Tech.eu and Stripe have released the “Life is Growth” report today, analysing Growth-stage technology funding in Europe.
The report states that the UK is still a step ahead of its European peers with €8.82 billion invested in growth stage tech between 2016 and 2018.
The findings in a nutshell:
- Investment in growth-stage technology in Europe has nearly doubled from 2016, going from €6.88 billion invested to more than €11,66 billion in 2018.
- The figures revealed today that the total of financing going to British, German, French and Swedish growth startups in this time period exceeds €21 billion. This represents 70% of the total investment, and nearly double the amount raised by tech companies in the next 20 countries in the ranking. Similarly, the vast majority of investors are based in the UK (roughly 25% of the total), France and Sweden.
- Fintech MedTech and Saas have been the most popular industries for investors, generating over €12,14 billion in growth-stage funding in the past three years, far outstripping other sectors. Alone, these 3 sectors concentrate more than 40% of total investment in European growth-stage businesses.
Investment in European growth-stage technology companies is at an all-time high
European technology has been going from strength to strength with total capital invested into European growth-stage companies at €30bn and more than 2,300 rounds, between 2016 and 2018.
On an annual basis, both the total investment in growth startups and the number of funding deals have roughly doubled in the last three full years.
Overall, more than 2,000 startups have reached growth-stage, with a median size of investment round of €10M.
Fintech, medtech and Saas lead the investment charge
Similarly to what is happening with seed investment, the report found that fintech startups such as Monzo (UK) and N26 (Germany), and MedTech startups such as PushDoctor (UK), Kry (Sweden) and Doctolib (France) have benefited most from the influx of growth-stage investment.
They have each received €5.38bn and €4.22bn in investment respectively over the last three years.
“The European startup ecosystem is on the right track to create technology giants in the years to come. Seed investment is strong and growth investment is getting stronger, year after year. But while the UK, France, Germany and Sweden are frequently seeing the birth of globally competitive tech companies, the rest of European hubs lag behind”, said Guillaume Princen, Head of Continental Europe at Stripe.
“Startups are in Stripe’s DNA and we want to abstract the complexity of starting and growing a global business, regardless of where it was initially started.”
Robin Wauters, founding editor of Tech.eu, said: “Until now, there’s never been an analysis specifically focused on growth-stage tech companies in Europe.
“After working with Stripe on an exhaustive report about early-stage investment activity, we’re delighted to present our latest research on European scale-ups. What it showcases is that there’s an ongoing maturation process in place, particularly in key hubs and business categories, which bodes well for the future of European tech.”