Tech blogger and investor MG Siegler is joining Google Ventures. Though he’s moving on, mostly, from CrunchFund — the venture firm started by his former boss, TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington — Siegler still seems confident in the firm that gave him his investing start.

Siegler says he’ll continue to “help out with our current portfolio as any of those startups/entrepreneurs see fit” and says he’ll likely continue to work specifically with Arrington on “the investing side of things.” He will also continue his column at TechCrunch.

“Long story short, I’m very happy with how CrunchFund is doing,” said Siegler in an email to VentureBeat. “Michael and I are and will remain on great terms. We’ve worked together for a long time and we’ve been able to remain friends that entire time. Just because the professional side of things is changing, doesn’t mean everything will change.”

Siegler, who once reported on technology for VentureBeat, amassed a following as an Apple-focused reporter for TechCrunch. After TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington left to start CrunchFund in 2011, Siegler was brought on as a surprising partner recruit given his reporting background. CrunchFund raised $20 million in 2011 to give out to early stage companies. Portfolio companies include Betable, Ifttt, Vine, Karma, Wavii, and others.

He’s still going to focus on early-stage investing at Google Ventures in a team with Kevin Rose and Wesley Chan. He explained to me that he’s confident in the resources Google Ventures has and the ability to expand on what Rose and Chan are already doing. As for what he’ll bring to table?

“We definitely have different networks when it comes to deal flow. And hopefully I can teach them how to write good,” he joked.

“We’re thrilled to add his unique perspective to Google Ventures, and our portfolio,” Google Ventures managing partner Bill Maris said in a blog post.

He says Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital is a good role model for him as Moritz also started out as a reporter and moved into venture capital. Siegler doesn’t seem to be too fazed about those who quip that just about anyone can be a VC nowadays, either. He says just because the money is there doesn’t mean everyone has the chops.

“Anyone can also be a deep sea diver,” he explained. “That doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to do so.”

MG Siegler image via LeWEB12/Flickr

In an effort to get American startups interested in the Japanese market, Yahoo Japan announced today that it has invested $20 million in Softbank Capital’s “Technology Fund ’10″ for early-stage startups.

The investment comes on top of the $100 million Softbank Capital has already raised for the fund. Softbank Capital also announced a separate $250 million “PrinceVille Fund” a few months ago, which is focused on helping later-stage startups bring their business to Asia.

Indeed, it’s easier to try and grab a piece of the startup pie from the U.S., rather than wait for the entrepreneurial trend to take off in Japan. According to a recent Forbes piece, Japan’s traditional business culture hasn’t been very friendly towards young startup.

Softbank Capital and Yahoo Japan are aiming to invest in just about every hot sector — mobile apps, online ads, gaming, e-commerce, and more — according to a press release. Yahoo Japan has also named a new head of U.S. operations, Toshiaki Chiku, who will be based out of Softbank’s office in New York City.

Photo: OiMax via photopin cc

Today, we saw an inordinate amount of funding announcements from startups based in Silicon Valley and in tech hubs around the world. As far afield as Japan, disruptive companies raised multimillions to bring their products to the next phase of growth.

Whether it’s 3D printing or a new take on enterprise search, here’s our list of today’s cool tech funding deals.

Not your grandmother’s search: SRCH2 launches ‘Google-like’ tech for the enterprise

SRCH2, the startup with a new take on corporate search, was founded by a group of ex-Googlers. Today, the Irvine-Calif. based company raised an undisclosed amount of seed capital from a roster of high-profile investors, including Data Collective’s Zachary Bogue and Matt Ocko, Redpoint’s Brad Jones, Horizen Ventures, and TenOneTen Ventures. Read the full story on VentureBeat. 

Chris Dixon and Andreessen Horowitz invest $30M in 3D printing marketplace Shapeways

If you weren’t sure whether this whole consumer 3D printing thing was going take off, Chris Dixon and Andreessen Horowitz may have answered your doubts. Dixon and company made a hugely symbolic $30 million investment in Shapeways, a 3D printing marketplace where designers may upload and print their 3D creations. Read the full story on VentureBeat.

Japanese translation service Gengo gets $12M from Intel Capital

Gengo, a Tokyo-based startup specializing in people-powered translation, has just taken its second round of institutional funding. The deal, which totals $12 million, was led by Intel Capital with participation from previous investor Atomico as well as new investors Iris Capital, Infocomm (Singapore), NTT-IP (Japan), and STCV (Saudi Arabia). Read the full story on VentureBeat.

Infer raises $10M to help companies win customers with their data

Infer is a new predictive data applications company founded by the former architect of Yahoo BOSS Search Vik Singh.  The company claims its already profitable and counts Box, Jive, Yammer and others among its first competitors. The first round of funding was led by Redpoint Ventures with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Social+Capital Partnership, and Sutter Hill Ventures.

SkyKick raises $3.7M to hustle businesses onto Microsoft’s cloud

SkyKick publicly launched an application suite today to help migrate small and medium-sized businesses to Office 365. It also announced a new $3.7 million in funding. SkyKick is headquartered in Seattle. Read the full story on VentureBeat.

Ad startup Nativo gets $3.5M

Another day, another online ad startup funding deal. Today, it’s a Nativo‘s moment in the sun. The startup’s first institutional round, totaling $3.5 million, comes from  Greycroft Partners with participation from Signia Venture Partner and e.ventures. Nativo makes a platform that lets advertisers and publishers deploy and manage native ad campaigns across multiple media properties.

Zooz’s people-first payments platform zooms off with $2M

Zooz is a payments platform that helps e-commerce vendors create the “ultimate checkout experience.” Today, the company announced closing $2 million in funding to add new products, customers, and partnerships. XSeed capital led the first institutional round. Read the full story on VentureBeat.

Investor buys $2 billion of MSFT, says Microsoft ‘will win out’ as stock jumps 4%

Hedge fund manager Jeffrey W. Ubben disclosed that his fund, ValueAct Capital, has taken a $2 billion position in Microsoft stock, causing an almost immediate 4 percent jump in the stock. Read the full story on VentureBeat.

Top image via Shutterstock

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Big Data and Predictive/Real-time Analytics startups: Are you looking to jumpstart development & accelerate market traction? Sign up for the SAP Startup Focus program to receive technology, support, resources and community to help you develop new applications on SAP HANA, a cutting edge database platform. Get started here, and enter promo code “VB2013″ on the form.

