http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/ News feed for www.freshtrackscap.com en-us Fri, 02 May 2008 13:05:00 CDT Sun, 11 May 2008 18:02:51 CDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Legitify: Media Management System Fri, 02 May 2008 13:05:00 -0500 Operating from facilities in Long Island City, NY, FreshDirect delivers groceries and prepared foods daily to hundreds of thousands of customers in New York City. Recently FreshDirect entered the home meal replacement business by collaborating with outside experts to produce various lines of "4 Minute Meals", tasty sub 500 calorie meals which can be quickly heated in a microwave. For instance FreshDirect collaborated with Rosa Mexicano, a restaurant group on a line of Mexican Food. For a vegetarian line, FreshDirect turned to the award winning EatingWell test kitchen. The test kitchen responded to the challenge by developing a line of eight intriguing recipes including a vegetarian spaghetti and meatless meatballs and succotash with barbequed portobello mushrooms. To see the EatingWell 4 Minute Meal line displayed on FreshDirect's website, please click here. We're told this summer the FreshDirect trucks will become rolling bill board promotions for EatingWell. If you happen to see an EatingWell branded FreshDirect truck roll by, snap a picture on your cell phone camera and send it along to us. See the following links for press related to the partnership announcement: CNBCForbes     http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/05/02/EatingWell.SLH.FreshDirect-Collaborate-on-4-Minute-Meals/ http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/05/02/EatingWell.SLH.FreshDirect-Collaborate-on-4-Minute-Meals/ Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:40:00 -0500 *FreshTracks Capital II Announces its 4th Portfolio Company: SolarOne*Brighter Planet Completes Series B Financing*Seattle Mariners & Dave Matthews Band Team up With NativeEnergy*Vermont Teddy Bear on WCAX*NEHP Upgrades to New Facility To read the complete newsletter, please click here:the_freshtracks_flurry_apr_2008.pdf http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/04/30/FT-Flurry-.DSH.-April-2008/ http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/04/30/FT-Flurry-.DSH.-April-2008/ Thu, 24 Apr 2008 09:28:00 -0500 Mass High-Tech: The Journal of New England Technology Following is an excerpt from this piece. To read the complete original article, please click here: Brighter Planet Completes Series B Financing   Brighter Planet Inc., a provider of online services and products to promote clean energy use, has closed a $3.2 million Series B round of venture capital to expand its web capabilities, company spokeswoman Alisa Conroy said. The Middlebury, Vt.-based firm said its second round of financing was led by Crow Hill Ventures Ltd. of Vermont. The company had previously raised $500,000 in a Series A round of VC, officials said. The firm also announced three new members to its board of directors, including: Betsy Taylor, co-founder of 1Sky, a nonprofit focused on climate-change policy based in Takoma Park, Md.; Kaj Jensen, vice president for public policy at Bank of America Corp. of Charlotte, N.C.; and Stan Fishkin, president of Crow Hill Ventures and investment management firm Crow Hill Capital Ltd. Founded in 2006, Brighter Planet says it's a socially responsible provider of products and services related to promoting clean energy and reducing global warming. The company employs 11 workers.     http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/04/24/Brighter-Planet-Cleans-Up-With-%243M-in-Funding/ http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/04/24/Brighter-Planet-Cleans-Up-With-%243M-in-Funding/ Thu, 24 Apr 2008 09:27:00 -0500 Following is an excerpt from this piece. To read the complete original article, please click here: SolarOne Announces Financing by FreshTracks Capital  April 22, 2008. Framingham MA: SolarOne® Solutions, Inc. is pleased to announce that FreshTracks Capital of Shelburne, VT and TSG Equity Partners of Stow, MA completed a second round investment in the company. FreshTracks led the transaction, with follow-on participation by existing investor TSG Equity Partners. In addition, SolarOne welcomes FreshTracks' Managing Director, Tim Davis, to its Board of Directors. SolarOne's product offering includes solar-powered commercial-scale lighting using the latest in photovoltaic and LED technologies with its patent-pending SO-Bright™ technology. This advanced solution provides unprecedented efficacy, reliability and control for its own solar lighting systems as well as for major lighting manufacturers, such as Hadco® Lighting. SolarOne's systems illuminate a wide range of applications, including pathways, shelters, parking lots, streets, flags and signs at college campuses, government facilities, national parks and municipalities across North America. Recent installations include the Bethel Woods Center for Performing Arts in New York State and Valle de Bravo National Park outside of Mexico City. The investment will accelerate the sales and marketing efforts of the company, while also supporting on-going product development activities. http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/04/24/SolarOne-Announces-Financing-By-FreshTracks-Capital-II-and-TSG-Equity-Partners-LLC/ http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/04/24/SolarOne-Announces-Financing-By-FreshTracks-Capital-II-and-TSG-Equity-Partners-LLC/ Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:34:00 -0500 WCAX reports on new cookbookEatingWell has issued a new heart healthy cookbook authored by Dr. Phil Ades, professor at UVM's College of Medicine and director of cardiac rehabilitation and preventive cardiology at Fletcher Allen Health Care. The recipes created by the EatingWell test kitchen include many standard "comfort foods" remade into heart healthy fare. To view the video of the WCAX news story go here. http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/04/21/EatingWell-introduces-Healthy-Heart-cookbook/ http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/04/21/EatingWell-introduces-Healthy-Heart-cookbook/ Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:19:00 -0500 *Kluster lands hits in NY Times, cover of Entrepreneur Magazine and Mass High Tech*Peak Pitch Bolton Valley 3/14/08 Wrap Up*EatingWell Launches "Healthy Heart Cookbook" To read the complete newsletter, please click here: the_freshtracks_flurry_march_2008.pdf http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/03/29/FT-Flurry-.DSH.