Q1 2026 · Europe

Europe Startups to Watch — Q1 2026 Engineering Signals

31 Europe-based startups across 11 sectors, ranked by GitHub engineering acceleration. huggingface (AI & Machine Learning) leads with 223 commits over 14 days (+19% change). Dominant regional signal pattern: Framework migration.

Sector activity in Europe

EdTech

5 startups

Supply Chain

5 startups

Web3

5 startups

Healthcare

4 startups

AI & Machine Learning

3 startups

Cybersecurity

3 startups

Social & Community

2 startups

E-commerce Infrastructure

1 startup

Enterprise SaaS

1 startup

Data Infrastructure

1 startup

AgTech

1 startup

Ranked startups — Europe, Q1 2026

#	Company	Stage	Geo	Commits (14d)	Change	Contributors	Contrib. Growth	New Repos	Signal
1	huggingface The AI community building the future. View signal profile →	Growth	EU	223	+19%	100	+0%	3	Infrastructure buildout
2	photoprism AI-Powered Photos App for the Decentralized Web. We are on a mission to protect your freedom and privacy. View signal profile →	Growth	EU	52	+148%	100	+19%	0	Framework migration
3	inception-project View signal profile →	Growth	EU	58	+7%	60	+3%	1	Framework migration
4	greenbone Open Source Vulnerability Management View signal profile →	Series A/B	EU	39	+34%	46	+9%	1	Framework migration
5	tenzir Open source data pipelines for security teams View signal profile →	Series A/B	EU	323	+22%	47	+0%	0	Framework migration
6	wireapp Wire open source secure messenger View signal profile →	Growth	EU	121	-33%	92	+0%	3	Infrastructure buildout
7	pharmaverse View signal profile →	Series A/B	EU	2	-50%	44	+0%	0	Framework migration
8	HCW-home Simple & Secure remote consultations View signal profile →	Pre-seed	EU	201	-10%	4	+0%	0	Framework migration
9	theislab Theis Lab at Institute of Computational Biology, Helmholtz Munich View signal profile →	Pre-seed	EU	2	+0%	7	+50%	1	Engineering hiring burst
10	hpi-studyu View signal profile →	Seed	EU	3	-25%	18	+215%	0	Engineering hiring burst
11	hpi-schul-cloud View signal profile →	Growth	EU	23	-4%	100	+29%	0	Framework migration
12	OpenOLAT Open Source Learning Management System written in Java View signal profile →	Seed	EU	164	+58%	16	+0%	0	Framework migration
13	scribe-org Open-source language solutions View signal profile →	Growth	EU	6	+0%	62	+70%	0	Engineering hiring burst
14	PapillonApp Papillon est un client libre, open-source et développé par une communauté d’élèves pour l’ensemble de vos services de vi View signal profile →	Series A/B	EU	1	-50%	29	+0%	0	Framework migration
15	particify Particify creates software for interactive lectures, presentations, events and more... View signal profile →	Seed	EU	14	+999%	16	+0%	0	Deploy frequency spike
16	Adyen View signal profile →	Seed	EU	40	+60%	13	+13%	0	Framework migration
17	PyVRP The PyVRP project develops open-source tools to efficiently solve vehicle routing problems. View signal profile →	Seed	EU	14	+180%	9	+0%	0	Deploy frequency spike
18	pyck-ai We build an Open-Source Warehouse Management Framework for the AI-driven era. View signal profile →	Pre-seed	EU	2	+0%	4	+155%	0	Engineering hiring burst
19	pluginsGLPI Official GLPI Project Plugins organization View signal profile →	Series A/B	EU	3	-40%	34	+0%	0	Framework migration
20	Part-DB Open Source Electronic Parts Database using PHP and MySQL View signal profile →	Growth	EU	60	+15%	51	+14%	1	Framework migration
21	medulla-tech Endpoint management solution View signal profile →	Seed	EU	19	+19%	9	+0%	0	Framework migration
22	solana-foundation Solana Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the decentralization, resilience, and security of the Solana View signal profile →	Seed	EU	19	+138%	13	+0%	3	Infrastructure buildout
23	kleros A decentralized arbitration protocol for disputes in the onchain economy. View signal profile →	Seed	EU	2	-94%	16	+25%	0	Framework migration
24	safe-global Collection of production code maintained by Safe Labs View signal profile →	Seed	EU	4	-20%	9	+0%	1	Framework migration
25	axone-protocol The orchestration layer for decentralized AI. Axone is a layer-1 designed for collaborative AI training, governance and View signal profile →	Series A/B	EU	18	+13%	34	+177%	0	Engineering hiring burst
26	dfinity The Internet Computer aims to reinvent the internet as a computer to host secure software and a new breed of open intern View signal profile →	Growth	EU	251	+11%	100	+0%	0	Framework migration
27	atrocore AtroCore develops, implements and supports AtroCore and AtroPIM. View signal profile →	Seed	EU	73	-52%	18	+0%	0	Framework migration
28	starlake-ai View signal profile →	Series A/B	EU	36	+80%	29	+0%	0	Framework migration
29	betagouv Communauté des incubateurs de Services Publics Numériques View signal profile →	Growth	EU	12	+100%	100	+32%	1	Framework migration
30	cryptpad Collaborative office suite that is end-to-end encrypted and open-source View signal profile →	Growth	EU	5	+999%	67	+0%	0	Deploy frequency spike
31	goalgorilla View signal profile →	Growth	EU	27	+93%	73	+0%	0	Framework migration

Sorted by commit velocity change (14-day window). Geography from GitHub org profiles. Last updated Q1 2026.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many startups are tracked in Europe in Q1 2026?

31 Europe-based startups are tracked across 11 sectors in Q1 2026. huggingface (AI & Machine Learning) leads with 223 commits over a rolling 14-day window (+19% change). Average 14-day commit velocity across the region is 59 commits.

Which sectors have the most startup activity in Europe?

In Q1 2026, the top sectors by active startup count in Europe are EdTech (5), Supply Chain (5), Web3 (5), Healthcare (4), AI & Machine Learning (3). The dominant engineering signal pattern across the region is "Framework migration".

How is startup geography determined?

Geography is derived from each startup's GitHub organization profile location field, supplemented by a curated enrichment database of known startup headquarters. Regions use broad classifications (Europe, etc.) rather than city-level granularity to provide meaningful sample sizes.