Google Ventures, le fonds de capital-risque de la firme de Mountain View, a été bien actif en 2014. Il a investi pas moins de 125 millions de dollars pour soutenir le développement de start-up en Europe, sur un total de 425 millions de dollars cette année, contre 300 millions de dollars en 2012 et 2013.
Depuis sa création en 2009, Google Ventures a injecté de l’argent en tant qu’investisseurs dans 282 jeunes pousses dans le monde, dont le fameux et très critiqué service de VTC Uber. Le fonds y a distillé l’année dernière la bagatelle de 258 millions de dollars. En 2014, le fonds a également officialisé 16 sorties de capital.
Cette année, Google Ventures a privilégié l’investissement dans des start-up dédiées aux services pour les consommateurs (comme Uber…).
GoogleGOOGL-3.43%’s venture-capital arm is moving strongly into health care and life-sciences startups, mirroring shifts at the Internet giant.
More than one-third of the money Google Ventures invested in 2014 went to health care and life-sciences companies, up from 9% each of the prior two years. The venture group plans to continue investing in the area, looking to capitalize on an explosion of health data and new ways to analyze it, said Bill Maris, head of Google Ventures.
“Barring some huge calamity we’ll see more interesting things in life sciences in 2015,” Maris said.
The Wall Street Journal
By contrast, Google has curbed investments in consumer Internet startups. They received 8% of Google’s venture investments in 2014, down from 66% in 2013, when Google placed a $258 million bet on taxi-hailing app Uber.
Google sees opportunity in health care, but Maris said it is also moving against the grain, as valuations of some consumer-Internet companies soar. “If you are at the buffet and everyone is picking the entrée, try the dessert,” he said.
Google Ventures doesn’t disclose investment totals, but Maris said Google allocated $425 million to venture investing in 2014, up from $300 million in each of the prior two years. That reflected the creation of a new fund to invest in Europe, to which Google allocated $125 million. Next year, the unit will get roughly $425 million again, split in a similar way, he said. Google can invest more or less than it allocates in a given year.
After health care, Google’s second-biggest focus for venture investing was in mobile, which received 27% of the investments; Google’s Android is the world’s most widely used mobile-operating system. Enterprise and data startups, which offer products for companies such as online security, data storage and analysis software, received 24%.
In the last three years, consumer startups went from Google Ventures’ top sector to one of the firm’s least favorite. Health and life-sciences companies received the smallest share in 2012 and the largest this year.
Over that period, other venture investors maintained steady interest in these sectors. About 20% of VC money flowed to consumer-services companies, a similar share to health care startups, in the U.S. in each of the past three years according to Dow Jones VentureSource.
Google’s shift into healthcare investing reflects the company’s growing interest in the topic. Maris helped recruit Andrew Conrad, a genetics ex
Pioneering engineer: Ms Senequier was one of the first women at Ecole Polytechnique
On a mild autumn day about three months ago, the head of China’s main sovereign wealth fund visited an office on Place Vendôme in Paris, just across from the Ritz Hotel. Accompanied by his staff — but with no attendant fanfare — Ding Xuedong, chairman of China Investment Corporation, had come to pay his respects to Dominique Senequier.
The meeting, captured by a photograph now sitting on the marble mantelpiece of Ms Senequier’s 18th-century wood-panelled office, is testament to the international clout of the French private equity fund manager.
Last Friday at the office we held the pôt de départ (farewell party) of one of our interns. Although this young man was not working directly with me, I know that my colleague greatly appreciated this intern’s contribution for six months. This was my colleague’s first experience of recruiting a VC intern in France, and he’s now convinced of the value. Anyway, the whole celebratory send-off led me to reflecting about my own luck in having so many brilliant interns working for me over the past decade.
I’ve long been a strong proponent of hiring interns. Perhaps it’s a little personal, as my own break entering the VC industry came in 1999 from a magnanimous partner at a VC firm in the U.S. who took me under his wing as an intern after I sold my third startup. I’ve recruited and managed at least 11 interns in my time as a VC in France, and with perhaps only two exceptions a long time ago, every intern I’ve known has been absolutely amazing.
