QPrize Venture Investment Competition picks six regional winners.

US-listed legal service provider LawPivot had previously raised $400,000 from its angel investors. It will now move into Google's start-up incubator.

Universal Commodity Exchange gains Rabobank among its investors

Merck Serono Ventures joins extended seed round for EpiTherapeutics, which has raised DKr51.5m ($9.2m) since launching in October 2008.

Miso Media gains $600,000 to develop its guitar-playing application.

RelayRides is transferring its base from Boston to San Francisco, where both Google and August offer facilities to help early-stage portfolio companies after their investment.

A start-up company will offer engineering and other services to the Russian oil and gas industries in a collaboration between Fluor and Sibur's Scientific Research and Design Institute for Gas Processing.

The Palo Alto Research Center (Parc) said it would spin off and take a stake in PowerCloud Systems after two years of work by its former entrepreneur in residence and now executive president of PowerCloud, Jeff Abramowitz.

Russia continues development of its Silicon Valley with Microsoft building a development centre in Skolkovo.