Europe saw its second-biggest year for newly minted unicorns in 2022, with 46 European and Israeli tech firms achieving a €1 billion valuation, according to PitchBook.
That number is no small thing––but it was significantly lower than 2021’s count. That year, says i5invest, there were 85 new unicorns in the bloc, which represented a unicorn growth rate more than twice that of the US.
Europe still falls behind the US and China when it comes to total numbers of unicorn companies, and their creation is likely to slow further this year too, reflecting the current fundraising environment.
According to PitchBook’s Q1 2023 European Venture Report, €3.4 billion was raised in Q1 of this year, which the report says puts 2023 on track for its lowest annual figure since 2015.
“European VC firms could struggle to provide further support to their existing investments, hindering startups’ ability to grow and leading to down rounds, or even collapses, which in turn damage fund returns,” PitchBook says.
Positive performance
Of course, there is positive news too. The report also points to the positive performance of the Nordics In 2022, where VC deal activity remained strong.
Plus, there are many companies en route to a unicorn valuation such as the French social app BeReal. Building on its culture of authenticity, users can only post to it once a day, and they can’t add filters. Experiencing fast growth, the app has gained 73.5 million monthly active users and 20 million daily users since 2020.
Also worth keeping an eye on is the Germany-based Aleph Alpha, developing AI for the public and private sectors. Its AI technology, Luminous – which processes images and text – specialises in European languages and cultures. The UK’s Carbon Clean is a climate-tech startup which captures, stores and uses carbon dioxide across industries like steel and refineries.
But when it comes to the latest billion euro-valued companies, there are a number of standouts––with plenty of open roles to discover.
Zilch
The UK-based buy now, pay later fintech Zilch recently closed an £81 million series C funding round, making it the fastest company in Europe to reach unicorn status. Its initial series A funding round was in September 2020, and it has become a double unicorn in just 14 months.
Known for creating the Googlisation of Payments, Zilch combines the best of debit, credit and savings and customers can either earn rewards on debit payments in the form of instant cashback or spread interest-free repayments over six weeks.
It is hiring for a number of roles in London, including Data Analyst and UX Researcher.
Satispay
The Italian smart mobile payment app allows you to pay in shops, buy phone top-ups and exchange money with friends. Its three million users, who use it to bypass credit cards for payments, can also perform peer-to-peer payments. The app can be used across Europe in countries such as Luxembourg, Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and many more.
Milan-headquartered, it raised a series D funding of over $310 million in the last quarter of 2023, giving it a valuation of €1 billion.
Payfit
A €254m series E funding round catapulted French company PayFit into the unicorn club last year.
A HR software business, it allows for the centralisation of payroll, HMRC submissions, absences and holidays, expense reports, employee onboarding and employee contact information. Usefully, it can also provide data analysis to help identify gender pay gaps.
In Paris, there are a large number of roles on offer, including an Engineering Director – Infrastructure, as well as a Senior Frontend Engineer position. You don’t need to be based in Paris: PayFit offers flexibility and you can work from anywhere in France, Spain or the UK.
21.co
Double unicorn 21.io is a Swiss-based cryptocurrency company providing access to crypto through simple and easy-to-use products.
In late 2022 it announced a $25 million round, which valued its business at $2 billion, making it Switzerland’s largest crypto unicorn. It is a company experiencing high growth: from September 2021 to September 2022, it recorded over $650 million in net new assets, and grew its headcount 75% as well.
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