City fund to invest in business startups and expansions

Anchorage city government is creating a fund that will invest in private businesses — specifically, local start-ups and existing operations that are expanding.

The investment money comes from a $13.2 million federal allocation. Anchorage is the first city in the U.S. to receive an allocation from the Treasury Department’s state small business credit initiative, according to the mayor’s office. Elsewhere, states are operating such funds.
The Anchorage fund, called the 49th State Angel Fund, will loan money or take an ownership interest of up to 10 percent of the value of enterprises it invests in, said Allan Johnston, a former investment firm manager who is helping the city put the fund together. He is married to Assembly member Jennifer Johnston.
The fund’s purpose is to spur economic development, create jobs and promote entrepreneurship, city Chief Financial Officer Lucinda Mahoney said in a written presentation.
Exactly how the program will work is still being developed, Allan Johnston said. Eventually, he said he thinks the best system would be for private “angel funds” to be established and for the city money to go through them.
But in the initial version, the mayor and the city’s chief financial officer will make decisions on which businesses to invest in based on recommendations from an advisory committee of financial experts.
The Anchorage Assembly unanimously approved the plan last week.
Anchorage Assemblyman and mayor candidate Paul Honeman sent out a campaign statement critical of the way the fund management is set up. He thinks the Assembly should have a role in confirming advisory committee members and maybe confirm who gets loans.
But he said Friday that he voted for it without proposing any changes because he didn’t want to jeopardize Anchorage getting the money.
He noted the city has 90 days to set up the program and says there’s time within that period to make changes.
Assembly member Patrick Flynn, in his blog, questioned whether it would be a good idea for the Assembly to be more involved. “We want to substitute our political judgment for the fiscal judgment of financial professionals?” he asked.
Bill Popp, president and CEO of the Anchorage Economic Development Corp., said his group supports the city’s move.
“Angel funds” such as this one fill gaps in the financing of a new or expanding business, Popp said. Such funds tend to be small and community based, he said.
“AEDC is pretty excited this fund is coming into being,” he said.
Popp told the Assembly it “fills a role the private sector has not been willing to take on to this point.”
Strings attached to the federal funds:
• There has to be a 10-to-1 match for the federal money. A $1 investment from the 49th State Angel Fund must lead to at least $10 of private funding, the city news release said.
So the $13.2 million in federal money could generate $140 million or more in economic activity, Popp said.
• The target investment is a firm with 500 or fewer employees. Seven hundred fifty employees is the upper limit.
With these requirements, it won’t be for mom-and-pop retail outfits, Popp said. The start-up or expanding business venture would have to have a sizable investment, he said. Asked what kinds of businesses might qualify, he said a company making high-value electronics might, or an information technology firm with significant reach.
Lance Ahern, now a city employee, testified at the Assembly that when he started Internet Alaska Inc. in 1994 investment money was scarce. The company was the first local and statewide Internet service provider in Alaska, Ahern said.
He wasn’t able to get bank loans. “When I started my first company the investors were me, Visa and Mastercard,” he said. “This program is really good.”

---

Reach Rosemary Shinohara at rshinohara@adn.com or 257-4340.

http://tourism9.cm/    http://vkins.com/

UpTech Announces Judges for Start-Ups in Business Accelerator Contest

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
UpTech, a super business accelerator committed to funding 50 of the best and brightest early-stage informatics companies from the United States and abroad, announced today that it has selected the Judges who will decide which companies will be accepted into the program.
UpTech will invest up to $100,000 into each winning startup company and provide six months of business development and applied intellectual property (IP) research support, free premium office space, and professional mentoring.
The judges who will review the applications from the start-up companies are informatics, technology, business, and investment experts from CBS, Cisco, Dell, Procter & Gamble, Queen City Angels, Scripps, SUMMUS, and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. The judges are:
• Frank Muehlman, Vice President and General Manager of the Public Business Group of Dell, Inc., for the North American region. He is responsible for all sales, marketing, and customer service in this region.
• Jim Fortner, Vice President of Information Technology Architecture, Development, and Operations for the Global Business Services division of Procter & Gamble. He manages key relationships with IT vendors at P&G.
• Marc LeShay, Vice President of Enterprise Architecture for the CBS Corporation. He has lectured around the world on topics ranging from penetrating the U.S. market, early-stage financing, IT strategy, and building strategic organizations.
• Robin Davis, Vice President for Strategic Planning and Development for The E.W. Scripps Company. She previously served as Vice President of Finance and Administration for the newspaper division of the company.
• Russ Smoak, Director and General Manager of Security Research and Operations at Cisco Systems. He is responsible for multiple security programs focused on product vulnerability disclosure, intrusion prevention, and security vulnerability.
• Wai Wong, President and Chief Executive Officer of SUMMUS Software, a global provider of IT solutions. Before founding SUMMUS, Wong served in management positions at Amdocs, BEA Systems, and Computer Associates (CA Technologies).
• Dr. Leslie Alexandre, a healthcare and biosciences consultant and former president and CEO of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. She is an internationally respected leader in biotechnology economic development.
• Tony Shipley, is Chairman of Queen City Angels, a Cincinnati based group of angel investors, and Chairman of Transactiv, an Internet company supported by Queen City Angels.
“The quality of the judging panel clearly indicates the level of excitement that is being generated by UpTech,” said Adam Caswell, an UpTech co-founder. “These judges – like many others interested in this business accelerator — are drawn to the big idea of linking equity investment to new information-driven businesses, which are supported by the applied research capabilities of NKU’s College of Informatics and the local business community.”
The judges will examine seed-level ideas that support five sectors of informatics: health information technology, cloud computing virtualization, business analytics, digital media, and cyber security. UpTech has been accepting applications for participation in the program since Feb. 2 and it will close this first round of applications on March 9, 2012. The screening and judging process will be completed during the month of March and the winners will be announced on March 30, 2012.
UpTech is one of the most robust business accelerators in the world. In addition to an equity investment of up to $100,000, each winning business will also receive six months of free, premium riverfront office on the Ohio River with a view of downtown Cincinnati skyline and support from financial, law, accounting, and marketing/public relations firms. The winners also will receive applied IP research support from faculty, staff and graduate assistants and two student interns from Northern Kentucky University’s College of Informatics for each company along with on-campus informatics labs and facilities for collaboration, events, and seminars.
More information about UpTech can be found at http://www.uptechideas.org.
About UpTech
A partnership of Vision 2015, Campbell County Economic Progress Authority (CCEPA), Tri-County Economic Development Corporation (Tri-ED), and Northern Kentucky University, UpTech, LLC, is a super business accelerator program designed to attract startup companies to the area to support regional growth. The goal of the program is to attract and support 50 national and international early-stage informatics companies and provide them with financial and developmental assistance. UpTech, LLC is funded by independent investors. For more information, please visit http://www.uptechideas.org.
Follow UpTech on social media at:
Facebook at UpTech – Accelerate Big Ideas
Twitter at @UpTechIdeas

