During the conference “Building Europe’s digital sovereignty”organized by France as President of the Council of the European Union, Cédric O proposed to create about fifteen European funds endowed with at least 1 billion euros to finance start-ups.
Cédric O wants to hatch around fifteen European funds
With this proposal, the Secretary of State for the digital transition and electronic communications wants to prevent European startups do not give in to the sirens of American and Asian funds, or that they are simply redeemed. A measure that fits more broadly into the system “scale-up Europe”whose objective is to bring out, by 2030, a dozen European technological giants valued at more than 100 billion dollars (there are currently only two, including the French Eurazeo, compared to around forty in the United States).
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By allowing the creation of European funds endowed with at least 1 billion euros, the Secretary of State is convinced that we are putting all the chances on our side to keep young European shoots on our territory. For it, France, Germany, Denmark and Greece pledged to contribute up to 3.5 billion euros to the funds which will finance other funds. A first step, which could encourage other Member States of the Union to follow suit. For Cedric O, “This is considerable leverage and that is why France will put 1.5 billion euros on the table”.
Between 10 and 20 billion euros to support European startups
The Secretary of State for the Digital Transition and Electronic Communications hopes to find a total between 10 billion and 20 billion euros between the public and private sectors. With such a windfall, European funds could then keep up with American and Asian funds. Furthermore, these funds will be obliged to direct their investments to European companies, whether they are already well established in a market, or whether they are very young. Cédric O specifies that no sector will be targeted more than another.
To influence the development of European start-ups, France wants “facilitate the arrival of extra-European talents to support the development of the European tech scene”. This is a subject that has been coming up more and more over the past few months and which turns out to be crucial. Bruno Le Maire has declared that he wants to make Europe “the land of technological talents, to support the hyper-growth of European startups”. The tone is set. Member States therefore undertake to develop a one-stop shop “facilitating administrative formalities for job applicants in European start-ups”.