The National Venture Capital Association data from Money Tree is out, and the VC industry is in a recession:

• For the full year 2012:
  • VC funds invested declined 10%, to $26.5 billion
  • The number of VC deals done declined 6%, to 3,698.
• Double-digit decreases in investment dollars across most industries, specifically the traditionally capital-intensive Clean Technology and Life Sciences sectors, offset the increases seen in the Software sector in 2012.
• Stage of investment shifted from Seed to Early Stage as venture capitalists overall began engaging with companies later in their life cycle than in previous years. Investments into Seed Stage companies decreased 31 percent in terms of dollars and 38 percent in deals with $725 million going into 274 companies in 2012, the lowest annual seed dollars since 2003.
• Internet-specific companies experienced a 5 percent decline in both dollars and deals for the fullyear 2012 with $6.7 billion going into 976 rounds compared to 2011 when $7.1 billion went into 1,033 deals. However, the year still marked the second highest level of Internet investment since 2001. These companies accounted for 25 percent of all venture capital dollars in 2012, up from 24 percent in 2011.
• Investments in the NY Metro area held at 11% of the total number of deals, with 397 companies funded, but the dollars deployed declined 18% to $2.3 billion

More details here.