# Sifted data

Europe’s leading pre-seed investors in 2026

From London to Helsinki: the VC funds consistently backing Europe's earliest-stage startups

The companies that shot up Sifted’s DACH & CEE leaderboard

Despite their size, Berlin-based unicorns N8n and Parloa are among the biggest climbers 

Just three deals make up almost half of all VC funding in Germany this year

More than a third of all German VC funding since Sifted started tracking in 2024 has gone to just 10 companies

The 10 robotics startups that raised the biggest rounds in H1 2026

Robotics startups in Europe raised more in H1 2026 than the previous two years combined. Here are the big hitters

Record number of CVCs making repeat bets on European robotics

Chipmakers and AI infrastructure players are leading the activity, according to Sifted data

Europe’s 30 most active public funds in H1 2026

The EIC leads public funding efforts, but country-specific funds are increasingly active

The 144 new funds this year and what they reveal about Europe's investment market

Europe's fund managers are raising again. Just not the ones you'd expect.

European robotics startups raised more in six months than past two years combined

Neura Robotics's €1.2bn raise gives continent biggest ever half for robotics funding

Go big and go abroad: Europe’s startups are expanding internationally as early as seed

13 early-stage deeptech startups Tier 1 VCs backed in H1 2026

Some of the continent’s most active investors backed companies tackling problems once considered too complicated

AI, dual use and spacetech: the new stars of debt funding

The sectors with the most momentum heading into H2

Sifted dug into the data to discover the hottest sectors across Europe in the first half of 2026

European rounds are getting bigger, but fewer companies are closing them

Every median value for every round has increased for each of the past three comparable years, but dealcount's down for many rounds.

Europe’s leading tech hubs by deal activity in H1 2026

Capital and specialisation are driving new (and smaller) European tech hubs

The sovereign capital, global chipmakers and serial investors behind Europe’s new unicorns 

Out of more than 300 investors, only 25 have invested in two or more new unicorn.

The 25 companies Europe’s startup insiders watched most closely in H1

Sifted Pro readership data reveals which European startups and scaleups investors, corporates and advisers were monitoring most actively in H1

One unicorn a week: Europe's new model for billion-dollar startups

Europe is minting unicorns again: younger, faster to $1bn and clustered around AI-native bets

H1’s biggest M&A deals

A look back at European exits so far this year

European deeptech investment hits annual record in just six months

European deeptech startups and scaleups have enjoyed a funding bonanza

Records broken as eight European startups raised $1bn+ rounds in 2026

$1bn+ rounds support scaling for Europe’s key AI companies

Series D funding rises 308% in first half of 2026

From Wayve to ElevenLabs, Europe's biggest scaleups are raising bigger rounds as AI reshapes the continent's funding landscape

Want to announce your funding round? Avoid Tuesdays at all cost

Analysis of 14k+ European funding announcements shows startups crowd into the middle of the week — making Tuesday the hardest day to stand out

Mistral, Oura, Helsing: The top 20 deals of 2025

The €1.7bn deal that kept Europe on the AI map — and other mega raises of the year

These 33 robot startups raised over €10m in Europe this year

AI advances have led to surge of interest in the field