Tech 2026 IPOs, AI, and the deep-tech opportunity

As 2026 dawns, Europe's tech landscape is at a critical inflection point. After years of rapid innovation and pandemic-fuelled disruption, the continent is entering a year that could define its technological trajectory for the decade ahead. From London to Berlin, Oxford to Stockholm, start-ups, investors, and research labs alike are asking: which companies will emerge as global leaders, and which will falter under the weight of expectation?

Sanjot Malhi, Partner at Northzone, a multi-stage venture capital fund, predicts that public markets will play a starring role in the coming year.

"In 2026, we will see several big listings, including in the UK, many of which are overdue. The IPO window is fully open, but the bar to going public is just higher than it ever used to be." The stricter threshold, he says, has created a natural queue of companies ready to seize the moment. "We should expect a steady pipeline of listings next year."

For investors, this is not a warning sign but an opportunity."Because of the barrier to entry, the crop will be high-quality, and anticipation around several possible blockbuster IPOs means they are likely to perform well." Fintech, a sector that has matured steadily over the past decade, is particularly poised for exits. "Fintech has a crop of maturing companies, and is a sector ripe for several exits."

Yet IPOs are only part of the story. Europe is quietly witnessing a deeptech renaissance - where advanced science meets commercial ambition. Malhi points to the UK's research hubs, which continue to generate breakthrough innovation: "There will be a boom in deeptech innovation coming out of the core UK research hubs, including Oxford and Cambridge." AI, in particular, is being harnessed as a tool for discovery in biotech and medicine. "There are early signs that AI will soon become a transformative tool for discovery in sectors like biotech and medicine, where the UK should have a head start because of its strong talent and academic foundations."

Yet talent and ideas alone will not secure Europe's place at the forefront of innovation. Malhi cautions that strategic funding is essential. "We must ensure that those companies and ideas are sufficiently funded with scaling capital if the country is to retain them and unlock its full deeptech potential." Meanwhile, Abhishek Lahoti, Head of Platform at Highland Europe, observes subtler but equally important shifts in how companies are operating and growing."The two defining trends we're seeing are peaking of the AI hype curve and a change to the way companies operate."

According to Lahoti, many AI startups are focused on improving workflows rather than reinventing them. "AI companies right now are focused on fixing and enhancing current workflows and operations, but in that light there are only a few companies that are genuinely creating new use cases and technology innovations that challenge the way we've operated in the past." Europe, he argues, is uniquely positioned in this moment of recalibration. "European AI companies are operating with a view of global markets by default and seeing their American counterparts usually take first steps, then innovating past them (much like the Apple model of product release...do not be first mover but instead be the best in the second generation)."

For those with sound fundamentals, 2026 could be a year to consolidate and thrive. "...they will learn to ride the turbulence." Start-ups themselves are redefining growth. Lahoti notes that revenue is increasingly decoupled from headcount, a trend that is reshaping how scale is measured: "We see now in the start-up industry that there is a disappearing correlation between headcount and revenue, meaning more companies are making more money with less people than before." This shift allows firms to grow quietly, expanding under the radar while steadily increasing their reach. "We'll see a change in productivity that allows companies to fly under the radar longer while growing their revenue."

Yet challenges loom. When companies reach broader markets, operational demands intensify. "The real 'rubber meets the road' moment will come when those companies come up to a broader market and require more and larger customers. It remains to be seen if the old model of 'company size' will hold at that point, but I expect enterprise buyers will require more." For Europe, 2026 represents a delicate balancing act. The year will likely be defined by selective IPOs, the emergence of deeptech leaders, and pragmatic AI adoption - start-ups learning to navigate hype and fundamentals in equal measure.

Beyond the numbers, the human story is equally compelling: researchers in Cambridge racing to develop AI-driven biotech solutions; fintech founders in London cautiously planning public listings; small, scrappy teams finding ways to grow faster with fewer resources. These are the companies, people, and ideas that may shape Europe's technological story for years to come. If 2026 proves anything, it is that innovation is never a straight line. It is a series of calculated risks, of talent nurtured, of ideas funded and executed with discipline. The companies that can combine vision with operational rigor may not only survive the turbulence but define the next era of European tech leadership.