Europe is failing to create “centacorns” – companies valued at €100 billion or more – and this shortcoming is driving the continent’s relative economic decline, investor Hendrik Brandis (Earlybird) argues in his passionate DLD26 presentiation.
He is later joined by Ann-Kristin Achleitner, Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance at TUM, for a conversation about critical barriers that prevent Europe from building world-changing tech companies.
One crucial issue is a tendency of European founders and investors to settle for smaller exits, Brandis says. “We Europeans, I’m convinced, are way too humble.” Instead of celebrating unicorns business leaders should aim to build centacorns.
“Let’s always reach out to the stars”, he demands. “Our ambitions cannot be high enough.”
All too often, though, innovation is stifled by excessive regulation, Brandis argues. “Innovation needs freedom to operate and minimal cost of experimentation”, the Earlybird founder notes.
“Let’s unlock the creativity we have all over the place with the brilliant minds Europe is able to create”, he says. “Let’s innovate first, let’s regulate later.”
Achleitner agrees with many points but emphasizes Europe’s potential to lead in emerging fields like quantum computing and next-generation AI systems. The continent’s talent pool and recent investments in deep tech offer hope, she says: “We have industries where Europe is cutting edge”, and the competitive race is still wide open.
