Contents
04 THE VIEW FROM

GP BULLHOUND
06 CHAPTER 1

Momentum

20 EXPERT VIEW

Peter McKay, Snyk
26 CHAPTER 2

Sector insights

30 EXPERT VIEW

Serguei Beloussov, Acronis

34 EXPERT VIEW

Oscar Pierre, Glovo
36 CHAPTER 3

Europe’s next generation

42 EXPERT VIEW

Julie Ranty, VivaTech
44 CHAPTER 4

Late-stage funding

48 EXPERT VIEW

Des Traynor, Intercom

52 EXPERT VIEW

Dr Ali Parsa, Babylon
54 CHAPTER 5

On the path to Europe’s first Tech Titan
60 METHODOLOGY
64 DISCLAIMER
CONTENTS
3
THE VIEW FROM GP BULLHOUND
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The View
We believe 2019 and 2020 year-to-date has been a pivotal
period for tech as a whole, in particular for the European
ecosystem, and that the landscape is sufficiently robust for this
growth to continue.
At GP Bullhound we are big believers in technology’s importance
to mankind. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly magnified
this during the enforced lockdowns. Without Zoom, Google
Classrooms, Amazon, Netflix, Fortnite (adopting the role of
parenting millions of children), Ocado, etc., many would have
experienced greater isolation and challenges.
This pandemic has also compressed innovation cycles. We
believe the rates of tech adoption have been accelerated by
five years in a matter of months and will leave the landscape
ripe for more record innovation. This is a very exciting time for
entrepreneurs founding new businesses, and scaling existing
ones even faster.
For M&A, while many other sectors are struggling, tech
companies are on a buying streak. Alphabet, Amazon, Apple,
Facebook and Microsoft held $560bn in cash at the end of
Q1 2020, and announced 19 deals this year, representing the
fastest pace of acquisitions to date since 2015 (1). In our view,
tech is the sector most likely to avoid a deep recession.
In Europe, the proliferation of success stories across newer
geographies continues and the list of countries creating their
first unicorn continues to expand. The Baltics delivered year-on-
year, with Lithuania now on the map thanks to Vinted. We also
expect Turkey to join next year with Zynga’s $1.8bn acquisition
of Peak Games, after the cut-off date for this year’s report.
There are big underlying shifts in the sectors where leaders
are emerging; for example, in Enterprise Software, there has
been a sharp increase in new entrants in the Storage and
Cybersecurity subsectors. The value of Marketplace models
has significantly outpaced E-commerce in the past five years
and as the world races to shift to digital, we expect this to
rapidly increase as the biggest consumer categories remain
largely underdigitised.
European tech is now seen as a key hedge against some
of the US ecosystem’s challenges. Europe has a broad and
diverse supply of capital and investors remain confident,
deploying large sums of money to European leaders. In
2019, late-stage funding increased by more than twofold for
Europe’s tech leaders, and the funding environment remains
robust with 2020 year-to-date transactions double that of
2018 and in line with 2019 (2).
This year we showcase eight Tech Titans – companies
founded after 2000 and valued at $50bn or more, leading the
way for global tech. The US and Asia remain hotspots on the
Titan landscape, but we believe Europe is on the cusp of its
first Titan.
Publicly listed Baidu has left the club, Asia marketplaces
Pinduoduo and Meituan-Dianping have joined, whilst Tesla’s
valuation is up 270% year-on-year to $149bn, valuing it more
than the world’s biggest car maker by volume, Volkswagen (3).
Emerging European Titans include Spotify, Adyen, JustEat
Takeaway.com, Zalando, and Delivery Hero. Spotify has led
the group for some years in becoming Europe’s first Tech
Titan, but this year Adyen has overtaken Spotify as the highest
valued tech company in Europe.
FROM GP BULLHOUND
(1) Kruppa, M.; Fontanella-Khan, J. (2020, May 28) Big Tech goes on pandemic M&A spree despite political backlash. Financial Times. Retrieved from www.ft.com.
(2) See page 47 of this report for more information and sources. (3) See page 55 of this report for more information and sources
MANISH MADHVANI
ALESSANDRO CASARTELLI
ALON KUPERMAN
MANAGING PARTNER
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ADAM PAGE
ALEXIS MAJOS
MARIA MACIAGOWSKA
VICE PRESIDENT
ANALYST
ANALYST
5
4
Momentum
This year marks a material step up for the European tech ecosystem. The number of billion-dollar companies has almost
quadrupled since 2014, with 32 companies with a combined value of $50bn added since last year, and the group is now worth
$416bn, almost five times the valuation in 2014 (1).
Since 2014, we have tracked the leaders through the different stages in their lifecycle: privately-held, IPO and journey as a public
company, or sale to a strategic acquirer.
There are now many options available to leading companies as the ecosystem has matured. Staying private for longer is now a
more viable option; 64% by number of the current cohort of billion-dollar companies are still private. In terms of value, public
companies and acquired ones continue to play an important role, accounting for two-thirds of the value.
The ecosystem has evolved over the past six years, and companies have greater access to capital to allow them to continue
growing to reach a leading position faster. This translates to strong momentum for new private unicorns: the number of new
billion-dollar companies has grown by 2.5x versus 2018, of which the vast majority are still private (2).
We have also seen a continued shift in the sector focus. On the momentum from last year, the number of billion-dollar Enterprise
Software and Fintech companies has continued to grow. Within Enterprise Software, there is a concentration of new additions
in the Storage and Cybersecurity subsectors, and for consumer internet, Marketplace models continue to dominate versus
E-commerce.
Geographically, the UK is still leading the way, ranking #1 by number and value. Germany has added $31bn in value to its
ecosystem, driven by the public cohort’s performance, the successful IPO of Teamviewer (now valued at $9bn (3)), and four new
additions crossing the $1bn valuation mark. Israel is growing fast and has generated the most billion-dollar companies in the last
year, having added $17bn in value and 11 companies to bring its collection of 20 (4). Testament to the strength of the European
ecosystem is the long tail of countries generating their first unicorn: Estonia with Bolt, Ukraine with GitLab, Portugal with
Outsystems, Romania with UiPath, and now Lithuania with Vinted.
MOMENTUM
CHAPTER 1
GP Bullhound classifies the companies featured in the Titans of Tech report into four key categories:
Titans, Decacorns, Unicorns, and Contenders, based on their market valuation
All companies featured in this report were founded in 2000 or later
The lingo and journey to $50bn
A REFRESH ON THE TERMINOLOGY FOR OUR REPORT
CLASSIFICATION OF COMPANIES BY VALUATION
FOR FULL METHODOLOGY, PLEASE SEE PAGE 60 OF THIS REPORT
TITANS
$50BN+
DECACORNS
$10-50BN
UNICORNS
$1-10BN
CONTENDERS
WE PREDICT TO REACH $1BN+ IN NEXT THREE YEARS
(1) See page 8 of this report for more information and sources (2) See pages 8–9 of this report for more information and sources (3) See page 15 of this report for
more information and sources (4) See pages 22-23 of this report for more information and sources
7
6
The number of billion-dollar companies has almost quadrupled since 2014
The ecosystem is now worth $416bn, almost five times the valuation in 2014
32 companies with a combined value of $50bn added since last year
Successful tech companies in Europe now have multiple options, including staying private for longer
Public markets and strategic exits continue to play their part in the growth of the ecosystem
Momentum
How many companies still are private?
A MATERIAL STEP UP FOR EUROPEAN TECH THIS YEAR
EUROPE’S LEADING TECH COMPANIES BY STATUS
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis. Equity funds raised refer to capital raised through primary equity offering.
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
AGGREGATE VALUATION BY STATUS (2020)
NUMBER OF COMPANIES BY STATUS
ACQUIRED
33%
19%
PUBLIC
PRIVATE
48%
112
COMPANIES
$416BN
IN VALUE
30
3
15
12
112
17
23
72
2014
2020
PRIVATE
PUBLIC
ACQUIRED
$1BN+
AGGREGATE
VALUATION
TOTAL EQUITY
RAISED
$5BN+
COMPANIES
2014
2020
GROWTH
3.7X
112
30
4.7X
$416BN
$89BN
13.2X
$40BN
$3BN
4.2X
25
6
MOMENTUM
CHAPTER 1
9
8
Europe’s leading private tech companies
PRIVATE BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANIES BY VALUATION
This page ranks all 72 privately-held companies in Europe’s tech ecosystem by valuation
Valuations are correct as of 14 May 2020
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
NEW BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANY SINCE LAST REPORT
OF THE TOTAL BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANIES IN
EUROPE, PRIVATELY-HELD COMPANIES ACCOUNT FOR:
64%
BY NUMBER
33%
BY VALUE
29
NEW PRIVATE
BILLION-DOLLAR
COMPANIES
72
THIS YEAR
43
LAST YEAR
5
HAVE REACHED A
$5BN+ VALUATION
MOMENTUM
CHAPTER 1
11
10
Europe’s leading public tech companies
PUBLIC BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANIES BY VALUATION
This page ranks all 23 public companies in Europe’s tech ecosystem by valuation, founded after 2020
Valuations are correct as of 14 May 2020
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
The technology sector is very resilient and outperforming amid the COVID-19 pandemic
The European cohort of public billion-dollar companies is outperforming major indices, including Nasdaq
Resilience of listed European tech
SHARE PRICE PERFORMANCE
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
NEW BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANY SINCE LAST REPORT
2020 YTD PERFORMANCE
EUROPEAN TECH BILLION-DOLLAR COHORT
NASDAQ
EURO STOXX
OF THE TOTAL BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANIES IN EUROPE,
PUBLIC COMPANIES ACCOUNT FOR:
21%
BY NUMBER
48%
BY VALUE
ADYEN
OVERTAKES SPOTIFY AS
