Though area venture capitalists didn’t close as many deals as they predicted, the region still had the most capital coming in since the beginning of 2006.

A survey by the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association showed that 54 percent of investors closed deals during the third quarter of 2007, though 94 percent had said earlier that they expected to close an agreement during the time period.

Two major deals did come through for D.C. companies during the quarter — deals so big they were in the top 10 in the country, according to Julia Spicer, MAVA’s executive director.

The Timonium-based financial services company BillMe

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Later received $71.6 million in a later-stage investment, and Baltimore-based health care firm BravoHealth received

$49.5 million.

The two major deals meant that software, usually the industry receiving the largest slice of venture capital in the region, ranked third in terms of dollars invested, Spicer said.

Investors seem to be taking more time to investigate deals before closing on them, Spicer said.

Ninety-two percent of venture capitalists surveyed predict closings in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Investors have been drawn to companies with talented young entrepreneurs, many of whom came after the dot-com bubble burst, according to Don Rainey, a general partner with Grotech Capital Corp. of Tysons Corner and Timonium.

The group invested in two software companies, D.C-based RollStream and Westminster, Colo.-based SkyeTech.

“I think we’re very likely to close two or three deals in the fourth quarter,” Rainey said.

melissa.frederick@dcexaminer.com