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It’s that time of year in Silicon Valley: launches, demo days, and a consistent stream of startups getting funded.

This week, our reporters covered the coming out party for Y Combinator’s startups, and the Games Developer Conference in San Francisco. Investors attended both events in their droves, and were ready to open their check books. 

In short, our deals team will have their hands full in the coming months. But we’re just at the beginning of a funding cycle. Today, we saw some scattered investments in the $4-10 million range:

Clean tech startup Choose Energy grabs $4M from Kleiner Perkins

Today Choose Energy announced it’s closed a new $4 million round of funding to help advance its web service that enables consumers to compare prices for all the retail electricity plans available in the area, educate on each type of energy, and enroll them into a plan. Read the full story on VentureBeat.

Rev raises $4.5M for freelance marketplace from founders of similar service

Rev.com, a online marketplace to find freelancer work, launched today with $4.5 million in a 2012 funding round from oDesk creator Venky Ganesan and others. Read the full story on VentureBeat. 

Language learning startup Babbel will try to translate $10M into global growth

Language learning startup Babbel has raised $10 million in its second round of funding with a goal to grow globally and help more people speak new languages. Founded in 2008, Babbel wants to make learning a new language as fun as a game. It claims to offer more than 6,500 learning hours to help people become fluent in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and eight other languages. Read the full story on VentureBeat.

photo credit: gato-gato-gato via photopin cc

If you didn’t see a wide open market for custom T-shirts, I wouldn’t fault you.

But a startup called Teespring is generating a huge buzz at Y Combinator’s demo day. The company presented today to a roomful of investors and press, and announced that it pulled in $750,000 in revenues in a single month.

“We turn affinity into money,” said founder Walker Williams. The company has tapped into niche communities on social sites like Facebook or Reddit. For instance, a Facebook page with several thousand “likes” for dedicated fans of “big trucks and bonfires” might want to offer its community a custom T-shirt.

The company hopes its sales will eclipse chief competitor Threadless by the end of the year. Developer groups like Node.js and Hacker News are already customers, and the company intends to boost sales by lining up celebrity spokespeople.

As we reported earlier this month, Teespring was started at Brown University when the campus community reacted to a police raid at a local bar. The founders realized that a T-shirt would bring students together in a common cause.

The company has a unique model that caters to amateur marketers and merchandisers. A community group creates a T-shirt, uploads it to the Teespring website, and then hosts an embedded sales page on its own site. If enough are ordered, the shirt goes into production.

I was introduced to Teespring through Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, who also serves as an advisor to Y Combinator’s startups on the East Coast. Ohanian said he’s a “huge fan” as it makes merchandising easier for startups and community groups.

“[Merchandising is] a huge pain for lots of reasons, and they’ve brilliantly solved it by making a solution that’s both economical and high-quality,” said Ohanian.

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Big Data and Predictive/Real-time Analytics startups: Are you looking to jumpstart development & accelerate market traction? Sign up for the SAP Startup Focus program to receive technology, support, resources and community to help you develop new applications on SAP HANA, a cutting edge database platform. Get started here, and enter promo code “VB2013″ on the form.

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An attempt to find an overarching theme for today’s funding led to an image of a fashionably-dressed robot bride walking down the aisle. Don’t ask.

Here are today’s tech funding deals, in no particular order:

Fashion site Videdressing gets a $6M first round

French website Videdressing is one of many fashion ecommerce/consignment sites popping up, but the investors at Earlybird Venture Capital think it’s got something special going on. Read the full story on VentureBeat.

Wesley Group stays ‘bullish’ with its $160M cleantech fund

The venture capital firm has closed a $160 million fund to invest in up-and-coming clean/green tech startups. Its investments in Tesla Motors, biofuel company Amyris, and China Recycling Energy Corp have all gone public, and Steve Westly sees this area growing in the future. Read the full story on VentureBeat.

$45M for data-collecting ocean robots

Liquid Robotics’ unmanned aquatic vehicles have netted the company $45 million in its company’s fifth round of funding. The money comes soon after Liquid Robotics sent one of these vehicles across the Pacific Ocean to collect data. The funding was led by Riverwood Capital with participation from VantagePoint Capital Partners. Read the full story on VentureBeat.

LinkedIn analytics startup raises $3.2M

PeopleLinx, a startup that makes LinkedIn engagement and analytics software, has collected a $3.2 million round of funding to continue its growth among the Fortune 1000. This is the company’s first institutional round of funding; it was led by Osage Venture Partners with participation from Greycroft Partners, MissionOG, and a handful of angels.
Read the full story on VentureBeat.

Hot messaging startup MessageMe nabs $1.9M

MessageMe has been busy since its launch a week and a half ago. The messaging application has been cut off from Facebook’s Open Graph, raised $1.9 million in seed funding, and attracted more than 1 million users. Read the full story on VentureBeat. 

Digital Capital invests $5M in Dream Weddings game apps

Zug, Switzerland-based Digital Capital is investing in Dublin, Ireland-based Dream Weddings so that it can make a game for both web and mobile devices. The game is expected to be unveiled in 2013 and will launch in early 2014. Read the exclusive story on VentureBeat.

Newswire startup NewsCred picks up $15M

New York-based content syndication and newswire startup NewsCred just raised a fresh $15 million round of funding led by Mayfield Fund, with participation by new investor Greycroft Partners and existing investors FirstMark Capital and IA Ventures. Read the full story on VentureBeat.

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Big Data and Predictive/Real-time Analytics startups: Are you looking to jumpstart development & accelerate market traction? Sign up for the SAP Startup Focus program to receive technology, support, resources and community to help you develop new applications on SAP HANA, a cutting edge database platform. Get started here, and enter promo code “VB2013″ on the form.

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Sept. 9 - 10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

I went to Beaver Creek Colo. this week for the Rocky Mountain region’s largest and longest running startup conference, VCIR.

Twenty-two early-stage tech startups had less than five minutes to impress a panel of venture capitalists and judges. Many of them had already secured high-profile customers, a team of engineers, and close to $1 million in seed funding. The calibre of the startups was unusually high.

