Investors are preparing for another record year of venture capital activity in Europe. In 2021, the European startups received €92 billion of capital, as per reports, which is 116% higher than in 2020. This year, it is estimated that the VC capital pumped into European startups will reach €175 billion.
Talking about investments, seed investment is a private investment of capital in a startup in exchange for equity. Typically venture capital firms invest ranging from a few hundred thousand to $1 million in these rounds. In March 2022, there was a flurry of seed activity in Europe with startups raising €453 million, which is the higher in six months. The highest seed round in the round was raised by UK fintech Yonder, which got £20 million from Northzone and LocalGlobe.
Now, the anonymous VC review platform for founders, Landscape, has launched Landscape Lists, a new service to highlight the best VCs based on anonymous founder feedback. The first list highlights the top 20 European seed investors and here we have listed 10 of them. Notably, Landscape was founded by entrepreneur Joe Perkins in 2020 and has scaled to a team of seven based remotely across the UK and Europe.
Here, TFN has listed the top 10 seed VC funds in Europe that are helping aspirational founders grow their businesses to new levels.
LocalGlobe
London-based venture capital firm LocalGlobe was founded by Robin Klein and Saul Klein in 1999. It focuses on seed and impact investments and has backed recent fundraising in ambitious startups, including Yonder, Breedr and Circular among others. Also, its portfolio includes big brands such as Wise, Monzo and others. To date, LocalGlobe has made 303 investments.
Ada Ventures
Established in 2018 in London by Francesca Warner, Matt Penneycard, Ada Ventures is a venture capital fund, backed by entrepreneurs and a group of global, mission-aligned investors. The portfolio of Ada Ventures includes Bubble, spill, boundless and a handful of other companies. The VC firm invests £250K to £500K in the initial round in UK tech companies with global ambitions.
Hoxton Ventures
Yet another London VC is Hoxton Ventures, which focuses on startups that either disrupt existing industries or invent entirely new market categories. It invests between $500k and $5 million in pre-seed, seed, and Series A rounds across Europe. Founded by Hussein Kanji and Rob Kniaz, Fidelity and Accel alums, the VC fund recently raised $215 million in the Hoxton III fund. Its portfolio includes Kitt, Babylon Health, Darktrace and Deliveroo.
Playfair Capital
Headquartered in London, Playfair Capital is an early-stage fund with investments spanning across deep tech, SaaS, marketplaces and B2B companies. Founded by Federico Pirzio-Biroli in 2013, the VC fund has invested in Mapillary, CryptoFacilities, Omnipresent, Orca AI, Thought Machine, Cauldron, Qureight and others.
SMOK Ventures
A venture capital fund based in Warsaw, Poland founded by Borys Musielak, Diana Koziarska and Paul Bragiel in 2019, SMOK Ventures invests $100k to $1 million in early-stage startups in the country. Its primary focus is on sectors, including gaming, AR/VR, Artificial Intelligence, marketing tech and fintech. The portfolio of SMOK Ventures includes MX Labs, Renderro, Frying Jelly, Heroify and others.
Kindred Capital
Kindred Capital is yet another London-based early stage venture capital fund that practices equitable venture. Kindred aligns ambitions and achievements with the portfolio. In structure and in spirit. In a very unique approach, every single founder that the company backs will become a co-owner of the fund. Founded in 2015 by Leila Zegna, Mark Evans, and Russell Buckley, Kindred Capital has invested m3ter and others.
byFounders
Founded by a team of experts, including Christine Spiten, Eric Lagier, Louise Lachmann, Peter M Jensen and Tommy Andersen in 2017 in Copenhagen, Denmark, byFounders is an early-stage venture fund that invests to support the next generation of globally ambitious founders. The byFounders Collective consists of over 70 of the most accomplished Nordic and Baltic founders and operators.Its portfolio of recent investments include Helsinki-based Kleoverse and Fuzey, a British startup.
Praetura Ventures
Praetura Ventures has been supporting SMEs since its debut in 2011 by David Foreman, Michael Fletcher and Peadar O’Reilly. It raises capital and invests in the early stages of business life cycles. It was born out of the need to give more than money to exceptional founders, advisers and investors. Praetura Ventures’ mission is to be the VC of choice across the UK.
Outsized Ventures
Outsized Ventures, which was previously known as Luminous Ventures, was founded by Rodrigo Mallo, Isabel Fox and Lomax Ward in London in 2021. Called ‘deep tech’ VC fund, it raised €60 million inaugural fund to invest in Seed+ rounds. Outsized Ventures’ portfolio includes Biomage, Fathom, Living Optics, and others.
Change Ventures
Estonian VC fund Change Ventures is a seed stage venture capital fund based in the Baltic states. It was founded by Andris K. Berzins, Rait Ojasaar, and Yrjö Ojasaar in 2016 and it invests €400k to €3 million in the initial round. The portfolio of this fund includes big names such as Veriff, Gelatex and others.