THE HIGHEST VALUED
EUROPEAN LEADER
14
HAVE REACHED A
$5BN+ VALUATION
+19% YTD
EUROPEAN TECH BILLION-DOLLAR COHORT
-2%
NASDAQ
-25%
EURO STOXX
Combined entity Just Eat
Takeaway.com tracked in our
public company cohort
MOMENTUM
CHAPTER 1
13
12
2.5x growth versus 2018
IN NUMBER OF NEW BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANIES
32 new companies have reached a billion-dollar valuation in the last 12 months
The value has almost tripled from 2018 to 2020
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
Europe’s leading acquired tech companies
ACQUIRED BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANIES BY VALUATION
This page ranks all 17 acquired companies in Europe’s tech ecosystem by valuation
Valuations correct as of 14 May 2020
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
NEW BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANY SINCE REPORT CUT-OFF
$50BN
$36BN
$18BN
OF THE TOTAL BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANIES IN EUROPE,
ACQUIRED COMPANIES ACCOUNT FOR:
15%
BY NUMBER
19%
BY VALUE
0
NEW PRIVATE
BILLION-DOLLAR
COMPANIES
6
ACQUIRED FOR
MORE THAN $5BN+
VALUATION
13
22
32
2018
2019
2020
All publicly listed
companies where the
market capitalisation has
fallen below $1bn
IN:32
OUT:5
MOMENTUM
CHAPTER 1
15
14
Introducing
THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, LinkedIn, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
Continued shift in sector focus
EUROPEAN BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANIES BY SECTOR
Building on last year, continued growth in the number of billion-dollar Enterprise Software & Fintech companies
Within Enterprise Software, concentration of new additions in Storage and Cybersecurity subsectors
In consumer internet, Marketplace models continue to win in the consumer battle versus E-commerce
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
2019
2020 NEW ADDITIONS
4
44
16
ENTERPRISE
SOFTWARE
22
6
MARKETPLACES
18
7
FINTECH
15
2
DIGITAL
MEDIA
9
E-COMMERCE
1
OTHER
+57%
+38%
+64%
+15%
-
+33%
ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE
FINTECH
MARKETPLACES
OTHER
DIGITAL MEDIA
$5.0BN
$3.3BN
$1.9BN
$1.8BN
$1.6BN
$1.4BN
$1.2BN
$1.1BN
$1.1BN
BACKUP SOLUTIONS THAT DELIVER CLOUD
DATA MANAGEMENT
CLOUD COMMUNICATION PLATFORM-AS-A-
SERVICE
PRODUCTIVITY PLATFORM ALLOWING
TEAMS TO CREATE AND SHAPE PROJECTS
AND WORKFLOWS, CODE FREE
AUTOMATION SOFTWARE PROVIDER THAT
OFFERS REMOTE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
MOBILE AD ATTRIBUTION PLATFORM
ALLOWING ADVERTISERS TO ANALYSE
ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS
COLLABORATIVE DATA SCIENCE SOFTWARE
PLATFORM TO ENABLE AI SOLUTIONS IN
ENTERPRISES
APPLICATION SECURITY TESTING
SOFTWARE PROVIDING ORGANISATIONS
WITH SAFER DEVELOPING ENVIRONMENTS
AI-BASED ENDPOINT SECURITY PLATFORM
ACHIEVING THREAT DETECTION AND
PROTECTION IN REAL-TIME
AGENTLESS DEVICE SECURITY SOLUTIONS
FOR THE WORLD OF UNMANAGED AND
UN-AGENTABLE DEVICES THAT LET
ENTERPRISES SEE AND CONTROL ANY
DEVICES OR NETWORK
INSIGHT PARTNERS
PUBLICLY LISTED
SAPPHIRE VENTURES,
HAMILTON LANE, HARBOURVEST
PARTNERS, ION CROSSOVER
PARTNERS, VINTAGE
INVESTMENT PARTNERS
TPG, INSIGHT PARTNERS
GENERAL ATLANTIC, GOLDMAN
SACHS, QUMRA CAPITAL,
DEUTSCHE TELEKOM CAPITAL
PARTNERS, PITANGO VENTURE
CAPITAL, MAGMA VENTURE
PARTNERS
CAPITALG, ICONIQ, BATTERY
VENTURES, DAWN CAPITAL,
ALVEN CAPITAL, FIRSTMARK
CAPITAL
INSIGHT PARTNERS, HELLMAN
& FRIEDMAN, TPG, K1
INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
INSIGHT PARTNERS, TIGER
GLOBAL MANAGEMENT,
QUALCOMM VENTURES, VISTA
EQUITY, THIRD POINT
VENTURES
INSIGHT PARTNERS,
CAPITALG, SEQUOIA CAPITAL
ISRAEL, BAIN CAPITAL
VENTURES
VALUATION
RECENT INVESTORS
KEY INFORMATION
ABOUT
FOUNDED: 2006
EMPLOYEES: C.3,900
SECTOR: SOFTWARE
FOUNDED: 2008
EMPLOYEES: C.700
SECTOR: SOFTWARE
FOUNDED: 2012
EMPLOYEES: C.500
SECTOR: SOFTWARE
FOUNDED: 2000
EMPLOYEES: C.750
SECTOR: SOFTWARE
FOUNDED: 2011
EMPLOYEES: C.950
SECTOR: SOFTWARE
FOUNDED: 2013
EMPLOYEES: C.500
SECTOR: SOFTWARE
FOUNDED: 2006
EMPLOYEES: C.700
SECTOR: SOFTWARE
FOUNDED: 2013
EMPLOYEES: C.550
SECTOR: SOFTWARE
FOUNDED: 2015
EMPLOYEES: C.320
SECTOR: SOFTWARE
$1.3BN
WEB-BASED ACCOUNTING AND INVOICING
SOLUTIONS
PUBLICLY LISTED
FOUNDED: 2001
EMPLOYEES: C.290
SECTOR: SOFTWARE
NUMBER OF BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANIES BY SECTOR
MOMENTUM
CHAPTER 1
17
16
Introducing
Introducing
THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, LinkedIn, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, LinkedIn, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
$1.1BN
OPEN BANKING PLATFORM FOR DEPOSITS
BY CONNECTING BANKS AND DEPOSITORS
VITRUVIAN PARTNERS,
KINNEVIK AB, VALAR
VENTURES, DEUTSCHE BANK,
FOUNDERS FUND
FOUNDED: 2011
EMPLOYEES: C.210
SECTOR: FINTECH
$1.0BN
$2.0BN
$2.0BN
$1.0BN
$1.0BN
$1.0BN
$1.0BN
$3.0BN
$1.3BN
$1.0BN
CUSTOMER-CENTRIC FINANCIAL SERVICES
COMPANY ENABLING CUSTOMERS TO
MANAGE THEIR EXISTING BANK ACCOUNTS
AND PERSONAL FINANCES
ONLINE BUS TRANSPORTATION SERVICES
NETWORK
PROVIDER OF AFFORDABLE & ACCESSIBLE
HEALTHCARE SERVICES BY COMBINING AI
WITH DOCTORS
ON-DEMAND PHOTO PLATFORM WITH
AI-POWERED PHOTOGRAPHY EDITING
SERVICES
ON-DEMAND DELIVERY APP PLATFORM
OPERATING IN EUROPE, LATAM, AND
AFRICA
SOCIAL MARKETPLACE FOR PRE-LOVED
CLOTHING
MARKETPLACE FOR DISCOVERING AND
BOOKING TRAVEL TOURS, TICKETS FOR
ATTRACTIONS AND EXPERIENCES
FAMILY OF BRANDS THAT BUILT, OWN
AND OPERATE BADOO, BUMBLE, CHAPPY,
AND LUMEN
GAME DEVELOPMENT COMPANY FOCUSED ON
IOS, ANDROID AND FACEBOOK PLATFORMS
DIGITAL WRITING ASSISTANT TO HELP
PEOPLE WRITE MORE CLEARLY AND
EFFECTIVELY
PRIVATE INVESTORS,
INVESTMENT CORPORATION OF
DUBAI
SILVER LAKE PARTNERS,
PERMIRA, TCV, GENERAL
ATLANTIC, BALLIE GIFFORD,
LUXOR CAPITAL GROUP,
BLACKROCK, DAIMLER
SAUDI ARABIA’S PUBLIC
INVESTMENT FUND, KINNEVIK
AB, VOSTOK NEW VENTURES,
ERGO FUND
EURAZEO, PRIME VENTURES,
AVENIR GROWTH, GLOBAL
FOUNDERS CAPITAL, AGLAÉ
VENTURES
MUBADALA VENTURES,
DELIVERYHERO, IDINVEST
PARTNERS, LAKESTAR, GP
BULLHOUND
LIGHTSPEED VENTURE
PARTNERS, ACCEL, INSIGHT
PARTNERS, SPRINTS
CAPITAL, BURDA PRINCIPAL
INVESTORS
SOFTBANK, TEMASEK
HOLDINGS, LAKESTAR,
HEARTCORE CAPITAL
THE BLACKSTONE GROUP
INSIGHT PARTNERS
GENERAL CATALYST,
SPARK CAPITA PARTNERS,
INSTITUTIONAL VENTURE
PARTNERS
FOUNDED: 2012
EMPLOYEES: C.60
SECTOR: FINTECH
FOUNDED: 2012
EMPLOYEES: C.1,500
SECTOR: MARKETPLACE
FOUNDED: 2013
EMPLOYEES: C.1,300
SECTOR: MARKETPLACE
FOUNDED: 2016
EMPLOYEES: C.1,180
SECTOR: MARKETPLACE
FOUNDED: 2015
EMPLOYEES: C.2,800
SECTOR: MARKETPLACE
FOUNDED: 2008
EMPLOYEES: C.450
SECTOR: MARKETPLACE
FOUNDED: 2009
EMPLOYEES: C.810
SECTOR: MARKETPLACE
FOUNDED: 2006
EMPLOYEES: C.1,500
SECTOR: DIGITAL MEDIA
FOUNDED: 2011
EMPLOYEES: C.360
SECTOR: DIGITAL MEDIA
FOUNDED: 2009
EMPLOYEES: C.420
SECTOR: OTHER
VALUATION
RECENT INVESTORS
KEY INFORMATION
ABOUT
$2.0BN
$1.9BN
$1.6BN
$1.2BN
ONLINE PAYMENTS PLATFORMS ALLOWING
COMPANIES TO TRACK AND SECURE
DIGITAL PAYMENTS THROUGH ONE
INTEGRATION
DIGITAL PLATFORM THAT CONNECTS
INSURANCE PROVIDERS, DISTRIBUTORS
AND CONSUMERS
ONLINE TRADING PLATFORM OFFERING
CFDS ACROSS A VAST ARRAY OF
SECURITIES AND ASSET CLASSES
FINTECH-AS-A-SERVICE PLATFORM THAT
PROVIDES LOCAL PAYMENTS NETWORK
SERVICES
GIC, DST GLOBAL, INSIGHT
PARTNERS, BLOSSOM CAPITAL
OMERS VENTURES, MUBADALA
VENTURES, TARGET GLOBAL,
SALESFORCE VENTURES,
MERIAN CHRYSALIS
PUBLICLY LISTED
GENERAL CATALYST, STRIPE,
COATUE MANAGEMENT
FOUNDED: 2012
EMPLOYEES: C.590
SECTOR: FINTECH
FOUNDED: 2015
EMPLOYEES: C.200
SECTOR: FINTECH
FOUNDED: 2008
EMPLOYEES: C.350
SECTOR: FINTECH
FOUNDED: 2015
EMPLOYEES: C.180
SECTOR: FINTECH
$1.0BN
$1.0BN
$1.0BN
$1.0BN
CYBERSECURITY COMPANY THAT OFFERS
SAFETY, ACCESSIBILITY, PRIVACY,
AUTHENTICITY, AND SECURITY SERVICES
CYBERSECURITY FIRM HELPING FIND AND
FIX VULNERABILITIES IN OPEN SOURCE
DEPENDENCIES AND CONTAINER IMAGES
E-COMMERCE FRAUD-PREVENTION AND
CONVERSION SOLUTIONS FOR ONLINE
RETAILERS
COMPANY DEVELOPING VIDEO AND
IMAGE EDITING MOBILE APPS, KNOWN
PARTICULARLY FOR ITS SELFIE-EDITING
APP, FACETUNE
GOLDMAN SACHS
STIPES GROUP, SALESFORCE
VENTURES, COATUE
MANAGEMENT, TIGER GLOBAL
MANAGEMENT, ACCEL
PARTNERS
GENERAL ATLANTIC,
PITANGO, FIDELITY
MANAGEMENT & RESEARCH,
WINSLOW CAPITAL
MANAGEMENT
INSIGHT PARTNERS, GOLDMAN
SACHS, CALTECH, VIOLA
VENTURES
FOUNDED: 2008
EMPLOYEES: C.1,325
SECTOR: SOFTWARE
FOUNDED: 2015
EMPLOYEES: C.300
SECTOR: SOFTWARE
FOUNDED: 2012
EMPLOYEES: C.500
SECTOR: SOFTWARE
FOUNDED: 2013
EMPLOYEES: C.260
SECTOR: SOFTWARE
$2.0BN
DIGITAL PROPERTY AND CASUALTY
INSURANCE PLATFORM POWERED BY AI
SOFTBANK, ALLIANZ,
GENERAL CATALYST, GV,
OURCROWD, THRIVE CAPITAL
FOUNDED: 2015
EMPLOYEES: C.325
SECTOR: FINTECH
$1.1BN
$1.0BN
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE SOFTWARE AND
ANALYTICS PLATFORM THAT ENABLES
NON-TECHNICAL USERS TO JOIN AND
ANALYSE LARGE DATA SETS
WEB-BASED SPEND AND SUPPLIER
MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS
INSIGHT PARTNERS, BATTERY
VENTURES, BESSEMER
VENTURE PARTNERS, DFJ
GROWTH
KOHLBERG KRAVIS ROBERTS,
TIGER GLOBAL MANAGEMENT,
ARDIAN
FOUNDED: 2005
EMPLOYEES: C.800
SECTOR: SOFTWARE
FOUNDED: 2000
EMPLOYEES: C.530
SECTOR: SOFTWARE
VALUATION
RECENT INVESTORS
KEY INFORMATION
ABOUT
MOMENTUM
CHAPTER 1
ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE
FINTECH
MARKETPLACES
OTHER
DIGITAL MEDIA
ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE
FINTECH
MARKETPLACES
OTHER
DIGITAL MEDIA
19
18
EXPERT VIEW
PETER MCKAY
Expert view:
Snyk
PETER MCKAY
CEO OF SNYK
Having a new CEO can be challenging for any company. Guy
Podjarny, Snyk’s Founder, and I became friends 18 years ago
when I was CEO of a company that acquired a company which
Guy was involved with. Over the years, Guy and I worked
on various ventures and I invested early in Snyk because I
loved its unique model to address challenges in the security
space. The business has grown consistently, has tremendous
product-market fit, and is incredibly scalable. When he asked
me to come on as CEO, I knew it would be a challenge and I
also knew that our team would work really well together and
