The number of companies at each funding stage in the EU is substantially lower than in the US across all rounds, as shown in the chart above. At the seed stage, the EU records 856 classified companies against 2,605 in the US, a ratio of roughly 1:3. This gap widens at later stages: by Series D, only 8 EU companies appear compared to 142 in the US, and EU representation becomes negligible from Series E onwards (Source: Crunchbase, supplemented by author classification of series_unknown rounds).
The distribution of companies across funding stages follows a broadly similar pattern in both regions, a large base at seed that narrows progressively through later series, though whether this implies comparable startup quality or activity at early stages cannot be determined from company counts alone.
A methodological note is necessary: a portion of the data presented here derives from Crunchbase rounds recorded as series_unknown. These have been reclassified by the authors based on round size. This reclassification produces a modest upward adjustment to EU totals at seed and Series A, and a more visible adjustment to US totals at later rounds. Readers should treat attributed figures (shown in lighter shading) with appropriate caution.
From Series D onwards, the EU sample sizes become too small to support reliable trend analysis. The US figures at these stages, whilst larger, also reflect a funnel dynamic, rounds become less frequent and larger, rather than a stable population from which trends can be confidently extrapolated.