eFront, the leading financial software and solutions provider dedicated to Alternative Investments, has published its latest Quarterly Private Equity Performance report, showing that venture capital funds globally currently offer a highly attractive risk-return profile, with Western European funds significantly outperforming the historical average.

Key findings

• Performance, risk and holding periods of global venture capital funds have both fallen over the last two quarters, hinting at a wave of new investments.
• Risk-adjusted performance, however, has improved markedly, with risk levels returning to pre-2013 levels and returns remaining above 1.4x.
• Western European venture capital funds are setting a “new normal” for returns, with performance consistently higher than the historical average and convergence with US performance on the horizon. Performance is led by the extremely strong 2009 and 2010 vintage years, while 2011-15 funds are also performing well.
• The picture of US venture funds is increasingly contrasted, with vintage years 2009 and 2011 underperforming, while 2010, 2012 and 2015 significantly outperform.
• The average number of years companies are held in portfolios dropped sharply in 2018.