November 2013 – Page 6

Investments double up

A round-up of last month’s deal activity.

One of the big trends to watch, which was evident at Intel Capital’s Global Summit, is African growth fuelled by the mobile revolution. Marcin Hejka, Intel Capital managing director for eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said in an interview ahead of the summit: “The situation can be compared to eastern Europe roughly 15 years ago, shortly after the Russia crisis. Leading African countries like Nigeria and Kenya are roughly comparable in gross domestic… Continue reading African Lion roars

Haemmig and Battistini Analysis: multitasking

The context of new technology ventures is a fast-changing and unstable environment, where strategic decisions are particularly difficult to make due to the high level of uncertainty, complexity and the required speed of decision-making. Information is often ambiguous or inadequate – for example the reliability and adoption of new technology is uncertain, market demand is unpredictable, buyers intentions are unclear. As observed by researchers,… Continue reading Haemmig and Battistini Analysis: multitasking

Clean Deal: Recycle the minnows

Finding deals is competitive, expensive and difficult, and it is at least half of the job of a venture investor, corporate or financial. Should you follow the crowd or find your own way? Set up shop in Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv, Munich and Singapore, and elbow your way into the best clean deals? Or get off the beaten track, say goodbye to the… Continue reading Clean Deal: Recycle the minnows

London Calling: A city of opportunity

The Europe correspondent for Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service called me the other day. He was working on a television report about the increasing number of French people buying property in London. More specifically, he wanted to understand the intricacies of taxation and red tape difficulties Parisian property owners face and why the UK is increasingly an attractive alternative. The call made… Continue reading London Calling: A city of opportunity

The face of innovation

This article is one of a series from Astia, a global community of more than 4,000 experts building women leaders and supporting women-led start-ups.

Gaule’s Question Time: Evonik

Andrew Gaule, founder of the Corven Corporate Venturing Network, talks to Peter Nagler, chief innovation officer, and Bernhard Mohr, head of corporate venturing, Evonik Industries

Finance cuts tech a cheque

New financial entrants into corporate venturing setting a decent early investment pace to ensure their organisations are not wrong-footed by the pace of technological change.

Intel’s open door provides view of success

The sense we have is that a greater number of corporates are winning prestige in the wider venture community. However, people in corporate venturing are also concerned such strides can be undone by vocal figures criticising corporates.

Big Deal: Tencent into Snapchat

China-based media group Tencent’s reported decision to be preparing to lead a $200m round for US-based instant messaging service Snapchat appears at first glance to be a double-edged sword unlikely to be grabbed. The news of Snapchat’s planned $200m round at a $3.6bn to $4bn valuation was broken by AllThingsD. On valuation, this would be… Continue reading Big Deal: Tencent into Snapchat

Insights from the Intel Capital MDs

A round-up of some of the many interesting things Intel Capital’s managing directors are working on, including phase-change memory, wearables, security and big data.

Tata Capital finds right chemistry with Mitra Biotech

Tata Capital Innovations Fund, a domestic venture capital fund managed by Tata Capital, which is the corporate venturing unit of India industrial group Tata, has invested an undisclosed amount of capital in Mitra Biotech Private Ltd (Mitra). The funding was raised to help the company scale up its go-to-market strategy and to expand in India… Continue reading Tata Capital finds right chemistry with Mitra Biotech

World Bank’s IFC leads $6m What’s On India C round

The World Bank’s venturing unit, International Finance Corporation (IFC), is committing $4m to a $6m series C round of funding for What’s On India Media, a television search and electronic programming guide (EPG) company, which runs its operations under the What’s-On-India brand. Including the latest round, the company has raised approximately $13.5m to date. What’s… Continue reading World Bank’s IFC leads $6m What’s On India C round

The money’s on 91Jinrong

Microsoft’s China startup incubator programme, Microsoft Ventures Accelerator in China, has helped boost the cloud computing services of China online financial services company 91Jinrong as part of a $10m (RMB 60m) series B round that includes China Broadband Capital, Matrix Partners and other investors. Known as the “Wal-Mart of finance”, 91Jinrong matches potential consumers with… Continue reading The money’s on 91Jinrong