AAA August 2012 – Page 11

How venture success can be stifled

In order to achieve financial and strategic objectives, survival of a corporate venturing fund is a prerequisite. Part of the challenge can come from the compromises required and promises made when a unit set up in the firstplace. A group might be established with strategic goals highlighted to gain support from the chief executive, charts… Continue reading How venture success can be stifled

Profile: Telefónica Ventures

Spanish company Telefónica is in the process of implementing a corporate venturing programme with a global investment strategy and designs on maintaining the Spanish company’s global position by providing it with access to the technological investments. The company has built an ambitious early-stage accelerator, Wayra, active in a dozen countries with a more classic corporate… Continue reading Profile: Telefónica Ventures

Deal analysis: July 2012

Sell-side activity took a knock during the month as economic uncertainty dogged the headlines, yet corporates remained busy investing. July was a sleepy month for realisation activity, as global economic headlines continue to be dominated by eurozone woes and a slowing of both the US and Chinese economies. There were only three exits of corporate… Continue reading Deal analysis: July 2012

LeSage Krause part III: revolutionary pilots

For the last article of this series, we focus on piloting revolutionary initiatives, the ideas that can open entirely new businesses for a company, or reinvent legacy businesses stuck in the status quo. Such initiatives are revolutionary because they lack precedent within the company, are transformational or have disruptive implications for the core business. Pursuing… Continue reading LeSage Krause part III: revolutionary pilots

Gaule’s Question Time: Shire

Gaule: Give a brief description of the purpose of Shire Strategic Investment Group (SIG). Melincoff: SIG was offcially formed in early 2010 and its purpose is to establish access to early-stage companies with pioneering technologies and therapeutics that can provide for future collaborations and acquisitions. Each investment is made with sponsorship from one of the… Continue reading Gaule’s Question Time: Shire

Icap leads OpenGamma to $15m

Icap, a UK-based brokerage firm, has led OpenGamma, a financial analytics and risk management company, in a $15m round. Icap was joined in the Series C financing round on August 8 by Euclid Opportunities, an incubator which is majority-owned by Icap, and venture firms Accel Partners and FirstMark Capital. OpenGamma, founded in 2009, with offices… Continue reading Icap leads OpenGamma to $15m

T-Venture exits Lysatiq

Nomad Digital, a UK-based provider of train data connectivity, has bought the technology portfolio of Germany-based Lysatiq, a portfolio company of phone operator Deutsche Telekom’s T-Venture corporate venturing unit. Lysatiq is a mobile communications engineering company for mobile networks but it is unclear how much T-Venture invested – it just said it had sold the… Continue reading T-Venture exits Lysatiq

Innogy backs Stirling.DK

Stirling.DK, a Denmark-based renewable energy provider using biomass as fuel, has raised €4m ($5.5m) and hired Phillip Charles Piddington as chairman and Torben Ellegarard as chief executive. The latest investment round came from a syndicate including local pension fund Vaekstfonden, EnergiMidt and Innogy Venture Capital, a venture capital firm backed by Germany-based power utility RWE.… Continue reading Innogy backs Stirling.DK