The most active VCs in Europe in 2025 are writing more cheques than they were at this point last year.
Eight of the top 10 most active VCs in H1 increased their deal count compared to H1 2024, according to Sifted data.
Pre-seed and seed rounds remain the most crowded and competitive part of the ecosystem, with generalist and specialist funds alike piling into AI and deeptech rounds this year.
Sifted reached out to all investors listed below to verify their deal activity.
Top 10 most active VCs in H1
1\ SFC Capital
HQ: UK
H1 count: 62 (-15 vs. H1 2024)
SFC backs UK pre-seed and seed-stage startups; notable H1 investments include a £420k pre-seed round in Paapi, an ad measurement platform helping brands optimise performance, and a £1m bet on Gryd Energy, which offers off-grid solar panels for homes and businesses.
2\ High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF)
HQ: Germany
H1 count: 39 (+2 vs. H1 2024)
Ranked 2nd for dealflow in Q1, HTGF continues its dual strategy of backing high-potential seed rounds and later-stage bets in climate, healthtech and deeptech. Its most headline-grabbing bet was in June, when it backed Proxima Fusion’s €130m Series A — the largest fusion funding round in Europe to date.
3\ Mercia Ventures
HQ: UK
H1 count: 32 (+17 vs. H1 2024)
Mercia Ventures specialises in pre‑seed to Series A deals in the UK. Among its H1 investments were Laverock Therapeutics, a gene‑editing driven life sciences platform, and Axis Spine Technologies, a startup developing spinal implants.
4\ Speedinvest
HQ: Austria
H1 count: 31 (+17 vs. H1 2024)
The firm co‑led Berlin-based payments platform Pliant’s $40m Series B in April. That same month, it led the €15m seed round for Emmi AI, which is developing an AI simulation platform for industrial engineering. The Vienna-based VC completed 21 deals in Q2 alone.
5\ Antler
HQ: Global
H1 count: 29 (+3 vs. H1 2024)
Antler’s residency model continues to churn out startups, with its most recent batch notably heavy on AI and healthtech. Notable bets in H1 include marketing and adtech platform Peec AI and LLM developer Langwatch.
6\ Fuel Ventures
HQ: UK
H1 count: 28 (+19 vs. H1 2024)
The London-based VC secured fresh LP backing in January when it raised £20m from Chinese investors. H1 highlights include a pair of fintech investments: Curve’s £37m Series D and Runa’s $55m round.
7\ Y Combinator
HQ: US
H1 count: 27 (-8 vs. H1 2024)
YC is predictably going big on AI, calling 2025 “the year of AI agents”. Highlights in H1 include backing Stockholm legaltech Legora’s $80m Series B and finance automating company Taktile’s $54m Series B.
8\ Haatch
HQ: UK
H1 count: 22 (+14 vs. H1 2024)
The UK pre-seed and seed investor ramped up its investments in Q2, announcing 18 deals in just three months. A spokesman for Haatch tells Sifted it’s tripling its EIS fundraising — a UK government scheme which aims to incentivise support to early-stage UK companies by offering investors income tax relief — calling this a “hot” time for seed investing.
9\ Seedcamp
HQ: UK
H1 count: 22 (+7 vs. H1 2024)
The London-based early-stage VC is on the hunt for companies using AI to boost productivity. Deals this year include AI notetaker Metaview’s $25m Series A raise and recruiter site Cronofy’s €17.8m round.
10\ Kima Ventures
HQ: France
H1 count: 22 (-1 vs. H1 2024)
The Paris-based family office writes €150k–200k tickets for mostly French seed startups. New investments this year include €3.5m in Wavo, which specialises in SME financing and a €1.5m pre-seed round in chauffeur company Stairling.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/most-active-vcs-in-europe-h1/
