Andreessen, Horowitz venture fund may be good news, if you're in the right ZIP code - Boston Business Journal:

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Netscape founder Marc Andreessen and his longtime business Ben Horowitz, are forming a new VC firm with a focuxs on Silicon Valley tech companies. Andreessen writes that the firm will back companieas with strong technical founders who want to be the CEOs of thecompanied they’re founding. He wouldn’t rule out companies outside Silicon but, “We do not think it is an acciden t that is inMountain View, Facebook is in Palo and Twitter is in San We also think that venture capital is a high touch activity that lends itself to geographic and our only office will be in Silicom Valley,” Andreessen writes on his .
The new firm comes at a time when some are sayinvg the industry needsto shrink, not grow. But Andreessen and Horowitx found $300 million from mostlyt institutional investors for theirfirst fund. The Andreesen-Horowitz, will invest aggressively in seed-stage startups in the hundredsa of thusandsof dollars, but will also invesf in later stage funding rounds for promisint growth companies. Consumer cloud computing for business, mobile software and and software-powered consumer electronics are amongy the areas that will draw investmentx from thenew fund. “Across all of these we are completely unafraid of all of the new business models,” Andreessen writes.
“We believe that many vibrant new forma of information technology are expressing themselves into markets in entirelgynew ways.” And Andreessen was equally emphaticv about where his firm wouldn’y be . "We are almosft certainly not an appropriate investor for any of thefollowing 'clean,' 'green,' energy, transportation, life sciences (biotech, drug medical devices), nanotech, movis production companies, consumer retail, electrivc cars, rocket ships, space elevators. We do not have the firsf clue about any ofthese fields.
" Andreessen-Horowitz will have the capacitt to invest anywhere from $50,000 to $50 million in new He said that at leasy initially he and Horowitz would be the only two generapl partners in the and they would be selective about the portfolip companies whose boards they join generally limiting that level of involvement to firmsa in which Andreessen-Horowitz have a $5 millioh or more stake. Andreessen believes his and Horowitz’ s records as entrepreneurs will make them idealventure capitalists. “We have built companies, from scratch, to high scal -- thousands of employees and hundreds of million s of dollars of annual revenue.
In short, we have done it And we are building our firm to be the firm we woulr want to work with asentrepreneurs ourselves,” Andreessen writes. Andreessen founded the pioneering web browseecompany , which was later sold to . Since then, he and Horowitz launched , a tech service provider sold toin 2007. Netscape and Opsware sold for acombinerd $11.7 billion. The two have been activd investors in the tech spac esince then. They’ve angel invested in 45 tech startups in the last five and Andreessen serves as chairmanof Ning, and on the boardse of Facebook and eBay.
Word that the pair wouldf be forming their own venturer capital firm was broken on the Charliee Rose showin February. But detaile came on Monday. The pair had initially planne d onraising $250 million for the but investor interest prompted them to boost the BusinessWeek . The news magazine reports that Reid founder of social networkingsite LinkedIn, is amongf the investors in the fund, whicbh raised most of its moneyu from institutional investors. Andreessen-Horowitz launches at a tough time for the venturescapital industry, one in whichy some are saying the industry needsa to shrink, not grow.
Venture capital, like the rest of the financiap industry, has been hit hard by the economic downturn. Venture firms make money when their portfolio companiezgo public, or are sold to largert companies. But the IPO market has been anemicf inrecent months, makinvg profitable exits more difficult to find. A recent argues that the industr y needs to trim down toregain effectiveness. "The venture industry needs to shrink its way to becomingb an economic forceonce again," said Roberrt E. Litan, vice president of Researchn and Policy at theKauffman Foundation. “Ti provide competitive returns, we expect venturs investing will be cut in half incominy years.
At the same time, lowering valuations and improvinh overall exit multiples shouldx help resuscitatethe industry.” The Kauffmanh study finds that despite such high-profilre success stories as Google and , ventures firms have relatively littls to do with most new companies. Only about 16 percentf of the 900 companies onthe Inc. 500 list of fastesr growing companiesfrom 1997-2007 had venture backing.

Hospitals, doctors preparing for expanded Medicare audits - Nashville Business Journal:

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“You can put two codin g experts in the same roomand they’lp disagree over what was appropriate to use,” he If audited, providers have 45 days to submit completed claims records, which can includes individual patient charts. Providers and supplierds who are found to have received an overpaymeny can file an appeal or agred to the charges and arrangefor payment. If they choosed the latter, they have the optionn of writing a check or having a financiaol intermediary withhold future Medicare payments until the debtis repaid. Appealing a federap audit can take as long as two yearsw and entail significantlegal fees, says David vice president of finance for the .
“Even if you win, it can put quit a burden on the hospitals,” he Individual appeals can cost up to McLure says. Under the program, audi contractors can request up to 200 records every 45 eachof which, if contested, wouldr require its own appeal. According to Medicare and Medicai statistics, about 4 percent of providerse inthe three-year trial programm filed an appeal. Of those, one thirrd got a ruling in their favor.