http://tourism9.cm/    http://vkins.com/

Growth-Stage Technology Investor WestSummit Capital Adds Two New Partners

PALO ALTO, Calif. & BEIJING–(BUSINESS WIRE)– WestSummit Capital, a private equity fund with a core focus on growth-stage technology companies that have a substantial presence or a strategic interest in China, announced venture capital and private equity specialist David Lam has joined the firm as managing director, and Elise Huang has been promoted to partner. With over $200 million under management, WestSummit Capital is focused on fostering business growth and technology innovation as well as job and value creation in the technology, Internet/new media, telecommunications and clean technology sectors.
Founded in 2010 by four former technology executives, Raymond Yang, Datong Chen, Jay Deng and John Yu, WestSummit Capital holds a distinctive position in the market as an investor with strong Chinese roots, decades of executive and operational experience in Silicon Valley and China, and thirty-plus years of combined technology investment experience at venture capital and private equity firms in the United States and in China.
The founding partners have worked together in different ways since the mid-1900’s, graduated within three years of each other from China’s prestigious Tsinghua University, and hold over 110 years of combined executive operating experience including three NASDAQ listings and one M&A transaction.
“WestSummit Capital is one of the first China-based funds to go global and our portfolio spans China, the United States and Europe,” said Raymond Yang, a co-founder partner and Managing Director of WestSummit Capital. “We believe 2012 is a breakout year for growth-stage companies interested in moving into the Chinese market. We view ourselves as a value-add, strategic partner with regard to China-value creation for the companies we invest in. That’s where we add tremendous insight.”
Yang added, “Many executives are still wary of doing business in China because they do not know where to start or how to navigate in China’s business culture. And conversely, Chinese-based companies feel the same way about expanding into the West.
“Everyone on the WestSummit team has deep industry relationships, solid credentials, and hands-on operational and investment experience in both the U.S. and in China. Our team knows first-hand the key role that transparency plays in creating lasting shareholder value, and understands what it takes to win in the global marketplace. David’s addition and Elise’s promotion reflect our ongoing commitment to extending our team’s capabilities, reach and experience.”
The team
The WestSummit Capital partnership includes:
Two new partners with extensive private equity, technology and international investment banking experience and extensive industry connections:
Investment Portfolio
WestSummit Capital has been quietly building its portfolio over the past two years. The firm has lead or participated in investment rounds in companies based in the U.S., Europe, and China. Investments include:

• Accent, supplier of a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) platform for smart meters (Italy)
• GigaDevice, provider of NOR flash memory (China)
• Inside Secure, provider of technology solutions for contactless payment and near-field communications (NFC) (France)
• SilkRoad Technologies, cloud-based human resource management software solutions (USA)
• Tilera, developer of a multi-core processors for Cloud Computing environments (USA)
• Unity Technologies, 3D gaming development software platform (USA)
• VeriSilicon, provider of custom silicon solutions and SoC turnkey services (China)

About WestSummit Capital
WestSummit Capital is one of the first China-based technology growth-stage private equity firms in the industry. The firm invests in companies that have a substantial presence in or strategic interest in China and focuses on the technology, media, telecommunications and enabling clean tech sectors. WestSummit has offices in Beijing, China and Palo Alto, USA. More information can be found on the WestSummit Capital website at: www.westsummitcap.com
Suggested tags/keywords:
Private Equity, Europe, Fund, Investment, Investor, Venture Capital, VC, Growth-stage, technology, new media, clean tech, semiconductor, China, business, Chinese, IT, funding
Suggested tweet:
China-focused Growth-Stage Tech Investor WestSummit Capital adds New Ptnrs #venturecapital #fund #venture
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50152808&lang=en
MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE:http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50152808&lang=en


http://tourism9.com/    http://vkins.com/

Cohen Said to Plan Donating Gains From SAC Spinout as Investors Flag Risk

Steven A. Cohen plans to donate to charity any profits he makes from the former private-equity arm of the SAC Capital Advisors LP hedge fund, according to three investors.
Some limited partners and prospective investors in Siris Capital Group LLC have expressed concern that the New York-based spinout’s ties with Cohen left it vulnerable to “headline risk,” or negative news, the people said. Two former employees of SAC Capital have pleaded guilty to insider trading in the U.S. government’s five-year probe of hedge funds, and last month a technology analyst at one of the $14 billion firm’s units was accused of the crime.
Prior to the close of the first fundraising stage in September, Cohen decided against investing in the Siris fund, whose general partners are seeking $400 million, the people said. Cohen also decided to hand over his cut of future profits to charity, according to the investors. Siris had agreed at the time of the spinout to give Cohen 20 percent of its slice of profits, or carried interest, from the first fund, the investors said.
Frank Baker, co-founder of Siris, declined to comment, as did Jonathan Gasthalter, a spokesman for SAC Capital at Sard Verbinnen & Co. No allegations of wrongdoing have been levied against Cohen or SAC.

Siris Fundraising

Siris, the private-capital group that spun off from SAC Capital early last year, has raised $175 million for its first buyout fund, said two of the investors, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The fund, Siris Partners II LP, will invest in technology, telecommunications and health-care companies.
Public pension plans have been sensitive to any bad press around investments they make.
“The nightmare scenario for any public pension manager is getting a call from a board member one morning because a negative story involving a fund in their portfolio is on page one,” said Jake Elmhirst, a managing director at UBS Investment Bank in New York.
Cohen’s decision not to invest in the fund has alleviated concerns about potential headline risk, one of the people said. Another possible limited partner said his investment firm wouldn’t be troubled if Cohen’s had participated in the fund because that would represent a “validation” of the Siris team.
At SAC, Cohen acted as the sole backer of deals by the private-capital group and helped Siris get started.
Siris gathered $125 million in the first phase of fundraising, according to one investor. Teachers’ Retirement System of Illinois committed $45 million in August.

Tekelec, Applied Discovery

In January, Siris led a group that bought Internet services company Tekelec (TKLC) in a deal valued at about $780 million. The firm purchased LexisNexis’s Applied Discovery unit, a provider of electronic legal services, in December.
Siris was founded by Baker, Peter Berger and Jeffrey Hendren, who have worked together for more than a decade. They were colleagues at private-equity firm Ripplewood Holdings LLC before joining SAC Capital in 2007.
SAC’s private-capital group invested in Cosmos Bank Taiwan (2837), network infrastructure company Airvana and MedQuist Holdings. The deals have produced an average of about two times invested capital, according to another person familiar with Siris.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sabrina Willmer in New York at swillmer2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net
'
'
http://tourism9.com/    http://vkins.com/

