Fund.com (OTCBB: FNDM)

Fund.com (OTCBB: FNDM), rapidly becoming the country’s vertically-focused online resource for today’s fund investor, is focused on the $1 trillion ETF market. ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) are funds that track an index, but can be traded like stocks. The ETF market has taken off in the past year, up a whopping 45% from 2008, and is expected to continue growing at a brisk pace. ETFs currently account for nearly 35% of all trading volume in the U.S.

Fund.com has a special relation to the huge EFG market, with a unique platform for launching NYSE-listed ETFs. The platform is offered through their subsidiary, AdvisorShares Investments, LLC, a developer of actively managed ETFs, in which Fund.com has a 60% ownership stake. AdvisorShares’ coveted SEC exemptive relief status allows them to create actively managed ETFs. Together, Fund.com and AdvisorShares are able to blend the advantages of an ETF with the efficiency of a managed fund. They are currently engaging partners to launch ETFs with this platform, and share in the resulting fees.

AdvisorShares is already on track to have three actively managed ETFs trading on the New York Stock Exchange in April, with more potential ETFs on the horizon involving such diverse partners as Bank of New York Mellon, Peritus Asset Management, Weston Capital Management, and New York Times Best-selling Author Harry S. Dent. Partnering with financial advisors, and helping them easily launch tailored ETFs, allows Fund.com and AdvisorShares to virtually eliminate marketing costs, while building AUM (assets under management) and generating fees. In addition, the user friendly launch platform lets fund managers and investment advisors significantly extend their reach to new investors.

Leading this charge to become the key player in the actively managed ETF marketplace is a seasoned management team with an abundance of Wall Street experience and contacts.

• Greg Webster (Fund.com CEO) - Former CEO of HSBC Securities and Director of HSBC Wealth Management, with $32B in assets and 5,000 registered investment advisors under management.
  
  
• Noah Hamman (AdvisorShares CEO) - Former head of product development at Rydex Investments, which sold for $776M to Security Benefits, he’s a former Fidelity managing director. To date he has launched 40+ ETFs.
  
  
• Joe Bianco (Fund.com Chairman) - Former Chairman and CEO of NYSE-listed Alliance (22 acquisitions, revenue of $800M, sold to Wasserstein Perrella). He bought and sold Lotus Sports Cars to General Motors.

General Environmental Management Inc. (OTCBB: GEVI)

General Environmental Management Inc. (OTCBB: GEVI) is doing something that most companies do not even attempt – selling a successful business and starting another. It has already built an extremely successful waste field services company over the past several years. But the company's management saw that this particular business was a low-margin, low-profit business. In response, they’ve decided to go another route in order to increase returns to its shareholders.

The management team at General Environmental has decided to sell its waste services business and pursue opportunities into two much faster growing, higher-margin businesses – the water treatment and waste-to-energy markets. The company has engaged the services of a financial advisory firm – General Pacific Partners – to explore and assist in the evaluation of wastewater business acquisition opportunities in California and the western United States. The company has also engaged a senior lending facility interested in helping pursue acquisitions.

General Environmental has already taken its first big step down its new path. The company has completed the multi-million dollar acquisition of one of California's oldest and most profitable water treatment businesses – the Santa Clara Waste Water. This company has treated over two billion gallons of waste water and was named among the top 100 privately-owned, non-hazardous waste water utilities in the United States.

GEVI's move into the water business looks to be a shrewd move. Within the United States alone, the water industry is a $120 billion market that is expected to grow at a 6%-7% rate for the next few years. On a global basis, the water industry size exceeds $400 billion annually and is expected to remain strong, led by the continued rapid growth in the emerging economies. Similarly, the compounded annual growth rate for the global waste-to-energy market is also projected to be about 6%-7% and represents a nearly $20 billion market.

General Environmental Management has a superb management team, led by CEO Tim Koziol, which already built the company from scratch once. GEVI has grown at a compounded annual rate of 48 percent, growing revenues from only $2.3 million to $37 million in a few short years. The company now is looking to combine two green businesses – waste water and waste-to-energy – in a unique, even “greener” fashion. Based on their track record, GEVI's management most likely will be successful in this endeavor to the benefit of their shareholders.

National Automation Services Inc. (PINKSHEETS: NASV)

The primary goal of National Automation Services Inc. (PINKSHEETS: NASV) is no less than to be the nation’s premier provider of automation and control systems integration services. Today, with the exception of a few national names, the industry is largely fragmented, consisting of approximately 300 local and regional companies scattered around the country. Through a plan of careful acquisition and unsurpassed performance, NAS is steadily growing its influence and customer list on its way to becoming the single most respected player in the industry. Quite simply, they want to be the first company people think of when it comes to advanced automation and control, an industry that already tops $400 billion.

Automation and control is all about the successful management of the physical processes of a company’s operations, whether manufacturing, power generation, water treatment, baggage handling, traffic control, mining, security, or even a network of bank ATMs. Businesses need to continually know what’s happening, and be able to instantly react to it in the most effective way. The number and complexity of inputs and outputs involved in modern business operations requires a new level of technology and operational capability, and NAS is one of the few companies in the country that has that degree of industry-specific technological sophistication.

Basically, NAS is able to offer its customers something most companies can only dream about: real-time comprehensive intelligence, covering every aspect of physical operations, from the plant floor to the most remote corporate locations, together with the advance automated controls to interpret and react instantaneously, with or without human intervention. They do this by bringing to bear nearly 50 years of combined automation and control experience, including consultation, design, programming, project management, system integration, training, and ongoing service, along with a full resume of the world’s most advanced control technologies.

The result for NAS is an unstoppable industrial presence on its way to national prominence. And every new customer speeds up the process, from a diverse list that already includes Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, Safeway, Watson Pharmaceuticals, Motorola Semiconductor, Weyerhauser, Mirage Hotel & Casino, Alaska Marine Highway System, Better Built Aluminum, Chevron, a wide range of municipal water districts, and many more. Don’t take your sites off of this one.