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> When you talk to most EU business owners, even in tech, the limiting factor isn't regulations. I have a tech startup in Estonia and I agree. To me the bigges

by pier25 1y ago

> When you talk to most EU business owners, even in tech, the limiting factor isn't regulations. I have a tech startup in Estonia and I agree. To me the biggest limiting factor is lack of funding.

berkes 1y ago
The root cause of that is the lack of a true Capital Market union. In the US, you can get VC across state borders and VC can invest in any US company regardless of their location. Not in the EU. Investing in an Estonian startup from, say, the Netherlands is near impossible. And even if managed, now that NL investor has to repeat the entire process for Poland, Spain, Malta and other countries. EU Made Simple explains this very well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RqYws1JAuI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RqYws1JAuI
- deaux 1y ago
  > Investing in an Estonian startup from, say, the Netherlands is near impossible If anything this would be due to Dutch regulations rather than Estonian ones. So that would be more of a problem for setting up VCs in the EU rather than attracting capital in general, as the same would apply to the rest of the world. Is it easier for a US or Singapore VC to invest in an Japanese startup vs an Estonian startup? As far as I know the answer is a "no", but I'm happy to be proven wrong.
  - berkes 1y ago
    This is because there's no unified capital market. A texas VC can invest in a startup in Chicago and a startup in Florida can raise money from NY and so on. > If anything this would be due to Dutch regulations rather than Estonian ones Yes, because there's no unified capital market. You describe an effect not the cause. With 27 member states, if such regulations are bi-directional, you'd need 351 of such "regulations". If one way, you'd need 702. In the US with 51 states, there aren't a total of 1,275 "regulation contracts" between all states, there's one, and it's federal.
    - deaux 1y ago
      I don't think you understood my point. This "disadvantage" applies the exact same way to starrups every other non-US country, it's not something specific to the EU so it makes no sense to posit it as an EU thing. > Is it easier for a US or Singapore VC to invest in an Japanese startup vs an Estonian startup? This was my main question, and it looks like the answer is indeed no.
      - berkes 1y ago
        I indeed missed that point. Still, the existence of the EU is (to bring peace by) lowering, mostly economic, barriers that traditionally exist between countries. And the comparison in this threat was "between EU and US" (in europe Thing is hard... in Europe you cannot... etc). When people use "The EU" or "Europe" in this sense, they consider it as a "Single thing". Europe, or the EU, has a great disadvantage for startups over the US. You say that is because Europe is not a "thing" like a country is. I say, that is because Europe seen as a "thing" lacks some critical infrastructure that "the thing called US" has - or even "the thing Brazil" or "China" do have, internally.
- pier25 1y ago
  Thanks for the video!
moffkalast 1y ago
Yep, VCs don't exist here. Plus the absurd starting costs, it's like what, 20k to set up a GmbH?
- troupo 1y ago
  2.5k EUR in starting capital, and two founders to start a a limited liability company (AB) in Sweden, and a 240 EUR processing fee: https://verksamt.se/starta-foretag/valj-foretagsform/aktiebolag https://verksamt.se/starta-foretag/valj-foretagsform/aktiebo... And you register online.
  - pier25 1y ago
    Depends on the country. Opening a company in Estonia is very cheap but in Spain the manager/CEO needs to be an "autónomo" (like a self-employed tax status). This costs thousands of Euros per year. Something like 2,400-30,000 Euros per year, every year, forever.
    - troupo 1y ago
      And that's probably one of the big obstacles in the EU: there's no common ground for these things. At least this will hopefully be addressed: https://www.reuters.com/business/eu-propose-uniform-rules-startups-help-them-grow-von-der-leyen-says-2025-10-03/ https://www.reuters.com/business/eu-propose-uniform-rules-st...
      - vanviegen 1y ago
        What does it matter that the rules for establishing differ per country? I'm only founding in one of them. The article is unclear, but is probably referring to making it easier for startups to offer products in other EU countries.
        troupo 1y ago
        The idea is to establish common rules to make it easier to register and move startups between countries, among other things. It's in very early stages, so info is very scattered. More info, for example, here: https://www.loyensloeff.com/insights/news--events/news/the-28th-legal-regime-enhancing-european-competitiveness-and-innovation/ https://www.loyensloeff.com/insights/news--events/news/the-2...

