Europe's 10 Fastest-Growing Startups, Led by Swedish AI Firms Lovable and Legora

Europe's technology story has shifted, according to a ranking of the continent's ten fastest-growing private tech companies from EBM. Two years ago the narrative was about what Europe lacked: no big AI model company, no large-scale computing provider, and defence startups that struggled to win government contracts. Now Mistral has just completed the largest equity round in European tech history, a Swedish company that lets people build apps by typing plain English is valued at $13.3bn, and German drone makers are profitable.

EBM ranked the companies on two measures, revenue growth and the rise in valuation over the past year, using figures the companies or their investors have disclosed. Every company on the list either sells AI or sells to defence ministries. The article says this reveals where investors think European growth will come from, and what they are leaving out.

The article's title names Swedish AI firms Lovable and Legora as the leaders. Lovable is the company behind the $13.3bn valuation and is listed at number one. Legora, at number five, sells AI tools to lawyers. It reached $150m in annual recurring revenue by the second quarter of this year and has more than 1,500 law firm and in-house legal clients, including Linklaters and White & Case. Its staff has grown from 40 to 700. After a Series D at about $5.6bn, it is reported to be in talks to raise money at $10bn or more. Its strategy is to compete with the US leader, Harvey, everywhere outside America.

Quantum Systems of Germany appears at number six. The rest of the list is not included in the text available here.