The Corporate Venture Capital-as-a-Service Influencer

What We Know From A Decade Of SaaS | TechCrunch

Alex NiehenkeCrunch Network Contributor

Alex Niehenke is a principal at Scale Venture Partners

How to join the network

As the number of unicorns, those private companies valued at a billion dollars or more, has moved from a handful to a herd in Silicon Valley, many are left wondering just how arbitrary valuations have become. For founders in search of their next round of funding, trying to determine your company’s true market value in this new landscape is not only daunting, but can also be risky.

Just as the best sales people sell what their customers want to buy, the savviest entrepreneurs present their businesses with an understanding of how investors calculate value. As an entrepreneur, you need two things: revenue projection for your company and the desired return profile of the investor you’re pitching. The rest we can calculate using data from the past decade of public company valuations. These valuations are the benchmark most investors use.

The 5x Revenue Multiple

While there are many approaches to valuing a SaaS business, the most common is using a revenue multiple. We calculate the revenue multiple of a public company by multiplying the most recent quarterly revenue by four and dividing that number into the enterprise value.

Using our own Scale SaaS Index, we identified the revenue multiple for all SaaS companies from 2004 to 2015, then plotted the median multiples over time.

The data reveals a consistent valuation range between 4x and 6x revenue, with 5x revenue as the all-time median. Times of euphoria, such as late 2013 through early 2014, and periods of depression, such as late 2008 through late 2010, are also easy to identify.

Market cycles and company valuations will fluctuate, but we have over a decade of trading data on more than 50 companies that suggests a steady-state valuation of 4x to 6x revenue for the median public SaaS company. We believe most investors have internalized a 5x multiple as a benchmark for a steady-state SaaS company.

It is interesting to look at individual companies in the index and see if this rule of thumb applies to every company. Salesforce, the largest SaaS company in the world, trades at 7x today. It traded as low as 2x in late 2008 and up to 10x before settling where it is today, noticeably following the cycles of the index. In other words, while it may get a slight premium for its leadership position it still fits into the framework. So why do some companies trade at a premium to the index?

The 30 Percent Growth Rate

Companies get premium trading multiples for factors like market opportunity, competitive dynamic, management team, or a particularly unique product. Investors often quantify those factors by looking at a company’s growth rate; success in any of those areas should accelerate the addition of new revenue.

We look

via techcrunch.com

How the World’s Largest Insurance Company is Transforming Itself for the 21st Century | Brightidea

AXA Chairman and CEO Henri de Castries knows the commitment it takes to innovate: “We will be able to transform innovation into business success only if we put all our energy in it,” he stated in a news piece on the global insurance/asset management company’s website. Not all enterprises understand this, but AXA is walking their talk with their Start-in innovation program, powered by Brightidea.

 

Using Brightidea’s collaborative innovation platform AXA collected 815 ideas that transformed into four prototypes headed to market. The idea evaluation process used a hackathon-like format. And that’s just part of the story. Let’s look more closely at the strategies they used to get there:

Idea Crowdsourcing – Smart enterprises like AXA know innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. That’s why they invited their 160,000 employees to crowdsource ideas with Brightidea. The result? Over 22,000 participants across 45 countries participated in two innovation challenges, generating 815 new ideas.

What’s the key to innovation challenge success? Laurent Benichou, Director of Innovation & Foresight offers the following tips:

• CEO sponsorship
• A clean and sequenced process
• Heavy communication
• Live stats to foster regional competition
• Votes to make it viral
• A training program for employee ideators
• A user-friendly web platform (Brightidea!)

Innovation Sponsors – Over the course of five months an assortment of business angels, start-up founders and AXA experts coached and mentored the Start-in team through the evaluation process, whittling those 815 ideas down to four for prototyping.

Top-down Commitment to Innovation – When Chairman and CEO de Castries says, “Innovation has never been so important” it’s not just a line. Innovation is one of five values in the company’s mission statement that they “are not willing to compromise on under any circumstances.” That’s the kind of commitment that translates to everyone in the company – and that’s what it takes to get results from your innovation program.

