philly Archives - Serious Startups

Baltimore Startup: Parking Panda Expanding To Philly & San Francisco

The genius parking startup out of Baltimore Maryland, Parking Panda, has announced that now that they’ve rolled out service in the nation’s capital, the next cities on the list are Philadelphia and San Francisco.

Parking Panda CEO and Co-Founder, Nick Miller, has reported that they’ve closed one $250,000 round of funding and have another one in the works.

The service works similarly to the way that hotels.com works. Users logon to their website at parkingpanda.com and they can browse the available parking spots in the city they are looking at. The spots are a variety of vacant spots in parking garages and also individual driveways and business lots.

The user can pay for the current day, a future date or a range of dates. They prepay using their credit card and are guaranteed a parking spot in the facility they selected. Parking spots range anywhere from $5.00 on up.

Parkingpanda goes one step further and lets users know what the parking spot they are looking at is near. In Washington DC Parkingpanda tells the user the nearby attractions like museums and metro routes. In Baltimore, Miller reports that a lot of people are renting their driveways on Ravens and Orioles game days.

There’s been no date announced for the expansion but it looks like it will be sooner rather than later. Miller told BmoreMedia that they are working on finding the parking spaces in both Philly and San Francisco.

Linkage:

Check out ParkingPanda here

Source: BmoreMedia

Nibletz is the voice of #startups “everywhere else” check out these new stories

We’re on a sneaker strapped nationwide road trip, check it out and support us here

Philly Startup: Blue Claw Tough Stylish Bags Made in America

The Blue Claw Company is a Philadelphia area startup that launched in 2010. Blue Claw Co manufactures handmade Luxury Bags that have the bright bold look that the mid 20’s to mid 30’s business professional craves and the durability to handle all the travel people can throw at them. As many of our readers know we spend significant periods of time on the road. Just last month we traveled to Chattanooga, Washington DC, and other cities along the eastern shore of United States. We are preparing to head off on the “Road Trip to Everywhere Else.” So Blue Claw came into our lives at just the perfect moment.

We tend to have at least two or three bags a piece before getting on the road and most of our “luggage” consists of backpack or messenger bags. We have been in need of at least one professional appearing bag for each of us. I’ve struggled with a very strong dislike for plain bags. If my bag is impossible to identify at the baggage claim; or if somebody could easily walk anonymously away with my bag – well, I don’t feel comfortable. As you can see in the photo above, the Worton Weekender maintains a professional look but with flair.

Most of their bags come with waterproof liners an absolute must for other tech geeks like us. The bags offered by Blue Claw are made with Imported Leather and 1050 D Ballistic nylon. This is to help provide years of use (and abuse) by seasoned travelers and still be available to hand down to their kids. What was the impetus that caused the decision to launch a luxury bag company in the midst of a recession? How did this all come about? We asked Adam Blitzer (Founder) a number of questions.

1. Your name is Adam (last name?) and your co-founder is named?

My name is Adam Blitzer. My cofounder’s name is Alex Realmuto.

2. When you contacted us you said “If you guys are interested in covering a startup that is bringing jobs back to the USA and the improbable concept of starting a luxury company amidst a recession…” You bring up a great point, what were you thinking? Was there a specific set of circumstances or was this just a “let’s do this, economy be damned” decision.

As crazy as it sounds, it was actually the perfect time to launch. People were cutting out impulsive purchases which is exactly what we are not. No matter what the economy is doing, people value quality products that will last forever. We knew if we created the perfect line, people would become brand advocates. There were not a ton of luxury bag companies popping up at the time so the buzz was magnified. This really helped get the ball rolling.

Philly Phocus: HACK – Technology Based Art and Design Exhibit

Philly Phocus #2 – We look at HACK “A TECHNOLOGY BASED DESIGN AND ART EXHIBITION

WHAT IS HACK PHILLY THEN?

HACK is an open call for technology based projects. Inviting participation from the design, art, hacker, and DIY communities in Philadelphia. We are encouraging collaborative works for submission, but this is not a requirement. We are asking for a range of works; from 2D to 3D works, applications, wearables, installation, objects, and performances.

The emergence of new technology has unveiled a community of people who may or may not consider themselves artists or designers. Hackers are liberating these technologies from the intentions of their original creators, thus rendering new raw materials resulting in unintended consequences. Ultimately, traditional borders do not bind these interstitial communities; by re-appropriating, merging, extending, and breaking down barriers through disruption, these hackers are creating something new and innovative.

HACK will take place as part of Philly Tech Week on April 27 and 28, 2012. Both nights will have the gallery show as well as live performances.

WHY ARE WE COVERING THIS?

In the next 11 days we will be following Philadelphia startups in a lot of depth. April 20 – 22 we will be covering Philadelphia Startup Weekend which is included in Philly Tech Week but is still its own event. Following that Philly Tech Week goes from April 20-28 because of that I figure we should highlight one of the events that I am most excited about attending, and not just as a blogger/journalist but as a local boy with a number of friends who would have been a perfect fit for this exhibit.

Taking a break from the constant discussions and walking and letting somebody else handle the control of your mind for a short while might just help you relax or it might just be able to set off your own creative spark. Taking a few minutes to an hour out of your 6-8 days there will not kill you. So, if you have yet to check out HACK

Follow that link, it’ll take you to their kickstarter page (the VERY MODEST) amount requested has been reached so Andrew has decided to attempt to raise additional money – FUNDING SUCCESSFUL ! New STRETCH GOAL: $ 2000 !