the business is benefiting from that.
Cybersecurity has seen tremendous growth, largely driven by
more companies digitalising their businesses. More traditional
industries such as oil and gas, healthcare, financial services
and media are all shifting to becoming more technology
oriented. With this digital transformation, more software means
more software risk. Simply put, cybersecurity solutions cannot
keep up with the pace of change.
The application security tools used in the past are not scalable
enough to solve today’s cybersecurity issues at scale. We
empower developers by embedding security in the application
development lifecycle. We provide an end-to-end security
suite for developers, and increasingly more of the top software
companies around the world are using our platform as their
main solution.
This space is extremely fragmented, and our vision is
to expand our product roadmap both organically and
inorganically. The past two fundraising rounds, which were
pre-empted by our investors, and those who joined our
board, have all been incredibly valuable in driving and scaling
the business. We believe this outside view of the broader
ecosystem is critical to positioning ourselves in the market.
Snyk has always been financially responsible and with our latest
fundraise we are fortunate enough to have a robust balance
sheet. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have shifted
our focus away from those industries that were affected the
most, such as airlines, hospitality and travel, to those benefitting
from the acceleration of digital transformation.
Our model has also proven its resilience: we are virtual, with
low-cost sales, and by leveraging our open source community
model, our speed and agility have allowed us to get ahead of
the crisis. With this, we should be able to accelerate our product
roadmap faster and distance ourselves from our competitors.
One of the most important processes at Snyk is recruitment; we
want top talent that fits our culture. As we continue to grow, our
goal is to maintain our organisation’s diverse, multicultural, global
mind-set, where people work well together, care deeply about
each other, and have fun on this journey.
My advice for entrepreneurs is to start with the problem and
focus on solving it rather than starting with great technology
and looking for a problem to solve. CEOs should balance
technological innovation that solves real issues with a unique,
efficient go-to-market strategy; today’s consumers want
innovative products that are easy to try with a frictionless sale.
21
20
Champions league
BILLION-DOLLAR STABLES
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
The UK is still leading the way, being #1 by number and value of unicorns
Germany adds $31bn in value to its ecosystem, driven by performance of public cohort, the successful
IPO of Teamviewer and four new additions crossing the $1bn valuation mark
Israel is growing fast, adding $17bn in value and 11 companies in 2020
Europe’s tech factories
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
Israel has generated the most billion-dollar companies in the last year, adding 11 to its collection of 20
Wide distribution of new additions, with unicorns from new countries such as Vinted in Lithuania
NEW BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANIES
NEW BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANIES BY GEOGRAPHY
CUMULATIVE VALUE
# OF BILLION $ COMPANIES
RISING STARS
# OF BILLION $
COMPANIES
CUMULATIVE VALUE
NET EVOLUTION VERSUS
PREVIOUS YEAR
10
$70BN
+2
4
$54BN
-
20
$48BN
+11
30
$87BN
+3
16
$71BN
+3
$14.8BN
11
$11.0BN
6
$6.0BN
4
$7.0BN
3
$3.4BN
3
$4.6N
2
$1.0BN
1
$1.0BN
1
$1.0BN
1
MOMENTUM
CHAPTER 1
23
22
Vinted, a social marketplace where consumers can buy and sell second-hand fashion, recently raised
$141m and passed the billion-dollar valuation mark, making it one of the biggest startups to come out of
the Baltics
Home to over six million people, the Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – are launching
forward-looking initiatives to help founders create and develop some of Europe’s category leaders
Lithuania’s first unicorn: Vinted
EUROPE’S LARGEST & FASTEST GROWING
PRE-LOVED FASHION MARKETPLACE
Source: Dealroom, Mium, Techcrunch, and Forbes. All metrics were public as of the date of the latest fundraise, November 2019
Innovation in hardware CPU, including on-device mobile processors, has enabled the development of a
wide array of content creation tools at scale
In-app AI and machine learning algorithms allow consumers to have the creative freedom that
previously required labour-intensive specialist designers
The democratisation of content creation
FROM SPECTATOR TO ACTOR
Source: Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
In 2008, Vinted was founded as a
second-hand clothing marketplace with a
community edge, capitalising on the rise
of the ‘circular economy’ and the growing
rejection of fast fashion
In 2016, the company shifted away from
mandatory sales fees into a free product
with the option of additional paid services,
distancing itself from the eBay’s of the
world with incredible results
FOUNDING
THE PIVOT
TODAY
25M
USERS
180M
PRODUCTS
11
MARKETS
$1BN
VALUATION
€1.3BN
GMV
$260M
RAISED
Meero provides its customers with
enhanced photography services, so they
can focus on creativity
This is thanks to an AI-driven photograph
enhancement software
It reduces post-production work from up to
four hours to just a few seconds
Lightricks is a consumer-focused photo
editing applications
All the apps are designed to be easy to use
Just launched BoostApps – a suite of new
mobile apps aimed at small businesses that
want professional content creation tools
One of the first app developers to pioneer
the subscription model on the App Store
PHOTO EDITING AND CREATION AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
ON A MISSION TO MAKE PHOTOGRAPHY SEAMLESS
+230%
INCREASE IN
MONTHLY SALES
+5X
GROWTH IN
REVENUE
MOMENTUM
CHAPTER 1
$1BN
VALUATION
$205M
RAISED
TO DATE
3M
PAYING
SUBSCRIBERS
200M+
DOWNLOADS
$1BN
VALUATION
$293M
RAISED
TO DATE
10.5M
PHOTOS
TAKEN
31K
CUSTOMERS
25
24
CHAPTER 2
SECTOR INSIGHTS
Sector insights
We track Europe’s tech leader trends year-on-year to serve not only as a barometer of the health of the European ecosystem,
but also to shine a light on the latest trends. This year we note the resilience of listed European tech through the COVID-19
pandemic, the dominance of security within the new cohort of Enterprise Software billion-dollar companies, and the clear growth
of Marketplace models in the long-term battle for consumers.
Economic crises typically bring highly valued stocks back to earth. The flight-to-quality that follows usually hurts companies with
stretched valuations the most, as investors worry about a collapse in the growth rates that have supported high valuations to
date. The technology sector has proven very resilient, outperforming the wider market in the recent market correction. Major
indices such as the EURO STOXX are down c25% YTD, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq down c2% YTD as at time of writing (1).
However, our cohort of public billion-dollar companies has proven incredibly resilient, up by 19% YTD.
We note continued growth in the number of Enterprise Software companies reaching the $1bn mark, with 16 out of 32 total new
additions (2). Within this cohort there is a clear lean towards security, as 50% of the new enterprise software unicorns provide
storage or cybersecurity solutions. Protecting the digital world has major challenges due to the complexity caused by the rapid
growth in number of systems and multiple locations, with enterprises betting big on hybrid and multi-cloud as they continue to
invest in multiple cloud platforms. All of this in a world of increasingly sophisticated hackers requires next-generation security
solutions in order to allow businesses to embrace digital transformation whilst keeping sensitive data safe. As worldwide
lockdowns challenge the usual way of working in offices, many experts anticipate that the largest-ever remote work experiment
could give rise to a variety of data management challenges, supercharging the storage and cybersecurity industry in the process.
In the past six years, the growth in value generated by Marketplace models has significantly outpaced E-commerce due to
the inherent network effects and possibility to deliver services as well as goods; we note a 4.1x increase in the value of our
marketplace billion-dollar cohort between 2014 and 2020 (3). Most of the sector’s value has historically been concentrated in
classifieds, restaurant and travel marketplaces, but recently there has been huge growth in vertically integrated marketplaces 2.0
(fashion, restaurants, etc.) and services (mobility, healthcare, and leisure).
Classifieds have materially declined as a proportion of total value, as they monetise less of the transaction and offer a less
compelling customer experience. At the same time, behavioural trends are reshaping the next generation of consumption as
consumers move from general browsing towards a task-to-be-done mentality, starting with the specialisation of search. Driven by
consumer demand for specialisation we have tracked the rise of customer-centric marketplaces offering a more complete end-
to-end offering.
(1) As of 14 May 2020 (2) See page 28 of this report for more information and sources (3) See page 32 of this report for more information and sources
27
26
Significant increase in Enterprise Software companies with 16 new additions in the last year
Considerable investment in Storage and Cybersecurity, accounting for c.50% of new additions
Security dominates
NEW ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANIES
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, Flexera State of the Cloud (2020), press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
Enterprises betting big on multi-cloud
CLOUD STRATEGIES CONTINUE TO EVOLVE
Enterprise companies investing in multiple cloud platforms, with public cloud continuing to grow
