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Recent Tragedy Inspires Cameraman to Fund Heroic Story Through Kickstarter

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New York, NY (PRWEB) April 19, 2013

The TV pilot, titled “Westside Skate”, tells the gripping story of a 30+ plus member group of young boys in trouble and the “guardian angel”, heroic couple devoting their lives to saving them. Their hook? Skateboarding. The goal of the couple is to keep the boys off the streets, and away from the influences of the many violent, drug-fueled street gangs in the high-crime section of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Many of the boys come from broken homes or environments where drugs and alcohol are a constant. This ragtag group of boys who call themselves “The Westside Boyz” is held together and mentored by Gabe and Christine Espinosa, the hero couple who work tirelessly to keep the boys occupied with skateboarding.

Mr. Meyer feels that the public is completely exhausted with the tidal wave of bad news lately and that it is a perfect time to tell this uplifting story of a couple that is completely selfless and giving. “There’s only so much bad news you take”, Mr. Meyer says, “and I’ve got a wonderful, touching story to tell.” Held back only by a lack of funds, Mr. Meyer now turns to Kickstarter.com to get the project off the ground.

John Meyer was first introduced to the story of this self-sacrificing couple nearly five years ago while working for another reality-based TV show. “As soon as I met Gabe and Christine, I knew they were special”, Mr. Meyer says, “I’ve never met two people so giving and so compassionate in my entire life.” Now, more than ever, Mr. Meyer is determined to tell this heartwarming story that, in his words, “deserves to be told”. Westside Skate has a classic theme. It’s a story of good versus evil. A hero couple conquering tragedy. The “hard-knocks” lives that the boys lead at home is softened by the abundant compassion they experience with Gabe and Christine.

Since money has been his only stumbling block, Mr. Meyer has turned to Kickstarter.com, an online “crowd-sourced” funding platform. Crowd-sourced funding is when a large number of people, referred to as “backers”, each pledge a relatively small amount of money towards a project in exchange for specific “rewards”. The rewards, in this case, might simply be a digital download or DVD copy of the eventual TV pilot episode of “Westside Skate”. However, Mr. Meyer has also tried to get very creative by offering a large variety of rewards from t-shirts, hats and DVD’s with the show’s logo to one-on-one personal experiences whereby a “backer” can meet the heroes Gabe and Christine as well as the Westside Boyz and can even be profiled as part of the show.

Mr. Meyer has found the Kickstarter process quite humbling. Kickstarter project creators are encouraged to post a video explaining their project and appealing directly to viewers as to why they should pledge money. “It’s definitely humbling looking right into the camera and asking for money.” Mr. Meyer says, “I’ve never really been comfortable being on camera……Just comfortable holding one!”

John Meyer has well over 20 years of experience as a cameraman and Director of Photography for some of the most popular shows on television. He has been instrumental in helping produce CBS’s “Undercover Boss”, ABC’s “Wifeswap”, TLC’s “Four Houses” and “Mindfreak” with Illusionist Criss Angel for A&E. Mr. Meyer and his company, MeyerMix Productions, is currently seeking to develop several new TV shows, including Westside Skate. He now seeks to utilize his unique talents, experience and contacts to bring this amazing story to life. More information can be found at http://www.westsideskate.tv or by viewing the Westside Skate project profile at the Kickstarter.com website.







Gengo Closes a New Round of Funding with Intel Capital, Atomico, Iris Capital, Infocomm Investments, NTT-IP Fund and STC Ventures

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Tokyo (PRWEB) April 24, 2013

Gengo, the translation platform for global companies, announced that the company has recently closed a US$ 12M round of funding led by Intel Capital, along with participation from Iris Capital, Infocomm Investments, NTT-IP Fund and STC Ventures, and from returning investor Atomico.

Gengo provides an API and platform for fast, high-quality human translation for 33 languages, provided by a pool of over 7,500 tested and rated translators for global large and small-and-medium-sized companies as well as individuals. Currently, leading e-commerce, online travel, and community portals are powered by its translation platform.

