PLEASANTON, CA–(Marketwire -02/24/12)- Milyoni, the leader in social entertainment, today announced that it has secured $11 million in Series B financing led by Oak Investment Partners. Previous investors ATA Ventures and Thomvest Ventures also participated in the round. Milyoni will use the funding to further extend its product portfolio in bringing social entertainment experiences to fans on Facebook. The company will also expand its U.S. presence, with offices opening in Los Angeles and New York City.
“With more than 800 million users and growing, Facebook has established itself as a go-to platform for the discovery and consumption of content today,” said John Corpus, founder and CEO. “In 2012, we anticipate an even greater shift in behavior, with more entertainment companies putting the marketing muscle behind their Facebook presence to further expand their selections of movies, music and other content on the platform. The way we see it, we’re only in the first of a nine inning game.”
Milyoni provides a new way for entertainment companies to take their Facebook presence to the next level by providing a fun, unique, shared and social experience to users. Using Social Cinema and Social Live, fans can easily view, like and comment during particular points within a movie, TV show, sporting event or concert and chat with friends while watching. Over the last year, Milyoni has powered some of the biggest social entertainment campaigns on Facebook and has stamped a number of innovative firsts, including the first PPV movie on Facebook, the first live PPV concert on Facebook, the first socially interactive movie and the first day-and-date movie release on Facebook.
“Oak Investment Partners is excited to join the Milyoni team to further extend their stronghold in the social entertainment arena,” said Fred Harman, Managing Partner at Oak Investment Partners. “The company has shown tremendous traction and growth over the last year, hosting more than 100 titles on Facebook today. The audience for Milyoni’s technology continues to expand along with Facebook’s growth. We’re confident that the Milyoni team has both the passion and experience to propel the company forward.”
“We’ve believed in Milyoni from the beginning and have seen the company’s growth mirror that of the entertainment industry’s needs,” said Hatch Graham, Managing Director, ATA Ventures. “Milyoni’s technology has evolved into the powerhouse social entertainment platform it is today, and the company is poised to continue its leadership in the space. ATA Ventures is thrilled to be a supporting partner.”
Milyoni is primed for an impressive 2012 with 15 current studio partnerships and dozens more in the pipeline. The company has more than 3,000 Social Cinema titles and over 50 Social Live events slated by year’s end. Milyoni will continue to enrich studio interaction, administration and analytics functionality bringing unprecedented insight and engagement to the entertainment experience.
For more information, visit http://www.milyoni.com.
About MilyoniBased in the San Francisco Bay Area, Milyoni, Inc. is the leader in social entertainment. The company’s technology provides entertainment companies with a way to connect and engage with Facebook fans, and turn them into customers. Whether it’s watching a live concert, movie or sporting event or shopping your favorite brands, Milyoni enables companies to monetize fans pages through a unique level of engagement and a shared, social experience. Milyoni’s services reach over 150 million fans from industry leading customers, including Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, Paramount Studios, Big Air Studios, Austin City Limits Live, Turner Broadcasting, University of Oklahoma and The NBA to bring a variety of digital content and physical goods to fans on Facebook. For more information, visit www.milyoni.com.
About Oak Investment PartnersOak Investment Partners is a multistage venture capital firm and a lead investor in the next generation of enduring growth companies. Since 1978 the firm has invested $9 billion in nearly 500 companies around the world, earning the trust of entrepreneurs with a senior team that delivers steady guidance, deep domain expertise and a consistent investment philosophy. Its current portfolio includes Bleacher Report, Demand Media, Federated Media, Good Technology, KAYAK Software, MobiTV, Rearden Commerce, and Wonga. Oak Investment Partners is also known for its historical investments in aQuantive, Allyes, AthenaHealth, Gmarket, HuffingtonPost, Inktomi, Netspend, Polycom, Seagate, and TeleAtlas.
About ATA VenturesATA Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on seeking out early stage private companies that appear to offer above average prospects for capital growth. With over $450 Million of capital under management, ATA Ventures focuses on Information Technology (IT) and provides seed capital and early stages of financing to these companies. For more information, visit http://ataventures.com.
About Thomvest VenturesThomvest Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm committed to the success of our entrepreneur partners. We primarily focus on investments in areas where we have deep expertise and experience, including software, technology-enabled services, and hardware businesses. The capital we invest is our own, enabling us to be more creative, flexible and patient than many venture investors. More than two-thirds of the companies we have funded in the last decade have either gone public, been acquired, or continue to grow as independent businesses. For more information, visit www.thomvest.com.
Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
2012年2月24日星期五
Social Entertainment Leader Milyoni Secures $11 Million in Funding
PLEASANTON, CA–(Marketwire -02/24/12)- Milyoni, the leader in social entertainment, today announced that it has secured $11 million in Series B financing led by Oak Investment Partners. Previous investors ATA Ventures and Thomvest Ventures also participated in the round. Milyoni will use the funding to further extend its product portfolio in bringing social entertainment experiences to fans on Facebook. The company will also expand its U.S. presence, with offices opening in Los Angeles and New York City.
“With more than 800 million users and growing, Facebook has established itself as a go-to platform for the discovery and consumption of content today,” said John Corpus, founder and CEO. “In 2012, we anticipate an even greater shift in behavior, with more entertainment companies putting the marketing muscle behind their Facebook presence to further expand their selections of movies, music and other content on the platform. The way we see it, we’re only in the first of a nine inning game.”
Milyoni provides a new way for entertainment companies to take their Facebook presence to the next level by providing a fun, unique, shared and social experience to users. Using Social Cinema and Social Live, fans can easily view, like and comment during particular points within a movie, TV show, sporting event or concert and chat with friends while watching. Over the last year, Milyoni has powered some of the biggest social entertainment campaigns on Facebook and has stamped a number of innovative firsts, including the first PPV movie on Facebook, the first live PPV concert on Facebook, the first socially interactive movie and the first day-and-date movie release on Facebook.
“Oak Investment Partners is excited to join the Milyoni team to further extend their stronghold in the social entertainment arena,” said Fred Harman, Managing Partner at Oak Investment Partners. “The company has shown tremendous traction and growth over the last year, hosting more than 100 titles on Facebook today. The audience for Milyoni’s technology continues to expand along with Facebook’s growth. We’re confident that the Milyoni team has both the passion and experience to propel the company forward.”
“We’ve believed in Milyoni from the beginning and have seen the company’s growth mirror that of the entertainment industry’s needs,” said Hatch Graham, Managing Director, ATA Ventures. “Milyoni’s technology has evolved into the powerhouse social entertainment platform it is today, and the company is poised to continue its leadership in the space. ATA Ventures is thrilled to be a supporting partner.”
Milyoni is primed for an impressive 2012 with 15 current studio partnerships and dozens more in the pipeline. The company has more than 3,000 Social Cinema titles and over 50 Social Live events slated by year’s end. Milyoni will continue to enrich studio interaction, administration and analytics functionality bringing unprecedented insight and engagement to the entertainment experience.
For more information, visit http://www.milyoni.com.
About MilyoniBased in the San Francisco Bay Area, Milyoni, Inc. is the leader in social entertainment. The company’s technology provides entertainment companies with a way to connect and engage with Facebook fans, and turn them into customers. Whether it’s watching a live concert, movie or sporting event or shopping your favorite brands, Milyoni enables companies to monetize fans pages through a unique level of engagement and a shared, social experience. Milyoni’s services reach over 150 million fans from industry leading customers, including Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, Paramount Studios, Big Air Studios, Austin City Limits Live, Turner Broadcasting, University of Oklahoma and The NBA to bring a variety of digital content and physical goods to fans on Facebook. For more information, visit www.milyoni.com.
About Oak Investment PartnersOak Investment Partners is a multistage venture capital firm and a lead investor in the next generation of enduring growth companies. Since 1978 the firm has invested $9 billion in nearly 500 companies around the world, earning the trust of entrepreneurs with a senior team that delivers steady guidance, deep domain expertise and a consistent investment philosophy. Its current portfolio includes Bleacher Report, Demand Media, Federated Media, Good Technology, KAYAK Software, MobiTV, Rearden Commerce, and Wonga. Oak Investment Partners is also known for its historical investments in aQuantive, Allyes, AthenaHealth, Gmarket, HuffingtonPost, Inktomi, Netspend, Polycom, Seagate, and TeleAtlas.
About ATA VenturesATA Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on seeking out early stage private companies that appear to offer above average prospects for capital growth. With over $450 Million of capital under management, ATA Ventures focuses on Information Technology (IT) and provides seed capital and early stages of financing to these companies. For more information, visit http://ataventures.com.
About Thomvest VenturesThomvest Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm committed to the success of our entrepreneur partners. We primarily focus on investments in areas where we have deep expertise and experience, including software, technology-enabled services, and hardware businesses. The capital we invest is our own, enabling us to be more creative, flexible and patient than many venture investors. More than two-thirds of the companies we have funded in the last decade have either gone public, been acquired, or continue to grow as independent businesses. For more information, visit www.thomvest.com.
Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
“With more than 800 million users and growing, Facebook has established itself as a go-to platform for the discovery and consumption of content today,” said John Corpus, founder and CEO. “In 2012, we anticipate an even greater shift in behavior, with more entertainment companies putting the marketing muscle behind their Facebook presence to further expand their selections of movies, music and other content on the platform. The way we see it, we’re only in the first of a nine inning game.”
Milyoni provides a new way for entertainment companies to take their Facebook presence to the next level by providing a fun, unique, shared and social experience to users. Using Social Cinema and Social Live, fans can easily view, like and comment during particular points within a movie, TV show, sporting event or concert and chat with friends while watching. Over the last year, Milyoni has powered some of the biggest social entertainment campaigns on Facebook and has stamped a number of innovative firsts, including the first PPV movie on Facebook, the first live PPV concert on Facebook, the first socially interactive movie and the first day-and-date movie release on Facebook.
“Oak Investment Partners is excited to join the Milyoni team to further extend their stronghold in the social entertainment arena,” said Fred Harman, Managing Partner at Oak Investment Partners. “The company has shown tremendous traction and growth over the last year, hosting more than 100 titles on Facebook today. The audience for Milyoni’s technology continues to expand along with Facebook’s growth. We’re confident that the Milyoni team has both the passion and experience to propel the company forward.”
“We’ve believed in Milyoni from the beginning and have seen the company’s growth mirror that of the entertainment industry’s needs,” said Hatch Graham, Managing Director, ATA Ventures. “Milyoni’s technology has evolved into the powerhouse social entertainment platform it is today, and the company is poised to continue its leadership in the space. ATA Ventures is thrilled to be a supporting partner.”
Milyoni is primed for an impressive 2012 with 15 current studio partnerships and dozens more in the pipeline. The company has more than 3,000 Social Cinema titles and over 50 Social Live events slated by year’s end. Milyoni will continue to enrich studio interaction, administration and analytics functionality bringing unprecedented insight and engagement to the entertainment experience.
For more information, visit http://www.milyoni.com.
About MilyoniBased in the San Francisco Bay Area, Milyoni, Inc. is the leader in social entertainment. The company’s technology provides entertainment companies with a way to connect and engage with Facebook fans, and turn them into customers. Whether it’s watching a live concert, movie or sporting event or shopping your favorite brands, Milyoni enables companies to monetize fans pages through a unique level of engagement and a shared, social experience. Milyoni’s services reach over 150 million fans from industry leading customers, including Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, Paramount Studios, Big Air Studios, Austin City Limits Live, Turner Broadcasting, University of Oklahoma and The NBA to bring a variety of digital content and physical goods to fans on Facebook. For more information, visit www.milyoni.com.
About Oak Investment PartnersOak Investment Partners is a multistage venture capital firm and a lead investor in the next generation of enduring growth companies. Since 1978 the firm has invested $9 billion in nearly 500 companies around the world, earning the trust of entrepreneurs with a senior team that delivers steady guidance, deep domain expertise and a consistent investment philosophy. Its current portfolio includes Bleacher Report, Demand Media, Federated Media, Good Technology, KAYAK Software, MobiTV, Rearden Commerce, and Wonga. Oak Investment Partners is also known for its historical investments in aQuantive, Allyes, AthenaHealth, Gmarket, HuffingtonPost, Inktomi, Netspend, Polycom, Seagate, and TeleAtlas.
About ATA VenturesATA Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on seeking out early stage private companies that appear to offer above average prospects for capital growth. With over $450 Million of capital under management, ATA Ventures focuses on Information Technology (IT) and provides seed capital and early stages of financing to these companies. For more information, visit http://ataventures.com.
About Thomvest VenturesThomvest Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm committed to the success of our entrepreneur partners. We primarily focus on investments in areas where we have deep expertise and experience, including software, technology-enabled services, and hardware businesses. The capital we invest is our own, enabling us to be more creative, flexible and patient than many venture investors. More than two-thirds of the companies we have funded in the last decade have either gone public, been acquired, or continue to grow as independent businesses. For more information, visit www.thomvest.com.
Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
2012年2月13日星期一
Online ads startup snags $30 million from Temasek, SAP
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Marin Software, a startup that publishes applications used to manage online advertising campaigns, has raised $30 million in a new investment round led by Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings.
Temasek was joined by SAP Ventures, the investment arm of SAP AG, Europe’s largest enterprise software firm, as well as previous investors including Benchmark Capital, Crosslink Capital and DAG Ventures.
