SigEx Ventures : Investors are becoming increasingly interested in green technologyby Corina Ciubotaru

As climate change becomes a reality we are all responsible for, and governments start raising awareness, venture capital investors seem to be increasingly attracted to clean tech. In 2006, $2.9 billion were invested in this field in the US, compared to $1.6 billion in 2005, and a big part of this money went into energy-related ventures. This figure increased by nearly 60% in the first quarter of 2007 making the clean tech venture market the third most significant after biotechnology and software. GE was a big investor in clean tech in recent times; in the beginning of the year, they invested in a company that researches batteries for hybrid vehicles, and the American giant probably won’t stop here, aiming to invest $4 billion in renewable energy by 2010. Other companies have also announced they want to join the race: Citigroup is willing to invest $50 billion in the next ten years in companies that address climate change issues, while Bank of America intends to invest $20 billion in the same area. In Europe, the level of investment is significantly lower and it’s decreased in 2006 compared to the previous year. What should concern European leaders even more is that not only are they significantly behind the US when it comes to investments, but that the Americans have invested more in European ventures than the actual people benefiting from them. Part of this problem is due to insufficient state involvement in the issue, but some potential investors consider that there aren’t enough opportunities for them in Europe.

related story: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070606-clean-tech-investments-pull-in-10-percent-of-us-venture-capital.html

by Corina Ciubotaru for SigEx Ventures (http://sigexventures.com)

SigEx Ventures's matrix of properties are quickly becoming leaders in digital telebroadcasting, free content delivery allowing people to easily talk, view, upload and share through free online TV broadcasting, free unlimited global calls, video blogs and SMS. SigEx Ventures invests in projects deploying "free" to add-on royalty revenue models

SigEx Ventures : Private equity companies going publicby Ioana Madalina Tantareanu

As a result of the tech-bubble bear market, most asset classes outside of U.S. large cap stocks, U.S. government securities, and municipal debt have been deemed "non-traditional" or "alternative" in some way.One of the biggest beneficiaries of this trend was private equity and the investors have flooded firms such as Blackstone and KKR with cash.Opportunities in the marketplace are researched by private equity. They are different from the standard stock analysis,which tends to focus on relatively arbitrary quarterly earnings per share estimates, because they analyze companies to determine whether the lines of business are worth more together or apart and they try to find unexploited opportunities. Richard Gere's character in "Pretty woman movie" would be the personification of today's "private equity." There are many options in having and managing a company. Sometimes it`s the best thing to do to tear the company apart and sell it, but sometimes you may leave it whole and shake up the business model.Going public doesn't necessarily take away these company`a flexibility.Warren Buffet's company Berkshire Hathaway has as it`s core business insurances.Geico and General Re are some of the primary lines of business.This hasn`t stopped Berkshire Hathaway from investing in, or acquiring, a host of other companies, like companies from high-tech electronics to making candy. Investors buy shares of the holding company, not the private equity subsidiary, refering to taking the private out of private equity.These will be publicly traded companies who engage in private equity portfolio management as their primary line of business, in order to cash in on the recent boom and successes and to provide liquidity for the firm's shareholders.

by Ioana Madalina Tantareanu for SigEx Ventures (http://sigexventures.com)

SigEx Ventures's matrix of properties are quickly becoming leaders in digital telebroadcasting, free content delivery allowing people to easily talk, view, upload and share through free online TV broadcasting, free unlimited global calls, video blogs and SMS. SigEx Ventures invests in projects deploying "free" to add-on royalty revenue models

SigEx Ventures : Private equity picking up steamby Delia Cruceru

Although market commentators said that New Zealand’s global buyout is going down, in here the private equity activity is blooming. This year the many deals regarding private equity firms like Yellow Pages and MediaWorks have been transacted. Corporate raider Carl Icahn said “the global boom has reached its peaked” and Blackstone Group, Kravis, Kohlberg, Roberts (KKR) and Carlyle Group capable of paying high prices are waiting for better offers and deals. Paul Chrystal, head of private equity from Goldman Sachs JBWere said that in New Zealand assets are becoming very expensive: “not all people paying high prices are overpaying, but if they are, there's always more risk that they will have a difficult time later. I don't think there's any serious investors in the private equity market who haven't felt the pressure of prices, are worried by it, and are probably more cautious." AMP Capital Investor’s boss says "base interest rates and risk spreads are rising. While we'd seen private equity interest, we hadn't seen transactions on the smaller part of the market. That's clearly changed with Tourism Holdings and MediaWorks.” Chief economist and head of investment strategy of AMP Capital Investors says the boom in the private equity takeover activity will get bigger and will have positive effects.

related story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10451724

by Delia Cruceru for SigEx Ventures (http://sigexventures.com)

SigEx Ventures's matrix of properties are quickly becoming leaders in digital telebroadcasting, free content delivery allowing people to easily talk, view, upload and share through free online TV broadcasting, free unlimited global calls, video blogs and SMS. SigEx Ventures invests in projects deploying "free" to add-on royalty revenue models

SigEx Telecom : Digital Rights Management or how to protect music twiceby Corina Ciubotaru

DRM, which stands for Digital Rights Management, is a term that describes the actions a person, usually producers, can take in order to protect their digital work from being distributed without prior authorization. In other words, without DRM, the music, movies etc of the world could be distributed to interested audiences only under copyright restrictions. Some of the most common places where one is likely to find DRM in use are DVDs, audio CDs and the Apple iTunes Music store. DVDs first started being protected in 1996 and these discs could only be played in devices selected by the DVD Forum; manufacturers had to sign an agreement with the Forum which subsequently enabled them to use certain features needed to play the discs in their devices. This practice ended in 1999 when a well known hacker called Jon Lech Johansen released the DeCSS software which allowed DVDs to be properly played on computers using Linux. Audio CD buyers had several problems with the DRM because not all accepted players could actually play the music and some CDs from Sony also contained a rootkit which, after playing the disc, made computers vulnerable to outside attacks. A few years and some lawsuits later, the DRM era on CDs ended in 2007, when EMI announced it would no longer publish discs with DRM. DRM is like copyright, but stronger and more restrictive, because it only allows files to be played on the devices that producers agree with. Although it may sound like a good deal for producers, it’s really the consumers that suffer with the use of the DRM system.

related story: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-drm.htm

by Corina Ciubotaru for SigEx Telecom (http://sigex.com)

SigEx Telecom is quickly becoming the leading telebroadcasting communications provider allowing people to easily talk, view, upload and share video clips through free online TV broadcasting, free unlimited global calls, websites, blogs, video-mails and SMS. SigEx Telecom captures many add-on services for its clients generating royalties and fees in a broad spectrum of marketing services including public relations and promotions.