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The days seem to just drag as we wait for the iPad to be released. But if you’d like to occupy your time waiting with something useful, then take a look at some of the iPad accessories you can pick up soon from Booq. This company is known for their unique take on portability and protection of your gear. They already have a page up just for iPad compatible accessories. It looks like they’re going to have quite a line up ready right away for your iPad. Before the iPad launches, I’m taking a quick look at two of their iPad offerings, the Boa Skin XS and the taipan Shadow XS.
In one sense, the iPad's January unveiling was a nerd climax, a landmark for obsessive gadget freaks. But in another it was one in a series of Apple chess movies that will determine how much influence the company wields over the future of magazines and newspapers. If the tablet device and Apple's associated online shops become popular enough, the company could have a chokehold over publishing technology and content itself. It could become as central to the future of print media as it has become to the future of music, where Apple's iTunes Store dominates online sales.
If the Esquire editor in chief is in a good mood this early March day, it’s understandable. The Roger Ebert interview in the current issue is generating media buzz and Web traffic in advance of the film critic’s appearance on Oprah. Then there’s the upcoming National Magazine Awards. Granger is optimistic about the magazine’s prospects. (His expectations are realized a couple of weeks later when Esquire emerges as a finalist in six categories, including general excellence.)
Apple this week revised the terms of service for its iTunes software, adding a new feature to send apps as gifts. However, the new feature comes with restrictions that may limit the flexibility of magazine publishers to market their wares as they see fit.
Apple prohibits the gifting of “in-app purchases, in-app subscriptions, [and] upgrades” which means you can’t buy someone virtual goods within an iPhone or iPad app. So you won’t be able to buy a friend an in-app subscription to Wired magazine for the iPad, for example, like how you can with the print edition
Magazines are throwing themselves into the brave new iPad world. Many magazine companies are scrambling to have full issues available for sale when the iPad launches, and Time expects to be among the early ones out of the chute.
After receiving protests from groups like American Business Media over the timing of the proposed rate penalties for most flat-shaped mail that fails to meet so-called “deflection standards,” the United States Postal Service pushed back implementation of the new standards from early this year until June 7. The intent, according to ABM, is to provide publishers and other mailers more time to understand what will pass under the new standards before the penalty program kicks in on October 3.
The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) announced today that its board of directors ruled to modify its definition of a digital magazine in the U.S. and Canada to accommodate new devices such as the Apple iPad.
At a meeting held March 10-12 in Washington, DC, the board agreed on new standards that state a replica digital edition must include a print edition's full editorial content and advertising, but no longer needs to be presented in a layout identical to the print version. Replica digital editions will continue to be included in a magazine's circulation guarantee, or rate base.
Furniture/Today and several sister publications have been acquired by Sandow Media, a Florida-based company that also has several multichannel, vertically integrated luxury consumer brands online and in print.
Today, I am trading in my assignment editor for an algorithm: I am becoming a Demand Media writer.
The company, founded in 2006, uses primarily freelance labor to stock its network of content sites, which include ehow.com and livestrong.com. In just a few years, the company has become the largest uploader of video content to YouTube, ranks in the top 50 of ComScore’s rankings and had estimated revenues of $200 million in 2009.
Demand Media claims its contributors produce between 4,000 and 6,000 articles every day. My goal for today is more modest: to get enough done to make my hourly rate respectable. But with an average per-article payment of $15, I’ll have to hustle.
The expected second round of layoffs at BusinessWeek began on Thursday. Among those cut were Tom Lowry, who covered media and marketing, and Michelle Conlin, who covered workplace issues. Lowry, who has been at the magazine for more than a decade, declined to comment other than to confirm he had been laid off. Conlin confirmed via e-mail that she lost her job.
Less than a month after undergoing a pre-packaged reorganization designed to reduce the company's debt by $270 million, Penton Media announced it has emerged from Chapter 11.
On Friday, March 5, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved Penton's pre-packaged plan. In addition to the elimination of $270 million in long-term debt, Penton received an extension of the maturity on its senior secured credit facility through 2014.
In a major restructuring at Reed Business Information’s marquee b2b title Variety, the entertainment industry publication is eliminating its full-time review crew and reorganizing the newsroom. Three critics will now be used on a freelance basis. Variety.com itself announced some of the changes this morning at its site.
The magazine publishing business in no longer in the either or business. “Our world today is an AND world,” the first lady of magazine publishing Cathie Black, President of Hearst Magazines, told the audience attending the morning keynote event of the second day of the Publishing Business Conference and Expo in New York City.
Print has no future. Print has a future. Print will vanish in 20 years. Print is still growing strong and will continue to do so. We are moving from the age of traditional media to the age of tradigital media. Those statements and more were what I heard in day one at the Publishing Business Conference and Expo in New York City. What follows are, in random order, some of those statements and who said them. Enjoy and keep in mind that only two people can ever tell you the future: God and a fool.
Stagnito Inc., the parent company of Stagnito Media, has acquired Nielsen Business Media’s four food group magazines as well as their related Web sites and tradeshows. The deal includes Convenience Store News, Progressive Grocer, The Gourmet Retailer and Convenience Store News for the Single Store Owner.
The U.S. Postal Service is preparing to hit magazine and newspaper publishers with sizable rate increases starting next year.
In addition to seeking an extra rate hike for all mail next year, the U.S.P.S. will ask Congress for legislation that would allow Periodicals rates to be increased much faster than the rate of inflation.
The world's largest printing company RR Donnelley is set to acquire US rival Bowne & Co in a move that would create a $3bn (£2bn) company.
Continuing its effort to sell off many print titles in the portfolio, Reed Business Information has sold both Library Journal and School Library Journal to Ohio-based Media Source Inc. Media Source will take on all of the respective brands’ print and online components as well as the Library Hotline supplemental newsletter.
With the acquisition, Media Source is pumping up current holdings in the space; it owns the Junior Library Guild and The Horn Book Inc. companies. “We respect the history and contributions of Library Journal and School Library Journal,” said Media Source CEO Randall Asmo in statement. “Our goal is to build upon those strengths to provide a vital and comprehensive service to the librarian community.” The company says that the editorial and sales offices of the publications will remain in New York and the books’ current editor-in-chief (Brian Kenney) and publisher (Ron Shank) will remain in these roles.
The bust-up of Nielsen Business Media is expected to continue today. Employees of the company's travel group, which includes Business Travel News, Meeting News Magazine, Successful Meetings Magazine and Incentive Magazine, will reportedly be told at a com pany meeting that the unit is being sold to North Star Pub lishing. The deal is expected to close this month.
It is a good sign of things to come. In fact it is a very good sign that this National Magazine Day is not aimed at the advertisers or ad agencies and is not sponsored by a magazine publisher or even an ad club in this city or that. It is the first National Magazine Day organized by a reader, an avid reader who discovered his first magazine, Highlights for Children, at a very young age and never looked back.
His name is Kevin Smokler, a writer and author who lives in San Francisco, CA and the creator of what he hopes to be a national annual holiday event. Mr. Smokler writes on his website, “On Saturday, February 27th, ordinary folk across America (like you, like me) will spend the day “attacking the stack” or reading their way through the unread magazines they’ve accumulated.


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SMI moving to $10 kids tickets Pitchman expands turf beyond stadium Company Watch: Umbel Shifting ‘Madden’ out of launch mode New era, big money, today’s NFL KFC using Colonel in SummerSlam activation Rams tap Corona as first sponsor in L.A. Porsche continues sports focus with Mets MiLB adds color with Crayola deal Bud Light signs on for Bristol game
SBJ/August 27-September 2, 2012/Marketing and Sponsorship
Azarenka clocks in with Citizen for three-year deal
Published August 27, 2012, Page 10
|World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka and Citizen Watch President Jeffrey Cohen
The three-year deal does not require Azarenka to wear a watch while playing tennis but rather during social occasions. She was shooting ads last week while in New York.
“I can’t wait to sit down with the Citizen design team to create my own signature watch,” she said in a statement supplied by her agent, John Tobias, of Lagardère Unlimited.
Drew LeMesurier, Lagardère’s director of talent marketing, put the deal together, Tobias said.
Azarenka did not previously have a watch deal, a key category for top tennis players.
She does have deals with Nike, Wilson and Iovate, a protein supplement company.
Citizen also counts LPGA Tour golfer Paula Creamer and New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning as endorsers.

domain: news


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With China becoming the world’s primary manufacturer, it makes perfect sense that Africa’s leadership would turn East instead of looking West for the same old economic results. This ‘race’ is a monumental shift that warrants further analysis.
Editor’s note: China is clearly the world’s number one manufacturing nation. No doubts about that. Russia on the other hand is, arguably, the world’s most resource-rich nation…
The bank’s new forecast is that the world economy will expand by 3.1% this year before slowing slightly. It will be the first time since the financial crisis that growth is operating at its full potential.
A US-based business and public policy expert has lauded Equity Bank’s business model for easing access to formal financial services among low-income earners.
According to Techcrunch, an online magazine, a native cryptocurrency may afford Telegram’s payment system “enormous independence from any government or bank”
Editor’s note: One thing that I find remarkable about China’s meteoric rise as a global manufacturing powerhouse is the simple fact that they are able to adapt quickly without much fanfare – unlike most other countries on the planet.
Editor’s note: With the unprecedented surge and use of open source tech to obliterate costs, disruptive blockchain uses, cheap web hosting plans and what not, is it any surprise that Startups will only get hotter in Africa?
This blog post by Lexie over at ExpressVPN really hits home the need for due diligence when engaging with Bitcoin – or any cryptocurrency for that matter. We’ve all heard the great successes of Bitcoin—thousands made a killing trading […]
This article was originally published by Sagar Bakre at Mobigyaan. Editor’s Note: Google has done a lot of tweaking in this latest reincarnation of Android, making it more battery friendly while adding new intuitive features to simplify your mobile experience. […]


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Tomb Raider Double-Pack Comes to PSP
Eidos Interactive has announced that an exclusive Tomb Raider Double-Pack is making its way to PlayStation Portable on April 10th, 2009. The pack contains Tomb Raider: Legend and Tomb Raider: Anniversary at a discounted price. As of now, this pack is only being released in Europe. We’ll have information on pricing later on, and keep you posted if Eidos chooses to expand this release to the U.S. as well.


