Europe is the fastest growing region in the world for tech businesses, but the UK is the undisputed tech capital of Europe.
This is according to tech Investment firm GP Bullhound‘s annual report “Titans of Tech“.
The report analyses the health of the tech industry in Europe in 2018 and it found that:
“In 2014, Europe’s tech ecosystem included 30 billion-dollar companies founded since 2000; in 2018, this figure has shot up to 69 amounting to a cumulative valuation of $240 billion
“The UK has added six new billion-dollar tech companies in the last 12 months, meaning it now has 26 of the continent’s most successful tech companies.”
Putting it Together
Speaking to Computer Business Review, Alessandro Casartelli, Director at GP Bullhound told us: “Bringing this report together was an interesting and challenging experience. Data is difficult to collect and the team worked hard to validate sources and information.”
“We had to stay up to date and keep our process agile to ensure the final version captured all significant events. Some large transactions led us to amend the entire report.”
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“These movements are reflective of the growing dynamism of Europe’s tech industry, and this will help Europe’s billion-dollar tech ecosystem create its first $50 billion titan in the next few years,” he added.
European Market
In the European market, GP Bullhound identified five key markets that are fostering the growth of billion-pound businesses. Sweden, Germany, Israel and Russia are cited. The UK is also included and: “has produced the highest number of billion-dollar companies in Europe since 2000.”
“These are serious businesses with serious valuations and revenue. The number of tech companies with a valuation of more than $5 billion has increased by 75 percent since 2016, and the combined value of Europe’s billion dollar tech companies is actually growing faster than the US or Asia,” the report states.
However, while Europe is stated to be growing faster than the Asian market, GP Bullhound found that Asian investors account for 55 percent of mega round investment in Europe so far in 2018, which is an increase from 35 percent last year.
Since 2014, five companies shave emerged in the European tech scene with an evaluation over 10 billion, Yandex, Zalando, Supercell, MobilEye and Spotify.
Spotify has been ranked by the report as Europe’s leading tech company with an evaluation of over 22 billion pounds.
“As of 2017, Spotify accounted for 36 percent of streaming music subscribers worldwide,” the report notes.
