Ljubljana, Slovenia · Accelerator ABC Accelerator was founded in 2015 and is the largest private startup accelerator in South Eastern Europe, based at BTC City in Ljubljana. It runs a three-month programme accepting up to 12 startups per cohort, offering a €25,000 convertible loan and an option for €100,000–€250,000 follow-on investment. To date it has accelerated over 130 startups from 30 countries and helped them raise approximately €30 million in funding. It has been recognised as the best accelerator programme by the Central European Startup Awards.
Prague, Czech Republic · Startup Adam is a marketplace for tradespeople, effectively an on-demand platform for home renovation and construction services. Customers can book vetted painters, electricians, or renovation crews, while providers receive steady demand and streamlined scheduling. The company has expanded across Europe, including the UK, Spain, and France. By 2026, Adam is a visible Czech marketplace success in the home services sector.
Paris, France · Venture Capital Alven is an independent Paris-based venture capital firm founded in 2000 by Guillaume Aubin and Charles Letourneur, making it one of the oldest and most established VC institutions in France. The firm manages €2 billion in assets under management across six successive funds, with its latest fund closing at €350 million in 2022. Alven focuses on seed through Series B investments across B2B software, fintech, marketplaces, developer tools, and consumer technology, predominantly backing French and European startups. Notable unicorn investments include Qonto, Dataiku, and Algolia, alongside a broader portfolio of 164 companies that includes Ankorstore, OpenClassrooms, Happn, and Meero.
London, United Kingdom · Startup Aspora, formerly known as Vance, is a cross-border banking and remittance fintech for the Indian diaspora, primarily serving non-resident Indians sending money to India. It offers international money transfers at live mid-market exchange rates, alongside expanding products including currency savings accounts, bill payments, and mutual-fund investing, with further banking, credit, and insurance services planned. The company launched as Vance in Y Combinator's Winter 2022 batch and rebranded to Aspora in April 2025. It is headquartered in London with additional offices in Bengaluru and Dubai.
Ljubljana, Slovenia · Event Regional BEAUTY FORUM by Cosmoprof at Gospodarsko razstavisce Ljubljana, drawing 5,000+ salon owners, distributors, and brand buyers from the Adriatic and Balkan market. Day tickets about EUR 10-20. Covers skincare, nails, and aesthetic devices, a low-cost entry point for beauty-tech and clean cosmetics startups targeting Southeast Europe.
Paris, France · Venture Capital Breega is a pan-European early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2016, with offices in Paris, London, and Barcelona. The firm manages over EUR 350M and invests from pre-seed through Series A, writing initial checks of EUR 500K to EUR 5M. Breega focuses on fintech, consumer tech, SaaS, and marketplace models, and has backed companies including Swile, Spendesk, Brigad, and Luko. Led by co-founders Ben Marrel and Francois Paulus, Breega combines capital with an in-house growth team offering hands-on support in hiring, go-to-market strategy, and international expansion across European markets.
Barcelona, Spain · Angel Investor Carlos Blanco is a Spanish serial entrepreneur and one of the country's best-known angel investors, based in Barcelona. He founded Akamon Entertainment, a social gaming company that he sold in one of Spain's most notable exits of 2015, and he co-founded the Nuclio Venture Builder and the Conector startup accelerator. He is Managing Partner at Encomenda Smart Capital and has been recognised with Spain's Best Business Angel award by AEBAN.
London, United Kingdom · Startup Cazoo was a London-based online used car platform founded in 2018 by Alex Chesterman, the serial entrepreneur behind Zoopla and LoveFilm. The company aimed to bring the Carvana model to Europe, allowing consumers to buy, finance, and have used cars delivered to their door. Cazoo went public via SPAC on the NYSE in 2021 at a valuation of around $7 billion and expanded aggressively into France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. However, rapid cash burn and a cooling market led to a retreat from continental Europe and a delisting from the NYSE in 2024. Cazoo's trajectory became a cautionary tale in European tech about the risks of capital-intensive consumer marketplaces scaling too fast.
Berlin, Germany · Venture Capital Cherry Ventures is a Berlin-headquartered seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2012 by Filip Dames, Christian Meermann, and Daniel Glasner, three serial founders who previously built and exited companies in the Rocket Internet orbit and wanted a fund that operated like an ex-operator first-round partner rather than a traditional generalist. The firm has grown into one of the most consistently visible seed funds in Europe, with over EUR 750 million under management across five generations of funds and a portfolio that includes FlixBus, GetYourGuide, Auto1 Group, Forto, Infarm, Flink, Juni, and Choco. Cherry invests from EUR 500K to EUR 4M at pre-seed and seed across consumer, marketplaces, B2B SaaS, fintech, and climate tech, and opened offices in London, Paris, and Stockholm during the 2021-2023 expansion cycle. It is one of the relatively small group of European seed funds that regularly competes head-to-head with US tier-one firms on European first checks.
Bratislava, Slovakia · Venture Capital Crowdberry is a licensed Slovak–Czech equity crowdfunding and venture investment platform founded in 2015 in Bratislava, enabling retail and institutional investors to co-invest in vetted SMEs and real estate projects. Its group manages over €120 million in assets across more than 70 portfolio companies in Slovakia and Czechia. Institutional backers include Tatra Private Banking and, since October 2024, Slovenská sporiteľňa (Erste Group) as a strategic minority owner. Subsidiaries cover seed-stage VC (CB Investment Management), real-estate funds, and a social-impact vehicle (CB ESPRI).