The San Francisco-based company also announced on Monday that it has added Frank van Veenendaal, a top global sales executive at Salesforce.com, to its board.
The latest moves are meant to help Marin acquire new customers, especially in Asia, where the company looks to focus its expansion, Chris Lien, Marin’s chief executive officer, said in an interview.
Temasek will help Marin “with potential customer introductions and local market knowledge,” Lien said.
“They’ve been operating in these emerging markets for years and years.”
Marin’s products have been adopted by clients like Hotels.com, Macy’s and the University of Phoenix. The company is still focused on managing ads across search engines like Google and Yahoo, but Lien said his company is beginning to incorporate into its platform tools to manage campaigns on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
(Reporting by Gerry Shih; Editing by Richard Pullin)
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
Temasek was joined by SAP Ventures, the investment arm of SAP AG, Europe’s largest enterprise software firm, as well as previous investors including Benchmark Capital, Crosslink Capital and DAG Ventures.
The San Francisco-based company also announced on Monday that it has added Frank van Veenendaal, a top global sales executive at Salesforce.com, to its board.
The latest moves are meant to help Marin acquire new customers, especially in Asia, where the company looks to focus its expansion, Chris Lien, Marin’s chief executive officer, said in an interview.
Temasek will help Marin “with potential customer introductions and local market knowledge,” Lien said.
“They’ve been operating in these emerging markets for years and years.”
Marin’s products have been adopted by clients like Hotels.com, Macy’s and the University of Phoenix. The company is still focused on managing ads across search engines like Google and Yahoo, but Lien said his company is beginning to incorporate into its platform tools to manage campaigns on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
(Reporting by Gerry Shih; Editing by Richard Pullin)
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
Remedent Announces Strategic Investment by IDG-Accel
GHENT, BELGIUM–(Marketwire -02/13/12)- Remedent, Inc. (“Remedent” or the “Company”) (OTC.BB: REMI.OB – News), an international company specializing in research, development, and the manufacturing of oral care and cosmetic products, announced today the closing of a strategic financing with IDG-Accel China Growth Fund III L.P. (“IDG-Accel Fund”), IDG-Accel China III Investors L.P. (“IDG-Accel Investors Fund”), Crown Link Group Limited (“Crown Link”) (IDG-Accel Fund, IDG-Accel Investors Fund and Crown Link collectively referred to as the “IDG-Accel Investors”) and GlamSmile Dental Technologies Ltd. (“GlamSmile Asia”), an entity in which Remedent owns approximately 29%. On February 10, 2012 the IDG-Accel Investors acquired a 31.4% equity stake in GlamSmile Asia for $7 million in cash. As a result of the strategic investment, Remedent owns 29.4% of GlamSmile Asia while IDG-Accel Investors and Gallant Network Limited (“Gallant”), a BVI-based entity owned and controlled by GlamSmile’s CEO David Lok, own 31.4% and 39.2%, respectively. Both GlamSmile Asia and Remedent plan to use the proceeds from the financing to open new GlamSmile dental clinics in China and to invest in new cutting edge dental technologies repectively.
The details of the transaction are as follows:
1. IDG-Accel Investors acquired 11.4% ownership interest of GlamSmile Asia from Remedent for $2,000,000.
2. IDG-Accel Investors directly acquired 20% ownership interest of GlamSmile Asia for $5,000,000.
3. Mr. Hugo Shong, the Founding Partner of IDG Capital Partners, was appointed to the board of directors of GlamSmile Asia to serve on the board with Mr. Guy De Vreese and Mr. David Lok
IDG-Accel Fund, a prominent private equity investment firm managed by IDG Capital Partners, is a joint venture between media giant International Data Group and venture capital firm Accel Partners. IDG, a media firm that has invested in China since the early 1990s, has benefited from its early presence in China. And Accel, the first venture firm to invest serious capital into Facebook, brings its Silicon Valley expertise to the table. Since 1992, IDG Capital Partners has invested in over 200 emerging growth companies such as Baidu, Sohu, Soufun, Ctrip, and Kanghui. GlamSmile Asia believes that IDG’s involvement will provide its expertise and relationships to help GlamSmile Asia improve operational efficiencies, find strategic partners, accelerate growth in Asia, and overcome regulatory hurdles.
GlamSmile Asia intends to use the proceeds from this investment to open several directly owned clinics in China, and Remedent plans to launch it ex-China GlamSmile franchise clinic expansion, and develop new dental technologies.
“We could not be happier with our strategic relationship with IDG,” said Mr. Guy De Vreese, Chairman and CEO of Remedent. “An investment from a trusted and experienced investor like IDG significantly enhances our profile and resources in China and validates the significant value in both GlamSmile Asia and Remedent branded technologies. We look forward to working with Mr. Shong, founding partner of IDG, and his talented team to further expand our dental business in China.”
About Remedent
Remedent, Inc. specializes in the research, development and manufacturing and the marketing of oral care and cosmetic dental products. The Company serves the professional dental industry with breakthrough technology for dental veneers. These products are supported by a line of professional veneer whitening and tooth sensitivity solutions. Headquartered in Belgium, Remedent distributes its products to more than 55 countries in the worldwide. For more information, go to www.remedent.com.
About IDG
IDG-Accel Fund is a private equity investment fund formed in limited partnership in the Cayman Islands. The Fund focuses on investment in various sectors, such as TMT, medicare, consumer, energy, and others. The Fund is managed by IDG Capital Partners, a leading investment management team in China with over 18-years of investment experience and industry knowledge, who was among the first to introduce foreign venture capital investment into China in early 1990s and has since then invested in around 200 successful portfolios, such as Baidu, Sohu, Tencent, Soufun, Ctrip, Home Inns, Hanting, Kanghui and etc. Over 60 of its portfolios have successfully completed IPO or M&A.
About MZ Group
MZ Group (www.mz-ir.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of @titude Global (www.attitude-global.com) in North America. MZ Group is the world’s largest independent global investor relations and corporate communications firm, providing innovative, customized services to domestic and multinational companies through a unique, fully integrated “one-stop-shop” business model. With offices in New York, Chicago, San Diego, São Paulo, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei, MZ Group has 300+ professionals serving more than 530 clients located throughout 10 countries.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are “forward-looking statements” are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause Remedent’s actual operating results to be materially different from any historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements that explicitly describe these risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements that contain terms such as “believes,” “belief,” “expects,” “expect,” “intends,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “plan,” “projects,” “project,” to be uncertain and forward-looking. Actual results could differ materially because of factors such as Remedent’s ability to achieve the synergies and value creation contemplated by the recent financing and proposed business plans. For further information regarding risks and uncertainties associated with Remedent’s business, please refer to the risk factors described in Remedent’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. We undertake no duty to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release.
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
The details of the transaction are as follows:
1. IDG-Accel Investors acquired 11.4% ownership interest of GlamSmile Asia from Remedent for $2,000,000.
2. IDG-Accel Investors directly acquired 20% ownership interest of GlamSmile Asia for $5,000,000.
3. Mr. Hugo Shong, the Founding Partner of IDG Capital Partners, was appointed to the board of directors of GlamSmile Asia to serve on the board with Mr. Guy De Vreese and Mr. David Lok
IDG-Accel Fund, a prominent private equity investment firm managed by IDG Capital Partners, is a joint venture between media giant International Data Group and venture capital firm Accel Partners. IDG, a media firm that has invested in China since the early 1990s, has benefited from its early presence in China. And Accel, the first venture firm to invest serious capital into Facebook, brings its Silicon Valley expertise to the table. Since 1992, IDG Capital Partners has invested in over 200 emerging growth companies such as Baidu, Sohu, Soufun, Ctrip, and Kanghui. GlamSmile Asia believes that IDG’s involvement will provide its expertise and relationships to help GlamSmile Asia improve operational efficiencies, find strategic partners, accelerate growth in Asia, and overcome regulatory hurdles.
GlamSmile Asia intends to use the proceeds from this investment to open several directly owned clinics in China, and Remedent plans to launch it ex-China GlamSmile franchise clinic expansion, and develop new dental technologies.
“We could not be happier with our strategic relationship with IDG,” said Mr. Guy De Vreese, Chairman and CEO of Remedent. “An investment from a trusted and experienced investor like IDG significantly enhances our profile and resources in China and validates the significant value in both GlamSmile Asia and Remedent branded technologies. We look forward to working with Mr. Shong, founding partner of IDG, and his talented team to further expand our dental business in China.”
About Remedent
Remedent, Inc. specializes in the research, development and manufacturing and the marketing of oral care and cosmetic dental products. The Company serves the professional dental industry with breakthrough technology for dental veneers. These products are supported by a line of professional veneer whitening and tooth sensitivity solutions. Headquartered in Belgium, Remedent distributes its products to more than 55 countries in the worldwide. For more information, go to www.remedent.com.
About IDG
IDG-Accel Fund is a private equity investment fund formed in limited partnership in the Cayman Islands. The Fund focuses on investment in various sectors, such as TMT, medicare, consumer, energy, and others. The Fund is managed by IDG Capital Partners, a leading investment management team in China with over 18-years of investment experience and industry knowledge, who was among the first to introduce foreign venture capital investment into China in early 1990s and has since then invested in around 200 successful portfolios, such as Baidu, Sohu, Tencent, Soufun, Ctrip, Home Inns, Hanting, Kanghui and etc. Over 60 of its portfolios have successfully completed IPO or M&A.
About MZ Group
MZ Group (www.mz-ir.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of @titude Global (www.attitude-global.com) in North America. MZ Group is the world’s largest independent global investor relations and corporate communications firm, providing innovative, customized services to domestic and multinational companies through a unique, fully integrated “one-stop-shop” business model. With offices in New York, Chicago, San Diego, São Paulo, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei, MZ Group has 300+ professionals serving more than 530 clients located throughout 10 countries.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are “forward-looking statements” are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause Remedent’s actual operating results to be materially different from any historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements that explicitly describe these risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements that contain terms such as “believes,” “belief,” “expects,” “expect,” “intends,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “plan,” “projects,” “project,” to be uncertain and forward-looking. Actual results could differ materially because of factors such as Remedent’s ability to achieve the synergies and value creation contemplated by the recent financing and proposed business plans. For further information regarding risks and uncertainties associated with Remedent’s business, please refer to the risk factors described in Remedent’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. We undertake no duty to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release.
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
The Longevity Opportunity in the U.S. is Comparable to Emerging BRIC Markets
Lafayette, California (PRWEB) February 13, 2012
In 2011 the first of the baby boomer generation began turning 65 years old. Near daily stories in the media are generated about the issues, needs, impact, influence and sheer size of the eldest of our population. The growing discourse includes changes to retirement trends, the fact that the 55+ age group is the fastest-growing segment of entrepreneurs, the call to advertisers that they can no longer afford to ignore this audience, and announcements of new outlets catering to these demographics. From aging-in-place technologies to social and mobile media, to the spending power of grandparents, the overall wealth of opportunities in meeting the needs of this mature market is the purpose of the ninth annual What’s Next Boomer Business Summit, being held March 28 in Washington, D.C. There the country’s leading analysts, top researchers and executive strategists will gather to introduce new research, products and services, and to present the definitive ways to reach and successfully sell to baby boomers and senior consumers. It is the event to meet the entrepreneurs and brand teams pursuing the baby boomer customer, and learn the marketing strategies that work to reach them.
It opens with a keynote delivered by veteran political strategist Donna Brazile, on ‘Designing a Personalized Business Model for the New Economy’. Jody Holtzman, SVP of Thought Leadership Group at AARP will define and examine the entrepreneurial and market opportunities related to the new Longevity Economy. His keynote will unearth current economic activity related to the demographic phenomenon of people living longer, richer lives and will address areas where the needs and wants of Americans 45 and older are not being met. Also, he will present a new framework for approaching both the societal needs and economic opportunities related to a changing and vital population.
The event tracks will explore trends in the following areas, with agenda highlights:
The complete list of speakers is available at http://www.boomersummit.com/speakers.html.
“The boomer, senior and caregiver markets are large and growing. The changing economy has created a shift in spending that is becoming the new normal. This conference brings together the most innovative companies and top thought leaders in marketing, innovation and distribution,” Mary Furlong, What’s Next conference producer shared. “These markets are growing as rapidly as the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Join us in March to discover the important segments in the longevity economy.”
A press conference will take place on March 29 at 11:00 a.m. at the National Press Club. Speakers and sponsors will be making their new research product and service announcements.
Sponsors of What’s Next Boomer Business Summit are, at the platinum level: AARP, UnitedHealthcare and Crew Media; at the gold level: Microsoft, Linkage, Silverado Senior Living, MBO Partners, RLTV and Caring.com; at the silver level: General Mills, Google, GreatCall, Facetime Strategy, The Hartford, SilverRide, GrandCare Systems, Innovate LTC, Independa Inc., Starkey; at the bronze level: ABHOW, Hipcricket, Posit Science, MetLife Mature Market Institute, VibrantNation; refreshment break sponsor is Moving Mavens and Moving Solutions.
Registration, agenda and additional event details available at http://www.boomersummit.com. Registration costs are $275 at early bird rate (extended to February 21), $350 at the advance rate (February 22 to March 26) and $450 on March 27 and onsite.
