Europe’s Scale-Up Funding Gap: Six Constraints on Venture Capital Supply and a Reform Agenda
By: Ralf Fendel and Florian Herget
References
- Argyropoulou, M., Soderquist, K. E., & Ioannou, G. (2019). Getting out of the European Paradox trap: Making European research agile and challenge driven. European Management Journal, 37(1), 1–5.
- Arnold, N., Claveres, G., & Frie, J. (2024). Stepping up venture capital to finance innovation in Europe (IMF Working Paper No. 2024/146). International Monetary Fund.
- Avnimelech, G., & Teubal, M. (2004). Targeting venture capital: Lessons from Israel’s yozma program. In Financial Systems, Corporate Investment in Innovation, and Venture Capital (pp. 85–116). Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
- Budi, A. A., Aldianto, L., & School of Business and Management Institut Teknologi Bandung. (2020). Research and Development – Commercialization Bridge: A Refined Model. The Asian Journal of Technology Management, 13(1), 47–62.
- Dealroom. (2025). Dealroom.co [Data set].
- Draghi (Ed.). (2025). The future of European competitiveness: Part A: A competitiveness strategy for Europe. Publications Office.
- EIB Group. (2026). ETCI overview | The European Tech Champions Initiative.
- Enriques, L., Nigro, C. A., & Tröger, T. H. (2026, March 19). Why the 28th Regime Proposal Falls Short of Europe’s Challenge. Oxford Law Blog.
- European Commission. (2024). Unlocking Europe’s scale-up potential: Pension funds and sovereign wealth.
- European Commission. (2026a). Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the EU Inc. Corporate legal framework.
- European Commission. (2026b). Scaleup Europe Fund—European Innovation Council.
- European Commission, Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union. (2023). New EU system for the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax abuse in the field of withholding taxes (SWD/2023/216).
- European Investment Bank. (2024). The scale-up gap: Financial market constraints holding back innovative firms in the European Union.
- Gbadegeshin, S. A., Natsheh, A. A., Ghafel, K., Mohammed, O., Koskela, A., Rimpiläinen, A., Tikkanen, J., & Kuoppala, A. (2022). Overcoming the Valley of Death: A New Model for High Technology Startups. Sustainable Futures, 4, 100077.
- Gompers, P., & Lerner, J. (2001). The Venture Capital Revolution. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 15(2), 145–168.
- Helman, L. (2022). Innovation Funding and the Valley of Death. SSRN Scholarly Paper, No. 4262740. Social Science Research Network.
- Invest Europe. (2024). Delivering the European Transition.
- Laas, D., & Siegel, C. F. (2017). Basel III Versus Solvency II: An Analysis of Regulatory Consistency Under the New Capital Standards. Journal of Risk and Insurance, 84(4), 1231–1267.
- Natsheh, A. A., Gbadegeshin, S. A., Ghafel, K., Mohammed, O., Koskela, A., Rimpiläinen, A., Tikkanen, J., & Kuoppala, A. (2021). The Causues of Valley of Death: a Literature Review. INTED2021 Conference Proceedings, 9289–9298.
- National Venture Capital Association. (2025). NVCA Yearbook 2025.
- OECD. (2025). Benchmarking government support for venture capital: A comparative analysis (71st edn, OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Papers).
- Ringe. (2026, March 30). EU Inc: Why Startups Gain – and Venture Capital Hesitates. Oxford Law Blog.
- Saillard, A., & Url, T. (2011). Venture capital in bank – and market – based economies. Documents de Travail Du Centre d’Economie de La Sorbonne, Article 11025.
Language: English
Page range: 278 - 285
Published online: Oct 25, 2026
Published in print: Sep 1, 2026
Published by: ZBW – Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 6 issues per year
Related subjects:
© 2026 Ralf Fendel, Florian Herget, published by ZBW – Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.