July « 2010 « articles

See How You Can Raise Venture Capital Like the Big Guys!

Filed under: Venture Capital, Angel investors & Business Plans Newsletters — admin @ 2:30 am

There is something here that you might not know, but you are able to raise the venture capital you need to fund your company and to grow into a world-class corporation. That’s right, raising capital can be easier that you think.

Click here to find out the formula to raise venture capital!

That’s right, you can raise capital so much more easily than ever before, and thanks to the internet, the old way to raise capital is DEAD! That’s right, if you are one of those entrepreneurs who is fussing about how your business plan will look and if it shows everything the investor expects to see, relax! Yes, you will have to eventually have your business plan ready for the investor, but you do not need it right away. There are ways you can win investors over by contacting them cold.

Writing a teaser email is the best way to contact an investor cold. The fact is that this is actually the only effective way to contact a venture capitalist. You need to understand that your typical venture capitalist or other formal investor will receive over 200 business plans on an average work week, hence they do not have the time to look at your plan unless they are interested. With the internet, more business plans are emailed to them as well.

The like factor is key to winning the funding you need. You can have the best business plan in the world and a product prototype that could disrupt all the markets in your industry, but the fact is the fact and if an investor does not like you, he could care less about your business plan or your product. You need to get the investor to like you and to trust you. For this reason, you need to build the like factor and the trust factor.

There is more to winning funding, such as choosing the right partner from a venture capital firm that has a preference in your industry and geographic location as well as stage preference.

Click here to find out the formula to raise venture capital!

You can do it and with the resources available you can get all the information you need to win over investors!

All the best and good luck!

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The Old Way Of Raising Venture Capital is Dead!

Filed under: Venture Capital, Angel investors & Business Plans Newsletters — admin @ 2:00 am

Did you know that everything you were taught about raising venture capital in business school is now dead? That’s right, the old school of raising venture capital is dead and you no longer need to make your business plan the top priority when you are preparing to see an investor.

Click here to learn the new way to successfully raise venture capital!

There is a method that is well tested and you can also learn this amazing method without paying through the nose. There are many entrepreneurs who have raised the capital for their companies with these methods and successfully to win over $1 billion in funding collectively.

That’s right, you can learn how you can get a venture capitalist to like you enough to fund your venture and also learn how to find the right partner from a vc firm to contact.

Now, what does this exactly mean that the old way to raise venture capital is dead? Well, with the widespread use of the internet, venture capitalists can see up to 400 business plans in an average work week. The use of email has enabled millions of entrepreneurs to send their business plans to investors and the truth is that venture capitalists are very busy, attending board meetings, reviewing new ventures, let alone have the time to read your business plan.

Though you still need a business plan because it is the roadmap of the course your business is to take and shows the investors the various milestones you plan to reach, this is not the first thing an investor will want to see. Writing a good teaser email to get the investor hooked onto your venture is the best way to contact a venture capitalist cold. Furthermore, when contacting a venture capitalist, you need to look at his firm and look at all the partners in the firm. Choose the investor that you feel comfortable working with.

Click here to learn the new way to successfully raise venture capital!

You can find the course that you need by clicking on the above link and you can learn how you too can get the funding for your company.

All the best and good luck!

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Business Investors

Filed under: Venture Capital Angel Investors Private equity blog — admin @ 12:40 am

Are you looking for business investors? You are not the only one, but you may be the successful one. Searching for a person or organization to invest in your work is not the easiest thing in the world. You cannot just ask money from anywhere. Firstly they won’t give it to you unless you have a solid plan of action and you can demonstrate your product or services has customer traction and secondly you have to realize that the relationship between the entrepreneur and the investor is a long-term one so each one must choose wisely.

There are more than 4500 investment firms you can choose from right now and they may all be a good match, but if you want a really good match and increase your chances of success you would have to select the one who is close to you area and identify the business partner from that firm who has invested and worked in the business field you are in. This type of venture capitalist will understand better, what your company is about and if he feels he can add value he will be more willing to invest. You just have to inspire him so he can convince his partners to invest in your company. If contacting him by phone or email doesn’t work try to find a common acquaintance who can introduce you to him. This will give you the time to see if your elevator pitch is really that good.

After you get funded work closely with your new partner, as he will do it’s best to help you gain more customers and improve your services. Only about a quarter of the companies the venture capitalists invest in are highly successful and this is usually because of the manager or market conditions.

Only smart entrepreneurs who get all the steps right get the funding they need. Be the smart one, build a strong investor database and get funded quickly.

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Venture capital firms

Filed under: Venture Capital Angel Investors Private equity blog — admin @ 12:39 am

When you want to boost up your business and you are in need of capital you start thinking where you can go to ask for funding. You probably asked for money from family and friends already and you may need more money than they could possibly raise. The other options are of course, private equity firms, venture capital firms, angels investors and debt loans.

You probably want to be able to concentrate on your business and not monthly payments you have due so the debt loan is out from the beginning. If you have to choose from the rest you will surely gain more if you chose the VCs. They are professional investors that raise money from insurance funds, private investors and other sources and invest them in businesses that can become highly profitable. The advantage of the VC funds is that in exchange for equity in your firm they will invest in it, non-returnable money and help you grow it exponentially.

More often than not, they will be experienced entrepreneurs with a lot of experience in the market they are investing in and besides money, they will contribute with advice and connections. This will sometimes be more valuable than the money.

Venture capitalists will usually want a place in your board committee and take an active part in running the company. Do not worry, they have the same purpose as you: transforming your small business into a billion dollar (or more) company.

