Europe's scale-up push gets first test as Future 500 Initiative identifies 100 potential global champions

Data-led selection pilot finds 100 high-growth Slovenian companies that have doubled combined revenues to €2.1 billion

Provides a blueprint for identifying Europe's future champions as the EU mobilises up to €80 billion in scale-up investment via the European Investment Bank's ETC 2.0

BLED, Slovenia, Sept. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- One hundred high-growth companies with the potential to become global champions have been identified through a new data-led selection model designed to help close Europe's competitiveness gap with the US and China.

Unveiled at the Future 500 Forum in Bled, the Future 100 Slovenia intends to answer a critical question as it mobilizes billions of euros in new scale-up investment: can it identify its most promising companies early enough, and connect them sufficiently to compete globally?

Slovenia is the first country in which the Future 500 methodology has been applied in full, creating a pilot that the initiative ultimately intends to deploy across Europe.

Stjepan Orešković, founder of the Future 500 Initiative, said: "Europe is beginning to mobilize the capital it needs, but €80 billion will not make Europe more competitive simply because it is available. We need to identify our future champions earlier and ensure they obtain the capital, markets and expertise to compete globally.

Select, connect, support. This is the model we want to develop. We want to work with each company on its growth strategy and connect it with the right people and institutions."

The Future 500 methodology was developed by an international research team at IEDC – Bled School of Management, working with researchers from Harvard, Oxford, the University of Edinburgh and ESMT Berlin, institutions across Central and Eastern Europe.

The Future 100 was unveiled at the Future 500 Forum – Powering Europe's Scale-Up Engine: From Selection to Acceleration, held alongside the Bled Strategic Forum.

Participants included Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister of Croatia; Dr Anže Logar, Slovenia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Labor and Sport; Marta Kos EU Commissioner for enlargement, Kerstin Jorna; Director-General of DG GROW at the European Commission; Michiel Scheffer president of the European Innovation Council, and  representatives from the European Investment Bank, European Investment Fund, EBRD, Nasdaq and Google DeepMind.

The Future 500 Initiative argues that raising more capital is only half the answer. Europe must improve how it identifies potential winners and backs them.

For further information, visit future500initiative.com.

Mark Walter
Head of Capital Outcomes
Michael Macfarlane Associates
Mark.Walter@mmassocs.com
+447967789383