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Technology Stocks
TrueCar Has No Profits But Billion Dollar Valuation
According to the National Automobile Dealers Association, last year 15.5 million new cars were sold in the United States. The automotive sector is one of the largest segments in the country. Recently listed, TrueCar is trying to revolutionize the way cars are sold in the country.
Jive’s Stock Languishes; Is Cisco Going To Acquire Them?
According to an IDC report the global enterprise social software market grew from $968 million in 2012 to $1.24 billion in 2013. The IDC report also found that IBM remained the market leader in the segment with more than 75% of the Fortune 100 companies adopting their solutions. Another IDC report had pegged the enterprise social software market to grow 22% annually over the period 2012 to 2017 to $2.7 billion.
GoPro Plans to Move Beyond Action Cameras
Wearable technology is projected as the next big thing in the consumer hardware segment. Wearable gadgets range from wrist bands that measure a person’s activity and health statistics to wearable cameras and glasses that track the user’s actions. Analysts believe that it is still too early to accurately forecast the market size of wearable cameras, but some still guess that wearable cameras would account for a $10 billion market in the US alone by the year 2016.
Online Lending Sector Heats Up
According to PayNet Small Business Lending Index, the volume of financing to small businesses in the country grew to 121.6 in December last year from 114.6 in November. This was the highest growth recorded by the market since March 2007. Like other retail customers, today small businesses also have the option of securing funding from organizations besides traditional banks. The need for alternate financial organizations has also increased since the economic recession hit the country. After the recession, most banks cut down the approvals of small business loan requests. In October 2012, banks had approved 14.8% of small-business loan requests in comparison with 46% before the economic downturn.
Prosper Prospers
Today, banks and traditional money lenders are not the only source of credit to individual customers and small businesses. Instead, the Internet has led to the creation of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending that helps match borrowers with lenders through online platforms for small loans. P2P lenders are able to fund smaller debt requirements by being able to stay away from the high costs that are attributed to maintaining a brick-and-mortar bank and to meet the several capital adequacy requirements that govern the bank. According to Foundation Capital partner Charles Moldow, this new generation of lenders will help transact in more than $1 trillion by 2025.
Zendesk IPO Underscores Momentum in Cloud CRM
A recent report released by Markets and Markets estimates the global cloud computing spend to grow to $121.1 billion by 2015, recording a compounded annual growth rate of 26% over the period 2010 through 2015. Another report by Market Research Media expects strong growth within cloud computing to continue. The report projects a 30% annual growth rate over the five year period from 2015 with the market expected to be worth $270 billion by 2020.
LinkedIn’s Publishing Strategy Kicks Ass
According to an infographic released by Staff.com late last year, nearly 92% of the companies surveyed use the social media for recruiting decisions. LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) is the leading professional network choice for companies. 78% companies surveyed were using LinkedIn in 2010 and that number grew to 93% in 2012. The increased focus on social media as a source for potential employees is also driven by the improvement in the hiring process. 73% companies found that they were able to successfully hire employees through social networks. More significantly, 42% companies claim that the candidate quality has improved due to social media hiring and nearly 20% companies found that it took them lesser time to hire through social networks. Here is the infographic, courtesy MediaBistro.com.
Chinese e-Commerce Market Continues Heady Growth; Alibaba Dominant
According to China Internet Network of Information Center, China’s Internet population grew 3.7% over the year to 618 million users as of December last year. That translates to 45.8% Internet penetration in the country. Mobile Internet usage statistics are also impressive with the number of users growing 19.1% to more than 500 million. The center also reported a 6% growth in Chinese online shoppers to 302 million.