Markets

For much of the past decade, progress in quantum computing was described in the language of physics: qubit counts, fidelities and coherence times. That vocabulary is giving way to one any infrastructure investor would recognize. Cost per operation, energy, floor space and customer return now set the terms, and the companies best placed for the sector’s next phase are already building around them.

Defense has long been one of the hardest industries to enter, with decades-long programs, government customers and high technical barriers. Yet the past four years have produced a wave of new European companies winning contracts and capital at a pace few expected. This shift rests on lasting changes in how wars are fought, how equipment is built and how nations think about their own security.

The first wave of enterprise AI was driven by curiosity. Companies experimented, ran pilots and tested what large language models could do. The industry is now shifting to a more demanding phase. Buyers now want measurable returns, finance teams are scrutinizing compute bills, and the businesses gaining ground are those that can show value at a sustainable cost.

European startups raised $42 billion in the first half of 2026, up 50 percent from a year earlier and the strongest stretch for venture funding in four years.[1] The number matters less than what sits behind it: a change in ambition.

Learn where the next wave of investment opportunities are emerging and how Jefferies is helping connect companies and capital across the corridor.

On August 12, Jefferies hosted its fourth annual Office of the CFO (OCFO) Summit at the New York Stock Exchange, bringing together business leaders across finance, technology and consulting.

The Gulf is no longer an edge case in emerging markets; it is becoming one of their defining investment stories. With the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) controlling roughly 40% of global sovereign wealth fund assets, the region now sits at the intersection of capital, reform, and strategic ambition across Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Yet for many institutional investors, access still lags opportunity: there has been no single, disciplined benchmark for capturing the GCC’s most investable listed companies.

The software buyout market is beginning to thaw, but it is not returning to its pre-AI playbook.

Consider this fact: Last year, even as fundraising across private markets fell by roughly 17 percent, co-investment fundraising rose by more than 17 percent year over year to about $27 billion.