Thiel and Levchin Offer ‘Blueprint’ for Solving Innovation Crisis. Peter Thiel Despite what the popular media may tell you, innovation in the United States is somewhere between dire straits and dead. That’s the notion Max Levchin says motivated him and co-author Peter Thiel (pictured) to write their upcoming book, “The Blueprint,” slated to come out early next year. The two told attendees of this week’s TechCrunch Disrupt conference that the book will focus on how to fix what they consider a troubling stall in the pace of technological advancement. On its face, the concept seems like a curious notion, particularly when one considers who’s propounding it.
After all, Thiel and Levchin seem like guys who’ve gotten plenty of exposure to innovation, having co-founded PayPal and, in Thiel’s case, gone on as an investor to back some of the most ambitious startups of the past decade, in sectors from social networking to space travel to seasteading. “It’s a bit of an exaggeration to say nothing is happening,” Thiel says. Max Levchin. Analysis: Energy investors should look to East Europe.
Angels replace venture capital funds. A survey of technological incubators found that venture capital investment in early stage start ups is falling sharply. Technology incubator managers expect a sharp fall in the rate of investment by venture capital funds in start-ups graduating from incubators, according to a joint survey by the Israel Technological Incubators Forum and the Fahn Kanne Grant Thornton Israel accounting firm. Over the past decade, links in the feeder chain for early stage technology companies are weakening, and the raising of funds for early stage companies has become almost impossible. Over the last two decades, VC funds have been the first place start-ups graduating from incubators looked for seed funding.
Entrepreneurs would nurture an idea and the company in the incubator until an initial product was ready for market, and then the VC funds would open up their pockets and invest. The survey also examined the proportion of investors in start-ups graduating from since 2008. Comments Your comment. Lawmakers propose venture fund for bioscience industry. As Madison girds for debate over a stalled venture capital proposal, two Republican legislators say they are planning a separate bill that would provide venture capital and other types of funding to the state's bioscience companies. The Next Generation Jobs Reserve bill would divert payroll tax revenue from jobs added by bioscience companies into a fund that provides grants, loans and direct investments to selected companies in the industry, according to Sen. Van Wangaard (R-Racine) and Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield). The proposal has the support of Gov. "This is Wisconsin investing in Wisconsin," said Scott Kelly, Wangaard's chief of staff.
The bill defines the state's bioscience sector broadly, including companies present in 53 Wisconsin counties that range from drug developers, medical device makers, dairies and breweries to feedstock producers and others. Taiwan Today. FSC greenlights Taiwan venture capital firms for mainland China Publication Date：09/07/2011Source： Taiwan TodayBy Aaron Hsu Taiwan-based banks and financial holding companies can now set up venture capital enterprises in mainland China, the Financial Supervisory Commission announced Sept. 6.
According to the FSC, a wholly owned subsidiary company will be permitted to establish a venture capital enterprise in mainland China, provided that the subsidiary controls at least 25 percent of the new firm’s voting shares. “Setting up a local venture capital enterprise will help a financial holding company gain better access to local market information and help identify potential customers for securities and loans,” said Chiu Shu-chen, deputy director of the FSC Banking Bureau. Given mainland China’s low threshold of one million yuan (US$15,650) for establishing a venture capital firm, this deregulation is expected to benefit Taiwan’s banking sector, she added. Justin Bieber Invests In Venture Capital | Mogulite. James Joaquin Joins Catamount Ventures as Partner.
In a Perfect World gamers get a US$100m VC fund. State of security operations Chinese online game developer Perfect World has launched a US$100 million venture capital fund. The fund will focus on investing in companies with high-growth opportunities in the technology, media and telecommunications sector and will be managed over a nine year period.
"We believe our extensive knowledge in the industry and our own growth experience will enable us to better analyze and capture the significant market opportunities," said Michael Chi, chairman and CEO of Perfect World. Perfect World's current portfolio of in-house developed online games includes multiplayer online role playing games Perfect World, Legend of Martial Arts, Pocketpet Journey West, Battle of the Immortals, Fantasy Zhu Xian, Dragon Excalibur, Empire of the Immortals and Hot Dance Party. Its games have been licensed to game operators in regions in Asia, Latin America and the Russian Federation and other Russian-speaking territories. State of security operations. Charles Torres Joins Lowenstein Sandler’s Venture Practice.
