While private capital grabs most of the headlines at Sifted, public money remains one of Europe’s most potent tech weapons.
Sifted ranked the 30 most active public funds in Q1. Each of these funders made two or more investments — and between them backed 172 startups with equity, debt or grant funding in the first three months of 2025.
Bpifrance — the French sovereign fund that’s been particularly active in healthtech so far this year — was busiest in Q1 with 29 investments.
Italy’s government-backed CDP Venture Capital made 23 investments, which were primarily focused on climate tech, while the European Innovation Council (EIC) was the third biggest public backer in Q1 with 21 investments.
Sifted ran the numbers on all publicly announced deals involving public funds in Europe in Q1 and contacted the funds to verify their activity. The average deal size represents the total deal amount, not just the investor’s contribution.
Q1’s top 10 most active public funds
1\ Bpifrance
HQ: France
Deal count: 29
Average deal size: €18m
Most active vertical: Healthtech
France’s sovereign investment arm, which also operates as a development bank and export credit agency, continues to be a major backer of startups, SMEs and mid-caps across the country. In Q1, it made 29 startup investments, with a particular focus on healthtech — including bets on Bioptimus, an AI foundation model startup for biology, and Coave Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech developing gene therapies for rare eye and central nervous system diseases.
2\ CDP Venture Capital
HQ: Italy
Deal count: 23
Average deal size: €6m
Most active vertical: Climate tech
Rome-based CDP Venture Capital, founded in 2015, is Italy’s public vehicle for tech. Deals in Q1 included Plantbit, which helps farmers reduce the environmental impact of agriculture, and Northern Lights Composites, a startup developing recyclable advanced materials.
3\ EIC
HQ: Belgium
Deal count: 21
Average deal size: €5m
Most active vertical: Deeptech
The EIC offers a cocktail of grant funding and equity investment through its €4bn EIC Fund and has earmarked €1.4bn for deeptech in 2025.
4\ CDTI
HQ: Spain
Deal count: 13
Average deal size: €4m
Most active vertical: Deeptech and climate tech
Spain’s Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology — also known as CDTI Innovación — is the country’s public fund for deeptech and climate tech bets. In Q1 it backed 13 companies including clinical-stage biotech Oncomatryx Biopharma, which develops immunotherapies, and Geniova, a startup making invisible braces for teeth.
5\ Net Zero Technology Centre
HQ: UK
Deal count: 7
Average deal size: Undisclosed
Most active vertical: Climate tech
The Aberdeen-based funder was set up in 2017 to help push the UK’s clean energy transition. In Q1, it backed seven startups, including CGEN Engineering, a University of Edinburgh spinout building modular, stackable generators for offshore renewables, and Plasma2x, which is developing a low-emissions method of converting methane into hydrogen and solid carbon.
6\ Invest-NL
HQ: Netherlands
Deal count: 5
Average deal size: €17m
Most active vertical: Climate tech
The Amsterdam-based funder typically joins seed and Series A rounds, deploying capital with a strong focus on ESG and impact-focused startups. Its Q1 bets include Xycle, which specialises in chemical recycling, and Thorizon, which is developing a nuclear reactor that uses long-lived nuclear waste as fuel.
7\ British Business Bank
HQ: UK
Deal count: 5
Average deal size: €5m
Most active vertical: Consumer
The UK’s economic development bank has funneled £351m into 89 cleantech companies since 2014, supporting everything from battery storage to green engines, waste-to-fuel tech and circular economy startups. Its recent investments include Bower Collective, which aims to replace single use plastic with refillable containers, and SudoCyber, which offers cybersecurity training.
8\ EIT
HQ: Belgium
Deal count: 5
Average deal size: €4m
Most active vertical: Climate tech
The EIT offers grants and equity to startups, with a particular focus on climate tech from the early stages through to Series A. Q1 investments include ScrapBees, a scrap metal recycling startup, and Fyteko, an agritech company focused on plant protection.
9\ European Commission
HQ: Belgium
Deal count: 5
Average deal size: €4m
Most active vertical: B2B SaaS
The European Commission backs startups through a variety of budget lines. Aside from the EIC and EIT, there’s also the NextGenerationEU fund, which was set up to stimulate economies following the pandemic. In Q1, the Commission backed five startups, including TimeFlow, an Italian online marketplace for IT suppliers.
10\ European Space Agency
HQ: France
Deal count: 5
Average deal size: €1.4m
Most active vertical: Deeptech
The intergovernmental space agency is helping startups join the second big space race. In Q1, it backed five startups, including Pixel Photonics, a German startup developing highly sensitive detectors, and Pave Space, a UK startup working on space debris removal tech.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/most-active-public-funds-europe-q1/
