# AI takes 75% of Europe's $25bn third-quarter startup funding

_Published Thursday, October 8, 2026 at 11:47 AM EDT · Capital, AI · Latest · Tier 2 — Notable_

![AI takes 75% of Europe's $25bn third-quarter startup funding — Primary](https://media.thenextweb.com/2026/09/trading-desk-laptop-monitor-tablet-candlestick-charts-neon-light.jpg)

European startups raised $25bn in the third quarter, their strongest venture funding quarter in four years, according to Crunchbase data reported by The Next Web. AI companies received $18.8bn, or 75% of the total, the highest share on record. Overall funding rose 77% from $14bn in the third quarter of 2025.

Four companies accounted for close to 40% of Europe's funding: Mistral, Nscale, Helsing and Quantum Systems each raised more than $1bn. North American startup funding fell 35% from the previous quarter to $92bn, mostly because OpenAI and Anthropic had no new megarounds; it remained 50% higher than a year earlier.

## Sources

- [The Next Web](https://thenextweb.com/news/europe-startup-funding-four-year-high-ai-startups-acquisitions)

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Canonical: https://techandbusiness.org/newswire/qJZ_Tck-7De66ZHEV0TX9R
Published: 2026-10-08T15:47:25.069Z
Story chronology: 2026-10-08T14:55:56.000Z
Retrieved: 2026-10-08T19:36:16.395Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)