Last year the list of fastest-growing tech startups in Europe was dominated by speedy grocery and ecommerce companies. After a tumultuous 12 months in European tech, the tables have turned.
None of Europe’s fastest-growing companies reached the level of growth seen in this list last year, when speedy grocery company Flink topped the list with headcount growth of 1,232%. There are also a lot more consumer and climate tech companies on the list this year.
Below are European tech's top 9 fastest-growing companies in 2022, based on data from Dealroom.
We’re measuring growth based on how quickly companies have hired across the year. To avoid the results being skewed by small teams making lots of hires, we’ve focused exclusively on companies that have raised more than €50m in total.
1/ Nothing
Nothing, the hyped London-based startup building earphones and smartphones to try and rival the biggest names in the business, grew by 912% this year, to just over 3,000 employees.
It’s first phone — billed by founder Carl Pei as the “the most compelling alternative to Apple”, launched in July this year.
Founded: 2020
HQ: London
Team growth this year: 912% to 3,148 employees
Total funding: $342m
2/ Yokoy
Swiss fintech Yokoy grew by 613% this year. It sits in the popular SME spend management sector, competing with companies like Pleo, Soldo and Payhawk. It uses AI to automate spend management, combining expenses and corporate cards into one platform.
Yokoy raised an $80m Series B earlier this year, led by Sequoia, and now plans to expand beyond its current markets of Switzerland, Germany and Austria.
Founded: 2019
HQ: Zurich
Team growth this year: 613% to 221 employees
Total funding: $108m
3/ Polarium
The first entry on the list from the climate tech world is Sweden’s Polarium, which grew its headcount by 521% this year.
It makes lithium batteries that reduce the costs and environmental footprint of energy storage. Its batteries are fully recyclable and lose much less energy than other batteries on the market. The tech is used in telecommunications, electric vehicles and solar power.
The company became one of Europe’s deeptech unicorns in May this year, when it raised close to $100m.
Founded: 2015
HQ: Stockholm
Team growth this year: 521% to 298 employees
Total funding: $147m
4/ Borzo
Borzo runs a courier service, and its gig economy workforce delivers via any route, transport, package size or weight. It was founded in Russia and is now headquartered in Amsterdam. Its headcount grew by 435% this year.
Founded: 2012
HQ: Amsterdam
Team growth this year: 435% to 909 employees
Total funding: $57.6m
5/ 5ire
London-headquartered 5ire launched in November 2021 and has already secured a $1.5bn valuation. The company is building a sustainable blockchain, aiming to combat criticism that the industry is too energy intensive.
5ire secured a $100m Series A round earlier this year from UK conglomerate Sram and Mram.
Founded: 2021
HQ: London
Team growth this year: 364% to 116 employees
Total funding: $121m
6/ DNA Payments
Fintech firm DNA Payments helps businesses receive payments in person or online. It raised a £100m round from Alchemy Partners in 2021 and has grown its headcount by 359% this year, to nearly 200 employees.
Founded: 2017
HQ: London
Team growth this year: 359% to 188 employees
Total funding: $132m
7/ Payhawk
Bulgarian fintech Payhawk runs a B2B platform that provides financial departments a single place to manage the entire spending lifestyle from company cards and expenses to bills and invoices. It has grown its headcount by 299% this year, to 271 employees.
Payhawk raised a $115m Series B round at the end of last year — the second largest Series B for an Eastern European B2B company since UiPath. It then raised an additional $100m early in 2022, becoming Bulgaria's first unicorn.
Founded: 2018
HQ: Sofia
Team growth this year: 299% to 271 employees
Total funding: $236m
8/ Dune Analytics
Dune Analytics is an open-source, Ethereum-based data analytics platform that allows anyone to run data queries. It’s available for free and then has a paid subscription that allows people to analyse customised data sets. It is run out of Norway, and has grown its headcount by 280% this year, from 16 employees in January to 57 by the end of the year.
Founded: 2018
HQ: Oslo
Team growth this year: 280% to 57 employees
Total funding: $79.4m
9/ Volta Trucks
Swedish electric truck maker Volta Trucks is the only company from last year’s list to still be on it 12 months later. It saw its headcount grow 280% in 2022. Volta Trucks has launched a purpose-built 16-tonne electric truck that can drive up to 200km on a single charge.
Founded: 2019
HQ: Stockholm
Team growth this year: 271% to 568 employees
Total funding: $385m
The data for this list was pulled on December 1.
