TOP 25 — Germany

Europe's largest enterprise-software vendor, founded by former IBM engineers.

Software for medical practices, pharmacies and hospitals, Frankfurt-listed, with CVC alongside the founding family since 2025.

A cooperative-owned tax and accounting software vendor used by nearly every German tax advisor.

Design software for architecture, engineering and construction (BIM), listed on the DAX.

Pioneer of process mining, one of Germany's most highly valued software unicorns.

The remote-access software running on hundreds of millions of devices worldwide.

Enterprise Linux and Rancher (Kubernetes) vendor, taken off the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2023 by its owner EQT.

Cloud HR suite for SMBs, one of continental Europe's most prominent SaaS unicorns.

One of Germany's oldest software houses, which sold webMethods and StreamSets to IBM in 2024; the remaining group is owned by Silver Lake.

IT security for governments and armed forces (the SINA range), Frankfurt-listed and majority-owned by Giesecke+Devrient.

ERP for housing companies and property managers across Europe, sold by Aareal Bank to TPG and CDPQ in 2024.

Neural machine translation with a reputation for beating Google Translate on quality, a Cologne unicorn.

Germany's leading workforce-scheduling and time-management software vendor.

Berlin's headless CMS, adopted by global brands to run their digital content.

Open-source process-orchestration and workflow engine, widely used by large enterprises.

Enterprise-architecture management — mapping the application landscape — acquired by SAP in 2023.

Employee-communications platform — employee app, intranet — a unicorn born in Chemnitz, Saxony.

Composable commerce platform for B2B and marketplaces, a Berlin unicorn since 2020.

Hospital information systems and diagnostic software, taken private after its acquisition by TA Associates in 2025.

Software for IT service management, software-asset management and knowledge management, sold to large enterprises and public bodies.

Control-system software for power and gas grids and for logistics — warehouses, transport — Frankfurt-listed since 1998.

Defence AI software for drones and combat aircraft, valued at €12bn in 2025 and Europe's largest defence unicorn.

Sovereign large language models for governments and industry, backed by the Schwarz Group, Bosch and SAP.

Mobile-app marketing measurement and attribution, acquired by US ad-tech group AppLovin in 2021.

Document management and ECM for SMBs, public bodies and hospitals, founded in Westphalia and sold through a large partner network.