European technology becomes political | TechCrunch

The annual State of European Technology report produced by venture capital firm Atomico is outside It appears that investment is trending upward. But this year’s edition goes beyond the usual assessment of the tech ecosystem; It has become part of advocacy that reflects a broader shift: European startups and investors are increasingly turning to lobbying.

“It is no longer enough to show how far we have come,” said the report’s author, Tom Wehmeyer, who is also a partner at Atomico and the company’s head of intelligence. “It is also important that we use those insights to point the way forward.” This includes four policy recommendations with fairly self-explanatory names: Mending Divides, Funding the Future, Empowering Talent, and Championing Risk.

While Atomico uses responses from a wide range of participants to advocate for these specific recommendations, it is safe to say that it has some authority to speak for more than itself. Founded in 2006 by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, its portfolio includes high-profile European companies such as Aiven, DeepL, Klarna, Pipedrive, Stripe and Supercell.

Taking a page from big tech companies and legacy industries, as well as from their own companies Their peers in the United StatesEuropean technology companies of this size are increasingly learning how to lobby for themselves – at the company level, through the appointment of public affairs staff, but also collectively, through open letters to which European institutions have paid close attention.

This also explains why many of Atomico’s recommendations resonate with topics that are already trending, both in the startup community and in the world of politics in Brussels – whether it’s the topic. Twenty-eighth system Advocacy group EU-INC has proposed the creation of a pan-European corporate structure (currently, companies must navigate between 27 different national systems), and calls for less regulation, or broader considerations on competitiveness that echo the former ECB president. Mario Draghi 2024 report.

This support at the highest levels is also evident in the Atomico report. For the first time, its 2025 edition contains a quote from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying she wants “the future of AI to be made in Europe.” This high-level interest also explains why technology lobbying in Europe is becoming more sophisticated.

In the 28th Order, for example, Atomico warns that whether it will be “regulation” or “direction” is extremely important. “This is the difference between having teeth or not, the latter representing a continuation of the status quo where rules can be interpreted from country to country, rather than the standardization that technology companies need to thrive,” the company says. (In EU law, regulations are directly binding on all member states, while directives allow each country to implement the rules differently.)

This level of detail is not unprecedented. France Digitale, a French association of startups and investors, published a report “Paperless” In the 28th regime this was not much different from what other pressure groups would produce on other topics – just like Publications about ESNAAlliance of Emerging European Nations. But Atomico’s clip, which was also presented as a video and on-stage talk at the tech conference Slush, aims to reach both the tech ecosystem and policymakers.

Ironically, what may be missing is a sense of reality Different powers Which could oppose efforts such as EU-INC. More broadly, some recommendations may seem beyond the reach of most people; After all, few Europeans wake up in the morning worrying about the lack of new trillion-dollar domestic companies.

The counterargument is that society as a whole is affected by lackluster growth, but there is still plenty emerging European tech lobbyists can do to win hearts. According to Alexandru Vojka, head of corporate affairs and policy at London-based AI unicorn Synthesia, this is one of the reasons why big startups are becoming more vocal.

“Communications and politics have become more important than they were 10 years ago because in Europe, there is a deep distrust of the tech industry,” Vojka wrote to TechCrunch. “A decade ago,[communications]was seen as something you could leverage in marketing to help with product growth and brand awareness. Today, the work we do is more focused on risk mitigation, reputation management, etc.”

Lobbying efforts by European technology companies also carry risks. If the movement becomes too closely associated with particular political parties, this could lead to backlash and undermine broader support. However, politics aside, many are likely to agree with Atomico’s central point: “Europe is effectively at a crossroads.”