Growth in number of devices and complexity of systems that enterprises must now manage creates the
need for next-generation Storage and Cybersecurity solutions
The workplace is changing fast, particularly with remote working, and initial expectations suggest that
the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to affect companies’ cloud usage over the longer-term as there is
a shift towards a ‘working anywhere’ culture
NEW ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE COMPANIES BY VALUE
ENTERPRISE CLOUD STRATEGY
CHANGE FROM PLANNED CLOUD USAGE DUE TO COVID-19
SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER
SLIGHTLY LOWER
SLIGHTLY HIGHER
SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER
2%
2%
2%
8%
9%
4%
31%
29%
37%
26%
30%
13%
TOTAL
ENTERPRISE
SMB
16
NEW COMPANIES
$25BN+
IN VALUE
c.50%
are providing storage
and cybersecurity
solutions
13%
13%
17%
4%
6%
7%
10%
30%
STORAGE
CYBERSECURITY
COMMUNICATION
FINANCE
DATA ANALYTICS
COLLABORATION
MARKETING
CONTENT
SINGLE
PUBLIC
SINGLE
PRIVATE
MULTI-CLOUD
HYBRID
CLOUD
MULTIPLE
PUBLIC
1%
6%
93%
87%
6%
CHAPTER 2
SECTOR INSIGHTS
29
28
EXPERT VIEW
Expert view:
Acronis
SERGUEI BELOUSSOV
CO-FOUNDER & CEO OF ACRONIS
Our founding mission was to compute with confidence –
providing reliable data protection and fast recovery from
any data loss. As IT has become mission-critical for every
business and individual, our mission has evolved to protect
all data, applications and systems. Today, Acronis provides
complete cyber protection, addressing all Five Vectors
of Cyber Protection; we refer to these as SAPAS: Safety,
Accessibility, Privacy, Authenticity, and Security.
As an entrepreneur, wherever I see challenges, I see
opportunities. There have been various challenges for our
business over the years, but I believe the most difficult is to
stay self-disciplined, healthy, hard-working, and to do the right
things for the company. There will always be challenges, but if
you can manage yourself, then you manage other things.
COVID-19 presents one of the exciting challenges, and we see
the following effects on the business:
1) Neutral short-term: I would expect this first phase to be
over by summer. Digitisation and migration to the Cloud are
accelerating in many companies and employees are working
from home, etc., so the need for cyber protection solutions is
also increasing. We are growing very fast, and it remains to be
seen if this is because of the pandemic or our execution.
2) Positive long-term: The impact is more difficult to
predict. Information technology is about people being more
productive in a certain way, and people will simply behave
differently as a result of the pandemic. However, in any case,
IT stays mission-critical and cyber protection offered by
Acronis is in high demand.
I believe the company strategy informs culture. We are still
evolving from being a data protection vendor to a cyber
protection company and from an infrastructure application
to an infrastructure platform company, and that has carried
a cultural shift. The five main tenets of our entrepreneurial
culture are 1) stay alert, 2) never give up, 3) be attentive to
details, 4) be responsive, and 5) make decisions. This has
enabled us to react quickly to today’s circumstances. We are
a pure technology company and we always have to be ready
to change.
We are still growing very rapidly, and we want to grow
to $500m–1bn by 2022. As raising capital is generally a
complicated process, I have never looked at fundraising as
the primary way to develop the business. Although many
companies in the space heavily rely on raising capital to
continue growing their businesses, we focus on growing
profitably, improving our products, working with partners,
and marketing and promoting our brand, our products and
our technology vision. We may not have grown as fast as we
could have with external capital, but Acronis has always been
cash-flow positive and we want to be in a position to create
value this way. We recently took on investment to allow us to
accelerate our growth and continue on our mission, as well as
to help our partners to be profitable and grow their business
together with us.
My advice for entrepreneurs is that you need to be ready,
and have experience and contacts. I believe you need a great
business idea and it needs to be differentiated, and you need
to make decisions with a lot of attention to detail – no one will
spend as many hours on your idea as you. Moreover, there
is no universal formula for a successful business – every
company is unique.
SERGUEI BELOUSSOV
31
30
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
Marketplaces winning in the consumer battle
GROWTH IN MARKETPLACES OUTPACES E-COMMERCE
Growth in value generated by Marketplace models has significantly outpaced E-commerce
Marketplaces have accelerated due to inherent network effects and possibility to also deliver services
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
The rise of customer-centric marketplaces
EXPANSION OF VERTICALS AND ONLINE ADOPTION
DRIVES SECTOR GROWTH
Most of the value in the sector was historically concentrated in classifieds, restaurant and travel
marketplaces; however, recently, there has been huge growth in vertically integrated marketplaces 2.0
(fashion, restaurants, etc.) and services (mobility, healthcare, and leisure)
Classifieds have materially declined as a proportion of value, as they monetise less of the transaction
and offer a less compelling customer experience, driven by consumer demand for specialisation of
search, with marketplaces offering a more complete set of specialised products
E-COMMERCE
MARKETPLACE (ALL VERTICALS)
VALUATION OF MARKETPLACE AND E-COMMERCE BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANIES
SPLIT OF MARKETPLACE BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANIES BY VALUATION
RESTAURANT
CLASSIFIEDS
SERVICES
MOBILITY
AUTOMOTIVE
FASHION
TRAVEL
4.1X
INCREASE IN VALUE
OF MARKETPLACE
BILLION-DOLLAR COHORT
2017
2014
2018
2019
2015
2020
2016
8
COMPANIES
$18BN
IN VALUE
44%
5%
8%
9%
33%
22
COMPANIES
$75BN
IN VALUE
48%
4%
5%
9%
10%
7%
18%
2015
2020
CHAPTER 2
SECTOR INSIGHTS
33
32
EXPERT VIEW
Expert view:
Glovo
OSCAR PIERRE
CO-FOUNDER & CEO OF GLOVO
At the beginning, I did not imagine Glovo would become so
big. In my first entrepreneurial venture, I wanted to build a
project from scratch that I could lead and I liked the concept
of Postmates in the US, where anything in your city could be
quickly delivered to your door. After spending more time with
our Co-Founder Sacha Michaud, who had a lot of experience
and saw the business really accelerating, we increasingly
began to see the huge potential of the business.
Two key inflection points contributed to this. First, Glovo was
initially just an app where you could order anything you wanted
with the touch of a button, and was not really growing fast.
After we decided to build a marketplace, the hard work to
bring McDonalds on the platform transformed the business.
The profile of the business was boosted, we saw a lot of
organic traffic, and lowered our delivery fee to one euro. It all
skyrocketed after that.
The second inflection point was realising that our model
could work in multiple cities, in other countries. We had built
significant market share in the delivery space in Spain and Italy
by late 2017. While we could have stayed a smaller project in
Europe or sold the business, we aimed higher as we realised
that this was a project with unique potential. In 2018, we
launched in about 14 countries. We start from zero, build at
the city level and then see synergies countrywide. We easily
entered Latin America, with a similar language and culture, and
other countries we thought attractive.
We learned many lessons along the way: it is a very local
business, so competitive dynamics matter at the city and state
level, do not enter a region if you are not the first mover unless
you have a lot of cash or local operators are poor, and quickly
shut down if things are not working. Usually the economics do
not work if you are not the market leader.
For us, food delivery is a massive entry point of user
acquisition and it generates a lot of engagement. Our vision
is to be relevant on many more categories related to local
services. For example, we quickly expanded our grocery
delivery programme as a response to the lockdowns in our
cities, and are looking at opening in new categories, for
example in events and ticketing. Our goal is offering more
services, making the life of every citizen easier.
We had many challenges over the years, and one of the
biggest has been fundraising. We were a small company
from Barcelona when Spanish venture capital was still early,
and the investor mind-set was extremely different from the
US. Our focus has not been on maximising valuations, but
on partnering with teams that can really help the business.
Another challenge was strengthening our tech brand
positioning. We have massive product development and need
to attract top engineers internationally. We are actively hiring
from all over the world, and we need to continue hiring to get
where we want to be.
Our culture is very important to us and has remained the same
so far: we are transparent and as the underdog remain humble
and believe in intuition. We also care a lot more about the
upside than the potential downside. Cultural fit is paramount,
and we see that individuals who do not fit these values are
quickly rejected by the rest of the team.
As many entrepreneurs, two things excite and motivate me:
impact and building. We have 100,000 couriers and millions of
users across the world, and it is exciting to build products for
them. I do not think everyone should be an entrepreneur; it is
difficult and even if you have an amazing team, you need luck.
With the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, I think governments will look
at our platform in a different way and our model can evolve to
continue fulfilling our mission: to deliver anything anywhere.

