2023欧洲技术现状

Europe’s definitive tech report Proudly supported by The definitive take onEuropean tech A word from...0005 Executive summary0119 Companies0265 Talent03159 Fundraising04189 SOET community06245 A word from Atomico07A word from Orrick10A word from HSBC Innovation Banking13A word from Affinity15A word from Slush17A word from... A word from Atomico A word from the report co-authors After 2022 proved to be one of the most challenging years our ecosystem has ever faced, 2023 was nevergoing to be plain sailing. There’s no getting away from difficult macroeconomic conditions that Europe hasfaced this year, with Europe set to reach little over half of 2022’s levels at $45 billion by the end of the year - atrend being felt across the globe. What’s more, we’ve seen a slowdown in rounds of over $100M, with only 36 ofthese so-called ‘megarounds’, down from 163 in 2022 and almost 200 in 2021. This has also meant only 7 new$1B+ companies have been minted in 2023. And while dry powder is at a record high, the fundraising environ-ment for VCs has resulted in a compression of fund cycles. The venture asset class is certainly being put tothe test. 7|A word from... And yet, this year European tech has proven its resilience and shown signs of stabilisation. De-spite this tough macro environment, the ecosystem has bounced back to a value of $3 trillion,recovering the $400 billion that was wiped out last year; the layoffs that plagued 2022 havepeaked and levelled off, with the worst of them seemingly behind us; Europe’s overall fundinglevels, while experiencing the same pullback being felt across the globe, is still the third high-est on record at $45B, indicating that the ecosystem remains resilient, and is correcting itselffollowing the highs of 2021 and early 2022. Looking at the exit environment, the public markets have started to wake from their slumberafter an incredibly quiet first half of the year with signs of activity in H2. Arm’s $50 billion IPOmade the headlines earlier this year, paving the way for others to float and prising open the IPOwindow, ready for next year. M&A activity also picked up this year, adding $36 billion of value,but this is far from the levels recorded in 2020 and 2021. In terms of startup formation, Europe is now creating more new startups than the US, andwhile startup formation has slowed this year, this is largely due to the weeding out of first-timefounders, with the share of repeat founders remaining stable. That means a class of dedicatedfounders who are ready to face a higher bar to raise money, attract talent and win customers.This is now critical, given the easier access to capital in the US, despite both regions having thesame likelihood to scale to a $1B+ outcome. We’ve also found that talent in Europe’s ecosystem is proving to be one of Europe’s keystrengths. Despite challenges in the capital markets and a subsequent risk of layoffs, Europe-an tech is not losing its strong appeal to talent; there has not been any type of mass exodus oftalent out of the industry, but rather, we have seen net growth. In the last five years, Europeantech has expanded its workforce from slightly over one million employees to more than 2.3million today. Even more encouraging is the fact that Europe is gaining from talent flowing intothe ecosystem from the US, rather than losing out to them. We’re also seeing the proliferationof early-stage startups driving job creation; early-stage companies typically account for almostdouble the number of new joiners to the tech industry in each period, compared to growth-stage companies. This talent advantage is also bearing out in AI. Naturally, advancements in AI have dominatedthe media landscape, with fears that Europe is in danger of falling behind the US. The data,however, tells a different story. Not only does Europe have more AI talent than the UnitedStates, with 108,000 AI operators in Europe vs. 87,00 in the US, but also we’ve seen AI becomethe number one theme at Seed stage, including Mistral AI securing the largest seed round in Eu-ropean history. AI-focused companies made up 22% of all European megarounds this year, evensurpassing the levels in 2022, indicating that investors’ appetite to fund the sector remainsstrong despite the macro turbulence. This achievement is especially impressive when com-pared with the trend in the US, where the availability of growth-stage capital has a substantialimpact on the number of $100M+ rounds raised. Of course, AI is not the only sector where Europe has continued to perform,as the region continues to show dedication to solving humanity’s toughestchallenges. The Carbon & Energy sector, which encompasses ‘climate tech’,accounts for 30% of all capital invested in European tech in 2023, tripling itsshare of total investment since 2021. This made it the single largest sectorby capital raised, overtaking both fintech and software. It’s encouraging tosee capital flowing to companies solving the world’s most cruc