VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Saratoga, California-based Internet TV device maker Roku Inc is studying the possibility of holding an initial public offering this year, according to sources interviewed by Bloomberg.

Korea-based Kakao Corp, the company behind the highly-popular messaging and social app Kakao Talk, is readying for its initial public offering in May, BeSuccess reported.

Online music streaming service Spotify is recruiting a U.S. financial reporting specialist, adding to speculation that the Swedish start-up is preparing for a share listing, which one banker said could value the firm at as much as $8 billion.

Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba is trying to buttress its weaknesses ahead of its public debut later this year by acquiring firms, the Financial Times reported.

After the lockup agreements expire tomorrow, Twitter Inc's insiders will have a first chance to sell their stock. The company's shares have more than doubled since its IPO last year, Bloomberg reported.

Biotech companies are in a rush to go public partly due to the sky-high valuations now experienced by many biotech firms that have gone public in the past few years, the Venture Capital Dispatch reported.

Ten billion shares of common stock were offered by bitcoin firm Bitcoin Kinetics on the website Cryptostocks, Quartz reported. The startup intends to make hardware that enables vending machines to accept payment in Bitcoin.

Coupons.com, the online coupon firm backed by T. Rowe Price Group Inc and Passport Ventures, has filed for an IPO of up to $100 million with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Reuters reported.

Although they have remained silent for the good part of 2013, venture capitalists are now going back to China as the IPO market opens, but strategic investors are offering tough competition, The Wall Street Journal blog Venture Capital Dispatch reported.

Accellion Inc has introduced kiteworks in a bid to make a play in the file sharing space now led by Box Inc and Dropbox Inc, The Wall Street Journal blog Venture Capital Dispatch reported.

A ruling from a US court that banned the affiliates of the four biggest accounting firms may lead Chinese companies to seek an IPO in Hong Kong than in New York, Bloomberg reported.

Cooley LLP announced today that 2013 was a record year for capital markets work. Cooley advised on a total of 60 public offerings in 2013, including 23 initial public offerings, raising more than $8.4 billion.

JPMorgan Chase & Co has stopped working on the planned initial public offering of Chinese firm Tianhe Chemicals as US regulators continue its probe of the bank's hiring practices in China, Reuters reported.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc is predicting a flood of initial public offerings to be held in South Africa as private equity buyers divest their investments, Bloomberg reported.

With a recovery in the IPO market propelling private equity backers to exit their investments, lenders are readying to list more UK retailers on the London bourse, the Financial Times reported.