European startup funding Q1 2021
Quarterly report · 2021-01-01 – 2021-03-31 · vs Q4 2020
Quarterly
Summary
auto-generatedIn Q1 2021, 864 rounds were recorded and disclosed equity funding (excluding debt and grants) reached €20B, up 25.9% versus Q4 2020. Debt rounds added a further €2.7B.
Deal count moved -21.2% versus Q4 2020, with 454 named investors participating.
UK led by equity raised with €4.7B (24.0% of equity).
Fintech was the most-funded sector at €4.9B in equity (24.8%).
The ten largest rounds accounted for 29.4% of disclosed capital, led by Just Eat Takeaway's €1.1B.
177 exits were recorded this quarter worth a combined €17B.
Equity funding
€20B
▲ +25.9%excl. debt & grants · +€2.7B debt
Funding rounds
864
▼ -21.2%Companies funded
859
▼ -19.7%Named investors
454
▼ -22.7%Exits
177
▼ -35.9%Provenance: 93% of 864 rounds disclosed an amount · 79% of priced rounds are high-confidence · EUR totals reconcile to ECB at-date within -0.49%
Methodology →Investments
Funding within Q1 2021
by monthFunding within Q1 2021 — interactive chart.
Data table
| Amount | Deals | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | €5.8B | 267 |
| Feb | €7.1B | 293 |
| Mar | €9.4B | 304 |
Biggest deals
top 10 by amount- 1Just Eat TakeawayDebt · Netherlands · Feb 2021€1.1B
- 2SpotifyOther · Sweden · Feb 2021€1.1B
- 3KlarnaOther · Sweden · Mar 2021€830M
- 4SumUpDebt · UK · Mar 2021€750M
- 5UiPathSeries D+ · Romania · Feb 2021€618M
- 6LendInvestDebt · UK · Jan 2021€566M
- 7GlovoSeries D+ · Spain · Mar 2021€450M
- 8WoltSeries D+ · Finland · Jan 2021€436M
- 9Epidemic SoundOther · Sweden · Mar 2021€378M
- 10Checkout.comSeries C · UK · Jan 2021€370M
Concentration
top 10 deals29.4%
of disclosed capital came from the ten largest rounds.
Top 10 total
€6.6B
Period total
€22B
Countries
Top countries
equity raisedQ1 2021 — top countries — interactive chart.
Data table
| Q1 2021 — top countries | |
|---|---|
| UK | €4.7B |
| Sweden | €2.9B |
| Israel | €2.5B |
| Germany | €2.4B |
| Spain | €1.3B |
| France | €1.2B |
| Finland | €679M |
| Romania | €622M |
| Netherlands | €547M |
| Denmark | €501M |
Capital by country
share of equityQ1 2021 — capital by country — interactive chart.
Data table
| Q1 2021 — capital by country | |
|---|---|
| UK | €4.7B |
| Sweden | €2.9B |
| Israel | €2.5B |
| Germany | €2.4B |
| Spain | €1.3B |
| France | €1.2B |
| Finland | €679M |
| Romania | €622M |
| Netherlands | €547M |
| Denmark | €501M |
| Other | €2.2B |
Geographic distribution
European countries shown · click a countryQ1 2021 — geographic distribution — interactive chart.
Industries
Top sectors
equity raisedQ1 2021 — top sectors — interactive chart.
Data table
| Q1 2021 — top sectors | |
|---|---|
| Fintech | €4.9B |
| Software | €4.3B |
| Transportation | €2.1B |
| Media | €2.0B |
| E-commerce | €1.8B |
| Healthtech | €1.4B |
| Cybersecurity | €1.3B |
| AI | €1.2B |
| Robotics | €928M |
| Cloud | €901M |
Capital by sector
share of equityQ1 2021 — capital by sector — interactive chart.
Data table
| Q1 2021 — capital by sector | |
|---|---|
| Fintech | €4.9B |
| Software | €4.3B |
| Transportation | €2.1B |
| Media | €2.0B |
| E-commerce | €1.8B |
| Healthtech | €1.4B |
| Cybersecurity | €1.3B |
| AI | €1.2B |
| Other | €7.9B |
Stages
Funding by stage
total euro raised by round typeQ1 2021 — funding by stage — interactive chart.
Data table
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Pre-Seed | €22M |
| Seed | €547M |
| Series A | €1.3B |
| Series B | €2.2B |
| Series C | €2.4B |
| Series D+ | €4.9B |
| Early VC | €7.3M |
| Growth/Late | €401M |
| Debt | €2.7B |
| Grant | €40M |
| Crowdfunding | €13M |
| Other | €7.8B |
Exits
Exit activity
177
exits recorded
€17B
combined disclosed value
Exits breakdown
by typeQ1 2021 — exits by type — interactive chart.
Data table
| Q1 2021 — exits by type | |
|---|---|
| Acquisition | 151 |
| Leveraged buyout | 14 |
| IPO | 9 |
| Unknown | 2 |
| Merger | 1 |