Warsaw, Poland · Angel Investor Serial entrepreneur and angel investor, Dawid is known for co-founding CHIC Group, which was acquired by British American Tobacco in a landmark transaction. He actively backs consumer-facing and technology-enabled brands, combining growth strategy support with capital. Notable startup involvements include TakeDrop and investments across lifestyle and tech ventures, including co-investments in projects such as Samurai Labs.
London, United Kingdom · Startup Deliveroo is a London-based food delivery platform founded in 2013 by Will Shu and Greg Orlowski. The company connects consumers with restaurants, grocery stores, and convenience retailers through its app and rider network. Deliveroo went public on the London Stock Exchange in March 2021. The company operates across the UK, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and has invested heavily in its Editions dark kitchen network and its advertising platform for restaurant partners. Deliveroo competes with Uber Eats and Just Eat in its core markets and serves millions of consumers monthly.
Paris, France · Startup Emma is an AI-powered English language learning app developed by the Paris-based EdTech company Edailabs. The app focuses on conversational immersion: learners practice speaking with an AI coach that analyses pronunciation, corrects grammar and adapts the conversation to the learner's level, aiming to reproduce natural spoken-exchange conditions. The product features an interactive avatar tutor. In December 2025 Edailabs raised €5M led by the specialist fund Educapital, with participation from Breega, Seedcamp, DMG Ventures and Yellow Ventures. This is the French AI-tutor company, distinct from the unrelated mattress brand of the same name.
London, United Kingdom · Accelerator Entrepreneur First (EF) is a London-headquartered talent-first investor founded in 2011 by Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck, both former McKinsey consultants. EF pioneered the concept of Talent Investing — recruiting exceptional individuals before they have a co-founder or idea, then supporting them to form teams and build companies — across offices in London, Paris, Bangalore, New York, and San Francisco. The firm manages a fund of $158 million and has helped create over 600 companies with a combined portfolio value exceeding $11 billion. EF's standout portfolio companies include Tractable (AI for accident repair, valued at ~$1 billion), Cleo (personal finance AI), and Magic Pony Technology (acquired by Twitter).
Stockholm, Sweden · Startup Epidemic Sound is a Swedish company headquartered in Stockholm that operates a royalty-free music and audio licensing platform for content creators. Founded in 2009, it provides creators, businesses, broadcasters and agencies access to a library of music tracks and sound effects, owning the rights to its catalog so users can publish and monetise content without separate licensing. The platform offers a Studio tool, mobile and desktop apps, and integrations with software such as Adobe Creative Cloud. In March 2021 it raised a growth round led by EQT Growth and Blackstone at a reported $1.4 billion valuation.
London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital Felix Capital is a London-based venture capital firm, founded in 2015 and based on Beak Street, that invests at the intersection of technology and creativity. It backs digital lifestyle, consumer and creative-economy companies alongside related enterprise tools, describing its focus as building for the 'creative class' across home, work and in-between.
Madrid, Spain · Startup Fever is a Madrid-born entertainment discovery platform that curates and produces immersive experiences, from candlelight concerts to secret cinema events, in over 100 cities worldwide. The company uses data-driven demand testing to decide which experiences to produce, reducing risk for venues and creators while surfacing high-quality cultural events for consumers. Fever has become one of Europe's most prominent consumer marketplace unicorns, blending tech-driven curation with live entertainment at scale.
London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital Firstminute Capital is a London-based seed-stage venture firm founded by Brent Hoberman (Lastminute.com, Founders Forum) and Spencer Crawley. The fund backs first-cheque seed rounds across consumer, B2B SaaS, deep tech, and AI, with a strong LP base that includes more than 100 European founders. Firstminute is known for its global founder network and for taking convicted bets very early in a startup's life.
Munich, Germany · Startup FlixBus, operated by Flix SE, is a Munich-based global travel technology company founded in 2011 that provides affordable long-distance bus and train travel across more than 40 countries. The company partners with over 1,000 independent bus operators, handling network planning, pricing, booking, and customer service while the operators run the vehicles. Flix SE also operates FlixTrain in Germany and internationally, and Greyhound Lines in North America. The company has served over 500 million travellers since its launch.
London, United Kingdom · Startup Flo Health is the world's most popular women's health app, offering AI-powered period and ovulation tracking, pregnancy monitoring, and personalized health insights to over 300 million users. The company combines reproductive health data with machine learning to provide tailored content and predictions, and has expanded into telehealth and wellness features. Flo represents a major European consumer health success story.
Birmingham, United Kingdom · Event UK's largest food trade show with healthy and plant-based zones. Price: free trade registration. Strong for foodtech and CPG startups seeking retail listings.
London, United Kingdom · Accelerator Founders Factory is a London-based venture studio and accelerator founded in 2015 by Brent Hoberman, Henry Lane Fox, and George Northcott. The firm co-builds and accelerates pre-seed and seed stage startups across fintech, health, climate, media, and consumer sectors, operating sector-specific programmes with corporate partners including Aviva, L'Oréal, and Deutsche Telekom. Since launch, Founders Factory has backed over 300 companies globally, which have collectively raised more than $800 million in follow-on funding. Its venture studio model — co-founding businesses from day zero — distinguishes it from conventional accelerators and gives it a distinctive builder-investor role in the European ecosystem.
