Several years ago, I talked to Jay Adelson, the cofounder of Digg, a popular news rating service. We discussed the keys to successful ventures and the importance of building an enduring platform. I liked when he said that it is critical to have an "unfair advantage."

Well, so far, things seem to be working nicely. In fact, Digg has raised $28.7 million from a group of investors including Greylock Partners, Silicon Valley Bank, Highland Capital Partners and the Omidyar Network. In all, the firm has raised about $40 million.

The capital is meant to reinforce the Digg platform. This means doubling the staff, which now stands at 75 people, adding new features like publishing analytics, and moving into foreign markets.

Of course, there have been many rumors that Digg has been exploring sellout talks with biggies like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). But with the current uncertainty in the financial markets, it probably makes sense to wait things out. Besides, Digg has a highly loyal user base who may not want to see a deal get done.

I recently saw a presentation from Dan Nye, who is the CEO of LinkedIn. Of course, all the metrics were spiking. Then again, LinkedIn is the place for professionals to connect.

So, this week the firm has snagged $53 million in venture capital. The investors include Bain Capital Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, and Bessemer Ventures. As a sign of their optimism, the valuation of the investment came to around $1 billion.

While Facebook and MySpace get lots of buzz, I think LinkedIn is a more interesting play. Basically, the company is leveraging user-generated content to build an immensely valuable database. For example, if an advertiser wants to target someone located in California that is interested in Linux systems, you will definitely get some hits. This is critically important. After all, many other social networks have a tough time monetizing things.

Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) latest acquisition amounts to a quick exit for Greylock Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The Redmond, Wash.-based giant, as part of a new push into virtualization, said Monday it would acquire Calista Technologies Inc., a 35-employee, San Jose, Calif.-based maker of desktop virtualization software

It was founded in 2006 and isn't scheduled to ship its first products until later this year, according to its Web site. Calista got a round of undisclosed size from Greylock and Lightspeed in 2006. The company also received $1 million from venture lending firm Western Technology Investment of San Jose.

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