Car loans coast down low-rate lane during 2012

Verizon Investment Join $8M Round for Skyfire Labs

More Topics:
Posted January 26, 2012
Skyfire Labs, a leader in mobile video optimization and cloud solutions for mobility, today announced it has raised $8 million in its Series C financing. Verizon Investments LLC, a subsidiary of Verizon Communications Inc. participated in the round, alongside current investors Matrix Partners, Trinity Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Verizon’s investment was arranged by Verizon Ventures, which seeks promising entrepreneurial companies that complement Verizon networks and service platforms. Skyfire will use the funds to meet the demands of its growing list of wireless operator customers through increased engineering, sales and support resources, and also to expand into European and Asian markets.
“Wireless operators around the world are facing an explosion in mobile data on their networks, driven largely by mobile video,” said Andrew Verhalen, general partner at Matrix Partners. “Skyfire is well positioned with solutions for operators that can expand network capacity by over 25 percent, as well as generate incremental revenue.”
“Skyfire is poised to expand globally in 2012 after winning deployments with two tier-one operators in North America, and adding world-class international executive talent,” added Larry Orr, general partner at Trinity Ventures.
Concurrent with this latest financing, Skyfire has announced a new European footprint. John Rintoul has been named vice president of sales for Skyfire’s newly-opened EMEA office, based in London. Rintoul previously led sales with the Vodafone account for Cisco’s Mobile Internet Technology Group, and prior to that, was a sales executive at Starent Networks, Juniper Networks, and Kagoor Networks. Skyfire also announces Scott Boehmer has been named vice president of sales for Americas. Boehmer previously was vice president of sales for SEVEN networks, and a product executive at Sprint. Both regional leads will now report to Skyfire’s SVP Global Sales, Jason Guesman.
“Skyfire’s Rocket Optimizer product is delivering an average of 60 percent savings for operators on video bandwidth,” said Jeff Glueck, CEO of Skyfire. “We welcome the participation of Verizon, which is renowned for its network planning sophistication.”
Rocket Optimizer 2.0, the latest iteration of Skyfire’s powerful carrier-grade network video and data optimization platform, was launched in October 2011. With mobile video demand expected to rise steeply over the next three years, Rocket 2.0 aims to help carriers solve capacity issues linked to the rapid rise of mobile video streaming. The solution offers real-time optimization of mobile video to enable smoother streaming, and can be applied to specific cell towers or backhaul regions as soon as congestion is detected. Rocket Optimizer 2.0 also offers the broadest support for video formats, including the world’s first instant MP4 optimization (which comprises more than 50 percent of today’s mobile video, including most HTML5 and iOS video). By leveraging cloud computing power, Skyfire’s solution is highly cost effective to scale on both 3G and 4G LTE networks.
Full details about the Rocket 2.0 platform can be found here: http://www.skyfire.com/en/for-operators.
Skyfire also offers the Rocket Toolbar product line, a fully customizable web-based operator portal embedded in the default browser of new smartphones. The Rocket Toolbar adds value for users on every page of the Internet by making browsing more social, facilitating app discovery, m-commerce, and quick access to news updates. The Rocket Toolbar has been selected by a tier one North American carrier for upcoming deployment, and is in numerous trials across the U.S. and Europe.
Full details about the Rocket Toolbar platform can be found here:
http://www.skyfire.com/en/for-operators/rocke….
Skyfire will continue to maintain its consumer app business as a showcase and laboratory for its technology. Skyfire apps across Apple iOS® and Google Android® devices have been downloaded by over 12 million users.
To learn more about Skyfire, visit: http://www.skyfire.com.
About Lightspeed Venture Partners
Lightspeed Venture Partners is a leading global venture capital firm with over $2 billion of committed capital under management. Lightspeed’s investment professionals and advisors are located in Silicon Valley, China, India and Israel. Over the past two decades, the Lightspeed team has backed more than 150 companies, many of which have become leaders in their respective markets, including Blue Nile, Brocade, Calista, Ciena, DoubleClick, eHealth, Galileo Technology, Growth Networks, Informatica, Kiva Software, LightLogic, Maker Communications, Metasolv, Openwave, Quantum Effect Devices, Riverbed, Sirocco, Virsa Systems and Waveset.
About Matrix Partners
Matrix Partners is a premier venture capital firm that has generated outstanding returns for more than three decades. By focusing on early-stage investments and emphasizing long-term relationships with entrepreneurs, the firm has delivered several of the industry’s top performing funds of all time. Matrix Partners has offices in Cambridge and Waltham, MA; New York, NY; Palo Alto, CA; Mumbai, India; and Beijing and Shanghai, China. Matrix Partners has invested in several game-changing, industry-leading businesses such as Apple Computer, Gilt Groupe, JBoss, Netezza, Phone.com, Polyvore, Starent Networks, Sycamore Networks, Veritas, Zendesk, and Zong.
About Trinity Ventures
Founded in 1986, Trinity Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm dedicated to partnering with passionate entrepreneurs to transform revolutionary ideas into reality. With over $1 billion under management, Trinity Ventures believes in personal engagement, mutual respect and goal alignment with the entrepreneurs. Trinity focuses on early stage and seed technology investments with particular emphasis on social shopping and entertainment, cloud computing, mobility, and internet infrastructure areas.
Trinity Ventures has invested in such leading companies as Aruba Networks, 21Vianet, Blue Nile, LoopNet, Photobucket, SciQuest, Starbucks, BeachMint, Infoblox, Trion Worlds and Zulily.
About Verizon Ventures
Verizon Ventures arranges investments in promising entrepreneurial companies to drive innovation in Verizon Communications Inc. The portfolio arranged by Verizon Ventures focuses on new products, technologies, applications and services that complement Verizon networks, service platforms and distribution channels. Deal size ranges from seed capital to $5 million depending on the needs and opportunities. Verizon Ventures often arranges investments with other venture firms and strategic partners.
About Skyfire:
Skyfire is dedicated to leveraging the power of cloud computing to improve radically the mobile Internet experience for both Operators and Consumers. Skyfire’s solutions provide game-changing cost savings, better end-user experiences, and compelling incremental revenue opportunities. Skyfire was recently recognized as no. 4 on Light Reading’s 2011 Startups to Watch list; and by OnMobile as a Top 100 Private Company. As both a laboratory and showcase for new capabilities, Skyfire has honed its technology through a variety of consumer apps, which have more than 12 million downloads to date.
Skyfire is based in Mountain View, Calif., in the heart of Silicon Valley.

To find out more about the company in this article and to see if you
have business connections, click below:

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
blog comments powered by
http://tourism9.com/    http://vkins.com/

Wells Fargo to Help Central Valley Customers Facing Mortgage Payment Challenges Wednesday and Thursday at Stockton Arena

STOCKTON, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC – News) is hosting a free Home Preservation Workshop in Stockton for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Wells Fargo Financial, Wachovia Mortgage and Wells Fargo Home Equity customers facing financial hardships. Wells Fargo has invited more than 11,000 mortgage customers in the Stockton area to the two-day free workshop which will be held on Wednesday, January 18, 2012, from 2 p.m. – 8 p.m. and Thursday, January 19, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the Stockton Arena, Main Entrance, located at 248 West Fremont Street in Stockton. Parking is free.
More than 250 homeowners have registered and walk-ins are welcome to the Stockton workshop, the first of seven the company plans in California this year. Stockton is the 51^st Home Preservation Workshop the company has organized since September 2009 where Wells Fargo home preservation specialists have met one-on-one with nearly 30,000 homeowners.
“Wells Fargo wants our customers to succeed financially and helping struggling borrowers find the options to help families stay in their homes in this difficult economy is a top priority,” said David Galasso, Wells Fargo’s Northern and Central California regional president. “This workshop gives Wells Fargo and Wachovia home mortgage customers, who are faced with payment challenges, the opportunity to meet face-to-face with our home preservation specialists to explore and discuss the options available for them.”
Approximately 75 Wells Fargo home retention team members – including bilingual specialists – will be on hand at the upcoming workshop to assist customers. Where possible, borrowers will receive a decision on a workout, loan modification, or other options, on site or shortly following the workshop. Options include Wells Fargo’s own loan modification program and the federal government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).
How to Register for Wells Fargo Home Preservation Workshops in California
Following the Stockton Home Preservation Workshop, Wells Fargo will hold its next workshops of 2012 in San Diego (Jan. 25), Sacramento (Feb. 8-9), and Fresno, Calif. (Feb. 23). Walk-ins are welcome, but registration is strongly recommended in order to guarantee the ability to meet one-on-one with a representative. Sign up at www.wfhmevents.com/leadingthewayhome. For more information call 1-800-405-8067.
Customers across the country facing mortgage payment difficulties can also call 1-800-678-7986 for more information about potential options to avoid foreclosure.
About Wells Fargo’s Home Loans

• Wells Fargo originates one in every four home loans in the country, and services one of every six.
• In the third quarter of 2011, more than 92 percent of Wells Fargo’s mortgage customers remained current on their loan payments.
• Since January 2009 through November 2011, the company had 724,710 active trial and completed modifications. Of those modifications, 84 percent were done through Wells Fargo’s own modification programs and 16 percent were through the federal government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).
• As of the third quarter in 2011, Wells Fargo’s delinquency and foreclosure rates remain significantly below the industry average.
• Less than 2.0 percent of the loans secured by owner-occupied homes and serviced by Wells Fargo resulted in a foreclosure sale in the last 12 months.
• Just 7.63 percent of the first mortgage and home equity loans Wells Fargo services were past due or in foreclosure in the third quarter of 2011 compared to an industry average of 10.70 percent. Wells Fargo’s totals are down from a peak of 8.96 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC – News) is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.3 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 9,000 stores, 12,000 ATMs, the Internet (wellsfargo.com), and other distribution channels across North America and internationally. With more than 272,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in America. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 23 on Fortune’s 2011 rankings of America’s largest corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy all our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially.
http://tourism9.com/    http://vkins.com/

Job Search Engine Adzuna.co.uk Receives £500k Investment Backing from Index Ventures

