Venture capital statistics revised across 2020-2024 series
Banco de España has revised its experimental venture capital statistics for 2020 to 2024 alongside the publication of 2025 figures. The update includes previously omitted incomplete records and adjusts geographical classification criteria.
Recovering omitted investment records
The methodological update alters the treatment of incomplete investment entries within the experimental dataset.
Under the previous framework, records with missing fields were excluded entirely from the sample.
The revised methodology completes missing information where feasible and incorporates all available entries regardless of completeness.
This structural adjustment significantly increases the total investment volumes reported under the investment information series, bringing aggregate figures closer in line with the asset breakdown data and strengthening internal consistency across reporting categories for the 2020 to 2024 period.
Shifting focus to recipient domicile
Alongside the inclusion of 2025 figures, the central bank altered the criterion for determining the destination country of investments.
Until 2024, geographical allocations relied on the issuer code of the entity.
The new methodology redefines destination by the physical domicile of the recipient organization.
To maintain temporal consistency, the central bank applied this geographical rule retrospectively to all historical series spanning 2020 through 2024.
Necessary cleanup with limited scope
Fixing truncated samples and residency criteria eliminates glaring discrepancies between internal balance sheet metrics.
However, retroactive adjustments in experimental series underscore how fragile early venture capital tracking remains.
Analysts gain cleaner numbers but must treat multi-year trends with caution.