Europe’s Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors 2018

Over 22,000 investors were analysed for this report, of which over 10,000 have been ranked. The table below presents the top 25. On page 9 you can learn more about how to access the entire list and use the ranking to your advantage.
About Techcelerate Ventures

Tech Investment and Growth Advisory for Series A in the UK, operating in £150k to £5m investment market, working with #SaaS #FinTech #HealthTech #MarketPlaces and #PropTech companies.
investor Venture Prominent Venture Capital Venture Capital investor exit Capital Rank
About Techcelerate Ventures

Tech Investment and Growth Advisory for Series A in the UK, operating in £150k to £5m investment market, working with #SaaS #FinTech #HealthTech #MarketPlaces and #PropTech companies.
investor Venture Prominent Venture Capital Venture Capital investor exit Capital Rank
1
June 2018
"Which investors should I be talking to?" 
It's an everyday question for founders, 
executives and limited partners (LPs). The 
Most Prominent ranking makes it easy to 
find the answer. 
The ranking determines the order of 
search results on Dealroom.co similar to 
Google 
search 
results. This makes 
navigating thousands of investor profiles 
more manageable, whatever your search 
goals are (see page 9 for more).
The ranking criteria
Like last year, the 2018 ranking is only 
based on quantitative criteria, using 
Dealroom.co data. We've analysed over 
22,000 firms globally and compared them 
based on eight indicators. Each indicator 
is discussed in the appendix of this report. 
But broadly speaking, they measure (i) the 
level of European investment activity in 
the last 12 months, (ii) total number of 
meaningful European exits and (iii) the 
number 
of 
successful 
European 
companies still in the portfolio. 
The ranking is not purely a measurement 
of investment performance; that's just 
one of the factors. After all, historical 
performance is not the only important 
factor for a founder, especially if the 
investor hasn't been very active lately. 
Objective
The appendix (see last page) of this report 
explains the methodology and changes 
compared to last year in more detail.
About Dealroom.co
Founded 
in 
Amsterdam 
in 
2013, 
Dealroom.co is a global database to 
discover and track innovative companies 
and identify investment opportunities. 
World-leading tech firms, multinational 
corporations and investment funds use 
Dealroom's software, API and custom 
research to stay at the forefront of 
technology and innovation. Founders use 
Dealroom.co for market research and 
finding potential investors.
2
Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
The number of active venture 
investors in Europe has 
dramatically increased in recent 
years. As a result, navigating the VC 
landscape can be  a daunting task 
for founders, LP's and corporates. 
This ranking, based purely on 
quantitative criteria, is meant as a 
useful guide.
Yoram Wijngaarde
Founder Dealroom.co
The 25 most prominent investors in 2018
Over 22,000 investors were analysed for this report, of which over 10,000 have been ranked. 
The table below presents the top 25. On page 9 you can learn more about how to access the 
entire list and use the ranking to your advantage.
3
Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
Rank
Investor
Country
Notable investments
#1
Index Ventures
United Kingdom
#2 
Accel Partners 
United Kingdom/US
#3
HV Holtzbrinck Ventures
Germany
#4
Northzone
Sweden/UK
#5
Balderton Capital
United Kingdom
#6 
Insight Venture Partners 
United States
#7 
Atomico
United Kingdom
#8 
LocalGlobe 
United Kingdom
#9
Lakestar
Switzerland
#10
Rocket Internet
Germany
#11 
Goldman Sachs
United States
#12 
Creandum
Sweden
#13 
Sofinnova Partners
France
#14 
idinvest Partners 
France
#15 
Point Nine Capital  
Germany
#16 
Naspers
South Africa
#17 
General Atlantic 
United States
#18
Sequoia Capital
United States
#19
Intel Capital
United States
#20 
SoftBank 
Japan
#21 
Summit Partners 
United States
#22 
Target Global 
Germany
#23 
KKR 
United Kingdom
#24 
Founders Fund 
United States
#25 
Vitruvian Partners
United Kingdom
View over 10,000 results online 
The rise of European big tech
4
The current wave of big exits is the result 
of investments made (and work done) in 
the past ten years.
Looking ahead, Dealroom has already 
identified another 485 potential future 
unicorns, valued at 200 million or more, 
with a combined value of 85 billion. 
