Jon Taylor, Director at Hawksford, shares his insights on the key topics discussed at SuperVenture Berlin earlier this month, from the state of global venture to the domination of AI when it comes to investment.
Held from 2–4 June in Berlin, SuperVenture is the world’s largest venture capital gathering, drawing top-tier speakers and industry leaders to share expert insights on the evolving venture capital landscape.
Unsurprisingly, the event reflected the weight of today’s heightened geopolitical tensions, which continue to shape investor sentiment and strategy. At the same time, the venture market faces mounting challenges, from delayed liquidity events and constrained IPO windows to the accelerating pace of technological disruption, underscoring the need for adaptability and a long-term perspective.
Consequently, and despite a notable recovery in 2023 and 2024, the picture for the coming year is looking decidedly uncertain and as macro volatility intensifies – reflected in indicators like the Volatility Index (VIX) which gauges market turbulence – investors and founders alike are being forced to recalibrate their expectations.
There is a backlog of IPO-ready companies, as the public markets remain largely inaccessible, placing pressure on liquidity, delaying exits and ultimately creating a bottleneck for dozens of breakout companies waiting in the wings. That said, secondaries are at record levels, offering liquidity when IPOs aren’t viable.
And, while structural transformation within the startup ecosystem continues, the timelines for realising value have extended.
What is clear is that patient, long-term capital is more essential than ever. The ‘old normal’ of rapid IPOs and high returns has given way to a new era defined by compounding growth, extended gestation periods, and an evolving path to value creation.
European vs US VC opportunity
One notable theme at the event was how the EU venture capital ecosystem fares against its US counterpart.
Europe’s tech ecosystem has grown into a €3.4 trillion force, employing around three million people but despite this progress the continent still struggles in comparison to the US, hampered by fragmented markets, inconsistent funding, and limited exit opportunities.
With 600 unicorns spread across 66 cities and 15,000 startups launched annually, Europe’s innovation landscape is diverse but dispersed. The continent’s decentralised nature offers variety but constrains scale, especially beyond Series B/C, and as a result many promising startups struggle to grow without global capital support.
A persistent talent drain is also having an impact, with top talent heading to the US for better funding and exit options while paper-heavy processes, such as notarial requirements and apostilles, slow down business formation and capital deployment.
The accumulative effect is that compared to Silicon Valley’s 10x-return mindset, seamless capital mobility, and abundant exit options, Europe is still hindered by bureaucracy and market friction.
Despite the challenges however, momentum is building. A growing ‘flywheel effect’ is emerging as alumni from successful startups found new ventures, and institutions like the European Investment Fund (EIF) foster cross-border capital flows.
What Europe must now do to unlock its full potential and match the US for ease of doing business is form a unified, pan-European investment strategy, simplify its administrative processes and improve exit routes to unleash a new wave of innovation and value creation.
Investment trends
Several standout trends emerged at SuperVenture, with strong investor focus on AI and the sustainability agenda leading the conversation. Also gaining traction was the growing role of blockchain and cryptography in reshaping financial infrastructure, signalling a shift toward more secure, decentralised, and efficient systems.
AI notably now dominates investment themes and is integrating into every sector – from defence to fintech to biotech – while simultaneously acting as a society-reshaping force.
The unprecedented speed of AI development too is driving systemic disruption, with both markets and institutions scrambling to keep pace, while significant corporate investments from players like Microsoft and Amazon, coupled with sustained VC backing, reflect long-term conviction in AI’s transformative potential.
In addition, startups are becoming smaller, leaner, and more efficient with these companies leverage agentic AI – autonomous agents capable of decision-making – and vertical-specific large language models (LLMs) to replace traditional workflows.
Overwhelmingly, the event highlighted that AI is no longer just a theme – it’s the infrastructure layer of next-generation innovation – and startups that embed AI at the core and fundamentally rethink their models are best positioned to lead in this new era.
Similarly, climate tech is rapidly moving into the mainstream, as investors increasingly view it as both inevitable and highly scalable.
Deeptech, in particular, is emerging as a key driver of meaningful climate solutions, especially in areas like energy management, solar power, and advanced battery technologies – delivering innovations in blackout prevention, energy efficiency, and intelligent grid systems. These sectors offer substantial return potential, especially as financial performance and impact objectives become more closely aligned across the investment landscape.
Meanwhile, blockchain and cryptography are emerging as powerful tools to restore trust online and dramatically reduce inefficiencies, with the potential to cut transactional costs by up to 90%.
As the internet grapples with growing issues around trust and data integrity, blockchain offers a decentralised, transparent alternative.
With more than $250 billion in stablecoins issued, blockchain is moving beyond speculation and becoming core financial infrastructure.
This signals a shift toward the utility phase of Web3, where infrastructure-layer startups that are focused on trust, privacy, and cryptographic solutions are increasingly investable. For VCs, this means trust infrastructure is back in focus and the next wave of returns will likely come from those building the underlying foundations, not just the tokens.
An evolving VC sector
SuperVenture 2025 revealed a venture capital landscape in transition, defined by tech-driven disruption – especially AI – amid tightening liquidity, shifting geopolitics, and evolving global capital flows.
While Europe’s potential is undeniable, it remains constrained by structural inefficiencies and cultural friction. The firms that will lead in this environment are those willing to invest boldly through uncertainty, embrace emerging paradigms in AI, defence and climate, and navigate the increasingly complex expectations of both founders and LPs precisely and intuitively.
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