European start-ups raised record levels of funding last year after a series of blockbuster deals led by foreign investors but many of the continent’s venture capital firms struggled to raise money, according to data. Foreign investors were responsible for the biggest deals with SoftBank, the Japanese technology group, leading a €458m financing of UK virtual simulation start-up Improbable, and US funds T Rowe Price and Fidelity investing $385m into Deliveroo, the London-based takeaway food app. However, new research from PitchBook, the data provider, shows the total capital raised by Europe’s venture groups fell by a quarter to €7.4bn amid growing uncertainty about the outcome of Brexit negotiations. The total number of new funds dropped to a 10-year low of 54 in 2017, compared with 75 the previous year.

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