In a grim climate for venture-capital fundraising, there have been only a few positive glimmers. One of those glimmers: Battery Ventures has closed a new $750 million fund.

The new fund would be one of the bigger venture funds raised in the first quarter of this year as venture-capital firms largely continue to struggle to collect new money. Other notable new fund closings so far this year include Redpoint Ventures, which raised a $400 million fund.

Tom Crotty, a general partner at Battery, said the firm raised its new fund over a five-month period. While the process of collecting money for the fund was “no different” than for Battery’s previous funds, Mr. Crotty said he noticed a very different response from investors.

In the past, investors in Battery’s venture funds might have just taken one meeting to do due diligence on the new fund, with some deciding to put money in without any meetings at all, said Mr. Crotty. This time, “what was different was the absolute number of meetings and the volume of due-diligence calls,” he noted. Every single investor dug down this time, taking at least two meetings in Battery’s East Coast and West Coast offices, he said.

March 11 (Bloomberg) -- Indian billionaire Anil Ambani’s venture fund plans to invest in areas including so-called clean technologies as it doubles investments over the next three years.

Reliance Venture Asset Management Ltd., which has invested about $100 million in 11 companies, sees opportunities in aerospace, media and entertainment, financial services, health- care and biotechnology, Harshal Shah, chief executive officer at the venture capital unit, said in an interview in Mumbai yesterday.

“We see lot of opportunities that are going to be happening at the cusp of multiple markets and between developing and developed economies,” said Shah, 39, who has been with the fund since its inception in 2005. “We hope to bridge the gap between India and the rest of the world.”

This week The Wall Street Journal and VentureSource ranked the top 50 U.S. venture-backed companies with the most potential to become “the next big thing.” You can check out the list, along with the methodology, here.

We thought we’d take a look at where these companies reside. After all, if these are the next Ciscos, Microsofts and Amgens (all formerly venture-backed companies), which cities and states will claim bragging rights?

Let’s be clear - it’s hard to draw hard conclusions from such a tiny sliver of the 10,000-plus venture-backed companies out there, and many stellar start-ups just missed making this list (or were excluded because their valuation was above $1 billion). But the study is interesting, nonetheless.

For your convenience, we’ve marked these companies’ exact locations on the interactive, color-coded map below. Blue is for information technology companies, red for health care, green for clean technology, yellow for consumer services and purple for business and financial services.

I want to show you why most mission statements are so terrible.

Let's say you founded a pizza parlor. And your first idea for a mission statement is something like this: "Our mission is to serve the tastiest damn pizza in Wake County." That's pretty good. If I worked for you, I could get excited about that. Now here's how it will go off the rails.

So you'll call your colleagues around the conference room table to unveil the mission, and all of the sudden, these people that you like and respect are going to transform into 10th-grade English teachers, nitpicking every word. Everybody starts chiming in with opinions: "Hey, I really like the word 'present' better than 'serve,' it has a nice resonance." And someone else will say, "Well, we obviously can't say 'damn,' that's just offensive." And so it begins. And as you go around the table, your mission statement will be pecked to death.

There are numerous programs and indexes launched each year to assess a country’s innovation capabilities (several are listed below). Among the most comprehensive and credible is the Global Innovation Index prepared by INSEAD, which last week released its 2009-2010 report, revealing some unexpected outcomes.

Firstly, the USA lost its number one spot, tumbling to 11th place. Secondly, the country to take its numero uno position is the troubled nordic economy of Iceland. Soumitra Dutta, an INSEAD professor of business and technology, who oversaw the survey, explains that, this year, size did indeed matter. But, in this case, it’s the smaller that have done better.

The most populous land in the Top 10 is Sweden, with 9.2 million people. It finishes second. Several of the biggest nations in the developed world cluster just below the US — Japan is 13, with Britain at 14 and Germany at 16. Of the so-called BRIC giants in emerging markets, China comes out best, at 43. Trailing are India (56), Russia (64), and Brazil (68).

