Gevo, part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group companies, went public this week on Nasdaq. The firm sold 7.15 million shares at $15 each, which was at the high end of its estimated range of $13 to $15. On its first day of trading, the stock shot up about 16%.

RPX has been in business since just 2008, but it has rapidly built a list of big-name clients attracted to its novel service. It offers tech companies a way to gain access to patents without having to own them outright -- and without having to deal with litigious "patent trolls."

Unless you're ultra-wealthy or willing to chance the vagaries of the secondary markets, you can't invest yet in hot social networking companies like Facebook, Zynga or Groupon. But soon there may be an alternative: a new fund called NeXt BDC Capital that will take stakes in top-quality venture-backed firms like those.

Have the markets entered an IPO time warp? This week, Chinese deals were red-hot. Take a look at Youku.com. In Wednesday's debut, itsstock soared 161% to $33.44, raising $203 million. It marked the best return since Baidu hit the markets five years ago.

As it looks for ways to grow, Salesforce.com is targeting another big market: databases. Its new offering, Database.com, looks to be a direct threat to Oracle. Maybe its time for Oracle to finally get serious about cloud computing.

Mellanox Technologies, a maker of networking chips and switches, has agreed to pay $218 million or $8.75 per share for rival Voltaire.

Expedia is finally going mobile. The travel website has agreed to buy Mobiata, maker of best-selling app TravelTrack.

Online travel company Kayak filed for an IPO this week, and if Priceline and MakeMyTrip are any indication, it could prove a big win for investors.

Wireless technology company Novatel has agreed to buy Enfora, a provider of asset management solutions for $64.5 million in cash, in a move to expand its presence into new markets.

Natural gas prices have been persistently sluggish lately, but it looks like deal-making is revving up: The latest offer comes from the CEO of Exco Resources, Douglas Miller, who has offered to buy the energy company for $20.50 per share or about $4.4 billion.