Our AI Shows that Europe Creates as Many Scaleups and Growth Firms as the United States.
There has been much debate about whether the UK & EU can compete with the United States. This debate goes beyond AI and trade – it also concerns the ability to grow companies.
We recently applied our AI to identify scaleups and growth firms across the UK, European Union (EU) and United States (US).
Using the OECD definition of scaleups, we looked for firms that grew headcount by 20%+ over three years, starting from at least 10 employees.
In addition, the AI identified a wider dataset of growth firms by uncovering company signals such as:
- Launched new products or services.
- Received new funding.
- International expansion.
- Industry awards or inclusion in growth lists.
- Announced new clients and key partnerships.
Here is what we found: 👇🏽
➡️ The EU and UK combined have a larger number of scaleups and growth firms than the United States (898K vs 856K).
➡️ The UK has the highest density of scaleups and growth firms per million inhabitants (3,033), doubling the EU average.
➡️ However, when it comes to scaleup and growth firms density, the Netherlands and Denmark lead in Europe.
➡️ To our surprise, the average size of scaleups in the US and EU, and the United Kingdom is very similar: 190 employees in the US vs 198 employees in the EU and the United Kingdom.
The data shows that the UK and EU are just as capable as the United States when it comes to producing scaleups and growth firms. So what’s preventing the EU from creating more company giants? The issues are not cultural but systemic: the absence of a homogenous single market, the need for better regulation, and deeper capital markets, etc. In essence, the areas Mario Draghi highlighted last year, when calling for a new industrial strategy for the EU.
