Billion-dollar tech companies are no longer the rare beast they used to be in Europe: Sifted counts over 150 European startups that have hit a unicorn valuation.
However, the past two years have seen many fewer companies reaching unicorn status compared to the golden years of 2021 and 2022 — and European tech businesses are still far off the eye-watering valuations reached by some private tech companies in the US; ChatGPT developer OpenAI was recently valued at $157bn (€150bn). But Europe is starting to pull its weight, with a pool of top tech businesses emerging in different parts of the continent.
Sifted rounded up the region’s 20 most valuable startups and scaleups — and found companies in the UK, Germany and France, but also Sweden, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland and the Netherlands.
Nearly half of the companies ranked are fintechs, and topping the list is UK neobank Revolut, which this year upped its valuation to €43bn. And, despite the hype, only one AI company made the cut — France’s Mistral AI and its €5.8bn valuation.
Valuations were all reported by the companies unless otherwise stated.
1. Revolut
HQ: London, UK
Most recent valuation: €43bn
UK neobank Revolut upped its valuation to €43bn this year in an employee share sale. Launched in 2015, Revolut started off as a financial travel app and has since evolved into a superapp covering business banking, kids’ bank accounts, travel insurance, savings and stock trading. The company is rumoured to be gearing up for a public listing, which CEO Nikolay Storonsky has made clear is unlikely to happen on the London Stock Exchange.
2. Rapyd
HQ: London, UK
Most recent valuation: €14.5bn, according to reports
London-based fintech Rapyd provides tools for businesses around the world to set up systems that integrate different types of payments, such as credit and debit cards, bank transfers, e-wallets and other local payment methods. It has raised over €700m since launching in 2016, from global investors like General Catalyst, Tiger Global and BlackRock.
3. Klarna
HQ: Stockholm, Sweden
Most recent valuation: €14bn, according to reports
Swedish buy now, pay later giant Klarna was founded in 2005 and has attracted €4bn in funding from investors like Sequoia Capital, Atomico, Mubadala, SoftBank, Northzone and BlackRock. Company filings published by one of the company’s shareholders in October implied a €14bn valuation, according to Bloomberg (Klarna declined to comment). Klarna recently announced that it had filed for an IPO in the US.
4. Celonis
HQ: Munich, Germany
Most recent valuation: €12.5bn
German company Celonis provides software tools to help organisations spot inefficiencies and optimise their business processes. It last raised nearly €1bn — including €575m in debt — from the Qatar Investment Authority, bringing its valuation to €12.5bn.
5. Checkout.com
HQ: London, UK
Most recent valuation: €9bn, according to Sifted reporting
UK fintech Checkout.com was valued at €38bn when it raised over €900m in Series D funding in 2022, but slashed its internal valuation to €9bn in 2023. Considered Europe’s biggest rival to US payments giant Stripe, Checkout.com has raised €1.7bn to date from global investors Tiger Global, DST Global and Coatue Management.
6. Octopus Energy
HQ: London, UK
Most recent valuation: €8.6bn
With 6.8m households served, Octopus Energy is the largest electricity supplier in the UK. Since it launched eight years ago, it has raised over €2bn from investors like Canadian pension fund CPP Investment and Al Gore-founded climate fund Generation Investment Management. Octopus Energy recently announced that its valuation had increased to €8.6bn after investors increased their stakes in the business.
7. N26
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Most recent valuation: €8.6bn
German neobank N26 reported an €8.6bn valuation when it raised an €867m Series E in 2021. That year, German regulators moved to limit the company’s customer numbers after it failed to apply effective money-laundering controls. In 2023, it was reported that one of the company’s investors, Allianz X, was seeking to sell its share in the business at a discount, effectively valuing N26 at €2.9bn.
An N26 spokesperson told Sifted: “We cannot comment on valuations that specific investors may assign to their portfolio companies outside of funding rounds. These depend on a number of factors and can vary significantly from investor to investor.”
This year, the restrictions on customer numbers were lifted and the digital bank reported its first ever profitable quarter.
