💰 Congrats on the Biggest Number

Databricks 🇺🇸 has just closed a €4.6bn round at a €123bn valuation. The company generates €5bn in annualised revenue, growing at 65%. It is privately held. It is worth more than Siemens 🇩🇪.

This is no longer an anomaly. In the United States, the hundred most valuable private startups are collectively worth €2,950bn, according to Forge. Three years ago, the same list sat below €920bn. SpaceX-xAI alone reaches €1,150bn. OpenAI is targeting €690bn for its next round. Anthropic is negotiating at €320bn. These figures no longer correspond to anything recognisable in the grammar of venture capital: they are industrial conglomerate valuations, assigned to companies that have never seen a stock exchange.

In Europe, the picture looks rather different. Not because there is nothing to show for it. Because things are being built along different lines. Revolut 🇬🇧 has just reached a €69bn valuation, on €3.7bn of revenue in 2024 and a 149% increase in pre-tax profit. This is not a wager on a hypothetical market. It is a digital bank making money across 39 countries. In January alone, five new European unicorns emerged: Aikido 🇧🇪 in cybersecurity, Harmattan AI 🇫🇷 in defence (€1.3bn valuation two years after founding, Series B led by Dassault Aviation 🇫🇷), Cast AI 🇱🇹 in cloud optimisation, Osapiens 🇩🇪 in ESG compliance, Preply 🇺🇦 in edtech. Five sectors, five countries.

This is where the American narrative and the European one begin to part ways. Across the Atlantic, the concentration is staggering: generative AI absorbs the bulk of capital, and three companies alone account for over €2,000bn in combined valuation. The systemic risk is real. In Europe, the distribution is more granular. The ecosystem has produced five new decacorns in 2025: Helsing 🇩🇪 in AI defence (€11bn), Trade Republic 🇩🇪 in fintech (€15bn), ŌURA 🇫🇮 in connected health, Bending Spoons 🇮🇹 in software. Companies that sell products, employ people, and generate margins. It is not the same game.

The obsession with mega-valuations in private markets is an American sport, and it is tempting either to lament this or to try to replicate it. Both instincts are misguided. What the European ecosystem demonstrates, with its 217 unicorns and university spinouts collectively worth €365bn, is that another trajectory exists. Less spectacular by the quarter. More durable by the decade. Lovable 🇸🇪 has reached €300m in recurring revenue eight months after launch. IQM 🇫🇮 has sold more quantum computers than anyone in the world. Quantum Systems 🇩🇪 closed its Series C with Airbus 🇪🇺, Hensoldt 🇩🇪 and Balderton 🇬🇧 on its cap table.

American valuations will, at some point, meet reality, whether in an IPO or in a correction. European companies have already met it. That is an advantage, not a delay.