Europe’s startup scene opened the year with fresh momentum, minting five new unicorns across cybersecurity, cloud optimization, defense AI, ESG compliance, and edtech. In a tighter capital market, these billion-dollar rounds are a clear signal of where investors see durable demand and near-term revenue.
Several of these companies straddle geographies, with U.S. entities anchored by European teams. That mix reflects how global go-to-market strategies now coexist with European engineering hubs, even as founders and backers stress that valuation is a milestone, not a finish line.
Cybersecurity And Cloud Cost Control Lead
Belgium-born Aikido Security hit unicorn status with a $60 million Series B led by DST Global, joined by PSG Equity, Singular, Notion Capital, and others. The company, valued at $1 billion, unifies security across the software lifecycle and says more than 100,000 teams use its platform. Over the past year it reported 5x revenue growth and nearly 3x customer growth—metrics investors rarely see at this stage today.
Cast AI, headquartered in Florida but rooted in Lithuania with a major Vilnius office, crossed the $1 billion mark following a strategic investment from Pacific Alliance Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Korea’s Shinsegae Group. The company, which raised a $108 million Series C in 2025, also unveiled OMNI Compute for AI to help enterprises run more AI workloads on fewer GPUs and sidestep regional capacity crunches.
Cloud waste and security sprawl remain board-level priorities. The FinOps Foundation has highlighted rising pressure to align cloud spend with unit economics, and Gartner has repeatedly flagged platform consolidation in security as a cost and risk lever. Aikido and Cast AI are squarely positioned at this nexus of efficiency and control.
Defense And Dual-Use AI Gain Momentum Across Europe
France’s Harmattan AI, founded in 2024, is now valued at $1.4 billion after a $200 million Series B led by Dassault Aviation. Beyond capital, the round cements a strategic partnership. Harmattan has already signed agreements with the French and British ministries of defense and with Ukrainian drone maker Skyeton, underscoring the surge in autonomous aircraft demand and dual-use AI applications.
This isn’t happening in a vacuum. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has documented a multi-year rise in European defense spending, and governments are signaling faster procurement for sovereign technologies. That policy tailwind is accelerating the maturation of defense-first startups that would once have struggled to scale on the continent.
Compliance Tech Rises Under New EU Rules
German ESG software firm Osapiens became a unicorn after a $100 million Series C led by Decarbonization Partners, the BlackRock–Temasek joint venture, valuing the company above $1.1 billion. Founded in Mannheim in 2018, Osapiens now counts more than 2,400 customers using its platforms for sustainability reporting, data compliance, and supply chain risk management.
Demand is structural. The European Commission’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive will phase in reporting obligations for roughly 50,000 companies, pushing CFOs and chief sustainability officers to replace spreadsheets with auditable, integrated systems. Osapiens is one of a handful of European vendors building the “compliance cloud” for this decade.
Edtech Finds Product-Market Fit With AI Tutors
Preply, the 14-year-old language-learning marketplace with Ukrainian founders and a Kyiv team of 150, reached a $1.2 billion valuation following a $150 million Series D. The company plans to scale AI-enhanced learning across offices in Barcelona, London, New York, and Kyiv, betting that human tutors augmented by generative AI beat standalone chatbots on outcomes and retention.
Edtech has been through a reset since 2021, but language learning remains a resilient category. Public peers have shown that subscription models tied to daily habit loops can deliver strong margins, and Preply’s marketplace data gives it a foundation to personalize lessons with AI while improving tutor utilization.
What This Cohort Signals For European Venture
Three themes stand out: global-first distribution with European engineering, corporate strategics joining classic growth funds, and a bias toward products that either reduce costs or meet non-discretionary demand. DST Global, Decarbonization Partners, and Dassault Aviation backing these rounds shows how capital stacks are diversifying beyond traditional VC-only syndicates.
Dealroom and Atomico have tracked a shift toward efficient growth across Europe, and this cohort reflects that. With IPO windows tentative, discipline around ARR quality, gross margins, and payback periods will matter more than ever—especially for companies courting regulated buyers or infrastructure budgets.
What To Watch Next As Europe’s New Unicorns Execute
Key milestones to monitor: Aikido’s ability to sustain multi-year net revenue expansion while consolidating tools; Cast AI’s proof that OMNI materially lowers GPU needs; Harmattan’s path to certifications and export approvals; Osapiens’ traction through CSRD audit cycles; and Preply’s learner outcomes as AI features roll out. If they execute, Europe’s newest unicorns won’t just cross a valuation line—they’ll reset benchmarks for capital efficiency in 2026.