OSCAR PIERRE
35
34
CHAPTER 3
Europe’s Next Generation
EUROPE’S NEXT GENERATION
How did we do?
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, LinkedIn, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
70% of the companies we ranked in 2018 as the most likely to become
a unicorn have reached a >$1bn valuation in the past 48 months
THE 2018 TOP 10 CONTENDERS
The following chapter considers the businesses that are nearing the billion-dollar threshold. We aim to highlight the companies
that are demonstrating the greatest ambition and taking the largest risks, as well as the countries and sectors that are set to
propel the most companies into the billion-dollar category.
We analysed more than 700 European startups that have raised over $20m since 2014 to obtain the top 50 companies with the
most potential to become billion-dollar companies in the next three years.
Our analysis considered three important factors. The first was scale – the amount of capital raised and the company’s headcount.
The second was velocity – growth in capital raised and headcount. Finally, we looked at sentiment – we ran a survey among top
European VCs to choose the companies they believe to have the highest potential of reaching billion-dollar status.
So, how did we do compared to 2018? Looking back, 70% of the top contenders of 2018 are unicorns today and many of our
other predictions are on a clear path to reaching the billion-dollar mark. Among this cohort were notable Enterprise Software
companies such as AppsFlyer, and Fintech giants such as N26 or iZettle.
The unicorns of tomorrow will continue to be drawn from a diverse spread of sectors and geographies. We predict that certain
sectors and countries will continue to have an edge in the creation of unicorns; however, we believe that regions such as Israel
or the Baltics will keep growing fast. Enterprise Software and Fintech continue to lead the charge towards Titan status in terms of
sectors on the rise. Meanwhile, the UK and France, as well as Germany would likely remain the country hotspots where the Titans
of tomorrow find their feet.
ALL COMPANIES ANALYSED COMPLY
WITH THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:
TECH COMPANIES ONLY, WITH A BIAS TOWARDS
INTERNET / SOFTWARE (CLEANTECH AND BIOTECH
ARE EXCLUDED IN OUR ANALYSIS)
HEADQUARTERED IN EUROPE (INCL. ISRAEL)
FOUNDED IN 2000 OR LATER
RAISED $20M+ OR HAD AN ENTERPRISE
VALUE OF $400M+ FROM 2014 ONWARDS
EXCEPTIONS MADE FOR SEVERAL
FAST-GROWING COMPANIES
OUR FORMULA TO ASSESS THE
CONTENDERS IS DATA-DRIVEN:
SCALE (1/3): CAPITAL RAISED OVER THE LAST
THREE YEARS AND HEADCOUNT AS AT MARCH 2020
VELOCITY (1/3): GROWTH IN CAPITAL RAISED
IN 2020 VS. 2019 AND GROWTH IN HEADCOUNT
BETWEEN MARCH 2017-20
SENTIMENT (1/3): CROWDSOURCED FROM
THE EUROPEAN VC COMMUNITY
AND THE GP BULLHOUND TEAM
2020
7/10
ARE NOW
UNICORNS
2018
TOP 10
$3.5bn
$1.6bn
$1bn
$1.6bn
$2.3bn
$2.2bn
OUR BILLION-DOLLAR CONTENDERS
$2.5bn
37
36
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, LinkedIn, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
The GP Bullhound team analysed more than 700 European startups that have raised over $20m since
2014 to identify the top 50 companies with the most potential to become billion-dollar companies in
the next three years
All of these companies were assessed by GP Bullhound’s team for scale, velocity and sentiment, from
which we have generated a top 50 ranking of the most promising European startups
Europe’s most promising startups
THE 2020 TOP 50 CONTENDERS
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, LinkedIn, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
The next European billion-dollar company?
THE 2020 TOP 10 CONTENDERS
From our ranking of Europe’s top 50 contenders, the top 10 European startups that have the potential
to become billion-dollar companies in the next three years are highlighted below
For the sentiment, scores for the top 10 companies are rebased as a percentage of the leading
company of that metric (100%)
100%
99%
97%
97%
92%
91%
91%
91%
84%
80%
RANKING BY SENTIMENT SCORE
CHAPTER 3
EUROPE’S NEXT GENERATION
2020
OVERALL
RANK
39
38
The next European billion-dollar company?
BY GEOGRAPHY AND SECTOR
We analysed the top 50 contenders and plotted them by sector and geography to create a heat map that
sheds light on which countries or industries are most likely to produce the next billion-dollar companies
Enterprise SaaS, Fintech and Cybersecurity, and the UK, France, DACH, and the Nordics appear to be the
most represented
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, LinkedIn, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
EXPERT VIEW - CONTENDERS
Expert view:
Contenders
TIM SADLER
JEAN-CHARLES
SAMUELIAN
ALEXANDRE PROT
CO-FOUNDER & CEO
TESSIAN
CO-FOUNDER & CEO
ALAN
CO-FOUNDER & CEO
QONTO
“My co-founders and I started Tessian in 2013. We saw that organisations were spending billions of dollars
on cybersecurity solutions to protect their networks and devices, but did not make that same investment in
protecting the human element.
Our Human Layer Security platform uses machine learning to automatically protect employees on email from
risks such as data exfiltration, accidental loss and phishing attacks. We believe the most effective security
solutions empower people to work safely, without impeding productivity.
Since 2013, we’ve raised $60m in funding from investors such as Sequoia and Accel, opened offices in
London and San Francisco, and were fortunate enough to have our investors’ guidance to help us continue
growing. Europe is a hotbed for tech superstars, with a wealth of talent to support tech start-ups like Tessian
continue to innovate, and there is much opportunity for European tech start-ups to be successful globally.”
- TIM SADLER, CO-FOUNDER & CEO, TESSIAN
“We co-founded Alan in 2016 with Charles Gorintin, after experiencing both personal and professional
frustration with the healthcare system. Some of the pain points we saw included difficulties in accessing
information and finding the right specialist due to cumbersome administrative systems.
With technology we believe healthcare can be frictionless, fair and friendly for everyone. Our focus is
a human-centric, preventative, digital and transparent model that allows full ownership of the patient’s
wellbeing. We were the first digital health insurance company in Europe, the first independent provider
licensed in France since 1986, and we are expanding in Spain and Belgium. Today we cover 80,000
members from 5,000 companies, and offer services beyond insurance, such as proactive care, finding the
right doctor, and quicker responses.
The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced our vision, as the increasing demand for digital, compliant and
compassionate health services has started to drive a big shift that we think we are very well positioned to
lead with our international team.”
- JEAN-CHARLES SAMUELIAN, CO-FOUNDER & CEO, ALAN
“The idea for Qonto came from our frustration with traditional banks: pricing lacked transparency, services
were not seamless, and while some neobanks addressed consumer banking, there was no adequate
solution for businesses. Focussing on these issues and the needs of SMBs, we started Qonto in 2017. My
co-founder and I have known each other since secondary school, but most importantly together started our
previous business, smok.io; we clearly faced challenges in dealing with traditional banks with that company.
Although businesses in Europe face different regulations and environments in the various countries, fintech
startups have the benefit of single license banking, which makes operating in Europe similar to that of a
large single market, such as the US. We operate in France, Italy, Spain and Germany using one license that
can be passported according to EU regulations.
I believe Covid-19 has expedited the adoption to fully digital banking services. While larger banks often
need M&A to expand, we have the advantage of starting with a clean slate and offer comparable services
to everyone where we operate. With our localised approach, the mission remains: seamless services, more
transparency, and lower costs.
- ALEXANDRE PROT, CO-FOUNDER & CEO, QONTO
CHAPTER 3
41
40
EXPERT VIEW
Expert view:
Vivatechnology
JULIE RANTY
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF VIVATECHNOLOGY
VivaTech is Europe’s biggest startup and tech event. Our main
mission is to gather under one roof all the actors of innovation,
corporates, VCs and startups to collaborate and foster
innovation for the common good.
Today, the Covid-19 crisis is having a short-term negative impact
on the cash flow of many tech players. However, at the end of
the 2009 financial crisis, it was the tech sector that revived the
real economy by becoming the largest contributor in terms of
jobs in Europe. I am convinced that this trend will be even more
apparent in this crisis. In my opinion, this crisis will push tech
companies to seek to be profitable more quickly and also to be
more meaningful.
However, the current crisis also highlights the issue of European
digital sovereignty even more clearly. European tech is at a
crossroads: it has tremendous advantages with a highly skilled
workforce and is leading the pack in areas such as AI, but it is
also facing obstacles in terms of unifying the European market
and attracting capital, which is needed to create champions.
One of the most notable developments among people doing
business is this generation’s quest for meaning, which is true of