LONDON, January 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ –
Adzuna, the next-generation job search engine, has today announced it has raised £500k investment financing from Index Ventures, The Accelerator Group and existing investors including Passion Capital. The latest funding follows a seed round last year.
Launched in July 2011, Adzuna classifieds aims to become the world’s leading search engine for classifieds, bringing together all the ads and connecting users with them in new ways.
Adzuna collates almost every job ad in the UK in real time from hundreds of websites, including all of the major job boards as well as sources like the London 2012 Olympics, Williams Formula 1 and the Royal Household. In addition to listing around 500,000 vacancies, the unique Adzuna Connect feature helps users “get hired with a little help from their friends” by connecting them to Adzuna jobs where they have first or second-degree connections on LinkedIn or Facebook.
The site also offers a wealth of data about the jobs and companies recruiting, from average salary data to employee reviews, interview questions and “CEO Approval ratings”.
Since launch in July, Adzuna has rapidly grown to hundreds of thousands of visitors per month, and was named a Top 20 Startup of 2011 by Startups.co.uk, a finalist in the Website of the Year awards, and shortlisted for the Europas.
This latest round of funding will be used to drive further product innovation around social and data, and expand into other verticals as well as international markets.
Robin Klein, Venture Partner at Index, said, “We’re delighted to be working with Andrew and Doug, experienced entrepreneurs whom we know well from their track records at Gumtree, Qype and Zoopla. The Adzuna team has achieved a great deal in a short period of time, and we believe the innovations they continue to bring to the market will change the way people search for classified ads.”
Doug Monro, Co-Founder of Adzuna, said: “We’re really excited to have top-class investors like Index, The Accelerator Group and Passion involved. We are passionate about making the classifieds search experience fundamentally better for users in the UK and beyond. This will help us towards that vision.”
About Adzuna
Adzuna.co.uk (http://www.adzuna.co.uk) is a search engine for classified ads which makes it easier for you to find the right job locally – and soon properties and cars too. We search thousands of sites so you don’t have to, bring together millions of ads so you can find them all in one place, and organize them with useful features so that you can easily find what you need.
Adzuna founders Andrew Hunter and Doug Monro met working at Gumtree in 2005. They stayed in the local internet space for the next 5 years and finally hatched the Adzuna plan in 2010 on the back of an envelope in a central London pub. The site was launched in July 2011.
Doug Monro was most recently COO of property portal Zoopla, leading the growth of the team from 5 to 75 people and the site to number 2 in UK property with 5M visitors a month. Previously he was MD of Gumtree.com, the UK’s largest classified ads site, and has worked for eBay UK, Bain & Co and Unilever. He has a BA in English from Cambridge and an MBA with distinction from Kellogg.
Andrew Hunter was mostly recently VP Marketing and General Manager of local review site Qype, where he grew the site from 0-17m monthly unique visitors in 2 years. Before Qype, Andrew was Head of Marketing at Gumtree.com and ran Search Marketing for the Thomas Cook Group. Andrew has a BSc in Business & Economics from Oxford Brookes University.
About Index Ventures
Index Ventures is a leading venture capital firm specializing in investments in information technology and life sciences companies. The firm invests in seed, early and growth stage start-ups across US and Europe. Since its inception in 1996, Index Ventures has backed visionary entrepreneurs who have taken on incumbents and built seminal companies in a number of growth sectors including: open source software companies such as MySQL, Trolltech, Zend and Pentaho; broadband and VOIP companies such as Virata, Skype, FON and Rebtel; Internet service companies such as Dropbox, Path, Betfair, Oanda, Last.fm, SpotRunner, Lovefilm, Stardoll and Netvibes; and life science companies such as Genmab, ParAllele Biosciences, BioXell, 7TM Pharma, Addex Pharmaceutical and PanGenetics.
About Passion Capital
Passion Capital (http://passioncapital.com) was established in March 2011 by Stefan Glaenzer, Eileen Burbidge and Robert Dighero with the aim of becoming the premier early stage digital media and technology investment firm in the UK. The partners have more than 50 years’ collective experience in entrepreneurial, founding and executive operational roles in technology firms.
About The Accelerator Group (TAG)
Based in London, The Accelerator Group (TAG) has been an investor in early stage and start-up companies since 1995. They focus on the Internet services, eCommerce and multi-channel retail sectors, investing primarily in the US and Europe. TAG’s current investments include: Moo, Wonga, Moshi Monsters, Graze, Zoopla, Skimlinks and previously: LoveFilm, Fizzback, Tweetdeck and Dopplr.
http://tourism9.com/    http://vkins.com/

Movement under way to ease investment by Web

OAKLAND, Calif. – Ian Schuster and his business partners have raised almost a quarter of a million dollars to launch their craft beer brewery company, but if they had more money, they could grow the business much faster.
Bryan Brumfield has poured most of his life savings into the artisanal wine business he plans to launch after he retires as an Oakland firefighter in March, and needs additional capital to bring in outside expertise.
Each would love to tap the power of social media to find additional investors online who would each put up small amounts of money in exchange for equity stakes in their companies, a concept called “crowdfunding.”
But they can’t do so under current law. Companies can sell shares to what the SEC calls “accredited investors” – seasoned, high-net-worth people who understand the risks. But financial stakes for small-time investors are limited to 35 people (fewer in some states), just enough to enable some friends-and-family funding, but not enough to harness the Internet’s reach to attract a larger number of equity investors.
Popular websites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo show the power of crowdfunding, by letting people request funds online from strangers to back specific projects – a theater performance, for instance. But the people who pledge money can only receive perks like T-shirts, not equity shares, in exchange.
Then there are lending websites like Prosper.com that allow for person-to-person loans. People ask to borrow money for anything from plastic surgery to starting a company and offer a fixed interest rate in return. But again, equity stakes are not allowed.
Now, legislation pending in Congress that enjoys strong bipartisan support and Obama administration backing may make crowdfunding possible for entrepreneurs.
Crowdfunding “has the potential to be a powerful new venture capital model for the Facebook and Twitter age, and its potential to create jobs is enormous,” said Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., in congressional testimony last month.
“But crowdfunding is currently illegal because of obsolete regulations, some dating back to the 1930s.”
Brown is sponsoring the Democratization of Capital Bill, which would let small companies sell up to $1 million in equity online in chunks of $1,000 or less. It is under review by the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
A similar bill, the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act, passed the House in November by a wide margin. It would allow up to $2 million in crowdfunded investments in $10,000 increments.
But some worry that crowdfunding would entice online hucksters to set up shop.
“A lot of people believe everything they see on the Internet, so we are concerned about fraud,” said Jack Herstein, president of the North American Securities Administrators Association. “Scam artists follow the hottest trends. They could make up fraudulent websites. … Once you push the button and send your credit card number, your money is gone.”
Still, he said, he is not opposed to crowdfunding. He just wants built-in safeguards.
“Everybody should be behind anything that helps the economy,” he said.
At a time when banks can be reluctant to make loans, letting small enterprises solicit funds online so they can start up and grow makes sense, crowdfunding supporters say.
“Crowd sourcing for us would be a dream come true,” Schuster said. His Schubros Brewery, based in San Ramon, will start beer production in March after getting its government license. The five partners have done well raising money from themselves, friends and family and a couple of accredited investors.
“We have enough to get started,” he said. “But if we could get more money, we would be more stable from Day 1. We could hire full-time salespeople and grow faster than planned.”
Brumfield, the Oakland firefighter, said crowdfunding would make a huge difference to him. “Unless things change in the banking world, crowdfunding would be the best opportunity besides friends and family for the additional capital I need to launch,” he said.
csaid@sfchronicle.com
http://tourism9.cm/    http://vkins.com/

Her tuition solution

Photo by James Keivom/New York Daily News

John Jay College student Angy Rivera, an undocumented collegian who doesn’t qualify for federal aid or loans, is going online to raise tuition money by selling $5 “education bracelets.”

