Why European Scaleups Still Turn to U.S. Capital

Two of Europe’s most closely watched technology companies made notable moves toward U.S. capital markets within days of each other.

British AI infrastructure company Nscale filed to list on the New York Stock Exchange, while London-based fintech Revolut confirmed that it is considering a future dual listing in New York and London. Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky has pointed specifically to the deeper investor base available in the United States.

The companies are very different, but their decisions highlight the same structural question facing European scaleups: once a company needs billions rather than millions to keep growing, where does that capital come from?

Europe’s funding gap gets bigger as companies grow

Europe does not have a shortage of startups. The financing problem becomes more pronounced later, when successful businesses need much larger rounds to expand internationally, build infrastructure, make acquisitions or prepare for public markets.

European Central Bank research published in 2026 estimates that U.S.-based venture-capital funds have a combined size of roughly €930 billion, compared with around €150 billion for EU-based funds — a difference of about six times. The ECB says the gap becomes particularly significant during later-stage funding rounds, when individual companies require much larger amounts of capital.

The European Investment Bank has reached a similar conclusion. Its research found that EU scaleups raise around half as much capital as comparable companies in San Francisco by the time they reach ten years of operation. More than four out of five EU scale-up deals in the EIB analysis involved a foreign lead or sole investor.

That does not mean American capital is inherently better. It means there is simply more of it available at the scale required by companies that have moved beyond the startup phase.

The attraction continues at the IPO stage

The gap does not end with private venture funding.

European companies approaching an IPO must also decide where they believe they can access the deepest pool of investors, trading liquidity and comparable high-growth companies.

The ECB says U.S. IPO markets have consistently exceeded European markets across different company segments. In knowledge-intensive and high-tech sectors, median U.S. IPO valuations have at times been substantially higher than equivalent European listings.

This helps explain why New York remains attractive even for companies that intend to keep their headquarters and substantial operations in Europe.

Nscale is one of the most recent examples. The London-headquartered AI infrastructure company filed for a U.S. IPO on September 18 and intends to trade on the NYSE under the symbol NSCL. Reuters reported that Nscale is seeking a multibillion-dollar listing after rapid growth in its AI infrastructure business.

Revolut is taking a somewhat different approach. Rather than choosing between London and New York outright, the fintech is considering a dual listing. Storonsky has said the U.S. market is attractive because of its larger population of institutional investors, hedge funds, asset managers and retail investors.

U.S. money can also pull operations west

Accessing American capital can have consequences beyond financing.

The ECB notes that foreign investment can bring expertise, international networks and access to new markets. But it also warns that dependence on foreign late-stage funding can make it more likely that headquarters, management functions, intellectual property or future listings move outside the European Union.

That matters because capital and expansion are often connected.

A European company that raises from U.S. investors may gain introductions to American customers, executives and partners. If the United States also becomes its largest commercial market, establishing more operations there can become increasingly logical.

The result is not necessarily a complete relocation. Companies such as Revolut and Nscale illustrate a more complex model in which European headquarters can coexist with increasingly important American investors, customers, infrastructure and capital-market relationships.

Europe is trying to close the gap

European policymakers and financial institutions are increasingly treating scale-up financing as a strategic issue.

In July, the European Investment Bank announced an investment alliance intended to mobilize up to €80 billion for European technology companies. The initiative includes support for larger growth funds and plans to help create more than 100 investment funds, including mega-funds capable of writing much larger checks to individual scaleups.

The objective is not necessarily to prevent European companies from raising money in America. International investment can be highly valuable. The bigger concern is whether Europe can provide enough domestic financing that its strongest companies have a genuine choice about where they raise, scale and eventually list.

European capital markets themselves also remain fragmented. Recent analysis has pointed to dozens of exchanges and trading venues across the continent, compared with the much deeper concentration of investor activity available through major U.S. exchanges.

What this means for European companies

For founders, the lesson is not that every European scaleup should move to America or pursue a New York listing.

It is that financing strategy can eventually become part of U.S. market strategy.

A company may enter America first for customers. Later it may begin hiring there, raising from American investors or building local infrastructure. At sufficient scale, Nasdaq or the NYSE can become part of the same conversation.

That makes the U.S. relevant long before an IPO prospectus is filed. Founders building capital-intensive or fast-growing companies need to think about which investors can support multiple stages of expansion, where future customers are located and what kind of capital market could eventually support the business as a public company.

Europe is actively trying to build a stronger scale-up financing ecosystem. But for now, the numbers help explain why companies such as Revolut and Nscale continue looking west when their ambitions — and their financing requirements — become much larger.