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Europe’s future GDP growth needs tech: Niklas Zennström, CEO at Atomico
Description
European tech is now a $3.8tn ecosystem, and Niklas Zennström has seen the entire journey from quitting his job around the dotcom crash to building Skype and later founding Atomico to back the next generation. He explains why technology now sits at the core of Europe’s future GDP growth and why unlocking Europe’s own institutional capital could determine whether the next wave of global tech leaders are not just built here, but owned here too.
The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk
Sponsors:
SurrealDB: The multi-model database for AI agents. Check them out here: https://surrealdb.com/
Omni: The AI analytics platform trusted by fast-growing companies like Perplexity, Synthesia, and dbt Labs. Check them out here: https://omni.co/
Venture Comet: The platform that gives startups and scale-ups real-time equity tracking, daily business insights and automated management information. Check them out here: https://venturecomet.com/
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction to Scaling Europe show
1:00 - Niklas Zennström discusses his entrepreneurial journey
3:30 - Importance of tech in Europe
5:49 - GDP growth driven by technology innovation
9:02 - Pension funds' conservative investment strategies
10:37 - Need for global companies headquartered in Europe
12:28 - Importance of entrepreneurial partners
14:01 - Institutional investors' understanding of venture
17:12 - Need for more late-stage capital in Europe
18:56 - Ambition of European founders today
20:50 - Friction in Europe affects scaling
25:22 - Powerful speeches at Davos and Italian tech week
27:19 - Discussing climate policies and GDP growth
30:08 - Defining sovereignty in the tech landscape
31:51 - Monetizing consumers in the tech economy
34:54 - Need for European social networks
36:31 - Future of European technology development
38:09 - Discussion on Europe's tech sovereignty
39:44 - Importance of AI compliance with European values
42:40 - Notable founders and investment lessons