Monthly Archives: June 2008

CSIdentity Hits Million Customer Mark

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CSIdentity LogoBusiness is booming for Austin, Texas-based identity theft protection company CSIdentity. By offering a comprehensive suite of business and personal security solutions targeting all aspects of identity theft, CSIdentity has grown exponentially since the beginning of the year with no signs of stopping. The company hit the one million mark in the number of lives it is protecting through its suite of products and retail and wholesale relationships. And, as a result, CSIdentity is reporting a positive net income for its first time in the second quarter of 2008.

“CSIdentity has taken a full-service approach to identity theft protection and has separated itself from other identity theft protection companies. We pride ourselves on taking a deeper look to find multi-layered solutions to this ever-growing crime,” CSIdentity Chairman William Morrow said. “Because of our dedication to excellence and use of leading edge technology, our business and consumer customers receive comprehensive identity theft protection that goes beyond credit monitoring and credit freezes.”

CSIdentity’s Security SuiteSM provides businesses with advanced protection against identity theft by offering comprehensive solutions to this crime. The product suite includes CSIdentity SAFESM, an advanced background check and monitoring system; CSIdentity ProtectorSM, a consumer identity theft protection product; identity validation; data breach management and victim protection; and blanket security. Organizations, from locally owned businesses to Fortune 500 companies, use CSIdentity’s full suite of products, including the Transportation Security Clearinghouse (TSC), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), IBC Bank, Liberty Hill School District, Rite Aid Pharmacy and CalPERS. CSIdentity’s entire suite of products also is endorsed by the Texas Bankers Association after a lengthy evaluation process against other identity protection companies.

“With the new state and federal laws and regulations that impact every American business, CSIdentity’s comprehensive suite of business solutions are tailored to help companies be compliant with the laws while improving their security and business efficiencies,” Morrow said.

The company’s consumer protection product, CSIdentity ProtectorSM, provides 360 degrees of protection by accessing credit reports, court and criminal records, public records and non-credit loans to provide its customers with reports, alerts and ongoing monitoring of fraudulent activity associated with their personal information. CSIdentity ProtectorSM is offered directly to consumers through CSIdentity’s Web site and to businesses that then offer it as a retail product or employee benefit.

InnovationCamp Austin

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This past weekend was the first ever InnovationCamp Austin held at GSD&M. Done in the “unconference” style of BarCamp, InnovationCamp set out to explore many aspects of innovation in our great city.

From all the postings it seems like everybody really enjoyed the event, as well as the after party celebrating the new co-working space at Conjunctured.

 

 

Austin Stop of Mashable US Tour

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SummerMash Austin Logo

Book your tickets now for the Austin stop of Mashable Summer US Tour. When the Mashable folks were making plans for which cities to visit for their US Tour, we told them Austin had a thriving tech scene and had some cool social media companies that were up and coming. The Austin Tech Happy Hour is teaming up with Mashable for this event, so this will officially be the happy hour’s July event.

The event will be Wednesday night July 30th at Buffalo Billiards. The event on Facebook will start to have some RSVP’s show up. Also make sure you buy a ticket ahead of time, as the first 100 tickets are only $15. We’ve got drinks for you, some bar food, and great company.

We’ll see you there!

Where is the Startup District?

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There’s been lots of local conversation about how to unite a group of people with a common interest — those who create technology startups. There are great resources like the Rice Alliance, ProductCamp, Texchange, the Austin Technology Council, and many many more. If you’re not familiar with the grassroots efforts of the folks behind the Startup District, you should be. They just secured a new co-working space, so you’ll be hearing more about that soon (congrats guys).

But if you want to see pushpins on a map for Austin technology companies, check out Startup Warrior which is a mashup of Crunchbase and Google Maps. There’s definitely a big downtown concentration, plus another concentration around the Breaker/Metric area. Browse for yourself. Here’s a screenshot we took.

It would be great to see the Austin Emerging 100 mapped onto Google Maps. If you’re company is not in here, then get yourself into CrunchBase and with the next weekly update, you will be.

MPower Invests in Sapphire Mobile, Moves Them To Austin

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MPOWER Ventures, a socially committed venture fund dedicated to investing in solutions that empower the underserved worldwide, today announced its investment in Sapphire Mobile Systems of Philadelphia, PA, a pioneer of mobile banking and payments solutions accessible from any mobile handset via Short Message Service (SMS). Under the terms of the investment, MPOWER Ventures has rebranded the company MPOWER Mobile, Inc. and relocated the company headquarters to Austin, Texas.

