European start-ups are experiencing a surge of investor interest, with valuations for artificial intelligence, fintech and defence groups jumping as venture capital firms battle to fund the continent’s hottest new companies.

AI voice start-up ElevenLabs is discussing a sale of employees’ shares at a more than $6bn valuation, a doubling of the company’s value from January when it last raised funds, according to people familiar with the matter.

Groups including Swedish “vibe-coding” start-up Lovable and German software firm n8n have also experienced a flurry of investor interest in recent weeks. French AI group Mistral is in talks to raise new money that would value it at about $10bn from investors that include Dutch chipmaking equipment supplier ASML, almost double its level last year, according to people close to the discussions.