I love books. Can't get enough of them (even though I'm running out of space already). Thanks to Shelfari I was able to start putting together the VC Cafe virtual book shelf, but ideally, you could contribute to it with your recommended reads on the topics of startup and venture capital.
The World Bank published the Doing Business 2011 report earlier this week, measuring how easy and pricey it is to complete the various bureaucratic procedures and red tape involved in setting up, running and shutting down a firm. Israel went up one spot from last year in the latest report, ranking 29 among the 183 countries included in the study.
AVG, one of the largest American PC anti virus software makers with 110 million subscribers worldwide, has acquired Israeli startup DroidSecurity, maker of anti virus software for Android phones, for an estimated amount of $4.1 million + $5.3 million in performance milestones.
Bootstrapping can be really hard for some early stage startups, but Israeli startup Enigmai, makes it seem easy. Started in 2009, Enigmai built and deployed a simplified workforce management SasS tool that enables SMBs and large companies to better manage their human resources. VC Cafe interviewed Engimai's founder and CEO Adir Iakya to learn more about how this bootstrapped startup is planning to replace the incumbents.
For all the advertising and ecommerce startups out there: the Consumer Commerce Barometer (CCB) is a great way to gain market insights into how consumers interact with the internet as a source of information for purchasing decision. CCB is the result of a global effort by the IAB Europe in partnership with TNS Infratest and Google to quantify the role of online in the consumer journey from research to purchase.
Some of the week's top Israeli startups headlines: Boxee is looking to raise a massive round -Sources say Boxee is out trying to raise a significant funding round, likely in the $10 million to $15 million range.
I found a hidden gem in Israel. A little startups that with less than 10 people and no VC funding was able to bootstrap its own ad server and 15 million daily ad impressions. The startup is AfterDownload, an eight month old advertising network based in Israel.
The Q3 2010 MoneyTree report for Israel was published yesterday with somewhat encouraging results: VC investments in Israel continue to grow and some $253 million were invested in VC-backed tech companies in the third quarter, representing a 23% increase compared to the previous quarter and a 42% compared to the same period last year which only saw $178 million invested.
Mark Suster, a 2x entrepreneur turned VC, offers a good recount of what it takes to be a CEO in "My Life as a CEO (and VC): Chief Psychologist". What do CEOs do?
Venture capitalists from around the world invested $7.8 billion in 995 deals for companies based in the U.S., Europe, Canada, Israel, Mainland China and India, according to industry tracker Dow Jones VentureSource. This is a slight decrease from $7.9 billion put into 1,025 deals during the same period last year
As every month, VC Cafe is re-posting the “Invest in Israel” Newsletter, published by the investment promotion center of Israel’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, which offers many helpful tools for prospecting investors. See the October 2010 edition after the jump. For previous editions, click here.
LiveU has announced a third round of $11 million, led by Pitango and joined by existing investors, Carmel Ventures and Canaan Partners. This brings LiveU's total investment to date to over $23 million.As a result of this round Isaac Hillel, managing partner at Pitango, will join LiveU's board.
Weekly Firgun Newsletter
Join founders and investors reading the weekly Firgun newsletter by Eze Vidra.