The last three years have been a rocky period for European VCs. As exits have been scarce, and there’s less money flowing into startups, VCs themselves have hit a snag raising their own funds: European VC fundraising slumped to nearly €21bn in 2024, down from €34bn in 2022, according to PitchBook data.
Though many investors still report a tough fundraising environment, LP appetite for European VCs is looking up: 29% of LPs say they’re more interested in investing in European VC compared to a year ago, at 18%, according to VC Atomico’s recent state of European tech report.
VCs are also optimistic about their chances of returning capital to LPs this year, with 91% of VC respondents to a Sifted survey in December saying they expect to return more capital to their LPs in the next 12 months than the past 12 months.
Europe’s LP base diverges quite significantly from the US’ much larger LP base: big pension funds and university endowments — which make up a large portion of the funding for US firms — have barely dipped their toe into venture across the Atlantic. In their place, governments have always been big backers of European VCs, along with family offices, corporates and fund of funds.
Sifted wanted to find out which LPs are the most active in Europe right now — and how many VC funds they’ve backed in the past 10 years. No surprise to European VCs and founders, many of the largest and most eager LPs in Europe are state or government-backed, like the European Investment Fund and Bpifrance.
Sifted used PitchBook data to draw up a shortlist and reached out to the top 15 LPs to confirm their VC commitments. Not all of the LPs commented on or responded to Sifted’s request for confirmation, in which cases PitchBook data is used. Some of these firms’ VC commitments might be unannounced or private, and therefore not reflected in the data.
If you’re an LP investing in venture and think you should be on the list, get in touch.
1. European Investment Fund
European VC funds backed since 2015: 671 (confirmed)
HQ: Luxembourg
The European Investment Fund (EIF) is far and away the most active LP in Europe over the past 10 years, having backed a whopping 671 VC funds since 2015. A public-private partnership between the European Commission, the European Investment Bank and financial institutions from member states (as well as the UK and Turkey), the EIF has been investing in VC funds since 1997. Many heavy-hitter VCs in Europe count the EIF as an LP, including Cherry Ventures, Atomico and Project A.
2. Bpifrance
European VC funds backed since 2015: 196 (confirmed)
HQ: Paris
State-backed French bank Bpifrance is one of Europe’s most prolific LPs, having backed 196 funds since 2015, including regional French funds. Bpifrance was created in 2012 from a merger of previous public banks, in order to fund innovation. Though the bank has backed many VCs, including Partech, Serena and Speedinvest, it can be picky: it’s “relatively open” to meeting teams, but “some people tend to assume that we invest in everybody. We don’t. We are highly selective,” Anne Germain, senior investment director of the Funds of Funds division, told Sifted in an interview published early last year.
Bpifrance also bets on startups, notably including French OpenAI challenger Mistral and French healthcare platform unicorn Doctolib.
3. KfW Capital
European VC funds backed since 2015: more than 130 (confirmed)
HQ: Frankfurt
German state-backed investor KfW Capital is one of the country’s biggest VC backers. Founded in 2018, it’s invested in top German funds including Earlybird, HV Capital and Project A, also writing cheques for European firms like France’s Partech and Sweden’s Norrsken VC.
KfW invests globally, with the stipulation that the VCs that take its cheques invest at least that amount back into German startups.
4. Isomer Capital
European VC funds backed since 2015: 86 (confirmed)
HQ: London
London-based Isomer Capital, a fund of funds, launched in 2015 and invests primarily in early-stage VC funds, also doing some direct investments into startups as well as secondaries. Managing partner Joe Schorge says the firm on average makes a VC fund commitment once or twice per month, investing up to €10m per fund. Among its VC investments are Seedcamp, Atlantic Labs, Frst and OTB Ventures. It’s currently raising its third fund-of-funds vehicle, which Schorge says is nearing a final close.
Isomer also has a number of direct investments into companies in Europe, with 35 co-investments into companies and 20 secondary transactions.
Last year, the firm announced it was raising its first dedicated secondaries fund of £100m.
