Berlin. On average, German start-ups with US participation raise ten times as much capital as start-ups without. The start-up association came to this conclusion in an evaluation prepared for the Handelsblatt. And it is not only in Germany that US investors often decide on the success of a young company. The trend can be seen across Europe.
Handelsblatt analyzed exclusive data from the Pitchbook, Dealroom and Start-up Detector platforms. They show: The market is becoming more attractive again for US investors. A new record year could be on the horizon for Europe's start-up scene. However, US investors are choosing their deals more carefully than ever.
In 2021, more money flowed into young European technology companies than ever before. “Back then, investors assumed that the trend for e-commerce and delivery services was going through the roof,” says Jannis Gilde, head of research at the German start-up association. “2021 was an absolute record year.”
After the amounts decreased in subsequent years, a new record could be set this year, according to analysts. According to data from the Pitchbook platform, as much money had gone into European start-ups by the end of July 2026 as in the entire year of 2025.
“We are on track for a new all-time high in 2026,” says Orla Browne. She analyzes data on financing rounds for the Dealroom platform. This is driven by two industries: deep tech and artificial intelligence (AI).
In addition to the global AI boom, Gilde also sees new European markets in the areas of security and defense that will generate more investment. 2026 also has the right momentum. "I think companies came along that simply had the quality for high investments. That took a few years," says Gilde. And this time, Gilde estimates the upward trend will last more than a year.
US investors are using their money more specifically than in 2021. Although the volume of investments is increasing, the number of financing rounds in which US investors are participating is constantly falling.
For comparison: In 2026, only half as many deals were made with the same investment volume as in 2025. This is shown by the figures from the Pitchbook evaluation. According to Browne, they should be viewed with caution: some early and small funding rounds would only be reported to the platforms 18 months late. The trend is still downwards.
But even with fewer rounds, the share of US investor money in European rounds in 2026 will exceed investments from the start-ups' home countries for the first time since 2021, according to Dealroom.
This is also because US investors participate more in later rounds. In these, start-ups try to raise larger sums of money. “In the large growth rounds, US investors remain the most important foreign capital provider,” says Gilde.
According to Pitchbook, the proportion of investments in so-called “seed rounds” is, at least in terms of numbers, only slightly lower than the number of late rounds. This means early rounds of start-up financing. Investors such as technology investor Plug and Play Tech Center and start-up development helper Y Combinator are particularly active early on.
The money is not distributed evenly across the continent. The United Kingdom in particular benefits by far from US money. "Accel, Sequoia, Lightspeed and General Catalyst now have offices in London. The US investor in Europe is increasingly present locally," says Browne.
According to Browne, the conditions in London are particularly favorable for young companies: the language and a “tech visa” for five years would attract the necessary talent. Start-ups would also benefit from tax incentives in early-stage investments.
In addition to London, Browne also sees start-up hubs in Berlin, Stockholm, Paris and Munich that could soon attract even more large groups. Rising, more modest candidates for her include Cambridge and the Belgian city of Ghent.
Germany comes in second place for US investors. “Germany has good companies in specific domains,” says Gilde. That's what makes the market so attractive. “We are also seeing large rounds in the areas of fusion energy and battery technology and in green technology in general.” In recent years, one major market in particular has been added to Germany: defense. This is a special case, says Gilde. “The markets suddenly emerged here.”
Europe is a B2B market. The products and startups that attract the largest investments tend to target their products at companies rather than consumers.
This year, business software products attracted the most US funding. However, financial software and technology is in less demand compared to 2021. According to Browne, this is a global trend: “The fintech sector now accounts for less than five percent of global venture capital.”
What is striking in the largest rounds in Europe with US participation are the large sums for German defense start-ups such as Helsing, Quantum Systems and Stark. Both Jannis Gilde and Browne also highlight investments in fusion energy start-ups.
Gilde sees the targeted large rounds as a common strategy for American investors: “American funds are looking for the outlier, the big investment and the really big story.”
The areas of security and defense as well as space and robotics increased significantly in 2026, especially in the volume of financing rounds. According to the guild, defense is so popular because the business model is clear and start-ups can quickly generate high sales.
Another trend is emerging this year: European start-ups are convincing investors with their research ideas rather than with finished products. Some founders, mostly famous researchers, seem to be already collecting money using their name.
AI research labs like AMI Labs, co-founded by AI researcher and former head of research at Meta, Yann LeCun, received large sums of money. Recursive Superintelligence, an AI research laboratory that wants to develop self-learning systems, is apparently also benefiting from the high interest in the further development of previous AI models. The co-founder is the AI researcher Richard Socher, former chief scientist at the US software company Salesforce.
US investors such as Accel seem to continue to believe in Europe. Accel is said to have launched a new $800 million fund to invest in European and Israeli start-ups. So should European funds and investors now follow American ones?
“There are of course certain American funds that simply have a very successful investment history,” says Gilde. It is attractive for other funds and investors to observe their strategy.
But according to the guild, compared to the record year of 2021, there are now also European and domestic funds that could bring in a lot of money in later rounds. The federal government wants to mobilize private capital with the so-called “Future Fund” to invest in armaments, quantum and AI start-ups. The EU’s “Scaleup Europe” fund will also invest in these sectors and will total five billion euros.
