Tough times for Europe’s billion-dollar companies Predictably, a reduction in growth stage funding round volume and a major reset in the valuation environment has led to a huge drop in the number of companies surpassing the billion-dollar valuation milestone for the 昀椀rst time in 2023. 2023 is on track to see the lowest number of new $B+ companies emerge from Europe in the last decade, with just seven as of the publication deadline at the end of October 2023. This is, of course, in stark contrast to 2021’s record-breaking total when 108 new companies hit a billion-dollar valuation. In last year’s report we 昀椀rst introduced the concept of de-horned unicorns, $B+ companies whose valuation has dropped below this milestone since 昀椀rst hitting it. In 2022, we mapped 58 dehorned unicorns. This year, that number has reduced slightly, with 50, meaning some companies have seen their valuation lifted back up above the billion-dollar level in 2023. For clarity, when referring to $B+ companies, we have in mind tech com- panies that command that valuation today. Number of new $1B+ European tech companies by year, 2014 to 2023YTD 125 108 s e 100 i n a p m o c h c 75 e t n a e p o r u 48 E 50 + B 1 38 $ w 31 32 e n 27 f 23 23 o 25 21 # 7 0 4 5 6 17 8 9 0 1 2 D 1 1 1 0 1 1 2 2 2 T 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 Y 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 0 2 Notes: Data is as of 30 September Sources: 2023. Excludes the follow- ing: biotech, secondary transactions, debt, lending capital, and grants. | 78