Europe’s technology landscape is witnessing a significant surge in billion-dollar companies, with over 600 unicorns now calling the continent home. Vestbee’s new report, European unicorns report: market dynamics, trends, and challenges, delves into the systematic growth, evolving investment climate, and persistent hurdles shaping the trajectory of these high-value companies.

A maturing ecosystem amongst global uncertainties

Europe has now produced a cumulative total of 606 unicorns, with six companies (Neko Health, Tines, Dren Bio, Loft Orbital, Namirial, and Diagnostyka) achieving unicorn status in the first quarter of 2025 alone. This promises a renewed momentum after turbulent years, which saw a significant market correction following the 2021 boom. Between 2022 and 2024, the number of new unicorns sharply declined, and many existing unicorns saw their valuations significantly reduced as investors reassessed “paper valuations.” During this time, investors shifted their focus from rapid growth at any cost to prioritizing sustainable and solid business fundamentals.

In 2025, investment activity signals a gradual recovery, and an ecosystem is seeing a resurgence in spin-outs from existing unicorns, contributing to a compounding “flywheel” effect. What is more, a strong sectoral focus on healthtech and AI signals increasingly favorable conditions for emerging startups to scale toward unicorn status on accelerated timelines.

Investment tides and sectoral strengths

The report highlights sustained momentum in late-stage investments, critical for scaling ventures, with $3.6 billion raised in mega-rounds (exceeding $250 million) in Q1 2025 alone, accounting for 15% of all capital. This resurgence follows a period of market recalibration and builds upon a longer-term trajectory of significantly increased capital availability across the continent over the past decade. For instance, major economies like the UK, Germany, and France collectively attracted approximately $250 billion in venture funding in the last ten years, a stark increase from pre-2014 levels, fundamentally transforming their capacity to nurture high-growth companies. 

Currently, Europe’s unicorn landscape reflects global trends, spanning a diverse range of sectors. The three dominant industries by number of unicorns are enterprise software, fintech, and healthtech. Demonstrating the dynamic evolution of market needs and technological advancements, the fastest-growing sectors over the past five years have included legal tech, fintech, robotics, and energy. 

Geography of European unicorns

While North America remains a dominant force, Europe's share of new global unicorns has steadily risen to represent 20-30%. Unicorn creation is, however, concentrated, with the United Kingdom (185 unicorns), Germany (74), France (60), Sweden (46), and the Netherlands (34) collectively accounting for over 70% of all European billion-dollar companies. Key urban hubs like London (Europe’s largest unicorn city), Paris (a rising force in AI and deeptech), Berlin (a creative tech capital), Stockholm (high unicorn density), and Amsterdam continue to drive innovation. 

Encouragingly, the report notes that 11 ecosystems which had no unicorns before 2015 now boast at least one, indicating a broadening geographic footprint, though market fragmentation persists.

CEE is a region of exceptional growth and capital efficiency

The report dedicates a special section to Central and Eastern Europe, a region demonstrating exceptional dynamism. The CEE has produced 56 unicorns, with its startup ecosystem value skyrocketing to €243 billion — a 15.5-fold increase since 2015, significantly outpacing Europe’s average 7x growth. Poland leads in cumulative ecosystem value (€58 billion) and absolute unicorn numbers (14), while Estonia excels in unicorns per capita and breakout capital.

CEE unicorns, such as the Ukrainian-rooted no-code CRM platform Creatio (valued at $1.2 billion after a $200 million funding round in June 2024), often reach billion-dollar valuations with less capital compared to their Western European counterparts. A striking 21% of CEE unicorns were bootstrapped, versus a 5% European average. Despite this capital efficiency, the region faces challenges, including limited access to late-stage funding and a trend of scaleups relocating headquarters (48%), primarily to the US (56%) or other European countries (39%).

Access the full report

The full report on the European unicorn market, its dynamics, trends, and challenges, featuring detailed data and case studies, is available on Vestbee.