Dot-com class of '99 burned $15bn

NEWS The full recklessness of the companies which fuelled the dot-com boom has been revealed by research which shows that one in five dot-com ventures launched in the late 90s went out of business before their first stage backers saw any return on their investment. Out of 1,842 start-ups backed by venture capital (VC) in 1999, 22 per cent have already sunk, taking their investors' money down with them. The figure contrasts with a 15 per cent failure rate of VC-backed ventures during the previous seven years, according to research firm VentureOne. In terms of lost cash, the total damage done by the class of '99 is a massive $15.3bn.