You can find this type of funds all around the world but you should know they usually invest in firms, which are not further than 100 or 200 miles from the city they operate in. Still you have a great chance to be funded by one if you prepare a strong business plan.

Before all that, you must find the investors who are willing right now to bet their money on a company like yours. Click here to gain access to more than 4700 investment funds from all over the world. Hurry up. Your competition may already have this list.

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Can You Survive the Investor’s Due Diligence Process?

Filed under: Venture Capital, Angel investors & Business Plans Newsletters — admin @ 2:59 pm

Did you know that having your business plan prepared correctly does not necessarily guarantee that you will win that much needed investment. That’s right, the prospective investor will want to know whether his investment in your venture will pose an interest to him and his partners. Investors will figure this out by doing their due diligence on your venture.

Click here to find the right investor for you!

So what exactly is the due diligence process? Well, in a nutshell, due diligence is when the investor will fully research your business and through this process, investors can make a better decision on how many funds they should allocate to your business.

Typically, the due diligence process begins shortly after you sign the terms sheet with the investor, but you should try to have your prospective investor begin his due diligence process before you sign the terms sheet. Why? Well, you need to know that the terms sheet is a legal binding document and once you have signed the terms sheet, you are obligated to the investor’s terms and conditions. The terms sheet is the contract that you sign together with the investor and the terms that you both agree to.

What exactly does the investor research when he does his due diligence? Well, the answer is that due diligence is a careful screening process where the investor will look at every minute detail of your venture. Some of the things that investors look at include your company’s background, management and your company’s business plan. There are many things in your business plan that investors will look at and see if the numbers add up. Investors will have their audits and it is crucial that your numbers match up with the numbers that the investor’s auditors come up with. Investors know very well that there is an amount of risk in every venture, however, the risks that investors take are always calculated and they prefer the risks to be as calculated as possible.

In the due diligence process, investors will also look at discussions with the company’s management and evaluate the potential of the company’s success and determine what the project ROI will be. Furthermore, investors will also look at employment agreements, as well as your trade secrets, intellectual properties, patents, etc.

Click here to find the right investor for you!

Remember, you should be well prepared for the due diligence process, since all investors require due diligence in any venture they plan to invest in. You should have all your materials for the due diligence process ready long before hand to show the investors that you are prepared and they see that your company is ripe for an investment.

VCgate has all the resources you need to find the right investors and with our guides for raising venture capital and angel capital, you will have the information and the resources you need to get prepared for the due diligence process.

All the best and good luck!

Amir

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Puppet Labs

Filed under: Venture Capital News — admin @ 2:25 am

Puppet Labs raised $5 million venture capital from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byer

Puppet Labs announced they closed the Series B funding with $5 million to secure the company’s growth by expanding its engineering team.

Started back in 2005, Puppet Labs have seen a rapid growing after the first funding round of about $2 millions in 2009 from True Ventures and Radar Partners who also participated in this new funding round. Actually, Kevin Compton from Radar Partners also joined these days the board of Puppet.

The announcement of the new funding is coming together with the release of new Puppet software 2.6, the newest version with new features like Preliminary Windows Support, Rest API or Event Model and many more designed to make systems administrators manage tasks lot easier. All these come to strengthen the position of Puppet labs on the data server management market where start-ups like Linaro, Karmasphere or Opscode are turning into a strong competition.

Amoung the list of Puppet customers we can find heavy names like Digg, Twitter, Shopzilla or Oracle and together with thousands of users of the open source management software, they are making Puppet the number one provider in data center automation. This position and the huge potential of this market attracted Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byyer in supporting the round B funding.

KPCB is best known for its iFund who recently reached $200 million, venture capital raised mainly to support application development for Apple family, iPod, iPad or iPhone. Among the companies founded by KPCB through iFund is Zynga allowing the good farmers from Farmville to control their crops also on iPhone.

KPCB is very well involved also in green technology through its project Greentech. One of the KPCB Partners is Al Gore, the most famous environmentalist. Through Greentech, KPCB funded companies like Bloom Energy or Great Point Energy. Recently they participated in a $63 million funding in Emphase Banks along with PCG Asset Management and other investors.

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Compass Labs

Filed under: Start-up Companies Reviews — admin @ 2:23 am

Compass Labs - your precision targeting solution

Social Media is on the way up, that’s for sure and the advertising potential attracted many investors. One of them is Dilip Venkatachari who founded Compass Lab in 2009.
Dilip Venkatachari worked for both internet giants, Yahoo, as VP Insight Data Strategy and Google at DotMobi, the mobile ad division acquiring deep knowledge in the field. He also founded other two startup companies, CommerceSoft and CashEdge. Arjun Jayaram is also a co-founder of Compass Labs. He worked for Sybase, Bea and People Soft.

New Enterprice Associates, Triple Point Capital and others recently funded the company with $5 million (Series B funding) after a first round of funding in 2009 of $1 million. The money will be invested in further development of the business and to support the sales channels.

The potential of this market is enormous, as Social Media websites have seen exponential growth in the last few years and the forecasts shows that they will develop faster than any other online media in the next years. The advertising should be where the customers are. As the customers spend more and more time on websites like Twitter or Facebook, it is important for advertiser to allocate a good part of their budget to promote their product and services there. There are predictions that budgets spent in 2014 in Social media will be over $3 billion.

Still, these Social Media environments are not quite exactly the same as other marketing channels. The decision process slightly changed from “buying what you see more often” to “buying what your friend recommends you” and this process will continue with the development of social networks. This is why the services provided by Compass Labs - real time precision targeting on social media platforms - are a great help for any marketer. The solution offered by Compass Labs is designed to identify the consumers who are in the decisional process in buying products or services, the high time for sending a targeted message or a special offer with a direct result in a better conversion of ads into closed sales.

