The European Union has been trying to nurture an ecosystem of startups for a long time that allows you to accelerate your digital and technological economy. And, at least at the weight level, it seems that it is achieving it: according to the latest reports, the member countries accumulate 132 companies called unicorns —those that exceed 1,000 million dollars in valuation—. yeson 85 more than last year. But, although the numbers sound good, when they come down to earth, other nuances are also seen.
One proof is that, for example, Gorillas, one of the companies immersed in the battle of the so-called ‘q-commerce’, like Getir or before He said, is the one that grew the most in valuation during 2021… But this week it has announced its closure in markets such as Spain.
The consulting firm i5invest has prepared the ‘European Unicorn & Soonicorn Report’a report that tracks the growth of these companies and also of their little sisters, the soonicorns, or aspiring unicorns in the medium term.
Spain has classic representatives, but it is not one of the fastest growing
According to the report, the 5 most valued unicorns in Europe are Klarna (€37.5 billion; Sweden), check out (€35.4 billion; UK), Revolut (€27.8 billion; UK), northvolt (€9.7 billion; Sweden) and Global Switch (9.6 billion euros; United Kingdom), revealing a clear FinTech focus at the top of the ranking.
By country, the RUnited Kingdom with 41, 25 in Germany, 23 in France, 6 in Sweden and 6 in Austria, these countries are the top 5 homes of unicorns. Considering all European unicorns, FinTechs have the highest average valuation, at €3.89bn, followed by their counterparts in EdTech, Marketing and HR, with an average valuation of €2.7bn.
In Spain, the report includes four well-known and habitual: Cabify, Glovo, Idealista and Jobandtalent like the Spanish unicorns on the list.
On average, a European unicorn has a valuation of €3.1 billion, funding of €562.7 million, has created 1,027 jobs and is 10 years and 4 months old.
Europe wants to catch up with the United States… But with North American investment
The report also reveals the importance of non-EU capital invested in European unicorns, as these investors represent 48% of the unicorn capitalization tables in Europe.
The US funds with the most European unicorns in their portfolio are Accel (19 unicorns), Index Ventures (12), Tiger Global (10), and TCV and General Atlantic (9 each).
The illusion of a new Spotify
This map coincides in dates with the South Summit held in Madrid or Spotify’s recent presentation of its global results, where it made it clear that it still has a lot to grow in markets where it is not dominant.
Specific, Spotify has 32% of the market in countries where it is established, competing in the United States strongly with Amazon Music, Apple Music or Tidal. Its weight in Europe, however, is much greater, where it far exceeds 50%.
And it is that one of the challenges of the startups of the Union seems to claim to be strong outside the EU, not to replicate models that may come from the United States or from other places.
It has been two years since Europe, while continuing to promote regulations such as the Digital Markets Law, launched its Roadmap for the technological improvement of Europe and curb its dependency more plagued by intentions than by concrete measures. In fact, many of them, such as the EU countries being able to prevent or at least place restrictions on the purchase of European start-ups by foreign companies, depend on a legal analysis that is expected to last another year.
Recover ‘digital sovereignty’ on the back of unicorns: Europe’s plan
Europe is trying to foster a new digital ecosystem through strategies such as the Single European Digital Market, still in implementation, or investing in their own technological unicorns. In part, also, because of the so-called “digital sovereignty”, an area in which Europe has long since picked up sail and now wants to try to recover.
And it is that, not in vain, in Europe there is the paradox that we are the market where there are more monopolies of North American companies. While in the United States, the use of, for example, Google or WhatsApp in their respective ranges —search engines and chat services— is enormous but has rivals that steal 10 to 30%, on European soil its weight is much greater.
According to a survey by BEREC, a telecommunications think tank that supports the European Commission, 74% of Europeans use WhatsApp as their main communication platform.
The case of Spain is especially decisive. According to the survey, in Spain 90% of users use WhatsApp as the main means of communication, ahead and far from Germany (79%), the second. It is curious, however, that in eastern and northern countries such as Estonia, Lithuania, Sweden or the Czech Republic, Messenger leads against WhatsApp. In any case, also from Meta.
That yes, until now, and beyond the market of the Fintech where companies like the Swedish Klarna, TransferWise or Revolut have managed to find their own spaces, the rest of the aspiring big European technology companies have based themselves in many cases on competing in sectors with already strong rivals, such as delivery or transport.
Cases such as those cited by the Spanish Glovo, the British Deliveroo, the Spanish Cabify or the Estonian Bolt in the second subsector have spent years adding rounds of financing and expansion on their way to one day aspire to be a global player.