News & Analysis

Enterprise Ireland, an Irish government agency, has topped the list of most active European investors in domestic venture capital deals.

From 2018 through H1 2022, the firm completed 988 deals, 42% more than its nearest competitor, French sovereign wealth fund Bpifrance.

European investors have been particularly active in domestic deals this year, with their share of overall deal count increasing since 2021. In H1 2022, some €56.3 billion was invested across 5,526 deals, according to PitchBook data. Of these rounds, 42.6% featured only European investors—2,353 deals worth €11.7 billion—up from 39.3% for last year's total.

Over the past few years, foreign VCs have become increasingly present in Europe, driving up deal sizes and valuations. As the downturn hits, however, it seems that they have slowed their dealmaking, leaving a bigger gap for domestic investors to plug.

Here are the most active European investors in domestic deals since 2018 to H1 2022 by deal count.
 
Featured image by Arthimedes/Shutterstock