SigEx Ventures : Investors are becoming increasingly interested in green technologyby Corina Ciubotaru

As climate change becomes a reality we are all responsible for, and governments start raising awareness, venture capital investors seem to be increasingly attracted to clean tech. In 2006, $2.9 billion were invested in this field in the US, compared to $1.6 billion in 2005, and a big part of this money went into energy-related ventures. This figure increased by nearly 60% in the first quarter of 2007 making the clean tech venture market the third most significant after biotechnology and software. GE was a big investor in clean tech in recent times; in the beginning of the year, they invested in a company that researches batteries for hybrid vehicles, and the American giant probably won’t stop here, aiming to invest $4 billion in renewable energy by 2010. Other companies have also announced they want to join the race: Citigroup is willing to invest $50 billion in the next ten years in companies that address climate change issues, while Bank of America intends to invest $20 billion in the same area. In Europe, the level of investment is significantly lower and it’s decreased in 2006 compared to the previous year. What should concern European leaders even more is that not only are they significantly behind the US when it comes to investments, but that the Americans have invested more in European ventures than the actual people benefiting from them. Part of this problem is due to insufficient state involvement in the issue, but some potential investors consider that there aren’t enough opportunities for them in Europe.

related story: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070606-clean-tech-investments-pull-in-10-percent-of-us-venture-capital.html

by Corina Ciubotaru for SigEx Ventures (http://sigexventures.com)

SigEx Ventures's matrix of properties are quickly becoming leaders in digital telebroadcasting, free content delivery allowing people to easily talk, view, upload and share through free online TV broadcasting, free unlimited global calls, video blogs and SMS. SigEx Ventures invests in projects deploying "free" to add-on royalty revenue models

SigEx Ventures : Private equity companies going publicby Ioana Madalina Tantareanu

As a result of the tech-bubble bear market, most asset classes outside of U.S. large cap stocks, U.S. government securities, and municipal debt have been deemed "non-traditional" or "alternative" in some way.One of the biggest beneficiaries of this trend was private equity and the investors have flooded firms such as Blackstone and KKR with cash.Opportunities in the marketplace are researched by private equity. They are different from the standard stock analysis,which tends to focus on relatively arbitrary quarterly earnings per share estimates, because they analyze companies to determine whether the lines of business are worth more together or apart and they try to find unexploited opportunities. Richard Gere's character in "Pretty woman movie" would be the personification of today's "private equity." There are many options in having and managing a company. Sometimes it`s the best thing to do to tear the company apart and sell it, but sometimes you may leave it whole and shake up the business model.Going public doesn't necessarily take away these company`a flexibility.Warren Buffet's company Berkshire Hathaway has as it`s core business insurances.Geico and General Re are some of the primary lines of business.This hasn`t stopped Berkshire Hathaway from investing in, or acquiring, a host of other companies, like companies from high-tech electronics to making candy. Investors buy shares of the holding company, not the private equity subsidiary, refering to taking the private out of private equity.These will be publicly traded companies who engage in private equity portfolio management as their primary line of business, in order to cash in on the recent boom and successes and to provide liquidity for the firm's shareholders.

by Ioana Madalina Tantareanu for SigEx Ventures (http://sigexventures.com)

SigEx Ventures's matrix of properties are quickly becoming leaders in digital telebroadcasting, free content delivery allowing people to easily talk, view, upload and share through free online TV broadcasting, free unlimited global calls, video blogs and SMS. SigEx Ventures invests in projects deploying "free" to add-on royalty revenue models

SigEx Ventures : Private equity picking up steamby Delia Cruceru

Although market commentators said that New Zealand’s global buyout is going down, in here the private equity activity is blooming. This year the many deals regarding private equity firms like Yellow Pages and MediaWorks have been transacted. Corporate raider Carl Icahn said “the global boom has reached its peaked” and Blackstone Group, Kravis, Kohlberg, Roberts (KKR) and Carlyle Group capable of paying high prices are waiting for better offers and deals. Paul Chrystal, head of private equity from Goldman Sachs JBWere said that in New Zealand assets are becoming very expensive: “not all people paying high prices are overpaying, but if they are, there's always more risk that they will have a difficult time later. I don't think there's any serious investors in the private equity market who haven't felt the pressure of prices, are worried by it, and are probably more cautious." AMP Capital Investor’s boss says "base interest rates and risk spreads are rising. While we'd seen private equity interest, we hadn't seen transactions on the smaller part of the market. That's clearly changed with Tourism Holdings and MediaWorks.” Chief economist and head of investment strategy of AMP Capital Investors says the boom in the private equity takeover activity will get bigger and will have positive effects.

related story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10451724

by Delia Cruceru for SigEx Ventures (http://sigexventures.com)

SigEx Ventures's matrix of properties are quickly becoming leaders in digital telebroadcasting, free content delivery allowing people to easily talk, view, upload and share through free online TV broadcasting, free unlimited global calls, video blogs and SMS. SigEx Ventures invests in projects deploying "free" to add-on royalty revenue models

SigEx Ventures : Russia makes its first steps in nanotechnologyby Corina Ciubotaru

