Editor: Amanda Akin
Copyright © 2013 VC Experts.com, Inc.
Former Maven Networks team Hilmi Ozguc and Gretchen Fleming are part of the Swirl team that just reported raising an $8MM Series B round, bringing total funding to $14MM. Maven Networks, a provider of online video hosting was acquired by Yahoo! for $160MM in 2008. The teams’ new venture, Swirl, is an in-store mobile marketing platform.
View valuations and price per share on page 2.
Former Maven Networks Team Forms Swirl And Raises A Total Of $14MM
Inside This Issue
2 Investment Profile: Swirl
2 Deal Terms from last
financing Round: Swirl
3 How Venture Capitalists Talk:
You Can Make It…Will
Someone Buy It?
4 Delaware Cases Relevant to
the Venture Capitalist
Community
4 VC Experts Calendar of
Events 2013
VC Experts Buzz VC Experts’ Intelligence Team
[email protected] 646.290.9254
October 10, 2013
How Venture Capitalists Talk: You Can Make It…Will Someone Buy It?
Joseph W. Bartlett – Special Counsel at McCarter & English LLP and Founder of VC Experts
A major source of error is a love affair between a founder and the technology he has developed in the lab. The number of new and interesting ideas brought into being every year is astonishing. A field trip to any respectable college or university will reveal a fascinating array of projects in the laboratories, many of which, if brought to fruition, will certainly improve the state of the art. Read the rest on page 3.
For Event Listings on Private
Equity and Venture Capital
Check Out VC Experts' Calendar of Events-2013
NEW BOOK!
Delaware Cases Relevant To The Venture
Capitalist Community - Potter Anderson Corroon LLP
See the table of contents on page 4.
NEW!
Editor: Amanda Akin
Copyright © 2013 VC Experts.com, Inc.
PAGE 2 VC EXPERTS NEWSLETTER
Series of Preferred
Investment Date
Preferred Price Per
Share
Investment Amount
Valuation of Latest Round
Series A 1/9/2012 $0.90 $6,000,000 $17,228,071
Series B 10/08/2013 $1.29 $8,000,000 $34,074,863
Address: 420 Boylston Street,
Boston MA 02116
Region: New England
Industry: Retailing/Distribution, Software
Website: www. swirl.com
Twitter: @swirl
Swirl Raises $8MM Series B
Swirl Networks, Inc. announced
that it closed a strategic $8MM
investment round led by Hearst
Ventures, for a total of $14MM in
funding, to fuel the expansion of
its technology platform into the
large-scale, multi-category retail
market. The round includes
repeat investments from SoftBank
Capital, and Longworth Venture
Partners.
About Swirl
Swirl is an in-store mobile
marketing platform provider that
is helping retailers leverage the
power of mobile to attract and
influence consumers while they
shop in retail stores.
Investment Profile: Swirl, Inc.
Gretchen Fleming, COO & CFO
Hilmi Ozguc, Founder & CEO
View Full Profile
Editor: Amanda Akin
Copyright © 2013 VC Experts.com, Inc.
PAGE 3 VC EXPERTS NEWSLETTER
Joseph W. Bartlett – Special Counsel at McCarter & English LLP and Founder of VC Experts
A major source of error is a love affair between a founder and the
technology he has developed in the lab. The number of new and interesting ideas brought into being every year is astonishing. A field trip to any respectable college or university will reveal a fascinating array of projects in the laboratories, many of which, if brought to fruition, will certainly improve the state of the art. However, a critical error of founders considering whether to commit capital to a project is to assume that the novelty and utility of a new technology are both necessary and sufficient for the success of a start-up. Novelty may be enough to secure a patent, but it is only one part of the venture-capital equation. No one can make any money unless there is a market for the product, unless people are willing to buy it at a price that returns a profit to the manufacturer. Assuming the idea is any good, is there a market for it? This simple, banal truth is overlooked time and again by the fledgling entrepreneurs. Is there a market which can be penetrated at a reasonable cost? The classic example is the pen that writes under water—interesting technically but, as it turned out, no one wanted to buy one because no one wanted to write a letter beneath the waves. Thus, the single most commonly cited reason for failure of a start-up is the inability to implement a well-thought-out marketing plan. Selling is a matter of airplanes, hotel rooms, and shoe leather; as Willy Loman put it, "on the road with a smile and a shoe shine." Marketing, on the other hand, has to do with understanding the demand for the product, pricing strategy, evaluating channels of distribution, and maximizing dollars spent on sales. Moreover, the market has to be large enough to support an interesting company. The enterprise with less than $10 million in sales and nowhere to go is usually not a suitable target for venture-capital financiers. Companies of that size are known as the "walking dead" in a venture portfolio–too small to go public and too large to abandon.
A recognized pioneer of the national
private equity and venture capital
bar, Mr. Bartlett is special counsel in
the Corporate, Securities and
Financial Institutions practice for
McCarter & English. He has served as
President of the Boston Bar
Association and as General Counsel
and Undersecretary of the U.S.
Department of Commerce. He has
authored numerous treatises,
including Leveraged Buyouts,
Compensation Structures for Venture
Backed Companies, Equity Finance,
Fundamentals of Venture Capital and
Venture Capital: Law, Business
Strategies and Investment Planning.
He is also founder and chairman of VC
Experts, for which he is an active
contributing editor. Mr. Bartlett is a
frequent speaker on industry issues
and lectures as a faculty member at
Cornell’s Johnson School of Business.
Editor: Amanda Akin
Copyright © 2013 VC Experts.com, Inc.
PAGE 4 VC EXPERTS NEWSLETTER
Event Date Location
Client Servicing for
Institutional Asset Managers
AND Mastering RFPs &
Consultant Databases
Oct. 17-18 New York, NY
Private Equity Operations
and Compliance Forum
Oct. 17-18 New York, NY
Hedge Fund Operational
Due Diligence Forum
Oct. 22-23 New York, NY
Healthcare Provider
Technology M&A Forum
Oct. 22 New York, NY
Family Office & Private
Wealth Management Forum
– West
Oct. 24 Napa, CA
Private Equity Investing in
Environmental Services
Companies
Oct. 24 New York, NY
Best Practices for Launching
& Managing an SBIC
Oct. 31 New York, NY
VC EXPERTS Calendar of Events
View More Event Listings
NEW BOOK! Delaware Cases Relevant to the Venture Capital and Private Equity Community
By Potter Anderson Corroon LLP
Table of Contents: Introduction Potter Anderson Corroon Indices to Delaware Cases Chronological Index to the year in Review - Key Delaware Cases of 2011 Chronological Index to the year in Review - Key Delaware Cases of 2012 Chronological Index to the year in Review - Key Delaware Cases of 2013 The Year In Review – Key Delaware Cases of 2011 The Year In Review – Key Delaware Cases of 2012 The Year In Review – Key Delaware Cases of 2013