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Future challenges of supporting European start-ups
Silicon Valley is near-synonymous with start-ups, and so Europe will always be compared to Silicon Valley. However, Europe consists of many nations,
all with di erent regulations and slightly di erent agendas, which do not necessarily bene t entrepreneurs.
Some work is being done to rectify this issue, with the European Commission proposing a Digital Single Market by updating and unifying regulations across the EU, so that start-ups can operate in each EU country under the same rules. The vision of the European Start-up Network is
“to form one single European start-up ecosystem” by uniting all start-up associations, in an e ort to allow European start-ups to scale globally.
There are two major challenges. Firstly, Brexit
has increased uncertainty and fostered a “us vs. them” mentality. It shows how Europe continues to be a fractured business landscape, with neighbouring countries vying for businesses and start-ups. Reports indicate the lengths that governments will go to in attracting businesses looking to move after Brexit.
The second challenge is the issue of scaling up. While in Silicon Valley, money is invested heavily
for companies to scale internationally, European investors tend to be more conservative, meaning that
starting a business is a step many achieve, but scaling up is a barrier not overcome by many.
ANGELS AND EU-NICORNS
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