Europe’s Earlybird VC closes €360M Fund VIII

This article was published on April 30, 2026 The Berlin firm, founded in 1997, has raised a new fund every three to four years through every market cycle. Fund VIII is oversubscribed, manages €2.5 billion across strategies, and bets heavily on AI infrastructure, foundation models, and deeptech. Earlybird Venture Capital has closed its eighth early-stage fund at €360 million, the largest in the Berlin firm’s 29-year history, the company announced today. The fund is oversubscribed and backed by a mix of large institutional investors and family offices, many of whom have backed Earlybird across multiple fund generations. Across all its investment strategies, including Earlybird Health, the firm now manages €2.5 billion in assets. The close continues what Earlybird describes as a defining discipline: raising a new fund every three to four years, without exception, through bull markets and corrections alike. Fund VII, raised in 2022 at €350 million amid a market downturn, was itself oversubscribed. Fund VIII is €10 million larger and arrives at a moment when European venture capital is once again accelerating, with the continent raising €66.2 billion in 2025, though still roughly 22% of