Options-R-EZ | An effective way to supercharge your investments. Inputs: Stock Price – The current price of the underlying asset that is being analyzed. Stock Volatility – Measures the underlying assets absolute price movement. Call or Put Spread – Designate whether the position you are initiating is a Call Spread or a Put Spread. No. of Options Contracts – The number of contracts for each Buy and Sell position of your spread. Expiration Date – Options are wasting assets that have defined dates of expiration. Strike Price – The share price that the underlying security can be purchased (Call Option) or sold (Put Option) by the option holder upon exercise of the option contract. Options Price – The option premium price for each position. Outputs: Net Credit – The amount of money that is credited (deposited) into your account. Max. Breakeven– The market price that a stock must reach for the options buyer or seller to avoid a loss if they are excercised or assigned. Prob. Max.
Crowd Investing | Wefunder Boston's largest VC & private equity firms W. Marc Bernsau No. 5, Battery Ventures: In June, Battery (along with 2010's No. 4 firm, HarbourVest Partners) co-led a $165 million investment in CSN Stores, a Boston-based e-tailer that is behind dozens of successful online home furnishings sites. The investment will fund CSN's effort to bring forth a new, centralized brand. In this week’s List, the Boston Business Journal research department ranks the 25 largest venture capital and private equity firms in the Boston area, by total amount invested in 2010. The full List is available in this week’s print edition (subscribe). No. 5: Battery Ventures (Waltham). 2010: $189 million invested / 53 dealsInvested in Mass. companies: $21 million / 3 deals No. 4: HarbourVest Partners (Boston). 2010: $203 million / 13 dealsInvested in Mass. companies: N/A No. 3: North Bridge Venture Partners (Boston). 2010: $257 million / 72 dealsInvested in Mass. companies: $93 million / 42 deals No. 2: Summit Partners (Boston). No. 1: TA Associates (Boston).
US: The Biggest Tax Haven? - MyPrivateBanking Jun. 15, 2009 President Obama has put the fight against tax evasion high on his political agenda, especially with respect to money in global offshore centres. During his campaign Obama liked to joke that one building on the Cayman Islands had 12,000 registered US-tenants, being either the world’s largest building or the world’s biggest tax scam. Now the Cayman Islands are fighting back: In a press release they claim that 1209 North Orange Street in Wilmington Delaware is home to some 217,000 companies (including Ford, American Airlines, General Motors, Coca-Cola and Kentucky Fried Chicken). The US-states of Delaware, Florida, Nevada, Alaska and Wyoming are notorious for business-friendly legislation and easy incorporation. The state of Delaware has especially come under scrutiny lately because of its tax laws. The other states in the US are putting pressure on their neighbouring states, the “internal” tax havens.
Wefunder The 5 biggest venture capital deals in Boston, this July Zafgen's obesity drug candidate is headed into Phase 2 trials, after the company brought down July's biggest round of venture capital financing for a Massachusetts firm, raising $33 million with Atlas Venture and Third Rock Ventures. Massachusetts companies raised $201.4 million in venture capital across 22 deals disclosed in July, according to a Business Journal tally. Though there were no blockbuster rounds, the month continued the steady pace of new equity financings for startups that characterized the first two quarters of the year. The second quarter saw the Bay State raise $1.3 billion in venture capital across 94 deals, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. It marked the strongest quarter for the state since at least 2007, prior to the recession. The total figure for venture capital funding for Massachusetts was likely higher in July since some rounds are not disclosed immediately, or at all. The top five venture capital investment rounds during the month: kalspach@bizjournals.com
How Groupon Was Founded It's August 2011, and Andrew Mason is agitated. He's at his desk in the middle of Groupon's wide open, call center-style office in Chicago. His headphones are on. His company had been the darling of the business press for the past two years. He can't hang on to a COO. What a turnabout from a few months earlier, when Groupon was the talk of Wall Street. So what happened? And now that Groupon is finally going public, how will the Groupon story end? This story, as told to us by insiders, answers some of these questions. In 2006, Andrew Mason was a music major, getting a graduate degree in public policy at the University of Chicago. Mason maintained a website called Policy Tree, which featured articles like "Karl Rove should be fired or resign over the C.I.A. leak." On the side, he was doing contract work building databases at a company founded and funded by an entrepreneur named Eric Lefkofsky. The Point was a social media platform designed to get groups of people together to solve problems.
