Dan Primack

Lightspeed Venture Partners and Gemini Israel Funds have closed a joint incubator program that provided seed capital to early-stage Israeli Internet companies. No explanation was provided for the shutdown, in an announcement on the Lgilab blog (yes, this appears to be an old story, but I haven't seen it elsewhere): After more than 3 great years, the LightSpeed Gemini Internet Lab is ending its operations. The joint venture from LightSpeed Venture Partners and Gemini Israel funds has been a great opportunity to fund and support some of the most interesting web startups in Israel. Both funds are still actively looking for new opportunities for fund new internet projects at early stage. I've put in a call to Lightspeed's Silicon Valley office, to find out what will happen to the incubator's portfolio companies (Eyeview, OutBrain, StyleShake, Vahu.com, Vestopia, etc.). Also would be interested to know what this means for Lgilab general manager Ouriel Ohayon, Lgilab's only fulltime employee without a pre-existing connection to either Lightspeed or Gemini...

Back in June, Twitter app store oneforty became the first TechStars Boston company to get seed funding (just two weeks after presenting). Now it has become the first one to get institutional VC funding, with a small round that was led by Flybridge Capital Partners. According to a regulatory filing, Oneforty has secured $1.62 million of a $2.37 financing with Flybridge's Jeff Bussgang joining the board of directors. This includes an equity conversion of around $372k from a debt bridge. Oneforty is run by Laura Fitton (@Pistachio), founder of a Twitter consultancy and author of Twitter for Dummies. The Brighton, Mass.-based company describes itself thusly on its website:

We don't typically cover startups that have yet to secure venture capital, but an exception seems appropriate when the founding CEO was a venture capitalist himself. That ex-VC is Dan Gellert, who spent the past three years as an associate with Time Warner Investments. He quit back in September to launch GateGuru, an iPhone app that helps users find and rate restaurants, lounges and other amenities in 85 U.S. airports. The $2 app currently ranks #9 among paid travel apps in the iPhone store, although has climbed as high as #3. "While I was still at Time Warner, I was visiting a company down in Florida," says Gellert, explaining GateGuru's genesis. "It was a day trip, and on the way back saw an interesting looking pub just before security, which probably had decent sandwiches and beer. But I went through security, figuring there would be something similar on the other side, closer to my gate. But it turned out there was just a pizza place and a Burger King. I was amazed that with so many dollars spent in airports, there is very little information about things like that."

David Walrod has quietly joined Bridgescale Partners as a venture partner. He actually did so back in April, but the tech-focused growth equity firm never announced the move (and we haven’t seen it elsewhere). The last time Walrod made news was in June 2007, when he stepped down as a Palo Alto-based general partner with Oak […]

Stanford University has called off a proposed secondary sale of alternative investment interests, which originally was aimed at providing around $1 billion in near-term liquidity. It's the topic of my weekly video spot with Reuters, where we discuss what the cancellation means for private equity, the secondary business and Stanford itself: Get more peHUB videos here

Michael Kim announced this morning that he is leaving VC firm Rustic Canyon Partners, in order to launch a fund-of-funds shop called Cendana Capital. "I look at this as moving up the food chain," says Kim, who helped launch Rustic Canyon ten years ago. "I've really enjoyed by time as a venture capitalist, but now I'll be able to invest in the best managers across a wider spectrum of investment strategies." Cendana will begin raising its inaugural fund-of-funds early next year, with a $250 million target. It will be opportunistic in terms of investments, with no pre-determined allocations. "There are plenty of funds-of-funds focused on VC or focused on distressed, but we plan to be flexible and allocate on where we think the best opportunities are," Kim explains. "If that means international early-stage, then that's what we'll commit to."

Thus far, the Canopy Financial story has been about how some company execs allegedly cooked the books to secure more than $60 million in new venture capital investment. But we've now learned that the scheming may have been far broader, and affected many more people than just Canopy's investors and (mostly laid-off) employees. In a letter sent yesterday to its customers, Canopy said that it has reason to believe that former executives were skimming from the Health Savings Accounts that Canopy's technology is designed to help administer. In other words, they were stealing from ordinary folks employed by companies like Fifth Third Bank and Sovereign Bank (Canopy also claimed many clients outside the financial services space, but we've been unable to confirm their validity). Canopy's letter did not say how much money might have been taken, but we hear that it was well in excess of just a few hundred thousand dollars.

First Round Capital has outdone itself. Not with a new investment, but with a new video holiday card. You might remember last year's infectiously joyous effort, which involved First Round partners dancing with each of their portfolio companies (a spoof on the Dancing Matt phenomenon). This time they've set their sights on another, and more recent, viral superstar:

Back in April, venture capitalist Joanna Rees told VentureBeat that she was considering a run to succeed Gavin Newsom as mayor of San Francisco. We were more than a bit surprised, given that a Rees candidacy would result in all sorts of dirty laundry being re-aired.Connie even wondered if it was "largely a publicity stunt intended to clear her name in Silicon Valley."Well, it seems that Rees is serious. She recently launched a website that includes a blog (latest post is about post-divorce family), a biography (no mention of her VC firm's implosion), photos (including ones w/ Bill Clinton and Quincy Jones), nonprofit affiliations (e.g., New Schools, World Economic Forum) and select past investments.

Very saddened to learn that Dick McGlinchey, a Boston-area marketing pro focused on VC firms and early-stage companies, passed away last Wednesday night from a heart attack. Dick also had been suffering from a progressive neurological disease called Multiple System Atrophy.I first got to know Dick when he was in charge of marketing for Battery Ventures (1999-2004). He later continued to work with various VC firms and early-stage companies. Extremely generous with his time, expertise and advice. He also didn’t mind swapping industry gossip, which is a great way to make sure reporters pick up the phone when you’ve got something to pitch. Really just a wonderful guy, and someone I was honored to be able to call a friend.