Europe’s fastest growing technology companies in 2022 | Popgen Tech

Last year, the list of the fastest growing technology startups in Europe was dominated by fast food and e-commerce companies. After a tumultuous 12 months in European tech, the tables have turned.

None of Europe’s fastest growing companies achieved the level of growth seen in this list last year, when Fast grocery company Flink topped the list with 1,232% growth in headcount. There are also many more consumer and climate technology companies on the list this year.

Below are European technology’s top 9 fastest growing companies in 2022, based on data from Dealroom.

We measure growth based on how quickly companies hired throughout the year. To prevent the results from being skewed by small teams making many hires, we focused exclusively on companies that raised more than €50 million in total.

1/ Nothing

Nothing, the exciting London-based startup building headphones and smartphones to try and compete with the biggest names in the business has grown 912% this year to just over 3,000 employees.

It is first phone – invoiced by founder Carl Pei as the “the most convincing alternative to Apple”, launched in July this year.

Established: 2020

HQ: London

Team growth this year: 912% to 3,148 employees

Total Funding: $342 million

2/ Yokoy

Swiss fintech Yokoy grew by 613% this year. It sits in the popular SME spend management sector, competing with companies such as Pleo, Soldo and Payhawk. It uses AI to automate spend management by combining expenses and corporate charts into one platform.

Yokoy raised an $80 million Series B earlier this year, led by Sequoia, and now plans to expand beyond its current markets of Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

Established: 2019

HQ: Zurich

Team growth this year: 613% to 221 employees

Total Funding: $108 million

3/ Polarium

The first entry on the list of the climate technology world is Sweden’s Polarium, which has grown its staff by 521% this year.

It makes lithium batteries that reduce the cost and environmental footprint of energy storage. Its batteries are fully recyclable and lose much less energy than other batteries on the market. The technology is used in telecommunications, electric vehicles and solar power.

The company became one of Europe’s Deep Tech Unicorns in May of this year, when it raised nearly $100 million.

Established: 2015

HQ: Stockholm

Team growth this year: 521% to 298 employees

Total Funding: $147 million

4/ Borzo

Borzo operates a courier service, and its gig economy workforce delivers via any route, transport, package size or weight. It was founded in Russia and is now headquartered in Amsterdam. His staff grew by 435% this year.

Established: 2012

HQ: Amsterdam

Team growth this year: 435% to 909 employees

Total Funding: $57.6 million

5/5ire

Headquartered in London, 5ire was launched in November 2021 and has already achieved a valuation of $1.5 billion. The company is building a sustainable blockchain, which aims to combat criticism that the industry is too energy-intensive.

Earlier this year, 5ire raised a $100 million Series A round from British conglomerate Sram and Mram.

Established: 2021

HQ: London

Team growth this year: 364% to 116 employees

Total Funding: $121 million

6/ DNA Payments

Fintech firm DNA Payments helps businesses receive payments in person or online. It raised a £100m round from Alchemy Partners in 2021 and has grown its headcount by 359% this year to nearly 200 employees.

Established: 2017

HQ: London

Team growth this year: 359% to 188 employees

Total Funding: $132 million

7/ Payhawk

Bulgarian fintech Payhawk runs a B2B platform that offers finance departments a single place to manage the entire spending lifestyle from company cards and expenses to accounts and invoices. It has grown its headcount by 299% this year to 271 employees.

Payhawk raised a $115 million Series B round late last year — the second-largest Series B for an Eastern European B2B company since UiPath. It then raised an additional $100 million in early 2022, becoming Bulgaria’s first unicorn.

Established: 2018

HQ: Sofia

Team growth this year: 299% to 271 employees

Total Funding: $236 million

8/ Dunes Analytics

Dune Analytics is an open-source, Ethereum-based data analytics platform that allows anyone to run data queries. It is available for free and then has a paid subscription that allows people to analyze custom datasets. it is runs from Norway, and has grown its headcount by 280% this year, from 16 employees in January to 57 by the end of the year.

Established: 2018

HQ: Oslo

Team growth this year: 280% to 57 employees

Total Funding: $79.4 million

9/ Volta Trucks

Swedish electric truck manufacturer Volta Trucks is the only company from last year’s list still on it 12 months later. In 2022, its staff members grew by 280%. Volta Trucks has a purpose built 16-ton electric truck which can travel up to 200 km on a single charge.

Established: 2019

HQ: Stockholm

Team growth this year: 271% to 568 employees

Total Funding: $385 million

The data for this list was pulled on December 1st.

Freya Pratty is a senior reporter at Sifted. She tweets from @FPratty and write our climate technology newsletter — you can sign up here.