Co-founders Moneet Singh and Neeraj Bansal remain executives of the company. Singh oversees daily operations and product development as President and Chief Operating Officer, and Bansal leads and manages MPOWER Mobile’s strategic relationships as Executive Vice President, business development.
Sapphire’s former CEO Richard A. Rasansky now serves as an advisor to the company.

“We are proud to be part of the MPOWER family and see the principals of MPOWER Ventures as partners who wholly share our belief in the power of disruptive technologies to create social change,” commented Singh. “We chose MPOWER Ventures as our investment partner over more traditional firms because the ability to collaborate with MPOWER Labs accelerates our development and allows us to focus where we can create the most value and generate the greatest social impact. That’s with developing innovative products and services that bring financial empowerment to previously inaccessible markets.”

The investment from MPOWER Ventures will support product development and expansion into global markets. The value of the investment was not disclosed. MPOWER Mobile plans to debut its first products in the third quarter of 2008.

“This is a key investment for MPOWER Ventures given the enormous potential for mobile channels to deliver financial empowerment to underserved consumers worldwide,” said Roy Sosa, managing partner, MPOWER Ventures.

Austin Ventures Invests $50M in New Media

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Austin Ventures today announced that it has entered into a partnership with Sherman Atkinson to form ATCOR Holdings, Inc. The new company will focus on acquiring and operating businesses in high-growth sectors of online advertising, marketing and digital media. AV has committed $50 Million of equity capital to support management’s strategy to build a leading new media franchise through both organic growth and acquisition. Mr. Atkinson will serve as Chief Executive Officer of ATCOR.

“Sherman has played a leading role in two of the most exciting consumer internet success stories. He has a keen understanding of how to build valuable, branded consumer franchises that appeal to their users and online advertisers alike,” said David Lack, AV Partner. “We are excited to be working with Sherman to identify the companies that will play a role in his next digital media enterprise.”

Prior to forming ATCOR, Mr. Atkinson served as the COO of Intermix Media, Inc. (AMEX: MIX), a publicly traded, new media company that owned MySpace.com. During his tenure as COO, its public market capitalization grew from $126 million to over $650 million, when it was acquired by News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) in October 2005. Before joining Intermix Media, Mr. Atkinson served as COO of Buy.com, The Internet Superstore™, and President of its technology spinout, BuyServices, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Buy.com. Previously, Mr. Atkinson spent five years with Booz Allen & Hamilton. Mr. Atkinson has served as an Officer in the United States Marine Corps with tours at 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division and Marine Aircraft Group 39. Mr. Atkinson is a graduate of Purdue University and the United States Navy’s Nuclear Power Program.

“Austin Ventures has committed significant capital and team resources to this venture, and we’re confident that our combined experience and market knowledge provide the right ingredients to build a successful new media franchise,” said Mr. Atkinson. “We are interested in working with enduring businesses in the New Media sector with high growth potential. When the opportunity presents itself, I want to concentrate ATCOR’s investments in great companies run by strong, trustworthy management. We are already reviewing interesting acquisition opportunities as well as developing an organic growth plan that exploits the deportalization of the web and encompasses content aggregation, analytics and distribution. I look forward to meeting the management teams and entrepreneurs who share our vision.”

Bazaarvoice Raises $7.1M Series C

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Bazaarvoice has raised their next series of financing, closing a $7.1M Series C round. The list of current investors came to the table again for Bazaarvoice, including Austin Ventures, Battery Ventures, First Round Capital, and European Founders Fund. The valuation for this round was not disclosed, of course, but was only described as an “up round” which is not a surprise. This round of financing brings the total amount of capital raised to $19.6M. The company reached profitability a while ago, but raised the Series B to escalate the rate of growth and invest further in new products. With this new round of financing, the company can grow faster on three different fronts. According to Sam Decker, Chief Marketing Officer, the company is growing internationally (France, Germany, UK, and now Asia), vertically in over 15 areas, and is investing in product and program expansion.

Worldwide headcount is at 200 today (mostly in Austin), and at this pace it will double to 400 in the next 12 months. That pace will outgrow their 6th office space in a little over two years. Maybe 7 will be the lucky number! It’s got to be a logistical challenge to move that frequently. I wish those types of problems upon your startup!

