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Posts Tagged ‘boic’

VC fundraising dropped 21 percent in 2008

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on February 3, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Fundraising by U.S. venture capital firms declined 21.4 percent in 2008, a new report has found, driven down by a sharp decline in the fourth quarter as the global financial crisis throttled the industry that bankrolls much of Silicon Valley’s innovation.

The report, issued Monday by the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters, found that $27.9 billion was raised in 211 funds in 2008, compared with $35.5 billion in 247 funds in 2007. Fundraising in the fourth quarter totaled $3.37 billion, down more than $5 billion from the previous quarter and nearly $8.3 billion less than the amount raised in the fourth quarter of 2007.

The news was by no means unexpected. VCs and their limited partner investors — pension funds, university endowments and other large financial institutions — have all embraced a more conservative strategy in the uncertain economy. Industry analysts expect the pace of fundraising and deal-making to remain relatively slow through at least the first half of 2009.

Read the full article here

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Blackberry Storefront Accepting App Applications

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 29, 2009| Leave a Comment »

From GigaOm

Following in the footsteps of Apple and its iTunes App store, several mobile companies have announced plans to launch their own storefronts. Research In Motion is looking to launch its store relatively soon, and it took a major step forward when it started accepting applications from app writers to have their apps included in the new Blackberry Storefront.

While RIM already has a wide variety of applications available for its platform, it doesn’t have the momentum of Apple, which recently noted that more than 500 million apps were downloaded to its iPhones and iTouch devices. RIM has its work cut out for it; the company is fighting with the likes of Apple, Google, Palm and Symbian to get a toehold with developers. The company had launched a special VC fund to help find and grow apps for its platform. (Related posts: Watch the Future of mobile apps and economics of the platforms video at Mobilize 08 conference.)

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Chaos Reigns in the PC Industry

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 27, 2009| Leave a Comment »

The popularity of netbooks, Acer’s rise, Lenovo’s fall, the struggles of component makers to sell virtually anything — it all makes for a crazy time in the personal computer market these days.

The major PC component suppliers –- companies like Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia, Seagate and Western Digital –- are reeling as hardware sales dry up. The credit crunch took its toll on business spending, then American corporations shut down in December in a bid to save money and now companies in China have halted their spending as the Chinese New Year approaches.

As Auguste Richard, a chip analyst with Piper Jaffray, told me, “There is nothing going on right now. This is as dark and deep as it goes, with companies not buying or selling anything.”

Read the full article here.

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One Day You’re Indispensable, the Next Day…

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on January 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Indispensable? No one is, we’re told. Times change, people move on and the notion of the irreplaceable individual is a myth. That is irrefutable, at least in the cosmic sense of Charles de Gaulle’s grim reminder: “The cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men.”

Yet there are moments in history, or institutions, that are so shaped by the extraordinary contributions of a single person that it is hard to imagine one without the other. So the indispensable-man debate was fueled anew last week when Steven P. Jobs said he was taking a leave of absence from Apple until July because his health problems were “more complicated” than he first thought.

Since he returned to Apple in late 1996, Mr. Jobs has been the product team leader, taste arbiter and public face of a company that has been a stylish breath of fresh air in the personal computer business. With the introduction of the iPod, iTunes and the iPhone, Apple has shaken up the music and cellphone industries as well.

Read the full NY Times article by Steve Lohr here

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Successful Date Certain M&A of “Business Unit and Intellectual Property”

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on January 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Steven R. Gerbsman, Principal of Gerbsman Partners and James Skelton, a member of Gerbsman Partners Board of Intellectual Capital, announced today their success in maximizing stakeholder value for a technology company that has been the leading provider of archival storage technology to the global IT market. Gerbsman Partners provided Crisis Management leadership, facilitated the sale of the business unit, associated Intellectual Property and assets and recovered substantial receivables. Due to market conditions, the senior lender made the strategic decision to maximize the value of the business unit and Intellectual Property. Gerbsman Partners provided leadership to the company with:

  • Crisis Management and Technology experience in developing the strategic action plans for maximizing value of the business unit, Intellectual Property and assets;
  • Proven domain expertise in maximizing the value of the business unit and Intellectual Property through a targeted and proprietary Date Certain M&A plan;
  • The ability to “Manage the Process” among potential Acquirers, Lawyers, Creditors Management and Advisors;
  • The proven ability to “Drive” toward successful closure for all parties at interest.

About Gerbsman Partners

Gerbsman Partners focuses on maximizing enterprise value for stakeholders and shareholders in under-performing, under-capitalized and under-valued companies and their Intellectual Property. In the past 60 months, Gerbsman Partners has been involved in maximizing value for 51 Technology, Life Science and Medical Device companies and their Intellectual Property and has restructured/terminated over $770 million of real estate executory contracts and equipment lease/sub-debt obligations. Since inception, Gerbsman Partners has been involved in over $2.2 billion of financings, restructurings and M&A transactions.

Gerbsman Partners has offices and strategic alliances in Boston, New York, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Europe and Israel.

For more information, please contact: Steve@GerbsmanPartners.com

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