Meet Europe's fintech soonicorns

Four new fintech unicorns have been created so far this year in Europe — We analyse which startups could be next

Last year was tough for fintech startups seeking funding in Europe. Hammered down by an economic downturn and rising interest rates, fintech funding dropped by 64% to $8.5bn compared to $24bn in 2022. The funding lull meant that only two European startups operating in the sector joined the unicorn stable last year.

But there are some signs that 2024 may be a slightly different story: there have been four new unicorns valuations for European fintechs so far, with more than half of the year to go. They include business software platform Pigment, accounting fintech Pennylane, Dutch audit platform DataSnipper and property management system Mews.

Now, Sifted has identified the European fintechs that are close to, but not quite at, $1bn valuations based on Dealroom data — what we could term as “soonicorns”. Startups on the list had to be founded after 2005, have a valuation of at least $500m and have raised a funding round since 2020.