European private equity and venture capital fundraising up 40% to €45.6 billion in the first half of 2018

      - H1 2018 was the third highest six-month fundraising period since 2007
      - VC investments surpassed €3 billion, the second highest half-year since 2007

European private equity and venture capital fundraising reached €45.6 billion in the first half of 2018, a 40% increase on the second half of last year, according to new data from Invest Europe.

This figure makes it the third highest six-month period since 2007, according to the European private equity and venture capital association. Invest Europe CEO Michael Collins will present the data on Friday at Invest Europe’s Venture Capital Forum in Paris. At this annual event, institutional investors meet the venture capital fund managers backing Europe’s innovative global leaders of the future. Venture capital investment in European start-ups surpassed €3 billion, reveals the new data, in the second highest half- year result since 2007.

“Demand is high for European private equity and venture capital and it continues to thrive with healthy levels of fundraising and investment in the first half of the year,” said Michael Collins, Invest Europe’s CEO. “The wave of interest we’re receiving in our Venture Capital Forum in Paris follows high-profile public offerings from European VC- backed start-ups in the last six months, including Spotify, Adyen and Farfetch. The venture capital market in Europe has never been better.”

Following another €3 billion of commitment from investors in the first half of the year, venture capital has now raised almost €11 billion in new funding for start-ups in Europe since the start of 2017. Overall, European companies received €30.5 billion from private equity and venture capital funds in the first six months of 2018, above the five-year average.

Invest Europe’s findings come as the European economy enjoys high growth rates and continues to benefit from low interest rates. The European Union growth rate beat expectations in 2017 to reach a 10-year high and is expected to remain strong in 2018 at 2.3% GDP, according to the European Commission’s spring economic forecast.

Working together with national private equity associations from across Europe, Invest Europe has developed the European Data Cooperative (EDC), the industry’s most comprehensive and authoritative database. Over 680 fund managers across Europe have directly submitted their activity data to generate this preliminary half-year report, which will be available to Invest Europe members. Invest Europe will release the official annual data, including breakdowns by country, stage and sector, next year. The EDC holds data from over 3,000 European private equity firms on 8,000 funds, 64,000 portfolio companies and 250,000 transactions since 2007.

Invest Europe’s Venture Capital Forum kicks off in Paris tomorrow with a cocktail event at Station F, the world’s largest start-up campus. It continues on Friday at the Pullman Tour Eiffel with a packed roster of panel discussions, roundtables and keynote speeches.

Speakers include LastMinute.com co-founder turned investor Brent Hoberman, Bpifrance CEO Nicolas Dufourcq, renowned VC investor Klaus Hommels of Lakestar, biotech entrepreneur Edwin Moses, and Nenad Marovac, Chair of Invest Europe and Founder & Managing Partner of VC firm DN Capital. Felda Hardymon of Bessemer Venture Partners, the US’s oldest venture capital firm, will also give a keynote speech. Closing the event is Frédéric Mazzella, Founder of BlaBlaCar, who will discuss why international investors are key to supporting French entrepreneurship.

Invest Europe is the association representing European private equity and venture capital, and their global investors. For more information about the Venture Capital Forum, visit vcf.investeurope.eu.