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Macy's: In the Buyout Bin?
Nostalgia for the 1980s is fine as far as music and fashion go, but could takeover artists be ready to take Macy's (M) -- the subject of one of the most spectacular LBO flops of that decade -- back to the future for a 2007-style buyout?
The department-store operator is reportedly in the crosshairs of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts for a leveraged buyout worth $24 billion, Women's Wear Daily said on July 18. An agreement in principle could be secured within days.
The actual value of the potential transaction is hard to calculate, as it isn't clear whether the $24 billion would include debt or not, the retailing trade publication said. The offer price equates to $52 per share, a 30% premium to the stock's closing price of $40.03 on July 17. Macy's had $9.425 billion in long-term at the end of June.
Macy's stock was trading 9.0% higher on July 18.
The deal would put a gloss on shares KKR plans to sell through an initial public offering later this year, WWD said. KKR is partnering with Goldman Sachs (GS) to finance the buyout, sources told WWD.
The department store chain is certainly natural prey for private equity, which looks for opportunities to slash costs, tweak the business model and boost profit margins in the companies it acquires. Macy's has a bloated cost structure that has squeezed its profit margins and made it difficult to offer the competitive prices needed to attract bargain-hunting shoppers. The retailer has seven buying offices around the country for dealing with merchants, versus one each for its more efficient rivals, Kohl's Corp. (KSS) and Target Corp. (TGT).
Cost-conscious consumers have cut back on spending amid sustained spikes in energy and food prices, while the increased difficulty of refinancing mortgages has put an added crimp in people's purses.
Last week, the Cincinnati-based retailer posted a larger-than-expected 2.7% drop in same-store sales for June from a year ago, warned of flat to lower sales for July and cut its profit forecast for the second quarter by 33% to 20 to 30 cents a share, excluding merger expenses.
Nearly two years after its $17 billion acquisition of the May Department Store Co., Macy's is still struggling to integrate the new stores and wrestling with how to retain customers of such upscale chains as Marshall Fields even as it overhauls its merchandise strategy to target lower-end consumers.
Macy's management isn't likely to be keen to surrender the company's independence through an LBO, as many people hold painful memories of its bankruptcy filing in 1990, Bear, Stearns & Co. analyst Christine Augustine said in a June 24 research note.
Federated Department Stores, as the company was called until June 1, 2007, filed for chapter 11 protection just a couple years after being a takeover by debt-laden Campeau.
But the extended time spent on turning the company around following the May acquisition could make the chance to complete the integration out of the public spotlight more tempting now, she conceded.
If that's true, however, an offer from KKR wouldn't be that enticing, given the firm's timetable for going public.
From KKR's vantage point, $52 a share looks like a pretty fair price, nothwithstanding the 30% premium to stock price on July 17. The value of the deal, at 9.7 times Macy's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the past four quarters - including debt and minus cash - is below the average of 11.1 times trailing EBITDA for 39 M&A deals involving large retailers that have been completed since 2000 or are pending, equities analyst Robert Buchanan said in an A.G. Edwards & Sons (AGE) research note on July 18.
Macy's appears to be a suitable candidate for an LBO due to abundant cash generation - an estimated $2.3 billion, or $5.20 a share this year - and 68% ownership of the square footage its stores occupy, the A.G. Edwards note said.
A.G. Edwards has received non-investment banking compensation from Macy's within the past 12 months. Bear, Stearns or one of its affiliates holds a significant financial interest in Macy's corporate debt.


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Product finalists are thrilled and excited in the run-up to the Excellence in Housewares Awa
Brand joins forces with Science Museum, asking children to design an appliance for the future.
TV ad is part of new multi-channel campaign for ‘phenomenal’ easyCharge 360 iron.
Matt Healy, MasterChef: The Professionals finalist, creates soup menu with Morphy Richards.
Major consumer media campaign focuses on innovative cordless iron from Morphy Richards.
RKW is now exclusive retail distributor for Italian SDA brand Smeg.
Waste-saving #FixFirst campaign highlights SDA spare parts.
Retailers announce ‘early’ housewares deals for November’s ‘£10.4bn’ discounting event.


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US: Callaway Q1 profit set to rise
- Estimated Q1 eps US$0.24, versus $0.11
- Net sales up 11% to $303m
- CEO “cautiously optimistic” about 2010 trading
Callaway Golf is poised to post a healthy increase in first quarter profit, boosted by a double-digit sales surge in the first three months of 2010.
The US company estimates that its first quarter sales were up 11% to US$303m, up 6% on a currency neutral basis as it benefited from exchange rates.
Estimated earnings per diluted share were $0.24, compared to $0.11 a year ago.
President and CEO George Fellows said the results reflected improving economic conditions, as well as Callaway’s continued investment in geographic expansion.
Poor weather had delayed the opening of the golf season in many key markets, he added, but the company expected golf spending to increase as the weather improved.
Expressing cautious optimism for the year ahead, Fellows said: “The pervasive discounting that occurred in 2009 has subsided, retail inventory levels are healthy, and we have received positive consumer feedback on our 2010 product line, buoyed by strong performance of these products on the various professional tours around the world.”
Full first quarter results will be released on 29 April, Callaway said.
Help test our new apparel sourcing tool.
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Taste the signature dishes of dozens of restaurants, microbrewers
Micropub operators tend to stick to a code in which they champion microbrewers
and their unique beers, as well as encouraging conversation by banning blaring TVs, jukeboxes and gaming machines.
CELEBRITY chef Kevin Dundon has warned microbrewers
Ireland's love affair with craft beers has "saturated" the market.
Drinks are served between noon and 10pm, offering Tony's beers and those from other regional microbrewers
, offering Tony's beers and those from other regional microbrewers
In time, microbrewers
will build the acceptance of PET as a format and create opportunities in the mainstream market.
And the manager of the Wilson Street watering hole, Judy McDonnell, said: "We offer our customers an excellent range of real ales at all times, including those from regional brewers and microbrewers
, as well as hosting our own beer festivals.
The food and drink scene in Liverpool is so exciting at the moment and there is so much experimentation with flavour and ingredients; there are vibrant microbrewers
, coffee roasters and homegrown food producers popping up all the time.
A modular, skid-based system that targets microbrewers
is also under development.
This will be good news too for our many local microbrewers
who will see new outlets open up to them.
A few of the brews suggested in colder weather from nearby Michigan microbrewers
include Solitude Abbey Ale from Brewery Vivant and Boffo Brown Ale from Dark Horse Brewing, as well as a hard cider, Percheron, from Virtue.
Analysts noted that a ruling that opens up the market could kick-start the Mexican craft brewing segment, which already includes 30 microbrewers
One of the frustrations Devine shares with fellow microbrewers
is the fact that taproom laws are restrictive, with limited hours, only a certain number of pints allowed, and other production limits.


