AAA March 2013 – Page 9

Robust activity continues as M&A gets buyout boost

Corporate venturing activity continues largely unchanged, although broader
mergers and acquisitions were handed a boost by the re-emergence of the private
equity buyout, with a $24.4bn bid for US-based computer maker Dell and a $23bn
offer for US-based consumer goods company Heinz.

Start-up belle vie faces tax challenge

“In France it takes even more courage than usual to be an entrepreneur,” says Marc Westermann, principal of telecommunications and internet corporation, SFR Développement, when asked about the current climate for French-based start-ups. Like many European countries, France’s economy is facing numerous challenges. Unlike some of its European neighbours the country’s fiscal imbalances have come… Continue reading Start-up belle vie faces tax challenge

The great leap forward

In an increasingly global venture capital landscape, corporate venturing has a
unique part to play in turning the great potential offered by these transformations
into value for their corporate parents, write Boris Battistini, research associate, ETH Zurich, and Martin Haemmig, adjunct professor CeTIM at UniBW Munich and Leiden University.

Corporate innovation vital for low-carbon economy

The use of a portfolio of approaches to innovation taken by leading corporates has
a number of benefits, in the same way that investors will use a portfolio of asset
classes. The more corporates take this intelligent, portfolio approach to cleantech
innovation, the more chance we have of finding routes towards sustainable
prosperity, argues Jamie Vollbracht, former head of new ventures, innovation, at
Carbon Trust.

Eileen Tanghal, Joe Dews: Areas of opportunity

Clean technology continues to change our world, and as semiconductor devices
become ubiquitous due to growing consumer mobile demands, and the internet-of
things concept becomes a reality, support for innovative thought leaders should be
continued, argue Eileen Tanghal, senior investment director, Applied Ventures, and
Joe Dews, partner, AGC Partners.

Sparks fly at IBF gathering

The International Business Forum’s Corporate Venturing and Innovation Partnering Conference in Newport Beach, California, last month provided a summary of how the corporate venturing world is thinking as it enjoys a period of rapid growth, with the conference seeing the airing of our data tracking a near 30% increase in the number of corporate venturing… Continue reading Sparks fly at IBF gathering

US titans help UK firm with $22bn small cell market

UK-based company IP.access is one of only a handful of big players in a potential $22bn market. This prediction for 2016 was voiced at the telecommunications industry’s annual Mobile World extravaganza in Barcelona by one market observer, Informa Telecoms & Media, commissioned by IP.access’s industry trade body, the Small Cell Forum. Cambridge-based company IP.access makes… Continue reading US titans help UK firm with $22bn small cell market

Profile: ABB Technology Ventures

Girish Nadkarni, who leads Switzerland-based industrial company ABB’s corporate venturing unit, could arguably be mistaken for a journalist, if his recent intellectually inquisitive attendance at the International Business Forum’s Corporate Venturing and Innovation Partnering conference in Newport Beach, California, is representative. At least two executives commented that he had been the most vocal person in… Continue reading Profile: ABB Technology Ventures