Merrill Lynch has a fascinating analysis on the various striking similarities between this financial cycle (mostly in the US) and the one in the late 1980s. Have a look at the article – just the charts should be enough to provide a lot of food for thought. The late 1980s was a cycle characterized by […]
Wal-Mart era drawing to an end?
The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating article on shifts in the US retail scene. Wal-Mart seems set to slip from being the sole industry-defining company, and will become one of several such companies. I think the writer misses a trick in not looking at the impact of high-priced oil (most of the items that […]
Norwest Venture Partners opens India office in Mumbai
from ET: Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), a leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm, has opened office in India. The firm, led by Promod Haque, is best known for its technology investments. Its portfolio has 60 companies including 20 that are based in the US but have an Indian presence. Five of its investee companies are […]
Using Facebook professionally
WebWorkerDailyhas an interesting post on 12 Ways to Use Facebook Professionally: Facebook has to be the most talked about, and the most misunderstood, web service/platform right now. If you haven’t gotten drawn in by the hype, it may surprise you to learn that many people have already found Facebook to be an essential addition to […]
Debtor Nation
A good overview from the Harvard Magazine of the building debt crisis in the USA, and its implications for the global economy. Consumerism is as American as cherry pie. Plasma TVs, iPods, granite countertops: you name it, we’ll buy it. To finance the national pastime, Americans have been borrowing from abroad on an increasingly stunning […]
ChrysCapital sets up $1.25 bln India fund
The amount of money being raised by VC/PE players for the India market continues to spiral upwards. Here’s a news item from the Economic Times on ChrysCapital’s latest fund – which tops $1billion. Mauritius-based private equity firm ChrysCapital has set up a new fund to invest $1.25 billion in Indian companies in the infrastructure, technology, […]
Man-made tornadoes for power generation
Very interesting piece on the inventor Louis Michaud, whose current brainwave is to use tornadoes to generate power. Michaud has spent the past 40 years studying tornados and hurricanes, and is convinced it’s possible to engineer and control powerful, full-scale whirlwinds and harness their energy to produce emission-free electricity. Forget wind farms and their intermittent […]
Cisco Capital to raise 2nd India fund
from ET: CISCO Capital, the technology financing arm of Cisco Systems, is planning to raise a second India dedicated fund worth $200-250 million. The company, which provides easy financing solutions to companies like LG and Symphony Services, has already infused $110 million out of its first $150 million India fund. “Though the first fund was […]
Returns to capital in microenterprises
A very interesting new paper, Returns to Capital in Microenterprises, examines some key issues around investing in microenterprises, which should be of interest to all who are watching the BoP ecosystem take shape as a market. From the abstract: Small and informal firms account for a large share of employment in developing countries. The rapid […]
The “Anti-Portfolio”
Bessemer Ventures has a fascinating page on what they call their “anti-portfolio” — basically, companies that they refused to invest in, that went on to become HUGE successes. In Bessemer’s case, these include Apple, eBay, Fedex, google, and Intel. I think this is a great idea, especially if the various GPs at Bessemer (and other […]
How to pitch to a VC
Sequoia Capital makes visible what they look for, both in a company and in a business plan. It is rare to find an A-list VC being this open – this is a great resource, especially for first-time entrepreneurs. 0
Indian VCs expand their scope
Businessweek on how the emergence of entrepreneurs targeting the BOP (as well as the relentless hunt for deal flow) is causing VCs in India to broaden the scope of their investments. The fishermen from the Indian village of Chidambaram live a hard life. They sleep most of the day, then spend the night out on […]