What’s Next Boomer Business Summit
The ninth Annual What’s Next Boomer Business Summit is produced by Mary Furlong & Associates. What’s Next Boomer Business Summit is affiliated with the American Society on Aging (ASA) Aging in America Conference being held on March 28 to April 1, 2012 in Washington, D.C. Registration and program information is available at http://www.boomersummit.com. Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/pages/2012-Whats-Next-Boomer-Business-Summit. Twitter username is WhatsNextBoomer, and hashtag is #boomersummit. It is produced by Mary Furlong & Associates.
Mary Furlong & Associates
Founded in 2003, Mary Furlong & Associates (MFA) works with companies seeking to capitalize on new business and investment opportunities in the Baby Boomer market. MFA provides business development, financing strategy and integrated marketing solutions to entrepreneurs, corporations and non-profit organizations serving the 50+ market. Mary Furlong, Ed.D., the firm’s founder and CEO, has guided the offline and online 40+ market strategies of leading corporations and non-profit organizations for more than 20 years. In 2011, Furlong was honored as one of the top 100 Women of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Furlong is Dean’s Executive Professor of Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business, and previously founded SeniorNet and ThirdAge Media. Her latest book, Turning Silver into Gold: How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace (FT Press), was published in 2007. More information available at http://www.maryfurlong.com.
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
In 2011 the first of the baby boomer generation began turning 65 years old. Near daily stories in the media are generated about the issues, needs, impact, influence and sheer size of the eldest of our population. The growing discourse includes changes to retirement trends, the fact that the 55+ age group is the fastest-growing segment of entrepreneurs, the call to advertisers that they can no longer afford to ignore this audience, and announcements of new outlets catering to these demographics. From aging-in-place technologies to social and mobile media, to the spending power of grandparents, the overall wealth of opportunities in meeting the needs of this mature market is the purpose of the ninth annual What’s Next Boomer Business Summit, being held March 28 in Washington, D.C. There the country’s leading analysts, top researchers and executive strategists will gather to introduce new research, products and services, and to present the definitive ways to reach and successfully sell to baby boomers and senior consumers. It is the event to meet the entrepreneurs and brand teams pursuing the baby boomer customer, and learn the marketing strategies that work to reach them.
It opens with a keynote delivered by veteran political strategist Donna Brazile, on ‘Designing a Personalized Business Model for the New Economy’. Jody Holtzman, SVP of Thought Leadership Group at AARP will define and examine the entrepreneurial and market opportunities related to the new Longevity Economy. His keynote will unearth current economic activity related to the demographic phenomenon of people living longer, richer lives and will address areas where the needs and wants of Americans 45 and older are not being met. Also, he will present a new framework for approaching both the societal needs and economic opportunities related to a changing and vital population.
The event tracks will explore trends in the following areas, with agenda highlights:
- Innovation and frugality
- Baby boomers have the money and desire to bond with their grandchildren, but given today’s investment climate, will there be money in the future for them to inherit? Moderator Lori Bitter, President, Crew Media, will get Jodi Olshevski, Assistant VP, The Hartford, Robert Stephen, VP, My Home & Family Portfolio, IVS-Portfolio Management, AARP, and Sandy Timmermann, Assistant Vice President, MetLife and Director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute to tell what are the changes and choices in work, retirement, and for money protection that older adults can make to thrive in the age of lowered expectations.
- It is the mature consumer segment that is currently generating the most interest and excitement–grandparents. The grandparent economy is large (40 million), growing and lucrative. Grandparents are spending money on necessities, learning and luxury for their grandchildren. They are investing in tuition, tutoring, and technology. Missy Sullivan, Senior Editor of the Wall Street Journal’s Smart Money, and Robert Stephen, VP, My Home & Family Portfolio, IVS-Portfolio Management, AARP, identify the business ecosystem of brands baby boomers are embracing with this new role.
- Baby boomer women are the chief purchasing officers, chief caregiving officers, and chief healthcare officers for their families. They often influence purchase decisions in travel and investment for themselves and extended families. Myrna Blyth, Editor in Chief of ThirdAge.com shares insights from her inspiring panel of women in new media and business.
- Integrated media and marketing, social, mobile, gaming
- Moderated by Deborah Jacobs of Forbes, the ‘Tech Trends’ session will answer what mature consumers want most from their smart phones, tablets, and the Internet itself. Laurie Orlov, Founder, Aging in Place Technology Watch, and Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, will present the latest data to answer this, and discuss how that information can drive investment and strategies of companies small and large.
- ‘Boomer Trends in E-tailing, Retailing and Mobile Commerce’ session delves into dramatic changes in consumer buying behavior in an online and mobile world. It is forcing retailers to think, staff and partner in new ways. Moderated by Gail Kirby, PhD, Marketing, Santa Clara University, she will have Jeff Hasen, CMO, Hipcricket and Candace Corlett, President, WSL Strategic Retail navigate the multiple-channel world of today.
- Attendees will discover the latest trends in how companies are using media to drive leads, with industry leaders that include AARP’s Director of Social Communications & Strategy, Tammy Gordon.
- Beth Carpenter, Digital Distribution, AARP brings with her one of the many bright minds from Google for the in-demand session ‘Using Google, Facebook and Twitter to Build Your Business’ that will aid businesses by showing them how to leverage Google’s many free products to maximize web traffic, conduct search engine optimization, and use tools such as Ad Words, Twitter, and Facebook to connect and engage potential customers.
- The new service economy of housing, caregiving, mobility and healthcare
- The prospect of a stalled homebuilding industry creating a surge in age-in-place remodeling is explored by Steve French, Managing Director, Natural Marketing Institute (NMI), and Gail Gibson Hunt, President & CEO, National Alliance for Caregiving. They explain why wireless home health technology will blossom in the face of health reform, and debate if the growing number of caregivers (and their policy influence) will get the attention of Congress.
- The ‘Health Services 3.0’ panel will consider the businesses that are meeting baby boomers on their technology platform of choice when it comes to managing their health. Examining the burgeoning mHealth realm, this panel will include Jeff Shoemate, Vice President of Innovation & Business Development, United Healthcare-Medicare & Retirement, Ilya Oshman, SVP, FP&A, Weight Watchers and Charlotte Yeh, Chief Medical Officer, AARP.
- Entrepreneurship and encore careers
- With increased longevity, and a need and desire to work, boomers are exploring encore careers in record numbers. Mary Furlong, President & CEO, Mary Furlong & Associates, and Gene Zanlo, CEO, MBO Partners, will explore the fields with the greatest growth and case studies of those who are reimagining life anew.
The complete list of speakers is available at http://www.boomersummit.com/speakers.html.
“The boomer, senior and caregiver markets are large and growing. The changing economy has created a shift in spending that is becoming the new normal. This conference brings together the most innovative companies and top thought leaders in marketing, innovation and distribution,” Mary Furlong, What’s Next conference producer shared. “These markets are growing as rapidly as the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Join us in March to discover the important segments in the longevity economy.”
A press conference will take place on March 29 at 11:00 a.m. at the National Press Club. Speakers and sponsors will be making their new research product and service announcements.
Sponsors of What’s Next Boomer Business Summit are, at the platinum level: AARP, UnitedHealthcare and Crew Media; at the gold level: Microsoft, Linkage, Silverado Senior Living, MBO Partners, RLTV and Caring.com; at the silver level: General Mills, Google, GreatCall, Facetime Strategy, The Hartford, SilverRide, GrandCare Systems, Innovate LTC, Independa Inc., Starkey; at the bronze level: ABHOW, Hipcricket, Posit Science, MetLife Mature Market Institute, VibrantNation; refreshment break sponsor is Moving Mavens and Moving Solutions.
Registration, agenda and additional event details available at http://www.boomersummit.com. Registration costs are $275 at early bird rate (extended to February 21), $350 at the advance rate (February 22 to March 26) and $450 on March 27 and onsite.
What’s Next Boomer Business Summit
The ninth Annual What’s Next Boomer Business Summit is produced by Mary Furlong & Associates. What’s Next Boomer Business Summit is affiliated with the American Society on Aging (ASA) Aging in America Conference being held on March 28 to April 1, 2012 in Washington, D.C. Registration and program information is available at http://www.boomersummit.com. Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/pages/2012-Whats-Next-Boomer-Business-Summit. Twitter username is WhatsNextBoomer, and hashtag is #boomersummit. It is produced by Mary Furlong & Associates.
Mary Furlong & Associates
Founded in 2003, Mary Furlong & Associates (MFA) works with companies seeking to capitalize on new business and investment opportunities in the Baby Boomer market. MFA provides business development, financing strategy and integrated marketing solutions to entrepreneurs, corporations and non-profit organizations serving the 50+ market. Mary Furlong, Ed.D., the firm’s founder and CEO, has guided the offline and online 40+ market strategies of leading corporations and non-profit organizations for more than 20 years. In 2011, Furlong was honored as one of the top 100 Women of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Furlong is Dean’s Executive Professor of Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business, and previously founded SeniorNet and ThirdAge Media. Her latest book, Turning Silver into Gold: How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace (FT Press), was published in 2007. More information available at http://www.maryfurlong.com.
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2012年2月6日星期一
Asia Private Equity Weekly News, February 6, 2012
HONG KONG, February 6 (Reuters) – News and developments in Asia private equity from Reuters News for the Lunar New Year and week ending Feb. 3.
FEBRUARY 3
HONG KONG’S Hutchison 3G will buy Orange Austria from France Telecom SA and Mid-Europa Partners in a deal valued at 1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion) including debt, expanding the corporate footprint of Asia’s richest man in Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURUSD – news) .
BLACKSTONE GROUP LP, the largest publicly listed alternative asset manager, reported lower fourth-quarter earnings as performance fees declined, but management fees increased from assets that grew to a record $137 billion.
FEBRUARY 2
ANALYSIS-It’s the year’s hottest initial public offering, but some wealth managers find themselves having a hard time recommending Facebook to their clients.
PRIVATE EQUITY firm TPG Capital LP has held initial discussions with a group of eight banks to fund a takeover bid for Australian underwear maker Pacific Brands Ltd, according to a source familiar with the matter.
THE U.S. private equity industry’s lobbying group said on Thursday that it has launched a campaign to tackle what it called a lack of understanding of the industry in the face of attacks on Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney.
CHINA INVESTMENT Corp (CIC) has acquired a minority stake in Washington-based asset manager EIG Global Energy Partners, the latest energy-related investment from China’s $410 billion sovereign wealth fund.
LOS ANGELES-based media and communications investment firm Saban Capital Group, which has Asia investments including Media Nusantara Citra PT and China’s Taomee Holdings Ltd , said it has opened a Hong Kong office led by Sumeet Jaisinghani.
FEBRUARY 1
CARLYLE GROUP and Warburg Pincus LLC took advantage of India’s recent market gains to pare stakes in two financial companies in deals worth $440 million, a sign of investor wariness about the sustainability of the rally.
CARYLE SOLD about 20 million shares of Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd in market deals on Wednesday, the chief executive of the Indian mortgage lender said, citing market sources.
WARBURG PINCUS sold about 17.5 million shares in India’s Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd via stock market deals to raise about $170 million, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
A UNIT (Berlin: UN7.BE – news) of the Swire group of companies, a Hong Kong conglomerate with interests ranging from properties to airlines, is among bidders for electronics and furniture retailer Courts Asia Ltd, two sources close to the matter said, an asset that could fetch close to $400 million.
UNITAS CAPITAL has acquired Carlyle’s stake in China restaurant chain Babela Group, said a source familiar with the matter, in a small deal but one that underscores the tough exit conditions for private equity investors.
BAIN CAPITAL and Unitas are among suitors to submit second-round bids to buy Prestolite Electric Inc from First Atlantic, two sources told Reuters, in a deal worth about $400 million.
INDIAN MICROFINANCE company Ujjivan Financial Services said on Wednesday that it has raised $25.5 million by diluting a minority holding in the company to private equity funds including Netherlands Development Finance Co, Wolfensohn Capital Partners and existing investors.
JANUARY 30
JAPAN (EUREX: FMJP.EX – news) ‘S ORIX Corp has dropped out of the race to buy software developer Yayoi, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday, which could be a blow to MBK Partners’ plan to sell the business. (Compiled by Stephen Aldred; Editing by Chris Lewis)
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
FEBRUARY 3
HONG KONG’S Hutchison 3G will buy Orange Austria from France Telecom SA and Mid-Europa Partners in a deal valued at 1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion) including debt, expanding the corporate footprint of Asia’s richest man in Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURUSD – news) .
BLACKSTONE GROUP LP, the largest publicly listed alternative asset manager, reported lower fourth-quarter earnings as performance fees declined, but management fees increased from assets that grew to a record $137 billion.
FEBRUARY 2
ANALYSIS-It’s the year’s hottest initial public offering, but some wealth managers find themselves having a hard time recommending Facebook to their clients.
PRIVATE EQUITY firm TPG Capital LP has held initial discussions with a group of eight banks to fund a takeover bid for Australian underwear maker Pacific Brands Ltd, according to a source familiar with the matter.
THE U.S. private equity industry’s lobbying group said on Thursday that it has launched a campaign to tackle what it called a lack of understanding of the industry in the face of attacks on Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney.
CHINA INVESTMENT Corp (CIC) has acquired a minority stake in Washington-based asset manager EIG Global Energy Partners, the latest energy-related investment from China’s $410 billion sovereign wealth fund.