With this new round of financing, Gengo will accelerate global expansion, while also improving the translation platform and increasing the speed of the translation process. Gengo recently partnered with YouTube, enabling video uploaders to order professional-quality translation for their captions. Leveraging Gengo’s translation platform, more and more of this kind of online communications will happen globally.

“The Gengo team is excited about working with investors from Asia, the USA, Europe, and the Middle East, lead by Intel Capital, because of their global experience and track record helping entrepreneurs,” said Robert Laing, CEO and co-founder of Gengo. “There’s a significant technology component to human translation at scale, so it’s great to work with a firm with the pedigree of Intel Capital,” added Matthew Romaine, CTO and co-founder of Gengo.

“As the Internet breaks down the concept of national borders, we think Gengo’s service will vitalize communication for people around the world.” said Kaz Yoshida, President, Intel K.K. “It will help to break the language barrier and bring together the wisdom of the people to address global social challenges we are facing. Intel promotes innovation so that people can enjoy rich and fulfilling experiences.”

“Gengo is at the forefront of the crowd-sourced translation space,” said Sudheer Kuppam, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Intel Capital. “Intel Capital welcomes Gengo to its portfolio. We look forward to working with the company to bring this unique service to more users worldwide.”

“Since our original investment, Gengo has proven it can scale its business across the world whilst growing its revenue fourfold,” said Hiro Tamura, Partner at Atomico. “We are excited to have Intel Capital, Infocomm and Orange all join the team as they share our core belief that the world is getting smaller, and that the most successful businesses of tomorrow will be truly global.”

“The 33 billion-dollar translation market is expected to experience a radical change and we believe that Gengo will play a crucial role in the change,” said Denis Barrier, Partner at Iris Capital. “We think it’s wonderful that Gengo has been based in both Asia and Silicon Valley since its establishment and is managed by visionary founders with global perspective”

“We are excited to join the team of truly global investors in helping Gengo with its expansion plans” said Kuo-Yi Lim, CEO of Infocomm Investments. “Singapore is well positioned – with a multicultural and multilingual environment, and diverse talent pool – as a base for Gengo’s growth into the rest of Asia.”

“Gengo provides crowd-sourced translation services utilizing a uniquely developed platform”, said Nobuyuki Akimoto, Executive Vice President & COO at DOCOMO Innovation Ventures. “They have been creating growing opportunities as a globally expanding start-up company and we look forward to their growth.”

About Gengo:

Gengo is the platform for global companies. A powerful API lets enterprise customers integrate professional-quality translation into their application, making it easy to build multi-language services. Gengo’s simple website also allows individuals and SMBs to order individual translations in a matter of seconds. Over 7,500 qualified translators work on jobs through the Gengo platform, in all timezones. This scale means Gengo can return simple translations in a matter of minutes, in 33 languages and at a quality level suited to each customer. Gengo’s platform takes care of quality control, job allocation and translation review. This means companies can focus on their business, while Gengo empowers them to go global. Gengo was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Tokyo.

About Intel Capital:

Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment and M&A organization, makes equity investments in innovative technology start-ups and companies worldwide. Intel Capital invests in a broad range of companies offering hardware, software, and services targeting enterprise, mobility, health, consumer Internet, digital media and semiconductor manufacturing. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$ 10.8 billion in over 1,276 companies in 54 countries. In that timeframe, 201 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 317 were acquired or participated in a merger. In 2012, Intel Capital invested US$ 352 million in 150 investments with approximately 57 percent of funds invested outside North America. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit http://www.intelcapital.com or follow @Intelcapital.

About Atomico:

Atomico is an international technology investment firm, focused on helping the world’s most disruptive technology companies reach their full potential on a global scale. Founded by Niklas Zennström, the co-founder of Skype, they have become the investor of choice for ambitious entrepreneurs due to our unique international network, and ability to help companies operationally, with offices in London, Beijing, São Paulo, Istanbul and Tokyo. Their investments include category leaders such as Rovio, Jawbone, Fab, Klarna and Skype. http://www.atomico.com

About Iris Capital:

