Startup Life/Analysis/ The best European startups to work for in 2022 Over a third of the startups on Otta’s Rocket list of the best startups to work for are fintechs, followed by HR and legal By Miriam Partington in Berlin 17 October 2022 One of Arive's cargo bikes in Berlin. One of Arive's cargo bikes in Berlin. \Startup Life UK visa endorsement fees will now cost founders £2k — down from up to 15x that By Zosia Wanat 24 March 2023 Startup Life/Analysis/ The best European startups to work for in 2022 Over a third of the startups on Otta’s Rocket list of the best startups to work for are fintechs, followed by HR and legal By Miriam Partington in Berlin 17 October 2022 Fintech is the top sector to be employed in right now, according to the Rocket List of the best Europe-based startups to work at in 2022. The list was put together by Otta and features 100 startups, based on the company’s employee growth rate, financial investment and overall mission. 38% of the companies on the list are fintechs, 17% are legal and HR startups, and 12% are travel and transport startups. While many tech companies in Europe have had to lay off staff members in recent months to extend runways amid the economic downturn, the Rocket List companies are still growing their teams. B2B buy now, pay later startup Mondu has the fastest-growing headcount in the list, up 4500% in the last 12 months. It’s followed by Arive, a company delivering consumer goods to customers in under two hours, which increased its headcount by 1033% in the last year. The Rocket List companies are currently advertising for 1,800 jobs on Otta’s platform with engineering roles the most frequently advertised, followed by sales and account management vacancies. The three companies hiring the most are Deel, which organises global payroll for companies; Builder, a software development platform that doesn’t require any coding knowledge; and open source cloud data platform Aiven. While they operate in different sectors, they’re all B2B companies focused on software. Deel’s head of people Casey Bailey says that the company is “on the lookout for the best global talent” to help it “continue its growth trajectory” and develop its culture. Currently, it has over 170 open positions across many of its distributed teams including data, marketing, software engineering, operations, product, strategy, finance, legal and sales. 70% of the companies on the Rocket list are actively hiring in London, and 40% of the companies are hiring for remote roles in Europe. Collectively raising $14bn from investors, the Rocket list companies raised 65% of that total in the last 12 months. The biggest rounds went to Saltpay, a payment service and software provider, Flink, a speedy grocery company, and Deel. Around a fifth of the companies on the list are tech unicorns, including Paddle, a payments solution for SaaS startups, second-hand car marketplace Motorway, and Multiverse, the UK’s first edtech unicorn. Sam Franklin, Otta’s cofounder and CEO, says that the company runs the Rocket List every year to help jobseekers find roles in fast-growing and exciting companies. “We can see that, of course, hiring is down right now — but among this group of rapid growth companies there’s (nearly) 2,000 jobs live on Otta, and they have, on average, 211% employee growth versus last year. These are companies that, despite everything, are on an amazing growth trajectory.” Check out the full list of companies below Accurx — Patient communication for healthcare professionals Aiven — Open-source cloud data management platform Amenitiz — All-in-one hotel management platform Arive — Quick delivery company for consumer brands Atom Learning — Online learning platform for kids aged 7 to 11 Banxware — Revenue-based loans for SMEs Beamery — Talent lifecycle management platform Bigblue — Developer of ecommerce logistics tools Blockchain.com — Cryptocurrency exchange and financial services firm Builder — AI-powered software development that doesn’t require coding knowledge BVNK — Banking and payments built on crypto, for the digital economy Capital on Tap — Credit card for small businesses CausaLens — Low-code causal AI platform that mimics human decision-making Charles — End-to-end conversational commerce SaaS Circula — Employee finance app Codat — Universal API for small business data Cohere — Natural language processing AI platform ComplyAdvantage — AI-powered fraud and AML risk detection CreativeX — Creative analytics platform powered by AI Creditspring — Membership loan service CybSafe — Cybersecurity awareness and solutions for hybrid/remote companies Dance — Ebike subscription service Deel — Global payroll for employees and contractors Descartes Underwriting — Parametric insurance for corporate clients and governments against climate-related risks DICE — Event discovery and ticketing platform DNA Script — DNA printing on demand for researchers Dune — Crypto analytics and decoding Ethereum data to produce graphs and analysis from SQL queries Easol — All-in-one platform for experience businesses Elopage — SaaS platform for businesses to create and sell online courses, memberships and digital products Everphone — Equips and sets up businesses with smartphones and tablets FINN — Car subscription service Flink — Speedy grocery delivery service Fonoa — Global API automating tax for internet economy companies Form3 — Payment processing platform that connects into payment systems and across payment schemes Gain.pro — Company profiles, information tracking and market data on private companies GitGuardian — Security platform that detects sensitive information in source codes Gravity Sketch — Collaborative 3D design platform Grover — Technology rental platform HiveMQ — Messaging platform to move data between connected devices Hofy — Equipment and onboarding for remote companies Hubble — Workspace search and booking platform Hyperexponential — Modelling and analytics for data sets Infogrid — AI-powered platform gathering sensor data to improve buildings’ sustainability Juro — All-in-one legal contract automation platform Kitman Labs — Performance intelligence and analytics platform for sports teams Kroo Bank — Digital-only social banking with a sustainability focus Ledgy — Equity management platform Legl — Client payments, onboarding and client software for law firms Lepaya — Upskilling training modules for professionals Let’s Do This — Booking platform for endurance sport events Lifebit — Making biomedical data securely accessible Localyze — Global hiring and management platform for companies and employees Lokalise — Localisation platform for brands Marshmallow — Tech-enabled alternative car and van insurance Mayd — Speedy medication delivery service Modifi — Helping SMEs finance and manage international trades Mondu — Buy now, pay later option for B2B companies Moonfare — Digital private equity platform offering investments at lower minimums Moss — All-in-one expense management platform for finance teams Motorway — Car marketplace Multiverse — Connects apprentices with companies and selects candidates for interviews Nilo.health — On-demand mental health platform for workplaces Nothing — Consumer electronics company Omnipresent — Global employment-as-a-service Orderchamp — Wholesale marketplace for brands and retailers Paddle — Payments, tax and subscriptions solution for SaaS Palta — Developer tools for health and wellbeing apps Payhawk — Payments and expense management solution Pennylane — Financial management and accounting platform Pigment — Business planning platform for companies Planhat — Customer success software Pleo — Company cards and expenses software Pliant — Digital corporate credit card solutions Primer — No-code automation for payments Prisma — Open source developer tools Proximie — AR collaboration for surgery Proxymity — Investor communications platform Qogita — B2B platform connecting wholesale sellers and buyers Ravio — Compensation benchmarking insights for recruitment teams Razor Group — Amazon aggregator SaltPay — Payments service and software provider Sastrify — Budgeting and procurement software Scandit — Smart data capture for the modern enterprise Sharpist — Digital coaching provider Skello — Workforce management solutions Snowplow — Behavioural data platform Synthesia — Generates AI videos from text Taptap Send — Low-cost money transfers Techspert — Connecting the right minds to their customers’ projects TestGorilla — Pre-employment screening tests Thirdfort — Automated ID verification, AML compliance and source of funds check TicketSwap — Marketplace to buy and sell tickets Upvest — Investment API Wayflyer — Revenue-based financing for ecommerce brands Y42 — Full-stack data platform YardLink — Supply chain management for construction teams Zeroheight — Design system documentation platform for product teams Zilch — BNPL provider Miriam Partington is Sifted’s DACH correspondent. 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