Two straight years of quarter-to-quarter declines in Venture Capital investing ended as the second quarter of 2003 showed a marginal increase, according to a recent survey by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association.  Venture Capital investments increased marginally to four-point-three billion dollars.   In addition, investments in companies in earlier stages of development increased dramatically by 303 million dollars. Tracy Lefteroff, Global Managing Partner of the Venture Capital Practice at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, one of the sponsors of the survey, says the signs are encouraging, though not definitive: 

�I think that Venture Capital is heading back towards solid ground, there�s plenty of money available for serious entrepreneurs and I think that Venture Capital is now much more willing to back early stage companies than they have been over the last few years.�

A total of 663 entrepreneurial companies received funding in the second quarter compared to 645 in the first quarter.