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Whenever I think of the EU I can't think of a single tech giant from there, countries that come to mind for me are the US, China, Japan and Taiwan. The only thi

Whenever I think of the EU I can't think of a single tech giant from there, countries that come to mind for me are the US, China, Japan and Taiwan. The only things I know about the EU when it comes to tech is it trying to push massive global regulations around tech. For reference I'm a 23 year old from the US. Nothing I have is made in Europe and I don't deal with any EU companies. Even my bike computer was made by a US company and built in China. What EU tech companies should I check out? What ones are on your radar?

draklor40 6y ago
Zalando has some interesting software https://github.com/zalando https://github.com/zalando
WanderPanda 6y ago
From a consumer perspective: Logitech (okay not directly EU), Spotify, AVM (great networking equipment like routers etc.) and to a lesser extend Phillips come to my mind
colinjoy 6y ago
I think SAP would qualify as a tech giant. Not very visible to consumers, but throw a stone at some large organization (state, university, corporate) and you have a decent chance there’s a SAP footprint in their processes.
- 88840-8855 6y ago
  It is. And there is no innovation behind the lock-in effect and the "build processes around SAP workflows for maximum efficiency" meme.
Vinnl 6y ago
Spotify, Booking.com, Adyen, Takeaway.com, ASML are a couple I'm aware of - with a bias to the country I happen to be from. Also note that the EU is not always trying to push for global regulations - it's trying to push for EU-wide regulations which, by virtue of being strictest and a superset of global regulations, often end up as global regulations.
- adventured 6y ago
  Spotify and Shopify figured out the same thing: use the large, homogenous US market to springboard and hyper scale globally, before some US company does it first. Spotify got so big thanks to Facebook providing it an artifical shot in the arm, courtesy of Sean Parker's inside position in both companies (the spam method Spotify used to promote itself via Facebook was then promptly limited not long afterward).
  - Vinnl 6y ago
    Certainly; while regulations will no doubt play a role, the fact that the EU is so much less homogenous (not just in terms of regulations) also plays a major role in making it harder for companies to scale. Then again, I could also see that being an advantage. For example, TakeAway.com was one of a number of European companies able to quickly capture their local market. They could independently gain a foothold, and only then did consolidation start. In a more homogenous market, a big player might be able to quickly drown out stronger players with more unfortunate timing.
- barry-cotter 6y ago
  Booking.com has been owned by a US company since 2005.
codethief 6y ago
> Nothing I have is made in Europe Sure, but don't forget about B2B markets. Consumer tech does not make up the entire tech industry. There have been some successful B2B tech companies from Europe like SAP and, more recently, Celonis: https://www.celonis.com/ https://www.celonis.com/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/21/celonis-a-leader-in-big-data-process-mining-for-enterprises-nabs-290m-on-a-2-5b-valuation/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/21/celonis-a-leader-in-big-da...
x87678r 6y ago
I use Transferwise and Soundcloud all the time. In games CD Projekt makes the Witcher series. GTA started in Britain. Rovio & Supercell are Finnish. ARM is huge but is being bought by Americans too. There is a lot of faded glory. Nokia and Ericsson really kicked off the cell phone revolution and are still big in infrastructure. Skype. Linux of course was started in Europe, CERN started the www too.
aden1ne 6y ago
There is a high chance you have been typing that message on a device with a chip that was produced by one of ASML's lithography machines.
- tupputuppu 6y ago
  Sorry, but even being a Europe an myself, that kind of proves the point.
umvi 6y ago
Germany has some good tech - farm automation equipment, for example. Most dairy farmers in the US use German robotics (SAP).
ksec 6y ago
Using an iPhone, or (soon) Mac, That will have ARM and PowerVR Tech. ( Of course ignoring ownership ). You know what every single Modern ( Not just leading edge ) manufacture have as bottle neck? EUV / TwinScan from ASML in Netherland. ( Or you could include the Trio ASM, ASML, and BESI ) You know 60%+ of Fortune Global 2000 will be using the same ( dreaded ) thing for their Supply Chain Management ( And possibly ERP and CRM ). Its called SAP. I remember a year ago someone on HN said they never heard of SAP, well if you are only working in Software Tech side of things you wont heard of it. But just like Excel it is pretty much everywhere in non tech, large size enterprise. Spotify If you count Qualcomm as tech, then every mobile network in the world would have either ( or Both ) Nokia and Ericsson behind them. Those are just few on top of my head. I am sure there are plenty more.

