September 3rd, 2010
Private equity investments in Europe increased by about 16% compared to the first quarter of 2010 and doubled compared to the same period last year. Capital growth rose by 19% and venture capital by 38% since Q1 of this year.
The strong increase in investments over the second quarter of 2010 can be mainly attributed to the increase in buyouts during the same period of time. Compared to last quarter, buyouts were up 8%, with mid-market deals leading the way with an increase of 21%.
There was also a rise in the number of companies that were financed. The number of financed start-ups increased by 17%, while later-stage companies did even better, registering a 28% increase from the last quarter.
However, the fund raising side shows a much different picture. Here we see a decline in fund commitments to almost all types of funds. Private equity funds in Europe went down by 36% compared to Q1, while the commitment to venture funds even dropped by 66%. Growth capital funds and buyout funds also experienced a downturn. Mezzanine funds on the other hand increased to their highest level since the second quarter of 2007.
Tags: private equity, venture capital
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August 27th, 2010
The German federal minister of economics and technology is strictly against the natural resource tax proposed by the Commission of the European Union.
He argues that such a tax would decrease the international competitiveness of the industry. In recent months prices for natural resources have already increased by large margins, thus a further tax would be detrimental for the current state of economic recovery.
The German ministry for economics and technology thus want to promote a system of positive market incentives. Thus, a holistic strategy for natural resources that addresses both fair international resource trade and the exploitation of domestic resources would make sense.
Tags: Europe, European Commission, Germany, Natural Resources
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August 18th, 2010
It seems that currently China has overtaken the United States in clean technology. There a number of statistics to support this point of view, however, I will not name them all.
China is responsible for nearly three quarter of all the IPO proceeds worldwide in the cleantech sector. The top three companies in this category in 2010 are all Chinese companies. China also holds a monopoly (97% of all commercially available) on the rare earth elements (REEs), which are crucial for wind turbines and electric motors. The Chinese government is also making much quicker decisions regarding clean technology. It took a minimal amount of time to approve and sign plans to build a 2 GW solar thermal plant that will cost around 5 billion USD.
If you are interested in reading about the other factors, which indicate that China is seizing world-wide supremacy in the field of cleantech, please go to http://bit.ly/cKsLIz.
Tags: clean technology
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August 13th, 2010
Venture Capital has not changed all that much in the past year. VCs still look for the same things in a company or product: it has to solve a problem, it has to have a competitive advantage, the management team has to be experienced and there has to be previous buyer acceptance.
The main shift occurs in the type of companies VCs are looking for at the moment. E-commerce and professional services seem to no longer be of interest, which seems odd in light of the success companies such as facebook and twitter have had. The focus has now rather shifted towards companies offering Software as a Service (SaaS), cloud computing and data management.
If you would like to know more about the state of venture capital, please visit: http://bit.ly/aeKcs3
Tags: venture capital
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August 10th, 2010
The German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology requested the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) to carry out a study on why young companies fail within the first five years of their existence.
The study looked at 3000 companies that closed down between 2006 and 2009. Almost three quarter of these companies at some stage were making a profit, which goes to show, that the study did not only analyze companies without a marketable business model.
The study found out that the main reason why startups do not make it, is that there was insufficient seed capital. Further reasons can be found in unexpected market changes and strategic miscalculations. Thus, companies should make sure they have enough money to sustain their startup and they should be flexible so they can adapt to any market changes.
The Full Study can be found here (only in German): http://bit.ly/9pC6qR
Tags: entrepreneurship, start-ups, venture capital
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August 6th, 2010
The amount of geothermal energy beneath the earth’s surface is vast; the problem is just getting to it. If you go deep under the surface, down to about 10,000 meters, you will find heat that contains around 50,000 times more energy than all the oil and natural gas resources around the world combined.
Currently the main means to gain energy from this great storage under ground is to drill holes into the rock to access the hot water and steam that naturally rises up. The hot water can then be used to power electric generators and once it cools off it will be pumped back under ground and can reheat.
With geothermal energy you don’t have the same fluctuations as is the case with solar and wind energy. Furthermore, it is clean, as no greenhouse gases are produced in the process and it is renewable, as the water is reused. In the US, President Obama gave 350 billion USD to geothermal projects last year.
There are a few different concepts at the moment. Most plants will be situated at the edges of tectonic plates, where geothermal activity is high. However, more recently companies have starting drilling deep into rocks and pumping cold water down to create steam. However, there is the fear that this second method might cause seismic activity, which could lead to earthquakes.
If you would like further information on geothermal energy, please visit http://bit.ly/9JJ7pQ
Tags: clean technology, Geothermal Energy, renewable energy
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August 2nd, 2010
According to Fred Destin, a venture capitalist at Atlas Venture, VC’s have to carefully filter out what projects to look at closer, as they have too many to scan. Thus, it is often no use sending them your business plan, as they will have no time to look through it in detail and you may get a swift ‘one-sentence turndown’. Instead, you should give a short intro of your company and what you do, and the best way to do this, is by pitching your project at the upcoming European Venture Market in Liechtenstein on the 9th and 10th of November.
You can find the full article by Fred Destin here: http://bit.ly/czUXrQ.
Tags: entrepreneurship, venture capital
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July 27th, 2010
For the first time, the energy ministers of 24 industrial and threshold countries came together in Washington last week, to discuss energy efficiency and renewable energy. 11 initiatives were launched during the meeting to address these issues. The projects include electric vehicles, solar energy, smart grids and household appliance efficiency.
Everyone at the conference has agreed that the issue of renewable energy is extremely important and many proposed a doubling of investments in clean technologies, but no actual financial commitments were made. These meetings will now be held on an annual basis, the next one scheduled for the United Arab Emirates and the 2012 meeting is set to take place in the United Kingdom.
One important initiative created at the meeting was the Carbon Capture, Use and Storage Action Group. This group aims to establish infrastructure around the world for carbon-capture-and-storage (CCS) by 2020. Germany will be a part of this initiative, as well as the following three other: the Electric Vehicle Initiative, the super-efficient equipment and appliance deployment initiative and it will head the Multilateral Solar and Wind Working Group, together with Denmark.
If you would like more information about the meeting and the initiatives, you can read the following article: http://nyti.ms/aMEgVd
Tags: clean technology, renewable energy
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July 8th, 2010
- Market. This is possibly the most important factor to consider: is there market demand for your product? If there isn’t you will have a chance even with a mediocre product, however, if there is already a strong market, even an extraordinary product might not do the trick.
- Momentum. You have to continuously show that you are working on your product. You need to have people using your product, not just once, but also coming and a good marketing strategy. This will indicate that you have some traction in the market.
- Team. You need to have a reliable team around you. Only hire people you know and that will stand behind your product and work on it with 100% effort.
- Naysayers. If people are saying what you are attempting can’t be done, that is a good sign. It means that they don’t know how to do it and as a result you know you have discovered something new.
For a more detailed account please see http://bit.ly/d99jDF
Tags: entrepreneurship, funding, innovation, start-ups
Posted in Venture Capital, entrepreneurship, innovation | 1 Comment »
July 6th, 2010
Last week, vice president of the European Commission, Antonio Tajana, initiated a mandate to the European norms organisations CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, to create EU-wide standards for charging stations of electronic cars.
Such unified standards will allow electronic cars to cross borders without major complications. Some of the most important points of discussion are standardized plugs, battery standards and general safety standards.
Tags: clean technology, Electric cars, Europe, European Commission
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