According to the 2012 report of the Spanish Venture Capital Association (ASCRI), the Spanish venture capital market is dominated by small deals in SMEs with an average amount invested of €4.6 billion per deal (151bTP1T less than in 2011).

60% of operations, in SMEs with less than 100 employees.

Of the 543 deals closed in 2012, 451 were targeted at SMEs with less than 100 employees. Of these, 438 (97%) were led by domestic ECRs, as the international investor, for the most part, is oriented towards larger transactions in consolidated companies.

«Convendría analizar el sector por separado entre las grandes operaciones (>100MM€) y el resto. El primer grupo representa solo el 1,3% y ha estado dominado por los fondos internacionales. Se pueden contar con los dedos de las manos, han sido 6 operaciones: Advent International en Maxam, Bain Capital en Atento, Bridgepoint en Borawind, Doughty Hanson en USP Hospitales, Trilantic e Investindustrial en Euskaltel e Investindustrial en Portaventura», comenta Diego Gutierrez (ABRA INVEST)specialist in corporate finance in SMEs.

Smaller and smaller operations: 72% less than €1 billion.

Venture Capital activity in Spain, mainly focused on SME financing, means that the size of the operations carried out by the sector is normally small. Of the 543 transactions accounted for, almost half (49%) were for less than 250,000 euros. 721 PTY1T received less than EUR 1 million, 21.71 PTY1T between EUR 1 and 10 million, 2.91 PTY1T between EUR 10 and 25 million and 21 PTY1T between EUR 25 and 100 million. The remaining 1.31T% were transactions in excess of EUR 100 million.

» Es alentador que la financiación esté orientándose a las pymes y a las empresas en fase de crecimiento. Hay que tener en cuenta que el tejido empresarial en España está principalmente compuesto de Pymes que necesitan, más que nunca, de nuevas inyecciones de capital para abarcar nuevos mercados, ganar tamaño integrándose con otras compañías, u otros procesos de crecimiento» señala Diego Gutierrez Zarza.
The average amount invested per company fell to €4.6 million per transaction (in 2011 the average was €5.4 million), a 15% year-on-year decline.