Silicon Valley venture capitalists are betting on a new generation of companies that hope to unshackle social networking from personal computers and shift it to cellphones, The Wall Street Journal reported.

On Thursday, Color Labs Inc., a phone-based social network founded by veteran entrepreneur Bill Nguyen, is opening its doors, after receiving $41 million from top venture-capital firms, even before the company’s iPhone and Android apps were ready to debut.

Color Labs is just one of a growing number of social start-ups betting on smartphones that are now attracting a venture-funding rush. Many of the companies feature photo taking and sharing at their core, such as Path Inc., founded by former Facebook Inc. executive Dave Morin.

The flood of venture capital into mobile social start-ups is the latest sign of Silicon Valley’s Web-fueled boom.

Behind the spurt of new services is the idea that the phone, carried by most people at all times, can reinvent the notion of a social network by sharing more real-time information about where people are, what they’re seeing and whom they are around.

To read the full story in The Wall Street Journal, click here.