Most of the founders said their major obstacle to growth is cash. In Colorado and the surrounding states, it’s not easy to procure a first round of institutional funding. As Democratic Gov. Hickenlooper admitted in a conversation with the media, “better access to venture capital came up all over the state,” when his team conducted research for their Economic Development Project.

In an impressive pack, here are a few that stood out.

RoundPegg

What do they do? Don’t underestimate company culture — it can mean the difference between success and failure. Just take a look at Microsoft‘s morale-killing ranking system, which was recently chronicled in Vanity Fair. RoundPegg says its software can replace those expensive consultants who are routinely brought in to make recommendations, like firing a bad egg in senior management. The cloud-based software can also help recruiters identify candidates who are culture fits and can track employee engagement.

What’s cool about it? Cofounder and chief psychologist Dr. Natalie Baumgartner told me the startup has integrated with Jive to track conversations between teams and make broader assumptions about employee satisfaction.

The verdict: This startup is taking on a genuine pain point. However, the software might work best in collaboration with an external consultant. A few potential issues with a software-only approach: If a high-ranking employee is identified as a negative influence on office culture, would RoundPegg’s results be enough to root him or her out? Sentiment analysis, which tracks how employees really feel, is a tricky technology problem. It’s darn near impossible for a machine to tell the difference between neutral, positive, and negative expression.

Lendio

What do they do? Lendio helps small businesses find the best loan. Simply fill out a survey and answer a few questions, and the company trawls its database for a loan match. The company is not a lender but makes fees on the referrals.

What’s cool about it? It’s free for small businesses to use, and owners may be able to bypass those long and boring negotiations with the local bank.

The verdict: It’s a useful tool for small businesses that aren’t typically denied loans. But how about the “underbanked” population? Startups like Kabbage have raised a pool of equity and debt to lend to online retailers at better rates than traditional banks.

Serious Integrated

What do they do? The founders are on a mission to do away with buttons on machines. Most mechanical systems use an interface that consists of buttons in some sort of control panel with a small monochrome screen. Many manufacturers have tried to replace this with touch, but they have to design the screen and all the hardware behind it, as well as integrate with the existing system. Serious Integrated’s touch screen tech (above) sells via Arrow Electronics, one of the largest Colorado-based companies.

What’s cool about it? Founder and CEO Terry West was the first employee at Blackberry RIM. Revenues are promising — in its first year, the company pulled in a humble $134,000; this quarter, it’s on track to meet a $250,000 revenue goal.

The verdict? One of the judge’s favorites, particularly given the team’s expertise. The company has already raised close to $1 million in seed funding — to scale, it will need some venture funding.

Cloud Elements

What do they do? Once you’ve identified the cloud applications you need, whether it’s SendGrid or Twilio, select from over 20 pre-built integrations in the startup’s Elements Library. The goal is to save developers time by helping them avoid writing custom code for each application. Cloud Elements makes its money by selling its technology and consulting services.

What’s cool about it? If an application you need isn’t in the library, the team will build it at no additional cost. CEO Mark Greene said they are relying on developers to spread the word as “evangelists,” so they cater to their needs.

The verdict? This Denver-based company will ride the open cloud trend all the way to the bank.

photo credit: snowbuzz via photopin cc

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Big Data and Predictive/Real-time Analytics startups: Are you looking to jumpstart development & accelerate market traction? Sign up for the SAP Startup Focus program to receive technology, support, resources and community to help you develop new applications on SAP HANA, a cutting edge database platform. Get started here, and enter promo code “VB2013″ on the form.

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The U.S. postal system has not typically been a breeding ground for innovative startup activity.

But the founders of Outbox, a startup launching in San Francisco today, have an alternative to the “old system” of mail delivery. Outbox will collect and manage your physical mail for $5 a month, so you won’t have to visit your postal mailbox again.

Once you sign up, you’ll be prompted via the website, iPhone or iPad app to discard, deliver, prioritize, or unsubscribe from any piece of mail. Outbox’s team of “Unpostmen” will empty your mailbox three times a week and bring any mail back to a secure warehouse so it can be digitized. If you want a piece of mail delivered to your home or office, make a request from a smartphone or tablet, and you’ll receive it in a day or two (in a Prius!) at no additional cost. Outbox claims to be more secure than USPS as its Unpostmen go through multiple background checks and interview rounds.

The company plans to slowly onboard customers based on zipcodes in the coming weeks.

Cofounders Evan Baehr and Will Davis met at Harvard Business School (HBS), formed the idea, and tested it for six months in Austin, Tx. After they made the decision to launch in San Francisco, they sent a package of coffee and other treats to influencers as a reminder of how delightful it can be to receive a gift in the mail. With all the buzz it has already generated, Outbox has the potential to be the next Lyft.

Baehr said in an interview that he worked on a civic project with investor Peter Thiel (who is now an investor in the company), which prompted him to think deeply about the lack of innovation in government. “I learned about how you could see a public problem and then build a private business,” he said. At HBS, he joined up with Davis to build out a “Dropbox for your mail” and improve a “really messed up market.”

“We brought some lean startup approaches into a dusty space,” he said. Lean startup, a movement popularized by Eric Ries and Steve Blank, motivates entrepreneurs to build innovative tech companies with a small budget and quick-and-dirty engineering skills.

In a digital age, is the U.S. postal service really ripe for disruption? According to Outbox’s founders, about 10 percent of the U.S. economy flows through this platform. And even with paper-based systems being replaced, there will always need to be a delivery mechanism for physical items. “Even the most dire predictions see letter volume drop from 150 billion to 120 billion in the next 10 years,” said Davis. “That’s a heck of a lot of mail.”

For this reason, they are not the only startup to take on traditional postal mail. PaperKarma, a recently-launched app, lets people block junk mail by snapping a photo. All the company really needs is information about the sender. Earth Class Mail has raised over $20 million in venture funding to turn your snail mail into email.

Likewise, a startup called Zumbox will digitize your postal mail and deliver it online. CEO John Payne said the major challenge for Outbox is security. ”When dealing with important financial documents, such as shareholder communications or bills, security is the number one concern for consumers,” he told me. “We are clearly and simply showing our constituents we’re serious about security,” he said.

