The State of European Tech 24 report, by the British venture capital firm Atómico, ranks Spain fifth in technological employment and seventh among European technological powerhouses. Our country occupies the same position in terms of capital invested in the last ten years and the number of unicorns in the industry, and is fifth in terms of the percentage of employees with artificial intelligence profiles.

In this regard, it indicates that the capital invested in technology companies in Spain between 2015 and 2024 stands at 14.1 billion euros, more than eight times the figure in the previous decade. Although the top positions are occupied by the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Sweden, it is close to the numbers achieved by the Netherlands and Switzerland and far ahead of the next countries on the list: Ireland, Finland, Italy, Denmark, etc.

Five times more unicorns
The report notes that the number of companies with a valuation of over $1 billion, known as unicorns, has also increased fivefold, from three in 2015 to fourteen in 2024. Spain is seventh in this ranking, behind the same countries, the same as Norway and followed, with ten unicorns, by Ireland and Denmark.

In terms of technology job creation, the ranking puts Spain in fifth place, with a total of 175,000 people working in the industry in Spain, ahead of Finland's 173,000, Italy's 167,000 and Sweden's 159,000. In fact, employment in this industry has increased sevenfold in Europe in the last decade, while in Spain it has increased thirteenfold. In terms of the percentage of technology employees with profiles using artificial intelligence, Spain is once again fifth.

Extraordinary transformation
On its tenth anniversary, the Atómico report looks back at the extraordinary transformation of Europe's technology ecosystem over the past decade. Talent, capital and ambition are the three pillars on which, according to the firm, the secret of success lies. A secret that is no longer, judging by the number of countries that have seen the emergence of unicorns in recent years.

Technology companies in Europe already employ 3.5 million people. Of these jobs, 3 million have been created in the last decade. Over the next ten years, Atómico foresees the creation of another 15 million technology jobs in Europe. Investment in the industry has also increased tenfold to 426 billion dollars. This year alone it will reach 45 billion, three times more than in 2015.

Iconic, fast-growing and profitable companies
As Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of Wise, says, "The fact that we have more than 300 unicorns in Europe is astonishing. No one would have believed it in the early 2000s that many of these unicorns are fast-growing, profitable, iconic companies such as Wise, Spotify and Adyen. If we think about it, Europe is perhaps 30 years behind Silicon Valley. We can only imagine where we will be in ten years' time, in 20 years' time; many more companies will get to the same state. We have all the ingredients for billion-dollar companies to be born in Europe.

Speaking of Silicon Valley, one major fact sets us apart from the US: 41% of those surveyed for this report say their ambition is not to build a business, but to "leave a legacy with a significant environmental and financial contribution". Today, we already have a much larger business base than ten years ago. Whereas in 2015 there were barely 8,000 early-stage technology companies in Europe, by 2024, there will be more than 35,000. And those in their growth stage have increased eightfold to more than 3,400.

^{Photo: Atomic}