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By Ethan Varian
Los Angeles Times
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) With brands expected to spend $22 billion on video ads in the U.S. by 2022, a 68 percent increase from this year, according to eMarketer, social media platforms are likely to be filled with even more quick clips in the years to come.
Los Angeles Times
In 2015, BuzzFeed assigned five employees to a single objective: Craft the perfect viral Facebook video.
To ensure maximum shareability, such a video had to be short, no more than 40 seconds, and enjoyable either with or without sound as users scrolled their feeds.
The team found its solution in how-to cooking clips, and soon the videos made by its Tasty sub-brand began taking Facebook by storm.
BuzzFeed’s success with Tasty, and the widespread popularity of rival food channels such as Tastemade and Delish, did not go unnoticed.
Much of the media world has since invested in producing short videos to be shared across social media and watched (muted or with sound) on mobile devices.
With brands expected to spend $22 billion on video ads in the U.S. by 2022, a 68 percent increase from this year, according to eMarketer, social media platforms are likely to be filled with even more quick clips in the years to come.
But as more video creators rush to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube to share their content, the shift to video may prove less lucrative than publishers hope.
Digital publications including Mashable, Uproxx Media Group, Fusion Media Group and Defy Media, all of which have put significant resources toward video, either sold or are looking to sell ownership stakes in their companies, according to various media reports. In addition, Vice, Mic and BuzzFeed each announced layoffs this year after doubling down on video.
“I see digital video as little more than an iteration of the banner ad,” said Pivotal Research advertising analyst Brian Wieser, referring to the easily ignored advertisements atop web pages, which once were core to online publishing but since have yielded diminishing returns.
One issue is that publishers pursuing video are entering into an increasingly crowded marketplace.
As short-form video floods social channels, Wieser said, brands have less incentive to pay higher prices to place the TV-style ads that accompany many videos online.
To continue to attract advertisers, Wieser believes publishers will need to create “very high quality” videos, which can be expensive and time-consuming to produce.
Publishers also fear that Facebook and Google, which together collect 63 percent of total U.S. advertising dollars spent online, according to eMarketer, eventually could extract an even larger share of the revenue generated from video ads, Wieser said. Each reportedly collects 45 percent of ad revenue raised by publishers’ videos on their platforms.
“Google and Facebook are taking the vast majority of ad revenue and paying content creators far too little for the value they deliver to users,” BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti wrote in a memo on the state of digital media.
Peretti singled out Tasty for developing a more diversified business model that the rest of BuzzFeed plans to adopt. In addition to monetizing its videos with ads, Tasty has an e-commerce arm with a Tasty-branded cookbook and hot-plate stovetop. It’s exploring a TV partnership with NBCUniversal.
Compared with many other short-form video producers, Tasty is insulated from the whims of online advertising because its core business is charging brands to create personalized videos promoting their products.
Referred to as branded content, these videos run on Tasty’s popular social channels alongside its unsponsored videos. As long as the clips don’t include ads, earnings don’t have to be shared with Google or Facebook.
Tasty general manager Ashley McCollum said that the channel makes most of its money through branded content, a business model difficult for newcomers to replicate.
“If you’re pivoting to video this year, you’re too late,” McCollum said. “We’ve been building a video business at BuzzFeed for five years and monetizing it from the beginning.”
McCollum said Tasty, along with its home and crafts offshoot Nifty, are the fastest-growing segments within BuzzFeed. Although the company reportedly will miss this year’s revenue goals by up to 20 percent, it said Tasty’s revenue is on track to grow by 45 percent in 2017.
When creating a branded video, Tasty takes what it has learned analyzing data gathered from billions of views and applies those insights to help companies reach its coveted millennial audience. A recent video for Samsung shows a young woman selecting music to play on one of the company’s smart refrigerators while preparing tomato-and-mozzarella skewers for a dinner party.
Tasty “is able to put together videos that get at the essence of what we’re trying to say about the product,” said Katie Cheng, Samsung’s vice president of marketing. The video was successful on Facebook, racking up over 9 million views and nearly 10,000 shares on the platform since July.
Branded video content is being produced by media companies ranging from millennial-focused sites such as Vox Media to print stalwarts like the New York Times. Yet some who follow the industry say there’s a limit to how much revenue branded content ultimately can yield.
“Branded content is not that scalable,” said Allison Stern, co-founder and vice president of Tubular Labs, a video analytics firm. “That’s the fear.”
Most online ads are programmatic, meaning they are placed in front of web content using algorithms and generate revenue for publishers based on the number of times they are viewed.
But with branded content, publishers generally receive a flat fee from an advertiser no matter how many times an ad is seen. While earnings from programmatic ads can grow exponentially, revenue from a branded video, no matter its popularity, is fixed.
Another worry for publishers is that relying on Facebook or Google-owned YouTube to distribute their videos makes them vulnerable to changes in the social media companies’ platforms.
Views of videos on Tasty’s main Facebook page declined from 1.6 billion in January to just above 1 billion in November, according to Tubular Labs. Increased competition may be to blame. But the diminishing view count also could have been caused by a change in the way Facebook decides which videos appear in users’ feeds.
Stern said that as Facebook rolled out features such as live video and its exclusive video channel Facebook Watch, the company may have tweaked its algorithm to emphasize its own features at the expense of clips uploaded to publisher’s pages. (Facebook said it considers factors including how long videos are watched and whether people watch them to help populate users’ feeds with content that is “the most personally relevant story to them.”)
A smaller reach on Facebook could drive down what companies are willing to pay Tasty to create and share branded videos.
As part of a test in six countries in October, Facebook removed videos and articles from users’ main feeds and began showing them on a separate channel. Some publishers reported a significant drop in traffic after the move. While only a test, the shift highlights the limited control publishers ultimately have over how their content is distributed on social media.
Although Facebook’s evolving strategy can cause headaches for publishers, it also can create new opportunities. One of Tasty’s primary competitors, Tastemade, recently sold six shows to Facebook for its Watch channel.
One series, called “Struggle Meals,” shows cost-conscious millennials how to prepare dishes for under $2 per serving. Another, called “Little Kitchen,” has kids watch a how-to cooking video before instructing world-class chefs to prepare the same meal.
“We’re a digital video company that started five years ago with a view that all of the biggest social platforms would embrace video,” said Tastemade CEO Larry Fitzgibbon. “And where we find ourselves now is that those social platforms are starting to embrace it.”
As younger audiences eschew traditional television in favor of streaming sites such as Netflix and Amazon, Facebook is aiming to become the next digital hub for original programming.
To help realize its ambition, the social media giant reportedly paid as much as $250,000 for longer-form shows and $10,000 to $35,000 for shorter clips. It plans to spend nearly $1 billion on new shows next year, according to the Wall Street Journal.
But even if Facebook spends big on original shows, it may not be enough to meaningfully support the digital video industry at large. The company plans to scale back the number of series it buys for Watch, instead investing in select partnerships with publishers it thinks will drive the most engagement on its platform.
“Facebook is always going to do what’s in Facebook’s best interest,” said Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst at eMarketer. “It has a lot of control over how and when things are displayed _ and in what form and to whom. That’s just the reality of how powerful Facebook is.”


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Despite recent closures, downtown Grand Rapids positioned to ‘thrive’ in 2022
GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan – A recent report said more businesses in downtown Grand Rapids closed in 2019 than in the following two years, despite the closings and restrictions caused by the pandemic.
It is a reality that is different from what so many people hold to be true. In December, two popular city center attractions, The BOB and Osteria Rossa, announced their closure plans.
However, in an interview with FOX 17 Thursday, Richard App, the city’s retail and attractions specialist, offered a simpler answer to why restaurants and stores might close at the end of the year.
Rather than blaming COVID-19, App said taxes could explain the decisions. He explained that if a facility were open for even a day in 2022, they would still be held liable for things like personal property taxes.
Heading into 2022, App says the city’s pandemic is in a good position.
“We are very conscious of the companies coming downtown and I think this will result in a better shopping, dining and walking experience for our inner city,” said App.
A COVID-19 recovery report issued by Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. in December found that 32 stores opened in the immediate downtown area over the past year, compared to just 21 in 2020.
In the same period before the pandemic, 46 stores were opened. Shops opened 1.5 times faster than they closed.
The report went on to say that 23 companies closed in 2019, up from 19 in 2020 and 15 in 2021.
Shops fill 79 percent of the storefronts on the first floor, which the app called “pretty great.”
“While we’ve definitely lost some good business in the past year and a half, two years, it’s really exciting to see that the existing restaurants I’ve spoken to over the past three days have really positive vacation experiences,” said App. “Our soft good dealers are also talking about better numbers than since 2018.”
James Berg, managing partner of Essence Restaurant Group, believes in the city’s recovery.
“Downtown Grand Rapids is ready to grow and prosper,” said Berg.
The pandemic “devastated” Essence’s three restaurants, but Berg says things have normalized a bit.
Their restaurants are still struggling to hire people, so they recently increased their salary and benefit packages.
In February, Berg says they intend to reopen the grove, which has been closed since the pandemic began.
“The business is – it’s mean,” said Berg. “It’s like you have to fight and do it with your values and you win every day.”
WE ARE OPEN: Groskopf’s luggage and gifts in Grand Rapids
Follow FOX 17: Facebook – Twitter – Instagram – YouTube


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Update: Detroit Lakes Walmart bomb threat was stolen items
Shoppers at the Detroit Lakes Walmart got more than they bargained for Friday afternoon, when they were evacuated because of a bomb threat.
Police got the call 3:46 p.m. about a suspicious package in the store, but the Crow Wing County bomb squad determined that the package, which had been wrapped in a camoflauge jacket, was simply a bunch of items from the store.
"It looks like somebody tried to shoplift a bunch of things and tied it up in the jacket with zipties and then either planned on coming back for it or got spooked and just left," said Detroit Lakes Sergeant Robert Strand. Seven different law enforcement agenies responed to the threat, and customers shopping on Black Friday were kept out of Walmart for roughly five hours as the suspicious package remained in the lobby of the store and the parking lot blocked off.
"Unfortunately, the costs of this are being passed on consumers," said Strand, who says depite the money lost to Walmart, law enforcement officers have to error on the side of caution. "But in all my years, I've never quite seen anything like this before," he added.
Customers and employees are now back in the store.


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After years of seeing fewer US customers come in its doors, McDonald’s Corp is embracing a different philosophy: take the food to them.
The fast-food chain will rely heavily on delivery to reignite sales, especially in the US, according to executives speaking at McDonald’s investor day in Chicago on Wednesday. The company also is turning more aggressively to digital technology, such as mobile ordering and payments, to meet its growth targets.
The overhaul is part of a bid to achieve long-term systemwide sales growth of 3 per cent to 5 per cent, starting in 2019. McDonald’s also aims to boost operating margins from the high-20 per cent range to around mid-40 per cent.
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“Restaurant delivery is a $100 billion market and it’s exploded,” senior vice president Lucy Brady, who runs strategy for the chain, said at the event. “There’s significant opportunity that we haven’t even tapped into yet.”
The world’s biggest restaurant chain has faced slowing sales since excitement around the 2015 US launch of all-day breakfast has died down. That’s put pressure on chief executive officer Steve Easterbrook to find new initiatives that can revive momentum. Though the company has been testing delivery for years, it now sees an opportunity to “scale quickly” with the concept.
It also plans to bring mobile ordering and payment to 20,000 restaurants in some of its largest markets, including the US, by the end of the year. That would mimic a strategy that’s proven successful for Starbucks Corp and other restaurants, which use the software to lock in customers.
At the same time, McDonald’s is pushing US franchisees to upgrade restaurants and add touch screens - part of an effort it calls 'Experience of the Future'.
Many of McDonald’s overseas restaurants already offer delivery, especially in Asia and the Middle East, and the company generated almost $1 billion in sales from the channel last year.
McDonald’s has been working with Postmates Inc, Uber Technologies Inc’s UberEats and Foodpanda to test various approaches. The restaurant chain also named other delivery services, such as GrubHub Inc, during its presentation. Though McDonald’s didn’t announce a specific GrubHub partnership, the remarks sent shares of that company up as much as 3.9 per cent - its biggest intraday gain in more than a month.
Easterbrook said the company is looking at multiple third parties for delivery, but it hasn’t made final decisions. Different partners could be used to handle different markets, he said. It also may make sense to acquire technology or intellectual property to help accelerate the effort, Easterbrook said.
McDonald’s shares gained as much as 1.8 per cent to $130 in New York. The stock was up 4.9 per cent this year before Wednesday.
In the restaurant chain’s largest markets - the US, France, the UK, Germany and Canada - almost 75 per cent of the population lives near a McDonald’s. That gives it an edge over rivals in adopting delivery, Brady said.
“We’re closer to more customers than any other restaurant company in the world,” she said.
News by Bloomberg, edited by Hospitality Ireland


