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Quote of the day: "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing"— Walt Disney, Film producer and businessman.

Women’s Venture Capital Summit Europe

Use links with discounts code (EWVC) applied for With Intelligence events (16-18th September):

  • Women’s Venture Capital Summit Europe - use this link. (the event will mark the UK launch of our Pensions report).

  • Women’s Private Equity Summit Europe - use this link.

Quick Review of Happenings in 2025: An Intense Course Ahead

🌏 Global

  • Global venture activity showed resilience. Startups worldwide raised $205B in H1 2025, a 32% year-on-year increase (Big Book of Venture Capital, Q2 2025). Mega-rounds were a key driver: $57B in global rounds over $100M, with the United States capturing 18.5x more than Asia (Big Book, Q2 2025). Valuations for strong startups have rebounded to near-2021 highs, signaling investor willingness to pay up for quality. Meanwhile, M&A surged 2.7x YoY, largely pushed by AI-driven consolidation (Big Book, Q2 2025). Even the secondary market is rebounding, with renewed activity and price recovery.

❝

The market is reorganising itself. Capital is concentrating around top-performing companies, trusted GPs, and creative fund structures.

🇪🇺 Europe

  • Europe is holding value but losing volume. In Q2 2025, total venture funding hit $14.6B, slightly lower than Q1, while deal counts fell from 2,358 to about 1,737 (KPMG Venture Pulse, Crunchbase News). Investors are concentrating on larger, later-stage bets, while early-stage founders face slower processes and higher bar for traction.

  • Deep tech and defense are thriving. Major rounds included Helsing ($683M, Germany), Quantum Systems ($178M, Germany), Tekever ($500M, Portugal), and AI21 Labs ($300M, Israel). This shows how AI, security, and sovereign technology are commanding capital (KPMG).

🇺🇸 United States

  • The US remains the epicenter of the boom. In H1 2025, startups raised $162.8B (+75.6% YoY), led by huge AI deals: OpenAI’s $40B raise, Meta’s $14.3B stake in Scale AI, and Anthropic’s latest round (Reuters). In fact, AI accounted for 64.1% of total US VC deal value in the period (Reuters).

  • However, while capital flows freely into startups, VC firms themselves raised only $26.6B across 238 funds in H1, down 33.7% YoY. Fundraising timelines have stretched to their longest in a decade, reflecting LP caution even as startup demand soars (Reuters).

🦄 Unicorn Watch: Europe’s Newest Q1-Q3 Billion-Dollar Businesses

July 2025

  • 🇸🇪 Lovable - Reached unicorn in just 8 months with a $200M Series A at a $1.8B valuation.

  • 🇬🇧 Fuse Energy - Renewable energy startup by ex-Revolut founders, now >$1B valuation.

June 2025

  • 🇬🇧 Mubi – Indie film streaming platform raised $100M from Sequoia, hitting $1B.

  • 🇫🇷 Zama – Pioneering fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), valued at $1B+ after $57M Series B.

  • 🇩🇪 Isar Aerospace – Achieved unicorn via a €150M convertible bond; Europe’s rocket ambitions take off.

Trending this Term: Levers Shaping the Ecosystem 🌱

💥 Regulation as a Growth Opportunity: EU AI Act enforcement begins now

  • The EU AI Act, which took effect on 1 August 2024, began applying first to “unacceptable‑risk” AI systems (like social scoring and emotion recognition) from 2 February 2025. Regulations for general-purpose AI models (GPAI) and governance frameworks will become enforceable starting 2 August 2025, while full application of the Act’s provisions (including for high-risk AI systems) rolls out by 2 August 2026.

  • Non-compliance may trigger fines up to €35 million or 7% of global turnover, making early preparation both a legal imperative and an opportunity to build trust and competitive advantage.

🤖 InvestAI & Europe’s infrastructure sprint

  • At the February 2025 AI Action Summit, the EU unveiled InvestAI, aiming to mobilize €200 billion to power AI development (including €20 billion earmarked for AI gigafactories) and advance strategic autonomy through shared infrastructure.

  • This effort complements AI Factory deployments, under the EuroHPC framework, facilitating startup and academic access to cutting-edge AI compute resources and support throughout 2025.

🫆The Funding Gap Conversation: Catalyzing Pension Money into Alternatives 🫵

  • One of the most important conversations this autumn will be how to unlock institutional capital (especially, pension funds) into venture capital.

  • If Europe wants to compete with the scale of U.S. venture, catalyzing pension funds into VC is not just an inclusion issue, it’s an economic growth strategy.

Key Takeaways

  • 🇪🇺 Europe’s share of global VC fell to 13% (from 19% a year ago), with funding down 11% YoY, a reminder of tougher conditions on this side of the Atlantic (Crunchbase).

  • 🫆M&A is coming back: Europe logged 172 venture-backed exits worth $7.2B in Q2, including four $1B+ acquisitions (Crunchbase).

  • 🤖 AI Act deadlines are here: first bans began in Feb 2025; obligations for general-purpose AI models arrive in Aug 2025; full rollout by Aug 2026. Fines up to €35M/7% of global turnover (European Parliament).

  • 🫵 The pension fund debate is heating up: policymakers and LPs are actively discussing how to channel long-term savings into venture.

Empowering Equity 2025 – Register Now! 🌟

Are you an LP or a GP looking to make an impact through gender-smart investing? This is your opportunity to join the movement shaping the future of equity and inclusion in Europe.

