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Latest Real Estate Investments News

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How to choose real estate investments
Even though the real estate sector has been sluggish over the past few years, the improvement in the overall macroeconomic scenario in India has rekindled investor interest, particularly for commercial real estate. If you are considering investing in …
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Multiple Kiwi Crowdfunding Platforms are Sizing Up Real Estate Investing
I love Real Estate Investing The New Zealand investment crowdfunding market has progressed rapidly since the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) provided a regulatory structure to allow both equity and debt based platforms to operate. Today there are 8 …
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How Crowdfunding Has Permanently Changed Commercial Real Estate
Behind stocks, bonds and cash, commercial real estate has emerged as the fourth largest asset class in the U.S. over the last few decades. Among institutional investors, investments in commercial properties represent nearly 10% of their holdings. When …
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Alternative Investments Conference Set for Feb. 14 at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

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Chapel Hill, N.C. (PRWEB) February 03, 2014

The seventh annual Alternative Investments Conference (AIC) will be hosted by the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School on Feb. 14.

The conference is a forum for private equity, hedge fund, venture capital and limited partner professionals to network, share ideas and stay abreast of industry trends.

“Seeking Sustainable Yield” is the theme of the student-led event organized by the UNC Kenan-Flagler Private Equity Club, an MBA career organization.

Keynote speakers will be:

    Terry S. Brown, chairman and chief executive officer, EDENS
    William C. Montgomery, managing director, Quantum Energy Partners
    Mounir Guen, chief executive officer, MVision
Over 25 speakers will participate in panel discussions on private equity, real estate, energy and infrastructure, distressed and special situations, hedge funds and emerging markets.

Proceeds from the conference fund the Alternative Investment Fellowship, which assists selected UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA students gain summer internships with leading alternative investment firms.

The robust focus on private equity at UNC Kenan-Flagler extends from educational and career preparation for students – including the only student-run private equity fund at a top-tier business school – to the faculty’s research.

The AIC will be held at the Carolina Club on the UNC campus. For more information and registration, go to http://www.uncaic.com.

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About the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School

Consistently ranked one of the world’s best business schools, UNC Kenan-Flagler is known for its collaborative culture that stems from its core values: excellence, leadership, integrity, community and teamwork. Professors excel at both teaching and research, and demonstrate unparalleled dedication to students. Graduates are effective, principled leaders who have the technical and managerial skills to deliver results in the global business environment. UNC Kenan-Flagler offers a rich portfolio of programs and extraordinary, real-life learning experiences: Undergraduate Business (BSBA), full-time MBA, Executive MBA Programs (Evening, Weekend and global OneMBA®), online MBA@UNC, UNC-Tsinghua Dual-Degree EMBA, Master of Accounting, PhD, Executive Development, and UNC Business Essentials programs. It is home to the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.







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EB5 Visa Direct Investments: The Hot New Trend In Alternative Financing For Small Businesses And Regional Economic Growth

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Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) January 17, 2014

A rapidly growing number of start-up and expanding business owners are skipping traditional bank loans and venture capitalists for a faster and cheaper financing alternative, called the EB5 Visa Direct Investment program. “This direct or stand-alone program is literally on fire,” said Bernard Wolfsdorf of Wolfsdorf Immigration Law.

It connects wealthy overseas investors who want a green card with regional business owners who need money to grow and expand. Southern California CEO Magazine talked with leading Securities and immigration attorneys and investment consultants about this hot new trend at a recent EB5 Summit in Los Angeles.

The EB5 Visa Investment program was created by Congress in 1990 to stimulate U.S. economic growth by job creation through capital investment by foreign investors. An investment made by an immigrant must create at least 10 new American jobs over a period of at least two years. If successful, the investor receives their permanent green card. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sets aside up to 10,000 visas for immigrants willing to invest at least $ 500,000 or more to create these new jobs in American businesses.

Almost all EB5 investment has been in massive Regional Center Projects which involve hundreds of foreign investors and scores of millions of dollars. The projects have been complicated, and it has been difficult to determine how many American jobs each foreign investor has created. Many of the investors have also profited little or lost money. But, that has changed over the last year.

“More investors are finally realizing that there is opportunity with direct investment, “said Brian Su of the Artisan Business Group. Su primarily helps U.S. companies connect with cash-flush investors in China who want more control on the projects they back, but, they don’t necessarily seek as much equity in the business as a venture capitalist would likely demand.