Given the potential of this market, Compass Lab has a great future ahead even the competition is not missing the game. There are several companies offering targeted marketing but most of them are specialized on certain platforms like Twithawk for Twitter. Still, the next years will bring to the table more companied in this field, for sure as the entry barriers are not so hard to be demolished.

Compass Labs is relying on a reduced number of employees but they are top-notched professionals in their field. They are looking to expand their team with other professionals. Andre Leb, a veteran from PriceGrabber.com with over 10 years experience in social media, recently joined the company as VP of Business Development.

Compass Labs is one of those start ups that should be watched closely. They will probably develop extensively in the near future as they activate in a market with a huge potential.

More information about Compass Labs their services you can find here

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Property Investors in South Africa

Filed under: Venture Capital Angel Investors Private equity blog — admin @ 6:37 am

South Africa was almost a virgin ground for investments as we know them until 1990. After that almost epic date, the government had continuously tried to attract foreign investors and had released advantageous policies for property investors in South Africa. The country is a strong touristic attraction being one of the safest in Africa and has a good infrastructure, which continues to grow. Until 2004, the real estate market was growing exponentially and it still is even if it slowed down a little because of the higher interest rates. This year property investment has a big pull again as the World Cup has attracted a lot of eyes and other types of investment.

There are other advantages also: the low exchange rate between the Rand and other world currencies, steady growth of the house market (about 15% a year), a low offer of housing, a tax break of about 20% on rental for five years, other taxation breaks and the fact that the country seems to become safer, although the white people are now a little “on the run”. All these have made private equity funds and venture capital funds to break their usual rule, which said that they would not invest in far away countries and push some money around in this exotic place. The place is not that far as there are four major airports that have frequent connections to cities all around the world and especially Europe.

Investors have rushed to buy property in places like Muizenberg or the Western Cape where the return on investments are just amazing. Moreover, despite the fact that about nine languages are official in South Africa, English is used everywhere making it easy for foreign investors.

If you are looking for someone to invest in property in South Africa, you have a lot of advantages to present and get them interested.
Click here to find foreign investors who are willing to invest in South Africa.

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Russian investors

Filed under: Venture Capital Angel Investors Private equity blog — admin @ 6:35 am

They are on the front page of newspapers from time to time and do not stop
to impress the world with their huge fortunes. Only to count the first 100 richest
Russians and their total estimated value is close to $140 billions with no less than
62 billionaires and 50 of them living in Moscow. Impressive figures. Not to mention the oil or gas colossus like Lukoil or Gazprom with huge potential for foreign investments.

The question is where are all those money are going? Of course, a part of them is invested in local businesses but a part of them is going abroad. The first steps of Russian economic expansion abroad aimed the former CSI countries. Huge investments were made in Belarus, Armenia or Uzbekistan especially to gain control on natural resources. As large gas, oil or metal companies expanded, most of Russian investors moved their attention to emerging markets in Middle East and Eastern Europe but they are also trying to diversify their portfolio and enter in western markets like Germany, Austria, Netherlands or even in the USA.

As any other investors, the Russian investment companies are looking for higher margins of profit. Still, the large companies are going abroad and investing also for gaining access to raw materials or to have access to know-how and advanced technologies. This secures them both good profits and interesting markets on the long run, but also helps them to be competitive in an economy dominated by globalization.

Russian investors are also aiming for a more relaxed economical environment and new opportunities. They are attracted by the real estate market, looking for luxury properties in London, Spain or French Riviera but they also invest in trade companies all over Europe or greenfield projects like telecom in Africa. Funds are going abroad as private investors, company expansions but also as venture capital funds or investors groups. You can find
here a list of potential partners from Russia.

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Venture capital industry focus on biotechnology

Filed under: Venture Capital Angel Investors Private equity blog — admin @ 1:38 pm

The food resources are limited and more and more under pressure due to the massive growth in population. The fuel resources are limited and under pressure by a continuously expanding industry. The health is under pressure too because of less money available for medical systems even in the developed economies. Biotechnology had, has and will have a key role in finding solutions for these issues. On the other hand, biotechnology has a good potential for investors as any new discovery could turn over night in a huge financial success.

Venture Capital Industry focus on biotechnology can be explained by the ability of this field of science to turn millions of Euro invested into billions. There is no reason not to believe that similar good opportunities will not come in the future. Biotechnology has its roots and it is more developed in the United States, but Europe is increasing the pace in supporting this industry especially by creating a proper legal environment. Clusters of biotechnology developed in the last decade even in Central Europe in countries like Poland or Czech Republic but the most developed ones are in the UK, Germany, France or Scandinavian countries and a good reason for this is that Venture Capital Industry in more developed in these markets.

Biotechnology is dependent on investment companies. It takes several years and huge amounts money to develop a new drug or a better seed. It takes even more money for tests and marketing. There are not so many companies that can have the patience and funds to support this. Still, biotechnology can offer a very attractive return on investment that no so many other industries are capable to offer. This is why these two industries are very closely connected. There are many biotechnology projects supported by venture capital firms and there are many VC funds that invested in biotechnology and you can find no less than 791 here and many other will probably follow them in the near future.

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Venture capital firms and funds in the Middle East

Filed under: Venture Capital Angel Investors Private equity blog — admin @ 1:35 pm

Middle East, maybe like no other region, has very few things in common with the rest of the world when it comes to economical interdependency. The main link is the oil market but oil industry is at the same time the strong and the weak point.

