Highland Capital Partners Announces Summer@Highland 2011 Teams

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., MENLO PARK, Calif. and SAN FRANCISCO, July 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Highland Capital Partners, a venture capital firm focused on helping exceptional entrepreneurs build great companies, today announced the teams participating in the Summer@Highland 2011 program.  In its fourth year, this innovative program provides selected university-affiliated startup founders and teams with the environment and resources for advancing their business initiatives.

"We're very excited about the opportunity to work closely once again this summer with the next class of emerging entrepreneurs with big ideas," stated Peter Bell, General Partner at Highland.  "Summer@Highland is a further continuation of Highland's efforts of finding innovative ways to partner earlier with talented startups in helping to create the next generation of market leaders."

Over 225 university-affiliated startups applied for consideration in this year's program.  Ten teams were selected and include representation from Babson College, Boston College, Boston University, California (Berkeley), Harvard, Michigan, Northwestern, Penn and Stanford.  They are:

• 27Bards – a site where people create, offer and go on unique tours
• additup – an advertising platform designed to increase attention and drive engagement
• Adpop – enabling brands to reach a captive audience through innovative product placement
• ByteLight – secure wireless communications through energy efficient LED lighting 
• Clinkle – software-based mobile payment platform
• Imprint Energy – redefining the limits of energy storage with entirely printed, rechargeable batteries
• Lemonwi.se – online product review and social media solutions for consumer facing brands
• Tivli – building a platform to deliver TV, DVR and VOD cable services to any device over the Internet
• Type-U – a vibrant, invitation-only health and wellness platform that helps people with diabetes live healthier and happier lives
• Waddle – mobile photo-journal for groups of friends

Designed as an entrepreneurship program, Summer@Highland provides a platform enabling entrepreneurs and startups to further focus on advancing their initiatives over the summer. Selected teams receive $15,000 along with complimentary office space at the Cambridge Innovation Center, Highland's summer office in the South of Market (SoMa) district of San Francisco, or at Highland's Entrepreneur Center on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park.  Participants have access to the Highland team, entrepreneurial mentors, and further resources for injecting real-world advice, insight and perspectives into the entrepreneurial and company-building process.  Highland receives no equity stake in exchange for participation in the program and teams are under no obligation to Highland after the summer.

For 2011, teams benefit from over 40 forums and events involving top serial & young entrepreneurs and thought leaders in business, design, legal, product, talent and technology.  Speakers in this year's program include founders and CEOs from Airbnb, Dropbox, Gemvara, Quattro Wireless, RentJuice, SCVNGR, session M and WePay.  Also lending their expertise are serial entrepreneurs/founders Steve Blank ("Four Steps to the Epiphany"), Desh Deshpande, Naval Ravikant (founder of AngelList) and Bill Warner, along with business & technology experts from Amazon, Engine Yard, Google, HumanLogic, IDEO, KAYAK, Russell Reynolds and WilmerHale.

"Summer@Highland offers a compelling opportunity and unique arrangement to work closely with our team and Highland's extended network at a very early stage," said Sean Dalton, General Partner at Highland.  "For a number of past participants, the program has also proven to be a successful precursor for eventually raising venture capital; five teams have done so to date, two of which have been backed by Highland."

About Highland Capital Partners

Highland Capital Partners was founded in 1998 with the mission of helping great people build great companies.  With over $3 billion of committed capital and offices in Boston, Silicon Valley, Geneva, London and Shanghai, Highland has invested in and worked to create such firms as Ask Jeeves, Avid Technology, CheckFree, Conor Medsystems, Coremetrics, lululemon athletica, Lycos, MapQuest, Navic Networks, Ocular Networks, Odyssey Healthcare, P.A. Semi, Qihoo 360, Quattro Wireless, Quigo, Starent Networks, Sybase, Telica, Vertica and VistaPrint.  For more information, visit Highland's web site at www.hcp.com.

SOURCE Highland Capital Partners