The definitive take on European tech
in partnership with
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Co-authors and hosts
Tom Wehmeier
Sarah Guemouri
Niklas
Zennström
Atomico
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Vigreux
TomTom
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Tony Blair Institute
for Global Change
Fireside talks
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Atomico
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Black Seed
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Siemiatkowski
Klarna
Janneke
Niessen
CapitalT
Linda Griffin
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Ilkka Paananen
Supercell
Miki Kuusi
Wolt
Marianne Vikkula
Wolt
Riku Mäkelä
Wolt
Industry leaders and experts

Our data partners
Our report partners
State of European Tech 2021
01
Europe
a global tech
force
Capital Invested in 2021
$100B+ 98 100
A groundbreaking year for
European tech
$3T+
New $1B+ Companies in
2021
Total Ecosystem Value
Investment at a
whole new level
Cumulative month-by-month capital invested ($B)
Note:
All Dealroom.co data excludes Israel and the following:
biotech, secondary transactions, debt, lending capital, and
grants. 2021 figures show data up to November 2021.
Source:
2020
2021
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
75
50
25
0
100
$B
Note:
All Dealroom.co data excludes Israel and the following:
biotech, secondary transactions, debt, lending capital, and
grants. 2021 is annualised based on data to September 2021.
Led by “mega”
megarounds
Capital invested ($B) by round size and by year
Source:
2017
<$100M
>$100M
2021E
$60B
10x
Capital invested in
$100M+ rounds
$6B
$16B
$42B
Waking up to European tech
of rounds with US investor
participation versus
19% in 2019
28%
1 in 3
# of investors investing
in $100M+ rounds
in 2021 versus 2019
$100M+ rounds involved
a crossover investor
versus 5% in 2019
3.1x
Note:
Founder respondents only. Numbers do not add to 100 as respondents may have mentioned keywords assigned to multiple themes.
Source:
Capital invested per capita ($) by country quartile
Europe is not
even close to its
full potential
2020
2021
Third
quartile
countries
$184
Note:
All Dealroom.co data excludes Israel and the following: biotech,
secondary transactions, debt, lending capital, and grants. 2021 is
annualised based on data to September 2021. Population data from
UN, with data shown for countries with >300,00 inhabitants.
Source:
Bottom
quartile
countries
Second
quartile
countries
Top
quartile
countries
$497
$152
$52
$5 $10
$1 $1
cities
98
countries
28
Great European
tech companies
can come from
anywhere

A record number of unicorns and decacorns
40 $10B+
321 $1B+ companies
The era of European big tech is upon us
$178B
2020
$352B
First VC-backed $100B company is on the horizon
$97B
$59B
2020
Source:
Note:
S&P Capital IQ Platform, as of date 5 November 2021,
for illustrative purposes only.
A watershed
year for
European tech
exits
Total enterprise value ($B) by route to liquidity (2021)
M&A
IPOs &
Direct
Listings
SPACs
All
VC-backed
$275B
$62B
$140B
$112B
$101B
Note:
S&P Capital IQ Platform for IPOs, direct listings and
SPACs is as of date 15 November 2021, for illustrative
purposes only. Dealroom data for M&A is based on data
up to September 2021.
Source:
A step change in valuations globally in 2021
Note:
2021 figures are as of 16 November 2021.
Source:
$45M
$115M
Median pre-money valuation
$24M
$9M
EARLY STAGE
LATE STAGE
2019
2020
2021
2019
2020
2021
EARLY STAGE
LATE STAGE
2019
2020
2021
2019
2020
2021
A step change in valuations globally in 2021
Note:
2021 figures are as of 16 November 2021.
Source:
$95M
Median pre-money valuation
$25M
$100M
$505M
75th percentile pre-money valuation
EARLY STAGE
LATE STAGE
2019
2020
2021
2019
2020
2021
EARLY STAGE
LATE STAGE
2019
2020
2021
2019
2020
2021
European tech
is creating value
faster than ever
Total enterprise value ($T) of European tech
$3T
Dec
2018
Dec
2020
Aug
2021
$2T
$1T
8
months
$1T added in just 8
months
Note:
All Dealroom.co data excludes Israel and the following: biotech,
secondary, transactions, debt, lending capital, and grants. Based on
private markets valuation of European tech companies as of
September 2021 and S&P market capitalisation of public European
tech companies as of 15 November 2021.
