Up to now (I just turned 40 last year), my group has been awarded over €18 million in competitive funding.
Behind this, of course, is a tremendous amount of hard work, effort, and of course, failure. Don't be surprised, my funding success rate is also pretty low.
Top research does not necessarily need a lot of funding, but without it it would be very difficult to survive a research career. This is especially true for young academics.
Last year I mentored two young scholars and helped them to secure the most important seed grants of their careers (a German BMBF award and an ERC Starting Grant).