European tech growth financing rebounded hard in the first half of 2026, with total capital invested across Series B and C rounds reaching €12.3bn, the strongest half-year since 2022. In a single half, Europe produced both its largest disclosed Series B on record, Isomorphic Labs’ €1.8bn raise, and its largest disclosed Series C on record, Nscale’s €2.9bn round. This edition of Silverpeak’s Tech Growth Financing report, produced by Silverpeak LLP, a boutique European technology investment bank, tracks where that capital went: into fewer companies, at materially larger scale. Deal count recovered only modestly from its five-year low, so the recovery is a story of concentration, not breadth, with a handful of mega-rounds pulling the market up while the core sub-€100m market stayed flat.
Half-yearly key findings
-
- Series C led the recovery, more than doubling to €7.1bn. Series C invested capital rose 103% half-on-half and 447% year-on-year, its strongest half since H1 2021, driven by Nscale’s €2.9bn round, the largest disclosed European Series C on record. Series B rose a steadier 15% to €5.3bn. For founders raising at Series C, conviction capital is clearly back for category leaders; for everyone else, investor selectivity remains the rule.
- The five largest deals took 55% of all capital invested. Concentration reached its highest level in the period shown, more than double the roughly 20% that prevailed through 2021 and 2022. Beneath the mega-rounds, the core market of sub-€100m financings has been stable at €3.0-3.7bn per half for four consecutive years, and at 88 deals it was the thinnest first half in the period shown. The headline recovery in capital has not yet broadened out to the wider market.
- Deep tech reached a period-high €7.7bn, above 60% of all capital for a second consecutive half. AI and ML held its lead at €3.9bn, but the more notable shift was capital broadening into other deep tech verticals: life sciences rose almost tenfold on Isomorphic Labs’ €1.8bn raise, the largest disclosed European Series B on record, while robotics, drones and quantum all climbed sharply. The move towards differentiated, technology-led assets increasingly looks structural rather than cyclical.
- The UK took 56% of capital, while smaller markets out-raised France. The UK’s share reached a period high on the strength of the half’s mega-rounds, with Nscale and Isomorphic Labs both UK-based. Excluding those two deals its share is 29%, in line with its long-run average. More striking further down the table, the Netherlands and Spain took 7% and 5% of invested capital respectively, both out-raising France, whose share fell to 4%. Germany rose to 19% on Neura Robotics’ €1.3bn and Stark’s €500m rounds.
- Valuations set a Series C record while Series B normalised. Series C median pre-money reached a five-year high of €814m, while Series B eased to €111m after the H1 2025 spike. Dilution stayed low at both stages (15% and 18%), reflecting the founder leverage that persists at the top of the market where investor conviction exists.
- 85% of the 2021-23 Series B cohorts have not raised a Series C. Of the 575 companies that raised a first Series B between 2021 and 2023, 486 (85%) have yet to raise a Series C, together representing €18.5bn of Series B capital. Not raising a Series C does not mean failing: some of these companies will still raise one, some have been acquired, some are capital-efficient enough not to need one, and some will not clear the bar, making a meaningful number of them future M&A candidates rather than Series C prospects. The funnel has narrowed rather than lengthened, and the top end has sped up: 2024-25 graduates reached Series C in a median of 14 months, and the fastest, including Legora, Nscale and n8n, in roughly six.
Series B and C capital invested, H1 2026
| Category | H1 2026 | HoH | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series B | €5,272m | +15% | +4% |
| Series C | €7,075m | +103% | +447% |
| Total deal count | 106 | +9% | −17% |
What this means for founders and investors
The gap between the strong headline capital number and the still-subdued deal count is the defining feature of this half. Capital is available, but it is flowing to proven category leaders in AI and deep tech at record scale, while the broader mid-market has not yet recovered in volume. For growth-stage founders, that raises the bar on the equity story: the companies clearing it are raising larger rounds at dilution levels that remain low by historical standards, and the strongest are graduating from Series B to Series C faster than ever. For the large cohort that has not graduated, the likelier path for many may be a sale rather than another primary round, which is where our M&A and financing work meet.
More from Silverpeak
Silverpeak advises technology growth companies on both M&A and financing across software, deep tech and digital services. This report builds on the picture set out in our previous edition, on how investor selectivity defined European growth financing in H2 2025. For a closer look at how we help companies raise growth capital, see our technology growth financing advisory work, and our track record in deep tech and software transactions.