Some of you may know that I work very closely with this guy, Permjot Valia on a number of projects, (he is also an investor in Wooshii)

He recently posted a really neat blog over at businessangelblog.com. The original is here but I wanted to comment on some of it here as it smack of some really great truths.

Some businesses have been having a particular hard time of it recently, (economic downturns and recessions have that effect). From downturns though comes massive opportunity and the big winners of the coming 20 years will undoubtedly be born in the coming two.

So how do you keep going as an entrepreneur when your current business has just failed or is failing? How do you find the power and inspiration to reinvent or push on through? Below are Permjots views. My view is that entrepreneurs will have some of this inherently but as I am big believer that entrepreneurship can be taught many of the suggestions below are great to reflect on. Mine are in brackets.

Highly recognized Silicon Valley venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki is not only the author of the inspiringly titled blog How to Change the World, but he has also penned nine books on various business and marketing topics. After attending college at Stanford and receiving his MBA from UCLA, Kawasaki cut his business teeth at a jewelry manufacturer called Nova before eventually being bitten by the "computer bug."

After a brief stint at an educational software company, Kawasaki was hired by Apple where he was responsible for marketing the original Macintosh computer in 1984. After the success seen at Apple in the mid-80s, Kawasaki left and started his own software and database development companies, Fog City Software and ACIUS.

Following a short return to Apple in 1995 "to maintain and rejuvenate the Macintosh cult," Kawasaki started Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage seed fund, with Craig Johnson and Rich Karlgaard in 1997. Today, Kawaski is the Managing Director at Garage, and the co-founder of Alltop, which he describes as "an online magazine rack".

By Dr. Janice Presser, CEO, The Gabriel Institute

I overheard a CEO who prides himself on being an innovator interviewing a candidate the other day.  Maybe it was just the 10 minutes or so that I listened in, or maybe it was like this for an hour or more: the CEO did all the talking.  I don't mean the majority.  I mean ALL the talking.  So here, as a public service, are the rules.  They won't guarantee that you'll get the right person, but at least you won't scare them off.

1- Shut up and listen:  Every moment you speak is a moment your interviewee is silent.  Unless you are interviewing someone who will be working for you as a mime, you aren't learning anything while you're talking.

2- Ask SPIN questions: Help your interviewee learn more about the position and company – while you're learning more about them – by asking value-centric questions.  Try using what sales guru Neil Rackham, author of SPIN Selling and many other books on business communication, calls 'Implication' and 'Need-payoff' questions.  "What if you got this position and could do anything within reason to make it a success?"  "Here's a recurring problem (describe it); how many kinds of adverse impact on our business can you identify?" This gives the candidate an opportunity to 'dig in' and actually sell themselves on the job opportunity, while giving you a view into their thinking and problem solving processes.

Early stage startups in Europe will be the primary beneficiaries of a new €6 million seed fund just announced by Berlin-based Team Europe Ventures. In the past we've talked about Europe's entrepreneurial woes, most notably a dearth of seed funding due to having a culture largely averse to taking risks financially. This new fund is a good step towards changing that trend and keeping more startups from looking for funding elsewhere.

The €6 million fund (over $8 million) will provide up to €500,000 to early stage startups in the Internet and mobile Internet spaces over the next three years. Team Europe plans to selectively choose four to five startups each year to receive the funding, rather than quickly spreading the wealth around to any worthy recipient.

"If we feel that a business will succeed without us, but will be quicker, larger, nicer with us - than it's a case for us," said Team Europe partner Kolja Hebenstreit in a press release Tuesday. "Experience shows that decisive decisions are often made during the foundation phase, so we think it's good to speak with experienced potential partners as early as possible."

Venture capital firms have invested almost $20 billion into hundreds of greentech startups since 2005. All of these firms are looking to launch a disruptive force into their target markets, scale rapidly and grow quickly.

Very few of these firms will actually make it.

We put our energy analysts, reporters and editors to the task of picking fifty VC startups in greentech that have at least a fighting chance of succeeding as VC-funded start-ups and making an impact on our energy-intensive lives.