Tim Rowe testifies before the Senate Banking Committee | Cambridge Innovation Center Blog Our CEO, Tim Rowe, was back down in DC this morning testifying before the Senate Banking Committee at a session on ”Spurring Job Growth through Capital Formation while Protecting Investors.” Tim was there to advocate for the crowdfunding legislature that is currently before the Senate. If you are new to crowdfunding, NPR did a great overview piece on it this morning prior to the Senate Banking Committee session that includes some comments from Tim. A parallel effort to the crowd-funding legislation is building an “IPO On Ramp” in America, which Tim also supports. If you would like to watch the session before the Senate Banking Committee, video is available here. Tim Rowe testifies alongside Mr.
Highland Capital ID's Summer@Highland teams Venture firm Highland Capital Partners has kicked off its fourth Summer@Highland program by announcing the 10 university-affiliated startup teams selected to participate. Each team receives $15,000 along with free office space at the Cambridge Innovation Center, Highland’s summer office in the South of Market (SoMa) district of San Francisco, or at Highland’s Entrepreneur Center on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, Calif. The teams are given access to the Highland team, entrepreneurial mentors and other expert resources. Highland said that more than 225 university-affiliated startups applied for the program. The 10 teams include representatives from Babson College, Boston College, Boston University, University of California at Berkeley, Harvard University, University of Michigan, Northwestern University, University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University. Participating startups as described by Highland are:
Microcap Stock: A Guide for Investors Information is the investor's best tool when it comes to investing wisely. But accurate information about "microcap stocks" - low-priced stocks issued by the smallest of companies - may be difficult to find. Many microcap companies do not file financial reports with the SEC, so it's hard for investors to get the facts about the company's management, products, services, and finances. Before you consider investing in a microcap company, arm yourself first with information. What Is a Microcap Stock? The term "microcap stock" applies to companies with low or "micro" capitalizations, meaning the total value of the company's stock. Microcap companies typically have limited assets and operations. Where Do Microcap Stocks Trade? Many microcap stocks trade in the "over-the-counter" (OTC) market, rather than on a national securities exchange such as the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ. How Are Microcap Stocks Different From Other Stocks? Which Companies File Reports With the SEC?
Crowdfunding Law Will Turn the Start-Up World Upside Down - Tim Rowe - Voices Remember that special moment when we all realized that the Web was going to remake yard sales and auctions, but we didn’t know yet who was going to win? (And then eBay left the rest in the dust?) Such a moment has come again, and with a choice prize: Investing in start-ups. The House has already passed crowdfunding legislation, by a whopping majority. The president supports it. Senators on both sides of the aisle (Merkley, Bennet, and Brown) have agreed on a version. What would this mean? Everybody likes the innovation and jobs that this could propel. Here’s how this is going to play out: Intermediaries (the future eBays of this space) will spring forward to handle the paperwork, do background checks on issuers (required), ensure that offerings are well described and enforce balanced investment terms. This could be big. Up next?
The bizarre case of Oak Investment Partners The venture capital industry is in a lot of pain, saddled with so much money, it can’t invest it properly. With the Internet boom over, and investors pulling back from supporting venture capital firms, we’ll see a lot of the mediocre VC firms finally die (see our list of the walking dead). Which brings me to Oak Investment Partners. Almost three years ago, I wrote how Oak Investment Partners had become the largest venture capital firm. Despite a very mediocre track record — it hadn’t made real money for its investors for years — the firm managed to raise $2.56 billion from investors. So I was also surprised to find out this week that Oak is trying to raise yet another fund, in this environment, targeted at $1.5 billion. Meanwhile, a 1999 vintage Oak fund was generating a negative 4.2 percent net IRR as of Sept. 30. But the worrying thing, in my view, is that Oak has done all this while relying in part on public money. Here are a few of the investment bets Oak has made recently.
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