1 min read · 16 June 2009
LogMeIn looks to become the first tech IPO of the third quarter. It set the terms of its sale this morning, with its July 1 debut on Nasdaq expected to raise more than $100 million for the company. Its underwriters, JPMorgan Chase and Barclays Capital, say they’re planning to sell 6.7 million LogMeIn shares at roughly $15 a share The Woburn, Mass.-based startup, founded in early 2003, makes remote desktop applications that allow both Mac and PC users control and access their files remotely, either from another computer or an iPhone or, soon, a Blackberry Storm. The company offers both a free version and advanced versions for people needing to use the same PC at once.
2 min read · 16 June 2009
4 min read · 15 June 2009
Unithrive is a seriously smart idea, one inspired by the microlending organization Kiva, whose online peer-to-peer lending program has grown by leaps and bounds in its four year history by connecting lenders with borrowers in the developing world. From today's New York Times:
2 min read · 15 June 2009
1 min read · 12 June 2009
1 min read · 11 June 2009
During your next visit to the local drugstore, you might notice a little pink-and-blue gender prediction kit from a Plano, Texas-based company called IntelliGender, which claims the kit can determine the sex of a 10-week-old fetus with 90% accuracy. The brainchild of two moms -- one a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, the other a partner at the commercial real estate firm Newmark Knight Frank -- IntelliGender sold its first kit online in November 2006, and its sales really began to soar when Walgreens and CVS put the $35 product on their shelves in March and early June, respectively. Yesterday, I caught up with Rebecca Griffin, one of IntelliGender’s cofounders, to ask how she’s juggling a family, a real estate career, and her booming new company -- and to learn whether she’d take any funding.
5 min read · 11 June 2009
Paul Kedrosky, a senior economist with the Kauffman Foundation, is releasing a report on Wednesday titled “Right-Sizing the U.S. Venture Capital Industry." In it, he argues that to remain viable, the industry needs to shrink in line with the shrinking capital requirements and opportunities of the startups it funds. I talked tonight with Kedrosky about the paper (get it here) -- and why it’s relevant right now. Funds have long been accused of having grown too fat and dragging down returns as a result. Why write this paper now? Because we’ve finally reached a point when can happen. funds are at the end of their life span, 10-year returns are going to turn negative at the end of this year, and as they re-up, LPs have a choice to make.
3 min read · 10 June 2009
1 min read · 09 June 2009
This is a bit afield but it's too funny not to mention: Phil Falcone, one of the richest and most powerful hedge fund managers in the world, brought his own scissors to the ribbon-cutting ceremony of High Line, a new, elevated park on Manhattan's West Side, to which Falcone and his wife donated $10 million just last week. Apparently, Falcone believed that his gift would entitle him to stand beside Mayor Mike Bloomberg, designer Diane von Furstenberg and three of the park's other major donors as they snipped away at the ceremonial ribbon. Discovering that wouldn't be the case, he decided he'd cut it anyway. Cityfile has the pictures -- you have to see them to believe them -- after the jump.
1 min read · 09 June 2009
