Two of the top websites that link businesses with freelancers, Elance Inc and ODesk Corp, have merged to form a service with 8 million registered individuals.
Investors
Carlyle hires Credit Suisse to explore outright sale or IPO of PQ
Private equity firm Carlyle Group had put up for sale its specialty chemicals business PQ Corp. for $3 billion. Carlyle has tapped investment bank Credit Suisse to explore an outright sale or IPO of PQ.
US firm Datameer snags $19M in Series D for big data analytics platform
San Mateo, California-based big data analytics firm Datameer raised $19 million in a Series D funding round led by Next World Capital that brings its total funding to $36.6 million.
European travel startups Excursiopedia and Travelatus merge
Munich, Germany-based travel marketplace Excursiopedia has added Moscow, Russia-based startup Travelatus in an effort to become a leader in the international travel industry and help travelers find local activities.
Boston firm Curoverse raises $1.5M for genetic data storage platform
Boston-based firm Curoverse secured $1.5 from a seed funding round to develop and commercialize its private beta technology that helps biomedical researchers in storing and analyzing human genetic data.
Latest News
The Federal Reserve said it will be trimming its monthly bond purchases to $75 billion from $85 billion in its first move to start tapering, Bloomberg reported.
NWS Holdings Ltd, owned by Hong Kong tycoon Cheng Yu-tung, entered an agreement to purchase a stake in Beijing Capital International Airport Co from sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte.
Hungary-based state-owned utility MVM Zrt announced on Tuesday its plan to purchase a minority stake in natural gas supplier Fogaz Zrt in a deal valued at HUF41 billion ($187.4 million).
Sweden-based online payments company Klarna has bought Germany-based firm SOFORT in an acquisition deal valued at $150 million to become one of Europe's biggest independent payments alternative.
Darty, the third-largest electricals retailer in the European region, had agreed to sell Darty Turkey to eliminate losses in non-core markets. Darty has responded to weak consumer spending and competition from online retailers by exiting its loss-making operations.
Russia is prepared to invest more than €5 billion in Serbia to back projects centered in the energy and production sectors including lubricant refining, and plant reconstruction projects.
With the help of both public and private equity, the investments of Wellcome Trust was able to return 18% in the year that ended September 30, Bloomberg reported.
While the search for the next CEO of Microsoft Corp intensifies. lead contender Satya Nadella took the time to mingle with Paris startups in a conference, Bloomberg reported.
Petroperu will be seeking to riase $2.7 billion to fund the modernization and upgrades of its Talara refinery. About half of the funds will come from international investors, Reuters reported.
