Euro VC holding on

European venture capital is proving surprisingly resilient in the face of the global economic conditions with UK data provider Library House revealing that activity in the third quarter of the year is 30% up on Q2.

In Q3, over 750 investors backed more than 400 companies across Europe, a slightly higher figure than the previous quarter, but a fall from the 450 businesses backed in Q1.

Total deal value also increased on the mainland, but not in the UK, which dropped 14% from Q2 and 54% from the all time high in Q1.

Over half of all the deals completed in the third quarter were first round investments, with the largest deal being the €85m backing of Sulfurcell Solartechnik, a German cleantech company.

London’s Index Ventures invested the most in Q3, parting with an average of €23.1m in four deals. Amadeus Capital came in at second with an average of €12.7m.

Cleantech remerges from the doldrums of Q2 with 58 deals being completed, the highest on record, with €293m invested, the second largest total since Library House began behind the €309m raised in Q4 of last year.