Coming in third – How can Europe catch up in VC funding?
summary
Europe shows a healthy early-stage market—85% of rounds under €5M are European—but later-stage funding skews to non‑EU backers: only ~33% of rounds above €50M are European. Big rounds and non‑traditional capital (hedge funds, PE) push valuations up—Wefox raises $650M in Series C—while German ESOP taxation and limited pension/insurance allocations to VC restrict domestic late‑stage supply. Policy tweaks, tax changes for employee equity and stronger entrepreneurial culture are the levers argued to close the gap by 2030.
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chapters (16)
- 0:00Intro
- 2:00VC landscape in Europe
- 4:00How easy was it to raise capital
- 7:20Differences between European and Asian VC landscape
- 9:50Why do we forks come from Europe
- 12:30Micro vs later stage funding
- 13:40How can Europe catch up
- 16:30Will Europe go in the right direction
- 19:00European scaleup funding
- 21:30Micro VCs
- 23:00European VCs
- 24:30Digital sovereignty
- 27:30VC support
- 28:50Tax money
- 31:00Government
- 33:30Wish for 2030
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