Europe and Israel’s founder factories – 2025

The fourth edition of Dealroom & Accel’s analysis of the burgeoning startup founder factories of Europe and Israel. Uncovering the unicorns where the current generation of founders cut their teeth.

Key findings

• Excluding biotech and quasitech, Israel has produced 95 venture-backed unicorns, more than any other country in the region, ahead of the UK's 62.
• Former employees of 281 of the region's 360-plus VC-backed unicorns have gone on to found 2,027 new tech-enabled startups in Europe and Israel.
• 22 European and Israeli unicorn founder factories have between them produced 25 more unicorn founder factories, with some producing more than one.
• 60% of the 2,027 startups spun out of the region's unicorns have raised $1M or more in funding, and a third have raised $10M or more.
• 53% of companies started by former unicorn employees were founded in the same city as that unicorn; London leads with 327 startup spinouts.