October 2011
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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.
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.
Angels replace venture capital funds
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.
Lawmakers propose venture fund for bioscience industry
FSC greenlights Taiwan venture capital firms for mainland China Publication Date： 09/07/2011 Source： Taiwan Today By 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.
Taiwan Today
5:09 pm, September 6th | by Hillary Reinsberg The next hot venture capital hotshot? Justin Bieber. Say whaaaat?
Justin Bieber Invests In Venture Capital | Mogulite
In a Perfect World gamers get a US$100m VC fund
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.
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.
Hires and promotions, Sept. 4
TechAmerica will honor as the 2011 recipient of the David Packard Medal of Achievement Award, the organization's highest honor, on Oct. 11 in Menlo Park. Lane is a managing partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and serves as chairman of the board of Hewlett-Packard. Friedman Fleischer & Lowe, a private equity firm focused on growth investments in middle market companies, has appointed an operating partner.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.
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.
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.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.