Startups with women at the helm have executive leadership teams that are on average 38 percent women, 2.4 times the average, survey finds.

Here's the caveat: Most of its returns are still on paper.

Slowly disproving stereotypes, the online VC has established itself as a viable tool for tech finance. But while the model has made money for investors, the industry still faces perceptions of selling money for money’s sake, without much care for the nuanced entrepreneur-investor relationship.

You've likely heard of the big companies — like Facebook and Netflix — that are pushing back against the president's immigration ban.

If there is one tech haven that truly appreciates the value of seeking talent from around the globe it's Silicon Valley.

Online investing platform FundersClub to publish quarterly updates, says funds outperforming S&P 500

Over the past four years, FundersClub, an online venture capital firm, has invested in 217 companies. It has had 19 exits. Today the company published a quarterly breakdown of its returns in an effort to bring more transparency to venture capital performance, a historically un-transparent area.

Network effects in venture capital are no joke. Sure, people want to close rounds with brand name funds like Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz because they validate startups. But perhaps more importantly, companies become more likely to succeed after closing high profile rounds because of their newfound access to the friends and connections of prominent investors.

FundersClub has been called the "Kickstarter for Venture Capital.

FundersClub rolled out a new platform that it hopes will become a vehicle for top angels and VCs to pool funds from qualified investors for startup deals.

FundersClub democratized angel investing with its equity crowdfunding marketplace. Two years later, it wants to do the same for launching a fund or being a limited partner by licensing out its back-end system for legally doing venture deals and transferring cash. Its new feature is called Partnerships.

Increased efficiency and transparency in the venture capital industry will result in greater accountability.

Thousands of start-ups will go under for lack of Series A funding. That's a problem, all right. But not the problem you think.

How does a pro-startup law, intended by Congress to remove restrictions on angel investing, turn into an SEC rule which causes entrepreneurs to second-guess pitch events, demo days and other fundraising practices they’d previously taken for granted? Answer: By putting a ton of consequence on “general solicitation.”

Venture capital firms, angel investors, hedge funds and private equity groups also now can advertise to reach new investors. It's a potentially big change, but the impact is far from clear.

FundersClub co-founder and CEO Alex Mittal said he has no plans to do anything differently with his 7,000-investor network in the near term. His network has backed more than 50 companies with $8.5 million in funding.

"There are the people who just want to keep doing what they are doing, and their concern is that the new regulations will make what has always worked suddenly become legally ambiguous," says Alex Mittal, co-founder and CEO of Funders Club, an online venture capital firm that has been invited to comment on the changes by the White House, the Treasury and several D.C. think tanks.

Alex Mittal, CEO of FundersClub, which sells accredited investors stakes in funds it invests in individual companies, said he has already seen “many instances where opportunities made available this week via general solicitation are being offered at double the price or more compared to what institutional investors (including FundersClub) are buying in at.”

If you have cash to invest and an appetite for risk, here are some tips for learning how to become an angel investor in early-stage companies.

When the gears of thought push boundaries, a natural story of disruption unfolds. Many eager college graduates looking to start a company have glowing ambitions aimed at a bright future filled only with success. Most end up disappointed when their great idea doesn't pan out, for whatever reason, and taste defeat far before the sweetness of victory. Others know their stuff. They don't just have lightning in a bottle, they aim at becoming Zeus. Some even have their own asteroids. Alexander Mittal, co-founder and CEO of FundersClub, might be one of those individuals.

In a move likely to boost its appeal to startups and investors alike, Funders Club will offer a venture capital-like reward to investors who refer startups to the platform.

Think you know about the hottest startups before anyone else? Online venture firm FundersClub wants you to be their eyes and ears, so they’re offering to give you 10 percent of their carry (profit) if a startup you refer to them has a big exit.

Online venture startup FundersClub is looking for a few good startups and is willing to pay investors who find them.

As barriers around general solicitation come crashing down, FundersClub is looking at new ways to stay on top.

Due to the general solicitation ban, hedge funds, VCs, and startups had to quietly raise that money, soliciting by word of mouth and other forms of private communication. Now they could buy ads or openly announce that they’re seeking investors alongside using the traditional quiet method.

FundersClub is bringing direct access to Y Combinator startups out from behind closed doors. The online venture capital firm has raised a $1.1 million fund as part of its new “Accelerate Series” that will support startups from Y Combinator’s Winter 2013 batch.

FundersClub, a new online venture capital firm, has now crossed 6,000-plus investors on its platform. For those not familiar with this Y Combinator-backed startup, it's an interesting milestone because the more investors, the higher probability of its ability to succeed. FundersClub is one of the newer VCs in the Valley, spearheading this old-yet-novel approach to fundraising by aggregating capital from hundreds of investors and putting them in individual "fund-like" vehicles to invest in startups.

Eleven companies from the most recent Y Combinator batch will receive funding from FundersClub, a new model for venture capital that found a good deal of interest in funding those companies.

No action is good action. At least for the online investment platform FundersClub, which today received a “no-action letter” from the Securities and Exchange Commission stating that it will not recommend enforcement action.

FundersClub, from YC S12, is a web service that pools money from many individuals and institutions to make aggregated investments in startups. This business model makes it easier for startups to raise money by allowing individual investors to make smaller investments (as low as $1,000).

While venture capital funds innovation, the venture capital industry itself is not particularly innovative. That’s why it’s a bit of a surprise that The National Venture Capital Association has admitted the FundersClub, an well-hyped, online-only funding network, into its ranks.

FundersClub’s VC platform has finally realized a return with the closure of five different investments that add up to a total of $1.3 million in funding.

Startup FundersClub has raised $1.3 million for itself and four startups from small accredited investors. The companies, which all went through the recent Summer 2012 Y combinator batch, are Coinbase, Sponsorfied, Tracks.by and Virool.

Investing platform FundersClub has closed the largest ever seed round from a Y Combinator company. The company raised $6 million for its marketplace that lets accredited investors invest in startups online.

If you need more proof that FundersClub wants to radically change startup funding by letting non-VCs invest, it just closed a $6 million seed round, the largest ever from a Y Combinator company.

FundersClub just raised $6 million from a gang of expert early-stage investors, including First Round Capital, Felicis Ventures, Spark Capital, Digital Garage, Intel Capital, and Y Combinator-affiliated funds (Andreessen Horowitz, Start Fund, SV Angel, and General Catalyst Partners), along with a handful of angel investors.

FundersClub is going to change how companies get funded.The website is designed to let anyone with as little as $1000 make equity investments in startups and earn money if they succeed.