Incentives For Participants – The four prototypes that resulted from the hackathon were presented to AXA’s top management, along with the teams that built them, at an award ceremony with special guests from other innovative companies and start-ups.

Following Through – In addition to working to take the four prototypes mentioned above to market, an app aimed at seniors and their families called “Are You OK?” is heading to market this September – one year after the idea was initially posted to the Brightidea innovation platform. By continuing to run challenges, track and implement ideas, AXA is getting great ROI from their innovation program.

via www.brightidea.com

9 tips to secure venture capital

Surfing the net while working again? Are you bored out of your mind at work? Chances are you are working for a boring company, wasting away the best years of your life and earning a wage that is slightly above poverty line. You’ve probably thought about setting up your own business with friends or have a great idea, but have no money to do anything about it.

Or perhaps, you face a bump in your quest to secure financing for your business. With no track record, it may seem too risky for the typical financial providers to consider giving them a loan. Such businesses may then need to consider alternative resources for its capital financing, such as relatives, friends, angel investors or venture capital.

Businesses with limited operating history, too small to raise capital in the public markets or not sufficiently mature to secure a bank loan will find venture capital funding an appealing option.

Venture capital means that someone is taking a risk by investing money in your business because they think that they can earn a reasonable return for the risk they are being asked to take. It is usually for fast-growing digital companies. Venture capitalists (VCs) usually consider the team, the market opportunity, the product, and then consider these questions: Will a lot of people buy this? Will the team survive? Is there a minimum viable product? If all these are considered and the outcome is positive, the start-up is likely to be successful.

Not only do VC provide them with financing, they also provide them with managerial and technical expertise. This can very well be an added advantage for the businesses as part of their learning and growing process.

How do you get hold of venture capital financing for your business? iMoney Group has gone through a few rounds of fund raising to where we are today. There are more facilities for new entrepreneurs today compared to two years ago, which makes it slightly easier to put their feet into the start-up world.

If you have an idea to monetise, here’s what I’ve learnt in securing venture capital as a start-up in Malaysia. As an entrepreneur seeking venture capital, you are selling your business idea and your ability to execute that idea. Securing the funding you need is a matter of taking specific steps, namely the following:

via www.techinasia.com

How India's 'Garden City' Is Igniting the Entrepreneurial Spirit | Inc.com

IMAGE: Getty Images

Advertisement

Often referred to as the "Silicon Plateau," Bangalore holds many nicknames.  

The green, sprawling capital city of Karnataka, a state in the southwestern region of India, is situated beneath a towering, 2,600-foot tall rock formation called the Mysore Plateau, which is bounded by the Sahyadri mountains and the sloping Kaveri river. 

Over the past few years, Bangalore has earned the mantle of India's "Silicon Valley." 

Although historically an outsourcing hub, the city is becoming its own technology business center. In 1909, the first Indian Institute of Science was established in Bangalore, and today counts 3,500 students. The school's most renowned education centers for climate change, neuroscience, and engineering have spurred more interdisciplinary research.

Today, Bangalore ranks as the 15th hottest startup ecosystem in the world, according to a recent report from Crunchbase and research firm Compass. The metropolis counts around 4,900 active startups,

via www.inc.com

L'économie collaborative, catalyseur des transformations de l'assurance

(Crédits : DR)

Autopartage, co-voiturage, crowdfunding, location de logement entre particuliers... l'économie collaborative connaît un essor indéniable et pousse l'ensemble des secteurs économiques, même les plus traditionnels comme l'assurance, à innover et à repenser leurs offres. Par Hamid Benamara, directeur général du site LesFurets.com

Selon une étude publiée par "60 millions de consommateurs" en novembre 2014 , pour plus d'un Français sur deux, l'économie collaborative représente le mode de consommation du 21e siècle et sera aussi importante que l'économie traditionnelle. Au-delà des intentions, les Français sont aussi déjà passés à l'acte. En effet, trois français sur quatre ont déjà vendu, acheté, loué ou mis à disposition des biens ou des services à d'autres particuliers . Ils sont de plus en plus à adopter ce mode de consommation, et ceci pour des raisons économiques, environnementales et éthiques.
L'économie collaborative n'est plus une tendance émergente ni même un simple effet de mode. Elle doit être considérée comme un mode de consommation pérenne et significatif. Ce marché représente un potentiel de développement et de croissance impressionnant, qui selon les projections du cabinet PWC pourrait atteindre 335 milliards de dollars en 2025.

