Welcome to the 29th issue of the EMEA Private Equity Market Snapshot (PEMS), a quarterly publication focusing on the Private Equity (PE) market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Deal-making accelerated in Q2 2021, with General Partners (GPs) deploying significantly greater investments in EMEA companies. Although the number of deals increased by only 22%, the size of deals overall saw a massive increase, as investors continued to focus on Information Technology (IT), Healthcare, Industrials, and Consumer Products.

The venture capital (VC) segment is on track for a record year. In the first six months of 2021, European VC activity hit an all-time high, raising €41.8bn and outpacing 2020’s cumulative total of €32.6bn. U.S. VC investors are increasingly interested in the European market; their investments have dominated funding in 2021 compared with last year. Europe’s unicorn list has also expanded at an accelerated rate.

Finally, healthcare M&A activity has rebounded significantly from the same period last year, bolstered mostly by COVID-19. The sector has seen increased aggregate deal values as companies look to deploy their 2020 windfalls into acquisitions of healthtech and life sciences companies