Sifted - Europe’s 250 fastest-growing startups 

Good morning there,

It’s all felt a tad gloomy in Europe’s tech world recently, with battery giant Northvolt coming a cropper and every other AI company announcing it’s opening an office in the US. 

But today we’re bringing you some festive cheer. First up, there’s the inaugural Sifted 250 — our ranking of the 250 fastest-growing startups, by revenue, over the past three years — showing that plenty of companies are developing rather nicely on the continent. 

Then there’s my colleague Mimi Billing’s interview with ride-hailing giant Bolt’s CEO Markus Villig, who’s predicting a bumper period of growth for his business once self-driving cars become a reality. And an update on the EU Inc movement, which has well and truly galvanised ‘startup Europe’ behind its mission to create a pan-European company structure to make it easier for startups to grow, faster, in Europe.

Elsewhere today:

• Another big AI legaltech round: Lawhive raises $40m from Google Ventures 
• Energy storage startups 101
• ‘We don’t know what sauce entrepreneurs are going to be eaten with next year’: What France’s government collapse means for startups
  

– Amy Lewin, editor

How to find (and attract) top talent
In the fast-paced world of startups, slow hiring can hold back your growth. Learn how to hire faster — and smarter — at our free, virtual Sifted Talks on December 12.

Europe’s 250 fastest-growing startups 

Hear ye hear ye, Sifted’s first ranking of Europe’s 250 fastest-growing startups (in partnership with Zoom) is now live. And I suggest you have a look, because there are a few surprises in the lineup.

I’m not going to spoil the running order (which you can discover here) but there’s a strong performance from consumer-facing tech companies. Although these became a “do not touch” category for some investors after the bruising tech downturn — riskier bets seemed easier when money was cheaper — these startups clearly didn’t get the memo, and have been reporting some respectable revenue growth that will give VCs cause for regret. 

Only half of the companies in the 250 hail from the big three: UK, Germany and France. The rest are up-and-comers scattered across the continent — we see you, Lithuania. 

What else? The huge variety of climate tech startups that make the cut — from carbon accounting software and hydrogen startups to electric vehicles and energy storage specialists — is noteworthy. Still, it’s the old tech stalwart, fintech, which hoovers up four of the top 10 spots (oh you lucky revenue-scooping digital banks, you). The industry has recovered some of its shine in 2024 following an underwhelming 18 months of funding.

As for the big debate in the wake of the collapse of battery maker Northvolt — namely, can Europe produce deeptech hits? — the 250 doesn’t offer much encouragement: there are only 11 deeptechs on here and nine of these sit outside the top 50. But it must be said that deeptech is, generally, still in the early stage of its monetisation journey, and in a few years time we may see far more representation for this sector.  

Another surprise is how the list is a safe haven — for the most part — for anyone with a little AI fatigue. The sole generative AI company in the top 50 is London’s V7. Further down the list, in 134th place, is another London company, Cleo, which creates sassy AI assistants that can help you manage your money better (and/or make fun of you when you spend half your salary on takeaways). We expect the shortage of AI companies to be a one-off: having ranked startups on three years of revenue growth, some young but rapidly-growing AI companies didn’t qualify this time — although it feels likely they’ll hug the top of future leaderboards.

In a special report to go with the ranking, you’ll find interviews with the top 10 companies, as well as a list of all the investors who backed the top 50. We also surveyed the 250 ranked companies and discovered, for example, that 90% of respondents do not plan to up-sticks and move their HQs out of Europe in order to continue growing (phew).   

We’ll be back in 2025 with the second year of Sifted Leaderboards, starting with the Sifted 100: UK & Ireland, and again, culminating with the Sifted 250. I’d encourage anyone whose company is on the up-and-up to join the mailing list for updates on how to apply — but for now, enjoy the pick of the bunch for 2024.

— Éanna Kelly, commissioning editor

🌭 ‘We don’t know what sauce entrepreneurs are going to be eaten with next year’: What France’s government collapse means for startups. 

• Just three months after he was appointed, French prime minister Michel Barnier was removed by MPs last night — leaving a big question mark over the country’s budget for 2025. The budget will determine whether startups can count on a number of tax breaks, as well as the costs of hiring employees, leaving many founders in limbo when it comes to their own budgets for 2025. Daphné Leprince-Ringuet finds out what the French tech scene makes of it all.

👩‍⚖️ Google has doubled down on legaltech Lawhive in a $40m Series A amid a flurry of investment in startups deploying AI in the sector. 

• The round was led by existing investor Google Ventures and new investor TQ Ventures. Balderton Capital, Jigsaw, Episode 1 and professional footballers Harry Maguire and Reece James also participated.
• The startup is one of many in Europe that has cashed in on VC FOMO as investors bet big on the commercial opportunity brought by AI streamlining laborious legal processes like drafting and reviewing documents. Lawhive will spend the funding on US expansion.

