http://www.thechilli.com theChilli News http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Advanced RSS Publisher Thu, 08 May 2008 08:00:20 GMT By 2020, about 50,000 Megawatts worth of PV systems (MWp) will be installed annually, up by a factor of nearly 20 times from 2,538MWp in 2007. MWp is a metric that measures the power output of solar cells. Global revenue for PV cells is projected to increase to as much as $22.1 billion in 2012. However, no market can expand so quickly without some growing pains, particularly shortages that can impact supply.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/046_PhotoVoltaic_shortage.aspxWed, 07 May 2008 12:29:21 +0100 The global mobile-handset market in the first quarter of 2008 appeared to be unaffected by the economic slowdown, with shipments rising by a double-digit percentage compared to the same period in 2007. Global mobile-handset shipments reached 296 million units in the first quarter of 2008, up 17 percent from 253 million in the first quarter of 2007. While shipments were down 12.4 percent compared to 338 million in the fourth quarter of 2007, this decline represents normal seasonality for the mobile-handset business, which typically undergoes a deceleration following the peak selling period in the fourth quarter. In the first quarter of 2007, for example, shipments decreased by 12.8 percent on a sequential basis.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/045_Mobile_Handsets.aspxWed, 07 May 2008 12:27:19 +0100 China participated in the International Comparison Program (commonly known as the ICP) for the first time ever and India for the first time since 1985. The ICP is conducted by the ICP Global Office within the World Bank and takes account of parallel surveys from OECD and Eurostat, the European Union statistics organisation. This results in more statistically reliable estimates of the size and price levels of Chinese and Indian economies. The previous, less reliable, methods lead to an overestimation of their GDPs by 40 percent. So, which are the top 10 economies?.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/emergemarket/011_China_India_GDP.aspxTue, 06 May 2008 09:15:51 +0100 In. what appears to be a consolidation M&A deal, Greater London Enterprise (GLE) – owned by the 33 local government councils – has acquired what seemed to be privately run Yorkshire Fund Managers (YFM ) Group. YFM is partially backed by the European Investment Fund and some local, national and regional development agencies, as well as some key clearing banks, pension funds, private individuals and large corporates.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/ma/005_London_Yorkshire.aspxTue, 06 May 2008 09:15:00 +0100 New research conducted by Cass Business School’s Centre for New Technologies, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CENTIVE) and sponsored by Microsoft has revealed that a latent pool of hidden innovators (over 50s, ethnic minorities, disabled) could potentially add a staggering £15 billion to the UK economy by 2012 if the right conditions were created.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/108_hidden_innovators.aspWed, 30 Apr 2008 18:21:58 +0100 Warwick Warp Limited, a spin-out from the University of Warwick, and developer of fingerprint recognition technologies, has successfully raised £600,000 of investment from an investing syndicate led by Synergis Technologies and including Mathmatical Capital, both specialist early stage funders with a strong links to the security industry.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/084_Warwick_Warp.aspWed, 30 Apr 2008 18:21:18 +0100 New investment figures from the Cleantech Group have ‘called peaks’ in investment into conventional ethanol, European wind and solar thin film sectors.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/045_cleantech_decline.aspWed, 30 Apr 2008 18:20:30 +0100 The Israel VC market has reached a seven year high, which may be an indication that companies are raising as much capital as they can before the equity winter sets in. The amount of VC raised by Israeli companies in Q1 of 2008 rose by a massive 52 percent, reaching another peak.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/044_IVC_Q1_08.aspWed, 30 Apr 2008 14:24:26 +0100 The Indian government's initial start-up support programme for biotech companies was highlighted at a recent panel session held in Bangalore, chaired by a senior advisor to the department of biotechnology (DBT) and supported by a senior scientist at the technology development board (TDB).http://www.thechillired.com/articles/emergemarket/010_IndianBioSupport.aspxWed, 30 Apr 2008 13:48:27 +0100 While politicians in some countries use the emerging markets of India and China to create a climate of fear, uncertainty and a modicum of xenophobia, other countries are engaged in the old practices of ‘wooing’ and ‘trading’ to get leverage that they can actually use. While considerable negative PR is going on, the prime ministers of China and Sweden have been busy preparing the signature signing a massive $1.44 billion mobile telecoms deal with China Unicom and China Mobile.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/107_diis_china.aspWed, 30 Apr 2008 10:23:59 +0100 The 50th year anniversary of the House Science Committee in the US, which began life as a response to Russia's launch of Sputnik, was addressed by Bill Gates, who warned that America's 'position as the global leader in innovation is at risk'. He focused on four major themes, which are outlined in this report.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/106_bill_gates_hsc.aspTue, 29 Apr 2008 16:50:33 +0100 The 2008 Silicon Valley Boomer Business Plan Competition is accepting submissions – the deadline for executive summaries is 25th April 2008. It is open to students and entrepreneurs anywhere in the world who have business plans or start-up ventures that show significant business potential for the burgeoning 45+/boomer market globally.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/080_sv_boomer.aspTue, 29 Apr 2008 16:49:06 +0100 3i formally signalled its exit from the high-tech venture capital sector by merging its venture capital unit into a late stage business growth unit. 3i's VC exit is a psychological blow to the UK's high-tech entrepreneur, and the government's efforts to kick-start a whole new entrepreneurial ecosystem.  Read The Chilli Perspective....http://www.thechillired.com/articles/perspective/014_3iOutofVC.aspxTue, 29 Apr 2008 16:47:28 +0100 Clean Mobile, which has developed a hybrid electric drive system that uses fuel cells to keep vehicles charged even after running hundreds of kilometres without connection to the electric grid, has completed €3,3 million round.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/043_cleanmobile.aspTue, 29 Apr 2008 16:46:46 +0100 An online business that helps shoppers decide what to buy has secured investment from a venture capital firm that backed a similar successful price comparison site sold to Yahoo for €470 million in 2004.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/082_reevoo.aspTue, 29 Apr 2008 16:45:47 +0100 Spark Ventures has led an $8m investment in travel experiences web site isango!. This first institutional round for the company will fund its next stage of growth.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/083_isnago.aspTue, 29 Apr 2008 16:44:46 +0100 Bubble Motion, a developer of voice applications and services for mobile operators and provider of a 'voice SMS' service, has announced $14 million in additional funding from existing and new investors. Find out who...http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/042_bubblemotion.aspTue, 29 Apr 2008 16:43:22 +0100 From self-locating wireless sensors from Imperial College, to uses for DNA structure-specific recognition protein from MIT, an online marketplace for patents and new technology says there are over 6,400 such technologies from 14 research institutions and universities available for companies to license.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/079_techportal.aspTue, 29 Apr 2008 16:42:10 +0100 As the lives of British workers continue to become increasingly busy and social lives become increasingly precious, Brits are faced with a work-life juggling act. New research reveals that the techno gadgets they use to stay connected all the time is filling them with dread.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/077_burnout.aspTue, 29 Apr 2008 16:40:55 +0100 In order to inform current debate and consultation regarding public procurement and its support for SMEs and technology start-ups, we highlight 'technology transition' awards which have become the bedrock for numerous US start-upshttp://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/081_sandiego_ccat.aspTue, 29 Apr 2008 16:39:09 +0100 Le Meur lands at Wellington Partners One the leading figures of the Web 2.0 world and one of Europe's most profiled serial web entrepreneurs, Loïc Le Meur, has joined Wellington Partners. He started off when he grew French weblog hosting company Ubloghttp://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/078_lemuir.aspTue, 29 Apr 2008 16:37:12 +0100 Competition for WiMAX is hotting up with the introduction of LTE platforms and products that deliver reliable 100Mbits wireless performance that surpasses fixed line speeds. As an insurance, quite a few WiMAX start-ups may need to consider re-engineering their products towards LTE, as field deployment bring out new hurdles for WiMAX. For more information see The Chilli RED's market snaps section.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/044_LTElaunch.aspxTue, 29 Apr 2008 13:52:32 +0100 'Innovation Nation' is a white paper recently published by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. Although the white paper covers a wide range of important issues, it lacks detail, is very light on tangible actions, falls short on a pace-setting agenda and does not yet demonstrate that DIUS really understands how the real world business operates.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/speakerscorner/040_UKinnovation.aspTue, 29 Apr 2008 13:45:19 +0100anil@thechilli.comBipin ParmarThe Chilli Publishing Ltd.Silverstone Innovation Centre, a joint venture between the British Racing Drivers Club and the East Midlands Development Agency, managed by Oxford Innovation, held a ‘design challenge’ for schools in May 2008, allowing school students working in teams to design new products for the motorsport industry. This second year of the competition proved very popular, attracting entries from 13 teams of school students.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/086_silverstone.aspMon, 02 Jun 2008 15:22:20 GMTScottish Enterprise has awarded a £1.3 million research and development grant to German-headquartered Dialog Semiconductor towards a £5.5 million design centre in Edinburgh to develop audio ICs. Dialog, which supplies mixed signal power management products for the portable consumer market, will set up this new office in Scotland as a ‘global centre of excellence’ employing at least 20 design engineers by the end of 2008.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/046_scotent_dialog.aspMon, 02 Jun 2008 15:23:36 GMTThere were times, when companies’ shares were so successful that they looked unaffordable to many retail investors. These companies therefore used to split their shares in two or more, thus making the average price look more appetising. However, times are changing now: some share prices look so cheap that they are now being bulked up by a so called ‘reverse split’. Ericsson is about to do a reverse split of 1:5.