Iris Capital is a pan-European venture capital fund manager specializing in digital economy. Since its inception in 1986, the Iris Capital team has invested more than €900 million in more than 200 companies. Iris Capital targets opportunities in service or technology companies, seeking growth capital in order to realize their strategy. It provides active support to its portfolio companies on the basis of its strong sector specialization and experience, and has offices in Paris, Düsseldorf, San Francisco, Montreal, Riyadh, Dubai, Beijing and Tokyo. In 2012 Iris Capital has entered into a strategic partnership with Orange and Publicis to manage their

joint venture capital initiative. http://www.iriscapital.com

About Infocomm Investments

Infocomm Investments is the venture capital arm of Singapore government’s IT authority — IDA (Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore). Managing a fund of $ 200 million, Infocomm Investments invests alongside top-tier investors in growth stage technology companies and help startups around the world expand to Asian markets by leveraging Singapore’s top-class business infrastructure. For more information: http://www.infocomminvestments.com

About Docomo Innovation Ventures

DOCOMO Innovation Ventures, on behalf of NTT Group, play a proactive role in accelerating innovation for technologies and services by discovering, nurturing, and supporting venture businesses. We have just established 10-billion-yen (approximately 105 million USD) DOCOMO Innovation Fund, and have been operating 15-billion-yen (approximately 158 million USD) NTT Investment Partners Fund (NTT-IP Fund) since 2008. For more information: http://www.docomo-i-ventures.com/

About STC Ventures

STC Ventures is a venture capital fund, independently managed by Iris Capital, whose anchor investor is the Saudi Telecom Company. STC Ventures is focused on equity investments in the information technology, telecommunications, and digital media/entertainment sectors; seeking to support the development of innovative technology companies in Saudi Arabia, the GCC, Levant, North Africa and Turkey, in addition to funding globally minded international companies seeking capital and access to the MENA region. STC Group is the largest telecommunications company in MENA, ranked in the top 20 mobile networks in the world, and serving more than 160 million subscribers. http://www.stcventures.com

Gengo is trademark of Gengo Inc in the United States and other countries.
Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries.
Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Contact:

Gengo, Inc.

Seiya Vogt

TEL: +81-3-6447-0311

MAIL: seiya (at) gengo (dot) com







More Crowd Sourcing Press Releases

ING Infrastructure, Industrials And Materials Fund

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ING Infrastructure, Industrials And Materials Fund
This press release is issued as required by the Fund's Managed Distribution Plan (the "Plan") and an exemptive order received from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Board of Trustees has … 1 Average annual total return at NAV …
Read more on SYS-CON Media (press release)

Barclays names Shell as its top pick for 2014
Declining profits at refineries, increased spending and disruption in Nigeria all hit Shell hard last year. It is planning to speed up its divestment plan to offset its spending in 2014. The company has also struggled to turn around its upstream …
Read more on CITY A.M. (blog)

Anadigm® Secures $15M In Third Funding Round Led by Atlas Venture. Investment to Fund Business Growth and Further Programmable Analog IC Developments

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(PRWEB) October 4, 2003

CAMPBELL, CA (PRWEB)October 2, 2003 — Anadigm®, the programmable analog company, today announced the closing of a new round of financing worth $ 15 million.

This C round of funding, led by Atlas Venture with ongoing investment from 3i, Quester and NIF Ventures, points to Anadigm®’s success in winning market acceptance for its field programmable analog array (FPAA) integrated circuits, which offer an analog equivalent to the digital field programmable gate array (FPGA).

Anadigm® was founded in January 2000 as a spin-off from Motorola. More than 140 customers are designing Anadigm® FPAA technology into their products to provide complex filtering, signal conditioning, and closed loop control functions in consumer audio, industrial, and communications systems.

The company’s product offering combines programmable silicon with easy-to-use software tools that drastically reduce the time needed to design, verify, and bring to market embedded systems with analog interfaces. Anadigm®’s FPAAs are moreover the industry’s first such chips that can adapt on the fly to perform multiple functions, adjust to different environmental and electrical conditions, or compensate for equipment aging.

