Post by Thomas Allgeyer

€1.2 billion went to NEURA Robotics. Germany's largest VC round on record. American capital funded its scale-up. Only one European investor showed up: a public bank. We couldn't write this edition around anything else. A €1.2 billion round should feel like a win for all of us. This one feels like a warning. That's not a one-off. Here's what else this week's numbers are saying. Venture Capital CW 25/26. 72 handpicked posts and 37 new voices. What stood out to us across this edition. Top 5 funds took 73% of Q1 LP money as first-time fund formation fell 85% Investors are prioritizing AI control, data, governance and reliability over standalone apps The 2021 vintage's depleted dry powder is shrinking the Series A pool Start Funds cut its minimum first close from $1M to $150K as equity-free project financing gains traction Founders are leading with revenue and capital efficiency as fund specialization rises Featured read: Rinke Zonneveld breaks down new Invest Europe data. His conclusion: the old assumption that European VC underperforms is no longer true European VC now matches North America on 10- and 15-year IRR. Germany's largest round ever leaned on non-European capital. That's the gap NEURA just made visible. Have a good read this week and thanks for following along.