State of European Tech projected $45 billion of investment into European technology companies for 2024, down 5% from 2023. Its more revealing comparison follows companies founded in 2015: 4.1% of the European cohort reached a $15 million-plus round, versus 8.3% of the US cohort.
The gap widens up the ladder
At the first million-dollar funding threshold, Atomico found the two cohorts much closer: 18% of European companies and 22% of US companies. By the $15 million threshold, the US share was about double. This does not prove a specific European company failed to raise because of geography. It does identify where the observed funnel separates most clearly, shifting the question from startup creation alone toward the availability and size of follow-on capital.
A continental total is not a pipeline
The report estimates Europe at $45 billion of 2024 investment and the United States at $139 billion, but absolute dollars reflect market size, sector mix and very large rounds. The cohort funnel is a different lens: what proportion of companies progresses to a stated financing threshold. Both matter. An entrepreneur can work in a region with substantial aggregate capital and still face a narrower market for the specific round required to scale internationally.
The estimate has boundaries
The 2024 total was linearly extrapolated from data available through September 30, not counted from a complete calendar year. Atomico excludes biotech, debt, lending capital and grants from this investment comparison. Those exclusions are material for deep-technology and capital-intensive companies. The report launched on November 19, 2024; that publication date is separate from its September 30 data cutoff. The 2015 cohort figures are historical observations within Atomico's dataset; the 2024 investment amount is a report-time projection and should be labeled as such in any chart.
The 2024 amount is a September-data extrapolation with defined sector and instrument exclusions; source day unverified.
Financial education, not investment or legal advice. Historical notes are retrospective analysis prepared in September 2026, not contemporaneous Venture Trace reporting.
Sources & scope
Atomico / State of European Tech
State of European Tech 2024: Investment Levels
- Source date
- 19 Nov 2024
- Retrieved
- 19 Sept 2026
- Period / geography
- 2024 through September; full-year extrapolation · Europe
European technology company investment in State of European Tech analysis
2024 report estimate based on 30 September data. 2024 annual figures are linearly extrapolated; biotech, debt, lending capital and grants are excluded.