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/085_reverse_split.aspMon, 02 Jun 2008 15:24:14 GMTToday’s $17 billion global market for optoelectronics is driven by application designs utilising light-emitting and light-detecting products more and more, and this has the potential to reach $31 billion by 2013. Familiar high volume applications using optoelectronics include DVD systems and digital cameras. But along with these popular applications, some of the latest designs using optoelectronics today are in cars, medical instruments, and lamps - application areas that are not typically at top of mind.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/047_OptoElectronics.aspxMon, 02 Jun 2008 15:24:53 GMTAs a result of the continued strong demand growth for mobile handsets, sales of semiconductors for wireless products rose at a faster pace than the overall chip market in 2007. The global wireless semiconductor market generated $29.5 billion in revenue in 2007, up 7.6 percent from $27.4 billion in 2006. These figures consist of revenue from sales of application-specific semiconductors—excluding memory—for wireless applications, including mobile handsets, wireless infrastructure equipment, wireless LANs and connectivity products.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/048_WirelessSemis.aspxMon, 02 Jun 2008 15:27:30 GMTThe latest composite leading indicators (CLIs) suggest that a slowdown in economic activity lies ahead in the OECD area. Data for March 2008 indicate a weakening .....http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/049_DownTurn.aspxMon, 02 Jun 2008 15:28:18 GMT“While technology innovation and entrepreneurship have largely been a U.S. phenomenon, other countries are quietly excelling in areas that are critical to the future of venture capital investment,” said Mark Heesen, president of the NVCA. “We are operating in a global economy and venture capitalists will follow the best technologies.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/109_VC_innovation.aspThu, 05 Jun 2008 09:10:21 GMTAnil ShahSomething that has been a rarity in the European EDA space, ChipVision Design Systems, a low-power specialist in electronic design automation (EDA) based out of Oldenburg, Germany and San Jose, California, raised $4.5 million in a Series B internal round.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/087_chipvision.aspThu, 05 Jun 2008 09:34:33 GMTAnil ShahAccording to the recently released 2008 Semiconductor Applications Report from Future Horizons, GPS unit sales will grow by a compound annual growth rate of.....http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/050_GPSUnitSales.aspxThu, 05 Jun 2008 10:12:03 GMTAs we head for yet another investment winter, angel investment is going to become a more important driver for many new start-ups. While the vast majority of current research is dedicated to VC investment, the fact is that over the last ten years, formal venture capitalists invested less than two percent of total venture capital dollars in seed-stage companies.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/investorprofiles/012_angelInvestmentStudy.aspxThu, 05 Jun 2008 10:27:53 GMTCamSemi, which first crossed The Chilli's radar screen back in June 2003, has successfully concluded its C round with an additional investor from Denmark’s BankInvest Group via its New Energy Solutions VC fund to bring the total C round to $34m (£17 million). Like many fabless companies who have recently raised large late stage rounds, it will be enough to see it through to its prime time, when the market turns more favourable.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/047_camsemi.aspThu, 05 Jun 2008 11:26:03 GMTAfter playing a pivotal role in developing Amino Technologies from a pre-revenue phase when he became CEO of Amino Technologies in November 2001, into a profitable, market leading IPTV player that has generated revenues of approximately £100 million since its flotation on AIM in June 2004, Bob Giddy, aged 61, has retired from Amino as a full time executive director.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/corptakes/014_GiddyRetires.aspxFri, 13 Jun 2008 10:30:59 GMTThe 12 finalists of this year’s ‘Enterprising Britain’ competition – which identifies the most enterprising places in the UK – have been announced. The places show the depth of innovation of the projects that are helping to address social issues and turn the economies of local communities around.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/088_enterprising_britain.aspFri, 13 Jun 2008 10:32:10 GMTQualSec Inc., a developer of electronic olfactory sensory technology, has developed NanoNose, the next generation of its electronic nose threat detection devices. Utilising its patent pending ROder technology, QualSec is creating a low cost handheld electronic device that can detect explosives, communicable diseases and hazardous materials in real time with instant read-out of the threat and its level of concentration in ambient air.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/089_electronic_nose.aspTue, 17 Jun 2008 07:57:24 GMTThe north-west of the UK as has always had a strong technology heritage, derived from a local ecosystem created by such companies as ICL Fujitsu, Ferranti, local universities and colleges, plus a strong base of chemical, materials and biotech industries. But surprisingly, until recently, the north-west did not have a central network that could connect local technology entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs and universities. But all that changed on 12th June 2008, when the ‘NWTN’ held its first inaugural meeting.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/090_nwtn_kickoff.aspThu, 19 Jun 2008 14:52:46 GMTThe Renewables Advisory Board (RAB) has reported that the UK could generate 14 percent of its total energy from renewables by 2020, if a set of identified radical policy changes are put into effect quickly. Recommendations include accelerating grid studies, streamlined consenting processes, early introduction of revised support mechanisms and, most importantly, strong political leadership.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/markets/high-tech/H073_RAB_BERR.aspThu, 19 Jun 2008 14:53:23 GMTThe UK Government EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme) consultation period ends on Friday 20th June 2008 and it will report back its findings by autumn. However, will more consultations solve some of the fundamental problem surrounding EIS?http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/110_EIS_survival.aspThu, 19 Jun 2008 14:53:58 GMTNTRglobal, one of the Europe’s largest pure-play vendors of software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to enterprise, has received a €22 million investment led by Kennet Partners and joined by Atlas Venture plus existing investors Debaeque and Elaia Partners.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/093_ntrglobal_funding.aspFri, 20 Jun 2008 11:03:36 GMTMany start-ups, small business, SMEs, complain about the difficulties and complexities of getting any public contracts support for R&D, field trials, technology evaluation by bodies like NHS or alternative energy research. Now is your chance to get your views heard.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/092_glover_feedback.aspFri, 20 Jun 2008 11:04:02 GMTWith increasing consolidation facing the EDA (electronic design automation) sector, it is worth remembering how much of the EDA innovation used to be driven by new start-ups. Here, you will be able to read again the interview that we carried out with Rajeev Madhavan in 2006 (courtesy of The Chilli RED, our premium content service), hoping it will inspire more entrepreneurs to contemplate starting out on their own and break out of the EDA logjam.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/dialogue/006_Madhavan.aspMon, 23 Jun 2008 08:40:00 GMTIndia is an emerging market that is being noticed and taken seriously the world over. The >1 billion population is very young (35 percent under the age of 15) with an ever-expanding middle class. Sustained 8 percent GDP growth, rapid urbanisation, increasing dispensable income, changing lifestyles, opening economic policy, democratic society are fuelling ‘explosive’ consumerism in India resulting in persistent demand for latest goods and services.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/speakerscorner/041_VLSI2009.aspFri, 27 Jun 2008 12:56:17 GMTThe Environmental Technologies Fund (ETF) has recruited Fabrice Bienfait, who has moved across from the investment banking industrials and natural resources group of Goldman Sachs. Earlier this year, the ETF announced the final closing of its environmental technologies fund at £110m, above its fund-raising target. Since then ETF made its third investment, in Novel Polymer Solutions.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/094_ETF_fabrice.aspFri, 27 Jun 2008 12:57:12 GMTEstablished in November 2000, having shipped over 75.000 optical modules, and almost raring to an IPO, MergeOptics has attracted a new lead investor – KTB – in its fourth VC round €5.3m / $8.5m to grow its position in the fast growing 10Gbit/s transmission module market. Existing investors Earlybird, Target Partners and DVC also joined the round.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/048_mergeoptics.aspFri, 27 Jun 2008 12:58:47 GMTVienna-based Miracor GmbH has completed a series A financing round of €6 million which will be used to conduct additional clinical trials and gain CE marking for its PICSO system. Miracor has developed the PICSO (pressure-controlled intermittent coronary sinus occlusion) medical device to benefit patients being treated for heart attacks or in heart failure. The Series A funding will be used. http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/095_miracor.aspWed, 02 Jul 2008 08:46:47 GMTWith the increasing adoption of high speed mobile broadband HSPA shipments, and market grab by major vendors like Ericsson – which has developed its own in-house technology – it would be interesting to see how some of the start-ups focusing on this space will fare in the near future.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/051_HSPAMobile.aspxWed, 02 Jul 2008 08:47:20 GMTDespite the brave gloss put on by BVCA member firms’ activity that shows an underlying increase of more than one-third on VC investments, and despite the credit crunch in the second half of last year, the fact is that true venture capital investments in the UK declined by 44 percent.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/111_bvca_ukvc_decline.aspWed, 02 Jul 2008 13:35:42 GMTIt seems that TV show ‘The Apprentice’ is the only way that youngsters are going to be encouraged to become entrepreneurs or learn something about ‘business’. The latest incarnation of it was a competition run by The Oxford Trust.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/096_vf_apprentice.aspFri, 04 Jul 2008 07:54:46 GMTCalifornia’s inability to attract more domestic students to study science and technology courses and maintain its share of federally funded research and procurement program has pushed it from its second position to fourth, according to a new report ‘State Technology and Science Index’ by the Milken Institute. Competing states, as well as newly emerging competitors like India and China, are chipping away the technology base. There are a lot of lessons to be learned here for regional planners and policy makers the world over.