Antler’s European Founder Conference 2026 brought together 30 founders and 400 investors in London. The event featured a report analyzing 81,055 European funding rounds since 2000, highlighting a growing disparity between record-breaking unicorn growth and a collapsing early-stage pipeline.
Europe currently hosts 33 'rocketship' unicorns founded after 2020, which reach a $1 billion valuation in an average of 2 years. These companies are divided into 'Jets' and capital-intensive 'Juggernauts'. The latter have secured $22.59 billion across 60 rounds, with median seed rounds of $16.3 million.
The report warns of a thinning early-stage market, with deal volumes at pre-seed, seed, and Series A stages falling by 38%, 41%, and 45% respectively since 2021. The conversion rate from seed to Series A dropped from 23.3% in the 2008–2019 period to 9.3% in 2023.
A decline in investor participation is cited as a primary cause, with active pre-seed and seed investors down 42% since 2022. The number of new funds tracking annually fell from 150 at the peak to fewer than a dozen in 2026. Antler estimates that restoring conversion rates would require $2.74 billion.
Industry leaders discussed potential solutions, including the London Stock Exchange’s new private-share trading venue, Pisces, which already has 25 registered auction agents. Meanwhile, firms like Uplift Ventures are launching a €100 million fund specifically to support deep tech companies transitioning from seed to Series A.
