European startup funding Q1 2026
Quarterly report · 2026-01-01 – 2026-03-31 · vs Q4 2025
Quarterly
Summary
auto-generatedIn Q1 2026, 889 rounds were recorded and disclosed equity funding (excluding debt and grants) reached €18B, up 26.7% versus Q4 2025. Debt rounds added a further €4.7B.
Deal count moved +0.2% versus Q4 2025, with 2,277 named investors participating.
UK led by equity raised with €6.2B (34.1% of equity).
Transportation was the most-funded sector at €4.3B in equity (23.7%).
The ten largest rounds accounted for 48.6% of disclosed capital, led by InPost's €2.8B.
138 exits were recorded this quarter worth a combined €4.3B.
Equity funding
€18B
▲ +26.7%excl. debt & grants · +€4.7B debt
Funding rounds
889
▲ +0.2%Companies funded
885
▲ +0.5%Named investors
2,277
▲ +5.9%Exits
138
▼ -24.2%Leading country
€6.2B
34.1% of equity
Leading sector
€4.3B
23.7% of equity
Provenance: 89% of 889 rounds disclosed an amount · 94% of priced rounds are high-confidence · EUR totals reconcile to ECB at-date within +0.02%
Methodology →Investments
Funding within Q1 2026
by monthFunding within Q1 2026 — interactive chart.
Data table
| Amount | Deals | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | €5.0B | 289 |
| Feb | €11B | 302 |
| Mar | €7.5B | 298 |
Biggest deals
top 10 by amount- 1InPostOther · Poland · Feb 2026€2.8B
- 2NscaleSeries C · UK · Mar 2026€1.7B
- 3NscaleDebt · UK · Feb 2026€1.2B
- 4ClooverDebt · Germany · Jan 2026€1.0B
- 5WayveSeries D+ · UK · Feb 2026€1.0B
- 6EutelsatDebt · France · Feb 2026€1.0B
- 7Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI)Seed · France · Mar 2026€885M
- 8Mistral AIDebt · France · Mar 2026€723M
- 9LegoraSeries D+ · Sweden · Mar 2026€472M
- 10ElevenLabsSeries D+ · UK · Feb 2026€423M
Concentration
top 10 deals48.6%
of disclosed capital came from the ten largest rounds.
Top 10 total
€11B
Period total
€23B
Countries
Top countries
equity raisedQ1 2026 — top countries — interactive chart.
Data table
| Q1 2026 — top countries | |
|---|---|
| UK | €6.2B |
| Poland | €2.8B |
| France | €2.1B |
| Germany | €1.7B |
| Sweden | €1.2B |
| Netherlands | €1.1B |
| Switzerland | €773M |
| Spain | €516M |
| Italy | €270M |
| Finland | €267M |
Capital by country
share of equityQ1 2026 — capital by country — interactive chart.
Data table
| Q1 2026 — capital by country | |
|---|---|
| UK | €6.2B |
| Poland | €2.8B |
| France | €2.1B |
| Germany | €1.7B |
| Sweden | €1.2B |
| Netherlands | €1.1B |
| Switzerland | €773M |
| Spain | €516M |
| Italy | €270M |
| Finland | €267M |
| Other | €1.3B |
Geographic distribution
European countries shown · click a countryQ1 2026 — geographic distribution — interactive chart.
Industries
Top sectors
equity raisedQ1 2026 — top sectors — interactive chart.
Data table
| Q1 2026 — top sectors | |
|---|---|
| Transportation | €4.3B |
| AI | €2.1B |
| Cloud | €1.7B |
| Software | €1.5B |
| Healthtech | €1.4B |
| Fintech | €1.3B |
| Energy | €860M |
| Semiconductors | €755M |
| Legaltech | €592M |
| Space | €582M |
Capital by sector
share of equityQ1 2026 — capital by sector — interactive chart.
Data table
| Q1 2026 — capital by sector | |
|---|---|
| Transportation | €4.3B |
| AI | €2.1B |
| Cloud | €1.7B |
| Software | €1.5B |
| Healthtech | €1.4B |
| Fintech | €1.3B |
| Energy | €860M |
| Semiconductors | €755M |
| Other | €4.7B |
Stages
Funding by stage
total euro raised by round typeQ1 2026 — funding by stage — interactive chart.
Data table
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Pre-Seed | €190M |
| Seed | €1.5B |
| Series A | €1.6B |
| Series B | €1.2B |
| Series C | €2.7B |
| Series D+ | €3.3B |
| Growth/Late | €292M |
| Debt | €4.7B |
| Grant | €74M |
| Crowdfunding | €1.0M |
| Other | €7.6B |
Exits
Exit activity
138
exits recorded
€4.3B
combined disclosed value
Exits breakdown
by typeQ1 2026 — exits by type — interactive chart.
Data table
| Q1 2026 — exits by type | |
|---|---|
| Acquisition | 127 |
| Merger | 11 |