My philosophy in recruiting interns — and I suspect every prior of intern of mine will confirm this — could be best summarized as follows:
For new graduates, the internship is not a trial period for a subsequent permanent position. I believe that to be a truly effective VC, you must have significant operating experience in a startup.
Accordingly, the candidates that view the internship opportunity as a learning experience and as a springboard into other operational roles find the most fulfillment from the job.
I believe that every intern brings substantial value to the role. Even if fresh out of school, or coming from a sector without much business or financial training, the intern’s opinion counts. (One of my recent interns blogged an excellent explanation of this).
Finally, I feel it’s my obligation to give the intern exposure to everything possible. This usually includes evaluating business plans, performing excel models on cap tables or exit proceeds distributions, participating in sensitive negotiations, and joining board meetings.
People often ask me where I recruit my interns. The answer is that I have no restrictions or elite school requirements (merely that the candidate possess the legal authorization to work as an intern in France). To date, my interns have come from the following schools:
HEC – my best recent experiences all involve interns from the HEC MBA or graduate masters program. My current intern hails from one and is extraordinary (he will blush in his humility upon reading this). Additionally, my three prior intern heroes were HEC MBA grads (and to make them blush, I learned Friday that our seasoned CFO had a crush on each of the three, though not in a Hall & Oates Man-eater kind of way, of course). In contrast, my anecdotal experience with HEC undergrads (i.e. grande école students) was that some kind of ingrained sense of entitlement hindered them from being of much use in a V
Have you ever seen the movie Field of Dreams? In this movie, Kevin Costner’s character is told, “If you build it, they will come.”
At Near Me, a software company I cofounded that powers peer-to-peer marketplaces and private communities, we experience this philosophy every day with our prospects. We call it the “Field of Dreams” myth.
We hear elevator pitches like, “I’m going to be the eBay of Soccer jerseys, I’m going to build the Airbnb of boats, or we will create the Taskrabbit of food delivery.”
David Sacks sold the last company he founded, Yammer, to Microsoft for $1.2 billion in 2012 and could be doing anything right now, from sitting on a beach to firing up a new startup.
But he has surprisingly chosen to take the number two role at one of the hottest startups in the Valley right now, 20-month old Zenefits. He just signed on to be COO.
He won't be any old lackey though. Sacks is also coming in as an investor big enough to get a seat on the board. While he wouldn't reveal the sum, Sacks told TechCrunch's Ryan Lawler, "This is the biggest investment I’ve made in a startup, and it represents my commitment to the company."
That's saying something because Sacks is known as one of the most active, successful angel investors in tech. He's invested in companies like SpaceX, Palantir, Airbnb and Uber.
So why is he joining Zenefits instead of firing up a new startup?
Because Zenefits is on fire.
The San Francisco-based company offers a cloud service for human resources functions (onboarding, payroll, benefits, vacation tracking, and so on) and is on track to grow its user base 1,600% this year, it says. In a little over a year, Zenefits has signed up more than 2,000 companies across 47 states, serving over 50,000 employees, it says.
And it's on fire because its free.
Absolutely free, with no contracts.
Zenefits makes its money from the benefits providers — for example, a health insurance carrier — if companies choose to use it to purchase such services. They don't have to use it for that, Zenefits says, and they'd still get to use the cloud software for free.
But free is irresistible. Companies are used to paying big bucks for HR software alternatives from companies like Workday, Oracle, or SAP.
Zenefits CEO Parker Conrad says this business model is working so well that it's on track to boost revenue 20 times over the course of this year, reports Bloomberg's Dina Bass.
For instance, it says it has become a top broker for one of the largest health insurance companies in California, Anthem.
And that why Sacks signed on to work there. He told Bloomberg:
Zenefits is the fastest-growing business software company Silicon Valley has ever seen. Zenefits has done in one year what it took Yammer three years to do in terms of growth. Yammer was considered fast-growing but Zenefits reset all the benchmarks and so I was curious about that.
Sacks isn't the only big name involved with Zenefits.
Lars Dalgaard, co-founder of SuccessFactors sold to SAP for $3 billion, is on its board. Dalgaard is now a VC with Andreessen Horowitz, one of Zenefits major backers.
It was Dalgaard who suggested to Conrad that the company hire a COO, he told the Wall Street Journal's Shira Ovide. Conrad resisted the idea, telling Dalgaard, "I don’t want a big company bureaucrat coming in here."
