Europe doesn’t lack talent, it just lacks confidence. Yann LeCun is Meta’s chief artificial intelligence scientist. He says that an “inferiority-complex” among European investors and media is holding back Europe’s tech industry. LeCun wrote in an X posting that “the main reason the European tech sector is small is the mistaken assumption of inferiority technologically on the part the European media.”
Perhaps more importantly, investors had a similar inferiority complicated, which made them less likely to take risks if the mere possibility of a US competitor was raised. This has changed over the past few years.”
The funding gap across Atlantic illustrates this reluctance. The European tech sector struggles to attract the same investments as their American counterparts, despite having more than double the population. Crunchbase reports that US startups will raise $178bn in 2024. This is more than triple what European companies will raise in 2024.
Bertrand launched HouseTrip in 2009. This was a year before Airbnb, another similar startup. HouseTrip wanted to make booking an accommodation as easy as booking a hotel. However, it couldn’t compete against its American rival. Airbnb, now valued at more than $80bn (£60bn), has become one of the biggest tech successes in the world.
Housetrip was unable to compete with this cash-flushed unicorn. Bertrand stepped aside as CEO two years after Airbnb entered Europe in 2012. In 2016, TripAdvisor purchased the company for an unknown sum before integrating it into the holiday site Holiday Lettings.
Bertrand used social media to criticise a recent Wall Street Journal article that examined Europe’s tech industry. The piece, published on Monday, blamed Europe’s sluggish performance on overregulation, fragmented market, limited access capital, and a ‘risk-averse’ business culture.
Bertrand acknowledged some of the criticisms but said that they were “all secondary.”
According to my experience, I can sum up the main problem facing European startups in one word, patriotism.
There is literally [no patriotism] throughout Europe and that is what’s killing EU startup companies or preventing their development, he continued. Bertrand believes that the lack of patriotism in Europe among investors and media is one of the main reasons why his startup was unable to beat Airbnb. LeCun has a different opinion. “I’m not sure I would describe this as a lack of patriotic feeling,” he said. “More of a lack in self-confidence.”
Europe’s tech competitiveness is a hot topicat the TNW Conference,which takes place June 19-20th in Amsterdam. Tickets for the eventare now on sale.Use the code TNWXMEDIA2025 to receive 30% off.
