The State of European VC Marketing

I work mostly with US firms, but I'm from London so naturally, I end up in a lot of conversations with European VCs.

There's a dual tension at the moment - one eye what the big US firms are doing, but many still operating prim and proper comms from high finance, and regulatory caution culture. Many European VCs are trying to reconcile these worlds, often resulting in blander content that splits the difference…

But when you look at the European ecosystem, there are tons of opportunities. European firms are discovering that their constraints - fragmented markets, complexity, cultural skepticism - are becoming competitive advantages.

The strategies working in Europe offer lessons for any firm trying to break through: regional US funds that can't compete on the Tier 1 playbook, emerging market VCs building from scratch, smaller funds competing against generalists.

The European playbook developing is worth studying regardless of where you're based.

**fwiw… I try to avoid including firms I’ve worked with and I omitted Index (deep dive on them here)… not sure it ever really was European + how much of the DPI is from Europe 😂 

The Lagging Indicator Problem

In 2026, the biggest marketing trend for European VC is sovereignty. Major European players - Atomico, Balderton, Project A - are now positioning themselves as guardians of European technological independence.

However, the irony is European VCs have adopted the "Nationalist" marketing playbook of Silicon Valley to argue for independence from Silicon Valley.

There had been subtleties of this shift for a while, but it noticeably took an American shift to kick the European narrative to the forefront.

On May 1st, 2025, a16z rebranded around "American Dynamism" - positioning themselves as guardians of US technological leadership…

Five months later, we had the Eurostack paper, the Berlin Summit and firms like Plural updated their website hero with a similar sovereignty narrative.

• a16z: "As the American leader in Venture Capital, the fate of new technology in the United States rests partly on our shoulders. Our mission is ensuring that America wins the next 100 years of technology."
  

• Plural: "Our mission is to have GDP-level impact on Europe, address systemic risks and reduce the opportunity gap worldwide through the companies we back."

One is brash. One is measured. But both are nationalist. And to be clear, Plural has built an excellent brand - they backed 10% of companies on Bloomberg's European Companies to Change the World list and invested in Helsing in 2024 - but the timing illustrates the broader pattern.

IMO… European Sovereignty positioning is often a "Scarcity" narrative. It's reactionary to the above positioning happening first, born from the realisation that Europe is a digital tenant in an Sino-American-owned neighbourhood.

As a marketer, being obviously derivative weakens your positioning.

If your brand is supposed to represent the cutting edge, you cannot afford to be a lagging indicator.

When European firms try to mirror the brashness of a16z, they often end up with a diluted version of an American manifesto. It's hard to imagine a London or Berlin firm saying they want to "win the next 100 years" without triggering cynical eye-rolls from the very founders they're trying to court.

Maybe European firms should be more brash, but that brashness needs tp come from a place of Functional Authority. 

The High-Context Advantage

European markets are smaller but deeper. Because the European ecosystem is a collection of distinct nations rather than one unified market, you don't have to own "The Future” at large… You can own a defensible niche.

• Talent Arbitrage: Credo Ventures

Credo Ventures (Czech Republic) markets the "talent-to-capital" arbitrage of Central and Eastern Europe - showcasing the region's technical prowess to the world.

They publish ecosystem maps and analyses of the CEE startup scene. By focusing on local language media and local events, they build brand equity amongst a specific group, and then can access the diaspora of those founders wherever in the world.

• Industrial Crossover: La Famiglia (prior to GC acquisition 2023)

La Famiglia (ex Berlin seed fund) publishes insights on the intersection of industrial Mittelstand companies and startups, aligning with their network of old school LPs.

They're were never trying to be all things to all founders. They're said if you're building at the intersection of traditional German industrial strength and startup innovation, we get both worlds.

• Language Arbitrage: Daphni

Daphni (Paris) just raised €260M to "turn European science into global champions." They are very good at being a community builder, content producer AND digital platform.

