Evan Vitale

Accounting Professional

Evan Vitale – Uber, Other VC News!

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By Evan Vitale

It’s already the first week of August and there are plenty of stories making headlines in the world of venture capital news.

According to The Economic Times, Infosys has begun discussions for what will be its first investment in an Indian venture capital fund – Stellaris Venture Partners. The software services company could invest up to $15 million in the fund, launched by a team of venture capitalists, who are aiming for a final corpus of $100 million from both local and global investors.

The full story is here: http://bit.ly/2atauRL

Meanwhile, CognitiveScales has landed $21.8 million in venture capital, according to Silicon Hills News, which covers Austin and San Antonio, Texas.

Norwest Venture Partners and Intel Capital co-led the round. CognitiveScale plans to use the money to expand its salesforce and on research and development of its product portfolio.

As part of the deal, Norwest’s Promod Haque and Intel Capital’s Vibhor Rastogi will join CognitiveScale’s Board of Directors.

Read the article here: http://bit.ly/2aSRvTe

Business Insider is reporting that Uber has just suffered its largest setback and is selling its Chinese unit to its top rival in the country, Didi Chuxing.

Uber has suffered through extreme regulatory scrutiny, driver assaults, controversy over background checks and of digging up dirt on critics, and more. But this is something else. China is the world’s most populous country, with a market consistently touted by Uber as a source of opportunity.

Uber’s withdrawal is the greatest setback in the company’s seven-year history — and a rude awakening for many in the venture-capital-funded startup ecosystem.

Check out the full story here: http://read.bi/2atDlqj

Finally, UC San Diego Inventions has gained $6 million in venture capital backing, according to PR Newswire.

“MouthSense” and “SmartFoam,” two new inventions by engineers in the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California San Diego, have attracted funding from NextWave Venture Partners, a venture-capital firm specializing in the commercialization of early-stage technologies.

“Developing imaginative and problem-solving products at our public university is an obligation we have to those who invest in us,” said Paul Roben, associate vice chancellor for innovation at UC San Diego. “These inventions, among many others, are an indication that our ‘innovation ecosystem’ is thriving.”

UC San Diego is second in the UC system for inventions and patents, with 97 inventors and 192 foreign patents in 2015.

The full press release can be found here: http://prn.to/2axnObg

Evan Vitale – China Real Estate Bubble Bursting

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Finally, the Chinese real estate market seems to be stalling. It’s been a long run.

For almost 20 years, increases have occurred in construction and real estate prices across all of China. But development is starting to come back to earth as housing starts have decreased by 25 percent from a year ago.

Some economists are saying that the bubble has burst, something that could have severe economic and political implications.

The Chinese government put a series of policies in play in order to try to tame the ever-rising market. For starters, they’ve placed punitive interest rates on mortgages for second homes and a ban on buying third homes. Plus, the central bank has kept short-term interest rates well above the rate of inflation.

Not only has there been a delay in new projects – existing projects are being completed at a reduced speed as well. This has led to a slowing in both steel and cement output as well as retail sales.

Chinese economists believe that this downturn in the real estate market will most likely lead to considerable increases in nonperforming loans.

However, there is no need to worry about a shutdown such as the one that occurred in the U.S. in 2008. More than half of the homes in China were purchased over five years ago and real estate prices have doubled in that same time-frame. And Chinese families have a tendency to save – putting almost half of their income into a savings account.

Households in China have 66 percent of their assets in their homes, a much larger percentage than that of the U.S.