Enterprise capital agency Atomico’s annual State of European Tech report is out and it exhibits funding is trending upwards. However this yr’s version goes past the standard evaluation of the tech ecosystem; it has grow to be a bit of advocacy that displays a broader shift: European startups and traders are more and more turning to lobbying.

“It’s now not sufficient to point out how far we’ve come. It’s crucial, too, that we use these insights to level the best way ahead,” mentioned the report’s creator, Tom Wehmeier, who can also be a accomplice at Atomico and the agency’s head of intelligence. This consists of 4 coverage suggestions with pretty self-explanatory names: Repair the friction, Fund the long run, Empower expertise, and Champion danger.

Whereas Atomico is utilizing solutions from a variety of respondents to advocate for these particular suggestions, it arguably has some authority to talk for greater than itself. Based in 2006 by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, its portfolio consists of high-profile European corporations akin to Aiven, DeepL, Klarna, Pipedrive, Stripe, and Supercell.

Taking a web page from Large Tech and from legacy industries, in addition to from their U.S. friends, European tech corporations of that scale are more and more studying to foyer for themselves — on the firm stage, with public affairs hires, but in addition collectively, with open letters that European establishments have paid consideration to.

This additionally explains why lots of Atomico’s suggestions align with subjects which might be already very a lot within the air, each within the startup neighborhood and within the Brussels coverage world — whether or not it’s the twenty eighth regime proposed by advocacy group EU-INC to create a pan-European firm construction (presently, corporations should navigate 27 totally different nationwide regimes), requires much less regulation, or broader concerns on competitiveness that echo former European Central Financial institution president Mario Draghi’s 2024 report.

This buy-in on the highest ranges is clear in Atomico’s report, too. For the primary time, its 2025 version encompasses a quote from the president of the European Fee, Ursula von der Leyen, saying that she needs “the way forward for AI to be made in Europe.” This high-level consideration additionally explains why European tech lobbying is changing into extra subtle.

On the twenty eighth regime, as an example, Atomico warns that whether or not will probably be a “regulation” or a “directive” is extremely vital. “That is the distinction between having enamel or not, with the latter representing a continuation of the established order the place guidelines will be interpreted nation to nation, as a substitute of the uniformity tech corporations have to thrive,” the agency argues. (In EU regulation, laws are straight binding throughout all member states, whereas directives permit every nation to implement guidelines in a different way.)

This stage of element isn’t unprecedented. France Digitale, a French startup and investor affiliation, printed a “non-paper” on the twenty eighth regime that wasn’t a lot totally different from what different lobbies might produce on different subjects — similar to publications from ESNA, the Europe Startup Nations Alliance. However Atomico’s take, additionally packaged as a video and a stage speak at tech convention Slush, is supposed to achieve each the tech ecosystem and policymakers.

Paradoxically, what may be lacking is a way of the numerous forces that might oppose efforts akin to EU-INC. Extra broadly, some suggestions might really feel out of contact to most individuals; in spite of everything, few Europeans get up within the morning involved in regards to the lack of recent homegrown trillion-dollar corporations. 

The counterargument is that society as a complete is affected by lackluster progress, however arguably, there’s nonetheless extra that European tech’s rising lobbying might do to win hearts. Based on Alexandru Voica, head of company affairs and coverage at London-based AI unicorn Synthesia, that’s one purpose why massive startups have gotten extra vocal.

“Communications and coverage are extra vital than 10 years in the past as a result of in Europe, there’s a deep mistrust of the tech trade,” Voica wrote to TechCrunch. “A decade in the past, [communications] was seen as one thing you might run out of selling to assist with product progress and model consciousness. At the moment, the work we do is far more targeted on danger mitigation and repute administration, and many others.”

European tech’s lobbying push additionally carries dangers. If the motion turns into too intently tied to specific political events, it might set off backlash and undermine broader assist. Nonetheless, no matter politics, many will doubtless agree with Atomico’s central level: “Europe successfully stands at a crossroads.”