(Founder Stories) Fred Wilson Explains Why He Wouldn’t Invest In Groupon Or Pandora Few VCs have a hotter hand right now than Fred Wilson. His firm, Union Square Ventures, is an investor in Twitter, Zynga, Foursquare, Tumblr, Etsy, Clickable, and more . In this episode of Founder Stories, he talks to host Chris Dixon about Union Square’s investment thesis has changed from going after all web apps to companies that are “building a large networks of engaged users.” It has to be be both a large network and engaged users. Dixon and Wilson also talk about the relationship between founders and VCs, and the importance of injecting capital when a company needs to scale, as happened with Twitter and Tumblr. In the video segment below, Wilson and Dixon dive into the mechanics of the VC business, and talk about Union Square’s new $165 million Opportunity Fund, the “cancerous management fees” VC firms charge their investors, and why it might be a good thing to let startup founders take money off the table before an IPO or sale.
News zu Startups, Internet-Unternehmen und VC | Gründerszene 4Di / Capital Stanford Venture Capital Holdings Invests in Mountain Partners Group ST. GALLEN, Switzerland, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The Swiss investment company, Mountain Super Angel AG (Open Market Frankfurt, ISIN: CH0033050961, www.super-angel.ch) and her parent company, Mountain Partners AG, have announced that Stanford Venture Capital Holdings has committed to invest in the Swiss company and its funds. Dr. According to L Jack Staley, President of Stanford Group (Suisse) AG and head of Stanford's European region, the investment is evidence of Stanford's commitment to the European market and to finding solid investment opportunities with innovative companies like Mountain Partners. Additionally, Stanford will also invest in Bluehill ID AG (Open Market Frankfurt, ISIN: CH0031958629, www.bluehill-ID.com) and Cleantech Invest AG (Open Market Frankfurt, ISIN: CH0034183175, www.cleantech.vc), two recently stock-listed investment vehicles of Mountain Partners Group. About MOUNTAIN SUPER ANGEL AG About Stanford Group (Suisse) AG About Stanford Financial Group
BVP - Venture Capital - Bessemer Venture Partners 10 Hot Web Startups Changing the Face of Retail Macala Wright is the publisher of FashionablyMarketing.Me, one of the leading fashion and retail industry business websites. She is a retail consultant and business strategist who specializes in marketing consulting for fashion, luxury and lifestyle brands. You can follower her on Twitter at @InsideFMM or @Macala. In 2010, branded content was one the largest trends among retailers and brands. By creatively using Pinterest and Tumblr, brands are becoming enthralled with consumer curation, primarily because these types of curated sites create non-linear paths to purchases. First, retailers post visually appealing images and ideas that are accessible to the online user/consumer. “We’re demonstrating the power of peer-to-peer shopping search,” says Buyosphere’s Tara Hunt. The future of ecommerce, search and social marketing is now tied to personality-influenced consumer curation. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, tetsuomorita
Partners première société de capital risque en France Sofinnova Partners est une société de capital-risque indépendante, leader européen dans le financement de jeunes sociétés, de spin-offs ou d'opérations de retournement dans les technologies et les sciences de la vie ainsi que les cleantechs: 460 sociétés financées en Europe depuis 1972 ; Plus d’une société financée sur cinq qui entre en bourse ; Plus d’une société financée sur cinq qui fait l’objet d’une fusion-acquisition ; La création d’une quarantaine d’emplois en moyenne par société financée entre notre entrée et notre sortie ; Un chiffre d’affaires multiplié par 8 en moyenne entre notre entrée et notre sortie. "Nous sommes transparents. Monique Saulnier partenaire associé Sofinnova Partners finance des projets ambitieux ciblant les domaines thérapeutiques insatisfaits à la fois en biopharmacie et en instrumentation médicale. Nous finançons en priorité les projets : développant des nouveaux produits pour des besoins cliniques non satisfaits ; Internet mobile, Internet
s Startup Incubator TechStars Invades New York City When it comes to seed investing, New York City is becoming a hotbed. And now TechStars, the incubator that began in Boulder. Colorado and has spawned nearly 40 startups, is coming to New York. This will be the fourth (and supposedly last) city TechStars expands to, according to CEO David Cohen (the other two are Boston and Seattle). TechStars is accepting applications for the New York City Class of 2011, which will start in January. TechStars takes a 6 percent equity stake in each startup in common stock (no board seats), and has a decent track record.
A Groupon For Sports? Crowd Seats Brings The Daily Deal Model To Sports Tickets Daily deal sites, by and large, seem like they’re here to stay, much to Rocky Agrawal’s chagrin, surely. Whether or not you agree with Rocky’s flurry of posts last month about Groupon and its claque of clones, the daily deals model is not perfect, and it’s certainly a worthy endeavor to make sure that small businesses and merchants are not coerced into structuring one-sided relationships with daily deals sites. Justin Cener, the Founder and CEO of Crowd Seats, agrees that the daily deal model is not ideal for every industry and merchants shouldn’t force the model just because daily deals are all the rage these days. That being said, Cener thinks he’s found a niche that is suited well to the daily deal and group buying model: Sports tickets. What’s more, businesses that make money on complementary goods and can create purchases that make up for the money lost in the discount stand to do more than just break even on these kind of deals. As to how it works?
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6 Startups to Watch in 2012 An Olympic games, a U.S. presidential election and the end of the world are already planned for 2012, but we're more excited about the startups. Here are six of them (in no particular order) that we expect to help define the coming year. We chose companies based on the momentum they gained in 2011, promising new takes on old problems and, in one case, the possibility of an IPO. Did we look at every startup in the world before compiling this list? 1. Skillshare is an online marketplace for offline classes. While the startup began with classes clustered in New York City, it now has budding communities in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and elsewhere. 2. We're pretty sure that the mobile, local version of Craigslist will gain traction in 2012. 3. LevelUp users link any credit or debit card to their LevelUp accounts the same way that Starbucks links a gift card to its app. Since launching in October, the app has signed up more than 100,000 users and has about 1,000 businesses. 4. 5. 6.
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