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US scientists have advised students to stay off high sugar goods during exam season having found that food and drink processed with fructose slows brain functions, hampering memory and learning.
Researchers at University College Los Angeles looked at the impact on rats of consuming fructose solution over a six-week period and identified those on a "fructose binge" and deprived of omega-3 fatty acids had declining synaptic activity.
Study lead Professor Fernando Gomez-Pinilla said: "Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think. Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain's ability to learn and remember information.
"We're not talking about naturally occurring fructose in fruits, which also contain important antioxidants - we're concerned about high-fructose corn syrup that is added to manufactured food products as a sweetener and preservative."
The researchers did also find that the effects of fructose consumption could be balanced out by eating nuts and fish such as salmon which are high in omega-3 and it's being recommended these products are made a more common part of children's diets.
Prof Gomez-Pinilla concluded: "'It's like saving money in the bank. You want to build a reserve for your brain to tap when it requires extra fuel to fight off future diseases."
Posted 16/05/2012 by firstname.lastname@example.org


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July 2 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc reaffirmed a positive cash flow and profit forecast for the year on Monday after achieving its goal of producing 5,000 Model 3 electric cars in the final week of June.
Tesla, which Chief Executive Elon Musk hailed on Sunday as having become a "real car company," said it now expects to boost production to 6,000 Model 3s per week by late August, signaling confidence about resolving technical and assembly issues that have plagued the company for months.
The electric carmaker's shares rose as much as 6.4 percent to $364.78 in early trading, after Tesla said it produced 5,031 Model 3 cars in the last seven days of the second quarter. The shares gave up those gains later, however, and were down more than 2 percent by midday.
"We believe reaching the 5K units per week mark is ahead of investors' expectations (in the 4K to 4.5K range) for Model 3," Evercore analysts wrote in a client note. "We had expected Tesla to finish the quarter at a weekly run-rate of 4.6K units."
Money-losing Tesla has been burning through cash to produce the Model 3, and delays have also potentially compromised Tesla's first-to-market position for a mid-priced, long-range battery electric car as a host of competitors prepare to launch rival vehicles.
Some analysts questioned if Tesla would be able to sustain the Model 3 production momentum, which is crucial for the long-term financial health of the company.
"There's a big difference between making 5K Model 3 units for 1 week vs. sustaining 5K per week," Morgan Stanley analysts said.
Production of the mass-market sedan has had several issues, including problems with an over-reliance on automation on its assembly lines, battery issues and other bottlenecks.
To meet its goal, Tesla had set up a new production line inside a tent on the campus of its Fremont factory. The company said the new general assembly line was responsible for about 20 percent of Model 3s produced last week.
Model 3 production tripled to 28,578 in the company's second quarter from the previous quarter, Tesla said.
The company said 11,166 Model 3 vehicles were in transit to customers at the end of the second quarter, and would be delivered early next quarter.
Reservations at the end of the second quarter stood at roughly 420,000. Tesla has delivered 28,386 Model 3 cars to date. Model 3 reservations totaled 450,000 at the end of the first quarter.
"This is very positive news for Tesla because the Model 3 takes them from a niche core producer to a mainstream automobile manufacturer," Tigress Financial Partners analyst Ivan Feinseth said.
The company said it expects orders to grow faster than production rate after it starts allowing potential customers to see and test drive Model 3s at local stores.
Despite originally touting the Model 3 as a $35,000 vehicle, Tesla has yet to begin building that basic version and instead is currently building a higher-priced version as it tries to come out of "production hell."
"The last 12 months were some of the most difficult in Tesla's history," the company said in a statement. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee and Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Tom Brown)


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NEW YORK (AP) ¿ WGL Holdings Inc., a natural gas and energy provider, reported a fiscal fourth-quarter net loss, driven by the seasonal nature of utility operations and the corresponding reduced demand for natural gas during this period. Results for the quarter were nearly unchanged from the prior-year period. On Thursday after the market closed, the company posted a net loss of $11.1 million, or 22 cents per share, compared with a loss of $11.2 million, or 22 cents per share during the same period last year. Excluding special items, adjusted net loss for the quarter amounted to 25 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated a loss of 31 cents per share, on average. Analysts typically exclude one-time items. Revenue climbed 5 percent to $412.8 million, up from $391.9 million in the prior-year period. For the full-year, earnings rose 3.3 percent to $120.4 million, or $2.39 per share, compared with $116.5 million, or $2.33 per share, during the same period last year. Revenue increased 3 percent to $2.71 billion, up from $2.63 billion in 2008. WGL Holdings estimated 2010 earnings in a range between $2.21 per share and $2.33 per share.
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New York: Internet search giant Google is working on a data-encrypted ring that would replace passwords as a new, innovative and hacker-resistant way for users to access their online accounts.
Google`s wearable tech ring could be used to log in to a computer or online account.
The ring is also viewed as a fashionable solution to an array of other problems related to traditionally typed passwords, including forgetfulness while keeping track of dozens of passwords to carry out simple web tasks like checking email or bank statements.
According to the New York Daily News, the device was first outlined in a January research paper written by Eric Grosse, a Google security executive and Mayank Upadhyay, an engineer for the company.
The ring, which is reportedly under testing, resembles a small credential-equipped USB key that users could plug into a computer to access their personal accounts and files.
Only instead of having it hang from a keychain or sit in the bottom of a backpack, it would be worn on the ring finger, the report said.


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ON1 Photo Raw will feature non-destructive editing with Photo Effects and even let you sync those preset settings across multiple photos.
Category: Announcements & News
Keep your photos where you want them and skip the painful import process.
ON1 Photo Raw is fast and state-of-the-art. It will open high megapixel photos in a snap. Rendering and adjusting sliders will preview in real time without any lag.
The Future of RAW Photo Editing – Coming this fall – Includes support for over 800 cameras
Portland, OR – April 26, 2016 – ON1, Inc. today announced ON1 Photo RAW, the first all-new RAW processor and non-destructive photo editor released in years. With modern code optimized for today’s super-megapixel cameras and high-performance computer graphics systems, Photo RAW will be the world’s fastest, most flexible, and easiest-to-use RAW processor and photo editor on the market when it is released this fall.
A few weeks ago, Google® announced the Nik® Collection of plug-ins—which Google has owned since buying Nik Software in 2012—would now be a free product. This sent a few shock waves through the photo industry, and in the last few weeks, here at ON1 we’ve seen a bunch people asking if we’d follow Google/Nik by making our plug-ins free too. How would we compete? What was our plan?
It’s crazy to think that we’re approaching four years since I first launched ON1 Perfect Inspiration. Each week, we published a new episode with the goals of expanding your creative reach and helping you get the most out of your photography using ON1’s suite of editing software.
Winslow Townson is a Boston based freelance photographer who has been photographing news, sports, features and stories for over 25 years. His journalism background allows viewers to personally experience the passions of the people and places he covers.
Portland, OR – February 3, 2016 – ON1, Inc. has announced ON1 Effects 10 FREE, a new free version of its effects app for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. Photographers will find powerful tools for adding style to their photos that can be difficult or time-consuming to create in Photoshop, Lightroom, or Photoshop Elements.
Portland, OR – February 1, 2016 – ON1, Inc. has announced ON1 Resize 10, the latest version of their award winning Genuine Fractals® technology. ON1 Resize 10 has also been added back in ON1 Photo 10.1, a free update for Photo 10 owners.
Today we have release a significant update for ON1 Photo 10, version 10.1. This update is FREE to all ON1 Photo 10 owners. The 10.1 update adds features, corrects defects, and improves stability and compatibility.
The ON1 Plus Community is off to a great start. It’s the place where members get personal interaction with the ON1 Coaches (Matt Kloskowski and Hudson Henry) and also one another. Here is a mix of videos and video excerpts from some of the events in the community. There is a whole lot more on the ON1 Plus website, but here is a taste.


