Venture capital firm offers ray of hope

Venture capital firms offer a glimmer of hope in the downturn

UK venture capital firm Balderton Capital has announced that it has secured funding of $430m (£282m) for technology startups worldwide.

The injection will come as good news for a sector that is currently undergoing major layoffs.

"This is a great start for the year for Balderton in what is clearly a difficult economic environment," said Balderton partner Barry Maloney.

"Each economic cycle provides opportunities for the best entrepreneurs, and we are excited to be able to invest in tomorrow's success stories in this our fourth fund."

Balderton has invested in a number of notable companies since its founding in 2000, including social networking site Bebo, which was sold to AOL for $850m (£572m), and open source database firm MySQL, which was sold to Sun Microsystems for $1bn (£673m).

Neil Ward-Dutton, an analyst at Macehiter Ward-Dutton, suggested that the funding will be a reality check for those projecting doom and gloom for the industry, particularly in the area of online services where Balderton puts most of its investments.

"Balderton has a heritage of making longer-term investments and, with that in mind, it makes a lot of sense for them to invest now. They are not looking for an immediate return, which is good for a quiet period," he said.