New funds launched in 2022 will, over the long term, likely punch above the new funds launched in the frothy days of 2021.
Valuations came down at later stages, and startups stopped raising quite as much “silly money”, which meant VCs have started getting more bang for their buck.
From January to November 2022, VCs in Europe raised over €23.3bn in fresh capital, according to Pitchbook. Around one tenth of that was raised by new funds — either from first-time fund managers, or from established fund managers launching a new specialist fund.
Here we list 50+ of those new funds raised in 2022, investing in everything from quantum to university spinouts — with a heavy dose of climate tech in the mix.
Have we missed any funds? Let us know: amy@sifted.eu
Female Founders
HQ: Austria
Fund size: Targeting €20m
Focus: Female founders
Stage: Pre-seed and seed
Austrian network and accelerator Female Founders launched a new fund, Fund F, in October, specifically focused on female-cofounded startups. It’s raised €12.5m of its €20m target fund so far. It will invest between €100k to 400k in 25-30 startups with at least one female cofounder and equal gender representation on the cap table.
Baltic Sandbox Ventures
HQ: Lithuania
Fund size: €10m raised, targeting €13m
Focus: Deeptech and life sciences
Stage: Pre-seed and seed
After running an accelerator for years, the three partners behind Baltic Sandbox Ventures decided to also raise a fund. They’re focusing on deeptech and life science startups in particular. “We have a lot of talent in the Baltic region, engineering talent, scientific talent — you just can’t imagine how good it is,” partner Sandra Golbreich told Sifted.
Genesis Ventures
HQ: Athens, Greece
Fund size: €25m in commitments
Focus: Early-stage founders, sector agnostic but with at least a branch or subsidiary in Greece
Stage: Pre-seed, seed
Backed by the European Investment Fund and angel investors, Genesis Ventures focuses on startups based in Greece or South-East Europe, but also ventures further out as long as companies have at least one branch or subsidiary in Greece. Alongside tickets of between €100k to €500k, portfolio companies may also receive angel co-investments.
daFUND
HQ: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Fund size: €2M
Focus: European B2B start-ups powered by software
Stage: early stage (pre-seed/seed, rarely Series A)
Slovenia-based daFUND currently has seven investments across Europe, spread across Switzerland, UK, Germany and Croatia. It invests up to €100k to begin with, but also puts aside a few hundred thousand for potential follow-on investments.
Feast Ventures
HQ: Germany
Fund size: Targeting €15-18m with a first close of €5m in June 2022
Focus: Food and agritech — primarily in Europe
Stage: Pre-seed and seed
Cheque size: Typically between €150k to €500k for 5% equity
Feast Ventures backs early-stage founders in the food and agritech space before their first institutional funding round, targeting everything from the development of new proteins and food traceability to personalised nutrition and pet food. It typically invests between €150k and €500k, for a 5% stake in equity.
Pact
HQ: London
Fund size: Targeting £30m (closed half)
Focus: Generalist
Stage: Early-stage
Pact, which was cofounded by three female partners — Tong Gu, Reem Mobassaleh Wyndham, and Monik Pham — plans to invest £1-£1.5m in early-stage startups across Europe. Its backers, notably, include the actress Anne Hathaway.
BackBone Ventures
HQ: Zurich
Fund size: €6.5m, targeting final close of €25m by mid 2023
Focus: Startups in Germany and Switzerland
Stage: Early
BackBone, which announced the first close of its fund in October, is focused on founders in Germany and Switzerland. It plans to write first cheques of €300k to €500k into 25-30 teams.
Zero Carbon Capital
HQ: UK
Fund size: £13m closed, targeting £30m
Focus: Climate tech and deeptech
Stage: Pre-seed and seed
Zero Carbon Capital, which is run by experienced climate tech angel investors Pippa and Alex Gawley, has already made seven investments including ClimateCrop, RepAir, Anaphite and Ionate.
Unruly Capital
HQ: Italy
Fund size: €18m
Focus: Climate and deeptech
Stage: Pre-seed and seed
Self-described “crypto-anarcho-eco-capitalist” Stefano Bernardi, who’s been angel investing for the past few years, announced his first VC fund as a solo GP in November. As an angel, he’s backed companies like forest monitoring startup Pachama, mycelium startup Mushlabs and Heart Aerospace, which is working on electric aircraft. Unruly Capital’s standard cheque size is €250k, either leading a pre-seed round or tagging along in a seed round.
Otium Capital
HQ: France
Fund size: Targeting €150m
Focus: French tech
Stage: Seed and Series A
The family office of French entrepreneur Édouard Stérin, founder of gift box service Smartbox, has backed a new fund, Resonance, which will write cheques of between €100k and 10m for a few early-stage companies each year. It’s interested in all nationalities, but 60% of the startups it invests in will be French.
