In this episode, I speak with Robin Wauters, European tech ecosystem builder at EU-Inc, about a topic that goes far beyond startups and venture capital headlines: the structural fragmentation of Europe’s innovation landscape — and the ambitious idea behind EU Inc.

Unlike many Finscale conversations focused on a single company or founder journey, this episode zooms out. It explores whether Europe needs a new legal and financial framework to truly compete on a global scale — and what is structurally holding it back today.

We discussed:

• The origin of the EU Inc initiative: a proposal to create a single, pan-European corporate structure that would allow startups to incorporate once and operate seamlessly across all EU member states, instead of navigating 27 different legal systems.
• The concrete friction points founders face today in Europe — from incorporation and employee stock options to cross-border investment complexity — and how these barriers slow down scaling compared to the US.
• The political and regulatory challenges of building such a framework, including the tension between national sovereignty and the need for deeper integration to foster innovation.
• The role of capital markets in Europe, and why fragmentation in listing rules, taxation and supervision makes it harder to create true European champions.
• The broader competitiveness question: how Europe positions itself between the US and China in technology, capital formation and regulatory agility.
• The realistic path forward — what can be implemented pragmatically, what requires political courage, and why timing matters in the current geopolitical and economic context.

A thoughtful and strategic conversation about Europe’s future as a startup continent — not just in terms of funding rounds, but in terms of structural design.

Robin’s recommendation:

• Podcast “Stuff you should know”: https://stuffyoushouldknow.com/

Useful links:

Robin Wauters: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinwauters/

EU-Inc: https://www.eu-inc.org

Sirris: http://www.sirris.be

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