LOS ANGELES-based media and communications investment firm Saban Capital Group, which has Asia investments including Media Nusantara Citra PT and China’s Taomee Holdings Ltd , said it has opened a Hong Kong office led by Sumeet Jaisinghani.
FEBRUARY 1
CARLYLE GROUP and Warburg Pincus LLC took advantage of India’s recent market gains to pare stakes in two financial companies in deals worth $440 million, a sign of investor wariness about the sustainability of the rally.
CARYLE SOLD about 20 million shares of Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd in market deals on Wednesday, the chief executive of the Indian mortgage lender said, citing market sources.
WARBURG PINCUS sold about 17.5 million shares in India’s Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd via stock market deals to raise about $170 million, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
A UNIT (Berlin: UN7.BE – news) of the Swire group of companies, a Hong Kong conglomerate with interests ranging from properties to airlines, is among bidders for electronics and furniture retailer Courts Asia Ltd, two sources close to the matter said, an asset that could fetch close to $400 million.
UNITAS CAPITAL has acquired Carlyle’s stake in China restaurant chain Babela Group, said a source familiar with the matter, in a small deal but one that underscores the tough exit conditions for private equity investors.
BAIN CAPITAL and Unitas are among suitors to submit second-round bids to buy Prestolite Electric Inc from First Atlantic, two sources told Reuters, in a deal worth about $400 million.
INDIAN MICROFINANCE company Ujjivan Financial Services said on Wednesday that it has raised $25.5 million by diluting a minority holding in the company to private equity funds including Netherlands Development Finance Co, Wolfensohn Capital Partners and existing investors.
JANUARY 30
JAPAN (EUREX: FMJP.EX – news) ‘S ORIX Corp has dropped out of the race to buy software developer Yayoi, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday, which could be a blow to MBK Partners’ plan to sell the business. (Compiled by Stephen Aldred; Editing by Chris Lewis)
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2012年1月23日星期一
Solar Power Offers Solution to Record-High Energy Costs in Alberta
CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Marketwire -01/23/12)- SkyFire Energy Inc. (SkyFire) announced today that as the standard cost of electricity continues to reach record levels in Alberta, the opposite is true for solar energy which is now, in most cases, better than grid parity. Grid parity is the cost at which solar electricity costs the same as buying power from your utility. An investment in a commercial or residential solar electric system is now more affordable than ever.
“As energy market prices continue to rise to unprecedented levels in the province, there’s never been a better time to shift to solar,” says David Kelly, partner, SkyFire Energy. “Investing now in a solar system with SkyFire will secure a fixed rate as low as 12 cents per kilowatt-hour for 30 years.”
The standard electricity price (Regulated Rate Option) in Alberta reached an all-time monthly record in January, increasing to over 18 cents per kilowatt-hour (15.1 cents for electricity and over 3 cents for transmission, distribution, and local access fees per kilowatt-hour.)
“The price of solar modules has steadily fallen so that an amortized solar system cost is at or better than the cost of buying grid power in most cases,” says Kelly. “Further, if you are purchasing renewable energy certificates (RECs) to offset the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from energy consumption at your home or business, the economics of solar power look even better.”
While there is still an upfront cost to investing in a solar system, there are financing options available through most banking institutions at historically low rates. Unlike most home improvements, which depreciate in value with age, solar panels will increase in value over time as electricity prices continue to rise.
Calgary is the sunniest major city in Canada and solar customers receive the additional benefit of receiving credit for any excess power returned to the grid. In addition to decreasing energy costs and increasing property value, solar power also benefits the planet with no pollution and water use required at the time of generation.
About SkyFire Energy Inc.
SkyFire Energy Inc. is one of Canada’s largest solar EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractors with photovoltaic systems operating throughout Western Canada, the Northwest Territories and Ontario. With an impressive portfolio that includes the largest installation in Western Canada, SkyFire’s solar projects encompass all levels of government, commercial and industrial businesses, homebuilders and residential owners. SkyFire was recently recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in Alberta by Alberta Venture magazine. The SkyFire team includes professional engineers, photovoltaic technicians, and experienced installation crews, allowing them to provide turnkey solutions from design to installation and commissioning. Website: www.SkyFireEnergy.com Twitter: @SkyFireEnergy Facebook: SkyFire Energy
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
“As energy market prices continue to rise to unprecedented levels in the province, there’s never been a better time to shift to solar,” says David Kelly, partner, SkyFire Energy. “Investing now in a solar system with SkyFire will secure a fixed rate as low as 12 cents per kilowatt-hour for 30 years.”
The standard electricity price (Regulated Rate Option) in Alberta reached an all-time monthly record in January, increasing to over 18 cents per kilowatt-hour (15.1 cents for electricity and over 3 cents for transmission, distribution, and local access fees per kilowatt-hour.)
“The price of solar modules has steadily fallen so that an amortized solar system cost is at or better than the cost of buying grid power in most cases,” says Kelly. “Further, if you are purchasing renewable energy certificates (RECs) to offset the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from energy consumption at your home or business, the economics of solar power look even better.”
While there is still an upfront cost to investing in a solar system, there are financing options available through most banking institutions at historically low rates. Unlike most home improvements, which depreciate in value with age, solar panels will increase in value over time as electricity prices continue to rise.
Calgary is the sunniest major city in Canada and solar customers receive the additional benefit of receiving credit for any excess power returned to the grid. In addition to decreasing energy costs and increasing property value, solar power also benefits the planet with no pollution and water use required at the time of generation.
About SkyFire Energy Inc.
SkyFire Energy Inc. is one of Canada’s largest solar EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractors with photovoltaic systems operating throughout Western Canada, the Northwest Territories and Ontario. With an impressive portfolio that includes the largest installation in Western Canada, SkyFire’s solar projects encompass all levels of government, commercial and industrial businesses, homebuilders and residential owners. SkyFire was recently recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in Alberta by Alberta Venture magazine. The SkyFire team includes professional engineers, photovoltaic technicians, and experienced installation crews, allowing them to provide turnkey solutions from design to installation and commissioning. Website: www.SkyFireEnergy.com Twitter: @SkyFireEnergy Facebook: SkyFire Energy
http://tourism9.cm/ http://vkins.com/
2012年1月19日星期四
Smarsh Helps Hedge Funds and Private Equity Firms Prepare for SEC Registration
PORTLAND, Ore.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Smarsh®, the managed service leader in secure, innovative and reliable email archiving and compliance solutions, is expanding its hedge fund and private equity client roster, as firms prepare for the upcoming SEC registration deadline. Many of the industry’s leading firms are tapping into Smarsh’s experience helping thousands of registered investment advisors meet SEC electronic recordkeeping obligations and navigate SEC registration and oversight. By partnering with Smarsh, these firms can design efficient, cost-effective and secure/maintainable email and electronic messaging compliance policies and processes in advance of SEC registration.
“Beyond just having the measures in place to meet the specific requirements of SEC registration, firms are looking to build a true culture of compliance across their organizations,” said Stephen Marsh, CEO and founder of Smarsh. “They recognize that compliance isn’t just a checkbox, and a robust program will not only minimize the impact of SEC oversight, but also help save time and money in e-discovery, litigation and internal investigations.”
Proactive Approach to Registration Readiness
The Private Fund Investment Advisers Registration Act, Title IV of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, eliminated the private adviser exemption afforded by Section 203(b)(3) of the Advisers Act, requiring many hedge fund and private equity fund managers to register as advisers with either the SEC or state regulatory authorities. With registration, firms will be obliged to meet specific recordkeeping requirements for email, instant messaging, social media and all other forms of electronic business communications, as detailed in SEC 204-2, Investment Advisers Act of 1940: Books & Record Maintenance. The deadline to register is March 30, 2012 and firms must apply for registration by February 14.
With the deadline quickly approaching and many firms putting a formal compliance function in place for the first time, Smarsh has compiled a series of educational resources to help firms understand the specific requirements for electronic communications recordkeeping and best practices for implementing new policies, procedures and technology to fulfill these obligations.
“Many firms don’t know what to expect from SEC oversight, so our goal is to not only provide a service designed specifically to meet electronic recordkeeping, supervision and data protection obligations, but also share insights from our experience helping clients through thousands of successful regulatory examinations and e-discovery requests,” added Marsh.
Support for Firms Registering for the First Time
As part of Smarsh’s efforts to ensure a smooth transition to SEC registration, Steve Marsh will moderate a panel discussion with industry representatives on the topic: Creating a Culture of Compliance: Your SEC Registration Checklist. The event will be held in New York City at the Four Seasons Hotel on Thursday, January 26th. For additional information or to register, contact Jessica Heath at jheath@smarsh.com or 503-946-5970.
Additional Smarsh resources for hedge funds and private equity funds are available at www.smarsh.com/privatefunds.
About Smarsh
Smarsh® provides hosted solutions for archiving electronic communications, including email, instant messaging and social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Founded in 2001, Smarsh helps organizations manage and enforce flexible, secure and cost-effective compliance and records retention strategies. For more information, visit www.smarsh.com or follow Smarsh at www.twitter.com/SmarshInc.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
“Beyond just having the measures in place to meet the specific requirements of SEC registration, firms are looking to build a true culture of compliance across their organizations,” said Stephen Marsh, CEO and founder of Smarsh. “They recognize that compliance isn’t just a checkbox, and a robust program will not only minimize the impact of SEC oversight, but also help save time and money in e-discovery, litigation and internal investigations.”
Proactive Approach to Registration Readiness
The Private Fund Investment Advisers Registration Act, Title IV of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, eliminated the private adviser exemption afforded by Section 203(b)(3) of the Advisers Act, requiring many hedge fund and private equity fund managers to register as advisers with either the SEC or state regulatory authorities. With registration, firms will be obliged to meet specific recordkeeping requirements for email, instant messaging, social media and all other forms of electronic business communications, as detailed in SEC 204-2, Investment Advisers Act of 1940: Books & Record Maintenance. The deadline to register is March 30, 2012 and firms must apply for registration by February 14.
With the deadline quickly approaching and many firms putting a formal compliance function in place for the first time, Smarsh has compiled a series of educational resources to help firms understand the specific requirements for electronic communications recordkeeping and best practices for implementing new policies, procedures and technology to fulfill these obligations.
“Many firms don’t know what to expect from SEC oversight, so our goal is to not only provide a service designed specifically to meet electronic recordkeeping, supervision and data protection obligations, but also share insights from our experience helping clients through thousands of successful regulatory examinations and e-discovery requests,” added Marsh.
Support for Firms Registering for the First Time
As part of Smarsh’s efforts to ensure a smooth transition to SEC registration, Steve Marsh will moderate a panel discussion with industry representatives on the topic: Creating a Culture of Compliance: Your SEC Registration Checklist. The event will be held in New York City at the Four Seasons Hotel on Thursday, January 26th. For additional information or to register, contact Jessica Heath at jheath@smarsh.com or 503-946-5970.
Additional Smarsh resources for hedge funds and private equity funds are available at www.smarsh.com/privatefunds.
About Smarsh
Smarsh® provides hosted solutions for archiving electronic communications, including email, instant messaging and social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Founded in 2001, Smarsh helps organizations manage and enforce flexible, secure and cost-effective compliance and records retention strategies. For more information, visit www.smarsh.com or follow Smarsh at www.twitter.com/SmarshInc.
http://tourism9.com/ http://vkins.com/
2012年1月9日星期一
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/
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/
2012年1月3日星期二
Will Lloyds’ Distressed Property Loan Sales Spark Similar Deals?
At the beginning of December, the Financial Times reported that Lloyds Banking Group had opened discussions with US private equity group Lone Star about selling off GBP 900 million of distressed real estate loans. According to the news provider, the deal would signal the largest such loan disposal by a financial institution in the UK since the difficulties experienced in the property market in 2008. The newspaper suggested this could herald a deluge of similar sales and chairman of Chainbow Roger Southam agrees.
He stated that in 2012 “a lot more problems will come out of the woodwork” for UK banks. As a result, Mr Southam believes other deals like that between Lloyds and Lone Star will definitely be on the cards. “They are going to have to bite the bullet and do the bulk deals that we have seen in this distressed way [as Lloyds have done],” Mr Southam asserted. However, he stressed the biggest difficulty will come in finding buyers for such bundles of assets. “Over the last six months and a little bit before that, yields and the purchase prices would seem very good value, [however], people are not in the marketplace for taking [them] on board,” he explained.
Mr Southam stressed the number of potential buyers for portfolios of distressed real estate and loans is “very, very limited”, so even if the banks are keen to offload these assets and shore up their books, it may be a difficult task to accomplish. He added that if the market becomes inundated by financial establishments hoping to complete deals of this kind, it could be “very detrimental” for the real estate sector as a whole. Bloomberg recently cited data from Standard & Poors, showing that as much as GBP 4.8 billion of loans tied to mortgage-backed securities are due to mature in 2012. The assets behind the loans will therefore have to be sold, or the loans themselves refinanced over the next 12 months, the news provider revealed.
