The venture capital (VC) inflows into Chinese economy grew 25 percent in 2015. The US and China ranked at first and second slots respectively in mobilizing the venture capital funds. The VC investors are choosier and cautious in selecting the startups amid economy slowdown.
Sectors
Apple Finds Allies with Facebook and Twitter Over FBI Case
Apple found support from Facebook and Twitter that it should not be forced to help FBI in unlocking the smartphone of one of the San Bernardino mass shooting assailants, Farook. Even if Apple unlocked phones in the past for solving criminal investigations, it is still the company' best interest to protect their privacy of their customers.
Sequoia Venture Capitalist Donates $50 Million to Fund University of Chicago's Scholarship Programs
University of Chicago scholarship programs get $50 million donation from Sequoia Capital chairman Michael Moritz and his wife Harriet Heyman. The said huge donation will fund the Odyssey Scholarship Program and the Collegiate Scholars Program.
Healthcare VR Startup MindMaze Achieve Unicorn Status With $100 Million Fund From an Early Round
MindMaze has secured a total of $100 million funds from an early round led by India’s Hinduja Group. MindMaze, which until now is focusing on developing virtual reality interfaces in the healthcare sector aims to form future contracts and service centers, as well as expanding the technology for other uses in the form of gaming, educational and fitness applications.
Glencore Plc signs loans to refinance credit facility
Glencore signed new loan commitments of $8.45 billion revolving credit facility. The company took on the new liabilities when it was already struggling to pay off its existing debt of $30 billion. Despite being pulled to the lowest rank in the investment grade, the Swiss commodities trader received support from its loyal lenders, which came as a surprise for some.
Latest News
US-based coal mining company Peabody Energy Corp is facing a major problem over its $1.47-billion self-bonding practice. The coal miner has been negotiating with debtors for several months. Certain groups are criticizing the self-bonding practice, lodged complaints in courts against Peabody Energy Corp.
Standard & Poor's (S&P) has cut rating on Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) as it's suffering from lower oil prices. The long -term foreign and local currency sovereign credit has been lowered to 'A minus/ A-2' from 'A plus / A-1.'
A startup offering up to $10,000 loan to help couples fund their wedding had shifted its business concept to a crowdfunding platform. The move infuriates many couples expecting the loan, whereas the startup said that the couple wouldn’t have to pay it back as long as they stay together. The change of business plan was due to overwhelming demand and regulation challenges, stated the company.
On Wednesday, Meta demonstrated its new augmented reality headset at TED conference in Vancouver, Canada. The new Meta 2 headset mesmerized the audience and showed to be rival for Microsoft Holo Lens.
Wavecell is a startup company that focused on providing cloud communcation service. The company has just received its Series A Funding led by Qualgro Asean Fund.
On Wednesday, the data storage specialist NetApp reported its revenue at a lower than expectation. The company suffered a low demand of its product and will cut 12% of its employees.
Yahoo announced another round of layoff after early February cutoff. Around 300 employees in California office will lose their jobs.
Apple Pay is targeting China as its largest market. The mobile payment system was released Thursday and was hoping to convince retailers to use the system since there are hundred million users of Apple. A lot of banks will support Apple Pay including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
The US-based Victory Brewery and Southern Tier Brewing companies are forming an alliance to increase sales volume. However, the two mid-sized breweries will work independently under the parent company Artisanal Brewing Ventures (ABV).
