We are happy to see a constantly growing number of venture capital companies (see the 1Q 2022, 2Q 2022, 3Q 2022, and 4Q 2022 overviews), especially ones focusing on the European market. That’s why we have prepared a quarterly overview of new VCs investing in startups across Europe - let's dive into the 1Q of 2023!
To discover more VC funds, check out our VC list - a complex database of the best early-stage venture capital funds investing in innovative startups across different verticals. Read More.
VC Funds from CEE
- The Bulgarian Fund of Funds allocates €272M to VC/PE fund managers across the country. These investments aim to fuel the scientific/research initiatives, digitization, and competitiveness of the nation's small and medium-sized companies segment.
- Pan-European climate VC Contrarian Ventures secures €25M from EIB, getting closer to the raise of its next €100M fund.
- Slovenian pharma corporation Labena establishes a €100M Labena Ventures accelerator to focus on biotech and healthtech startups across Central/Eastern Europe.
- Prague-based climate investor Inven Capital gets an extra €50M from EIB to continue investing in Europe/Israel.
- Global VC and accelerator Startup Wise Guys achieve the initial €25M closing of their €45M fund. The firm will back early-stage companies in B2B SaaS, Fintech, cybersecurity, XR, and sustainability spaces throughout Central/Eastern Europe, Italy, Spain, and Africa.
- Latvian equity firm Merito Partners claims the first, €17M closing of its upcoming fund, intending to invest between €500K to €5M into startups from Scandinavia and the Baltics.
- Polish investor JR HOLDING obtains an extra 24M PLN for the new investments.
- The first Lithuanian VC/accelerator for dual-use technology, Scale Wolf VC, is established. The fundraising is still ongoing yet Rokas Tamošiūnas has been revealed as one of the fund's partners.
- Lithuanian game development veterans launch a Gamedev Fund to support PC/console games, investing anywhere from €100K to €500K into European studios having a playable demo.
- La French Tech Kyiv kickstarts the Ukrainian Phoenix Tech Fund, which will invest €100K to €400K in local pre-seed and seed-stage startups.
VC Funds from Europe
- EIB supports the creation of a new €3.75Bn FoF to invest in European late-stage VCs. The newly-born European Tech Champions Initiative plans to invest in 10–15 VCs involved in funding rounds exceeding €50M+ in commitments.
- Highland Europe secures a fresh €1Bn growth fund for European startup investments, focusing on growth-stage internet, mobile, and software companies from Europe.
- Germany unveils a €1Bn DeepTech & Climate Fonds to support German and European scaleups with investments of up to €30M.
- Galdana Ventures raises a third, $700M FoF to fund VCs across the US, Asia, Israel, and Europe.
- German VC High-Tech Gründerfonds announces the closing of a €493.8M to invest in German seed-stage startups.
- A German PE firm, FLEX Capital, raises a €300M vehicle to acquire DACH-based scaleups.
- Berlin-based venture firm La Famiglia announces a €250M fund to invest up to €5M into B2B ML/AI, data, logistics and supply chain, consumerization of B2B, fintech and insurtech, sustainability and Industry 4.0 innovation.
- French VC Elaia closes a €200M fund for pre-seed – series B startups throughout Europe and Israel. The firm will consider startups throughout cybersecurity, cloud Infrastructure, digital life sciences, fintech/insurtech, and digital transformation, investing between €1M to €15M in each company.
- German VC Planet A raises a €160M fund to support the continent's climate tech.
- Italian VC P101 SGR announces a €150M close of its upcoming €250M fund. The firm will focus on early to growth stage B2B/B2C startups across fintech, proptech, edutech, and cybersecurity, putting between €1M to €10M in each opportunity.
- Simon Capital raises a €105M fund to concentrate on consumer, food/biotech, and expanding into wellbeing and productivity areas.
- Barcelona-based health/biotech VC Asabys Partners achieves the first €100M close of its €200M fund. The firm plans to invest in Europe, Israel, and the US, allocating €2M to €5M to each startup.
- Steven Bartlett launches a $100M VC Flight Story Fund to invest in European startups in blockchain, biotech, health/wellbeing, commerce, technology, and space verticals.
- Swiss venture investor Momenta launches $100M funds to invest in industry 5.0 startups, supporting companies throughout the EU, EFTA, UK, US, and Canada.
- Munich VC Matterwave announces the first, €75M close of its €130M funds, investing €1M to €4M in European industrial tech startups.
- Iceland VC Crowberry Capital raises a 675M kr ($107,5M) fund to invest in startups across the Nordics.
- UK's Playfair Capital finalizes the closing of its next $70M fund, concentrating on pre-seed startups in the UK and broader Europe. The firm is open to evaluating startups from all sectors and industries, typically investing up to £750K into each startup.