Tbilisi, Georgia · Venture Capital Georgian Ventures was founded in 2018 in Tbilisi and focuses on early-stage investments in Georgian startup founders inside and outside the country, as well as international founders based in Georgia. The firm grew out of Startup Grind Tbilisi, which was recognised as the top Startup Grind chapter in the world in 2019 after hosting over 100 startup events, giving the team deep ecosystem roots and founder networks. Fund size is not publicly disclosed. Beyond direct investing, Georgian Ventures provides quiet advisory services to family offices and individual investors seeking curated deal flow in the Georgian market.
Berlin, Germany · Startup Grover is a Berlin-based technology rental and subscription platform founded in 2015 by Michael Cassau. The company lets consumers and businesses rent electronics such as laptops, smartphones, gaming consoles, and smart home devices on a monthly subscription basis instead of buying them outright. Grover promotes a circular economy model by refurbishing and re-renting returned devices multiple times. The company raised over $1 billion in equity and debt financing and operates across Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, and the US. It partners with major retailers including MediaMarkt and Samsung.
Birmingham, United Kingdom · Startup Gymshark is a Birmingham-based direct-to-consumer fitness apparel brand founded in 2012 by Ben Francis when he was 19 years old. The company became one of the UK's fastest-growing brands by leveraging influencer marketing and social media before it was standard practice, building a devoted community of fitness enthusiasts. Gymshark reached unicorn status in 2020 when General Atlantic invested at a $1.45 billion valuation. The brand sells primarily online across 180+ countries and has expanded into physical retail. It is one of Europe's best examples of a DTC brand scaling without traditional retail.
Copenhagen, Denmark · Venture Capital Heartcore Capital is a Copenhagen-headquartered early-stage venture firm founded in 2007 as Sunstone Technology Ventures and rebranded to Heartcore in 2019 around a consumer-first thesis. Operating from Copenhagen, Berlin, Paris and London, it backs European founders from inception through Series A, deploying €250K–€6M as first institutional capital, and has become one of Europe's highest-ranked seed and Series A investors.
Across five early-stage funds, two growth vehicles and a Web3 fund, Heartcore manages roughly €800M; Fund V closed at €170M in December 2024, signalling a broadening from pure consumer into AI and software infrastructure, climate tech and synthetic biology while retaining consumer and travel exposure. The firm's track record includes Tink (acquired by Visa for €1.8bn, 2022), Peakon (Workday, ~$700M, 2021), Trustpilot (LSE IPO, 2021), Boozt (Nasdaq Stockholm, 2017) and Kaia Health (Sword Health, 2026), with a portfolio spanning GetYourGuide, TravelPerk, Podimo, Natural Cycles and Vivino. The partnership is led by co-founders Jimmy Fussing Nielsen and Christian Lindegaard Jepsen alongside Max Niederhofer (Berlin) and Yacine Ghalim (Paris).
Warsaw, Poland · Angel Investor Co-creator of fashion marketplace Showroom.pl, Jan became an angel investor after Showroom’s success. He has a keen eye for consumer and lifestyle startups and was nominated among top angels in 2018. Associated startups: Showroom.pl (co-founder), plus investments in fashion-tech and consumer platforms.
Madrid, Spain · Accelerator Founded in 2014, JME Venture Capital is a Madrid-based early-stage VC backed by prominent Spanish tech entrepreneurs and family offices. The firm manages over EUR 100M and invests EUR 0.5-3M at seed and Series A in consumer internet, enterprise software, and marketplaces. Notable portfolio companies include Jobandtalent (HR unicorn), Spotahome, and Lingokids. JME's LP base of successful founders provides portfolio companies with operational mentorship and strategic business development support across Southern Europe.
Paris, France · Startup Joko is a Paris-based consumer fintech that rewards users with cashback on their everyday purchases. Through a mobile app and browser extension, it automatically detects qualifying transactions at partner retailers and credits users with rewards, both online and in store. The company's technology builds on PSD2 open banking, connecting to users' bank cards to identify eligible spending without manual scanning of loyalty cards. Joko raised a €10M Series A in October 2020, led by Partech and Axeleo, bringing total funding to around €12M at that time.
Amsterdam, Netherlands · Startup Just Eat Takeaway.com is an Amsterdam-headquartered online food delivery marketplace formed from the 2020 merger of Dutch Takeaway.com and British Just Eat. The combined company became one of the world's largest food delivery platforms, operating in over 20 countries across Europe, North America, and Australasia. The company briefly owned Grubhub in the US before divesting it. Listed on the London and Amsterdam stock exchanges, Just Eat Takeaway connects millions of consumers with hundreds of thousands of restaurant partners. The company has faced intense competition from Uber Eats and Deliveroo but remains a dominant player in many European markets.
