Analysis

October 17, 2022

The best European startups to work for in 2022

Over a third of the startups on Otta’s Rocket list of the best startups to work for are fintechs, followed by HR and legal


One of Arive's cargo bikes in Berlin.

Fintech is the top sector to be employed in right now, according to the Rocket List of the best Europe-based startups to work at in 2022.

The list was put together by Otta and features 100 startups, based on the company’s employee growth rate, financial investment and overall mission. 

38% of the companies on the list are fintechs, 17% are legal and HR startups, and 12% are travel and transport startups. 

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While many tech companies in Europe have had to lay off staff members in recent months to extend runways amid the economic downturn, the Rocket List companies are still growing their teams. 

B2B buy now, pay later startup Mondu has the fastest-growing headcount in the list, up 4500% in the last 12 months. It's followed by Arive, a company delivering consumer goods to customers in under two hours, which increased its headcount by 1033% in the last year. 

The Rocket List companies are currently advertising for 1,800 jobs on Otta’s platform with engineering roles the most frequently advertised, followed by sales and account management vacancies.

The three companies hiring the most are Deel, which organises global payroll for companies; Builder, a software development platform that doesn't require any coding knowledge; and open source cloud data platform Aiven. While they operate in different sectors, they're all B2B companies focused on software.

Deel's head of people Casey Bailey says that the company is "on the lookout for the best global talent" to help it "continue its growth trajectory" and develop its culture. Currently, it has over 170 open positions across many of its distributed teams including data, marketing, software engineering, operations, product, strategy, finance, legal and sales.

70% of the companies on the Rocket list are actively hiring in London, and 40% of the companies are hiring for remote roles in Europe. 

Collectively raising $14bn from investors, the Rocket list companies raised 65% of that total in the last 12 months. The biggest rounds went to Saltpay, a payment service and software provider, Flink, a speedy grocery company, and Deel.

Around a fifth of the companies on the list are tech unicorns, including Paddle, a payments solution for SaaS startups, second-hand car marketplace Motorway, and Multiverse, the UK’s first edtech unicorn.

Sam Franklin, Otta’s cofounder and CEO, says that the company runs the Rocket List every year to help jobseekers find roles in fast-growing and exciting companies.

"We can see that, of course, hiring is down right now — but among this group of rapid growth companies there's (nearly) 2,000 jobs live on Otta, and they have, on average, 211% employee growth versus last year. These are companies that, despite everything, are on an amazing growth trajectory."

Check out the full list of companies below

Accurx — Patient communication for healthcare professionals 

Aiven — Open-source cloud data management platform

Amenitiz — All-in-one hotel management platform 

Arive — Quick delivery company for consumer brands

Atom Learning — Online learning platform for kids aged 7 to 11

Banxware — Revenue-based loans for SMEs

Beamery — Talent lifecycle management platform 

Bigblue — Developer of ecommerce logistics tools

Blockchain.com — Cryptocurrency exchange and financial services firm 

Builder — AI-powered software development that doesn't require coding knowledge

BVNK — Banking and payments built on crypto, for the digital economy 

Capital on Tap — Credit card for small businesses

CausaLens — Low-code causal AI platform that mimics human decision-making

Charles — End-to-end conversational commerce SaaS

Circula — Employee finance app

Codat — Universal API for small business data

Cohere — Natural language processing AI platform

ComplyAdvantage — AI-powered fraud and AML risk detection

CreativeX — Creative analytics platform powered by AI

Creditspring — Membership loan service 

CybSafe — Cybersecurity awareness and solutions for hybrid/remote companies

Dance — Ebike subscription service 

Deel — Global payroll for employees and contractors

Descartes Underwriting — Parametric insurance for corporate clients and governments against climate-related risks

DICE — Event discovery and ticketing platform

DNA Script — DNA printing on demand for researchers

Dune — Crypto analytics and decoding Ethereum data to produce graphs and analysis from SQL queries

Easol — All-in-one platform for experience businesses

Elopage — SaaS platform for businesses to create and sell online courses, memberships and digital products

Everphone — Equips and sets up businesses with smartphones and tablets 

FINN — Car subscription service 

Flink — Speedy grocery delivery service 

Fonoa — Global API automating tax for internet economy companies

Form3 — Payment processing platform that connects into payment systems and across payment schemes

Gain.pro — Company profiles, information tracking and market data on private companies

GitGuardian — Security platform that detects sensitive information in source codes

Gravity Sketch — Collaborative 3D design platform

Grover — Technology rental platform

HiveMQ — Messaging platform to move data between connected devices

Hofy — Equipment and onboarding for remote companies 

Hubble — Workspace search and booking platform 

Hyperexponential — Modelling and analytics for data sets

Infogrid — AI-powered platform gathering sensor data to improve buildings' sustainability 

Juro — All-in-one legal contract automation platform 

Kitman Labs — Performance intelligence and analytics platform for sports teams 

Kroo Bank — Digital-only social banking with a sustainability focus 

Ledgy — Equity management platform 

Legl — Client payments, onboarding and client software for law firms 

Lepaya — Upskilling training modules for professionals

Let’s Do This — Booking platform for endurance sport events

Lifebit — Making biomedical data securely accessible 

Localyze — Global hiring and management platform for companies and employees

Lokalise — Localisation platform for brands

Marshmallow — Tech-enabled alternative car and van insurance 

Mayd — Speedy medication delivery service

Modifi — Helping SMEs finance and manage international trades

Mondu — Buy now, pay later option for B2B companies

Moonfare — Digital private equity platform offering investments at lower minimums

Moss — All-in-one expense management platform for finance teams

Motorway — Car marketplace 

Multiverse — Connects apprentices with companies and selects candidates for interviews

Nilo.health — On-demand mental health platform for workplaces

Nothing — Consumer electronics company 

Omnipresent — Global employment-as-a-service

Orderchamp — Wholesale marketplace for brands and retailers

Paddle — Payments, tax and subscriptions solution for SaaS

Palta — Developer tools for health and wellbeing apps

Payhawk — Payments and expense management solution 

Pennylane — Financial management and accounting platform

Pigment — Business planning platform for companies

Planhat — Customer success software

Pleo — Company cards and expenses software

Pliant — Digital corporate credit card solutions 

Primer — No-code automation for payments

Prisma — Open source developer tools

Proximie — AR collaboration for surgery

Proxymity — Investor communications platform 

Qogita — B2B platform connecting wholesale sellers and buyers

Ravio — Compensation benchmarking insights for recruitment teams

Razor Group — Amazon aggregator 

SaltPay — Payments service and software provider 

Sastrify — Budgeting and procurement software 

Scandit — Smart data capture for the modern enterprise

Sharpist — Digital coaching provider

Skello — Workforce management solutions

Snowplow — Behavioural data platform

Synthesia — Generates AI videos from text

Taptap Send — Low-cost money transfers

Techspert — Connecting the right minds to their customers' projects

TestGorilla — Pre-employment screening tests

Thirdfort — Automated ID verification, AML compliance and source of funds check

TicketSwap — Marketplace to buy and sell tickets

Upvest — Investment API

Wayflyer — Revenue-based financing for ecommerce brands

Y42 — Full-stack data platform 

YardLink — Supply chain management for construction teams

Zeroheight — Design system documentation platform for product teams

Zilch — BNPL provider

Miriam Partington

Miriam Partington is a reporter at Sifted. She covers the DACH region and the future of work, and coauthors Startup Life , a weekly newsletter on what it takes to build a startup. Follow her on X and LinkedIn