European Tech – Revisiting Ambition Levels

London, 26 September 2017 – The growth and strength of Europe’s leading technology companies have demonstrated the ecosystem’s potential to build its first $50 billion business, according to research released today by GP Bullhound, the European technology investment bank.

The report – Titans of Tech: Europe’s Flagship Companies – offers a detailed analysis of the strength, growth, and future prospects of the European digital economy, and examines a number of performance indicators and shifts in market conditions that suggest that Europe will soon achieve the critical mass required to deliver its first ‘titan’.

It finds that Europe is currently home to 57 technology firms worth a billion dollars or more, including three businesses valued over $10 billion – Supercell, Zalando and Spotify – and shows the rise and resilience of Europe’s billion-dollar businesses through greater funding, scaled revenues, and increased profitability.

Manish Madhvani, Managing Partner at GP Bullhound, and Alessandro Casartelli, Director, commented: “European tech has a thriving cohort of ambitious entrepreneurs, but there is still ground to make up. Europe’s leading tech firms have on average raised a fifth of the capital raised by global titans such as Facebook, Tesla and Baidu. This report shows that Europe’s pioneering entrepreneurs now have the collective vision, ambition and execution to bridge this gap and build global leaders.”

With 36 companies valued at $1 billion or more, the UK, Germany and Sweden remain Europe’s leading hubs for scaling digital businesses. Another ten countries are now also home to billion-dollar businesses, of which six give rise to no fewer than two businesses valued at over $1 billion.

As part of the research, GP Bullhound also canvassed the opinion of its close network of Europe’s most influential investors, who voted for the firms they believed could reach a billion-dollar valuation in the next two years. The five leading firms selected were: Darktrace, The Hut Group, GoEuro, Elastic and Sigfox.

Along with analysis of Europe’s billion-dollar tech companies, the report includes interviews with Ilkka Paananen, co-founder and CEO of Supercell, Jitse Groen, CEO of Takeaway.com, and Tomer Bar-Zeev, CEO and Co-founder of IronSource.

The full report is available for download here.

Methodology
In their research, GP Bullhound included technology companies headquartered in Europe, founded in 2000 or later, with an equity valuation of over $1 billion in the public or private markets. This is the fourth year that the tech investment bank has released this research.

Enquiries
For enquiries, please contact Manish Madhvani at manish.madhvani@gpbullhound.com, Alessandro Casartelli at alessandro.casartelli@gpbullhound.com, Marvin Maerz at marvin.maerz@gpbullhound.com or Joffrey Ezerzer at joffrey.ezerzer@gpbullhound.com

About GP Bullhound
GP Bullhound is a leading technology merchant bank, providing transaction advice and capital to the best entrepreneurs and founders in Europe and beyond. Founded in 1999, the firm today has offices in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin, Manchester, Paris and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com, or follow on Twitter @GPBullhound