The UK is leading the way on VC investment. according to a Dow Jones VentureSource report, which says 32% of all European VC investment went into UK companies in Q2.
VCs put €338m into 67 UK companies in Q2 2010 – an increase of 70% from the €199m which was put into 59 companies in Q2 2009.
Overall European VC funding is up 50% in Q2 2010 compared to Q2 2009.
In Q2 2010, €1.1bn of European VC funds went into 289 deals compared to €735m into 252 deals in Q2 2009.
The IT sector had the biggest growth in VC funding – up 69% to $334m with the number of deals up 13% to 90, making the IT industry the biggest European industry for VC funding with 31% of all European VC investment.
VC investment in software was up by 52% to €153m and the number of VC deals up 23% to 58 deals.
VC investment in semiconductors went up 5X to €122m for 13 deals.
After the UK, the second biggest European country for VC investment in Q2 was France with €221m, then Germany with $€186m, Sweden with $79m, Norway with €60m, Denmark with €35m and Finland with €11m.