Open a European venture capital firm's LinkedIn page and the pattern repeats fast: a new fund closed, a portfolio company's funding round, another logo added to the slide of "our portfolio." Open the partner's own profile and it's often the same post, reshared with no comment added. The top venture capital leaders in Europe worth following on LinkedIn aren't doing that.
A feed that only announces something is a wire service. Founders deciding who to pitch, LPs deciding where to commit, and other investors deciding who to co-invest with can all tell the difference. A page with nothing to say between deals is an odd fit for an industry that's supposed to see around corners before anyone else does.
But a small number of European VC leaders and firms do something different. They argue for where capital should go, explain what a specific deal actually means for the market around it, or make the case for a policy change nobody else is covering. This post names them, along with a separate list of the firms doing the same at company-page level. Both lists are verified against real LinkedIn activity.
How this list was built
We built the longlist with help from Claude and LinkedIn Sales Navigator, then checked every name and firm by hand against one bar: are they actually active, and do they say anything worth reading? Active means posting regularly, ideally at least once a week for the past 90 days, not a one-off. Worth reading means real opinions mixed in, not just reposts or a link with a line attached. And every entry needed a reason specific to them, not one that would fit anyone else on the list.
Two separate lists follow: the venture capital leaders in Europe worth following, and the firms worth following. Each is sourced and verified independently. A firm's place on its list says nothing about any individual there, and a person's place on theirs says nothing about their firm.
The venture capital leaders worth following
Start with the people. Claude and Sales Navigator built a longlist, and the research narrowed it to 13 strong candidates; these are the 10 that stood out most. Not a definitive top 10, and not in any particular order, just the ones most deserving of a spot out of what we found. The method isn't foolproof. There are very likely strong voices out there we simply didn't come across.
The numbers under each name come from public LinkedIn activity in the 90 days to 2 November 2026. Posts count original posts and reshares with a comment of their own; plain reposts are left out. Most screenshots show each profile and post the way a logged-out visitor sees them; a few are logged-in views, with anything specific to the viewer removed, used where a profile or post isn't publicly visible logged out.
Harry Stebbings, 20VC
Harry Stebbings started The Twenty Minute VC podcast in 2015, now past 150 million downloads and more than 2,750 interviews according to tech.eu. He launched 20VC as a fund in 2020 and closed a new $400 million fund in October 2024, split roughly $125 million for seed and $275 million for Series A, with LPs including MIT Investment Management Company, Horsley Bridge and RIT Capital Partners. 20VC's investments include Linear and Poolside. He's based in London and studied at King's College London.
- 288,000+ followers
- 65 posts in the last 90 days (about five a week)
- 649 reactions and 86.7 comments per post on average
On LinkedIn: Mostly pointed advice for founders: how to pitch, the fundraising mistakes he's heard a thousand times, why a five-year financial plan has no place in a pre-seed deck. His most-liked post of the window, about Microsoft's Satya Nadella, drew 6,213 reactions and 293 comments.
Worth reading: The 13 October post: "Founders today absolutely suck at storytelling. I am sorry, but it is true." His advice: pair the vivid scene, the art, with a numbered framework of lessons, the science. He walks through a hypothetical Sequoia partnership meeting to show how it's done.
Follow if you want blunt, specific advice for founders, delivered at a pace of several posts a week.
Michael Jackson, Multiple Capital
Michael Jackson is a venture partner at Multiple Capital, a fund of funds investing in micro and seed VC funds with a focus on European managers. tech.eu reported in 2021 that the firm's €20 million Multiple Fund II had made commitments to more than 30 VC funds and over 700 underlying companies.
- 247,000+ followers
- more than 160 posts in the last 90 days (close to three a day)
- 196 reactions and 31.1 comments per post on average
On LinkedIn: European policy, mostly: pension funds and venture capital, university spinout terms, the economics of early-stage investing across the region. He posts close to three times a day.
Worth reading: The 27 October post on a dropped EU proposal: "A proposal to require large European occupational pension funds to put at least 2% of their assets under management into venture capital has been dropped." His argument cuts both ways: pension funds shouldn't be barred from venture for risk reasons, but they shouldn't be forced into it either. Governments should fix capital markets and become customers of first resort instead.
