When venture funding started to decline globally in the first quarter, Europe initially looked like an outlier. The region recorded strong Q1 numbers and was one of the few markets to see quarterly growth over the end of last year. But since the market reached its peak in January — at least for now — Europe’s funding has actually declined at a faster rate than other regions.
Europe’s venture capital decline was initially buried under its own numbers. Due to a particularly strong funding environment in the region this January, the pullback was masked in Q1 totals. The pace of the decline was notable, with the region seeing $13 billion invested in January, $9.3 billion in February and $8.9 billion in March, according to data from Crunchbase.
The slowdown continued in Q2 with April funding totals down 12.3% from March to $7.8 billion, and May down 16.7% from April to $6.5 billion. Based on figures from the first 2 months of the second quarter, June looks likely to continue the slide.
