VC Survey 2024: Market sentiment (European Investment Fund)

Summary

• The EIF VC Survey 2024 gathered anonymised responses from 398 VC fund managers operating in Europe.p.64
• Gloomy perceptions regarding the fundraising environment were reported by more than 6 in 10 VC fund managers.p.10
• A high proportion of VC fund managers (83%) invested in both new deals and follow-ons in portfolio companies over the last 12 months.p.18
• The European scale-up financing market was evaluated as insufficient by 66% of surveyed VC fund managers in 2024.p.34
• Securing equity financing remained the most critical challenge for portfolio companies, selected by 53% of respondents.p.36
• Artificial intelligence / machine learning leads as the most prevalent portfolio theme, present in 71% of VC firm portfolios.p.42

Key insights

1. Approximately 1 in 2 VCs expect the fundraising environment to improve over the next 12 months.p.10
2. A positive outlook for the near-future state of business was expressed by 70% of surveyed VCs.p.10
3. The implicit average investment rate across respondents stood at 7% over the last 12 months.p.16
4. Only 24% of VCs expect 0% insolvencies in their active portfolio companies in 2024.p.25
5. More than half of trade sales and IPOs of VC-backed companies over the past 12 months were completed with non-EU buyers.p.32
6. The overall exit environment was ranked as the biggest challenge in VC business by 49% of respondents.p.38
7. Insufficient liquidity in the IPO market was identified by 65% of respondents as a key exit challenge.p.39
8. Germany, the UK, and France were selected as the top three most promising European countries for VC investments over the next 12 months.p.44
9. Female partners represent an average share of 18.2% across the surveyed VC firms.p.56