Friday 17th Apr 2009
Calibre One News
Calibre One publishes Q1 2009 Global Tech Investment Review
The latest release of the Calibre One Index, Calibre One’s quarterly trans-atlantic tech investment review publication, is now available to view online, and in print at Calibre One’s offices in London and San Francisco.
This edition of the Calibre One Index shows that, whilst these are trying times for all, the early-stage technology sector seems to be weathering the global storm better than most - certainly in terms of investment.
It is pleasing to see that tech investment in the US is up, albeit slightly (from $1.28Bn in Q4 2008 to to $1.48Bn in Q1 2009) - hopefully this marks the end of the downward trend. Europe, however, presents a different picture. Whilst investment levels in $ terms in the region as a whole kept reasonably stable at $0.76Bn the number of investments was down over 25% (from 204 in Q4 to 142 in Q1) The UK especially had a very weak Q1 with only $112M invested compared with $294M the previous quarter.
As government bailouts start to be measured in $trillion units, the cost of investing in exciting growth technology companies has clearly come down somewhat and the average size of investment in the UK went down to its lowest level since Q2 2007 - $5.6M.
A mixed bag. People will analyse these trends and look for evidence of the bottom of the market being reached - quite possibly it has been reached in the US. The UK tends to lag behind the US by 12-18 months, and as such we should prepare for a challenging 2009 - perhaps the European uptick will arrive towards the end of the year.
The Calibre One Index is produced quarterly, every January, April, July and October and can be found at Calibre One’s website (www.calibreone.com). It is also regularly blogged about at TechCrunch (http://uk.techcrunch.com).