Stockholm, Sweden · Venture Capital Kinnevik is a Stockholm-based growth-stage investment company listed on Nasdaq Stockholm that backs innovative digital businesses in healthcare, software, consumer, and climate sectors. Originally a traditional Swedish industrial conglomerate founded in 1936, Kinnevik transformed into a focused growth investor and was an early backer of companies like Zalando, Tele2, and Millicom. The firm manages a portfolio valued at several billion euros and takes concentrated positions in companies it believes can become category leaders. Kinnevik provides patient capital with a long-term orientation unusual among European growth investors.
Zurich, Switzerland · Venture Capital Lakestar is a Zurich-headquartered venture capital firm founded in 2012 by Klaus Hommels, one of Europe's most prolific and publicly visible technology investors, whose pre-Lakestar angel track record included early bets on Skype, Spotify, and Facebook in Europe. The firm runs a multi-stage strategy spanning early-stage funds, growth funds, and public/crossover vehicles, with offices in Zurich, Berlin, London, and Zug. Notable portfolio companies include Revolut, N26, Mister Spex, Blockchain.com, GetYourGuide, FlixBus, and Opendoor. Lakestar manages over EUR 2 billion across funds and has been a vocal advocate at the EU level for scaling up European technology sovereignty, having been involved in initiatives like the European Tech Champions Initiative and the Scale-Up Europe pledge. It is one of the few continental European VCs that operates across the full venture lifecycle at significant scale.
Hamburg, Germany · Angel Investor Lars Hinrichs is a German entrepreneur best known as the founder of the business-networking platform XING, which he took public in 2006. He later launched HackFwd, a pre-seed investment initiative that backed early-stage European technology startups. He runs Cinco Capital, his personal investment vehicle, and remains an active angel investor in the German and European tech scene.
Berlin, Germany · Angel Investor Lea-Sophie Cramer is a German entrepreneur and angel investor who founded Amorelie, a leading European sexual wellness e-commerce brand, which she grew to over EUR 100M in revenue before its acquisition. After exiting Amorelie, Cramer became one of Germany's most active female angel investors, backing early-stage consumer, health, and direct-to-consumer startups. She focuses on founders building category-defining consumer brands and is known for her expertise in brand-building, D2C marketing, and scaling e-commerce operations. Cramer also co-hosts the popular German business podcast 'Fast & Curious' and frequently mentors female founders across Europe.
London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital Lightspeed Venture Partners is a global multi-stage venture capital firm with a dedicated European practice based in London. The firm has been a key growth-stage investor in major European companies including Mistral AI, Miro, and Epic Games, and focuses on enterprise SaaS, consumer internet, and AI. Lightspeed manages over $18 billion globally and has expanded its European team to source and support founders across the continent.
Warsaw, Poland · Angel Investor Coming from the family that founded TVN and Onet, Łukasz launched his own investment firm Dirlango. As a business angel, he’s injected capital into Polish tech successes like Booksy (booking app) and PizzaPortal (food delivery). He focuses on consumer internet and mobile, often co-investing alongside global funds. Associated startups: Booksy, iTaxi, Plum Research, and others via Dirlango.
Paris, France · Startup Home insurance startup focusing on prevention, fast claims, and digital-first service. Luko is a startup based in Paris, France at the series c stage. The company operates in the Insurtech, Consumer space. Learn more at their website.
Helsinki, Finland · Venture Capital Maki.vc was founded in 2018 in Helsinki by serial entrepreneur and Slush Chairman Ilkka Kivimäki and former F-Secure executive Pirkka Palomäki, and now manages €260 million across three funds. Its November 2024 Fund III of €100 million targets pre-seed and seed-stage companies across the Nordics and Northern Europe, with tickets of €300,000–€3 million, focusing on deep tech, AI-native, quantum computing, green tech, and brand-driven consumer startups. The fund is backed by LPs including founders of Skype, Wise, RELEX Solutions, Aiven, and Supercell. Portfolio includes IQM Quantum Computers (unicorn 2025) and Enfuce.
Barcelona, Spain · Person Co-founder and CEO of Heura Foods, the Barcelona plant-based food company. An activist-entrepreneur, he co-founded Heura in 2017 to build one of Europe's fastest-growing plant-based meat brands.
Wroclaw, Poland · Angel Investor Serial entrepreneur (co-founder of platforms like ZadajPytanie and later CEO of fashion startup Allani), Mateusz turned to angel investing after successful exits. Notably, he invested early in the edtech unicorn Brainly before fully focusing on growing Allani. His founder perspective in marketplaces and consumer apps guides the startups he now supports. Associated startups: Brainly, Allani, and other consumer internet ventures.
Berlin, Germany · Person Mathis Büchi is Co-founder & CEO of the tax-filing app Taxfix. A founder in the German startup ecosystem, Mathis leads the tax-filing app Taxfix.
Berlin, Germany · Person Michael Cassau is Founder & CEO of the tech-rental subscription company Grover. A founder in the German startup ecosystem, Michael leads the tech-rental subscription company Grover.
Stockholm, Sweden · Startup Natural Cycles is a Stockholm-based femtech company founded in 2013 that makes a fertility-awareness app which uses body-temperature data and an algorithm to identify fertile and non-fertile days. It became the first app cleared by the US FDA to be marketed as a form of contraception and also supports users planning pregnancy.
