Tag Archives: innovation

Doctor Dalai’s superb April Fool

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I loved Doctor Dalai’s recent April Fool, announcing the partnership between Siemens and Disney:

“Disney and Siemens are two of the world’s most recognized and respected brands, both known for their relentless commitment to innovation. We look forward to working with Disney to grow our relationship and realize the potential of two great companies. This new relationship creates an ideal opportunity to demonstrate Siemens’ innovations to our customers, while also strengthening the Siemens brand in a memorable and relevant way. Viewing medical images, such as CAT (Computed Axial Tomography) scans or MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) exams has been limited by our 20th Century-based technology.

“No matter how fast the computers get, or how sharp the image may appear, we are still seeing only a shadow of what is truly present within the body,” notes George Nolen, President & CEO, Siemens Corporation. “With the advanced visualization techniques of Disney’s Pixar division, as well as their expertise in flight simulation as applied to various attractions, we are now able to actually place the physician virtually within the body. The most microscopic of processes will be visible to the eye from this vantage point. This certainly represents a new era in imaging.” Note Doctor Dalai, after contact from Siemens, has now removed the post.

The great added bonus about this joke is that there’s a nice grain of truth embedded in it — as didn’t Pixar start out in part as a manufacturer of medical imaging equipment?

 

 

Report: Web 2.0 funding in U.S. slows, except at Facebook

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Venture capitalists pumped a record $1.34 billion into 178 so-called Web 2.0 deals in the U.S. in 2007, up nearly 88 percent over amounts invested in 2006 — but social networking company Facebook Inc. accounted for 22 percent of it all.

And according to data unveiled Tuesday by Dow Jones VentureSource at the Web Ventures conference in Redwood City, Calif., deal growth is slowing.

From 2002 to 2006, Web 2.0 deal flow doubled every year, but 2007 only saw deals increase 25 percent to 178 from 143 deals in 2006. Nearly all of this growth happened outside Silicon Valley, the longtime home of Web-related innovation and investment.

“On the surface, the numbers look fine for the Bay Area — $720 million invested in 72 deals — but take Facebook’s $300 million out of the statistics and you see a very different picture,” says Jessica Canning, director of global research for Dow Jones VentureSource. “Web 2.0 deals in the Bay Area actually dropped from 74 deals in 2006 to 69 last year and investments were down 3 percent from the $431 million invested in 2006.”

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Facebook raised $240 million from Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) in a highly publicized corporate round as well as at least $60 million more from individual investors last year. The next-largest Web 2.0 deal was the $44 million first round for Ning, also of Palo Alto, which lets users create their own niche social networks.

Despite these larger deals, Web 2.0 companies still remained a relatively inexpensive investment for venture capitalists. According to the data, the median deal size for these companies reached a record $5 million in 2007, up from $4.1 million in 2006. This is still far behind the overall $7.6 million industry median for a venture capital deal in the U.S. in 2007.

Even so, investors are placing a higher value on Web 2.0 companies. The data shows that in 2007, the median pre-money valuation for a Web 2.0 company reached a new high of $10 million, up from $6 million in 2006. Still, that’s well below the overall $16 million median pre-money valuation seen for venture-backed companies in 2007.