The Americans are coming in waves.
A handful of US VC firms are responsible for much of Europe’s AI fundraising momentum in 2025 — not only the $100m+ “megarounds” but also early bets too.
In the first six months of the year, the number of US VCs making at least two AI investments in Europe rose by 73%, compared to the same period last year, according to Sifted data.
All but one of the top 10 funding rounds for “AI-native” startups — those developing generative AI applications, AI agents and specialised AI hardware — in Europe this year included at least one US backer; eight of those rounds featured three or more US investors, a 60% jump from the same period last year.
Europe’s largest AI deal in 2025 was the $600m raised by London-based Isomorphic Labs, DeepMind’s drug discovery spinoff, backed entirely by US investors (Thrive Capital led and was joined by GV and Alphabet). London-based AI video maker Synthesia and New York-London AI audio specialist ElevenLabs each raised $180m as the joint second biggest raises this year. Again, it was US investors — NEA, Iconiq Capital and Andreessen Horowitz — leading.
“[Our] early rounds were all led by US VCs because we couldn’t raise money in Europe,” says Victor Riparbelli, Synthesia CEO. “European investors tend to look at businesses through spreadsheets. In Silicon Valley, it’s about vision, teams and markets that don’t yet exist.”
It was also a US VC, Accel, that led the $200m Series A round for Europe’s most-talked-about AI startup, Stockholm-based “vibe coding” site Lovable, in July.
US investors are more likely to lead European growth stage (Series B/C) rounds but they’ve been popping up at the early stages too. US accelerator Y Combinator, for example, has made the most pre-seed/seed AI investments in Europe this year: 13.
“Europe’s AI application layer is quietly taking the lead,” Laura McGinnis, principal at VC firm Balderton Capital, told Sifted recently. “And US accelerators are expanding slots and actively doing road shows across London, Berlin, Paris, and Amsterdam, drawn by a wave of breakout AI companies like Granola, ElevenLabs, Fyxer, and Modal.”
Crowding out the locals?
More US VCs competing on European AI deals “likely means larger rounds at higher valuations than what we typically see in the region,” says Joseph Zipfel, chief investment officer at SFC Capital, a UK VC firm.
So he’s not concerned that US investors are so prominent, even if it means European VCs face increasing odds of landing term sheets for hot companies. “Rather than seeing this as crowding out, local VCs should view it as a healthy sign of maturation in the ecosystem and a chance to benefit,” he says, citing opportunities for European VCs to do partial secondary deals — transactions where stakes in a company are sold by one investor to another — and unlock more liquidity.
“In the past two years, we have done several secondaries involving US funds, which I see as a very healthy development,” Zipfel adds.
Also, because US VCs are more likely to invest later, “that leaves local investors with a clear competitive advantage at the earliest stages, where the real returns will be made,” he adds.
More foreign VCs scrambling for deals is okay, agrees Jordi Vidal, a partner at Barcelona-based VC firm Kibo Ventures. “We will lose deals at some point but this is an industry that’s also very collaborative.”
Kate Cornell, general partner at Acurio Ventures in Madrid, meanwhile says she’s also happy for foreign funds to “make her up her game”.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/us-vcs-ai-dealmaking-in-europe/
