Sifted

Sifted’s 250: Europe Leaderboard is out now! 👏 Selected from hundreds of applications, this ranking in partnership with Zoom, showcases the 250 fastest-growing startups across Europe in 2024 based on revenue growth. Across the year, Sifted has published seven leaderboards covering all corners of Europe from London to Athens and Berlin to Kyiv, to reveal the big themes across European tech in 2024. 🇬🇧 Congratulations to Allica Bank taking the #1 spot and all other startups featured. Our leaderboard is testament to the impressive European startup tech revival — thank you to everyone who applied over the year. Key takeaways unveiled ~ ~ Allica Bank from the UK tops the Sifted 250 Leaderboard with an impressive CAGR of 1438%, followed by Denmark’s kompasbank (1149%) and the UK’s Artios Pharma (697%). 🌎 London is home to 57 of these companies, followed by Paris (19), Stockholm (16), Berlin (13) and Milan (11). ~ B2B SaaS is the most represented vertical (75 companies), followed by fintech (64), climate tech (41), and consumer tech (38). ~ The 250 companies average €17m in annual revenue, contributing to a collective €4.2bn in revenue in their latest financial year.  📲 Digital banking is the top sector with 18 companies on the ranking Get to know the top 250 startups and investment teams backing them in our report here >> https://lnkd.in/e_FQaJyn Discover the full ranking here >> https://lnkd.in/ejq8PX2r #SiftedLeaderboards #EuropeanTech #StartupEurope

Lithuania has been ranked the world’s happiest country for young people. ☀️ Although one of Europe’s smaller countries, there are a number of reasons that Lithuania speaks to younger generations. Thanks to its innovative startup sphere and long-term potential for people looking to build a career and raise a family there, Lithuania is appealing to the most recent generation of tech talent. Here’s why young tech employees should set their sights on Lithuania: 🇱🇹 A fulfilling balance between personal and professional 🇱🇹 “The career ladder? Well, it’s there for climbing” 🇱🇹 The country is a hotbed for disruption, driving the innovation infrastructure Making young people happy is a talent itself. Keeping them happy can be trickier. Yet Lithuania seems to have mastered both. Read the full article with Work in Lithuania 🇱🇹: https://lnkd.in/e-Yv9u2X #Ad #StartupLithuania #StartupHub

Three years ago, I wrote about the Danish startup Hyme's breakthrough in renewable energy storage. Now, the startup is teaming up with dairy producer Arla to create the world's largest industrial thermal energy storage system. I spoke to chief commercial officer Nis Benn, who was pretty excited by it. “It will show that reducing CO2 emissions in large-scale industries is not only feasible but also economically attractive,” he said. The project is now seeking EU funding of €20m-30m and when funding is secured, plans to have the system up and running by 2029. More here: https://lnkd.in/denMzqM9

B2B SaaS is the shining star of the Sifted 250 🌟 B2B SaaS was the most represented vertical on the recent Sifted 250, taking 75 spots on the ranking of the 250 fastest-growing startups in Europe by revenue. However, the sector had the lowest average three-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of all the verticals at 178.7% with some resurgence in H2 in equity funding. Here are Europe’s 10 fastest-growing B2B SaaS startups by revenue: 🇫🇷 Kovalee (#7) — also taking #1 on the France Leaderboard. 🇩🇪 charles (#15) 🇬🇧 Yoti (#18) 🇬🇧 Deel IT (Previously Hofy) (#20) 🇸🇪 Done (#23) 🇩🇪 n8n (#25) 🇬🇧 Veremark (#27) 🇫🇷 Clone (#28) 🇩🇪 anybill (#34) 🇩🇪 AILY LABS (#35) Uncover the top startups CAGR, funding, investors and more in our Sifted Pro article here 👉 https://lnkd.in/drdMaewp Download the full Sifted 250 report, in partnership with Zoom >> https://lnkd.in/e_FQaJyn #SiftedLeaderboard #Sifted250 #B2BSaaS

Finding product-market fit goes beyond just solving a problem — it needs to resonate with the right customers in the right market. But how do you know when you’ve found it? And once you have, how do you keep it? Join our next Sifted Talks on Wednesday 22 January, as our panel of experts discuss all you need to know about finding — and maintaining — your PMF. 📍Online | ⏰ 12pm GMT Don’t miss out, RSVP here. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/e69e8NJc #SiftedTalks #Startuplife #Productmarketfit

