EUROPE - European venture performance takes off

The returns from European venture have never been better, with new performance figures now exceeding even the lofty heights seen in 2001. “The GPs left in this space are the cream that has risen to the top,” says Charles Irving at Pond Ventures. “It is the start of new era where smarter investors are working with smarter entrepreneurs, many of whom are repeat entrepreneurs who are coming back for more for the first time.” Better investment selection combined with a strong economic backdrop have led to the highest returns for the asset ever seen, according to data from CEPRES, an academic consultant specialised in private equity research. The latest figures show the firm’s proprietary index is 26% higher than in 2000, the pinnacle of venture, before its post-bubble nose dive. “It is much less risky now than investing in 1999,” says Mark Brugger of European fund of funds LFPE. “When I left the German venture scene at the end of last year, I could oversee some ten fund investments in Germany. Let’s say that six were poor – two of the four that survived were beginning to return tremendous money – they had portfolios of some 20 companies and were vintage 1999/2000. I am still a believer in venture.”