13 min read
Series - part 4 of 4 The Best Venture Capital Firms in Europe Currently Investing in Startups
Looking to raise investment from venture capital firms based in Europe but not sure who to reach out to? I’ve rounded up some of the best VC firms in Europe and added exactly the information you need in order to save you time on research!
This post is part of the Venture Capital Firms series
- 1.Here are the top Venture Capital Firms in Asia that are investing in early-stage startups
- 2.Top Venture Capital Firms in Latin America Investing in Startups
- 3.The 45 (best) venture capital firms in the USA that literally want startups to pitch them
- 4.The Best Venture Capital Firms in Europe Currently Investing in Startups
Table of Content
We’ve put in the work to create a roundup of the top venture capital firms in Europe, categorized by country.
We’ve included:
- Information on how to apply
- As much information as we could find on how much money they usually invest
- Contact information
- Any other trivia we thought was important for you to know
- Good luck pitching!
VCs in Austria
AWS Gründerfonds
Their investment criteria:
- The company must be headquartered in Austria
- No revenue required, but max EUR 10mn
- Less than 50 employees
- At least 25% equity must be held by founders
- Younger than 6 years old
- Highly scalable business model with documented proof of concept
How much they usually invest:
- Between 100,000 – 3,000,000 EUR
Speedinvest
What you need to know:
- They prefer investing in European startups but are open to global too in the right situation
- Industries they’re excited about are Fintech, Insurtech, Healthtech, Deeptech, and platforms
- They absolutely LOVE network effect driven startups, so much so that they’ve created a “baby fund” of 50 million EUR that invests exclusively in startups that feature network effects
How much they usually invest:
- As a general figure, usually around 500,000 EUR Seed
- They also facilitate series A and pre-seed investments of as little as 100,000 EUR for their Network X fund.
- If you’ve got a Fintech startup and are looking for more, you’re in luck as they can push up to 4,000,000 EUR for that industry.
How to apply:
Fiedler Capital
What you need to know:
- They are a relatively new fund that focuses on pre-seed rounds for early-stage startups
- They prefer to be lead investors
- They look into all verticals but have a strong preference for B2B SaaS, platforms, and data analytics startups
- The focus on companies from Austria, CEE & the Baltics and have an interest in startups with Eastern European founders currently living abroad.
How much they usually invest:
- Cash investments up to 250,000 EUR at the pre-seed and seed stage.
How to apply:
- Email them at [email protected]
VCs in Belgium
Capricorn Partners
Investment criteria:
- Core business activity located in Europe (or has a strong European link)
- The business model must have a credible growth strategy with the potential to become a market leader in their sector
- Must own defendable intellectual property
- Privately held
- Proven technology base with a proof of concept that works
- Possibility for an exit strategy via IPO and/or trade sale within a period of 3 to 7 years after initial investment
How much they usually invest:
- Initial investments are typically in the €1-5 million range
- They occasionally do seed deals, but their main focus is on early-stage companies that need funding for product/technology development
How to apply:
- Email them at [email protected]
Hummingbird
Interesting trivia about Hummingbird Ventures:
- They pride themselves on supporting extraordinary entrepreneurs that don’t “fit the mould” and that “challenge industry boundaries and conventions”.
- 80% of their investments have gone to early-stage companies.
- They’ve had 6 exits according to their Crunchbase profile here.
- They’re kind of different than most VC firms, in a very refreshing kind of way. Read this blog post and check out the quote below for a taste.
Barend Vanden Brande - Founding Partner Hummingbird VenturesWe are generally not a fan of conferences. Our favorite breed of entrepreneur seems to be absent. Expert panels don’t break new ground. Rather, conferences amplify the noise.
How much they usually invest:
- Their smallest ticket was $250,000 and their largest investment was $8,000,000
- Their average investment size is around $1-2 million, mostly series A, with a median valuation of around $5,000,000
- In 2017 they raised $95M for a new fund called Hummingbird III.