The difference… where many default to English for maximum reach, they're doing a lot in French. Their podcast "Movers and Shakers" is in French. They've created firstmile.space with French-language resources for early-stage founders - going deep in one market, in one language, building one highly engaged community.

• Regional Specialisation: FOV and Maki

The Nordics showcase tons of innovation - big legacies from Nokia, Ericsson, more recently Varjo. Smaller specific firms (i.e. not Creandum) like FOV and Maki highlight this ecosystem, positioning the Nordics not as a backwater but as a powerhouse of deep tech and design-led companies.

Why European VCs Can't Do Hype

European founders are notoriously skeptical of "VC fluff."

Many US firms compete on being the most visionary. European VCs discovered that being helpful is more defensible than being visionary.

Especially because the European founder experience is uniquely fragmented and different from US experiences, meaning it is often misplaced for European firms to publish 30,000-foot views on "The Future of X" over deeper operational content.

Speedinvest pioneered this with Speedinvest Pirates… a specialised sub-brand focusing on GTM. Their content was almost entirely how-to guides for functional leads and Europe-specific tactical advice dealing with international dynamics.

Northzone build on this approach with their Operator Sessions - highly tactical blogs where their network answers day-to-day functional questions. Real operators solving real problems. They also prev ran "Fika" podcast interviews (Swedish for "coffee and cake break") - intimate, practical conversations rather than grand vision statements.

But it can be more firm focused too…

ByFounders (Nordics/Baltics) does thesis-led content where they share context, trends, and beliefs about specific topics. Not generic startup advice - their actual worldview, backed by investing activity and portfolio learnings. They're saying "here's what we believe and what that means practically.”

Similarly, Earlybird “ecosystem insights” curates events with ecosystem leaders, experts, and portfolio companies… then turns these events into content pieces. These provide inside looks into what happens at these gatherings. Both tactical and event-driven, building Earlybird's platform and network growth through useful documentation rather than promotional fluff.

The Cultural Context

In the US, classic "anti-VC" positioning argues that all VCs are bad and do nothing on your cap table, "but we're so helpful and different." In Europe, anti-VC positioning shows up through community aspects (LocalGlobe), B Corp status (MMC, AENU, Better Ventures) who position as responsible industry change agents, or as ethical VCs. ByFounders has done extensive content about internal operations and ESG integration.

While this risks being vapid (much is driven by EIF requirements) there's a new opportunity to target the increasing HNWI players in Europe disenfranchised from institutional virtue signalling. Be raw, be real, and leverage Europe's community-oriented culture.

Data as Authority

If there's one thing European VCs do better than US counterparts, it's reports!!

In the US, brands are often the GP "genius" vs. Europe, the brand is more a System. This lends itself particularly well to asset-based marketing.

• Atomico: The Content Machine

Atomico's State of European Tech report (annual since 2015, 250+ pages) is "more of a public service than content marketing - required reading for any European tech startup."

We mentioned this in VC Market Map last week, but its worth highlighting the distribution machine they built around it…

They don't just publish a PDF they've built a dedicated microsite with video library, presentations, interviews, and "reading tracks" - short deep dives with interactive charts on specific sub-topics. One big report basically fuels a year-round content pipeline.

One asset becomes 50 pieces of content.

• Point Nine: The Single Asset Strategy

Christoph Janz from Point Nine has been creating the popular SaaS funding Napkin since 2016 (except for 2020). It draws upon data from P9 portfolio companies and survey data collected from other SaaS investors. Despite a smaller fund (~€400M aum). Outsized reputation, all because of one consistently updated, hyper-focused asset for SaaS founders.

• EQT: Process Over Personality

EQT Ventures centres a lot of their marketing around Motherbrain, their proprietary AI platform. They don't just say they're "data-driven" … stories they publish they mention exactly how Motherbrain applies.

imo this process transparency builds credibility in a way individual charisma never could, and really legitimises their A+ interactive marketing effort - The Founder Six.