So Dalgaard replied, "How about David Sacks?”
And Sacks isn't the only one wanting to work at Zenefits.
The company is hiring employees almost as fast as it is signing on customers. In 2014 alone, Zenefits grew from a mere 15 people to over 420 employees. It plans to hire at least 1,300 new full-time employees within three years at a new 94,000 sq. ft. office in Arizona, too, it tells Business Insider.
Le mois de novembre aura été lourd financièrement pour les assureurs entre le 26 novembre et le 1er décembre les intempéries leur auront couté entre 180 et 220 millions selon les chiffres de l’Afa.
La Caisse centrale de réassurance (CCR) a estimé le coût des intempéries de la fin novembre entre 150 et 300 millions d’euros, l’Afa l’estime elle entre 180 et 200 millions d’euros. Selon l’Association française de l’assurance (Afa) environ 50.000 sinistres auraient été déclarés. L’écarts des chiffres est dû au fait que CCR comptabilise deux épisodes du 24 au 26 novembre et du 28 au 1 er décembre, tandis que l’Afa ne se concentre que sur les intempéries du 28 au 1er décembre. Dans tous les cas, d’autres déclarations viendront sûrement s’ajouter à ces chiffres car la plupart des assureurs ont prolongé le temps de déclaration. Axa par exemple l’a prolongé jusqu’au 31 décembre.
Axa France avait estimé entre 4 000 et 5 000 le nombre de déclarations de sinistres au cours du mois de novembre. Le groupe en avait d’ailleurs dans ses prévisions isolés près de 2 000 sur le seul épisode de la fin novembre (28 au 1er décembre) qui avait touché la Corse, dans le Var, l’Hérault, l’Aude, les Pyrénées-Orientales et l’Aveyron.
Groupama a révélé dans un communiqué que les évènements climatiques de fin novembre “ont occasionné des dégâts dans 6 départements du territoire de Groupama Méditerranée. De nouvelles déclarations de sinistre s’ajoutent aux plus de 8 000 déjà comptabilisées. Des mesures complémentaires sont prises pour renforcer le traitement des dossiers avec une forte solidarité inter services et inter caisses régionales.“
Many in the health care industry believe that wearable devices can keep patients more engaged with their caregivers, and more mindful of their health in general.
The tech-focused health insurance startup Oscar is now ready to put some money behind that belief. The New York-based insurer says it will provide its members with Misfit fitness trackers and give them breaks on their premiums for healthy behavior patterns recorded on their wrists.
Not content with incubating and acquiring startups in the adtech and Big Data space, HitFox Group, the Berlin-headquartered company builder, has hatched a second company builder.
Dubbed FinLeap, the German-styled ‘startup factory’ will be targeting fintech and plans to hatch 4-6 startups per year with a focus on “new technologies and scalable business models” that provide cheaper, simpler and more transparent digital services to both businesses and consumers.
With offices in Berlin and San Francisco, the new venture will be headed up by HitFox founders Jan Beckers and Dr. Hanno Fichtner, along with fintech veteran Jochen Siegert, who helped build PayPal in Europe as Strategy Director EMEA.
At launch, FinLeap boasts a team of 30 — spanning entrepreneurs and financial services experts, engineers, and product managers from companies such as HitFox Group, Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, DKB and Fab.com — all of whom are currently working on the company builder’s first startups.
Over the next 12 months, FinLeap says it expects to add 150 or more to that headcount for itself and the companies it hatches. A startup factory’s production lines don’t power themselves, after all.
In a call with Jan Beckers, he described the new venture as expanding HitFox’s “proven” business model into a new market — essentially taking that model of “synergetic companies” and applying it to one of the “hottest” spaces out there,.
By ‘synergetic’, Beckers is referring to the way in which a vertical incubator can benefit from scale, with each hatched company feeding and complimenting each other, both in terms of the market being addressed and also technology, expertise and other resources.
It’s also a model that Beckers believes eliminates many of the risks otherwise associated with building a single startup, though he also says the incubator model is more difficult overall, likening it to creating a software platform rather than a single app.
