Europe's new funding gap: the early stage is running dry

In episode 5 of Founders Dispatch, Stefan Köppl and Jakob Steinschaden look at a shift in Europe's funding market: the complaint is no longer missing growth capital, but missing money at the very start.

In one minute

• Smaller early-stage funds of EUR 20 to 30 million struggle to raise again without exits to show.
• Money is concentrating: around EUR 30 billion went into European tech in the first half, up 46%, while the number of rounds fell 18% (Tracxn).
• Nvidia is in the cap tables of Mistral, ElevenLabs, Lovable and many others; Stefan rates the risk as fairly low.
• The appeal to investors: invest counter-cyclically, also in climate tech, mobility and fields beyond AI.

Funds without exits

Business angels lack liquidity, and EIF-backed second- and third-generation funds find it hard to attract private capital. One example from the data: Mathias Ockenfels counted only 89 early-stage rounds in Germany.

How reliable is the data?

Statistics are often revised upwards later, family offices stay under the radar, and a "double-digit million" round usually means about EUR 10 million rather than 99.

Solo founders in the AI era

AI makes it easier to start a company alone, but harder to convince investors that it has a moat.

This conversation first appeared on Founders Dispatch, the podcast of Trending Topics. Listen to the full episode (opens in a new tab)