Sweden’s crop of emerging AI darlings take three of the top five spots on the list of Europe’s fastest-growing agentic startups by headcount of the past year.

Vibe coding platform Lovable, legal tech Legora and knowledge platform Sana have all seen their staff numbers shoot up as funds and revenue have flowed in recent times. 

Lovable raised $200m in July at a $1.8bn valuation — and has reportedly been fielding funding offers at a $4bn price tag, Legora announced a $150m round last week at a $1.8bn valuation and Sana clocked a $1.1bn exit in September.  

They’ve been riding a wave of investor interest in agentic tools that promise huge cost savings for enterprises looking to harness AI. 

So far this year, startups developing AI agents have raised €5.2bn, according to Sifted data, nearly double to €2.7bn picked up across the whole of 2024.

Using Dealroom to pull the initial headcount data, Sifted identified the AI agent startups which have been hiring the most in the last 12 months. Sifted reached out to all the companies featured to confirm numbers. 

Where they didn’t respond or declined to share headcount data, Dealroom figures have been used.

1/ Lovable

HQ: Stockholm 

Headcount growth: 750% to 85 employees

Needing little introduction, the Stockholm-based startup raised $200m at a $1.8bn valuation led by Accel in July. Sifted dug into what it’s like to work at the company in September. 

2/ Legora

HQ: Stockholm

Headcount growth: 607% to 191 employees

Last week Legora announced a $150m raise just five months on from its Series B, valuing the AI legaltech startup at $1.8bn. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round, with participation from existing investors Iconiq, General Catalyst, Redpoint Ventures, Benchmark and Y Combinator. 

3/ Dust

HQ: Paris

Headcount growth: 300% to 60 employees

Founded by an OpenAI alum, Dust is building a platform helping businesses to create custom-made AI assistants that can carry out meeting preparation or data analysis. It last raised in a €15m round in July 2024.

4/ N8n

HQ: Berlin

Headcount growth: 250% to 175 employees

N8n, which automates workflows for enterprises, ignited a bidding war between VCs when it was raising a $180m Series C over the summer. Accel ended up winning, beating out the likes of Insight Partners, as N8n clocked a valuation of $2.5bn.

5/ Sana

HQ: Stockholm

Headcount growth: 240% to 310 employees

Sana, which is developing a knowledge platform for company information, was acquired by US human resources software company Workday for $1.1bn in September. Sifted spoke to the startup to find out what it takes to get a job there.

6/ Genesy AI

HQ: Barcelona

Headcount growth: 200% to 60 employees, according to Dealroom

Genesy is developing AI sales agents. The company raised a €5m funding round in January.

7/ Swap Commerce

HQ: London

Headcount growth: 120% to 212 employees

Swap Commerce is building an agentic platform to streamline logistics, compliance, returns and inventory for cross-border ecommerce. It last raised in a $40m Series B in March. 

8/ Salesforge

HQ: Tallinn

Headcount growth: 110% to 44 employees

Salesforge is building an autopilot for sales execution. The startup tells Sifted it is currently used by over 10k businesses and will be raising a $10m-20m Series A over the next six months.

9/ Light

HQ: Copenhagen

Headcount growth: 89% to 51 employees

Light is building an AI accounting platform. It raised a €25m Series A from investors including Atomico and Balderton in September. 

10/ H Company

HQ: Paris

Headcount growth: 88% to 75 employees

Founded in 2023 by four ex-Deepmind employees, H has been on an up and down journey. It raised a $220m seed round in 2024, before four of its five original founders left the business. Ex-Palantir exec Gautier Cloix has since taken the reins. Sifted sat down with the company to find out what it takes to get a job there.