We dug into the data to uncover which corporate venture arms were the busiest backers of European tech last year. From pharma giants to energy incumbents, corporate investors are still making bold moves in the European startup scene, investing across industries from healthtech to green energy.
Sifted tracked all publicly announced CVC deals and contacted investors to verify their activity. Unannounced or internal strategic investments may not be reflected in our dataset. The ranking only includes investments in European tech startups founded post-2005. For stage breakdown, we’ve grouped deals into “Early” (pre-seed to Series A), “Growth” (Series B and C) and “Late” (Series D onwards).
Sifted will be releasing investor rankings on a quarterly basis, available to Pro subscribers. Investors are encouraged to fill out this sheet and submit it to rankings@sifted.eu. If you believe your deal count to be incorrect, please contact us.
Available to Sifted Pro subscribers
31
Early, Growth, Late
2000
CVC
29
Early, Growth, Late
1999
CVC
14
Early, Growth
1885
CVC
14
Early, Growth
2009
CVC
14
Early, Growth
1870
CVC
12
Early, Growth, Late
1935
CVC
11
Early
2015
CVC
10
Early, Growth
2009
CVC
10
Early, Growth
1857
CVC
9
Early, Growth, Late
1988
CVC
8
Early, Growth, Late
1882
CVC
8
Early, Growth
2018
CVC
8
Early, Growth
2018
CVC
8
Early, Growth
2011
CVC
7
Early, Growth, Late
2013
CVC
7
Early, Growth, Late
2000
CVC
7
Early, Growth, Late
2010
CVC
7
Early, Growth, Late
1999
CVC
7
Early, Growth, Late
1996
CVC
6
Early, Growth, Late
1997
CVC
6
Early
2023
CVC
6
Early, Growth
2019
CVC
6
Early, Growth, Late
1997
CVC
6
Early, Growth
2016
CVC
6
Early, Growth, Late
1996
CVC
6
Early, Growth
2020
CVC
5
Early, Growth
2007
CVC
5
Early, Growth
2012
CVC
5
Early
2004
CVC
5
Early
2022
CVC
5
Early, Growth
2018
CVC
5
Early, Growth, Late
2016
CVC
5
Early, Growth
1947
CVC
4
Early, Growth
1994
CVC
4
Early, Growth
2011
CVC
4
Early, Growth, Late
1865
CVC
4
Early, Growth
2018
CVC
4
Early, Growth, Late
2016
CVC
4
Early, Growth
2010
CVC
4
Early, Growth
2020
CVC
4
Early, Growth, Late
1898
CVC
4
Growth, Late
1869
CVC
4
Early
2022
CVC
4
Early, Growth
2017
CVC
4
Early, Growth, Late
1876
CVC
4
Growth, Late
1987
CVC
4
Early
2018
CVC
3
Early, Growth
1864
CVC
3
Early, Growth
2002
CVC
3
Early, Growth
1991
CVC
3
Early, Growth, Late
2010
CVC
3
Early, Growth
2007
CVC
3
Early, Growth, Late
2014
CVC
3
Early, Growth
1927
CVC
3
Early, Growth
2016
CVC
3
Early, Growth
2019
CVC
3
Early, Growth
1948
CVC
3
Early, Growth
1858
CVC
3
Early, Growth
2015
CVC
3
Early, Growth
2015
CVC
3
Early, Growth
2015
CVC
3
Early, Growth
1998
CVC
3
Early, Growth
2009
CVC
3
Early, Growth
2015
CVC
3
Early, Growth
2021
CVC
3
Early
2014
CVC
2
Early, Growth
1991
CVC
2
Early, Growth
1999
CVC
2
Early, Growth
2017
CVC
2
Early, Growth
2009
CVC
2
Early, Growth
1991
CVC
2
Early, Growth
2013
CVC
2
Early, Growth
2018
CVC
2
Early, Growth
2021
CVC
2
Early, Growth
2009
CVC
2
Early, Growth
2015
CVC
2
Early, Growth
2007
CVC
2
Growth
2017
CVC
2
Early, Growth
2014
CVC
2
Early, Growth, Late
2018
CVC
2
Early, Growth
2018
CVC
2
Early, Growth, Late
1969
CVC
2
Early, Growth
2017
CVC
2
Early, Growth, Late
1926
CVC
2
Early, Growth
2015
CVC
2
Early, Growth
2002
CVC
2
Early, Growth
2022
CVC
2
Early, Growth
2018
CVC
2
Early, Growth, Late
1998
CVC