Venture capital rebounds slightly: Is Startup Nation back?

The numbers for the second quarter of 2009 venture capital deals are in and they look surprisingly strong.

According to the MoneyTree Report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), based on data provided by Thomson Reuters, venture capitalists invested $3.7 billion in 612 deals during the quarter. That constitutes a dollar increase in investment activity of 15 percent over the same period last year. However, the number are likely skewed upwards by a handful of very large deals in the life sciences sector and on a normalized basis VC fundings likely would not show as much improvement.