John Jay College student Angy Rivera doesn’t have a green card — and that means she doesn’t qualify for federal financial aid or loans to help with $2,565 in tuition a semester.
Like some other undocumented students around the country, she’s turned to the Internet to raise the money so she can stay in school.
Using Facebook or the website Chipin.com, they are coming out as undocumented and asking for help, often selling something homemade in exchange for donations.
“At 3 yrs old I became undocumented in the United States,” Rivera, 21, posted on her Chipin page, where she sells handmade “education bracelets” for $5.
“Often times it’s hard to ask for help, but now, I’m asking you to place a donation that will help me continue my education.”
Tuition hikes forced her to cut back to part-time. “The few scholarships that I did receive only paid off a semester or two,” she said.
The Colombian-born criminology student has raised only $60 of a $1,000 goal, but some of the money has come from perfect strangers.
New York allows undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates, but state and federal aid is off-limits. The Board of Regents is pushing to open New York’s Tuition Assistance Program to all students.
Students around the country are in similar straits and turning to Chipin.
In Florida, Juan Escalante, 22, raised $1,000 by sending, “I am undocumented” T-shirts to those who donated $25.
He was able to make his final tuition payment and graduate from Florida State University in Tallahassee last month.
Texas A&M student Jose Luis Zelaya crochets and sells beanie hats, and has gotten so good he thinks he can break the Guinness World Record for most stitches per minute.
He’s sold about $1,000 worth through a Facebook page.
When he was 13, Zelaya left a life on the streets in Honduras to join his mom in Houston.
Last month, he was chosen to give the invocation at his graduation. Now, he’s in an education master’s program.
“It is a pretty heavy burden, but I have been able to do it so far,” said Zelaya, 24. “A lot of people are impressed that I’m a guy and that I’m making beanies for a good cause.”
epearson@nydailynews.com

http://tourism9.com/

Artprice Launches its Online Auctions

PARIS , January 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ –
As announced in previous press releases, Artprice, with its 1.3 million members in more than 90 countries, and in its capacity as an online auction broker (“opérateur de courtage aux enchères réalisées à distance par voie électronique”, Article 5 of French Law no. 2011-850 of 20 July 2011 ) will be launching its online auctions service on 18 January 2012 .
Since 27 December 2011 , Artprice members have been able to prepare their ads in order to gain the maximum benefit from the visibility of Artprice’s global launch campaign. For further information please visit:  http://web.artprice.com/classifieds/info?l=en
Although more than 90% of the art market was closed between Christmas and the New Year, Artprice has already registered several thousand lots for sale. Our initial client feedback suggests that users find the service very quick and simple to use.
According to thierry Ehrmann, the founder and CEO of Artprice, “the train of History is now definitively rolling and Artprice is on that train, which nothing can stop from now on. It took twelve years and lots of patience and conviction to pursue a legal battle against a 500 year-old monopoly that is today demolished”. Breaking this monopoly is a victory for Artprice; but it is also beneficial to France that has been losing its attractiveness as an art market for over 40 years, slipping from the first to the fourth position, and which, this year, with the help of Artprice, can hope to recover a position worthy of its tradition and its influence on the art market.
On Monday 2 January 2012 , Artprice launched a global campaign in art and financial media, focused on the USA , Europe and Asia , alongside a “viral marketing” campaign on the Internet.
On Monday 9 January 2012 , Artprice will start the presentation of lots to be auctioned in chronological harmony with the art market which, every year, kicks off in the second week of January.
A level of security rarely attained on the Internet.
Our alliance with Escrow.com, the global leader in the management of escrow accounts, provides a 100% guarantee of security and payment for the parties to all transactions. The service provided by Escrow.com has been specifically tailored to meet all of Artprice’s rigorous requirements. Artprice’s capacity to offer 100% transaction security relies on its excellent knowledge of the digital economy and developments in the fields of information technology and Internet law. Indeed, we can affirm with complete confidence that the security of Artprice’s online auctions and other services is greater than that offered by traditional auctions and non-internet transactions.
Artprice works on the fundamental principle of perfectly identified members and, via an agreement with INTERPOL, buyers can access at any moment the latter’s international Stolen Works of Art database to check if a work being offered for sale is subject to any legal dispute or search warrant.
Unlike certain well-known general online auction companies, Artprice imposes a permanent legal presence on its clientele to ensure the smooth operation of its online auction brokerage activities via its Standardised Marketplace. Artprice’s contacts over the past 5 years with approximately 70 criminal investigation departments around the world has allowed Artprice to build an unrivalled level of Internet confidence that is strengthened by its constant collaboration with artists, beneficiaries and experts.
The real strength of Artprice is its use of an escrow and payment release system for which Artprice has conceptualised all possible legal scenarios to ensure that completed transactions are legally irreversible and to provide a level of security rarely attained in the Internet sphere. This escrow system functions on exactly the same principle as that used by solicitors and lawyers for various kinds of transactions.
The very low commissions charged by Artprice completely alter the dynamic of the art market.
Art professionals, collectors and beneficiaries will be inexorably drawn to use Artprice’s service because its low commissions modify the fundamental reality of the secondary art market. Its rates decrease from 9% to 5% depending on the value (in USD) of the transaction: 9% from 0 to 7,500 dollars ; 7% from 7,500.01 to 15,000 dollars and 5% for transactions over 15,000.01 dollars . According to thierry Ehrmann, the 5% rate for works offered at over 15,000.01 euros could attract entire sections of the Art market to this modus operandi because works in that price bracket are perfectly standardised and have been bought and sold for nearly 30 years, almost always “remotely”, in view of the legal documents that vendors are obliged to produce on Artprice.
In parallel, Artprice is setting up white labels for major players in the art market, notably Auction Houses, that will use Artprice and its Standardised Marketplace as their technical host for online auctions, thereby providing Artprice -which is not an auctioneer- with another source of income.
Artprice is therefore open to demand from over 3,600 client and partner auctioneers and more than 7,400 art valuers who have already concretely manifested their vital need to join Artprice’s standardised marketplace in order to maintain their positions in the global art market and survive the necessary transition to a dematerialised art auction environment.
Internet, and more generally the digital revolution, has literally destroyed the global mono-economy of physical auction rooms, which today are just one channel for auctioneers to use and which -usually located in city centres- either represent an expensive (and now superfluous) rental cost or an under-exploited real estate asset.
In the context of a deeper than ever global economic and financial crisis, Artprice has once again -as in 2008- observed a very sharp increase in the number of works offered for sale through its Standardised Marketplace, with an acceleration of buy-to-sell operations. We can therefore assume that auction sales will follow the same growth path. Indeed, we are of the view that the economic and financial crisis represents a strong growth opportunity for Artprice’s Standardised Marketplace.
In fact, the history of the art market – like all markets – is naturally heading towards the circuits that are the fastest, the least expensive, the most liquid, where the price can be obtained in real-time and where there is a critical mass of participants with – of course – access to transparent information on all prices and indices.
Artprice’s Standardised Marketplace meets these five specific and vital needs for a modern market. Artprice, with its completely toll-free access model for its Standardised Marketplace, is absorbing the global market of private art sales faster than initially expected. With our extremely attractive rates we now expect to see the same pace of growth with our online auction service.
Over nearly 7 years Artprice has seen exponential growth of the offer on its Standardised Marketplace (the annual figures are available in Artprice’s 2010 Registration Document and online at the AMF under number D.11-0784 since 25 August 2011 ). In 2010, Artprice confirmed a total volume of artworks offered worth nearly 6.3 billion euros with a sales rate of approximately one third, for which Artprice received no commission.
We should point out that only Artprice holds and protects, as intellectual property, the entire process for joining the Standardised Marketplace® and for side-stepping the traditional system of physical auction rooms. Indeed, the situation may justifiably be compared to the old Stock Exchanges before the arrival of the ECNs (Electronic Communication Network) that made the outcry halls redundant on the majority of the world’s major stock markets, primarily by reducing the intermediation costs.
Art… a veritable safe haven investment in times of major crisis.
The economic and business media (Le Monde, The New York Times , the F.T. the A.F.P., Reuters, Bloomberg, etc.) regularly indicate that quality art represents a genuine safe haven in major crises. Artprice, Christie’s, Sotheby’s and the major international auctioneers also confirm the safe haven status of artworks (c.f. the Agefi’s interview with Artprice). In fact, despite the sombre economic and financial global context in 2011, the global art market posted extremely positive figures both in terms of volumes and prices in all countries, and numerous artists in Artprice’s global Top 500 posted new records.
This confidence is manifest on all continents. Like gold, artworks have for centuries been defensive investments in major crises and particularly in the context of sharp meltdowns in financial asset values such as those that the global economy is likely to continue experiencing in 2012/2013.
Artprice will soon be announcing alliances that will allow a presence on all continents with local partners.
The future of Artprice in 2012 and of the Art Market is unavoidably linked to Asia .
Artprice was the first press agent in the world to announce and certify figures in 2011 showing that China had unquestionably become the world’s leading art marketplace ahead of the USA in 2011.  Artprice’s figures for 2011 have already confirmed China’s domination of the global art market for the second consecutive year.
There is therefore an irresistible logic to Artprice’s patient preparation for the opening of its subsidiary and clean rooms in Hong Kong that will be a testing ground for the People’s Republic of China and an entry point for Asia . Hong Kong is already one of the top five global art marketplaces. Likewise, agreements with major players such as online auction operators and major Asian art fairs will allow Artprice to extend the diffusion initiated in 2011 of its Asia -specific art market reports, country by country. As a simple example, Singapore should soon overtake France in the field of Contemporary Art sales. In this context Artprice and Art Stage Singapore, Asia’s largest Contemporary Art Fair (along with Art HK), have decided to intensify their editorial partnership and their marketing strategy in 2012. Artprice will also be a strategic partner with Art HK ( Hong Kong ).
The Internet’s absolute domination of the art market in 2012.
In 2012 Internet is therefore just a simple extension of the 1980s telephonic order with, in addition, a perfect reproduction of the work for the buyer and Artprice’s remarkable success is proof of this…. there remained therefore a final step and indeed the hardest step: the standardisation of the marketplace that Artprice has achieved in 14 years by imposing its unique and free standard via its Standardised Marketplace ®.
From 1987 to 2004, Artprice’s databanks became the reference in this area and made Artprice the global leader in standardised art market information before it turned to the problem of market dematerialisation. This latter project fully exploits the standardisation represented by its 18 databases, fed by acquisitions around the world of publishers and art archives.
All of the industrial processes forming Artprice’s databanks are patent protected, notably by the A.P.P. (Agence de Protection des Programmes). These industrial processes standardise the Art Market (artist ID, work ID, catalogue raisonné ID, bibliography ID, estimate/econometric info ID.) with more than 180 million data entries and proprietary indices.
This globally unique knowledge is clearly explained in Artprice’s corporate video in five languages: http://web.artprice.com/video/
Artprice posted the best French stock market progression in 2011 and has filed a request for admission to compartment B of Euronext Paris.
Despite the crisis affecting stock market’s, Artprice’s share price outperformed in 2011 with an astonishing increase of +472% since 1 January 2011 , on the back of a traded volume of approximately 873 million euros , i.e. an average daily volume of 3.2 million euros . This increase was the best performance on the regulated French Eurolist by Euronext markets (compartments A, B, C).
As Artprice satisfied all the admission criteria for admission to Compartment B in 2011, it is preparing its admission request for registration on compartment B of Eurolist to be filed with the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) along with the presentation of its candidacy to the NYSE Euronext Scientific Committee for Indices to be included in the indices relating to Compartment B.
In order to understand the legislative evolution of the art market over five centuries and the impact of recent changes on Artprice, we invite our shareholders and the market to read the 72 short and pedagogical questions and answers that form the basis of the interviews conducted in June and October of 2011. Hyperlinks to Actusnews (a professional regulated information provider licensed by the AMF):
http://www.actusnews.com/communique.php?ID=ACTUS-0-25689
Lastly, Artprice invites its new and future shareholders who would like to acquaint themselves with the history of the Company to consult its highly detailed regulated information in its 2010 Registration Document filed and online at the AMF under D.11-0784 since 25 August 2011 . Artprice, with more than 12 years of regulated disclosure on Eurolist, is proud of the high quality of the information it provides to financial market professionals and art market novices. All the questions of Artprice’s 18,000 shareholders are systematically answered in Artprice’s regulated disclosures that its posts online on its own website and on that of its AMF-authorised financial information provider, ActusNews.com.            
Source: http://www.artprice.com (c)1987-2012 thierry Ehrmann
Artprice is the global leader in databank on Art prices and indices with more than 27 million indices and auction results covering 450,000 Artists. Artprice Images(R) gives unlimited access to the largest Art Market resource in the world, a library of 108 million images or engravings of artworks from 1700 to the present day along with comments by Artprice’s art historians. Artprice permanently enriches its databanks with information from 3,600 auctioneers and publishes a constant flow of art market trends for the main news agencies and 6,300 international written media. For its 1.3 million members (member log in), Artprice posts standardized adverts in what is today the world’s leading Standardised Marketplace® for buying and selling works of Art (source Artprice).
Artprice is listed on Eurolist by Euronext Paris: Euroclear: 7478 – Bloomberg : PRC – Reuters: ARTF
List of Artprice press releases:
http://serveur.serveur.com/press_release/pressreleasefr.htm
Discover alchemy and Artprice’s universe on http://web.artprice.com/video/
Follow all of the art market’s news with Artprice on Twitter: http://twitter.com/artpricedotcom/
Contact: Josette Mey – tel: +33(0)478-220-000, email: ir@artprice.com