- Kraken crypto exchange alumni reveal the launch of $65M Kraken Ventures to in early-stage European/US crypto and fintech startups.
- UK's Amadeus Capital Partners and Austrian APEX Ventures announce the initial €28M closing of a joint €80M fund for investments in DACH startups. The firm plans to back seed/Series A companies across AI/ML, quantum technologies/photonics, mobility and space innovation, autonomous systems/robotics, and other frontier technologies.
- Berlin-based proptech VC PropTech1 Ventures makes the first €44M closing of its upcoming €100M fund supporting European early-stage startups.
- German media company RTL Deutschland kickstarts a venture arm, RTL Ventures, to back DACH-based consumer tech companies.
- Spanish healthcare VC Clave Capital reaches the first €50M close of its €65M fund. The firm will focus on Spanish and European startups, investing between, €500K and €1M in each company.
- German venture capital firm Rethink Ventures initiates a €50M funds to invest in early-stage startups in the mobility, automotive and logistics sectors. The firm's investment sizes range from €500K to €2M.
- Ocean14 Capital secures an additional €30M to finalize its blue-economy-centred fund. The firm plans to allocate ⅔ of its future fund to support European growth-stage businesses, while reserving the remaining third for companies beyond the region.
- German venture capital firm Beyond Capital completes a €21.5M inaugural fund to invest in B2B and B2B fintech, marketplaces, and SaaS. The firm is open to considering startups from all over the globe and plans to invest between €200K and €500K into each company.
- UK-based Counteract claims the first £15M closing of its £35M inaugural fund. The firm will fund carbon removal startups throughout the globe.
- Web3 VC Smape Capital raises €20m for its next fund. The firm will focus on Web3 and token-first investments in pre-seed and seed-stage startups.
- Amsterdam-based QDNL Participations kickstarts a €15M fund supporting Dutch early-stage quantum innovation.
- French VC Neo Founders starts fundraising for a €15/20M fund to back European pre-seed and seed-stage startups. The firm plans to invest up to €500K into startups they're backing.
- London-based Silicon Roundabout Ventures makes the first closing of its £10M fund. The company plans to invest £100K-300K in pre-seed and seed-stage businesses shaping the future of computing, data processing, climate tech and security.
- Solo GP fund Anamcara Capital raises $10.6M inaugural vehicle to back B2B startups throughout Europe. The firm plans to invest around $200K into each opportunity it pursues.
- No Label Ventures announces a new fund to invest in pre-seed and seed-stage immigrant entrepreneurs across Europe. The firm will allocate between $150K to $200K to each opportunity and share some of the fund's profits.
- Flagship Founders, a German venture studio for maritime tech raises €3.5M to expand the team and fund its next investments.
Global VC Funds
- New Enterprise Associates (NEA) announce a $6.2Bn closing across two funds. The vehicles will support technology and healthcare innovation, including enterprise and consumer technology, digital health and life sciences startups throughout all geographies and stages of development.
- NY-based growth VC General Atlantic completes a $3.5Bn close of its BeyondNetZero climate fund. The firm will back growth-stage startups focused on decarbonization, energy efficiency, resource conservation, and emissions management.
- Bain Capital Tech Opportunities wraps up its second, $2.4Bn fund targeting later-stage opportunities in cybersecurity, healthcare IT, and/or fintech.
- Venom Foundation and Iceberg Capital partner up in launching a $1B Venom Ventures focused on pre-seed to Series A rounds for web3 protocols and dApps.
- Google Ventures finalizes its latest $500M fund investing in European and North American early-stage startups.
- US-based FJ Labs announces a $260M close across two funds making early-stage investments in marketplaces mainly throughout the US and around the globe.
- Building materials group CRH unveils a $250M fund CRH Ventures. The firm will invest in construction and climate technology companies operating across the construction value chain.
- Salesforce Ventures initiates a $250M fund for generative AI startups under the name of “Generative AI Fund”.
- Sequoia Capital reveals a $195M fund. The firm will focus on European/US pre-seed and seed-stage companies.
- Pegasus Tech Ventures teams up with Japanese chemical/life sciences corporation Denka in kickstarting a $100M fund. The firm will scout for early and later-stage startups working within renewable energy, EV batteries, chips, and health tech.
- Singapore-based Blockchain Founders Fund announces a close of a $75M fund. The firm will focus on pre-seed and seed-stage Web3/blockchain tech throughout the globe.
Related Posts:
New VC Funds Investing in Europe - 4Q 2022 (by Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
New VC Funds Investing In Europe - 3Q 2022 (by Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
New VC Funds Investing In Europe - 2Q 2022 (by Valerie Stupnikova, Vestbee)
