Are you planning a fundraising campaign? These 10 VCs are currently giving out money

At every startup and investor conference in recent days – and there have been many – the general situation in the startup nation sounds more or less the same: everyone is sure that more money is flowing again. After investors held back a lot in 2023, there were more and larger financing rounds in the first half of 2024. Sunfire received 315 million euros, Finn a whopping 100 million, Instagrid 89 million. Enpal and Everphone reported huge borrowings – things are happening again in the German and European startup landscape. But there is still a certain amount of caution in the investments that are being made now. VCs have become more selective, it is often said, they look even more closely and expect more, putting quality before speed, that is the tenor.

Gut feeling and what people say about flying food is actually reflected quite well in numbers in this case. A look at the KPMG Venture Pulse Report Europe for the first quarter of 2024 reveals: The volume of VC investments made in Europe rose from 15.1 billion US dollars (about 14 billion euros) in the last quarter of 2023 to 17.9 billion dollars (16.7 billion euros) in Q1 2024. In contrast, the number of deals fell (from 2491 to 1798). This suggests that on average there were larger rounds for fewer startups – that is, the selection was more precise. “VC investors are focusing their funds on the most promising startups,” the report says.

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Germany has not yet fully recovered

If you look at the figures for Germany alone, the picture is not quite so rosy: Investments in this country fell slightly, from 1.9 billion US dollars (1.8 billion euros) in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 1.8 billion US dollars (1.7 billion euros) in Q1 2024. The authors of the report see the reasons for this in the “macroeconomic uncertainties that continued to pose a challenge for both startups and mature companies.” While inflation fell and interest rates stabilized, high energy costs, concerns about global competitiveness and increasing geopolitical uncertainties continued to mean that many VC investors in Germany remained cautious. And then there is the issue of exits. The lack of exits. For a long time and in large numbers.

Nevertheless, the climate is getting warmer again here too, which can also be seen in the fact that in the spring months of 2024 many venture capital firms announced: We have a new fund! In other words: There are again pots of money, of varying sizes, from which companies – only the best ones, of course – will be invested. You can read here which VC firms these are, which industries, business models and phases they invest in, and which startups have a good chance of getting the fresh capital:

These German VCs are currently looking for startups

Vsquared Ventures

• Headquarter: Munich, Germany
• Geographical focus: Europa
• Thematic focus: Deep Tech (Robotics und Manufacturing, AI und Next-Gen, Software, New Space, Energy Transition, New Computing und Sensing, Tech-Bio)