Outbox’s founders speak boldly about “reinventing the U.S. postal service” and “disrupting volume mail delivery,” but they claim to have a lot of respect for USPS and Fedex. Davis said their “arms are open,” and Outbox is open to partnership opportunities as they gear up for launch in new markets.

The company has raised $2.2M to date with Floodgate Fund and five other angel investors including Peter Thiel.

New York City Mayor Bloomberg describes himself as an “entrepreneur” first and foremost on Twitter, so it’s no surprise that he’s launching a new initiative to support local tech startups.

Dubbed “We are made in NY,” the program includes a new website to highlight the city’s resources for entrepreneurs, including subsidized office space and grants as well as job listings at 900 local startups. New Yorkers should expect to see a series of digital ads on subways and buses to highlight the campaign.

“Growing our local tech industry is an important part of our economic development strategy to bring new businesses to our city and more jobs opportunities to New Yorkers,” said Bloomberg in a statement. The mayor’s office recruited the city’s chief digital officer Rachel Haot and media and entertainment commissioner Katherine Olivia to lead the initiative.

Considering a career change? The site includes an extensive list of tech companies in New York — and many of them are hiring. Kickstarter, Etsy, ZocDoc and many other high-profile startups are based in the Big Apple.

The new website features an interactive map of New York City’s tech startups.

Local entrepreneur Matthew Hogan said the initiative evokes a “strong sense of pride in the NYC startup community.” Hogan is the founder of an early-stage startup called DataCoup; he said resources like these are a life-saver for entrepreneurs living in a fast-paced and expensive city like New York. “The sense of camaraderie is heightened when we recognize others that are fighting as hard as ourselves.”

According to Bloomberg Ventures’ Matt Turck, the initiative demonstrates that the administration “truly gets it” and is “driven by a mayor who’s himself an an extraordinarily successful tech entrepreneur.” He added that the city is now well on its way to “reinventing itself as major tech hub.”

Turck, who recently spoke with VentureBeat about the shortage of data scientists, said he hopes the ad campaign will build the public’s confidence in tech startups — a career path that is “at least as desirable as a job on Wall Street.”

Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian is one of many well-known tech entrepreneurs that have lent their support to the campaign. He said in a statement that he’s “thrilled be part of a vibrant industry that has not only been hiring New Yorkers, but hiring them to help change the world.”

For more info, check out the promo video below.

This is a guest post by Flybridge Capital Partners’ Jeff Bussgang.

[Editor's note: VentureBeat originally published this story with a headline that badly miscast the author's meaning. We apologize to our readers and the author for the mistake.]

The short answer is no, but perhaps there’s hope.

The day after President Obama was inaugurated for a second term, I was invited to speak at the inaugural meeting of the newly formed Congressional Caucus on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.  The caucus is a bi-partisan group, created by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Gary Peters (D-MI), to focus federal policy efforts on supporting startups and innovation.

I have to admit my expectations were pretty low.  After my euphoria over the passing of the JOBS Act last year, the latest fiasco over the fiscal cliff have me pretty down on Washington’s ability to get anything done that will help create a more robust business environment.

I have been to DC a few times with the policy business group I helped co-found, The Alliance for Business Leadership, and every time I’m there, I’m struck by the contrast with the more thrilling, action-oriented world of startups and venture capital.

That said, the House Members and staffers seemed genuinely interested in the components of a vibrant start-up ecosystem.  I gave them a briefing of why Boston and NYC have such vibrant start-up environments, with the former being in the midst of a renaissance and the latter emerging from nowhere over the last five to 10 years to legitimately become one of the world’s major start-up centers.

I cited a few elements, which echo a presentation I have given in the past aboutBoston’s Start-Up Scene and that my NYC-based colleague, Matt Witheiler, has written about NYC.  Specifically, here are four important ingredients for a start-up ecosystem to thrive:

• Intellectual capital: Universities, young people, creative, whacky people with expertise in multiple disciplines.
• Angels, Advisors and Accelerators: The first source of capital and they can offer mentorship and good advice to transition an idea to reality.
• Venture capital: Startups need the necessary capital to scale, as well as guidance from those who have “seen the movie.”
• Successful companies: For inspiration, to partner with, poach from, sell to, and so on.
• A welcoming culture: Successful start-up ecosystems are are open, diverse, inclusive of outsiders/immigrants and creative types, and rich in information exchange.

Today, Boston and NYC are shining examples of these elements.  Boston has always had rich intellectual capital, but was historically weaker in the cultural characteristics than it is today.  The angel community has also stepped up in a more meaningful way recently, which has been very positive.

NYC has historically fallen short on intellectual capital, but that has changed dramatically in recent years with the talent streaming out of Wall Street and Madison Avenue into start-ups.  There’s been an explosion in NYC’s angel community.  This has led to an environment that has never been more promising.

With the audience being a policy one, I gave some simple advice to policy makers:  avoid getting involved in areas where government doesn’t have a role (such as picking winners with targeted tax breaks) and focus instead on fundamentals like education and infrastructure, as well as policy issues that matter to entrepreneurs, including immigration reform, education reform to fit the needs the start-up employers, and capital formation issues like crowdfunding.

I gave a nod to local government leaders like Governor Patrick and Mayor Bloomberg who have been terrific champions in their respective communities. When you ask local business leaders, they will all tell you that those two politicians totally “get it”.

I can’t predict whether this new caucus will have an impact, but clearly comprehensive immigration reform is on Congress’ short list for important initiatives in 2013 and Rep. Polis was one of the co-sponsors of the Start Up Visa Act.

If every entrepreneur reached out to their House Representative and encouraged them to join this Caucus, perhaps it would have a small impact.  Meanwhile, I was happy to leave Washington DC and get back to action-oriented Start Up Land!

This post originally appeared on Jeff Bussgang’s personal blog.

Frankly, tech incubators are getting too ubiquitous for their own good. Why do we need yet another Y-Combinator or 500 TechStars imitator?

But when Silicon Valley’s newest accelerator, Alchemist, launched its first class of startups this week, investors opened their check books.

The startups that have been selected for the first class are far from sexy — unless a “software-defined infrastructure platform for heterogeneous computing” does it for you – but they’re all generating revenues. What they have in common is that they target their products at businesses, not consumers.

