Journalists as business hunters

International Data Group (IDG) Concern, which specialises in IT sector research, organising exhibitions and conducting statistical surveys, has recently launched an investment fund worth $100 million, which has a completely new method for screening beneficiary companies.

The “tool” which the company hopes will help it find viable investment-worth projects are the journalists of the group themselves.

Each journalist that spots an IT company with a large growth potential and convinces IDG management to invest in it gets a $20,000-$25,000 bonus in cash from the IT market research concern.

This is not the only reward for the journalists with a nose for business, as they will also get stock options in the company targeted by IDG for investment, in addition to the bonus.

The company managing the fund, London-based IDG Ventures Europe, will invest in various technological sectors across the continent. Any company having secured the investment fund’s trust and interest may be financed in several stages, but may not get more than $8 million.

IDG’s “talent” scouting method is not only unheard of, but can actually turn out to be very efficient. The journalists employed by various IT publications or sections are the most likely to spot potentially successful companies in need of funds to develop their projects.

Although IDG operates in Romania through several publications such as PC World, ComputerWorld, NetworkWorld or annual fairs: ROCS (Romanian Computer Show), the IT companies here will have to wait a while to benefit from such an investment, says IDG Romania general manager, Mihaela Gorodcov.

“I had heard about this investment fund, launched for the US market especially and then expanded to England. It may also expand to Central and Eastern Europe,” Gorodcov said. “As for Romania, they’re still checking the local market, but we’ve got no signal yet.”