Research: Funding into European tech grew by 36% in 2017
European technology startups raised a staggering €19bn in 2017, representing a 36% increase from €14.3bn raised the previous year.
According to Tech.eu, Stripe and Techstars, early-stage investment into European tech startups has experienced an unprecedented level of growth, both in terms of total funding and the volume of investments made.
The report states that early-stage funding in Europe increased four-fold in the period from H1 2015, going from €875m invested in the first six months of 2015 to more than €3.6bn in H1 of 2018.
The UK and France were the strongest nations.
According to the data, France and the UK are neck and neck when it comes to early-stage (EST) investment. France generated almost a quarter (24.04%) of EST deals in Europe, just shy of the UK’s 24.59% piece of the EST investing pie.
This, the data suggests, highlights the growth of France’s startup scene over the past five years.
The report highlights how diverse Europe is when it comes to technology with other European countries like Spain generating 3.9% of European EST investment and Italy getting 1.92% of the investing pie.
Iain McDougall, UK & Ireland Country Manager, Stripe discussed the report’s findings: “Europe’s tech scene is clearly thriving. To see a fourfold increase in the value of early stage investments in just three years is a huge testament to the continent’s startup scene. The UK is not alone anymore. We are now seeing the birth of a new generation of globally competitive tech companies, led by France, Germany, Sweden and Spain.”
Robin Wauters, Co-founding editor, Tech.eu, went on to add: “We launched Tech.eu 5 years ago when Europe was on the verge of exploding with technology startup activity. This report shows that the momentum has only increased since then, evolving Europe’s startup ecosystems into maturity in key hubs like London, Paris, Berlin and Stockholm, but also into a healthy breeding ground for a new generation of ambitious entrepreneurs in regions across the continent. We are looking forward to chronicling and analysing the European tech startup scene’s continued evolution in the coming years.”
Eamonn Carey, MD of Techstars London said: “In the five years since Techstars London launched, we’ve seen some incredible European companies grow and scale globally. As the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed, we’re proud to be supporting that with programs in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Oslo and Tel Aviv. We look forward to supporting companies from around the world as they look to expand into and out of European markets.”
The report is being released at Web Summit in Lisbon today.