DIGITALEUROPE unveils top three European tech scale-ups for its Future Unicorn Award 2021

DIGITALEUROPE – Europe’s largest trade association representing digitally transforming industries – has unveiled the three finalist companies for its annual “Future Unicorn Award”. The winner will be announced at Masters of Digital on 4 February by Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.

The three finalists are:

• Exeger from Sweden – The inventor and producer of a patented solar cell technology integrated in everyday products to improve people’s lives.
• Ocean Sun from Norway – A solution provider and design architect for floating solar power plants.
• Oncompass Medicine from Hungary – An AI-based medical software to choose the right targeted cancer therapy for every patient.

The Future Unicorn Award

Running for the fourth year in a row, the “Future Unicorn Award” celebrates scale-ups from across Europe that have the potential to become the future European tech giants. It is compiled in collaboration with DIGITALEUROPE’s national trade associations.

This year, 21 companies from 17 European countries were nominated for the award, representing a variety of digitally-transforming sectors, including financial technologies, education technologies, e-health, energy, security and more.

The ceremony will take place at DIGITALEUROPE’s flagship conference Masters of Digital, held virtually this year.

Why European unicorns matter

“Unicorns” are scale-ups valued at over one billion dollars. In the modern economy, digital companies get exponential advantages as they scale, as their economic value also rises. Unicorns are usually a good indicator of who will likely become a future tech giant.

The Future Unicorn Award is a great opportunity to showcase aspiring European scale-ups that have the potential to become future unicorns, highlighting that Europe has what it takes to become a digital leader.

Today, approximately 12 per cent of the world’s unicorns are based in Europe. While this is a significant growth compared to only 6 per cent in 2014, it is nowhere near enough, especially if we consider that, without the UK, this number drops to 5 per cent. DIGITALEUROPE has set a goal for Europe to become home to at least 25 per cent of the world’s unicorns by 2025 among its success indicators for digital leadership.