2024 was a year of rising investments in the global venture capital scene compared to bleak 2023.
The Danish venture capital investments started the year off well, but Q3 saw a drop of 50% invested capital compared to Q2 2024, with EUR 173 million invested, however with the number of investments staying constant, according to EIFO.
The general tendency in the new Nordics were, however, looking well with capital invested up by 35% year-over-year in Q3 2024, according to byFounders, with EUR 374m invested across 69 fundraising rounds, and with Denmark in top with EUR 150m invested.
This aligns with the activity in the US going up as well, with US startups raising 17% more capital in 2024 than in 2023, according to Carta.
Furthermore, the US round size has risen in 2024, with seed rounds rising 19%, A rounds 6%, B rounds 5%, C rounds 27% and D rounds 5%, compared to round size in 2023, according to Carta.
The outlook in the EU as a whole is also not bleak at all; the European Investment Fund has in an analysis concluded that venture capital indeed does still matter, stating that venture capital is a major driver of European innovation, and that European venture capital funds keeps up with the US funds.
The emerging light in the venture capital space is underlined by the fact that European valuations are again on the rise, with pre-seed valuations up 51.5%, seed valuations up 15.7%, and early stage valuations up 11.3% compared to 2023, according to PitchBook.
Furthermore, the exit and fundraising environment is expected to improve in 2025, according to a survey conducted by the European Investment Fund an Invest Europe. The survey finds that a majority of venture capital managers expect an uptick in exit and fundraising activity as conditions for selling portfolio companies approve.
Lastly, ecosystem players should remember that January and February are typically the slowest months of the year for signing venture capital deals, according to Carta. The expected uptick should thus begin to show in March, and players should look patiently towards a hopefully bright 2025 in the venture capital space.
