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7-Eleven Joins Ranks of Corporate Venture Capital Investors

8/29/2013

7-Eleven as a corporate venture capital investor? Yesterday's article on Upstart Business Jornal "7-Eleven takes a big gulp of venture capital" discusses why 7-Eleven has created 7-Ventures, its venture capital initiative. 7-Eleven looks to learn about new products and services from investing in startups in the retail and food spaces and apply that knowledge to develop new products. The startups benefit from having 7-Eleven as an investor as 7-Eleven has knowledge of how customers shop, and has a large network of stores that can serve as a testing ground for startups.

Here's the link: http://upstart.bizjournals.com/money/loot/2013/08/28/7-11-takes-a-big-gulp-of-venture-capital.html

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Six IPOs Priced Friday, Including Cvent, The Event Management Software Company

8/10/2013

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Six companies priced their initial public offerings on Friday in a strong showing for the IPO market. Among the companies that prices was Cvent, Inc. the cloud-based event management software company.

Cvent priced 5.6 million shares of common stock at $21.00 per share, for gross proceeds of $117.6 million. Cvent opened at an eye-opening $38 per share, and closed the day at $32.92. Morgan Stanley was the "lead left" book running manager with Goldman Sachs as the joint-book running manager, with Stifel, Pacific Crest and Needham acting as co-managers. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange with ticker "CVT".

Venture backers of Cvent include New Enterprise Associates, Insight Venture Partners and Greenspring Associates.

Cvent prospectus: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1122897/000119312513327950/d520989d424b1.htm

Cvent IPO press release: http://www.cvent.com/en/company/cvent-announces-pricing-of-initial-public-offering.shtml

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The IPO Market's Baby Boomlet - Barron's Article

8/4/2013

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The market for initial public offerings is hot, possibly even white hot, according to the article "The IPO Market's Baby Boomlet" by Jack Willoughby that appeared yesterday on Barron's.com. Forty-four IPOs priced in the second quarter of this year, the most since the fourth quarter of 2006. Conditions are good for the IPO market: the stock market is up, volatility has been low and IPOs have performed well out of the gate, with IPOs in the first half of 2013 up nearly 17% on the first day of trading. Other factors cited have been the passage of the JOBS Act last year as well as institutional investors shifting away from being risk averse to seeking growth. The article goes on to discuss how biotech deals have benefited from this trend. The article also identifies companies that are rumored IPO candidates, including:

Twitter (social media);
Dropbox (file sharing);
Chegg (online textbook rentals);
Violin Memory (flash memory arrays);
Sugar CRM (salesforce automation);
Foursquare (social networking);
Spotify (subscription music streaming); and
King (mobile games).

It's a good article and worth a read. Here's the link: http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052748704329604578638300022357518.html#articleTabs_article%3D1

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Venture Capital Fundraising Plummets in China in 2Q2013 - China Money Network

8/3/2013

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Investment in Chinese funds plummeted to $73 million in just two funds in the second quarter of 2013, according to an article appearing on China Money Network. This amount was less than a tenth of the amount raised in the first quarter. The vast majority of the funds raised were by Envision Capital's Growth Fund II, according to the article. Investment in Chinese venture-backed companies was also down - $438 million was invested in 47 deals, with deal value down 9% from the first quarter.

Exits actually improved, albeit from pretty dismal levels. There were two venture-backed IPOs in the second quarter, up from zero in the first quarter. Also, there were nine venture-backed merger and acquisition exits in the first half of 2013, up from four in the first half of 2012.

I continue to hear from venture capitalists that the Chinese venture market is challenged, but these figures seem worse than what I'm hearing.

Link: http://www.chinamoneypodcast.com/2013/08/01/venture-capital-fundraising-plummets-in-china

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7-Eleven Joins Ranks of Corporate Venture Capital Investors

Six IPOs Priced Friday, Including Cvent, The Event Management Software Company

The IPO Market's Baby Boomlet - Barron's Article

Venture Capital Fundraising Plummets in China in 2Q2013 - China Money Network

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