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/markets/high-tech/H074_TSI_milken.aspFri, 04 Jul 2008 07:56:03 GMTNo, this is not another publicly funded initiative form EU bureaucrats to create a more cohesive European community, but a UK based venture funded company called Flirtomatic, that offers a mobile and online flirting service. It is partnering with SevenOne Intermedia in Germany, whose parent, ProSieben, is a pan-European broadcasting group with four major TV channels: ProSieben, Sat.1, kabel eins and N24. ProSieben was recently acquired by SBS Broadcasting Group, and has been diversifying into new media. Its offering includes Germany's largest video-on-demand platform ‘maxdome’ and internet services like MyVideo.de – and now a mobile flirting service for travelling continentals. You can guess what the next logical move would be. Read The Chilli perspective.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/052_FlirtwithEU.aspxFri, 04 Jul 2008 08:00:14 GMTWorldwide investments in the production of photovoltaic (PV) cells, or as most people know them, solar cells, will rise to the same level as those for semiconductor manufacturing by 2010. This is due to booming demand for solar energy, which will rise annually at a pace of 40 percent, with price declining by a similar level. This in turn will increase the number of installed production lines four-fold.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/053_SolarCell_parity.aspxTue, 08 Jul 2008 12:56:32 GMTApple Inc.’s second-generation iPhone is expected to carry an initial hardware bill of materials (BOM) and manufacturing cost of ......http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/054_iphoneBOM.aspxTue, 08 Jul 2008 13:28:27 GMTAs the SBIR program approaches its twentieth year of operation, the U.S. Congress requested the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies to ‘conduct a comprehensive study of how the SBIR program has stimulated technological innovation and used small businesses to meet federal research and development needs’ and to make recommendations with respect to the SBIR program. The SBIR program allocates 2.5 percent of 11 federal agencies’ extramural R&D budgets to fund R&D projects by small businesses, providing approximately $2 billion annually in competitive awards.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/perspective/015_Sbir_20Year_Rep.aspxTue, 08 Jul 2008 15:20:22 GMTEarly stage technology-based start-ups in the south west of England are set to receive a major boost following the launch of this year’s ‘FASTtrack2’ programme by Silicon South West. Supported by the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA), FASTtrack2 will this year accelerate six high-growth potential companies by introducing customer contacts early on in their development, along with mentoring and networking tailored specifically to their needs.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/097_fast_track2_.aspThu, 10 Jul 2008 10:47:30 GMTThe debates and discussions on the merits and consequences of biofuels are now primetime discussions, with high-tech entrepreneurs like Vinod Khosla getting mainstream coverage on his quest for investing in biofuels – a typical example is The Sunday Times article this week (see “How China’s thirst for oil can save the planet” ). The Chilli had recognised this some way back and in September 2007 we had published a white paper on this very subject and the concerns over California’s quest for biofuels (see “Corn ethanol: the unintended consequences of AB118”).http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/112_biofuels_debate.aspThu, 10 Jul 2008 11:53:42 GMTIntel Capital, Intel's corporate venture investment arm, has invested €24 million in Sulfurcell, a leading German developer of thin-film solar modules. Sulfurcell was initially funded by the EU and the federal state of Berlin – it uses technology developed in the laboratories of the Hahn-Meitner-Institute. Before this investment round, Sulfurcell had already de-risked key product performance and process scalability for high-volume manufacturing and supply from a pilot production line. Sulfurcell is supported by Hahn-Meitner-Institute, Vattenfall Europe, the third largest electric utility company in Germany and the Masdar Clean Tech Fund managed by Credit Suisse.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/049_sulfurcell.aspThu, 10 Jul 2008 12:22:20 GMTWhile all the news has focused on the recent retirement of Bill Gates from Microsoft, we would like to remind readers of how another man, Gary Kildall, man in theory missed out on being what Bill Gates is today, all because he was flying his private plane when IBM came calling for an operating system based on his CP/M system; Bill Gates subsequently took the opportunity and developed an OS that is thought to have been based on Kildall's original. Here, The Chilli provides a summary of how others can benefit from the hindsight of his experience and what could have changed Kildall’s own fortunes.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/113_gary_kildall_2.aspThu, 10 Jul 2008 13:04:13 GMTDN Capital, a pan-European early stage and growth equity investor in fast growing companies in the software and digital media sectors, has opened a US office in Palo Alto, California, relocating its managing partner and co-founder from London. Steve Schlenker will head up the firm's US efforts, working closely with DN Capital co-founder Nenad Marovac, who will remain as managing partner of the London office.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/098_dncapital.aspTue, 22 Jul 2008 17:25:38 GMT1) Acquiesce to the entrepreneur’s requested stratospheric valuation in the first round (because you can’t build a partnership if you start by being disagreeable). .....http://www.thechilli.com/articles/tradeSecrets/034_exit_worst_practices.aspTue, 22 Jul 2008 17:26:35 GMTFor start-ups that are in mobile broadband, this will be a significant development: Ericsson and 3 Italia recently announced they had achieved an industry first, by successfully establishing enhanced HSPA mobile data connections in a commercial network. The enhanced HSPA technology enables maximum uplink data rates of 5.8Mbps and a significant reduction in network latency, resulting in markedly better performance for interactive consumer applications.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/055_EnhancedHSPA.aspxTue, 22 Jul 2008 17:27:50 GMTThe EU spends billions of dollars in collaborative R&D projects, most of which never see the daylight. One such promising EU-funded project, MAGLOG, has now come to an end. It has demonstrated for the first time the possibility of producing processors from ferromagnetic materials that are faster, smaller and more efficient than conventional silicon chips. One spin-out company is considering exploiting such technology.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/emergemarket/012_MagLog.aspxTue, 22 Jul 2008 17:29:00 GMTRecognising that patent portfolios carry huge exchange currency, used as a lever for negotiating equitable deals, Nokia and Qualcomm have agreed to settle their long running patent disputes and bury the hatchet. Nokia will also transfer some of its patents, while paying an upfront license fee and future royalties, covering a broad range of Qualcomm’s patents. What are the implications of this? Read The Chilli Perspective (courtesy of The Chilli RED, the premium service from The Chilli).http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/114_nokia_qualcomm.aspFri, 25 Jul 2008 10:27:09 GMTWe first came across Quotient Diagnostics in late 2003, a start up company that has developed a more effective test for the monitoring of diabetes. The test in question, for “glycated haemoglobin”, gives clinicians insight into the long-term progress of the disease in a diagnosed patient, as opposed to the short-term picture provided by regular blood glucose testing. The test, known as A1c or HbA1c, has been around for a while, but requires sending samples to a distance laboratory. Quotient’s achievement has been to simplify the test, take it out of the centralized laboratory and make it work in the clinic or doctors surgery (i.e. at the Point of Care).http://www.thechillired.com/articles/preExit/002_QuotientDiagnostic.aspxTue, 05 Aug 2008 12:13:14 GMTIf there is any proof of how publicly supported initiatives can result in new high growth ventures, than ATEEDA - founded in 2006 to exploit technology previously developed with Scottish Enterprise’s ‘Proof of Concept’ funding – is a case in point. It initially raised funding from Peter Denyer, a serial technology entrepreneur who led a seed funding round in February 2007. Having validated its offering with blue chip customers, the company has now secured a further £750,000.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/099_ateeda.aspThu, 14 Aug 2008 13:34:01 GMTTax credits to encourage small businesses to invest more in research and development will increase by £80 million a year from 1 August, bringing the total tax relief available to around £300 million a year. To enable companies to claim the additional tax relief, the rate available for qualifying small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) investing in R&D will increase from 150 per cent to 175 per cent of their investment, plus there are other changes.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/115_angela_eagle.aspThu, 14 Aug 2008 13:34:39 GMTWireless infrastructure represents the largest segment for RF power semiconductors, and it contains the largest sub-segment: cellular/3G. With the gradual decline of cellular/3G base station deployments, the market for RF power semiconductor devices will continue to see the erosion in revenues for that segment that has characterised recent years. However, other niche markets for RF will grow to make up the loss.http://localhost/articles/marketsnaps/057_DeclineInRF_For3G.aspxThu, 14 Aug 2008 13:35:21 GMTWorldwide sales of mobile phones will hit another high mark at 1.28 billion units in 2008, which is an 11 percent increase from 2007, according to Gartner. Mobile phone sales growth will increasingly rely on emerging markets as mature regions such as Western Europe, Japan and North America reach saturation.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/056_MobilePhones.aspxThu, 14 Aug 2008 13:36:02 GMTEarly stage funds require deep domain expertise, which can be quite expensive, even if some of it is outsourced. Smaller angel and super angel funds, VCTs, and to some extent publicly sponsored funds, are all consolidating, as demonstrated by the recent marriage between GLE and Yorkshire Fund Managers, and also the marriage between Quester and New Media Spark, now known as Spark Ventures. However, some funds have become very reluctant brides, and are holding out, despite running low on funds, and are unable to raise further funds, as exemplified by Angle plc’s refusal of a marriage proposals from Braveheart – for a an entertaining look, about the shenanigans....http://www.thechillired.com/articles/MA/006_AngleWithdrawal.aspxMon, 18 Aug 2008 10:03:18 GMTSanjay Jha, who was once with GEC-Hirst Research Centre in the UK, has gone a long way, according to a recent report from the Chicago Tribune. Motorola Inc. is making a $30 million bet that as the new co-chief executive and CEO of its mobile phone business, Jha, will bring the company back to glory.Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:01:44 GMThttp://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/100_jha_stock.aspDavid Hughes Managing director, The Business Innovation Group LLP I was rather surprised to see the article in The Chilli newsletter of 28 August on the Treasury (Angela Eagle) R&D tax credits announcement. Surprised because the article was a straight from the Treasury press release without the usual critical analysis [Editor’s note: Apologies to our readers – our analysts were on summer break, and are back now.] http://www.thechilli.com/articles/speakerscorner/042_RandD_tax_credits.aspMon, 08 Sep 2008 11:37:59 GMTThere is continuing debate over when active-matrix organic light emitting diode (AM-OLED) will become a commercially viable technology in the display industry and how effectively it will be able to compete against thin-film transistor liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCDs). Although many display suppliers have discontinued their (AM-OLED) businesses, new technology advances will result in mass production from multiple vendors, resulting in thinner cell phones.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/058_AM_OLED.aspxTue, 09 Sep 2008 09:59:20 GMTAlthough Nokia continues to expect industry mobile device volumes in 2008 to grow 10 percent or more from the approximately 1.14 billion units it estimated for 2007, it is slightly apprehensive about its own market share. Nokia now expects its mobile device market share in the third quarter 2008 to be lower than in the second quarter 2008 due to aggressive pricing by competitors. Previously, it had indicated same level of market share sequentially.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/059_NokiaOutlook.aspxTue, 09 Sep 2008 09:59:58 GMTSparked by the ongoing explosion of audio, video, photos, and text being generated or converted in digital formats, the global market for digital asset management (DAM) solutions is growing fast. However, there are some key inhibitors, which provide opportunities for start-ups.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/060_DigitalAssets.aspxTue, 09 Sep 2008 10:00:30 GMTAccording to the British Bankers Association (BBA), banks are still lending to small businesses despite the credit crunch. Overdrafts have been replaced with three year term lending with variable rates. BBA figures for the main high street banks providing small business services show the following trends over the twelve months to June.......http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/101_BBA_SME_lending.aspFri, 12 Sep 2008 14:52:46 GMTWellington Partners, a pan-European venture capital firm, has appointed of the former Yahoo! manager and 3i sector partner Daniel Waterhouse. He will join Wellington Partner’s London office as a full-time venture partner, focusing on the digital media and online sector. He will be involved in evaluating investment opportunities across Europe, and will also provide strategic and operational support to existing portfolio companies building or expanding their international operations.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/102_wellington.aspFri, 12 Sep 2008 14:54:37 GMTJim Schroder, ex technology banker with Lehman Brothers and Montgomery & Co. has joined Arma Partners as a managing director, based in its US office at Palo Alto, California. Arma’s most notable deals include Software AG’s $546 million acquisition of NASDAQ-listed webMethods, GloNav’s $110 million acquisition by NXP Semiconductors, and freenet AG’s $2.6 billion acquisition of debitel Group. Since the beginning of 2008 Arma Partners has announced close to $3 billion in transactions.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/103_arma.aspFri, 12 Sep 2008 19:47:38 GMTA social networking software application developed on Java for mobile phones has been launched in India by Blue Lion mobile GmbH, based in Cologne, Germany. The company’s product, called ‘qeep’ can be downloaded free and installed on mobile phones so that users can stay in contact with their friends in India and around the world at any time – much like the many instant messaging systems already available on PCs. The qeep application includes private messaging, photo-blogging, live multi-player gaming and sound attacks.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/104_qeep_india.aspFri, 12 Sep 2008 19:48:06 GMTOne of the biggest barriers faced by European start-ups is access to low cost prototyping on advanced silicon technologies. With help and funding from the European Union as part of its FP7 support action, IMEC (Belgium) and CEA-LETI (France), which together have a research revenue of €420 m, are re-launching the PhotonFAB multi-project wafer silicon photonics prototyping service. Photonic integrated circuits are used in applications such as communication networks, sensors, monitoring and bio-analysis, and will lower the design effort, risk and costs for start-ups ands SMEs.Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:49:01 GMThttp://www.thechilli.com/articles/markets/high-tech/H075_photonfab.aspEricsson has announced its involvement in two initiatives aimed at improving health, education, agriculture and small business development and mobile-health applications and services (m-health) and telemedicine in rural Africa. The company will establish ‘Innovation Centers’ in sub-Saharan Africa to develop mobile applications that will benefit society as a whole, with a special focus on meeting the needs of poor and rural populations by stimulating local entrepreneurship. It is also joining forces with the United Nations Office for Partnerships to use telecommunications to bring mobile-health applications and services (m-health) and telemedicine to rural Africa. http://www.thechilli.com/articles/markets/high-tech/H076_Ericsson_Africa.aspMon, 29 Sep 2008 09:15:04 GMTAt the prestigious Investor AllStars 2008 awards dinner in London, the organisers for the first time this year included nominations from continental Europe, in order to expand the reach of the awards and recognise the excellence in the world of European venture capital. The ten awards were presented at an awards ceremony, which took place on September 24, 2008 at the Hilton Park Lane, London.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/105_allstars.aspMon, 29 Sep 2008 09:16:05 GMTby Mike Bartley Developing new or updating existing high-tech products and then bringing them to market is a complex and potentially costly process. It usually involves a number of skills and/or resources some of which your company does not possess. Hiring is one option, but it can take time to get the person you want and will add to your fixed cost base. Outsourcing can provide a solution with many strategic benefits. http://www.thechilli.com/articles/speakerscorner/043_outsourcing.aspTue, 14 Oct 2008 06:52:49 GMTUK based early stage venture fund IQ Capital, one of the co-investment Enterprise Capital Funds (ECF), along with several prominent business angels including games industry veteran David Braben and speech technology expert Professor Steve Young, have invested in Phonetic Arts, a company, that plans to bring natural speech to the gaming industry. IQ Capital lead the Series A funding round into Phonetic Arts Limited.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/106_phoneticarts.aspTue, 14 Oct 2008 06:53:54 GMTPeter Mandelson, secretary of state for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) has outlined the responsibilities of his ministerial team. So who is now responsible for electronics, technology and competitiveness?http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/107_berrchanges.aspTue, 14 Oct 2008 06:54:34 GMTGlobal shipments of multi-standard video-decoder-equipped televisions are expected to rise to 966,000 units this year, up from zero in 2007. By 2012, shipments will rise to 41.7 million units. The main reason for this rapid growth is the global transition from analogue to digital television broadcast, which is spurring TV makers to offer sets with more advanced video decoding chips capable of working with multiple and new video standards.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/061_DTV_Shipments.aspxTue, 14 Oct 2008 06:55:14 GMTHaving taken the automotive market by storm, makers of portable navigation devices (PNDs) and Google are now targeting the walking people of the world, offering systems designed specifically to meet the needs of pedestrians. However, makers of PNDs and smart phones must overcome challenges before the pedestrian navigation market can take off.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/062_PNDs_Future.aspxTue, 14 Oct 2008 06:56:05 GMTThe introduction of new mobile internet devices such as RIM’s Bold, Nokia’s E71, Samsung’s Omnia, and Apple’s iPhone is boosting web-based traffic and email access. Music, games and messaging are boosting the amount of network traffic, prompting mobile operators to upgrade their networks. Will this result in better fortunes for 3.5G or 4G base stations or prolong the life of existing GSM infrastructure?http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/063_MIDs_DataBoost.aspxTue, 14 Oct 2008 06:56:38 GMTAn Israeli company in stealth mode, Soluto, has won a $2.3m R1 investment from Giza Venture Capital and Proxima. Soluto founder Ishay Green has a track record and previously co-founded Onigma, which was sold to McAfee for $20m. Tomer Dvir, the company’s CEO, was formerly a senior executive at MDG Medical. Giza is one of Israel’s leading venture capital firms managing a $600M fund and has invested in IT, communications, life sciences, and Internet.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/050_soluto.aspThu, 23 Oct 2008 15:58:15 GMTThe mainstream media often uses ‘Raj tinted glasses’ when covering India, as demonstrated by the BBC television and radio coverage of India’s mission to the moon. They emphasised loudly that it was unmanned. It may have escaped the notice of many of the media that in the UK we cannot even launch a satellite (the Beagle) without losing it in space, and there are of course many other blunders in the corporate world. Yet our media spend more time showing poverty stricken villagers in India in the same clip. Maybe there is a sense of denial at the BBC that the UK cannot admit that India is outpacing UK scientists, and soon, tech entrepreneurs.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/116_film_treaty.aspThu, 23 Oct 2008 15:58:51 GMTIn light of the current situation in the financial industry, in which we have had a money printing credit binge followed by a joint government-taxpayer hangover, asset deflation, dodgy software models and accounting practices, used for self regulation and audits; plus it takes seven days of high speed computer power to produce quarterly accounts numbers, re-branding of whole nations, as in United Soviets of America – USA and United Kindergarten of box tickers/Morris dancers in the UK, we would like to re-introduce you to our story on intelligent mechanized mannequins published in 2006 but so relevant now.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/117_digimms.aspThu, 23 Oct 2008 15:59:30 GMTRecently Sprint lowered its mobile broadband prices for using the cellular phone as a modem, leaving its pricing using PC cards and USB modems unchanged. But even given this threat, cellular modem sales are set to top $22 billion by 2013.