UK Leads Europe in Venture Investments

Nick Parmee

16 February 2007

A report from UK-based private company researchers Library House shows that in 2006 a total of €6.55 billion ($8.60 billion) was invested in venture-backed companies in Europe and Israel, a total of 1,633 deals. The UK secured more than 27 per cent of the total venture capital invested and, with 515 deals, more than 31 per cent of the European total by deals. The figures confirm that the UK leads Europe in the amount invested in 2006: €1.78 billion in 515 deals, followed by France with €875 million invested in 195 deals, Spain with a total of €491 million in 67 deals and Ireland in fourth with €439 million in 30 deals. When compared with venture regions across the world, the UK figure is third after the American states of California (€9.10 billion) and Massachusetts (€2.12 billion) with France and Germany in twelfth and sixteenth positions globally. Of the investment in the UK, 34 per cent was in services and retail companies, 27.3 per cent in information technology, 17.5 per cent in healthcare and life sciences and 12.3 per cent in communications companies. The key venture capital investors in the UK in 2006, as measured by both the number of deals and the total combined amount of deals they participated in, were: 3i Group Plc (16 deals, €186.5 million); Accel Partners (14 deals, €152.8 million); Benchmark Capital (9 deals, €136.4 million); Amadeus Capital Partners Ltd (7 deals, €109 million); Esprit Capital Partners (13 deals, €100.7 million); Index Venture Management (8 deals, €85.9 million). Across Europe each country has its own sector specialisation. Generally the UK, France and Israel have a strong and diversified focus, while countries such as Germany, Denmark, Austria and Switzerland, have a strong focus on one particular sector. For example, 70.3 per cent of investments made in Switzerland were in healthcare and life sciences, 80 per cent of investments in Ireland and 45 per cent of investments in Finland were in communications.