As long as the project is very strong and the business is good, Su’s investors are willing to risk their money. “They’re not looking for tremendous returns,” Su said. “They’re just looking for legal residency through the EB5 program.”

The pool of investors has also quickly expanded from China, to include entrepreneurs from Brazil, Chile, India, Korea, South Africa and Vietnam. Up to 20% of all EB5 investment now directly benefits the little guy.

“The smaller business that’s looking to add 10 or 20 or 30 people onto their payroll, they can tap into this financing source, and the cost of doing so is less than half of the cost of big projects. So, it’s something the smaller business can afford in order to enlarge their business or start their business from a dead stop,” said Michael Michael Homeier of Homeier and Law. “It’s very exciting.”

The EB5 Visa Direct Investment program can also help small business get cash fast and with less hassle than standard bank loans or venture capital deals.

“This is the big winner,” said immigration attorney Bernard Wolfsdorf. “We’re talking two to three months. That’s how quickly the money can flow in to the job creating enterprise. You don’t have all this massive apparatus, and complicated framework. You basically put together a business plan. You outline the structure. You show where it’s going to go. You raise the money and the money starts coming in within months.”

The EB5 Visa Direct Investment program has also become powerful economic stimulus tool for Southern California cities and counties.

“Jobs create jobs,” said Kevin Wright of Wright Johnson, LLC. The EB5 program consultant said investors bring capital into a county or city. That creates more jobs, which creates more tax revenue, which creates more direct and indirect jobs, and in turn, more tax revenue. “So, it really helps to perpetuate an entire community through these investments,” Wright said.

The EB5 Visa Direct Investment program is a real opportunity for a lot of U.S. businesses and local governments to get back on their feet, said immigration attorney Michael Homeier. Businesses are struggling to get capital, and there is a huge wave of wealthy people overseas willing to put their money at risk on a U.S. business to create jobs and to get a green card. “That’s a perfect storm,” he said.







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Celebrity Entrepreneur: Ken Hubbard, Angel Investments

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Dr.John interviews Ken Hubbard President of Private Capital Network (PCN) one of the largest networks of its kind. Ken shares experiences and key insights. H…

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







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Vertical Consultants Reveals How Q3 2013 Mobile Investments Affect Cell Tower Landlords

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Nashville, TN (PRWEB) November 14, 2013

Mobile venture capital investments have reached the largest financing quarter in history, according to CB Insights, a trusted investment database company. Venture capital firms have capitalized on the demand for apps, devices, mobile video, and mobile advertising among others, by investing over $ 1.12B in US mobile-related companies. This has made the third quarter of 2013 the highest quarterly total on record. It was also the first time that venture capital mobile deals have surpassed the healthcare sector.

These companies’ profit margins are on the rise, and, unfortunately, cell tower landlords are often not privy to this information. Implementing supply and demand economics would allow property owners to be paid full and fair value for telecoms and tower developers’ use of their land. As demand for mobile connectivity rises [subsequently increasing cell towers’ revenue] the value of property owners’ cell tower leases and the land used for telecom purposes also rises.

Hugh Odom, President and Founder of Vertical Consultants states, “Property owners throughout North America are in a better position today than ever before when it comes to negotiating terms for telecoms’ and tower developers’ use of their property. Growing consumer demands for mobile connectivity, in addition to an array of other mobile demands, increases the value of cell towers and their leases. However, property owners do not take advantage of this value increase because they are unaware that it even exists. Vertical Consultants was established to inform the uniformed property owners, advocating for those landowners who have been taken for granted and getting them full and fair value for their land that they deserve.”

Vertical Consultants’ success in the industry has proven the wide disparity between property owners and telecom companies. In 2012, the telecom lease-consulting firm increased property owners’ cell tower rents by 142% and, since inception, has recovered over 200 years worth of unpaid cell tower rents and expenses for their clients, collectively.

Vertical Consultants was founded in 2010 by Hugh Odom and is comprised of wireless industry veterans with decades of combined experience. Vertical Consultants specializes in issues surrounding the wireless telecom industry and prides itself as a source of information for property owners. Vertical Consultants experience in the industry allows it to offer its clients unmatched expertise, services and results. Unlike others in their field, Vertical Consultants is able to handle every aspect of the issues surrounding a cell tower, rooftop or any other type of telecom lease, from start to finish. To learn more, visit http://www.vertical-consultants.com or contact Vertical Consultants at info(at)vertical-consultants.com or 877.456.7552.







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