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/064_CellularModem_Sales.aspxFri, 24 Oct 2008 10:33:07 GMTOptics has come a long way since the 1960s. Today, it is more than just light research and includes fundamental properties of optics and how it interacts with other matters and numerous different applications. But as the technology advances, so do the costs to research this field. Long gone are the days when one group could afford all the fancy tools for independent in-house research. By working together to share costs and know-how, European researchers are shaking up the way research and development is carried out on optical chips.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/065_Europe_Optics.aspxFri, 24 Oct 2008 10:33:54 GMTBucking the current trend in early stage venture capital for fabless companies, Irish based Movidia, a mobile video processor company, has secured $14m from a panel of international VCs. Movidia’s low power video processor is aimed at growing global demand for mobile social networking, with in-clip editing and post-production effects such as slow motion and super resolution zoom without the need for a PC.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/051_movidia.aspMon, 27 Oct 2008 10:34:55 GMTAmongst the gloom and doom of asset deflation and re-pricing, it is refreshing to see founding technology entrepreneurs getting just awards for the initial hard work and risks. Mark Hunter, who started Axon in 1994, is in line to receive more than £44m in cash for his remaining 11.6 percent stake; Donald Kirkwood and Paul Manweiler will also receive a sizeable sum for their combined stake of 6.3 percent. As predicted at The Chilli’s Bath University speech, ‘Born Global’ and ‘India-myths, realities and opportunities’, cash rich Indian IT companies are outbidding each other in order to reduce dependency on US markets and increase their European footprints.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/118_axon_jackpot.aspMon, 27 Oct 2008 10:35:26 GMTIt is already well known that accountancy is a profession where many firms outsource their IT and document management systems to low cost centres such as India and Mexico. But now we have received a press release from a tax and accountancy information provider saying it has commissioned an independent study to show that accountants are not stuffy and stuck in the past, but are really tech-savvy and ahead of the game as far as technology is concerned.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/hg/002_accountants.aspThu, 06 Nov 2008 15:26:59 GMTDoug Richard, entrepreneur, offers his top six tips for survival in an economic downturn. His background is as a successful entrepreneur with 20 years experience in the development and leadership of technology and software ventures, both in the US and in the UK.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/tradeSecrets/035_downturn_survival_tips.aspMon, 10 Nov 2008 08:46:47 GMTWhile we have reported elsewhere of Movidia’s funding round (Irish fabless bucks trend and secures $14m R1), the Q3 report from the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) released this month observes that venture capitalists are investing less in fabless and IDM (integrated device manufacturer) companies because of higher design costs and consolidation, with the number and value of fabless and IDM funding deals decreasing for two consecutive quarters.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/052_GSA_Q3_report.aspMon, 10 Nov 2008 08:47:23 GMTThe Mercia Technology Seed Fund (MTSF) and the Advantage Early Growth Fund (AEGF) have just completed an initial investment in LM Technologies Limited, a Birmingham, UK, based company founded to develop innovative wireless products including the world’s smallest Bluetooth adapter.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/053_lmtech.aspMon, 17 Nov 2008 08:40:02 GMTA new think tank which promotes female entrepreneurs in the UK will receive £540,000 kick-start funding from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), which will last until March 2009. The Prowess National Policy Centre (PNPC) will be co-located in Birmingham and London and managed by Prowess. It will act as a ‘one-stop’ shop for the latest in women’s enterprise-related research and policy.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/108_pnpc.aspMon, 17 Nov 2008 08:40:53 GMTThe University of Chicago Booth School of Business and its Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship is marking Global Entrepreneurship Week (17th – 23rd November), with events at its campuses in London, Chicago and Singapore, and a real-life ‘dragon’s den’ which goes beyond the reality TV format of the popular programme to educate budding entrepreneurs how one should really pitch to investors.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/120_booth_dragons_den.aspMon, 17 Nov 2008 08:41:41 GMTThe UK government has created a new company, UK Financial Investments Limited (UKFI), which will manage the taxpayer funded re-capitalisation fund (£37 billion) for shareholding in banks and other financial institutions. UKFI will be managed on a commercial basis by a new arm’s-length company that will ensure that maximum long term value is derived from its investments, failure is minimised, and capital is freely flowing into the SME sector at the 2007 level. We present The Chilli perspective.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/119_ukfi.aspMon, 17 Nov 2008 08:42:26 GMTNarayana Murthy, founder of Infosys Technologies is to speak in London on 21st November 2008 as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week of events. As guest speaker at The Indus Entrepreneurs UK (TiE UK) event, Mr. Murthy will share his views on the key elements involved in building a sustainable and successful global enterprise.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/109_tie_uk_event.aspMon, 17 Nov 2008 08:44:15 GMTDespite having bailed out the banking industry with a £38 million rescue package, the UK government has still not been able to persuade the banks to open up their wallets and start lending to SMEs again. In order to create some pressure, it has set up alternative channels for SME loans. For example, it will provide an initial £4 million in loans to help viable businesses having difficulty obtaining finance in the West Midlands region of the UK via the local regional development agency, Advantage West Midlands, but is this new money?http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/054_alternative_funds.aspMon, 17 Nov 2008 08:44:52 GMTThe Chilli defines high growth companies as those growing at x3 the average GDP minus inflation; an average company typically grows at X2 GDP minus inflation, and low growth company at or below GDP minus inflation. Under normal circumstances, that means high tech companies growing at around 15 to 20 percent rate per annum, average companies growing at 5 to 14 percent, and low growth at 5 percent and below. The good news is that inflation is coming down, albeit from a high level.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/066_OECD_Data.aspxMon, 17 Nov 2008 08:45:25 GMTAlthough the United States is the largest broadband market in the OECD with 75 million subscribers, and with the US representing 30 percent of all broadband connections in the OECD countries, Korea and Japan are technologically more advanced with fibre overtaking DSL/cable; fibre now accounts for 45 percent of all Japanese broadband subscriptions and 39 percent in Korea. Korea’s fibre penetration alone (12.2 per 100 inhabitants) is higher than total broadband penetration in 5 OECD countries.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/067_Broadband_Stats.aspxMon, 17 Nov 2008 08:46:27 GMTAs the world marks Global Entrepreneurship Week with plenty of events to inspire and motivate people to build new businesses, we think it is appropriate to remind ourselves of the inspirational talk that Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer, Inc., gave in 2005 at the commencement address to Stanford University students in California.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/profiles/people/017_steve_jobs.aspMon, 24 Nov 2008 09:11:13 GMTAs we had predicted in September 2007 (Goodbye DTI, game, set and DIUS), Ed Miliband, the new Secretary of State for energy and climate change, has announced the creation of a new department to tackle the twin challenges of energy security and climate change.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/122_energy_dept.aspMon, 24 Nov 2008 09:13:00 GMTFive US states — Massachusetts, Washington, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey — are leading the United States’ transformation into a global, entrepreneurial and knowledge- and innovation-based new economy, according to the 2008 State New Economy Index, released by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). The report is released during the Global Entrepreneurship Week and uses a set of five criteria to measure the structure of the states, rather than output.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/121_new_economy.aspMon, 24 Nov 2008 09:13:56 GMTNo business can survive without revenue, so focusing on maintaining or increasing sales to customers that can and want to pay is fundamental in a tough economic climate. Beyond that businesses need to focus on the basics, manage their cash, keep their employees on side, have an absolute understanding of their financial and cash position at all times and look at the security of their supply chain.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/tradeSecrets/036_find_opportunities.aspMon, 24 Nov 2008 16:33:15 GMTA pilot £25 million matching fund (jointly funded by the government and private sector) which will invest in women-led growth businesses has been launched in the UK. The Aspire Fund for women-led businesses will be accessed via Business Link and managed by Capital for Enterprise Limited.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/055_aspire_fund.aspMon, 24 Nov 2008 16:33:53 GMTAround 100,000 students and graduates will get the chance to develop world-class skills as entrepreneurs and business leaders with the launch of the first University Enterprise Networks (UEN). Three new networks, based around the themes of STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths), innovation and the nuclear sector, have been launched in partnership with regional development agencies (RDAs) and commercial sponsors Microsoft, HP, BT, CISCO and Westinghouse.Around 100,000 students and graduates will get the chance to develop world-class skills as entrepreneurs and business leaders with the launch of the first University Enterprise Networks (UEN). Three new networks, based around the themes of STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths), innovation and the nuclear sector, have been launched in partnership with regional development agencies (RDAs) and commercial sponsors Microsoft, HP, BT, CISCO and Westinghouse.Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:34:38 GMTThe number of quarterly VC deals and amounts continues to decline in the US Market, although the silicon valley cluster is weathering the pressure and had a small increase. Although the Fenwick & West Venture Capital Barometer™ showed an average price increase of 55 percent for companies receiving venture capital in 3Q08.