It took a while, but European investors are coming back from a long lunch to find there’s a tech boom going on with money to be made

Photo Credit: Shutterstock - man in front of lake working and drinking coffee 

Better late than never: The European investor market seems to have finally gotten over its shell shock from the dot com bubble burst and is now catching up to the level of investment other regions have been pouring into tech for some time now.

United Ventures is a case in point. The Milan based hi-tech VC announced on Tuesday the closing of an $80M fund named United Ventures One. Contributors to the fund hail from both European institutional investment establishments such as banks and secondary funds, as well as private individuals. The weighted contribution of investment from these two parties favors the institutional investors by a two thirds majority. This is significant because it represents the European establishment’s iced over perception of hi-tech and startups has finally thawed out.

United Ventures One plans on divvying out anywhere between $1.5M to $8M per startup for a total of 20 startups from various tech sectors including digital technologies, software, mobile, commerce and gaming. All of the fund’s new tech investments will be made solely in European-based startups.

Siesta’s over

Paolo Gesess, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at United Ventures, spoke about his firm’s European focus, saying in a statement, “The European tech scene is coming of age and United Ventures is hugely excited to be participating with a significant role in its maturation.”

Europe is shaping up to be the world’s sleeping giant finally beginning to wake up. In Q2 of 2014, 92 European tech exits were announced, of which 10 were IPOs. That’s a 70% increase from Q1. As far as investment goes, European startups have raised a total of $2.8B in Q2 of 2014, the highest VC earnings quarter since 2001.

As if to highlight this burgeoning renaissance of European tech investment, United Ventures One was oversubscribed – not something we’re used to seeing from an Italian firm.

Massimiliano Magrini, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of United Ventures, explained in a statement, “With a skilled team of finance, technology and management experts at the helm [of United Ventures One] focusing on just one key vertical, we are looking forward to growing the next wave of tech startups through a multi-stage strategy and expanding them on a worldwide scale.”

Well, it’s about time, Magrini. Welcome to the party.