Venture capital tails off after record year

NEWS Investment in technology related companies increased three-fold last year. High-tech businesses benefited from $113bn in investment last year. More than $84bn of this went to US firms. The total global private equity investment was $177bn - two thirds of this went to tech companies, compared to just one third in 1999. Research shows investment for the first six months of this year has fallen back sharply. Venture capital investment in the US fell 65 per cent to $18.6bn, according to a report from 3i and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The full survey will be released later today.