Capital Buzz: MCG Capital chief exec leaves with a parachute

Steven F. Tunney is out as president and chief executive of Arlington-based MCG Capital, the business development company he helped found.

Tunney is going with a parachute that includes $2.24 million in cash severance pay, $144,000 in cash as a result of accelerated vesting in a cash incentive plan, and accelerated vesting of 67,135 shares of stock, which is worth about $300,000 at last week’s price, according to Security and Exchange Commission filings.

That adds up to $2.69 million. It doesn’t include the $203,000 that was vested in Tunney’s retirement plans.

MCG started as the media and communications lending group of the old Bank of Virginia, which was renamed Signet before it merged into First Union in the late ’90s. The company was organized as a management buyout of that loan portfolio led by Bryan Mitchell and Tunney around the time of the First Union merger.

George Soros was a significant investor in the company at one point. The firm went public around 2001, and Tunney took over from Mitchell in 2006.

MCG put itself up for sale earlier this year, without success. In August, it laid off staff.

Tunney is succeeded Richard W. Neu, 55, the chairman of the board of directors, who praised Tunney during a third-quarter earnings call last week.

“For Steve’s leadership and efforts, we are truly greatful,” Neu said in the call last week.

Kool funding

Bethesda-based KoolSpan closed $5 million in funding to use to bolser its sales, marketing and engineering staff. The company employs 15.

KoolSpan, founded in 2006 by Tony Fascenda , makes a chip that protects cell phones/smart phones from hackers.

The latest investors include Security Growth Partners , a New York City venture capital firm led by Elad Yoran and known for its investments in the government security space. Other investors include TWJ Capital, a Bethesda investment firm headed by former CitiGroup executive Thomas W. Jones and his son, Nigel Jones, formerly of the leveraged buyout team at The Carlyle Group.

KoolSpan’s chief executive is Gregg Smith , formerly of Aether Systems, Acuity Mobile and Karch International.

Search and find

Seva Search, a Potomac-based company that helps people find service businesses, closed $1.3 million in first-round outside funding from a wide range of entrepreneurs/investors, including Ed Mathias of the Carlyle Group , Jonathan Perrelli of Fortify . v c and Tim Sykes, chief executive of Investimonials.

The company, which has four full-time employees, was founded by Gurpreet Singh, Manpreet Singh and Amandeep Bakshi.

Other investors include Jay Virdy, co-founder of Summize and L ocalEyes ; David Eisner, former chief executive of TheMarkets .com ; Andrew Bachman , co-founder of Tatto Media ; Jigar Shah founder of SunEdison; Krishna Subramanian , co-founder of Blue Lithium; Vishal Gurbaxani , co-founder of MobClix; Arjun D ev Arora , founder of ReTargeter; Saket Saurabh , co-founder of MobSmith; and P aul Silber and David Krauskopf , founding members of Blu Venture Investors .

(Seva’s founders talk about their challenges in this week’s Business Rx column).

The Buzz hears:

A new indoor cycling studio called Revolve is opening in Clarendon (1025 N. Fillmore St.) next month. New Yorker Sylvan Z. Garfunkel is the president.

Thycotic Software, maker of security software programs, has started LogicBoost, which offers software building services. LogicBoost, which has 20 employees and is located at 23rd and M streets NW, was founded by software developer Jonathan Cogley.

The Washington unit of life insurer Northwestern Mutual named S cott Marschall the managing director of the company’s Fairfax Group , which has moved out of its location on Democracy Lane in Fairfax and expanded into a sprawling, 10,000-square-foot office overlooking Route 50 — perfect for corporate signage.

A book party for the 1 percent

It was a scene last week at Donald Dell ’s book party last week for Marvin McIn tyre , (Morgan Stanley Smith Barney), the Washington money maven who penned a Wall Street thriller called “Insiders.”

The party included authors Kitty Kelley (“Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography”; “The Bush Dynasty”) and David Baldacci (“Absolute Power,” “Last Man Standing”), builder Tom Natelli (Avenel), The Carlyle Group’s Edward Mathias , AES Corp . board chairman Phil Odeen and Fred Ezra , chief executive of The Ezra Co.

“I felt like the country mouse surrounded by city slickers,” Kelley said in an e-mail. “I’ll bet there hasn’t been that much high net worth in one room since Warren Buffett ate by himself at the Omaha IHOP.”