“Anadigm® offers one of the few analog technologies that is both innovative and disruptive,” said Gerry Montanus, Senior Principal at Atlas Venture. “The recent launch of the company’s Anadigmvortex product line has brought the company industry-wide attention, and demonstrates the market’s readiness for a technology that will reduce the cost of analog circuit design, manufacturing, and innovation. Real-world interfaces are essential to a very wide range of electronic systems, and we are delighted to be part of Anadigm®’s ambitious project of revolutionizing the way they are conceptualized and implemented.”

The funding will be used to continue to expand Anadigm®’s business in all geographical markets and support ongoing product development activities. The investment will also support additional enhancements to the software used to program the company’s Anadigmvortex FPAAs, which remove the complexity from analog design and reduce the time for analog implementations from months to minutes.

“We are excited to be moving forward with the support of these leading venture capital firms. 3i and Quester have been very supportive of the business and were instrumental in bringing in Atlas Venture,” said Bill McLean, Anadigm® President and CEO. “Our FPAA solutions continue to gain traction in the marketplace and customer engagements are validating our technology’s value-add. The investment will allow us to implement the next stage of our product strategy and to further penetrate our target markets.”

###

About Atlas Venture

Atlas Venture is the leading international early-stage venture capital firm, investing in communications, information technology and life sciences companies. Atlas Venture has investing offices in Boston, London, Munich and Paris, and its investments are evenly divided between the United States and Europe. Founded in 1980, Atlas Venture has organized six international funds, and currently manages more than $ 2.1 billion in committed capital. The Atlas Venture investment team is comprised of seasoned operating executives and career venture capitalists that have been deeply involved in the formation and development of more than 300 companies worldwide. Visit Atlas Venture on the Web at http://www.atlasventure.com.

About 3i

3i brings capital, knowledge and connections to the creation and development of businesses around the world. It invests in a wide range of opportunities from start-ups to buy-outs and buy-ins, focusing on businesses with high growth potential and strong management. 3i invests in businesses across three continents through local investment teams in Europe, Asia Pacific and the USA. To date, 3i has invested over £15 billion (including co-investment funds). In the 12 months to 31st March 2003 an average of £3.7 million (including co-investment funds) was invested each working day. 3i’s current portfolio is valued at almost £4 billion. http://www.3i.com

About Quester

Quester is one of the UK’s leading independent venture capital groups specialising in the provision of finance and management support for growth companies at all stages of their life. Quester’s focus is on early stage investments in information and communication technology, healthcare and life science companies. With its first rate track record, Quester has earned a reputation as one of the best UK based sources of venture capital. The Quester investment team manages approximately £300 million on behalf of major institutional investors, leading UK universities, and five quoted venture capital trusts. http://www.quester.co.uk.

About NIF

NIF Ventures Co Ltd manages approximately $ 1.5 billion in venture capital funds, and has invested in over 1,400 companies since its establishment in 1982. With offices in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, and the United States, NIF offers worldwide representation. Its primary investment focus is in the information and communications technology industries. http://www.nif.co.jp

About Anadigm®

Anadigm® brings platform-based design to the analog world with pre-qualified software and hardware components that allow complex analog circuits to be implemented in an analog equivalent to the FPGA. Designed to implement signal conditioning, filtering, data acquisition, closed-loop control, and other analog functions in a wide range of embedded systems, Anadigm® FPAAs are first programmable analog ICs that can adapt on the fly to perform multiple functions, adjust to different environmental conditions, or compensate for equipment aging. Founded in January 2000 as a venture-backed technology spin-off from Motorola, Anadigm® maintains U.S. headquarters in Campbell, Calif., and European headquarters in Crewe, U.K. For further information, visit Anadigm® on the Web at http://www.anadigm.com.

Anadigm® and AnadigmDesigner® are registered trademarks of Anadigm®. All other trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.



More Venture Capital Trusts Press Releases

Anadigm® Secures $15M In Third Funding Round Led by Atlas Venture Investment to Fund Business Growth and Further Programmable Analog IC Developments

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(PRWEB) October 4, 2003

CAMPBELL, CA (PRWEB) October 2, 2003 — Anadigm®, the programmable analog company, today announced the closing of a new round of financing worth $ 15 million.