Mr Southam stressed the number of potential buyers for portfolios of distressed real estate and loans is “very, very limited”, so even if the banks are keen to offload these assets and shore up their books, it may be a difficult task to accomplish. He added that if the market becomes inundated by financial establishments hoping to complete deals of this kind, it could be “very detrimental” for the real estate sector as a whole. Bloomberg recently cited data from Standard & Poors, showing that as much as GBP 4.8 billion of loans tied to mortgage-backed securities are due to mature in 2012. The assets behind the loans will therefore have to be sold, or the loans themselves refinanced over the next 12 months, the news provider revealed.
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Ed Stansfield, chief property economist at Capital Economics, told the news agency there is a discrepancy between the type of assets being put up for sale and the sort that investors with cash are seeking to acquire. He said the real estate behind the bank loans tends to be “pretty poor quality” and this is not what investors are looking for in the current economic climate. Meanwhile, Sue Munden, analyst at investment bank Seymour Pierce, noted it will be the UK real estate investment trusts that hold higher calibre property that will be able to take advantage of this sentiment. “The good are going to continue getting better and the bad are going to carry on getting worse,” she stated in an interview with Bloomberg.
A further stumbling block for the financial establishments hoping to offload some of their assets could therefore be their quality, with the Financial Times citing data from Savills which revealed that only one-quarter of the estimated GBP 350 billion of the banks’ exposure to the UK’s commercial property sector is comprised of prime real estate, indicating the remainder will not be as attractive to potential investors. In its European Investment Bulletin for summer 2011, Savills stressed that buyers are still averse to anything other than prime property.
The report highlighted the popularity of assets in desirable locations or that fall into the prime bracket, but indicated investors “remain wary of secondary markets due to the lack of transactional evidence, and questions about the timing and strength of the economic and leasing market recovery in some UK markets”. However, the research showed the UK still attracts the greatest level of global investment within Europe, accounting for 34 per cent of the transactions that occurred during the first quarter of 2011.
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Ed Stansfield, chief property economist at Capital Economics, told the news agency there is a discrepancy between the type of assets being put up for sale and the sort that investors with cash are seeking to acquire. He said the real estate behind the bank loans tends to be “pretty poor quality” and this is not what investors are looking for in the current economic climate. Meanwhile, Sue Munden, analyst at investment bank Seymour Pierce, noted it will be the UK real estate investment trusts that hold higher calibre property that will be able to take advantage of this sentiment. “The good are going to continue getting better and the bad are going to carry on getting worse,” she stated in an interview with Bloomberg.
A further stumbling block for the financial establishments hoping to offload some of their assets could therefore be their quality, with the Financial Times citing data from Savills which revealed that only one-quarter of the estimated GBP 350 billion of the banks’ exposure to the UK’s commercial property sector is comprised of prime real estate, indicating the remainder will not be as attractive to potential investors. In its European Investment Bulletin for summer 2011, Savills stressed that buyers are still averse to anything other than prime property.
The report highlighted the popularity of assets in desirable locations or that fall into the prime bracket, but indicated investors “remain wary of secondary markets due to the lack of transactional evidence, and questions about the timing and strength of the economic and leasing market recovery in some UK markets”. However, the research showed the UK still attracts the greatest level of global investment within Europe, accounting for 34 per cent of the transactions that occurred during the first quarter of 2011.
http://tourism9.com/
Putting a Value on Your Startup
In 2011, we saw a variety of young companies join the billion-dollar valuation club. These included Airbnb, Dropbox, Square, Spotify and Gilt Groupe. In fact, the rounds of financing have looked like IPOs, with amounts exceeding $100 million.We also saw a group of hot companies hit the IPO market, such as LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD), Pandora (NYSE:P), Zynga (NYSE:ZNGA), Groupon (Nasdaq:GRPN) and Zillow (Nasdaq:Z). They currently have a combined market value of more than $32 billion (for a closer look at Social IPOs in 2011, check out my recent post.)
Keep in mind that these companies are generating revenues — and in some cases, even profits! As a result, it is easier to use traditional approaches to come up with valuations.
But what should be done with a pre-revenue startup? In this situation, there are some ways to get a sense of the valuation:
Amounts: For a Series A round, a typical amount is $3 million to $5 million. So given that a venture capitalist often will take a minority position, the valuation of a company usually will be in excess of $10 million.
The Lingo: VCs have a certain vocabulary, and it can have a big impact on your valuation. First of all, you need to understand the concepts of “premoney” and “postmoney.” Premoney is the valuation before the investment is made, and postmoney is the sum of the premoney valuation and the investment.
Example: Let’s say a VC is willing to invest $4 million in your company at a valuation of $10 million. In most cases, he or she means that valuation is on a postmoney basis, giving the firm an equity stake of 40%. However, if the $10 million valuation is considered premoney, then the stake would be 28% ($4 million divided by $14 million).
You also should account for the option pool. This is the percentage of the outstanding shares available for option grants to employees. For early-stage companies, the option pool can range from 10% to 20%. When the VC negotiates the valuation, he or she will apply the option pool on the premoney valuation. Ultimately, this lessens the value of your equity position.
Timing: If your space is red-hot and you have multiple VCs interested in your deal, you should raise as much money as possible — and negotiate as hard as possible. Bidding wars are a common theme in the startup game, but they can fizzle out quickly (just look at prior trends like podcasting and RSS).
Proof Points: Measure key metrics continuously and set goals, say on a weekly and monthly basis. If you can show that your startup is making consistent progress, you’ll likely get VCs’ attention.
You also should try to highlight your progress against competitors. Are you becoming the dominant player in the space? If so, the valuation should spike. Consider that tech often is a winner-take-all kind of business.
Team Value: If you have rock star executives and engineers, they actually might have independent value. In some cases, a brilliant engineer can fetch more than $1 million. Companies like Facebook and Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) often acquire companies for their talent, not their products or customers.
Valuation Time Bombs: Even if you get a sky-high valuation, it might be worthless. How? VCs usually will require liquidation preferences. This means a firm will get back all — or even more — of its initial investment if the company is sold or liquidated. In other words, if the valuation of the “exit” is less than the investment amount, your take will be zilch.
Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPOPlaybook, a site dedicated to the hottest news and rumors about initial public offerings. He also is the author of “The Complete M&A Handbook,” “All About Short Selling” and “All About Commodities.” Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli
http://tourism9.com/
Jacob Ballas to invest Rs 200 cr in Religare Finvest
New Delhi, Jan 3: Private equity fund Jacob Ballas has announced that it has agreed to invest Rs 200 crore in Religare Finvest Ltd, an MSME-focussed non-banking financial services arm of Religare Enterprises.
“The capital infusion will be in the form of compulsory convertible preference shares and would be the second equity investment in Reliance Finvest Ltd (RFL) in quick succession after Avigo Capital invested Rs 150 crore in November 2011,” the company said in a statement released yesterday.
“We are pleased to announce this capital infusion by Jacob Ballas in Religare Finvest Ltd,” Religare Enterprises’ Group CEO Shachindra Nath said.
The PE funding is expected to help the company meet its growing capital requirements.
Jacob Ballas Fund is advised by Jacob Ballas Capital India Private Ltd, a leading private equity advisor with a 19-member team, advising three India-focused Mauritius based private equity funds.
Investors in the Funds comprise predominantly leading international institutions such as insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, banks, funds of funds as well as reputed international family investment offices.
The Funds have generated ten liquidity events from its portfolio including full and partial exits.
Mr Nath said the investment (by Jacob Ballas) is not only an external endorsement of the operating model but also demonstrates that despite macro headwinds in challenging times there are value seeking investors for fundamentally strong business models.
“This move also positions us well to capitalise on the existing business opportunities while delivering superlative value for all our stakeholders. We welcome Jacob Ballas to the Religare family,” Mr Nath added.
Religare Finvest provides debt capital to MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) in form of loans against property, working capital loans, loans against plant and machinery, vehicles and construction equipments and loan against marketable securities.
The company has more than 25,000 MSME accounts and its loan book stood at Rs 11,380 crore as on September 30, 2011. (UNI)
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Yearly Horoscope of 2012 for the Zodiac Sign:
Sagittarius Scorpio Libra Virgo Leo Cancer Gemini Taurus Aries Pisces Aquarius Capricon
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Peter Andre wants ‘solid relationship’ in New Year
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Salma Hayek to be ‘Knighted’ in France
Sofia Vergara wanted small role in ‘Happy Feet Two’
Helena Bonham-Carter to receive top British honour
Kim Kardashian strips in front of pal Jonathan Cheban to ‘test’ if he is gay
Kim Kardashian to follow her heart in 2012
Ashton Kutcher rubbishes dating rumours
Ben Foden took royal advice before proposing Una Healy
Cheryl Cole’s new track to be ‘tell all’ on relationships
Miley Cyrus and Kelly Osbourne play naughty prank on Khloe Kardashian
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“The capital infusion will be in the form of compulsory convertible preference shares and would be the second equity investment in Reliance Finvest Ltd (RFL) in quick succession after Avigo Capital invested Rs 150 crore in November 2011,” the company said in a statement released yesterday.
“We are pleased to announce this capital infusion by Jacob Ballas in Religare Finvest Ltd,” Religare Enterprises’ Group CEO Shachindra Nath said.
The PE funding is expected to help the company meet its growing capital requirements.
Jacob Ballas Fund is advised by Jacob Ballas Capital India Private Ltd, a leading private equity advisor with a 19-member team, advising three India-focused Mauritius based private equity funds.
Investors in the Funds comprise predominantly leading international institutions such as insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, banks, funds of funds as well as reputed international family investment offices.
The Funds have generated ten liquidity events from its portfolio including full and partial exits.
Mr Nath said the investment (by Jacob Ballas) is not only an external endorsement of the operating model but also demonstrates that despite macro headwinds in challenging times there are value seeking investors for fundamentally strong business models.
“This move also positions us well to capitalise on the existing business opportunities while delivering superlative value for all our stakeholders. We welcome Jacob Ballas to the Religare family,” Mr Nath added.
Religare Finvest provides debt capital to MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) in form of loans against property, working capital loans, loans against plant and machinery, vehicles and construction equipments and loan against marketable securities.
The company has more than 25,000 MSME accounts and its loan book stood at Rs 11,380 crore as on September 30, 2011. (UNI)
Share this article at
Yearly Horoscope of 2012 for the Zodiac Sign:
Sagittarius Scorpio Libra Virgo Leo Cancer Gemini Taurus Aries Pisces Aquarius Capricon
TOP READ ARTICLES:
Peter Andre wants ‘solid relationship’ in New YearBritney Spears a fitness freakShane Warne pads up to give Elizabeth Hurley cricket lessonsClint Eastwood’s new obsession is Lola!Simon Cowell hopes for the best in 2012US chat shows loosen purse strings for Perry-Brand divorce storySalma Hayek to be ‘Knighted’ in FranceSofia Vergara wanted small role in ‘Happy Feet Two’Helena Bonham-Carter to receive top British honourKim Kardashian strips in front of pal Jonathan Cheban to ‘test’ if he is gayKim Kardashian to follow her heart in 2012Ashton Kutcher rubbishes dating rumoursBen Foden took royal advice before proposing Una HealyCheryl Cole’s new track to be ‘tell all’ on relationshipsMiley Cyrus and Kelly Osbourne play naughty prank on Khloe Kardashianhttp://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/
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/
2012年1月2日星期一
Student designer secures investment for iPhone app Summly
Summary: The Summly application could become the next must-have for students. Its teenage creator has secured a large investment for future development.
British teenager Nick D’Aloisio, designer of the ‘Summly’ app, has secured investment with a Hong-Kong based company.
Summly is an iPhone application that summarises and simplifies the content of web pages. Advertised as ‘a simple way to browse the web’, the 16-year old found inspiration for the app while studying for a history exam.
D’Aloisio found the current search options available online as inefficient, and this provoked the idea for the iPhone app. The developer said:
Before founding Summly, the teenage developer created Facemood, a service which used algorithms to determine the mood of Facebook users, and SongStumblr, a geosocial music discovery service.
(Source: Summly)
Summly has currently been optimised for 11 languages, and boasts 30,000 downloads since its release in mid-December. There are plans to tweak the app to become suitable for Android models early next year, as well as development of an online web version.
As an application for university or college students, this could be the future way to find and process information for studies quickly and effectively.
Although tools like Google give us access to incredible amounts of information instantaneously, it can be difficult to find suitable material — or extremely easy to become distracted.
By using Summly, it offers a new way to quickly scan summarised text and decide if that is the content you need to pursue. For those among us who leave revision until the last minute or pull an all-nighter finishing the essay due the next day, it could become one of the must-have applications you keep on your smartphone dashboard.
I’ll be looking forward to the Android release.
Summly is an iPhone application that summarises and simplifies the content of web pages. Advertised as ‘a simple way to browse the web’, the 16-year old found inspiration for the app while studying for a history exam.
D’Aloisio found the current search options available online as inefficient, and this provoked the idea for the iPhone app. The developer said:
“I thought that what I needed was a way of simplifying and summarising these web searches. Google has Instant Preview but that is just an image of the page. What I wanted was a content preview.”Li Ka-Shing, of Horizons Ventures, is the Chinese billionaire who ranks as one of the wealthiest people in the world. He has invested $250,000 (£159,000) in to the Summly project. Previous investments have included Facebook, Spotify and Skype.
Before founding Summly, the teenage developer created Facemood, a service which used algorithms to determine the mood of Facebook users, and SongStumblr, a geosocial music discovery service.
