Private Equity and Venture Capital (PE/VC) Firms’ Outlook in Europe

European investors have an overall positive outlook going into 2021, with the majority expecting their investment activity to increase and over half expecting to make new investments. Although most expect fundraising conditions to remain unchanged or possibly improve, 19% expect to see a decrease, which is the most pessimistic assessment among all regions. Predictably, COVID-19 remains the greatest perceived risk and IT and Healthcare remain the top sectors of focus. ESG has become a mainstream consideration among all but 16% of investors, with the majority intending to improve ESG-related factors in their portfolios.