Europe's most active investors in 2024: public funds

Public funds have become an integral part of Europe’s innovation ecosystem, fueling startups with both capital and strategic support. These institutions play a crucial role in de-risking investments, particularly in early-stage tech, and ensuring that European companies can compete on the global stage. With so many public funds in action, who were the most active players?

This ranking shines a spotlight on the key public funders that placed the most bets on European tech startups last year. Sifted tracked all publicly announced deals in 2024 and contacted the relevant institutions to verify their activity. Deal count refers to the number of European tech companies launched post-2005 that a public fund backed — either with equity investment, debt financing or grant funding — to give a better understanding of their reach and impact on their domestic tech ecosystem. Fund focus denotes activity in 2024 at the following stages: “Early” for deals from pre-seed up to Series A, “Growth” for Series B and C and “Late” for investments from 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, with a full list of Q1 2025 investments by April 18, and submit it to rankings@sifted.eu. If you believe your deal count to be incorrect, please contact us.