Law firm Lowenstein Sandler has added attorney Charles Torres as technology partner in its New York venture practice. Torres joins the firm from Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt, where he spent the last 11 years, including as partner. Prior, Torres was an associate attorney at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. Lowenstein Sandler continues to expand, adding venture capital and technology partner Charles Torres as a Member of its growing New York venture practice. He joins the firm’s Tech Group, one of the national leaders in representing venture-backed companies and their investors.
“Our nationally recognized Tech Group continues to grow on both coasts as energetic partners continue to recognize the value of the different approach Lowenstein has to the market,” said Gary Wingens, Lowenstein Sandler’s Chairman and CEO. “Charles strengthens our ability to deliver excellent service to our growing and very active client base.” About Lowenstein Sandler. Hires and promotions, Sept. 4. Harrison Metal co-founder forming new firm. Silicon Valley investor plans to move south.
Erik Rannala is leaving Harrison Metal Capital, the Silicon Valley "micro-VC" shop that has backed such companies as AdMob (acquired by Google), Heroku (acquired by SalesForce.com) and ModCloth. Fortune has learned that he plans to raise a separate fund focused on opportunities in Southern California. Harrison Metal's other co-founder, Michael Dearing, is expected to continue running the firm (which most people seem to believe he was already doing). Both Rannala and Dearing are former executives with eBay (EBAY), Rannala ran the premium features business and Dearing was a senior VP and general merchandise manager.
Neither Rannala nor Dearing returned requests for comment. Before joining Harrison Metal, Erik was most recently vice president of product management and strategy at TripAdvisor, the largest travel community site on the Web. Arrington Launches ‘CrunchFund’ with $20M from Partners at KP, Benchmark, Andreessen Horowitz, Others. (Reuters) – Michael Arrington, founder of TechCrunch and one of the highest-profile U.S. technology bloggers, has created a $20 million venture capital fund to invest in promising startups, Arrington told Reuters. Fortune magazine’s Term Sheet blog was the first to report the news. The fund, called CrunchFund, raised an inaugural $20 million fund in September, according to TechCrunch’s CrunchBase. “Investors in CrunchFund include AOL, Accel Partners, Austin Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Greylock Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Sequoia Capital, the founding partners of Andreessen Horowitz, each of the general partners of Benchmark Capital, Ron Conway, Yuri Milner & Kevin Rose,” CrunchBase reports.
Investor AOL bought TechCrunch in September 2010. The move comes months after Arrington publicly announced that he had begun to actively invest in startups, triggering lively debate within the industry. Arrington told the New York Times: “I don’t claim to be a journalist. VC James Breyer Joins News Corp. Board. James Breyer, a partner at Accel Partners, has been nominated to the board of directors of News Corp., the company announced Friday. Breyer also serves on the boards of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Dell Inc. His venture investments include stakes in companies such as Facebook and Brightcover.
Directors Kenneth Cowley and Thomas Perkins are departing the News Corp. board, the company said. PRESS RELEASE News Corporation today announced that James W. Breyer, 50, has been nominated to join the Board of Directors and will stand for election at the Company’s Annual Meeting of Stockholders on October 21, 2011 in Los Angeles, CA. Commenting on the nomination, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch said, “Jim has a remarkable track record in the investment community and his background in media and technology will enable him to make significant contributions to News Corporation’s Board.”
Mr. News Corporation also announced that Directors Kenneth E. Mr. Mr. Additional Information. Sumner Redstone's Daughter Shari Launches Tech/Media Investment Firm. Nokia Exec Leaving to Start VC Fund. Tero Ojanpera, an executive with Finnish phone maker Nokia, is departing the company to work for a new venture fund, Reuters reported Wednesday. The fund is called Vision+, and will focus on developing applications for Nokia phones. Nokia will invest an undisclosed amount in the fund. (Reuters) – Finnish phone maker Nokia said a senior executive was leaving the company to work for a new venture investment fund which will help it develop new applications for its phones. Tero Ojanpera, Nokia’s executive vice president, who had worked at the company for 21 years, will resign at the end of September and become a managing partner at investment fund Vision+.
Nokia said it would invest in Vision+ to bolster the venture capital fund’s plans to help develop new applications for Nokia phones. The Finnish company created the smartphone market in 1996 with its first Communicator model but has failed in recent years to mount a serious challenge to the surge from Apple Inc’s iPhone. SEC Alleges Former VC Matt Crisp of Adams Street Partners Responsible for Conflicts of Interest and “Willful Violations” A former VC is being charged with breaching his fiduciary duty and “usurping” his ex-employer’s funds to launch a separate investment vehicle that invested in TicketsNow, the online secondary market ticket exchange, according to an SEC complaint.