In the last decades, many of the Middle East countries tried to diversify their economies and we have witnessed huge changes. We can mention here the strong tourism and infrastructure development in countries like Qatar, Egypt and especially United Arab Emirates that is trying to impress the world with the tallest buildings and most luxurious hotels. The strategically shifting from extracting to refining Bahrain is showing, or even the idea of the United Arab Emirates to become a financial hub, in Dubai. Not to mention the impressive development of Turkey and its aim to be part of the European Union. If they will succeed or not, the future will tell us but there is one sure thing: many industries are rising and developing even if the political situation is not clear in some of the countries and sometimes not stable at all in the region. Manufacturing and Industry, Transport, Logistic, Telecom, Real Estate and new technologies like Biotechnology or Renewable Energy Industries are seeding new business roots in the oil fields. You can find a description of Middle East economies here but be aware that the local reality is in a continuous metamorphosis. Most importantly many business investors are rising, slowly but with determination.

Emerging markets offer a high risk but also a good potential for investors and some of the investment groups already making the first steps and they are planning the next ones. If you are looking for venture capital firms and funds in the Middle East, you need a “local touch”, someone with the same cultural background and language. You can find a list of potential business partners here. They are all eager to develop businesses, to invest or to turn their oil money in white or green technology.

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Find out why funding gurus are wrong

Filed under: Venture Capital, Angel investors & Business Plans Newsletters — admin @ 12:06 pm

Do you think you know everything about raising venture capital?

You are probably far from it. Watch this free video that will teach you the new, effective methods for doing it right.

In order to get funding you need to understand what venture capital firms are after and how they make money.

VCs will provide capital in the form of equity to the firms, which can prove and show specific signs of constant growth and present realistic expectations of high profits in a reasonable amount of time (usually 5 to 7 years).

Venture capital firms do not invest their own money; instead, the funds are gathered from pension funds, insurance companies, wealthy individuals or corporations. This situation makes them particularly keen on choosing the company in which they will invest. The investment will not be based on liking the management team or the entrepreneur although this is an important factor, but most of all on the ability of the firm to reach certain milestones.

The amount of money they invest is over $1 million and they invest only in companies with high market potential, maybe even more than $100 million. Not all the companies they invest in will be successful and they are aware of that. Only one third of them will actually break even and even less will be a huge success, but the profit rates for those particular hits will be so high that the overall result of all the investments will be a positive one.

Venture capital firms will look for returns of 10 times or even 100 times of their initial investment and it is important to be able to sketch a realistic plan of how you are going to reach that goal and how the money they invest will be used.

The investments will be made in the sectors the venture capitalists are familiar with and in which they can actively help the company to follow their plans or even exceed expectations. Each venture capital firm is different in that it will have different criteria of investment. Scale, speed and liquidity potential are some of the most important factors an investment firm will take into consideration. Ideally, your venture has already gained a sufficient market share and your product or service is very convincing not only for the investor but also for your customers for which it solves a specific and painful need.

The investment are based on the advantage one specific firm has over its competitors as it is very rare the situation where a venture does not have any competitors. This is a statement that can be very dangerous or even decisive if argued during a meeting with your possible investors.

Every presentation material you create from now on must follow these guidelines and state what the investors want to hear. It is not only about the business plan, but most importantly about the teaser email you will send to get their attention and executive summary aimed to get them interested in your venture.

Watch this free presentation to find out how to get venture capitalists interested in your venture. Do it now, as it will be online for only a limited amount of time.

All the best,

Amir

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Speed up web development with Appcelerator

Filed under: Start-up Companies Reviews — admin @ 11:32 am

The birth of brilliant modern technology that can handle numerous applications on devices like Iphones, net books or Blackberries has created a sea of endless opportunities. Countless of application can and are being built right now all over the world. This is a long and hefty process and developers need a helping hand.

That is where Appcelerator comes in. This a successful start-up from California which helps developers to efficientize their activity by cutting development time in half, driving down development costs and helping them avoid vendor lock-in. All this will finally mean increased revenues for that certain developer. Appcelerator does this by providing open source development platforms for building internet, mobile and desktop application and if needed consultancy and design review. The Platform is called Titanium and has some noticeable features like an extensible Module API and built-in support for Linux. Moreover, it supports a large variety of programming language like Python, JavaScript besides the basic C++. The Titanium platform is open source, so you may also access the source code to the complete the application at any time for your own use.

The firm seems to have a large playground as the closest competitor is Gizmox the company behind the Visual WebGui platform, an older firm but which has developed in a smaller scale and has not received any funding yet.

The management team of Appcelerator is not to be overlooked. Jeff Haynie the co-founder and CEO of the company has an extensive experience in entrepreneurship, this is not his first start-up having worked as a CTO at eHatchery and has been a co-founder and CTO at Vocalocity. Nolan Wright the second co-founder has experience in engineering and product management, which he gained also at Vocalocity and Accenture. In charge with marketing, we find Scott Schwaezhoff, which was formerly a VP of marketing at Adeze and worked at HP and Microsoft.

The company was founded in the last quarter of 2007 and has grown rapidly hitting a market that has just began to find out how implementing and developing application can be a huge hit at the moment and in the future and shows no sign of slowing down. Even during the last period of economic difficulties, this market has been developing nicely and so did Appcelerator, which currently has 22 employees in two headquarters, one in Atlanta and one in California.

Appcelerator product is an alternative for more known products like the cross-platform AIR runtime from Adobe with which is still competing with.

The company has raised two rounds of funding, one in 2008 from Storm Ventures valued at $4.1 million. The other one was announced just one month ago. This round B funding was valued at $2.1 million. The venture capital inputs also brought Ryan Floyd and Larry Augustin both with extensive experience in IT, internet and Open source as Board Members and Advisors.

