VENTURE CAPITAL POST

There is a saying "Strike while the iron is hot". That is what Silicon Valley is doing - investing big in India where the economy grows faster.

Roofstock gets Series A funding of $13.25 million led by Bain Capital Ventures. The funds will be used in an online marketplace and will be launched on Thursday in Florida.

Activist investor Carl Icahn on Monday reported a loss of $1.7 billion investment in 2015. This was a 18% down from previous year.

Blippar has a total funding of $55 million in Series D including those from its present investors which CEO and founder Ambarish Mitra called as investors with 'long-term vision'. The said fund will be used to 'power the future of visual discovery'.

B.C. clean-tech companies have requested Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to allocate a $500 million venture capital (VC) fund. An alliance comprising 51 clean-tech and investment firms from B.C. province has written a letter to the Prime Minister Trudeau to extend support to clean-tech industry.

Israel is witnessing an increasing number of new venture capital (VC) firms coming up. The country registered an inflow of $665 million VC funding during the first two months of the year. Unfazed with the recent market crash, the funds inflows continue for Israel startups.

Due to some investors' difficulty in transferring their cash out of mainland China, Zheshang Bank has decided to postpone their $1 billion Hong Kong IPO.

Did Kuaidi, the largest ride-hailing service in China is about to raise $1 billion the same amount that Uber spent last year for its expansion. It is going to be a tough competition for both companies since they are being backed up by other large companies such as Alibaba and Tencent Holdings Inc.

OJK Issued a new regulation with regards to Venture Capital Companies. The new provision changes the licensing and organization of venture capital companies, and includes sharia law and sharia-based legal entities.

President Jacob Zuma is at the center of criticism over lack of infrastructure facilities to attract foreign capital and global companies. All quarters of the society are calling for government's commitment to restore business confidence on South Africa.

Led by technology sector, venture capital (VC) investments in Canada reached 10 year high in 2015. Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA) said 536 deals in funding for entrepreneurs raised $2.25 billion in 2015.

Indian smart phone market is witnessing robust growth rate and attracting foreign venture capitalists (VCs). The home-grown apps are creating more demand for venture capital. India is second largest market for smartphones after China.

The San Francisco startup and smartphone maker Revl has been seed funded of $2 million by venture capitalist Bill Tai along with other investors like Frog Ventures, Y Combinator, Lars Rasmussen and James Lindenbaum.

Africa's largest trading block is attracting attention of global investors and businessmen. The recent 'Africa 2016' investment forum held in Egypt had participation of over 1,500 businessmen and government representatives. Foreign investors have called for more reforms and policy changes among African nations.

The latest quarterly survey of Fenwick & West LLP found most Silicon Valley companies that raised venture funding in the fourth quarter of 2015 softened.