On Wednesday, Europe Startup Nations Alliance officially launched an initiative to double the number of European unicorns by 2030. The alliance, made up of 27 nations, was started by the Portuguese government with backing from the European Commission.
The alliance’s mission is to support national governments in improving the structural conditions that facilitate the emergence of domestic startups, to ensure that they have room to grow at any stage of their development.
The initiative forms its basis on the European Commission’s Startup Nation Standard, a guideline containing best practices that facilitate entrepreneurship in the bloc.
The making of a ‘freer market’
The document proposal recommends the implementation of startup-friendly regulation, accelerated visas for essential workers, loosening stock options regulations, and democratizing access to funds.
Pedro Siza Vieira, Portugal’s minister of state for the economy and digital transition, said at the summit that the initiative wants to make sure Europe breeds and enables the growth of its startups wherever they are created.
He added that this is the most critical topic, using the US as an example of where startups are done right and can scale up to the whole country. He contrasted that with Europe where he says barriers to growth exist.
Success is likely but at a great cost
Vieira says that by increasing access to capital and removing barriers to growth, the alliance could double the number of European unicorns in the next ten years.
People who know anything about rapid deregulation, ‘removing barriers to growth” and the kind of Wild West-Esque landscape these actions create, know that the ideas probably came from the wealthiest people in the bloc, wanting to create a startup environment that mimics the US.
This system works in that it creates unicorns, but unicorns breed suffering for the people who benefit the least or are treated worse when rules are loosened carelessly.
3 hours ago
