Menlo Electric, a Polish supplier of solar panels, surpasses the ranking of the 2025 FT1000, Europe’s fastest growing company.
The Warsaw-based wholesaler, which sells panels and solar equipment primarily made in China, achieved a combined annual growth rate (CAGR) of 830.8% between 2020 and 2023.
Despite slowing European economic growth after the pandemic and inflation shock caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the FT1000 highlights impressive performance by many young companies across the economy, from technology to marketing.
Menlo Electric has used the rapid adoption of EU renewable energy to import Chinese modules and is currently expanding to new markets to alleviate oversupply. However, European manufacturers of renewable energy are also featured on the 9th annual list. KenPower, the eighth in Finland, which manufactures electric vehicle chargers, has a CAGR of 343.5%.
Details of Europe’s fastest growing companies:
The IT and Software category contributes to a fifth of FT1000 companies, with a maximum of 200 people starting from 189 in the 2024 ranking. But construction and engineering. Energy and Utilities; Advertising and Marketing. Fintech, financial services and insurance make up another third of the list.
Mark Hart, a professor at the University of Warwick School of Business and assistant director of the UK’s Enterprise Research Centre think tank, says the list reflects academic research that companies in all sectors can grow rapidly. “We mainly talk about scaling up as a young tech company,” he said. “This research shows that it is totally nonsense. It’s happening across the sector, including wholesale, engineering, management consultants.”
The largest countries, Italy, Germany, France and the UK, live with over three-quarters of FT1000 companies. Niklas Poitier, a researcher at think tank Bruegel, says given the imperfections in the EU’s single market, it is inevitable that people with larger markets will dominate the list. For example, Estonian businesses need to stand up to a new country with regulations that are different from German businesses.
The European Commission has pledged to establish a new EU-wide regulatory system for certain rapid and innovative companies. The so-called “28th structure” will make it easier for innovative companies to raise capital. “It will bring peace of mind to outside investors,” he adds.
Last year, reports from former Italian Prime Ministers Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi curtailed the challenges faced by EU businesses to achieve growth as quickly as their US and Chinese competitors. In addition to regulatory barriers, he has identified a 1.5% gap in GDP between private investment in the US and the EU, excluding construction.
Draghi agreed to co-overseeing and urged the EU government to overcome differences and create long-term capital market associations by easing cross-border investments. The transatlantic gap for venture capital was even greater. According to data provider Pitchbook, the EU attracted 56.7 billion euros in 2023. This is one fifth of the US level.
EuroChambres, representing the European Chamber of Commerce, argues that the EU must find a way to hold fast-growing companies for longer. President Vladimir Douhi points out that the majority of the top 100 companies in the ranking have been established over the past decade.
“This has strengthened concerns. There is a tendency for innovative European companies to move to other economies in a few years, particularly to other economies, particularly to the US, to expand their size and funding opportunities,” he says. This, he added, highlights the need to address the fragmentation of European markets, particularly by addressing the barriers of the single market and creating a capital market coalition. The EU must become “not only is it the perfect place to start a company, but also a great place to expand it.”
However, market size and economic growth are not the only determinants of success. Spain and Portugal account for just 1.6% of the FT1000, but include more than 10% of the country’s population, including the EU, the UK, Norway, Iceland, Bosnia, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It’s barely more companies than the three Baltic Seas with 6 million people.
Entrepreneurs have long complained about the EU regulations and tax levels compared to the US. Brussels has pledged to cut the deficit by 25% over the next few years.
However, according to the founder of one FT1000 company, there is a positive aspect to the European social model. Jason Modeman and Patrick Bruch dropped out of college in 2018 and launched Mawave Marketing. The Munich-based company uses social media to hook young customers, working with Red Bull, Vodafone and others.
“Tomorrow’s consumers were already on social media, but the brands didn’t really understand that,” said Modeman (there was a huge gap between consumer behavior and brands looking for time with consumers.”
Earning immediate benefits, Mawave now had 130 employees and did not need to raise external capital. In 2023, its CAGR was 653 million euros, and from 2020 to 2023, it was revenue of 132.2%, slowing down as the company matured.
Despite harsh criticism of EU technology regulations from the US, Modemann says companies can adapt. “We need to develop faster than these political changes can be seen, and I think it’s something that really fueled our business in the past,” he says.
Europe has excellent infrastructure, skilled workers and safety nets, he adds. “I don’t think it’s possible elsewhere to just drop out of college and start a business. We have such a good social welfare system so we knew that if things didn’t work out, we could just get back to college.
