2017 European Venture Report by Pitchbook

2017 was a record year for Europe’s venture ecosystem, with ¤16.9 billion in capital invested—the highest number PitchBook has recorded. Deal count, however, trended downward for the third consecutive year. The final number of closed deals came in at just 3,306, a 24% decrease from 2016 and the lowest number of financings since 2012.
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2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q deal 3Q 4Q 1Q 4Q 1Q 2Q Source PitchBook European VC fund European Venture Report Annual European Venture Venture Invest exit PitchBook Source PitchBook Source PitchBook Source year Late stage size UK Ireland VC backed exit deal size
<p>European  
Venture Report
2017 Annual
Contents
Key takeaways
2
Overview
3
Spotlight
7
Artificial Intelligence attracts record investment
Corporate VC
8
Regional Spotlight
9
UK/Ireland sees record venture activity in 2017
Exits
11
Fundraising
13
Healthy fundraising activity despite dwindling fund 
count
4Q 2017 League Tables
15
16.9B
53
1.2B
2017 European VC  
deal value
Key takeaways from the analysts
13% YoY
2017 European VC-
backed IPOs
2017 European VC 
deal value in AI
Credits & Contact
PitchBook Data, Inc.
John Gabbert Founder, CEO
Adley Bowden Vice President, Market 
Development & Analysis
Content
Cameron Stanfill Analyst
Joelle Sostheim Analyst
Masaun Nelson Data Analyst
 
Contact PitchBook
pitchbook.com
Research  
reports@pitchbook.com 
Editorial  
editorial@pitchbook.com 
 The European venture industry 
reached new highs in 2017, at least in 
terms of overall deal value. Just under 
17 billion was investedthe highest 
figure tracked by PitchBookacross 
3,306 completed transactions. Those 
figures equate to changes of a year-
over-year (YoY) increase of 13% and 
decrease of 25%, respectively. 
 The United Kingdom (UK) and 
Ireland have cemented their status 
as a VC stronghold with a record 7.1 
billion invested across 1,221 deals. 
This was partially a product of its 
burgeoning fintech ecosystem, as 
nearly half of the total fintech deals 
across Europe were in the UK/Ireland 
region.
 Contrary to earlier indications, 2017 
proved to be a rebound year for VC-
backed IPOs, which raised over 3 
billion across 53 offerings. Assisted 
by large offerings from Delivery Hero 
and Rovio, 2017 was the strongest 
showing since 2014, which retains 
decade-highs values for both IPO 
value and count. 
PITCHBOOK 2017 ANNUAL EUROPEAN VENTURE REPORT
2 
Overview
Strong VC investment despite sliding  
deal count
2017 was a record year for Europe's 
venture ecosystem, with 16.9 billion 
in capital investedthe highest 
number PitchBook has recorded. Deal 
count, however, trended downward 
for the third consecutive year. The 
final number of closed deals came 
in at just 3,306, a 24% decrease 
from 2016 and the lowest number of 
financings since 2012. 
VC deal value reaches decade high in Europe 
European VC activity
Source: PitchBook
5.44.26.96.88.28.512.016.514.916.91,585 1,590
2,151
2,682
3,268
4,197
4,982
4,936
4,360
3,306
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Deal Value (B)
# of Deals Closed
PITCHBOOK 2017 ANNUAL EUROPEAN VENTURE REPORT
3 
4Q deal count falters to lowest level since 2011
European VC activity
OVERVIEW
Angel & seed deals see sharp decline
2017's low deal count was due in 
part to a significant decline in the 
number of angel & seed rounds, 
which saw a 39% decrease from 2016. 
One explanation for this trend is that 
investors are increasingly investing 
in more developed companies. 
Another contributing factor could 
be the increasing prevalence of 
angel deal syndication resulting 
from networks and governmental 
support, which may be pushing what 
would traditionally be angel & seed 
rounds into larger echelons where 
they are considered early stage deals 
instead. The European Business 
Angel Network (EBAN), for example, 
reports growing membership and 
assists angels in deal syndication 
and cross-border deal making. 
