Tech founders and talent want to build in Europe. Let's empower them
TLDR
- Europe is gaining top tech talent and founder ambition, but fragmented visa and equity laws risk losing the next generation of $100B+ builders.
Key Takeaways
- 42% of respondents say it is more attractive to become a founder in Europe now; 85% of European founders say Europe is where they want to build.
- Europe’s tech workforce hit a record 3 million, with nearly half employed at VC-backed companies.
- Senior talent inflows are trending down among the most experienced workers, signaling a potential gap for future large-scale companies.
- Country-by-country employment and equity laws create friction: slow relocation, complex pan-European hiring, and weak stock option incentives for families and career-risk takers.
- Atomico calls for a single pan-EU plus UK visa process and a unified pre-IPO share treatment framework benchmarked to gold standards.
Why It Matters
- The US H-1B crackdown and China’s new K visa for STEM workers create a rare window for Europe to compete aggressively on talent policy.
- Revolut’s November secondary sale reportedly made over 200 current and former staff paper millionaires, showing equity upside is real but still depends on individual company events rather than systemic policy.
- Without unified policy changes, the European Investment Bank and European Commission data suggest startups may continue relocating to the US to access larger talent pools.
Andrew Duncan · 2026-01-15 · Read the original
