Clean tech paves way for new Silicon Valley industry

2007 was an important year for creating a higher awareness of global warming. Many venture capitalists have found great companies that are committed to green technologies.

There were a number of moments throughout 2007 that pointed to the growing importance of the green phenomenon to Silicon Valley culture and business. But if there was a single event that crystalized the reasons why the cultural embrace of environmental issues may have been the biggest business or technology story in 2007, it may have been the November day when former vice president Al Gore announced he was joining Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm, as a partner to focus on green businesses.

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2008 Outlook Good for Pharma

The Big Pharma industry is set for a strong 2008, fueled by promising pipelines and cost-cutting. The biotech sector, however, may not be that lucky.

Pharmaceutical companies with up-and-coming blockbuster drugs and multi-billion dollar restructuring plans have the winning combination to boost their earnings and their stock next year, analysts say.

This would be a good indsutry for venture capital companies to look into possibly investing in the next big pharma company or affiliate. To read more about this story, click here.

Top Tech Flops of 2007

Well it's that time of year again; time to write about the best and worst lists for virtually every segment of any market. Today's list deals with the worst flops in the tech industry.

1. High-tech automatic toilets - these had heated seats, air purifiers and blow dryers, among many other unnecassary features. Only problem is they had a tendency to catch fire. ouch!

2. Electronic voting machines - Nothing more needs to be said

3. John Mackey - this CEO of Whole Foods posted on a Yahoo Finance stock forum under the alias Rahodeb, and hyped himelf and his company, and trashed Wild Oats, the company he wanted to acquire.

4. Apple - After a nine year old girl sends in a letters suggesting that her iPod nano have onscreen lyrics so people can sing along, Apple's legal team replies that they don't accept unsolicited ideas and threaten to take legal action if she sends in any more suggestions. Talk about a company taking itself too seriously

5. Intel - To promote its new Core 2 Duo Processor, Intel creates a print ad featuring 6 bare-shouldered black sprinters, benath a white guy dressed for the office.

To see the other worst tech flops, go here.

NVCA Predicts Venture Capital Trends for 2008

The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) has released its predicitons for the New Year, based on a survey of many of companies in the venture capital industry. Many VC firms, like Arthur Trueger's BerkeleyVC, are looking forward to a positive year.

Venture capitalists are forecasting an active year for the industry with high growth in the CleanTech sector, an improving IPO market and fewer venture firms in 2008. These predictions are among the top line findings of the NVCA 2008 Predictions Survey. The results also show concerns about global investments in certain regions including China. Additionally, the industry believes fund sizes will become larger and returns for limited partners of venture capital funds will improve in both the short and long term horizons.

For more information on NVCA's predictions, click here.