Venture capital is private equity’s trump card. When the industry is accused of asset-stripping or loading companies with debt, executives point to job creation machines such as Google in the US or Skype in Europe, both backed by venture capital.

It is disappointing, then, that while a handful of European venture firms have generated substantial returns, the majority have lost money. According to the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, Europe's venture capital firms have returned only 0.7% annually on average over five years, and lost 1.9% annually over 10 years.