Big wins from European investors in 2025 - Part I

In 2025, European VC-backed performance. Across sectors, investors supported companies hitting key inflection points, market leadership, international scale, and significant follow-on financings.

Capital concentrated around fundamentals: product-market fit, efficient growth, and defensible models. AI-native startups scaled quickly. Deep tech and climate ventures advanced through strategic partnerships. B2B platforms demonstrated reliable revenue traction.

This article captures those wins and the investor insights behind them.

It felt like Europe was stepping up

In 2025, Europe’s venture story felt different. Startups such as Lovable and Legora closed landmark rounds. ISAR Aerospace completed its first successful launch, marking a milestone for the continent’s space ambitions. Several governments introduced policy changes aimed at making startup building more attractive, including the long-awaited ESOP reform in the Czech Republic. 

As Tichomir Jenkut, Partner, Presto Tech Horizons, mentions:

“What mattered most to us at Presto Tech Horizons, however, was the gradual and inevitable mindset shift toward European and NATO sovereignty, particularly in defense capabilities. As a downstream effect, we saw a growing number of high-caliber founders choosing to build technologies that genuinely matter.

Thanks to our unique position, deep defense expertise, and strong industrial connections, we were able to partake in highly competitive, high-quality deals such as Firehawk, alongside several others that remain non-public.”

Alongside clear momentum, another pattern became visible in 2025: a stronger emphasis on execution, and here, Sarah Finegan, Associate Partner at Antler help us put things into perspective:

“The shift is driven by three factors: AI leveling the playing field (93% of portfolio founders report AI helped them execute faster, with half saying 5x+), intense focus on execution speed over fundraising, and a dramatic increase in technical founders (from 25% to 90% matching US levels).”

Take Stockholm and London - 100,000 new early-stage startups are being built daily on platforms like Lovable, potentially generating 10,000 new startups this year compared to last, while London's AI companies demonstrate execution speed rivaling Silicon Valley - companies are choosing to build, found, and fund in London, creating a concentration of rapidly scaling startups that are starting here.”

AI lowered the barriers and raised the pace

In 2025, artificial intelligence continued to influence how new products are being built. Tools that once required large teams and months of development became accessible to small groups working at speed. The time from idea to prototype compressed dramatically, lowering both technical and financial barriers. 

As Viktor Minchev, Investment Principal at Eleven Ventures, mentions:

“The barriers to building a functional product - both financial and technical - have fallen dramatically. As a result, scientists, industry experts, and students alike are launching companies at an unprecedented pace, as AI begins to directly disrupt virtually every industry.”

This change is also reshaping the type of founder emerging from the region. As Martina Vitezova, Managing Partner at Next Play and Chief Strategy & Value Officer at Everbot, mentions:

“Now more than ever, CEE founders have proven they can be well-rounded and globally competitive.”

More consolidation, with bigger rounds and fewer bets

Total capital deployed remained high, but investors wrote fewer checks and increased ticket sizes. The result was a market defined less by broad participation and more by concentrated conviction. Fewer companies raised money, but those that did often secured larger rounds than in previous years.

As Dr. Jan Engels, Senior Investment Manager at HTGF observed:

“This trend was also visible within the HTGF portfolio, where several companies closed financing rounds above €100 million. In particular, Tubulis completed a €344 million round, marking the largest Series C round for a European biotech company.”

Consolidation and forward momentum were visible not only across the market, but within funds themselves. Teams tightened their focus, strengthened internal capabilities, and moved deliberately on deployment.

As Mircea Ghita, Principal at Metis Ventures, mentions: 

“On the investment side, we made our first two investments from our latest fund (EchoTwin AI and an undisclosed company) - an important milestone that validated both our thesis and pacing. Beyond new deals, we spent a lot of time working hands-on with the portfolio and helped several companies secure follow-on financing, including supporting Getmobil through its Series A.”

That same theme extended to how funds built access. As Thanos Paraschos, angel investor and Managing Director at Startup Greece, shared:

“A big win for us was the community and trust layer we strengthened through Startup Universe and Startup Greece Week, and the networks built around it. That ecosystem flywheel became a real advantage for deal access: better founder referrals, earlier visibility into emerging teams, and more structured conversations with angels who want to co-invest and learn.” 