This C round of funding, led by Atlas Venture with ongoing investment from 3i, Quester and NIF Ventures, points to Anadigm®’s success in winning market acceptance for its field programmable analog array (FPAA) integrated circuits, which offer an analog equivalent to the digital field programmable gate array (FPGA).

Anadigm® was founded in January 2000 as a spin-off from Motorola. More than 140 customers are designing Anadigm® FPAA technology into their products to provide complex filtering, signal conditioning, and closed loop control functions in consumer audio, industrial, and communications systems.

The company’s product offering combines programmable silicon with easy-to-use software tools that drastically reduce the time needed to design, verify, and bring to market embedded systems with analog interfaces. Anadigm®’s FPAAs are moreover the industry’s first such chips that can adapt on the fly to perform multiple functions, adjust to different environmental and electrical conditions, or compensate for equipment aging.

“Anadigm® offers one of the few analog technologies that is both innovative and disruptive,” said Gerry Montanus, Senior Principal at Atlas Venture. “The recent launch of the company’s Anadigmvortex product line has brought the company industry-wide attention, and demonstrates the market’s readiness for a technology that will reduce the cost of analog circuit design, manufacturing, and innovation. Real-world interfaces are essential to a very wide range of electronic systems, and we are delighted to be part of Anadigm®’s ambitious project of revolutionizing the way they are conceptualized and implemented.”

The funding will be used to continue to expand Anadigm®’s business in all geographical markets and support ongoing product development activities. The investment will also support additional enhancements to the software used to program the company’s Anadigmvortex FPAAs, which remove the complexity from analog design and reduce the time for analog implementations from months to minutes.

“We are excited to be moving forward with the support of these leading venture capital firms. 3i and Quester have been very supportive of the business and were instrumental in bringing in Atlas Venture,” said Bill McLean, Anadigm® President and CEO. “Our FPAA solutions continue to gain traction in the marketplace and customer engagements are validating our technology’s value-add. The investment will allow us to implement the next stage of our product strategy and to further penetrate our target markets.”

###

About Atlas Venture

Atlas Venture is the leading international early-stage venture capital firm, investing in communications, information technology and life sciences companies. Atlas Venture has investing offices in Boston, London, Munich and Paris, and its investments are evenly divided between the United States and Europe. Founded in 1980, Atlas Venture has organized six international funds, and currently manages more than $ 2.1 billion in committed capital. The Atlas Venture investment team is comprised of seasoned operating executives and career venture capitalists that have been deeply involved in the formation and development of more than 300 companies worldwide. Visit Atlas Venture on the Web at http://www.atlasventure.com.

About 3i

3i brings capital, knowledge and connections to the creation and development of businesses around the world. It invests in a wide range of opportunities from start-ups to buy-outs and buy-ins, focusing on businesses with high growth potential and strong management. 3i invests in businesses across three continents through local investment teams in Europe, Asia Pacific and the USA. To date, 3i has invested over £15 billion (including co-investment funds). In the 12 months to 31st March 2003 an average of £3.7 million (including co-investment funds) was invested each working day. 3i’s current portfolio is valued at almost £4 billion. http://www.3i.com

About Quester

Quester is one of the UK’s leading independent venture capital groups specialising in the provision of finance and management support for growth companies at all stages of their life. Quester’s focus is on early stage investments in information and communication technology, healthcare and life science companies. With its first rate track record, Quester has earned a reputation as one of the best UK based sources of venture capital. The Quester investment team manages approximately £300 million on behalf of major institutional investors, leading UK universities, and five quoted venture capital trusts. http://www.quester.co.uk.

About NIF

NIF Ventures Co Ltd manages approximately $ 1.5 billion in venture capital funds, and has invested in over 1,400 companies since its establishment in 1982. With offices in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, and the United States, NIF offers worldwide representation. Its primary investment focus is in the information and communications technology industries. http://www.nif.co.jp

About Anadigm®

Anadigm® brings platform-based design to the analog world with pre-qualified software and hardware components that allow complex analog circuits to be implemented in an analog equivalent to the FPGA. Designed to implement signal conditioning, filtering, data acquisition, closed-loop control, and other analog functions in a wide range of embedded systems, Anadigm® FPAAs are first programmable analog ICs that can adapt on the fly to perform multiple functions, adjust to different environmental conditions, or compensate for equipment aging. Founded in January 2000 as a venture-backed technology spin-off from Motorola, Anadigm® maintains U.S. headquarters in Campbell, Calif., and European headquarters in Crewe, U.K. For further information, visit Anadigm® on the Web at http://www.anadigm.com.