• One exception is Earlybird's Dr. Andre Retterath….

Who runs Data Driven VC - probably a top 5 influential asset in venture. Elite, practical content that many GPs worldwide pay $150/month for.

There's likely some tension between Andre's independence and Earlybird's brand, but (I assume) helps the firm either way…. I put it here because open-sourcing technical "Proof of Work" is still being Knowledge Infrastructure rather than a “Content Creator”.

Breaking the Professionalism Trap

In Europe, much of VC is bland. The gap starts with talent pipelines. In the US, the "operator VC" is commonplace. In Europe, path to GP is still very much often from Deloitte or Barclays... Because many European GPs haven't sat in the founder's seat, marketing is downstream of corporate comms ie. polished and careful.

1. This shows in European VCs' preference for self-hosted blogs over platforms like Substack. The ecosystem is rooted in formal comms, where "tidiness" and requiring approval are default. While US firms embrace the speed of solo stream of consciousness via individual partner Substacks and raw tweet threads.

But…

2. This Creates a Massive Opening:

Two Europeans have broken through by rejecting the professionalism trap entirely: Harry Stebbings with 20VC and Andreas Klinger with Prototype Capital.

• 20VC: The Distribution Machine

There's tons of surface-level analysis about 20VC's "strategy” / "he started early," / "he was consistent" - that's not useful for funds.

While bigger firms worry about "brand guidelines," Harry built a production machine that moved 10x faster. Traditionally GP at top firms wants to be the smartest person in the room, Harry played the "Dumbest Person in the Room," letting guests from outside his portfolio or network tell their stories.

@20vc_tok

3 Ways You Can Win With Content Harry Stebbings (20VC) on Billions with Guillaume Moubeche #content #contentadvice #socialmedia

The aversion to brand guidelines also means he can be obsessed with volume and velocity. One 60-minute conversation becomes 10+ clips, short-form content, quote cards, audiograms, thread summaries etc.

Professional polish is a friction that slows down the flow of information, and in 2026, for generalist firms, broad distribution is the only thing that actually converts to equity…

• Prototype: Authenticity as Strategy

Andreas Klinger champions "build in public" - publishing fund updates and insights to create a community of "hyper-ambitious" founders. His marketing emphasises his background as a builder (CTO at Product Hunt, VPE of CoinList, AngelList) rather than just a financier, and is therefore very candid.

We have previously mentioned him as video-first - He goes to portfolio companies, showcases their technology (works well for deep tech), and also tackles topical issues: recently made a video on China and manufacturing vs the West. These videos show progression of his thinking, the firm's evolution, port co development, and macro narratives in real time.

Many firms hide behind polish. Both Harry and Klinger do the opposite - and it makes them more credible, not less.

The End…

If the US playbook is Optimism at Scale, the European playbook is definitely skewing more Substance over Style.

European VC marketers should (imo) keep pushing for solution led marketing. This doesn't mean abandoning storytelling or vision but those elements should serve functional outcomes.

Aptly EU-Inc - is the ultimate case study… in moving from abstract "sovereignty" talk to exceptional, solution-oriented marketing. While politicians were debating the theory of a unified market, the EU-Inc movement (led by the likes of Andreas Klinger and a coalition of 22,000 signatories) focused on a singular, visceral pain point: the "27-country legal maze."

By branding the solution as a "Delaware for Europe," they marketed a policy as a functional tool that promises 48-hour digital incorporation and a unified cap table. It is the perfect example of a marketing effort that wins by being a solution and undeniably useful.

The real TL;DR for ALL firms…. Hype has diminishing returns, if your content and process are so practically valuable that people would consume it even if you weren't an investor. There is a future in the asset class around being the infrastructure that founders can't afford to scale without.

Laurie, Refinery Media

If you made it all the way through, thanks so much for reading! Several hundred VCs now open this every week. If it's helped you think differently about marketing, Venture, or storytelling, please send it to someone in your orbit.

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