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Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Startup Spotlight: Masabi
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.
Thursday, 15 December 2011
Exit Strategy: IPO Vs Trade Sale
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 Amoo 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.
Monday, 12 December 2011
"Memo to Management"
Monday, 5 December 2011
Overview of IT Spending 2011
IT Services and Software market spending are expected to increase further with the BRIC nation software markets growing at a CAGR of 14% in 2010-2015. (IDC, Black book, Q3 2011).
Thursday, 1 December 2011
BRICS: A Structural Shift
The UN climate summit taking place this week in Durban, South Africa is a sign of the times. Over a decade ago, the rapid rise of the BRICS economies was predicted by some economists including Jim O’Neil; the man responsible for the BRIC acronym in 2001. During 2001, when the term was first coined, many politicians disbelieved a trending of economic power towards the emerging economies would ever happen nor threaten Western dominance in technology, manufacturing and research; therefore dictating global economic policies. However, there has been a structural shift from the Western economies to emerging countries.
Monday, 31 October 2011
Silicon Milkroundabout
Brick Lane, home to London's fashionista crowd and curry houses, gave way to tech geeks yesterday. The long queue outside the Truman Brewery, matched my level of anticipation for the Silicon Milkroundabout technology careers fair. Once past the Thor-like bouncer and super-efficient registration helpers, I paused to take in the ambience. There were hundreds of people in the un-careers fair and the warehouse buzzed with a very familiar tech startup energy. From the Terminator 3 pinball machine to the beanbags and wifi area, and the Foosball machine to the Portuguese water dog, this tech job hunting nirvana felt like it was inspired by the Google offices in Victoria, London.
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Startup.IT: Overview of the Italian Venture Capital and Startup Environment
Most of us think 'sovereign debt crisis' when 'Italy' is mentioned. Ok, maybe olive oil, pasta and The Godfather also come to mind but did you know that Italy's early stage funding is pretty active? The importance of turnaround is also growing. Considering the amount invested within the different funding stages, the Italian Association of Venture Capital and Private Equity (AIFI) reported that during the economic crisis of 2008 and 2009
Monday, 26 September 2011
Monday, 19 September 2011
VC Factsheet: INDEX VENTURES
Index Ventures was founded in 1996 by Neil and David Rimer, and Giuessppe Zocco. Their first office was based in Geneva, with the London office opening in 2002. As such they have traditionally invested globally in companies that have a European focus. However the company is not focused on geographical investing, as shown by the opening of an office in Silicon Valley in 2011.
Friday, 16 September 2011
place4BRICS
Amoo Venture Capital Advisory is proud to announce the successful launch of place4BRICS, London's first community for technology entrepreneurs and investors from or interested in conducting business in the BRICS countries. The first event took place on the September 14th, 2011 and featured perspectives on an opportunity in each country put forward by relevant experts, which was followed by an insightful round of Q&A and an opportunity to network.
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
It's Getting Cold Outside

Within the last two weeks, billions of pounds were wiped off the financial equity markets, volatility hit record highs, technology IPOs went through controlled delays (e.g. Zynga), and hot tech startups are beginning to show cracks (e.g. Groupon).
Friday, 5 August 2011
Start-up Spotlight: Interview with Alex Kelleher founder of Cognitive Match
Saturday, 30 July 2011
Information Security in a Borderless World

Wednesday, 27 July 2011
A Year (And A Day)
Saturday, 2 July 2011
Open Source
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
VC Factcheet: GREYLOCK PARTNERS
Greylock Partners have been in operation since 1965. They have funded and successfully built hundreds of companies, more than 150 of those have gone on to IPOs and more than 100 have achieved successful M & A events . Since 1965 they have raised 13 funds in the form of limited partnerships, the latest of which (Greylock XIII) was expanded to 1 billion USD in March 2011 .
Sunday, 5 June 2011
Start-up Spotlight: Interview with Josh Liu co-founder of Minutebox
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
VC Factsheet: BESSEMER VENTURE PARTNERS
Bessemer Venture Partners, formed in 1911, is one of the longest-standing venture capital firms in the United States. The founder Henry Philips Jr. formed Bessemer Securities Corporation, as part of which Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) originally operated, to manage and invest the proceedings from the sale of Carnegie Steel, founded with Andrew Carnegie. Since 1975, Bessemer Venture Partners has operated as a standalone partnership with Bessemer Securities Corporation as its primary limited partner.
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Crowdfunding v1.5
“The Internet is fundamentally replacing the economics of scarcity with the economics of ubiquity”- Eric Schmidt MWC Keynote February 2011.
Web 2.0, the proliferation of fast internet access and the explosion of social media have given a greater sector of society an unprecedented ability to exert their influence.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Mobile Monday London - Connecting 50Bn
Terrific line-up for the 66th Mobile Monday London (MoMoLo) event! Camille Mendler of Informa moderated the evening, joined by Dan Warren, Director of Technology at GSMA, David Wood, Technology Strategy Lead for Embedded Devices at Accenture, Tor Bjorn Minde, R&D Manager from EricssonLabs, and William Webb, CTO from Neul.
Monday, 16 May 2011
Diary of a Start-up: Collaboration
Thursday, 5 May 2011
G-Nigeria 2011
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Diary of a Start-up: Running a Marathon
Friday, 15 April 2011
University Spin Outs
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Diary of an Intern: Amoo VCA Summer 2010
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Diary of a Start-up: Believe
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Diary of a Start-up / Technology: Special Mention
Diary of a Start-up: Dancing with no music
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Diary of a Start-up: Learning from Others - the importance of a smile
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Diary of a Start-up: Enthusiasm required
Friday, 11 March 2011
Diary of a Start-up: Wheels in Motion!

Any youngster today should read the (slightly cheesy, but inspiring) 'Art of the Deal' by Donald J.Trump. His wealth to wealth tale revolves around high flying property deals and sky-scrapping developments but each project always begins with the simple and symbolically important step: breaking ground.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Diary of a Start-up: Analysing Risk

Boy, what a boring sounding title for a blog! Nonetheless, I'm reminded today by a quote uttered by a fellow start-up goer, Raj Dey, who said that 'people call entrepreneurs risk takers when in fact, it's the exact opposite of what we are trying to do. We are trying like hell to alleviate as much risk as possible'.
Monday, 7 March 2011
Letter from Amoo VC Advisory: Our Blog 2.0
We would like to inform you of a couple of minor changes to our blog.
Not too long ago, we successfully migrated all our blog content from amoomedia.blogspot.com to blog.amoo.co.uk. The new site is easier to remember as well as more consistent with our brand identity.
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Diary of a Start-up: The Importance of Brand
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Diary of a Start-up: J(f)DI!!
Friday, 4 March 2011
Diary of a Start-Up: Early start, great meeting!
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Diary of a Start-Up: The Power of a Network
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Square Thinking: Meeting Etiquette
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Lose Sight of The Bigger Picture
Saturday, 15 January 2011
Diary of a Start-Up: Incredible generosity from legal eagles
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
8 UK Incubators
Incubators offer many advantages to develop and strengthen businesses including facilities, equipment and access to experienced advisers. Incubators frequently benefit from proximity to universities and research centers and are a credible source of innovation and entrepreneurship in science and technology. Amoo prepared a list of them.
Saturday, 1 January 2011
End of Year Musings
We supported several startups, many of which you must watch out for in 2011. Take the award-winning Fits.Me and Pavegen Systems for example.