Yesterday, we reported on the Cleveland Galleria mall's plan to build a massive urban greenhouse where retail shops once stood. The real story, it turns out, is what the two people behind the Gardens Under Glass project have planned for tomorrow. An urban wasteland is being transformed into a green paradise.

The idea came about as a way to put some of the mall's empty space to good use, the Galleria's marketing and events director Vicky Poole tells FastCompany.com. At its peak, the Galleria had approximately 200 shops. Then the economy tanked. Stores shuttered. A regional bank took over a quarter of the building, the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association took over another chunk of space, and much of the rest of the mall was left abandoned.

Poole's first venture into making some extra cash for the mall came 5 years ago when she transformed the food court into an event space for weddings. And then she read an article in Urban Land magazine about vertical farming in cities. "As we run out of land, where can we grow our food? We can utilize empty buildings and empty areas," she explained.

PARIS, March 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- For years, ESA has been bringing space technologies down to Earth through its Technology Transfer Programme and Business Incubation initiatives. Now, the Agency will strengthen these initiatives by supporting new businesses using space innovations through a dedicated venture capital fund.

The Open Sky Technologies Fund (OSTF) is an early-stage venture capital fund aimed at nurturing the most promising business opportunities arising from space technologies and satellite applications for terrestrial industries. The OSTF will be managed by Triangle Venture Capital Group on ESA's behalf.

Michel Courtois, ESA Director of Technical and Quality Management, formally signed an agreement with Bernd Geiger, Managing General Partner and founder of Triangle, at ESA Headquarters on 4 March.

The U.S. government can stimulate the creation of jobs and businesses by streamlining its policies for bringing new technologies to market, says a report from the Association of University Research Parks (AURP). The report offers a 10-point plan, including targeted federal investments, and would be especially beneficial for high-tech states, according to its author.

"This is not only about money—it's also a matter of adjusting the policies and regulations that too often deter entrepreneurial researchers in our universities and federal labs from commercializing their work," says report author, Brian Darmody, president of the AURP and University of Maryland associate vice president for research and economic development.

"Job creation in the United States will largely depend on start-up companies and entrepreneurs who populate university research parks, laboratories and incubators across the nation," Darmody says. "These are the main centers of innovation in this country. Much more of their work would be commercially viable if some of the roadblocks could be eliminated. Other countries simplify commercialization and lure away U.S. corporate research. We need to provide incentives to keep this work in the United States."

Of you saw Trevor Immelman drive a golf ball farther and harder than the rest of the field to win the 2008 Masters Tournament then you saw research from a Canadian university in action.

The shaft of his driver was made from Grafaloy, a revolutionary new nano-treated material that adds extra strength without increasing weight, and which was developed by Integran Technology Inc. of Oakville.

Integran, in turn, was created by PARTEQ Innovations, the Queen’s University unit responsible for commercializing research done by faculty members.

If the seasonings on your favorite snack food are in perfect balance, you might send a note of thanks to McMaster University. McMaster’s research commercialization team spotted work being done by a professor using digital cameras to remedy irregularities on production lines, gave him support and space at its industrial park and the result was Prosensus Inc.

There are many ways to start a company, but catching a two-day-bus ride with 25 entrepreneurs is a new one.

A group of 25 strangers set off Tuesday on Startup Bus, a vehicle wired with Wi-fi and caffeine going from San Francisco to Austin, Texas, for the South By Southwest technology and music confab. As they left, the tech geeks were eating chicken and ribs left over from a kick-off party the group held the night before while organizing their business ideas.

Part gimmick, part contest, the Startup Bus tasks these entrepreneurs with conceiving five start-ups by the time the trip ends on Thursday.

The group is splitting up into small teams to develop their ideas. When they reach Austin, they will present them to Capital Factory, an incubator group in Austin and eStrategyGroup, an Australian consulting firm.

The winner will get mentoring and advice from Naval Ravikant, a Silicon Valley angel investor and a potential to get funded from angels in Ravikant’s network.

