By Lucas van Grinsven, European Technology Correspondent
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A handful of multibillioneuro companies have been created from scratch in Europe in recent years, building confidence among investors and helping start-up companies to fund their business.
"We've achieved big exits from Europe that would have been unimaginable a few years ago," said Patrick Sheehan, partner at Environmental Technologies Fund and chairman of the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA).
The highest profile launch was Internet calling company Skype which went from inception to a $4 billion sale to eBay (EBAY.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in a little more than two years.
Others include German solar energy company Q-Cells (QCEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Dutch navigation devices and software maker TomTom (TOM2.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and British wireless chip maker CSR (CSR.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
Each of these companies is now valued on Europe's stock markets at several billion euros.
"In Europe we can find good investments at affordable prices because there's less competition, and we can sell them at good valuations," said Roel Pieper, chairman of European venture group Favonius.
Some 12.6 billion euros were raised in 2005 for venture funds, up 44 percent from 2004, according to data compiled by Thomson Venture Economics.
Of those funds that will be invested over three to four years, 3.46 billion euros is for early-stage investments in 2005. That's three times more than the year before, underscoring a willingness to place more bets on the future. This trend continued in the first seven months of 2006. Continued...
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