If we meet our new stretch goal, the quality of the catalog, shirts, and overall exhibition will be greatly increased !!!

Philly Startup: Lokalty Combines Local Loyalty Reward Cards With The Power Of One

Three University of Pennsylvania graduates, Balu Chandrasekaran, Philip Tribe and Bipen Sasi created a startup last October that puts an entire new spin on recommendation, reward and loyalty at the retail level. We’ve often suggested that the recommendation/reward space is going to become hotter than daily deals as merchants focus on retaining and growing their customer base through loyalty. While Lokalty is only available in Philadelphia at the moment, these three entrepreneurs get that.

According to their website Lokalty was born in February 2011 out of an idea that the three had at a Rittenhouse gym. They started working on the project seven months ago and went live just five months ago. As we suggested above, they were growing tired of daily deals and wanted to find something more effective for both the merchant and the customer.

The idea behind Lokalty has been tricky as Chandrasekaran told FlyingKitemedia:

“Growing the company has been tricky”, says Chandrasekaran, who says he and his partners have taken on a difficult task, marketing to businesses and consumers at the same time. “It’s the classic chicken and egg problem.” While Lokalty means marketing for retailers, “most small business owners would rather hear sales pitches that address the cost side instead of the revenue side.”

After the trio gets over this hurdle, the benefits to a platform like Lokalty are easy to see. A customer in the Lokalty program, like may of us, has a key ring full of rewards cards. With Lokalty you get one card for all the network merchants. Lokalty makes it so if you buy enough coffee from Elixr you can get free bagels from Spread Bagelry . You can use points from one merchant in the network with any other merchant in the network. So not only is the Lokalty program encouraging repeat business at one merchant, but they’re encouraging discovery and repeat business at all the other merchants in the network as well.

More after the break
Read More…

Technically Philly Expanding To Cover Baltimore

One thing that Cameron and I have noticed on the road covering startups “Everywhere Else” is that there are some really great locally focused websites out there (and some really horrible ones). Sites like inthecapital.com (covering Washington DC’s thriving tech scene), Builtinchicago (covering Chicago’s Tech Scene), Silicon Prairie, TechCocktail and Technically Philly do a great job of keeping the tech community in their target areas in focus.

Technically Philly is expanding this summer. They let their readers know in this blog post that they plan on soft launching Technically Baltimore.com later this summer with the help of Baltimore entrepreneur and startup evangelist Mike Brenner. Brenner maintains the startupbaltimore.org site and will be instrumental in Technically Baltimore’d launch. They plan on having a more formal launch in the fall.

Technically Philly has a revenue model that consists of an annual event called “Philly Tech Week” which is just about a week away, along with other shoulder events, and some underwriting. They plan on continuing a similar model with the Baltimore site, so while reporting on the Baltimore tech scene will be priority number one, companies in Charm City will also get the chance to showcase themselves in an event similar to Philly Tech Week (we hope).

More after the break
Read More…

Philly Entrepreneurs Unveil The Startup Beach House

Now before we get too far into the story we are well aware that there are no “beaches” in Philadelphia however that’s not stopping Greg Berry (founder of Municibid), Mike Bianchini (Municibid CMO) and Dave Drager (Razorserver’s VP of Technology) from hosting the first ever Startup Beach House. Like most Philadelphians, the Startup beach house will be on the Jersey Shore.

The group is taking applicants now and plans to host five startups in a 6 bedroom 18 bed beach house in Avalon, NJ. The Startup Beach House will take place from August 11th to 18th and is open to anyone, not just those in Philadelphia.

“We’re more concerned with the quality of teammates than the idea,” Berry told technicallyphilly.com. “Mostly looking for people who share the same passion for entrepreneurship that we have.”

Will it be hard to focus on building a startup when you’re surrounded by miles of open beach and an awesome beach mansion? Maybe, but Berry is hoping that the next Instagram could come out of this experience.

If you’ve got what it takes to work in the startup beach house applications are being taken through May 31st Here. Good Luck.

Source: TechnicallyPhilly

Ridearoo, A Startup That Originated At Drexel University, Expands To Every College Campus In Philly

Ridearoo is a start up in Philadelphia that was founded by Drexel University graduates Andy Guy and Aksel Gungor. They started ridearoo in 2010 and now it’s starting to pick up traction and is available to all college students in Philadelphia.

Ridearoo isn’t some national gigantic network of rideshares, Ridearoo is designed to be implemented in organizations like colleges, universities and companies with large campuses. Each organization that utilizes the Ridearoo system supplies their students, workers or community members with a password that is customized for their organization. This way students at Temple University don’t have to comb through drivers and riders at say Villanova. The same would hold true as Ridearoo picks up more clients with companies.

The founders of Ridearoo characterize the service in their own words as:

“We offer a private, online tool to organizations that allows commuters within that organization to set up carpools with colleagues and peers.”

The Ridearoo service is easy there are three simple steps:

1. Tell Ridearoo your daily commute or special trip

2. Find matches who are going to the same areas or on the same route

3. Join rides

Ridearoo started when Gungor found a ride share board at Drexel University, the idea was born out of that. They then took the ride share board online in the first iteration of Ridearoo. Now it serves every college campus in Philadelphia with plans to expand to other colleges, universities, business campuses and other organizations.

To find out more about Ridearoo visit ridearoo.com