise and the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network to provide help with advising, coaching and training the students, business people and entrepreneurs.
Betaspring startups offered $50K for 1-year Providence stay. IPO-bound Rapid7 raises $50M round. 10 stealthy Boston startups I'm watching. MedVentive makes $12.9M in a pair of fundraises. 17 live up to MassChallenge. Visible Measures boosts Series D round to $13M. SCVNGR expands LevelUp service, aiming at Groupon in NYC, San Francisco. Software firm Aternity targets Global 1000 with $13M funding round. Putney leashes a $21M funding for generic pet medicine. Stealthy startup Plexxi raises $20M from Calif., Mass. VCs. Pandora to get a challenge from Clear Channel, powered by Somerville’s Echo Nest. Mass High Tech names 15 All-Stars for 2011. 13 Massachusetts companies included on the Inc 500 List - Read Scott's E-Mail. From Estonia to Boston: GrabCAD Looks to Play Big Role in New England’s Tech Future. Contact Us. BuyWithMe Hires Ex-Googler to Help Company Grow, Retain Top Talent | Bostinnovation: Boston Start-ups, Innovation and News Blog.
E Ink moving to Billerica. MassChallenge: 1st class of startups has raised $90M. IPO-bound BackOffice gets new CEO. Robot uprising: 60 Mass. companies building 'bots. Brainshark: The Tablet (and Hiring) Push is On – Announces Partnership with Blackboard | Bostinnovation: Boston Innovation, Start-ups and Tech News. Chargify gets Cuban money while Grasshopper jumps out of spinout biz. Second round for eegoes ekes out $1M. Citrix doubles investment on IPO-bound GlassHouse. XOS Technologies takes in almost $4M in new funding. VoltUp launches PowerMax to max Android battery.