Vers une transformation de l'assurance : de la couverture du bien à celle de l'usage...

L'automobile, l'hôtellerie, les transports, le tourisme, la finance...sont autant de secteurs transformés par l'économie collaborative. Pour être en prise avec ces nouveaux usages, l'assurance s'intéresse de plus en plus à ce phénomène. Preuve en est les nombreuses annonces de partenariats entre les grands acteurs de ce secteur et les entreprises s'appuyant sur un modèle collaboratif (Allianz et Drivy, Tripndrive, MACIF et Deways, Axa et BlablaCar...).

L'assurance joue en effet un rôle clé et ses acteurs sont des alliés de poids pour ces start-ups en plein développement. La confiance, étant l'un des socles fondateurs de l'économie collaborative, la présence d'un grand nom de l'assurance agit comme une caution crédible, supplémentaire et connue auprès du grand public. Elle permet également de réduire certaines appréhensions liées à ces nouveaux usages.
Au-delà de l'élargissement de leur écosystème, ces modes de consommation inédits poussent aussi les assureurs à repenser leurs offres pour créer de la valeur. L'économie collaborative a bousculé les modèles économiques traditionnels et les besoins en assurance sous-jacents. La notion de propriété s'estompe progressivement et les assureurs repensent désormais leurs produits en fonction de l'usage fait par le consommateur, à des fins privées ou professionnelles. De ce fait, une voiture peut-être prêtée ou partagée, tout comme un appartement.
Les risques à couvrir évoluent avec ces changements de consommation et font naitre de nouveaux besoins. Ce glissement de la notion de possession vers celle de l'usage remet également en question la durée de la couverture. Il sera de plus en plus courant d'assurer un bien pour un temps donné, celui de son utilisation et non plus de manière permanent

via www.latribune.fr

How IoT Will Change Your Relationship With Insurance | TechCrunch

Brett JurgensCrunch Network Contributor

Brett Jurgens is CEO and co-founder of Notion.

How to join the network

Between TVs, refrigerators, ovens, light bulbs, cars, fitness trackers and jewelry, it seems like everything these days is connected to the Internet. It’s probably safe to say that you’re already using a few connected devices in your daily life. You’re not alone; Business Insider Intelligence estimates there will be nine billion IoT (Internet of Things) devices worldwide by 2018.

This ability to pack an Internet connection into essentially any physical object will have some huge implications for the insurance industry over the next decade. As insurers look for ways to innovate their policies and claims practices, your home, health and auto coverage plans will become more connected to your smart devices — and more personalized to your behavior.

The idea of “connected coverage” means that insurance companies will encourage you to take risk management into your own hands by leveraging IoT. Ultimately, that could mean saving a big chunk of cash.

The Future Is Actually Right Now

The way we engage with our cars, our homes and even our own bodies is getting smarter each day. To really understand how these devices could impact your relationship with your insurance company, let’s explore some real-life problems and the possibilities of a connected coverage future.

In The Car

The problem: You got one speeding ticket, then rear-ended in a parking lot last year, but you have no way to prove you *really* are a great driver.

It’s a common practice to look back in history to make more informed decisions about the future.

The solution: Offerings like NationWide SmartRide and Progressive Snapshot use video and telematics technology so you can record your driving habits and share real-time information with your insurance provider to get discounts for good driving behavior.

The possibilities: For the insurance provider, now there’s an opportunity to observe drivers in the habitat of their cars and offer solutions that could prevent reckless driving and promote safety.

What if your insurer could notify you if you were close to reaching a risk threshold, and text you if you’ve been driving too fast lately or running too many yellow lights?