Follow if you want the policy side of European venture capital, argued in detail, almost every day.
Jürgen Ingels, Smartfin
Jürgen Ingels co-founded Smartfin in December 2014 with Bart Luyten, Edward Schiettecatte and Stefan Dierckx, and has been its managing partner since. Before that, he co-founded Clear2Pay, which sold to FIS in 2014. Smartfin's third fund closed at €250 million in January 2025, with total commitments above €600 million. Ingels also sits on the boards of Materialise (since 2013) and WDP (since 2018), and studied at the University of Antwerp. He's Belgium's only name on this list; no Dutch candidate cleared the bar this round.
- 48,000+ followers
- 54 posts in the last 90 days (about four a week)
- 79 reactions and 3.3 comments per post on average
On LinkedIn: A mix of Dutch and English. He's judged entrepreneurship competitions, reported back from a trip to visit Chinese technology companies, and done the rounds of Belgian podcasts and press.
Worth reading: The 16 October post, "A glimpse into the future; straight from China!" Written with Leen Anthuenis after a trip to visit leading Chinese technology companies, it opens with the advice: "Keep an open mind and an eye on the world."
Follow if you want a Belgian VC's read on where technology is headed next, in both languages.
Disclosure: Smartfin is an investor in Willow and a customer of our product.
Pascal Cagni, C4 Ventures
Pascal Cagni founded C4 Ventures in 2014, after twelve years as Vice President and General Manager of Apple's EMEIA region, from 2000 to 2012. He's been France's ambassador for international investment since 2017, and is non-executive Chairman of Business France. In May 2026 he launched C4 Manufactures, bringing together French manufacturers including Maison Lelièvre, Faïencerie de Gien and Duvivier Canapés under one roof with about 380 employees. He studied at HEC Paris.
- 36,000+ followers
- 12 posts in the last 90 days (almost one a week)
- 162 reactions and 5.5 comments per post on average
On LinkedIn: Mostly French economic data and investment news. Recent posts cover September's start-up creation figures in France and the investment ambitions shared between France and Germany, alongside updates on his own fund.
Worth reading: The 11 September post, "The sky is no longer the limit: Europe is back in the space race, and France is helping lead the way." His recap of the first International Space Summit at the Grand Palais: 90 countries and organisations, nearly 1,100 companies, and 51 announcements totalling close to €20 billion, with Arianespace, The Exploration Company and MaiaSpace among the names mentioned.
Follow if you want France's investment story told by someone who's also living it.
Alexander Fink, Empirical Ventures
Alexander Fink is, per his LinkedIn, Principal and Venture Partner at Empirical Ventures, a UK deep-science fund investing at pre-seed and seed (the firm's own team page lists only its two general partners). The fund raised £8.25 million toward a £10 million target in 2024, and the British Business Bank committed a further £10 million in March 2026. Empirical's own site puts its assets under management at £50 million across 35 portfolio companies. Fink studied at the University of York and is based in London.
- 16,000+ followers
- 36 posts in the last 90 days (about four a week)
- 81 reactions and 11.0 comments per post on average
On LinkedIn: A regular series format, including "A week in the life of a Family Office / VC," alongside portfolio company updates and press features.
Worth reading: The 7 October post, "Family offices are allocating more to venture. But they're becoming much more selective about where they put the money." Numbered takeaways from a panel at the Mountside Ventures event, opening with: "Venture is moving up the family office agenda," and the finding that 40% of families surveyed are actively allocating to venture, ahead of private equity and real estate.
Follow if you want to understand how family money is actually thinking about venture, not just how much of it there is.
Jerry Wu, LongRiver Investments
Jerry Wu, who posts under the handle drsurfingtiger, is, per his LinkedIn, a Venture Partner at LongRiver Investments, a Shanghai-based venture firm that closed its debut fund at about $385 million in July 2024. LongRiver's portfolio includes PepStar Therapeutics, whose oral inflammation drug program Gilead Sciences agreed to acquire for $1.275 billion upfront in October 2026.
- 6,000+ followers
- 14 posts in the last 90 days (about one a week)
- 42 reactions and 2.1 comments per post on average
On LinkedIn: Biotech and healthcare investment news, including his own conference talks on the new biotech funding race.
