Introducing the EUVC Awards 2026: Submit Your Nominations
Help define excellence in European venture
The EUVC Awards: A Reflection of the Evolving European Venture Capital Industry
European venture is evolving and so is the community behind it. The way we recognise excellence should reflect that journey.
Today, European ventures operate at a larger scale and with a deeper sense of shared responsibility. Together, we’re building global companies, shaping markets, and helping ensure that innovation turns into lasting value for Europe as a whole.
Now at the third edition, the EUVC Awards recognise outstanding venture capital firms and investors across Europe. But recognition only carries meaning when it rests on fairness, credibility, and a clear understanding of the ecosystem it serves.
That understanding demands evolution.
This year, we made deliberate changes.
Not to follow trends.
But to reflect reality.
Fair comparison matters
Scale shapes strategy. It determines access, risk, pace, and impact. Comparing a €100 million fund with a multi-billion-euro platform rarely produces a fair outcome for either.
This year, the EUVC Awards separate Firm of the Year categories by fund size:
Firm whose latest fund is under €200 million
Firm whose latest fund is over €200m
This new structure acknowledges that excellence takes different forms at different levels of scale. It allows performance to be assessed in context.
Corporate venture plays a defining role
Corporate venture capital now sits at the centre of Europe’s innovation economy. It connects startups with global platforms, accelerates commercial adoption, and brings strategic depth to venture investing.
The EUVC Awards recognise this contribution through a new category: Corporate Venture Capital Fund of the Year.
Jeppe Hoier, Co-founder of EUVC Corporate, leads this award, delivered in collaboration with Global Corporate Venturing, a leader in this ecosystem for over 25 years.
Recognising excellence across the ecosystem
Excellence in venture capital does not take a single form. It emerges across firm building, investment judgment, long-term impact, and defining moments of success.
The EUVC Awards recognise this breadth through the following categories:
Hall of Fame
Firm of the Year
Emerging Manager of the Year
Newcomer of the Year
Impact Leader of the Year
Achievement of the Year
Corporate Venture Capital Fund of the Year
Exit of the Year
Each category reflects a distinct contribution to the European venture ecosystem, assessed on its own terms and within its proper context.
Credibility starts with governance
Awards only carry weight when the process behind them commands trust. That trust begins with who judges.
The EUVC Awards draw on a carefully selected, experienced judging panel from across the European venture ecosystem. The panel brings together perspectives from institutional investors and strategic capital providers.
The judging panel includes:
Stephanie Kempton, Adams Street Partners
Raphael Gervais, LGT Capital Partners
Giulia van Waeyenberge, Sofina Group
Jonathan Sibilia, Bullhound Capital
Chloe Dagnell, Isomer Capital
Stephen Lowery, HSBC Innovation Bank
The panel continues to be chaired by Isomer Capital’s Chris Wade, who serves as a non-voting chairperson to ensure consistency, structure, and integrity throughout the process.
Specialist awards receive specialist oversight:
Douglas Sloan, Better Society Capital, judges the Impact Leader of the Year Award
Jeppe Hoier judges the Corporate Venturing Award
This framework prioritises responsibility over recognition.
Isomer Capital’s Chris Wade and Laura Corrigan highlight:
“The European VC Awards are a reflection of Europe’s venture community, and as the nature of our industry continues to evolve, so must the awards. This year, we’ve increased the number of judges and refined the Firm of the Year and added a new CVC category. In making these changes, this ensures the awards remain a true representation of the people and funds driving meaningful change across the ecosystem.”
Our very own Andreas Munk Holm and David Cruz e Silva add:
“The EUVC Awards exist to identify champions in European venture and amplify them beyond our industry.
Europe’s future is shaped collectively. These awards are our way of standing behind the leaders who take that responsibility seriously, celebrating their contribution, giving them a platform to communicate their role in Europe’s venture ecosystem, and extending their impact far beyond the room.
Winning an EUVC Award is not just recognition. It’s a signal of trust, a moment of visibility, and an opportunity to help define what excellence in European venture truly looks like.”
Help define excellence in European venture
The European VC Awards do not rely on panels alone. They rely on the venture community itself.
Nominations play a critical role in ensuring the awards reflect the full breadth of excellence across Europe, across geographies, fund sizes, strategies, and stages. Community insight helps surface firms and individuals whose impact may not always be the most visible, but is often the most meaningful.
By participating in the nomination process, the community helps define what excellence looks like in practice.
Submit your nomination and contribute to a more accurate and representative view of European venture.
Recognition should reward substance, not noise.
That principle defines the European VC Awards, and the voices of the community ensure it holds true.