Patrick Houston — VCs devoted $6.9 billion in 2011 to “Internet-specific” startups, a proxy term for “cloud” because that’s what most of them are doing, according to Steve Bengston, a director of a startups practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers. That’s up 68% from last year.

In Q4 alone, cloud-related investments of $1.8 billion outdistanced the dollars that went into biotech ($1.3 billion), cleantech ($883 million,) and medical devices ($498 million.)

It’s not just the amount. It’s the number of deals, too. During all of 2011, VCs funded 1,004 software startups that were mostly in the cloud–or more than double the 446 biotech companies that received dough.

Not all those companies will survive to deliver a product one day, of course. A large number of startups makes the chance of success more likely.

Remember, VCs have a clear imperative to find the money. But it …