The number of investments in to European companies in Q1 this year fell to the lowest level since Dow Jones (NSDQ: NWS) VentureSource started counting in 2000, the organisation says.
But, though the number of companies taking investment fell by 35 percent since 2010 to 182, the amount invested actually rose 18 percent to €1.1 billion.
Technology fell particularly hard. The IT sector saw its worst ever quarter for number of deals (down 38 percent to 49) and amount invested (down 38 percent to €153 million), Dow Jones Venture Source says.
But, within IT, software investment grew 46 percent to €127 million.
“Liquidity is scarce and fund-raising has lagged,” says the organisation’s research manager Anthony Sheldon. “Without capital coming in from exits or limited partners, Europe has retrenched to a smaller number of key deals in core industries such as healthcare and promising industries such as consumer information services, which includes social media, search and entertainment companies.”