• GigaOm, Wednesday, October 13, 2010 11:46 AM

Don't expect the influx of knee-biting Web startups to slow anytime soon. Year-over-year, seed investments (mostly in Web startups) increased from 1% to 11% of total venture investment deals in the third quarter of the year, according to market research firm CB Insights. "There's a tinge of mania when it come to early- and seed-stage funding," notes GigaOm.

"The sharp increase in seed-stage investments is the sole reason the total number of venture investments jumped during the third quarter of 2010 even though overall funding dropped." According to CB Insights, just about $5.4 billion was invested in 715 deals during that time frame. Overall, nearly $1.253 billion was invested in 233 Internet related deals, while series A media deal size was at an all time high of $3.4 million -- for GigOm, "once again proving that early stage investing is going through a frothy phase." What towns are leading this latest investment craze? San Francisco saw 36 Internet deals that brought in $131 million, according to CB Insights, while New York City saw 31 Internet deals garner $126 million.

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