by pier25 1y ago

> When you talk to most EU business owners, even in tech, the limiting factor isn't regulations. I have a tech startup in Estonia and I agree. To me the biggest limiting factor is lack of funding.

berkes 1y ago

The root cause of that is the lack of a true Capital Market union. In the US, you can get VC across state borders and VC can invest in any US company regardless of their location. Not in the EU. Investing in an Estonian startup from, say, the Netherlands is near impossible. And even if managed, now that NL investor has to repeat the entire process for Poland, Spain, Malta and other countries. EU Made Simple explains this very well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RqYws1JAuI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RqYws1JAuI

deaux 1y ago
> Investing in an Estonian startup from, say, the Netherlands is near impossible If anything this would be due to Dutch regulations rather than Estonian ones. So that would be more of a problem for setting up VCs in the EU rather than attracting capital in general, as the same would apply to the rest of the world. Is it easier for a US or Singapore VC to invest in an Japanese startup vs an Estonian startup? As far as I know the answer is a "no", but I'm happy to be proven wrong.
- berkes 1y ago
  This is because there's no unified capital market. A texas VC can invest in a startup in Chicago and a startup in Florida can raise money from NY and so on. > If anything this would be due to Dutch regulations rather than Estonian ones Yes, because there's no unified capital market. You describe an effect not the cause. With 27 member states, if such regulations are bi-directional, you'd need 351 of such "regulations". If one way, you'd need 702. In the US with 51 states, there aren't a total of 1,275 "regulation contracts" between all states, there's one, and it's federal.
  - deaux 1y ago
    I don't think you understood my point. This "disadvantage" applies the exact same way to starrups every other non-US country, it's not something specific to the EU so it makes no sense to posit it as an EU thing. > Is it easier for a US or Singapore VC to invest in an Japanese startup vs an Estonian startup? This was my main question, and it looks like the answer is indeed no.
    - berkes 1y ago
      I indeed missed that point. Still, the existence of the EU is (to bring peace by) lowering, mostly economic, barriers that traditionally exist between countries. And the comparison in this threat was "between EU and US" (in europe Thing is hard... in Europe you cannot... etc). When people use "The EU" or "Europe" in this sense, they consider it as a "Single thing". Europe, or the EU, has a great disadvantage for startups over the US. You say that is because Europe is not a "thing" like a country is. I say, that is because Europe seen as a "thing" lacks some critical infrastructure that "the thing called US" has - or even "the thing Brazil" or "China" do have, internally.
pier25 1y ago
Thanks for the video!

moffkalast 1y ago

Yep, VCs don't exist here. Plus the absurd starting costs, it's like what, 20k to set up a GmbH?

troupo 1y ago
2.5k EUR in starting capital, and two founders to start a a limited liability company (AB) in Sweden, and a 240 EUR processing fee: https://verksamt.se/starta-foretag/valj-foretagsform/aktiebolag https://verksamt.se/starta-foretag/valj-foretagsform/aktiebo... And you register online.
- pier25 1y ago
  Depends on the country. Opening a company in Estonia is very cheap but in Spain the manager/CEO needs to be an "autónomo" (like a self-employed tax status). This costs thousands of Euros per year. Something like 2,400-30,000 Euros per year, every year, forever.
  - troupo 1y ago
    And that's probably one of the big obstacles in the EU: there's no common ground for these things. At least this will hopefully be addressed: https://www.reuters.com/business/eu-propose-uniform-rules-startups-help-them-grow-von-der-leyen-says-2025-10-03/ https://www.reuters.com/business/eu-propose-uniform-rules-st...
    - vanviegen 1y ago
      What does it matter that the rules for establishing differ per country? I'm only founding in one of them. The article is unclear, but is probably referring to making it easier for startups to offer products in other EU countries.
      - troupo 1y ago
        The idea is to establish common rules to make it easier to register and move startups between countries, among other things. It's in very early stages, so info is very scattered. More info, for example, here: https://www.loyensloeff.com/insights/news--events/news/the-28th-legal-regime-enhancing-european-competitiveness-and-innovation/ https://www.loyensloeff.com/insights/news--events/news/the-2...