In 2006, according to the complaint, Matthew Crisp, was then a partner with Adams Street Partners, an international private equity firm with operations in Chicago, among other spots. Crisp worked on a $15 million investment in TicketsNow with Adams Street, and, with cash he allegedly usurped from Adams Street, in 2007 sought to make an additional investment, according to the complaint. The separate investment vehicle, called AV Partners, bears the initials of his child’s, as well as his partner’s, named in the complaint as Joseph Wolf. Among the allegations presented against Crisp by the SEC are that he purposely concealed his involvement with AV Partners, telling TicketsNow it was the investment vehicle of “a friend,” the complaint stated.
OrbiMed Closes $600M Fund. Investment firm OrbiMed held a final close of its new fund, Royalty Opportunities S.àr.l., which will focus on acquiring healthcare royalty streams and providing structured debt capital to healthcare companies. The fund, based in Luxembourg, closed with $600 million in commitments. PRESS RELEASE OrbiMed, a leading investment management firm focused on the healthcare sector, today announced the final closing of a new fund that acquires healthcare royalty streams and provides structured debt capital to healthcare companies. The fund, the “Royalty Opportunities S.àr.l.”, is domiciled in Luxembourg and will invest worldwide to take advantage of OrbiMed’s global platform. Investors in the $600 million fund include some of the largest endowments, foundations and financial institutions globally. OrbiMed has dedicated significant resources and personnel to support the new fund, including three OrbiMed Partners, Samuel D. Platte River Ventures Adds Two. Denver-based Platte River Ventures has added Mark Brown as a vice president, and Michelle Eidson as vice president of business development and marketing.
Brown was previously vice president at CHS Capital. Eidson was previously director of corporate development at EchoStar Corp. Platte River Ventures focuses on middle-market investments in the aerospace, industrial services, energy services, agriculture, chemicals, metals, industrial minerals and transportation sectors. PRESS RELEASE Platte River Ventures, a private equity investment firm for middle market operating companies in the aerospace, industrial services, energy services, agriculture, chemicals, metals, industrial minerals and transportation sectors, is pleased to announce the appointment of two professionals to its Denver-based team.
Mark Brown joins Platte River Ventures (PRV) as a vice president, and Michelle Eidson joins as vice president of business development and marketing. Prior to joining PRV, Mr. Ms. Onetime VC Joanna Rees Sees Little Traction in San Francisco Mayoral Race. Joanna Rees has been riding buses and knocking on doors to drum up support for her campaign to become the next mayor of San Francisco, and she’s been doing it in her Chanel pumps, according to at least two newspaper accounts.
It’s easy to laugh at the image, but the onetime venture capitalist, who reportedly shuttered the San Francisco office of her firm VSP Capital in May, is clearly taking her run at the office seriously. In February, she opened a campaign office seven blocks from her home in San Francisco’s Richmond District. She hired top-notch Democratic strategist Ace Smith, who is credited with securing wins for L.A. mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and California’s lieutenant governor, Gavin Newsom. And Rees has attracted many well-heeled donors, raising $365,000 so far from Zynga founder Mark Pincus, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, and Brook Byers of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, among about 950 other private donors. Still, Rees’s campaign appears to be sputtering. Ex-Intuit CEO unveils new startup: Personal Capital. It’s always surreal to look outside the technology sector and see that other industries are still wallowing in the gutters of the recession, with no end in sight.
One of the reasons for this is the fact that even in the pit of financial ruin, people still want their gadgets. Consumer electronics continue to thrive despite bleak times (as Apple has clearly proven). Aaaand this is probably why personal finance services are also on the rise: people don’t know how to manage their own money. You know who I’m talking about. You’ve seen the 30-year-old guy on the corner who’s waving the Mr. Pickles sign, probably making $8 an hour, and yet he periodically stops to whip out his iPhone and slip in a little FaceTime with his hawt gf. And you know that after work he’s going to go back to his apartment to play some Kinect and then curl up in bed with his iPad2 (I hate him because I'm jealous). For that guy, there are services like Mint and PageOnce. Personal finance services out there. Maveron Makes Trader a Venture Partner.