Eleven new unicorns have been created in Europe so far this year — which is almost the total minted in the region during the whole of last year (13).
- Sygnum — Swiss regulated digital asset bank
- Loft Orbital — French space infrastructure startup
- Neko Health — Swedish body scanning startup
- Tines — Irish cybersecurity automation company
- Tekever — Portuguese surveillance drones maker
- Quantum Systems — German autonomous drones startup
- Parloa — German AI customer service agents
- Mubi — British indie film streaming platform
- Zama — French open-source crypto company
- Lovable — Swedish AI vibe coding platform
- Fuse Energy — British energy supplier
Who are the kingmakers behind these billion dollar companies? Sifted lists the key power brokers at 2025’s midpoint.
Here are the investors which have backed the most unicorns so far this year
1\ Accel
Backed: Tines, Lovable, Fuse Energy
Europe’s most prolific unicorn backer raised a $650m early-stage fund last year, and with 26 current European unicorns in its portfolio, it has backed more than any other VC, according to Sifted data. Previous bets include consumer tech companies Spotify, Vinted and Monzo, games developers Rovio and Supercell, and software giants such as UiPath. Accel led the most talked about deal of this year — the $200m Series A for Lovable, the impossible-to-avoid Stockholm platform that enables non-technical folk to create apps.
2\ Balderton
Backed: Quantum Systems and Fuse Energy
Not a slouch in the unicorn-backing department (the VC has helped create 18 in Europe on last count). Balderton led Quantum Systems’s €160m Series C in May, making the German drone maker just one of a few Europe defence tech unicorns. This could be a big windfall for the VC: CEO Florian Seibel told Sifted that Quantum Systems is on track to hit €500m in revenue in 2026, at which point he thinks there’s “a strong case” for an IPO.
=2\ Creandum
Backed: Lovable (twice) and Fuse Energy
Creandum is another which muscled into one of the hottest deals of the year — twice. First it backed Lovable at seed, in February, then it backed the company again in June, in that $200m Series A.
=2\ Felicis
Backed: Tines and Mubi
It’s a versatile slate for the Californian investor this year, backing British online cinema site Mubi and Irish cybersecurity scaleup Tines. The VC could soon add a third unicorn to this list: it’s an existing backer of Berlin AI company N8n, which Sifted reports has received term sheets from Accel and Insight Partners in a deal which could value it as highly as $2.3bn.
=2\ General Catalyst
Backed: Neko Health and Parloa
Name a hot European startup and, chances are, US VC General Catalyst is among its backers, Sifted reported this year in its General Catalyst deep dive. So far in 2025, the VC has helped both body scan startup Neko Health and voice AI startup Parloa reach rarefied unicorn air.
=2\ Lakestar
Backed: Neko Health and Fuse Energy
It’s a year of struggle for climate tech startups, but Fuse Energy is one of the exceptions. The renewable energy company, started by two former Revolut heads, has gone from startup to unicorn status in just three years. Lakestar, its backer, closed a $600m fund last year to invest in European companies in deeptech, AI, healthcare, digitalisation and fintech. It’s also reportedly aiming to raise up to $300m for a new defence fund.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/2025s-most-prolific-unicorn-backers/
