# Y Combinator

The top 10 investors backing Europe’s fastest-growing startups and scaleups

A look at the most active investors backing the startups on Sifted’s 2026 leaderboard of the 250 fastest-growing startups in Europe, based on the number of companies they backed

The most active US VCs in Europe

Between January and the August 26th, 738 US-headquartered investors put capital into European startups

Europe’s 50 most active equity investors in H1 2026

A16z backs HappyRobot at $1.2bn valuation

The startup helps enterprises build, deploy and manage AI agents across complex workflows

YC-backed Flagright raises $12.5m to fuel US expansion

The round was led by Infinity Ventures with participation from Sella Direct Ventures and Frontline

Sequoia, General Catalyst, Mistral and OpenAI back new European AI accelerator to compete against Y Combinator

Based in Station F in Paris, the programme will focus on helping early-stage AI startups with their go-to-market strategy

The European startups that made it to Y Combinator’s spring batch

Just nine of the 143 companies are European

German accelerator EWOR raises €60m to challenge YC and find the next $1bn founders

“I believe there's not enough DeepMinds out there, and there's not enough DeepSeeks,” says cofounder Daniel Dippold

Want to get in Y Combinator? Don't do this

Five mistakes to avoid in your Y Combinator application, from someone who will be looking at it