Additionally, the European 
Investment Fund (EIF) recently 
established the European Angel Fund 
(EAF), which provides matching 
equity investments and facilitates 
networking and co-investment 
Source: PitchBook
Source: PitchBook
Deal sizes continue to trend 
larger
European VC activity (#) by size
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Deal Value (B)
# of Deals Closed
Angel/Seed
Early VC
Late VC
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
25M+
10M-
25M
5M-
10M
1M-
5M
500K-
1M
Under 
500K
PITCHBOOK 2017 ANNUAL EUROPEAN VENTURE REPORT
4 
amongst angels. Whereas individual 
angels might complete more 
financings separately, syndicates 
enable angels to pool resources to 
participate in larger deals and share 
risk. 
Deal sizes continue to grow
Though early and late stage deal 
counts have also declined, capital 
invested remained relatively 
stable in 2017, thanks in part to 
the proliferation of larger deals. 
Improbable's 458 million SoftBank-
led Series B financing and Deliveroo's 
417 million Series F round are both 
examples of the large deals which, 
though outliers, are part of the class 
of increasingly common large deals 
from recent years. More than half the 
capital invested in 2017 was in deals 
greater than 25 million, a segment 
that saw a 35% YoY deal count 
growth in 2017. Correspondingly, 
median early and late stage deal sizes 
reached heights of 2.3 million and 
5.4 million, respectively.
OVERVIEW
Though domestic late stage capital 
has historically been difficult to 
access, the proportion of VC funds 
in the 100 million-250 million 
bucket increased from 15% of total 
funds in 2014 to 35% in 2016. This 
was likely helpful to startups aiming 
for larger financings in 2017. Larger 
deals have also been facilitated by 
the participation of deep-pocketed 
foreign investors, including US 
VCs, who participated in over 17% 
of European deals in 2017. Seven 
out of 10 of the year's largest deals 
had participation from a US VC, 
and the median size of deals with 
US investor participation was 5.5 
million. European startups may 
continue to look to US VCs for late 
stage financing because they have 
ample dry powder and can provide 
mentorship in scaling abroad.
0.60
0.78
1.5
2.3
4.4
5.4
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Angel/Seed
Early VC
Late VC
Median deal size reaches decade-high at all stages 
Median European VC deal size (M) by stage
12.8%
17.3%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
20%
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
US VCs increase participation in Europe 
US VC participation rate in European VC deals (#)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2008200920102011201220132014201520162017HC Services &
Systems
Pharma &
Biotech
HC Devices &
Supplies
Other
So ware
Media
IT Hardware
Energy
Consumer Goods
& Recrea on
Commercial
Services
Software continues to dominate 
European VC activity (#) by sector
Source: PitchBook
Source: PitchBook
Source: PitchBook
PITCHBOOK 2017 ANNUAL EUROPEAN VENTURE REPORT
5 
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Israel
UK/Ireland
Southern Europe
Nordics
DACH
France/Benelux
Central & Eastern
Europe
OVERVIEW
The DACH region has increased its 
proportion of deal flow in recent years
European VC activity (#) by region
1.71.22.12.42.72.22.02.72.71.8880
872
1,144
1,444
1,677
1,965
2,176
1,727
1,387
904
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Deal Value (B)
# of Deals Closed
First-financing deals on a steep 
decline across Europe
European first-financing activity
Source: PitchBook
Source: PitchBook
Over the past five 
years, total investment 
in software companies 
has grown from 1.2B 
to nearly 7B annually
40%
proportion of 2017 European 
VC deal value attributed to 
investment in software
Source: PitchBook
PITCHBOOK 2017 ANNUAL EUROPEAN VENTURE REPORT
6 
Spotlight
Artificial intelligence attracts record 
investment
Artificial intelligence investment 
reaches new deal value record
European VC activity in artificial intelligence & machine learning
Source: PitchBook
The broad potential applications of 
artificial intelligence and machine 
learning (AI/ML) have attracted 
a stampede of VCs, who have 
demonstrated their enthusiasm 
through 30x growth in deal count 
over the past decade. 2017 has been 
a landmark year in that respect, as 
annual VC investment topped  
1 billion for the first time. Naturally, 
VC interest in a space usually precedes 
the entrance of strategic acquirers. 
To that end, the exit market for these 
companies is still developing on the 
continent, as 2017 saw only 11 exits of 
AI/ML startups. 
The recent buzz around AI/ML as a 
commercially viable technology began 
around 2006 with the advancements 
in Deep Learningprogress that was 
made possible by huge leaps in the 
three key areas of ML: new research 
approaches, computing power and 
data availability. 
