Daily Archives: May 16, 2014

Success

VCs are focusing on companies that have already moved past the early stages of development.

Venture capitalists are spending their money on more established companies rather thanyoung startups, according to data from the first quarter of this year.

According to the latest MoneyTree report–which was put together by the National Venture Capital Association and consulting company PricewaterhouseCoopers–there were only nine seed-stage investments in the Bay Area during the first quarter of this year–a 67 percent drop from the same period a year ago. Later-stage investments were up 17 percent from the year-earlier period, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

With so many companies launching due to lower barriers to entry, VCs are looking to invest in those that already have a solid customer base and a good market share, the Mercury News reported. “There is a lot of money being thrown into companies to scale. It’s turning into a war, and you had better be well funded and well armed,” Jeff Grabow, a venture capital expert at San Jose-based financial services Ernst & Young, told the outlet.

http://www.inc.com/

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Trading

High-speed traders are defending their practices in a newer, faster market.

For the past month, high-frequency trading has been under attack. The first volley came on a Sunday night in late March, when author Michael Lewis, introducing his new book Flash Boys on the news magazine program 60 Minutes, delivered the most perfectly succinct of all headline-grabbing comments. “The markets are rigged,” he told correspondent Steve Kroft, implying that high-frequency traders front-run the market and are cheating ordinary investors.

Manoj Narang, Tradeworx

Read more :  http://www.tradersmagazine.com/

Since then, the imagery used to battle HFT has only grown more fanciful and over the top. Charles Schwab, founder of the brokerage firm that bears his name, called high-frequency traders a “cancer,” and Jim Kramer told his CNBC audience that “defending high-frequency trading is no different than defending the mosquito.”

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  • As Asness Proclaims His Love For High Speed Trading, Are Issues Ignored?
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Economy, Startup

Why Square Wallet failed, and why Coin card is next…

Square’s recent troubles are not exactly a secret. The Wall Street Journal published a detailed analysis on April 21, detailing Square’s financial troubles and its rapidly shrinking cash position. Square took on a $100 million debt financing option earlier this year, but even with that option, WSJ and The Verge reported that the company only had about nine months of operating cash before it hit “predetermined ‘cushion’ of funds set aside as a last resort.” To add to its woes, Square was called out on removing Square Wallet from the iTunes and Google Play stores today. While Square Wallet is not Square’s core business (I would argue Square Register with its dongle still is), the app was intended to be the next big thing in payments. While Square is repositioning its platform around its “Square Order” app, it is clear that the wallet app didn’t take off.

http://www.bankinnovation.net/

 

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Trading

Renminbi (RMB) has taken center stage on global currency markets

The move in March by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to double the RMB’s daily trading band from 1 percent to 2 percent has coincided with a new era of exchange rate volatility. This year, the long running trend of RMB appreciation has reversed course with it losing 3.4 percent against the dollar since its January high.

At the same time, interest in the RMB has exploded due to its widening use in global markets and a proliferation of offshore currency derivative products. Added into the melting pot is the degree to which the RMB has become a highly popular carry-trade, at a time that markets are still digesting the implications of Fed tapering.

Last year, the RMB entered the list of top 10 most traded currencies for the first time, according to the latest triennial foreign exchange (FX) market survey by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).  This made the RMB the ninth most actively traded currency with a share of 2.2 percent in global FX volumes after volumes trebled from $34 billion (U.S.) per day in April 2010 to $120 billion (U.S.).

Other signs suggest RMB trading momentum is continuing. In February this year, Thompson Reuters reported that the CNH has become the second largest traded FX currency on its relationship trading platform.

http://openmarkets.cmegroup.com

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Management, Success

This Startup Launched in 30 Cities in 6 Months — Here’s How They Did It

When Aaron and Adora Cheung launched house cleaning service Homejoy two years ago, they took their research seriously — they worked as traditional house cleaners for a month, and they discovered two things right away: 1) Cleaning people’s homes is really really hard; and 2) the current system was so broken and inefficient that there was opportunity to change everything.

“We worked on a team of about a dozen cleaners,” says now CEO Adora Cheung. “We had plenty of clients, but for scheduling we literally worked off an Excel spreadsheet that couldn’t possibly factor in transportation time, breaks, or clients’ schedules. As an engineer, I just thought, ‘Wow, software could solve all of this in less than a second for thousands of cleaners.’”

Read more: http://firstround.com/article/This-Startup-Launched-in-30-Cities-in-6-Months-Heres-How-They-Did-It

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