Highlights 2025
Segment achievements
We’re keenly aware of the need to provide tangible and specific achievements to our membership, and signal to prospective members what they might enjoy. New for our 2025 highlights is the segment focus that follows, clearly showing the breadth of achievements and deliverables each member segment benefited from.
Highlights 2025
Segment achievements
Large Buyouts
Shaping regulation for the better and preventing negative consequences are core to Invest Europe’s efforts on behalf of managers of large buyout funds. In 2025, we continued to work against complex and onerous rules stemming from the implementation of AIFMD II, arguably the most significant piece of regulation affecting the private equity industry in Europe.
The evolution and growth of private equity is also firmly in our sights, with ongoing work to facilitate the creation and distribution of vehicles that permit the entry of retail investors into the asset class, while also ensuring that our industry remains at the forefront of sustainable practices and ESG standards. Data is a key component, enabling understanding of large buyout managers’ activities and needs. Invest Europe’s annual activity data presented an ever-more granular analysis of large buyout fund fundraising, investment and divestment, while our sentiment survey with Arthur D. Little brought greater understanding of the issues front of mind for large firms and their investors.
Invest Europe’s communication activities ensure that we defend and shape the image of private equity. Our deepened relations with 48 core journalists helped shape press output, leading to more positive coverage, as we increase awareness and understanding of private equity’s value to Europe’s economy and society. Invest Europe’s flagship Investors’ Forum programme provided further insights for large buyout firms about key issues, while giving investors information and data on the performance of the asset class. Training modules on financial and LBO modelling continued to be top choices for buyout industry executives, with practical approaches for junior executives and best practices for more experienced professionals.
Mid-Market
The promotion of Europe’s medium-sized enterprises and the unique strength of European mid-market private equity was at the heart of Invest Europe’s Quiet Power campaign. It tapped into our data that highlighted the outperformance of the mid-market segment relative to North American peers, not to mention the scale of the opportunity still to be explored by investors.
Our communications took the message far and wide, via our extensive following on LinkedIn and achieved well in excess of 5 million views on YouTube. Our narrative, tailored both to potential investors, and to boost understanding among policymakers of mid-market private equity’s benefits to a more competitive and innovative Europe, also achieved more than 70,000 views on our website.
Invest Europe’s advocacy with policymakers made progress on critical definitions, including “SMEs” and “innovative companies”, in order to ensure regulation appropriate for mid-market firms and their portfolio companies. In addition, we continued to innovate and fine-tune our market-leading guidance for managers, including a new Human Rights Due Diligence Tool and an updated 2025 Invest Europe ESG Reporting Template. These were supported by webinars and education to enable mid-market and smaller managers in particular to implement industry best practices demanded by regulation and sophisticated global investors.
Venture Capital
Invest Europe’s Quiet Power campaign positioned Europe’s start-up ecosystem as a driver of innovation and economic growth across the continent and cast European VCs as the experts in accessing outstanding opportunities and strong returns. Dovetailing with the campaign, was an updated online exclusive report on the industry’s Biotech & Healthcare success stories.
The report incorporated data on new job creation, as well as investment flowing into the strategic sector, drawing on Invest Europe’s authoritative VC data also featured in our annual activity report and Private Equity at Work.
We supported the industry with our best-attended Venture Capital Forum in Amsterdam. The event combined high-quality content with new sector roundtables, a “rotating dinner”, and curated networking moments, reinforcing the VCF’s role as a relationship-centric event for the European VC ecosystem. In addition, the event featured a new SFO Roundtable, recognising the importance of the key investor group in VC fundraising and investment. Our 2025 training programme included a Foundation for VC Investment Professionals, providing an opportunity for junior VCs to catch up with best practices and network with peers from all over Europe.
Infrastructure
Invest Europe’s Infrastructure Roundtable was at the heart of activity for the asset class as we integrated members of the Longterm Infrastructure Investors Association (LTIIA) and broadened representation of infrastructure investing.
Our first report into the role of private capital in infrastructure was published, providing data and analysis on the evolving dynamics of the European infrastructure investment landscape. The report, built on Invest Europe’s expanding infrastructure data capture, was supported by a joined-up mainstream and social media communications campaign that ensured engagement and mentions in key publications.
Our first Infrastructure Conference in Brussels brought together over 100 policymakers, global investors and industry experts to align private capital deployment with the EU’s digital and energy transition goals. There was also a dedicated infrastructure communications campaign week that encompassed updated web content and social media, including Infrastructure Voice articles and Leader Interviews, all achieving strong engagement rates. Services to members included a monthly report on infrastructure policy trends plus a presentation at each quarterly meeting, while Invest Europe’s Daily Media Monitor to some 10,000 subscribers included regular stories on infrastructure investment themes and reputational matters from around Europe.