VNTR Newsletter July 13: VC Hits $91B in Q2, Germany Tops Europe, Accel Leads Deals
Venture Capital, Web3, and Private Equity – News, Events, and VC Reads
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Global venture funding ticked up year over year in Q2 2025, with a greater concentration of capital into the largest funding rounds compared to a year ago, Crunchbase data shows. Q2 funding reached $91 billion, up from $82 billion in Q2 2024, per Crunchbase data. However, quarter-over-quarter funding fell from $114 billion in Q1, which marked the highest quarter for funding since Q3 2022.
Revolut eyes $65B valuation in upcoming funding round
The fintech giant is reportedly in talks to raise $1B in a mix of primary and secondary funding, potentially marking one of Europe’s biggest fintech rounds ever — with Greenoaks and Mubadala among likely backers.
How venture capital firms die
The downfall of a VC firm rarely comes from a single bad bet — more often, it’s the slow erosion of follow-on funding, internal trust, and LP confidence during dry fundraising cycles.
Germany Leapfrogs UK To Lead European VC Investment In Q2 As Region’s Funding Settles
Funding to Europe startups settled in Q2, coming in flat quarter over quarter, but down 24% from the peak second quarter in 2024, Crunchbase data shows. A total of $12.6 billion was raised by around 1,200 startups across Europe last quarter, with funding amounts comparable with the previous two quarters. And for the first time since 2012, Germany-based startups jumped ahead of the United Kingdom by amounts invested in a quarter.
Accel, General Catalyst Topped Increasingly Busy Active Investor Ranks In Q2
The most active global startup investors largely got busier in the second quarter of 2025, backing and leading more rounds and putting larger sums of capital into deals. Overall, nine of the 10 most active venture investors did more deals in Q2 than in Q1, per Crunchbase data. Ditto for 80% of the top 10 lead investors by deal count, as well as the vast majority of the spendiest investors in Q2.
Africa’s VC market slows while focus shifts to local capital
VC funding on the continent is trending down for a second year, but local investors are stepping up to fill the gap, aiming to build a more self-sustaining innovation ecosystem.
This year, we successfully hosted five VNTR Investor Forums in Bahrain, Riyadh, Dubai, London, and Cannes. These gatherings have proven highly valuable for our members, offering insights from top-tier speakers and fostering meaningful connections with relevant co-investors through thematic roundtables and curated networking sessions.
Join us at the upcoming VNTR Investor Forums:
North America Venture Funding Surged In First Half Of Year As Q2 Held Strong
Funding to North American startups surged in the first half of 2025, fueled by investor enthusiasm around artificial intelligence. Overall, investors poured $145 billion into seed through growth-stage rounds for U.S. and Canadian companies in the first six months of the year, per Crunchbase data. That’s a 43% gain year over year, and the highest half-year total in three years. Total investment in the second quarter, meanwhile, was down sequentially due to a drop in late-stage financing.
$1B-plus PE deals are ticking up
Although overall private equity activity has slowed, the number of $1B+ transactions is on track to surpass 2024, driven by large-cap deals in stable sectors like software and infrastructure.
VC-Backed Startups That Stitch AI And Fashion Together See Strong Investor Interest
AI is being woven into fashion through personalization, design automation, and smart textiles — and investors are increasingly backing startups at this intersection, defying broader market slowdown.
Defence VCs double down on weapons: ‘The best teams are in Ukraine 24/7’
A growing group of VCs are openly backing offensive weapons startups, citing Ukraine’s battlefield innovations as a major validation for tech-enabled warfare.
Global VC funding climbs to $91B in second quarter as AI leads investment trends
Fueled by massive AI rounds and a concentration of capital in late-stage deals, global VC rebounded in Q2 — though early-stage and emerging markets remain under pressure.
Jack Ma-backed Ant Group eyes USDC stablecoin for own blockchain
Ant Group is reportedly preparing to integrate USDC into its blockchain, signaling a shift toward regulated Western stablecoins amid China’s evolving crypto stance.