 http://tourism9.com/

Travel smarter this year

Electronic communication, such as disposable mobile phones, cheap and easy Wi-Fi, and social networking, is revolutionizing the way we communicate when we travel. But the digital development I am most enthused about is the smartphone. My iPhone has quickly become my favourite travel companion, whether it’s keeping me on top of my work, keeping me in touch with my kids, or simply keeping me entertained.
I’m not alone. It was predicted that by the end of 2011, 40% of all Canadian mobile phone users will have a smartphone –iPhone, Android, Windows or BlackBerry — compared to just 10% in 2008. And as smartphones get more capable, they are becoming essential tools for travellers.
For instance, if I’m in a cafe in Paris that has free Wi-Fi, I can pop onto the Internet and check sports scores back home. If an impromptu soccer game breaks out on a piazza in Naples, I can record a video of it, then use the Dropbox application to send it to my assistant, who can post it to my Facebook page. Using Skype on my phone, I can connect to Wi-Fi and call my daughter in the U.S. for free.
About the only thing I don’t do with my smartphone when travelling is use it as an actual cellphone. When roaming in Europe with a North American phone, calls are expensive (often $1.50 per minute or higher). To save money, I use a phone I bought years ago in Europe and buy a new SIM card in each country I visit (a SIM card is a removable chip that stores your information).
A phone must be “unlocked” to swap out SIM cards (but be aware smartphones can be complicated to unlock). I make a lot of calls when I’m in Europe, but if you don’t, you might find it easier to roam with your own phone.
With smartphones, it’s important to watch dataroaming charges. A three-minute video from YouTube can cost about $40. While casual browsing and e-mailing costs less (around 20¢ to send or receive a basic message), charges can pile up quickly.
To avoid these costs, it’s easiest to cut off this feature by calling your carrier to disable it and turning off data roaming using your phone’s menu (before you get on your transatlantic flight). You can still use the Internet, but you’ll have to wait until you reach a Wi-Fi hotspot. Otherwise, for better rates, talk to your carrier about international dataroaming plans.
Even if you don’t use your smartphone for calls or data roaming, it can still come in handy thanks to the many travel-oriented applications that are available. Although I still prefer flipping through a paper guidebook, many publishers also offer travel guides in e-book format.
Apps for TripAdvisor and Yelp give you access to millions of user reviews of restaurants, hotels, and sights. And my Rick Steves Audio Europe app has radio interviews and audio walking tours of Europe’s top sights, such as the Acropolis and Versailles.
If you need to search for flights, hotels or rental cars, try Orbitz, Priceline, Booking.com,Expedia’s TripAssist and Travelocity. Skyscanner searches a variety of European budget airlines to find the cheapest connection.
TripIt is a clever app that stores all of your trip details in one place. Note that many apps (such as e-books) work on their own once you download them, but others (such as flight-search apps) need to access content online. You’ll either have to find a Wi-Fi hotspot or spring for data roaming to make them work.
To figure out train schedules, DB Navigator, German Rail’s comprehensive train timetables, includes connections for all of continental Europe. For the U.K., try thetrainline. Big cities, such as London and Paris, offer subway apps that save you from having to unfold an unwieldy map on a crowded platform.
If you don’t parlez-vous the local language, download Google Translate, which lets you type or speak foreign words for a translation. You can also say or type a sentence in English to hear a translation or see it written out. With Lonely Planet’s audio phrase-books, simply press a button to hear the phrase you’re struggling to pronounce.
Other useful travel apps include Measures, which converts various European units (such as clothing sizes and currency) to North American ones; the Weather Channel and AccuWeather, which help you figure out how to dress for the day; and mPassport, city-specific apps that direct you to English-speaking doctors and hospitals, as well as local names for prescription medications.
As more people travel with smartphones, I expect that more creative apps will become available. I am something of a tech holdout but if technology can make travel smoother and smarter, I’m all for it.
Rick Steves (ricksteves.com) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at rick@ricksteves.com, or write to him c/o P.O. Box 2009, Edmonds, WA 98020.



