Dan Primack

On the week that peHUB launched in November 2007, venture capitalist Charley Lax wrote the following: Meaningless paperwork is destroying Canada’s venture capital industry, and if our northern neighbor ever wants significant US venture capital to flow north, they’ll listen when I tell them to eliminate Section 116 certificates immediately. Well, nothing happened "immediately," but Canada last week signaled that Section 116 is headed to the scrapheap. What follows is are some questions about Section 116 for Stephen Hurwitz, an attorney who focuses on cross-border transactions between the U.S. and Canada:

"Social networks what dreams are made of..."

Postabon, a website focused on helping users find local retail deals, has secured $1 million of a $1.5 million funding round led by Spark Capital, according to a regulatory filing. Todd Dagres of Spark has joined the Postabon board of directors. The company was founded last year by Harvard students Stu Wall, John Buchanan and Shaneal Manek. Mashable suggested that Postabon is "Foursquare meets shopping" -- based on its use of mobile geolocation technology. Its current offering focuses on the New York market, even though the company is technically headquartered in Cambridge.

I spent a bunch of time in New York City last month, including extended hobnobbing with local VCs and entrepreneurs. One thing I heard over and over again was how the locals would soon leapfrog Boston in terms of entrepreneurial activity and venture capital funding -- positioning themselves in the coveted runner-up position behind perennial leader Silicon Valley. The sentiment was fueled by a variety of factors, including many discussed in this NY Times story from last Friday. Here they are in no particular order:

Covestor, a social networking company focused on personal investing, today told the SEC that it recently raised $360 million in new equity financing. Yes, you read that correctly. No, whoever filled out the form did not do so correctly. Albert Wegner, a partner with Covestor backer Union Square Partners, tells me that while it is true the company recently raised new capital, it was nowhere close to $360 million (which, if true, would have been the largest Web 2.0 ramp-up in history). He declined to say whether the correct figure was $3.6 million, $360,000 or something else entirely.

Had a few free minutes, so figured I'd put together a list of the year's largest venture capital deals (so far). Fairly liberal with the term "venture capital," but that's why this is an interim list rather than an official/final list. Of note: Half of the ten companies could fall under the cleantech category. None of them are healthcare. Take a look after the jump...

Each year, the New England Venture Capital Association hosts a fundraiser at F-1 Racing, a popular go-kart facility in suburban Boston. Teams of venture capitalists compete for the checkered flags, with winning teams getting the $4,500 in event proceeds donated to the charity of their choice. The most recent event took place this past Monday night, with 90 participants. Tom Reardan of WestView Capital taking first place for Citizen Schools. Coming in second was Battery Ventures' Michael Brown, who was racing for Partners in Health. Placing show was Kevin Bitterman of Polaris Venture Partners, who chose Boston Children's Hospital. Get photos of the winners after the jump...

Platform G, a startup formed last year by MySpace founder and former CEO Chris DeWolfe, has raised around $20 million in funding led by Austin Ventures, as first reported by TechCrunch. The company is designed as a serial acquiror, and already has bought social gaming platform MindJolt. No financial terms of the transaction were reported. We're hoping to speak with someone from Austin Ventures shortly... In the meantime, here is a press release that was just distributed:

Most of the debate over Chris Dodd’s financial reform bill has involved the proposed creation of a consumer protection agency. But there also are some smaller provisions in the 1,139-page bill that would directly impact angel investors and startup companies. First up is Section 412, which would change the requirements under which someone can qualify as an “accredited investor.” Since 1982, individuals have been considered “accredited” if they had at least $1 million in personal assets and/or annual income of $200,000 ($300,000 in the case of a joint filing). Under Dodd’s proposal, however, the threshold would become subject to “price inflation” adjustments at least once every five years. The bill does not explain the metrics that would be used to determine “price inflation,” although a 2007 SEC report used a Department of Commerce price index to project a 90% hightening of the asset floor. That same index would have caused the individual and joint income tests to increase to $388,000 and $582,000, respectively. Accredited investor standards were originally created under a thesis that richer folks would have a better understanding of financial risk than would poorer folks, or would at least have the resources to hire

Expect that Battery Ventures will announce a final close on its ninth fund within a week or two. I spoke to several of its LPs yesterday, who say they believe it’s effectively closed, but have not yet received formal notification. Another LP emails this morning to say that a second, and final, close is slated for this week. He adds that the firm appears to have stuck to its $750 million target, rather than succomb to the temptations borne of oversubscription.