The chances are that you have actually seen a unicorn. Probably several of them and encounter them on a daily basis. When Aileen Lee coined the term in 2003, unicorns were almost mythological. Today there is a herd of them, both in the US and here in Europe. What can we learn from this trend?

The latest report on European unicorns from the team at GP Bullhound is well worth a read. It looks at the tech companies in Europe established since 2000 that have achieved valuations of over $1bn. There are 40 of them in Europe today, 13 of which have reached the threshold in the past year. They include many well known brands such as Skype, Spotify, King and Vente Prive. But some are surprisingly not household names, such as Powa, Ve, Home24.

The UK comes out on top with 17 unicorns to boot, nearly three times as many as the next country (Sweden). 

While special because of their valuation, unicorns are expensive and require on average over $140m of funding to attain the lofty valuation. Many of the best known Unicorns are consumer businesses and the median amount they have raised is $278m. Building a brand is a capital hungry activity.

Most (58%) have been started by entrepreneurs in their 30s and nearly all of them still have one or more founder leading the business. This is a great sign for the European tech ecosystem as each of these companies will over time spawn numerous entrepreneurs in the future. The senior team will probably do another start up and almost certainly become angel investors once (and if) they realize some of their holdings.

For both entrepreneurs and investors, syndicating these large rounds can be beneficial and this is a feature of the European tech landscape. Over 2/3 of unicorns have more than 3 institutional investors backing them, and Spotify has 17.

Around 3 unicorns are born every year and the next generation are emerging. The tech market appears to be in rude health today. While some talk about exuberance and bubbles, there is a growing body of evidence to show that it is based on strong foundations. Most of the big valuations have been limited to a small group of companies. At the Seed, Series A and Series B end of the market, it looks more like 'business as usual'. But the prospects for achieving stronger valuations and exits are better than they have been for a long time

Put in a strong run and sprint finish to end up in 16th place at the Master Pentathlon World Championships. Delighted!

Tonight we party as United Nations!

British masters team ready for fencing!

Swam 1.19 inthe 50m pool. Solid result. Celebrated the end of day 1 with a poor impression of Usain Bolt!

Tomorrow we fence and run.

Off to do a night bus tour of Berlin this evening!

Second event completed. Bonny and I quickly bonded in the practice arena. An earnest horse, she delivered a great performance. We rode steadily and used the full arena to line up for the jumps. In the end we had a one second time penalty so I scored 299/300 points.

Delighted.

Swim this afternoon.

First event completed. A couple of mistakes but overall happy. Here is on of my (better) targets. We had to shoot 10 cards with 2 shots on each.

Onto riding next. I have drawn a bay called Bonnie. Seems to be a good horse.

Rain and cooler temperatures today.

We have completed the relay competition day. Shot, fenced, swam, rode and ran. Final places have not been confirmed yet but big thanks to my wonderful team mate Vicky. We gave it out best. Our medal hopes were dashed during the riding when I fell off at the 8th jump. Bruised and with a mouthful of sand, scrambled back into the saddle and jumped the last fence. No disqualification, but lost a lot of points due to the extra time I took. Lajos and Denise did a great job and were leading all the way until the final lap of the run, but are in for a medal.

Two more days to go. Tomorrow starts the individual competition. Due to numbers it is over two days. Tomorrow we shoot, ride and swim.

Finally we also welcome Michael Greville to the competition. He starts tomorrow in the individuals. So we end the day with a photo of our Masters British Team.

Off to eat pasta!

Team shoot - we shot 177/200. OK performance. Off to fencing now.

Dawn at the gates to the stadium. Brutish architecture of the 3rd Reich.