# Funding

Inside the ‘secondaries arms race’: How employee liquidity is becoming fundamental to private businesses

As investors and early employees increasingly look for liquidity opportunities, high-growth tech companies are using secondary share sales to unlock trapped equity

The most active growth equity investors in Europe

83 growth-stage investors with at least three growth investments have deployed capital into European companies this year

Claret Capital raises €575m for fourth debt fund as ‘less sexy’ startups need access

The firm aims to lend to VC-backed startups in areas like climate, lifesciences and spacetech

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.

Why late-stage secondary offerings are transforming private market access

Berlin’s Peec AI targeting $200m valuation in new fundraise, sources say

The startup last raised $21m in November

The European investors set to win big from Anthropic’s $1tn+ IPO

Some European investors managed to squeeze into the US AI model maker’s cap table

M&A: The European startups raising cash and on the hunt for acquisitions

A strategy once reserved for incumbents is now filtering down to younger VC-backed startups

Vinted hits €8bn valuation following big secondaries sale

The scaleup has become one of the hottest commodities on the secondaries market, insiders have told Sifted

Ex-Creandum partner launches fund to help scaleups raise capital via bonds

Swedish Voi previously raised €90m through bonds. Now growth fund Always Summer wants to deliver similar deals for other scaleups

How equipment finance can supercharge European startups

European startups in asset-heavy sectors raised €34bn in non-dilutive funding last year

10 German soonicorns to watch

Which startups are on track for a billion-dollar price tag?

Europe’s most active secondary investors

Europe’s scaleups are doing more secondaries, but who are the top investors?

Mining startup Hades raises €15m as demand for critical minerals heats up: ‘Europe is incredibly vulnerable’

The startup, which aims to mine critical minerals and sell geothermal energy, is valued at €67.5m

JPMorgan: The ‘surprising’ sector that could be ripe for M&A in Europe

European scaleups are doing more and more secondaries — but we’re still missing a healthy exit environment

'There’s growing interest': Deutsche Börse exec hopeful of 2026 IPO pipeline

The Frankfurt Stock Exchange has had its fair share of big-name tech and VC-backed listings, some of which were as early as 2014 — but tech IPOs have slowed down in recent years

Nvidia in talks to back Yann LeCun’s new AI startup in bumper funding round

The startup's round was quickly oversubscribed, sources tell Sifted, with the final close expected to be higher than €500m

These 26 European startups raised multiple rounds in 2025

Number of repeat fundraisers has more than doubled

Euronext exec says US no longer the ‘Holy Grail’ of tech IPOs

Mathieu Caron presides over the Euronext at a time when many European founders and VCs claim the continent’s stock exchanges aren’t fit for purpose

Who will IPO in 2026? Here are Europe’s next candidates

Sifted spoke to the companies that could be considering a public listing

The European startups that turned a profit this year

Swinging to profitability remains a rare achievement for any startup

The most active acquirers of European startups in 2025

Sifted counted 860 startup exits across Europe in 2025, though just 75 had terms that were publicly disclosed

Satellite startup Iceye hits €2.4bn valuation as it zeroes in on defence

Finnish startup working with defence primes and governments in countries like Finland and the Netherlands

2025 equity funding surpasses 2024

AI and late-stage momentum revive Europe’s funding market, despite a drop in deal count