Furthermore, private equity firms are 
invested in European tech companies 
worth 
an 
additional 
51 
billion.
Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
In the tech world where borders 
are increasingly irrelevant, the next 
generation of large companies will 
be global by default, no matter 
where they're born. That gives 
European founders, who operate 
internationally almost from day 
one, an edge. The new wave of 
giants emerging from the continent 
-- from Adyen to Farfetch and 
Spotify -- shows just how vital that 
deep-rooted competitive 
advantage is.
Jan Hammer
GP, Index Ventures
April
24B IPO (now 28B )
June
7B IPO (now 12B) 
May
2.0B acquisition
April
1.3B acquisition
Pending
~4-5B IPO 
Pending
~4B IPO
So far 2018 already saw the birth of 15 
new unicorns (i.e. startups valued over $1 
billion). This brings the current number of 
unicorns to 37, worth a combined 57 
billion ($62 bn, see page 7). Two 
companies achieved decacorn status: 
Spotify and Adyen. Europe now has five 
VC-backed companies surpassing this $10 
billion mark 
(the other 
three are 
Supercell, Zalando and IHS Markit).
Meanwhile, the exits Spotify, Adyen and 
Farfetch return more capital to investors 
than all 
VC-backed exits of 
2017 
combined. With a 24 billion ($28 bn) IPO 
valuation, Spotify is Europe's largest 
VC-backed exit 
and most 
valuable 
VC-backed company ever. Spotify 
is 
ranked in Europe's top-ten most valuable 
tech companies of all-time. Adyen's 
market valuation of 12 billion ($14 bn) 
instantly places it in the top-15 most 
valuable European tech companies.
Selected big exits in 2018
No other investor has put its mark on the 
advent of European big tech and venture 
capital more than Index Ventures. This 
year's ranking places more emphasis on 
unicorns than last year. And by this metric 
Index Ventures also leads by far: It backed 
17 European unicorns (of which ten $1B+ 
exits and another 8 confirmed unicorns 
currently in portfolio). And it continues to 
be among Europe's most active investors. 
It's followed by Accel Partners, which 
climbed to #2 from #7 last year. Accel was 
an early investor in Spotify, plus 10 other 
European unicorns. It has also been highly 
active in the last 12 months.
Special mention is deserved for seed 
stage investors who've backed unicorns 
early on. LocalGlobe has been among the 
most active European seed investors and 
backed three European unicorns. 
It 
leaped to a #8 position this year. 
Punching above their weight
Unicorn hunters
5
Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
After twenty years of development, 
European startups are really 
starting to consistently show that 
their mindset, ambition and ability 
to execute is world-class. Skype 
may have started the race but 
these days the list of European 
unicorns grows every year with 9 in 
just London alone. There's never 
been a better time to be investing 
early in Europe and Israel.
Saul Klein
Co-founder LocalGlobe
Seed Investors
European unicorns
LocalGlobe
Seedcamp
Point Nine
Hoxton Ventures
Point Nine, Seedcamp and Hoxton 
Ventures are other examples of seed 
investors punching above their weight.
Some new players entered the top ranks, 
such as Softbank which leaped to #20 
from #189. Other top ranked late stage 
investors 
include 
General 
Atlantic, 
Goldman Sachs, Vitruvian and KKR.
The ranking also 
includes corporate 
investors 
(idinvest, 
Naspers, 
Intel, 
Tencent), 
angels, 
accelerators 
(Seedcamp, Entrepreneur First), and 
crowdfunding platforms.