How much does it *cost* to run a first-time VC fund? Raising a first-time VC fund is no mean feat — but neither is running a VC fund, as Carmen Alfonso Rico at Cocoa 🍫 has learnt over the past few years.    Today, in her second piece for Sifted on what it takes to get a new VC fund up and running, she details all the various costs associated with a fund — along with some sound budgeting advice for others following in her footsteps. This is *such* a useful read: https://lnkd.in/ex6euRFC 👏 #vc #venturecapital

H2 in review 🔙 As we close out 2024, European tech’s outlook is a stark contrast to the optimism following H1’s bumper €49.9bn funding spree. Debt and equity financing slowed, funding rounds dipped to decade-lows, and megarounds fizzled. But what does the data tell us? Key takeaways:    💸 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗽 – with 2,221 deals in H2, a 29% drop from H1 and the lowest number since H2 2012. 📉 𝟯𝟮% 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹 – driven by sharp declines in growth (-29%) and late stage (-55%) deals.  🌱 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 – Pre-seed, seed and Series A accounted for 38% of equity funding, up from 33% in H1. 💰 𝗗𝗲𝗯𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲 – Debt financing to European startups accounted for 36% of total funding in 2024 🧯 𝗠𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝘇𝘇𝗹𝗲 – Only 45 were recorded in H2, compared to 92 in H1 — a fall of 51% 🌍 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱 – Attracting €5.4bn, driven by massive debt rounds. It finished just ahead of B2B SaaS (€5.3bn). 🌟 𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀 – UK (€5.5bn), Germany (€3.1bn), France (€2.6bn) and Switzerland (€1bn) each surpassed €1bn in equity funding, but all dropped 30%+ apart from Germany. The bottom line: it’s been a year of two halves for Europe’s tech scene. Curious about the biggest deals, H2 highlights and what’s next for European tech? Read the full report here 👉 https://lnkd.in/euzcjJwD #EuropeanTech #SiftedH2review #StartupEurope

The EU AI Act is the world’s first-ever comprehensive legal framework on AI — and it’s sort of like marmite. Some people love it, as they say it’ll end the ‘wild west’ era of AI, while others hate it, as they say it could stifle innovation. What’s for sure is it’s happening and it’ll impact a huge range of businesses. One sector which will be strictly regulated is banking, due to the risks AI poses on the financial system. Are fintechs poised to benefit? #Ad with BCG X: https://lnkd.in/dUik-Nfh #fintech Featuring Kirsten Rulf, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) partner and associate director, Kåre Kjelstrøm, CTO of Lunar and Barney Hussey-Yeo, founder and CEO of fintech Cleo.

This is the story of the man who managed to catfish the VC ecosystem. 🎣 At the start of this year, Ian Slater had London’s VCs vying for his attention. Slater ran Gloucester Circus, a family office set up to invest in VCs and — in today’s tough fundraising environment — VCs were keen to get to know him. There was just one problem. Although the VCs, fellow family offices and even the lawyer that often accompanied Slater to events were real, his promises of money were often not. Read the full scoop by Freya Pratty here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eXjPt7en #VCnews #EuropeanVC #VentureCapital

Venture debt takes a record year according to Atomico'𝘴 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘛𝘦𝘤𝘩 report. 📈 Startups raised $4.7B in venture debt in the first three quarters of 2024, and it’s not going away any time soon. While late-stage funding remains suppressed, you can expect venture debt to remain a key tool to fund growth without diluting equity. David Bateman, managing partner of Claret Capital Partners, explains to Sifted “at a time when valuations are considered to be under pressure, it's more attractive to entrepreneurs and earlier stage investors to make use of venture debt than to make use of equity.” 📖 Take a look at what venture debt has offered startups in 2024 and what the forecast is for the coming year: https://lnkd.in/e4h9VXwX #Ad with Claret Capital Partners Featuring David Bateman, managing partner of Claret Capital Partners, Peter Aschmoneit, cofounder and CEO of consumer intelligence platform quantilope, Slava Kremerman ,cofounder and CEO of Zen Educate, Jean Hamon, founder and CEO of Hivebrite. #VentureDebt #Funding #StartupEurope