At Home

The problem: You’re always doing damage control on big-ticket items around the house.

The solution: Companies like Nest, Notion and Rachio are building sensor and Wi-Fi technologies that can detect things like motion, sound, temperature, humidity and water presence so you can avoid hefty claims later.

The possibilities: New technologies likes these help you keeps tabs on home maintenance before a small issue becomes a big problem.

What if your walls could tell you they are losing heat, or your roof could report a potent

via techcrunch.com

Innovators from the financial world discuss future threats and opportunities (Wired UK)

Taavet Hinrikus, TransferWise; Tom Blomfield, GoCardless; Rachel Botsman, Collaborative Lab; Yoni Assia, eToro; Peter Vessenes, CoinLav; Douglas Merrill, ZestFinance

Charlie Surbey

This article was taken from the November 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.

On 1 July this year, Wired launched the first of our new series of one-day summits by focusing on a sector facing imminent disruption -- money, banking and finance. Ons

via www.wired.co.uk

App Q&A with the experts: A leading firm talks about the evolution of user experience heading into 2016 | VentureBeat | Mobile | by Mike Schneider, Skyhook

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Mobile apps must continually seek new ways to differentiate in a competitive market that is only getting fiercer by the second. Brought to you by Skyhook, this post is part of a series called “Apptitude”  looking at how app owners can reduce friction, boost user engagement, monetize, and get to the user’s home screen. See all the posts here.

---

The app design and development space isn’t new, but it continues to grow rapidly with high demand. It’s easy to see why. Differentiating in the app store, getting more downloads, and user retention are all things that apps struggle with on a daily basis — and with rapid growth, there’s a lot to keep up with on the latest techniques to approaching UX.

One such company that helps apps stand out is Cooper, an award-winning design and strategy firm based in San Francisco. We were fortunate enough to sit down with them to discuss upcoming UX trends, First Time User Experiences, and the roadblocks apps will need to overcome to make a difference in delivering dynamic UX.

We had a great chat with Doug LeMoine, Cooper’s Managing Director of Interaction Design, and Nate Clinton, Director of Product Strategy, on these upcoming trends in UX and how they anticipate user experience design evolving in 2016. Here are the biggest UX design evolutions we discussed:

1. What are the trends and methodologies that are emerging that have you most excited?

There is already a new focus on the “X” part of “UX”. At the core of user experience design is the emotion, the relief, or happiness or joy it gives, not just a lack of pain. Maya Angelou knew this when she said: “People will forget what you said and what you did, but they will never forg

via venturebeat.com

Barkow Consulting – Barkow Consulting FinTech Money Map

German FinTech: Where are the big spenders?

In the past couple of months Barkow Consulting has accelerated its research activity in a new and innovative part of the banking system called FinTech. In a first note on the space we have looked at CrowdInvesting in Germany vs UK followed by some slicing and dicing of the broader German FinTech universe (see pic below). We have also created a FinTech Country Ranking. Finally, we have looked at what’s needed for German CrowdInvesting to grow up.

Today, we would like to present our German FinTech Money Map. Our FinTech Money Map is a data base, that has been built up by collecting venture capital investment data for German FinTech companies (as well as international FinTech investments of German venture capitalists/investors). While our Money Map has been filled with much care during the last months, it will never represent a complete picture of German FinTech financing. Both FinTech as well as Venture Capital in Germany are notoriously intransparent. Consequently, relevant data is hard  to come by and collecting it labor intensive.

Nonetheless, with currently 152 investors/venture capitalists and 252 FinTech investments/portfolio companies (including couble counts!) as well as comfortably north of 250 financing rounds we feel that our FinTech Money Map provides a very representative picture of the German FinTech funding situation.