While AI has proliferated in many 
consumer-facing products, the 
field continues to be such a strong 
investment due to its application 
in the enterprise. Opportunities in 
this market span from automation 
in manufacturing and agriculture, to 
smart power grids and new drug 
discovery. A consistent shortcoming 
for corporations across nearly 
all industries is cybersecurity
another field AI/ML is working to 
transform. On that front, Cambridge-
based Darktrace is implementing 
unsupervised learning techniques 
to identify unknown threats and 
anomalies in a diverse set of enterprise 
networks.
Due to the complexity of the problems 
and the computation power that they 
require, many AI/ML applications 
will take time to come to fruition. In 
response to these issues, advances 
are also being pursued in supporting 
hardware like quantum or high-
performance computing as well as 
the associated chips (GPUs/CPUs/
FPGAs/TPUs). This is a niche the 
startup Graphcore, headquartered 
in Bristol, is looking to exploit with 
their proprietary computer processor 
built specifically for machine learning 
applications. We expect deal and exit 
activity will continue to increase in the 
vertical through 2018, as automation 
through AI/ML becomes a 
widespread trend and the technology 
penetrates on an enterprise level 
across a more diverse set of industries.
 343.9 556.9 1,205.314
12
19
32
54
87
110
176
197
309
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Deal Value (M)
# of Deals Closed
PITCHBOOK 2017 ANNUAL EUROPEAN VENTURE REPORT
7 
CVC
Corporate VC sees increased 
participation
Corporate VC remains popular 
investment type
European VC activity with CVC participation
1.51.12.21.73.23.33.54.55.46.5202
190
281
385
426
501
546
590
634
612
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Deal Value (B)
# of Deals Closed
Deal value with Corporate VC 
(CVC) participation posted a sixth 
consecutive year of increases in 
2017, recording 6.5 billion of closed 
transactions. However, the deal count 
trend flattened out on a YoY basis as 
CVC starts to follow the pervasive 
tendency toward larger deals. We 
attribute a large portion of this 
increase to the 66% YoY increase in 
the median size of early stage deals, 
which comprised nearly 60% of CVC 
deals in 2017. 
The number of participants in the 
CVC market over the past five years 
shows a clear picture of growth. 
Starting in 2012, we recorded 68 
unique European CVC investors that 
completed a deal, with the most active 
investor, Almi Invest, participating in 
47 deals. Just five years later, Almi 
Invest remains the most active investor, 
but the number of active investors 
has reached 120 in total, an increase 
of over 75%. As large corporations 
continue to search for flexibility and 
efficiency when allocating capital, 
CVC as a strategy should gain traction. 
The further adoption of CVC speaks 
to the effectiveness of the strategy 
for sourcing innovative ideas that can 
reduce expenses in the prolonged 
low-growth environment across most 
of the developed world. As the CVC 
market has developed, it has become 
an increasingly popular strategy to 
invest and as an augmentation to 
traditional R&D. In comparison to full 
in-house R&D, the CVC approach 
offers a few advantages: potential 
financial returns, intellectual property 
sharing, lower upfront cost of both 
capital and time, and acquisition 
optionality. 
The median late-stage 
CVC deal size is nearly 
double the size of 
traditional late-stage 
deals across Europe
10M
median late-stage deal size 
with CVC participation
Source: PitchBook
Source: PitchBook
PITCHBOOK 2017 ANNUAL EUROPEAN VENTURE REPORT
8 
UK and Ireland saw record deal value in 
2017
The UK and Ireland has long been 
regarded as the stronghold of 
Europe's venture ecosystem. 2017 
data further cemented this sentiment, 
showing a record year for venture 
financings, with approximately 7.1 
billion invested across 1,221 dealsa 
high-water mark for capital invested 
despite a decline in deal count. This 
growth may be attributed to ample 
funding for startups encouraged by 
various government initiatives, which 
have subsequently contributed to an 
entrepreneurial ecosystem of mature 
companies ready for larger, late stage 
investment. Additionally, London's 
long-time status as a financial hub and 
its friendly regulatory environment 
have encouraged the region's 
blossoming fintech scene. 