Ravi Belani, the program’s managing director, has introduced the program at the perfect time. Part of Alchemist’s appeal is that investors are wary of consumer-facing mobile apps and social games, which have millions of users who won’t fork over a dime. As a result, this year’s hot investing targets are business-to-business (“B2B” or “enterprise”) startups.

General Catalyst is just one of the venture capital firms that is keeping a close eye on Alchemist’s seed-stage startups. “Incubators have historically worked well in the consumer internet space,” noted Deepak Jeevankumar, an enterprise-focused VC at the firm. “With the right access to mentorship and design customers, Alchemist is well-positioned to guide enterprise startups,” he said.

Already, Andreessen Horowitz, Citrix’s Accelerator, True Ventures, Greylock Partners, and Founders Fund have invested in the program’s startups. Alchemist provides the startups with about $30,000 in initial funding, which is a larger sum than alternative programs such as Y Combinator.

“I think what Ravi is doing is exceptionally interesting,” said Kevin Spain, a partner at Emergence Capital.

At Alchemist’s packed Demo Day in Mountain View, Calif.

“There’s a real need for enterprise-focused accelerators in the market,” said Spain, explaining that B2B companies have a whole different set of requirements than consumer startups to get their products off the ground.

Lightspeed‘s Bipul Sinha, an investor with a focus on the enterprise, agrees that it makes far more sense for enterprise-focused startups to enroll in an accelerator. In an interview, he said the “product building and sales process” are very different from the consumer space. He added, “there is a need for mentorship and education.”

Belani isn’t surprised that investors have been so receptive. After all, VCs are beholden to their limited partners (LPs), who expect to see solid returns. “It’s fun to build stuff and make money,” said Belani. “And in the enterprise, your first customers will write million-dollar checks.”

During their six months at the accelerator (a typical accelerator program lasts three months), Alchemist connects the founders with chief information officers at Fortune 500 companies, and they learn how to present a compelling sales pitch. Most of the entrepreneurs have a strong technical background, so this education in marketing and business is vital.

To ensure the startups get the attention they need, Belani will only take on 10 teams per quarter. Belani has already raised enough money to fund 90 companies in the next two years, but won’t yet disclose the amount. The big picture vision is to foster a stronger relationship between Silicon Valley’s enterprise tech startups and key decision-makers at Fortune 500 companies. The current class met with top executives at Procter & Gamble, Best Buy, and Dell.

Ravi Belani, the managing director of Alchemist’s Accelerator.

“We have different needs than guys in a garage building a social game,” said Ryan Nichols, founder of Tylr Mobile, a startup targeting sales professionals that raised $500,000 last month. The serial entrepreneur, who spent four years at SAP, saw a lot of value in the program, which fronted about half of his startup’s seed round. ”I don’t need business 101 advice, but I’m absolutely hungry for expertise in making enterprise sales and help finding development customers with specific needs.”

Mark Trang, cofounder of Social Pandas (pictured above, flanked by his cofounders), heads one of Alchemist’s venture-funded startups. He said he tapped Belani’s “network of experts,” including former Oracle-on-Demand CEO Timothy Chou and DFJ’s Tim Draper, for advice on hiring, research and development, and PR. With its social tools for salespeople, Social Pandas has already raised a sizable $1.5 million seed round.

Related: In 2013, analysts predict that 80 percent of the companies that will go public are B2B.

When Balani hatched the idea for the new model accelerator, he had no trouble convincing Khosla Ventures, Cisco, SAP Ventures, US Venture Partners, and his former VC firm, DFJ, to underwrite the fund. This is an impressive feat. With a few notable exceptions, said Belani, “Venture funds do not fund another instrument that is funding startups.”

Alchemist spun out of the Harvard Club in San Francisco, where Belani brought in top speakers to meet with talented college students. Likewise, the first batch of startups in Alchemist’s program met with entrepreneurs and visionaries like Adam Pisoni, Yammer’s cofounder and CTO; Melinda Gates; and Box’s 27-year-old CEO, Aaron Levie.

At a launch party for Cambrian Genomics, one of the startups enrolled in the accelerator.

At a recent get-together with the founders, I noticed an unusually large number of female entrepreneurs and developers. In another unusual twist, about half of the class are recent college grads, which suggests that the growing interest in enterprise-technology is permeating the top universities.

Andrea Faz is the twenty-something cofounder of ConnectBright, which offers a directory of reviews of B2B companies. Given her lack of real-world corporate experience, the mentorship was invaluable.

“We all unite on this common ground of innovating the sexiest industry [and that's the] enterprise,” said Faz.

With an explosion of seed-stage companies, and a relatively steady supply of first-round capital, it seems pragmatic to teach entrepreneurs how to make money. Alchemst’s founders will be in a strong position when they decide to raise, if they need VC funding at all.

In their own words, the first batch of startups are:

• SendTask, a next generation enterprise task management platform.
• Social Pandas, a social selling platform to help salespeople close deals.
• Xockets, a software-defined intfrastructure platform for heterogeneous computing cofounded by a former Cisco engineer.
• JyMob, a platform to choose the best people for your jobs.
• Selligy, a mobile service helping salespeople with their primary activity, sales meetings [Editor's note: Selligy was a finalist at VentureBeat's Mobile Innovation competition.]
• Active Scaler, a storage-load balancer for network driver enterprise storage.
• ConnectBright, an advocacy empowerment platform for B2B service providers.
• Cambrian Genomics, a DNA laser printer.
• MobileSpan, a BYOD platform for enterprises.

This is a guest post by entrepreneur Derek Ting

If you’re a software startup, people assume you want to be in Silicon Valley, to be immersed in the hub of high tech; surrounded by other like-minded entrepreneurial spirits; and delighted by the normally mild California weather and scenic Pacific coastline.

But we haven’t, and there are multiple reasons why Canadian startups like us shouldn’t flee — this despite Waterloo’s average December low of minus five degrees Celsius.

The Canadian software startup community is experiencing a renaissance in technology innovation generated by companies such as FreshBooks, HootSuite, TribeHR, BufferBox, Shopify, and more. Growing at a fast rate, these and other Canadian startups are staying put. By doing so, they increase their own chance of business success and help further fuel the Canadian startup scene, and here are the big reasons why:

Reason 1: Access to awesome engineering talent

Canada boasts some of the finest engineering schools in the world, including the University of Waterloo — with the country’s largest engineering faculty — as well as the University of Toronto. Being in close proximity to these schools, startups can recruit the best and brightest engineers from these renowned programs.

