Highland Europe has closed a €1.1 billion fund, its sixth, giving the growth-stage investor fresh capital to keep backing European technology companies as they scale.
The firm announced Fund VI on 30 July, alongside the promotion of two investors to partner, and after a year in which it says it returned more than €1 billion to its own backers.
The timing leans on momentum. Highland’s 2026 has been unusually rich in exits, the events that turn paper valuations into cash and let a firm raise its next fund with a straight face, and a €1.1 billion close is the reward for a portfolio that has started paying out.
The marquee exit was Nexthink. The Swiss software company was sold to Vista Equity Partners at around $3 billion, a return on a company Highland had backed since its Series B a decade ago.
The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!It was not the only one. Highland points to the agreed sale of the nutrition brand Huel to Danone, a $7.5 billion merger of the fitness firms EGYM and Playlist, and the Nasdaq listing of the Italian app maker Bending Spoons at a market value above $18 billion.
