Franchising comes easier to experienced developers
Franchisers have stepped up incentive programs to help entice would-be entrepreneurs in a down economy, reports The Los Angeles Times in a recent article. But longtime franchisees caution that success, if it comes, will take time. For example, entrepreneurs may have trouble franchising or getting a loan for just one restaurant, according to Brentwood Associates [...]
LA Times – Venture Capital Funding and Deals Rise in 2010
By Tiffany Hsu January 24, 2011 Click here to read the full article U.S. venture capitalists began to dip back into their pockets in 2010 after sitting tight the year before, but the number of deals made and the amount invested still trailed pre-recession levels, according to the Dow Jones VentureSource report. Companies around the [...]
Orange County hits pay dirt with clean-tech industry
In today’s Los Angeles Times, Tiffany Hsu mentions Irvine-based FlexEnergy as one of the many greentech companies that has set up shop in Orange County: “FlexEnergy, a clean-power company, is upgrading to a 30,000-square-foot office in either Santa Ana or Irvine that will be triple the size of the original. T3 Motion Inc., a Costa [...]
Electric cars are charging into the marketplace
By Jerry Hirsch and Tiffany Hsu The Los Angeles Times Click here to read the full article Stalled for nearly a century, electric cars are about to move into the fast lane when the first of a new generation of vehicles reaches dealer showrooms next month. Every major automaker plans some sort of electric or [...]
Clean-power projects turn landfills’ methane into electricity
By Tiffany Hsu The Los Angeles Times Click here to read the full article Landfills, with the tendency to belch noxious greenhouse gases, have long gotten a bad rap from environmentalists. But now several clean-power technology companies believe waste can be a source of environmentally friendly energy. FlexEnergy, an Irvine company, showed off a pilot [...]
Clean-tech investment booms to $1.5 billion in second quarter 2010
By Tiffany Hsu The Los Angeles Times Click here to read the full article There aren’t that many clean-tech deals being made in the U.S., but the ones that are making it through just came off a mighty fine quarter. Electric car manufacturers and support companies especially. The big winner of the quarter was Palo [...]
Seventy percent of major companies plan to increase climate change spending
By Tiffany Hsu The Los Angeles Times Click here to read the full article Seventy percent of major companies plan to boost spending on climate change efforts in the next two years, according to a new report from Ernst & Young. Of the 300 corporate executives surveyed this spring, 89% said their green activities were [...]
Clean-tech investment in first quarter of 2010 improves
By Tiffany Hsu The Los Angeles Times Two Southern California electric-car manufacturers helped improve clean-tech investment in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the same period the year before, according to analysis from Ernst & Young released Thursday. The $100 million that Coda Automotive Inc. raised, combined with the $93 million pulled in by [...]
U.S. clean-tech investment falls 45% in fourth quarter
Tiffany Hsu Los Angeles Times Click here to be directed to the Los Angeles Times article. Clean-tech companies raked in just $564.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, a 45% plunge from the previous quarter, according to research released Monday. But the number of deals jumped 21% to 62 total, according to analysis from [...]
