• CloudMine

  Participated · Series A · Mar 2015

  CloudMine provides a cloud mobile platform that offers a mobile-optimized suite of services for enterprise developers to build and deploy mobile applications. The company targets highly sensitive verticals such as healthcare, pharmaceuticals and retail and emphasizes security and compliance, including HIPAA and HITECH. Customers include Mylan Specialty, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Barnes & Noble College and Digitas Health. Founded in 2011 and led by CEO Brendan McCorkle, CloudMine is based in Philadelphia, PA. The company intends to use the funds to add features to its product and expand marketing and sales functions. It recently closed a $5M Series A financing to support those plans. CloudMine is a Philadelphia-based startup that provides a back-end as a service platform for mobile application developers. The platform lets developers quickly generate API keys to cloud-enable applications and eliminates the need to build custom backend solutions. That approach allows developers to focus on building mobile apps and bringing products to market faster and at lower cost. The company is led by co-founders CEO Brendan McCorkle, CTO Marc Weil, and Technology Lead Ilya Braude. CloudMine is a member of the inaugural class of the Project Liberty Digital Incubator, established by Philadelphia Media Network, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Ben Franklin, Dreamit Ventures and Drexel University. Dreamit Ventures also backs the company. CloudMine provides a platform of RESTful APIs and SDKs that let app developers offload backend work—schema-free data storage, user account creation/management, and server-side business logic. The service is positioned as a B2D PaaS so developers can focus on product and iteration rather than infrastructure. CloudMine moved from a closed beta, where testers reported it halved the time to configure backend solutions, into open beta at the time of the article. Developers can sign up for free and immediately receive an API key for their first app, with easy key generation for additional apps. The company is part of the current DreamIt Ventures Philadelphia accelerator batch. DreamIt invested $20K of seed funding in CloudMine’s backend solution. The co‑founders are Ilya Braude, Marc Weil, and Brendan McCorkle, with prior experience at Eastern Research, Apple, Oracle, and Textaurant respectively.

• Sidecar

  Participated · Equity · Jun 2014

  Sidecar Interactive is a Center City–based marketing technology firm led by CEO Andre Golsorkhi. The company plans to use the $7.5M follow-on round to invest in engineering staff to expand its core product and to boost hiring across the organization. Sidecar has almost doubled its headcount in the past year, according to Golsorkhi. Including this Series C1 follow-on, the company has raised a total of $33.5 million in venture capital. The recent funding follows an $11 million Series C in May 2017. The round was made up of existing investors including Harbert Growth Partners, Osage Venture Partners, Ascent Venture Partners, Robin Hood Ventures and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (the latter invested via the GO Philly Fund). Sidecar is a Philadelphia-based provider of a SaaS e-commerce marketing platform that leverages advanced machine learning and deep data science to optimize shopping campaigns on Google, Facebook, and Bing. The company’s platform helps retailers run and optimize cross-channel shopping campaigns. Customers include Moosejaw and Vermont Teddy Bear. Led by founder and CEO Andre Golsorkhi, Sidecar focuses on enhancing its machine learning technology and scaling its team. The company said it will use the new funding to accelerate product development and hire additional staff. No revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article. Sidecar develops e-commerce marketing technology that uses machine learning to connect consumers to relevant retail products across paid marketing channels where consumers shop. The platform programmatically links retailers' inventory to the most relevant consumers and is used by brands such as NewEgg, Nuts.com, GNC and Choxi. Andre Golsorkhi is the company's founder and CEO. The company says it will use new funding to further develop technologies that optimize product advertising channels. It also plans to increase its sales and marketing efforts to expand adoption. The article reports the company completed a Series B financing round to support these initiatives. Sidecar is a Philadelphia, PA–based startup that provides a big-data marketing platform for e-commerce companies. Led by CEO and founder Andre Golsorkhi, the company automates data-driven decisions by combining website, catalog, consumer and competitive data. Its platform delivers programmatic marketing across paid search, comparison-shopping engines, product listing ads, onsite product recommendations, and email retargeting. The technology is used by large online retailers, including several Top 100 Internet Retailers such as Newegg, Fanatics, RueLaLa and nomorerack. Sidecar maintains a secondary office in New York, NY. In June 2014 Sidecar raised $3.1M in funding. Sidecar is an online marketing platform that does business as Sidecar while remaining incorporated as Snipi. The company is led by Andre Golsorkhi and underwent a pivot and name change in 2011. In August 2011 it raised a $2.5 million round led by Innovation Ventures following that pivot. Last November it received $110,000 from Benjamin Franklin Technology Partners, marking BFTP's second investment in the company. An SEC filing shows Sidecar most recently raised $1.5 million from investors including Robin Hood Ventures, NextStage Capital and Wilmington, Del.-based Innovation Ventures. Karen Griffith Gryga of DreamIt Ventures and David Freschman of Innovation Ventures sit on Sidecar's board.

