The Carlyle Group, the buy-out firm, has raised $600m (€609.7m) for a new venture capital fund in a difficult climate which has also forced it to write down investor holdings in its Carlyle Asia Venture Partners fund.

The North American-focused Carlyle Venture Partners II fund has been raised in a market so tough that several venture capital firms have been forced to reduce the size of their investors' commitments. Venture capital funds have been particularly difficult to raise as many investors remain gun-shy from their experience with early-stage technology funds, including those run by Carlyle.