Spanish venture capital funds attracted €2.35bn ($2.06bn) in new investment during 2000, a 91.5% surge compared with a year earlier and three times the amount attracted in 1998, according to the Spanish Venture Capital Association.

Spanish funds in turn invested some €1.13bn in early stage companies during 2000, up 56% from a year earlier, the association said. The investments were made in 258 companies, up from an average of about 100 per year throughout the 1990s. Some 18% of those investments were in so-called &quotnew economy&quot companies, a sharp rise from 6.2% in 1996.