• Molecular Detection

  Participated · Series B · Apr 2012

  Molecular Detection (MDI) produces Detect-Ready® molecular diagnostic tests intended to increase the speed and accuracy of infectious disease diagnosis. Its Detect-Ready MRSA Panel is CE-marked for MRSA and MSSA detection and is commercially available across multiple European countries, Australia and Israel. The MRSA Panel is in late-stage development in the US. MDI plans to use new capital to further advance its MRSA Panel and to develop molecular diagnostic panels for sepsis and gastrointestinal (GI) infections in hospitalized patients. The company is led by CEO and chairman Todd Wallach and maintains offices in Wayne, PA, Tunbridge Wells (UK) and Jerusalem (Israel). Financially, MDI completed a $1.9M Series B recapitalization and announced an earlier $1.5M funding round this year. Molecular Detection develops Detect-Ready tests designed to increase the speed and accuracy of infectious disease diagnosis. Its core product is a ready-to-use, rapid detection panel for hospital-based MRSA screening, which is commercially available in the EU, Australia and the Middle East. The company’s Detect-Ready kits use a stabilization technology that preserves reagent integrity for room-temperature shipping and storage; a new European patent for that technology was recently allowed. MDI is using new capital to advance molecular diagnostic panels for the detection of sepsis and gastrointestinal diseases. The company completed a $1.5M financing to support those development efforts. Led by CEO and chairman Todd Wallach, MDI is based in Wayne, PA and also has offices in Tunbridge Wells, UK and Jerusalem, Israel. Molecular Detection develops screening assays aimed at speeding and improving infectious disease diagnosis. The company recently launched its first product, the Detect-Ready screening assay for rapid detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The Detect-Ready MRSA assay has received CE mark certification and is currently available in Germany, the UK, Ireland, Switzerland and Austria, with additional launches expected in coming months. The company said new funds will be used to accelerate commercialization of its pipeline of novel infectious disease diagnostics. Financially, Molecular Detection held the first $1.4M close of a new financing as part of a follow-on to its $3.3M Series C round announced in late 2009. The company is based in Wayne, PA and also operates offices in Tunbridge Wells, UK and Jerusalem, Israel. Molecular Detection Inc. develops Detect-Ready assays intended to increase the speed and accuracy of infectious disease diagnosis. The company is preparing to launch its first product, a Detect-Ready assay for rapid detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Management describes the MRSA assay as offering an unmatched combination of accuracy, speed, flexibility and cost-effectiveness. The company says the MRSA screening market is expected to exceed $1 billion in annual revenues in the next few years. The Series C financing provides capital to launch the MRSA assay in Europe and the U.S. and to expand MDI's pipeline of molecular diagnostic tests. The company is based in Wayne, PA and Jerusalem, Israel.

• Novira Therapeutics

  Led · Seed · Jul 2011

  Novira Therapeutics is developing NVR 3-778, a small‑molecule antiviral that inhibits the hepatitis B virus core/capsid protein. The company recently released Phase 1b data showing NVR 3-778 was well‑tolerated in 40 subjects. According to a regulatory filing, Novira raised $9 million in debt from 10 investors. Last year the startup completed a $25 million Series A with investors that included Versant Ventures, 5AM Ventures and Canaan Partners. The article frames the fundraise against a sizable global hepatitis B burden, with WHO estimates cited on infection prevalence and chronic cases. No founding year or location is provided in the article. Novira Therapeutics is a Radnor, PA-based antiviral drug discovery company led by Osvaldo Flores, Ph.D. It focuses on discovery of antiviral therapeutics for the treatment of chronic HBV infection. The company develops oral drugs that target the capsid of the virus and are intended for use both as monotherapy and in combination with current standards of care. Novira completed a $25M Series A financing and secured an additional $7.5M investment. Versant Ventures joined 5AM Ventures and Canaan Partners in the financing, and Gianni Gromo of Versant joined the company's board. Scott M. Rocklage (5AM Ventures) and Tim Shannon (Canaan Partners) had joined the board at the first close in August 2012. Novira Therapeutics is a privately held antiviral drug discovery company focused on developing novel, first‑in‑class therapeutics for HBV and HIV. Its lead programs bind to and disrupt the viral capsid (core) protein to block assembly and infection, aiming to prevent production of new infectious virus and entry into new cells. The company plans to complete optimization work on its lead program and advance its capsid assembly inhibition technology toward the clinic. Novira completed a second round of seed financing that brings its early financing to approximately $2.5 million and secured an additional $1.0 million in non‑dilutive grants. The financing round included participation from regional angel groups and BioAdvance, and resulted in an angel designee joining the board and a board observer appointment. Novira was launched in 2009 and is headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania.

No current team members are available.