-March-2008/ http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/03/29/FT-Flurry-.DSH.-March-2008/ Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:55:00 -0500 The Barre Montpelier Times ArgusFollowing is an excerpt from this piece. To read the complete original article, please click here: Entrepreneurs Get A Lift. The small talk turns to margaritas Friday morning during a chairlift ride at Bolton Valley's Timberline Lodge. Tim McCaffery explains to Virginia Munkelwitz the vexing problem margarita drinkers face: More often than not they lick the salt off of their glass rims well before the drink is finished. Obviously you can't turn the half-full glass over to reapply the salt. Munkelwitz nods in agreement. Yes, this is a conundrum. McCaffery then moves quickly to his ingenious solution – a hand-held device called The Edge, which re-applies salt to the rim of the upright, half-full margarita glass. There. Problem solved. And why shouldn't it be? McCaffery has applied his considerable engineering and entrepreneurial talent, which includes a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of New Hampshire, an M.S. in materials science and engineering from the University of New Hampshire and an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management, to the project. This young CEO of Boston's Lime Designs Inc., is well beyond the quirky inventor's stage with this product. His current problem is finding investors to help him get The Edge out into the consumer barware market. This chairlift ride is an opportunity to do just that. http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/03/28/Peak-Pitch-.DSH.-Entrepreneurs-Get-A-Lift/ http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/03/28/Peak-Pitch-.DSH.-Entrepreneurs-Get-A-Lift/ Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:19:00 -0500 I recently had a chance to listen to a podcast of Jon Isham and Andy Rossmeissl, two of the three founders of Brighter Planet, a FreshTracks I portfolio company. The podcast is a recording of Jon and Andy on a conference call with a handful of bloggers, and is an extended Q&A focused on the background on carbon offsets and Brighter Planet's role in the carbon offset market. If you have 45 minutes to take a listen I heartily recommend it: Brighter Planet Blog: The Growl.    http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/03/28/Podcast-from-Brighter-Planet/ http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/03/28/Podcast-from-Brighter-Planet/ Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:59:00 -0500 Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology Following is an excerpt from this piece. To read the complete original article, please click here: Wunderkind Kaufman Back With Startup Kluster.A Vermont entrepreneur barely 21 years old is rapidly approaching the designation "serial entrepreneur" by merging the concepts of user-generated content and online collaboration into his new business, focused on web-based communities generating ideas for new products.Ben Kaufman returned this week from Monterey, Calif., where he publicly launched Kluster Inc. at the three-day Technology, Entertainment and Design, or TED, conference.The nascent business is using the same strategy to commercialize the collaboration process that Kaufman used to develop an iPod accessory for the previous company he founded, Mophie Inc. In 2006, he gathered suggestions from attendees at the MacWorld Expo for Mophie's next iPod accessory. The product turned out to be an iPod case that was also a key ring and a bottle opener -- and Mophie sold 40,000 of them. Employing what Kluster calls "open source decision making," 2,700 people at the TED conference contributed suggestions to generate an educational board game that is designed to expand players' cultural awareness. Back home in Burlington, Vt., Kaufman said he plans to refine the game, called "Over There," and produce it"It was exactly what we wanted," said Kaufman, "We plan on getting it out to the world."Kluster plans to generate revenue with a fee equal to 33 percent of reward pools (as high as $50,000) customers offer to project contributors.Last September, Kaufman sold Mophie to Michigan-based mStation Corp. for an undisclosed amount. Kaufman started Kluster with $3 million from Williamstown-based Village Ventures and FreshTracks Capital.    http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/03/28/Kluster-.DSH.-Wunderkind-Kaufman-Back-With-Startup-Kluster/ http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/03/28/Kluster-.DSH.-Wunderkind-Kaufman-Back-With-Startup-Kluster/ Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:50:00 -0600 The New York TimesFollowing is an excerpt from this piece. To read the complete original article, please click here: Putting Innovation in the Hands of a Crowd. If executives are going to rely on the wisdom of the masses for business help, it’s probably time the masses get a little compensation for it. That’s the theory behind Kluster, the newest in a lineup of companies using the Web to channel the collective wisdom of strangers into meaningful business strategies. With a cash reward system for contributors and a big beginning at the TED conference last week in Monterey, Calif., Kluster hopes to attract just enough visitors with just enough business smarts to gain early momentum.Along with members of the public, the 1,000 attendees of TED, a conference named for technology, entertainment and design that attracts leaders from many industries, used Kluster to generate ideas for a new product, then chose the most promising one and collaborated on the design. The result was “Over There,” an educational board game intended to promote cultural awareness, with questions like, “What percentage of the world’s population lives further than one mile from their nearest pure water source?"     