Simplyhealth Ventures
HQ: Hampshire, UK
Fund size: £60m
Focus: Healthtech startups in the UK
Stage: Early-stage
Simplyhealth Ventures is the new venture arm of health insurer Simplyhealth. Portfolio companies include Daye, the women’s health startup (which raised a £10m Series A in October), and Ampersand, a digital therapeutics platform.
Satgana
HQ: Luxembourg
Fund size: target €30m
Focus: Climate Tech
Stage: Pre-seed
After a first close in October of an undisclosed amount, Satgana plans to invest up to €500k into 40 European and African startups, focusing on climate tech areas like food and agriculture, the circular economy and carbon removal.
Prediction Capital
HQ: Malta
Fund size: €30m
Focus: Consumer and fintech startups in the DACH region
Stage: Pre-seed to Series A
Prediction Capital is backed by Swiss family office Infinitas Capital. Initial cheque sizes will range from $250k to $500k.
Galion.exe
HQ: France
Fund size: Targeting €80m
Focus: French tech
Stage: Seed
250 of France's top founders have banded together to launch seed fund Galion.exe, which has raised a first close of €30m so far. It'll use the money to back up to 12 French tech companies a year across sectors, with cheques ranging from €1m to €4m.
Una Terra Venture Capital
HQ: Switzerland
Fund size: Targeting €50M by the end of the year
Focus: Climate change and biodiversity loss
Stage: Series A-C
Zurich-based Una Terra Venture Capital has raised €20m so far, with a target of €50m by the end of the year and a €100m first close next June. It focuses on startups tackling the circular economy, energy transition, sustainable food and agritech, built environment and clean finance, and has invested around €10m in six companies so far.
Sandwater
HQ: Oslo, Norway
Fund size: Targeting €100m
Focus: Climate tech and healthtech
Stage: Seed and Series A
Sandwater has raised €70m so far with a target final close above €100m in Q1 2023. It’ll commit around €10m to each company, with an average first cheque of between €1-4m.
Sista
HQ: France
Fund size: Targeting €100m
Focus: Female founders
Stage: Pre-revenue
With a first close of €30m, Sista will back early-stage startups with at least one female cofounder. It’ll write cheques of €250k-3m for around 30 pre-revenue startups spanning across fintech, healthtech, SaaS and consumer tech.
Curiosity
HQ: Netherlands
Fund size: A first close of €20m, targeting €50m
Focus: AI software in the Nordics, Baltics and Benelux
Stage: Seed and early Series A
Launched in January, Curiosity focuses on B2B software startups applying artificial intelligence in enterprise software, fintech, security, legaltech, proptech and climate tech. It operates out of the Benelux, Nordics and Baltics and reached a first close of €20m in April, with a target of €50 million. It'll initially invest between €500k to €1.5 million in around 20 to 25 startups, and makes all of the portfolio founders co-owners of the fund.
Neva Sgr
HQ: Italy
Fund size: Targeting €250m
Focus: Italian tech
Stage: Late seed to Series B/C
The VC arm of Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo launched the Neva First Fund to invest in Italian startups at growth stages. Its average cheque will be around €4m, but it will write first cheques of up to €10m. Though sector agnostic, it has a slight leaning towards fintech and deeptech startups.
Energy Impact Partners
HQ: US
Fund size: €390m
Focus: Climate tech
Stage: Later stages
Climate tech-focused US VC firm Energy Impact Partners will invest in later-stage European companies working on tech that can advance net zero. It’ll commit from €10m-35m, increasing to over €75m with co-investment.
Underline Ventures
HQ: Romania
Fund size: Targeting €20m
Focus: Eastern European founders
Stage: Pre-seed, seed, late seed
The first solo general partner venture fund to launch in central and eastern Europe, Underline Ventures is led by the founder of How To Web, Bogdan Iordache. So far he’s closed over €10m of a €20m fund, which he’ll invest in eastern European founders. He says his average cheque is signed to the tune of €500k.
Vektor Ventures
HQ: UK
Fund size: Circa €50m (in commitments)
Focus: Mobility tech
Stage: Seed, Series A and Series B
Vektor Ventures is focusing on startups switching up the mobility sector. It announced a first close of €48.8m in June this year, and tends to write first cheques of €2m to €5m.
Quantonation
HQ: Paris, France
Fund size: €91m
Focus: Quantum
Stage: Seed to Series A
Quantonation is the first European VC firm to focus solely on quantum startups. Its first fund, of €91m, will be invested in early-stage quantum companies, from seed to Series A, based all over the world. A significant part of its deal sourcing comes out of universities — so far, it’s backed spinouts from Oxford University, MIT and École Polytechnique.
