investment

Daily Tidbits: Charles Schwab updates trading platform

Charles Schwab improved its online trading platform Tuesday with the introduction of new features for its site, StreetSmart.com. According to the investment firm, clients will now have real-time performance reporting for closed positions, new short-selling tools, and more order types. The app will also feature new tabs for realized gain and loss data and information on shorting securities. The updates are available now on the Schwab service.

Privus Mobile, a company that provides mobile calling services, announced Tuesday that its Caller ID app is now available through Handmark stores, as well as mobile stores that offer apps for Windows … Read more

Green-tech VC jumps nearly 40 percent in 2008

Green-tech venture capital funding soared last year, aided by megadeals in thin-film solar companies, according to preliminary figures released Tuesday by the Cleantech Group.

During 2008, green-tech venture investments jumped to $8.4 billion, a 38 percent increase, according to the report.

Solar investments helped drive the growth, capturing 40 percent of green-tech investments. Thin-film solar deals did particularly well, capturing the three largest investments in green technology last year.

NanoSolar raised $300 million last year, followed by Solyndra with venture investments of $219 million and SoloPower with $200 million.

Cleantech Group's senior research director, Brian Fan, said in … Read more

Clean-tech investors take cue from biotech

In venture-capital circles, clean tech has been on a tear, bringing in billions of dollars and attracting thousands of entrepreneurs. But now, some people are starting to add a voice of caution to the stream of upbeat financial news.

The U.S. National Venture Capital Association on Wednesday released results from a survey (click for PDF) of venture capitalists which, on the whole, reflected a dour mood over the economy and finance.

One bright spot was clean tech. It was the single category where a majority of venture capitalists predicted that investments would increase or stay even in 2009.

But … Read more

IPOs a thing of the past?

HALF MOON BAY, Calif.--When bonds are paying yields like stocks and blue-chip companies are severely undervalued, who wants to invest in equities, let alone an IPO?

Those are just some of the challenges companies face in attracting investors in this current economic climate, noted panelists Tuesday during the AlwaysOn Venture Summit West conference here.

Despite the dire economic climate and the market meltdown, the panelists noted "good companies" will still have an opportunity to go public--it just may take longer.

Investors, such as mutual funds, asset managers, pension funds and hedge funds, are holding a significant amount … Read more

Geezeo adds ratings of online brokerage firms

Geezeo, an online financial management service, announced Wednesday that it has expanded its Marketplace to include ratings of online brokerage firms.

According to the company, visitors can now evaluate brokerage firms based on the initial investment required to sign up for an account, associated fees related to stocks, and the overall experience of using the service.

"Geezeo is all about helping our community of users save and make money," Peter Glyman, Geezeo co-founder, said in a statement. "The addition of the Brokerage Marketplace will provide another resource for our users to find the best investment products to … Read more

RockYou looks to Asia with new $17 million investment

Investments to the tune of $17 million are a rarity these days, but app-factory RockYou has done just that: the San Francisco-based company has announced that Japanese mobile giant SoftBank and Korean telecom investment company SK Telecom Ventures have invested $17 million to create a new joint venture to build apps for the Asia-Pacific market.

RockYou's Series C venture round, which pulled in $35 million, was in June--with the fresh $17 million, the company has raised $67 million so far.

This marks the entry of RockYou, which is best known for its Facebook and MySpace widgets, into the mobile … Read more

Martha Stewart's company picks Pingg for invites

InterActiveCorp's Evite might still be the biggest name in online invitations, but Martha Stewart has made her endorsement elsewhere.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has partnered with and made an undisclosed investment in Pingg, a much smaller competitor.

The chief executive of New York-based Pingg, Lorien Gabel, spoke to CNET News a few months ago to make the case for his company as a more refined alternative to the clip art-friendly Evite, saying he hoped Pingg would be appropriate for "a whole segment of event types that people just (do) not want to use electronic invitations for," like … Read more

AMD deal triggers Intel license warning

Update on October 9 at 9:00 a.m. with additional comments from Intel and AMD.

Advanced Micro Device's new manufacturing venture may come with some old baggage.

After AMD announced on Tuesday that it would spin off its manufacturing assets to a new company partially owned by the Abu Dhabi government, Intel was quick to warn AMD about patent and cross-licensing concerns.

AMD will own part of the new manufacturing entity, for the time being to be called The Foundry Company, while Advanced Technology Investment Co. (ATIC) will own the rest (55.6 percent) and have equal voting … Read more

AMD finds 'fabless' alternative

Advanced Micro Devices appears to have found an alternative to going fabless.

The dramatic announcement by AMD Tuesday, which focuses on a new entity known for now as The Foundry Company, shows that there is another way to restructure that doesn't entail completely jettisoning manufacturing operations--referred to in the semiconductor industry as fabs or fabrication facilities.

"Real men have fabs." This quote attributed to former AMD CEO and Chairman Jerry Sanders has some import here. Though fabless concerns, such as Nvidia, have been held up as lean, mean chip-supplying machines that don't have the burden of … Read more