Appcelerator has progressed nicely so far and the general opinion is positive. You can read about them and their products here

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Did you know you should use legal counsel when seeking investors?

Filed under: Venture Capital, Angel investors & Business Plans Newsletters — admin @ 9:16 am

I know that you are a serious entrepreneur and are trying to make the most with very little, but now it is time to talk about serious legal issues that you may encounter as you establish your business. That’s right, there are legal issues with any business and this is why you should get some legal counsel when you draft your business plan and attempt to close a deal with investors.

Click here to see what resources are available to you in getting your business on the road!

Now, what does this mean, legal counsel? Does this mean that you need to hire an attorney? Well, yes. You should hire a good attorney when you work on sealing deals with investors and all other aspects of doing business. However, the attorney you should hire should not be any kind of attorney. You need to hire an attorney who is familiar with business and corporate laws. Furthermore, your attorney also has the knowledge to draft nondisclosure agreements that you should require investors to sign before they do their due diligence on your business plan. This is very important because a nondisclosure agreement is a legal binding document that protects your trade secrets, intellectual property, and patents; preventing investors from giving all your trade secrets, patents, and intellectual property to your competition.

Legal counsel can also help you with other legal issues in dealing with investors as well. A good business or corporate attorney can also help you with dilution issues. What does this mean? Well, when an investor invests in your company, he is buying shares in your company’s equity and a share dilution is when shares in your company are diluted to a fraction of the value before the investment. This is primarily done to allow for the investor or investors to have their shares in the company. Your attorney can draft anti-dilution protection documents to allow for your investors to keep the shares they have in your company without the shareholder’s shares being diluted.

An attorney can also help with drafting the terms sheet, which an entrepreneur and the prospective investor will sign before sealing a deal. Like nondisclosure agreements, a terms sheet is also a legal binding document which explains the exit strategy, how much money an investor will invest in the company, and how many installments the investor will provide the funding. Usually, these installments are known as tranches and are determined by milestones and each tranche is issued by the completion of each milestone. Your attorney can work with both you and your investor to set the conditions on your terms sheets so that it benefits both you and your investor.

Click here to get all the resources you need to find investors and information on how to get the right legal counsel!

At VCgate, you will have all the resources you need to get established, plus with the VCgate Venture Capital, Angel Investors, and Private Investors Database, you will have access to over 4300 investors worldwide and you can sort them out by industry, stage, and geographic preferences. Best of all, you can even email several investors at one time with a single click of the mouse.

See everything else that we have available for you at VCgate, including advice about how to seek the right legal counsel for your company and more.

All the best, and good luck!

Amir

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High sums invested in the second quarter of 2010 despite the global crisis

Filed under: Venture Capital, Angel investors & Business Plans Newsletters — admin @ 1:37 pm

The second quarter of this year has finished successfully for many growing companies. Let’s take only the investment activity in the US Southern California area. A whooping $1.6 billion were used to fund companies in all kinds of domains. This is more than in Q1 and definitely more than in Q2 last year. Seems like the future is smiling upon the entrepreneurs who want to get venture capital . Want to know the leading domains that got the most attention? Here they are: Biopharmaceutical, Energy and Medical Devices. The Biopharmaceutical domain and Medical devices domain have gathered more than $370 million just by themselves. Good times to try to cure diseases.

This is not the only big sum wandered around. Gávea Investimentos and TPG from Brazil have partnered to buy equity worth $226 million in Rumo Logistica SA. Never heard of it? You should. They are the logistic arm of the world’s largest sugar cane and ethanol producer and that is Cosan SA Industira& Comercio . Big money, big businesses but smaller ones had their chances.

Maybe you have heard about BuyWithMe, the community-buying website that informs shoppers about the best deals and offers from local merchants. They recently closed a $16 million series B funding invested by Bain capital Ventures. In addition, a Series B funding was completed by Uptake medical from Seattle, which develops medical technologies to treat lung disease. We are talking about $17.5 million.

Ceres a developer of biofuel crop technology, a firm based in Thousand Oaksand and by Eucalyptus Systems, a developer of private cloud management software based in Santa Barbara raised the round sum of $20 million. The money will go in expansion and marketing.

Smart ideas with high potential are funded too. It is the case of Maven Research, which is developing an online professional network for consulting engagements meaning you can get legal advice online easy and fast. The company has received $1 million from Accel partners.

Social networking sites and medical services are not the only ones being funded. We have news from India were Ocean Sparkle Limited (OSL) an operations and marine services company based in Hyderabad India has received $11.1 million from Eredene capital PLC a London based investor a sign that investors are more tempted to go global when searching for good deals. This round of equity infusion has valued the company at $135 million. It is rumored that Ocean Sparkle Limited has received another $18 million from a local private equity fund India Equity partners, but this is not a sure thing.

What does this mean for you? It means your options are not limited to investors from your area or country. You can try to receive funding from venture capital companies all around the world. Get the updated database of 4300 investors from all over the world and start getting the money you need right now before others take advantage of the opportunity.

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International investors

Filed under: Venture Capital Angel Investors Private equity blog — admin @ 12:37 pm

Do you run a business in a country with an emerging economy and a poor offer of investment firms? Maybe you like working with foreign people or need more money than you can find in your own country. Then you might be in search of international investors and wondering how you can get a hold of them.

It is difficult to search for VCs from another country, get their attention and communicate with them effectively but you may not have a choice.