(Source: Summly)
Summly has currently been optimised for 11 languages, and boasts 30,000 downloads since its release in mid-December. There are plans to tweak the app to become suitable for Android models early next year, as well as development of an online web version.
As an application for university or college students, this could be the future way to find and process information for studies quickly and effectively.
Although tools like Google give us access to incredible amounts of information instantaneously, it can be difficult to find suitable material — or extremely easy to become distracted.
By using Summly, it offers a new way to quickly scan summarised text and decide if that is the content you need to pursue. For those among us who leave revision until the last minute or pull an all-nighter finishing the essay due the next day, it could become one of the must-have applications you keep on your smartphone dashboard.
I’ll be looking forward to the Android release.
London-based medical anthropologist Charlie Osborne is a journalist, graphic designer and former teacher.
Biography
Charlie Osborne
Charlie Osborne, Medical Anthropologist who studied at the University of Kent, UK, is a journalist, graphic designer and former teacher.
After studying Anthropology at university, she spent several years travelling and working across Europe and the Middle East, living for periods of time in Italy and Spain. She has been involved in the running of several businesses ranging from University media and events to b2b sales, and works currently as a freelance website designer and mobile development specialist.
She has particular interests in social media, intellectual property law, data protection and online hacker organisations.
http://tourism9.com/
After studying Anthropology at university, she spent several years travelling and working across Europe and the Middle East, living for periods of time in Italy and Spain. She has been involved in the running of several businesses ranging from University media and events to b2b sales, and works currently as a freelance website designer and mobile development specialist.
She has particular interests in social media, intellectual property law, data protection and online hacker organisations.
http://tourism9.com/
Investment bankers eye Facebook IPO job
The Irish Times – Saturday, December 31, 2011
INVESTMENT BANKERS are warming up for the race to land what promises to be one of next year’s most lucrative initial public offering (IPO) advisory jobs – Facebook.
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that bankers and venture capitalists had named long-time rivals Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as frontrunners.
“Facebook’s stock sale could be as big as $10 billion [€7.72 billion], valuing the company at $100 billion or more,” the Wall Street Journal said in a technology blog.
“Fees for IPOs of that size have averaged 2.2 per cent, according to Dealogic, which tracks new issues. That would mean a possible total pay-off of as much as $220 million, though the company could negotiate lower fees because the Facebook deal is such a trophy.”
Data compiled by Bloomberg shows that the value of internet flotations could reach $11 billion next year, which would only be second to the $18.5 billion raised at the height of a tech bubble in 1999.
Fourteen such companies are considering flotations next year. While surging sales growth may lure investors to Facebook, the biggest social-networking site, heightened stock volatility and Europe’s sovereign debt crisis could temper the pace of global IPOs after a 38 per cent decline in 2011.
Even internet companies may cut valuations for their offerings after Zynga, the largest developer of games for Facebook, and online radio company Pandora slumped following share sales this year, according to research firm Morningstar.
“Technology is still a place where you can get outperformance in terms of growth against a tepid market backdrop,” said David Erickson of Barclays. “You might see more IPOs emerge if we get resolution in Europe or stability that makes investors more comfortable with the overall market.”
IPOs raised $155.8 billion in 2011, compared with $252 billion a year earlier, and US initial offerings generated $38.8 billion, about 10 per cent less than in 2010. In Asia, IPOs this year have raised $79.2 billion, less than half the $176.5 billion last year.
While funds raised in Europe rose for the year, they sank more than 95 per cent since August from a year earlier. – (Additional reporting: Bloomberg)
INVESTMENT BANKERS are warming up for the race to land what promises to be one of next year’s most lucrative initial public offering (IPO) advisory jobs – Facebook.
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that bankers and venture capitalists had named long-time rivals Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as frontrunners.
“Facebook’s stock sale could be as big as $10 billion [€7.72 billion], valuing the company at $100 billion or more,” the Wall Street Journal said in a technology blog.
“Fees for IPOs of that size have averaged 2.2 per cent, according to Dealogic, which tracks new issues. That would mean a possible total pay-off of as much as $220 million, though the company could negotiate lower fees because the Facebook deal is such a trophy.”
Data compiled by Bloomberg shows that the value of internet flotations could reach $11 billion next year, which would only be second to the $18.5 billion raised at the height of a tech bubble in 1999.
Fourteen such companies are considering flotations next year. While surging sales growth may lure investors to Facebook, the biggest social-networking site, heightened stock volatility and Europe’s sovereign debt crisis could temper the pace of global IPOs after a 38 per cent decline in 2011.
Even internet companies may cut valuations for their offerings after Zynga, the largest developer of games for Facebook, and online radio company Pandora slumped following share sales this year, according to research firm Morningstar.
“Technology is still a place where you can get outperformance in terms of growth against a tepid market backdrop,” said David Erickson of Barclays. “You might see more IPOs emerge if we get resolution in Europe or stability that makes investors more comfortable with the overall market.”
IPOs raised $155.8 billion in 2011, compared with $252 billion a year earlier, and US initial offerings generated $38.8 billion, about 10 per cent less than in 2010. In Asia, IPOs this year have raised $79.2 billion, less than half the $176.5 billion last year.
While funds raised in Europe rose for the year, they sank more than 95 per cent since August from a year earlier. – (Additional reporting: Bloomberg)
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Web-sharing company draws $1.7M investment
A Halifax-based company that promises to take sharing the web in a whole new direction is attracting interest from some of the hottest investors in the industry.
Prince Edward Islander Jevon MacDonald, co-founder and CEO of the company, is one of the creative minds behind the software, which allows two or more people in different locations to surf the web together, as if they’re sitting side-by-side, each with their own mouse clicking on the same page. MacDonald’s software allows users to do this within seconds, without downloads or plugins.
“The basic premise is the future of the web is shared,” said MacDonald.
So far, he is finding the software is of particular interest to companies that sell online.
“We had the biggest websites in the world calling,” he said.
“We were really surprised that they had been looking for something like this and hadn’t been able to find it.”
The company also received calls from investors. A consortium including Freestyle Capital and Yuri Milner, known for his investments in Facebook and Groupon, put $1.7 million in seed capital into the company earlier this year.
While only 29, MacDonald is far from a neophyte. He launched his first software company in the summer before he started high school.
Rob Paterson, a P.E.I. IT industry consultant, has been following MacDonald’s work, and is excited about this latest venture.
“This is going to be customer service on steroids,” said Paterson.
“I think this could be massive. To be able to work with somebody directly in a hands-on kind of way is, I think, tremendously exciting.”
While the idea is exciting, GoInstant is just getting started. MacDonald said his current focus is to shore up big-name clients, and ensure that his software is ready for launching.
http://tourism9.com/
Prince Edward Islander Jevon MacDonald, co-founder and CEO of the company, is one of the creative minds behind the software, which allows two or more people in different locations to surf the web together, as if they’re sitting side-by-side, each with their own mouse clicking on the same page. MacDonald’s software allows users to do this within seconds, without downloads or plugins.
“The basic premise is the future of the web is shared,” said MacDonald.
So far, he is finding the software is of particular interest to companies that sell online.
“We had the biggest websites in the world calling,” he said.
“We were really surprised that they had been looking for something like this and hadn’t been able to find it.”
The company also received calls from investors. A consortium including Freestyle Capital and Yuri Milner, known for his investments in Facebook and Groupon, put $1.7 million in seed capital into the company earlier this year.
While only 29, MacDonald is far from a neophyte. He launched his first software company in the summer before he started high school.
Rob Paterson, a P.E.I. IT industry consultant, has been following MacDonald’s work, and is excited about this latest venture.
“This is going to be customer service on steroids,” said Paterson.
“I think this could be massive. To be able to work with somebody directly in a hands-on kind of way is, I think, tremendously exciting.”
While the idea is exciting, GoInstant is just getting started. MacDonald said his current focus is to shore up big-name clients, and ensure that his software is ready for launching.
http://tourism9.com/
Online shoe clubs are in step with fashion-forward women
Once a month, you can automatically receive in the mail a bottle of wine, a box of organic fruit and now, a pair of sequined stilettos.
In a cyber twist to the traditional monthly sales clubs, shoe membership websites have become a hit among fashion-forward women, who say they bring together the convenience and affordability of shopping online with the personalized experience offered in a boutique.
“This is fashion of the future,” said celebrity fashion designer Kimora Lee Simmons, who recently signed on as president, creative director and an investor of JustFabulous Inc., an El Segundo membership club. “It speaks to the modern-day woman’s budget and lifestyle.”
Members register on sites such as ShoeDazzle.com Inc. or JustFabulous for free and take a fashion personality quiz — What outfit are you most likely to wear on a first date? Which celebrity’s closet would you most like to raid? — to determine their unique style preferences.
On the first of each month, members log in to their accounts to view a limited, customized showroom of shoes: five-inch gold platform heels for the Hollywood clubgoer, conservative flats for the girl next door, studded leather boots for the rocker chick. The shoes are designed in-house, often by a team of high-profile celebrities and stylists, and customers receive the pair of their choice starting at $39.95, including shipping. Members can skip a month if they don’t feel like receiving a new pair of shoes, provided they opt out (usually by the fifth of the month).
The member-only programs have quickly attracted hordes of loyal shoppers. The sites, subscribers say, are easy to use, are customer-friendly when it comes to returns and exchanges, and usually do a good job identifying what styles they like.
“It’s very addicting. I have a heel collection now; before, I probably had maybe like one or two pairs that lasted me years,” said Yucaipa resident Amber Venturina, 26, who joined ShoeDazzle in June and also became a member of JustFabulous. Now “I have to have shoes in every color.”
Shoe club officials say the websites make the process of buying shoes less overwhelming while bringing the elite service of a personal shopper to the masses.
“Not everyone has access to a stylist, but we can be a stylist through that technology and hopefully recommend the right products,” said Josh Berman, chief executive of BeachMint Inc., which operates newly launched shoe club ShoeMint. “Rather than going to an Amazon or Google and typing ‘shoes’ and having thousands of things to choose from, what we’re learning is consumers like to be curated and shown what is hot.”
But as fashion memberships surge in popularity, they’re adding to the increasing pressures on bricks-and-mortar merchants. Because shoe clubs sell directly to customers and don’t operate physical stores, they’re able to save on overhead costs such as staffing and rent, enabling the brands to price the shoes for about half of what they would cost at the mall, company officials estimated.
“We are in the midst of a reinvention of retail,” said Kasey Lobaugh, a principal at Deloitte Consulting who follows online shopping trends. “Retailers are being forced to innovate the business model. If they don’t, there is now a long list of nontraditional competitors who will.”
Another problem for old-school retailers: Many members are flocking to the shoe clubs’ Facebook pages and other social media sites to ask other shoppers for help choosing a style or pairing their latest purchase with the right outfit. That high level of interaction is creating tight-knit Web communities of shoe aficionados and replicating the in-store experience of shopping with a group of girlfriends, historically something that couldn’t be found online.
“I’ve made a lot of good friends from the shoe clubs. We keep in touch in real life: We email, we text, we call,” said Joyce Moore, 33, a Palmdale stay-at-home mom who has bought dozens of shoes through the membership programs. “We understand our love of shoes, that it’s not weird to have so many shoes, and you can never get enough.”
The clubs have more in common than monthly delivery of cute shoes: Four of the companies — ShoeDazzle, JustFabulous, Sole Society Inc. and ShoeMint — are headquartered in Los Angeles County, part of a growing crop of e-commerce fashion brands that is helping to raise the profile of the region’s fledgling start-up scene. Many are garnering big sales and investment dollars and have their sights set on adding more product categories and expanding internationally.
ShoeDazzle, co-founded in 2009 by Kim Kardashian, has raised $60 million from investors, including a $40-million round in May led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which has invested in major tech companies such as Facebook and Groupon. Based in Santa Monica, ShoeDazzle expanded to Britain and South Korea this year and is launching in 10 other countries in 2012, co-founder Brian Lee said. In May, the brand said it had more than 3 million members.
Since launching in March 2010, JustFabulous has gained more than 4 million members nationwide and is posting $5.5 million in monthly sales. The company — which also sells handbags, denim and other products — announced in September that it had raised $33 million in new funding. Revenue and membership have increased 20% month over month this year, and the company expects to sell 2.5 million to 3 million pairs of shoes and handbags in 2012, JustFabulous co-CEO Adam Goldenberg said.
Santa Monica’s ShoeMint launched on Black Friday and three days later had sold out of its entire inventory of women’s shoes, which are designed by actress Rachel Bilson and Hollywood stylist Nicole Chavez. Parent company BeachMint said ShoeMint — its fourth e-commerce site — attracted about 80,000 pre-registrations and was its most successful website launch to date; 10,000 people are on the wait list to buy shoes.
Another competitor, downtown L.A.’s Sole Society, announced this month that it had been spun off from HauteLook, a “flash fashion” website owned by Nordstrom Inc., so company officials could better focus on growing the shoe business. Sole Society launched in March and today has nearly 500,000 members.
As young companies, the brands are still finding their footing. Some shoppers have complained that it’s too difficult to remember to opt out when they don’t feel like a new pair of shoes, or note that their showroom of styles appear to be the same regardless of what they filled out in their style questionnaires.
Company officials say they’re still tweaking the software behind the recommendations and note that the more consumers who join, the better the sites will become at predicting what they’ll like.
