But that is changing. Funding rose more than 650 percent in Germany and nearly 2,000 percent in Sweden. While American stock exchanges list around 1,500 high-tech companies, the Neuer Markt exchange in Frankfurt is just emerging with about 32 stocks.
Observers report the new start-up markets are sizzling.
Markets on two exchanges are said to be up 168 percent and 322 percent during the past five quarters or so. By contrast, attempts by the Dutch government in the early 1980s to foray into venture capital turned into an expensive, scandalous failure, and government bureaucrats turned off the spigots in 1995.