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Venture capital deals and dollars dipped slightly in Washington state during the third quarter, a trend that could continue as the economic storm looms.

Thirty six deals representing $226 million were reported during the quarter, which compares to 41 deals and $288 million for the same period last year, according to the MoneyTree report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. It was the third consecutive quarterly decline.

Despite the economic woes that have hit the economy in recent months, the state is still on pace to surpass $1 billion in venture capital investments this year.

If that occurs — through three quarters the tally stood at $872 million — it would be the third consecutive year that more than $1 billion has been invested here.

However, the venture market has essentially frozen in recent weeks as investors in private companies reevaluate their positions and hunker down on existing portfolio companies. IPOs and acquisitions aren’t getting done, which is more bad news for venture investors.

Reports have surfaced of venture deals falling apart and widely circulated e-mails and presentations from high-profile venture firms such as Benchmark Capital and Sequoia Capital warning of the economic crisis have caused venture investors to become more cautious.

Meanwhile, venture-backed companies in the region such as Redfin, Jive Software and Zillow.com have laid off staff in order to cut their cash burn.

Nationally, the venture market also is slowing with quarterly investments down seven percent. In a press release, NVCA President Mark Heesen said the most recent numbers do not reflect the economic crisis that is now causing many venture investors to pause.

“If venture backed companies can’t exit due to continued poor market conditions, venture firms will have to commit additional time and unplanned follow-on rounds of financing to those existing portfolio companies, which will channel resources away from new deals.,” Heesen said.

In Washington state, software investments, at $50 million, just beat out biotechnology for the largest cash haul. Meanwhile, the industrial/energy category, which includes clean tech investments, saw $40 million invested.

Here are the top deals from the report:

Light Sciences Oncology, biotechnology, $41 million.

AltaRock Energy, industrial/energy, $26 million.

Dexterra, telecommunications, $21.5 million.

Pathway Medical, medical devices, $16.5 million.

Tableau Software, software, $15 million.

HaloSource, industrial/energy, $11.5 million.

Impinj, semiconductors, $10.5 million.

UBmatrix, software, $10 million.

RFSurgical, medial devices, $8.2 million.

HyperQuality, business products and services, $7.6 million.

– John Cook, johnharoldcook@gmail.com