Additionally, by establishing internship programs through the universities, startups can build relationships with some of the top students before they’ve even finished their degrees. We’ve been able to recruit some incredible engineers this way, and it feels good to cultivate and mentor Canada’s next generation of engineering talent.

Reason 2: Lower costs and tax advantages deliver more bang for a startup’s buck

Everyone is aware of the high cost of living in the Bay Area, but a recent Coldwell Banker report is still eye opening. Six of the top 10 most expensive housing markets in the U.S. are located in the heart of Silicon Valley, in either the San Francisco or San Jose metropolitan areas. The average cost of a home in these six communities ranges from $1.2 million (San Carlos) to $1.7 million (Los Altos). Did I mention that’s for a four-bedroom/two bath?

In Ontario Canada, the average cost of a home is less than $300,000. With a lower cost of living, startups can be more competitive with salaries yet not spend as much money if they were located in Silicon Valley. However, staying in Canada delivers cost savings that extend much further than real estate.

Consider the tax advantages. Canadian companies enjoy very generous R&D tax credits and refunds. Even if a startup’s business is not yet profitable, the Canadian government will still subsidize some of the engineering costs. Further, despite high personal income tax rates in Canada, corporate tax rates are relatively low, allowing startups to invest profits directly back into the company. Every penny counts when you’re a startup. The ability to reinvest funds is a huge advantage in growing a company.

Reason 3: Thinking outside the box, outside the Silicon Valley bubble

Being outside of the Silicon Valley bubble, there are fewer distractions, and startups can focus on the core technology problem that they’re solving. Rather than continuously worrying about how they can pay the bills to stay in business and keep going for another six to 12 months, startups can focus their creative thinking on market need.

In Canada, the fact that the government pays for healthcare represents a huge asset for startups. Founders can bootstrap their startup without worrying about providing medical care for themselves or their families. Plus, with secured healthcare, it’s much less risky for employees to join a non-funded startup – making it easier to staff up.

By alleviating some of these worries, entrepreneurs can devote their energies to thinking outside the box, developing original solutions that both provide value and fill an unmet need.

O Canada! It all makes sense now, eh?

Derek Ting is the CEO and cofounder of Enflick. Ting holds a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo and has a history of entrepreneurship, having founded two web startups while still in high school. He is committed to delivering next generation connectivity technologies that transform how people communicate with each other.

Follow him on Twitter @derekting13

Let’s face it: If you’re not a professional event planner, planning a party or event for a large group of coworkers or friends is not a fun or easy task. If you need catering, a photographer, or a DJ, get ready to contact lots of companies and rip your hair out because people aren’t getting back to you or charging too much.

Enter Fiestah, an online marketplace that promises to connect New York City event planners and all kinds of vendors in a much easier manner than what’s described above. The event planner simply signs into Fiestah’s dashboard, inputs what “items” they need for the event, and then vendors place bids to fill in those needs. If you’re a vendor — such as a baker, DJ, photographer, caterer, food truck, or personal chef — you can look through events in the area and make bids. Fiestah generates revenue by taking a 10 percent cut of each transaction.

One other thing Fiestah provides for both parties: The payment is held in escrow until the vendor completes its task, meaning both sides need to get what they want first. So if a DJ charges $1,000 for an event, Fiestah deposits $900 into the account of the DJ once the event is over.

Fiestah chief operating officer Nurul Yahya (pictured above in the pink shirt) said that she came up with the idea for the startup a few years back. “I had another company prior to this making wedding invitations part time,” Yahya said. “Once I did one wedding, I kept getting more requests. When I was working with these brides, I realized they had a hard time finding a DJ and getting vendors. It was difficult for brides to find companies that would fit their budgets.”

So Yahya teamed up with two friends to found Fiestah — CEO Stefanos Missailidis and chief technology officer Marvin Tam. All three have the pedigree to get a business off the ground. Yahya formerly worked for Goldman Sachs, Accenture, and Barclays in program management, and Missailidis was an IT consultant for Accenture. Tam’s story is a bit crazier — he quit his job as a front-end engineer at Jetsetter to work on Fiestah’s tech full-time and, in turn, he had to move back to his home country of Malaysia because he no longer had a work visa. (Yahya said they hope to get Tam back in New York “soon.”)

Yahya and her co-founders pitched the idea at New York’s Startup Weekend in Nov. 2011, and while it didn’t win, Yahya said there was a lot of positive feedback. She said audience members came up to her and said they wanted to use the service.

And so, the Fiestah team has been hard at work building out the marketplace, introducing themselves to lots of New York businesses, and trying to get traction. The next thing on the company’s long to-do list is to create full merchant profiles with the ability to rate vendors some time in the next few months. And, as it might not surprise startup-world watchers, the next city Fiestah plans to bring its marketplace to is San Francisco.

My first exposure to Fiestah was on the “Startup Bus,” where I met 14 startups that were trying their hand at pitching investors and meeting other young companies in Montreal. Fiestah was one of the most promising startups out of that batch because it serves a clear purpose and could easily work in big cities all over the country.

New York-based Fiestah was founded in February and is currently self-funded. The team said it is in contact with several angel investors and hopes to secure seed funding early next year.

Photo credits: Fiestah

Trinity Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based venture firm that has been around for 25 years, is keeping its fund-size modest despite escalating interest from its limited partners. It’s a bubble, alright.

Rumors have been circulating about the eleventh fund for over a week, but the firm did not issue a confirmation until today. The new fund was highly oversubscribed but capped at $325 million to allow for a higher partner-to-fund ratio.

According to Ajay Chopra, a general partner at Trinity Ventures, the fund-size has been kept deliberately modest in previous years.

“We can manage our portfolio companies and stay deeply engaged with early-stage companies.” In an effort to connect with young founders, the firm runs Dolores Labs, a coworking space in San Francisco’s Mission District.

The firm specializes in early-stage startups in the digital media and e-commerce, software-as-a-service (SaaS), and cloud services. Chopra told me that the piping hot areas for the firm are SaaS solutions focused on the front office, startups that are tackling the online to offline trend, mobile e-commerce, and consumer-focused tablet applications.

