Searchles signs on with Washington Post

Searchles, the local DC startup that provides “social search, has made another big step.  Recently we reported that they received a $300k round of funding, bringing their total up to the $2 million mark.
Mashable is reporting that they have signed a deal with the Washington Post and their newsreaders social network called MyPost.  What Searchles is bring to the table is

Now, when browsing the profiles of other MyPost members, you will see Searchles’ “Related Users” widget, which shows you other people who have taken an interest in similar stories on washingtonpost.com, based primarily on comments.

This seems like a pretty interesting idea.  As we all know, old media is struggling with way to stay relevant in todays climate and I think the Post has been doing well to stay ahead of the curve.  This is another good step for them, especially since it is two local companies and would seem to be a good fit.  A look over at the offical Searchle’s blog gives us a little more insight into the deal.

The widget is part of our Searchles Discovery® technology - geared towards online publishers, bloggers, and social networking sites and priced based on set up fee and a revenue-share working scenario. Social Discovery tools offer a set of customizable solutions for boosting site-engagement, realizing full value of site content by using it as a foundation to build and utilize networks of trusted peers, as well as enhancing social search features and capabilities for targeted advertising.

In addition to the widget, a ‘searchle it!‘ bookmarklet will be added to teh Post stories, with the hope of getting more good content pushed to the Searchle user base.

It will be interesting to follow this deal and see how the integration works to help both companies.

Local Startups Pitch Investors at Grubstake Breakfast

I was cruising around the interwebs this evening and came across an interesting article at Tech Journal South about the Grubstake Breakfast helpd in Vienna, VA this morning.

The Grubstake Breakfast, sponsored by the Business Alliance of George Mason University, is the longest-running networking and investors forum of its kind in the Mid-Atlantic region.

According to the article, the breakfast is an opportunity for local based startups to present their business models to a room full of these investors.  The companies are using early stage startups looking for an A series round of funding in the $250K to $2 million.  Here are the lcoa companies that presented today:

• Reston, Virginia-based Eye Q Development (www.eyedevelopment.com) utilizes an array of patent-pending techbnology and proprietary software platforms to inlay RFID into tickets, ID cards, and water-resistant wrist bands to allow tracking of assets and personnel for security and marketing data analysis.The company is seeking $2 million series “A” investment that will be used for sales/marketing, product completion of additional software, and beta and close of current pipeline.
• Herndon, Virginia-based IRFlex Corporation (www.irflex.com) develops and supplies mid-infrared fiber-optic devices for the military. The company’s products are key components in the new anti-missile systems for military and commerical aircraft. The company is seek private funding of approximately $1 million to acquire the fiber-optic equipment and produce commercial products.
• Vienna, Virginia-based Ordia Solutions, Inc. (www.ordiasolutions.com) has a Web-based sofware application that allows law enforcement officers and other first-responders to communicate and collaborate visually in real-time using tactical graphics, digital maps and shared workspaces to enable highly effective command & control without ever having to set up a physical command post.Ordia Solutions has already raised $630,000 and is currently seeking an additional $500,000 to continue operations and build customer support infrastructure while the early-adopter deals continue toward closing.
• Maryland-based Loladex (www.loladex.com) is a local search engine that allows users to find local businesses based on recommendations from people they know. By integrating with existing social networks Loladex emulates the word-of-mouth process that most people prefer for choosing local merchants. With $350,000 invested so far, Loladex is seeking an additional $750,000 in seed funding to support growth of its existing product and expansion into other Web, social and mobile platforms.

I was really happy to see Loladex on the list.  I have an email in to Dan Goodman, one of the founders, to get some more insight and news as to how things went for them.  We featured loladex here when they launched and have come to know them well and look forward to their success.

Local News: Clearspring Raises $18 million

This was really exciting news here today in the DC area. Clearspring, everyone’s favorite widget network got a Seires C funding round of $18 million.  This is a nice infusion of cash and will allow them to

The new round will fund expansion of Clearspring’s viral marketing network, which currently serves and tracks almost four billion widgets monthly. It will also be used to extend Clearspring’s reach into international markets and further develop its rapidly growing advertising network and vast data infrastructure and optimization services.

Of course we are all happy to see a local company secure such a nice round of funding.  At the recent SocialDevCamp in Baltimore a ccouple of weeks ago, one of the final sessions of the day was about the local area and issues like funding.  Some of the good insight came from Clarence Wooten, of CollectiveX, who had previously cashed out of a company that was bought by Network Solutions.  He said that until the local area gets some major funding under its belt, the area would have a hard time standing out in the crowd.

Maybe a funding infusion to such a great company will help to continue to put DC on the technology company map.  Congrats to the team at Clearspring and good luck.  Use it wisely

Heh DC, Put Up and Show Up !

Of course we all know of the local chatter revolving around the fact that DC is or is not a good place to bring up a budding business.  Many around, including me, like it here and think there are good things in the works.  However, others, especially VC’s, think greener pastures are elsewhere.  Well it is our chance to show them they may juts be wrong.

I was chatting with Keith Casey of Casey Software and WhyGoSolo a little while back and he was telling me about this business plan competition coming up in the area, and he said it would be a great opportunity for the local tech communtiy to stand up and be seen and heard.

The competition Keith was talking about is the Mid-Atlantic Business Plan Competition

That day is the no-holds-barred deathmatch of entrepreneur vs entrepreneur. There are presentations in the morning, a round of eliminations, and then the culmination of the entire contest… the finalists get to present in front of a public audience affectionately called the STARTUP SMACK DOWN.

The panel will include several VC’s, professors, and other local entrepenuers.  Keith makes a great point when he states :

I think it’s time to put up or shut up. If we storm the place… if we completely pack the final presentations with the best and brightest from the DC Tech community, people will notice. The VC’s will do a double take. The professors will take note. The students competing will reconsider immediately leaving for friendlier places.

I am all in as they say in Texas Hold’Em.  What about you ?  We would love to get everyone we can in that auditorium as Keith says to make people take notice that we are here and ready to flourish.  If we can start the create a minor shift in the perception of some of the panlists, they may take that back with them and start a little buzz.  And that would be good for all of us.

So here are the details:

Date: Saturday, April 26 2008

Time: 1-5 PM

Where: ICC Auditorium, Georgetown University (Building 26 on this map)

So what do you say ?  Stop by and join the Facebook Group I created: DC Technology Business Plan Competition Crashers if your interested.