How to apply:
- Email them at [email protected]
Volta Ventures
Useful information about Volta Ventures:
- Volta Ventures is one of the top seed & early stage investors in the Benelux region
- Their team is made up of around 30 angel investors
- They focus on internet & software companies, ideally focused on the Benelux region
- They recently invested €1.7 in a Brussels-based startup called Nodalview. Privately held
- Proven technology base with a proof of concept that works
- Possibility for an exit strategy via IPO and/or trade sale within a period of 3 to 7 years after initial investment
How much they usually invest:
- They don’t mention the bottom part of the range on their website, but considering their a seed investor, I’d imagine anything from €500,000 to €1,000,000 would be reasonable.
- They do mention that they can go as high as €7,000,000 on subsequent rounds
How to apply:
- Email them at [email protected] and send a presentation or an executive summary.
- Don’t send a 40-page business plan, they will not read it.
- If your opportunity matches their investment criteria, they will (probably) invite you for a first meeting
VCs in Bulgaria
LAUNCHub Ventures
What you need to know about LAUNCHub Ventures:
- They are an early-stage VC fund investing in the seed space
- Their criteria for investing includes initial traction and the founding team composition
- As a fund, they have a tendency to invest in digital businesses but prefer to stay sector agnostic
- Their portfolio companies consist of SaaS, Enterprise Software, Healthtech, E-Commerce, Mobile, IoT, but they claim to not be limited to just those areas.
- While they’re based in Bulgaria, they’re open to investing outside of Southeastern Europe, too
How much they usually invest:
- They usually invest between €300-700k but are able to invest up to €2.5 million in the right startup.
- They claim to preserve enough cash in their fund to support portfolio companies in follow-up funding rounds
- The fund size is €70 million and has backed 90 startups so far
How to apply:
- Fill in the Typeform here and send a presentation or an executive summary.
VCs in Czech Republic
Credo Ventures
What you need to know about Credo Ventures:
- They invest in technology founders from Central Europe
- Sectors they like investing in include IT, internet, mobile, and healthcare
- They’re based in Prague, Czech republic
How much they usually invest:
- They usually invest between €50,000 – €6,000,000
- 50% of their investments are in seed round
- 30% of their investments in series A round
- 20% of their investments in series B round
- The fund size is €71 million
How to apply:
- Email them at [email protected] and send a presentation or an executive summary.
VCs in Denmark
Northcap
What you need to know about Northcap:
- They invest in ICT B2B and B2B2C startups in Northern Europe
- They were founded in 19999 but changed their name to Northcap in 2006.
- They’ve invested in 40+ IT companies
- They only do seed investments in Denmark
- They’ll invest in other Northern European startups if their revenue is above 1-2 million Euros. They do require significant financial traction before investing (only exception is if the startup is Denmark based)
How much they usually invest:
- They usually invest between €1,000,000 – €5,000,000 in the first round plus follow-up
How to apply:
- Email them at [email protected], their process is relatively informal. The whole process usually takes just two months if you’re a good fit.
VCs in Estonia
Karma
What you need to know about Karma:
- Karma is a tech-focused venture capital firm
- They generally invest in late seed and A round investments and are super Europe focused but target global markets
- They back companies with strong ideas that are delivered with unique technology, customer traction, and global ambition
- They offer strategic and technical follow up support after the investments
How much they usually invest:
- They invest up to €3,000,000 and can make follow-on investments in later rounds
How to apply:
- Great question! I’m sure you’ll figure it out though 😉
VCs in Finland
Innovestor Group
What you need to know about Innovestor:
- They invest, but are also a co-investment platform
- €130M+ invested so far
- 500+ co-investors
How much they usually invest:
- They invest up to €1,000,000 in the first round
How to apply:
VCs in France
360 Capital
What you need to know about 360 capital:
- Early-stage investors since 1997
- Generally, enjoy investing in French and Italian startups, have offices in Paris and Milan.
- 113 investments
- €300 million of assets under management
How much they usually invest:
- They invest up to €100,000 to €10 million in early and growth-stage startups
How to apply:
- There’s a Typeform embedded on their homepage here
VCs in Greece
Venture Friends
What Venture Friends is looking for:
- Early stage startups that have already launched a product
- Founders who can build an amazing and complementary team
- Innovative ideas that solve big tangible problems
- A viable plan for international scalability
How much they usually invest:
- The typical first ticket is around €400,000
How to apply:
- Fill in the form on this page to apply
Foti Panagiotakopoulos
Founder at GrowthMentor
