VC

The US has issued the latest in a series of warnings to Iran, telling Tehran to stop helping Iraqi militants make lethal bombs to attack US troops.
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said US forces had detained several Iranians suspected of providing weapons technology to Shia insurgents.
They in fact have only caught 5 so is this down to Iran’s government or is it more likely that some Iranians dislike the fact that their neighbours have been invaded and have gone to help the Iraqi freedom fighters, the same as the British helped the French in WWII.

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A most unusual partnership deal involvng two VC firms - Sequoia and Westbridge partners was consummated recently.

This is the first time ever I've heard two VC companies merging. I don't understand how they reconcile the interests of their limited partners or how the proceeds of exits of their portfolio companies are divided.

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Sify.com, a leading Indian news portal reported last week that a U.S based private equity fund was investing in an Indian construction company

This is the first deal that I have read about that pertains to the construction sector. It is heartening to note that U.S based private equity investors are beginning to invest in sectors outside of I.T. services and technology.

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Vinod Khosla, an esteemed Silicon Valley VC and a champion of cleaner energy recently
invested in an India-based startup

The investment highlights a few important points:

1) The continuation of seamless cross-border investments between U.S and India.
2) Growing importance of Ethanol in our energy landscape.
3) Maturing of the Indian market with respect to deal structure for VC investments -- the articles mentions the usage of "preferential shares". I'm not sure if this is the same as "preferred stock" as used in the U.S, but will try and research.

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Hi folks

I found this extremely informative article on Private Equity in India (Courtesy: Ernst and Young).

Some highlights:

Reasons for optimism

1.Attractive demographic profile: 54% of population below age of 25
2. Intellectual horsepower: Over 23 million trained professionals – doctors, engineers, lawyers etc, and growing by half a million/year

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With gas prices hovering at $3/gallon, global warming showing no signs of abating and hefty price premiums on hybrid cars, investors as well as consumers are wondering if there is a better way out.

Enter Ethanol. A hitherto unknown alcohol traditionally used for alcoholic beverages, Ethanol is now a hot topic for investors.

The Washington Times, yesterday had an excellent article on the Green Technology Boom . The article describes how some ultra-rich VC's and business leaders -- Bill Gates, Vinod Khosla, John Doerr etc are committing some serious cash to investing in what they describe the next disruptive technology.

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Recently, there has been a spate of investments in Indian companies that provide online travel services. This is probably one of the earliest forays by VC's into an an entire Internet sector in India.

Kleiner Perkins in Cleartrip
WestBrige in Travel Guru

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Youtube.com -- one of the hottest Web 2.0 companies announced earlier this month that Sequoia (a premier Bay Area VC) was funding their expansion by investing $8 million in a Series B investment.

Note, this is in addition to the $3.5 million Series A investment for YouTube.

Again, there are few details on how the money will be used, or the implied valuation. However, I have a few conjectures:

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