Worth reading: The 23 October post: "Gilead Sciences has agreed to acquire LongRiver Investments portfolio PepStar Therapeutics's oral inflammation drug program for $1.275 billion in upfront cash." He frames it as the fifth portfolio company this year with a major licensing or asset deal, alongside $400 million upfront for SciBrunch's single pre-clinical asset.
Follow if you want biotech and healthcare deal news with a global reach, from a partner at a Shanghai-based fund.
Luis Gutman, OW Ventures
Luis Gutman is Managing Partner at OW Ventures, a Lisbon fund manager that took over the COREangels Atlantic fund in 2024 and now runs the Terralis and AngelsWay funds. AngelsWay, launched in March 2025, backs Portuguese start-ups with tickets between €1,200 and €12,000, and had reached its 15th investment by September 2026 against a target of 20.
- 14,000+ followers
- more than 30 posts of his own in the last 90 days, plus 52 plain reposts
- 38 reactions and 3.8 comments per post on average
On LinkedIn: Active, but most of his feed in the window is reposts rather than his own words. When he does post himself, it's usually a case for opening start-up investing beyond professional investors, often through small-ticket vehicles like AngelsWay.
Worth reading: The 21 October post: "We have more than 400 people on the AngelsWay waitlist," by his own count. He defends the fund's small tickets, €1,200 to €12,000, with 17 start-ups backed by his own post's figure, toward a goal of 20, and ends by asking his network directly whether start-up investing should open up beyond professional investors.
Follow if you want a case for opening venture investing to more than professional investors, made by someone building the vehicle for it.
Willi Mannheims, eCAPITAL
Willi Mannheims is Managing Partner at eCAPITAL entrepreneurial Partners, a Münster-based venture firm investing in early- and growth-stage technology, from software and cybersecurity to industry 4.0, new materials and cleantech, with more than €280 million under management. He chairs ECSO's Invest4Cyber investor initiative, with eCAPITAL as a VC member, and was Managing Partner and opening keynote speaker at Invest4Cyber Berlin in June 2024. His LinkedIn headline describes him as a serial entrepreneur with four IPOs and two SPACs behind him.
- 4,124 followers
- 15 posts in the last 90 days (about one a week)
- 33 reactions and 1.3 comments per post on average
On LinkedIn: Portfolio news and industry events, including an evening in Nuremberg ahead of the it-sa security conference and the Carl-Cranz-Gesellschaft's anniversary.
Worth reading: The 15 September post: "Exciting news from our portfolio: Exein has raised $270 million at a $1.7 billion valuation, making it Europe's most valuable cybersecurity company!" eCAPITAL co-led Exein's Series A five years earlier, when few investors backed security running inside the device itself. With AI moving into robots and vehicles, he argues, that bet looks obvious in hindsight.
Follow if you want portfolio news paired with an investor's thesis on why the bet made sense years before it paid off.
Erwan Bernard, 50 Partners
Erwan Bernard is, per his LinkedIn, a Venture Partner at 50 Partners, with eight years as a VC investor mostly in B2B SaaS, from cybersecurity to vertical software, seed through Series B. He's based in France.
- 11,000+ followers
- 6 posts in the last 90 days (about one every two weeks)
- 414 reactions and 47.2 comments per post on average
On LinkedIn: French-language commentary on the venture market: how much of France's VC funding runs through Bpifrance, French Tech's €9.5 billion raised over nine months, and major deals like Schneider Electric's acquisition of PTC.
Worth reading: The 9 September post, in French: "Cegid et Silae ont annoncé leur fusion ce mercredi. Les 2 appartiennent déjà au même fonds américain, Silver Lake." ("Cegid and Silae announced their merger on Wednesday. Both already belong to the same US fund, Silver Lake.") He unpacks what the merger means for SME customers: 13 million payslips processed every month across Europe, 15,000 accounting firms affected, and a combined group valued above €10 billion.
Follow if you want the venture market read through its biggest deals, explained in plain terms for the businesses they affect.