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/investorprofiles/013_USVC_StudyQ308.aspxTue, 25 Nov 2008 18:53:15 GMTAlthough the gloom and doom merchants are having a field day with over-pessimistic forecasts, true entrepreneurs can only see new opportunities that are going to be created as the number of jobless in OECD regions rise to 42 million by 2010 from 34 million currently. Although the overall OECD economic activity is expected to fall by an average of 0.4 percent in 2009, there are still many countries and regions that are forecasted to grow at a healthy pace. Find out where the new opportunities lie.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/068_OECD_Outlook.aspxWed, 26 Nov 2008 10:54:16 GMTWhenever The Chilli talks to successful entrepreneurs with a view to profiling them as role models, the underlying messages tend to be the same whether they are in North America, Europe, or Asia. They often have no idea how successful they are going to be when starting out, but are driven by a desire to do something different or to create something new.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/dialogue/007_nmurthy.aspWed, 26 Nov 2008 10:54:56 GMTBiotechnology is an increasingly important area from which The Chilli receives many press releases, including the Oxford cluster in the UK, as well as some other areas in Eastern Europe and India. One start-up which spun out of the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hugary, and has been incorporated in Switzerland is ImmunoGenes AG.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/markets/biotech/B002_immunogenes.aspFri, 05 Dec 2008 10:11:23 GMTThe global market for set-top boxes (STB’s) will grow gradually over the next few years, and will then peak at around 110 million shipments in 2012, according to a new report. Thereafter STB unit volumes for all platforms – DTT (digital terrestrial television), IPTV (Internet protocol television), DBS (direct broadcast satellite), and CATV (cable) – will begin a gradual decline.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/069_SetTopBox_Decline.aspxFri, 05 Dec 2008 10:11:49 GMTThe last thing the technology sector needs is a few non-performing CEOs and scams that bring the industry into further disrepute with potential investors. Fingerpin, which had been set up to develop biometrics fingerprint sequencing software that can be used as an alternative to passwords was wound up by the High Court in the UK. After having used up its initial £500k of investors money, it struggled to achieve commercial success. http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/111_fingerpin.aspMon, 08 Dec 2008 09:52:51 GMTLow interest and investment income from remaining cash funds, lower revenue from management operation, with selective investments to keep the portfolio companies alive, is resulting in dwindling cash balances.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/investorprofiles/014_Braveheart2008.aspxWed, 10 Dec 2008 13:17:52 GMTA new purpose-built, multi-million pound innovation centre has been opened at Milton Park in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, comprising 39,000 sq ft over three floors to provide offices for up to 60 technology and biotech start-up companies which can take space on flexible licence agreements in a range of unit sizes. The new centre was opened on 8 December 2008 to co-incide with a somewhat low-key ‘Global Business Incubation Day’, and will be managed by Oxford Innovation.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/112_innovation_park.aspWed, 10 Dec 2008 13:18:33 GMTThe Chilli perspective: With TTP Ventures being chosen as the eighth ECF (Enterprise Capital Fund) fund manager, it will now face the daunting task of convincing enough investors in the current economic climate to raise its portion (£10m) before the £30m fund becomes operational. However with successful exits like Alphamosaic and Element 14 from its existing £34 million venture fund, combined with running Carbon Trust’s incubator plus expertise and resources of the larger TTP Group, it shouldn’t have much difficulty – and should be up and running by summer of 2009.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/057_ttp_ecf.aspFri, 12 Dec 2008 06:37:45 GMTCan the UK manufacturing sector make a comeback and help re-balance the UK economy? The British secretary of state for business, Lord Mandelson, recently addressed senior business leaders at the CBI Annual Conference, outlining some bold and serious response to the current economic malaise. http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/125_cbi_annual_speech.aspFri, 12 Dec 2008 06:38:18 GMTAnalysis has shown that most high-tech start-ups (HTSU) and small to medium-size enterprises (SMEs) tend to focus only on basic technical utility and performance criteria as a key differentiator for their products and services. http://www.thechilli.com/articles/tradeSecrets/037_IMA.aspFri, 12 Dec 2008 06:39:01 GMTHaving proved its concept of converting existing paper mills into potential bio-refineries from two pilot plants, Swedish based gasification leader Chemrec had no problems in completing a $20 million series C funding round. Black liquor is a by-product of pulp and paper mills, which produces thousands of tons a day of a liquid biomass. Chemrec has developed a proprietary, highly efficient gasification technology that enables the conversion of black liquor into renewable motor fuels, biomaterials, or electricity. http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/056_chemrec.aspFri, 12 Dec 2008 06:39:43 GMTIt is said that now is the best time to do a start-up. As a matter of fact, Microsoft, Apple and Skype were all started during an economic downturn. Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs co-director and Professor of Management Raffi Amit says the key to survival is the ability to quickly adapt.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/speakerscorner/044_wharton.aspTue, 13 Jan 2009 10:00:26 GMTThe tough economy does not seem to have dampened the enthusiasm for more LTE (long term evolution) deployment plans. According to ABI Research senior analyst Nadine Manjaro, more than eighteen operators globally have announced plans for LTE. In fact, Verizon in the US has announced acceleration of its LTE deployment timetable, bringing the launch forward from 2010 to 2009. Many of the others are looking at a 2011-2012 timeframe, by which time they hope much of the current pain will have passed.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/070_No_LTE_Slowdown.aspxTue, 13 Jan 2009 10:01:48 GMTThe processor vendors supplying chips for UMDs (ultra-mobile devices) are playing a pivotal role in how this market is shaping up. X86-based processors are well entrenched in the PC world and ARM-based processors are well entrenched in the handset world. But, one thing history has taught us is that it is not always the best technical features performer that wins, but pure marketing power. So would it be safe to predict who will win?http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/071_Battle_For_UMDs.aspxTue, 13 Jan 2009 10:03:01 GMTOnly 35 percent of technology companies polled in a recent survey are aware or proactively managing the risks (like intellectual property leakage and data security/integrity) in external collaboration and partnerships. In fact less than half (47 percent) perform thorough due diligence before entering into formal relationships. However, technology companies must collaborate, especially in emerging markets, to navigate through the economic storm and guarantee profit, according to a survey.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/126_pwc_risk.aspThu, 22 Jan 2009 17:40:25 GMTIt is now less risky to start a business than be employed in the corporate technology sector, says the director of Bristol University’s business incubator, citing research carried out by UK Business Incubation (UKBI), the industry body for incubation and incubator centres. Is being laid off (redundancy) a good trigger to consider starting out new? And how do the incubated companies survival rates compares with business in general?http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/127_incubators.aspThu, 22 Jan 2009 17:41:01 GMTWhen Jane and Leland Stanford established the university in memory of their only child, Leland Jr., who died of typhoid fever aged 15 in 1884, the Stanfords decided that, because they could no longer pass on their wealth to their only child, they would use it to do something for ‘other peoples’ children. In the founding grant, the Stanfords stated the university’s mission: to prepare students ‘for personal success and direct usefulness in life’ and ‘promote the public welfare by exercising an influence on behalf of humanity and civilization’.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/128_stanford_energy.aspThu, 22 Jan 2009 17:41:48 GMTThe Internet, combined with powerful commodity processing power, virtualisation storage, improved systems automation and management, combined with wide-scale financial de-leveraging, is driving the next seismic shift in software known as ‘cloud computing’. While the public cloud gets the majority of attention today, the private cloud market is likely to be bigger and more profound in terms of change. Today, cloud computing is beset with a large amount of hype. Larry Ellison, in his classic way, sums up Oracle’s position: “We’ll make cloud computing announcements because if orange is the new pink, we’ll make orange…Okay, fine, we’ll do some cloud”.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/072_Cloud_Computing.aspxThu, 22 Jan 2009 17:42:34 GMTWill the recently announced credit easing measure for SMEs really bring back confidence and trust? It may take some time to get used to more acronyms that have been added to the credit-equity soup, like WCS (working capital scheme) and EFG (enterprise finance guarantee scheme ), which we believe to be a disguised SFLG scheme, call it SFLG 2.0; and a new addition to the ECF (enterprise capital fund) family, called capital for enterprise fund (CEF). We go behind the headlines—some of the schemes are ingenious but under-promoted, while others like EFG, may face credibility issues amongst tech entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/129_corp_sme.aspFri, 23 Jan 2009 09:09:17 GMTUnlike Nortel, the Canadian based telecoms vendor which has gone into Chapter 11 administration, Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) has weathered the telecom storm and produced impressive sales growth, up 11 percent to SEK 208.9 (~ $24.8 billion) in 2008, from $22.3 billion in 2007. However, early signs of weaknesses in the market are showing up in reduced margins. Gross margins fell to 35.5 percent from 39.3 percent, resulting in full year operating margin of 11.4 percent versus 16.3 percent. http://www.thechillired.com/articles/corptakes/015_Ericsson_Safe.aspxFri, 23 Jan 2009 09:10:00 GMTGlobally, the number of technology deals declined by 20 percent to 570 completions, from a post bubble peak of 713 in 2007. Credit rationing slowed down the number private equity driven billion dollar mega deals, resulting in a 27 percent decline in deal value that garnered €92.7 billion in 2008. Deals valued between €10m and €250m account for some 94 percent of global volumes. UK-based deals (with a UK bidder or target) formed a third of all worldwide deal transactions.