“The model will work well in any country where women love shoes,” ShoeDazzle’s Lee said. “I think that’s 99% of the world.”
andrea.chang@latimes.com
http://tourism9.com/
In a cyber twist to the traditional monthly sales clubs, shoe membership websites have become a hit among fashion-forward women, who say they bring together the convenience and affordability of shopping online with the personalized experience offered in a boutique.
“This is fashion of the future,” said celebrity fashion designer Kimora Lee Simmons, who recently signed on as president, creative director and an investor of JustFabulous Inc., an El Segundo membership club. “It speaks to the modern-day woman’s budget and lifestyle.”
Members register on sites such as ShoeDazzle.com Inc. or JustFabulous for free and take a fashion personality quiz — What outfit are you most likely to wear on a first date? Which celebrity’s closet would you most like to raid? — to determine their unique style preferences.
On the first of each month, members log in to their accounts to view a limited, customized showroom of shoes: five-inch gold platform heels for the Hollywood clubgoer, conservative flats for the girl next door, studded leather boots for the rocker chick. The shoes are designed in-house, often by a team of high-profile celebrities and stylists, and customers receive the pair of their choice starting at $39.95, including shipping. Members can skip a month if they don’t feel like receiving a new pair of shoes, provided they opt out (usually by the fifth of the month).
The member-only programs have quickly attracted hordes of loyal shoppers. The sites, subscribers say, are easy to use, are customer-friendly when it comes to returns and exchanges, and usually do a good job identifying what styles they like.
“It’s very addicting. I have a heel collection now; before, I probably had maybe like one or two pairs that lasted me years,” said Yucaipa resident Amber Venturina, 26, who joined ShoeDazzle in June and also became a member of JustFabulous. Now “I have to have shoes in every color.”
Shoe club officials say the websites make the process of buying shoes less overwhelming while bringing the elite service of a personal shopper to the masses.
“Not everyone has access to a stylist, but we can be a stylist through that technology and hopefully recommend the right products,” said Josh Berman, chief executive of BeachMint Inc., which operates newly launched shoe club ShoeMint. “Rather than going to an Amazon or Google and typing ‘shoes’ and having thousands of things to choose from, what we’re learning is consumers like to be curated and shown what is hot.”
But as fashion memberships surge in popularity, they’re adding to the increasing pressures on bricks-and-mortar merchants. Because shoe clubs sell directly to customers and don’t operate physical stores, they’re able to save on overhead costs such as staffing and rent, enabling the brands to price the shoes for about half of what they would cost at the mall, company officials estimated.
“We are in the midst of a reinvention of retail,” said Kasey Lobaugh, a principal at Deloitte Consulting who follows online shopping trends. “Retailers are being forced to innovate the business model. If they don’t, there is now a long list of nontraditional competitors who will.”
Another problem for old-school retailers: Many members are flocking to the shoe clubs’ Facebook pages and other social media sites to ask other shoppers for help choosing a style or pairing their latest purchase with the right outfit. That high level of interaction is creating tight-knit Web communities of shoe aficionados and replicating the in-store experience of shopping with a group of girlfriends, historically something that couldn’t be found online.
“I’ve made a lot of good friends from the shoe clubs. We keep in touch in real life: We email, we text, we call,” said Joyce Moore, 33, a Palmdale stay-at-home mom who has bought dozens of shoes through the membership programs. “We understand our love of shoes, that it’s not weird to have so many shoes, and you can never get enough.”
The clubs have more in common than monthly delivery of cute shoes: Four of the companies — ShoeDazzle, JustFabulous, Sole Society Inc. and ShoeMint — are headquartered in Los Angeles County, part of a growing crop of e-commerce fashion brands that is helping to raise the profile of the region’s fledgling start-up scene. Many are garnering big sales and investment dollars and have their sights set on adding more product categories and expanding internationally.
ShoeDazzle, co-founded in 2009 by Kim Kardashian, has raised $60 million from investors, including a $40-million round in May led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which has invested in major tech companies such as Facebook and Groupon. Based in Santa Monica, ShoeDazzle expanded to Britain and South Korea this year and is launching in 10 other countries in 2012, co-founder Brian Lee said. In May, the brand said it had more than 3 million members.
Since launching in March 2010, JustFabulous has gained more than 4 million members nationwide and is posting $5.5 million in monthly sales. The company — which also sells handbags, denim and other products — announced in September that it had raised $33 million in new funding. Revenue and membership have increased 20% month over month this year, and the company expects to sell 2.5 million to 3 million pairs of shoes and handbags in 2012, JustFabulous co-CEO Adam Goldenberg said.
Santa Monica’s ShoeMint launched on Black Friday and three days later had sold out of its entire inventory of women’s shoes, which are designed by actress Rachel Bilson and Hollywood stylist Nicole Chavez. Parent company BeachMint said ShoeMint — its fourth e-commerce site — attracted about 80,000 pre-registrations and was its most successful website launch to date; 10,000 people are on the wait list to buy shoes.
Another competitor, downtown L.A.’s Sole Society, announced this month that it had been spun off from HauteLook, a “flash fashion” website owned by Nordstrom Inc., so company officials could better focus on growing the shoe business. Sole Society launched in March and today has nearly 500,000 members.
As young companies, the brands are still finding their footing. Some shoppers have complained that it’s too difficult to remember to opt out when they don’t feel like a new pair of shoes, or note that their showroom of styles appear to be the same regardless of what they filled out in their style questionnaires.
Company officials say they’re still tweaking the software behind the recommendations and note that the more consumers who join, the better the sites will become at predicting what they’ll like.
“The model will work well in any country where women love shoes,” ShoeDazzle’s Lee said. “I think that’s 99% of the world.”
andrea.chang@latimes.com
http://tourism9.com/
Steffy: Cheeseheads may have stadium financing right
Laugh not at the cheeseheads.
Last week, the Green Bay Packers began selling shares in their team for $250 each. In return, buyers get almost nothing.
As an investment, buying a piece of the Pack isn’t a smart move, but as a means for financing stadiums, the team may be on to something. Taxpayers in Houston, who have underwritten about $1 billion worth of sports facility bonds, may want to take note.
The Harris County-Houston Sports Authority services the debt on Reliant Stadium, Minute Maid Park and the Toyota Center. It has faced a cash squeeze since 2009, when the firm that insured the bonds got downgraded. Ballooning debt payments and a one-time drawdown earlier this year have eaten into the authority’s reserve account, and some of the bonds were in technical default.
While an actual default is unlikely anytime soon, revenue to pay the debt is tied to hotel and rental car taxes, which have slowed because of the recession.
Even the new Dynamo stadium, which the team will pay for, comes with city and county commitments for infrastructure upgrades.
By comparison, the Packers’ “stock offering” is really a voluntary stadium tax paid at the discretion of fans. The team wants to finance a $143 million expansion of the iconic Lambeau Field, but Green Bay, a city of only about 100,000, lacks the tax base to fund a Reliant-style sports palace.
As the Motley Fool pointed out, the Packers, the only publicly owned team in U.S. professional sports, isn’t a bad investment on paper. Its first public offering in 1950 had a split-adjusted price of 2.5 cents a share. Based on the latest offering price of $250, Packers stock would have generated a return 200 times better than gold, and better than buying Apple in 1984 or Ford in 1977.
Except you’ll never realize that return. The Packers are nonprofit, so there are no earnings and no dividends paid to investors. Under the terms of the offering, the shares can never be sold or transferred except to an immediate family member. If the team catches you trying to sell, it can buy the shares back at the 1950 price of 2.5 cents.
No leg up at all
What’s more, your investment bears no privileges typically associated with ownership – no premium seating, no ticket discounts, not even a chance to jump ahead on the legendary season ticket waiting list, now several lifetimes long. You get a stock certificate and an invite to the team’s annual meeting.
So it isn’t really a stock offering at all, which may be why the Securities and Exchange Commission had nothing to do with it, and, as the prospectus points out, no “federal, state or international securities laws” govern it.
The Packers timed the offering well, selling more than $46 million worth of stock in the first two days, capitalizing on last season’s Super Bowl victory and this year’s as-yet-undefeated season. The team may sell as many as 880,000 shares, raising as much as $220 million.
A few differences
The Houston Texans are, of course, not the Green Bay Packers. This year is the franchise’s most promising, but these days coach Gary Kubiak is hoping his squad can make it to the playoffs before even the water boy winds up on injured reserve.
Also unlike the Packers, the Texans are owned by a consortium of wealthy businessmen who believe they shouldn’t have to pay for things like stadiums.
They convinced elected officials, as team owners in many other cities have done, that taxpayers should foot, or at least guarantee, the bill.
By comparison, the Green Bay approach seems more simple and more fair. Let those who love the sport pay for the facility. Call it a user fee, call it a voluntary tax or call it a “stock offering.”
In the end, the cheeseheads may have the last laugh.
Loren Steffy is the Chronicle’s business columnist. His commentary appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Contact him at loren.steffy@chron.com. His blog is at http://blogs.chron.com/lorensteffy. Follow him on his Facebook fan page and on Twitter at twitter.com/lsteffy.
http://tourism9.com/
Last week, the Green Bay Packers began selling shares in their team for $250 each. In return, buyers get almost nothing.
As an investment, buying a piece of the Pack isn’t a smart move, but as a means for financing stadiums, the team may be on to something. Taxpayers in Houston, who have underwritten about $1 billion worth of sports facility bonds, may want to take note.
The Harris County-Houston Sports Authority services the debt on Reliant Stadium, Minute Maid Park and the Toyota Center. It has faced a cash squeeze since 2009, when the firm that insured the bonds got downgraded. Ballooning debt payments and a one-time drawdown earlier this year have eaten into the authority’s reserve account, and some of the bonds were in technical default.
While an actual default is unlikely anytime soon, revenue to pay the debt is tied to hotel and rental car taxes, which have slowed because of the recession.
Even the new Dynamo stadium, which the team will pay for, comes with city and county commitments for infrastructure upgrades.
By comparison, the Packers’ “stock offering” is really a voluntary stadium tax paid at the discretion of fans. The team wants to finance a $143 million expansion of the iconic Lambeau Field, but Green Bay, a city of only about 100,000, lacks the tax base to fund a Reliant-style sports palace.
As the Motley Fool pointed out, the Packers, the only publicly owned team in U.S. professional sports, isn’t a bad investment on paper. Its first public offering in 1950 had a split-adjusted price of 2.5 cents a share. Based on the latest offering price of $250, Packers stock would have generated a return 200 times better than gold, and better than buying Apple in 1984 or Ford in 1977.
Except you’ll never realize that return. The Packers are nonprofit, so there are no earnings and no dividends paid to investors. Under the terms of the offering, the shares can never be sold or transferred except to an immediate family member. If the team catches you trying to sell, it can buy the shares back at the 1950 price of 2.5 cents.
No leg up at all
What’s more, your investment bears no privileges typically associated with ownership – no premium seating, no ticket discounts, not even a chance to jump ahead on the legendary season ticket waiting list, now several lifetimes long. You get a stock certificate and an invite to the team’s annual meeting.
So it isn’t really a stock offering at all, which may be why the Securities and Exchange Commission had nothing to do with it, and, as the prospectus points out, no “federal, state or international securities laws” govern it.
The Packers timed the offering well, selling more than $46 million worth of stock in the first two days, capitalizing on last season’s Super Bowl victory and this year’s as-yet-undefeated season. The team may sell as many as 880,000 shares, raising as much as $220 million.
A few differences
The Houston Texans are, of course, not the Green Bay Packers. This year is the franchise’s most promising, but these days coach Gary Kubiak is hoping his squad can make it to the playoffs before even the water boy winds up on injured reserve.
Also unlike the Packers, the Texans are owned by a consortium of wealthy businessmen who believe they shouldn’t have to pay for things like stadiums.
They convinced elected officials, as team owners in many other cities have done, that taxpayers should foot, or at least guarantee, the bill.
By comparison, the Green Bay approach seems more simple and more fair. Let those who love the sport pay for the facility. Call it a user fee, call it a voluntary tax or call it a “stock offering.”
In the end, the cheeseheads may have the last laugh.
Loren Steffy is the Chronicle’s business columnist. His commentary appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Contact him at loren.steffy@chron.com. His blog is at http://blogs.chron.com/lorensteffy. Follow him on his Facebook fan page and on Twitter at twitter.com/lsteffy.
http://tourism9.com/
Life360 Surpasses 10 Million Users and Announces $3.5 Million Series A
SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwire -12/13/11)- Life360 (www.life360.com), the largest provider of mobile family safety applications, today announced that it has reached its ten millionth user milestone. They also announced that they previously closed a $3.5 million Series A financing. Participants in the financing included Fontinalis Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, 500 Startups, Kapor Capital, Venture51, Bullpen Capital, Social Leverage and EchoVC Partners, as well as existing investors. The latest investment brings the company’s total funding to $5 million.
Life360 is now a trusted partner to over 10 million people who use its family-focused mobile application to locate loved ones, get help in emergencies and group chat within the cross-platform FamilyChannel™. Although the mobile application will remain Life360′s core focus, Fontinalis’ investment signals Life360′s opportunity to expand beyond mobile phones into other key elements of family life such as the car, home, school and office.