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Pranay Shah Singh
Rise of Religion
Sensitive marketing goes deeper than a Hijab
“Muslim awareness” in marketing has grown significantly since 2014. That year marked the coming of age of the Halal cosmetics industry, with Wardah sourcing growth through the Hijab beauty need state. Brands in food, financial services and banking followed, communicating propositions in Syariah finance (compliance with Islamic law), Halal (what is pure) and Riba (what is not just). Marketers are now selecting a consumer segment - the “Muslim woman” - as an opportunity and need-gap in their marketing plans.
The Rise of Religion in Popular Culture
Religion as a topic is being widely discussed. There is an inherent tension and opportunity for marketers here. While the Indonesian consumer is looking for different cultural experiences and influences that will broaden her outlook, she is also holding on to the values and traditions of religion and pious living.
Online search is the starting point to learn about religion and religious practice. While “Islam” as a query has always been popular, other related queries have increased in search volume; terms such as Hijab, Salah, and fasting are generating higher levels of traffic, especially during Ramadan but at other times, too.
The Jakarta Post recently reported on celebrities showcasing hijrah (repentance) - becoming more religious and repenting for their previous “less Islamic” ways. Peggy Melati Sukma, Teuku Wisnu, Irwansyah and Kartika Putri are among those showing hijrah, which often involves a public declaration to retreat from a worldly life and focus more on religious learning. Social media platforms, especially Instagram, have proven to be successful in promoting such conversions.
In 2014, there was only one religion-based television program among the top 25 programs; in 2018, there were at least six popular shows that were religious in nature. The average rating achieved for religious programming went up by 26 percent between 2017 and 2018. This interest extends beyond Ramadan. Shows like “Damai Indonesia” (Peaceful Indonesia) on tvOne, “Islam itu Indah” (Islam is beautiful) on Trans TV and “Mamah & Aa” on Indosiar are examples of such “pious entertainment”. Beyond pure piety, there is also the rise of softer religious content such as the “Hijab Traveler” on Trans TV, transcending religion to a way of life, and part of popular culture.
Advertising itself is seeing the rise of the Hijab face. Within the beauty category, 30 percent of advertising used Hijab-wearing talent in 2018, up from 20 percent in 2016. The use of Hijab-wearing talent in ads is growing at 30 percent per year, and not only by Indonesian brands but also global brands customizing advertising to local needs.
Wardah and several insurance companies have been prominent in taking an Islamic stand. Multinationals like Unilever have addressed this with products such as Sunsilk Halal and Hijab Fresh. But it is becoming more important that marketers in all categories to be culturally sensitive to the shift in public sentiment regarding religion.
Here are a three ways brands can adapt to this change:
- Move beyond lip service: build authenticity with a clear product advantage that addresses the needs of the modern Islamic consumer
- Appreciate Muslim awareness as a social shift: this is not just a sweeping macro trend of “Islamization”; it is a societal shift that affects many aspects of consumers’ way of life
- Strive for harmony: Indonesia uniquely harmonizes religion and modernity; brands need to appreciate this co-existence and cater to both, progressively.
Advertisers and marketers should appreciate this duality of the new consumer. Those that succeed will be those seeing not just a face with a Hijab but a cultural shift to a new kind of modernity. They will strive to resolve the tension by offering aspiration without diluting traditional values.


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The dollar remained subdued in Asia on Wednesday morning despite the conciliatory comments from the leaders of the U.S. and China that eased the trade tensions between the two countries. The inflation data from Japan and China were also in focus.
The U.S. dollar index that tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies last stood at 89.31 at 10:55PM ET (02:55 GMT), down 0.01%. The dollar hit this week’s low at 89.27 overnight.
U.S. President Trump praised his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping’s kind words on tariffs and automobile barriers, as Xi said he supported free trade and dialogue to resolve disputes in his speech at the Boao Forum. Xi also pledged to open China’s banking and auto manufacturing sectors.
Investors also await the U.S. March core consumer price index (CPI) that is due later in the day. Economists expect the CPI, a measure of inflation, to remain unchanged at 0.2%, while core year-on-year CPI is expected show a rise of 2.1% from 1.8% in February.


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The Obamacare Hydra: Insurer Wants 25 Percent Premium Increase—but Will Still Lose Money.(Heritage).
Maryland’s largest individual market insurer, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, has submitted an average proposed rate increase of 25 percent for next year, plainlyciting Obamacare’s new rules as the reason.But the most telling piece of the story is that it originally wanted a 50 percent increase, as reported by Kaiser Health News. Recognizing that this would make their insurance product too expensive to attract consumers, they instead asked for the 25 percent increase.
But how will they reconcile the difference?
They won’t. CareFirst plans to take a loss next year. “With the new, lower projected premiums, [CEO Chet] Burrell said, “we’re not expecting to make money. We’re expecting to lose money. If we’re going to lose it we’re going to lose it on behalf of subscribers and the community.” (Emphasis added.)
Wow, a 25 percent premium increase will still leave an insurer selling its product at a loss. And while this is what CareFirst has chosen for 2014, surely losses cannot be sustained forever.
But the huge premium increases themselves are no surprise. Insurance actuaries have been warning of big increases since before the law was passed.
To that end, advocates of Obamacare claim that these huge premium increases aren’t that big of a deal, because many consumers will receive government subsidies to help offset the cost. As the Hoover Institution’s Daniel Kessler points out, “This argument is misleading. It fails to consider that the money for the subsidies has to come from somewhere. Although debt-financed transfer payments may make insurance look cheaper, they do not change its true social cost.”
Indeed, the true cost of Obamacare’s exchange subsidies will be very high for taxpayers, estimated at over $1.2 trillion over 10 years by the Congressional Budget Office.
With Obamacare taking full effect next year, large premium increases are likely in most states. See what premium increases are projected to be in your state: Obamacare: Projected Premium Increases by State.Hmmmm......Obama: "All the Choices We've Made Have Been the Right Ones".....Makes a nice motto for the Post United States of America, doesn’t it? Read the full story here.


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Cadbury patent chocolate that refuses to melt
Cadbury have gone and filed a patent for a chocolate treat that refuses to melt. Even at stupid temperatures like 40 degrees Celsius. They're hoping it'll sell in tropical countries, but you have to wonder what it'd be like having chocolate on your tongue while it doesn't even begin to melt.
It'd surely be like sucking on a chocolate flavoured ice-hockey puck?
Cadbury said the secret to the non-melting chocolate is to reduce the fat content, and of course, they've already got different recipes for warmer climates (get your hands on an Australian equivalent of a Freddo and it'll be chalkier because it is designed not to die in hot weather).
However, Cadbury reckon they've found a way to cut fat without losing texture or taste.
"We have found it is possible to instil more favourable temperature tolerant properties into a chocolate," a spokesman said.
But will it lie in your guts forever, like Asbestos in your lungs?


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Hyundai India sales decline 24% in September to 45,791 units
Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) on Friday reported 23.6 per cent decline in total sales at 45,791 units in September.
The company had sold 59,913 units in the same month last year, HMIL said in a statement.
Domestic sales were down 34.2 per cent to 33,087 units as against 50,313 units in September 2020, the company added.
Exports increased 34.3 per cent to 12,704 units as compared with 9,600 units in September last year.
The global semi-conductor supply constraint has adversely affected the vehicle production resulting in low dispatches in September 2021, the company stated.


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BRUSSELS, 15 February. The EU should start negotiations with Russia about the opening of its market for European food products. This opinion was expressed in Brussels by the Minister of food and agriculture of Germany Christian Schmidt.
“I suggest to start negotiations with Russia on the gradual opening of the market for food products. I understand that the overall political situation is complicated, however right now it would be an important signal that we are moving not to cold, but to reasonable cooperation,” he said. Schmidt pointed out that in Europe “on the market of milk and pork are facing a difficult situation.”


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Chinese language manufacturers on Amazon got a impolite shock when Amazon took the decision of eradicating them from its platform. In line with a report by The Verge, after 5 months of a world crackdown, Amazon has banned 600 Chinese language manufacturers. Amazon says that these manufacturers had been violating Amazon’s insurance policies — those round evaluate abuse.
Presents for opinions: What these manufacturers did
A report by The Wall Avenue Journal had earlier acknowledged how some Chinese language manufacturers provided present playing cards to customers in trade for constructive opinions. In an announcement to The Verge, the corporate stated, “Amazon works onerous to construct an awesome expertise in our retailer in order that prospects can store with confidence and sellers have the chance to develop their enterprise amid wholesome competitors. Clients depend on the accuracy and authenticity of product opinions to make knowledgeable buying choices and we’ve clear insurance policies for each reviewers and promoting companions that prohibit abuse of our neighborhood options. We droop, ban, and take authorized motion towards those that violate these insurance policies, wherever they’re on the earth.”
Amazon has made it clear that this isn’t a marketing campaign to ‘goal’ China however is a world marketing campaign. “We’ll proceed to enhance abuse detection and take enforcement motion towards dangerous actors, together with those who knowingly have interaction in a number of and repeated coverage violations, together with evaluate abuse. We’re assured that the steps we take are in one of the best pursuits of our prospects in addition to the sincere companies that make up the overwhelming majority of our international promoting neighborhood,” the corporate stated in an announcement.
Whereas the names of all manufacturers aren’t recognized, a few of them embody actually standard ones in China. Aukey Mpow, RavPower, Vava are a number of the ‘huge’ manufacturers which were completely banned by Amazon.
A report by South Morning China Publish means that Amazon’s resolution to ban manufacturers has led a whole lot of Chinese language firms to put money into different e-commerce gamers like eBay and Ali Specific.