Interestingly, I also understand Beckers — who recently won the German ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ award by Ernst & Young, which is bound to open a few doors — has a personal interest in the fintech space, having traded on the stock market since the age of 15.
The insurance industry needs to adopt more innovative thinking and forge collaborative partnerships with governments and other service providers if it is to solve the problem of underinsurance, according to a new report from industry think-tank, the Geneva Association.
The insurance industry has a crucial role in helping society manage risks, but considerable regional differences and protection gaps exist, according to Shaun Wang, Deputy Secretary General and Head of Research at the Geneva Association, and co-author of the Global Insurance Protection Gap report.
For example, the magnitude seven earthquake that struck New Zealand in 2010 caused $6.5bn in damage, of which 81% was covered by insurance, according to the International Association of Insurance Supervisors. In contrast, when Haiti was hit by a similarly powerful quake in the same year, less than 1% of the $8bn total damage was covered by insurance.
Natural disasters like the Haiti earthquake highlight the significantgap between economic losses and the amount of damage covered by insurers in emerging countries, according to Wang. In its 2012 Global Underinsurance Report, Lloyd’s identified 17 mostly emerging countries as underinsured, with a total coverage gap of USD168bn.
However, there are also sizable pockets of underinsurance in mature markets, according to Wang. The increasing importance of the digital economy and changing business models have given rise to new vulnerabilities, many of which go uninsured. Insurance penetration has also failed to keep pace with rising property values and the development of areas exposed to storms and floods, such the hurricane exposed US southern and eastern coast, he explains.
Mind the gap
Awareness of the protection gap has been increasing among some national governments, as well as within the insurance industry, according to Wang.
“In the past underinsurance has not really been on the agenda for government, but there is now increasing awareness of the problem as governmentsrealise the implications for business disruption and economic growth,” he says.
Governments increasingly realise that insurance not only helps individuals and businesses get back on their feet after a disaster, it is also a facilitator for economic growth, explains Wang. People are more willing to invest and engage in economic activity when they feel secure and protected, he says.
Innovation
Closing the protection gap is not just an opportunity for the insurance industry, but a necessity. According to Wang, the industry will become less relevant to society if it fails to become an important part of the solution to managing risks like cyber or natural catastrophes.
“There are a lot of smart people working in the insurance industry but insurers can be conservative by nature and tend to focus on traditional ways of doing things. But they will need to come up with new solutions – new products and ways of distributing them – if they are to close the protection gap,” says Wang.
Collaboration
Innovation also extends to how insurers engage with organisations out
Les lauréats recevront une aide financière de 15 000€, un an d’accompagnement personnalisé par les experts du réseau Silver Valley et une formation d’une semaine sur l’entreprenariat dans la Silver Economie.
Ci-dessous la présentation des lauréats
Catégorie Habitat Lauréat : Happytal
Née suite aux expériences personnelles d’hospitalisation de ses fondateurs, Happytal propose une offre de services et produits contribuant au mieux-être des patients à l’hôpital comme la livraison en chambre (habillement, pharmacie, douceurs,…), les divertissements (journaux, livres, jeux…) ou l’organisation de moment de détente (esthétique, coiffure, réflexologie…).
Coup de coeur : Dentiste à domicile
Dentiste à domicile propose de reconstituer au domicile et dans les établissements pour personnes âgées et/ou handicapées un cabinet dentaire complet grâce à un matériel miniaturisé et transportable.
Catégorie Vie sociale Lauréat : NutriCulture
NutriCulture a développé une offre de recettes faciles, de moules, d’accessoires, mais également de formations offrant, à l’ensemble des convives, des assiettes à la présentation soignée, aux apports mesurés et aux saveurs intactes. Chaque personne peut participer. Cible : les personnes atteintes de troubles de la mastication, de la déglutition…
Catégorie mobilité Lauréat : Senior Mobilité
Senior Mobilité propose un service de voiture avec chauffeur dédié aux seniors, économique et sur mesure, en véhicule partagé ou privatif. Les chauffeurs Senior Mobilité s’adaptent aux besoins de chacun: port de bagages ou de courses, accompagnement à sa place dans le train, chez un proche…Les prix sont fixes et connus à la réservation et sont de 2 à 7 fois moins chers qu’un taxi traditionnel.