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/058_technology_deals_2008.aspTue, 27 Jan 2009 08:15:47 GMTAs one would expect from the highly litigious US legal systems, instead of campus entrepreneurs suing a university for not commercialising their patented technology, this case involves a university suing one of its ex-professors for 30 inventions and 11 potential patents (IP rights) that it claims were developed in its campus laboratory.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/113_campus_capitalist.aspSat, 07 Feb 2009 15:42:32 GMT3i, a leading private equity firm that pulled out of venture capital investment, is still making returns from its past investments. It has sold its minority stake in Insensys Ltd, a provider of fibre optic based load measurement technology to the wind energy and aerospace markets.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/059_insensys_moog.aspSat, 07 Feb 2009 15:43:05 GMTWhile numerous press articles have highlighted the demise of bank lending to SMEs, data released by BBA, the British Banking Association, paints a completely different picture. http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/130_BBA_stats_dec08.aspWed, 25 Feb 2009 16:23:14 GMTThe European Tech Tour will be on the road in France on May 13-15, 2009, with its aim to meet the most promising French start-ups and early stage technology companies. The organisers are looking for applicants to register by 15 March 2009 to become one of the 25 successful finalists invited to present their business expansion plans to representatives from the global venture capital world.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/114_French_tech_tour.aspWed, 25 Feb 2009 16:23:41 GMTOver 540,000*, or one in 10, small and medium sized enterprises across the UK are turning to family and friends for cash rather than the banks - six times as many as when polled in early 2008 - according to new research. The survey of over 500 SME owners indicates they are having to rely on family and friends as bank funding dries up.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/115_debt_finance.aspWed, 25 Feb 2009 16:24:26 GMTA lot has been written in recent months regarding the state of UWB, especially with news of WiQuest shutting its doors last October, and the recent news of TZero, another UWB start-up, running out of funding. A news search on “UWB” reveals a vast majority of articles declaring “UWB is dead” or at least having one foot in the grave. http://www.thechilli.com/articles/speakerscorner/045_UWB_not_dead.aspWed, 25 Feb 2009 16:24:57 GMTGreylock Israel topped the 2008 most active funds ranking with nine first investments. Vertex ranked second with eight first investments for the second straight year. DFJ Tamir Fishman and AquAgro placed third with seven investments each, and they were followed by Carmel and Israel Healthcare Ventures with six first investments each, according to latest results released by IVC Reaserch Centre to determine 2008’s most active Israeli venture capital funds. The survey also revealed percentage re-invested in different sectors and stages.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/investortrends/060_Israel_vc.aspWed, 25 Feb 2009 16:25:36 GMTWith the switchover to all-digital television broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the United States, plus other major countries, there will be unprecedented opportunity for the mobile TV market, according to a new study. While mobile broadcast TV was pioneered in Japan and South Korea, traditional and mobile TV broadcasters and cellular operators in many regions will launch mobile TV services that are forecast to attract over 500 million viewers by 2013 after switchover.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/073_MobileTV.aspxWed, 25 Feb 2009 16:26:12 GMTWith Telisma being off-loaded by its venture investors for less than $12 million after using up $80m of venture funding, and recent headlines about the WiMAX market being crushed by LTE, Ericsson and Nortel have left the WiMAX market and Alcatel-Lucent has ‘backed off’ from WiMAX. These developments supposedly dealt a blow to Clearwire, which had so far chosen an infrastructure vendor. But that’s not quite the whole story.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/074_WiMaxFuture.aspxFri, 06 Mar 2009 16:24:05 GMTPeter Mandelson has delivered a speech in London in which he talks about semiconductors and risk capital, and explores re-creating a 3i type fund to leverage long-term capital for growing firms. It seems the UK government recognises that the economy needs re-balancing and that manufacturing, design, and value added services will drive the next growth curve. It also recognises the need for risk equity capital. The new 3i type fund could build on the £75 million Capital for Enterprise Fund launched by the government.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/misc/131_mandelson_mar_speech.aspTue, 10 Mar 2009 08:56:30 GMTLike the mobile semiconductor market, legacy vendors selling into the digital televisions (DTVs) market are consolidating, with increasing pressure coming from captive Asian vendors and aggressive Taiwanese vendors. Growth in HDTV, spurred by the European approval of a ‘post DVB-T’ standard – the DVB-T2, and internet accessed TV – creates a whole new opportunity for some nimble start-ups.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/075_DTV_Market.aspxTue, 10 Mar 2009 08:57:19 GMTIn what will become a template for other standards-based market evolution, the broadband market provides interesting insights. The latest research figures suggest that only three chip suppliers control 95 percent of a declining DSL market, while the new growth market in video DSL is also facing similar moves, driven by consolidation in the cable and broadband market. The data also shows that Internet protocol television (IPTV) will change the way the world views entertainment both inside and outside the home, and represents one of the most significant paradigm shifts in the communications world since the rise of the cell-phone market.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/076_Telco_Broadband.aspxTue, 10 Mar 2009 08:58:13 GMTGlobal shipments of displays for mobile handsets are expected to decline by more than six percent in 2009 and remain flat in 2010 as worsening economic conditions continue to impact the wireless industry. The latest market data also suggests that mew handset demand from the emerging countries will not be sufficient to offset this decline. However, if suppliers can withstand the price cuts, volume reductions and capacity utilisation drop-offs, they should be positioned for a turnaround in 2011.http://www.thechillired.com/articles/marketsnaps/077_Mobile_Handsets.aspxTue, 10 Mar 2009 08:58:55 GMTCiting the current economic health of its members, many of whom are nursing a severely impaired assets base (including property, equities) and are focusing on existing portfolio rather than invest in new ventures, EBAN, the European Business Angel Network, which represents 90 angel groups across Europe, is asking public policy makers for some help, including capacity building, help with filling the so called ‘equity gap’, cost of monitoring and collecting deal data, and subsidising the running of angel networks, as more members tighten their belts and quit the scene. No doubt, these issues will be discussed heavily at the forthcoming 9th annual jamboree of European Angels taking place on 27/28 April 2009 in Madrid. So what should policy makers do to make sure that great innovations find access to finance at their early stages?http://www.thechillired.com/articles/investorprofiles/015_BusinessAngels.aspxTue, 10 Mar 2009 09:00:04 GMTThe European Tech Tour Association (ETT) has launched the ETT Cleantech Summit 2009, a sector-specific event focused on bringing together Europe’s most innovative cleantech start-ups with leading venture capitalists and senior industry professionals. The association is now calling for applications from start-up companies, the deadline for which is April 15th 2009.http://www.thechilli.com/articles/chilliBites/116_cleantech_call.aspTue, 10 Mar 2009 10:29:28 GMTThe business and entrepreneurship agenda continues to be a key theme among many UK universities. The latest to come form the University of Cambridge is an opportunity to aspiring entrepreneurs to gain a recognised qualification in entrepreneurship. The Advanced Diploma in Entrepreneurship, jointly created by professional studies at the Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) and the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (CfEL) based at Judge Business School, will start in September 2009.http://www.thechillired.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=507&Itemid=335Sun, 22 Mar 2009 22:45:11 GMTGoing against a conventional view that says governments are always lousy at picking winners and individual sectors, the R&D society concluded exactly the opposite. According to the latest R&D Society meeting, “Why choose the UK as a location for corporate R&D?”, the panel concluded that the government must be prepared to pick winners in its science and innovation policy if it is to get maximum economic benefit out of the wide research base in the UK.http://www.thechillired.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=506&Itemid=335Sun, 22 Mar 2009 22:46:05 GMTWe first came across Sloka Telecom in 2006 and they were featured in our chilliGOLD service. A major telecoms oprator in Europe took notice and asked their Indian partner to investigate: and now, there is an open bid for the company. However the comapny may decide to stay solo and raise a further round thus enabling it to monetise its low cost Femtocell, WiMAX and 3G basestation.http://www.thechilli.com/index.phpWed, 01 Apr 2009 08:05:45 GMTFor companies in telecoms and IT, the green shoots of economic recovery are virtually nowhere to be seen, according to the Tech Sector Barometer, a new biannual survey whose results are published by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Sixty-six percent of respondents expect the financial health of tech companies to worsen in the next six months, and fewer than 10 percent say it will improve.http://www.thechilli.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=514&Itemid=335Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:06:36 GMTConsumer electronics are being transformed by networking technology. Demand for connectivity between mainstream electronic devices in the home including TVs, gaming consoles and laptops is driving the need for Wi-Fi networking. 802.11g products currently dominate the game, accounting for more than eight in ten SOHO ( small office home office) / consumer access point shipments. However, "g" will soon be supplanted by the much faster 802.11n, especially when economies of scale push prices down to more affordable general consumer levels. http://www.thechilli.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=515&Itemid=335Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:07:11 GMTChina surpassed the United States to become the world's second largest auto-making nation, in 2008 and in 2009 is expected to displace Japan as the world's largest car producer. In 2003, US car production surpassed that of China by nearly a factor of 3:1. In 2008, China's production exceeded that of the United States by nearly 7 percent.http://www.thechilli.