In a year that underscored Europe’s growing strength in tech and innovation, five privately held companies crossed the rare decacorn threshold – that is, having managed to achieve valuations of an incredible $10 billion or more. These decacorns reflect the continent’s evolving startup landscape, from defence tech to fintech and consumer apps. Their rise also signals investor confidence in Europe’s capacity to compete with US and Asian tech powerhouses – a major shift in the business world.
But, what exactly is a decacorn and why does it matter?
A decacorn is a private company valued at over $10 billion. This milestone points not only to massive growth and market impact but also to the maturity of ecosystems where capital, talent and ambition converge. These firms are shaping industries and influencing how technology is developed, deployed and regulated across Europe and beyond.
What Exactly Makes a Decacorn?
Being named as a decacorn places a private company among a very exclusive group – far more rare than unicorns (privately owned startups valued at $1 billion+). Crossing the $10 billion mark typically means that the company is scaling rapidly with significant revenue or strategic growth potential; attracting major global investment, often from institutional and multinational backers; and shaping or disrupting key markets – whether that’s in finance, AI, defence or consumer tech.
For Europe, decacorns illustrate that its tech scene isn’t just producing early-stage startups but global contenders. They also show how diverse Europe’s innovation is: from hardware and AI to banking and digital products.
Europe’s 5 Decacorns from 2025
According to research conducted by Seb Johnson, Founder of Scaling Europe, 2025 saw five European unicorns manage to push through to multi-billion-dollar status, exceeding the $10 billion mark that now makes them decacorns.
They are:
- Mistral AI: $11.7 Billion
- Trade Republic: $12.5 Billion
- Bending Spoons: $11 Billion
- Helsing: $12 Billion
- ŌURA: $11 Billion
Let’s learn a little more about the five European businesses who have managed to exceed $12 billion valuations in 2025.
Mistral AI: $14 Billion
Founded in Paris, France, Mistral AI is a generative artificial intelligence pioneer founded by former Meta and DeepMind engineers Arthur Mensch, Guillaume Lample and Timothée Lacroix. It develops open-weight, modular AI models designed for enterprise integration, transparency and compliance with European data norms.
Since it was founded, Mistral has raised billions of dollars from investors including the likes of ASML, a16z and Lightspeed, and the company and its founders have managed to position Mistral AI as a European alternative to dominant U.S. AI models.
Mistral AI supports commercial clients, and it powers tools that developers can deploy through APIs. Ultimately, the vision is of ethical, high-performance AI for businesses.
Trade Republic: $16.7 Billion
Trade Republic is a Berlin-based fintech and mobile broker founded in 2015 by Christian Hecker, Thomas Pischke and Marco Cancellieri. Originally launched to make investing more accessible, the platform offers commission-free trading in stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies and other financial products via an intuitive app.
The company recently secured a secondary share transaction that propelled its valuation to $16.7 billion, (or €12.5 billion), making it one of Europe’s most valuable private tech companies.
Now, Trade Republic has more than 10 million users and has expanded its offerings with savings accounts and banking services following a full German banking license.
Bending Spoons: $11 Billion
Bending Spoons S.p.A. is an Italian tech company that specialises in acquiring and revitalising digital products with strong existing user bases.
According to Weekly Silicon Valley, Bending Spoons was founded in 2013 by Luca Ferrari, Francesco Patarnello, Matteo Danieli, Luca Querella and Tomasz Greber. The Milan-based firm has achieved exceptional success in its fairly short life, having built a portfolio including Evernote, WeTransfer, Meetup and Vimeo through aggressive acquisition and integration.
In 2025 a major funding round valued the company at around $11 billion (~€9.5 billion), officially placing it among Europe’s decacorns. The company’s unique model of tech consolidation and user-centric digital services marks it as a prominent player in global software ecosystems.
Helsing: $12 Billion
Helsing SE is a defense technology firm that uses AI to develop autonomous systems, battlefield analytics and advanced military hardware. Founded in 2021 by Torsten Reil, Gundbert Scherf and Niklas Köhler, the Munich-based company has rapidly attracted funding from Prima Materia (led by Spotify founder Daniel Ek), Lightspeed and General Catalyst.
Helsing’s AI software aims to enhance weapons systems and decision-making, and its expansion into drones and other unmanned systems has placed it at the forefront of Europe’s strategic autonomy efforts. Its €600 million funding round in 2025 brought total capital to over €1.3 billion and managed to boost its valuation toward the decacorn level.
Today, Helsing is sitting at an incredible $12 billion valuation.
ŌURA: $11 Billion
ŌURA Health Oy is the company behind the popular Oura Ring, a wearable device that tracks sleep, activity and readiness metrics. Founded in Finland with a now massive global user base, ŌURA has become a leader in consumer health wearables due to its focus on research-driven insights and health metrics that appeal to elite athletes and everyday users alike.
After raising financing rounds of several hundred million dollars, including a round that valued the company around $11 billion (around about €10 billion), ŌURA continues to grow internationally while expanding its product suite and health data services.