Coup de coeur : MOVADOM
MOVADOM propose un service d’accompagnement avant, pendant et après le déménagement. Celui-ci a pour vocation de faciliter la vie des seniors et de leurs familles lors d’un changement de domicile : trier ses affaires, décider ce qui sera emmené, s’occuper des affaires laissées, rechercher des prestataires, prévenir les organismes du changement d’adresse, ranger ses affaires à l’arrivée, faire sa valise, réserver un taxi etc…
Covéa lorgne les start-up. Le groupe mutualiste s'est doté de Covéa Next, une structure d'investissement dont la vocation est de prendre des participations minoritaires auprès de jeunes pousses à fort potentiel d'innovation dans l'assurance. Une première montée au capital de Wezzoo, une plate-forme web et mobile, a vu le jour.
Covéa (Maaf, MMA et GMF) se met à l’affût d’opportunités en matière d’innovation dans l’assurance. Pour y parvenir, le groupe mutualiste a fondé Covéa Next, une société anonyme par action simplifiée chargée d’accompagner au plan financier et opérationnel des start-up en phase d’amorçage. La structure d’investissement est rattachée à Covéa Technologies, société anonyme par action simplifiée qui héberge les pilotes du groupe.
Innovation et assurance
Joint par l’Argus de l’assurance, Claude Friedrich, directeur de Co
Pour financer l'innovation des JEI, le corporate venture constitue une alternative au capital-risque classique, avec un dispositif fiscal attractif à la clé.
« Corporate venture » : de quoi s'agit-il ?
Le « corporate venture » permet aux grands comptes le financement d'innovations portées par des start-up, susceptibles de détecter les débouchés du futur.
Il se distingue des fonds financiers classiques de capital investissement, reposant sur des investisseurs individuels tels que les « business angels » ou autres acteurs de capital-risque, en ce sens qu'il associe la plupart du temps des acteurs d'un même écosystème d'innovation.
D'un côté les sociétés et grands groupes cotés peuvent conserver une longueur d'avance sur leur secteur en accompagnant, par le financement, l'innovation de JEI (Jeunes Entreprises Innovantes), de l'autre côté des start-up qui bénéficient d'un apport financier souvent doublé d'un appui opérationnel au lancement de projet.
Un dispositif fiscal pour favoriser le « corporate venture »
Afin de favoriser cette prise de participation de grands groupes au sein de JEI, les Pouvoirs publics ont initié un amortissement des investissements effectués dans le cadre du « corporate venture ».
Plus concrètement, il s'agit pour les grandes entreprises participant au financement d'innovations portées par des JEI, d'amortir sur cinq ans, dans la limite de 1 % de leur actif, leurs souscriptions minoritaires en capital.
Un cadre défini pour crédibiliser les « corporate venture »
Les JEI pouvant bénéficier d'un tel financement sont celles qui consacrent au minimum 15 % de leurs dépenses à la recherche, ou qui justifient de produits innovants reconnus par le label de BpiFrance.
Par ailleurs, pour éviter toute tentative d'intégration forcée, l'investissement en capital ne peut pas excéder 20 % du capital de la société choisie.
Et pour éviter l'investissement d'opportunité, une durée d'engagement de deux ans minimum est requise.
Quel est l'avenir du « corporate venture » en France ?
Selon une étude sur les 5 dernières années, le « corporate venture » représente à peine 5 % du financement du capital-innovation en France, contre 16 % aux Etats-Unis par exemple.
Cependant, avec l'incitation fiscale à la clé, les Pouvoirs publics espèrent augmenter de 30 % le financement des start-up par les grandes entreprises. Même si cette incitation fiscale a un coût estimé à 200 millions d'euros par an pour l'État.
Reste à convaincre sans doute les acteurs économiques, car un montage de financement en « corporate venture » se doit d'être perçu comme gagnant-gagnant : pour les JEI un signe fort de reconnaissance de ses savoir faire en innovation, ainsi que l'apport en expertise d'une entreprise plus aguerrie
Plus de 20 associations étudiantes de Campus à travers la France et le Canada (grande nouveauté 2014 !), se mobilisent pour collecter un maximum de prêts solidaires qui permettront de financer des projets de microentrepreneurs
sur Babyloan.org.