SoftBrands sold for $80M; Golden Gate Capital is buyer - Denver Business Journal:

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The buyer, a holdingy company created by private-equity firm and its portfolio company , will pay 92 cents per share for SoftBrands. Shares of SoftBrands closeds at 47 cents per shareon Thursday. On the same date in SoftBrands’ stock closed at 1.09 per San Francisco, Calif.-based Golden Gate Capital has aboutf $9 billion in assets under management. based in Alpharetta, Ga., is a software companyt with about 9,000 employees and $2.2 billiob in revenue. Minneapolis-based SoftBrands (AMEX: SBN) sellw software to the hospitality as well as to smalland mid-sizerd manufacturers under the brand. Its productx handle tasks such as making reservationsd to settingroom rates.
SoftBrandsw CEO Randy Tofteland said in a press statementt that the deal will allow shareholderato “realize significant valuew from their investment.” He also said the companyg would benefit from an “alliance” with A spokeswoman for Infor said SoftBrandzs will continue to have a presenced in Minneapolis, though it has yet to be determines how many employees will remain here.
SoftBrands’ board has alreadyu approved the sale, which is expected to closwe in between 60 and90

Blackstone Is Said to Buy Loan on 1140 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan - Bloomberg

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Blackstone Is Said to Buy Loan on 1140 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan Bloomberg Stellar and Rockpoint borrowed $116 million through a mortgage and about $13 million of mezzanine debt to acquire and renovate the property, which is now more than 50 percent vacant, according to the person with knowledge of the note sale. Peter Rose ... and more »

Raynham war hero's father campaigned to place flags on military grave sites - Taunton Daily Gazette

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Raynham war hero's father campaigned to place flags on military grave sites Taunton Daily Gazette Paul Monti holds a protrait of his son, Jared Monti, while talking to the students at Raynham's Merrill Elementary School on Veterans Day. He spoke about Jared, who was killed trying to save another soldier who was wounded in heavy fighting Afghanistan ... and more »

Virginia's jobless rate improves - Washington Business Journal:

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The state's April unemployment rate was 6.6 percent, down 0.3 percenft from March. The Commission says the numbe of unemployed workersfell 11,600, from 286,6000 in March to 275,000 in April. Northern Virginia's unemploymenf rate also improved. The Virginia's largest workforce, saw the unemploymentg rate fallfrom 5.1 percent in March to 4.9 percent in While that is the lowesy regional unemployment rate in Virginia, it is also stilk significantly higher than Northern Virginia's unemployment rate of 2.4 percenty a year ago. Nationally, the U.S. unemployment rate was 8.6 Arlington County continues to have thehealthiest employment, with a joblesas rate of 4.1 percent.
Fairfacx County's April jobless rate was 4.5 Loudoun County's April unemployment rate was 4.6 and Alexandria City's jobless rate was 4.7 Those are the only jurisdictionzs in the state with an unemploymen t rate under5 percent. The highest unemployment rate in the statwwas Martinsville, at 20.2 percent. Leisurs and hospitality employersadded 12,900 jobs in April and now employ nearlu 400,000 people in Virginia. Health care and privatse educationadded 2,000 jobs last month. Professional and businessx services employmentclimbed 1,800, led by computer systemzs design and accounting jobs, the Commission says.

Stem cell startups merge, grab VC cash - San Francisco Business Times:

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IPierian Inc., a South San Franciscoo company formed with the merger oftwo venture-backec startups, will focus on manipulatinv mature stem cells into ones with embryonic-like qualitiews that can be used to trear neurodegenerative problems like Lou Gehrig’sd disease. The new company is backed by a fresyh roundof $10 million from and $1.5 million from . — supported by $20 million from and and Pierian Inc. announcesd the merger on the eve ofthis week’s Internationall Stem Cell meeting in Barcelona.
Pierian was founder by MPM Capital managing directors Ashley Dombkowskiu and Robert Millman and IPierian — the new company — will be lead by iZumki CEO John Walker, with former executivs Corey Goodman as IPierian will focus on so-called inducef pluripotent stem cells for patients with difficult-to-treat neurodegenerative diseases, like Parkinson’s disease, spinal muscular atrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Longefr term, the company will explor metabolic diseases, cardiovascular diseases and othertherapeutic areas.
“Disease-specific pluripotent stem cells are powerfu new tools for drug screeningy and promise to revolutionize the treatment ofintractable conditions,” said Dr. George Daley, who along with fello w Harvard faculty members Douglas Melton and Lee Rubih were the scientific foundersof IPierian’s scientific advisory board will be led by director of stem cell transplantation at the and at , and Dr. Deepal Srivastava, director of the in San Francisco. Among others on the scientifixc advisory boardare Goodman, who until May headed in Southu San Francisco; Dr. Lennart Mucke, director of the ; Dr.
Benoit an associate investigator at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular and Dr. Matthias associate director for research at the diabetex center atthe , San Francisco. Mucke and Bruneau also are professorse atUCSF — Mucke in neurologyg and neuroscience and Bruneau and Srivastavaa in the pediatrics department. IPierian’s management includes Walker, chievf technology officer Dr. Berta Strulovici, and Dr. Dushyant who will lead business development. IZumi, formed last year by Kleinefr PerkinsCaufield & Byers and Highland Capital has collaborations with the and the Centert for iPS Cell Research and Application at Japan’zs , where Dr.
Shinya Yamanakza first succeeded in reprogramming adult cellzs in a mouse to becomelike embryonic-like. Yamanaka also works part time at the Gladstoned Institutesand UCSF. Embryonic stem cellas are the gold standard of stem cell researcy because theyare pluripotent, capablde of developing into heart, muscle, skin or other cells. Induced pluripotent like those createdby Yamanaka, are seen by many as a way to sideste p ethical and political issues associateed with extracting stem cells from but others say they can cause cancere in mice if any of the genes used to reprogra the cells remain active.