Paris, France · Startup Neoplants is one of Europe's most consumer-friendly deep-tech startups, known for engineering "plants with a purpose." Its flagship product, Neo P1, is a golden pothos that has been genetically modified to actively metabolize volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formaldehyde and benzene—pollutants common in homes due to paint, furniture, and cleaning products. Rather than simply filtering air passively, the plant converts toxins into harmless sugars and amino acids, turning living organisms into functional indoor air purifiers.
The company began commercial sales in the United States, where GMO consumer regulations are more permissive, but 2026 marks a strategic pivot back to Europe. Neoplants is positioning itself to launch in the UK and select EU markets as the New Genomic Techniques (NGT) framework evolves. This regulatory shift is crucial: it could unlock a path for consumer biotech products to be sold in Europe at scale. Neoplants is actively engaging with regulators and policymakers to ensure its products meet safety and transparency standards, framing its technology as a climate and public-health benefit rather than a controversial GMO niche.
Neoplants is also a serious biotech company under the consumer-friendly brand. It operates a 12,000-square-foot R&D facility in Saint-Ouen, Paris, with capabilities closer to a pharma lab than a greenhouse. The 2026 R&D pipeline includes plants engineered to capture CO2 at orders-of-magnitude higher rates than typical trees, targeting corporate offices and commercial spaces where sustainability investments must be visible and measurable. That positions Neoplants for a dual-market strategy: consumer air purification today, B2B climate infrastructure tomorrow.
The company's ecosystem roots are strong. The founders, Lionel Mora and Patrick Torbey, met at Entrepreneur First in Paris, and Neoplants was an early resident at Station F. It also benefited from the Wilco healthcare and biotech accelerator. Its investors reflect the blend of deep-tech and consumer focus: True Ventures led the seed, Heartcore Capital and Collaborative Fund support the consumer angle, and angels such as Niklas Zennstrom and Xavier Niel provide strategic visibility. In 2026, Neoplants represents a "solarpunk" vision of European tech—advanced biology that is both functional and approachable, turning climate and health solutions into products people can live with.
Warsaw, Poland · Startup Nice To Fit You is a Warsaw-based foodtech company offering premium boxed diet catering subscriptions with personalized meal plans. Founded in 2014, the company delivers nutritionally balanced, chef-prepared meals daily to health-conscious consumers across Poland. NTFY offers multiple diet programs including low-calorie, keto, vegan, and sports-oriented plans, all designed by dietitians. The company has grown to become one of Poland's leading diet catering brands in a competitive market with dozens of local players, capitalizing on the strong Polish consumer trend toward convenient healthy eating.
London, United Kingdom · Venture Capital Northzone is a prominent European venture capital firm with Scandinavian roots, known for early bets on companies like Spotify and Klarna. Founded in 1996 in Oslo (and now headquartered in Stockholm with a big presence in London), Northzone is an evergreen VC fund that has raised 9 funds to date. It invests from Seed and Series A up to Growth (Series B/C), typically focusing on consumer internet, fintech, and B2B SaaS. Northzone rose to fame as the earliest institutional investor in Spotify – it led Spotify’s $21M Series A in 2008 and remained a major shareholder until IPO. It was also an early backer of Klarna (led the $8M Series A in 2010) and other Nordic breakouts like iZettle (payments, acquired by PayPal) and Avito (Russian classifieds, acquired by Naspers). Over the years, Northzone expanded its geographic focus to include the UK, Benelux, and the US East Coast (they’ve invested in Wallapop in Spain, Personio in Germany, and Secret Escapes in UK, among others). The firm’s investment approach is relatively hands-on – partners often take board seats and leverage Northzone’s network for business development of their portfolio. With approximately €1.5 billion under management, Northzone typically writes initial checks of €2–10M and can follow on with much larger amounts. In 2022, Northzone raised a new €1B+ fund, reflecting growing LP interest in European tech. The team blends operational experience and finance acumen; notable partners include Pär-Jörgen Pärson (who led the Spotify deal) and Michiel Kotting (who sits on Personio’s board). Northzone often leads or co-leads rounds and likes to syndicate with US VCs when scaling globally. Beyond fintech and music tech, they have investments in healthtech (Kry), edtech (Kahoot!), crypto (Sovereign), and more – showcasing a broad thesis of “transformative tech.” Northzone’s steady success over 25+ years – producing multiple billion-dollar exits – has cemented its reputation as one of Europe’s top-tier venture firms, bridging the vibrant Nordic ecosystem with the rest of the continent.
Milan, Italy · Venture Capital Founded in 2013 by Andrea Di Camillo — a serial entrepreneur behind Vitaminic and Banzai and an early investor in Yoox and Venere — P101 is one of Italy's most prominent early-stage VC firms, managing approximately €500 million AUM. Its latest vehicle, Programma 103, closed at €250 million in early 2025, targeting early-stage startups in fintech, proptech, edtech, and cybersecurity with an average ticket of €5 million. Over 12 years P101 has backed 58+ companies and completed roughly 290 transactions with ~20 exits; standout portfolio names include Musixmatch (acquired by TPG for ~$500 million in 2023). The firm has a stated goal that Programma 103 companies will collectively generate €5 billion in revenue and 3,000+ jobs by 2030.
