Heavyweight Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, a backer of virtually all the hottest names among tech startups in recent years, has closed its fourth fund at $1.5 billion, matching the size of the fund it raised just two years ago.

The firm, founded in 2009 by Netscape Communications Corp. co-founder Marc Andreessen and Opsware Inc. and LoudCloud Inc. founder Ben Horowitz, is among a small number of firms that can raise and fairly quickly deploy funds of more than $1 billion.

Image: Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz Bloomberg News 

Cardiovascular disease accounts for 52% of female deaths and 42% of male deaths in the EU. Approximately four million people in Europe and 1.9 million people in the EU die of cardiovascular disease each year, according to the European Society of Cardiology. Cardiovascular disease and strokes are usually caused by high levels of bad cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity.

The European Society for Cardiology (ESC) and the European Heart Network (EHN) estimate the cost to the EU economy at over €196 billion per year, with healthcare expenditure varying from 4% in Luxembourg to 17% in Estonia, Latvia and Poland.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

On a recent early spring evening, Wharton Entrepreneurship hosted its annual Philadelphia Alumni Dinner, with Brett Hurt as the speaker. Brett is best known as the co-founder, former CEO, and current Vice Chairman of Bazaarvoice, the technology platform that powers most of the customer reviews that you see online; each month, more than 400 million people view and share reviews of around 20 million products in the Bazaarvoice network.

Image: http://beacon.wharton.upenn.edu 

Kickstarter, the site launched in 2009 where entrepreneurs, makers, and everyday people can take product and project ideas in hopes that others will help provide the funds to make those ideas into reality, reached $1 billion in pledges on March 3. According to the site, more than half of that amount was pledged in the past 12 months alone.

Kickstarter and other crowdfunding websites like Indiegogo allow project creators to create fundraising campaigns for their ideas. Backers pledge amounts to help the creator reach his or her funding goal, typically in conjunction with various reward tiers related to the project. When the campaign ends, the creator gets the pledged money (assuming that the fundraising was successful) and gets to work on the project. As with most things, of course, it's not always that simple.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

In the job hunt, you need to build a strong résumé.

Leah Bowman used Lego to construct the ultimate first impression on her search. Lego played a large part in Bowman's childhood growing up Danish, so she was inspired to use the Lego Digital Designer to create a brick version of herself.

When a potential employer asked Bowman for a persuasive advertisement, she used her graphic design skills and love of Lego to advertise herself for the position. The brick version includes assembly instructions that highlight Bowman's skills, creativity and initiatives.

Image: http://mashable.com 

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Maria Contreras-Sweet as new head of the Small Business Administration. Contreras-Sweet was nominated by President Obama back in January (pictured above).  Her confirmation hearing was held before the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship in February.

Image: http://smallbiztrends.com 

The United States has long been thought to be a leader in innovation, with America having set the global standard over the past century for computer technology, new pharmaceutical products, and more. So how realistic is this idea? This infographic, based on the results of a 2013 survey, doesn’t paint the most favorable picture.

As the infographic notes, America is no longer ranked as the most innovative country in the world. According to the 2013 Global Innovation Index (GII), America ranks 5th.While this placed America in front of other top-ranked countries Ireland (10th), Denmark (9th), Singapore (8th), Hong Kong (7th) and Finland (6th), the US finished behind the Netherlands (4th), United Kingdom (3rd), Sweden (2nd) and Switzerland (1st).

Image: http://www.business2community.com 

When you are starting a business, where you get your money from has mostly to do with who is willing to give it to you. Most entrepreneurs just want to get funded, and often don't think through the ramifications of their funding source. Whomever gives you money is now in a relationship with you -- and it's important to know what hidden terms come along with that relationship so you're prepared for what happens once the check is in the bank.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) seeks to develop and nurture a national innovation ecosystem that builds upon research to guide the output of scientific discoveries closer to the development of technologies, products and processes that benefit society.

In order to contribute to a national innovation ecosystem, NSF established the NSF Innovation Corps Sites Program (NSF I-Corps Sites). Sites are funded at academic institutions, having already existing innovation or entrepreneurial units, to enable them to:

• Nurture students and/or faculty who are engaged in projects having the potential to be transitioned into the marketplace. I-Corps Sites will provide infrastructure, advice, resources, networking opportunities, training and modest funding to enable groups to transition their work into the marketplace or into becoming I-Corps Team applicants (see NSF Innovation Corps Program, NSF 12-602). 
• Develop formal, active, local innovation ecosystems that contribute to a larger, national network of mentors, researchers, entrepreneurs and investors.

The purpose of an I-Corps Site is to nurture and support multiple, local teams to transition their ideas, devices, processes or other intellectual activities into the marketplace.

The inaugural Creative Jobs Report, published Thursday, found that employees, especially between the ages of 18 and 34, are unsatisfied with current levels of creativity in the workplace. The study found that 55% of the 2,112 respondents (among whom 1,120 are employed) would cut their traditional career for a self-employed role.

