Four have been the Spanish start-ups selected to become the next European unicorns: Playtomic, RavenPack, Typeform and Wallapopbased on a pre-selection carried out by the technological event Viva Technology and the financial advisory company for the technological sector GP Bullhound.
Viva Technology and GP Bullhound, in collaboration with the investment funds Accel, Balderton, Eurazeo, Northzone and Partech, have prepared a list of the 100 European companies that have the most chances of becoming unicornsthat is, companies that were created less than ten years ago and that can reach a valuation of one billion dollars without having been listed on the stock market or having been acquired by third parties.
The selected Spanish companies repeat the edition held in 2022, in which there were nine Spanish companies on the list, so despite the good news, the data is lower than last year. Compared to the previous edition, Factorial has already become a unicorn and others like Lingokids, Paack, CodiGames and Red Points have fallen off the list.
The list has been published through the ‘Top 100 Next Unicorns’ and the winners will be announced at the tenth edition of VivaTech that will take place between June 14 and 17 in Paris, a technological and entrepreneurial event in Europe. It will also be the moment chosen for GP Bullhound to offer its annual ‘Titans of Tech’ report.
The candidates for Spanish unicorns
playtonic, founded in 2017 by Pedro Clavería, is a platform focused on the management and reservation of paddle tennis and tennis courts, with which users can choose between multiple clubs and make the reservation through its application. The Spanish company operates throughout Europe, the Middle East, Central America and recently also in the United States. RavenPackfounded by Armando González and based in Marbella, deals with the analysis of different sources of information on listed companies with a possible impact on the stock market.
For his part, typeform, based in Barcelona, was created in 2012 by Robert Muñoz and David Okuniev and its activity specializes in creating online forms and surveys for companies such as Apple, Airbnb or Nike. Finally we find the platform for buying and selling second-hand products through the internet, wallapop. The company was born in 2013 in Barcelona.
Despite the fact that the list of Spanish candidates is smaller than that of the previous edition, Miguel Kindelán, head of GP Bullhound in Spain, wanted to highlight the business strength of Spain and the forecast that they will continue to grow. Kindelán has stated that “despite the economic and geopolitical challenges experienced in 2022, this year’s list shows that the fundamentals of the European technological ecosystem remain solid. Spain maintains a relevant representation and we believe that it will continue to grow strongly«.
The strength of European technology
Beyond the analysis of the Spanish companies present in the Top 100, it is also concluded that “European technology companies continued to grow and show resistance and dynamism despite the difficulty of the current environment” as sources from GP Bullhound have reported.
In the business selection There are three countries that have stood out above the rest, the United Kingdom with 20 companies, France with 19 and Germany with a total of 15 companies. selected, a fact that will confirm the strength of companies in the technology sector in Europe. And, since 2019, when the list of the ‘Top 100 Next Unicorns’ was published, 36% of the nominated companies have become unicorns. Examples are Ecovadis, Mano Mano or Back Market.
