Xobni exits beta and closes on $10m funding
March 27, 2009
Xobni, a Y Combinator alumni startup co-founded by Penn State alumnus Matt Brezina, is getting a lot of press, including a feature article in BusinessWeek!
The company recently released an updated version of its flagship product - the plugin for Outlook is now out of beta and features substantial performance enhancements.
Xobni also announced that the Blackberry Partners Fund has joined its Series B round of funding, increasing the total raised to $10 million. (Xobni had previously announced $7 million in funding in the Series B round led by Cisco.)
Certainly, the company is growing rapidly, as is the team. Rick Segal, a partner with the Blackberry Partners Fund, had glowing comments about the company.
Congrats Matt & team! For those of you who want to follow Matt’s progress, he recently setup a new Twitter account.
Xobni, New York Times, and Business Accelerator Programs at Stanford and Cornell
May 5, 2008
The New York Times has recently published two interesting articles for Penn State entrepreneurs. The first appeared today, If You Use Outlook E-Mail, Meet Xobni, heralding Xobni’s emergence from private beta. After more than seven months of being invitation-only, the product for Microsoft Outlook is now available for public download. The article is a great write-up on the product, as well as on the recent acquisition negotiations with Microsoft that Xobni walked away. Brad Stone, the reporter, mentions Xobni’s plans to expand its focus to include web-based email such as Yahoo Mail and Gmail. Great coverage for a fellow Nittany Lion!
The second article, A Classroom Path to Entrepreneurship , appeared late last week. The article, which discusses a New Jersey pasta sauce company formed through an entrepreneurship class at Monmouth University in 2005, discusses the growth of entrepreneurship education around the country, as well as different models used for these classes. Glenn Rifkin, the reporter, also discusses Babson and its yearlong course for incoming freshmen where each class is given $3,000 in seed funding. According to the article, the students have never failed to make back the initial investment and all profits are donated to charity.
It is interesting and exciting to see entrepreneurship education similar to the various programs at Penn State increasingly gain a national spotlight. The New York Times article follows recent announcements at Stanford and Cornell regarding the formation of two apparently officially sanctioned business accelerator programs, similar in concept to the Lion Launch Pad.
At Stanford, The Stanford Daily Online reported on the creation of Stanford Student Enterprises (SSE) Ventures. SSE Ventures appears to be a business advising and funding engine for Stanford students by students. “SSE aims for the division to establish ties with the venture capital community….SSE will invest its available resources in a small number of ideas, with as much as $50,000 or $100,000 devoted to each proposal, depending on the needs of the final selections.”
Also recently, Cornell announced the creation of a business incubator for undergraduates - the Student Agencies eLab. The program will work with 24 student “clients” in its first two years, as well as work to build a network of alumni, mentors, and professional services.
It’s great to see other universities continuing to embrace the support of undergraduate entrepreneurs with similar programs.
Xobni Walks Away from $20m Deal
April 30, 2008
In late February, TechCrunch reported on rumors of Xobni’s potential acquisition by Microsoft. Today, TechCrunch writes that Xobni had indeed been in negotiations with Microsoft and had proceeded to sign a letter of intent. However, Xobni has apparently walked away from the $20 million dollar deal, apparently over concerns of its future after the acquisition concluded: “But the deeper Xobni got into the discussions, the less comfortable it felt about its eventual fate inside the Microsoft machine.”
Matt Brezina, PSU alum and recently the Spring 2008 Bishoff Entrepreneur in Residence at Penn State, and his team have built an impressive venture. It’s great to see the value that they’ve built thus far - this is likely just the start of the recognition of their potential.
Rumors of Xobni Acquisition by Microsoft
February 29, 2008
TechCrunch posted today that Xobni, co-founded by PSU-alum Matt Brezina, is in acquisition discussions with Microsoft. According to the post, the first offer was sub $20 million and they are negotiating. This would be a big win for a Penn State entrepreneur, as well as another Y Combinator-backed venture.