6
Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
United Kingdom
Notable Investments
#1
Index Ventures
#2 Accel Partners
#3 Balderton capital
#4 Atomico
#5 LocalGlobe
France
#1
idinvest partners
#2 Sofinnova
#3 Elaia Partners
#4 Bpifrance
#5 Oleg Tscheltzoff
Netherlands
#1 BOM Capital
#2
Forbion 
#3 Prime Ventures
#4 Endeit
#5 BioGeneration
Italy
#1
Innogest
#2 United Ventures
#3
LVenture Group
#4 Digital Magics
#5
Invitalia Ventures
United States
#1
Insight VP
#2 Goldman Sachs
#3 General Atlantic
#4 Sequoia
#5
Intel Capital
DACH region (1)
Notable Investments
#1 HV Ventures
#2
Lakestar
#3 Rocket Internet
#4 Point nine
#5 Target Global
Sweden
#1 Northzone
#2 Creandum
#3
Industrifonden
#4 Kinnevik
#5 EQT Ventures
Spain
#1 Nauta Capital
#2
Ysios Capital
#3 Kibo Ventures
#4 Seaya Ventures
#5 Cabiedes 
  Russia
#1 DST Global
#2 Baring Vostok
#3 Runa Capital
#4
InVenture Partners
#5
IIDF
Asia
#1 SoftBank
#2 Horizons Ventures
#3 Temasek
#4 Tencent
#5 Rakuten
Country ranking 
1) DACH region = Germany, Switzerland, Austria.
Source: Dealroom.co estimates based on public reports and comparable valuation methods.
European unicorns
7
Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
Complete your investor profile
8
Dealroom.co
Kabelweg 43
1014 BA Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Yoram Wijngaarde
Founder & CEO
yoram@dealroom.co
Dominik Vacikar
Head of Investment Solutions
dominik@dealroom.co
Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
Contact us about premium access, research, API 
a) Add directly online
Visit 
app.dealroom.co 
to 
lookup & claim your profile. 
Then simply edit your portfolio 
and exits directly. We're always 
happy to assist you. Talk with 
us directly using the customer 
contact tool in the bottom 
right.
b) Send it to us
Get in touch via email (see 
below) or talk with us on the 
customer contact tool online. 
We will be happy to receive 
your data in any format you 
have it ready, and make sure 
your profile is updated.
The prominence rank will be regularly re-balanced, based on the latest data. Dealroom 
continuously updates the database with new investment activity, using automated and 
manual processes. To make sure your investor profile is complete, you can provide us 
information in two ways:
Using the ranking online
Visit app.dealroom.co/investors to explore all 22,000 investors, sorted by rank. Use the filters 
to narrow down your search (as shown below). View detailed investor profiles (portfolio, 
exits, focus, fund size and more). Bonus tip for founders: use the investor matching tool to 
find the most suitable investors for your company's next round, in an instant!
9
Dealroom.co
Kabelweg 43
1014 BA Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Yoram Wijngaarde
Founder & CEO
yoram@dealroom.co
Dominik Vacikar
Head of Investment Solutions
dominik@dealroom.co
Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
Appendix: methodology
10
Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
The ranking is based on eight indicators, with equal weighting
1.
Portfolio size in Europe
Number of portfolio companies in Europe (incl. Israel), all time.
2.
Number of rounds in last 12 months
Number of rounds which investor participated in during last 12 months.
3.
Amount raised via participated rounds in last 12 months ( millions)
This measures the total amount raised in each round that the investor participated in. For example, if the investor 
invested 1M in a 20M round, the full 20M is counted. However if a portfolio company raised 20M in a round where the 
investor did not participate, then this is not counted.
4.
Number of exits > 100 million (total firm value, all time)
5.
Number of exits > 500 millions (total firm value, all time)
6.
Number of exits > 800 million (i.e. unicorn exits total firm value, all time) NEW
7.
Number of portfolio companies valued > 500 million (i.e. potential unicorns)
8.
Number of portfolio companies valued > 800 million (i.e. current unicorns) NEW
These factors were also used last year, except number 6 and 8, which are new. The effect is 
that more emphasis is placed on unicorns - both currently in portfolio and realised exits 
(over $1 billion  800 million).
Indicators from last year that were excluded this year:
1.
Exits number
Number of exits, global. This was removed to reduce the weighting of age of a fund (older funds have more exits)
2.
Exit score
Number of exits relative to total portfolio, all time. This was removed because it was impacted by too many outliers.
3.
Capital efficiency
Total  amount of all exits relative to the  amount of capital invested, all time. 
The effect of removing these three is less emphasis on total size (exits number) and less 
emphasis on non-meaningful exits (exits without any disclosed value). As a result, the 
ranking gives slightly more room for early stage and emerging funds. 
This year's ranking still is relatively underweighted on first-time funds, as they tend to have 
far fewer realised exits. We are considering launching a separate "emerging funds" ranking 
later this year.