Chaque prêt sera intégralement remboursé aux étudiants. Grâce à Babyloan, ils peuvent soutenir le projet d’un entrepreneur à l’autre bout du monde, tout en restant propriétaire de leur argent. Un outil innovant qui permet à un public jeune et étudiant de se sensibiliser à la solidarité et à l’entrepreneuriat, avec quelques euros seulement.
Classement RISE 2013 des 5 campus ayant collecté le plus de fonds
Un challenge qui s’ouvre à l’international !
25 associations étudiantes participeront à cette édition 2014 : 15 campus réitèrent l’expérience (HEC Paris, Dauphine, NEOMA Rouen…) et une dizaine de nouvelles recrues intègrent ce challenge de solidarité (NEOMA Reims, KEDGE Bordeaux, Central Paris …) augmentant ainsi considérablement le nombre d’écoles engagées par rapport à l’édition 2013.
Parmi celles-ci, HEC Montréal, qui permet à l’évènement de se tourner vers l’international, un gage de l’intérêt et de la dynamique suscitée par The RISE.
2012-2014 : la montée en puissance de The Rise
La 1ère édition, organisée en 2012 avec 8 associations étudiantes de la FEDEES, avait permis de collecter 6 500 € et de financer 16 projets entrepreneuriaux sur Babyloan. L’édition 2013 avait récolté près de 42 000 € en 2 jours au sein des 16 campus participants, pour plus de 100 projets financés !
Berlin-based company builder HitFox announced going into FinTech with starting “FinLeap”. It plans to start four to six FinTech companies a year, each receiving between €500,000 to €5 million seed investment.
Front row: Co-Founder And Partner Jan Beckers (3. f.l .), Partner Jochen Siegert (3. f. r.) and Venture Partner Nasir Zubairi (2. f. r.)
Bringing FinTech to Berlin
Though London is known to be the hotspot for FinTech startups in Europe, HitFox, the AdTech and Big Data company, has announced its new company builder FinLeap will open offices in Berlin and San Francisco.
While Berlin is known to be the startup capital in Germany, it is still interesting as banks and other FinTech related companies usually pick Frankfurt as their location, where many financial institutions are headquartered. Not only did the accelerator Startupbootcamp FinTech take place there, many FinTech startups and investors are located in the Rhine-Main area.
It’s a company builder not an incubator
By analyzing the market and seeing issues, experts will find new products, solutions and business models. The goal is to make services more transparent, cheaper or easier to use, the company states. It plans to build between four and six startups each year. Therefore, 150 new hires are planned.
Within three years HitFox opened offices on three continents for 8 companies with overall 300 employees. Besides two of its co-founders, Jan Beckers and Dr. Hanno Fichtner, other FinTech specialists, such as former Director of Strategy at PayPal Europe, Jochen Siegert, will manage the FinLeap, the new division at HitFox.
Through synergies with other sub-companies, a partnership culture will be developed to accelerate businesses. This model has been successful at the HitFox Group already, as it currently connects its existing businesses, AdTech and Big Data services.
Independent company builder vs. company accelerators
The idea of a FinTech incubator/accelerator is not new: Commerzbank launched one and Deutsche Bank just announced its innovation labs in cooperation with Microsoft and IBM.
Jan Beckers, CEO and co-founder of HitFox, explained at BitKom why corporate accelerators often fail. Among other reasons, not focussing on its industry and wanting to see good results too soon is often why company incubators do not last. Knowing these by heart can help FinLeap become a success.
Last Friday at the office we held the pôt de départ (farewell party) of one of our interns. Although this young man was not working directly with me, I know that my colleague greatly appreciated this intern’s contribution for six months. This was my colleague’s first experience of recruiting a VC intern in France, and he’s now convinced of the value. Anyway, the whole celebratory send-off led me to reflecting about my own luck in having so many brilliant interns working for me over the past decade.
Le Village, à Paris VIIIè DR
La Silver Valley, cluster issu de l’hôpital Charles Foix d’Ivry-sur-Seine et dédié à l’innovation pour accompagner le vieillissement de la population, a décerné ce jeudi 4 décembre les trophées de la 11e édition de la bourse Charles Foix, à l’occasion du salon Silver Economy Expo de la Porte de Versailles.
Recent Comments