Last month saw 409 VC investments across Europe, with $7.4 billion invested in total – a 409% increase in funding volume compared to August.
Number and volume of announced funding rounds over the past 12 months*
- Number of funding rounds
- Invested volume in $bn
Leading Industries and Investors
According to the number of conducted investments, Health Care leads with 129 rounds, followed by AI with 110 and FinTech with 80, each ahead by a significant margin of the next industry, Energy (51).
Y Combinator and Bpifrance were the most active investors in September with 9 announced investments each. EIFO followed with 7, then HTGF and Seedcamp with 6 each, rounding out the top five most active investors.
Top 10 Industries of Financed Startups
- Health Care
- AI
- FinTech
- Energy
- BioTech
- Food and Beverage
- Manufacturing
- Marketing
- Web
- Retail
Top 5 Investors with the highest number of deals
- Y Combinator
- Bpifrance
- EIFO
- HTGF
- Seedcamp
Notable funding rounds across Europe
In September, the largest funding round was a $1.99 billion Series C by Mistral AI, a Paris-based AI platform providing large language models and AI services tailored to diverse enterprise applications. Founded in 2023 in Paris, Mistral AI raised the investment to further expand its solutions.
While Seed Rounds made up the largest share of rounds (41%), the highest investment volume was in Series C rounds, which accounted for $2.4 billion across 8 deals.
The largest Seed Round was secured by Paid, a London-based business engine for AI agents. Founded in 2024 in the UK, Paid raised $22 million (€19 million) in September.
Number and total volume of financing rounds per stage
- Number of funding rounds per stage
- Volume of financing rounds per stage in $mn
Detailed overview by stage
European VC Industry Hotspots
In September, London remained the leading hotspot for European VC by number of investments (75), followed by Paris (24), Amsterdam (13), Berlin (12) and Madrid (10).
The most investments by country were in the UK (110), followed by Germany (46) and France (45).
When ranked by investment volume instead of deal count, Paris ($2.33 billion across 24 deals) takes over the top 1, and Espoo ($325 million across 2 deal), Cambridge ($205 million across 8 deals), and Zurich ($176 million across 6 deals) join in the top five cities by volume.
VC Exit Overview
In September, 44 exits took place including an IPO for the first time since June.
With 12 exits, Health Care companies were the largest exit industrie, followed by FinTech (11) and AI (10) companies.
Most companies exited in the UK with 10 exits, followed by 8 companies in France.
- Number of Acquisition Exits
- Number of IPO Exits
PE Acquisitions Overview
In September, 31 PE acquisitions (7% of all VC and PE investment rounds) were conducted, a decrease of 5%-p compared to last month.
With 7 acquisitions, the UK saw the highest number of companies acquired in September.
Health Care (9), Manufacturing (6) and Consulting (5) were the top acquisition industries mentioned.
The standout deal was GTCR’s €4.8 billion acquisition of Zentiva, a globally active manufacturer of generic medicines with low-cost alternatives to branded medicines.
- % of all investment rounds
- Number of PE acquisitions
*All data from CrunchBase, as of October 6, 2025.
Partner with us
Unlock the full potential of your financial strategy with Trustventure’s expert guidance. Whether you’re navigating challenges in the financial sector, seeking advice on corporate financing, or enhancing your planning and controlling processes, we’re here to empower your journey and help you create transparency and confidence for you and your investors.
Ready to elevate your financial game? Reach out to us today using our contact form or drop us a direct message at office@trustventure.de. Work with us to achieve your financial success! 🚀
Other articles
M&A European Roll-Up Market Report – April 2026
April 2026 presented a 0% year-over-year increase in the number of PE-backed acquisitions. In addition to Consulting, private equity investors are also targeting Software, FinTech and Transportation. Learn all about it in our report and case study, including NOD’s acquisition of Paintworks.
May 11, 2026
M&A European Roll-Up Market Report – March 2026
March 2026 presented a 19% year-over-year increase in the number of PE-backed acquisitions. In addition to FinTech, private equity investors are also targeting Consulting, Software and Marketing. Learn all about it in our report and case study, including Syndigo’s acquisition of Taggstar.
April 16, 2026
VC Landscape European Venture Capital Landscape – March 2026
With 360 investments and $8.2 billion raised across Europe, March saw a 86% increase in volume and 6% rise in deal count month over month. The largest round of the month was a $2.0 billion Series C by the London-based company Nscale, which builds AI data centers and provides GPU cloud infrastructure that companies use to train, run, and scale large AI models.
April 9, 2026
M&A European Roll-Up Market Report – February 2026
February 2026 presented a 44% year-over-year increase in the number of PE-backed acquisitions. In addition to Software, private equity investors are also targeting Consulting, Manufacturing and Health Care. Learn all about it in our report and case study, including Ryan’s acquisition of WYM Real Estate.
March 12, 2026
VC Landscape European Venture Capital Landscape – February 2026
With 339 investments and $4.4 billion raised across Europe, February saw a 6% increase in volume and 13% rise in deal count month over month. The largest round of the month was a $1.2 billion Series D by the London-based company Wayve, which develops autonomous driving technology using end-to-end deep learning models that enable vehicles to navigate urban environments.
March 5, 2026
M&A European Roll-Up Market Report – January 2026
January 2026 presented a 8% year-over-year increase in the number of PE-backed acquisitions. In addition to Food and Beverage, private equity investors are also targeting InsurTech and Consulting. Learn all about it in our report and case study, including ClearScore’s acquisition of Acre.
February 17, 2026
VC Landscape European Venture Capital Landscape – January 2026
With 299 investments and $4.2 billion raised across Europe, January saw a 7% decrease in volume and 1% reduction in deal count month over month. The largest round of the month was a $414 million Venture Round by the Montabaur-based company Klöckner Pentaplast, which is a manufacturer of plastic films and packaging for food, pharmaceutical, health, and durable products.
February 5, 2026
VC Landscape 2025 Recap: European Venture Capital & Private Equity Landscape
2025 presented an 9% increase in invested Venture Capital volume and the Crypto Startup Binance raised the largest round of the year. Learn all about it in our in-depth analysis.
January 21, 2026
VC Landscape Germany Venture Capital Landscape – Q4 2025
Between an decrease of 66% in invested VC volume and a €343mn funding round in the Health Care space, Germany is closing its venture capital landscape Q4 2025. Learn all about it in our latest analysis.
January 12, 2026
M&A European Roll-Up Market Report – December 2025
December 2025 presented a 0% year-over-year development in the number of PE-backed acquisitions. In addition to Software, private equity investors are also targeting FinTech and Marketing. Learn all about it in our report and case study, including Create Music Group’s acquisition of Cr2 Records.
January 9, 2026