Share of startup funding captured by unicorns
Share of venture funding going to mega-rounds, the public proxy for unicorn-stage capital.
EU vs US vs China over time
% of venture funding
The story
Where does startup funding actually end up? In the US, a large share of all venture capital flows into companies that reach unicorn scale, because enough of them exist to absorb it. In Europe, less funding reaches that stage, not because investors refuse, but because fewer companies get there.
Why it matters
The share of funding captured by unicorns reads on whether an ecosystem scales its winners. A low share means capital is spread across companies that stall at mid-size, the pattern behind Europe's scale-up gap.
Policy context
This is the demand side of the growth-capital problem: even when European money exists, the pipeline of companies big enough to take hundred-million-euro rounds is thin. Fixing the pipeline (stock options, procurement, market depth) and fixing the capital pool are the same project seen from two ends.
How this number is calculated
Shown as the share of each region's annual venture value in mega-rounds of 100 million dollars or more, the consistent public proxy for unicorn-stage funding; no source publishes a direct "share to unicorns" series. European figures are Europe-wide (including the UK and Switzerland) from Atomico's State of European Tech and Dealroom; US figures follow PitchBook-NVCA definitions; China is an Asia-region proxy through 2020 and empty after, because no credible free China series exists. Definitions differ between sources, so trends are more comparable than levels.