Wired claims that this is the tenth anniversary of the dotcom boom, and in honor of that auspicious overheated bubble, they've put together a long, Web 0.96b layout depicting the most hubristicly hubristic predictions and hype of that golden age.

I moved to San Francisco in 1999, and remember the feverish absurdity of it all -- and how hard it was not to feel like all these people must know something if they were pouring all this money and energy into all the odd and improbable ideas (a recurring theme I remember was people explaining how they were going to build shopping malls for the web, which, I guess, is basically what Amazon's Z-shops are).

SetJam Inc. Chief Executive Ryan Janssen has perfectly captured entrepreneurial anguish.

On his blog, he described the experience of presenting at a New York tech conference with a buggy Web site and a bottomed-out balance sheet:

“So there I was standing on stage in front of 700 of my peers. I’d spent the last two days preparing for the presentation. I’d spent the last week getting our software ready to show. I’d spent the last 4 months and my life savings to build a company. I’d spent the last decade trying and failing and learning and saving to get this chance, and I had about a 50% of getting up on stage and having everything I’d worked for blow up in my face.”

You can sense Janssen’s love affair with his company, which aggregates TV shows and movies online and offers access to subscription sites like NetFlix. And, you can imagine how rapid his heartbeat must have been when the prospect of throwing it all away seemed like a real possibility.

Five months later, SetJam has redesigned its Web site and attracted a $275,000 bridge investment from two New York-area angel groups. The company is fighting for another day.

The federal government should be investing "tens of billions of dollars" annually to drive a Manhattan Project-style pace of innovation necessary to address the scale of the energy challenge facing the U.S., said Energy Secretary Steven Chu yesterday.

Speaking to a packed auditorium at Stanford University, Chu expanded:

"If you look at the amount of funding for that [the Manhattan Project], and the amount of funding to put a man on the moon, it was a huge spike in funding. I think we do need that. The recovery act actually was the start of that...you still need I think tens of billions of dollars as a minimum per year invested in these technologies and the associated science. The DOE, our base budget for energy research is on a scale of $3 billion...the primary energy industry budget is about $1 trillion, if it's a high tech industry 10-20% is the usable amount of sale that you invest so that's $200 billion, so what we're investing in federal dollar is less than 1% of that or on a scale of 1% of what should be invested."

The Secretary highlighted the steps the Department of Energy was taking to encourage innovation given the limited funds available, including including the launch of the new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy and several Energy Innovation Hubs (nicknamed Bell-lablets) based on the storied Bell Labs innovation model.

Unfortunately, when asked how to deal with the scarcity of engineers and scientists America faces in the coming years and how to direct the talents of those we have, Chu's response was a swing and a big miss. All he had to offer were two suggestions: learn to "read graphs and data... and digest [the reports] for yourselves" and put your computer on sleep mode.

CHICAGO, March 9 /PRNewswire/ – The Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC) recently secured a two-year, $716,853 matching grant from the US Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration (EDA). The EDA funds were awarded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to launch a $1.4 million entrepreneurial development program that provides critical resources and relationships to businesses in key Illinois industry clusters. Known as the Cluster Acceleration Program, or "CAP," the program will support entrepreneurs in alternative energy, consumer products and services, and information technology for the new media, financial services and healthcare markets. The program will serve businesses in five regions: Chicagoland, Rockford, Quad Cities, Peoria and Carbondale.

NASVF Award for Excellence, Nominations Being Accepted

Do you know people or organizations that excel in early-stage or seed capital? NASVF is seeking nominations for the 2010 NASVF Awards for Excellence in Entrepreneurial Capital Formation. There are three separate categories of nominees:

• Private sector person or entity
• Public sector person or entity
• Greater Baltimore-Washington area, public or private sector person or entity

Please submit names, contact information, and a short description of people and/or entities that exemplify outstanding and professional excellence in seed and early-stage capital. Nominations will be accepted now through April 30, 2010. There is no limit to the number of nominations you may submit.