In his new role, Mehta will focus on investments centered in financial services, mobile payments, e-commerce, and gaming — no surprise, given his background.
According to the release, the investments centered around supporting startups that were innovating in the PC and server segments, including cloud computing, mobile and access to broadband wireless in geographies around the world.
Halliday's investments centered around the railroad's expansion to Cairo in the late 1870s.
These investments center around two themes: open source and enterprise software infrastructure, and infrastructure and platforms around social graph APIs.
Contenders like Shanghai, Mumbai and Dubai, on the Persian Gulf, have emerged as investment centers, including the money from Middle East oil wealth.
Singapore, a global banking and investment center in the heart of Southeast Asia, is an attractive base because of its efficient registration process, relatively benign regulations, smooth movement of money, financial infrastructure and low tax rates.
This fall he plans to open an investment center in New York à la Charles Schwab or E-Trade.
The platform creates a set of "mutual funds" comprised of between 10 and 15 non-profit organizations and allows users to invest in these funds, while building personalized investment portfolios centered around particular causes.
"I think people have been a little more fearful, but there's still a ton of cash out there," said Peter Falvey, the co-founder of Revolution Partners, an investment bank centered on technology companies.
Another repeated criticism of the government measurements of technology investments centers on the efforts of the Bureau of Economic Analysis to adjust for inflation and product improvements over time.
Foreign investment is now centered on oil-related industries like petrochemicals, and the Saudis are expected to maintain a government monopoly on exploration and development.