William Clay Ford, Jr. (“Bill Ford”), a Founding Partner of Fontinalis Partners and Executive Chairman of Ford Motor Company, stated, “Smartphones are quickly moving beyond just being about apps, they are becoming real utilities. Life360 proved to Fontinalis that they have the team, product and ability to enhance family safety through mobile devices and in the real world.”
Fontinalis Partners is not affiliated with Ford Motor Company.
“Our mission of enabling families to live confidently extends far beyond the smartphone into many aspects of daily household life,” said Chris Hulls, CEO and Co-founder of Life360. “We’ve worked hard to have over ten million people relying on Life360 to keep their families safe. With our significant scale and strong support from premier investors, we are well positioned to become the central app that families use to stay safe and connected. We plan on building new features like vehicle tracking and home monitoring — all controlled from your mobile phone without the need for any new hardware.”
About Life360Life360 is a trusted family security partner to more than ten million people who use its mobile products to keep their loved ones safe. Recognized by Google and Facebook for its innovative safety communications platform utilizing GPS, Life360′s award-winning technology gives parents a way to see where their child is located, when they need help and who is around them. Everything is done in a convenient and secure way that doesn’t interfere with busy schedules or personal freedom. By best addressing the most pressing concerns of parents in today’s world, Life360 is the largest mobile family safety provider on the market. For more information, visit www.life360.com.
About Fontinalis PartnersFontinalis Partners, with offices in Detroit and Boston, is a leading transportation technology strategic investment firm founded by Bill Ford, Ralph Booth, Mark Schulz, Chris Cheever and Chris Thomas. Fontinalis’ mission is to leverage the firm’s considerable management experience, market access, strategic relationships, international expertise, and background in transportation innovation to scale companies providing the transportation technology solutions of tomorrow. Fontinalis Partners, LLC, invests as a strategic partner across all facets of the world’s transportation infrastructure on a stage, structure and size agnostic basis. Fontinalis Partners is not affiliated with Ford Motor Company. For further information about Fontinalis Partners, please visit www.fontinalispartners.com or call (313) 432-0321.
http://tourism9.com/
Life360 is now a trusted partner to over 10 million people who use its family-focused mobile application to locate loved ones, get help in emergencies and group chat within the cross-platform FamilyChannel™. Although the mobile application will remain Life360′s core focus, Fontinalis’ investment signals Life360′s opportunity to expand beyond mobile phones into other key elements of family life such as the car, home, school and office.
William Clay Ford, Jr. (“Bill Ford”), a Founding Partner of Fontinalis Partners and Executive Chairman of Ford Motor Company, stated, “Smartphones are quickly moving beyond just being about apps, they are becoming real utilities. Life360 proved to Fontinalis that they have the team, product and ability to enhance family safety through mobile devices and in the real world.”
Fontinalis Partners is not affiliated with Ford Motor Company.
“Our mission of enabling families to live confidently extends far beyond the smartphone into many aspects of daily household life,” said Chris Hulls, CEO and Co-founder of Life360. “We’ve worked hard to have over ten million people relying on Life360 to keep their families safe. With our significant scale and strong support from premier investors, we are well positioned to become the central app that families use to stay safe and connected. We plan on building new features like vehicle tracking and home monitoring — all controlled from your mobile phone without the need for any new hardware.”
About Life360Life360 is a trusted family security partner to more than ten million people who use its mobile products to keep their loved ones safe. Recognized by Google and Facebook for its innovative safety communications platform utilizing GPS, Life360′s award-winning technology gives parents a way to see where their child is located, when they need help and who is around them. Everything is done in a convenient and secure way that doesn’t interfere with busy schedules or personal freedom. By best addressing the most pressing concerns of parents in today’s world, Life360 is the largest mobile family safety provider on the market. For more information, visit www.life360.com.
About Fontinalis PartnersFontinalis Partners, with offices in Detroit and Boston, is a leading transportation technology strategic investment firm founded by Bill Ford, Ralph Booth, Mark Schulz, Chris Cheever and Chris Thomas. Fontinalis’ mission is to leverage the firm’s considerable management experience, market access, strategic relationships, international expertise, and background in transportation innovation to scale companies providing the transportation technology solutions of tomorrow. Fontinalis Partners, LLC, invests as a strategic partner across all facets of the world’s transportation infrastructure on a stage, structure and size agnostic basis. Fontinalis Partners is not affiliated with Ford Motor Company. For further information about Fontinalis Partners, please visit www.fontinalispartners.com or call (313) 432-0321.
http://tourism9.com/
SwiftKey Attracts $2.4 Million in Series A Financing to Accelerate Consumer and OEM Adoption
LONDON and SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwire -12/07/11)- TouchType Ltd., the London-based company behind SwiftKey™ (http://www.swiftkey.net), one of the world’s most popular Android™ applications, announces today that it has secured $2.4 million (£1.5m) Series A investment from an internal round of major financing led by Octopus Investments.
This latest funding will be used to build on the worldwide success of SwiftKey, an Android keyboard application that uses the company’s patented natural language Fluency™ engine technology to learn a user’s writing style, correcting and predicting their text input with unrivaled accuracy. SwiftKey reduces keystrokes, and speeds up text entry on smartphones, tablets, and other devices. It has been adopted by a number of Android mobile phone and tablet manufacturers, and has attracted more than 3.5 million downloads.
“The success of SwiftKey and quality of the team building our natural language processing technology has led to several strategic and financial investment approaches,” said Mark Paterson, Chairman, TouchType. “Following considerable internal demand, the management team decided that a Series A funding round led by Octopus would form the most appropriate investment. This will enable TouchType to accelerate consumer and corporate adoption of SwiftKey as well as developing the underlying Fluency Engine.”
Jo Oliver, Investment Director at Octopus, said: “Octopus is delighted to have led TouchType’s Series A. Since our first meeting with the team, we have been impressed by their vision and innovation, and we are now even more pleased with their execution. The potential of the Fluency Engine is enormous and is just starting to be realized — we are looking forward to an exciting future together.”
TouchType plans to strengthen its executive, commercial and technical teams with the new investment, increasing its worldwide presence, particularly in the US and Asia. The company also plans to improve the capabilities and features of its SwiftKey products and Fluency platform, while continuing to innovate in the fields of natural language processing, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
“We’ve seen tremendous consumer adoption of our SwiftKey keyboards on Android, and have secured significant OEM deals to pre-install our technology,” said Jon Reynolds, CEO, TouchType. “While SwiftKey has already received widespread praise, we’re always striving to improve our products in response to our customers’ needs. We’re also planning to enter new vertical markets in the New Year, where faster and more accurate text entry can drive significant benefits.”
The financing round, led by Octopus Investments, was supported by several of Europe’s leading angel investors and VCs including Cambridge Capital Group; Jon Craton, Cramer Systems founder; Nick Hynes and Carl Uminski, CEO and COO founders of Somo; Richard Brennan, former CMO of Orange Group; and Andrew Thornton, barrister with Erskine Chambers.
To date, SwiftKey has saved its users more than 20 billion keystrokes, equivalent to over 250 years spent typing. The recent v2.2 release of SwiftKey X and SwiftKey Tablet X, which added significant international language variants as well as improved speed and user experience, saw the application rise to become the most popular Android paid app in the US and UK. You can download the apps from http://www.swiftkey.net/download.
Editor’s NotesPress ready images can be downloaded from https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/21479396/1/SwiftKey?h=bac6be
About SwiftKey (www.swiftkey.net)SwiftKey makes typing much easier on Android smartphones, replacing the touchscreen keyboard with one powered by smarter natural language technology. The app, which launched in beta in July 2010, understands how words work together to give much more accurate corrections and predictions than other keyboards. It also powerfully learns over time to make typing easier and even more accurate, and users can personalize it using Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, SMS or their blog posts.
To date SwiftKey has received more than 3.5 million downloads, saving users more than 20 billion keystrokes: equivalent to over 250 years spent typing.
TouchType Ltd, the company behind SwiftKey, was founded in August 2008 by Jon Reynolds, CEO and Dr Ben Medlock, CTO, both Cambridge University graduates. The company currently has over 30 staff, with its headquarters in Southwark, London, UK.
About Octopus Investments (www.octopusinvestments.com)Octopus Investments, founded in 2000, is a leading investment specialist. We offer innovative core and satellite investment solutions to UK investors, and a wide range of funding options for exceptional companies.
Our core investments include a discretionary management service, multi-manager multi-asset OEICs, and single manager OEICs. These are complemented by our range of satellite solutions, including venture capital trusts, enterprise investment schemes and inheritance tax products. Each product has been designed to solve specific problems faced by financial advisers and their clients.
Our funding solutions cover the entire capital structure, from equity through mezzanine to senior debt, and we seek out outstanding management teams in unlisted companies with whom we can partner.
Octopus has built its business around three core pillars: customer led innovation, excellence in customer service and the quality of our people. We employ more than 200 people and currently have more than £2.3 billion in assets under management.
Octopus has won a number of awards for its products and customer service. We have twice been voted one of the best 100 SMEs to work for by the Sunday Times, and we are one of only two fund management companies to be AAA rated by financial advisers for customer service.
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This latest funding will be used to build on the worldwide success of SwiftKey, an Android keyboard application that uses the company’s patented natural language Fluency™ engine technology to learn a user’s writing style, correcting and predicting their text input with unrivaled accuracy. SwiftKey reduces keystrokes, and speeds up text entry on smartphones, tablets, and other devices. It has been adopted by a number of Android mobile phone and tablet manufacturers, and has attracted more than 3.5 million downloads.
“The success of SwiftKey and quality of the team building our natural language processing technology has led to several strategic and financial investment approaches,” said Mark Paterson, Chairman, TouchType. “Following considerable internal demand, the management team decided that a Series A funding round led by Octopus would form the most appropriate investment. This will enable TouchType to accelerate consumer and corporate adoption of SwiftKey as well as developing the underlying Fluency Engine.”
Jo Oliver, Investment Director at Octopus, said: “Octopus is delighted to have led TouchType’s Series A. Since our first meeting with the team, we have been impressed by their vision and innovation, and we are now even more pleased with their execution. The potential of the Fluency Engine is enormous and is just starting to be realized — we are looking forward to an exciting future together.”
TouchType plans to strengthen its executive, commercial and technical teams with the new investment, increasing its worldwide presence, particularly in the US and Asia. The company also plans to improve the capabilities and features of its SwiftKey products and Fluency platform, while continuing to innovate in the fields of natural language processing, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
“We’ve seen tremendous consumer adoption of our SwiftKey keyboards on Android, and have secured significant OEM deals to pre-install our technology,” said Jon Reynolds, CEO, TouchType. “While SwiftKey has already received widespread praise, we’re always striving to improve our products in response to our customers’ needs. We’re also planning to enter new vertical markets in the New Year, where faster and more accurate text entry can drive significant benefits.”
The financing round, led by Octopus Investments, was supported by several of Europe’s leading angel investors and VCs including Cambridge Capital Group; Jon Craton, Cramer Systems founder; Nick Hynes and Carl Uminski, CEO and COO founders of Somo; Richard Brennan, former CMO of Orange Group; and Andrew Thornton, barrister with Erskine Chambers.
To date, SwiftKey has saved its users more than 20 billion keystrokes, equivalent to over 250 years spent typing. The recent v2.2 release of SwiftKey X and SwiftKey Tablet X, which added significant international language variants as well as improved speed and user experience, saw the application rise to become the most popular Android paid app in the US and UK. You can download the apps from http://www.swiftkey.net/download.
Editor’s NotesPress ready images can be downloaded from https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/21479396/1/SwiftKey?h=bac6be
About SwiftKey (www.swiftkey.net)SwiftKey makes typing much easier on Android smartphones, replacing the touchscreen keyboard with one powered by smarter natural language technology. The app, which launched in beta in July 2010, understands how words work together to give much more accurate corrections and predictions than other keyboards. It also powerfully learns over time to make typing easier and even more accurate, and users can personalize it using Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, SMS or their blog posts.
To date SwiftKey has received more than 3.5 million downloads, saving users more than 20 billion keystrokes: equivalent to over 250 years spent typing.
TouchType Ltd, the company behind SwiftKey, was founded in August 2008 by Jon Reynolds, CEO and Dr Ben Medlock, CTO, both Cambridge University graduates. The company currently has over 30 staff, with its headquarters in Southwark, London, UK.
About Octopus Investments (www.octopusinvestments.com)Octopus Investments, founded in 2000, is a leading investment specialist. We offer innovative core and satellite investment solutions to UK investors, and a wide range of funding options for exceptional companies.
Our core investments include a discretionary management service, multi-manager multi-asset OEICs, and single manager OEICs. These are complemented by our range of satellite solutions, including venture capital trusts, enterprise investment schemes and inheritance tax products. Each product has been designed to solve specific problems faced by financial advisers and their clients.
Our funding solutions cover the entire capital structure, from equity through mezzanine to senior debt, and we seek out outstanding management teams in unlisted companies with whom we can partner.
Octopus has built its business around three core pillars: customer led innovation, excellence in customer service and the quality of our people. We employ more than 200 people and currently have more than £2.3 billion in assets under management.
Octopus has won a number of awards for its products and customer service. We have twice been voted one of the best 100 SMEs to work for by the Sunday Times, and we are one of only two fund management companies to be AAA rated by financial advisers for customer service.
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