With its rolling hills and numerous royal conquests, there’s no place where history comes alive in such a lush setting as it does in Wales. Everywhere you look, the evidence of kings, queens, conflict and empire call to you. There are more than 600 castles – 641 to be precise – so even without trying …
Tag Archives: capital
Venture capital investment had its biggest quarter (Q2 2012) of the decade
U.S. venture capitalists put $8.1 billion into 812 deals in the second quarter of 2012, their single largest quarter in more than a decade, according to CB Insights. It’s clear that factors like the greater American economy and the bumpy tech IPO market don’t necessarily have a direct and/or timely correlation with venture capital spending. …
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Ring of Fire Derecho – travelled 600 miles from Iowa to D.C.
On Friday, a historic, record-setting heat wave covered a sprawling region from the Midwest to the Southeast. All-time high temperatures records of 109 were established in Nashville and Columbia, South, Carolina and tied in Raleigh and Charlotte which hit 105 and 104. Here in Washington, D.C., the mercury climbed to an astonishing 104 degrees (breaking …
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Pinterest valued at $1.5 billion – as megalithic Japanese website invests
Rakuten (the Amazon of Japan) has led a $100m funding round into Pinterest, which values the online “curation” community at around $1.5 billion. The Japanese ecommerce giant won out over major US venture capital firms who were vying for a piece of Silicon Valley’s new sweetheart, which lets users clip images to a virtual pinboard. The FT spoke …
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California’s budget troubles – say hello to billions in tax revenue from Facebook’s IPO
California is hoping for another Google-effect like the one that happened in 2005, after the company’s IPO. From 2004 to 2005 the revenue from capital gains taxes in California shot up $14 billion. Mark Zuckerberg, whose initial public stock offering in two weeks could value the company at $96 billion, will cut in the state …
President, Congress pass bill to allow venture capital funding via crowd sourcing
Earlier this month, President Obama sign the JOBS bill into law with strong bipartisan support, and no this isn’t the one you’re thinking of. This one is designed specifically for funding start-ups with a particular focus on crowd funding (i.e. Kickstarter). Explained by author and professor, Jeff Jarvis: The JOBS bill being signed by President Obama today …
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Google Ventures – venture capital funding through data
A fascinating article in Fast Company profiles Google Ventures, the company’s venture capital division. Like everything the search giant does they are aiming big with delusions of changing the entire VC industry with data as the vehicle. They start out with some interesting facts: Despite the mythology that has built up around venture capital, it …
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Venture capitalists invested $5.8 billion in the first quarter of 2012
Venture capitalists invested $5.8 billion in 758 deals in the first quarter of 2012. The report shows that after a strong fourth quarter 2011, VC investment activity for the quarter fell 19 percent in terms of dollars and 15 percent in the number of deals compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 when $7.1 billion …
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Berlin cracks the startup code
“We looked at each other and knew in that moment that we’d be crazy not to move here,” says Ciarán O’Leary, a partner at the German venture capital firm Earlybird. “There was just so much happening—founders everywhere, in every bar, cafe, every corner.” Berlin…has become a global tech hub, one which foreign money discovered years ago. …