Europe is a formidable breeding ground for innovation, home to many companies and technologies that have revolutionised the way we do almost anything in any field of life. To spotlight these leading companies, 20 startup associations from 16 EU countries and Ukraine have come together on the initiative of France Digitale to launch LETS: Leading European Tech Scale-ups.
The first edition of LETS was revealed on stage on September 20, 2023, at FDDay in Paris, naming also 4 Estonian startups: Bolt, Skeleton Technologies, Veriff, and Swappie. Latitude59 had the honor of being among the 20 associations that helped to spot the LETS candidates.
France Digitale launched the LETS 2023 in collaboration with 19 other French and European startup associations. It seeks to put forward European scaleups that respond to the three following criteria:
- headquarters and over 50% of their workforce in the European Union,
- 15 million euros in yearly revenue in at least 2 markets, and
- at least 1 million euros yearly revenue in a market other than their origin country.
Based on the criteria, the 20 associations have identified 135 companies that are flag-bearers for European tech internationally. In just 10 years – their average age – more than half of them (89 scaleups) have scaled their business beyond European borders and combined have created an estimated 80,754 jobs. From Estonia with only 1,3 million people, 4 startups were recognised:
According to the Estonian associate of LETS, Liisi Org, CEO of Latitude59, Estonia’s most international tech and startup conference, it’s crucial to collaborate with other European countries to be able to compete globally. “Europe has a strong tech industry capable of winning customers worldwide. As Estonia is small, we are building a global village in Estonia with Latitude59 and other Estonian startup support organisations to do just the same the LETS initiative is doing now Europe-wide – helping European scaleups be bolder and bigger together in a global perspective.”
This mapping was produced in the second quarter of 2023. Most of the information was forwarded by partner associations and is therefore declarative. The information was double-checked from public sources (Crunchbase, Dealroom, LinkedIn, press). The LETS 2023 focuses exclusively on independent startups that have not completed an exit (no IPO, no buyout).
The LETS 2023 scaleups are:
- Austria: Bitpanda, Byrd, GROPYUS, Netconomy, Tourradar
- Bulgaria: Dronamics, EnduroSat
- Denmark: Airtame, Dixa, Labster, Leapwork, Lunar, Pleo, Templafy, Veo
- Estonia: Bolt, Skeleton Technologies, Swappie, Veriff
- Finland: Aiven, ICEYE, Relex Solutions, Supercell, Supermetrics
- France: 360Learning, Adikteev, Agriconomie, Akeneo, Anycommerce, Back Market, BioSerenity, BlaBlaCar, Brigad, Brut, Cafeyn, Campings.com, Certideal, Crosscall, Devialet, Doctolib, Exotec, Geosat, GoJob, HR Path, iBanFirst, Klaxoon, Le Collectionist, Ledger, Libon, LumApps, Malt, ManoMano, Mirakl, MYM, OpenClassrooms, Partoo, Qonto, Sarbacane, Shift Technology, Skeepers, Smallable, Sorare, Spendesk, Superprof, Veepee, Vestiaire Collective, Virtuo, Wifirst, Withings, Younited, Yubo
- Germany: 1Komma5, Anydesk, Billie, Clue App, CoachHub, FINN, Getsafe, IDNOW, Isar Aerospace, LeanIX, Lingoda, Moss, Pitch, Spryker, Sunfire, Urban Sports Club, xentral
- Hungary: Bitrise
- Ireland: Cubic Telecom, Fenergo, Stripe, Teamwork, Wayflyer, Workhuman
- Italy: Casavo, Prima, Shopfully
- Poland: Netguru
- Romania: Amber, FintechOS, Green Group
- Slovakia: Innovatrics, Photoneo, Pixel Federation
- Spain: BMAT, Cabify, Civitatis, Clikalia, Factorial, Fintonic, Job and Talent, Neuroelectrics, Paack, Wallapop
- Sweden: Anyfin, Doktor.se, Einride, Epidemic Sound, Klarna, Mindler, NA-KD, Northvolt, Polarium AB, Trustly, Voi, Volta Trucks
- The Netherlands: Backbase, Catawiki, Message Bird, Mollie, Otrium, Sendcloud, Swapfiets, Tiqets
Associations involved:
Allied for Startups, Barcelona Music Tech Hub, Austrian Startups, BESCO – Bulgarian Entrepreneurial Association, Danish Entrepreneurs, Dutch Startup Association, Estech, European Champions Alliance, France Digitale, La French Tech, Italian Tech Alliance, Latitude59, Romanian Business Leaders, SAPIE, Scale Ireland, Startup Hungary, Startup Poland, Startup Verband, SUP46 and Tech Ukraine.