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These CFOs expect revenues and profit margins to rise. At the same time, they expect energy and other costs to increase. Fuel price volatility, safety, and recruiting and retaining quality drivers are their top concerns.
The survey reflects what we've heard talking to industry experts about what to expect in 2012: Real possibilities for trucking to outperform a sluggish economy, even in the midst of uncertainties about everything from geopolitical issues to regulatory reforms.
This year we've seen the national and global economy shaken by an earthquake and tsunami in Japan, a downgrading of the U.S. credit rating and the debt crisis in Europe. The failure of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, the so-called "super committee," to come up with the required $1.2 trillion in budget cuts has some economists concerned as well.
Most experts, however, think that we are on track to continue with slow growth for 2012, rather than slipping back into a "double dip" recession.
The macro economy
As we went to press, third-quarter gross domestic product, or GDP, was revised downward to 2% from the previously estimated 2.5%. The numbers are still better than the second quarter's meager growth of 1.3%. There were some bright spots. Consumer spending rose 2.3% after second-quarter growth of just 0.7%. Exports grew by 4.3%, and corporate profits increased.
Economists responding to the latest National Association for Business Economics Outlook Survey expect moderate economic growth through 2012, with little likelihood of another recession or an outbreak of inflation. The consensus is 2.4% growth in 2012, with GDP in the second half slightly stronger than the first.
The NABE Outlook Survey panel also expect in 2012 that:
- consumer spending will grow 2.1%;
- housing starts will increase 10%, spending on nonresidential structures 4.5%;
- we'll see solid 8% growth in spending on business equipment and software; and
- industrial production will rise 3.3%.
"I've been preaching cautious optimism," says Chuck Clowdis, a trade and transportation expert with forecasting firm IHS Global Insight. "Basically, until unemployment drops a point or two and people get back to work in jobs they know are going to continue, there won't be the unleashing of pent-up consumer demand that I believe is out there."
Experts also are keeping an eye on the global economy, especially the debt crisis in the European Union.
Peter Nesvold, transportation expert at investment firm Jefferies & Co., notes that "Europe is far away geographically, but economically, it really is our neighbor. I believe there's a lot of reason for hope in the next 12 to 18 months for the U.S. economy. If Europe continues to unravel, it's a much more challenging backdrop.
"If I keep my focus to what I can really measure," Nesvold says, "the U.S. economy actually feels pretty good, as odd as that might sound."
John Larkin, transportation analyst with investment firm Stifel Nicolaus, notes that in spite of concerns around the world, from the European debt crisis to regime change in the Middle East, "the U.S. is doing OK, and OK in a world of so much uncertainty is sort of emblematic of just how resilient this economy is."
Bob Costello, chief economist with the American Trucking Associations, says the fears of a double-dip recession have gone away, "but the realization of anemic economic growth has set in."
Even if we slip back into recession, Costello says, it wouldn't be as painful as last time. "Back in '08, we jumped off a cliff," he says. If what he calls a worst-case scenario were to come to fruition now, "it would be more like jumping off the curb."
The micro economy
Trucking experts were a bit more pessimistic in their forecasts for GDP growth next year, calling for 1% to 2% growth. However, Costello says trucking could beat those numbers.
Freight volume trends have been mixed in 2011, with less-than-truckload and tank experiencing increasing volumes and truckload and dry van volumes declining slightly. Some markets are doing better than others. For instance, for fleets serving the energy exploration space, such as those hauling water or sand or other supplies for natural gas "fracking," business is booming.
The most recent seasonally adjusted ATA Truck Tonnage Index, for October, was up 5.7% over the previous year and just 4.4% below the index's all-time high in January 2005.
"I think one important thing is if manufacturing can do better than the macro economy, then trucking can do better than the macro economy," Costello says. "That's one reason loads and tonnage have outpaced GDP this year. Certainly we haul a lot of retail goods, but when something's domestically produced in the U.S., that has a lot of truckloads associated with it."
He believes industrial production in 2012 could be a good half percentage point better than GDP growth, which will help trucking.
Exports have been another bright spot, with U.S. goods flowing to economies in places like Asia and South America that are doing well. In addition, businesses may not be hiring, but they are investing in capital improvements, such as equipment and technology, and a lot of that is produced here in the U.S., propping up manufacturing a little more.
One of the key reasons trucking is doing fairly well despite the macro economic situation is capacity. During the recession, a great deal of trucking capacity went out of the industry, both through trucking bankruptcies and fleets downsizing.
"We're hearing consistently that capacity has been balanced," Nesvold says, "even this summer, when volumes got comparatively light following the Japanese earthquakes and the U.S. credit downgrade.
"Of course you can't separate trucking from the economy, and you can't separate the U.S. economy from the global economy, but from a micro-economic standpoint, the trucking industry does seem to be faring better than we might have expected."
This business cycle is unique for trucking, says Costello. "For the first time perhaps ever, during the Great Recession, companies took remarkable steps to right size. And they are at a much better place in a business cycle than any other time we would have seen."
Let's face it: If we were looking at this type of slow growth in the economy and freight volume in previous cycles, we'd likely be looking at overcapacity and a shipper's market. That's not happening, and if anything we're seeing the opposite.
In fact, Larkin says, "if you had any kind of normal recovery, coming back from the trough with 3, 4, 5% growth, I think very quickly you would be in a position of capacity shortage."
Part of the reason for that tighter capacity is the question of who's going to be behind the wheel. Fleets are having a hard time putting drivers in the seats they already have - or at least quality drivers who won't drag down a carrier's CSA rating and can hold up to all the other qualification concerns coming out of Washington (see following story.)
"One guy told me, 'There's plenty of applicants, but can we trust them with our trucks?'" says Chris Kemmer of CK Commercial Vehicle Research, who surveys fleets quarterly on their buying plans and business outlook.
In fact, Nesvold says driver pay and driver availability is the biggest issue facing the industry. "When we talk to investors, often one of the first questions we get is, how can there be a driver shortage when we have 9% unemployment?"
He explains that the universe


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GARDINER – Maine’s Bureau of Financial Institutions at the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation warns of a scam involving fraudulent text messages. The messages appear to come from a consumer’s bank or credit union and indicate that there is a problem with the consumer’s account or debit card. The scammers urgently request account and other personal information in order to fix the non-existent problem. The Bureau of Financial Institutions reminds consumers to look out for this scam and not to divulge bank or credit union account numbers or other personal information by text, phone or email.
The customers of several banks and credit unions received the text message. The message does not contain the name of any particular institution and appears randomly sent to cell phone numbers without targeting consumers at any particular institution. “Banks and credit unions will not text, call, or email customers asking them to divulge account numbers, pins or social security numbers,” Superintendent Lloyd P. LaFountain III said.
LaFountain emphasized that customers receiving unexpected calls, e-mails or text messages should call their bank or credit union directly and talk to an employee. He also noted that customers should always be vigilant to protect their personal information and monitor account statements.
If a consumer suspects he or she has received a scam text, the consumer should:
- Not return the text or call the number provided
- Never provide personal account information or other personal information in response to a text, call or e-mail. A bank or credit union does not request personal account information in such a manner.
The Bureau of Financial Institutions has a consumer library with helpful information about how consumers can spot and avoid financial scams. Also, the Bureau’s Consumer Outreach Specialist is available to answer any consumer questions related to financial scams or accounts in general. The Bureau’s phone number is 207-624-8570.


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The Japanese Information technology (IT) companies have been urged to explore business opportunity in Bangladesh as Dhaka is offering various facilities and supports to the investors in the IT sector including tax benefits and one stop service at its High-Tech Parks.
Bangladesh made the urges at a Bangladesh-Japan IT Business Collaboration Networking event organised by Bangladesh Embassy in Tokyo at its Bangabandhu auditorium on Tuesday.
Shahabuddin Ahmed, Bangladesh ambassador to Japan, delivered welcome remarks while he urged the Japanese companies to recruit skilled IT professionals in Japan from Bangladesh.
He also assured all possible support from the embassy to start business in Bangladesh, reports BSS citing a press release.
He said Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared 'ICT Products and Services' as 'National Product of the Year 2022' emphasizing the export of ICT and digital devices and diversification of export products.
The event was organised with a view to promote Bangladesh's ICT industry in Japanese part to celebrate Bangladesh-Japan 50 years of diplomatic relation this year.
Officials from Government entities like Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), Embassy Officials as well as other agencies like United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) ITPO Tokyo, Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) participated in the event.
Besides, top level Executives from Japanese IT Companies, NRB established IT companies in Japan, Bangladeshi IT professional working in prominent Japanese companies, Bangladeshi researchers in Japan in this field also participated, among others.
Dr. Ariful Haque, minister (Commerce) of the Embassy, delivered presentation on Bangladesh-Japan IT Business Collaboration and moderated the programme, supported by UNIDO ITPO Tokyo and NRB established IT companies in Japan.


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Flipkart is back with another Big Diwali deal, which will commence from October 21. This five-day Flipkart deal will proceed till October 25. The organization is additionally offering early access to Flipkart Plus individuals daily in front of the deal. In association with Thomson, the online business monster is promising that you will get substantial limits on different Thomson TVs. The costs of the TVs start from as low as Rs 5,999, which is for the 24-inch HD LED TV.
Thomson TV Deals:
The organization’s 43-inch Android 4K TV will be accessible for Rs 24,999, while the 65-inch TV will cost 55,999. The 32-inch 32M3277 Pro TV will be estimated at Rs 9,499, the 50-inch 50TH1000 TV costs Rs 2,6499. Both the 40-inch 40M4099 and 40M4099 Pro TVs will cost Rs 15,499 during the Flipkart Big Diwali deal. There will likewise be 50-inch 50TM5090 2019 TV, which will be accessible for Rs 19,999 through the web based business site. The 55-inch 55TH1000 Thomson TV will retail at Rs 29,999.
“Thomson TV, which propelled just a year ago, has turned into the number 2 selling.TV organization in the Indian online space. With the expansion in deals, this bubbly season, Thomson TV is looking at an income focus of 500 cr,” the organization said. The brand says it intends to sell about 1.5 lakh TV units and accomplish a 5 percent piece of the pie.
On the current year’s bubbly season, CEO of Super Plastronics Private Limited. The official brand licensee for Thomson TVs in India – Avneet Singh Marwah stated, “We need to thank every one of the clients for giving a huge reaction this merry season and making Thomson. One of the quickest developing on the web savvy TV marks crosswise over India. In only a year we made it to Top 3 online brands in the nation. With Flipkart Big Diwali Sale clients have the last opportunity to benefit some extraordinary offers that we have arranged for them.”


