London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 24, 2025

EU tries on new role as tech venture capitalist

EU tries on new role as tech venture capitalist

Brussels ready to take risks with bets on emerging companies.

Move over, Peter Thiel.

There's a new venture capitalist in town, as the European Union launches into a new role taking ownership stakes in technology companies that receive injections of public funds.

The change was presented in the EU capital this week by digital czar Margrethe Vestager and Innovation Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, and marks a break with the previous practice of issuing grants or supporting private investors.

In an interview with POLITICO, chief investor Jean-David Malo said a new investment vehicle called the EIC Accelerator would focus on emerging technology, particularly in the early stages when founders might have difficulty raising money.

"We are taking risks that nobody is taking," said Malo, who is the director of the agency in charge of the European Innovation Council (EIC), the EU's main program to help startups scale.

Malo explained the accelerator fund will allow the EU to become a shareholder in companies that receive its investment. The EU can take profits if a startup goes public or gets sold, which it pledges to reinject into its €10.1 billion innovation budget.

Behind the initiative is EU policymakers' longstanding desire to help "unicorn" tech companies — valued at $1 billion or more — sprout up across the Continent.

As of July, Europe had 268 unicorns, with 71 based in London — a third as many as in the United States.

A pilot of the program has been running since the fall of 2019, with initial investments in 137 companies for a total of €600 million.

The new Horizon Europe program is now kicking in, and the fund will expand its total investment pot to €1.1 billion just this year. 65 companies were already selected in a first funding round this year, ranging from a Danish refinery for coffee waste to a French orthopedic surgical robotics maker.

EU officials defend the bloc's risky investments by saying private investors are reluctant to back startups working with advanced technology that isn't mature yet.

"Our main objective on our side is to have an impact," said Malo, "and to accompany these companies until the moment the technology is more mature and the private investors are ready to totally take charge of this."

Is it working?


Early results suggest the EU's initial investments are paying off, and private investors are watching where the bloc is putting its money.

The innovation fund measures success by counting the number of supported companies valued at $100 million or €1 billion. It also tracks the amount of capital pledged by private investors to companies selected by the EIC.

The bloc boasts that 91 companies were valued at €100 million so far, with two — Swedish biotech companies BICO and BioArctic — obtaining unicorn status. Private investors have also invested €9.6 billion in EIC-supported companies throughout the years, officials counted, taking into account earlier EU support programs going back to 2014.

The EIC Accelerator can count on experts from the European Investment Bank (EIB) who act as advisers for the fund, as well as a few private investors who have taken up roles in its investment committee.

That's a boon to the fund's credibility. Private investors have generally been positive about the EIB's investment knowledge. The European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the EIB, has been backing private investors with capital for years.

"As a citizen of Europe, I liked it, them being tough, being precise, not afraid to ask all the complicated question," said Alexander Ribbink, partner of the Amsterdam-based private investor Keen Venture Partners, which just last week secured a €30 million investment from the EIF.

Pipeline of opportunities


The EU has also been trying to connect the dots between the new fund and the alphabet soup of startup-oriented initiatives under Horizon Europe, like the more university-focused European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT).

The EIT has a budget to set up support schemes for researchers and aspiring startup founders, but the institute doesn't invest on its own. It already made a name for itself, however, when it came out publicly as one of the first fans of Swedish battery producer Northvolt.

"When EIT decided to support Northvolt, very soon other public and private investors also came along. Probably, this was a signal to them that this is an idea and a technology that has been vetted and validated," EIT's Chief Operating Officer Adam Rottenbacher said.

It's why both programs struck a deal earlier this year that positioned the EIT as a talent scout for the EIC. Founders that got support from the EIT in the past can enter a "fast track" through which they can seek an equity investment by the EU.

"When the EIC announced the successful companies of the latest round of the Accelerator call, it was 65 companies," Rottenbacher said. "We checked and 20 out of those 65 companies had actually come from the EIT."

A recurring problem both the innovation institute EIT and the EU's innovation fund EIC will have to tackle, however, is the lack of startups out of Eastern countries that seek support — and get it. Only three out of the 65 companies that got support in the latest funding round were from the Eastern bloc.

It matches a deeper divide of where tech capital is located across the bloc: Just 3 out of the 91 "centaurs," or companies valued over €100 million, are based in eastern European countries, namely Croatia, Estonia and Hungary, according to a list seen by POLITICO.

Malo acknowledged the east-west investment gap: "For the EIC, we're here at year one," he said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
China and Russia Deploy Seductive Espionage Networks to Infiltrate U.S. Tech Sector
Apple’s ‘iPhone Air’ Collapses After One Month — Another Major Misstep for the Tech Giant
Graham Potter Begins New Chapter as Sweden Head Coach on Short-Term Deal
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa Alleges Poison Plot via Chocolate and Jam
Lakestar to Halt External Fundraising as Investor in Revolut and Spotify
U.S. Innovation Ranking Under Scrutiny as China Leads Output Outputs but Ranks 10th
Three Men Arrested in London on Suspicion of Spying for Russia
Porsche Reverses EV Strategy as New CEO Bets on Petrol and Hybrids
Singapore’s Prime Minister Warns of ‘Messy’ Transition to Post-American Global Order
Andreessen Horowitz Sets Sights on Ten-Billion-Dollar Fund for Tech Surge
US Administration Under President Donald Trump Reportedly Lifts Ban on Ukraine’s Use of Storm Shadow Missiles Against Russia
‘Frightening’ First Night in Prison for Sarkozy: Inmates Riot and Shout ‘Little Nicolas’
White House Announces No Imminent Summit Between Trump and Putin
US and Qatar Warn EU of Trade and Energy Risks from Tough Climate Regulation
Apple Challenges EU Digital Markets Act Crackdown in Landmark Court Battle
Nicolas Sarkozy begins five-year prison term at La Santé in Paris
Japan stocks surge to record as Sanae Takaichi becomes Prime Minister
This Is How the 'Heist of the Century' Was Carried Out at the Louvre in Seven Minutes: France Humiliated as Crown with 2,000 Diamonds Vanishes
China Warns UK of ‘Consequences’ After Delay to London Embassy Approval
France’s Wealthy Shift Billions to Luxembourg and Switzerland Amid Tax and Political Turmoil
"Sniper Position": Observation Post Targeting 'Air Force One' Found Before Trump’s Arrival in Florida
Shouting Match at the White House: 'Trump Cursed, Threw Maps, and Told Zelensky – "Putin Will Destroy You"'
Windows’ Own ‘Siri’ Has Arrived: You Can Now Talk to Your Computer
Thailand and Singapore Investigate Cambodian-Based Prince Group as U.S. and U.K. Sanctions Unfold
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
Chinese Tech Giants Halt Stablecoin Launches After Beijing’s Regulatory Intervention
Manhattan Jury Holds BNP Paribas Liable for Enabling Sudanese Government Abuses
Trump Orders Immediate Release of Former Congressman George Santos After Commuting Prison Sentence
S&P Downgrades France’s Credit Rating, Citing Soaring Debt and Political Instability
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
Diane Keaton’s Cause of Death Revealed as Pneumonia, Family Confirms
Former Lostprophets Frontman Ian Watkins Stabbed to Death in British Prison
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Outsider, Heroine, Trailblazer: Diane Keaton Was Always a Little Strange — and Forever One of a Kind
Dramatic Development in the Death of 'Mango' Founder: Billionaire's Son Suspected of Murder
Two Years of Darkness: The Harrowing Testimonies of Israeli Hostages Emerging From Gaza Captivity
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
×