Steve Woda's Blog

… Ecommerce, Internet Security, Economics, and Entrepreneurship

Roundbox Raises $20 Million for Mobile Broadcast Software

RoundBox, a provider of mobile broadcast software, announced on Monday that it has raised over $20 million in its third round of venture capital funding, led by Montagu Newhall Associates. Itochu Techno-Solutions Corporation, and previous backers Core Capital Partners, Polaris Venture Partners and RRE Ventures also participated in the round, which will be used to invest in product development and customer delivery.

Learn more >> Roundbox Raises $20 Million for Mobile Broadcast Software – Digital Media Wire

Roundbox Secures Over $20 Million in Series C Financing

Infinite Power Solutions, a thin micro-cell firm, raises $13 million

Infinite Power Solutions Inc. (IPS), a developer of solid-state, rechargeable thin-film batteries, has said it has completed its Series B round of financing, raising $13 million to fund the ramp to volume production of its Thinergy micro-energy cell product family.

Existing financial investors D. E. Shaw Ventures and Polaris Venture Partners led the Series B round, and were joined by the company's other existing investors Core Capital Partners, Applied Ventures LLC, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials and In-Q-Tel, along with a unnamed strategic investor.

Learn more >> Thin micro-cell firm raises $13 million – EETimes.com

How Do You Win a Business Plan Competition?

The short answer is that you need to be very, very good.  There are a lot of terrific, aspiring entrepreneurs out there, and so a bit of luck is useful too.  Having said that, winning isn't everything. 

buySAFE is actually a product of the 2002 Wharton Business Plan Competition, but the plan was not the winning plan.  PayMyBills.com has a similar story.  The founders and my good friends, Jeff Grass and John Tedesco, were finalists, but not winners, in the 1999 Wharton Business Plan Competition.  However, they went on to raise tens of millions in venture capital and they built a really nice business in the process. 

Simply going through the business planning and critique process is the real benefit of these competitions in my opinion.  Business plans are funny things.  Business planning is a fairly simple exercise, but if you haven't previously developed a plan, the effort can seem very daunting.  Business plan competitions typically provide basic advice to the entrepreneurs on how to get started.  The competitions also have multiple stages with each stage presenting an opportunity to receive valuable feedback from the experienced entrepreneurs and investors that are judging and/or mentoring in the competition.

The following Business Week video does a nice job of covering the basics regarding what you need to know before submitting your business plan.

Winning a Business Plan Competition | The Businessweek Video Library

In the video, the University of Oregon's Randy Swangard talks about how to win that business plan competition — what to keep in mind before you apply, and why it's sometimes better to come in second.

The Wharton Club of New York is running a business plan competition now, and here is all the information you need to enter as a participant.  I highly encourage you to participate if you can.

Also, you might find the following NY Times article interesting.  "Beyond Grades: Business Students Put Their Start-up Ideas to the Test" does a nice job of covering the ins and outs of business school business plan competitions.

Have fun, and good luck!

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Core Capital leads venture round for RollStream

Core Capital Partners led a $6 million round of funding for RollStream Inc., a developer of supply-chain software. Fairfax-based RollStream said the latest round of funding from the D.C.-based venture capital firm will be used to bolster its portfolio of enterprise community software services.

RollStream's Web-based platform helps manage partner relationships, letting businesses cut the costs and time required partners, communicate operational changes, and unveil sales and marketing initiatives.

Learn more >> Core Capital leads venture round for RollStream – Washington Business Journal:

Core Capital Partners Invests in $14.5 Million Round for Trust Digital

Core Capital Partners, a leading venture capital firm that invests in high-growth technology companies, announced today it is participating in a $14.5 million funding round for McLean, Va.-based Trust Digital, a leading enterprise mobility management (EMM) provider.

The funding will be used to extend Trust Digitals platform to include Research in Motions BlackBerry devices, the Apple iPhone and Google Android. The funds will also go toward expanding direct sales and channel partner support.

Learn more >> Core Capital Partners Invests in $14.5 Million Round for Trust Digital

Biography

Steven L. Woda
President, CEO, and Co-Founder
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As President and CEO of uKnow.com, Steve leads the company in its mission of empowering parents with smart tools to keep social and mobile kids safe from the greatest digital dangers including child predators, sexting, and cyberbullying. He is responsible for guiding the company’s strategy and overseeing day-to-day operations.

uKnow.com powers the world’s leading Parental Intelligence Systems including uKnowKids.com, Family Sense from XFinity, MySocialScout.net, SocialFirefly.comSafeCyberKids.com, and many others. In short, uKnow.com provides parents with a bird’s eye view of what is going on in their child’s digital world so that they can keep their finger on the pulse, and when necessary, take action to protect the safety and privacy of their kids.  Here is a brief intro video… http://www.uknow/overview/

Previously, Steve was the Founder and Chairman of buySAFE, the world’s leading ecommerce trust and safety company, which is now partially owned by Symantec (purchased from Verisign) and The Hartford.  During his nine years at buySAFE, Steve led almost every aspect of operations and co-raised almost $30 million in venture capital. As Senior Vice President of Product and Strategy, he was responsible for leading the company’s business intelligence, professional services, and product management teams that developed all of the Company’s core products, including the buySAFE Seal™, Website Bonding, the Safe Shopping Rating™, and the buySAFE Shopping Advisor™. He also previously led the marketing, sales, and business development teams as Senior Vice President of Strategic Growth during the company’s initial years of rapid growth.

Prior to founding buySAFE, Steve led USF&G’s New York City surety bond operations where he managed a $1.5 billion portfolio of surety bond guarantees and built the business from $3 million to more than $10 million annual revenue in just two years. Steve began his career at Travelers, and also worked at PayMyBills.com, an idealab! company focused on online bill management and payments.

Steve is a recognized expert and regular public speaker on the subjects of Internet/mobile safety and security, ecommerce, and information economics, and he serves on the Advisory Boards of buySAFE and LaunchBox Digital. Steve was appointed to the Virginia Joint Commission on Science and Technology’s Cybercrimes Advisory Committee in 2006, and he is also the inventor of the “Safe Transaction Guaranty” (US Patent 7,644,019) as well as two additional patent applications related to “Method, System, and Components for Obtaining, Evaluating and/or Utilizing Seller, Buyer, and Transaction Data” (US Patent Applications 20090119161 and 20090119160).

Steve earned his MBA in both Entrepreneurship and Operations & Information Management at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. With the help of a collegiate golf scholarship, he earned his BS in Business Administration – Finance & Marketing at Florida Southern College. Steve’s most treasured project is that of husband and father for his incredible wife and two young children.

Blog – stevewoda.com

Twitter – twitter.com/stevewoda

Facebook – fb.com/stevewoda

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V.i. Labs Secures $4 Million in Additional Funding

V.i. Labs, a provider of software protection solutions, received $4 million in additional funding to accelerate its product development efforts and expand platform support for its CodeArmor software protection and intelligence solutions. Existing investors, Core Capital and Ascent Ventures, participated in the expansion round.

Learn more >> V.i. Labs Secures $4 Million in Additional Funding

buySAFE Announces Several Key Syndication Partnerships to Reach More Merchants and Buyers

buySAFE continues to add lots of terrific partnerships.  Check out the latest announcement…

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