News
Revcontent, a self-funded company powering content recommendations for publishers like Forbes and The Atlantic, has acquired Rover.
That’s not Rover the pet-sitting marketplace, but rather the content discovery app formerly known as Flipora and Infoaxe. CEO John Lemp told me that Revcontent is paying “north of $30 million” in cash and stock for the acquisition, which he described as an investment in better content recommendations.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced today a $179,800 award to Kiana Analytics, Inc. to enhance U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) passenger screening technology. The project is awarded under the Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP) Other Transaction Solicitation (OTS) aimed at non-traditional performers to offer solutions to some of the toughest threats facing DHS and the homeland security mission.
“CBP secures and manages 328 ports of entry all over the country, including in remote areas,” said CBP Acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan. “Through the Silicon Valley Innovation Program, we are exploring technologies that can provide us with new capabilities and solutions to facilitate lawful entry at even our most remote U.S. ports of entry.”
Band member Richard Pivnicka, Honorary Consul General of the Czech Republic, on March 14th hosted a “Startup Salon” at AutoVino in Menlo Park for 50 Masters in Entrepreneurship and MBA students from his alma mater University of Notre Dame. In Notre Dame’s 11-month entrepreneurship program – ESTEEM – students learn not only about startups in general but specifically about the commercialization of innovative science, engineering, and technology discoveries and innovations. Ian Sobieski, Chairman of the Band of Angels, interviewed Marc Tarpenning, co-founder of Tesla Motors, educator, and role model. Other prominent guests invited to converse with the graduate students included Whit Diffie, winner of the $1m Turing Prize, the “Nobel" of computer science, and, Dr. Ramesh Raskar, Director of MIT Camera Labs and winner of the $500,000 Lemelson Award.
The Life Sciences/MedTech Special Interest Group (SiG) met on Wednesday, March 15th at Carr & Ferrell (120 Constitution Dr, Menlo Park) from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Presenters included: a diagnostic/software company that has developed a next generation approach to objectively quantify pain in humans, a company that makes programmable temporary tattoos that are electronics-free and transform to convey useful information about your body or environment, a company that is creating a solution that delivers accurate, objective indicators of asthma control as part of a service to support patients and their families in achieving the best outcomes, and a company that has developed surgical systems improving soft tissue repair in both lower and upper extremities.
The next Life Sciences/MedTech SiG meeting will be on Wednesday, May 17th. To apply, please complete the online application and check "Life Sciences/MedTech SiG".
Band member Bruce Schechter and Andrew Krowne from Dolby Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm, met with a group of startup entrepreneurs at Pivotal Labs on March 14th at the SF Pitch Night organized by Lifograph. Both speakers provided great advice and nice feedback to the founders. Lifograph, the Wiki of People, is building the timeline and connection graph of the Who's Who in Silicon Valley and beyond.
