US venture capital investment hardly moved last year but was already trending upwards as investments in the fourth quarter increased, The Wall Street Journal blog Venture Capital Dispatch reported.

Zepp Labs Inc, a startup based in Los Gatos, California, closed its Series B round with $15 million to develop wearable technology to enable sports enthusiasts to step up their game.

Using Bitcoin as a form of reward to programmers working in open-source software projects is rapidly gaining popularity, a report in The Wall Street Journal Blog Venture Capital Dispatch said.

Chartio, a provider of cloud business intelligence for developers and businesses, has received $2.2 million in additional financing from Avalon Ventures which led the Series A round for the company in 2011.

Former NBA star, philanthropist and venture capitalist David Robinson told Forbes Contributor Dan Schawbel that he formed Admiral Capital Group to be able to impact the community.

Peter Thiel, the early investor of Facebook, aims to raise $750 million for its fifth fund, according to a presentation from his venture firm Founders Fund obtained by Bloomberg News.

Google, Apple and other tech firms in Silicon Valley will be charged $1 each time their commuter shuttles will utilize the city's bus stops, Reuters reported.

Pimco's Chief Executive and Co-Chief Investment Officer and long viewed as heir to Co-Founder Bill Gross, Mohamed El-Erian will be leaving the world's largest bond fund manager in mid-March, Reuters reported.

CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company backed by private equity, said it had evidence that linked the Russian government to cyber espionage campaigns on numerous Asian, European and American companies, Reuters reported.

The D and the Golden Gate casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada will be accepting Bitcoins to pay for goods and services beginning on Wednesday, January 22, RT reported.

Investors see in Bitcoin the potential to provide a payment technology that could undermine the dominance of Visa Inc, Western Union or Citigroup Inc in the industry, Bloomberg reported.

New research from Capital Crowdfund Advisors showed that entrepreneurs who crowdfunded did very well, getting an increase in sales, among others, Forbes Contributor Cheryl Conner reported.

Canada's Waterloo region posted a substantial rise in venture capital funds, with the creation of Open Text Applications Venture Fund and the Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund, TheRecord.com reported.

Research from Mercom Capital Group showed that venture capital funding for companies in the smart grid technology sector was pegged at $405 million in 2013, a dip from the $434 million in 2012.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has unveiled a new public-private venture capital fund known as Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund for the province's tech sector, CBCNews reported.

While venture capital funding for healthcare influenced by information technology or HIT is more pronounced in the US, venture capitalists are also showing interest in the niche in India, The Hindu Business Line reported.

Sears Holdings Corp will be halting the operations of its flagship store in Chicago in April in a bid to bring down the number of its outlets and rely more on online retail, Reuters reported.

The users of Twitter in the US are more racially diverse compared to those of other Internet sites and Twitter is capitalizing on its demographics to get revenues, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Amazon is thinking of launching an online pay-TV service and has already approached various media companies about obtaining a license to distribute their TV channels, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal citing sources.

With the goal of building a pet dish that is linked to the internet, Los Angeles-based startup Petnet was able to get seed round funding of $1.12 million, Gigaom reported.

Nexmo, the company that provides messaging and voice capabilities to app developers and enterprises globally, was able to secure $18 million for its Series C funding round.

Private equity asset management firm Hamilton Lane has named Mingchen Xia and Yen Li Chew to add to its Hong Kong office and enhance the presence of the company in the Asia Pacific region.

JPMorgan Chase & Co has stopped working on the planned initial public offering of Chinese firm Tianhe Chemicals as US regulators continue its probe of the bank's hiring practices in China, Reuters reported.

French investors provided Synthelis, a company based in La Tronche, France that specializes in the production and characterization of therapeutic targets and antigens, with initial funding of €610,000.

Israel-based firm Aorato secured $10 million for its Series B round participated in by well-known investors as it launches into the cyber security with its pioneering product known as the Directory Services Application Firewall.

Mohr Davidow Ventures led the Series B round for Vancouver, British Columbia-based BuildDirect which raised C$30 million. High profile investors Canadian investors like BDC Venture Capital also joined the round.

The first early stage technology fund in Hawaii. mbloom, was able to obtain $10 million for its first venture capital fund, a public-private partnership between the Hawaii State Development Corporation and Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners.

The UK website of e-commerce giant eBay will soon allow the sale of Bitcoins and other digital currencies under the Virtual Currency category, CNET reported.

The Jamaican bobsled team, which last competed in the Winter Olympics in 2002, is using crowdfunding to raise funds that will allow them to compete in this year's Winter Olympics, ABC News reported.

Singapore-based Golvis Investment Pte, an investment firm founded by ex-Goldman Sachs Group managing directors, plans to make its Japan-focused hedge fund available to investors this quarter, according to sources interviewed by Bloomberg.