Your quest might be a little challenging as investment funds prefer to invest in businesses located 100 or 200 miles away so that they can supervise and take an active role in the future of the company. The only way a venture capitalist will want to invest in another country is if he thinks he can get more than 10 times the money he invested while taking a reasonable risk. They also use to invest in countries they have been to and of which economy they know of.

That is what you should have in mind when you send your teaser email and after that when you create your rock solid business plan. Get past the important milestones that VCs think are the most risky ones and show them that your management team is able to overcome even the most difficult situations the unstable economic market might throw at you. Don’t waste your time with the biggest funds which you know only invest in their own countries. There is little or no chance that you will change their mind about their investment strategy. Find the right ones and contact them. You have an entire database of investors at your fingertips. It holds more than 4500 investors from all over the world which you can separate by location, investment type or industry preferences. You can see what the international investors are willing to invest in companies all around the globe, including yours.

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Last Chance [Video]

Filed under: Venture Capital, Angel investors & Business Plans Newsletters — admin @ 2:14 am

This is your last chance to
raise tons of money for your
business that you never
even have to pay back.

Watch the video here

This new money source IS
going to be around for a
long time.

But it’s your last chance to
get in early and reap massive
benefits.

It’s sort of like back in
1995 when you could have
bought tons of domain names
for $7 each. Domains like
business . com, dating . com
and photo . com that sold for
millions of dollars just a few
years later.

Sure, you could still buy and
sell domain names now, but
the folks who jumped on this
opportunity early made a killing!

And likewise, those that jump
on this new money raising
opportunity will profit the most.

So what is this new money
raising source?

It’s called “crowdfunding” and you can
learn all about it right here.

Crowdfunding changes the
money raising game
completely. Rather than
going after the relatively
small number of venture
capital firms and banks for
your funding, you tap the
massive “internet crowd.”

I’m talking friends,
acquaintances and folks
that hear about you online.

And you get them all to
donate a little money
each to fund your venture.

As you might imagine, this is
SOOOO much faster and
easier than traditional money
raising methods.

And entrepreneurs like you
have recently raised millions
of dollars this way.

Amir Dagan
VCGate.com

P.S. Don’t wait any longer
and miss out on this
once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to be a
first-mover in Crowdfunding.

Watch this video right now

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Then Follow us @ http://twitter.com/vcgate

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Funding from a Facebook Post? [video]

Filed under: Venture Capital, Angel investors & Business Plans Newsletters — admin @ 2:08 am

Have you seen this video ?

It’s the story of a how entrepreneurs
like you are tapping an incredible new
money source to start & grow their
businesses.

It’s pretty darn amazing.

Check it out here

Amir Dagan
VCGate.com

When you watch, look for Lindsay’s snow cone
company. Lindsay quickly raised $7,672.86 by
posting messages to her Facebook account.

Very cool stuff… Learn how you can do it too.

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Then Follow us @ http://twitter.com/vcgate

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4 Students + 1 Idea + 91 Days = $200,642

Filed under: Newsletter Email, Venture Capital, Angel investors & Business Plans Newsletters — admin @ 2:03 am

Have you heard of these four kids –
Daniel, Maxwell, Raphael and Ilya?

Well, these four college students
just raised $200,642 for their new
business.

See how they did it

These students had no business plan.

They had no track record.

All they had was an idea.

And the $200,642 they got was donated to
them — they don’t even have to pay it back!

Want to copy exactly what they did?

Watch this video now

Amir
VCGate.com

P.S. These students raised the money in their
SPARE TIME (they’re still full-time students
with full course loads).

This is the future of raising money…

Learn how they did it

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Then Follow us @ http://twitter.com/vcgate

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[VIDEO] World’s Biggest NEW Funding Source

Filed under: Venture Capital, Angel investors & Business Plans Newsletters — admin @ 1:58 am

Here is a new video that reveals…

“The Most Revolutionary New
Business Funding
Source in 53 Years”

Watch the video here

This “fascinating” new money
source didn’t even exist
18 months ago….

But recently, thousands of
entrepreneurs have
used it to raise millions of dollars.

This new money source will
change EVERYTHING.

Get all the details here

Sincerely,

Amir Dagan
VCGate.com

P.S. If you’re not flush with
cash to start or grow
your business right now,
then we strongly suggest
you watch this video.

This could be your golden ticket!

Go watch the video now

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Then Follow us @ http://twitter.com/vcgate

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Last Chance to Raise Money

Filed under: Venture Capital, Angel investors & Business Plans Newsletters — admin @ 1:07 pm

Would your business grow FASTER with an extra
$20,000… $500,000… or $2,000,000 in the bank?

If so, you should attend the free money-raising webinar
“The Ultimate Money Raising System” TONIGHT at
9PM EST.

Click here to register

During the webinar, Dave Lavinsky from Growthink will
reveal proven strategies and tactics that his clients
have used to raise $2.5 Billion in funding to start and
grow their businesses.

Sincerely,

Amir Dagan
VCGate.com

P.S. Raising money is the MOST important thing
you need to do as an entrepreneur.

Click here to register

“A bad idea with money behind it will
typically be more successful than a
GREAT idea with no money behind it.
This is the unfortunate truth.”
- Dave Lavinsky, Business Funding Expert

Click here to register

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Then Follow us @ http://twitter.com/vcgate

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#1 Reason Why Businesses Fail (And How to Avoid It)

Filed under: Venture Capital, Angel investors & Business Plans Newsletters — admin @ 12:57 pm

Do you know the #1 reason businesses fail?

Actually, it’s very simple…

THEY RUN OUT OF MONEY.

And not having money is also the #1 reason why most
businesses don’t even get launched in the first place.