That is, if they were sure they could still pay their bills.

Image: http://mashable.com/ 

Close your eyes and picture McDonald's famous golden arches. Now, imagine if they had been gray. Would the burger chain be the international success it is today?

The color of some logos is more powerful than the logos themselves -- think the red of Coca-Cola or the pink of Barbie or the rainbow colors of Google.

Image: http://www.entrepreneur.com 

When it comes to helping people improve their lives there is nobody in the game with stronger credentials than Tony Robbins. The “Michael Jordan” of thought leaders, Tony has affected millions of people around the world through his performance coaching. And his words of wisdom has also had a huge impact in the business world. 

Through his books, videos and presentations, Robbins provides insight into effective selling.

Image: Tony Robbins Image credit: Randy Stewart via Flickr 

From Lost Animals: Extinction and the Photographic Record, by Errol Fuller. Princeton University Press, 2014. Copyright 2013 © Errol Fuller

We tend to think of extinction as a silent process, occurring somewhere far, far away and long, long ago, but the unfocused, unstructured, sepia and black-and-white photographs collected in Lost Animals force us to acknowledge the loss. These animals survived for thousands of years, long enough to enter the photographic age and to be captured on film. The photos bring these lost species close enough to touch—almost, but not quite!

 

(ISNS) -- Like most creatures, sea snakes need to hydrate from time to time, yet they live in a world of mostly undrinkable sea water. What’s a thirsty sea snake to do?

According to researchers at the University of Florida in Gainesville, they find places where it is raining heavily, wait for pools -- the scientists call them “lenses”-- of fresh water to form on the surface, and drink. They have the handy advantage of not needing to do that very often, sometimes going six or seven months without a drink.

Image: http://www.livescience.com 

Drive nearly 500 kilometers at night on winter roads through Canada’s Rocky Mountains? Not a problem, says Paul Zizka. He will drop anything at anytime and head out the door of his home in Banff, Alberta, to go hunting—and don’t expect him back before 5 A.M. What is his quarry? The aurora borealis, or northern lights: one of the most magnificent natural phenomena imaginable. “If you’ve seen the aurora,” he says, “you know why. It’s something you never forget.”

Image: http://www.scientificamerican.com 

There must be something magical about starting a company in a garage. We’ve heard legendary stories repeated over the years—a few rogue innovators set up shop in someone’s garage and create the beginnings of massive success. Stories might come to mind like Jobs and Wozniak, and Hewlett and Packard. They conjure up images of secretive prototyping, overnight brainstorming and tinkering, and change-the-world vision. It makes you wonder what is it about garages and innovation?  Is it about a being in a space where you can’t damage anything, or where you won’t be bothered? Is it about being in a place that’s hot in the summer, cold in the winter, and probably a bit dusty? Is it really about the garage at all?

Image: The HP Garage Image courtesy of www.hpmuseum.org 

The University of Wisconsin System’s technology transfer efforts have gotten a major boost in recent weeks, thanks to the addition of four leaders who are heading programs aimed – in large part – at turning ideas into companies and jobs.

Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, calls the four – all of whom come from outside the UW System – “talented new kids on the block who will help lead economic development efforts to a new level of sophistication.

The size of angel financing rounds in the healthcare industry grew last year, although the share of all angel deals focused on healthcare stayed about the same.

Silicon Valley Bank, the Angel Resource Institute and CB Insights are out with their 2013 Halo Report today looking back at last year’s trends. The data showed deals rebounding from a dip in 2012 and becoming increasingly valuable.

In healthcare, median deal size rose from $1.1 million in 2012 to $1.6 million in 2013.

Image: courtesy The Halo Report 

The Cisco Meraki office in Mission Bay, San Francisco, is 40 paces from the water, and just as nice as Google’s. On a clear winter day in late December, I sat in one of its conference rooms with a company spokeswoman on my right and Sanjit Biswas on my left, peering out through floor-to-ceiling glass. On the other side: brightly patterned furniture, murals and paneled wood, a well-stocked cafeteria, a deck with spectacular views of the bay. Twelve months earlier, in a deal meant to bring fresh edge to Cisco, the networking behemoth bought Meraki from Biswas and two co-founders for $1.2 billion. Now they were making good on their promise — starting with the décor.

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

FORTUNE -- Lemnos Labs, a San Francisco-based hardware incubator, has raised $20 million for its first institutional fund. The group – co-founded by U.S. Air Force engineer Jeremy Conrad and former pro baseball scouting coordinator  Helen Boniske -- launched in 2011 by raising a small friends and family fund that backed four companies. But then it went months without outside investors, until AngelList founder Naval Ravikant showed up and helped find others to support a $1.85 million "nano fund" that ultimately invested in between $50,000 and $100,000 in 17 companies. Everything from drones to robotics to ag-tech to consumer electronics.