European venture-capital investment holds steady in 2004; VentureOne/Ernst & Young quarterly European Venture Capital Report finds early stage deals on the rise throughout Europe.

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M2 PRESSWIRE-11 February 2005-VentureOne: European venture-capital investment holds steady in 2004; VentureOne/Ernst & Young quarterly European Venture Capital Report finds early stage deals on the rise throughout Europe(C)1994-2005 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD RDATE:02112005 LONDON and NEW YORK - For the first time since 2000, annual investment in European venture-capital-backed companies held steady, with euro3.5 billion invested in 2004-nearly the same amount that was invested in 2003.

However, deal flow for the year decreased to 1,026 rounds-a 20 drop in activity from 2003- according to the European Venture Capital Report released by VentureOne and Ernst & Young. VentureOne is a unit of Dow Jones Newswires and the publisher of VentureSource. In the U.S., the...