Source:
The macro context is not lost on the industry…
Higher interest rates and
inflation
53%
41%
Public market sentiment
and performance
Loss of competitiveness
due to policy decisions
53%
Note:
Founder respondents only. Numbers do not add to 100 as respondents may have mentioned keywords assigned to multiple themes.
Source:
What are the three main macro risks that you see that could lead to an
overall slowdown of VC activity in Europe over the next 5 years?
Powerful and irreversible tailwinds
European flywheel
Technology adoption
Animation test dropping here
Talent is
betting on tech
Founders and Operators
02
Founders and leaders with the best credentials
Multi-generational
experience
38%
With experience at a
$1B+company
19%
Note:
Based on Dealroom's analysis of 38,000 unique founders and leaders as defined in the methodology.
Source:
Today’s unicorn
mafias already
have a big
impact;
tomorrow’s will
be even bigger
Distribution of alumni founders and of $1B+
companies by founding decade
% of alumni founders
% of $1B+ companies
Note:
Based on Dealroom's analysis of 5,997 founders who
previously worked for a $1B+ European companies.
Source:
28%
4%
1980s
2010s
1990s
2000s
2%
18%
41%
25%
38%
44%
Cohorts of $1B+ companies by founding year and
by years of reaching $1B+ milestone
European tech
gets better with
each ‘vintage’
2000
2010
2015
2018
15
5
0
20
10
8
4
6
2
10
Note:
Source:
The strongest
ever pipeline of
early-stage
companies
Share of capital invested for deals <$5M by region
Europe
United States
2010
2021
2015
Note:
All Dealroom.co data excludes Israel and the following:
biotech, secondary transactions, debt, lending capital, and
grants. 2021 figures show data up to September 2021.
Source:
75%
54%
35%
33%
18%
26%
12%
% of
women
founders
% of ethnic
minorities
founders
% of
white men
founders
In your opinion, is it easier or harder to raise venture
capital in Europe than it was 12 months ago?
14%
Much harder
Somewhat harder
Unchanged
Easier
4%
10%
8%
18%
Note:
Founders only. Numbers do not add to 100 as respondents
selected up to three options.
Source:
It’s never easy to
raise capital
Share of total capital raised to date (pro-rated) by companies
who raised a round since January 2020 in Europe
Expanding the
talent
addressable
market
89.1%
66.4%
22.7%
1.8%
1.1%
0.7%
White
founders
White men
founders
White woman
founders
Black
founders
Black men
founders
Black women
founders
Note:
Based on Extend Ventures analysis of a sample of 4,684 tech
companies headquartered in Europe that have raised more
than $2M of total funding since 1st of January 2020.
Source:
Tech is the
engine for
European
growth
Source:
EU economy
European startups
and scaleups
19.4%
0.4%
Employment growth rate (%), 2021 versus 2019
Note:
Europe employment growth rate sourced from EuroStat.
Start-up employment data sourced from Dealroom.
~50x
higher
What if anything do you see as the greatest challenge facing the European
tech ecosystem in the next 12 months?
The greatest challenges facing European tech
Funding
29%
18%
Regulation
Talent
21%
Note:
Founder respondents only. Numbers do not add to 100 as respondents may have mentioned keywords assigned to multiple themes.
Source:
Young, talented
women leaders
Share of leaders by gender and years of experience
Men
Women
Note:
Based on Dealroom’s subset of 11,000 unique leaders as
defined in the methodology with perceived gender attribute
Source:
O-5 years
5-10 years
10-15 years
15-20 years
20+ years
25%
50%
75%
100%
16%
29%
24%
21%
19%
Better ideas, better companies
03
European
entrepreneurs
are shaping their
own path
Moonshots