draklor40 6y ago

Zalando has some interesting software https://github.com/zalando https://github.com/zalando

WanderPanda 6y ago

From a consumer perspective: Logitech (okay not directly EU), Spotify, AVM (great networking equipment like routers etc.) and to a lesser extend Phillips come to my mind

colinjoy 6y ago

I think SAP would qualify as a tech giant. Not very visible to consumers, but throw a stone at some large organization (state, university, corporate) and you have a decent chance there’s a SAP footprint in their processes.

88840-8855 6y ago
It is. And there is no innovation behind the lock-in effect and the "build processes around SAP workflows for maximum efficiency" meme.

Vinnl 6y ago

Spotify, Booking.com, Adyen, Takeaway.com, ASML are a couple I'm aware of - with a bias to the country I happen to be from. Also note that the EU is not always trying to push for global regulations - it's trying to push for EU-wide regulations which, by virtue of being strictest and a superset of global regulations, often end up as global regulations.

adventured 6y ago
Spotify and Shopify figured out the same thing: use the large, homogenous US market to springboard and hyper scale globally, before some US company does it first. Spotify got so big thanks to Facebook providing it an artifical shot in the arm, courtesy of Sean Parker's inside position in both companies (the spam method Spotify used to promote itself via Facebook was then promptly limited not long afterward).
- Vinnl 6y ago
  Certainly; while regulations will no doubt play a role, the fact that the EU is so much less homogenous (not just in terms of regulations) also plays a major role in making it harder for companies to scale. Then again, I could also see that being an advantage. For example, TakeAway.com was one of a number of European companies able to quickly capture their local market. They could independently gain a foothold, and only then did consolidation start. In a more homogenous market, a big player might be able to quickly drown out stronger players with more unfortunate timing.
barry-cotter 6y ago
Booking.com has been owned by a US company since 2005.

codethief 6y ago

> Nothing I have is made in Europe Sure, but don't forget about B2B markets. Consumer tech does not make up the entire tech industry. There have been some successful B2B tech companies from Europe like SAP and, more recently, Celonis: https://www.celonis.com/ https://www.celonis.com/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/21/celonis-a-leader-in-big-data-process-mining-for-enterprises-nabs-290m-on-a-2-5b-valuation/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/21/celonis-a-leader-in-big-da...

x87678r 6y ago

I use Transferwise and Soundcloud all the time. In games CD Projekt makes the Witcher series. GTA started in Britain. Rovio & Supercell are Finnish. ARM is huge but is being bought by Americans too. There is a lot of faded glory. Nokia and Ericsson really kicked off the cell phone revolution and are still big in infrastructure. Skype. Linux of course was started in Europe, CERN started the www too.

aden1ne 6y ago

There is a high chance you have been typing that message on a device with a chip that was produced by one of ASML's lithography machines.

tupputuppu 6y ago
Sorry, but even being a Europe an myself, that kind of proves the point.

umvi 6y ago

Germany has some good tech - farm automation equipment, for example. Most dairy farmers in the US use German robotics (SAP).

ksec 6y ago

Using an iPhone, or (soon) Mac, That will have ARM and PowerVR Tech. ( Of course ignoring ownership ). You know what every single Modern ( Not just leading edge ) manufacture have as bottle neck? EUV / TwinScan from ASML in Netherland. ( Or you could include the Trio ASM, ASML, and BESI ) You know 60%+ of Fortune Global 2000 will be using the same ( dreaded ) thing for their Supply Chain Management ( And possibly ERP and CRM ). Its called SAP. I remember a year ago someone on HN said they never heard of SAP, well if you are only working in Software Tech side of things you wont heard of it. But just like Excel it is pretty much everywhere in non tech, large size enterprise. Spotify If you count Qualcomm as tech, then every mobile network in the world would have either ( or Both ) Nokia and Ericsson behind them. Those are just few on top of my head. I am sure there are plenty more.