VENTURE CAPITAL POST

As large parts of Europe's economy grind almost to a halt, attention will focus this week on the latest assessments of business confidence in the euro zone and Germany, which has just narrowly avoided a recession.

U.S. taxi service firm Uber said it is in early talks with investors to raise money at a higher valuation than $17 billion it secured with June's round of funding, Financial Times reported on Friday citing people familiar with the matter.

Kenya's Safaricom (SCOM.NR) and U.S. company MoneyGram International (MGI.O) have agreed a deal for money to be sent from abroad to Kenya through their money transfer services, targeting more than $1 billion sent in remittances every year.

Potential buyers from at least six leading oil companies have visited Citgo Petroleum Corp’s refinery in Illinois and three firms have shown keen interest in its Texas plant, four sources familiar with efforts to sell the assets said.

Home Depot Inc (HD.N), the world's largest home improvement chain, said about 53 million email addresses were stolen during a recent breach of its payment data systems, in addition to some 56 million payment cards previously disclosed by the retailer.

The dollar rose to new multi-year highs against the yen, euro and a basket of currencies on Monday, a three-month-old rally showing no signs of dissipating before a week of important economic set pieces.

Adidas (ADSGn.DE) needs world-class designers, brand experts and technical whizzkids to improve its image against U.S. rival Nike (NKE.N), but persuading them to move to its headquarters in rural Germany is difficult.

As India celebrated becoming the first Asian nation to reach Mars, S.M. Vaidya, head of business at conglomerate Godrej's aerospace division that made the spacecraft's engine and thruster components, sounded surprisingly downbeat.

The U.S. drive to end its reliance on Russian rocket motors got a boost this week when Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos unveiled a new engine project, but officials and industry insiders say it will take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a locally built alternative.