Venture capital investment in European companies fell 35% to ‘only’ €5.9 billion in 2002, albeit a smaller decline than in the US.
Of the 896 European businesses that say they received funding last year, almost 40% (347 companies) are software companies, raising a combined €1.3 billion. By far the largest single sector, however, is enterprise software, where 209 companies raised €884 million in total. As seen in the table, the UK once again attracted most funding in Europe – and almost double the amount raised in Germany, its nearest rival.
