NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. venture capital investments reached the highest level since 2002 in the second quarter, boosted by growing enthusiasm for biotech companies and continued interest in the Internet sector.

Venture capitalists invested $6.34 billion in 856 deals during the quarter, according to The MoneyTree Report released Tuesday by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data from Thomson Financial.

That's up from $6.30 billion in 804 deals during the same period last year.

A separate survey from Ernst & Young and VentureOne released Monday showed similar trends, with investments in healthcare and information technology firms leading the pack.

The quarterly figures paint a picture of steady recovery in venture capital investing, which was slammed by the burst of the dot.com bubble in 2001.

"We're in a more healthy state. [This level] doesn't seem like it's too high or too low," said Gil Kliman, general partner at venture capital firm InterWest Partners.

Underpinning strength during the quarter was growing investment in biotech firms, which took in $1.2 billion in VC money, a 34 percent surge from the first quarter, according to the MoneyTree report. There were 112 VC deals in biotech, a record for the sector.

Investment in Internet firms drifted during the quarter, but venture capitalists remain enthusiastic about the Web. Companies whose business is fundamentally dependent on the Internet raked in $916 million via 143 deals. By comparison, these firms attracted $931 million in the first quarter in 157 deals. (These so-called Internet-specific firms can fall into a variety of the survey's industry categories, such as software or telecommunications.)

Money also flowed to the industrial and energy sector, with investments in that area skyrocketing 62 percent to $417 million as VCs bet on alternative energy.

Venture capitalists also are shifting more attention to companies in their earliest stage of development, the MoneyTree Report showed. Investment in startups and seed-stage firms rose 33 percent to $291.8 million from the previous quarter.

While that's only a fraction of the total dollars received by later-stage firms, that's a positive sign that VCs are still willing to take risks in the next crop of companies, industry experts said.

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