Investors voice strong confi­dence in Euro­pean start­ups

Navigating Market Opportunities in 2025 was the theme of an Arena Stage panel discussion at Sweden’s biggest business and tech event, Techarenan, on 20 February. Given the turbulent times we live in, Carl-Johan Karlsson, Director at EKN, offered a surprisingly optimistic outlook and he was joined in this by the other panellists from investment companies Kinnevik, NEA, and Cherry Ventures.

“We closed our books for 2024 having completed € 11 billion worth of financing and EKN has a very positive outlook going forward. We see strong demand for investment, particularly in the defence sector, where many procurements are currently underway," Karlsson said.

He added that EKN has recently relaunched a product that is particularly suitable for startups and scaleups. “We are seeing significant interest and numerous requests from the market.”

Tatiana Shalalvand, Investment Director at Kinnevik, noted that “There are so many interesting investment opportunities out there, ranging from defence to AI. The recent US presidential election, however, brought an element of unpredictability to the global outlook. Navigating that is what our job is about.”

Christian Meermann, Founding Partner at Cherry Ventures, which invests in the very early stages of growth companies, remarked: “We are very positive about Europe, which is where we hope to find the next trillion-dollar company. There is no reason why an amazing AI company can’t be based elsewhere than Silicon Valley.”

And the year has started out crazy, Meermann testifies. “Normally, January and February are very slow months for us, but not this year. Everyday there is a super cool AI company popping up that deserves our attention.”

Panel moderator Nick Spicer, Europe Editor at National Public Radio US, pointed out that Europe has often been called ‘the sick man of the world’, but that perception is changing.

Strengthens European presence

NEA has invested throughout numerous economic and political cycles, and Luke Pappas, a Partner, also expressed confidence: “AI has become the hottest sector over the past three years. European stock exchanges are more often chosen when a company is listed and the headquarters remain here.”

Consequently, NEA has opened an office in London to strengthen its European presence. “We believe there are so many investment opportunities for us in Europe.”

Pappas views the threats of a looming trade war and increased tariffs as the perfect opportunity for Europe to invest domestically and launch more companies. “Let’s dream big. We need more entrepreneurs who want to build a billion-dollar company on their own instead of selling off to US interests at some stage.”

Meermann believes Europe has the talent and the capital to fund larger visions. Shalalvand concurs, noting an increasing number of entrepreneurs aiming to build  “the next AI giant, coming out of the Nordics. There is a lot of pride in Europe today.”

Another trend identified by Pappas is a renewed focus on hardware, partly because AI can now handle tasks that previously required hundreds of software engineers. “Today’s most interesting innovations are about chips, cooling and other hardware features.”