Research Highlights:

– DvH Ventures is the most active investor with 9 portfolio companies, followed by German Startups Group (8 companies). High Tech Gründer Fonds (7 companies) and Rocket Internet (6 +1 company already exited) share No.3

– Most investors are based in Germany (unsurprisingly), followed by the USA and the UK. The latter have already built large FinTech and venture capital ecosystems (check our FinTech Country Ranking). Russia at No.5 is probably a surprise to many Charts 2 & 3

– German FinTech funding is international already with investors from 19 different countries Charts 2 & 3

– Traditional VCs are the most important source of funding for German FinTech companies, followed by business angels and strategic investors Charts 4 & 5

– A number of US big guns have discovered and invested in German FinTech companies (Valar/Peter Thiel, 500 Startups, Access Industries and Summit Partners)

– BUT: Of the 12 leading US FinTech investors none has put money to work in Germany yet

– Surprisingly, investors with a media background (37 portfolio companies) are much more active than banks with 14 portfolio companies. The latter number even contains four investments by foreign institutions Charts 6 & 7

– Looking at FinTech investments of Goldman Sachs and

via www.barkowconsulting.com

BlackRock buys robo-adviser FutureAdvisor to woo Millennial clients

Scott Mlyn | CNBC

BlackRock signage above building entrance in New York.

BlackRock, the world's largest fund manager, has acquired FutureAdvisor, a "robo-adviser" crafting automated portfolios for investors, in a deal that underscores how quickly the industry believes technology could reshape the market for financial advice.

San Francisco-based FutureAdvisor, which was founded in 2010 by two former Microsoft engineers, is one of a new generation of tech companies offering asset allocation advice to people who cannot afford — or do not feel comfortable visiting — a traditional broker.

Under the deal, which values FutureAdvisor at between $150 million and $200 million, the company will become part of BlackRock Solutions and its products will be sold to brokers and financial advisers, who in turn can offer them to their clients.

The deal comes amid considerable upheaval in the market for financial advice, including tougher regulation i

via www.cnbc.com

Crowdfunding : une assurance contre les défauts de paiement, Actualité/Actu Epargne

Simulateur l'argent & vous

Diversifiez votre épargne avec Optimisator

Sur le même thème

• Crowdfunding : plus de 150 millions d'euros collectés en 2014
• Le crowdfunding prend de la hauteur

• 
• 
• 
• 

Le financement participatif est à la mode. Les particuliers se montrent séduits par ce mode de financement, attirés par le caractère collaboratif du secteur mais également par des rendements alléchants.

Reste que le vieux principe de précaution de l’investissement peut aussi s’appliquer au crowdfunding : un rendement élevé suppose en théorie un risque élevé. Concrètement, cela signifie qu’un particulier investissant dans un projet de financement participatif n’est pas à l’abri d’une défaillance de l’entreprise qui emprunte.

Un service inédit

Pour offrir une sécurité supplémentaire aux particuliers, la plateforme de prêt Finsquare vient d’annoncer une innovation. A partir de septembre, elle proposera de lier l’investissement à une assurance. Une première dans le secteur.

Proposée en partenariat avec le courtier Gras Savoye, cette assurance offrira une indemnisation aux prêteurs dans deux cas : le décès ou la perte d’autonomie du représentant légal de l’entreprise et le redressement ou la liquidation judiciaire de l’emprunteur.

Un service gratuit pour l'entreprise et le prêteur

Contacté par téléphone, Polexandre Joly, président de Finsquare, a détaillé à L'Argent & Vous le fonctionnement de cette assurance qui sera systématiquement intégrée aux offres de prêts. Elle s'étendra sur 18 mois, sachant que les prêts proposés par la plateforme n'excèdent jamais 24 mois.

Plus précisément, les 6 premiers mois feront l'objet d'une franchise, l'assurance à proprement parler devenant active sur les 12 mois suivants. Le dirig

via argent.boursier.com

European VC firm Lakestar launches new $400M fund for local and U.S. startups | VentureBeat | Business | by Paul Sawers

Above: Europe Funding

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Europe’s Lakestar has announced a fresh €350 million ($400 million) fund, as the Guernsey-based venture capital (VC) firm looks to plow more cash into European and U.S. startups.