founders as well as of the talents who join them. We have also
seen that 100% tech4good projects have the ability to scale up;
for example, BackMarket and Ynsect.
Since the first edition of VivaTech, we have been keen to
promote tech4good initiatives, to help them grow by connecting
them to corporates, investors and talents and by giving them
maximum visibility. In my opinion, the Covid-19 crisis is an
opportunity to accelerate these trends because it corresponds
deeply to the expectations of society. This will take a lot of
effort, however, because there is still a lack of available funds.
Diversity in tech is also not progressing positively at the
moment. Less than 10% of founders are women and less than
3% of funding is raised by women. The same is true for social
diversity today. I see four concrete pathways to improving
things: identify role models to encourage vocations of all kinds,
help finance projects set up by female entrepreneurs and
connect them with investment funds, make tech education
available from an early age, and implement the extension of
paternity leave.
At VivaTech, we take these subjects very seriously. We launched
the Female Founder Challenge two years ago, for example,
and we set an objective to have 40% women speakers. We
showcase very innovative startups in terms of social inclusion.
We also work with Nos quartiers ont des talents to enable
thousands of young people from all walks of life to discover
digital professions.
Europe may be the Next Big Thing. The tech4good trend is on
the upswing and the number of scaleups is growing rapidly.
However, VivaTech’s goal must be twofold: to support the
growth of the European ecosystem, and at the same time to
ensure that this growth is responsible, sustainable and inclusive.
JULIE RANTY
43
42
CHAPTER 4
Late-stage funding
Late-stage funding (rounds of more than $50m) is crucial in helping companies generate sufficient growth and market share to
compete on a global scale. One of the historical weaknesses in the European tech ecosystem has been the lack of late-stage
financing available for Europe’s technology leaders – but not anymore, as access to capital is no longer a constraint.
In 2019, we note a 2.3x increase in value of late-stage funding flowing to Europe’s tech leaders, with $18.9bn invested across
135 transactions (1). Despite COVID-19, the funding environment remains robust and in 2020 YTD at time of writing, the number
of transactions is double that in 2018 and in line with 2019 (2). Investors continue to be more confident than ever, deploying large
sums of capital to European leaders.
Where are investors putting their money? Of the cumulative $24bn invested across 2019 and 2020 YTD (183 transactions in
total), the largest share of funding went to Enterprise Software (35%) and Fintech (33%) (3). Notable rounds include $200m
each for Enterprise Software leaders EcoVadis, Cybereason and SentinelOne, and $500m for challenger bank Revolut (to
become the jointly most valuable fintech in Europe alongside Klarna) (4).
That is not to say B2B is stealing the show. Across this period, 20% was invested into Marketplaces (5). This includes $550m
for Babylon Health to continue its mission of delivering affordable and accessible healthcare and $141m for Vinted to grow its
sustainable pre-loved fashion marketplace (6).
There are now multiple established pools of capital investing in Europe, with investments from a diverse mix of investors (from
growth funds, corporates, alternative / public equities, to sovereign wealth funds) from all regions. In our view, this clearly
demonstrates the level of innovation and ambition of European startups and founders with the ecosystem playing a meaningful
role in bringing innovation to the market globally.
This record level of investment bodes well for the future of European tech. Well-funded leaders now have robust balance sheets
to continue pursuing growth and expansion, whilst others have the required access to capital to stay the course through the
COVID-19 pandemic.
LATE-STAGE FUNDING
(1) See page 46 of this report for more information and sources (2) See page 47 of this report for more information and sources (3) See page 50 of this report for
more information and sources (4) See pages 10-11 for sources (5) See page 50 for sources (6) See page 24 for sources
45
44
Significant growth in late-stage funding rounds in Europe, with a 2.3x increase in combined value
from 2018 to 2019
Availability of capital is no longer a constraint in Europe
130% growth in late-stage funding
SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN CAPITAL FOR EUROPEAN
TECH LEADERS
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Investments greater than $50m between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2019.
$100M+ ROUNDS
$50M+ ROUNDS
NUMBER OF DEALS
$6.8BN
$8.1BN
$18.9BN
2017
2018
2019
53
73
135
2.3X
INCREASE IN VALUE OF
LATE-STAGE FUNDING
IN EUROPE
CHAPTER 4
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, activity levels and capital raised remain robust year-to-date
Investors remain confident in deploying capital to European leaders
2020 year-to-date is double 2018
FUNDING ENVIRONMENT IN EUROPE REMAINS ROBUST
THROUGH MAY 2020
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Investments greater than $50m between 1 January 2017 and 14 May for each year.
24
44
48
2018
2019
2020
$6.6BN
$5.1BN
$2.7BN
CAPITAL RAISED AND NUMBER OF DEALS BETWEEN 1 JANUARY AND 14 MAY
LATE-STAGE FUNDING
47
46
EXPERT VIEW
Expert view:
Intercom
DES TRAYNOR
CO-FOUNDER & CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER OF INTERCOM
In 2011, my Intercom co-founders and I worked together at
Contrast, a design consultancy agency that we also co-founded.
We built products on the side, one of which was a developer
toolkit, Exceptional. As an internet business, we struggled to
personally connect with our customers. After building a small
speech bubble feature into Exceptional that popped up when
people logged in, we realised this tool solved a universal
problem all internet businesses faced: talking to and building
relationships with customers. We then sold Exceptional and
focused on that product, which is now Intercom.
Our vision is to develop technology that would let internet
businesses build great relationships with their customers
in a personal and engaging way, all real-time. When we
founded Intercom back in 2011, companies such as WhatsApp
and Facebook Messenger started to emerge, and we saw
consumers’ preference for chat and messaging come to life.
We did not believe this preference was only contained to C2C
communication and we wanted to build something that would let
people and businesses talk to each other in the same way.
This is effectively the second business my team and I co-
founded and I believe that having a shared vision, values, and
ambition is the glue that keeps us together. We want to build
a generational company that fundamentally changes the way
businesses connect with customers. This is obviously a very
broad ambition, and our founding team is united on the problem
we are trying to solve, and the size, scale and type of business
we are building.
Today, we cater for companies of 500 or more people with
support and sales teams in multiple regions. Atlassian,
Scottish Power, New Relic and others are making big bets on
our platform, which is incredibly exciting. We have invested
heavily in automation, both on the workflow level and in the
more common form of chat-bots, which has become a new
differentiator for us.
We first opened our platform to third-party developers in 2014
and in 2018 we enabled developers to build apps that appear
in the UI of the Intercom Business Messenger, making us the
first business messenger to power more than just live chat. We
recently launched our new App Partner Program, allowing us to
collaborate on sales and marketing opportunities with our app
partners, including Slack, HubSpot, Stripe, and others. Our
ecosystem is record-strong, with 250+ apps, over 100,000
installs, and three out of four Intercom customers are using
these apps every week. Their adoption of these apps and
our APIs shows us that our messenger is the place where
business happens.
As we continue to move upmarket, interoperability is
important. To seamlessly plug into the tools our larger
customers rely on, we are improving our existing integrations
with CRMs and CDPs, such as Salesforce. Larger customers
also rely on targeting to prioritise conversations and make
sure their interactions with priority businesses are personal.
Our integrations with Clearbit, Marketo, and others allow
customers to leverage data for segmenting and targeting
customers and prospects. We are also bolstering our APIs so
app partners can build deeper integrations, and our customers
can develop tailored solutions for their businesses. From
a customer journey standpoint, we are the only company
offering a Conversational Relationship Platform that helps
businesses build relationships with their customers and drive
growth at every stage: from converting website visitors, to
onboarding, engaging and supporting customers.
Having started in Ireland and then expanding to San Francisco,
the biggest differentiator in 2011 between Europe and San
Francisco was access to capital. In the Valley, $1M on $6M
could be raised with a good deck and evidence you could
build a product. In the 2011-European VC world, customers,
revenue, fast growth, etc., were needed to approach that
