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Shout out to Finch Capital for this neat summary on European Fintech right now! #europeantech #venturecapital #fintech

I always get asked how Europe can compete with the US in Tech. 1 - Attitude The American mindset is "think big, move fast, play to win, generate wealth". I don't envy their social system but we can learn from their ambition, urgency, & confidence. 2 - Bureaucracy The US is set up to rally behind, & remove barriers for, hypergrowth companies. Europe needs to start thinking and acting like a single entity to compete - remove the borders, complications, and regulations to create a single governance structure. 3 - Growth funding Funding in Europe drops off a cliff for outlying hypergrowth tech companies past Series B/C. It is almost always US money which then takes over our finest. Fix the two above, this will follow.

European VC funding by country (Q3 2024) Thx Sifted

This is where European VCs are putting their money right now... Thx Sifted

Who you raise from is a much stronger signal than how much you raise. Fewer VCs are raising bigger rounds. Fundraising in Europe this year is tracking higher than 2023 - good news. But that is going to far fewer VCs. Typically experienced fund managers at either larger, multi-stage funds....or specialist, niche investors. Thx PitchBook for the chart

Global VC funding remains.....complicated. The overall picture is improving, but with huge differences across regions, sectors, and stage. 2025? Key elections, budgets, and interest rate movements will soon be done. IPO activity is gathering, PE activity is increasing, M&A is accelerating. More exits = more capital back into the market. Faster and with more conviction. Thx Dealroom.co

The best investors on the planet are investing far more now than last year. The next generation of technology companies will be immense. They are being built now. Despite all the doom & gloom, this is a hugely exciting time for early-stage tech. To quote Warren Buffet: "Be greedy when others are fearful" Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed, Alumni Ventures, Accel, Sequoia Capital, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Insight Partners, FJ Labs, GV (Google Ventures), Global Brain Corporation, Index Ventures Thx Crunchbase

EU Inc.... Could this be the key to Europe producing the next Google, Facebook, Amazon, Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Tesla...? Leading European tech companies and investors have petitioned for a single legal entity. DeepL, Wise, Pigment, Personio, Remote, Index Ventures, Seedcamp This would essentially mean European tech companies follow one set of rules across investment, tax, hiring, regulations, etc. Makes sense to me. Europe produces more start-ups than any other region. But our best companies soon move to the US or get acquired. The old reasons for Europe not producing (m)any global tech leaders no longer apply. We have a (largely) unified currency and single talent market. Tech easily automates language differences. The two things holding Europe back are bureaucracy and serious growth funding. This could be a huge step in the right direction.

Please get involved in Atomico's State of European Tech survey. This is consistently one of the most comprehensive and insightful overviews of our industry. Perhaps needed more than ever right now!

Investment In vs Investment Out ♻ Investment In: A snapshot of UK VC shows funding has turned a corner and is increasingly healthy. Investment Out: Exits are still happening but for very low value (distressed sales). Why am I optimistic? 1 - UK's (& Europe's) ability to raise & deploy increasing capital shows long term confidence in the tech space. 2) Exits will improve from 2025 - distressed sales wash out and stronger deals ramp up (+ IPO window starts opening).