Venture investing in Europe dropped significantly in the fourth quarter as M&A activity continued at a slow pace in the continent’s soft economy. Capital deployed during the final three months of the year decreased 26% from a year earlier and deal volume slumped 22%, according to Dow Jones VentureSource.

In a Q&A with peHUB, Balderton Capital’s Barry Maloney discusses what’s worrying European venture capitalists. Turns out tapering domestic growth isn’t the biggest cause of concern.

For those who weren’t able to attend our PartnerConnect 2012 conference in the spring, we have a real treat for you: an interview with buyouts legend Henry Kravis. This is the only conference Kravis has spoken at this year.

Europe’s professional networking site Viadeo announced it has raised $32 million in a Series D round from the French Sovereign Fund and the Fonds Stratégique d’Investissement, among other investors. The Paris-based company, which focuses on the European and Chinese markets, previously raised about $18 million in funding from IDinvest Partners and Ventech. PRESS RELEASE VIADEO [...]

Cleantech pundits like to point out that the rest of the world is cleaning America’s clock in green technology.

But this isn’t entirely true if you look at venture investing. Especially if you look at the recently completed first quarter, when U.S. venture capitalists accounted for 79% of the global capital dispersed to cleantech startups.

It was the highest percentage since 2002, according to the Cleantech Group.

In our previous cleantech slideshows, we’ve covered the quarter’s solid rebound. First-quarter cleantech investment dollars were up 13% from a year ago and 52% from the fourth quarter to $2.57 billion, according to the Cleantech Group.

While deal volume lagged, it was still up 18% from a year ago. The quarter’s 159 deals proved to be the lowest total since mid-2009 and fell 19% from the fourth quarter’s 189.

What does the United States have that Europe doesn’t? For Peter Arvai, co-founder and CEO of Prezi, a developer of an online presentation tool that was founded in Hungary, the answer has to do with critical mass. The United States has the market and the access to capital, Arvai writes in the upcoming issue of [...]

First: Yes, that headline is a Britpop reference to U.K. rapper Lady Sovereign. There’s a PE connection: Ms. Sovereign is, after all, signed with EMI, a label (barely) still owned by Terra Firma.

Just as Ms. Sovereign’s label is in a crisis, so too is much of the European continent. We have irate Germans, rioting overworked Greeks, belt-tightening Iberians and the prospect of the French storming away from the dinner table in a huff.

Surely this must mean something for private equity. Perhaps the potential for collapse of entire currencies will change the whole game.