King – Makers of Candy Crush – Post the Worst IPO of 2014

King Digital Entertainment, the company behind such games as Candy Crush Saga and Farm Heroes Saga, wen public on 26 March 2014. King opened at $20.50, but closed at $19.03, down more than 15%.

EdTech Company Parchment Adds $10M to Destroy Paper Transcripts

Parchment announced that it had closed a $10M round which brings the EdTech company's total funding to $45M. The company's work entails probably the least sexy aspect of education: transcript and other paper-based document management. In-fact, it almost seems that the nature of managing transcripts, and other such monotonous tasks, makes any solution that much more worthwhil

The Russian PE Market

Much has been made of the massive $51 billion Russia has spent on the Sochi Olympics, spurring allegations of corruption and indulgence by contractors, government employees and leaders alike. But this isn’t Russia’s first extravagant project.

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Indian eCommerce Giant Myntra Rejects M&A Talks, Raises $50M

Although you have probably never heard of it, Myntra is quietly capturing a huge segment of India's $3.1 billion eCommerce market. Myntra is, "India's largest online shopping destination for fashion and lifestyle products, with the latest catalog of original branded products for men, women and kids." Although Myntra is not as large or successful as India's largest eCommerce company, Flipkart - who raised the largest E Round of 2013 - it took a major step last week.

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2013 Saw 4 PE Trends Emerge in Europe

Eurozone countries have already faced the worst of their sovereign debt crisis and high unemployment. And while most European economies haven’t fully turned things around, it appears that there has been some GDP growth and either stabilization or reduction in unemployment across most countries on the continent. Europe still has a long way to go to reach pre-financial-crisis levels of economic growth and private equity investing, but PitchBook data show some positive trends for the continent heading into 2014.

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Is Google Ventures Actually an Incubator?

"It would seem almost natural for Google Ventures to exit its portfolio companies to its parent company. However, in its five years of prolific investing, Nest Labs is only the second portfolio company to be sold to Google. Google Ventures has sold an equal number of portfolio companies to Google as it has to Yahoo and Cisco Systems. Is this the norm for corporate venture capital firms or is Google Ventures an outlier?"

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Notable VC-Backed Acquisitions: 2013 in Review

On paper, 2013 has not been able to match the pace set in 2012 for venture capital-backed companies looking to find an exit, though it has by no means been a slow year. The number of VC-backed exits was down almost 14% from 2012 and capital exited lagged by a whopping 46%. However, it is important to note that 2012’s exit volume was bolstered by the massive $16 billion IPO of Facebook, and an unusually large final quarter, which was likely inflated due to the impending increase in the capital gains tax, which took effect on Jan 1st.

2013 in Review: Most Active U.S. Regions for PE Investment

The Mid-Atlantic, South and West Coast were the three most active regions for private equity investing in 2013, according to PitchBook data, as of Dec. 16. The Mid-Atlantic and South received a disproportionate amount of capital from PE firms this year, thanks largely to the mega-buyouts of Dell and Heinz, while the West Coast had a dearth of billion-dollar deals.

Bono Invests in Shop-Hers – a High-end Online Consignment Shop

As women all over the world gain access to Shop-Hers, there is no limit to what might be accomplished. Progress marches on, bringing the world closer to that pivotal moment when everyone will be on the same playing field.

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Bank Level Portfolio Analysis Is Coming To The People, From Quovo

Before Quovo, investors were stuck between simplistic, canned metrics or hyper-complicated technical systems. Quovo's ultimate goal is to give investors the power of the 'hyper-complicated technical systems' in an intuitive, understandable, and scalable way.

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