Mark Boslet
If you’re the founder of a startup contemplating an initial public offering or considering an M&A exit, Frank Quattrone has advice for you. Quattrone, of course, makes a living doling out words of financial wisdom at his two-year old investment bank, Qatalyst Partners. This week he dispensed the goods for free, fortified by his recent […]
If there is one thing Fred Wilson and John Doerr can agree on it is this: The Internet bubble is real and valuations are frothier than a Starbucks latte. Unfortunately, that’s where the merging of the minds ends. In the opinion of the mischievous, sometimes outspoken Wilson, managing partner at Union Square Ventures, the current […]
Zynga Game Network Inc. is the new king of social gaming M&A.
Over the past six months, the company has made 6 acquisitions to stretch the boundaries of its realm. Roughly 320 million people have now played one of its 10 games (FarmVille, FrontierVille, Mafia Wars). And it has 1,300 employees.
Founder and Chief Executive Mark Pincus says more acquisitions are likely on the way. “If you have a startup here, please call us,” Pincus (pictured) says during a brief on-stage appearance at the Web 2.0 Summit going on in San Francisco.
Consumer brands want to experiment with mobile commerce. But you might be surprised where they want to focus. It isn’t always on coupons that offer product discounts. Why condition a loyal customer to expect a price break? Three big consumer brand companies -– Coca Cola, Best Buy and Procter & Gamble –- offered tips on […]
Foursquare Labs, Yammer, Groupon. Social mobile media is hot, especially if it targets ecommerce and the enterprise. So how does a tiny next generation startup compete with today’s more entrenched players? That seemed to be the unanswered question at the Under the Radar conference today in Mountain View, Calif. The conference brought together more than […]
Retailigence Inc., a startup hoping to break into the crowded yet promising mobile shopping market, said Friday it raised a $1.5 million seed round from several top pedigree investors. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company has developed an application program interface, or API, to link mobile shopping applications to backroom data, such as inventory records. It […]
Angel fundraising continues at a pretty good clip, but one angel says he isn’t interested in participating. At least not yet. “We’ve kind of contemplated it,” says super angel Marcus Ogawa, managing partner of Quest Venture Partners. But “I’m a little hesitant to do an LP-based fund.” That’s because the financial incentive isn’t there. Why […]
Nanotech investing was once the hottest thing in technology. Now it is cooling, for a second time. Most of you remember the nanotech bubble from the middle of this decade when promises of big breakthroughs drove billions of dollars in public, private and government capital. Then there was an end to that love affair. But […]
Private company M&A terms are a financial minefield for entrepreneurs hoping to cash out after years of building a company. Part of the reason for that is many deals require 10% or more of the purchase price sit in escrow for more than a year. Greater than two-thirds of transactions can see purchase price adjustments […]
Shasta Ventures is preparing to raise a $250 million early stage fund, its third, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. The firm is not officially in the market yet, but its general partners have been meeting with LPs to gauge interest and could kick off fund-raising early next year, according to the […]