Paris, France · Startup Papernest is a Paris-founded platform that simplifies moving and managing household utility contracts, including energy, internet, and insurance subscriptions. Founded in 2015, the service helps consumers switch or set up providers in minutes, acting as a digital concierge for administrative tasks that are traditionally time-consuming in France and Spain. The company has raised over EUR 130 million and operates with a large engineering team in Barcelona. Papernest serves millions of users and has become one of France's leading consumer subscription management platforms.
London, United Kingdom · Startup Plum is a money management fintech that offers a mobile app with smart tools for automated saving, budgeting and investing, helping users manage personal finances with minimal manual effort. Founded in 2016 by Victor Trokoudes and Alex Michael, the company is headquartered in London with additional offices in Athens and Nicosia, and serves more than 2 million users across Europe. In July 2024 it raised a £16 million Series B round to support growth and a push toward profitability, with strategic investor Eurobank having taken a minority stake.
Kyiv, Ukraine · Startup Preply is a Ukrainian-founded online tutoring marketplace that matches learners with one-on-one language tutors through a search-and-book flow, a subscription-based lesson plan, and an in-browser classroom that handles video, shared docs, homework, and scheduling. Founded in 2012 in Kyiv by Kirill Bigai, Dmytro Voloshyn, and Serge Lukyanov, Preply now serves millions of learners and tens of thousands of tutors across more than 180 countries, with particular strength in English, Spanish, French, German, and — increasingly — business-skills subjects beyond pure language. The company has raised over USD 120 million from investors including Owl Ventures, Hoxton Ventures, and Point Nine, and officially relocated its headquarters to Barcelona in 2023 while keeping significant engineering operations in Kyiv. Preply is a canonical example of Ukrainian B2C SaaS that became genuinely global and represents a rare European challenger to Cambly, italki, and other US-led language-tutoring marketplaces.
Dusseldorf, Germany · Event World's largest wine and spirits trade fair in Dusseldorf, attracting 40,000+ trade visitors and 5,000+ exhibitors from 60+ countries. Growing focus on WineTech, sustainable packaging, and non-alcoholic innovation. Day tickets cost about EUR 50-80. Relevant for food-tech startups in beverage innovation, packaging, and supply-chain optimization.
Berlin, Germany · Startup Razor Group is a Berlin-based e-commerce aggregator that acquires and operates Amazon marketplace brands, using technology and operational expertise to scale product portfolios. The company has consolidated multiple competitors and built one of Europe's largest portfolios of marketplace-native consumer brands. Razor Group focuses on supply chain optimization, product development, and cross-border expansion to grow acquired brands.
Tallinn, Estonia · Startup Ready Player Me is an Estonian avatar-platform company that provides developer tools for creating cross-platform, cross-game 3D avatars usable across thousands of games and virtual worlds, giving users a single portable digital identity. The company evolved from physical 3D scanning booths into a software avatar SDK adopted by game studios and app developers. It raised a $56M Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz in 2022, and in December 2025 Ready Player Me was acquired by Netflix.
Oslo, Norway · Startup reMarkable is a Norwegian technology company based in Oslo that develops digital paper tablets designed to replicate the feel of writing on paper while reducing digital distraction. It was founded in 2013 by Magnus Haug Wanberg, who conceived the idea while studying at Harvard after finding it hard to focus on a laptop. Its first device, the reMarkable 1, began shipping in 2017, followed by the reMarkable 2 (2020) and the Paper Pro (2024). The company sells e-paper writing devices alongside a Connect subscription service offering features such as cloud storage and handwriting conversion. By May 2022 reMarkable reported it had sold over 1 million devices and reached a $1 billion valuation.
Vilnius, Lithuania · Startup HealthTech company offering a CE-certified at-home finger-prick blood collection kit and digital platform; samples ship to partner labs and users get lab-grade results for 30+ tests within 24 hours.
London, United Kingdom · Startup Revolut is a British fintech company offering a “super-app” for digital banking and financial services. Launched in 2015 by founders Nik Storonsky (a former Credit Suisse trader from Russia) and Vlad Yatsenko (Ukrainian developer), Revolut began as a multicurrency travel card allowing users to spend and transfer money globally with minimal fees. It quickly evolved into a full-featured neobank. As of 2025, Revolut operates in 48+ countries and has 65 million customers worldwide, making it one of the fastest-growing fintechs ever. The app provides a suite of services: GBP and EUR bank accounts, debit cards, currency exchange for 30+ currencies at interbank rates, stock and crypto trading, person-to-person payments, bill splitting, and more. Revolut’s growth has been astonishing – it surpassed £3.1 billion in annual revenue in 2024 with £1.1 billion operating profit. The company has raised over $1.7 billion from investors like SoftBank, Tiger Global, and TCV, reaching a private valuation of $33 billion in 2021. In late 2025, a secondary share sale reportedly valued Revolut at $75 billion, vaulting it among the world’s most valuable fintechs. Revolut’s journey has not been without challenges: it faced regulatory hurdles (e.g. its UK banking license was long-delayed), compliance scrutiny, and had to strengthen its governance as it scaled. Nonetheless, the company achieved profitability in 2021 and has continued to grow its user base across Europe, North America, and Asia. Revolut’s mission is to become a “global financial super-app”, consolidating banking, investing, insurance, and payments in one place. It has introduced products like “Revolut Junior” accounts for kids, pay-later services, and expanded into credit in select markets. With over 10,000 employees worldwide, Revolut is now a regulated bank in the EU and other jurisdictions. Its story from scrappy travel card startup to a $75B-valued fintech giant with 65 million users epitomizes Europe’s fintech rise and the potential of challenger banks to rewrite banking norms.