Historically, deals in the UK/Ireland 
region have taken place more in the 
earlier stage, but the UK's maturing 
venture ecosystem has propelled 
startups to the point where they 
are now raising larger rounds. The 
region saw a record volume and value 
of large deals, with over 4 billion 
invested in 53 rounds greater than 
25 million. The UK government has 
in place several venture investment 
schemes that incentivize seed and 
early stage investment through tax 
breaks to high net worth investors. 
Additionally, the British Business 
Bank's Enterprise Capital Funds 
program has deployed capital 
across 26 UK VC funds, fostering 
emerging fund managers investing in 
growing businesses. Accommodative 
1.61.12.61.52.42.83.66.05.97.1472
489
695
862
1143
1459
1984
1786
1448
1221
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Deal Value (B)
# of Deals Closed
Deal count continues to slide, 
despite uptick in deal value
UK/Ireland VC activity 
US firms participated 
in the highest 
percentage of UK/
Ireland deals since 
2007
18.9%
percentage of UK/Ireland 
VC deals with US investor 
participation
Just 312 first 
financings were 
completed in 2017, 
the lowest in eight 
years
63%
percentage decline in the 
number of first financings in 
the UK/Ireland since 2014
Source: PitchBook
Source: PitchBook
Source: PitchBook
Regional Spotlight
PITCHBOOK 2017 ANNUAL EUROPEAN VENTURE REPORT
9 
governmental policies seem to have 
contributed to early stage investment 
which, in turn, has helped companies 
reach milestones and score larger 
deals. 
The region's strong activity in 2017 
was also partially a product of its 
burgeoning fintech ecosystem. Of 
2017's 297 fintech deals in Europe, 
137 were closed by companies 
operating out of the UK and Ireland, 
which garnered 1.65 billion in VC 
investment. The region's fintech 
ecosystem has flourished in recent 
years thanks in part to the UK's 
established financial sector and 
supportive regulatory environment. In 
2014, the UK government's Financial 
Conduct Authority (FCA) initiated 
Project Innovate to help fintech 
startups get their products approved 
and provide a "sandbox" to test their 
products in a live environment. The 
FCA reports that 75% of Project 
Innovate's first cohort had their testing 
plans approved, and in 2017 the FCA 
began work with a second cohort of 
24 fintech companies. Though traction 
in fintech is strong, the UK will need 
to keep an open labor market to 
attract and maintain the international 
engineering talent that keeps its tech 
startups afloat. 
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Capital Invested (B)
# of Deals Closed
Angel/Seed
Early VC
Late VC
Deal value surged in 4Q due to several large deals
UK/Ireland VC activity
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Angel/Seed
Early VC
Late VC
3.4
3.3
2.1
1.1
0.7
0.6
UK/Ireland deal sizes increases 
Median UK/Ireland VC deal size (M)
Region leads in fintech investment 
European fintech activity
1.11.51.32.7 1.65112
173
256
295
316
297
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Deal Value (B)
UK/Ireland Deal Value (B)
# of Deals Closed
Source: PitchBook
Source: PitchBook
Source: PitchBook
Regional Spotlight
PITCHBOOK 2017 ANNUAL EUROPEAN VENTURE REPORT
10 
Exits
VC-backed exits remain 
relatively strong
IPOs and buyouts show 
relative strength
European VC-backed exits (#) by type
Source: PitchBook
Exit value remains historically high 
European VC-backed exits
2017 saw exit counts and value in line 
with those of the past five years, as 
11.6 billion was exited across 426 
deals. While this represents a two-year 
slide in exit activity from the peak in 
2015, 2017 marks the fifth consecutive 
year of over 11.5 billion exited. Worth 
noting is the strength of the exit 
market despite the absence of any 
billion-euro exits closing in 2017. These 
deals can significantly underpin exit 
value but also skew the underlying 
trends of the total market. Robust exit 
value despite lower volume and mega-
deals seems to indicate a stabilization 
of the market around a new standard 
of exit value. 
Contrary to earlier indications, 2017 
proved to be a rebound year for VC-
backed IPOs, raising over 3 billion 
across 53 offerings. Assisted by larger 
offerings from Delivery Hero and 
Rovio, this year was the strongest 
showing since 2014, which retains 
decade-highs values for both IPO 
value and count. 
Looking forward in 2018, one 
of the most anticipated exits is 
Spotify's pursuit of a direct listing. 
