European tech start-ups have seen a huge surge in the amount of capital coming from investors in the U.S. and Asia this year, but it's not because funds in these regions are simply "hedging" their bets amid the US-China trade war.

So far this year, over 20% of European start-up funding rounds have included a U.S. or Asian investor, up from 10% in 2015, venture capital firm Atomico claimed in its annual State of European Tech report this week.

The U.S.-China trade war makes Europe look like a relatively safe middle-ground, but that's not why North American and Asian investors are choosing to back European start-ups, according to Tom Wehmeier, partner and head of research at Atomico.

"They wouldn't deploy capital if they didn't believe the investments could deliver returns on par and in excess to what they can generate at home," he told CNBC.

"Some of the investors now committing to Europe have been the best in the world at generating returns from tech. They know what makes for a winning formula."

Investment into European tech start-ups for 2019 surged to over $34 billion, up 40% from the previous year. While overall investment into U.S. and Asian start-ups still surpasses that of Europe, the gap is getting smaller. Atomico's report revealed that the U.S. and Asia saw a dip in the overall amount of investment flowing into their own start-ups.