{"id":15307,"date":"2024-07-10T23:01:01","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T23:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1408388"},"modified":"2024-07-10T23:01:01","modified_gmt":"2024-07-10T23:01:01","slug":"new-hope-for-european-tech-vc-funding-rises-to-29b-in-first-half-of-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=15307","title":{"rendered":"New hope for European tech? VC funding rises to $29B in first half of 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Whisper it, but startup funding is showing signs of a rebound. <\/span><\/p>\n

Venture capital investment in Europe has risen by 12% so far in 2024, <\/span>according to Dealroom<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>By June, the financing for startups and scaleups had reached $29.3bn. <\/span><\/p>\n

If the current spending rate continues, this year will become third-most active ever for VC in the continent.<\/span><\/p>\n

The leading industry for investment is energy, which raised $5.6bn during the first half of 2024. This continues a trend from last year, when energy companies topped the funding charts in every quarter.<\/p>\n

There have been shifts, however, in the sector\u2019s biggest targets.<\/p>\n

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The <\/p>\n

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol’ founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Hydrogen companies bagged the biggest rounds in quarter two of 2024. The biggest beneficiary was France\u2019s HysetCo, which raised \u20ac200mn to develop hydrogen taxis. A further \u20ac140mn went to Belgium\u2019s Tree Energy Solutions, which produces electric natural gas from green hydrogen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Artificial intelligence, meanwhile, now comprises 18% of Europe\u2019s VC funding \u2014 up from 10% a decade ago.<\/p>\n

Wayve, a London-based startup developing AI for autonomous vehicles, topped the quarter\u2019s investments with a<\/span> $1.1bn Series C<\/a><\/span> round. Across the field, generative AI brought in the bulk of the cash.<\/p>\n

VC eyes on GenAI<\/h2>\n

GenAI attracted a record $2.6bn across the second quarter of 2024. It now makes up 10% of the continent\u2019s total venture capital funding<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeannette zu F\u00fcrstenberg, Managing Director and Head of Europe at VC firm General Catalyst<\/a>, expects the momentum to continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in the very early innings of one of the largest technology sea changes in history,\u201d she told TNW via email.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs entrepreneurs and industry leaders grasp the transformative power of generative AI, they are uncovering new business models, products, and form factors.\u201d<\/p>\n

General Catalyst is financing this vision. The firm co-led the quarter\u2019s second largest VC investment in European GenAI: a $640mn Series B round<\/a> for Mistral AI.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zu F\u00fcrstenberg depicts the Paris startup as a flag-bearer for the continent.<\/p>\n

\u201cMistral stands out not just for its groundbreaking technologies, but also for its adherence to European values and an open-source philosophy,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing Mistral\u2019s founding team\u2019s ambition and talent caliber has undoubtedly encouraged other investors to hunt out hidden gems across Europe.<\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n

UK and France lead charge<\/h2>\n

Europe\u2019s leading nation for VC investment this year is the UK. The country has raised $9.4bn in total, $6.8bn of which has gone to London-based firms. <\/span><\/p>\n

Cambridge also makes the top 10 European cities for funding. The city\u2019s companies have raised $664.6mn \u2014 up 83% on 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the country rankings, France took second place with $4.3bn. The majority ($3.1bn) arrived in Paris, which the likes of Mistral have turned into an AI hub.<\/p>\n

Geneva has also enjoyed a lucrative six months. The city has already raised more in the first of 2024 ($385.7mn) than during the whole of last year ($262mn).<\/span><\/p>\n

Startups behind the boom include biopharma company iOnctura ($86.4mn), digital bank Alpian ($83.7mn), and drug development firm Neurosterix ($63mn).<\/span><\/p>\n

They prove that artificial intelligence isn\u2019t the only field raising big rounds. For zu F\u00fcrstenberg, however, AI in Europe has a unique allure. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEurope can be a key player in the immense economic opportunity unleashed by AI, which I like to call a European RenAIssance,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLeveraging the power of AI to bolster European productivity and growth we believe will be key when building globally successful technology companies on this continent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whisper it, but startup funding is showing signs of a rebound. Venture capital investment in Europe has risen by 12% so far in 2024, according to Dealroom. By June, the financing for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}