European startup formation is accelerating, but a shift toward mega-rounds and higher investor benchmarks is creating a critical funding bottleneck for early-stage companies.
Google DeepMind is cited as a source of founders raising large pre-seed rounds, but the article does not discuss Alphabet's financials or outlook.
A new report from Antler reveals that while European startup creation has surged by 84% through 2025, a widening funding gap threatens the early-stage ecosystem. Mega-rounds are increasingly capturing limited capital, leaving high-potential startups without the necessary support to scale. Experts warn that this concentration of capital risks stalling the next generation of European innovation.
Investors are increasingly prioritizing hyper-growth companies and raising performance benchmarks, while capital is being concentrated into fewer, larger deals, leaving less funding available for the broader startup ecosystem.