http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/03/04/Kluster-.DSH.-Putting-Innovation-in-the-Hands-of-a-Crowd/ http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/03/04/Kluster-.DSH.-Putting-Innovation-in-the-Hands-of-a-Crowd/ Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:38:00 -0600 *Join FreshTracks at Peak Pitch on 3/14/08*Kluster Featured in Business Week. Launches New Platform at TED Conference*BrighterPlanet Lands Coverage in the Wall Street Journal To read the complete newsletter, please click here:   the_freshtracks_flurry_feb_2008.pdf http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/02/29/FT-Flurry-.DSH.-February-2008/ http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/02/29/FT-Flurry-.DSH.-February-2008/ Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:56:00 -0600 Rutland Herald Following is an excerpt from this piece. To read the complete original article, please click here: The New Green Card. "What started out in a college economics class is now a fledgling business that helps the environment every time a consumer makes a credit or debit card purchase. Each time someone makes a purchase with a Brighter Planet affinity credit or debit card, the cardholder earns points that are then redeemed to help fund renewable energy projects, which in turn helps offset carbon emissions."  http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/02/24/Brighter-Planet-.DSH.-The-New-.SQT.Green.SQT.-Card/ http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/02/24/Brighter-Planet-.DSH.-The-New-.SQT.Green.SQT.-Card/ Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:19:00 -0600 BusinessWeek Following is an excerpt from this piece. If you would like to read the complete original article, please click here.  Al Gore will be there. Sir Bob Geldof is on the bill. So is Craig Venter, the genomic pioneer. As scores of global glitterati gather in Monterey, Calif., on Feb. 27 at the technology, entertainment, and design conference known as TED, they'll be joined by a 21-year-old who wears low-slung pants and an oversize coat. That would be Ben Kaufman, CEO of a Burlington (Vt.) software startup called Kluster. Kaufman has landed an entire room at TED—precious real estate—to demo his new social network. It's a Web site that brings people together to generate new ideas, products, and designs. http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/02/22/Kluster-.DSH.-Gore.CMA.-Geldof.CMA.-Venter...And-This-Guy.QM.-/ http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/02/22/Kluster-.DSH.-Gore.CMA.-Geldof.CMA.-Venter...And-This-Guy.QM.-/ Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:01:00 -0600 Hosted by FreshTracks Capital, the Vermont Peak Pitch '08 event will take place at the Bolton Valley ski resort on Friday, March 14. Save the date, and sign up now at www.peakpitch.com! Peak Pitch is an event that brings together entrepreneurs and investors for a fun day of skiing, networking and fundraising. Entrepreneurs get the opportunity to deliver their “elevator pitch” to investors on rides up the chairlift throughout the morning, then meet for a networking luncheon, and a “pitch off” in the afternoon. The event is free to entrepreneurs who want to network or fundraise and investors who are interested in hearing pitches from local businesses and are ready to provide feedback. Another Village Ventures partner fund, High Peaks Venture Partners, will host an event on Tuesday March 11th at Windham Mountain, NY. To register to attend the event now, please click here: Peak Pitch 2008. If you have questions about the event, or want to learn more, please email Holly Killary: holly@freshtrackscap.com.    http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/02/20/Join-FreshTracks-at-Peak-Pitch-Vermont-on-Friday-3.SLH.14.SLH.08-at-Bolton-Valley/ http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/02/20/Join-FreshTracks-at-Peak-Pitch-Vermont-on-Friday-3.SLH.14.SLH.08-at-Bolton-Valley/ Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:39:00 -0600 Delaware Online There is certainly some confusion among the public about the carbon offset world, and it is rare that we find a well-written piece explaining the nuances of distinguishing a premium, valuable offset from a non-valuable offset.  NativeEnergy is often given kudos for their performance in this respect. The following is an excerpt from an article that ran in the Delaware Online. To read the full article click here."Although Stephen Field is in the Peco service area, he decided to go with another company when making his Holiday Inn Express "100 percent wind powered," as the sign in front of his Exton, Pa., hotel boasts. After checking into the Peco program, he signed on with Native Energy of Vermont, paying $6,500 a year to offset the approximately 600 tons of carbon dioxide his hotel emits annually. Native Energy buys the renewable energy credits from wind farms that have not yet been built, ones that might not get built without startup capital, Field said. His money pays for credits to help build wind turbines on American Indian reservations in South Dakota and Alaska, a small, farmer-owned wind project in Minnesota and a methane reduction facility in central Pennsylvania. "If I buy from Peco, those are [credits] for energy that's already been bought and consumed," said Field, who also has a contract with Native Energy for a hotel in Glen Mills, Pa." http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/02/20/All-carbon-credits-are-not-created-equal/ http://www.freshtrackscap.com/blogs/bd/2008/02/20/All-carbon-credits-are-not-created-equal/