by Maria Gabriela Bragança
Europe has long debated the gap between its rich intellectual capital and its position in the global venture economy. The Ventures.eu Forum—recently hosted at Château de Beloeil—crystallized a central truth: If Europe wants to be a generational innovation powerhouse, it cannot merely aspire to bigger exits or policy ambitions—it must invest deeply in venture, strategically and swiftly.
The Challenge: From Potential to Scale
Europe’s strengths are undeniable: a well-educated workforce, strong R&D infrastructure, global corporate clusters, and evolving policy frameworks. Yet the capital behind scaling remains thin. In the last decade, EU venture investments have averaged roughly 0.3 % of GDP, less than one-third of U.S. levels. IMF
In 2021, for example, pension fund commitments to VC were under 0.012 % of total AUM in Europe. Multiple reports now note that European pension plans allocate only 0.018 % on average to venture—versus 1.9 % in U.S. plans. In practical terms: Europe’s fund ecosystem raised ~$101 billion in 2021 (an outlier year) but since then has normalized closer to ~$45 b annually. In 2025, Q2 investment was ~$14.6 b across 1,733 deals. The gap between where Europe is and where it could be is vast.
Why Venture Capital Is Europe’s Strategic Imperative
1. Capitalizing innovation that underpins sovereignty
In a geopolitical era of uncertainty, Europe must retain control over critical technologies: AI, defense, chip architecture, energy systems, biosciences. Venture is the mechanism through which emerging breakthroughs can be financed, scaled, and retained within Europe’s borders.
2. Keeping talent and value in Europe
Too many European-born giants are “graduating abroad” due to capital scarcity or structural constraints. By increasing venture capital depth, Europe can offer homegrown scaling paths—reducing brain drain and reinforcing local ecosystems.
3. Unlocking institutional capital
The Forum spotlighted untapped capital pools: family offices and pension funds. A small rebalancing—for instance, increasing pension fund VC allocations by 5–10× in many nations—would translate into billions of euros in new venture capacity. As one speaker quipped: “Why allow U.S. pensioners to take European innovation returns home?” The data backs this: a twenty-fold increase in pension fund VC allocation would triple Europe’s annual VC funding—yet still represent less than 0.2 % of pension assets. CEPS
4. Driving higher returns over time
Venture investments historically outperform public market returns when executed well. For long-horizon institutional investors (like pension funds), a diversified portfolio including venture can meaningfully enhance return profiles.
5. Multipliers of policy and strategy
Venture does not act in a vacuum. With the right incentives—co-investment schemes, cross-border fund mobilization, harmonized regulation—venture capital can multiply the impact of policy, subsidies, and public innovation investments.
Insights from Beloeil: What the Forum Taught Us
– Speed matters more than perfection. The most urgent barrier is not new ideas—it is how quickly capital and policy can meet them.
– Cross-sector collaboration is non-negotiable. Deeptech, for example, requires integration with industry, defense, and infrastructure players to succeed.
– Family offices are evolving. Many are now active investors in deeptech, impact, and scalable startups—moving from passive to strategic partners.
– Pension funds are undermobilized. At today’s low levels, additional allocation may feel risky—but modest shifts would have seismic effect.
– Europe’s sovereignty demands capital sovereignty. Strategic autonomy isn’t achieved through regulation alone—it requires strong, locally rooted capital flows.
Our Imperative at Ventures.eu
As a government-regulated VC fund powered by Dealflow.eu, Ventures.eu is committed to converting belief into capital action. Our model — investing ~60 % in Portugal, 40 % across EU — emphasizes deeptech, AI, and frontier sectors. But more than that, we aim to catalyze a broader shift: nudging institutional and private capital toward European venture.
The Forum was our declaration of intent: Europe can lead. But that requires courage, conviction, and an institutional shift in how capital participates. Europe must not merely hope to be competitive in the future. It must bank on it—through venture capital.
