Sifted - Germany leapfrogs France in 2024

Good morning there,

It’s been a pretty good year when it comes to debt funding in Europe. Sifted’s intelligence team has tracked €25.2bn of (disclosed) debt funding over the past 12 months — of which more than half went to climate tech startups. 

When it comes to equity and debt funding, Sifted data puts the UK as the clear leader once again — with €16.4bn invested into the country’s startups. In second place, Germany beat France for the first time since 2021, with €6.83bn vs €6.79bn raised. That said, the UK hasn’t been without its challenges, as Kai Nicol-Schwarz explores in his 2024 UK tech review.

To finish off on a more positive note, following a few tough years for VC fundraising, our VC/LP survey shows that although half of European VCs haven’t returned any money to LPs this year, they believe they’ll pay LPs back more next year. Read on for that. 

Elsewhere today: 

• 1Komma5 raises €150m to pave way for IPO
• Sifted’s most-read stories of 2024

— Mimi Billing, Europe editor

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 🏡 German solar startup 1Komma5 has raised €150m in a pre-IPO financing round led by the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (Calstrs) with participation from G2 Venture Partners, 2150, Norrsken VC, Hamilton Lane, B2venture, Eurazeo, eCapital and some existing shareholders.

• 1Komma5 has raised €450m since it launched in 2021 and was originally targeting a 2025 listing — although the company says it now plans to go public in 2026.
• The Hamburg-based company has built a marketplace for homeowners to buy and install carbon-neutral energy systems like solar panels and heat pumps; it also provides software to optimise consumption and bring down energy bills. 

36% of European VCs have asked for an extension to their most recent fundraise

As many of you know all too well, it’s been a tough few years for fundraising. 
 
In 2024, European VCs raised around €20bn across 161 vehicles, according to PitchBook data. That’s the lowest count in a decade, and well under the peak of 467 funds in 2022. 
 
While some huge amounts have been raised — Index Ventures ($2.3bn), Balderton ($1.3bn), Atomico ($1.24bn), Accel ($650m), Creandum (€500m) — the long-tail of smaller and less-established VC firms have had a harder time. 
 
A recent Sifted survey of 64 VCs (thank you to all of you who responded!) found that 36% of firms have had to ask their LPs for an extension to their most recent fundraise. That’s despite trying pretty hard to get funds closed: 41% of respondents told us they’d had conversations with over 100 LPs in the past two years.

For some, all those conversations lead to a huge cap table — 19% of our respondents told us they have more than 50 LPs in their fund. Half of the funds we surveyed have between 11 and 50 LPs, while 31% have 10 or fewer.
 
Find the full findings from our survey here — including more details on the kinds of LPs most VCs have.

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🥇 Sifted’s most-read stories of 2024. AI, acquisitions and founder fallouts all caught Sifted readers' attention in 2024. 

🇬🇧 A year of backlash: UK tech in review 2024. From record-breaking raises to government U-turns, we break down the key moments that shaped UK tech in 2024. 

📈 European tech’s 2024 in data. As 2024 comes to a close, here are some of Sifted’s most headline-grabbing data points to have on your radar going into the new year.

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London-based Mindgard, a startup focused on identifying and remediating AI security vulnerabilities, raised $8m in funding. .406 Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Atlantic Bridge, Willowtree Investments and existing investors IQ Capital and Lakestar. 

If you’d like to submit a deal, get in touch. 

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