5. British Patient Capital
European VC funds backed since 2015: 82 (confirmed)
HQ: London
A subsidiary of UK state bank British Business Bank, British Patient Capital (BPC) is a massive backer of UK funds as well as startups, with £3bn in assets under management. Among its investments are Atomico, Balderton Capital, Eurazeo and Hoxton Ventures. Since its inception, BPC has invested nearly £2bn into VC funds and co-investments, according to its latest annual report.
6. Molten Ventures
European VC funds backed since 2015: 79 (confirmed)
HQ: London
Molten, one of the few publicly-listed VCs in Europe, has invested in or acquired stakes in the portfolios of the likes of Seedcamp, Ada Ventures, Antler, Headline and Partech; it also acquired fellow British VC firm Forward Partners last year. It’s written cheques into 79 European VC funds since its programme began in 2017, and focuses on seed-stage VC funds.
Molten Ventures makes direct investments, too, including into big startups like German neobank N26, UK neobank titan Revolut and spacetech Isar Aerospace.
7. Kommunal Landspensjonskasse (KLP)
European VC funds backed since 2015: 50 (confirmed)
HQ: Oslo
KLP, an insurance group, manages the pensions of municipal employees in Norway. It’s backed a number of big European VCs over the years, including Index Ventures, Forbion, Accel and Creandum, according to PitchBook data. The group had €73bn (NOK 859,290) in assets under management as of its Q3 2024 report.
8. Tesi
European VC funds backed since 2015: 44 (confirmed)
HQ: Helsinki
The Finnish state-owned investment firm has backed 44 funds in the past 10 years, including Pale Blue Dot, Creandum, Northzone, EQT Ventures and Open Ocean. It has €2.6bn in assets under management.
9. Ireland Strategic Investment Fund
European VC funds backed since 2015: more than 30 (confirmed)
HQ: Dublin
Managed by Ireland’s treasury, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund is a sovereign wealth fund with $15bn in assets under management, according to PitchBook data. The fund has invested in the likes of Molten Ventures, Norrsken VC and Kreos Capital.
10. British Business Bank
European VC funds backed since 2015: 29 (confirmed)
HQ: London
The parent of British Patient Capital, the British Business Bank (BBB) has also made VC fund investments over the years through its Enterprise Capital Fund programme. Started in 2006, the programme funds VCs looking to back early-stage UK companies. VCs backed with the programme include Amadeus Capital, Ada Ventures and Entrepreneur First.
11. NRW.Bank
European VC funds backed since 2015: 29 (confirmed)
HQ: Dusseldorf
The German state bank of North Rhine-Westphalia, NRW.Bank, has made 29 VC investments in the last 10 years, including World Fund and Matterwave. It’s also backed startups like buzzy German chip startup Black Semiconductor and AI chip startup Gemesys.
12. Saminvest
European VC funds backed since 2015: 26 (confirmed)
HQ: Stockholm
Formed by the Swedish government in 2016, the fund of funds has backed the likes of Pale Blue Dot, Voima Ventures and Norrsken VC. The firm invests in VCs writing cheques from pre-seed through growth. Saminvest has €522m (SEK 6bn) in assets under management.
13. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance
European VC funds backed since 2015: 25 (PitchBook data)
HQ: Espoo, Finland
The Finnish pension fund provider has previously told Sifted it only invests in Finnish VC funds, which make up a small portion of its investment programme. The pension fund has backed the likes of Superhero Capital and Maki VC. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance has over $31bn in assets under management, according to PitchBook.
Elo Mutual Pension Insurance didn’t respond to Sifted’s request for comment.
14. Korys Investments
European VC funds backed since 2015: 19 (PitchBook data)
HQ: Halle, Belgium
Korys Investments is the family office of the Colruyt family, owners of the eponymous supermarket chain across Belgium, France and Luxembourg. The office has invested in VCs including Forbion, SET Ventures and Contrarian Ventures. The firm declined to comment on the number of VC funds it’s invested in. Korys’s AUM is about $4.7bn, according to PitchBook data.
Korys also makes direct investments, including into several climate tech startups like Swedish virtual power plant startup Greenely, Dutch energy system monitoring startup Sensorfact and German energy storage startup Voltstorage.
Update, January 17, 2025: This article has been updated to remove the European Investment Bank as an active LP following clarification that the majority of the EIB’s fund investments are outside the EU.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/most-active-lps-europe/