Founded and chaired by European VC Klaus Hommels, who was an early investor in Skype, Spotify, Facebook, and other well-known tech companies, Lakestar II is a follow-up to the €135 million ($154 million) fund launched in 2013, which is still active.

The new fund will be used to invest in “all stages,” though it will particularly focus on early-stage and growth-stage investments across a “wide range of sectors.” And given the firm’s focus on the U.S. and Europe, it says it aims to “embrace” connections between the two regions — in other words, it wants to help foster relationships between complementary companies in its portfolio.

“The European technology market is continuing to boom — we’re seeing high-quality investment opportunities in tech, in a venture capital ecosystem that has materially improved and is increasingly producing market-leading companies on a global scale,” said Hommels. “We were very pleased to have received interest in Lakestar II from many prominent investors – in fact, the fund was significantly oversubscribed. However, €350 million is the right size to give our portfolio companies the appropriate level of personal attention and support from our partners, and to help these businesses grow.”

There has been a flurry of fresh VC funds in Europe over the past year or so. Back in July, cloud computing startups got a major boost thanks to a new $120 million Notion Capital fund, while Google Ventures launched a European branch last year promising $100 million in capital to local startups.

Elsewhere, Balderton Capital

via venturebeat.com

16 Startup Metrics | Andreessen Horowitz

16 Startup Metrics

with Jeff Jordan, Anu Hariharan, Frank Chen, and Preethi Kasireddy

We have the privilege of meeting with thousands of entrepreneurs every year, and in the course of those discussions are presented with all kinds of numbers, measures, and metrics that illustrate the promise and health of a particular company. Sometimes, however, the metrics may not be the best gauge of what’s actually happening in the business, or people may use different definitions of the same metric in a way that makes it hard to understand the health of the business.

So, while some of this may be obvious to many of you who live and breathe these metrics all day long, we compiled a list of the most common or confusing ones. Where appropriate, we tried to add some notes on why investors focus on those metrics. Ultimately, though, good metrics aren’t about raising money from VCs — they’re about running the business in a way where founders know how and why certain things are working (or not) … and can address or adjust accordingly.

Business and Financial Metrics

#1 Bookings vs. Revenue

A common mistake is to use bookings and revenue interchangeably, but they aren’t the same thing.

Bookings is the value of a contract between the company and the customer. It reflects a contractual obligation on the part of the customer to pay the company.

Revenue is recognized when the service is actually provided or ratably over the life of the subscription agreement. How and when revenue is recognized is governed by GAAP.

Letters of intent and verbal agreements are neither revenue nor bookings.

#2 Recurring Revenue vs. Total Revenue

Investors more highly value companies where the majority of total revenue comes from product revenue (vs. from services). Why? Services revenue is non-recurring, has much lower margins, and is less scalable. Product revenue is the what you generate from the sale of the software or product itself.

ARR (annual recurring revenue) is a measure of revenue components that are recurring in nature. It should exclude one-time (non-recurring) fees and professional service fees.

ARR per customer: Is this flat or growing? If you are upselling or cross-selling your customers, then it should be growing, which is a positive indicator for a healthy business.

MRR (monthly recurring revenue): Often, people will multiply one month’s all-in bookings by 12 to get to ARR. Common mistakes with this method include: (1) counting non-recurring fees such as hardware, setup, installation, professional services/ consulting agreements; (2) counting bookings (see #1).

#3 Gross Profit

While top-line bookings growth is super important, investors want to understand how profitable that revenue stream is. Gross profit provides that measure.

What’s included in gross profit may vary by company, but in general all costs associated with the manufacturing, delivery, and support of a product/service should be included.

via a16z.com

CEO Weekends: KPMG Launches $100 Million Venture Fund to Accelerate Big Data Startups Globally - TechMoran

After a  KPMG survey found that an overwhelming 96 percent of top companies were not using data and analytics effectively, KPMG International decided to launch KPMG Capital, an investment fund to accelerate innovation in data and analytics (D&A).

The $100 million venture fund based in London will invest in big data startups globally to drive data and analytics uptake to solve critical business challenges in areas such as new revenue streams, risk management and cost optimization by unlocking ‘big data’. The formation of venture fund comes after the global accountancy and consultancy firm established an office at East London’s startup hub, Tech City.

