European venture capital investment holds steady in 2004

For the first time since 2000, annual investment in European venture-capital-backed companies held steady, with ?3.5billion invested in 2004?nearly the same amount that was invested in 2003.  However, deal flow for the year decreased to 1,026 rounds?a 20% drop in activity from 2003? according to the European Venture Capital Report released by VentureOne and Ernst & Young.

In the UK, as Stuart Watson, leader of Ernst & Young’s Venture Capital Advisory Group explains the strong rise in Q4 of value of deals done ? up from ?212 million to ?285 million is encouraging, although 2004 as a whole showed a modest decline of 2.5%