Europe’s tech ecosystem is in fine form. It has been a record year, with 16 billion euros invested in 3,449 startup operations, some 32.5% more than last year, according to the third edition of the report by the Atomico platform. Specifically, London tops the ranking of European cities with the most investment, at 4.3 billion euros. That is followed by Berlin and Paris.
Meanwhile, Barcelona is for another year in fourth place, at 612 million euros invested. By way of comparison, the Catalan capital attracted 69.5 million euros in 2013 and 294 million euros in 2015. Further down the list are cities like Stockholm, Dublin, Amsterdam, Vienna, Madrid and Munich. In fact, the Spanish capital has gone from almost 250 million euros in 2016 to falling to less than 230 million euros investment in startups.
Atomico’s head of research, Tom Wheimer, says that "the state of European technology in 2017 is stronger than ever" and that "Europe is building a technological ecosystem in its own imatge." In fact, he stresses the grouping of talent, the global ambition of founders and the growth of the investment base as the main strengths of a Europe that is setting its own pace. "The probability that the next company to define the industry will come from Europe and will become one of the most valuable in the world has never been so high," he predicts.
Nevertheless, the US is still light years ahead, at almost four times the figure for investment in Europe and with double the number of operations.