The European venture capital operation of Benchmark Capital, in which Irish businessman Barry Maloney is a partner, has been spun out into a separate company.

The European arm has been renamed as Balderton Capital with assets under management of $1.5 billion. Based in London, Balderton has investments in 60 companies across 11 countries, including social networking site Bebo and online betting exchange Betfair.

Benchmark Capital is based in California and set up its European arm in 2000. "We decided that the time was right to graduate from the mother ship," Mr Maloney said.

Mr Maloney is one of five general partners who run Balderton. Each of the general partners has an equal interest in Balderton. He said the new entity would continue to work closely with Benchmark on investments in each other's territories.

Benchmark's Israeli portfolio will continue to operate under the umbrella of the California-based company.

Balderton launched its third fund at the beginning of this year worth $500 million. Mr Maloney said this fund has invested in eight companies to date.

Balderton has invested about $180 million in seven Irish companies - Alphyra, OpenNet, Setanta Sports, Globoforce, 3V, NewBay Software and InnerWorkings.

"Given the size of Ireland relative to Europe, it's a pretty significant investment for us," Mr Maloney said.

Balderton is preparing to sell its 67 per cent stake in electronic payments company Alphyra, which is valued at about €350 million.

"The Alphyra management team are doing an investor roadshow at the moment and we'll see what comes out of that," Mr Maloney said.

Balderton has a 16 per cent stake in Setanta, a pay TV sports broadcaster.

"It's got a great chance to be a serious competitor to Sky," Mr Maloney said.