AETHERION Worldwide is the fundraising and landing practice of AETHERION Capital.
How long rounds take, how much equity founders give up, and what European investors check in a company from outside Europe.
A round in Europe runs on the same mechanics as a round anywhere else, plus a few habits of its own. European investors often want to see a European company and a European plan before a first meeting turns into a term sheet.
These guides explain the mechanics with current data, each figure labelled with where it comes from, and the extra questions a company from outside Europe should expect in due diligence. They are general information, not investment advice.
Yes. Nothing stops a European investor from backing a company registered in Seoul, Tokyo or Istanbul. In practice the money usually goes into a European company: that is the vehicle a European fund can hold shares in, and European public programmes require it. The foreign parent often stays on top.
Read itFor private investors, no: there is no rule that makes a European company a condition of taking European money. For European public money there is. The European Innovation Council funds a company established in the EU or an associated country, and Dutch schemes reduce Dutch payroll tax, so they need a Dutch employer first.
Read itAccording to Carta, the US equity management platform, the median startup that raised a Series A in the fourth quarter of 2024 had waited 774 days since its previous primary round, about two years and one month. The wait has been getting longer, not shorter.
Read itAccording to Carta, the US equity management platform, the median new funding round at the seed stage took about 20% of the company in the fourth quarter of 2024, and the median Series B took 15%. Those are medians across American deals: the range around them is wide, and the option pool is counted on top.
Read itA bridge round is money raised between priced rounds, usually from existing investors and usually without a new valuation. According to Carta, the US equity management platform, about 40% of all rounds raised by seed-stage companies in 2024 were bridge rounds rather than new priced rounds.
Read itA down round is a funding round priced below the company's previous round. According to Carta, the US equity management platform, the down-round rate fell to 11.4% of new investments in the first quarter of 2026. Cooley counted the same share in its own reported financings that quarter.
Read itEuropean investors check the same blocks as investors anywhere: company and ownership, the cap table, intellectual property, contracts, staff, tax and data protection. For a company whose parent sits outside Europe there is an extra layer, because each of those blocks has to be traced across two legal systems and shown in Dutch public registers.
Read itA red flag is a gap between what a founder said and what the documents show. Most are paperwork rather than business problems: an incomplete shareholders' register, convertible instruments with no signed terms, technology owned by the parent with no licence, staff on the wrong payroll, or a beneficial owner never filed.
Read itA data room holds the documents behind every claim a company makes: corporate records, the shareholders' register and every instrument that converts into shares, intellectual property, customer contracts, employment, tax filings and data protection. For a company with a parent outside Europe, add the documents that connect the two entities.
Read itLess than founders expect on the core economics, more than they expect around them. According to Orrick's 2025 European deal data and Cooley's quarterly report, a non-participating liquidation preference at one times the investment is standard on both sides. The visible differences are ESG terms, the convertible instruments used, and employee option practice.
Read itThe mechanics are the same. What changes is the order. In Europe the entity decision, the public money and the questions about where things actually sit all arrive earlier than a founder expects, and the gap between rounds is longer than most home markets have taught them to plan for.
Read itTen lines about your company is enough for us to tell you what the route looks like.
Want the whole picture first? See the Route