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=519&Itemid=335Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:16:34 GMTThe global recession has put a brake on expected large-scale femtocell deployments by major mobile operators. However, the average price of femtocells is still a major challenge facing vendors and operators alike. The psychological barrier of a $100 femtocell cannot be overlooked and low-cost femtocells are essential to bridge the gap between niche market and mass-market deployments.http://www.thechilli.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=518&Itemid=335Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:17:51 GMTThe RFID market continues to be worthy of cautious optimism in the near to mid-term, particularly in the closely-watched passive UHF segment. The market does not anticipate near-term market contraction based on economic conditions. It is expected that total revenue earned from RFID transponders, readers, software and services will amount to more than $5.6 billion in 2009.http://www.thechilli.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=517&Itemid=335Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:18:45 GMTFor companies in telecoms and IT, the green shoots of economic recovery are virtually nowhere to be seen, according to a new survey. Sixty-six percent of respondents expect the financial health of tech companies to worsen in the next six months, and fewer than 10 percent say it will improve.http://www.thechilli.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=514&Itemid=335Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:19:35 GMTNo matter who you ask, the assessment is the same: 2009 will be a bad year for cellular handset sales worldwide. However, current forecasts for 2010 are cautiously optimistic, with telltale signs that at least some parts of the handset ecosystem may be starting to steady, with many handset vendors replacing component inventories after reducing them to very low levels in recent months.http://www.thechilli.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=516&Itemid=335Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:20:21 GMTBraveheart , the technology commercialisation and investment management company based in Perth, Scotland, has made a follow on investment of £150,000 into Traak Systems Ltd (Traak), a spin-out from the University of Edinburgh that focuses on RFID and sensors-based solutions. The funding is Braveheart's ninth investment from its Alpha EIS Fund.http://www.thechilli.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=521&Itemid=335Fri, 03 Apr 2009 09:38:15 GMTThe UN predicts that the world economy is now facing the worst downturn since the Great Depression. For the highly-exposed UK enterprise sector, the old “innovate or die” maxim has assumed a new urgency. With UK government setting out its stall on innovation as the key to leading the UK out of deep and long-lasting recession, Jon Treanor asks what will it take to make the ambition a reality, and what structures need to be in place to unlock the true value from the UK’s undoubted strengths in technology and IP development?http://www.thechilli.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=524&Itemid=335Sat, 11 Apr 2009 09:32:04 GMTAlthough Vintage 2008* Israeli venture capital funds raised only a total of $793 million in 2008, 30 percent less than the $1.14 billion raised in 2007, the total amount available for VC investment in high-tech companies, is still sizeable at $1 billion. A number of funds completed their capital raising efforts, including Carmel III with $235 million, Gemini V with $150 million and Cedar III with a $100 million fund. It is forecasted that only $300m will be raised in 2009, due to the economic climate.http://www.thechilli.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=522&Itemid=335Sat, 11 Apr 2009 09:32:37 GMTYoung firms (less than one year old) have a net employment growth rate of about 15 percent if they survive, but at same time about 20 percent of jobs at start-ups are lost due to business establishment closings in the first year. On the other hand, older firms (age 29 and older), create jobs at a rate of about 4 percent, conditional on survival, and have a same rate of job loss, due to business establishment closings or mergers.http://www.thechilli.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=527&Itemid=335Mon, 11 May 2009 10:45:20 GMTAmericans want to see more initiatives that aid small businesses, like the $15 billion package unveiled by President Obama, according to a recent poll. Respondents prefer giving individuals the incentives they need to start their own businesses as opposed to allowing the government to create new jobs directly or through big corporations. The survey also highlights the difference between the agenda to date in Washington and the attitudes and beliefs of the American people.http://www.thechilli.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=526&Itemid=335Mon, 11 May 2009 10:45:56 GMTAccess to capital is a perennial problem SMEs encounter, since they are unable to give the guarantees traditional lenders require. To help tackle this, the EU definition facilitates equity financing for SMEs by granting favourable treatment to certain investors, such as regional funds, venture capital companies and business angels without the enterprise losing its SME status. Most European governments are now adopting the EU definition for micro, small, medium business depending on their revenue, number of employees and size of balance sheet.http://www.thechilli.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=528&Itemid=335Mon, 11 May 2009 10:46:34 GMTSubsequent to the UK government announcing the Capital for Enterprise Fund Managers (‘CfEFM') programme in January, two leading fund managers, Aberdeen Asset Managers Private Equity ("Aberdeen") and Octopus Private Equity ("Octopus PE") have been appointed to manage £30m each from the £75m Capital for Enterprise Fund (‘CFE Fund'). The balance of £15m will be used for co-investments. Investors in the £75m fund of funds are the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (‘BERR') along with HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and The Royal Bank of Scotland. http://www.thechilli.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=529&Itemid=335Mon, 11 May 2009 10:47:08 GMTThe UK government effort to reduce the confusing number of publicly funded business support schemes from over 3,000 to less than 100 by 2010 is making steady progress with the introduction of nine more products: Enterprise Coaching, Improving Your Resource Efficiency, Collaborative R&D, Networking for Innovation, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, Innovation Vouchers, Low Carbon Energy Demonstration, Grant for R&D, Rural Development Programme for England. If you are confused - well some are actually re-branding of old programmes under new themes. Here is the list of the first 30 which you can access from your local Business Link.http://www.thechilli.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=530&Itemid=335Mon, 11 May 2009 10:47:49 GMTWhen you prepare your business plan or assess the opportunities for your venture, do you confuse the ‘market’ and ‘industry’? It is easy for would-be entrepreneurs to confuse the two; markets define the group of customers that may buy your products or services, and the industry is the competitor landscape within the market you are targeting.http://www.thechillipremium.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=533&Itemid=335Mon, 11 May 2009 10:49:22 GMTSmall and medium sized enterprises in Wales now have access to a £150m fund to provide expansion capital to more than 800 businesses and create up to 15,000 new jobs across Wales. The first JEREMIE fund (£75m), when added to a further £60m from the Welsh Government, takes the total to £150m, and enables 'Finance Wales plc' , the commercial funding provider, to make debt and equity investments in SME business in Wales. Finance Wales is owned by the Welsh Assembly Government. This will kick-start the birth of a whole new government owned (sponsored), municipal banking network in the UK. However don't expect them to compete with high street banks, as they come with severe restrictions so as not to tread on existing banks' patch.http://www.thechillipremium.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=532&Itemid=335Mon, 11 May 2009 10:49:44 GMT'Banking on Essex' is UK's first major municipal bank since 1915. Essex County Council (ECC) will inject £50 million from its cash reserves into the new banking scheme, which will be managed by Abbey Corporate Banking. Initially, £30m will be made available to viable local SMEs businesses within Essex for loans and overdrafts up to £100,000. Before you get too excited, this facility is not for start-ups, and there are further restrictions.http://www.thechillipremium.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=531&Itemid=335Mon, 11 May 2009 10:50:20 GMTThe British Business Angels Association (BBAA) has welcomed the UK government’s measures announced in the budget for a £750 million new Strategic Investment Fund to support high growth technology businesses. http://www.thechillipremium.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=538&Itemid=335Mon, 11 May 2009 10:50:56 GMTOxford Investment Opportunity Network (OION), which claims to be Europe’s leading technology business angel network, has announced results showing that it has enjoyed a record breaking year of helping innovative companies to secure funding. http://www.thechillipremium.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=535&Itemid=335Mon, 11 May 2009 10:51:33 GMTAs a result of large numbers of corporate insolvencies, a 43.6 percent rise in Q1’09 alone, large numbers of company directors are being disqualified. Where company directors are found to have been guilty of misconduct, they can be disqualified from acting as a director in the future. Currently, some seven directors a day are disqualified as a result of investigations conducted by the UK Insolvency Service.http://www.thechillipremium.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=534&Itemid=335Mon, 11 May 2009 10:52:09 GMTAlthough the overall Dutch private equity (PE, which includes management buy-outs, leveraged buy-outs and venture capital) market has collapsed by half, the Dutch venture capital market is continuing to invest in seed and start-ups. Despite dire economic conditions, the total amount of seed and start-up capital invested increased to €228 million in 2008, up 66 percent from €137 million in 2007; Dutch VCs put 41 percent of all investments in seed and start-up capital, compared with 47 percent in 2007. The current economic crisis had only a limited impact, as investors assess these companies largely in terms of their long term perspective.http://www.thechillipremium.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=539&Itemid=335Mon, 11 May 2009 10:53:00 GMTAlthough, monthly data from the British Bankers Association shows consistent rise in SME lending, the feedback from SMEs is that banks are cutting back and switching to more expensive products. So what is really going on? Data for March shows that lending by high street banks to SMEs rose by £271 million to reach £45,938 million. However, this figure hides the underlying pressure by Banks to switch SMEs from overdraft facilities to term lending; bankers withdrew £457m overdrafts in December 2008 alone. Although not directly impacting SMEs, foreign banks’ lending in the market has virtually collapsed.http://www.thechillipremium.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=vi