Anadigm® and AnadigmDesigner® are registered trademarks of Anadigm®. All other trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.

###



More Venture Capital Trusts Press Releases

Vamosa Secures

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Glasgow, Scotland (PRWEB) August 15, 2009

Maven Capital Partners (“Maven”) as joint manager of the Capital for Enterprise Fund (“CfE Fund”) has today announced its

Hargreaves Lansdown Adds Latin American Fund To Wealth 150

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(Vocus) November 2, 2010

The First State Latin America Fund has become the first Latin America fund to be added to Hargreaves Lansdowns Wealth 150 list – the list of what it believes to be the best funds across each fund sector.

Latin America has been gaining enormous presence in recent years. The region is seeing many years of political and social change finally coming to fruition and economic policies are also bearing fruit. More conservative government policies have slowly helped some economies become healthier and they are finally promising long-term economic stability. Although investing in this area still carries higher risk than investing in more established markets.

Brazil is by far the largest economy in Latin America and the 10th largest in the world with a young and increasingly well educated population. While Brazil has great significance in Latin America, the region is also made up of many other promising countries. Chile, for example, already has superb infrastructure in place that can comfortably support its export market. It is also home to many well managed and established companies. Peru has abundant natural resources, but it needs to expand its workforce and invest in new machinery to take full advantage of the opportunity this presents.

Mexico is home to some of the best corporate management in the region. The country is somewhat reliant on trade with the US so it has had a difficult period during the credit crisis, but a US recovery should have a positive impact on the prospects for the Mexican economy.

Meera Patel, Hargreaves Lansdown Senior Investment Analyst First State has a proven emerging markets approach, focused on high quality companies with sustainable earnings, which has delivered long-term outperformance. Given their style, we would expect the fund to outperform in a falling market, and broadly keep up in a strongly rising market, although of course there are no guarantees. Their strategy has proven positive over the longer term and this fund makes a welcome addition to the Wealth 150.

The Wealth 150 represents what Hargreaves Lansdown believes to be the best funds across all the major sectors. For a fund to be included in the Wealth 150 it must go through a rigorous selection process. A 10 strong research team use complex mathematical models and meet hundreds of fund managers a year. All funds within the Wealth 150 are continually monitored.

If a fund is not within Hargreave Lansdowns Wealth 150, this is not necessarily a recommendation to sell. However, for anyone thinking of adding to their investments these are believed to be superior alternatives.

The Wealth 150 is designed for people who would like to choose their own funds. It does not constitute a personal recommendation. As well as the Wealth 150, Hargreaves Lansdown also offers a range of multi-manager funds which allow investors to leave the choice of underlying funds to a team of experts.

About Hargreaves Lansdown

Hargreaves Lansdown is a leading provider of investment management products and services to private investors in the UK.

Founded in 1981 by Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown, Hargreaves Lansdown floated on the UK stockmarket in May 2007 and is currently included in the FTSE 250 index. Hargreaves Lansdown is a broad and diversified business and has established a reputation for providing high quality service and value for money products to private and corporate investors. Key features of Hargreaves Lansdowns business include:


Providing investment products (including ISAs, SIPPs, funds, equities, venture capital trusts and pensions), as well as fund selection, stockbroking, advisory, discretionary and asset administration services.