http://tourism9.com/

Le Château enters into long-term financing arrangement

MONTREAL , January 2, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ – Le Château Inc. (TSX: CTU-A.TO – News) has entered into an agreement with a Corporation controlled by Herschel Segal , the founder of Le Château and a Director and majority shareholder of the Company, for long-term financing of $10 million . The financing is in the form of a four year, unsecured loan which bears interest at a rate of 7.5%, is repayable by way of equal monthly instalments of principal and interest, commencing in February 2013 , and may be prepaid without penalty. The purpose of the loan is for the financing of ongoing capital expenditures and other investment purposes. The loan is in addition to other financing sources the Company has in place or may have in place in the future. The loan will provide the Company with additional capital and operational flexibility as all of its existing credit and other facilities remain in place.
As at the date hereof, the Company has an operating line of credit totaling $20 million under which $2.4 million of letters of credit are currently outstanding. In addition, the Company has an import line of credit of $25 million , which includes a $1 million loan facility, under which $5.3 million of letters of credit are currently outstanding. The Company uses such facilities and lines of credit from time to time in the ordinary course of its business.
The loan from Mr. Segal was approved by the Board of Directors of the Company (with Mr. Segal and Jane Segal abstaining from the vote) and is exempt from the requirements to obtain an independent valuation or minority approval under the related party transaction rules of applicable securities legislation.
Profile
Le Château is a leading Canadian brand in specialty retailing, offering a broad array of contemporary fashion apparel, accessories and footwear for style-conscious women and men. The Le Château brand is synonymous with ageless fashion at accessible prices and is sold exclusively through the Company’s 244 retail locations, of which 242 are located in Canada . The Company’s outlets are primarily found in major urban shopping malls, as well as street-front locations with high pedestrian traffic. In addition, the Company has 7 stores under license in the Middle East . Le Château’s web-based marketing is further broadening the Company’s customer base among Internet shoppers in both Canada and the United States . With its 52-year tradition of vertical integration, emphasizing a design and manufacturing approach to retailing, Le Château is unique among Canadian fashion merchants.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements relating to the Company and/or the environment in which it operates that are based on the Company’s expectations, estimates and forecasts. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and/or are beyond the Company’s control. A number of factors may cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those expressed. These factors include those set forth in other public filings of the Company. Therefore, readers should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. In addition, these forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and the Company disavows any intention or obligation to update or revise any such statements as a result of any event, circumstance or otherwise except to the extent required under applicable securities law.
Factors which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things: the ability of the Company to successfully implement its business initiatives and whether such business initiatives will yield the expected benefits; competitive conditions in the businesses in which the Company participates; changes in consumer spending; general economic conditions and normal business uncertainty; customer preferences towards product offerings; seasonal weather patterns; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; changes in the Company’s relationship with its suppliers; interest rate fluctuations and other changes in borrowing costs; and changes in laws, rules and regulations applicable to the Company.

 http://tourism9.com/

Online Retail: Amazon Trouble a Signal of Trouble for Other Online Retailers?

Bad news for online retailers: Amazon‘s (Nasdaq: AMZN  ) stock dropped Thursday morning after Goldman Sachs said the online retailer may miss analysts’ fourth-quarter sales estimates, reports Bloomberg.
According to a note from Goldman, the company’s sales may grow 38% from last year to $17.9 billion. That figure misses analysts expectations of $18.2 billion.
E-commerceBecause Amazon in the U.S.’s largest online retailer, and usually outpaces holiday e-commerce spending growth, a dip in sales may serve as an indicator for the online retail market as a whole.
Bloomberg reports data from ComScore.com, which showed Amazon has historically outpaced other online retailers by 23%.
In addition to a variety of products available on Amazon’s site, Amazon also sells its Kindle line. The retailer said it sold “well over” 1 million kindles per week in December, with demand led by its Kindle Fire tablet (via Bloomberg). If Amazon is still losing out, given its additional revenues from Kindles, other e-commerce retailers may be in trouble.
Business section: Investing ideasSo, how could this trend affect other online retailers?
To find out we created a list of popular online retailer trading on the U.S. market exchanges.
Do you think these names will take a hit? (Click here to access free, interactive tools to analyze these ideas.)
1. Amazon.com: Operates as an online retailer in North America and internationally. Market cap of $79.08B. The stock is currently stuck in a downtrend, trading -6.62% below its SMA20, -14.08% below its SMA50, and -14.01% below its SMA200. The stock has performed poorly over the last month, losing 10.44%.
2. E-Commerce China Dangdang (Nasdaq: DANG  ) : Operates as a business-to-consumer e-commerce company in the People’s Republic of China. Market cap of $340.07M. The stock is currently stuck in a downtrend, trading -7.72% below its SMA20, -18.4% below its SMA50, and -62.99% below its SMA200. It’s been a rough couple of days for the stock, losing 5.51% over the last week.
3. eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY  ) : Provides online marketplaces for the sale of goods and services, as well as other online commerce, platforms, and online payment solutions to individuals and businesses in the United States and internationally. Market cap of $39.26B. The stock has gained 7.23% over the last year.
4. IAC/InterActiveCorp. (Nasdaq: IACI  ) : Engages in the Internet business in the United States and internationally. Market cap of $3.49B. Relatively low correlation to the market (beta = 0.61), which may be appealing to risk averse investors. The stock has gained 42.03% over the last year.
5. Overstock.com (Nasdaq: OSTK  ) : Operates as an online retailer offering discount brand, non-brand, and closeout merchandise in the United States. Market cap of $180.89M.  The stock is a short squeeze candidate, with a short float at 10.71% (equivalent to 18.87 days of average volume). The stock has lost 53.61% over the last year.
Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the stocks mentioned above. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.
List compiled by Eben Esterhuizen, CFA. Kapitall’s Eben Esterhuizen does not own any of the shares mentioned above. Rebecca owns shares of AMZN. Short data sourced from Yahoo! Finance

http://tourism9.com/

John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund Required Notice to Shareholders – Sources of Distribution Under Section 19(a)

BOSTON , Dec. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ – John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund (NYSE: HEQ – News) (the “Fund”), a closed-end fund managed by John Hancock Advisers, LLC (the “Adviser”), and subadvised by Wellington Management Company, LLP (the “Subadviser”), announced today sources of its quarterly distribution of $0.3079 per share payable today to all shareholders of record as of December 12, 2011 . This press release is issued as required by the exemptive order received from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
This notice provides shareholders of the Fund with important information concerning the distribution declared in December 2011 and payable on December 30, 2011 . No action is required on your part.