That’s why I’m inviting you to attend a FREE webinar
about Raising Money, TOMORROW (Wednesday)
night at 9PM EST.

Click here to register

==================================
Free Webinar: “The Ultimate Money Raising System”
==================================

During the webinar, Dave Lavinsky of Growthink will reveal
proven strategies and cutting-edge tactics you can use to
“get funded” including:

* How to choose the right money sources for your business

* The best way to pitch your business (and precisely what NOT to do)

* How to protect your business ideas when raising capital

* The one thing that will quadruple your funding success

* Little-known ways to find “angel” investors

… and much, much more!

Click here to register

Sincerely,

Amir Dagan
VCGate.com

P.S. During the webinar, Dave will share powerful
resources you can use right away to get the money
you need to grow your business.

Click here to register

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Then Follow us @ http://twitter.com/vcgate

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FREE Webinar: The Secrets of Raising Money

Filed under: Venture Capital, Angel investors & Business Plans Newsletters — admin @ 12:23 pm

I’m inviting you to attend a FREE webinar about
Raising Money, this Wednesday night at 9PM EST.

Click here to register

==================================
Free Webinar: “The Ultimate Money Raising System”
==================================

During the webinar, Dave Lavinsky from Growthink will
reveal proven strategies and cutting-edge tactics you
can use to get money for your business including:

* How to choose the right money sources for your business

* The best way to pitch your business (and precisely what NOT to do)

* How to protect your business ideas when raising money

* The one thing that will quadruple your funding success

* Little-known ways to find “angel” investors

… and much, much more!

Click here to register

Sincerely,

Amir Dagan
VCGate.com

P.S. During the webinar, Dave will also share
some powerful resources you can use right away
to get the money you need to grow your business.

Click here to register

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Then Follow us @ http://twitter.com/vcgate

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Seeking investors

Filed under: Venture Capital Angel Investors Private equity blog — admin @ 11:56 am

How many times have you imagined the growth of you small company into a multinational conglomerate and you making an exit with a few million dollars comfortably in your pockets? That is if you could just raise some more capital to invest and do it fast. Well, you can. You just need to learn some tricks and to follow some steps.

The first thing you have to do before seeking investors is to prepare your material. You cannot start to mail VCs if you cannot present them your situation in a convincing way. Think of a high concept pitch, a few words to describe your company, an elevator pitch and create a detailed business plan with a good three-page executives summary. You will also need a PowerPoint presentation but you can leave that until the actual moment of the presentation.

After you are ready with your compelling arguments and realistic predictions about your company, you must create a list of business investors. You can
buy a database of venture capital firms , which is integrated in a software, which will allow you to select investors by location, the type of industries they usually make investment in and the stages of development they are interested in. Try to find private equity firms who have invested in the same type of business you run and check online if they are still active and have conducted at least one funding in the last year. If so, the next step is to contact the right business partner.

A good database is the key to all this. Without it, you will lose countless hours creating one, sending emails and making phone calls to firms that are not even interested in investing right now or investing in your industry. Send the teaser email to the right people who have the same long-term vision as you and get the funding your business cannot survive without.

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Real estate investments

Filed under: Venture Capital Angel Investors Private equity blog — admin @ 11:52 am

Big companies tend to have many employees and offices. This is just how the way things work. Even an IT business will have a dozen programmers and some offices for customer services or call-centers.

For this reason that small office you managed to buy when you first started you business is starting to be a little too small. That is when you realize you need new offices, but you may not even have the money for next month’s marketing campaigns while customers are requesting for quick and qualitative services. There is a way out. You can search for a private equity firm to help you raise the money you need for real estate investments.

To obtain this kind of money which, by the way, you won’t have to return, you have to prove that this investment will allow the company to grow and eventually generate 10 times to 100 times more income than it currently is. If you elevator pitch, business plan and personal confidence all tell the same story you will have those funds in no time. You may wonder why VCs don’t invest in real estate in the first place. The answer is that is not profitable enough. They can get much more money by investing their money in small or big firms with huge potential than earning a few percentages annually from investing in office buildings.

You on the other hand can use this resource effectively to multiply your earnings, hire more personnel and attract more income. Don’t be afraid to offer equity in return of the funds. If you don’t do it, your firm will probably go bankrupt or be swollen by the competition because they will be smart enough to attract the necessary funding to get you out of business.

Where to find such investors? You can start here with a 4700 venture capitalist database you cannot find online. This will probably be your last stop too.

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Here is the link…

Filed under: Venture Capital, Angel investors & Business Plans Newsletters — admin @ 10:47 am

Here is the link for the Independence Day Special

Order VCgate Venture Capital and Angel Investors Database before July 6, 2010 and you will get our guides to raise Venture Capital and how to approach Angel investors free of charge.

- See how you can contact an angel investor and how to raise venture capital.
- Learn how to write an effective teaser email to get investors interested!
- Learn how to write a business plan that can win you the millions you need in venture capital for product development, expansion, and more..

LAST chance: Click here for the Independence Day Special offer

All the best,

Amir

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Then Follow us @ http://twitter.com/vcgate

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Business partners wanted

Filed under: Venture Capital Angel Investors Private equity blog — admin @ 3:44 am

Are you in need of a trustworthy business partner, which can help you be more efficient and grow you company? Everybody is, but not everybody knows how to choose the right one for him or her.

The reasons for having a business partner are quite obvious: you have more manpower, you can divide tasks and focus on your own ones, you will both have more ideas, you will be more motivated and probably most importantly you will increase your network, which can mean a lot more clients for your business.

