U.S. average venture capital deal size rose by 6.7 percent in 2010, after having fallen to its lowest point in a decade in 2009. While California leads in average deal size, Iowa has run a close second over the past five years. Iowa, Minnesota and Nevada are all among the middle ranks of states in terms of overall venture activity, but rank near the top in average deal size. These states depend on larger deals to sustain their competitiveness in capital access. Illinois, Colorado and Pennsylvania all ranked in the top 10 for venture activity in 2010, but have lower than average deal sizes.

Since 2005, the distribution of U.S. venture capital (VC) investment has remained fairly steady, with California companies receiving about half of all venture dollars. California's share of total dollars reached its highest point in 2009, when the state's firms received 50.6 percent of all U.S. investment. While California's share decreased a bit in 2010, VC activity remains highly concentrated in a handful of states. Over the past five years, the top ten states for venture investment have represented about 85 percent of all U.S. venture activity.

The U.S. Department of Treasury has released details on its latest funding approvals from the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). Eleven states, and Washington, D.C., are slated to receive a portion of the $360 million that will be used to expand state small business lending and capital programs. In order to qualify, states must demonstrate that their relevant programs will generate at least $10 in new private lending for every $1 in federal funding.

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) recently announced the recipients of $25 million in awards from Michigan's 21st Century Jobs Fund. Each of the eight organizations receiving the awards will use the funding to support Michigan entrepreneurs and technology commercialization. The largest single allotment, $10.8 million, will benefit Ann Arbor SPARK, which plans to replenish its Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund with the award. Other recipient organizations will be offering capital and business assistance around the state.

Internet-specific investments hit a ten year high in the second quarter of 2011, driving overall venture investment up 19 percent over the previous quarter. The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report that venture capitalists invested $7.5 billion in 966 deals during the second quarter. This represents an increase of about 19 percent over the first quarter in both the number of deals and total dollars invested. The gain, however, was less significant when compared to the second quarter of 2010.

After two years of stagnancy, venture-backed company exits improved dramatically in 2010, according to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). The increase was driven by a record-breaking market for acquisitions and the best quarter for initial public offerings (IPOs) in ten years. NVCA attributes the uptick in IPOs to a surge in Chinese venture-backed companies going public on U.S. exchanges.

The fifth installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Maryland, Montana, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah. The first four installments are available in the Jan. 5, Jan. 12, Jan. 19 and Jan. 26 issues of the Digest.

U.S. venture capitalists invested $21.8 billion in 2010, a 19.4 percent increase over 2009 and the first increase in venture investment since 2007, according to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and PricewaterhouseCoopers Moneytree Survey. The growth in activity affected nearly every industry, particularly clean energy software and Internet-specific companies. Early stage investments, though not seed stage investments, grew by double-digits as did first-time financings. In addition to the gains in venture dollars, VC deals grew to 3,277, a 12 percent increase over 2009.

Clean Tech venture investments declined in the third quarter of 2012, according to the MoneyTree report released on Friday by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). The numbers reinforce the current trend of decreasing investment in clean tech companies and projects and the inherent challenges of VC backing in the sector. However, many are attributing this drop to a shift in the focus of clean tech investment by private and public entities rather than complete disenchantment in the promising sector.

Innovation was a key term used in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's State of the State address and is referenced heavily throughout his economic development agenda for the upcoming year. The governor proposed creating innovation hot spots, an innovation network and innovation venture capital fund. Efforts would be focused on accelerating technology transfer and providing funds to attract startup companies. Cleantech investments and support for competitive university-based projects that emphasize economic impact also are a priority for the governor.

Last week, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley released the results of 18 months of work by the Maryland Economic Development Commission (MEDC), laying out the state's strategy for economic growth over the next five years. MEDC's five-year plan provides many economic development policy recommendations, but lists innovation, commercialization and entrepreneurship as the first three foundations for growth. Part of this strategy includes the implementation of InvestMaryland, a recently passed initiative that would generate more than $70 million for seed and growth stage companies.

Though U.S. venture capital (VC) investment grew in 2010 after a disastrous 2009, overall venture activity remains well below 2006-2008 levels. Last year, U.S. venture firms invested $21.8 billion in American companies, 27 percent less than in 2007 (the last peak year before the current economic downturn). Most U.S. states experienced a similar pattern over the past five years, peaking in 2007, hitting a decade low in 2009, and recovering a bit last year.

U.S. venture capital investment per capita grew almost 19 percent in 2010 over the previous year, reaching $11.16. That increase, however, only represented a partial rebound from the plunging investment levels of 2008 and 2009. Last year's U.S. per capita figure was 28.7 percent lower than 2007 and 7.2 percent lower than 2005. The largest increases in per capita investment over the past five years occurred in the District of Columbia, Illinois, Delaware, Kansas and Iowa.