The statistics published by Invest Europe and realized in partnership with the European Data Cooperative give new insights about the dynamics of the Austria Private Equity market in 2021.
Last year, the total volume of investments in Austria amounted to EUR 878m and were largely dominated by foreign funds representing more than 3.5 times the investment volumes made by local private equity firms.
The total of new funds raised in Austria during 2021 reached EUR 220m, which represents 62% more than the previous year and is well above the last 15 year’s average level. These funds were mainly raised for early stage and growth transactions in opposition to 2020, where the venture phase dominated.
The funds were essentially sourced in two dominating areas: DACH and France & Benelux representing almost 50% of the total, whereby many transactions have been reported “unclassified”, which would have otherwise significantly increased the portion coming from North America. Similarly, if we exclude the “unclassified” investors, government agencies, corporate investors and family offices dominated (45%) the investment flows.
As for investments, even if it improved in 2021, Austria continues to be at the bottom end of the “old” European countries when comparing the volumes to the GDP. The results are ahead of the last 5-year’s average but both references (country of the portfolio company and country of the private equity firm) remain at a Central European region level.
In 2021, investments were mainly made in later stage ventures and in growth capital out of 3 main industrial sectors: ICT, consumer goods and services and financial & insurance activities.
