Investors have slowly been dusting off their chequebooks in 2024, funnelling €27.8bn into European startups in H1, according to Sifted data — up 16% on the comparable figure from the first half of 2023.
A big portion of the dealmaking is coming from public institutions. State funds like the European Innovation Council and Bpifrance have been actively boosting startups this year, with Bpifrance participating in nearly 17% of all H1 French deals. Below are the most active investors in H1 into European startups, according to Sifted data.
Deal counts reflect publicly announced funding rounds and those submitted to Sifted; each investor was contacted to verify their deal count.
1/ Antler
H1 deal count: 82 deals
HQ: Singapore (global)
Fund focus: The global company builder — which helps entrepreneurs launch startups through its programme — topped the list of the most active investors so far in 2024. Antler invests in a wide range of companies, from B2B and healthtech to property tech and consumer. The firm most recently raised a $285m growth-focused fund last July to invest in companies from Series A and later.
Notable deals:
- Buddywise, AI for industrial workplace safety
- Peachies, eco-friendly baby diapers subscription service
- Harvy, platform for farmers to sell produce
2/ SFC Capital
H1 deal count: 78 deals
HQ: London
Fund focus: SFC Capital invests in early-stage companies in a variety of sectors including climate tech, robotics, fintech and B2B SaaS. The firm only backs startups eligible for SEIS and EIS funding, a UK government scheme to incentivise people to support early-stage British companies by offering income tax relief on investments.
Notable deals:
- Medwise.ai, a search platform for clinicians
- VoltShare, an EV-charging startup focusing on the hospitality industry
- Unibloom, modelling solution for corporate climate plans
3/ Bpifrance
H1 deal count: 63 deals
HQ: Paris
Fund focus: The French state bank has been a big supporter of tech startups in recent years, pumping money into startups across a variety of sectors like climate and deeptech, as well as backing VC firms and debt financing deals.
Notable deals:
- Mistral, large language model developer
- Latitude, small rocket developer
- C12, quantum computing hardware startup
4/ European Innovation Council
H1 deal count: 44 deals
HQ: Europe
Fund focus: The EIC, which was created under the EU’s Horizon Europe programme and has a €10bn budget, focuses on backing deeptech companies in Europe.
Notable deals:
- Infinite Roots, mycelium mushroom alternative to animal meat
- Axelera AI, hardware for GenAI and computer vision
- Heart Aerospace, hybrid-electric aeroplane maker
5/ Y Combinator
H1 deal count: 36 deals
HQ: San Francisco, US
Fund focus: The storied San Francisco-based accelerator has also been a big backer of European startups over the years. YC is a generalist investor writing cheques across a variety of sectors including AI, deeptech and fintech. YC invests in two startup batches per year.
Notable deals:
- Leya, AI copilot for lawyers
- Carbonfact, platform for managing the carbon footprint of the apparel industry
- PandasAI, open source AI agent for data analysis
6/ High-Tech Gründerfonds
H1 deal count: 35 deals
HQ: Bonn, Germany
Fund focus: HTGF, for short, is a public-private investor in Germany focused on seed stage startups in sectors like industrial tech, life sciences and chemicals. The firm is currently investing out of its €494m fund launched in 2021.
Notable deals:
- Tubulis, tumour-focused drug developer
- Proxima Fusion, fusion energy power plant builder
- akirolabs, procurement management software provider
7/ Kima Ventures
H1 deal count: 23 deals
HQ: Paris
Fund focus: The French family office says it writes €150k cheques into 100 companies per year, in a variety of sectors and at any stage. Some of Kima Ventures’ bets include Wise and BeReal.
Notable deals:
- Naboo, corporate seminar and offsite platform
- Seederal, electric tractor developer
- kelvin, AI for home energy audits
8/ Octopus Ventures
H1 deal count: 23 deals
HQ: London
Fund focus: The venture arm of Octopus Investments invests in pre-seed through post-Series A deals in sectors including consumer, B2B software, climate, deep tech and health tech. As Sifted has reported, the funds managed by Octopus Ventures — including four VCTs — raised £222m between the start of June 2023 to the end of May 2024.
Notable deals:
- LabGenius, antibody discovery AI platform
- Go Autonomous, AI B2B platform for companies’ quotes and orders
- Lapse, a photo-based social media app
9/ EIT
H1 deal count: 22 deals
HQ: Budapest
Fund focus: The European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) — an independent body of the European Union — invests at the earliest stage in startups working in areas like urban mobility, climate change, digitisation, food tech, health and sustainable energy.
Notable deals:
- Onego Bio, developer of animal-free egg white protein
- AQUABATTERY, long-term energy storage using water and table salt
- Geolinks, detecting natural resources and underground energy storage
10/ BNP Paribas
H1 deal count: 19 deals
HQ: Paris
Fund focus: The French bank invests in startups directly and through an accelerator, backing companies in areas like fintech, insurtech and deeptech. BNP Paribas has also been a big backer of climate tech debt rounds, including into Swedish green steel maker H2 Green Steel and solar installer Zolar.
Notable deals:
- Agriloops, sustainable aquatic agriculture startup
- Vulkam, amorphous metals producer
- Geev, donation app
11/ CDP Venture Capital
H1 deal count: 18 deals
12/ Speedinvest
H1 deal count: 17 deals
13/ CDTI
H1 deal count: 17 deals
14/ Scottish Enterprise
H1 deal count: 17 deals
15/ Earlybird Venture Capital
H1 deal count: 17 deals
