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TechCrunch on VC in MediaTech, Social Networking and the CIA

TechCrunch UK has crunched the numbers on venture capital (VC) in Mediatech in Europe, identifying the biggest deals, the most prolific investors and VC trends in new media in the region. TC's report is backed up by figures released by the Library House research group.

Overall, says TechCrunch, "VCs are moving away from investments in Web 2.0 technology startups towards higher growth investments related to the boom in environmental technology." But the situation is not as gloomy as it sounds. TC reckons that European startups are generally more reliant on seed capital and "early stage Angel money" than venture capital in any case.

Nonetheless, the European VC picture was in contrast to the US scenario, where 2007 was a record year for venture capital in technology startups.

Library House provided the following figures for disclosed venture capital dished out in Europe:

Q4 2007 €1.21bn (us$1.8bn)
Q3 2007 €1.36bn
Q4 2006 €1.52 ($2.26bn)

Meanwhile, the biggest deals in Web 2.0 startups in Europe in Q4, were:

These guys were the most prolific VC investors in the region:

• Accel Partners
• Carmel Ventures
• Balderton Capital
• Media Ventures

Social Networking Wars in Britain

While we're on the subject of TechCrunch, they are also running an interesting story on the battle of the social networking sites in the UK.

Predictably, Facebook is steaming ahead having increased its presence 10-fold in Britain over the past 12 months. Go to TechCrunch's article to see a truly jaw-dropping growth graph... it's enough to make Bebo and MySpace shrink into little balls and cry.

The Guardian Says Facebook is a Tool of the Illuminati - Maybe

TechCrunch was also good enough to furnish readers with an article from - of all places - The Guardian (a liberal London daily, one of the most authoritative voices in British media) about Facebook owning the CIA or something like that.

As a grown-up, I don't really feel the need to look into it. If there's anything to it, come on back and tell us all about it - if the Men in Black, Elvis 2.0 and the Lizard People don't get to you first.

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