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You Samsung every year to improve a property of Samsung DeX which allows users to expand the functionality of their smart phones to cheap personal. Initially, Samsung launched the base of the Samsung DeX with the series phones Galaxy S8 Series, the company said after it launched an enhanced version with the series phones Galaxy S9 Series.
In the last year, the Galaxy Note 9 with the ability to run a property of Samsung DeX using cable ” USB Type-C To HDMI“, and now require Samsung to improve the experience of Samsung DeX by making it Wireless Full. This means that smart phones and tablet devices coming from Samsung in the future will be able to run a property of Samsung DeX full without the need to dock or cables.
Offer Samsung yesterday applied for a patent office European Union Intellectual Property in the name of the DeX Live. It is expected that Samsung this brand for the project.
Given the record of the previous Samsung, it is very likely that we see a property of Samsung DeX wireless new phone Galaxy Note 10 expected in the second half of this year the size of at least two different.


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We’re on the road to recovery
The Canadian economy is starting to bounce back from the pandemic.
Lockdown measures have reduced case numbers, and the fast-tracked vaccination rollout is reason for optimism. The economy is growing, household spending is up, and global prices of oil and other commodities are rising. But Canada observed weak employment numbers this spring, as the second and third waves of the pandemic posed setbacks.
The inflation story, though, is a bit more complicated than usual. Prices have rebounded from 2020 and, in some cases, have risen much higher. Inflation is now above our 2 percent target—around 3.5 percent. This is mainly because inflation is measured by comparing today’s prices with those from last year. In this case, that’s when the pandemic caused prices to plummet.