Luciana Lixandru, Sequoia Capital
Luciana Lixandru became Sequoia Capital's first partner in Europe in September 2020, after about eight years at Accel. Sequoia invested €14 million in Stark's Series A in October 2024, and her current portfolio there includes Pennylane, Stark, Robco and Edra. Earlier, at Accel, she backed UiPath, Miro, Framer and Deliveroo. She studied at Georgetown University.
- 2,678 followers
- 6 posts in the last 90 days (about one every two weeks)
- 116 reactions and 10.8 comments per post on average
On LinkedIn: Her own portfolio, mostly: backing Nevis, and how AI is already showing up inside Pennylane's product.
Worth reading: The 29 October post on Stark, the European defence company: "Uwe Horstmann and I started out as venture investors in Europe around the same time."
Follow if you want a veteran European VC's take on defence tech, from the partner who's been investing here since the early days.
The venture capital firms worth following
Now the firms. Five companies clear a different bar: a page that posts original commentary and research, not a person who happens to work there. Smartfin's place here has nothing to do with Jürgen Ingels appearing on the people list above, and the other four earn their spot the same independent way. Same caveat as the people list: not ranked, not exhaustive, just the five that stood out from what we found.
- Smartfin posts on events, portfolio recognition and the rounds it leads. Saumitra Dubey and Jan Hollez have spoken at panels on raising capital in the age of AI and on defence tech, and Jürgen Ingels spoke at Tomorrowland's Love Tomorrow Summit. The page has also announced portfolio company CrazyGames's recognition, AI-BLOX's spot in a ranking, and a €6.5 million Series A round it led. Disclosure: Smartfin is an investor in Willow and a customer of our product.
- Kima Ventures runs on deal announcements: AQQI's €4 million pre-seed, Weflayr's $2.5 million pre-seed, Verso's $6 million seed and Cleavr's €8 million seed all landed in the window. A half-year recap put the fund at 97 start-ups backed across AI, deep tech and health.
- Heartcore Capital mixes thesis posts with team and portfolio news: a piece arguing that AI-native services are changing the economics of expert work, a partnership involving Greg Marsh, Jon Rudoe, Glen Walker and the Nous team, and portfolio companies BLAST and Podimo both making Børsen's Top 1000. Its page reposts founders and portfolio companies often, 40 times in the window against 17 of its own posts.
- Picus Capital gets its strongest reactions from hiring announcements: Jakob joining as an Investor drew 181 reactions, Alessa joining as Junior HR Manager drew 112. Alongside that are deal posts, backing Thomas Dohmke and Entire and a third investment in Baselayer, a running Student Venture Partner programme, and the occasional thesis post, including one on GenAI as an industry of its own.
- Speedinvest is the most prolific of the five, about three posts a week and zero reposts in the window. Portfolio rounds make up much of it, MP Space's $16 million seed and Ambio's €5.1 million seed among them, mixed with commentary on Sifted's investor rankings, robots leaving the factory floor, and Ukraine's access to Starlink.
What the strongest entries have in common
Zoom back out to all 15 names and firms across both lists, and a few things keep showing up. Not every time, but often enough to be the actual pattern.
A named person attached to one format, not a rotating cast of updates. Alexander Fink runs a recurring "week in the life" series on family-office investing. Saumitra Dubey and Jan Hollez are the two names that keep showing up on Smartfin's own panels. Readers know roughly what to expect before they open the post.
A specific point of view, stated plainly. Michael Jackson's take on EU pension funds and venture capital doesn't pick a side to cheer for: pension funds shouldn't be barred from venture for risk reasons, but they shouldn't be forced into it either. Erwan Bernard does something similar with deal commentary, explaining what a merger like Cegid and Silae actually means for the SME customers underneath it.
Real, specific numbers about the firm itself, not vague claims. Kima Ventures posted a half-year recap putting itself at 97 start-ups backed across AI, deep tech and health. Smartfin named the exact size of the round it led, €6.5 million.
Showing up often enough to matter. Speedinvest posts about three times a week with zero reposts, the most consistent of the five firms here. Michael Jackson posts close to three times a day. Our own analysis of 43,738 LinkedIn posts found that pages posting every week, without gaps, get up to 9x more engagement per post than pages that publish more total content in occasional bursts.
The pattern is a partner or a page willing to keep saying one specific thing, in their own words, often enough that readers start to expect it - not a bigger follower count.