How much of German pension and insurance money goes into European…

How much of German pension and insurance money goes into European startups? About 0.1%.

Pension funds, insurers and foundations there sit on around €2.8 trillion, mostly government bonds and real estate. German VCs now ask to raise it to 2%. That would be about €15 billion more every year for growth companies.
Read it on Tech.eu yesterday: https://tech.eu/2026/10/19/german-vcs-call-for-eur15b-annual-funding-boost-to-build-the-next-generation-of-tech-giants/

And the part that explains a lot: less than a third of the €5.1B German startups raised in first half of 2026 came from German investors. In US about 70% comes from home.

So when we ask why Europe's best startups move to US... maybe start here. Our own savings are not betting on our own companies.