State of European Tech 2024 (Invest Europe)

Summary

• Europe's tech workforce reached 3.5M employees in 2024, expanding at a 24% compounded annual growth rate since 2015.p.27
• Total capital invested in European tech over the 2015 to 2024 period reached $426B, a 10x increase compared to $43B invested between 2005 and 2014.p.29
• Capital invested in European technology in 2024 is projected to reach $45B, surpassing the total amount raised across the entire decade prior to 2015.p.30
• European scale-ups suffer from a $375B growth-stage funding gap over the past decade relative to US peers.p.43

Key insights

1. European pension funds currently invest just 0.01% of their $9 trillion capital pool into European venture capital.p.7
2. European tech companies generated close to $1 trillion in cumulative realized value through IPOs and M&A over the past ten years.p.6
3. UK tech startups are on track to raise $13.1B in 2024, leading European investment ahead of France with $7.5B and Germany with $6.7B.p.64
4. Venture debt financing reached a record $4.7B in the first three quarters of 2024, representing 14% of total VC investment.p.77
5. Estonia ranks first globally in venture capital funding relative to GDP, with VC investments accounting for 1.17% of GDP over the last decade.p.58
6. The number of European AI / ML companies reaching a valuation of $1B+ rose to 31 over the last decade, up from 3 prior to 2015.p.104
7. European deep tech investment reached $14B in 2024, an 85% increase compared to 2020 funding levels.p.129