Red Herring has announced the winners of its Top 100 Europe event, in Amsterdam. The prize ceremony was held last Wednesday at the Dutch capital’s Marriott Amsterdam hotel, where for two days hundreds of startups had presented their companies to an expert panel of judges.
The presentations, and subsequent awards show, came amid a host of top-level keynote speeches, roundtable discussions and networking opportunities–at one of Europe’s premier technology business conferences.
“This show continues to display the energy and enthusiasm among Europe’s tech entrepreneurs, even if the continent itself is experiencing a near-unprecedented phase of uncertainty,” said Red Herring chairman Alex Vieux, who had opened proceedings with a cautionary speech about the state of European politics.
Brexit, EU infighting and the forthcoming French election runoff have all spooked investors across Europe. But, said Vieux, its technology sector has the power to endure and thrive throughout, pointing to a winners’ roster that includes possibly the most diversity of any Red Herring Top 100 event to date.
Israel showed its notoriously strong hand in high-tech at the show, with its eight winners operating in highly technical sectors such as security, adtech and cleantech. The environment was a major theme in Amsterdam: ten of the winning 100 firms are working to reduce emissions, make energy use more efficient or suggest alternative sources of power altogether.
The Red Herring Top 100 Europe event was also a turning point for some of Europe’s less traditionally strong tech nations. Turkey, Ukraine and Serbia all had considerable presences, while Switzerland’s leading-edge startups confirmed its role as the continent’s chief innovator.
The United Kingdom was the best-represented nation at the awards ceremony, with 18 companies walking home with a Top 100 award. France came second with 16 and Germany third (14). The latter has emerged as one of the world’s most exciting fintech hubs, as firms like Deposit Solutions and SwipeStox strive to shake up a legacy-dominated industry.
“The size of Europe’s deals may still lag behind those of the United States,” added Vieux. “But this conference has shown the level of innovation and ingenuity that resides in all of its corners. Brexit may have broken off a lump of the EU politically. But make no mistake: tech is the economy, and will remain so.”
A full list of the Red Herring Top 100 Europe 2017 winners can be viewed here.