Goldman Sees $200 Billion Opening in European Tech Unicorns
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is stalking unicorns.
The Wall Street bank, which built its reputation by pursuing opportunities that rivals were slow to respond to, wants to find the next generation of technology companies in Europe with the potential to achieve $1 billion-plus valuations.
Doing so can unlock a $200 billion base of fast-growing clients, said Anthony Gutman and Gonzalo Garcia, co-heads of investment banking in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in their first joint interview since taking the roles last year.
“Every one of our industry teams is witnessing growth in technology-enabled clients,” Gutman said. “We see tremendous opportunities to deploy more resource and capital against the opportunity.”
The number of tech unicorns in Europe has surged over the last three years to around 200, according to Gutman, highlighting the importance of spotting these companies early in the battle for private fundraising mandates and more lucrative work on initial public offerings.
‘Strong Year’
Goldman Sachs counts online food ordering services Just Eat Takeaway.com NV and Ocado Group Plc, as well as music streaming service Spotify Technology SA, among the now multibillion-dollar technology groups it has worked with since their early startup days.
The sector has boomed during the coronavirus pandemic, with Checkout.com becoming Europe’s largest startup this month after raising funds at a $15 billion valuation. Goldman Sachs is working on the upcoming listings of online car dealer Auto1 Group SE and internet fashion retailer About You GmbH. It also co-led the 2.8 billion-euro ($3.4 billion) IPO of Polish postal locker provider InPost SA, which soared on its Wednesday trading debut.
“We expect a pretty strong year for IPOs across Europe, driven predominantly by technology and technology-related issuances,” Gutman said. Read More…
