While so-called unicorns – the scene term for private companies valued at more than one billion dollars – were scarce in Europe for decades, there are now 25 of them in Germany alone. There are currently 25 worldwide according to data from CB Insights already more than a thousand – with a strong upward trend. Because the rain of money from investors does not seem to be ebbing away for a long time. “A strong investment environment and the ongoing push for digitization should help investment remain strong in the first quarter of 2022,” predicts Ashkan Kalantary, venture capital expert at KPMG.
Nevertheless: Personio founder Renner is now used not only to being praised to the skies, but also to being viewed critically – especially with regard to the ever-expanding valuation of his tech start-up. Of course, he’s been asked about it more often lately, he says in an interview. But he has already prepared a reply: “I believe that the valuation is justified insofar as our investors do not think it up in a vacuum,” he says. Rather, the value of Personio arises “as part of an overall market evaluation of software companies”.