Fintech
Fintech Helps Push European Tech to Nearly $30B in First Half of 2024
According to new data published by Trading RoomThis is a 12% increase compared to the same period last year, demonstrating a strong return to growth for the European technology ecosystem.
Late-stage investing has benefited from a surge in activity across both sectors, up 8% year-on-year to over $5 billion, with breakout funding (BC stage) seeing its highest investment total in six quarters at $6.2 billion. So far this year, 1,450 companies across Europe have raised $2 million in what promises to be the third-most active year ever for VC investing in Europe, behind only 2021 and 2022.
Fintech and Energy Continue to Dominate
Fintech was the second-largest sector for European tech after energy, with 230 companies raising $5.4bn. This was driven by mega rounds for accessible lending platform Abound (£400m), neobank Monzo ($190m), business planning platform Pigment ($145m) and embedded finance provider Cloover ($114m). Half of all fintech funding in Europe went to UK companies.
Energy continues to dominate European tech, raking in $5.6 billion in H1 2024 as the most funded sector so far this year. This continues a trend from 2023, when increased investment in startups enabling the energy transition saw energy become the most funded sector in Europe each quarter.
Hydrogen companies in particular raised some of the largest rounds in Q2, including Paris-based HysetCo, which raised €200 million to decarbonize urban transportation with its hydrogen taxis. Brussels-based Tree Energy Solutions (TES), which focuses on green energy production using natural gas to electric derived from green hydrogen, also raised €140 million.
Artificial Intelligence Rides the Wave
AI investment now represents 18% of all funding flowing into Europe, up from 6.9% just 10 years ago. Generative AI represents 10% of all European VC funding so far this year, while GenAI model builders and GenAI applications are also driving investment across the continent.
The top five AI investment rounds include:
- Wayve – $1.1B Series C
- Mistral AI – $503M Series B
- DeepL – $300M Late VC
- H Company – $200M Seed + Convertible Note
- Cognigy – $100M Series C
Geneva enjoys investment surge
The UK has raised the most VC investment so far in 2024, raising $9.4 billion in total. London-based firms have raised the most of this funding, $6.8 billion, with investment in the city up 30% from 2023. Cambridge is also among the top 10 European cities for funding, with $664.6 million raised by tech firms in the city so far, up 83% from 2023 figures.
France ($4.3 billion) and Paris closely follow the UK and London ($3.1 billion) thanks to the success of their AI companies. However, the biggest European tech success this year goes to Geneva, which has already raised more funding in the first half of the year ($385.7 million) than it did in all of 2023 ($262 million). Big funding rounds in the city include cancer biopharmaceutical company iOnctura ($86.4 million), financial services firm Alpian ($83.7 million) and neurological drug development company Neurosterix ($63 million).
Sahar Meghani, Partner at Visionaries Club, said: “The UK fintech sector continues to lead the world with Monzo raising more funding this quarter and credit technology Abound also raising £400m to boost its lending product. This is a clear example of how open banking and AI are helping to transform financial services and we are likely to see more fintech success stories using these technologies this year.”