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May 17, 2012
A new study reveals that in Q1 2012, venture capital in Chinese tech companies fell by 84 percent compared to Q1 2011. In Q1 2012 venture capital firms invested only $138.5 million in Chinese Internet companies versus $866.5 million in the same timeframe last year.
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May 17, 2012
Venture capital investment trends will make a major shift by 2015 as investors are looking outside their home borders-increasing their focus on ventures in China and India, according to Ernst & Young's Global Venture Capital insights and trends report 2011. The global venture capital industry will experience a number of major changes in that time -- ranging from global fundraising and cross-border investment, to exits on foreign stock exchanges or by foreign acquirer, to opening offices in more overseas locations and helping their portfolio companies access markets in new regions. Currently, only about 20% of VC firms in Brazil, India, Israel and the UK invest outside their home countries. However, a majority of VC firms in Canada (69%), France (82%), Germany (92%), and the U.S. (49%) invest internationally. Of those VC firms investing outside their home countries, 57% plan to increase this activity during the next five years, while 35% plan to maintain their level of international investment, according to a June 2011 survey by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA).
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May 17, 2012
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) recently signed a partnership agreement to fund joint research projects on the epigenetics of stem cells. The agreement was established under CIHR's Canadian Epigenetics, Environment and Health Research Consortium Signature Initiative and JST's Strategic International Collaborative Research Program. Under the partnership, CIHR has committed up to $6 million and JST to 600 million yen (approximately $8 million Cdn) for total funding of $14 million Cdn over the next five years. The funding will support a maximum of three research teams that will require the participation of Canadian and Japanese researchers. A funding opportunity will be posted on CIHR and JST's websites in May.
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May 17, 2012
According to the latest IVC-KMPG quarterly survey, in the first quarter of 2012, venture capital investments in Israel rached $483 million, up slightly from the amount invested in Q1/2011. 144 Israeli high-tech companies raised $483 million from Israeli and foreign venture investors, 15% below $569 million raised by 124 companies in the previous quarter, but almost equal to $479 million raised by 140 companies in Q1/2011. In 2011 the Israeli venture capital funds raised were totaling 796 million capital dollars. That was significant considering the fact that in 2010 they did not recruit even one dollar to Israeli funds. In 2009, influenced by the global crisis that erupted in 2008, the volume of funding was $ 256 million. However, IVC emphasize that despite the recovery in 2011, the scope of issues which was still far peripheral issues in 2007-2008, then raised over a billion dollars each year.
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The Article 144 Israeli startups raised $483 million
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May 17, 2012
Find you are paying too much on service bills because you just don’t have time to search the market for the best deals? An Israeli lawyer and entrepreneur thinks he has found a solution with his website Better Two, a social network centered around bills. Rammi Attias says he uses the power of groups to get prices to drop. The site automatically scans the market for the best deals and then negotiates further. If a hundred people are negotiating for the same service, Attias says, the provider is more likely to drop his price than for one person.
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