http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=5123
Google said today in an SEC filing that it has invested $3.9 million in 23andMe, a biotech startup that’s focused on allowing consumers to search their genome.
23andMe just closed its series A round of funding. The startup’s funding round included Google, New Enterprise Associates, Mohr Davidow Ventures and Genentech. 23andMe says it is “focused on empowering individuals to access, explore, share and better understand their genetic information, making use of recent advances in DNA analysis technologies and proprietary web-based software tools.”
In its filing, Google also noted that Anne Wojcicki is a co-founder of 23andMe and is a member of the board of directors. Wojcicki is married to Sergey Brin, Google’s president of technology and company co-founder.
HP: Brings new meaning the the term:" Financial Affinity "
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Some Insights from the Cleantech Innovation Forum in London, at Kensington Olympia
http://www.renewableenergyjobs.com/greenleader/uk/last-week%E2%80%99s-cleantech-innovation-forum/
1. (In the UK) VCs no longer want to finance seed round cleantech companies, but that only angels are investing
2. Investors are becoming too reliant on copious amounts of data at the expense of gut feel, in order to de-risk the investment, which can also end up making the process overly lengthy and costly.
(HP: This will always be the case, highly dependent on each firm's "nature".
3. Investors who remain active are people who understand the market and technologies, while those who are less focussed on cleantech have fallen off the bandwagon.
(HP: Survival of the fittest!! Other articles/observations have noted how some VCs/investors really have limited technical/market experience in Cleantech)
4. The fundraising team (of clean tech companies) has more and more creative and interesting people that will work without a salary, for equity alone.
(HP: This is very very surprising... especially in cleantech where the returns or time taken to reach neutral cash flow is quite lengthy and riskly as compared to some other types of investments.
1. (In the UK) VCs no longer want to finance seed round cleantech companies, but that only angels are investing
2. Investors are becoming too reliant on copious amounts of data at the expense of gut feel, in order to de-risk the investment, which can also end up making the process overly lengthy and costly.
(HP: This will always be the case, highly dependent on each firm's "nature".
3. Investors who remain active are people who understand the market and technologies, while those who are less focussed on cleantech have fallen off the bandwagon.
(HP: Survival of the fittest!! Other articles/observations have noted how some VCs/investors really have limited technical/market experience in Cleantech)
4. The fundraising team (of clean tech companies) has more and more creative and interesting people that will work without a salary, for equity alone.
(HP: This is very very surprising... especially in cleantech where the returns or time taken to reach neutral cash flow is quite lengthy and riskly as compared to some other types of investments.
Now is the not the time to retreat from green tech
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12573115?source=rss
(report regarding investment and jobs in America's Clean Tech Sector)
1. The Pew Charitable Trusts delivered an evenhanded report last week that examines in detail the impact on jobs this industry has had in just a short time.
2. The report finds that from 1998 to 2007, the cleantech industry accounted for 770,000 new jobs. While that may sound tiny in a U.S. economy with 140 million jobs, it
already is more than the biotechnology sector (200,000) and gaining on employment in the traditional energy sector (1.27 million).
3. Green-tech jobs grew by 9.1 percent, compared with only 3.7 percent for overall job growth.
4. (From the Report) "Policymakers, business leaders and the public need credible, reliable data to ground their policy deliberations and choices, and to understand where emerging economic opportunities lie. They also need a clear, concrete and common definition of what constitutes the clean-energy economy so they can track jobs and businesses and gauge the effectiveness of public policy choices and investments."
(report regarding investment and jobs in America's Clean Tech Sector)
1. The Pew Charitable Trusts delivered an evenhanded report last week that examines in detail the impact on jobs this industry has had in just a short time.
2. The report finds that from 1998 to 2007, the cleantech industry accounted for 770,000 new jobs. While that may sound tiny in a U.S. economy with 140 million jobs, it
already is more than the biotechnology sector (200,000) and gaining on employment in the traditional energy sector (1.27 million).
3. Green-tech jobs grew by 9.1 percent, compared with only 3.7 percent for overall job growth.
4. (From the Report) "Policymakers, business leaders and the public need credible, reliable data to ground their policy deliberations and choices, and to understand where emerging economic opportunities lie. They also need a clear, concrete and common definition of what constitutes the clean-energy economy so they can track jobs and businesses and gauge the effectiveness of public policy choices and investments."
Survey: Venture capital firms look outside U.S.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/10/BUKK183OLV.DTL&type=tech
Survey Results from 725 VCs around the world
1. Only 17 percent of venture capitalists expect to increase their investments in the United States over the next three years.
2. The biggest beneficiary of this trend is Asia, followed by India, South America, Europe and the United Kingdom.
3. While the U.S. economy is shrinking, the economies of China and India are still growing, although more slowly, so startups that sell to those markets can still thrive
4. Clean technology is expected to become the leading area for investment, followed by medical devices, new media and social networks, consumer business, biopharma and software.
5. The venture industry will be forced to contract to the way it was before the dot-com bubble, with one- or two-person firms raising smaller funds and investing in a few niche sectors.
Seems like exciting times ahead for the position I'm currently in :)
Survey Results from 725 VCs around the world
1. Only 17 percent of venture capitalists expect to increase their investments in the United States over the next three years.