📝 The EU Inc movement is gathering pace. There’s now a draft blueprint for Brussels — which the whole of Europe’s startup ecosystem is invited to help write — on how exactly the idea would work in practice. 

• The blueprint covers what the idea for a pan-European company structure would mean for investment, employee shares, taxes and employment. The organisers hope to hand it over to policymakers in January. 

🇪🇸 After years battling with Spanish courts, Barcelona-based food delivery giant Glovo will now hire its Spanish riders as full-time employees. “This will remove future legal uncertainty in Spain,” said a Glovo spokesperson via email. The change will affect around 15k riders, says Glovo — although the company hasn’t made it clear when exactly it will come into play.

• Since 2021, Spain’s ‘riders’ law’ has classed couriers as employees of the platforms they work for. Glovo has — until now — mostly continued to class its couriers as freelancers. 
• When Glovo’s parent company Delivery Hero announced the decision on Monday, it warned of a €100m hit to earnings.
• Yesterday Glovo CEO and cofounder Oscar Pierre testified in court in Barcelona over alleged workers’ rights violations. He spoke for 15 minutes, reports El País; and both Pierre and his lawyer said the timing of the announcement that Glovo would now employ its riders, coming one day before the court appearance, was a “coincidence”.

Startup founders, this one’s for you.

Get Sifted for Startups, our free subscription for founders and senior management teams looking to grow and scale their businesses. You’ll unlock unlimited access to our journalism plus chances to be featured across our media. 

🚖 “Self-driving cars could grow our business 100x.” That’s according to Markus Villig, founder and CEO of Bolt, the ride-hailing company that’s become a serious competitor to Uber in Europe and will hit €2bn in annual revenue this year. 

• Villig sat down with Sifted’s Mimi Billing to talk about the future of autonomous vehicles, why Europe’s e-scooter market is struggling and his plans for Bolt’s IPO. Read the full interview here.  

🥇 Allica Bank tops Sifted ranking of 250 fastest-growing companies in Europe.

🔏 How AI could make a designer out of any employee. (Sponsored by Canva)

• Europe’s energy storage startups have raised €8.4bn so far in 2024 — the most of any sector — largely down to Northvolt’s short-lived €5bn debt facility in January. It’s had a temperature check since Europe’s best-funded startup entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in November.
• Although hardware companies producing storage batteries (like Northvolt) have faltered, it’s the software applications helping energy storage systems run where VCs now see the most room to innovate, writes climate tech reporter Freya Pratty in this week’s energy storage briefing.
• Sifted identified 60 pre-seed to Series A startups operating in Europe, including Spanish startup Basquevolt, which is developing solid-state lithium batteries and has raised $51m since its launch in 2021, and Nanom, an Icelandic company developing applications for existing nickel-iron and lithium-ion batteries.

Surge ahead of your competitors by reading our energy storage briefing, exclusive to Sifted Pro. 

Pro subscribers have access to Sifted’s full back catalogue of sector briefings. Interested in subscribing? Find out more here.

We’re listening – tell us what matters most

Our mission is to be the critical friend of the European startup community, and we want to hear from you. Take our 10 minute survey to share your thoughts on Sifted’s content so we can continue providing you with the highest quality news and experiences.

Cantanhede, Portugal-based CarboCode, a biotech company which enables the production of compounds present in breast milk but absent from formula milk, raised €15m in Series C funding led by Iberis Capital.

Berlin-based Refoxy Pharmaceuticals, which provides medicines to treat age-related diseases and extend the years of healthy living, raised €9.1m in seed extension funding. Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund led the round and was joined by investors including Apollo Health Ventures, NRW Venture and High-Tech Gründerfonds.

Cambridge, UK-based 52North, which provides fully-integrated clinical, AI and medical-device based systems, raised €6m in funding. KHP Ventures and Cedars-Sinai led the round and was joined by investors including OKG Capital, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Cancer Research Horizons and Macmillan Cancer Support.

Dublin-based Bounce Insights, an AI-driven consumer insights platform designed to deliver real-time, actionable insights to businesses, raised €4.2m in funding. ACT Venture Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Irrus Investments, Enterprise Ireland and Digital Irish Venture Fund.

London-based Stackfix, which helps to compare business software with AI, raised €2.8m in seed funding. Chalfen Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Seedcamp, Helloworld, Paul Forster, Mehdi Ghissassi, Matt Clifford, Alice Bentinck and Charlie Delingpole.

If you’d like to submit a deal, get in touch. 

For more deals, analysis and M&A insight, become a Pro subscriber to receive our weekly Deals newsletter.