Distribution Period:	December 2011
Distribution Amount Per Common Share:	$0.3079

The following table sets forth the estimated sources of the current distribution, payable December 30, 2011 , and the cumulative distributions paid this fiscal year to date from the following sources:  net investment income; net realized short term capital gains; net realized long term capital gains; and return of capital or other capital source. All amounts are expressed on a per common share basis and as a percentage of the distribution amount.

Source		Current Distribution ($)		% Breakdown of the Current Distribution		Total Cumulative Distributions for the Fiscal Year to Date ($)(1)		% Breakdown of the Total Cumulative Distributions for the Fiscal Year to Date
Net Investment Income		0.0308		10%		0.0308		10%
Net Realized Short Term Capital Gains		0.0585		19%		0.0585		19%
Net Realized Long Term Capital Gains		0.0000		0%		0.0000		0%
Return of Capital or Other Capital Source		0.2186		71%		0.2186		71%
Total per common share		0.3079		100%		0.3079		100%
Average annual total return (in relation to NAV) for the period commencing on May 26, 2011 and ending on November 30, 2011								(7.91%)
Annualized current distribution rate expressed as a percentage of NAV as of November 30, 2011								7.16%
Cumulative total return (in relation to NAV) for the fiscal year through November 30, 2011								1.18%
Cumulative fiscal year to date distribution rate expressed as a percentage of NAV as of November 30, 2011								1.79%
(1) The Fund’s current fiscal year began on November 1, 2011.

You should not draw any conclusions about the Fund’s investment performance from the amount of this distribution or from the terms of the Fund’s managed distribution plan.
The Fund estimates that it has distributed more than its income and net realized capital gains; therefore, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital.  A return of capital may occur, for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in the Fund is paid back to you.  A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund’s investment performance and should not be confused with “yield” or “income.”
The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this Notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes.  The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund’s investment experience during the remainder of its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations.  The Fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.
The Fund has declared this distribution pursuant to the Fund’s managed distribution plan (the “Plan”).  Under the Plan, the Fund makes quarterly distributions of an amount equal to 1.8125% of the Fund’s NAV as of each measuring date, based upon an annual rate of 7.25% as of such measuring dates. The amount of each quarterly distribution is determined based on the NAV of the Fund at the close of the New York Stock Exchange on the last business day of the month ending two months prior to each quarterly declaration date.
If you have questions or need additional information, please contact your financial professional or call the John Hancock Funds Closed-End Fund Information Line at 1-800-843-0090, Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time .
Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined by the United States securities laws. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Fund’s control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.
Wellington Management Company, LLP is an independent and unaffiliated investment sub-adviser to John Hancock Funds.
About John Hancock Funds
The Boston -based mutual fund business unit of John Hancock Financial, John Hancock Funds, manages more than $62.3 billion in open-end funds, closed-end funds, private accounts, retirement plans and related party assets for individual and institutional investors at September 30, 2011 .
About John Hancock Financial and Manulife Financial Corporation
John Hancock Financial is a unit of Manulife Financial Corporation, a leading Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of customers in 22 countries and territories worldwide. Operating as Manulife Financial in Canada and in most of Asia , and primarily as John Hancock in the United States , Manulife Financial Corporation offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were Cdn$492 billion ( US$473 billion ) at September 30, 2011 .
Manulife Financial Corporation trades as ‘MFC’ on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under ’945′ on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at www.manulife.com.
The John Hancock unit, through its insurance companies, comprises one of the largest life insurers in the United States . John Hancock offers a broad range of financial products and services, including life insurance, fixed and variable annuities, fixed products, mutual funds, 401(k) plans, long-term care insurance, college savings, and other forms of business insurance. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at http://www.johnhancock.com/.

http://tourism9.com/

Travel the nontraditional way

“If you regret the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.”
- Historical novelist James Michener
A few years ago, we found an easy way to dodge the mistake so many travelers make of isolating themselves from the curious dishes, strange habits, mysterious beliefs, and assorted lifestyles of people in other countries.
We joined a nontraditional travel club, staying in members’ homes instead of hotels. Over time, we figure we’ve saved a ton of money, made new friends, and added some zing to our travels.
As travel budgets shrink, particularly for those of us trying to make it on IRAs, pensions, and Social Security, nontraditional travel looks better and better.
Inns and B&Bs have been around forever, apartments can be rented by the week or month, and the Internet is full of opportunities to trade houses all over the world – all part of a growing nontraditional travel-stay world.
We found the Affordable Travel Club a bit different.
It’s a simple concept:
For $65 a year, members get a list of other members who have agreed to host them for a few nights and give them breakfast and local travel tips. In return, each member agrees to host occasionally when other ATC members come to town.
Hosts are usually paid $20 a night for a double ($30 for housing outside the United States) – although we have found the price can vary, especially during peak travel times in hot tourist spots. But it’s always a bargain.
ATC was started in 1992 by John and Suzanne Miller, who had done home exchanges but who wanted, in Suzanne Miller’s words, “to start something where there was no expectation of reciprocity – where you had to host them and then they hosted you. We wanted something where you paid your fee and stayed and you didn’t have to have the same people in an exchange.”
ATC now lists 2,400 homes in 49 states and 50 countries and caters to people over 40. Over the years, it has added home exchanges and house-sitting opportunities to the mix.
We learned about the group through a friend we met in Puerto Vallarta. She calls herself “an adventuress” and can usually be found globe-trotting, crewing on oceangoing yachts, or visiting friends she’s met through ATC.
Our ATC lodgings have included a two-bedroom apartment in Prague whose owner stocked the fridge with yogurt and orange juice for our breakfast; a comfy, flower-bedecked guest room in Cardiff whose owners introduced us to Welsh food at a local pub; a room near London whose landlady took us to her favorite tourist sites and cooked dishes from her native Bangladesh; and, in July, a city lodging in Rome whose owners were chock full of valuable advice on seeing the sites.
Along the way, the Prague couple told us stories of their bland, gray life under the thumb of the Soviets; the Welsh gentleman talked of his career with the country’s sports federation and regaled us with stories of local soccer greats; and our London hostess has become a friend we look forward to staying with whenever we’re in town.
All said they particularly liked getting to know Americans outside of the images on movies and TV.
Most of our ATC experiences have been foreign. And we haven’t had many members in our home because our place is small and guests have had to share our one bath, a deal-breaker for some travelers. But we’d love to have more guests in our house.
Our longtime friends Dot and Dick Salogga recently returned from a 38-day trip to Australia and New Zealand during which they stayed in 10 ATC homes for a total of 22 nights.
It wasn’t perfect. After all, these are people’s homes, not the Ritz.
One place the Saloggas stayed had a “quirky outside stairway,” Dot said. “You had to walk through the house to get to the bathroom. It was a little funky.”
And Dick ended up being a handyman for an older woman in Sydney who asked him to change a light fixture that had gone on the blink. “But we thoroughly enjoyed every one of our stays,” Dot said.
You might be asked to end an exhausting day of nonstop sightseeing with a cup of cocoa in the living room with hosts who want to know what you think of their hometown and about your life much further into the evening than you might like.
Or, particularly in Europe, you might have limited heat in the bedroom at night and not as much hot water as you’re used to for a morning shower.
Hosts have their complaints too: Guests don’t always ask before using the computer or washing machine, or they leave the bedroom littered with snack wrappers and soft-drink bottles.
But for the most part, traveling the nontraditional route is an enlightening and worthwhile experience – one our friends and we will do often. After all, the hosts and guests of ATC travel this way because they want to know more about one another and the wider world we live in.
As that other writer, Mark Twain, famously said: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”
We like to think Twain would have loved to occasionally ditch the hotels and resorts on his foreign travels for a cup of cocoa and a long talk about current events in the living room of everyday hosts like us before drifting off to the guest room for the night.

This article is from http://tourism9.com/