According to Mark Toon, CEO of KPMG Capital and global lead for KPMG’s D&A practice,  the firm’s new research shows that business leaders recognize the tremendous importance of D&A to business growth but feel they need more support to develop effective solutions.

“KPMG Capital will enable us to develop or acquire opportunities in D&A quickly. Through partnerships with technology and service providers, strategic partners and other third parties, we aim to accelerate innovation in D&A to bring potential solutions to clients – and to the market – faster.”

Toon added, “With more data produced and stored in the last two years than in the rest of human history, many businesses are looking for strategic and practical solutions to manage the volume, velocity and variety of this data revolution. KPMG Capital will lead the way in addressing the challenge of the three ‘v’s.”

To him, firm’s the most successful companies will be those not merely collecting the data, but those that can distill data and translate it to insightful business guidance as too many companies still see big data principally as a technology issue, instead of seeing it as a business issue.

KPMG Capital is set to help companies look at their data differently and turn it into value. It will invest in a number of critical business areas such as healthcare, financial services, energy and telecommunications. The funds will help the firms to make their business flexible, finance them for growth, help in regulation and compliance and improve workforce productivity and customer acquisition.

Apart from just investing in firms,  KPMG Capital will also partner with and or acquire organizations that specialize in data and analytics tools and assets.

“D&A is part of our heritage, but with the fast pace of technology and globalization, clients want deeper insight more quickly.  

via techmoran.com

Salesforce paid $33 million for 2 startups - Business Insider

Steve Jennings/Getty ImagesSalesforce CEO Marc Benioff.

Salesforce isn't the most acquisitive tech company out there. It tends to invest rather than buy.

When it really wants a company, we know that Salesforce will pay big for it.

But when it buys a tiny startup, it's unclear if it's fair, generous, or a bargain hunter.

A recent SEC filing indicates that Salesforce doesn't go for the jugular and pays reasonably well in those cases, too.

The company made three small acquisitions this year and in a form filed with the SEC on Monday, it revealed the deal size of one: In July 31, 2015, it acquired Paris company Kerensen Consulting for $24.2 million. Salesforce recently expanded big time into Paris and bought Kerensen to give it a local foothold in the market.

Salesforce also said it acquired two other companies in 2015 and spent a total of $33.1 million.

Those companies were both tiny startups: Toopher, bought in April and Tempo AI bought in May.

Obviously, we don't know exactly how much of the $33 million went to each company, its founders and investors, but we can deduce a little. 

We know that Toopher's seven employees were granted a total of 37,408 shares, worth about $2.5 million in April, according to an earlier SEC form filed by Salesforce. Toopher was a four-year old enterprise security startup that raised about $3 million in VC funds.

Tempo AI was an iOS calendar app and an acqu-hire. It raised $12.5 million in venture capital and had about a dozen employees, according to a LinkedIn search. Salesforce shut down the app shortly after buying the company and the team was integrated into RelateIQ, another company Salesforce bought. Salesforce paid $390 million for RelateIQ in 2014, considered a premium price.

If Salesforce merely cashed out the investors at both of the startups it bought this year, it would have spent $15.5 million. It paid more than double.

So the evidence looks like this was a decent exit for these startups.

via uk.businessinsider.com

Découvrez Easypropriétaire.com et prenez enfin en main votre projet d'achat immobilier !

#Immobilier : Easypropriétaire lève 600 000 euros auprès d'Axa Strategic Ventures - Maddyness

#Immobilier : Easypropriétaire lève 600 000 euros auprès d’Axa Strategic Ventures 250

18 août 2015 par Anais Richardin dans Finance avec 0 Commentaire

inShare

via www.maddyness.com

Chez Evercontact, les congés sont sans limite

Comme plusieurs start-up de la Silicon Valley, cette petite société parisienne laisse les salariés organiser leur travail... et fixer la durée de leurs vacances.

