Since the United States and China pursue dominance in global technology races, the concerns of the European founders are that the region's anchored bureaucracy affects its ability to innovate and grow.
The EU is “overboard in technical regulation,” said Job van der Voort, CEO and founder of Remote, an HR -Tech company worth over 3 billion USD. “It is an suffocating innovation and a massive risk for Europe.”
Van der Voort told TNW that many managing directors share his view. “Most entrepreneurs agree that this is a big problem,” he said.
In fact, such concerns are expressed with growing frequency.
The đź’ś the EU technology
The latest rumors from the EU -Tech scene, a story of our wise old founder Boris and some questionable KI art. It is free of charge every week in your inbox. Register now!
At a conference in Paris Early this monthLike Mistral -CEO Arthur Mensch and Deepmind founder Demis Hassabis, repeated Requests regulation in Europe, which is “flexible enough” to support innovation and competitiveness. A little more than a week later, the Dutch software undertook drastic steps to escape “over -regulation” and announced Plans to move most of his operations from Europe.
“I think more companies will be forced to do the same [as Bird]«, Said van der Voort. “But the greatest influence will be in the early phase.”
The founder emphasized that continuous trend From European startups that crossed the Atlantic. Research by VC based in London Hoxton Ventures found that almost all European startups with sales of over $ 500 million – including Spotify, Wise and Adyen – were successful by winning the US market.
Van der voort believes The stressful technical regulation promotes the movements beyond the continent. “It always becomes unattractive to start and maintain a business here,” he said. “That's why I say startups that they should leave Europe if they want to be successful.”
Van der Voort has followed his own advice. After he and Marcelo Lebre founded a remote in 2019, the partners decided to support the company in San Francisco. “It was just easier to start it there, ”he said.
Remote, the company helps to hire and manage remote teams, has grown quickly since then. In 2022, the company collected $ 300 million in a series -C round, which increased its rating of $ 3 billion.
“The EU must take its own fate into account in the next decades,” warned Van der voort. “Regulation is the innovation – that makes it more difficult to start with startups [and] Is incredibly hurtful for the economy. ”
