Tough times for Europe’s billion-dollar startup club Predictably, a reduction in late-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 107 new companies hit a billion-dollar valuation. In our last year’s report we 昀椀rst introduced the concept of de-horned unicorns, $B+ companies who’s valua- tion has dropped below this milestone since 昀椀rst hitting it. In 2022, 58 dehorned unicorns were mapped with the equivalent 昀椀gure improving to 50 this year. Hence, in an effort for more clarity, then when referring to $B+ companies, we have in mind tech companies that command that that valuation still today. Number of new $1B+ European tech companies by year, 2014 to 2023YTD 125 s e 100 i n a p m o c h c 75 e t n a e p o r u E 50 + B 1 $ w e n f o 25 # 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: Sources: Data is as of 30 September 2023. Excludes the following: biotech, secondary transactions, debt, lending capital, and grants. 41 | Executive summary