Telecom startup funding in Europe
European funding attributed to this sector (companies tagged with it).
403 European Telecom companies have closed 748 funding rounds and raised €12B in equity funding (excluding debt and grants). Debt rounds added €6.5B. UK leads by capital raised, and Intel Capital is the most active investor. Data as of 6 Nov 2026.
#14 sector by equity raised — 1.8% of European sector equity funding.
Equity funding
€12B
excl. debt & grants · +€6.5B debt
Funding rounds
748
Companies
403
Avg round
€29M
Funding over time
2010–2026 · 2026 YTD — equity € raised vs roundsTelecom — funding over time — interactive chart.
Data table
| Equity | Rounds | |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | €452M | 40 |
| 2011 | €111M | 29 |
| 2012 | €99M | 29 |
| 2013 | €262M | 39 |
| 2014 | €704M | 45 |
| 2015 | €1.4B | 65 |
| 2016 | €711M | 88 |
| 2017 | €1.2B | 52 |
| 2018 | €248M | 31 |
| 2019 | €226M | 30 |
| 2020 | €425M | 21 |
| 2021 | €1.5B | 41 |
| 2022 | €1.3B | 29 |
| 2023 | €623M | 29 |
| 2024 | €466M | 25 |
| 2025 | €1.4B | 29 |
| 2026 | €401M | 16 |
Top deals
largest disclosed rounds| Company | Country | Stage | Amount | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CityFibre | UK | Debt | €2.7B | 2025-07-15 | View → |
| Nokia | Finland | Other | €859M | 2025-10-29 | View → |
| O3b Networks | Netherlands | Debt | €556M | 2010-11-01 | View → |
| Green | Switzerland | Debt | €488M | 2022-12-02 | View → |
| Masmovil | Spain | Debt | €481M | 2016-08-01 | View → |
| Helios Towers Africa | UK | Growth/Late | €461M | 2014-07-01 | View → |
| OneWeb | UK | Series A | €456M | 2015-06-01 | View → |
| OneWeb | UK | Other | €456M | 2021-04-28 | View → |
| O3b Networks | Netherlands | Growth/Late | €435M | 2015-12-01 | View → |
| Com Hem | Sweden | Other | €384M | 2017-04-25 | View → |
| CityFibre | UK | Other | €355M | 2022-03-29 | View → |
| Netomnia | UK | Other | €354M | 2022-04-08 | View → |
Top investors
named, by deal count- Intel Capital18 deals
- Amadeus Capital Partners15 deals
- Balderton Capital12 deals
- Accel11 deals
- Qualcomm Ventures11 deals
- Bpifrance10 deals
- Sequoia Capital9 deals
- Advent Venture Partners8 deals
- Almi Invest8 deals
- Atlas Venture8 deals
Top countries
total € raised · click a bar to openTelecom — top countries — interactive chart.
Data table
| Telecom — top countries | |
|---|---|
| UK | €9.6B |
| Netherlands | €1.8B |
| France | €1.3B |
| Spain | €1.0B |
| Finland | €1.0B |
| Germany | €896M |
| Switzerland | €652M |
| Sweden | €615M |
| Israel | €583M |
| Italy | €386M |
Stage mix
share of disclosed €Telecom — stage mix — interactive chart.
Data table
| Telecom — stage mix | |
|---|---|
| Debt | €6.5B |
| Other | €6.1B |
| Growth/Late | €2.7B |
| Series B | €944M |
| Series D+ | €908M |
| Series A | €903M |
| Series C | €495M |
| Early VC | €233M |
| Seed | €177M |
| Pre-Seed | €5.6M |
| Crowdfunding | €863k |
| Grant | €278k |