2025 dealmaking in Europe began on a high note, with equity fundraising for startups rising to €12.8bn in the first three months — up 13% on Q4 last year and 5% on Q1 of 2024 according to Sifted data.
Sifted has listed the 165 most active VCs and corporate venture capital (CVC) funds for the quarter — which all made three or more investments — and backed a combined 1,096 startups.
Q1’s most prolific VC was UK-based SFC Capital, which wrote cheques in excess of £13.4m for 62 startups. The seed investor was Europe’s most active VC overall in Europe in 2024, chipping in on 105 fundraises (it looks on track to beat this amount in 2025).
The second most active VC in Q1 was German investor High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), which backed 24 companies, followed in joint third place by Singapore-headquartered company builder Antler and US backer Plug and Play, which both put money into 17 European startups.
The 10 most active investors backed a combined 224 startups. Four CVCs feature in the top 100, namely Denmark’s Novo Holdings (19th), French banking group Crédit Agricole (72nd), Alphabet’s investment wing GV (previously called Google Ventures, at 76) and Wayra, the CVC of Spanish telecoms group Telefonica (93rd).
Sifted crunched the numbers on all publicly announced deals involving VCs and CVCs in Europe in Q1 and contacted these firms to verify their activity. Not all investors responded.
The average deal size represents the total deal amount, not just the investor’s contribution. The data excludes venture debt investors and deals made by state-backed investors — Sifted will publish data on these next week.
The top 10 most active VCs and CVCs in Q1
1\ SFC Capital
HQ: UK
Deal count: 62
Average deal size: €2m
Most active vertical: B2B SaaS
The London-based generalist invested a total of £13.4m in pre-seed, seed and series A companies across climate tech, robotics, fintech and B2B SaaS sectors in Q1. Deals included raises by heat pump startup Adia Thermal, sustainable reusable cups startup Circltech and implantable medical devices company 4D Biomaterials. With cheque sizes ranging from £50k-£350k, SFC is currently Europe’s most active pre-seed investor.
2\ HTGF
HQ: Germany
Deal count: 24
Average deal size: €8m
Most active vertical: Deeptech & healthtech
The 20-year-old early-stage investor backs deeptechs, life sciences and climate tech startups. HTGF investments in Q1 include Alpine Eagle, a defence company making software for drones, and Avelios Medical, which hopes to overhaul hospital IT.
=3\ Antler
HQ: Singapore
Deal count: 17
Average deal size: €2m
Most active vertical: B2B SaaS
Antler invests in a wide range of companies, from B2B and healthtech to property tech and consumer. The company builder most recently raised a $285m growth-focused fund last July to invest in companies from Series A and later. Q1 deals include a bet on Berlin-based Claro, which raised €650k to help businesses clean up messy datasets, and a cheque for London-based Noxus, a startup helping enterprises build their own AI workforces.
=3\ Plug and Play
HQ: US
Deal count: 17
Average deal size: €7m
Most active vertical: Healthtech
California-headquartered Plug and Play has both an accelerator programme and a VC arm. Since putting down roots in London in 2019, it has become one of the country’s most active startup backers, writing $50k-$250k cheques for pre-seed to Series A companies, primarily in B2B. Q1 bets include Milan-based biomanufacturer Arsenale Bioyards, which raised a €9.5m seed round.
5\ Genesis Ventures
HQ: Greece
Deal count: 14
Average deal size: €775k
Most active vertical: Deeptech
The Greek VC provides pre-seed and seed capital to early-stage founders in Greece and south east Europe. Its Q1 bets include Thessaloniki-based Progressive Robotics, which develops technology to make production line robots adaptable for newer tasks.
=6\ Parkwalk Advisors
HQ: UK
Deal count: 13
Average deal size: €5m
Most active vertical: Healthtech
The UK’s most active spinout investor, with over £500m of assets under management. Q1 deals involving Parkwalk include the £14m Series C raise by Oxford University spinout Brainomix, which uses AI to upgrade medical imaging technology.
=6\ Startup Wise Guys
HQ: Estonia
Deal count: 13
Average deal size: €1m
Most active vertical: B2B SaaS
Among the Estonian investor’s Q1 bets was Bilbao-based Cloudtainer, which makes “smart” locks for cargo containers. The accelerator, which writes €100k-sized cheques for startups, was recently 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\ Fuel Ventures
HQ: UK
Deal count: 12
Average deal size: €7m
Most active vertical: B2B SaaS
The London-based pre-seed and seed investor backs startups in B2B SaaS, fintech and deeptech. Its Q1 investments include London-based Juno AI, a legal AI agent for brokers and lenders, and Damisa, a newly-launched stablecoin payment service.
=8\ SyndicateRoom
HQ: UK
Deal count: 12
Average deal size: €2m
Most active vertical: B2B SaaS
The Cambridge-based investor backs startups at seed stage in any sector. The firm is currently investing from a £30m fund which it launched in 2020 and writes first cheques of around £150k. Q1 investments include London-based Pockla, a startup specialising in AI content creation.
=10\ EQT
HQ: Sweden
Deal count: 10
Average deal size: €37m
Most active vertical: Healthtech
EQT backs startups from early to growth stages with cheques ranging from €2m-€50m. Its €1.1bn third fund, launched in 2022, remains active. Among its Q1 bets was Qevlar, a Swedish startup building AI software development tools for big companies.
=10\ HV Capital
HQ: Germany
Deal count: 10
Average deal size: €35m
Most active vertical: Climate tech
HV Capital contributed to one of Europe’s biggest growth rounds of Q1 — Berlin-based workflow automation platform n8n’s $60m raise. Founded in 2000, HV invests across fintech, B2B, mobility, sustainability and enterprise SaaS. Sifted reported in February that the VC was opening an office in a central London members club — HV Capital’s first base outside of its native Germany. The firm has scored a number of exits over the past 25 years, including e-commerce platform Depop, food delivery app Delivery Hero and meal prep company HelloFresh.
=10\ Y Combinator
HQ: US
Deal count: 10
Average deal size:
Most active vertical: B2B SaaS
Silicon Valley’s startup accelerator and investor Y Combinator runs a twice-yearly programme, investing $500k in each selected startup in exchange for 7% equity. It made a string of European bets in Q1, including a contribution to French cybersecurity startup Riot’s $30m Series B round.
=10\ Industrifonden
HQ: Sweden
Deal count: 10
Average deal size: €12m
Most active vertical: Healthtech
One of the Nordics’ most established deeptech and life sciences investors. The evergreen fund backs early-growth stage companies — typically from late seed to Series B — with initial investments ranging from €1m to €5m. In Q1, the investor wrote cheques for companies including fusion energy startup Novatron Fusion, spatial analytics platform Senseworks and biotech Gesynta Pharma.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/most-active-vcs-and-cvcs-in-europe-q1/
