Greek Technology Shall Not Default

By: Mark Alex Dimitriou, Senior Executive, Marfin Investment Group,

The beaches, the sun, the islands, the mousaka, the souvlaki, the joy! Debt, austerity, tax evasion, political instability, protests, misery… however, if you want to look beyond the headlines, please indulge me as I give you a straight-to-the point qualitative snapshot of the new hype in Greece.

Overview of ICT Landscape in Brazil

By: Enock Koola, Analyst

Brazil is the largest country in Latin America and the world's fifth largest country in terms of population as well as size. Brazil recently moved one place above UK to become the world's sixth largest economy with a GDP of 2.52T USD as reported by CEBR. The Brazilian economy experienced growth in 2010 and 2011 as the rest of the world was being affected by the global financial meltdown and the Euro debt crisis; it grew by 7% and 3.5% in 2010 and 2011 respectively. The CEBR predicts that by the end of this decade, the new world in GDP will comprise of China, USA, India, Japan, Brazil and Russia (CEBR, 2011).

Amoo at Davos

Many techies have no idea of "The Forum's" existence, however, this gentle giant is worth putting on one's calendar for a variety of reasons - mainly because it attracts a plethora of global leaders, decision-makers, visionaries and captains in industry. We were fortunate to receive an invitation to this year's annual meeting in the otherwise sleepy Swiss village of Davos.

Digital Bricks And Mortar

Having a website is akin to setting up a market stall - it is just the beginning of the trading process. One still has to stock one's stall, make sure what is being sold is visible (and obvious) to passerbys, promote the stall, and then sell! The internet parallel is putting up enough information and calls to action on one's website, optimising one's website to be 'visible' to search engines (SEO), making it user-friendly to visitors, and following up on your visitors' response to your calls to action.

PRESS RELEASE: Amoo Booster Series

Startup Spotlight: Masabi

Can you give us a description of Masabi and where the name came from?
Masabi is a mobile ticketing technology company. We provide a service that enables people to use their mobile phone to find train times and prices, buy the ticket and use their phone as the ticket – thereby skipping queues and catching trains they might otherwise have missed. The aim is to reduce the amount of ticket machines needed by the train companies and the massive capital outlay incurred by those businesses as well as take a bit of pain away from the customers.

Exit Strategy: IPO Vs Trade Sale

By: Enock Koola, Analyst

As a Greek writer once wrote, “Affairs are easier of entrance than of exit; and it is but common prudence to see our way out before we venture in”. The same might be said about technology start-ups needing to have an exit plan. In order to attract VC investments, start-ups have to entice with an exit strategy. Most VCs seek 10x potential return on each company given the risks involved in any given portfolio fund. On average it takes 5-7 years before an investor can realise their investment. You don’t need me to say how long that is. It goes without saying if an entrepreneur and investor are going to be strategically working together an exit strategy should be well thought of.

"Memo to Management"

Bloomberg Enterprise Technology Summit took place last week and is the inspiration for our recent blog posts [full videos to the event are available on the Bloomberg Terminal exclusively through the function LINK]. The hallmark event allowed technology decision-makers in the financial services industry share ideas and address issues they care about most. In attendance were technology industry leaders and technology executives.