For the most part, the European Venture Capitalists on this list are ranked by AuM (Assets under Management; i.e., the total market value of the assets that a mutual fund manages at a given point in time.)

The first fifteen entries on the list are the top European Venture Capitalists (in AuM order), and the final five entries are other VCs we’ve identified that are making a growing impact on the European investment market.

Related: The Top UK Venture Capitalist Firms in the United Kingdom

When we set out to compile the list, we originally intended to break it down into pre-seed, seed, and series A stage. It quickly became apparent that would be problematic because the terminology favoured by most of these VCs is very different. Instead of pre-seed, seed, and series A, Europe’s leading VCs most often describe their preferred investment phases in terms of Early and Growth.

As an investable entrepreneur, you’ll find a lot of alternative labels thrown around the VC eco-system, and every VC has their own take on what those terms mean. In our experience, the simplest way to compare pre-seed, seed, and series A to Early and Growth is:

• ‘Early’ is before series A (i.e., pre-seed and seed) when an investor asks themselves whether this is a company that could scale, and what the various risks will be along the way. Think of ‘Early’ as an umbrella term that covers all the sub-stages of a startup’s life (pre-seed, seed and post-seed) when it’s still building up all the evidence and traction it needs to reach series A: building the product, proving concept, putting a team in place, deploying the product to early customers, confirming the product’s worth to the market via sales and feedback.
• ‘Growth’ is after series A, when the startup has proved its product, marketing, and sales are working and they’re ready for expansion into series B,C,D, and even beyond.
• Between these is the series A stage, when a startup transitions from being a company with a great offering that has the potential to scale to being a company with a great offering that is ready to scale.

In other words, it’s reasonable to assume that the VCs who say they are looking for both ‘Early’ and ‘Growth’ will likely invest in the series A stage too.

With that in mind, there’s no reason any of the VCs on this list wouldn’t welcome an approach by a founder at any stage of the life cycle, so long as the product or service matches the sector(s) they invest in.

After all, most VCs will spend a lot of their energy identifying and de-risking companies at the Early stage because a significant proportion of a VCs wealth is wrapped up in recognising potentially great companies that haven’t yet, but soon will, achieve growth.

Don’t let the change in labels discourage you. Do a deep research dive and then reach out directly to them to find out more. After all, you never know what any of these VCs have got planned that they haven’t released information about yet.

This is quite possibly the most exciting time for a UK startup to seek VC investment in Europe and, when it comes to raising any investment, fortune favours the brave…

…so long as the brave do their homework, due diligence, and are extremely well prepared before the pitch meeting!