Electra secures €433 million in green loans; open-source software encounters funding troubles, and European private capital surpasses €1.25 trillion by 2024.
In the first half of 2025, European tech startups have witnessed a surge in investments, with a focus on AI, clean energy, health technology, and defense sectors. Despite a cautious overall venture capital climate, significant funding rounds, acquisitions, and investments have marked the start of the year.
One of the most notable funding rounds was raised by Helsing, a Munich-based AI-powered defense technology company. The €600 million Series D, led by General Catalyst, marked the largest funding round in Europe for H1 2025. Helsing, now valued at €12 billion, is one of Europe's most valuable private companies [1][2].
Another notable fundraise was by Proxima Fusion, also based in Munich, which secured €130 million in Series A funding in June 2025. The company is developing advanced stellarator fusion reactors, aiming to build the first stellarator-based fusion power plant by the 2030s [4].
In total, European startups raised around €23.8 billion in equity funding over 2,143 deals in H1 2025, with 46 mega-rounds (€100m+) recorded [2]. Healthtech is a prominent area, with London-based Isomorphic Labs raising significant capital for AI-driven drug development, especially in oncology [2].
The European Innovation Council (EIC) supported 40 innovative startups and SMEs with nearly €230 million in grants and equity financing, highlighting deep tech breakthroughs from Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden. About 32% of these selected companies have women in key leadership positions [3].
Notable investments include Blockstream's acquisition of digital asset company Elysium Lab, Auxxo's €26M first close of Female Catalyst Fund II, and Sunsave's £113M funding to scale the UK's first solar subscription service. In a £1.2B deal, London MedTech Vicebio will be acquired by Sanofi [5].
New investors are flocking to the Scottish startup scene, with Nuuri raising £275,000 pre-seed to simplify nursery search and enrolment in the UK. Kondor raised pre-seed investment to tackle industrial energy waste, while Jaipur Robotics raised €153,000 to boost waste-to-energy gains with AI vision [5].
Aircap secured €500,000 to lead risk and cash flow management for private assets, and Rail-Flow acquired Simply Deliver to build an end-to-end digital logistics ecosystem [5]. French recruitment startup asap.work acquired JUST CONSTRUCTION to accelerate US expansion, and the EV charge point operator Electra secured a €433M green loan, surpassing €1B in total funding [5].
PowerUP launched a campaign to send a hydrogen generator to Ukraine, and Osapiens invested €35M in the UK, creating 150+ high-skilled jobs [5]. Zenobe_ secured €325M to boost EV fleets across Europe, and SilMach will equip French armed forces with smart ballistic plate sensors [5].
Spain invested 20 million in the Portuguese technology fund Armilar, and Source, an Irish startup led by 18-year-old Liam Fuller, secured $1.4M pre-seed. Lovable became the fastest software company ever to reach $100M ARR, and Xelix secured €137M to eliminate invoice fraud and overpayments with agentic AI [5].
European private capital reached €1.25T in 2024, growing 2.6x over the decade [6]. These trends show that despite geopolitical and economic uncertainties, European tech startups continue to attract substantial funding, with a focus on AI, clean energy, health technology, and defense.
No major acquisition data was highlighted in the search results for this period, indicating funding rounds remain the primary mode of capital inflow in European tech recently.
References: [1] TechCrunch. (2025). Helsing raises $680M Series D at a $12B valuation to power AI for defense applications. [online] Available at: https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/16/helsing-raises-680m-series-d-at-a-12b-valuation-to-power-ai-for-defense-applications/
[2] Sifted. (2025). European tech startups raised €23.8 billion in equity funding in H1 2025. [online] Available at: https://sifted.eu/articles/european-tech-startups-raised-23-8-billion-in-equity-funding-in-h1-2025/
[3] European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency. (2025). EIC Accelerator: Latest funding opportunities. [online] Available at: https://eic.europa.eu/accelerator/funding-opportunities/latest-funding-opportunities_en
[4] Proxima Fusion. (2025). Proxima Fusion secures €130 million in Series A funding to build the first stellarator-based fusion power plant by the 2030s. [online] Available at: https://www.proxima-fusion.com/press-releases/proxima-fusion-secures-130-million-in-series-a-funding-to-build-the-first-stellarator-based-fusion-power-plant-by-the-2030s/
[5] Tech.eu. (2025). European tech investment round-up: 11 June 2025. [online] Available at: https://tech.eu/news/european-tech-investment-round-up-11-june-2025/
[6] PwC. (2025). Private capital in Europe surpasses €1.25 trillion in 2024. [online] Available at: https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/private-equity/assets/private-capital-in-europe-surpasses-1-25-trillion-in-2024.pdf
- The tech startup Proxima Fusion, based in Munich, raised €130 million in Series A funding for developing advanced stellarator fusion reactors, with the goal of building the first stellarator-based fusion power plant by the 2030s.
- In the field of education and self-development, Irish startup Source, led by 18-year-old Liam Fuller, secured $1.4M pre-seed funding.
- In the sports sector, Lovable became the fastest software company ever to reach $100M ARR, indicating significant success for a European sports technology start-up.
