European VC investments picking up!

2006 finally beat the €4 billion mark after having flirted with it for three consecutive years. Total VC investments in European and Israeli technology companies reached €4.7 billion!! the largest amount raised in a single year since 2002. The upswing continued in the first quarter of 2007, which led to levels of activity unmatched in the past years.

The Tornado Insider Research Online Data counter for Q1 2007 stands at 286 deals. You have to go back to Q3 2001 to find more investments in a single quarter. January recorded most deals in the quarter: 113. This is the second highest monthly number since September 2001 - 104 deals were reported in March 2004. The total amount of funding raised in Q1 reached €1.59 billion. The last time quarterly investment surpassed the €1.5 billion mark was Q1 2002.