Private equity firms and banks that invested in start-ups between 1999 and 2000 have lost $15bn so far with more to come, according to a survey published by Venture One, the research firm.

The survey found that venture-backed companies begun in 1999 and 2000 are going out of business one-and-half times as quickly as start-ups begun between 1992 and 1998. Fully 22% of the 1,842 companies first financed in 1999 have already gone out of business, Of the companies initially financed in 2000, 18% are already defunct.