This unconventional transaction 
will not raise any new capital and 
will be completed without formal 
underwriting support from investment 
banks. We believe this approach has 
potential disruptive power on the 
3.22.15.44.74.011.812.013.812.611.6241
196
286
314
358
393
537
538
471
426
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Exit Value (B)
# of Exits Closed
traditional IPO process, since Spotify 
is going through this process with 
only a handful of advisors and paying 
them a fraction of the normal IPO fee. 
Because of Spotify's size and unique 
a-la-carte attitude toward investment 
banking services, its IPO will be 
closely watched by many of the other 
large late-stage companies that have 
postponed IPOs over the last couple 
years. 
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Acquisi on
IPO
Buyout
Source: PitchBook
PITCHBOOK 2017 ANNUAL EUROPEAN VENTURE REPORT
11 
In 2017, the median 
valuation for VC-
backed exits fell 
to its lowest point 
since 2012
EXITS
$33.0M
median post-money 
valuation for VC-backed 
exits in 2017
Median acquisition/buyout exit 
size declined to decade low
Median VC-backed exit size (M) by type 
Source: PitchBook
Exit count fell to a four-year low in 4Q 
European VC-backed exit activity
Source: PitchBook
1.31.41.81.00.81.81.51.21.00.90.95.42.31.32.82.52.02.94.64.22.52.74.56.12.52.21.93.63.61.82.60
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Exit Value (B)
# of Exits Closed
32.4
17.0
14.3
23.8
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Acquisi on/Buyout
IPO
Source: PitchBook
PITCHBOOK 2017 ANNUAL EUROPEAN VENTURE REPORT
12 
Fundraising
Healthy fundraising activity 
despite dwindling fund count
Fundraising totals decline 
despite uptick in fund sizes
European VC fundraising activity
Source: PitchBook
9.13.85.95.95.55.35.29.49.97.4151
118
119
132
113
109
93
87
75
54
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Capital Raised (B)
# of Funds Closed
Fundraising saw a 25% decrease in 
volume in 2017, with 7.4 billion raised 
across only 54 vehicles. Although 
2017 is the third consecutive year to 
see more than 7 billion in capital 
raised by European VCs, fund count 
continued a six-year slide leading to 
the lowest level in 10 years. Reflecting 
recent venture market dynamics, the 
presence of seed and early stage 
funds has diminished significantly, 
with only 10 micro-funds (less than 
50 million) raised in 2017. The data 
suggest that early stage investors may 
be targeting larger funds sizes, as 2017 
saw an uptick of funds raised in the 
50 million 100 million range. 
Fund count dwindles as VCs raise 
larger funds
Three years ago, micro-funds made 
up 49% of funds raised in Europe. 
In 2017, however, the proportion of 
micro-funds has shrunk to 19% of the 
total, while 62% of funds raised were 
in the 50 million 250 million range. 
Perhaps in response to the more than 
doubling of early-stage deal sizes over 
the past three years, it appears VCs 
are raising larger funds to meet the 
growing prices of venture deals and 
maintain sufficient follow-on reserves. 
In 2017, more than half of funds in 50 
million100 million range were at 
least twice the size of their previous 
fund. 
2017's low fund count may also be 
a result of LPs committing larger 
sums to fewer managers. Established 
fund managers may have an easier 
time raising larger funds as LPs 
look to commit more capital to 
fewer, historically high-performing 
managers. LPs frequently cite two 
reasons for writing larger checks and 
consolidating to proven managers. 
First, cementing relationships with 
GPs that can deliver consistent returns 
is valuable, as there are considerable 
opportunity costs to allocating to an 
unsuccessful manager. Fewer manager 
relationships also makes portfolio 
management easier for LPs, some of 
which have limited staff to manage 
alternative investments. 
