The number of venture capital deals in Los Angeles County hit a five-year high during the third quarter, according to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers and National Venture Capital Association report to be released Tuesday.

However, the dollar volume of these deals fell sharply from highs reached earlier in the year as the deal focus has shifted from larger later-stage transactions to smaller early-stage deals.

“After a hiatus following the dot-com bust, venture capital funds are much more willing to do early stage first-round deals now,” said Randy Churchill, director of business development with the technology practice in the Los Angeles office of PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

In the third quarter, there were 30 deals, up from 22 deals in the third quarter of 2005. That’s the most deals since 37 were recorded in the third quarter of 2001, in the midst of the dot-com bust.

But the $188 million in third quarter transactions, though slightly higher than $173 million in the third quarter of 2005, was down sharply from a first quarter 2006 high of $305 million.

Much of the money went to early-stage financing for technology companies, especially anything having to do with wireless applications or the Internet. Among the deals: $5 million in first-round funding to ActiveMaps Inc., an El Segundo provider of home-based digital networks and $650,000 in first-round funding for Pasadena-based Ultra RPM Inc., an Internet-based acquirer of Web services.

“Los Angeles has become a center for Web 2.0 companies as we’re realizing now the convergence between the Internet and entertainment that was promised a decade ago,” Churchill said.