What: EIF’s flagship event on gender-smart investingWhen: 15 October 2025Where: Chambre de Musique – Philharmonie, Luxembourg City

Learn more & Register here

🙌🏼 People who inspired us lately

Paige Hendrix Buckner

Paige Hendrix Buckner, CEO of All Raise, leads a fast-growing nonprofit committed to doubling the number of female and nonbinary investors and founders in U.S. venture capital. She stepped into the role permanently in May 2023, after serving as interim CEO and previously Chief of Staff at All Raise.

👉 Read her latest interview here.

🤑 Latest Fund News

Project A announces the close of Fund V at €325M!

🇩🇪 Berlin-based Project A Ventures has raised its fifth fund at €325M, bringing total assets under management to €1.2B. The fund will continue to focus on pre-seed and seed-stage startups across Europe, with Project A’s distinctive studio model — co-creating ventures with founders from day one.

👉 Read more here.

Funding news⚡

🇮🇪 ProVerum Secures $80 Million Series B to Advance New Treatment for BPH!

Industry: MedTech | Location: 🇮🇪 Ireland | Funding: $80M

The new round has been led by MVM Partners, who were joined by new investors OrbiMed and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) (National Treasury Management Agency), and included participation from existing investors Atlantic Bridge, Gilde Healthcare, Lightstone Ventures, and Enterprise Ireland amongst others.

👉 Read more here!

✨ MobyFly Raises Series A!

MobyFly (Switzerland) closed its Series A on July 29, 2025, raising €10.7 million (CHF 10.1 million) to scale its zero-emission hydrofoil ferry technology.

👉 Read more here!

🎧📚 What are we reading and listening to?

🔵 The top 100 women in Irish Tech Investment 🇮🇪

👉 Find all and read more here!

🔵 Is Venture Broken?

In OpenLP, longtime VC Elizabeth Clarkson reflects on the recurring question she’s heard throughout her career: “Is venture broken?” This time, the conversation centers on the AI innovation wave and mega-funds moving earlier into the market. In her discussion with Kirsten Green, Founder & Partner at Forerunner, they explore why:

  • AI is fueling a golden age of early-stage innovation

  • More opportunity is pulling more capital, including mega-funds, earlier

  • “The power of being a specialist is showing up with a prepared mind… it’s the partner that can go right into a strategic conversation about how to navigate the right here and right now.”

👉 Watch the conversation and read more here!

🔵 British Business Bank taps CVC pros for deep tech investing

The UK’s state-owned economic development bank has brought on two corporate venture capital veterans, Rachael Reid (formerly BP Ventures) and Costantino Mariella (ex-Sony Innovation Fund), as senior investment managers to lead direct and co-investments in deep tech. This move comes as the bank ramps up its direct investment capacity from £15 million to £60 million in scale-up life sciences and deep tech, aiming to close gaps alongside external fund managers.

👉 Read more here!

🔵 Brunch with Balderton’s Rana Yared

In Sifted’s profile, Balderton’s first female GP Rana Yared reflects on her journey from Goldman Sachs to European VC. Her candid remark, “I had a higher tolerance for garbage before,” captures both the challenges and the resilience needed for women at the top of venture.

👉 Read more here.

🔵 NBER study: The failure penalty

A 2025 study finds women founders are 30% less likely than men to get funded after a failed startup, and when they do, they raise 53% less. Men, in contrast, often benefit from prior failure. A stark reminder that bias still shapes outcomes - and why reputation systems need reform.

👉 Read more here.

What we’ve been up to! 🎉

TechBBQ

TechBBQ was buzzing with ideas, Kasia & Alicja joined key sessions shaping Europe’s conversations on innovation, investment, and inclusion.

👉 Day 1

➡️ At Pensions Day, we joined the debate on Europe’s missed opportunity: huge long-term savings, yet little channeled into innovation. Unlocking even a fraction could transform Europe’s ability to scale startups. (join us for the UK report pre-launch on Pensions at With Intelligence – Women’s Summits on Sept 16. - register here)

➡️ Investor Day provided interesting insights on 2024 fundraising challenges (with Søren Thinggaard Hansen, Sara Rywe, Julie Høi-Nielsen) and a great session on founder-CVC dynamics with Linn Clabburn & Destana Herring.

➡️ Corporate Day, with The Link, Industriens Fond & Beyond Beta, connected corporates and startups to spark new collaboration.

➡️ VC Platform x HSBC Dinner wrapped the day with inspiring conversations and fantastic energy.

👉 Day 2

➡️ At the Policy Lounge, Kasia Piasecki moderated ‘Fueling Inclusive Entrepreneurship Through Digitalisation & AI’, covering:– digital tools to democratise entrepreneurship– closing the gender gap as a competitiveness issue– regulation’s impact on innovation.

➡️ We also joined the European Parliament’s Pilot Project on the Gender Gap in Investments with EIC & EISMEA supported by EIFO & Thousand Faces. Fantastic keynotes from Claudia Colciago, PhD (EIFO) and Ekke Van Vliet (EIC - European Innovation Council) brought valuable perspectives to the discussion.

Huge thanks to: Tamara Savic, Esther Babasasa, Moojan Asghari, Daria Rzhavtseva, Sam Eshrati, Amalie Holm Berre Eriksen, Mikkel Schiott, Anne-Sophie Pedersen

Attend one of our partners’ events 🎟️

SLUSH | European Women in VC, LP-GP Breakfast | Women & Men Allies in VC19 November, 🇫🇮 Helsinki

Register here: https://lu.ma/u0zjcjri

We're a squad of over 1000 senior female venture capital wizards from all over Europe and beyond. We're here to flip the script and make things right.

Join us in shaking up the VC world! 🚀

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