That VCs have been pumping money into European startups is no secret. While some may fear the flow would cease due to Brexit scares, it seems as if European entrepreneurs can breathe easily for the time being. Indeed, venture capital on the continent is on target to break the record of most money invested in a single year, according to research from PitchBook, the financial data and software company.
So far €14.8bn has been invested into European ventures this year alone. This means for the last quarter of 2018, only €4m more has to be invested for it to exceed a record-breaking €19bn, which PitchBook believes will happen in the next few months. Moreover, the UK and Ireland received the most capital investments this year making up for a whopping €2.4bn or 39% of the total European VC investment in the year so far. The UK is set to be the most highly invested European region for the tenth year running.
Commenting on the report Cameron Stanfill, analyst at Pitchbook, said: “Investors are increasingly raising larger funds, making it more efficient to allocate larger amounts of capital to more mature companies in the early and late stages. However, a shortage of late-stage investment targets led to a subdued third quarter, in stark contrast to the US VC ecosystem where outsized deals in the late stage are commonplace. From our perspective, the major difference is a current lack of widespread VC support or ability to execute [deals exceeding €100m]. As Europe’s venture ecosystem continues to mature, so will its ability to complete deals in the late stage and further drive up capital invested.”
Here’s hoping this trend continues in the last quarter of 2018 making the European VC ecosystem more flourishing than ever.