2. The biggest beneficiary of this trend is Asia, followed by India, South America, Europe and the United Kingdom.
3. While the U.S. economy is shrinking, the economies of China and India are still growing, although more slowly, so startups that sell to those markets can still thrive
4. Clean technology is expected to become the leading area for investment, followed by medical devices, new media and social networks, consumer business, biopharma and software.
5. The venture industry will be forced to contract to the way it was before the dot-com bubble, with one- or two-person firms raising smaller funds and investing in a few niche sectors.
Seems like exciting times ahead for the position I'm currently in :)
Nuggets of Wisdom from a VC
I happened to stumble upon the random musings of a VC regarding pitching - his account was short but so very true. Credit goes to http://www.j-lp.com/blog/index.html
Title: You Lose Credibility when you pitch
Claim that there is no competition.
Use percentage math to justify the investment.
Have misspelled words in your documents.
Are not aware of the local environment.
Ask for too much.
Ask for too little.
Are unaware of the entire process of building a team or company.
Look at the next milestone as the finish line.
Title: You Lose Credibility when you pitch
Claim that there is no competition.
Use percentage math to justify the investment.
Have misspelled words in your documents.
Are not aware of the local environment.
Ask for too much.
Ask for too little.
Are unaware of the entire process of building a team or company.
Look at the next milestone as the finish line.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Entrepreneurship Discussions
I had a wonderful time on the 13th of June. The iLEADers(Batch 3) had an morning discussion with Mr Rahul Harkawat and Ms Ann Burgraff-Rowell, both seasoned business professionals who have experience in entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley. Below are some interesting excepts:
Mr Rahul - A serious no-nonsense serial entrepreneur who started out with USD5 in his pocket when arriving in America. Very determined and persistent person.
1. Kept on stressing the 3 important criteria for being a successful entrepreneur - Persistence, Personal skills (network and social capital), and Credibility.
2. Persistence: Due to the nature of start-up companies, one will be facing hurdles and difficulties that has no precedent (i.e. little case study and benchmarks). You'll also be like David fighting the Goliath - you need to strongly believe in yourself when everything doesnt go your way.
3. Personal - He listed numerous examples whereby having personal connection saved him and his company from the many pitfalls he faced while being an entrepreneur.
4. Credibility - Once, even without a company or a business model, he just walked straight right into Disney and offered to service their graphical computers at a steep discount over their existing systems. He made sure that he kept to his promise and Disney became his first customer, allowing him to start-up his company.
Ms Ann Burgraff-Rowell - In contrast to Rahul, Ann was a very lively and attractive American was very willing to share her experiences through very vivid anecdotes. She held key positions in marketing for many different start-ups
1. She gave many examples of guerrilla marketing (using high school students) and gave some examples of how to bootstrap.
2. She told many stories on the culture of SV ( Google Massager earning millions through stock options, vocal and accepting attitude even towards interns etc...)
3. She managed to shed some light on how families and couple relationships intertwine with being an entreperneur.
We later went on to BuzzCity - one of the very old business in new media who focuses on mobile advertising platform. Managed to have a very frank talk with the boss who was very willing to share his business model and experience.
Mr Rahul - A serious no-nonsense serial entrepreneur who started out with USD5 in his pocket when arriving in America. Very determined and persistent person.
1. Kept on stressing the 3 important criteria for being a successful entrepreneur - Persistence, Personal skills (network and social capital), and Credibility.
2. Persistence: Due to the nature of start-up companies, one will be facing hurdles and difficulties that has no precedent (i.e. little case study and benchmarks). You'll also be like David fighting the Goliath - you need to strongly believe in yourself when everything doesnt go your way.
3. Personal - He listed numerous examples whereby having personal connection saved him and his company from the many pitfalls he faced while being an entrepreneur.
4. Credibility - Once, even without a company or a business model, he just walked straight right into Disney and offered to service their graphical computers at a steep discount over their existing systems. He made sure that he kept to his promise and Disney became his first customer, allowing him to start-up his company.
Ms Ann Burgraff-Rowell - In contrast to Rahul, Ann was a very lively and attractive American was very willing to share her experiences through very vivid anecdotes. She held key positions in marketing for many different start-ups
1. She gave many examples of guerrilla marketing (using high school students) and gave some examples of how to bootstrap.
2. She told many stories on the culture of SV ( Google Massager earning millions through stock options, vocal and accepting attitude even towards interns etc...)
3. She managed to shed some light on how families and couple relationships intertwine with being an entreperneur.
We later went on to BuzzCity - one of the very old business in new media who focuses on mobile advertising platform. Managed to have a very frank talk with the boss who was very willing to share his business model and experience.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Markets have been bleeding the last two days. Stocks have been freefalling. Invested in two stocks that could have a quick turnaround in this apparent downtrend.
MR
high volume on long white candle, decreasing volume on decreasing prices.
very thinly traded. less bullish due to the dark cloud cover.
MR
high volume on long white candle, decreasing volume on decreasing prices.
very thinly traded. less bullish due to the dark cloud cover.
| 17-Jun-09 | -2,338.68 |
| 17-Jun-09 | -2,311.40 |
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