Boost Fund
HQ: UK
Fund size: £5m
Focus: Data-driven investments
Stage: Pre-seed
Boost takes a slightly unorthodox approach to investing, using a startup rating system which focuses on the target market, business model, scalability and execution potential of each company. All startups that gain a certain rating automatically get a £50k investment from the fund, and the ones that are unsuccessful receive a 24-page report to learn from. Boost says that half of the investments it’s made since June have female founders and 30% have founders from an ethnic minority.
AM Ventures
HQ: Netherlands
Fund size: €100m
Focus: Industrial 3D printing
Stage: Early-stage
AM Ventures, known for its investments into the additive manufacturing sector, announced a €100m final close for a new fund focused on industrial-grade 3D printing startups in July. It’s looking at companies that work on everything from hardware and software, to materials and applications.
Cornerstone
HQ: UK
Fund size: £20m
Focus: Diverse founders
Stage: Pre-seed
Cornerstone VC developed out of a syndicate for Black angel investors, and focuses on the “1% of the 1%” of diverse UK founders. It’s looking to write cheques from £250k to £1m into 40 pre-seed and seed startups. Its LPs include Atomico and BGF.
Concept Ventures
HQ: UK
Fund size: £50m
Focus: Future of work, video gaming and upskilling
Stage: Pre-seed
Concept Ventures closed the UK’s biggest ever dedicated pre-seed fund of £50m in July. It will invest between £100k-600k in over 60 pre-seed stage startups, which for many will be their first cash injection. Concept Ventures prides itself on diversity, with 80% of its LPs from ethnic minority backgrounds and 18% of its LPs women.
QBIT Capital
HQ: Zurich, Switzerland
Fund size: CHF10m (€10.13m)
Focus: Swiss fintechs and university spinouts
Stage: Pre-seed and seed
QBIT Capital invests in Swiss pre-seed and seed stage fintechs and university spinouts. It typically writes cheques of €200k to €700k, and says it helps founders with go-to-market strategy, fundraising and hiring.
Grow Venture Partners
HQ: Spain
Fund size: €5m
Focus: Deeptech
Stage: Pre-seed and seed
Grow Venture Partners invests in deeptech and tech transfer startups. It plans to make up to 10 investments from the €5m fund — and generate around 200 jobs. It’s already backed Process Talks, which uses AI to automate complex processes, and social robot manufacturers Inrobics.
Kiko Ventures
HQ: UK
Fund size: £375m
Focus: Climate tech
Stage: Pre-seed to Series B
Kiko Ventures, which launched in June, is an evergreen climate tech fund. It's backed by the FTSE 250 company IP Group, and plans to deploy £200m over the next five years. Existing portfolio companies include nuclear fusion company First Light Fusion, hydrogen fuel cell startup Bramble Energy, and carbon dioxide capture tech company C-Capture.
Synthesis Capital
HQ: UK
Fund size: $300m
Focus: Foodtech
Stage: Seed to Series C
Synthesis Capital is one of several sizeable climate and foodtech funds to have closed this year. It’s interested in scaling innovations in foodtech so they can have real impact, and thinks more attention needs to be paid to “upstream” technologies — those closer to the farm or the lab — that can help solve climate, water and food security challenges. It’s looking to invest in around 15 startups, writing first cheques of $5 to 25m.
European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF)
HQ: Germany
Fund size: €300m
Focus: Agritech, packaging, food and industrial biotech
Stage: Growth
ECBF launched in February and counts the European Investment Bank as a cornerstone investor. Its portfolio includes edible insect startup Protix and In Ovo, a Dutch startup which can detect the gender of chicks before they hatch - and help put an end to the mass killing of male chicks in the poultry industry.
Plural
HQ: UK
Fund size: € 250m
Focus: Climate tech, healthtech, edtech, regulation
Stage: Early-stage
Started by well-known entrepreneurs and prolific angel investors Taavet Hinrikus and Ian Hogarth, the € 250m fund is not only big, it's also out to prove that there's an radically new - and better - way to run a VC firm, including what you call your investment partners .
“We're building the kind of investment platform we all wished we'd had when we were building our companies,” Hinrikus told Sifted on launch.
Northern Gritstone
HQ: UK
Fund size: £ 215m
Focus: University spinouts
Northern Gritstone has a relatively niche focus for a European VC: university spinouts - based in the north of England. It announced the first close of its fund in May, but is hoping to raise as much as £ 500m by final close. The firm was founded by three UK universities (Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield) to help commercialize science and IP-rich businesses.
Invest-NL
HQ: Netherlands
Fund size: € 250m
Focus: Climate tech, deeptech
