It’s easier to become an Olympic medallist than a unicorn founder in Europe

Achieving unicorn status as a founder in Europe is more challenging than winning an Olympic medal. According to a study by Antler, a leading early-stage VC firm in Europe, there are four times more European Olympians than European unicorn founders.

The research compared Olympic medallists from the past two decades with unicorn founders in the ten most populous European countries. The top three nations for Olympic success – Great Britain, France, and Germany – have significantly more Olympic medallists than unicorn founders. Specifically, Great Britain has twice as many, Germany has 3.5 times as many, and France has five times as many Olympic medallists as unicorn founders.

The study further revealed that Europe has 1.2 times more Olympic gold medallists than unicorn founders. In Germany, France, and the Netherlands, the likelihood of winning Olympic gold surpasses that of founding a unicorn, with ratios of 1.4x, 1.3x, and 3.3x, respectively. Conversely, Great Britain and Sweden are the only major European countries where unicorn founders outnumber Olympic gold medallists.

In contrast, the USA presents a different scenario. Over the past twenty years, the USA has produced 689 Olympic medallists and 641 tech unicorns. Therefore, in the US, the likelihood of founding a unicorn is approaching that of winning an Olympic medal, with the number of unicorn founders being just 40% less than the number of Olympic medallists.

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Alan Poensgen, Partner at Antler, comments, “As the Paris Olympics start, we are in awe of the dedication and preparation that it takes for athletes to get there. Our research is a reminder of how rare it is to build a true outlier company and how being a great founder almost without exception requires hard work, stamina and sacrifice, just like the most high performing athlete.”