The marketing communications industry will likely increase investments in start-up companies, as liquidity returns and social media and mobile technologies are increasingly taken more seriously by US consumers.

On February 14, Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners, an advertising agency owned by MDC Partners, launched KBS&P Ventures, a division that will invest in companies developing advertising technologies, mobile, and design.

In addition, media outlets reported this week that JPMorgan Chase plans to start a social media fund that will ...