Among their investments are Aruba Networks, Extreme Networks, Infoblox, Starbucks, Jamba Juice, and Wall Data, which have all gone public.

In their more recent funds, the most promising investments include BeachMint, Care.com, Kixeye, Maxpoint, New Relic, RadiumOne, ServiceMax, and TubeMogul.

BoardProspects launches today to break the monopoly of the “good ol’ boys network” and increase diversity in the boardroom.

Scoring an elusive seat on a private or public company board has traditionally been an invitation-only affair. Boardrooms seek out qualified candidates, not the other way around. As a result, boardrooms are viewed as stuffy and antiquated, and haven’t attracted their fair share of young, fresh talent.

Mark Rogers, CEO of BoardProspects

BoardProspects CEO Mark Rogers (pictured, left) wants to change the public’s perception of boards and usher boardrooms into the digital age. So he developed a free site that connects boardroom prospects from a variety of personal and professional backgrounds, with the right board seat.

“Most people aren’t aware of the tremendous upsides to serving on a board, like professional development or giving back to your community,” he explained. Rogers serves on half a dozen public, private and nonprofit boards. Prior to starting BoardProspects, he was a lawyer at a corporate practice in Boston.

The idea for the company originated when he moved to a business development role in his firm. To increase his network of potential clients, he searched the web to find openings on local corporate boards. A rookie mistake. Rogers quickly learned that he would need to network with the right people (“it is all about who you know”) for months so people would consider him for future openings.

Don’t have time to network but curious about whether you’d be a fit for a local board? Register for free on BoardProspects, and you can search a directory of available board seats. If you’ve never served on a board before, check out the BoardBlogs filled with handy tips from the experts, and the breaking news feed with boardroom issues from around the world.

Existing board-members can log in and list their opening here. The service is available for free (although users may see sponsored content from NASDAQ, Goodwin Proctor LLP, and others), but the founders are considering charging prospects and board-members for premium services in the near future.

Boston-based BoardProspects has bigger goals than most startups — it’s tackling a global issue that affects most businesses. Evidence shows that mixed boards function far better than monolithically male ones do. But boardrooms, especially corporate boards, have failed to break the cycle. For instance, in 2010, only 11 percent of board seats in Europe and 14.9 percent of board seats in the U.S. were held by women.

In Europe, governments have resorted to extreme measures and are imposing quotas for women in the boardroom. They received criticism for encouraging companies to pad their boards with “token” nonexecutive female directors.

Can a startup succeed where governments have failed? For BoardProspects, it’s time to initiate a technology-driven solution. “Our vision is not just about bolstering diversity,” Rogers told me. “I look at board service as a means to tap into a diversity of perspective.”

With this big vision in mind, Rogers convinced industry heavyweights, such as Kathryn Swintek, the managing partner for all-female angel investment network Golden Seeds; Justin Miller, CEO of Plaxo; and Yan Pujante, a founding team member at LinkedIn; to join the company in an advisory capacity. In addition, the company has raised a small amount of capital from family and friends, and plans to raise its first round of investment in the coming months.

BoardProspects is launching to the public at Disrupt 2012, an annual tech conference in San Francisco.

At the end of the day, your business comes down to numbers — low overhead, high revenue, increasing net profits, and even expanding social media reach. A valuation is an incredibly attractive number that intimidates competition and attracts potential investors, but how can entrepreneurs accurately value their business when it’s still a fledgling startup?

We asked 10 young entrepreneurs for their top tips for putting an accurate valuation on an early-stage company. Here’s what they had to say:

Forget the potential

Devesh Dwivedi, @Break9to5Jail, Breaking The 9 To 5 Jail

Your business is pretty useless for valuation purposes because you can’t put a value on it, or even say with a certain degree of confidence that it will grow as big as its potential. MySpace and other players in social networking had the same potential as Facebook, but today, each of them have different valuations. Look at facts and capacity, not potential.

Ask around!

Stephanie Kaplan, @stephaniekaplan, Her Campus Media

As an early-stage startup, you’re probably not going to be valued based on revenues or other typical metrics used for valuing larger companies. Your valuation is going to be much more subjective. To get a sense of what it might be, ask different players what they would value you at — VCs, angels, advisors, big companies — and see if the figures gravitate towards a similar number.

Consider the ramifications

Doreen Bloch, @DoreenBloch, Poshly Inc.

Entrepreneurs in early-stage firms can benefit from low valuations. When your stock is cheap, it benefits new employees and investors who can still get in at the ground level. Before pursuing a 409A or other formal valuation of your firm by an accounting or advisory company, make sure you speak with advisors and understand the implications of getting your firm formally valued.

Be reasonable and relative

Nathan Lustig, @nathanlustig, Entrustet

Look around and see what other companies similar to yours are being valued at. If you’re in Chicago, you need to look at other Chicago companies, not the latest and greatest in Silicon Valley. Then pick a number that’s justifiable to both you and your potential investors. Make sure not to make it too high, or you will scare off investors or risk having a down round later in the process.

There’s no such thing!

Matt Mickiewicz, @sitepointmatt, Flippa

Valuations for early-stage companies are all over the map. Tech startups always demand higher premiums than retail companies. Businesses with traction and paying customers are usually better valued than mere concepts, and the history of the team and even their geographic location can impact valuation by up to three times. It’s more important to have the right investors than the right valuation.

Read up on intellectual property

Thursday Bram, @thursdayb, Hyper Modern Consulting

Most of the value in a startup is the intellectual property, but the average entrepreneur doesn’t know enough about the topic. Since you can’t copyright an idea, you need to know what your company owns that you can put a dollar value on.

Speak up!

John Hall, @tweetJohnHall, Digital Talent Agents

Don’t be scared to ask for help. Turn to a mentor or advisor who has a background in valuations. Accurate valuations could have more variables than you would consider. Someone with more experience in the industry and in valuing companies is less likely to miss a material influencer in value.

Comparables are key

Nicolas Gremion, Foboko.com

Comparables are essential. Base your valuation, and support it, using industry comparables. The closer they represent your company — not only in model but also in size — the better. It’s the most accurate comparison you can make.

Are your projections valid?

Brent Beshore, @BrentBeshore, AdVentures

Be reasonable. Investors are looking for returns, so the higher the possibilities, the less ownership they will have to take for the same amount of money to generate a higher return. Your job is to convince them that your projections are valid.

