Burgeoning venture capital centers Seattle, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. are gaining on traditional hubs like Silicon Valley and Boston.

That's the conclusion of a new MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association that looked at decade-long trends in numbers of investments based on data from Thomson Financial.

Topping the growth charts were No. 1 New Mexico and No. 2 Pittsburgh. Those two regions, starting from small bases, saw their number of investments climb 700 percent and 367 percent from 1997 to 2007, while their funding levels grew 475 percent (to $128.26 million) and 613 percent (to $198.17 million).

A trio of billion-dollar babies, Seattle, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. rounded out the top five. Those three saw number of funding commitments rise 203 percent, 172 percent and 171 percent. By 2007, those regions also were in the billion-dollar club in total investments, joining San Jose, Boston, San Francisco/Berkeley, San Diego and New York.

Though they did not make the top five in investment rounds, No. 6 San Francisco/Berkeley and No. 7 San Diego notched strong growth in funding levels, climbing 222 percent to $2.5 billion and 401 percent to nearly $2 billion.

By contrast, San Jose, the locus of Silicon Valley, saw number of rounds grow 134 percent and capital increase 215 percent to $7.6 billion.

Mark Heesen, president of the NVCA, said that new hotbeds of innovation will develop an "ecosystem" that attracts outside capital.

"For regions that don't have a large, indigenous venture investor base, it is important to give outside VCs a reason to visit," he said in a statement.  "These unexpected regions are making venture capitalists stand up and take notice."

The survey found that New Mexico's role in clean technology, life sciences and semiconductors is attracting investment from firms like Verge, Flywheel Ventures and EPIC Ventures. Companies reeling in venture rounds included Advent Solar, MIOX Corporation and Aspen Avionics.

Pittsburgh is riding a wave of development in life sciences, software and clean technology with VCs from Innovation Works, Draper Triangle, Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse and Novitas Capital supplying the funding. Marquee startups include Millennium Pharmacy, Logical Therapeutics and BPL Global.

Disclosure: Red Herring's investors include venture firm DCM, whose co-founder and general partner, Dixon Doll, is chairman-elect of the NVCA.