European Investment Fund (EIF) launches €15bn fund of funds to back 100 growth-stage venture capital firms, aiming to bridge Europe's significant late-stage funding gap versus the US. This new initiative, ETC I 2, dwarfs its predecessor, the original European Tech Champions Initiative (ETCI 1), which raised €3.9bn and backed 14 funds. The EIF targets funds ranging from €300m-€600m (mid-size) and €1bn+ (mega funds), with a first close planned for this summer. Uli Grabenwarter, EIF's deputy chief investment officer, emphasizes this is a "completely different ball game" in scale and scope.

ETCI 2 expands beyond ETCI 1's public backers (EIB and six EU states) by seeking funding from a much broader pool, including insurers, commercial banks, and pension funds alongside public capital. This diversification aims to significantly increase the fund's reach and impact across the EU. While Germany and France already nurture mega funds, ETCI 2 explicitly targets other EU countries lacking such strong growth-stage pipelines, expanding investment criteria to include mid-size funds.

The EIF and EIB have already committed €1.25bn to ETCI 2. The ultimate goal is to unlock up to €80bn in scaleup funding across Europe. Grabenwarter positions ETCI 2 as complementary to the EU's planned €5bn Scaleup Europe Fund, which focuses on direct deep-tech investments, stating it would be an "investment target" rather than a competitor. ETCI 2's investment per fund will also increase substantially, up to €200m per fund, compared to ETCI 1's average of €60m. This scale aims to directly support companies like DeepL, TravelPerk, and Framer, which benefited indirectly from ETCI 1.