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Tattletech has a story on a new 150 million euro fund to be launched in Finland during Q2 of 2011. According to the article, there are three individuals behind the initiative - 2 telco pioneers and a Finn working in the European Investment Bank. I got in touch with the people behind the article and they confirmed this, working in PR, but were unable to give out anymore information just yet.
I wanted to talk to Nexit Ventures, as the year is about to come to an end, about the differences between angel investors and venture capital - how should the entrepreneur view the changing financial market, as well as what are some of the basic rules in deciding which of the alternatives in financing should the entrepreneur go for. We came up with five basic rules that differentiate angels from venture capital. Naturally these are simply generalisations and there are exceptions as always.
CapMan, the private equity investor in the Nordics and Russia, has announced last month that they will "restructure their investment operations" which in essence means they will stop investing. To be more precise, they will focus on their current portfolio companies and not raise any new funds nor do any new investments in the future.
Via Venture Partners has announced (PDF) raising of a new fund. The fund is its second, amounting to 134 million euros. In addition to the VC's original fund founded in 2006, this makes Via Venture Partners one of the largest VCs in the Nordic region with a total of EUR 268 million of committed capital. The fund targets Nordic high growth potential ICT firms that have a global market opportunity.
Finnish entrepreneurs, just like their peers from the whole of Europe, can now benefit from a new instrument to fund their ventures - Openfund. Openfund is a pan-European early-stage seed fund based in Greece focused on mobile apps, Internet and software industries. Ideally the cases should be positioned at the intersection of those three industries, without any restictions in terms of B2C or B2B services or products. Openfund invests 30 000 - 50 000€ for 15% equity into teams of 2-4 passionate entrepreneurs. The deadline for this year's applications is coming up next week on Novermber 30th so hurry up if you'd like to participate in their five-month programme!
Venture Bonsai is a new crowdfunding platform that is in private "invitation stage" as the co-founder of the company, Antti Hannula, states. Venture Bonsai enters the increasingly active market of enabling new methods to fund startups. The company is a little over six months old, but the idea originates back to Summer 2009 when Antti Hannula and Marko Lehtimäki talked about the difficulties startups face in getting funded.
Widespace is yet another mobile advertising startup from Sweden. The company provides premium mobile ad network to mobile advertisers, app publishers, and developers. Widespace aims to compete in the crowded mobile advertising space by claiming to allow advertisers superior targeting (by e.g. handsets, operators, and markets), being extremely simple and fast to get started, and taking smaller commission than other networks. For website publishers and app developers added promise is automatic revenue maximization by the company's proprietary algorithm. The startup also claims mobile site owners can considerably reduce their ad administration costs with the solution.
‘’The markets are on the web, the production power is on the web, both globally available for everyone’’ Mårten Mickos, CEO, Eucalyptus Systems.
Let’s do a small intellectual play: Web 2.0 services, or the current generation’s internet companies globally, are built for the most part on top of the so-called LAMP-stack. In other words their infrastructure is based on Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP – a selection of open source software programs.
Fruugo, the much-debated ambitious Finnish e-commerce startup (see our previous coverage) that has raised tens of millions of euros of funding, filed its 2009 annual report last Friday. The report reveals the company made a loss of 11,040,071 euros (USD ~13.9M) in the financial year 2009. Despite the huge loss, the result was actually a slight improvement from 2008 when the company made a loss of 14.5 million euros. The report also tells that Fruugo produced a turnover of 8236 euros (yes, not a typo; i.e. USD ~10,350) from the sales commissions in 2009. The company launched its web storefront, available to consumers in Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands (and including merchants from also the UK), in May 2009 several months late from the planned schedule.
The Nordic Tech Tour, organized by the independent not-for-profit organization The European Tech Tour has kicked off today. During two and a half days, the selected 30 promising early and later stage growth companies based in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, and the Baltic countries will gather together with the leading cross-border venture capital and global corporate firms.
During the event, the companies have twenty minutes to present their business plans to 70 international delegates, consisting of senior partners, VPs, and CEOs from the global venture capital and technology industry, as well as advisors and academics. The investment capital present at the Tour is said to be worth over €10 billion.
Last week Tallinn was hot with startup and entrepreneur activity. Latvian travel search engine startup MoVoLo won the Elevator Pitch Competition organized by ArcticStartup and Tehnopol Estonia as part of the Third Annual Tallinn Conference by The International Technology Law Association and Enterprise Estonia. Also ArcticEvening Tallinn, among other startup events the same week, gathered a great crowd of entrepreneurs and likeminded people together.
Limited Partners or LPs, the people or institutional investors who invest their money in venture funds, are pulling away and the European investment climate is going from bad to worse. This is on one hand because of the dismal returns that the funds have generated and on the other hand because of the bloated management fees that some VCs collect without working much for their portfolio companies or for new deal flow.
Even if the general investment climate in Europe is getting darker Seedcamp is determined to make the early stage investing work in Europe. I talked with Reshma Sohoni, CEO of Seedcamp, at the Copenhagen Mini-Seedcamp about Seedcamp's past, present and future and what value they can offer for startups coming from the Nordics and Baltics.
Seedcamp model is to invest €50,000 in early stage startups in return for some 10 percent of equity. Beyond just the capital, they aim to connect entrerpeneurs with the best mentors across Europe, UK and US.
Nervogrid, a Finnish cloud computing company, announced yesterday (in Finnish) that they have landed a 700 000 euro investment from a variety of Finnish investors. The company has been founded in 2004, but in the last two years its sales have exploded dramatically. In 2008 its revenue was 240k euros and last year they managed a 1.2 million euro revenue - showing clear traction and demand for their services. With the investment, Antti Vihavainen, has been named the country manager of Nervogrid to further speed up the sales.
An interesting development: TechCrunch reported that a Swedish startup Klarna (formerly Kreditor), one of the biggest providers in Europe of in-store credit and invoice based payment solutions for the e-commerce sector, has secured funding from Sequoia Capital. What's interesting here is that the superstar VC Mike Moritz, who invested in Google among others, has joined Klarna's board.
Why this is interesting is because the general belief is that US VCs are very rarely interested in investing in European companies, and it's even rarer to see a big name US VC to join a Euro startup board. Just in our previous story our guest blogger, Marita Seulamo-Vargas, reported how the US VCs had advised Nordic and Baltic companies to seek investments primarily from home.
Early stage companies and entrepreneurs should celebrate, just as the whole startup ecosystem in the Nordics and Baltics - Conor Venture Partners has closed a very nice amount of investments for its early stage technology fund, Conor Technology Fund II. The new fund will invest in technology centric early stage companies from the Nordics and Baltics.
This is a reminder that the applications for the Elevator Pitch Competition on June 1st need to be sent in at the latest by May 6th 8:00 PM EET to events (at) arcticstartup.com.
All Baltic and Nordic startups and growth companies are welcome to apply. The applications to the Pitch Competition must be made using this form.
The Elevator Pitch Competition is organized as part of the Third Annual Tallinn Conference by The International Technology Law Association and Enterprise Estonia. The conference will be held at the Swissotel Tallinn during May 31-June 1, and the Elevator Pitch Competition will take place in the afternoon of June 1, 2010.
The conference theme this year is Preparing The Technology Company For Breakout: Challenges and Tools for the Nordic Region. Last year the conference drew in VCs, entrepreneurs and business owners, and naturally business lawyers (of the good type...) from all over the Nordic and Baltic countries, and also many guests from the USA.
To top it off, ArcticStartup will also organize ArcticEvening Tallinn in the evening of June 1st, to wrap up the conference and the pitch competition, and to create a networking forum for the international bunch in the city. Mark it in your calendar and stay tuned for more info!
Photo by cpalmieri (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
Northzone Ventures announced the first close of € 90 million of a new fund, Northzone VI. Targeting € 150 million, the fund will invest in fast growing Euro tech companies. Prominent Nordic and International institutional investors participated in the first close.
This was not only significant because we certainly don't have too much venture capital in the Nordics, but also because this will mean that some of the better venture capital firms are bullish enough to look outside for new investments instead of just trying help navigate their current portfolio companies through the rough economy. I'm happy that the Finnish Industry Investment, whose Advisory Council I sit at, invested a total of € 7.5m in the new fund (consider this as my disclosure). This shows that the institutional players believe in the asset class despite the lack of an IPO market. I agree that I might read this news as a bigger positive sign than most, given how bad the European let alone Nordic venture capital situation is, but what it highlights is that the best startups will always find the money when they need it regardless of geography or economy. For the real pirates now is always the right time to start a company.
GrowVC has slowly been marketing their concept in various social media networks and today is the date they're finally coming out with the concept and explaining it to the public. Back in December I had a chat with Valto Loikkanen, one of the co-founders of the company, and he told me the concept has been in finetuning for the last two years or so. They've put in a lot of effort to make sure their companies are registered and managed in the right way so that they are ready to scale once things start taking off.
The concept GrowVC is looking to disrupt is the age old venture capital business model. Many have complained that while business models in the online and mobile world have been turned upside down, one model remains loyal to the way business is done and that's the model of investing money into startups. Furthermore, the need for capital has gone down dramatically making smaller private investors more potential investors in startups than larger venture capitalists.
Just recently Mårten Mickos, former CEO of MySQL, joined Index Ventures as an entrepreneur-in-residence. He also serves in a similar position with Benchmark Capital in US. We of course welcome this as a positive news for the European entrepreneurship. But just a little earlier in January Fred Destin and the whole Atlas Ventures packed up and moved to Boston, leaving just enough staff to support to current European investments.
What is going on in Europe? Are we going to see the existing VC model literally disappear? Just last week I came back from DLD conference in Munich, Germany where I talked numerous people influential in the industry from Israel, London, New York and Zurich about the situation on the ground and most concurred that what we used to know as A-round-sized-VC-firms are becoming fewer and fewer. The smart ones are either going towards smaller deals and much more hands-on model or gravitating towards private equity sized funds (not least because of the hefty management fees) ...well, or moving to Boston.
Finnish VC Inventure has invested 2 million USD into Finnish mobile publishing platform firm Conmio. The financing will be used to support Conmio's international growth and product development. Conmio sees many opportunities for expansion due to the strong demand for mobile services. Conmio's target customers include media firms, device manufacturers and other companies interested in providing mobile solutions to their customers or end users.
For those who have not found this resource yet, I'd like to turn your attention to the wonderful list compiled by Larry Cheng on international Venture Capitalists who blog. He has compiled a list of the top international VC bloggers. The figures are interesting as the lists are created by average monthly uniques. On top of the list is not suprisingly, Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures with about 100 000 uniques a month visiting his blog.
Larry has also compiled the RSS feeds of the bloggers into Google Reader bundles/OPML files that help faster subscriptions to the blogs.
- Top VC Blogs: Top 10, Top 25, Top 50, Top 100
- US VC Blogs: California, Massachusetts, New York
- Global VC Blogs: Europe, Canada, Israel
- Entire Directory: The Global VC Blog Directory
Here's the link to Global Venture Capital Blog Directory
Photo by Kris Taeleman
Daniel Blomquist of Creandum, a Swedish early stage venture capital company, has posted an excellent post to their blog analysing the differences between the Nordic countries to other countries as well as analysing the differences within themselves. In essence, Daniel goes on to confirm what Will Cardwell said some time ago.
Creandum has gathered a lot of knowledge about the Nordic venture capital market over the last two years to understand the ecosystem better and thus be able to work in it better. They now share some of this knowledge with us. Their main findings from the report were:
The Nordics and Baltics are still very much a wild west when it comes to venture capital and building startups into real growth companies and all the way to the IPO dreamland.
All the countries have their peculiar histories when it comes to VC landscape and so does Finland. Will Cardwell, the CEO of Techopolis Ventures, wrote a very enlightening post called "Reeling in the last decade in Finnish VC" (here) on how the scene has developed in Finland what factors have influenced it.
Will starts out by saying that while there certainly are a lot of colorful stories, the thing that bothers him is the number of “success stories that got away. When assessing history track record he goes on to say that he emphasizes exits, since they are the only relevant measure of success for both growth entrepreneurial businesses or venture capital investing, and this area (exits) is precisely where Finnish companies have had the biggest challenges Cardwell's view. By looking at the figures one can't but agree.
There's been a lot of talk lately about angel investing or the lack of thereof, and I think the time is finally ripe for it to raise its head here in the Nordics and Baltics.
I just recently talked to Petteri Koponen of Lifeline Ventures, who came back from the first SeedSummit that took place in London and was put together by the good people at Seedcamp. It's a new initiative that twice a year brings together a critical mass of Europe’s most active seed investors to try and establish a stronger, more cohesive network to support entrepreneurs across the continent.
We welcome the initiative. If its needed generally in Europe, the Nordics and Baltics are literally screaming for such an initiative.
The other angel investor coming from our neck of the woods who was present was who else than the other Jaiku co-founder, Jyri Engeström. Other angels present included Jeff Clavier, Martin Varsavsky, Brent Hoberman, Lukasz Gadowski, Stefan Glaenzer, Dave McClure, Andy Philips, William Reeve, Robin Klein and Sherry Coutu. A hefty list.
Today The Finnish Software Entrepreneurs Association issued a press release (here in Finnish) demanding tax exemption for Finnish startups. Jaakko Salminen, head of the Association, argues that the current Finnish tax legislation is not fair for startups in comparison to the BigCo. To fix this the Association proposes that those startups that fund their operations from their own profits and are owned by the entrepreneurs themselves should be exempted from the corporate income tax. This of course means that those startups are profitable. Further, the tax legislation should promote all the measures that lead to M&A activity that increases the size of the company. The Finnish Software Entrepreneurs Association also go on to argue that such measures push up the employment figures and increase the tax revenue in the long run.
Currently the heaviest burden from the Finnish taxation is felt by the early stage startups that don't use debt leverage as much as BigCo, are owned by the entrepreneurs themselves and fund their day to day straight from the accrued revenues. Salminen goes on to argue that being exempted from corporate income tax would incentivise exactly these types of companies to leave the money in the company to fuel the growth, instead of taking out every last penny through dividends.
We concur, but can't see how this helps the pre-revenue stage companies that are not profitable, which is the type of startup where the need for tax, or any break, is the biggest. Profitable and promising startups should not have trouble getting investors interested in the. Conversely, even the promising, but riskier pre-revenue ones do.
Seedcap AB help entrepreneurs and start-ups to raise capital. Here's Andy's 10 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Often Make When Raising Capital.
1. Trying to raise money too late
Raising money is time consuming. Count with an absolute minimum of 3 months, with a more likely scenario being 5 - 7 months.
2. Trying to raise money too early
There should be a logical relationship between the perceived value of the company in need of cash and the amount of cash to be raised. Trying to raise significant sums simply based on an idea usually fails, which leads us to point 3 below:
Nikolaj Nyholm, a Danish serial entrepreneur, who stepped down as Polar Rose's CEO just recently will join a Nordic venture capital firm Sunstone Capital as Partner in the Technology Ventures team on January 1.
Nyholm has spent the last 10 years working with internet infrastructure projects, commercial ventures and organizing, among other things, Reboot with Thomas Madsen-Mygdal. He has previously founded Speednames/Ascio acquired by Group NBT (NBT.NL), Imity merged with Zyb (acquired by Vodaphone Group), and Organic Network, a WiFi startup whose legacy is OpenWRT.org, an open source WiFi project.
Without a doubt this is good move by Sunstone Capital as Nyholm has an extremely wide network and is considered one of the most visionary entrepreneurs in the space. Quite naturally, at Sunstone Nyholm will focus on developing early-stage investments in the software, mobile and an internet space. Commenting his move, Nyholm said that " There aren't enough seasoned entrepreneurs joining VC firms in Europe, which should otherwise allow us to stir things up a whole lot more! " We couldn't agree more.
During our trip to the Silicon Valley we aimed to meet people who have experience from the Northern Europe on one hand, and from the Silicon Valley on the other to get the bottom of the differences between the two places .
Especially we wanted to know what their advice would be for the aspiring young startups that try to figure out whether it's worth to relocate to the Silicon Valley from Nordic or Baltic countries, or whether the whole Silicon Valley hype is just hot air and Northern Europe is just as good a location to build a startup as any.
Here Mia Lewin, a Finn, a former VC and an entrepreneur, talks about the differences between VC firms between Europe and the Silicon Valley, how to figure out where to locate and how Mia herself plans to build her startup and raise funding. See the video below.
Via Venture Partners, a Nordic venture fund, is to invest € 2.65 million in Swedish mobile marketing company PlusFourSix. PlusFourSix offers the mobile telephone as a marketing tool, making it possible for clients to create a mobile initiative for their marketing, without having to invest in expensive infrastructure.
According to Niklas Stålberg, the new PlusFourSix CEO as of 1 August, the money is raised to speed the company's expansion in Sweden and across the Nordics.
Anders Lindqvist, Partner in Via Venture, has been appointed as Chairman of the Board and Mattias Danielsson has joined the Board of Directors. Mr. Lindqvist says that mobile marketing is one of the fastest growing media channels with an estimated annual global growth rate of over 40 percent. We agree with cautiously, as its much easier to loose brand equity with badly designed marketing than gain paying customers. Regardless, PlusFourSix is the leading supplier of mobile marketing technology and solutions in the Nordic region.
A new report by Technopolis Online, a for-pay information tool for all high-tech financing activities in Finland, states that Finnish high-tech growth companies raised almost €51 million in the first half of 2009, which is a 17% decrease from the first half of 2008. In addition, Q2 2009 decreased more than 50% compared to the prior year.
Let's break down some of these figures. To put things in perspective the €51 million was raised by total of 29 Finnish high-tech companies from both, venture capital and angel investors. This was 17% below the amount raised by 34 companies in the first half of 2008, and 74% below the amount raised by 26 companies in the second half of 2008. For anyone who has followed the recent trends, not surprisingly the second quarter of 2009 was the lowest quarter recorded since 2007.