Administering approximately

Community renewables projects compete for £25000 energyshare fund

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Community renewables projects compete for £25000 energyshare fund
TV food guru Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's crowd-funding platform peoplefund.it is joining forces with community renewable energy platform, energyshare, to launch a £25000 competition fund. The first five local community renewable projects to raise …
Read more on Energy Efficiency News

Crowdfunding Platform: Opensource Permaculture, Goal 000
Crowdfunding Platform is a new series on Ecopreneurist that aims to help crowdfunding campaigns that have a clear environmental or social focus. Want to feature your campaign? Get the deets here! What is the campaign all about?
Read more on Ecopreneurist

Crowdfunding, startup fever, come to Indonesia
Some of those qualities are already visible on the nation's indigenous crowdfunding sites. Wujudkan.com and Patungan.net have both adopted familiar models and can already point to some local success. The sites are, however, hoping for better online …
Read more on Register

Governor OMalley Swears in Members of Maryland Venture Fund Authority at Inaugural Meeting

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Baltimore, MD (PRWEB) August 31, 2011

Governor Martin OMalley today presided over the official swearing-in of the Maryland Venture Fund Authority (MVFA) members. The nine-member Authority was established to provide advice to and consult with the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development in connection with the administration of the InvestMaryland Program. The Authority oversees the development of the Programs bidding mechanism that raises investment capital for seed and early-stage companies and selects the private venture capital firms who receive InvestMaryland funding and make investments through the Program, ensuring that all statutory requirements are met.

The Maryland Venture Fund Authority will play a key role in carrying out our comprehensive, long-term strategy for job creation, investment and venture capital growth in Maryland, said Governor OMalley. In these challenging economic times, InvestMaryland will help us continue to provide Maryland businesses with access to capital and support early stage investment companies. Together, we can create jobs and expand opportunity for economic development.

The MVFA is comprised of a diverse group of private sector executives and entrepreneurs, investors, small business owners and educators with experience in IT, bioscience, cyber, manufacturing, financial, advanced technology, education, agricultural, transportation, and non-profit sectors. This seasoned group will guide the States efforts to attract and grow small and early stage investment entrepreneurs and companies throughout Maryland. Earlier this year, aspiring and seasoned entrepreneurs, companies, stakeholders, legislators and government officials helped craft policy, participated in InvestMaryland day which showcased support, entrepreneurs and venture capitalist successes and culminated in the passage of InvestMaryland legislation in May.

Authority members serve staggered three-year terms. Chairing the Authority will be Peter Greenleaf, President, MedImmune. Since joining MedImmune in 2006 as Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Greenleaf has overseen the development of the companys global marketing and portfolio organizations, as well as managing the broader commercial corporate development and strategy functions.

Maryland has an impressive legacy of creating an environment that cultivates and advances innovative thinking across many business sectors, among them the local biosciences community of which MedImmune is privileged to be a part, said Peter Greenleaf, president of Gaithersburg-based MedImmune, the global biologics business of AstraZeneca. I am honored and inspired to serve as chair of the Maryland Venture Fund Authority, which marries investment to visionary ideas that can become reality and, eventually, strong economic drivers for the State.

During their inaugural meeting, the Authority deliberated and established guidelines for both the requirements and process for an entrepreneur or venture capital company to seek funds under the States $ 70 Million initiative to spur early seed investment for businesses in Maryland.

Governors Maryland Venture Fund Authority Members *(Bios noted below)

Global Income And Currency Fund Announces Expiration Of Annual Share …

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Global Income And Currency Fund Announces Expiration Of Annual Share …
By Business Wire 04/11/12 – 06:18 PM EDT Nuveen Investments, a leading global provider of investment services to institutions as well as individual investors, today announced the expiration of the annual repurchase offer of shares of common stock for …
Read more on TheStreet.com (press release)

Goodwill Advocates Urge Congress to Invest in Job Training
Congress must make it a high priority to preserve funding for programs that enable individuals with disabilities and disadvantages to become self-sufficient and meet the needs of the nation's businesses. Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Reauthorization: …
Read more on SYS-CON Media (press release)

UBS Announces Monthly Changes To The UBS Next Generation Internet Index
By Business Wire 04/11/12 – 10:00 AM EDT UBS Investment Bank announced today that following the close of business on April 3, 2012, the following changes to the UBS Next Generation Internet Index (NYSE ticker symbol “NETIPO”) were implemented.
Read more on TheStreet.com (press release)