Dallas Cowboys get cool with Austin Tech

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The Dallas Cowboys are getting into the social media craze.  Tapping Austin’s Pluck for assistance,  the Dallas Cowboys have announced plans to add social media capabilities across the team’s fan and retail sites.  Given the intersection of sports and technology, this combination makes sense for all football fans out there.  According to Derek Eagleton, internet director for the Dallas Cowboys, their “fans are interested in engaging with our players, staff and each other online more than ever before [and] the Pluck SiteLife platform gives us virtually limitless ways to integrate meaningful interaction and social networking capabilities directly into our online properties so we can fulfil the need for fan engagement online.”  Look for the Pluck influence to start showing up on DallasCowboys.com, DallasCowboysCheerleaders.com, and CowboysFan4Life.com.

Deals like this, and their deal with Film.com and RollingStone.com illustrate the potential that Demand Media obviously saw when they purchased the company in March.

ProductCamp Austin

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Guest blogger Doug Wick works for Powered and blogs on their Engaged Consumer site, as well as his own personal wicksite.

This past Saturday I finally got to attend my first “unconference.” ProductCamp Austin, an offshoot of the successful and irreverent BarCamp format, convened bright and early at 8 a.m. The event was held at St. Edward’s Professional Education Center.

Following the unconference mantra that “there are no attendees,” the agenda and event were all arranged and run by participants. The idea is that by breaking through traditional conference norms, likeminded people can gather in a workshop format (for free) and learn more from each other through the higher level of interaction and participation that results.

While BarCamp is traditionally focused on development, ProductCamp was designed for product management, marketing and development folks. Apparently this ProductCamp was only the second of its kind, the first having been held in the Valley in March of this year. Pragmatic Marketing had a strong presence with John Milburn, and Paul Young of Productbeautiful.com did a lot of the organizational heavy lifting as the unconference planner. Sponsors included Pragmatic, Austin Ventures, NetQoS, Seilevel, and Ryma – who supplied us with a steady stream of coffee, a great lunch, and happy hour drinks.

Overall, the event was a tremendous success by either conference or unconference standards, attracting around 130 marketing pros from Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas – and on a weekend no less. The energy in the sessions, which ranged from “How to Manage a Successful Product Launch” to “UX 101″ to “Agile Development,” was positive, sometimes contentious, but always collaborative.

Unfortunately, like an underground band that unexpectedly hits it big, it was exactly ProductCamp Austin’s popularity that worked against it as an “unconference.” In many ways it ended up feeling a bit too mainstream. Sessions were a bit too large for forming the small groups and deep discussions that are a BarCamp signature, and you could sense that the larger sessions weren’t always meeting their participants’ diverse needs (startup folks at one point started a Twitter backchannel discussion about a more focused “Startup Camp”).

The last session I attended, “How to Deal with Sales,” was smaller with only around 15 people, and really got with the BarCamp spirit as nearly everyone chimed in with tips, tricks, and laments about the role Sales sometimes plays in corrupting perfectly good products! It was a great, lively exchange. Other highlights were the consensus by product professionals that the application they can’t live without is Excel (!) and the pronouncement in one of the sessions that “West Coast startups are hipster startups, Austin startups are hippie startups.” The best overall presentation as voted by participants was “Navigating the Political Minefields of Product Management,” presented by Charlie Ray.

Overall, it was a great first ProductCamp for Austin. It was as well run by its own participants and as valuable as any formal conference I’ve attended, a fact that really highlights the fantastic and committed marketing community we have here.

Motive; The Final Chapter

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Alcatel-Lucent stepped up to the plate today and made an offer to acquire all the shares of Motive for $2.23 per share. Only a fool wouldn’t take that. That share price makes the purchase price about $68M. The company has about $32M in current assets, which means that the company’s value as an entity that produces $18M per quarter in sales (with no margin) is worth $36M.

The company’s troubles started when they built a huge corporate headquarters building with a custom (and expensive) bison statue at the front of the building. Any time a company builds a monument to itself while it hasn’t even hit breakeven yet — short it. As key employees left and told tales of overzealous revenue recognition, the locals in Austin all whispered “short Motive.” Not long after that the company stopped reporting financial results to shareholders. Then the lawsuits hit, and the financials had to be re-stated going back several years.

Luckily there appears to be no law against overstating revenues by $20M – $30M per year, otherwise Scott Harmon and Paul Baker would be in jail. This deal was less like a purchase and more like a mercy killing.