A lot of people think a business partnership is like a marriage. I say it’s a little bit harder. You firstly have to make sure that you both have the same values and common goals. In few words, that you are chasing the same thing. This can cause broke partnerships even more than different personalities. Actually, a lot of business partners have completely different personalities but this helps them maintain a balance.

Do you have the same expectation and the same commitment level? Expectations are actually part of the same specific goal but you should analyze the commitment level of your partner long before you actually start a business together. Different commitment levels can lead to conflicts and arguments and you definitely don’t want that.

Look for a business partner with greater experience and a stronger financial position that you. This way he will be able to lend venture capital to the company and help it grow. There are a lot of business partners wanted as a private investor for the company but if you are not careful this can be a great disadvantage for you in the case of a conflict. More money and experience usually means more power and more power always wins the case.

Now that you know what to look for click here to locate a business partner or an investor interested in investing in company in the same development stage as yours.

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Foreign investors

Filed under: Venture Capital Angel Investors Private equity blog — admin @ 7:06 am

Are you running a business in a developing country where there are few local investors, which only invest in sure things, and only regarding vast amounts of money? You should then consider about searching for foreign investors, which are willing to offer you venture capital funds and help you expand your business.

When you do not have the necessary amount of money, you may reach a standstill point where you cannot evolve even though you know you can do much better.

Foreign investors can be more demanding than local investors. You will have to present a perfect development strategy and good references. Before you accept an investment from a VC fund, make sure you both want the same thing when it comes the future of the company. Some investment firms may delegate a person which speaks a common language to keep in touch with you and if needed advise you in delicate situations.

Don’t make any deals just on the phone. Meet the investors in person and try to find out more about the way they work and if possible make some research on your own to see in what other companies they have invested and how that worked out. When it comes to foreign investments, you will actually have a bigger chance to get private equity than venture capital or even angel investment.

Look first in the surrounding countries. Investors are more confident in pushing money in companies they can easily keep an eye on and if needed visit and see for themselves how things are going over there. You also have bigger chances of obtaining an investment if you company is scalable and can reach for a global market if not in the present at least in the future. You should have a strong marketing plan to back that up.

It is not that hard to find investors from other countries and it is plainly simple if you use the VCgate database of 4300 updated investment funds that you cannot find online. Click here to access the money you need to grow your business.

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Celebrate the Fourth By Raising Capital!

Filed under: Venture Capital, Angel investors & Business Plans Newsletters — admin @ 11:22 am

I would like to say Happy Birthday to America, and we also know that America has been the engine of entrepreneurialism for over two centuries. To acknowledge the entrepreneurial spirit of the United States, we have decided to extend this special offer as a birthday gift to all our American entrepreneurs!

Click here to get our special 4th of July offer!

Celebrate the Fourth by getting in touch with over 4300 investors who have a collective of over $900 billion in funding that can be for your business! You can get our award-winning VCgate Venture Capital, Angel Investors, and Private Investors database at a great price and you will be able to find the right investors for you rather quickly in the single click of your mouse. That’s right, access investors with the industry, stage, and geographic preferences that match your company and email a whole list of them with the single click of your mouse. You’ll see how fast you can get access to funding sources from all over the globe. Best of all, you can even get access to secret and strategic corporate investors!
Investors who are reclusive and can also have deep pockets to fund the worthy ventures.

But wait! Order now, by the Fourth, and you will get our guides to raise venture capital and how to approach angel investors. See how you can contact an angel investor and how to raise venture capital. Learn how to write an effective teaser email to get investors interested! Learn how to write a business plan that can win you the millions you need in venture capital for product development, expansion, and more! All this, a $78 value is yours TOTALLY FREE when you order the VCgate Venture Capital, Angel Investors, and Private Investors Database!

Click here to make it big on the Fourth!

You need to act now, offer ends on the 4th of July, so if you miss out, your competition might take advantage of this offer. See for yourself! You will be satisfied or your money back.

All the best, and good luck!

Amir

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Then Follow us @ http://twitter.com/vcgate

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IDC Funding

Filed under: Venture Capital Angel Investors Private equity blog — admin @ 4:25 am

As 2010 World Cup is rolling to the glorious final game, the business community from South Africa is counting the money, especially those made from the tourism industry. If there are a lot or very few compared with the expected income, we will see in a couple of weeks. The question is what will happen afterwards. Is this global event bringing enough energy to boost the economy of this country and continent? Is the world cup a good opportunity for business investors to have a direct touch with the real world in Africa?

One thing is sure. The country will end this event with big additions in public transportation, modern highways and better infrastructure for tourism. All of these might attract a lot of tourists and also a lot of business opportunities even after the final whistle.

A key role in country’s development might be played by the IDC Funding, the state funding institution, which has as a main objective offering support to entrepreneurs and businesses.

IDC was already asked earlier this summer to boosts its capacity of funding by raising money from capital markets as they have to support a wide range of industries from Transport to Textiles, Healthcare, Education to Food Beverage, Wood Industry or Constructions and of course, Tourism. Their influence and support is not limited to South Africa borders but to the whole African continent in such need of resources in order to boost jobs and industrialization.

There are many opportunities out there supported by IDC or other investments firms especially in the big economic centers. You can find more details about the big cities here and if you weren’t one of the 300,000 tourists expected during the 2010 world cup, you should plan a visit there. You can start by looking for a business partner. Click here to have instant access to the database of investment firms in the African continent.

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Venture Capital Firms

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Puppet Labs

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Property Investors in South Africa

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Venture capital industry focus on biotechnology

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Venture capital firms and funds in the Middle East

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Speed up web development with Appcelerator

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International investors

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Seeking investors

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Real estate investments

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Business partners wanted

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Foreign investors

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IDC Funding

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