VC Angle Weekly Briefing #23: European VC Fundraising Hits Record Low, & Lakestar Changes Strategy
VC Angle Weekly Update #23
Hey - welcome to the twenty-third edition of VC Angle Weekly Updates! As always, we're keeping tabs on what actually matters across 🇪🇺 European tech. If something broke the news this week and it's worth your time, it's probably below. Scroll on for the deals, roles, reads, and events you'll want on your radar.
In This Edition:
Synthesia rejects $3bn Adobe
Lakestar stops raising generalist funds
EU consults on Advanced Materials Act
15% of Slush alumni become founders
VC fundraising down 52% YoY
📰 What Happened This Week
UK AI startup Synthesia rejects $3bn Adobe acquisition offer
London-based AI avatar company Synthesia held talks with Adobe for a $3 billion acquisition but rejected the offer, according to the Information. Founder and CEO Victor Riparbelli wants to build a standalone business. The company also discussed a potential sale with Meta earlier this year.
Synthesia raised $180 million at a $2.1 billion valuation in January, with Adobe investing an undisclosed amount months later. The company reported hitting $100 million ARR in April and has since crossed $150 million. The rejection signals confidence that Synthesia can build significantly more value independently.
M&A activity for European AI startups accelerated in 2025, with 100 acquisitions completed so far—already surpassing the 85 deals closed in all of 2024.
Lakestar stops raising new generalist funds, shifts to portfolio concentration
Dr. Klaus Hommels announced Lakestar will no longer raise new generalist venture funds. The firm raised $500 million in 2025 but is shifting to concentrate exclusively on maximizing returns from existing portfolio companies. Future investments will be larger, more concentrated, and deployed from the firm’s own capital.
Hommels argues the current portfolio—incl. Revolut, Helsing, Isar Aerospace, Neko Health, Public—can generate billions in profits over the next three to four years and deserves undivided attention. The firm will open a Munich office focused on defense and deeptech, continuing its strategy that began with defense investments in 2017.
The move prioritizes realized returns over AUM growth. Hommels frames it as returning to venture’s “purest form”—working closely with entrepreneurs rather than managing ever-larger fund cycles. The firm will seed new ventures from Lakestar team members pursuing independent funds.
EU launches consultation on Advanced Materials Act to streamline R&I deployment
The European Commission opened public consultation on the Advanced Materials Act, a regulatory framework addressing the gap between research and commercialization for engineered materials used in wearables to electric vehicles. The Act aims to streamline regulatory processes, expand EU production capacity, and reduce deployment timelines.
“We want Europe to be at the forefront of developing advanced materials that are key to today’s and tomorrow’s innovations. We want to hear from everyone interested, researchers, businesses, small and medium businesses, and policymakers, to build a strong framework that supports industrial innovation and competitiveness.”
said Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation
The consultation runs until January 13, 2026, with the Act expected later in 2026. Advanced materials are critical for clean tech, deep tech, defense, and space sectors. For materials science startups, the Act could reduce regulatory friction or add compliance burdens depending on implementation. The consultation offers a window to shape rules before they’re set.
🔍 Reads & Reports
Slush’s 15% founder conversion rate reveals what actually creates startup talent
Fifteen percent of Slush team members become founders—68 out of 459 alumni—double Finland’s baseline for 18-24 year olds founding businesses. The annual startup conference runs as a student organization where 23-year-olds manage budgets, lead partnerships, and ship a 13,000-person event within one year. Half the team turns over annually, forcing knowledge resets and real operational accountability.
Notable alumni include Wolt founder Miki Kuusi, who spent four years as Slush CEO before building the company DoorDash acquired for over $7 billion. By launch time, alumni already have investor relationships and management experience without their own capital at risk during learning. Investors Lifeline Ventures and Accel cite Slush experience as positive signal when evaluating founders.
European venture fundraising is on track for its weakest year in recent history. Through Q3 2025, funds raised €8.3 billion across 111 vehicles—a run rate implying full-year capital will decline 52.3% year-over-year if current trends hold. This marks a sharp reversal from 2022’s peak of €38.5 billion across 570 funds, with 2025 fund count down 81% from that high.
The market has shifted structurally toward smaller, emerging managers. First-time and emerging firms now represent 71.8% of fund closes and 48.4% of capital raised, up from 42.8% in 2024. One-third of all fund closes this year have been first-time vehicles. Vehicles under €50 million have nearly doubled their share of capital raised year-over-year to 11.9%, totaling €1 billion through Q3. The median fund size dropped 24.6% compared to 2024.
Capital deployment far outpaces fundraising. European startups received capital at 5.2x the amount raised by European funds through Q3, versus 2.7x in 2024. This imbalance persists as Q1 2025 venture returns registered -1.1%, while LP net cash flows for VC globally “remain below historical averages” despite recovering from trough levels.
💶 Where Funds Went (Or Will Go)
Startups
🇩🇪 Enpal → €700M ABS facility (residential solar & heating financing)
🇦🇹 Refurbed → £44M UK expansion
🇱🇹 nexos.ai → €30M Series A (enterprise AI adoption)
🇩🇪 etalytics → €16M total Series A (energy optimisation AI)
🇬🇧 Saturn → $15M democratizing financial advice
🇩🇪 roclub → $11.7M teleoperation platform for medtech staffing
🇪🇸 Acoru → €10M AI-powered fraud + mule activity detection
🇮🇹 WSense → €10M subsea Wi-Fi / underwater IoT networks
🇮🇹 Sizable Energy → $8M long-duration ocean-based energy storage
🇫🇷/🇮🇹 Volta → €5M AI-driven B2B commerce platform
🇪🇪 Yaga → €4M second-hand fashion marketplace scale-up
🇫🇷 Kotcha → €3.5M AI coaching for runners
🇳🇴 Riff → $16M Series A for low-code/AI workflow automation
🤝 M&A
🇫🇷 Ipsen → ImCheck Therapeutics → €1B oncology acquisition
🇬🇧 Allica Bank → Kriya (embedded SME lending)
🇩🇪 Quantum Systems → Spleenlab (autonomous flight AI)
🇩🇪 Knorr-Bremse → 🇳🇱 TRAVIS (fleet services consolidation)
Investors
🇨🇭 Lakestar → Ends generalist funds; strategic pivot
🇪🇸 Iris Ventures → €100M consumer-tech growth fund
💼 Open Roles
INCO Ventures → Analyst in Paris, France. Apply here.
Capgemini Ventures → Analyst (Intern) in Paris, France. Apply here.
Crédit Mutuel Innovation → Analyst in Paris, France. Apply here.
Curiosity VC → VC Principal in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Apply here.
Kibo Ventures → VC Analyst in Madrid, Spain. Apply here.
Primo Capital → VC Analyst in Milan, Italy. Apply here.
Hiventures → VC Manager in Budapest, Hungary. Apply here.
Allocator One → VC Associate in Vienna, Austria. Apply here.
👋 That’s a wrap for this week.
If you’ve got a round, role, or resource others should see, reply to this or ping us at hello@patrons.vc or send me a message on LinkedIn. We’re building Europe’s finest scouting network at Patrons. If you have a good deal flow, want to expand yours, or want to reach the right investors, send us a message!
If you found this useful, send it to a founder or friend who’d appreciate it.