valuation. As a result, we and many other promising startups
of our generation ultimately incorporated in the US instead of
Europe. Today, there are many more ambitious funds in Europe
willing to pay top prices.
Similar to our industry peers, we are seeing challenges
arise out of the economic impacts of this global crisis.
While it is difficult to predict all the ways our business will
be impacted by COVID in the future, we are confident that
there is significant opportunity. Businesses more than ever
need a platform that enables personalised messenger-based
experiences at every stage of the customer journey, without
sacrificing efficiency or scale.
DES TRAYNOR
49
48
Concentration of investment in Enterprise Software, Fintech and Marketplace companies
Many of Europe’s category leaders have attracted significant late-stage funding in the last 18 months
Where are investors putting their money?
$24BN INVESTED IN 2019 AND 2020 YTD ACROSS 183
TRANSACTIONS
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Investments greater than $50m between 1 January 2019 and 14 May 2020. Chart presented based on value raised. Selected company logos only; this is not an
exhaustive list of all transactions.
35%
33%
20%
9%
3%
1%
CHAPTER 4
ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE
FINTECH
MARKETPLACES
OTHER
DIGITAL MEDIA
E-COMMERCE
A diverse mix of investors are investing in Europe – access to capital is no longer a constraint
Ecosystem plays a meaningful role in bringing innovation to the market globally
Multiple established pools of capital
ALL INVESTOR TYPES & REGIONS ARE INVESTING
IN EUROPE
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Investments greater than $50m between 1 January 2018 and 14 May 2020, where lead investors are publicly disclosed – investment total divided equally between
identified lead investors. Selected investor logos only; this is not an exhaustive list of all investors.
69%
15%
11%
5%
GROWTH
INVESTORS
CORPORATES
ALTERNATIVE/
PUBLIC EQUITY
SOVEREIGN
WEALTH FUNDS
LATE-STAGE FUNDING
51
50
EXPERT VIEW
Expert view:
Babylon
DR ALI PARSA
FOUNDER & CEO OF BABYLON
In founding Babylon, we wanted to create an organisation that
could make healthcare accessible and affordable by delivering
it to devices people already have – today there are 2.5bn+
smartphones globally. That is why we are leveraging the power
of AI to increase access, put more information in the hands of
people, ensure earlier opportunities for intervention and as a
result improve treatment outcomes and help to reduce costs.
Salaries for doctors and nurses make up two-thirds of all
healthcare costs almost anywhere in the world. With COVID-19,
many telemedicine companies have boasted of doubling or
tripling the number of doctor consultations, or a massive hiring
of doctors, but this has not solved the affordable accessibility
problem. A doctor on their mobile phone costs the same as in
their office and is just as busy, so this does not help to reduce
the strain on healthcare professionals.
At Babylon, this pandemic has shown us what we can do.
With the significant surge in demand and shortage of clinical
resources, we built a COVID-19 Care Assistant solution to give
the most appropriate care by the most appropriate resource,
while safeguarding our clinicians for the patients who need
them most. Our emphasis has been on giving patients access
to quick, reliable medical information and answers so that in
most cases they can take the necessary action without having
to speak to a doctor.
Thus, while we have tripled the number of patients, we have
only increased the number of doctors by 25% because 80%
have already been supported. Our app has automated tools for
patients to access information. By using our human-operated
live chat support application, we are able to automate some of
the pattern of repetition with a bot. From these tools, if need
be, we can still connect a patient with a doctor for a virtual
consultation to ensure their specific needs are met.
The simple rethinking of solutions like this will result in
meaningful change, making healthcare more affordable and
accessible, including the billions previously left behind.
It is time these solutions are applied to assist with significant
challenges, such as management of chronic conditions, from
diabetes to mental health. Now that we have seen what can
be done in meeting one crisis, there is no excuse to ignore
the chronic crises that we struggle with.
Some of the most significant healthcare costs relate to timing
and prevention versus treatment, as almost 70% of healthcare
money goes into predictable preventable diseases. Seeing
a problem early on could mean a $10 solution rather than
$4,000 by seeing it too late. By helping people to better
monitor and manage their health, we can gather more insights
that can help to predict or identify issues earlier, meaning we
provide a better model of healthcare.
This can be done in even the poorest countries in the world.
For example, in Rwanda we already serve one-third of the
population and we recently announced a new long-term
relationship with the government to create a nationwide
primary healthcare service. The government is helping to
make healthcare available and affordable for everyone, and like
Rwanda, any other country can improve its healthcare through
our technology.
My advice to entrepreneurs is ensure you have investors with
a long-term horizon to back your big dreams. At Babylon we
are lucky to have found such investors, which is rare. I am
proud of our investors as I think it takes a lot of guts to solve a
long-term problem such as healthcare in a fundamental way.
DR ALI PARSA
53
52
CHAPTER 5
On the path to Europe’s
first Tech Titan
Eight Tech Titans currently walk the globe – the most ever – and up from six last year. Baidu has left the club, whilst Tesla has
seen its valuation increase by 270% year-on-year to $149bn at time of writing (1), valuing the company more than Volkswagen, the
world’s biggest car maker by volume. With incredible valuation growth over the last 12 months, we welcome two new marketplace
entrants from Asia: Pinduoduo and Meituan-Dianping.
Founded in 2015, Pinduoduo is one of the fastest growing marketplace startups in the history of China, reaching $15bn of GMV
in only two years, a milestone that took incumbents Alibaba and JD.com five and ten years, respectively, to accomplish (2).
Despite such large established competitors, Pinduoduo achieved its incredible growth by successfully gamifying the shopping
experience for mundane everyday products with a browsing-centric rather than search-centric model, driving engagement
and user retention. Still unprofitable, many are sceptical of the company’s long-term sustainability, but the stock has gone from
strength-to-strength in the public markets since IPO in July 2018.
While the US and Asia remain hotspots on the Titan landscape, we believe Europe is on the cusp of its first Titan.
Emerging European Titans include Adyen, Spotify, Delivery Hero, JustEat Takeaway.com (formed from the mega-merger this year
of JustEat and Takeaway.com), and Zalando. For many years, Spotify has led the charge towards becoming Europe’s first Tech
Titan, but this year Adyen has overtaken Spotify as the highest valued tech company in Europe.
In 2006, Adyen was founded as a fledgling operation with a team of around a dozen. Fast forward a decade and Adyen is a
global company with over 1,200 employees across more than 20 offices. In the past decade, Adyen saw the continued rise
of e-commerce in an increasingly globalised world, acceleration in innovation across the financial services industry, and ever-
changing consumer expectations between online and offline activities. Profitable since 2011 and now processing more than
€240bn in transactions per annum (3), it is likely to benefit from the recent acceleration of online retail.
Streaming giant Spotify now accounts for c.80% (4) of all music consumption in key markets, such as the US, with 286m monthly
active users globally, up 31% from one year ago (5). Spotify remains the biggest of all streaming platforms, but its well-capitalised
competition is also growing. That said, this does not seem to be slowing Spotify down, with Q1 2020 being the third consecutive
quarter of year-on-year growth in monthly active users above 30% (6).
Despite the turbulence in the markets, we believe Spotify and Adyen have the potential to reach a valuation of $50bn or more.
ON THE PATH TO EUROPE’S FIRST TECH TITAN
(1) See page 56 of this report for more information and sources (2) Natanson, E. (2019, 4 December) The Miraculous Rise Of Pinduoduo And Its Lessons. Forbes.
Retrieved from www.forbes.com. (3) See page 59 of this report for more information and sources and (4) Perez, S. (2020, 26 February) Streaming services
accounted for nearly 80% of all music revenue in 2019. TechCrunch. Retrieved from www.techcrunch.com. (5) Spotify’s financial results for Q1 2020 (6) Spotify’s
financial results for Q1 2020.
55
54
There are currently eight Tech Titans in the world
Baidu has left the club due to its valuation falling below $50bn and two new marketplace entrants from Asia
have joined: Meituan-Dianping and Pinduoduo
While the US and Asia remain hotspots on the Titan landscape, we believe Europe is on the cusp of its first Titan
The Tech Titans
WHO ARE THEY?
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
+14%
+272%
=
+114%
=
+202%
(9%)
=
(37%)
