How the Investment Landscape Is Shifting in 2022

The investment landscape this 2022 is being shaped by a number of key trends. These trends include the rise of blockchain technology, the growth of artificial intelligence and machine learning, changes in the global economy, and the increasing popularity of passive investment vehicles. All of these trends will have a significant impact on how investors approach and invest in the startup industry, among many others.

Check out how the investment landscape is shifting this 2022.

More money than at any point in history is being invested into start-ups

Even though 2021 wasn’t a brilliant year for most of the world, especially where economics and geopolitics were concerned, it was a very positive twelve months for the investment landscape.

Despite the global economic shock caused by the pandemic, Pitchbook reported that Venture capital investment in Europe and Israel crossed the €100bn mark for the first time ever in 2021.

Related: Top UK Angel Investment Groups: National and Regional

Even areas like Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries enjoyed a dramatic increase in VC funding, especially in the realms of IT, digital, and health. This is because, now that millions of us are remote working, the demand for technologies supporting this new lifestyle has surged dramatically. A partial result of that surge was a record-breaking peak in valuations and a phenomenal number of startups rapidly achieving unicorn status.

Other highlights of 2021 included DACH — Europe’s second-largest VC hub — investing €16.5bn in new German businesses, France investing €9.9bn (primarily thanks to its government’s support for startups in the tech arena) and a raft of startup successes in the Nordic countries, especially Sweden.

Spain and Italy did incredibly well, too, with almost 80% of Southern Europe’s VC capital going to those two countries. According to Pitchbook, Lithuania had the most significant increase in capital investment in 2021, increasing 990% to €351.2m.