In the post-financial crisis rough times, banks have been between a rock and hard spot when it comes to lending.

They've been criticized for lax risk management practices, even as they've been extend more credit in a punishing environment for would be debtors. It was hard to blame banks for withdrawing credit through the recession, as good credit risks were harder to find. But fortunately for all of us, the macro environment is changing.

LanzaTech has closed a Series C round with $55.8 million in investments. Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund led the round which includes new investors PETRONAS Technology Ventures Sdn Bhd, the venture arm of PETRONAS, the national oil company of Malaysia, and Dialog Group.  Existing investors Khosla Ventures, Qiming Venture Partners and K1W1 also participated. LanzaTech has raised more than $85 million to date.

PRESS RELEASE

New York Magazine has some arresting photo art on its cover: A man, purported to be an investment banker, holding his crotch, under the headline: "The Emasculation of Wall Street."

The theme of the essay: "With all the major banks unable to wager their own funds on big bets, there's a growing sense that the money that was being made during the Bush boom won't be back."

And that has led to existential crisis along the lines of "if I don't make millions, I do not exist."

Is it really that bad?

Prosecutors in the upcoming insider trading trial of Rajat Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs director and head of McKinsey, must be breathing easier.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff--who has become a well-known figure in the banking industry as of late--has denied Gupta's motion to have wiretap evidence disallowed, according to media reports. That's a significant victory for his adversaries, as the strength of their case would fall into serious doubt if such evidence were nixed.

BlueSprig, a maker of utility apps intended to boost the security, privacy, performance and efficiency of personal devices, has raised $10 million in Series A financing from IDG-Accel’s China Growth Fund. The company is based in San Francisco with a development center in Chengdu, China.

Quotient Biodiagnostics Holdings has closed a $11.2 million growth equity financing round led by Galen Partners. David Azad and John Wilkerson from Galen Partners will join Quotient’s board as Non-Executive Directors. Quotient Biodiagnostics provides transfusion diagnostics.

PRESS RELEASE

European cleantech investor Ludgate Environmental Fund Limited has made three new investments in biomass, anaerobic digestion and waste heat recovery. The fund has committed 7.0 million pounds ($11.3 million) to Tamar Energy Limited, to fund the development and construction of food and mixed waste anaerobic digestion plants that produce renewable energy. Its second investment is a 5.3 million pounds growth capital round in waste heat recovery company, Micropelt GmbH based in Freiburg and Halle, Germany.

Cincinnati-based ThinkVine, a maker of marketing optimization software, has closed on $8 million in Series C financing. Northwater Capital Management contributed to the round alongside existing investors Draper Triangle, DFJ Portage, CincyTech and Ft. Washington Capital Partners.

The Financial Times notes that Citigroup was hoping to celebrate its 200th anniversary this year with a substantial dividend hike.

How can Jamie Dimon redeem himself and his bank?

The conventional wisdom, of course, is that the CEO of JPMorgan Chase has hurt his reputation and perhaps opened himself up to charges of hypocrisy (which may not be fair) on the issue of financial regulation.  But there is something he could do that will win him loads of respect and go a long ways toward repairing his image: He could clawback funds from the executives responsible for the $2 billion trading debacle.