Free cash flow to the firm

Lucas Sommer, @audimated, Audimated

I see a lot of entrepreneurs value their company based on future values, invested time and money, emotion, and other unsubstantial metrics. The only thing that matters (besides patents and intellectual property) is your free cash flow to the firm — what does the firm make when all of its expenses and obligations are paid? That’s the number you want to use in your valuation.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC)is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC recently published #FixYoungAmerica: How to Rebuild Our Economy and Put Young Americans Back to Work (for Good), a book of 30+ proven solutions to help end youth unemployment.

Image via gingerbeardman/Flickr

WeWork Labs, a spin-off of the successful WeWork co-working spaces, has already picked many of its first crop of workers, including ShopperSeeks.com‘s founder Andrea Gouw and Twitter hacker Abraham Williams. The space is the second of its kind — the WeWork Labs in New York, which calls itself an entrepreneur residency, has proven extremely successful and recently added the mother of all amenities: health insurance. (VentureBeat has a space in WeWork’s New York co-working office.)

For $300 a month, aspiring “startup-adjacent” professionals and freelancers get 24/7 access to the SOMA space’s long shared tables, meeting rooms, telephone rooms, showers (for the bikers), and game lounge with a pool table and an Xbox.

Directors Kaitlin Pike and Seth Blank hope to bring together entrepreneurs, developers, designers, marketers, advisors, and investors, and then sit back and watch the magic happen as they bounce ideas off each other, meet-cute with co-founders, and ultimately “get the hell out of the space.” They hope to make the final mix 50 percent female.

Pike and Blank gave us a tour of the sunny new digs, which feels like a combination of a dorm, public library, and CB2 catalog.

A startup aiming to help people avoid giving bad gifts is itself the recipient of the one gift we all tend to appreciate: cash.

Wantful, an alternative gift-giving service that gives gift recipients the power of choice, has raised $5.5 million in a funding round led by Polaris Venture Partners.

The young San Francisco-based startup, launched in October of last year, encourages gift buyers to select 16 items from an assortment of options tailored for the recipient. Those choices are assembled in a printed gift book that is delivered to the gift recipient who can then pick a single item for delivery. The service also connects with Facebook to add social intelligence to the mix.

The new round of funding will be used to improve the product, expand the product catalog, bring in new talent, and finance marketing initiatives.

Polaris Venture Partners principal and Dogpatch Labs head Ryan Spoon is joining Wantful’s board of directors. Previous investors Harrison Metal, Greylock Partners, and Forerunner Ventures all participated in the round.

In a blog post today, partner Paul Graham announced that Loopt founder Sam Altman (pictured), Justin.tv founders Emmett Shear and Justin Kan, and Posterous founder Garry Tan are all joining as “part-time partners” who will “do the same sort of work regular YC partners do advising startups, but only 1/5 of their time.” Three of these partners (Altman, Shear, and Kan) were part of Y Combinator’s first class of startups in 2005, while Tan joined in 2008 — when the program had grown, but hadn’t quite reached its current fame.

Many incubators already have mentor programs to connect startups with experienced, active entrepreneurs , but this sounds like a way to add a little more structure (and financial incentive) to the relationship.

So how will this affect the partners’ current companies? Tan had already left his full-time role at Posterous to become designer-in-residence at the incubator. Kan and Shear still hold positions at Justin.tv (president and chief technology officer, respectively). And Altman, who is CEO at Loopt, told me this might actually be good for his location social networking company:

I’m a huge believer in YC — watching the transformation in company quality between the beginning of the cycle and demo day is amazing. I’ve been informally helping out for a long time, and I’d guess that I’ve helped about 100 YC companies in some small way. This is a more formal/more involved way of doing it. The biggest change is I’m involved in the interview process now and hold office hours on Saturday afternoons. The only effect on my role at Loopt should be a positive one–in fact, I hope that my experience at Loopt is helpful to YC cos, and certainly I’ve already had some good new ideas about things we can do better at Loopt from the startups.

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Funding available for startups was down 14 percent in 2010, to $11.6 billion, from $13.5 billion in 2009, according to a report by Dow Jones. 119 funds raised money for investing in startups last year, compared to 133 funds in 2009.

Despite some positive activity in the exit market, it looks like investors are still less willing to take significant risks on early- and mid-stage startups that haven’t found some significant traction yet. Exit activity was up 25 percent in 2010 when compared to 2009, but the average size of each exit was lower than what was paid out before the recession began in earnest in 2008.

Eight late-stage funds — geared toward startups that have already seen some success and become established — accounted for $1.5 billion worth of venture capital investment last year. That’s up 68 percent from $887 million in 2009. Venture capital firms raised around $390 million for late-stage investments in the fourth quarter last year alone.

Multi-stage funds, which are a little more flexible and account for the majority of fundraising in 2010, raised $5.4 billion in 2010. Venture capital fundraising was still down 26 percent, from $7.3 billion in 2009. That’s largely a result of most major firms downsizing their funds, such as Menlo Ventures’s $400 million fund that’s about a third the size of its earlier funds.

Early-stage investment funds raised $4.8 billion across 73 funds. Fundraising for early-stage investment funds was down 12 percent from $5.5 billion in 2009. A sizable chunk of last years’ early-stage investment fundraising can be attributed to Andreessen Horowitz’s latest fund, which racked up $650 million, in part on the promise of partner Marc Andreessen’s deftness with picking early-stage startups. But Andreessen Horowitz invests across a range of startup sizes, including its blockbuster investment in Skype.

The other sizable chunk of early-stage investment fundraising came from angel investors turning to venture funds, according to the report. Angel investors are wealthy individuals that are typically responsible for a company’s first batch of seed funding or institutional fundraising. Angel funding has become increasingly popular lately — so much so that the SEC is even reconsidering its rules for disclosure of funding by angel investors.

But with exit activity increasing, 2011 looks better for venture capital funds. A survey conducted by Dow Jones indicates that most venture capital firms and angel investors plan to push additional funding into startups this year. More than half of them expect venture-capital funding to pick up this year. It looks like cloud computing, which lets developers offload programs that require heavy-duty computing firepower onto remote servers and deliver the results through the Internet — will help usher the venture buzz back in this year, according to the report.