Notes On A Payments Startup On The Rise

Verizon was created on June 30, 2000 by Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. and was based in New York City and Incorporated in Delaware (“Bell Atlantic and GTE Complete”, 2014). The mergers that formed Verizon were among the largest in the U.S. history. On July 3, 2000 Verizon began trading on the NYSE and begin trading under NADAQ on March 10, 2010. On April 3, 2000 the new brand of Verizon was launched which was the GTE wireless operations became a part of Verizon which then created the nation’s largest wireless company (“Bell Atlantic and GTE Complete”, 2014). In 2004 Verizon was added the Dow Jones Industrial average. Over the next few months Verizon then became the majority owner of Verizon Wireless with management and joint venture control. As years have passed, Verizon has still continued to flourish with its business and is also a leading provider of advanced communications and information

Verizon Communications (referred to as Verizon) and Vodafone’s partnership of Verizon Wireless ended when Verizon acquired the wireless division during 2013. The acquisition cost Verizon $130 billion, but the gains increase Verizon’s possibilities into the future. In fact, it moves Verizon closer to their goal of corporate strategy: to build corporate advantage to earn above normal returns (Diversification, n.d.).

Verizon’s revenue is mainly generated through its wireless services. In 2015, revenue increased by 4.6%; which was the consequence of a 54.4% growth in equipment revenue. Equipment includes primarily smartphones, but also payment programs. Verizon offers its customers a choice to pay higher wireless service charges, in exchange for subsidized prices for wireless devices. Below is a breakdown of 2015’s revenues.

VC firms, which had spent the first few years of the 2000s recovering from the telecom and

Verizon Communications Inc. (Verizon), established in 1983, is a holding company. The company and its subsidiaries, provides communications, information and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses and even the governmental agencies. It offers voice, data and video services and as well as solutions on its wireless and wireline networks. Its market segments thus are made up of Wireless and Wireline.

Band of Angels LLC: The Band of Angels is a unique Venture Capital firm because it provides some of the benefits that are typically only found with Angel Investors. Access to industry experts and mentors for the founders is huge benefit. Typically VC backed companies usually have a professional and efficient company because Venture Capitalists consistently push the founders and CEO to achieve set milestones. They have access to a larger pool of investors and can invest more capital if required. On the other hand, VC’s drive a hard bargain and usually offer less favourable terms. The Band of angels are

Verizon has a strong integration of communication solutions and expand to all major cities of the US and Europe. Vodafone carries 45% ownership of the company and this builds the entire brand a whole moreover, the company has well-targeted and defined objectives and goals. The weak aspects of Verizon in include their profitability margins seem to cap at 4%, which isn’t of benefit as the financial debt for the long-term, is about $39 billion. In comparison to competitors, there is a lower global presence which is counter productive due to the fact Verizon has had strong focus on the US and Europe.

As Verizon continues to grow and acquire various companies, they still need to keep their competitive edge. Verizon’s business solution competitors are not only the same as their wireless competitors but one is even a partner.

In the sphere of small business financing, two categories of individuals are pertinent in the overall scheme of financing, they are those that invest their monies, as well as, the individuals that lend monies (Hodgetts, 2007). These two modes of funding produce the same results, which is the provision of the necessary capital needed to begin the business adventure of the individual. However, funding can at times be difficult to procure as reiterated by Nicole Taylor (2015), in her article “14 Creative Financing Methods for Startups. She offered numerous ways to procure these funds, such traditional loans, renting one home to others, credit cards, equity, online lending institutions, family and friends, as well as others. However, the dilemma remains, which way offers the best choice for the individual.

Uber has an extremely wide outreach with their business functioning across 60 countries, and counting.

Strategy to merge Verizon and MCI merger is to be a customer-focused leader in consumer broadband and video, as well as business and government services, in both the landline and wireless environments. They believe that their superior networks are the basis for innovation and competitive advantage in communications. The combination of our world-class wireless and broadband access networks with the leading global IP (Internet protocol) backbone will allow us to deliver the highest quality end-to-end experience for our customers. Following the merger, Verizon, which continues to be based in New York, has approximately $90 billion in annual total consolidated operating revenues and approximately 250,000 employees, serving customers in 150 countries (Verizon News Release, January 6, 2006).

Adapt or die—this is the basic premise of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. It’s considered as one of the most solid theories in science, which still holds true today, especially in business.

Have you heard of the unicorn club? I have not until I read an article from the fortune magazine talking about tech startups. The word “unicorn” was to describe software companies that started since 2003 and valued at over $1 billion by public or private market investors (Lee, 2013). In this year’s unicorn list, fortune magazine count 173 tech startups, and 35 of them are Chinese companies (Cohan, 2016).

The VC industry itself is divided on the basis of the different stages of investment. Angel investing refers to individual investors, who are often the first group of investors in a new enterprise, who provide capital and mentorship. Angel investors invest in companies before VC firms, who invest in the next round of fundraising, what is often dubbed as Seed Stage, which accounts for about 2% of total VC investments (NVCA). At the Seed Stage, the portfolio company has just been founded, and its product is still in development. (NVCA) Clearly, at such an early stage, it is nearly impossible to make any meaningful financial projections, since the company lacks a product to offer.

Lending-based crowdfunding is a nascent fintech market where individual investor and borrower meet each other to make transitions. [Feature] This market is attracting an increasing amount of attention from researchers in recent years. Some researchers examine the determinants of probability of successfully funding, the interest rate and loan performance, others care about the various characteristics of borrowers, the decision making behavior of investors. There are also studies on the design of platforms. However, one aspect which still receive inadequate attention is the username mechanism. Interesting topics include: What is the association of username with lending transaction? What is the role of username in investment decisions?