Archive for May 29th, 2007
IBM’s Venture Capital Group
“IBM works with 120 of the world’s top VC firms to gain insights into emerging technologies, nurture small businesses and potential startup partners and drive open computing principles in the marketplace”.
IBM’s Venture Capital Group does not make direct investments in start-ups (e.g. cash), but provides valuable support to entrepreneurs as part of IBM’s ecosystem strategy:
- Access to research resource, such as IBM’s 33 innovations centers worldwide.
- Co-marketing and joint account planning to support the start-up’s business development efforts:
- Creating new opportunities
- Closing deals faster
- Focusing on specific vertical markets
- Access to other IBM programs, e.g.:
- IBM Partner World Industry Networks
- IBM Global Financing
- IBM Sales Connections
The qualification criteria might involve the following questions:
- Are they solving a problem that IBM customers care about?
- Can they provide one customer that can be used as a reference point?
- Is the enterprise an early stage start-up (e.g. Round A financing)?
Success stories:
References:
Podtech’s Blog: Drew Clark on IBM Ventures Group > Podcast: listen to the mp3 file
This blog’s Long Tail: IBM EBOS: in-house new ventures, Made in IBM Labs, IBM on innovation, Greater IBM and SecondLife, 5 innovations for the next 5 years, Partnerships between companies and business schools, The Service Research and Innovation Initiative,
Mashup Tools (2): Now Mobile
In my previous blog I wrote about friendly mashup tools which do not require users to acquire any technical or programming expertise. My intro talked about Web 2.0. This current blog addresses the same subject with regards to Mobile 2.0:
“Consumers often take the lead, playing with user-generated content in myriad ways. They can seamlessly “mash up” or combine, say, music or video from various sources and integrate applications from their personal computers and printers with their handsets [...] In Korea, cell-phone subscribers have begun using their phones to write music, create new game characters, and design games by using simple software”. BusinessWeek.
ShoZu offers an easy way to upload videos and photos from a mobile phone to web sites, blogs, and email addresses.
This mobile application supports the leading popular video and photosharing sites (e.g. Flickr), blogs, citizen journalism sites and other internet destinations.
You can actually add a description and tags from your phone anytime. ShoZu will also forward to your phone any comments left by people on your blog. With certain sites you can even reply to them.
MobileGlu would be another example, currently supportting del.icio.us, Flickr, moblogUK, upcoming.org, Blogger, and RSS feeds to name a few.
BonesInMotion has developed a fitness mobile client which uses location data from online services, e.g. tapping into Google Maps to display your runs. Exercise information is uploaded to your web portal on bimactive.com.
In Japan, DoCoMo works on new “open-domain technology”, which would eventually allow mobile users to create their own operating systems and browser menus.
References:
- BusinessWeek: Asia’s mobile mashup free for all
- RF Design: Development tool enables advanced mobile applications
- Mobuser: What is a mobile mashup?
This blog’s Long Tail: Mashup tools: blending and personalizing, Congratulations WordPress, Customers are helping to develop products, iCommons: share the past, create the future, Google Apps, Outside Innovation.