That consolidation also translated into realized returns and structural evolution. As Daniel Gockler of Nesprit Ventures explained: 

“We delivered a high-IRR exit from one of our early investments, reached a meaningful level of committed capital by year-end, and are planning to complete a first closing in late Q1/early Q2. The majority of our portfolio companies performed strongly despite a challenging macro environment.“

Placed alongside stronger internal teams and tighter community ecosystems, this reflects a broader pattern. Funds were not only refining how they pick deals,but  they were rethinking how they operate. High-quality exits, disciplined capital formation, and resilient portfolio performance sat next to a deeper redesign of the venture model itself. In a year defined by selectivity and pressure, evolution happened at both the company level and within the firms backing them.

Consolidation was not just visible in funding rounds. It also took shape at the company level, where strategic mergers became a way to accelerate scale and strengthen market position. Instead of expanding purely through organic traction, some companies chose to combine forces to create category leaders faster.

As Adam Radzki, Angel Investor & Chief Growth Officer at HearMe, shared:

“We’re operating both as a B2C marketplace and delivering B2B wellbeing programs for corporations. We executed the merger within a few months—handling complex communication, migrating clients, and launching a new brand, Hedepy for Business—and we are now focused on market consolidation and preparing for our Series B round.”

More resilience under pressure

Not all wins in 2025 came from smooth fundraising cycles or favorable market conditions. Some of the most telling moments happened under pressure, when companies were forced to respond to unexpected shocks. For investors, resilience became as important as growth metrics.

As Dan Mihaescu, Founding Partner at GapMinder, shared similar lessons on this:

“One of the clearest examples was supporting and closing the $31M funding round for Druid AI under very difficult circumstances. This was not a standard fundraising process. The round took place after the sudden loss of Druid’s CEO and co-founder, a moment that would have stopped or seriously delayed most companies.

As board members since 2020, we were deeply involved throughout this period. What stood out was not just the capital raised but the quality of leadership, communication, and resilience shown by the Druid team. The company didn’t slow down. It continued to grow and proved, once again, why it remains one of the strongest champions of the Romanian tech ecosystem.

In parallel, the company had to continue serving large enterprise customers, keep a fast-growing team aligned, execute a clear succession plan, and maintain product momentum,  all while closing one of the largest VC rounds ever raised by a Romanian-founded company.

Beyond Druid, 2025 also delivered tangible portfolio outcomes, including the exit of Planable and new investments in SalesTools.io, Etiq.ai, VoicePatrol, Parol.ai, and DesignVerse, all aligned with our AI-native, enterprise-first thesis.

Just as important were the things that didn’t make headlines: years of consistent board work, staying close to founders during difficult moments, and continuing to invest time, not just capital, when it mattered most.”

Secondaries became a standard practice 

What had long been viewed as a niche strategy became a standard part of portfolio management and liquidity planning. Investors increasingly use secondaries to manage exposure, return capital, and rebalance positions without waiting for traditional exits. 

As Rando Rannus, General Partner of Siena Secondary Fund noted, the year marked a turning point in how the industry approached deal access, portfolio construction, and liquidity.

The ecosystem needed more discipline

If 2025 delivered wins, it also brought sharper lessons. As capital became more selective, fundamentals moved back to the center. Revenue quality, margins, and customer retention mattered more than momentum or narrative. The cycle reminded both founders and investors that markets reward substance over excitement.

As Mircea Vadan, Co-Founder Transylvania Angels Network and Managing Partner ActivizeTech adds: 

“Another lesson is that AI alone is not a business; only teams solving real industry pain with defensible data and domain insight are surviving the hype.”

That perspective shaped the broader market change. The conversation moved from growth at speed to proof of value. It also set up a more specific lesson that became impossible to ignore.

Patricia Pastor, General Partner at NextTier Ventures, also captured that lesson in simple terms:

“Our biggest win in 2025 was building a truly proprietary dealflow in vertical AI applications at the peak of the hype cycle, and, more importantly, learning how to separate signal from noise.”

How to prepare for better fundraising in 2026

If the past year reset expectations, 2026 will raise them further. Capital is still in the system, but it is more concentrated, more analytical, and less forgiving. Investors are looking for clarity in positioning, discipline in execution, and evidence that a company understands its own milestones. Fundraising is no longer an event layered on top of operations.

This is the context in which SeedBlink Core positions itself. Rather than treating fundraising as a sequence of ad hoc meetings and deck iterations, Core structures it as a managed campaign. A live, shareable company profile replaces static attachments. Investor discovery is guided by sector, stage, and geography. Interest and feedback are tracked in one place, creating visibility over momentum and gaps. 

In a market where follow-on rounds cannot be assumed, and investor attention is limited, preparation becomes a competitive advantage. Founders who approach 2026 with a clear pipeline, defined milestones, and structured investor engagement will operate with greater control and greater credibility. SeedBlink Core is designed for that environment.