Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Europe's tech start-up superstars
Europe | Technology
July 29, 2025 – Europe’s tech ecosystem is demonstrating improving performance, say Senior Partner Ruben Schaubroeck and coauthors. This shift is evident in both the number of start-ups and in their commercial success. Today, more than 280 software companies generate over €100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). Roughly 20 percent of them are either emergent leaders (achieving more than €100 million ARR in a decade) or super performers (with ARR exceeding €500 million and founded in the past two decades). These companies are not only driving industry innovation but also fostering new ventures and spreading entrepreneurial expertise throughout the ecosystem.
To read the report, see “Europe’s moonshot moment: Fueling its tech ecosystem for scale,” June 2, 2025.
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Visual form
Table (with Visual Encoding): unit-tile company-count grid for Europe’s technology start-up ecosystem.
Layout / body structure
The left side is a tiled company-count field, and the right side labels the performance tiers. Color blocks divide the grid into super performers, emergent leaders, larger ARR companies, midtier ARR companies, and the broad base of spin-offs and up-and-comers.
What is being compared
It compares the number of European software companies across annual recurring revenue and growth-performance categories.
Measurement system
One tile equals one company. The labeled groups translate the visual blocks into counts such as 30 super performers, 20 emergent leaders, 20 other companies above 500 million euros in ARR, about 210 companies between 100 million and 500 million euros in ARR, and about 1,400 spin-offs and up-and-comers.
Visible structure inside the graphic
The pale base of small tiles dominates the grid, while the high-performing groups appear as much smaller highlighted clusters. Callout brackets connect the colored clusters to the category definitions on the right.
Main takeaway from the visual
The chart shows a real high-performing layer in Europe’s tech ecosystem, but it also shows how small that elite group is compared with the much larger base of earlier-stage or smaller companies.
Key standout values or extremes
The highlighted top tier contains 30 super performers and 20 emergent leaders. The broader ecosystem includes about 210 companies with 100 million to under 500 million euros in ARR and roughly 1,400 spin-offs and up-and-comers with 30 million to under 100 million euros in ARR.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a fixed unit-tile grid; there are no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the European tech company-count grid is the visual on this page.