Élise Laperdrix | 23 Août 2015, 07h00 | MAJ : 23 Août 2015, 05h45

via www.leparisien.fr

La digitalisation dans l’assurance : et si c’était aujourd’hui ?, Le Cercle

La transformation digitale dans l’Assurance ? On en parle, elle commence, il y a des frémissements. Néanmoins, force est de constater que la démarche est beaucoup moins aboutie à ce jour qu’au sein des banques.

Par exemple, alors que 70 % des Français déclarent que le canal mobile est primordial pour leur relation avec leur banque, on constate qu’un seul contact annuel par Internet a lieu entre assureur et assuré (source : Argus de l’Assurance).

L’assurance n’est pas un "love-topic" et il n’y a pas aujourd’hui de relations fortes entre l’assuré et la compagnie – sauf évidemment au moment de la gestion d’un sinistre. Et à ce stade, c’est évidemment le rapport humain qui va primer.

Bien sûr, la distribution de produits d’assurances via internet ou périphériques mobiles, constitue un enjeu de chiffre d’affaires comme de parts de marché. Et si les assureurs n’occupent pas ce segment, ils se le verront confisqué par de nouveaux acteurs plus innovants. Le lancement par Google d’un comparateur d’assurances auto, avec une majorité d’assureurs directs en est un exemple concret.

Néanmoins, le cadre réglementaire et les contraintes de sécurité sont des freins importants qui préservent encore le marché traditionnel, sans même parler de la force des réseaux de distribution classiques.

Pour toutes ces raisons, l’enjeu de la digitalisation dans le métier des assurances ne réside pas aujourd’hui dans l’ouverture des canaux mobiles, mais plutôt dans l’amélioration drastique de l’usage du canal traditionnel téléphonique. Il s’agit avant tout de transformer le rapport entre assurés et assureurs.  

En effet, cette transformation digitale doit passer par une amélioration de l’efficacité des centres d’appels et par une transformation de la relation avec l’assuré. Pour mieux conseiller, répondre à une problématique client, vendre de l’assurance, il faut évidemment posséder une expertise particulière, mais aussi disposer du maximum d’informations pertinentes, au bon moment.

Une technologie de "Fast Data", permettant de rapprocher toutes les données disponibles issues des applications et de collecter les informations ad hoc pour les proposer de façon instantanée au téléconseiller, prend alors tout son sens. Elle devient un avantage concurrentiel décisif et immédiat.

Dès la prise en charge de l’appel de l’assuré, toutes les informations disponibles qui le concernent s’affichent sur l’écran du conseiller : situation et informations personnelles extraites du CRM, données contractuelles, sinistralité, historique des échanges avec la compagnie d’assurance, mais également les informations captées sur les réseaux sociaux, les comparateurs d’assurances ou même les forums traditionnels.

Il s’agit à la fois d’une solution opérationnelle pour améliorer l’efficacité des conseillers, mais aussi d’un outil de ventes croisées centré sur l’assuré. C’est également un dispositif antifraude évolué, qui va permettre de corréler l’ensemble de toutes ces informations pour signaler au téléconseiller une éventuelle incohérence dans le dossier. L’impact est fort également en terme d’image aux yeux de l’assuré qui ne devra plus expliquer plusieurs fois la même chose, voire produire maintes fois les mêmes pièces justificatives, y compris dans des circonstances parfois dramatiques de sinistres en assurances de personnes.

Si l’urgence de la digitalisation est probablement moins forte que dans la ban

via www.lesechos.fr

EESTEL - Didier Hallépée : un éminent expert et un ami nous quitte prématurément...

C’est un chapitre de l’histoire de la monétique française qui se clôt. La justesse de son analyse tranchait avec son approche à contre-courant, et souvent avant le courant.

Il était en même temps un personnage romanesque. Bien que polytechnicien, il ne calculait pas et vivait des aventures inattendues, parfois heureuses, parfois malheureuses. Il ne laissait  jamais indifférent, un peu irritant par moments, et au fond très attachant.

Il nous manquera. il nous manque déjà.

via www.eestel.net