[moffkalast]

Doesn't work. As soon as something great appears, US VCs immediately buy it and move it to the bay area. A fair few of the products you think are US grown probably aren't. If not, a competitor appears that is less constrained by regulations and can move faster, taking over most of the market instead.

[wbl]

US companies obey EU law when working in the EU. And there is a reason VC does not exist in Europe namely capital markets being divided.

[vidarh]

Having spent years working for a VC and having raised rounds from VC's in Europe multiple times over the last 26 years, that it doesn't exist is news to me.

[vovavili]

I am not aware of anything on the level of YCombinator or Sequoia Capital over here in Europe.

[vidarh]

That's a very different thing from VC not existing.

[wqaatwt]

It’s mostly pennies relative to the US, though?

Obviously nobody implied it literally doesn’t exist.

[vidarh]

It's pennies relative to the Bay Area. E.g. London alone is the 3rd large source of VC capital by region worldwide, 1/10th of the Bay Area, but 2/3rd of New York in second place.

Every US region outside of the Bay Area is "mostly pennies" relative to the Bay Area too - the Bay Area accounts for 2/3s of the total venture capital in the US.

But that's still also somewhat misleading in that a lot of the bug US funds both have a lot of foreign LP's and invest a lot outside the US, and the same pattern holds within the US, so, sure it's pennies in terms of the location of the fund managers.

When you instead look at valuation or invested capital by recipients, it's still lopsided but much less so.

You find the same in Europe - London is far more dominant as a location of fund managers than it is as a location of LP's in the funds, as well as the location of companies invested in or valuation.

[wqaatwt]

Also extreme risk aversion and generally very conservative business culture stuck in 60s (just less accepting of innovation than back then)

[psychoslave]

What's wrong with risk aversion? If that could prevent things like what happen in the USA currently, I would centuple down risk aversion. Europe already domestically had to suffer two world war consequences.

Yes being prudent and staying safe have costs. Acting stubbornly as base mindset all the time also have costs.

[wqaatwt]

Economic stagnation for the past 15+ years? Economic growth almost stopped in much of Europe after the GFC.

> suffer two world war consequences

I don’t particularly see how relates to general attitudes towards innovation.

[wilg]

They don't have to sell?

[carlosjobim]

You're not forced to sell, nobody is.