According to a Sifted analysis, eight European AI-native startups have raised pre-seed rounds led by Tier 1 US venture capital firms. The deals signal that Silicon Valley's biggest investors are increasingly hunting for European AI opportunities before the companies have barely got off the ground.
The rounds range from €0.1m to €2.8m, with most startups still at the pre-seed stage. Sifted notes that the investors are backing companies across areas such as AI infrastructure, developer tools, and vertical AI applications. The common thread is that these are AI-native companies, often founded by technical teams with a clear AI thesis.
The report highlights a shift from the traditional pattern where European startups had to prove themselves locally before attracting US capital. Now, top American firms are writing early checks into European founders, sometimes before product-market fit is established.