Copenhagen, Denmark · Venture Capital SEED Capital is Denmark's largest early stage venture fund and a first check investor for many of the country's most successful startups. The firm invests at seed and Series A and supports founders with hands on company building and follow on fundraising. SEED has backed Danish scale ups across SaaS, fintech, and consumer tech, with notable wins including Trustpilot, Vivino, Templafy, and Lunar. It is a key pillar of the Danish venture landscape.
Warsaw, Poland · Startup SERio is a Warsaw-based foodtech startup producing plant-based cheese alternatives made from Polish lupin beans, a locally abundant and sustainable protein source. The products are engineered for high protein content and strong melt performance, targeting mainstream consumers seeking dairy-free options that do not compromise on taste or cooking functionality. SERio differentiates from soy and cashew-based competitors by using a regionally sourced ingredient with a lower environmental footprint. The company is part of Poland's growing alternative protein ecosystem and sells through retail and food-service channels.
Paris, France · Startup Shotgun is a live-events platform and ticketing solution focused on nightlife and electronic music. It provides software for venues, collectives, festivals, labels and artists to organise events, sell and manage tickets, and engage their communities, while serving as a discovery marketplace where attendees find events and buy or resell tickets. The company emerged from the Parisian underground electronic music scene and has expanded internationally, with offices beyond Paris including Marseille, Lisbon, São Paulo, New York and Miami.
Grünwald, Germany · Startup simpleclub is a German-language digital learning platform for secondary-school students, apprentices in vocational training, and individual fields of study. It originated from the founders' educational video projects on YouTube and was incorporated as a company in 2015. The platform provides curriculum-aligned learning content, including content aligned to IHK standards, video lessons, exam-preparation tools, and an AI-powered learning assistant. It operates several lines: a consumer offering for school students, a B2B offering for companies training apprentices and skilled workers, and an offering for education and retraining providers.
Edinburgh, United Kingdom · Startup Skyscanner is a global travel search engine founded in Edinburgh that compares flights, hotels, and car rentals across hundreds of providers. Acquired by Ctrip (now Trip.com Group) in 2016 for $1.7 billion, Skyscanner continues to operate independently from Scotland and serves over 100 million monthly users. It remains one of Europe's most recognized consumer tech brands and a key reference point for Scotland's startup ecosystem.
Amsterdam, Netherlands · Venture Capital Slingshot Ventures is an Amsterdam-based venture capital firm founded in 2014, focused on late seed and Series A investments in consumer digital brands, e-commerce, and direct-to-consumer startups. The firm invests EUR 500K-3M and works closely with founders on brand building, growth marketing, and customer acquisition strategies. Slingshot's portfolio spans emerging consumer platforms across the Benelux and broader European market, with the team bringing operational experience from scaling digital-first brands and marketplaces.
Brussels, Belgium · Venture Capital Sofina is a Brussels-based investment holding company listed on Euronext Brussels that invests in growth-stage technology companies, consumer brands, and education platforms worldwide. With a heritage dating back to 1898, Sofina manages over $10 billion in assets and has backed major European and global companies including ByteDance, Delivery Hero, and Flixbus. The firm focuses on long-term holdings and typically invests from Series B through pre-IPO, bringing patient capital and a multi-generational investment perspective.
Stockholm, Sweden · Startup Spotify is the world's largest audio streaming platform, offering music, podcasts, and audiobooks to over 600 million users including 230+ million paid subscribers across 180+ markets. Founded in Stockholm in 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, Spotify went public on the NYSE in 2018 and has fundamentally transformed the global music industry. The company pioneered the freemium streaming model and continues to expand into new audio formats, creator tools, and advertising technology. Spotify is often considered Europe's most iconic consumer tech company.
Berlin, Germany · Startup Stelovo is a small consumer app for planning nights out with friends — you propose a few time slots, everyone votes, and the app picks the moment that works for the group. Positioned against heavier event-management tools, it's a quiet, design-led take on group scheduling for existing friend circles rather than a public events product. The project ships as a lightweight web app under a single-founder or small-team indie model.
London, United Kingdom · Startup Stream, rebranded from Wagestream in September 2025, is an employer-partnered workplace finance platform. Through partner employers, frontline workers gain flexible early access to their earned wages, alongside budgeting and financial-planning tools, a savings account, affordable credit, and money coaching. In 2025 it expanded into workplace pensions via its acquisition of Zippen. The platform serves several million workers across more than 2,000 employers in the UK, Europe, and the US, with partners including Asda, Bupa, Greene King, and the NHS.
Amsterdam, Netherlands · Startup StuDocu is an Amsterdam-based platform where students share and access study materials such as lecture notes, summaries and practice exams. Operating under the legal entity StudeerSnel B.V., it launched as StudeerSnel.nl before expanding internationally under the StuDocu brand, serving students across many countries and disciplines. In recent years it has added AI-based study tools for generating quizzes, summaries and structured notes. The company raised a $50 million Series B round in 2021 led by Partech.
