• VentureBeat, Friday, January 21, 2011 2:10 PM

Over the past year, venture capital gushing into the market increased by 20%, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. Based on data from Thomson Reuters, the study also found a 12% rise in deals over the past year. Overall, that amounted to $21.8 billion being pumped into 3,277 deals in 2010, according to the so-called MoneyTree Report - levels not seen since the salad days of 2007.

Investments in the fourth quarter of 2010 totaled $5 billion in 765 deals -- a 2% increase in dollars, but a 3% decrease in deals year-over-year. "The stats are welcome news for an industry that had struggled at times in 2010 to prove it was no longer spooked by the credit crisis and was ready to jump back into the fray," writes VentureBeat. The software industry shined as the single largest investment sector for the year -- rising 20% over 2009 to $4 billion in 2010. Internet-specific categories and clean technology also each saw double-digit increases, according to the report.

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