In recent times, Russia has apparently set a goal for itself to become once again a leader the scientific world. The IT industry has grown rapidly to around $1.5 billion in 2006 and it’s reached 1.5% of GDP, but it still has a long way to go before it can compare itself to IT leaders like the US, India or Ireland. And since this business has developed mainly by itself, it is now time for Russia as a state to set its sights on other areas of science it can develop. After being the first nation to send a man into space, today’s Russians want to return to greatness by heavily investing in nanotechnology research labs. Vladimir Putin intends to set up a state corporation worth $5 billion to implement state policy in the field. It will be under the umbrella of First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, who oversees industrial development projects in Russia and is likely to become the next president of the country. Putin acknowledged nanotechnology as a priority industry in April, in his yearly address to the nation. Though Russians are aware of the importance of foreign investment in developing sectors, the actual investors don’t seem all that interested. Suspicions of political favors appear in each of these attempts to develop Russian industry, and sometimes for good reason. With a good educational system and highly trained scientists, the country stands a fighting chance in the nanotech war, but it will all come down to how accurately the billions will reach their intended destinations.

by Corina Ciubotaru for SigEx Ventures (http://sigexventures.com)

SigEx Ventures's matrix of properties are quickly becoming leaders in digital telebroadcasting, free content delivery allowing people to easily talk, view, upload and share through free online TV broadcasting, free unlimited global calls, video blogs and SMS. SigEx Ventures invests in projects deploying "free" to add-on royalty revenue models

Google Lays Groundwork for TV Scatter Sales Sortie

Google is looking for a head of national TV sales. The recruitment ad, posted on its website, says the winning candidate. will build a "world-class national TV-advertising-sales team and lead the effort to both sell television solutions and shape a next-generation advertising platform."

The ad goes on to say the search giant is looking for a candidate with "extensive senior-level relationships with advertisers, both with agencies and clients directly." What it doesn't say, at least not in so many words, is that Google is desperately trying to wedge itself into the $65 billion U.S. TV-ad-sales market.
Those close to some of the talks the search giant has had with TV executives said Google's first priority is to persuade broadcast networks to let it sell their 30-second spots. To that end Google has had talks with the broadcast networks, cable programmers and several cable operators, including Comcast and Cablevision.

In connection to digital TV broadcasting , there is another company- SigEx Ventures , co-founded by Chris Cantell and Frederic Artru – that develops telebroadcasting and VoIP technologies. Sigex Ventures has managed to develop an impressive network of client domains, summing up to 169 websites ranging from business and technology to entertaining and gaming. Find out more about SigEx Ventures and its partner company- The Foundry School , by visiting http://thefoundryschool.tv/

New Broadband From VBS.tv and SuperDeluxe.com

Programming is wide ranging but firmly in the Vice voice and includes series such as "Bolivian Marching Powder," in which a Vice correspondent tracks down Bolivia's president, Evo Morales, travels the famously deadly road from La Paz and fills us in on the hows and whys of cocaine production. (And what do you know? I can watch this without providing my last two tax returns.)

Other highlights include the online version of the Vice Travel Guide. The latter features such off-the-beaten-track adventures as New Year's Eve in Kabul and Vice co-founder Suroosh Alvi's trip inside Northwest Pakistan to check in on an illegal-arms market.

This is not to say all the site's content is so weighty. The magazine's still-funny staple "Do's and Don'ts" comes to life with staffers and a range of guests such as Judah Friedlander and David Cross dissecting the usual assortment of lifestyle and fashion choices. And as a counterpoint to just about everything, there's the oddly absorbing "The Cute Show," featuring soft bunnies and little ponies (see the March issue of Creativity for more on VBS).

Talking about newest technology developments, SigEx Ventures is a company you may want to take a close at, Thus, SigEx Ventures, in conjunction with the Foundry, enables fully-funded, viable structures for business R&D to address alpha-beta development projects for strategic customers that include global telecommunications carriers, network equipment manufacturers, information technology companies, and digital content providers. The projects developed by the Foundry are all pre-funded by the SigEx Ventures investments fund for a period of 12 to 18 months. The most successful of these may become sustainable ventures.

Gap makes a gape their success branding trajectory

Time's run out on Gap's Forth & Towne. Gap Inc < a href=” http://www.gap.com/browse/home.do>. is shuttering the concept after an 18-month pilot proved the store brand, which was aimed at women over age 35, wouldn't deliver "an acceptable long-term return on investment."

"We made the tough decision to close the brand and focus our efforts on stabilizing the existing businesses," Bob Fisher, Gap Inc. chairman and interim president-CEO, said in a statement. The marketer will instead turn its attention to reviving its Gap and Old Navy brands and other efforts with "greater potential" for building shareholder value. The announcement comes just three days before Gap Inc. is scheduled to release its fiscal-year results and turnaround plans

As a result of the decision, the company will close 19 Forth & Towne stores in 10 domestic markets by June. The closures will affect 550 employees; Gap Inc. said it will look at ways to reassign those workers to other stores. The company will take a $40 million pre-tax expense on the closure over the first half of the coming fiscal year. The company hasn't announced its plans for Gary Muto, president of Forth & Towne. The brand's ad agency, AR, New York, also handles Gap Inc.'s Banana Republic.

Success crosses paths with SigEx Ventures - a private investment fund focused exclusively on the emerging Enhanced Communications industry. SigEx is also pairing with its elite training center partner- The Foundry School , in order to provide a sustainable and steady platform of engineering and business professionals. The concepts and principles that render SigEx and Foundry with velocity and viability – they all stay under the signature of their founders – Chris Cantell and Frederic Artru. You can take a glimpse at their business profile on http://thefoundryschool.tv/