XAI teases Grok upgrades; Musk says AI could discover new physics
Musk’s AI company is training its next model with ambitions beyond chatbots — hinting that future AI may contribute to breakthroughs in scientific discovery.
Here’s why total value locked falls short as an investment signal in DeFi
While TVL is still the default metric for DeFi traction, critics argue it often inflates the real health and utility of protocols, misleading both users and investors.
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Upcoming VC Events and Conferences
July 17-18 India-Africa Entrepreneurship & Investment Summit 2025, Nairobi, Kenya
July 31-August 3 Kinnernet Alps unconference, San Sebastiano da Po (Turin), Italy
August 1-2 GM Vietnam Blockchain Week (10% discount using code VNTR)
August 20-21 Step Conference, San Francisco, US (20% discount using code VNTR)
August 21-22 Coinfest Asia, Bali, Indonesia (20% discount using code CA20VNTR)
August 27-28 TechBBQ, Copenhagen, Denmark (25% discount using code 25VNTRCapitalnetwork25)
September 3-4 GITEX NIGERIA, Lagos, Nigeria (Complimentary Passes)
September 10-11 European Private Wealth Excellence Forum (Discounted Passes for members)
September 21-27 Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul, South Korea
September 23-24 CV Summit, Zurich, Switzerland
September 29-October 2 CC Forum Zurich, Switzerland (for complimentary EXECUTIVE PASS, please contact Irina)
September 29-October 1 Bits & Pretzels, Munich, Germany
October 1-2 Token2049, Singapore
October 6-12 SF Tech Week, San Francisco, USA
October 7-9 Elevate Festival, Toronto, Canada (20% discount using code VNTRELEVATE)
October 12-15 Expand North Star, Dubai, UAE
October 13-17 GITEX Global, Dubai, UAE
October 13-19 LA Tech Week, Los Angeles, USA
October 15-17 Principled Business Summit, New York, US (15% discount using code VNTRMEMBER)
October 21-22 Zebu Live, London, UK (20% discount using code VNTR20)
October 27-29 Techcrunch Disrupt, San Francisco, USA
October 27-29 Zero One Hundred Conference, Milan, Italy (15% discount using code VNTR15INT)
November 3-7 Hong Kong Fintech Week, Hong Kong
November 11 VNTR Global Investor Summit Lisbon (Complimentary Passes)
November 12-14 Singapore FinTech Festival (Complimentary Passes)
November 19 SuperVenture North America, New York, US (10% discount using code FKR3637VNTR)
November 19-20 SLUSH, Helsinki, Finland
December 8-11 Abu Dhabi Finance Week, Abu Dhabi, UAE
If you would like to submit VC-related events, please send them to support@vntr.vc.
VNTR Events
Join us at our upcoming events to connect with key investment decision-makers:
July 14 2025
Investor Roundtable Nicosia
partner Freesearch Ventures
July 22 2025
Club Mastermind Online
for active VNTR Club members only
July 23 2025
Investor Cocktail Chicago
during Chicago Tech Week
July 23 2025
Investor Cocktail Silicon Valley
July 24 2025
Investor Dinner Cascais
for VNTR Club members and invited VIP guests
August 2 2025
Investor Roundtable Hanoi
September 2 2025
Investor Roundtable Lagos
during GITEX Nigeria
September 6 2025
Investor Roundtable Cairo
September 10 2025
Investor Roundtable Madrid
during USA-EUROPE INVEST SUMMIT
September 11 2025
Investor Roundtable Barcelona
during European Private Wealth Excellence Forum
September 19 2025
Investor Tennis London
September 30 2025
Investor Forum Singapore
during Token 2049
September 30 2025
Investor Roundtable Zurich
part of the official programming of CC Forum
September 30 2025
Investor Roundtable Munich
during Bits & Pretzel