Helsinki, Finland · Startup Supercell is a Helsinki-based mobile games studio founded in 2010 by Ilkka Paananen (CEO), Mikko Kodisoja, Petri Styrman, Lassi Leppinen, Visa Forstén and Niko Derome. It publishes some of the highest-grossing mobile games ever made — Clash of Clans, Hay Day, Boom Beach, Clash Royale and Brawl Stars — reaching around 290 million monthly active players and €2.65bn in 2025 revenue. Its 'cell' model gives small autonomous teams of 5–7 full authority to greenlight and kill games, treating cancelled prototypes as learning rather than failure.
Supercell was backed early by European VCs Lifeline Ventures (Helsinki), Accel and Atomico (London) and Index Ventures, raising a $130M Series B in 2013. SoftBank and GungHo acquired 51% that year; in 2016 a Tencent-led consortium paid $8.6bn for ~84% at a ~$10.2bn valuation, with Tencent consolidating majority control by 2019. Tencent has kept Supercell operationally independent in Helsinki, with remaining shares held by employees.
Berlin, Germany · Startup Taxfix is a mobile-first tax filing app that simplifies income tax returns for individuals in Germany and other European markets. The app guides users through their tax declaration using a conversational interface and automatically optimizes deductions. Taxfix has served millions of users and raised over $200 million in venture funding, making tax filing accessible to people who previously avoided the complexity of traditional tax software.
Berlin, Germany · Startup Tourlane is a Berlin-based travel tech company that combines technology with personal travel advisors to create customized multi-day trips. The platform uses data and algorithms to match travelers with personalized itineraries for long-haul destinations, then pairs them with expert advisors for booking. Tourlane has raised over $100 million and serves customers primarily in Germany and the US, bridging the gap between OTA convenience and traditional travel agency expertise.
Stockholm, Sweden · Startup Truecaller is a Stockholm-based company that develops a mobile caller-identification, spam-blocking and call/SMS-management app for Android and iOS. Founded in 2009 by Alan Mamedi and Nami Zarringhalam, the app lets users identify unknown callers and filter spam, with India being its largest market. The company listed its Class B shares on Nasdaq Stockholm in October 2021 and has grown to roughly 500 million active users, while expanding into adjacent data services.
Berlin, Germany · Person Tushar Ahluwalia is Co-founder & CEO of the e-commerce roll-up Razor Group. A founder in the German startup ecosystem, Tushar leads the e-commerce roll-up Razor Group.
Nuremberg, Germany · Event Natural and organic personal care fair running alongside BIOFACH. Price: included with BIOFACH ticket (about EUR 32-74). The Breeze show spotlights newcomers and niche beauty brands.
Copenhagen, Denmark · Startup Vivino is a Copenhagen founded wine discovery app that lets consumers scan labels and access crowd sourced ratings, tasting notes, and pricing. Founded in 2010 by Heini Zachariassen and Theis Sondergaard, Vivino built the largest wine data community and later expanded into a full marketplace where users can buy wines directly. The company has grown to tens of millions of users and has raised significant venture funding to expand internationally. Vivino is a standout Danish consumer tech company that blended mobile, computer vision, and commerce.
Stockholm, Sweden · Startup Voi Technology is a Swedish micromobility company headquartered in Stockholm that operates shared electric scooters and e-bikes across European cities. Founded in 2018, it was one of the first electric scooter operators to launch in Europe, partnering with cities to provide app-based, dockless vehicle rentals as a sustainable alternative for short urban trips. The company reported reaching profitability in 2024 and has scaled to nearly 1,000 employees across multiple European countries, raising financing through both equity rounds and bond issuances.
Barcelona, Spain · Startup Wallapop is a Barcelona-based mobile-first marketplace for buying and selling second-hand goods, designed as a hyper-local consumer-to-consumer platform for used items. Launched in 2013, it grew into one of Spain's leading second-hand marketplaces and a key player in the circular economy. South Korean internet group Naver, an investor since 2021, agreed to acquire full ownership in a deal announced in August 2025 and completed in early 2026, while the company remained headquartered in Barcelona.
Athens, Greece · Startup Welcome Pickups is an Athens-based travel technology company offering personalised airport transfers and in-destination travel experiences. Founded in 2015 by Alexandros Trimis and Savvas Georgiou, the platform lets travelers pre-book rides at fixed prices and combines transfers with additional in-destination services. It operates across more than 100 destinations and partners with hotels, airlines and travel agencies to handle guest transfers. In December 2022 it raised a €5.3 million round led by Market One Capital, Flashpoint and Venture Friends to expand its destination network.
Helsinki, Finland · Startup Wolt is a Helsinki-based delivery platform founded in 2014 by Miki Kuusi that expanded from restaurant food delivery into grocery, retail, and merchandise delivery across 27 countries. Known for its polished user experience and strong operational execution, Wolt became one of the Nordic region's most successful consumer tech companies. DoorDash acquired Wolt in 2022 for approximately $8.1 billion in an all-stock deal, using Wolt as its vehicle for international expansion. The Wolt brand and Helsinki-based team continue to operate DoorDash's business outside North America and Japan.