In Silicon Valley, It's Game On

Silicon Valley venture capital numbers continue their rapid ascent in 2011, leading many to buzz about a tech boom and some to murmur about another tech bubble. Venture capital in Silicon Valley rose in 2010, for the first time in three years, to $21.8 billion, from a 12-year low of $18.3 billion in 2009. Those figures increased by another $7 billion in the first quarter of 2011 -- a 76 percent increase over the first quarter of 2010.

Some major recent Silicon Valley VC deals include $200 million for Twitter in December 2010 and $27.5 million for Square, which allows both businesses and customers to accept credit-card payments on mobile devices.

Smaller startups are also attracting substantial sums. The Wall Street Journal reports that GreenGoose, which makes lightweight sensors that track activities such as exercising, recently attracted $500,000 in VC, while Zaarly, an app that allows users to name something they need quickly and name the price they're willing to pay for it, raised $1 million within 48 hours.

"Suddenly everyone wants to invest in Silicon Valley," Benchmark Capital partner Bill Gurley told the Journal. "It's game-on all the time."