The value of the equity invested in business not publicly traded is known as the private equity market.

Why not just get a bank loan?

Since the early 1970’s the private equity market has been growing steadily.  The private equity market continues performing strongly and is still in growth today despite the still unfavorable financial climate.  A greater proportion of equity is generated across the private equity market as venture capitalists invest less and less regularly and with smaller financial commitments.  Banks are becoming highly reluctant to lend with the economy remaining so volatile.  Businesses are looking more than ever to the private equity market to raise capital.

Businesses often decide that they need investment to either keep the business alive or kick start a period of growth.  What is the best way to find investors for your business?

Where to look

There are a number of ways for businesses to find investors in the private equity marketplace.  As a business, there are a number of reasons for which you may need to raise equity quickly, and as such different reasons will lead you to different equity providers.

More and more young people are coming up with innovative and million dollar ideas and brands. It is an incredibly exciting time especially in the social media sphere with countless gaps in the market and marketing strategies. In this interesting article we look at 5 of the most influential young entrepreneurs and their young entrepreneur stories and while reading their stories of success, we will near hand to face and slap ourselves for not thinking about their idea before they did.

Very few people know the highly intelligent entrepreneur who was the sharp mind behind WalMart. Sam Walton, founder of one of the most highly-recognized stores in the world, was a visionary who understood the need for everyone to have access to goods without suffering financially. Living through the Great Depression, and working to help his parents make ends meet, Sam was given an education on the responsibilities of adulthood, from an early age.

Early Years

Born to Thomas Walton and Nancy Lee, in 1918, Sam Walton had it in him from an early age to succeed in anything he put his mind to. As the Great Depression spiraled, taking many families and businesses down with it, Sam set about making money. He milked cows, bottled the surplus milk and took it to customers. He also delivered newspapers and magazine subscriptions for extra cash. The youngest Eagle Scout in Oklahoma’s state history, Sam graduated with the honor of “Most versatile boy.”

Just after graduation Sam Walton started work at JC Penny’s, but resigned to join the military. He served at Fort Douglas, Utah, and with his great leadership skills he had been promoted to Captain by the time he left the military.

Image via Wikipedia

Daimler AG, which manufactures the luxury Mercedes-Benz vehicles, continued to get pounded after the German company used an image of the communist mass murderer Che Guevara at a Las Vegas electronics show.

Daimler immediately issued an apology after the gaffe, but critics, especially from the Cuban-American community, persisted in their criticism of the automaker.

The kerfuffle started after a spokesman from Daimler tried to explain the revolution between automobiles and new technologies.

Image via Wikipedia

Tesco is one of the biggest grocery retailers in the world. Most people think of them as just a British supermarket, but their reach spans a lot further than that, and they are involved in many more markets than just groceries. Some people feel that Tesco is taking over the world, and that if they continue to expand then they could end up with far too much power.

Image via Wikipedia

The ongoing saga that is the Euro Zone crisis shows no sign of ending anytime soon. Sure there have been promises, schemes and commitments put out there but without any real tangible action it seems the fate of Europe is in limbo. While the Euro Zone is essentially an economic and financial crisis, the real heart of the issue lies in the political realm. So what is it going to take to completely solve the Euro Zone economy crisis? Let’s take a look at a few of the key aspects that need to change and fast.

Image by thegreenpages via Flickr

As the world's population rises, food prices slowly follow the trend. It's a fairly simple equation: more people require more food, but also take up more space and this limits the land available for farming. Some of the worlds largest food producing companies have therefore been looking into new ways to boost their production whilst keeping prices competitive. This has taken two forms; improve production from current land, and move into new markets where space is more free (and labor usually cheaper). Two of the main exponents of this are Pepsi Co (who oversee such brands as Tropicana, Scotts Porridge Oats and Doritos) and Nestle (who own hundreds of cereal, ice cream, yoghurt and chocolate brands), as they require vast amounts of naturally produced products to run their businesses. Both of them have started interesting projects aimed at combating these problems:

Image via Wikipedia

The best way to buy gold depends on what an investor is looking for, but there are several options that can be chosen. Gold has been used to store value for centuries, and it offers buyers a great way to realize a profit while minimizing risks. More traders are choosing to include gold in their portfolio, and they have worked to develop the best way to buy gold. Gold can be found as a currency, for example, as many coins are offered to traders, and gold bars are sometimes made from this material. Investors can also buy gold by the ounce, or they may choose to purchase stocks that follow the gold market.

There is a general consensus that the world is entering an era of ever increasing oil and energy prices, experiencing an inevitable yet unsustainable growth in population coupled with the potential shortage of water and food. All these issues exist with the constant threat of climate change. Thus sustainable investment is becoming a necessity, however many investors still do not take these issues into consideration, even through research indicates that companies who practice sustainable policies and operations considerably outperform those who don’t.