European VC Power Law Report: Why Revenue Beats Unicorn Status
Dealroom's recently released 2025 Power Law Investors Ranking 2025 report offers a unique milestone for European venture capital: 700 companies across EMEA now generate over $100 million in annual revenue. These aren't just unicorns floating on paper valuations. These are businesses with real customers paying real money.
The report introduced a new category called "thoroughbreds" to capture this shift toward fundamental business metrics. While unicorns still matter for their forward-looking promise, thoroughbreds tell us something different: which companies actually built sustainable businesses that can weather market cycles.
Today, Andreas Munk Holm digs into this topic and more with Saul Klein, co-founder of Phoenix Court (home to LocalGlobe, Latitude, Solar, and Basecamp) and the #1-ranked investor in the report, alongside Yoram Wijngaarde, founder & CEO of Dealroom.
⏱️ Here’s what’s covered:
00:39 - Saul on what topping the ranking says about Phoenix Court's approach
01:53 - Yoram explains the thoroughbreds metric
03:49 - Revenue vs valuation debate, lessons from Skype
07:36 - Why Phoenix Court became multi-stage
13:02 - The $35-50 billion growth stage funding gap
17:38 - Advice for seed firms considering multi-stage expansion
22:31 - Defense of the methodology's seed weighting
24:58 - Picking companies at seed vs later stages
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