europe's hottest startups

14 Oct

The Hottest Startups in Dublin in 2024

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Thanks to low corporation tax and government incentives, Dublin has hosted the European Headquarters of many large US technology companies—Google, Meta, LinkedIn and Microsoft all have offices in the city’s Silicon Docks.“The big US companies operated independently of the startup world for many years,” explains Will Prendergast, partner at Frontline Ventures. “But in the last five years, US technology companies have been building product and engineering functions here, and that talent is starting to spill out, driving startup creation.”Government support via Enterprise Ireland’s Pre-Seed Start Fund, designed to accelerate early stage startups, and hubs such as Dogpatch Labs are supporting…

14 Oct

The Hottest Startups in London in 2024

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In the “Startup-up, Scale-up” review report published last year, chancellor Rachel Reeves promised to make Britain the “high growth, start-up hub of the world”. Now, almost six months into the new government, entrepreneurs remain encouraged by the promises made in the Labour manifesto. “The ambition embodied in Great British Energy and the 2030 decarbonization targets is precisely what we need and deserve,” says Shilpika Gautam, CEO of greentech startup Opna, about Labour’s energy policies. “It's high time the UK caught up with the policy and financing innovations in other countries, such as the Inflation Reduction Act in the US.”Amit Gudka,…

14 Oct

The Hottest Startups in Madrid in 2024

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Having spent many years as second fiddle to Barcelona, Madrid surpassed its Catalan cousin in 2023 with startups securing €605 million ($672 million) investment above Barcelona’s €457 million ($507 million). “Lots of Latin American talent is arriving thanks to the recent entrepreneur visa and talent programs run by Telefonica to bring promising startup founders from Mexico, Argentina, Columbia and Venezuela,” explains Bu Haces, innovation consultant at Madrid’s Impact Hub.The city has seen solid growth in transportation, mobility and fintech startups during the last three years with AI and deep tech supercharged by an astonishing 56 universities. “The business schools in…

14 Oct

The Hottest Startups in Helsinki in 2024

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Helsinki’s startup scene evolved around behemoths such as Nokia, games giant Supercell and food delivery platform Wolt. It’s reaping the rewards with experienced entrepreneurs, investors and engineers powering a lively scene based around the Aalto University campus and the startup festival Slush, one of the world’s largest gatherings of investors and startups.“We appreciate work-life balance and collaboration,” explains Jonne Kuittinen, deputy chief executive of the Finnish Venture Capital Association. “The Supercell guys were very open about paying all their taxes in Finland and this giving back mentality is visible now these founders are helping out on a lot of the…

14 Oct

The Hottest Startups in Lisbon in 2024

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Two years ago, Jon Fath moved with his family to Portugal from the Netherlands with the sole purpose of launching a fintech startup there. “This country is brimming with talent and ambition,” Fath says. “I thank Lisbon for welcoming me, along with so many other expats and entrepreneurs, so warmly.”Indeed, it’s no surprise that the European Commission named Lisbon as 2023’s European Capital of Innovation, while the Financial Times, in partnership with Statista, ranked two Portuguese startup hubs in Europe’s top ten startup hubs—including the Unicorn Factory Lisboa, which launched in 2022 and has already supported more than 820 startups…

14 Oct

The Hottest Startups in Amsterdam in 2024

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The 2023 Atomico's State of European Tech Report reveals Netherlands to be a standout success, cementing its position as a star player in the startup ecosystem. In terms of capital invested in its private tech companies, for instance, it’s risen back into the top five countries with a projected $2.1 billion. And while the UK has seen the share of its European capital invested drop by almost three per cent within the last three years, the Netherlands comes out top, capturing the biggest gains in Europe at almost 2 per cent. The hub of the Netherlands’ startup ecosystem is Amsterdam,…

14 Oct

The Hottest Startups in Zurich in 2024

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Home to fine cheese, breathtaking scenery and footballing politics (FIFA HQ overlooks Lake Zurich), Switzerland’s largest city is also a financial juggernaut. The central square of Paradeplatz is its beating heart, where the Swiss banking system pumps venture capital funding into a thriving tech ecosystem—around CHF 72 million (more than $1 billion) was poured into Zurich startups alone in 2023.Fintech is a natural major player, but if the banking industry is the ecosystem’s engine, innovation is its fuel. Many of the city’s most exciting startups began life as student projects at its world-leading universities, which provide a steady flow of…

14 Oct

The Hottest Startups in Paris in 2024

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In the past two years the French capital has been in the throes of AI fever and has launched some of Europe’s most talked-about startups, including Mistral, which is currently valued at $6.2 billion (£4.7 billion). That’s partly down to the support the industry has received. President Emmanuel Macron has given French AI startups some emphatic political backing, while telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel has provided much investment and will to finance national ambition. In September 2023, Niel invested €200 million ($212 million), splitting that money between funding for startups such as Mistral, an AI research lab called Kyutai and a…

14 Oct

Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem Can Make It the New Palo Alto

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For over a decade, the tech industry has been chasing unicorns—those elusive startups valued at over $1 billion. The obsession began in 2013, when Aileen Lee—a Palo Alto–based VC—coined the term that captured the imaginations first of founders and investors, and then prime ministers and presidents. But these mythical beasts are also rare: only 1 percent of VC-backed startups ever reach this status.As society enters the age of AI, and financial markets put renewed value on business fundamentals, our understanding of what makes a successful tech company is evolving. Promise alone doesn't make a national, regional or global champion. Champions…

14 Oct

The Hottest Startups in Stockholm in 2024

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Why is Stockholm, a capital city with a population less than one million, home to global brands such as Skype, Spotify, Klarna and Minecraft? “I think it has to do with the Swedish creed,” says Ben Eliass, CEO of bodycare brand Estrid. “It's a nation which put emphasis on high-quality education and invested heavily in telecoms infrastructure in the nineties, so we all grew up with high-speed internet.”Many also credit a social welfare system that acts as a “safety net” for entrepreneurship. “It allows people to take high risk and start companies, not needing to be too afraid of the…