EU Startup Funding Announcements Fall Precipitously

Funding announcements for startups in the European Union have fallen precipitously following Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Over the past five weekdays1, a total of 33 EU-based companies have revealed seed through late-stage funding rounds of disclosed size, per Crunchbase data. Collectively, they pulled in $250 million.

That works out to an average of $50 million invested per weekday. It’s not a tiny sum, but far below the averages we’d been seeing.

To put things in perspective: For the first three weeks of February, there were 140 rounds across Europe that collectively raised around $2.66 billion. That works out to an average of around $177 million per weekday.

So the recent decline is a big one. Essentially, since the beginning of the invasion, average daily disclosed startup funding has fallen by over 70 percent in EU countries. 

That’s a much sharper decrease than what we’ve seen globally. An analysis of Crunchbase data published earlier this week showed roughly a halving in announced investment post-attack.

Given that the war is happening in Europe, it seems intuitive that we’d see more impact on its startup ecosystem than in other regions. So, the data showing a sharper decline in funding announcements isn’t entirely surprising.

For now, it may be more likely that companies are delaying funding announcements rather than that investment has dried up. For many startups, now might not seem like the appropriate time to celebrate a new round. 

However, it is noteworthy that the current slowdown follows what had been a record-breaking run.  Funding to European startups showed unprecedented growth in 2021, with $116 billion invested. That’s up 159 percent when compared with the $45 billion invested in 2020.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias