European investors have some cheery news to send them off on their summer holidays: venture capital investment across the bloc is on the rise.

European startups raised $15.6 billion in Q2 2024, up 14% from Q1, and 12% from a year earlier, according to dealroom.co. The biggest target? Energy.

Venture investors poured $5.7 billion into the sector in the first half of 2024. Energy has edged out other popular sectors, including fintech, health and enterprise software, every quarter since 2023.

Within energy, hydrogen startups were the biggest winners, snaring $1.3 billion in the first half.

Hydrogen’s hot

In April, HysetCo, a French hydrogen-powered taxi startup, raised nearly €200 million ($218 million) to expand beyond Paris. Another French venture, HyLight, which makes hydrogen-based drones, got a €3.7 million venture capital injection the same month.

Sunfire, a maker of electrolyzers for producing green hydrogen, snagged a €215 million ($234 million) equity investment in March, while Belgium’s Tree Energy Solutions secured €140M ($152 million) to make a natural gas equivalent from green hydrogen.

In other energy sectors, EV charging snagged $892 million, and stationary energy, such as long-duration batteries, received $615 million in the first half of 2024.