$589BN$149BN$150BN$91BN$75BN$73BN$57BN$56BN$33BN$518BN$40BN$150BN$43BN$75BN$24BN$62BN$56BN$53BNCY VALUATION
LY VALUATION
FACEBOOK
TESLA
ANT
FINANCIAL
MEITUAN
DIANPING
BYTE
DANCE
PINDUODUO
UBER
DIDI
CHUXING
BAIDU
CHAPTER 5
Pinduoduo is one of the fastest growing marketplaces in China, achieving a GMV of $15 billion only
two years after its founding. It took incumbents Alibaba and JD.com five and 10 years, respectively, to
achieve this (1)
Unlike most marketplace platforms, Pinduoduo’s platform search bar is located at the bottom of the
front page, making it browsing-centric rather than search-centric
Pinduoduo is still unprofitable, mainly because of its heavy marketing spending to fuel growth, but its
valuation has increased from its last private valuation of $13.6bn to $72.8bn in the public markets
A disruption case study
PINDUODUO: GAMIFYING THE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, Pinduoduo Annual Report (2019), and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Valuation correct as of 14 May 2020.
(1) Natanson, E. (2019, 4 December) The Miraculous Rise Of Pinduoduo And Its Lessons. Forbes. Retrieved from www.forbes.com.
HIGHER VOLUME
AND SALES
LOW PRODUCTION
AND SUPPLY
CHAIN COSTS
MORE SAVINGS
TO USERS
MORE VALUE-
FOR-MONEY
PRODUCTS
MORE USERS
MORE SAVING
MORE FUN
VALUATION
MORE INTERACTIONS
AMONG USERS
BETTER
UNDERSTANDING
OF USERS
BETTER USER
EXPERIENCE
MORE TRUST AND
RECOGNITION
$13.6BN
$72.8BN
APR-2018
SERIES D
MAY-2020
NASDAQ
“TOGETHER, MORE SAVINGS, MORE FUN”
KEY PERFORMANCE METRICS
REVENUES
$1,908M
$268M
$4,329M
2017
2018
2019
ON THE PATH TO EUROPE’S FIRST TECH TITAN
57
56
Europe’s emerging Titans
LEADING THE CHARGE
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, and GP Bullhound analysis
Note: Cut-off date for inclusion in report 31 March 2020; valuations correct as of 14 May 2020.
(1) versus 13 May 2019 (2) as of 14 May 2020 (3) Adyen Annual Report (2019) (4) Spotify Annual Report (2019) (5) DelieryHero website (6) combination of equity raised by both
companies before merger (7) Yandex website and (8) Zalando website.
Five multi-billion dollar European companies are frontrunners to become Europe’s first tech titan
Adyen overtakes Spotify as the highest valued European tech leader, with its valuation increasing
+50% versus last year (1)
ORIGIN
FOUNDED
RAISED
(TO DATE) (2)
VALUED AT (2)
FACTS
€240BN PAYMENTS VOLUME
PROCESS IN 2019 (3), 51% YOY
GROWTH
1,200 FTE ACROSS MORE THAN 20
OFFICES (3)
29% YOY PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS
GROWTH, TO 124 MILLION (4)
50M+ TRACKS AND 700K+
PODCASTS (4)
TAKEAWAY.COM ACQUIRED JUST
EAT IN JAN-2020 FOR $8.3BN (7)
4.2BN SITE VISITS IN 2019,
33% YOY GROWTH (8)
€6.5BN IN REVENUES 2019,
20% GROWTH VERSUS 2018 (8)
666M ORDERS IN 2019, 80% YOY
GROWTH (5)
€1.4BN OF REVENUES
GENERATED (5)
PETER VAN
DER DOES
2006
DANIEL EK AND
MARTIN LORENTZON
2006
N.A.
2000
ROBERT GENTZ AND
DAVID SCHNEIDER
2008
NIKLAS OSTBERG,
KOLJA HEBENSTREIT,
MARKUS FUHRMANN AND
LUKASZ GADOWSKI
2011
$1.3BN
$2.3BN
$1BN (6)
$1BN
$1.4BN
$32.1BN
$28.3BN
$15.4BN
$14.2BN
$17.7BN
CHAPTER 5
On the path to becoming Europe’s Titan
Source: Capital IQ, Mergermarket, Pitchbook, Crunchbase, press releases, Adyen Annual Report (2019), GP Bullhound analysis, and Lunden, I. (2015, 30 September) Ayden
Adds New Funding From Iconiq, Values Dutch Payment Group At $2.3B. TechCrunch. Retrieved from www.techcrunch.com.
Note: Valuation correct as of 14 May 2020.
Founded in 2006, Adyen operates as a global payments platform, integrating the full payments stack –
gateway, risk management, processing, acquiring, and settlement
In the past decade, Adyen has seen the continued rise of e-commerce in an increasingly globalised
world, an acceleration in innovation across the financial services industry and ever-changing consumer
expectations between online and offline activities
Profitable since 2011 and now processing more than €240bn of transactions per annum, Adyen is
likely to benefit from the acceleration of online retail as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic
ADYEN: BUILDING THE FUTURE OF PAYMENTS
VALUATION
2006
2016
€66BN
2014
2017
2018
€159BN
NET REVENUES
€349M
€218M
€497M
2017
2018
2019
2015
2019
€240BN
$1.5BN
VALUATION
$2.3BN
$8.3BN
$24.5BN
$2.3BN
$32.1BN
SEPT-2015
STILL PRIVATE
MAY-2020
EURONEXT AMSTERDAM
KEY PERFORMANCE METRICS
PROCESSED VOLUME
ON THE PATH TO EUROPE’S FIRST TECH TITAN
€32BN
FOUNDED
2011
1ST YEAR AS A
PROFITABLE COMPANY
UNICORN STATUS
INVESTMENT
INVESTMENT
JUNE 2018
IPO
31 DEC 2019
MARKET CAP
OBTAINED
EUROPEAN
BANKING LICENSE
€108BN
59
58
METHODOLOGY
Methodology
OUR METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES
AUTHORS
WE HAVE INCLUDED:
Tech companies only, with a bias towards Internet / Software
(Cleantech and Biotech excluded).
Companies falling into the following macro-sectors:
E-commerce (e.g. sale of goods or services), Audience (e.g.
monetisation through ads and lead gen), Software (e.g.
license of Software), Gaming (including gambling), Fintech,
Marketplaces and Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality (AR/VR).
Headquartered in Europe (1).
Founded in 2000 or later.
(1) Including Israel; and companies which were founded in Europe and later relocated to different geographies
With an equity valuation of $1bn+ in the public or private
markets (including acquired companies).
FIRST CAVEAT: Our sources only include public data (e.g. data
platforms such as Capital IQ, Pitchbook, press articles, etc.),
and the accuracy of our dataset is limited to the disclosed data.
SECOND CAVEAT: For this year’s report, companies are tracked
for inclusion as billion-dollar companies until 31 March 2020
with valuations updated as of 14 May 2020, unless otherwise
stated, which has obvious limitations related to, for example,
the state of equity markets, recent company performance, etc.
We crunched the data on the European billion-dollar technology companies founded since 2000, with
the aim of analysing what it takes to create a outstanding success
ALESSANDRO
CASARTELLI
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ALON
KUPERMAN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
IMAN
CRISBY
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
MARKETING
JENNIFER
ELLER
RESEARCH EDITOR
ANDREA
LÓPEZ
DESIGN COORDINATOR
MANISH
MADHVANI
MANAGING PARTNER
ADAM
PAGE
VICE PRESIDENT
ALEXIS
MAJOS
ANALYST
MARIA
MACIAGOWSKA
ANALYST
SANDRA
NÚÑEZ
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
(1) League table data represents selected transaction advisors. Time period is 2016-Q4 2019. Global M&A transactions between $10m and $300m
ABOUT US
About Us
Our Marquee Credentials
GP BULLHOUND
GP Bullhound is a leading technology advisory and investment firm, providing transaction advice and
capital to some of the best entrepreneurs and founders. Founded in 1999, the firm today has offices in
London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin, Manchester, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid and New York.
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
CAPITAL TRANSACTIONS
INVESTMENTS
INSIGHTS & EVENTS
We are the no. 1 global advisor (1) to leading technology
companies in competitive international sale and acquisition
processes. The firm has completed 420 successful M&A
transactions to date, worldwide, with a total value of over $18bn.
We are a leading global advisor to companies and their owners
on capital related transactions including venture capital, growth
capital, acquisition funding, secondary block trades and initial
public offerings. The firm has completed 120 rounds of financing
for technology companies to date, with a total value of $2bn.
Through our investment team, we provide investors with access
to category leading technology companies. Our five closed-end
funds have a total value of more than €170m and our limited
partners include institutions, family offices and entrepreneurs.
Our events and speaking activities bring together thousands
of leading digital entrepreneurs and technology investors
throughout the year. Our thought-leading research is read by
thousands of decision-makers globally and is regularly cited in
leading newspapers and publications.
ECOVADIS
INVESTMENT BY
CVC GROWTH
PARTNERS
$200M
BALTIC
CLASSIFIEDS
GROUP
ACQUISITION BY
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SLACK
INVESTMENT BY
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FIMALAC GROUP
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JOY
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CANDICE
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PRIOR
JAIME
SENDAGORTA
ROBERT
AHLDIN
BEV
BOETTCHER
GIOIA
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JOAQUIN
DEL RIO BRIONES
OLIVIA
HORNSTEIN
FELIX
LUTJEN
PRAVEENA
MUTHUKUMAR
SVEN
RAEYMAEKERS
MINYA
SHIDHAYE
JOHANNES
AKERMARK
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ADAM
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CECILIA
ROMAN
MARIA
SOSNA
REDA BEN
LARBI
ADAM
BIRNBAUM
JON
CANTWELL
ALEC
DAFFERNER
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MARTIN
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EHRICHS
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TABBERER
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CAREW-GIBBS
JOAKIM
DAL
RAVI
GHEDIA
MARIA
LAZAREVA
SIMON
MIREMADI
DIPAM
PATEL
OLIVER
SCHWEITZER
DAVID
TRAVIS
KARL
BLOMSTERWALL
IAN
CARROLL
CARLOS
DE LA ESPERANZA
HAMPUS
HELLERMARK
PIERCE
LEWIS-OAKES
JAIME
MORENO
BEN
PRADE
ALEXIS
SCORER
VINCENT
WEI
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