By Evan Vitale
Here are the latest stories making headlines in the world of venture capital.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Asian startups are being hit by a venture capital slowdown.
According to the story, in early February, Yin Sang, a prominent Chinese entrepreneur, sent an email to all 600 employees at his karaoke-booking startup: His firm was running out of money after failing to raise funds and wouldn’t be able to pay staff salaries.
“Our cash flow is almost zero,” the 23-year-old chief executive of Yiqi Chang wrote in the email, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “Our company is in a crisis.”
A year ago, Mr. Yin’s Shanghai-based startup was valued at more than $100 million and, in 2014, he made Forbes China’s list of the 30 most successful Chinese entrepreneurs under the age of 30.
You can read the rest of the article here: http://on.wsj.com/24OCdqF
In Cincinnati, Ohio, Mason-based startup ConnXus has secured $5 million from venture capitalists to help accelerate its growth, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Techstars Ventures, Serious Change LP and Impact America Fund are the investors that led the Series “A” funding round for ConnXus, which announced it obtained the money Wednesday. The three venture capital groups were already investors in ConnXus.
The new funding doubled the investments made in ConnXus since the company launched in 2010. CincyTech was among early investors in the firm.
The full story is here: http://cin.ci/1OpcTKV
And, according to ZDNet, HP has announced a new venture capital arm – HP Tech Ventures, which will focus on 3D printing and more.
Based out of Palo Alto, California and Tel Aviv, the Tech Ventures team will be led by HP’s “chief disrupter” Andrew Bolwell, who will report to HP CTO Shane Wall, the Wall Street Journal first reported. HP Tech Ventures will complement the company’s in-house innovation produced by HP Labs, according to Wall.
“The next technology revolution is shifting towards strategic markets that speak to HP’s strengths,” Wall said in a statement. “With our global brand and broad reach into consumer and commercial markets worldwide, HP can help startups bring product to market, build their business and scale in the global marketplace as they grow.”
HP new external investments will come off of its balance sheets, Wall said, rather than through a separate investment fund.
The details are here: http://zd.net/27gqfou