8. Personio
HQ: Munich, Germany
Most recent valuation: €8.1bn
Munich-based Personio is an HR platform for SMBs. It launched in 2015 and has since secured 12k customers across 70 countries worldwide. It last raised a €192m extension to its Series E in 2022, bringing total funding for the round to €452m, and the company’s valuation to €8.1bn. Personio is backed by investors like Accel, Index Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Northzone.
9. Bolt
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Most recent valuation: €7.4bn
A major competitor to Uber, Estonia’s Bolt offers a variety of mobility services, including ride hailing, food delivery, e-bikes and e-scooters. It’s present in 45 countries around the world and raised a €628m Series F at a valuation of €7.4bn in 2022. This year, Bolt secured a €220m credit facility, which it said was part of its plan to become IPO-ready.
11. Blockchain.com
HQ: London, UK
Most recent valuation: €6.7bn, according to reports
Launched in 2011, Blockchain.com is a platform that enables users to buy, sell, and store cryptocurrencies. In 2022, it raised an undisclosed Series D led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, which valued the company at €13.4bn; a year later, it raised a €105m Series E which was reported to have halved its valuation to €6.7bn. The company didn’t reply to a request for comment.
12. Mistral AI
HQ: Paris, France
Most recent valuation: €5.8bn
Launched just a year and a half ago, Paris-based Mistral quickly rose to stardom as one of Europe’s best bets to compete against US-based Gen AI companies like OpenAI. The startup, which builds large-language models (LLMs), has raised over €1bn to date; its latest round, a €600m Series B, valued it at €5.8bn — making it Europe’s highest-valued AI company.
13. Doctolib
HQ: Levallois-Perret, France
Most recent valuation: €5.8bn
French healthtech Doctolib is an online platform that enables patients to book appointments with doctors, and also acts as a patient management tool for practitioners. It’s become a key part of France’s healthcare infrastructure and is also present in Italy and Germany. It raised €500m in 2022 at a €5.8bn valuation.
14. Monzo
HQ: London, UK
Most recent valuation: €5.7bn
UK neobank Monzo achieved a €5.7bn valuation this year in an employee share sale. The fintech started as a basic current account product and has since expanded into stocks and shares, BNPL and is currently introducing a pension product. It reported profitability for the first time this summer.
15. Back Market
HQ: Paris, France
Most recent valuation: €5.5bn
Back Market is an online platform to buy and sell refurbished electronic goods like phones and laptops. The French company launched 10 years ago and is now present in 18 countries across North America, Europe and Asia; it recently announced that it was on track to be profitable in Europe this year. It last raised a €490m round in 2022 at a €5.5bn valuation.
16. Contentsquare
HQ: Paris, France
Most recent valuation: €5.4bn
Contentsquare has built an AI-powered platform that provides businesses with analytics into user behaviour on websites and mobile applications, to help them improve engagement and customer retention. It’s raised more than €1.3bn to date, including a €600m Series F in 2022 that valued the company at €5.4bn.
17. Vinted
HQ: Vilnius, Lithuania
Most recent valuation: €5bn
Lithuanian tech success Vinted is Europe’s biggest online secondhand fashion marketplace, enabling users to buy, sell and exchange pre-owned clothes and accessories. Launched 15 years ago, the company is now profitable; this year, it closed a secondary share sale of €340m at a valuation of €5bn.
18. Trade Republic
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Most recent valuation: €5bn
German fintech Trade Republic secured a €5bn valuation in 2022, in a €250m extension to its Series C that came on top of another €865m raised in the first part of the round. The Sequoia-backed company provides trading and savings products, including commission-free trading for retail investors.
19. Relex Solutions
HQ: Helsinki, Finland
Most recent valuation: €5bn
Finnish company Relex Solutions provides software to optimise supply chains in retail and reduce waste. It raised Finland’s largest round ever in 2022, when it secured a €500m round led by Blackstone and reached a €5bn valuation.
20. Mambu
HQ: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Most recent valuation: €4.9bn
Tiger Global-backed startup Mambu, which provides a cloud banking platform for fintechs and banks, was valued at €4.9bn when it raised a €235m Series E in 2021. In 2023, the company saw a C-suite shakeup when cofounder and former CEO Eugene Danilkis announced his departure; Mambo also confirmed to Sifted that it conducted layoffs that year.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/europe-20-most-valuable-startups/
