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More than 120 European technology founders, including leaders from Shopify, Klarna and Mistral, are joining forces to mentor and invest in young 18-year-old entrepreneurs as part of their efforts to counterattack the Trump administration’s attacks on the competitiveness of the European administration.
Harry Stevings, a London-based podcaster-turned venture capitalist, is at the forefront of Project Europe, a new 10 million euro fund from 200,000 euros to 18-25 years old to build a high-tech startup. The scheme is designed to fight what Stevings called the “Doom Loop” in Europe, causing the “brain drain” of top talent in the United States.
“The world keeps in mind that Europe is not a place for innovation. That’s wrong,” says Stebbings. “Europe has a loop of destiny and we need to change that. The brain drain to the US is very realistic and will really undermine the future of Europe unless something changes.”
Project Europe is the latest initiative to stimulate European entrepreneurship when many investors in the region worry that the US and China outweigh the startups, especially in artificial intelligence. Last October, dozens of European founders, including Patrick Collison of Stripe and Ilkka Paananen of Supercell, launched EU Inc, confronting the lobby for streamlined and standardized investment and business operations across EU member states.
Venture 20VC, Point 9, Adjacent provides capital to Project Europe along with over 125 founders including Shopify’s Tobias Lutke, Sebastian Siemiatkowski of Klarna and NiklasÖstbergof Delivery Hero.
“To bring together more than 100 European top founders under one mission highlights the power and impact of Project Europe in shaping the next generation,” says Siemiatkowski. “We are here to support young talents who tackle the toughest technical challenges, with capital, mentorship and infrastructure.”
Other supporters include Thomas Plantenga, CEO of Sain Marketplace Vinted, Thomas Dohmke, CEO of Microsoft-owned software development site Github, and Alex Chesterman, founder of Zoopla and Cazoo, and founders of AI Start-Ups Mistral, Huggingface and Stensesia.
Data from Venture Firm Atomico’s latest European Technology Report showed that total capital invested in start-ups in the region increased tenfold between 2015 and 2024, reaching $45 billion last year.
However, while the perception of startups as career paths has improved after the success of Spotify, Revolut, and ASML, Atomico’s research has widened concerns that European regulations and bureaucracy are not attractive to founders.
At the AI Summit in February in Paris, US Vice President JD Vance warned that “overly preventive” EU regulations are curbing innovation.
“The macros don’t look good, but the truth is that companies are built into micro,” Stevings said. “We need to change the atmosphere and be more optimistic.”
The new Project Europe scheme is similar to a fellowship for US technology investor Peter Thiel, paying $100,000 to people under the age of 22 and starting a business instead of going to college.
Unlike Thiel Fellowship, which takes the form of grants, Project Europe acquires 6.66% stake in the company it invests in. “Investment is treated with much more respect, accountability and awareness than grants.” “When we think about building the next generation of great European founders, we must start with the youth.”
