These were the 100 most active VCs in Europe in 2024

2024 brought mixed fortunes for European tech. The first half of the year saw a flurry of dealmaking, with €28.6bn in equity raised by startups, but the second half of the year saw a 36% slump, with just €18.4bn raised, according to Sifted data.

But while investment was uneven, this didn’t prevent some VCs from going on a tear. The top 10 most active investors backed a combined 658 startups last year, with each of these VCs participating in at least 40 deals each. The top 100 he backed 1,992 startups.

Most prolific in 2024 was UK early-stage investor SFC Capital, which wrote cheques in excess of £18m for 102 startups. Next came French VC Kima Ventures, which backed 89 companies, followed by German investor High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), which contributed to 85 raises.

Sifted tracked all publicly announced deals in 2024 and contacted investors to verify their deal count. Some VCs may have unannounced or private investments, which are not reflected in our data. The average deal size represents the total deal amount, not just the investor’s contribution.

The top 10 most active VCs in 2024

1\ SFC Capital

HQ: UK
Deal count: 102
Average deal size: €723k
Most active vertical: Healthtech

The London-based generalist splurged more than £18m across climate tech, robotics, fintech and B2B SaaS companies in 2024. One of the startups it backed was AI agent-creating Fern AI, founded by a team of former engineers at data company Palantir. SFC backs those startups eligible for the SEIS and EIS schemes — these are government incentives for investors supporting UK startups. With cheque sizes ranging from £100k-500k, the SFC is typically the UK’s biggest pre-seed investor.

2\ Kima Ventures

HQ: France
Deal count: 89
Average deal size: €4m
Most active vertical: B2B SaaS

The French family office, which manages French billionaire Xavier Niel’s private wealth, aims to write €150k-sized cheques for two or three startups a week. Munich-based Pruna AI was just one deal the firm did last year — the Munich company aims to make AI models “cheaper, faster and greener”. Successful bets in the past for Kima include raises for money transfer company Wise and social media app BeReal.

3\ HTGF

HQ: Germany
Deal count: 85
Average deal size: €12m
Most active vertical: Deeptech & Healthtech

HTGF has long been a sprightly early-stage investor, backing deeptechs, life sciences and climate tech startups. Last year, it backed everything from nuclear fusion (Proxima Fusion) to wind energy (Caeli Wind). The public-private investor deploys capital from its €494m early-stage fund and in 2024 launched a €660m “opportunity fund”.

4\ Antler

HQ: Singapore
Deal count: 84
Average deal size: €2m
Most active vertical: B2B SaaS

This VC bets on founders before they even establish companies. It invests across B2B, healthtech, proptech and consumer fields. Among its bets last year were data intelligence platforms like Datamonk and property maintenance systems like AskVinny.

5\ Mercia Ventures

HQ: UK
Deal count: 72
Average deal size: €6m
Most active vertical: Healthtech

Specialising in software, consumer tech, life sciences, AI and deeptech startups, this VC invests from pre-seed to Series A. The firm typically writes cheques worth between £750k and £5m and has backed successful startups like fruit and veg delivery company Oddbox, AI-driven fact-checking platform Logically and drug discovery startup Turbine AI.

6\ Octopus Ventures

HQ: UK
Deal count: 48
Average deal size: €15m
Most active vertical: Healthtech

The venture arm of Octopus has been investing since 2008, with 32 exits under its belt to date. It backs startups at every stage — from pre-seed to post-Series A — across sectors like B2B SaaS, climate tech, consumer, deeptech, fintech and healthtech. Bets last year include a £35m Series B raise by the UK’s LabGenius, which uses machine learning to design antibody therapies to treat cancer.

7\ Startup Wise Guys

HQ: Estonia
Deal count: 46
Average deal size: €935k
Most active vertical: B2B SaaS

This accelerator writes €100k-sized cheques for startups and has supported over 15 exits, with notable acquisitions including Estonian farm management software company VitalFields’s purchase by Climate Corporation in 2016 and Cypryus’s video editing app Vochi by Pinterest in 2021. The VC was the biggest backer of companies that appeared on Sifted’s 2024 Eastern Europe and Baltics leaderboard, a ranking of the fastest-growing startups in the region.

8\ Speedinvest

HQ: Austria
Deal count: 45
Average deal size: €14m
Most active vertical: B2B SaaS & Climate tech

An early-stage fund investing in B2B and B2C startups. The fund has built a portfolio featuring companies like Irish business lender Wayflyer, insurtech wefox and software company OneTrust. An example of a deal the VC led last year was a $5.3m raise by Cambridge-based AllFocal Optics, which makes lenses that the company says can remove the nausea and discomfort typically associated with virtual, augmented and mixed reality experiences.

9\ FJ Labs

HQ: US
Deal count: 44
Average deal size: €13m
Most active vertical: B2B SaaS

HQ-ed in New York, FJ Labs is a generalist firm that has made high-profile investments in companies like Airbnb, Alibaba and Nubank, while its European portfolio includes notable names like Delivery Hero, Rapyd, BlaBlaCar and Klarna. One of its big bets last year was in Paris-based Jus Mundi, an AI-based legaltech, which raised a €20m Series B.

10\ Seedcamp

HQ: UK
Deal count: 43
Average deal size: €7.7m
Most active vertical: B2B SaaS

The seed-stage VC has backed companies including insurance startup Wefox and public companies Wise and robotic automation software developer UiPath. One of its most interesting deals last year was buzzy French startup Dottxt, which specialises in telling AI models how to answer.