With the announcement yesterday that mobile answer service Cha Cha has raised another $7 million in its latest round of funding that closed in December, the state of Indiana's venture capital funding total for 2009 is rapidly approaching $205 million.

That number is based on $128 million confirmed for the first three quarters of 2009 by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), and adding up those deals we know about from the fourth quarter, including Cha Cha.

Of course, for those of you keeping score, you know that ExactTarget alone raised $145 million in 2009 — $70 million in May and another $75 million in December.

Securing venture capital during a time of economic expansion is not easy. Securing venture capital during a recession — the greatest economic decline since the Great Depression — is considered a monumental task, even by optimistic experts.

Indiana companies, however, were able to increase the state's venture capital funding by a whopping 78 percent, compared to the $115 million secured in 2008, as reported by the NVCA.

Also, it's worth noting that the numbers reported by the NVCA do not include angel investments, such as the $12.6 million invested by HALO Capital Group in Nico Neuro and Spine; BidPal Network, LLC; Oxygen Education LLC; Weblink International; Genitor Therapeutics, Inc.; and others.

Here's the question of the day:

What is it about Indiana companies (particularly Indiana technology companies) that are making them more attractive to venture capitalists?

Leave your answer(s) in the comments section and please remember to use the Share feature to Tweet this blog to your friends or share it on Facebook, etc.