A couple of months back, a group of EU entrepreneurs was working together to create a new pan-European legal entity for startups called EU Inc. On Tuesday, EU Inc. unveiled its blueprint to create a unified company structure across Europe.
The EU-Inc aims to streamline incorporation, management processes, and fundraising for innovative businesses across Europe.
With over 13,000 supporters already signing a petition, the movement aims to break down national silos that hinder investment and growth in the European startup ecosystem.
The announcement comes as President-elect Donald Trump formed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
DOGE, inspired by Dogecoin and backed by Musk, is on a mission to improve US governance by reducing bureaucracy.
“These are surely interesting times for policy: DOGE (Department Of Government Efficiency) in the US with Musk and Ramaswamy appointed by Trump has created a lively discussion in Germany, where the former finance minister has said on public TV it could make sense to think more Musk or Milei for Germany,” says Simon Schaefer, the co-initiator of the EU-Inc petition on a LinkedIn post.
EU Inc: The growing need for change in Europe
According to the proposal, European startups are currently facing significant challenges from a fragmented and siloed ecosystem.
“Barely any investor wants to invest in companies from other legal systems – and we’ve got 27+ of them. Additionally, once you’ve managed to raise money you still need to figure out how to hire pan-European talent and how to make stock options work in dozens of countries,” reads the proposals.
According to Schaefe, there is a lack of harmonisation, critical mass, and momentum due to fractalisation.
Some of the examples include the absence of a unified stock exchange for large IPOs, the lack of central tax collection and management that pit EU countries against each other for foreign direct investments, and the failure to fully establish a single consumer market.
“If we don’t want to subscribe like a SaaS client to every service by the US and China in the future,” says Andreas Klinger at Slush.
Schaefer believes startups can help solve Europe’s problems. He says, “More startups mean more unicorns and more unicorns mean better chances for Europe to produce its first Trillion-Euro company to truly compete. And that’s where we need to start: more entrepreneurship, more innovation, more innovation economy.”
This initiative is backed by a collaboration of founders, venture capitalists, legal experts, and policymakers, who are invited to provide feedback on the proposal.
However, the launch of the EU-Inc initiative coincides with the period for European policymaking.
The European Commission is currently setting its 2025 agenda, which will also include initiatives to support startups – among others the “28th regime”.
The final proposal is due by January 15, ahead of the new commission’s working plan. Proponents believe that establishing EU-Inc could secure Europe’s competitive edge in innovation for years to come.
This project is designed by the startup community for the startup community, led by a team of founders, nonprofit leaders, and investors.
The leadership team includes Andreas Klinger, an investor at Prototype Capital and Co-Initiator of eu/acc; Philipp Herkelmann, an investor and former Partner at Entrepreneur First; Simon Schaefer, founder at Factory and Board Member of AFS; and Vojtech Horna, an investor at Index Ventures and Co-Initiator of notoptional.eu.
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