The most prominent venture capital companies operating in Europe, the Middle East & Africa can be revealed.
Focusing on firms, rather than individual investors, the list compiled by Dealroom measures an ability to spot potential stars at seed stage – rather than the size of investment made – therefore comparing them on a level playing field.
After the busiest year of dealmaking on record, with over $138 billion in venture capital invested in startups across the region in 2021, the EMEA VC Investor Prominence Rank is a practical ranking of venture capital investors.
The data platform describes the ranking as a tool to help founders navigate the vast, and at times opaque venture market, for each stage of their growth.
It takes into account investors’ success in backing unicorns and future unicorns, as well as their level of deal activity in the last 12 months. This year it has iterated its methodology by adding a dilution factor – weighted successful investments based which round the VC first invested at, e.g. Seed > Series C.
London-based LocalGlobe came out on top of both the seed and overall rankings for EMEA, with 14 unicorn seed investments, 11 future unicorn seed investments, for totals of 15 and 19 respectively backed at all stages.
It is the second year LocalGlobe made the No.1 spot for the EMEA seed ranking. Its recent investments include B2B mortgage and lending startup Super Payments and SaaS company Payaut.
For the second year in a row, Accel took the No.1 spot for Series A investment in the EMEA region, having backed 26 EMEA unicorns at seed and Series A, and a further 20 at Series B+.
Its portfolio is also home to a strong pipeline, with 29 potential future unicorns. Index Ventures follows close behind, with 40 EMEA unicorns backed at all stages.
EMEA overall ranking
1. LocalGlobe
2. Accel
3. Index Ventures
4. Seedcamp
5. HV Capital
6. Balderton Capital
7. Insight Partners
8. Global Founders Capital
9. Lakestar
10. Kima Venture
EMEA seed ranking
1. LocalGlobe
2. Seedcamp
3. Global Founders Capital
4. Kima Ventures
5. Point Nine
6. Cherry Ventures
7. 500 Global (formally 500 Startups)
8. Speedinvest
9. Entrée Capital
10. Episode 1 Ventures
EMEA Series A ranking
1. Accel
2. Index Ventures
3. HV Capital
4. Balderton Capital
5. Lakestar
6. Creandum
7. Bessemer Venture Partners
8. Sequoia Capital
9. Northzone
10. Partech