PITCHBOOK 2017 ANNUAL EUROPEAN VENTURE REPORT
13 
Micro-funds less prominent as European VCs raise 
larger funds
European VC fundraising (#) by size
Average European VC fund size has plateaued
Median and average European VC fund size (M)
Source: PitchBook
Source: PitchBook
Fundraising
Nearly as much 
has been raised by 
European VC funds 
since 2015 as had 
been raised during the 
previous five years
26.7B
amount raised for 
European VC funds over 
the past three years
107
93
145
143
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Median
Average
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
20082009201020112012201320142015201620171B+
500M -
1B
250M-
500M
100M-
250M
 50M-
  100M
 Under 
  50M
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2008200920102011201220132014201520162017$1B+
500M -
1B
250M -
500M
100M -
250M
50M -
100M
Under 
50M
Source: PitchBook
European VC fundraising () by size
PITCHBOOK 2017 ANNUAL EUROPEAN VENTURE REPORT
14 
Company
Deal size (M)
Series/stage
Date
HQ
Country
Industry
Deliveroo
417.5
Series F
17/11/2017
London
UK
Software
Truphone
286.3
Late Stage
3/10/2017
London
UK
IT Hardware
TransferWise
238.7
Series E
1/11/2017
London
UK
Other
OakNorth
172.9
Late Stage
12/10/2017
London
UK
Other
ADC Therapeutics
170.1
Late Stage
23/10/2017
Epalinges
Switzerland
Pharma & Biotech
The Ink Factory
153.4
Late Stage
16/11/2017
London
UK
Media
Insightec
126.7
Series E
14/12/2017
Tirat Carmel
Israel
HC Devices & 
Supplies
Orchard Therapeutics
96.3
Series B
20/12/2017
London
UK
Pharma & Biotech
Secret Escapes
93.1
Series D
5/10/2017
London
UK
Consumer Goods & 
Recreation
BIMA
90.4
Late Stage
19/12/2017
Stockholm
Sweden
Other
Top 10 largest European VC deals in 4Q 2017
Top 10 largest European VC funds closed in 4Q 2017
Fund name
Investor
Fund size (M)
Close date
HQ
Country
Balderton Capital Fund VI
Balderton Capital
319.6
26/11/2017
London
London
LSP Health Economics Fund 2
Life Sciences Partners
280.0
12/12/2017
Amsterdam
Amsterdam
CapHorn Invest II
CapHorn Invest
130.0
23/10/2017
Paris
Paris
Sunstone Technology Ventures Fund IV
Sunstone Capital
112.0
2/11/2017
Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Italia Venture I
Invitalia Ventures
87.0
24/10/2017
Rome
Rome
BioGeneration Ventures III
BioGeneration Ventures
82.0
31/10/2017
Naarden
Naarden
Episode 1 Enterprise Capital Fund II
Episode 1 Ventures
68.0
1/12/2017
London
London
Brighteye Ventures Fund I
Brighteye Ventures
50.0
1/11/2017
Paris
Paris
GMG Ventures
GMG Ventures
47.2
18/10/2017
London
London
Fly Ventures Fund I
Fly Ventures
34.6
21/12/2017
Berlin
Berlin
Source: PitchBook
4Q 2017 League Tables
Top 10 European VC-backed exits in 4Q 2017
Company
Exit size (M)
Exit type
Date
HQ
Country
Industry
Rigontec
464.0
Acquisition
26/10/2017
Munich
Germany
Pharma & Biotech
Argus Cyber Security
340.2
Acquisition
30/10/2017
Tel Aviv
Israel
Software
Shazam
337.9
Acquisition
11/12/2017
London
United 
Kingdom
Media
Goodgame
270.0
Acquisition
6/12/2017
Hamburg
Germany
IT Hardware
Invendo Medical
225.0
Acquisition
25/10/2017
Weinheim
Germany
HC Devices & 
Supplies
Skagen Funds
203.2
Acquisition
11/12/2017
Stavanger
Norway
Other
JustGiving
108.0
Acquisition
2/10/2017
London
United 
Kingdom
Other
InflaRx
85.2
IPO
8/11/2017
Jena
Germany
Pharma & Biotech
Orphazyme
80.6
IPO
16/11/2017
Copenhagen
Denmark
Pharma & Biotech
BioArctic
72.9
IPO
12/10/2017
Stockholm
Sweden
Pharma & Biotech
Source: PitchBook
Source: PitchBook
PITCHBOOK 2017 ANNUAL EUROPEAN VENTURE REPORT
15 
COPYRIGHT  2018 by PitchBook Data, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced 
in any form or by any meansgraphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, 
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Inc. Contents are based on information from sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness 
cannot be guaranteed. Nothing herein should be construed as any past, current or future recommendation to 
buy or sell any security or an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. This material does 
not purport to contain all of the information that a prospective investor may wish to consider and is not to be 
relied upon as such or used in substitution for the exercise of independent judgment.
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