PRESS RELEASE

Chips Venture Forum 2025 Panel:
Strengthening Europe's Semiconductor Investesment Value Chain

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Strengthening Europe’s Semiconductor Investment Value Chain: Key Insights from the Chips Venture Forum 2025

Europe’s ambition to reinforce its semiconductor leadership is entering a decisive phase. As the European Commission prepares Chips Act II, one message is becoming increasingly clear: Europe cannot build technological sovereignty without strengthening its investment value chain, from early-stage deeptech to industrial scale-up. 

At Blumorpho, we work at the intersection of investors, corporates, and public institutions to accelerate strategic technologies. In the framework of the aCCCess Project, and in collaboration with the European Commission (DG CONNECT) and the EIC, we co-organised the Chips Venture Forum 2025, a unique platform dedicated to bringing together financial actors and semiconductor innovators. 

The discussions held during the event highlight the urgent need for Europe to address structural investment gaps while capitalising on its growing pipeline of semiconductor innovators. 

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Chips Act II: A New Opportunity for Europe’s Strategic Position 

Opening the discussions, Marco Ceccarelli (DG CONNECT) recalled the achievements of Chips Act I and the ongoing effort to design Chips Act II. Europe has successfully established: 

  • the Chips Joint Undertaking, 
  • a network of Competence Centres across Member States, 
  • increased EIC investment capacity, 
  • new mechanisms for public–private collaboration. 

Chips Act II aims to reinforce not only R&D but industrialisation and market adoption, which emerged as a central theme throughout the Forum. 

A Strong Innovation Pipeline, But Persistent Investment Bottlenecks 

Early Momentum, Late-Stage Fragility – The VC Perspective 

Christian Reitberger (Matterwave Ventures) described the current landscape as paradoxical: Europe has never generated so much entrepreneurial energy in semiconductors, yet scaling remains difficult. 

Key bottlenecks include: 

  • The missing Series B/C pathway (€20–50M). 
  • Slow European customer adoption, forcing founders to validate their technology abroad, with a buyer strike” of European IDM and OEMs.
  • A lack of large exits, which limits private capital deployment.  

Despite these challenges, he notes exceptional momentum: new fabless companies, innovative EDA tools, and promising equipment start-ups emerging across Europe. 

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Untapped Industrial Potential – The Growth Capital View

 From Dr. Helmut Gassel (Sillian Partners): 

  • Europe has a strong base of profitable semiconductor SMEs, 

  • a rising wave of global deeptech challengers, 

  • and strategic M&A opportunities. 

But for Europe to compete globally, institutional investors (LPs) must allocate more capital to strategic technologies. 

Why Market Pull Matters – A Cross-Sector Perspective

  • According to Christian Claussen (Ventech), many European start-ups remain too technology-centric. Success requires: 

    • clear market use cases, 
    • measurable customer validation, 
    • predictable exit pathways. 

    Creating more visibility on exits would significantly increase investor confidence and accelerate growth. 

Institutional Capital: Strong Foundations, Missing Lead Investors

Representing the EIB, Thomas L. Ferré highlighted the importance of the EIC as a major early-stage investor in semiconductors. However: 

  • many funding rounds fail due to a shortage of lead investors, 
  • and European founders still obtain most early customers in the US or Asia, increasing costs and slowing traction. 

Contributions from Pierre Garnier (Jolt Capital) and Paul Murray (Atlantic Bridge) reinforced Europe’s unique opportunity to claim leadership in strategic segments of the semiconductor value chain. 

Blumorpho’s Contribution to a Stronger Semiconductor Investment Ecosystem 

At Blumorpho, we are committed to enabling Europe’s next-generation semiconductor champions by: 

  • connecting start-ups with investors and corporates, 
  • facilitating strategic public–private dialogue, 
  • accelerating adoption of strategic technologies, 
  • and shaping Europe’s  investment value chain. 

About the aCCCess Project 

The Chips Venture Forum is part of aCCCess, funded by the European Union’s Chips Joint Undertaking (Grant Agreement No. 101217840). 
The project strengthens Europe’s semiconductor innovation and scale-up capacity through a connected network of Competence Centres.